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THE RAPTURE – PART 8

January 8, 2009

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UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL RAPTURE

The 1st Resurrection, Catching Out of the Saved, or the Rapture – Part 8

Please read my previous BLOGs (THE RAPTURE – PARTS 1 TO 7) prior to reading the following BLOG.

Can We Actually Know the YEAR of Christ’s Coming?

Please Consider the Following!

I Corinthians 15:51,52 – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Revelation 10:7 – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and

ever. [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

When Jesus spoke to his first church during the Olivet Discourse, he made it clear that no one on earth, at that time, was able to know the season of the year, the month of the year, the day of the year, or the hour of the year he would be returning to establish his kingdom.

Matthew 24:36 – But of that DAY and HOUR knoweth no man, no, not the angels

of heaven, but my Father only.

Matthew 25:13 – Watch therefore, for ye know neither THE DAY nor THE HOUR wherein the Son of man cometh.

Mark 13:32 – But of THAT DAY and THAT HOUR knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Acts 1:6,7 – When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore AGAIN the kingdom to Israel

? [7] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know THE TIMES (phases of the moon that marked the months of the year in their calendar and the time of the feasts) or THE SEASONS (spring, summer, fall, and winter) which the Father hath put in his own power.

All of these Scriptures clearly state that we can never know the hour or day of Christ’s coming, the month of it, or the season of the year he would arrive. But the Greek word for year was “eniautos,” which simply means year, and this word was most assuredly well established, and commonly used by Jesus, at the time of the writing of the New Testament, but it was never used by Jesus when he referred to the time of his coming. It would have been madness for men to guess at the year of his coming until Israel came back into the land after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, and there is no way under heaven it can be positively known at present. It can only be guesstimated at best.

But when Israel is attacked from the north, and only one third of its population survives to flee to a place of safety, the year of his coming will be more than speculation, I believe it can be known at that time to occur at some point in the last 1260 days that follow the attack, most likely in the final year of that period. If I am still alive when Israel is attacked from the north to begin the last 1260 days of the tribulation period, and I am still on this planet in a body of flesh and blood, then I will believe the rapture will occur during the last year of that period, but until that time anything I guesstimate as to the year of his coming is pure speculation.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 days).

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But YE, brethren, are NOT in darkness, that THAT DAY should overtake you AS A THIEF.

God’s children are not to be completely unaware, shocked, or surprised when sudden destruction arrives to pre-herald the Lord’s coming. We are not children of darkness, we are children of light, but if we do not study prophecy or have no interest in it, we are unable to read the signs of his coming because we are not enlightened. Children of light will not experience the wrath of the seven vials

of God’s wrath, but they will still be on this earth during the trumpets of his judgment.

I Thessalonians 5:4-9 – But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

[7] For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are

drunken in the night. [8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. [9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Luke 21:34 – 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.

Revelation 3:1-4 – And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. [2] Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

[3] Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee AS A THIEF, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

[4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

I don’t know for certain, but when we BEGIN to see the beginning of

the woes on

the blowing of the fifth trumpet, we can know the year we will be taken out when the seventh trumpet sounds, because it will be less than a year between the two trumpets. I am of the opinion the saved will still be here in the woes, but taken out as the third one begins. I believe Luke 21:25-28 contains both the woes and the wrath of God, with the sounding of the seventh trumpet separating the two. The sixth seal marks the beginning of 1260 days of Tribulation, which intensifies into the woes on the fifth trumpet and the wrath of God on the pouring out of the first vial.

A Future Magog Tsunami Wave,

Putin now making a Stalin Wave,

A goodbye to peace Russia Wave,

To Armageddon Putin hand Waves,

Magog to Gentile Age end is Waving,

At Armageddon Israel GOD is SAVING,

Christ returns and begins his Reigning!

Now Joseph Stalin Putin is Resurrecting,

A Model to which Putin is Now Defecting!

JP Headlines AFTER Russian Stalin Revival,

On latest Events In the Gaza Strip Conflict!

January 7, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The Scriptures teach the Armies of Magog (Russia) will come down to join the vast multitude of millions which come down to help antichrist destroy the remnant of Israel, which has been entrapped (surrounded) in the Negev under a truce that has lasted some 1260 days. At the final battle God will send a fire of volcanic hell down upon Magog and all the millions of armies that have gathered for this final war of the Age of the Gentiles.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

[1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Revelation 16:12-16 – And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. [13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. [14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. [15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. [16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. [18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine

of the fierceness of his wrath. [20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Ezekiel 39:6 – And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

The fire is volcanic fire unleashed as volcanic islands move on the tectonic plates and on continents as they tear apart.

The fire in Ezekiel is not thermonuclear produced by man’s weaponry. The fire is from God’s tectonically induced arsenal. It is pyroclastic volcanic hell coming up from beneath God’s earth, then flying up into God’s atmosphere to come down on mankind and animals.

PLEASE CONSIDER ARCHIVE BIRTH PANG 16 OR 16a FROM SEPTEMBER 2001 IN CONJUNCTION WITH EZEKIEL 39:6 – THE REASON “THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD” MEANS THEY WILL KNOW IT CAME AS AN ACTION OF GOD RATHER THEN MAN.

The Figures referenced in the following Archive Birth Pang may be viewed when you click the “Birth Pang Figures” arrow on our Web Site Menu.

BIRTH PANG NUMBER 16a

CHAPTER 18

THE GREAT WINEPRESS OF GOD

September 28, 2001

Revelation 14:19,20 – And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. [20] And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

This particular angel thrusts his sickle INTO the earth. We are advised in verse 20 as to WHERE the sickle makes its earthly penetration; somewhere in Israel “outside the city,” which is the city of Jerusalem. The word used for winepress is “LENOS,” which means: “a trough dug in the earth, a ditch or canal, or anything shaped like a tub.” The winepresses with which John was familiar were rectangular in shape and made of, or dug out of, the rock of the earth. Blood-red wine was made from grapes. The ripe clusters were carried in baskets and thrown into the press. The winepress consisted of a shallow trough built above the ground, or excavated by chipping it out of limestone rocks in the earth. There were also village and household winepresses, but since the one to which John refers is one in a vineyard field, one made by chipping out a rectangular trough in limestone rock, I will limit my discourse to that type. One end of this type was made lower, such that the blood-red liquid from the grapes would flow into it, after being pressed out by the feet of humans in the shallow end. So both the upper and lower sections of the winepress presented a view of a blood-red trough in the crust of the earth.

John, in his vision, looks down upon the earth and, from this aerial view, recognized

the city of Jerusalem, a city he had looked down upon many times from the Mount of Olives. He beheld “without” (outside) Jerusalem, to the east, the greatest winepress ever seen by human eyes. He saw a trough (lenos) in the earth 1600 furlongs (185 miles) in length. The opening of the earth caused by the angel’s sickle had caused blood (haima) to come up “out” (ek) of the winepress to a depth of about five feet (“unto the horse bridles”). The Greek word used for blood is haima, which can mean real blood, or any object taking on a blood red color, or any liquid that has a blood-red hue. The Hebrew word for blood is also used to describe a blood-red liquid rather than body blood, as we find stated in Genesis 49:11 – “Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:” The moon will not turn to real blood in the Tribulation Period, but it will take on a blood-red hue, as is described by the use of the word haima in Revelation 6:12 – “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” Before this Birth Pang is completed I will carefully pull together everything previously stated, and thereby put together a full exposition of Revelation 14:19,20. But for now I must take time to describe one of the most terrifying creations of God in the distant past: a flood-basalt plain.

In the distant past, six major rips in the crust of the earth have produced six great basaltic flood plains. These great cleavages of the earth’s crust occurred in zones along the dashed lines of Figure 3. They represent old magma extrusions associated with the initial stages of continental drift.

Dr. W. Kenneth Hamblin, in his standard geological text, The Earth’s Dynamic Systems, states: “Where the rift system passes beneath a continent, the continental crust is split and great volumes of basalt are extruded and spread out over large areas of the continent. These great floods of lava fill the lowlands and depressions in the existing topography.” The rift system that passes beneath the continent from the Gulf of Aqabah northward through Israel is a prime candidate for the sudden creation of a raging flood basalt plain. The following quoted material, concerning flood basalt plains, was extracted from Volcano, volume 2 of A 1982 Time-Life series that examines the workings of the planet earth: “Flood basalts are generated atop the upper mantle. When tension opens fissures in the crust, the fluid magma spurts directly to the surface. The sheer volume of it dwarfs all other volcanic activity: a week long flow can release 360 cubic miles of lava, 10 times the volume of Mount Rainier. Extremely fluid magma suddenly spurts to the surface through a line of hundred of offset dikes, each one as much as 15 miles long and fifty feet wide. The lava from such individual fissures, about five cubic miles per day, is so hot and runny that it speeds down the slightest slope at speeds up to 10 miles an hour, creating a lava sheet as much as 100 miles wide. A standard textbook notes, “sooner or later they must recur.” This liquid rock can hit the surface at temperatures from 2300 to 2900 degrees Fahrenheit. This is double the temperature required to cremate a human body. At these temperatures, the flesh would disappear from the body before it hit the ground, were it directly exposed to the initial air heat flash surge near the crack through which the magna extruded. All that would remain would be a human skeleton. At the same time that the Mount of Olives cleaves in its midst, and all the land in Israel from Geba to Rimmon is lifted up, what follows will happen to the antichrist’s army in the Jordan River Valley, as indicated in Zechariah 14:3-12.

Zechariah 14:12 – And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

At some point in time, near the end of the Tribulation Period, the great rift valley of Israel will suddenly rip open from one end to the other.

For a period of time after this ripping a vast flood basalt plain will be created along a 1600 furlough (185 mile) section of the valley. Looking down on it from heaven in his vision it looked like a north-south winepress.

It was east of Jerusalem, along the Jordan River Valley, as a long rectangular trough in the crust of the earth filled with blood. Tremendous tectonic changes will completely restructure the entire valley from the Gulf of Aqabah to Lebanon. The fissures will close abruptly at the end of the Tribulation Period from the southern end of the Dead Sea to Lebanon. However, limited volcanic activity will continue south of the Dead Sea, in what once was Idumea, throughout Christ’s Millennial Reign from “generation to generation,” according to Isaiah.

Isaiah 34:8-10 – For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. [9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. [10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

Now, considering John’s description of the great winepress in Revelation 14:19,20, in light of one of God’s fantastic creations in the earth, let us compare God’s linguistics with God’s science. What John saw looked like a great lenos (trough or ditch or canal) about 185 miles long. I call your attention to Figure 24, Part A, which is an excerpt from a 1970 diagram by Dr. Fruend showing both sides of the Dead Sea Rift. The long dashed black lines that run north and south along both sides of the Dead Sea, from the Gulf of Aqabah through Israel, are great fissures in the crust of the earth. These fissures erratically weave down through the crust of the earth to eventually make contact with great undersea lakes of magma. Part A of Figure 24 gives a picture of these fissures as though you were looking down on them from a satellite, while Part B pictures the same fissures as though you were deep within the earth looking northward, and could see their downward progression into the earth. These fissures are where they should be to comply with the description by John. They are “without the city,” which is Jerusalem.

And the word lenos does fit the characteristics of the Jordan River Valley, which is a great trough in the crust of the earth.

John saw haima come up out the lenos to cover an area some 185 miles long. John viewed a blood-red liquid (haima), which we call lava, spread across the great trough (lenos) to fill what we know as the Jordan River Valley. And the blood-red liquid filled the valley to a depth of about five feet (height of a horse bridle). Please note that, on Part A of Figure 24, a lone fissure veers off from the main trough, then extends northwest past the Tel of Armageddon, and finally goes on to Haifa, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. If you measure northward from the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqabah to the point of departure by the fissure that extends to Haifa, you will discover it is 1600 furlongs, or 185 miles. I believe this 185 mile section of the Jordan River trough is the great winepress that John saw filled with a blood-red fluid as he looked down upon the earth in his vision.

Please observe Figure 25 in our Birth Pang Figure Archive

God, for some time, has brought an unbelievable tonnage of hot flowing rock upward into the Red Sea Fault. As this liquid rock makes contact with the water- cooled Red Sea floor, it solidifies into new basaltic crust. This new crust is forcing two great plates, the Arabian and African, to move away from one another at a rapid geological rate. This particular segment is moving faster than others in the Middle East.

Please note that, on Figure 25, while the Red Sea section of the fault is spreading rapidly, the great Rift Fault running up both sides of the Jordan Valley, is locked tighter than a drum. Long ago God pushed together these two great tectonic plates, which are separated only by the Jordan Rift Valley between them. God’s horizontal pressure fused both sides of the valley floor to these plates, like one would push together two pieces of clay. It is this horizontal pressure that locks the fissures in place and prevents magma from spurting to the surface on both sides of the valley. The locked section, (See Figure 26), is held together by a strong tensional force placed there by God. In the Red Sea section of the rift God is generating a force that is in direct opposition to His tensional force that locks the section through Israel. Tensional forces are building in the Gulf of Aqabah, and soon the southern opposing force will end a long struggle by ripping apart the northern section to form a flood basalt plain. It will be sudden, abrupt, and horrifying. God will suddenly create flood basalt plains 185 miles long that begin at the Gulf of Aqabah, and then extend up to the east end of the Valley of Jezreel. On both sides of the Jordan River Valley hot fountains of blood-red liquid, now confined by pressure below the fissures of Figure 27, will suddenly shoot hundreds of feet into the air. And a heat flash will blast toward the west to reach the foothills of the mountains of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and toward the east to smash against the bluffs of the mountains of Moab and Ammon. I believe Figure 28 is what John saw from the air in Revelation 14:19,20. When the angel, who has authority to say when fire is to be released on the earth, tells the angel that has the sickle to stick it into the earth, then as the sickle goes in, the vine of the of the earth (the antichrist’s army) will feel the wrath of God. God does not have to use the creations of man to fulfill his prophecies. As he did in the flood of Noah, he will destroy man “with the earth,” but this time it will be fire from the earth, rather than water on the earth.

Revelation 14:18 – And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

Begin Excerpt from BBC News

Stalin’s new status in Russia

By Richard Galpin

BBC News, Moscow

The former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin may have killed millions of his own people but this weekend he could be chosen by Russians as their greatest-ever countryman.

Inspired by the British competition 100 Greatest Britons, one of Russia’s biggest television stations Rossiya has been conducting a nationwide poll for much of this year.

From an original list of 500 candidates now there are just 12 names left from which viewers can select their all-time hero.

The winner will be announced on Sunday.

More than 3.5 million people have already voted and Stalin – born an ethnic Georgian – has been riding high for many months.

In the summer he held the number one slot but was knocked down several places after the producer of the show appealed to viewers to vote for someone else.

Amongst the others on the list are Ivan the Terrible, Lenin, Catherine the Great and Alexander Pushkin.

Mistakes ‘forgiven’

The fact that Stalin has been doing so well comes as no surprise to members of the Communist Party, which remains one of the biggest political parties in the country.

“Stalin made Russia a superpower and was one of the founders of the coalition against Hitler in World War II,” says Sergei Malinkovich, leader of the St Petersburg Communist Party.

“In all opinion polls he comes out on top as the most popular figure. Nobody else comes close. So for his service to this country we can forgive his mistakes.”

Not only is Mr Malinkovich prepared to forgive Stalin’s “mistakes”, he also wants the man who is regarded as one of the most bloodthirsty tyrants of the 20th Century to be made a saint.

As I was interviewing him, he held a small neatly framed icon of Stalin’s face.

Last month an Orthodox priest also displayed an icon of Stalin in his church near St Petersburg.

Although he was eventually forced to remove it, he vowed he would not be silenced and went on to describe Stalin as his “father”.

Many in Russia do still revere Stalin for his role during World War II when the Soviet Union defeated the forces of Nazi Germany.

But now there is a much broader campaign to rehabilitate Stalin and it seems to be coming from the highest levels of government.

Archives seized

The primary evidence comes in the form of a new manual for history teachers in the country’s schools, which says Stalin acted “entirely rationally”.

“[The initiative] came from the very top,” says the editor of the manual, historian Alexander Danilov.

“I believe it was the idea of former president, now prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

“It fits completely with the political course we have had for the last eight years, which is dedicated to the unity of society.”

But the campaign goes further than reinterpreting history for schoolchildren. It is also physical.

Earlier this month, riot police raided the St Petersburg office of one of Russia’s best-known human rights organisations, Memorial.

Claiming a possible link with an “extremist” article published in a local newspaper, the police took away 12 computer hard-drives containing the entire digital archive of the atrocities committed under Stalin.

Memorial’s St Petersburg office specialises in researching the crimes committed by the Soviet regime.

“It’s a huge blow to our organisation,” says Irina Flige, the office director.

“This was 20 years’ work. We’d been making a universally accessible database with hundreds of thousands of names.

“Maybe this was a warning to scare us?”

Irina Flige believes they were targeted because they are now on the wrong side of a new ideological divide.

New nationalism

The new ideology is “Putinism” which, she says, has evolved over the past two years and is based on a strident form of nationalism.

It seems Russians are to be proud of their history, not ashamed, and so those investigating and cataloguing the atrocities of the past are no longer welcome.

“The official line now is that Stalin and the Soviet regime were successful in creating a great country,” says Irina Flige.

“And if the terror of Stalin is justified, then the government today can do what it wants to achieve its aims.”

The outrage at what has happened to the Memorial archive spreads beyond Russia’s borders.

The British historian Orlando Figes worked with Memorial when he was researching his latest book The Whisperers: Private Lives in Stalin’s Russia.

“By conservative estimates 25 million people were repressed in the Soviet Union [under Stalin] between 1928 and 1953,” he says.

“That means people executed, arrested and sent to prison camps or turned into slave labourers or deported.

“Virtually every family was affected by repression.”

“What we have now [in Russia] effectively is the KGB in power,” he adds.

“Opposition forces and awkward historians reminding the Russian population of what the KGB did 50 years ago is inconvenient for these people.”

So it seems whoever is voted the country’s greatest citizen on Sunday, it is Joseph Stalin who is the biggest winner this year as he is rehabilitated in Russia’s brave new world.

Latest Headlines from Jerusalem Post on January 7, 2009

Cabinet gives IDF green light to proceed with battle plans

Israel clarifies: “Favorable” view of Egyptian-French truce offer means acceptance of parts which are in line with Israeli interests.

2 Grads strike Beersheba; none hurt

Earlier, man lightly wounded as rocket hits Be’er Tuvia area, near Ashdod; some 18 projectiles fired.

3-hr truce ends, Gaza battles resume

Army had suspended operation to create humanitarian corridor to ship supplies to Gazans.

Hizbullah contact jailed for four years

Petah Tikva court convicts Arab Israeli of passing information to the enemy, fines him NIS 70,000.

Hamas says no to permanent ceasefire

Marzouk: So long as Israeli occupation continues, the resistance will continue; demands Israel halt op.

‘Israel mishandling Gush Katif evacuees’

State comptroller cites “lack of logistical work” and says authorities are exhibiting “insensitivity.”

‘Hamas suicide bombers can reach Israel’

Defense officials: Group trying to launch “quality” attack through tunnels to justify activity during war.

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THE RAPTURE – PART 7

January 7, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL RAPTURE

The 1st Resurrection, Catching Out of the Saved, or the Rapture – Part 7

Please read my previous BLOGs (THE RAPTURE – PARTS 1 TO 6) prior to reading the following BLOG.

A Brief Consolidation of Parts 1 through 6

Groundwork for the Many Rapture Positions

When was the Groundwork Laid

for them?

When I worked as a meteorologist in England for three years in the late fifties and sixties,

I discovered it to be the land of many ancient writings. The Commentary by Theodore Beza, in the 1599 Geneva Study Bible, said the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 were the Messiah, Jesus Christ, rather than antichrist, which reflects the view of the preachers from the first books ever published, and this belief was the majority opinion up to 1900.

The basic groundwork for the many different rapture positions was spaded up by the attacks of the Protestant Reformers on doctrines of the massive Catholic Church.

They were so disgusted with most of its teachings, that many proclaimed the Catholic Church itself to be the antichrist prophesied by Daniel and John the Apostle to come in the latter days. Many believed they were living in the latter days. When the Catholic Church met at the Council of Trent in the fifteen hundreds, the bulk of the discussions focused around how to restore credibility to its tarnished authority among the masses by losing its accused position of being the antichrist.

One of the w ays it lost its undesir

able title was through the publication of a commentary on the book of Revelation in 1690 by a Jesuit priest named Francisco.

He is the father of what came to be known as the “futurism” approach to prophetic interpretation. He introduced the idea that the prophecies in the book of Daniel, and the book of Revelation, did not apply to the church, but were only focused on the final seven years of this age.

He did not believe in a rapture at the beginning of the seven years, nor did he divide it into two periods

of three and one half years. He said the Bible’s warning about the antichrist could not possibly apply to the Catholic Church, but only predicted the appearance of a very evil man who would govern during earth’s final years. John Darby is often identified as the first to teach the rapture doctrine, but Morgan Edwards was teaching it in 1742, some 58 years before John Darby was born into the world. But John Darby, who was an Irish lawyer and Anglican preacher, did develop the method of Biblical teaching in which he included the futuristic views of Ribera. He was perhaps the first to fully describe a rapture seven years before the Second Advent of Christ, in which Christ came in the air, viewed only by the saved he came to take out, and left the lost behind to be ruled by an evil antichrist for a period of seven years. John Darby is also the man who created many of the first diagrams now commonly associated with the seven-year pre-tribulation rapture position. But Morgan Edwards taught only 1260 days of tribulation remained, and that the rapture occurred when it began, 1260 days before Armageddon.

So, in reality, Edwards wasn’t a genuine “first of the weeker,” but what one would call a “mid-tribber” today. Clarence Larkin, a skilled master diagram artist of the World War I era, created the most elaborate series of diagrams and charts on the pre-tribulation rapture up to that time, and most of today’s branch off from his in one way or another.

As far as the first person to ever venture away from a rapture prior to the seven vials of wrath or the absolute end of the tribulation period, I have found no published printed material before Morgan Edwards in 1742 during my research, such that the context allowed me to be sure of it.

You will find more historical information on the rapture, and the view I hold, in Parts 1 to 6 in our Archive Blogs.

The 19th Century Revision of the Time of God’s Wrath

In the early part of the 1800’s, or perhaps even as early as 1742, the tribulation period began to be divided into two sections, each one 1260 days in length, for a total tribulation period of 2520 days. The first half was a time of peace, and the second half a time of trouble, so it was only natural that the last 1260 days came to be known as the “great tribulation.” This interpretation was justified using Matthew 24:21,22.

Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

I certainly agree there will be tribulation during the last 1260 days of the tribulation period, but the intensity time of it being “great” has been shortened, and it will not last for the full 1260 days, but will be confined to the pouring out of the vials of God’s wrath during the latter portion of it, perhaps during a period of some 45 days. I do not believe the archangel Michael stands up for Israel until the antichrist is setting on the temple mount in his palace (appeden – command post) claiming to be God just prior to Armageddon, and that is when the “great” part of the tribulation begins, after which Israel is delivered, every one found written in the book.

Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none

shall help him.

[1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

So when does the “great” tribulation come on the earth in the tribulation period

? In Revelation 6:12-17 God gives John a preview, an overview, of what will happen from the opening of the sixth seal to the pouring out of the contents of the seventh vial of his wrath. However, the true wrath of God does not begin until the pouring out of the first vial of wrath in Revelation 16:1.

THE PREVIEW OF HIS COMING WRATH!

Revelation 6:12-17 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; [13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

[14] And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

[15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; [16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: [17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Verses 12 to 14 are the judgments of God upon the earth from the six seal through the seven trumpets.

Verses 15 to 17 are the wrath of God poured out on the lost following the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS COMING WRATH!

Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [18] And the nations were angry, AND THY WRATH IS COME, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

THE ARRIVAL OF HIS WRATH UPON THE LOST!

I Thessalonians 5:9 – For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Revelation 15:1,7 – And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. [7] And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Revelation 16:1,2,16,17 – And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. [2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. [16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Israeli’s Helping Fatah!

Israel smashing Hamas!

Israel – It is action Time,

To Crush An Islam Model!

Gaza madness has a Goal,

Gaza Model For Islam Rule,

Jihad Worldwide Arab Goal,

Gaza conflict reveals Future,

Islamic takeovers like Hamas,

A Conservative Radical Choice,

With Its Controlling Sharia Law,

Is winning Middle East Students,

Islamization of European Nations,

Is now in full bloom of its Creation!

It is not just an overnight Sensation,

But an Ancient Koran Based Relation,

To Lead A Society into Allah Ruination,

Whose end is God’s eternal Damnation!

European Christianity is now Frustrated,

Because its Catholicism will be Eliminated,

Since its claim as true Church is Overrated,

When Islam is Caliphate world no Debating!

January 6, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Islamic Extremist Elements of the Worldwide Jihad Movement, within the Muslim Society, will not cease their gradual chewing away of any other mindset, until a massive Caliphate under Islamic Law stretches from Morocco to India. This is a long series of six excerpts from a variety of sources. If you will take the time to read it, it will being you up to date on current Gaza Strip happenings, and how what is now happening in the Strip is so important to future worldwide Islamic plans.

Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Post

We’re fed up with empty gestures’

January 6, 2009

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that United Nations Security Council discussions on a cease-fire in Gaza should not be taking place at the moment because an opportunity must be given for an effective, regional Middle East process that all countries involved would be fully committed to in order to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians.

Speaking during a Jerusalem meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Czech Republic Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the prime minister said Israel would only agree to a cease-fire in exchange for concrete measures that ensure immediate security for southerners.

“This is the time for action not words. We are fed up with empty gestures,” he said, according to Army Radio.

Olmert told the three foreign ministers that while he respected the UN and its institutions, an immediate, unconditional cease-fire would not be the right way to bring about a solution to the Gaza situation. He said the IDF operation would force Hamas to stop firing rockets.

Nevertheless, the prime minister said Israel would agree to a request to set up a joint humanitarian situation room with the European Union, Israel Radio reported.

On Monday night, Olmert urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy to prevent the UNSC from bringing to the floor a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, telling the French leader that Israel was forced into launching Operation Cast Lead out of a desire to defend the lives of its southern citizens.

“The goal of the operation is not to destroy the Hamas leadership, even though we are able to do this, as well,” Olmert told Sarkozy. “We defined from the very beginning a limited goal – to change the security situation in the South and to free thousands of citizens from the threat of terror.”

“In view of the diplomati

c developments, it would be unwise to pass a resolution on the matter, since past experience has proven that Israel cannot afford restricting its freedom to act against terrorism – today Hamas, tomorrow Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaida,” he continued.

“Sometimes the need to find a compromise in the UN comes at Israel’s expense,” the premier said, adding that Israel has “experience in this matter.”

Olmert also expressed his opposition to a cease-fire agreement similar to the one which was accepted in June, implying that the first arrangement may have created a more perilous situation for Israel.

“I am a man of compromise,” he began. “I have conducted two negotiations in an effort to bring about compromise. However, on one thing I cannot compromise, and that is the security of Israeli citizens.”

“We will not be able to come to a compromise when Hamas is able to fire in another month or two on the Israeli population,” the prime minister said. “Before the ceasefire, Hamas had rockets that could reach as far as 20 kilometers.

After the ceasefire, the range of their rockets grew to 40 kilometers, threatening the lives of a million Israelis.”

“We cannot reach a compromise that would enable Hamas to fire at yet more cities and towns in Israel,” he added.

Olmert reiterated US President George W. Bush’s statement, according to which the end result of the Gaza operation must be that Hamas “not only stops firing, but also lose its ability to fire in the future.”

The UNSC is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, and France is currently residing as its president.

Similarly, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu called on France to thwart the cease-fire initiative, telling Sarkozy on Tuesday that the conditions were not yet right.

Netanyahu said that as long as weapons smuggling via the Philadelph Corridor continued, Hamas would easily succeed in replenishing its rocket supply.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev has indicated that Israel would consider not abiding by a resolution calling for an end to the Gaza operation, Army Radio said.

Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post

Analysis: Battling toward the collapse of the Hamas regime

January 4, 2009

Martin Kramer , THE JERUSALEM POST

Israel’s long-term strategic goal is the elimination of Hamas control of Gaza. This is especially the goal of the Kadima and Labor parties, which are distinguished by their commitment to a negotiated final-status agreement with the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.

The Hamas takeover in Gaza reduced Abbas to a provincial governor who no longer represents effective authority in all the areas destined for a future Palestinian state.

Hamas rule in Gaza is a bone in the throat of the “peace process” – one Israel is determined to remove.

But how? After the Hamas takeover in June 2007, Israel imposed a regime of economic sanctions on Gaza, constricting the flow of goods and materials into Gaza via its border crossings. The idea was gradually to undermine the popularity of Hamas in Gaza, while at the same time bolstering Abbas.

Israel enjoyed considerable success in this approach. While the diplomatic “peace process” with Abbas didn’t move very far, the West Bank enjoyed an economic boomlet, as Israel removed checkpoints and facilitated the movement of capital, goods, workers and foreign tourists. So while Gaza languished under sanctions, with zero growth, the West Bank visibly prospered – reinforcing the message that “Islamic resistance” is a dead end.

Hamas, from the outset, sought to break out of what it has called the Israeli “siege” by firing rockets into Israel. Its quid pro quo was an end to Hamas rocket fire in exchange for a lifting of the Israeli “siege.” When Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for “calm” last June, Hamas hoped the sanctions would be lifted as well, and Israel did increase the flow through the crossing points, by about 50 percent. Fuel supplies were restored to previous levels.

But Hamas was fully aware that sanctions were slowly eroding its base and contradicting its narrative that “resistance” pays. This is why it refused to renew the “calm” agreement after its six-month expiration, and renewed rocket fire.

Were Israel to lift the economic sanctions, it would transform Hamas control of Gaza into a permanent fact, solidify the division of the West Bank and Gaza, and undermine both Israel and Abbas by showing that violent “resistance” to Israel produces better results than peaceful compromise and cooperation. Rewarding “resistance” just produces more of it. So Israel’s war aim is very straightforward, and it is not simply a total cease-fire. At the very least, it is a total cease-fire that also leaves the sanctions against Hamas in place. This would place Israel in an advantageous position to bring about the collapse of Hamas rule sometime in the future – its long-term objective.

THE ISRAELI operation is meant to impress on Hamas that there is something far worse than the sanctions – that Israel is capable of hunting Hamas on air, sea and land at tremendous cost to Hamas and minimal cost to Israel, while much of the world stands by and parts of it (including some Arabs) quietly applaud.

Many Western and Arab governments see the logic of this.

They would like to see Abbas and the Palestinian Authority back in authority over Gaza, thus restoring credibility to the “peace process.” Because they wish to see Hamas contained if not diminished, they have moved slowly or not at all to respond to calls for action to stop the fighting.

The question now is how Israel turns its military moves into political moves that achieve the shared objectives of this coalition of convenience.

A hint of the solution Israel envisions comes from a senior Israeli diplomatic source: “Israel cannot agree that the only party responsible for implementing and regulating the cease-fire be Hamas.”

Israel’s objective is to put another player on the ground in Gaza, which over time would be positioned to undermine Hamas. And since the objective is gradually restoring Gaza to control by Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, it seems logical to assume that this mechanism will be designed to enforce Hamas submission to that authority. Hamas would swallow the pill in the name of “national unity,” but it would become beholden to the PA.

It is the PA, for example, that could be reinserted at the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah (as already demanded by Cairo). It is the PA that could be given exclusive control of reconstruction budgets to repair damaged and destroyed ministries, mosques and homes. (In the eventual reconstruction boom, Israel will hold all the cards: Gaza has no construction materials, and gravel, aggregate and cement must be trucked in from Israel.) The premise is that if economic sanctions are to be lifted – and post-war Gaza will be desperately in need of all material things – it must only be through the agency of the PA.

Finally, PA security forces could be reintroduced in a police capacity, as part of the “national” reconciliation. An envelope for this restoration of the PA could be provided by the international community.

It isn’t impossible that Israel would go beyond its declared aims and bring Hamas down if the Islamist movement appeared sufficiently damaged by initial ground operations. If Israeli forces were positioned to do this, and Hamas began to unravel, the impetus to finish the job would be strong. This could make for a much quicker handoff to the PA, via some internationalized body. Israeli disavowals of interest in this outcome, at this time, should be taken with a grain of salt. Israel won’t miss an opportunity if it presents itself.

WHAT COULD go wrong with this scenario? A lot. Hamas assumes (probably correctly) that its Palestinian opponents fed Israel with much of the intelligence it needed to wage precision warfare against Hamas. There is likely to be a vicious settling of scores as soon as a cease-fire is in place, if not before, and which could approximate a civil war. This could open space for small groups like Islamic Jihad and other gangs, which could shoot off rockets at their own initiative (or that of Iran).

If something can go wrong in Gaza, there is a good chance it will. Much of the aftermath will have to be improvised, and much will depend on how thoroughly Israel has degraded the capabilities of Hamas.

If Hamas remains a player, the biggest risk to Israel is that the mechanism created through diplomacy to “implement and regulate” ends up legitimating Hamas. The temptation to “engage” Hamas has grown in Europe, and even among some Americans, ever since the Hamas victory in the 2006 legislative council elections.

As diplomats work to put together a cease-fire mechanism, Hamas will work hard to tempt governments to talk to it, persuading them to skirt the Quartet’s insistence that Hamas not be “engaged” until it accepts past PA-Israel agreements, recognizes Israel and renounces armed struggle.

Legitimation of Hamas could seal the fate of the “peace process” and give “resistance” the reputation of a truly winning strategy. The United States will have to assure that all contact with Hamas runs exclusively through the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Turks, and above all, the PA. Europe and the United States must stay well out of the diplomatic reach of Hamas until it meets the Quartet conditions – a highly improbable prospect.

As with any multi-stage plan, Israel’s appears clearer at the outset and fuzzier in the later stages, where consensus dissipates. In particular, the opposition Likud has less confidence in Abbas and the “peace process” as presently configured. While it is adamant about ending Hamas rule in Gaza, it would be much less concerned with restoring the unity of the Palestinians. As Israel achieves its military aims, underlying political differences, now suppressed, are bound to surface, especially as elections are only a month away.

But for now, Israel is united in pursuing its war of demolition against Hamas.

Its aim is not only to stop the rockets from falling in southern Israel, but to move a long stride forward toward a change of regime in Gaza.

The writer is senior fellow at the Shalem Center’s Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem. He is also the Wexler-Fromer fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a senior fellow at the Olin Institute, Harvard University.

Begin Excerpt 3 from the Star Online – World Udates

January 6, 2oo9

The Star Online – Worldupdates

Tuesday January 6, 2009

Iran wants to show regional power over Gaza crisis

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran wants to send a message to the new U.S. administration and Arab governments that it is a power to be reckoned with in the region by championing the cause of its Palestinian ally, Hamas, in its fight with Israel.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expected to seek re-election in June, may also have found a cause to muzzle criticism of his economic management and tumbling oil revenues, analysts say.

But Tehran’s outspoken support for Hamas and criticism of the response by some Arab states could backfire if it wins over the Arab public but, in doing so, pushes wary Arab governments closer towards the United States in its dispute with Iran.

Washington accuses Tehran of seeking a nuclear bomb, which Iran denies. The row is likely to be near the top of President-elect Barack Obama’s foreign policy in-tray, though Gaza may now trump it bringing another benefit to Iran from the crisis.

“The message from the Iranians (to Washington) is there is give and take. We can help you in Afghanistan, we can help you in Iraq, we can help you with Lebanon and Palestine, if you have good relations with us,” said Iranian analyst Baqer Moin.

“We are a regional power and you have to acknowledge that and talk to us on that level if you want us to be cooperative on issues where you need us,” the London-based analyst said.

Gaza’s plight — more than 560 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks — has drawn sympathy from Iranians frustrated like many other Muslims at what they see as a limited international response to end fighting.

But hardliners have been most vocal backing the Palestinian cause, a pillar of the Islamic Republic since the revolution and a way Iran has fashioned itself a leader of the Muslim world although it is mainly Shi’ite and most Muslims are Sunni.

INFLUENCE

Israel accuses Iran of stoking the violence by supplying arms to Hamas. Tehran, which does not recognise Israel, says it gives moral and financial support to the group that has been isolated by much of the Arab world and international community.

Analysts say it is not clear whether Iran encouraged Hamas not to renew its truce with Israel in December or pushed it to fire the rockets that Israel says it is trying to stop.

But, whatever Iran’s role, the violence has set back peace moves between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and Syria — initiatives, analysts say, Iran fears may undermine its allies.

“They feel the way to maintain influence in this region is by having a strong Hezbollah and strong Hamas,” said one Western diplomat, adding that if either Hamas’s or Hezbollah’s conflict with Israel were resolved “it would be a strategic catastrophe (for Iran)”.

Iranian officials compare the battle Hamas is waging to Hezbollah’s resistance to Israeli attacks in 2006. Iran claimed victory after the Lebanese group emerged battered but in tact.

Moin said the conflict in 2006 “must have encouraged Iranians that if Hamas stay put … they are not going to lose.”

Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wears a Palestinian scarf, has criticised some Arabs for not doing enough and urged Muslims to do what they can to help.

Hardline Iranians have demonstrated outside the Jordanian and Egyptian missions. Both have peace treaties with Israel.

‘RISKY GAME’

But criticising Arab governments carries risks. Tehran may win over an Arab public frustrated at their own governments, but it may make Arab leaders even more wary of Tehran.

“They wanted to use this (cause) to prevent any Shi’ite- Sunni rift in the region, and to put some pressure on Sunni governments not to be too antagonistic to Iran. You could argue that the result is the complete opposite,” said the diplomat.

An Iranian analyst said: “It is a very risky game. Arab governments would realise they have to take Iran very seriously but at the same time it could push them towards the United States if they gradually … lose support of their own people.”

The Gaza crisis has offered a diversion for Ahmadinejad whose government is likely to have to cut spending in this presidential election year after oil prices fell from $147 a barrel in July to below $50, slashing Iran’s main source of revenue.

“You see how radicals and Ahmadinejad are using this to divert attention from the economic situation to prevent critics from opposing the government,” said the diplomat.

Tehran University professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour said Israel’s actions were playing into the hands of hardliners in Iran and the region, pushing moderates “to the margins”.

But he said falling oil earnings could, in the longer run, push Iran to moderate its foreign policy because it will have less cash to splash out on its favoured regional causes.

“Reducing revenues of a state would certainly influence foreign policy, especially those countries that have policies … based on slogans and populism,” Jalaiepour said.

Begin Excerpt 4 from International Herald Tribune

Young Jordanians rebel, embracing conservative Islam

By Michael Slackman

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

AMMAN, Jordan: Muhammad Fawaz is a very serious college junior with a stern gaze and a reluctant smile that barely cloaks suppressed anger. He never wanted to attend Jordan University. He hates spending hours each day commuting.

As a high school student, Fawaz, 20, had dreamed of earning a scholarship to study abroad. But that was impossible, he said, because he did not have a “wasta,” or connection. In Jordan, connections are seen as essential for advancement and the wasta system is routinely cited by young people as their primary grievance with their country.

So Fawaz decided to rebel. He adopted the serene, disciplined demeanor of an Islamic activist. In his sophomore year he was accepted into the student group affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan’s largest, most influential religious, social and political movement, one that would ultimately like to see the state governed by Islamic law, or Shariah.

Now he works to recruit other students to the cause.

“I find there is justice in the Islamic movement,” Fawaz said one day as he walked beneath the towering cypress trees at Jordan University. “I can express myself. There is no wasta needed.”

Across the Middle East, young people like Fawaz, angry, alienated and deprived of opportunity, have accepted Islam as an agent of change and rebellion. It is their rock ‘n’ roll, their long hair and love beads. Through Islam, they defy the status quo and challenge governments seen as corrupt and incompetent.

These young people – 60 percent of those in the region are under 25 – are propelling a worldwide Islamic revival, driven by a thirst for political change and social justice. That fervor has popularized a more conservative interpretation of the faith.

“Islamism for us is what pan-Arabism was for our parents,” said Naseem Tarawnah, 25, a business writer and blogger, who is not part of the movement.

The long-term implications of this are likely to complicate American foreign policy calculations, making it more costly to continue supporting governments that do not let secular or moderate religious political movements take root.

Washington will also be likely to find it harder to maintain the policy of shunning leaders of groups like the Brotherhood in Egypt, or Hamas in Gaza, or Hezbollah in Lebanon, which command tremendous public sympathy.

Leaders of Muslim countries have tried to appease public sentiment while doing all they can to discourage the West from engaging religious movements directly. They see the prospect of a thaw in relations with the West, and see these groups as a threat to their monopoly on power.

Begin Excerpt 5 from Jerusalem Post

‘We have to win war against Islam’

December 15, 2008

brenda gazzar , THE JERUSALEM POST

Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders screened his controversial film Fitna in Jerusalem on Sunday, calling on Europe to restrict immigration “from backward Islamic countries” and describing Islam as a totalitarian ideology “full of hate, violence and submission.”

“Europe is in the process of ‘Islamization.’ We need to fight it,” Wilders said. “We have to win the war against Islam. If we don’t… we will lose our cultural identity, our rule of law, our liberties and our freedom.”

Wilders made the comments at a conference in Jerusalem organized by MK Arye Eldad, who founded the new Hatikva Party, entitled “Facing Jihad.” Wilders’s comments, as well as the screening of the film, drew strong criticism from Arab-Israeli leaders, who defended Islam and argued that the film did not represent an accurate picture of the fastest-growing religion in the world.

“We are talking about a distorted film that distorts the image of the Islamic religion and particularly our prophet, Muhammad,” said MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) in a telephone interview Sunday. Wilders “is trying to exploit the ‘Islamophobia’ that there is in the world… It’s a film that is motivated by hatred of Arabs and Muslims as well.”

The 17-minute film, which shows a selection of verses from the Koran interspersed with media clips and newspaper clippings, argues that the Koran and Islam encourage acts of terrorism, anti-Semitism and violence against women and homosexuals.

“Without placing all Muslims in the same category, I think I have succeeded in showing that the Koran is not some dusty, old book, but that it’s still used today as a source of inspiration for, and justification of, hatred, violence and terrorism all over the world,” Wilders said during the conference, which was held at the Begin Heritage Center.

MK Ibrahim Sarsour (UAL-Ta’al) called Wilders “one of the most nasty enemies of Islam,” arguing that the Dutch parliamentarian knew nothing “about the greatest and most marvelous history of Muslims for more than 1,400 years. Islam has contributed a lot to the building of human principles, human charters, human technology, human development, human prosperity, stability, security and peace for all those generations of nations who sought these greatest values.”

One of the goals of Islam, Sarsour said, “is to cooperate, to know each other, not to fight and hate each other, and the only instrument to judge people… is whether this individual or this group contributes to the building of a humanistic society.”

Wilders also argued that “not all cultures are equal” and that “our Christian-Judeo culture is far better than the Islamic culture.”

Israel, he said, was not fighting a territorial war, but an ideological one, in which Islam “aims for dominance over non-Muslims.” He said there was no such thing “as moderate Islam.”

Tibi said the Jewish population should be worried about the apparent cooperation “between European fascists and Jewish fascists in Israel,” adding that “when we’re talking about a meeting of fascists, hate and racism are the consequence.”

Tibi also said the film, its creator and Eldad deserve “condemnation and nothing more.”

Eldad, whose new party opposes the formation of a Palestinian state, told conference attendees that if Islam is practiced as it is practiced today, “the chance that we will see real peace with [the Palestinians] is very slim.”

Eldad said a new set of emergency bills were needed in the Knesset “to help us stop the invasion,” preserve Israel as a Jewish state and guard against “the enemy within.” The legislation, which he said he planned to introduce in the next Knesset, would require all Israeli citizens to pledge an oath of allegiance to the State of Israel as “a Jewish democratic state.” It would also require all citizens to serve in the military or do national service in order to receive certain benefits, and would crack down on “illegal building” and acquisition of land.

Most Arab leaders in Israel oppose obligatory national or military service, though many say they would favor a national service system not run by the state.

Sarsour said he hoped members of the next Knesset would “courageously face” the increasing deterioration between the State of Israel and its Arab population by voting against the package.

“Whether this package will be accepted or not, that will not change the fact that we are an indigenous minority in Israel,” he told the Post last week.

“We were here before Eldad and his parents came to the country, and we will go on living peacefully within the limitations of the Israeli law.”

Arab-Israelis, he said, are loyal in that they accept and respect Israel’s laws. “But those who endanger the presence and the future of the State of Israel are Eldad and his allies, who push the Israeli state to the edge of confrontation.”

Begin Excerpt 6 from the UK Guardian

Gazans need to choose peace over extremism

Israel’s operation seeks to restore calm and stability to a region that lacks both due to Hamas’s acts

Shai Hermesh

The Guardian,

Tuesday 6 January 2009

The signing of the Oslo agreements between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat in 1993 raised hopes for peace on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border. Tens of thousands of Palestinians found work in Israel. Along with their Israeli neighbours, mostly farmers who have cultivated fields adjacent to the border, a shared dream of peace and prosperity was woven.

In those days I served as mayor of the regional council that stretches along the Gaza-Israeli border. The optimism of the time provided me and my Palestinian neighbours with an opportunity to develop a multifaceted relationship: hundreds of young Gazans studied in our academic college; women’s organisations joined forces in summer camps for Israeli and Palestinian children; Israeli environmental experts assisted the mayor of Dir el-Balakh in the strip in dealing with sewage flowing into the sea; and, with the help of European countries, a large plant was designed to provide purified water for agriculture on both sides of the border. Many personal friends from Gaza spent their weekends at the swimming pool in my kibbutz, while I used to dine with my family at the excellent fish restaurants in the neighbouring city.

Things seemed like a dream. At the time we asked ourselves why we had wasted so many years on a bloody and futile conflict. But the time of good neighbourly relations ended abruptly in September 2000, when Yasser Arafat decided to launch the second intifada and drag us all into the bloody whirlpool that extracts an intolerable price from us all to this day.

Even the bold decision, made by prime minister Ariel Sharon, to uproot 7,500 Israeli settlers and raze their homes, in addition to the withdrawal of nearly 15,000 soldiers from the Gaza Strip, did not halt the fire. The targeting of farmers working in the fields, the bombardment of their houses and families, only increased. The rise of Hamas to power following the 2006 Palestinian elections severed the last connections remaining with authorities in Gaza, while at the same time Hamas intensified its actions against members of Fatah.

On a Sabbath evening last May, families in the kibbutz, all dressed in white, headed toward the communal dining hall for the traditional supper. The hall was brightly lit, white tablecloths covered the tables, and candles were placed at the centre of the room. As children and parents calmly made their way, a heavy bombardment of mortar rounds rained into the heart of the kibbutz.

Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, father of three young children, was killed by one of the bombs in front of his wife and children.

During those fatal seconds, many people were torn between the need to assist a friend and their obligation to seek shelter for their children and themselves.

The violent death of Jimmy is one aspect of the long and complicated saga we have endured in the last eight years. Thousands of families living near the Gaza border have been affected by the daily bombardment of their communities. Even more have endured this reality in recent days. Over eight years, children have been born into the sound of exploding rockets, and carry these experiences with them every moment. Post-traumatic symptoms have become widespread among children and adults, whose only wish is to lead life in peace.

The time has come for a responsible government to regain its sovereignty and provide its citizens with the personal security they deserve. The Israeli government does not seek to adopt Hamas’s tactics. The Islamist organisation has indiscriminately fired over 8,000 missiles, rockets and mortar rounds into a civilian population over the last eight years. During that time the Israeli military has gone above and beyond to minimise the damage inflicted on the Palestinian population, at times placing Israeli soldiers and civilians at risk.

It is important to remember that the operation taking place in Gaza is not aimed at the Palestinian population with whom we have had close relations in the past, nor is it a punitive act. The operation seeks to restore calm and stability to a region that lacks both due to Hamas’s acts. Peace is a mutual interest. The Palestinians chose to elect an extremist group that has inflamed hatred and suffering instead of investing in education and reducing poverty.

As the battles subside, Israeli forces will return to their bases. We will return to cultivate our fields. The people of Gaza will have to decide whether to maintain a radical and suppressive regime, or whether to seize the opportunity to establish a peace-seeking leadership that will help us all bring back the days of good neighbourly relations.
T
he choice is theirs.

Shai Hermesh is a Kadima member of the Knesset and longtime resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza Strip

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THE RAPTURE – PART 6

January 6, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

PREVIOUS FIVE BLOGS

U.S. ECONOMY PAST PERMANENT REPAIR

THE RAPTURE – PART 5

FORCE IS ALL HAMAS UNDERSTANDS!

THE RAPTURE – PART 4

Sleeping Tectonic Chaos Giants Awaken!

END PREVIOUS FIVE BLOGS

UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL RAPTURE

The 1st Resurrection, Catching Out of the Saved, or the Rapture – Part 6

Please read my previous BLOGs (THE RAPTURE – PARTS 1 TO 5) prior to reading the following BLOG.

Revelation’s Seventh Trumpet Associated Events

I have been asked to give a brief, compact version of the seventh trumpet rapture position, so here it is – For a more thorough dissertation consult Parts 1 to 5 in our previous BLOGS.

The Rapture Mystery is Finished at the 7th Trumpet!

I Corinthians 15:51 – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Revelation 10:7 – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The 7th Trump is the Last in a Series of Seven!

I Corinthians 15:52 – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead

shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

It is the Last Day in the Flesh for the Saved of this Age!

John 6:39 – And this is the Father’s will which h ath sent me, th

at of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

It is Their First Day in Glorified Bodies in a Heaven Kingdom!

Revelation 11:15 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The 7th Trump Sounds Before God’s Vials of Wrath Occur!

Revelation 16:1 – And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

The Saved Will Not Experience God’s Wrath!

I Thessalonians 5:9 – For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

The Saved in Heaven Are Judged for Rewards During the Vials!

Revelation 11:18 – And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

After the Vials They Return to Earth With Christ!

Jude 14 – And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

And Reign With Him in Proportion to Degree of Rewards!

Revelation 1:5-7 – And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, [6] And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Revelation 2:25-29 – But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. [26] And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: [27] And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

[28] And I will give him the morning star. [29] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3:21,22 – 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. [22] He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

ASSOCIATION OF THE WOES

AND WRATH WITH THE RAPTURE

THREE WOES AND THE RAPTURE OCCURS AS THIRD BEGINS

I EXPECT TO BE HERE TO SUFFER WOE BUT NOT TO SUFFER WRATH

THE SAVED WILL SUFFER WOE BUT NOT GOD’S WRATH!

THREE TRIBULATION WOES THAT WILL BEGIN ON THE EARTH BEFORE THE SAVED LEAVE IT IN ADVANCE OF THE WRATH OF GOD ON THE LOST!

Revelation 9:1,2,12 – The First Woe – And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. [2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. [12] One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Revelation 9:13-15 – The Second Woe Begins – And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, [14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

[15] And the four angels were loosed, which were prep

ared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay THE THIRD PART OF MEN.

Revelation 6:8 – Where Most Deaths Will Occur – And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto THEM over the FOURTH PART OF THE EARTH, to kill with SWORD, and

with HUNGER, and with DEATH, and with the beasts of the earth. (“GES” IS TRANSLATED AS “EARTH,” AND IS NEVER ASSOCIATED WITH THE NUMBER OF THE POPULATION KILLED, BUT WITH THE SIZE OF THE PORTION OF THE EARTH WHERE THEY WERE KILLED)

I believe that most of the Tribulation Period deaths will occur in the Eastern Hemisphere to the north, south, west, and east of the Euphrates River zone.

Revelation 11:13,14 – The Second Woe Ends – And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. [14] The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Revelation 11:15 – The Third Woe Begins – And the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

I Corinthians 15:51 – The Mystery is Described – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Revelation 10:7 –The Mystery is Finished – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

I Corinthians 15:52 + I Thessalonians 4:16 – [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and

the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

AND ALL OF THE SAVED, WHO LEFT THE EARTH ON THE 7TH TRUMPET, ARE BEING JUDGED IN HEAVEN WHILE THE WRATH OF GOD IS POURED OUT ON ALL UNBELIEVERS

Revelation 11:15 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 11:18 + 16:1,2 – [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. [1] And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. [2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

THE BELIEVER’S FAITH WILL BE HEAVILY TESTED BY THE WOES. IT WILL MAKE ALL BELIEVERS MORE ANXIOUS FOR CHRIST’S COMING FOR US, AND VERY THANKFUL WE WILL NOT SUFFER HIS WRATH IN HELL OR DURING THE VIALS OF WRATH.

I Thessalonians 5:9 – For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,