Posted in bp, end time, oil slick, oil volcano, prophecy

"The sea is bleeding" (UPDATED)

Posted on by elizabethprata

The video below is from Alabama resident John Wathen, a long-time Hurricane Creekkeeper knowledgeable with the local waters, as a volunteer pilot flew him over the area where the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank. Officials have stopped guessing at the amount of oil leaking although some speculate it may be closer to 1 million gallons per day.”It’s not a leak, it’s a volcano spewing oil”. The photo below is one still from the video’s heartbreaking truth.

I’ll be back later today to edit the post to offer some scriptural ties and prophetic truths to this scene. For now, watch, ponder, and pray … please …

Later…
New scale of disaster looms in the Gulf
“Concern grew Sunday that the US Gulf coast is facing a whole new level of environmental disaster after the best short-term fix for a massive oil spill ran into serious trouble. BP’s giant containment box lay idle on the seabed as engineers furiously tried to figure out how to stop it clogging with ice crystals. The British energy giant, which owns the lion’s share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, has tried to banish the notion that the dome is a “silver bullet” to end the crisis. But should efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes. Untold damage is already being done by the 3.5 million gallons estimated to be in the sea so far, but the extent of that harm will rise exponentially if the only solution is a relief well that takes months to drill.”

We discover, as there always is with Big Money, that there is more to the story, and more even beyond this that we will likely never learn. U.S. exempted BP’s Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study ;  Since spill, feds have given 27 waivers to oil companies in gulf.

Not only were BP (and other oil companies) exempted from the rules, rules designed to protect livelihoods, and wildlife, but the crewmen involved in the explosion were not allowed to go ashore but were held on floating boats and told to sign releases and statements that could be used in court. They were told they could not go home until they did so. Coercing them to sign without benefit of legal counsel, and in their state of shock and injury is just inhumane. Read for yourself:

“Choy, a young roustabout on the rig, was handed a form to fill out, asking what he’d seen. “They came on there, and they gathered everybody in the galley on the boat and handed out … papers and stuff saying, ‘[These are] statements. You need to sign these. Nobody’s getting off here until we get one from everybody.’ “But when Choy read the Coast Guard form, he didn’t like what he saw. “At the bottom, it said something about, like, you know, this can be used as evidence in court and all that. I told them, I’m not signing it,” Choy says.”

[Choy’s wife] “Monica first learned about the explosion from a phone call from an eyewitness — Choy’s stepfather. He worked on another rig 30 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon. “And the first thing he asked is, ‘Please don’t tell me that’s the Horizon,’ and he said, ‘Because that’s my son. My son’s on that Horizon.’ And you know, they told him that it was. And he just came in a panic.” He called Monica with the news.

“Monica would spend the next 12 hours waiting to hear if her husband was dead or alive. She repeatedly called a number for Transocean, Choy’s employer, and the owner of the rig. When someone finally called her back, they could only say that her husband was on a list of the survivors.” Choy didn’t get onto land until about 28 hours after the explosion on the oil rig.

Oh, my. James 5:1-5 comes to mind here

Warning to the Rich
“Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.”

It is my hope that the BP Oil Company did not fatten themselves at the risk of human life, wildlife, and the entire Gulf basin’s economy. However, we do know that James tells us that the latter days will be filled with employers who use and abuse workers so that they will be enriched. Corporate greed was an issue in Amos’s day. He said “Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, saying, “When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain? . . . Making the ephah small and the shekel large, falsifying the balances by deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—even sell the bad wheat?” (Amos 8:4-6) Greed was judged then also. And perhaps it is being judged now, again.

Posted in Colosseum, cross, faith, italy, martyr

Take heart, O grieving family members!

Posted on by elizabethprata

I went to Italy in the 90s several times. I always enjoyed the Colosseum. A marvel of Roman ingenuity, architecture, and history, I visited it while admiring all the qualities that make it a famous attraction. I took many photos. My favorite is this one. I had it enlarged and have had it hanging on my wall ever since:

The underground chambers were called Hypogeum and refer to the vast network of rooms, cells, tunnels and passages under the Roman Colosseum. The floor of the Colosseum was over 6 acres, so the hypogeum was easily able to accommodate a huge number of underground tunnels, passages and chambers used to house animals, stage props and slaves who worked there. It was these facts and the thrilling sight of the actual subterranean chambers that entranced me at the time.

Tonight, I was sifting through mounds of photos for a photo project I am doing that is unrelated to Italy, and I came across the photo below. I have visited the Colosseum and I have viewed this photo many times, but never until tonight, the first time I looked at the picture since I’ve been saved, I noticed immediately the cross in the foreground. Immediately.

Until now, I had never even seen it. I had never seen it before this moment. Despite having visited the place and lingered there for hours, despite having taken photos from many angles, the cross was simply not in my field of spiritual vision. Why? 2 Cor 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” My god at that time was the god of this age, and boy, was I ever blind.

I teared up looking at that simple cross amid the history of the debauchery of the late Roman age. I remembered my history: the Christians that were killed there by lions, their last moments ones of terror, feeling the crunch of the sand under their feet as they perhaps ran from sure death, seeing the lions’ claws reaching for their necks, hearing the roar of the crowd jeering as they drew their last breaths. Their sacrifice kept a nascent religion alive, so that I, wretched I, could visit the place and never even notice the emblem of Christ’s shame and glory.

It was ten years later at age 44 that I came to the cross as a repentant sinner. It was unexpected given my family history, a miracle, truly. It is a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit Who draws those to the cross those whose hearts are not hardened. I was blind, my ears were dulled, but my heart stayed open just a bit, and the truth broke through. I know that others were praying for me, they told me so later. Take hope, praying Christians, for family members and friends who are not saved. The blind DO eventually see, the deaf DO eventually hear. Prayer works. Keep praying for the lost.

Posted in end time, euclid, hypercube, prophecy

Non-Euclidean geometry in the bible. Really

Posted on by elizabethprata

Humans live in a three-dimensional world. The three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and height. A cube is a typical three dimensional object:

If you unfold a cube you get this:

In Euclid’s famous “Elements” treatise two thousand years ago, Euclid, the father of Geometry, said that “a point has no dimension at all. A line has only one dimension: length. A plane has two dimensions: length and breadth. A solid has three dimensions: length, breadth, and height. And there it stops. Nothing has four dimensions.”

Euclid’s axioms spawned Euclidean Geometry, and for two thousand years that was it, there was only Euclidean Geometry (and three dimensions). Then “In 1854, George Bernhard Riemann broke the cult position that the Euclidean geometry had for two thousand years with the introduction of the theory of higher dimensions. In the paper  “On the hypotheses which lie at the foundation of geometry“, Riemann exposed the novel properties of higher dimensional space and demonstrated that Euclid’s geometry is based only in the perception.” In other words, there ARE more than three dimensions!

If it was only in 1854 that mathematicians began experimenting with geometric representations in space and in math of objects in the fourth dimension… If Euclid said that there’s ‘length, breadth, and height and there it stops’, how then could the bible speak of four dimensions two thousand years ago as here in Ephesians-

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge …” (Ephesians 3:17-19a)

Do you want depth of vision? A four dimensional world has length, breadth, height, and depth!

Stay with me here: “Three-dimensional objects are bounded by two-dimensional surfaces: a cube is bounded by 6 squares. A four-dimensional cube, known as a tesseract, is bounded by 8 cubes.” A tesseract is a hypercube, a square figure with four dimensions to it, like a cube has three, and a square has two. Since we are three-dimensional humans, we can’t really accurately depict a four-dimensional object, but the closest we can come is this: a sort of cube within a cube with other cubes adjacent along each plane-

The 4D cube (tesseract) can be unfolded into eight cubes, just as the cube can be unfolded into six squares. There are three cubes meeting at every vertex … You see it gets complicated fast. If you unfold a 4D (tesseract, also known as a hypercube) it will look like this:

And once more for effect, an unfolded 3D cube and an unfolded 4D hypercube next to each other:

Albert Gleizes said, “Beyond the three dimensions of Euclid we have added another, the fourth dimension, which is to say, the figuration of space, the measure of the infinite,” The fourth dimension is the measure of the infinite. As soon as we go from the 3D solid to the 4D we go from known and understandable solid to the infinite. In the Ephesians passage, the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, is so far from our limited understanding,”it surpasses knowledge”.

Salvador Dali captured the infinite love of God in his work, “Crucifixion.” In that famous work, Dali showed Christ on an unfolded hypercube, ascending. If unfolded again, the shadow of the 3D hypercube hovering over the tiles below becomes a 2D representation of the tiles on the ground. Dali knew the mathematical principles behind his work and was purposeful in showing Christ as Master over four dimensions, and three, and two. Just as Ephesians says. The ‘son of God’ Himself is, by the way, a 3D representation of the 4D God.

The point in all this is not only that the bible once again wrote about maths and science that humans didn’t “know” until centuries later (a spherical earth, gravity, nuclear weapons, four dimensions) but of the infinite depths of His love, love that exists in dimensions “which surpasses knowledge.” 

And he loves you. He knows you: your name, the number of hairs on your head. He knew you before you were born. He wants to be with you, He delights in you. Won’t you accept His gift of love and repent of your sins so that you can be with Him? His love may surpass our knowledge but it certainly doesn’t surpass our ability to receive it.

Posted in deception, end time, prophecy

End time deception: trust no source except the bible

Posted on by elizabethprata

The End Time is rife with deception. (Matthew 24:3-4) The truth will be harder and harder to find- even for the elect (Matthew 2424b). This is because the demons are given increasing control of the world. (Mt 24:37; Gen 6:4-5😉 The ONLY absolute barometer of truth is the bible. (2 Tim 3:16). Even previously unimpeachable Christian sources cannot be trusted at face value. Really? Yes, really.

I’ll give two examples from just this week of good, Christian sources reporting something as fact that wasn’t. First, a quote Obama uttered to the Turkish Parliament on April 6th:

In his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament, President Obama referenced how many “Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them.”

Now, many Christians took that and ran with it, including a major, international missionary magazine, saying in effect, ‘Obama slipped, he said he is a Muslim!’ Well, no he didn’t. And do you really think this man ‘slips’? This man, who forms every public utterance with such forethought that he brings a teleprompter to a sixth grade classroom? In actuality, he uses in a verbal tactic a person I had to deal with in my work happily used all the time, “plausible deniability”, or, saying something in such a way that you can plausibly deny it later. Many politicians use this tactic, but Obama has perfected it.

My opinion is that Obama is a demon from the pit of hell (or completely influenced by demons from the pit of hell), so we take the biblical position that since satan is a liar and the father of lies then Obama is a liar and the son of the father of lies.

His statement could be interpreted as ‘I am one of the Muslims’, or ‘I am one of the people who have had Muslims in my family’, or ‘I am a person who lived in a Muslim majority country’. Obama in my opinion did not say he was Muslim because he would never say anything unequivocal. (equivocal; “subject to two or more interpretations and usually used to mislead or confuse”.) If anything, Obama delighted in equivocating in this sentence so that it COULD be interpreted many different ways, for the dastardly purpose of un-discerning Christian fundamentalists running with it and having egg on their faces later. Which is exactly what happened.

Second, this week as I was driving to work I heard our major local Christian radio station report that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia issued a release that was picked up by the AP, that the Court would now hear arguments from a New Jersey Lawyer on Obama’s eligibility. That Obama’s Occidental College records had been subpoenaed and showed Obama traveled on a foreign passport and received foreign aid from Indonesia. This was an April Fool’s Day Hoax issued LAST YEAR in 2009, and the radio station, caught in an undiscerning moment, reported it as fact in 2010.

The point of all this is: even solid Christian sources stumble, because this is the time of high deception, we must now, more than ever, “TEST ALL THINGS…hold fast to that which is good.” Just take the stance that there are NO unimpeachable sources anymore, except the bible. (As a side note, it also might help to adopt the position that Obama will never utter a truth in his life and that he will never utter a statement he can’t deny later. Just a helpful tip.)

It is a time of high deception, purposeful and deep deception. Do not take anything at face value, but think it through, test it against the bible, and pray. Stay discerning, Christian, even if you’re hearing something from a Christian source!

Posted in asymmetric war, end time, prophecy

Wars and rumors of wars: but what KIND of war?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There were no buyers or sellers on the US stock market for period of time yesterday. Stocks plunged then bounced wildly. CNBC said there were literally no bids, no buyers.  That means liquidity totally dried up in the market … Stocks were completely worthless for a period of time yesterday … Think for a moment about what that means … and what caused it. A thousand point stock market plunge took the US financial world by storm and made the rest of the already skittish world more skittish.

The People In The Know immediately identified the issue as a computer glitch but were baffled by it.  As soon as I read that I thought the same question I thought on Wednesday after three oil wells/refineries experienced ‘incidents’: “Are we under attack?” LOL, I wish I’d had the time to flesh out the thought yesterday, before it was widely reported today that “Plunge in US equities remains a mystery” but that the “White House doesn’t rule out sabotage in Thursday’s wild market fluctuation“.

We know that in Matthew 24:6 Jesus told the disciples that those in the end time should expect “Wars and rumors of wars… When we think “war” we think in terms of conventional war, like in WWII, armies of roughly similar size and strength, fighting for territory. But lately asymmetrical war has been the norm, as smaller terrorist organizations and smaller states rise to infamy. In Andrew J. Mack’s 1975 article “Why Big Nations Lose Small Wars” “asymmetric” referred simply to a significant disparity in power between opposing actors in a conflict. The article garnered little attention at the time.

Nowadays the notion is gaining much attention. Military authors of today tend to use the term “asymmetric” to refer to the indirect nature of the strategies many weak actors adopt, such as guerrilla warfare, insurgency, terrorism, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism. (source). So I ask you, if an enemy weaker in numbers or bombs wants to attack or cripple us, what would it take? Perhaps attacking our infrastructure, perhaps putting a bomb in a car and parking it in Times Square? Or perhaps hacking with the stock market computers, wiping out a trillion dollars? Perhaps all three at once, because the main element in any war is the unexpected. What would Hezbollah do, attack us outright, or engage in behind-the-scenes hacking and monkeying? What would North Korea do, Syria, Iran? Any nation with fewer men and materiel who have stated they want us dead or crippled would not come at us frontwise but asymmetrically. Are we in a war but don’t know it?

“Wars and rumors of wars”, just wondering if these myriad incidents, failures, and glitches are an example of an ongoing asymmetric warfare, and if we are under attack. Wars and rumors of wars … this ain’t your father’s war anymore.

Posted in church for dogs, comedy central, end time, JC, prophecy

Comedy Central pitches show about JC; church is going to the dogs

Posted on by elizabethprata

I came across two news articles today, both of which saddened me, and made me fear for this country. The first is about a church that will now hold services for dogs.

Church is going to the dogs “
A church in Danvers, MA is launching a new once per month worship service — for dogs! Later this month, Calvary Episcopal Church will offer its first “Perfect Paws Pet Ministry” designed to give owners — and maybe even their pooches — a better chance to get into heaven. The Danvers church plans to hold the service on the third Sunday of every month, complete with communion for the humans and blessings (and treats!) for pets. According to the church, the idea is to take that unconditional love people feel for their animals and connect it to something higher.”

And, there’s this:

Comedy Central considers series about Jesus Christ
“Having already caused a fuss this spring with the depiction of the prophet Muhammad on “South Park,” Comedy Central said Thursday that it has a cartoon series about Jesus Christ in the works. “JC” is one of 23 potential series the network said it has in development. It depicts Christ as a “regular guy” who moves to New York to “escape his father’s enormous shadow.” His father is presented as an apathetic man who would rather play video games than listen to his son talk about his new life, according to Comedy Central’s thumbnail sketch of the idea.”

Paul warned us in 2 Timothy 3:1-2 that in the time of the end people would be blasphemous. Is there anything more blasphemous than what the above two activities show? Yes. I don’t know what they would be, but I know that just when I think I have head the lowest, things get lower. So, I am sure than in a day or a month, there will be another blasphemous ting to come along that will be worse.

The dog services at Calvary Episcopal are a great example of the backwards thinking the deluded are under. Using dogs as ‘a chance to get into heaven?’ and connecting with ‘something higher‘? You don’t come to God because of love that WE transfer from our dogs to God, we love God because He first loved US.

The television show is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Television, especially entertainment tv, is only focused on money and profit. Shows that creators don’t think will sell are not pitched. If a show about ‘JC’ was pitched, it means they think it will sell, which means they think there is enough revenue to support this premise, meaning, there are enough people who will watch it and make it profitable. That’s a lot of people.

The same God whose anger burned against Uzzah for his irreverent act, the same God who smote Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit and thus to God, will deal with our sin. God deals with irreverence and blasphemy. And Uzzah, Ananias and Sapphira were dealt with after ONE act. Their penalty was death. What do you think God will do to America for her long list of perpetual sins?

Posted in boca chica

Are we under attack?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Are we under attack? Or am I just hyper-sensitive? In the last week the oil rig exploded suddenly off Louisiana, a van full of smoking bombs was discovered in Times Square, today a fuel truck exploded at a Texas refinery (putting the refinery itself at risk), and an explosion happened at a military base in Alabama where they make munitions and weapons. A Library in NJ suddenly exploded yesterday. And this just in, half an hour ago Brownsville FD responded to a fire at the Boca Chica oil rig where a massive gas leak reportedly is happening due to a “rupture”. And in Boston a new water main “ruptured’, causing a boil-water order for over two million people. Too many infrastructure explosions/ruptures in one week, especially three oil rigs, (plus the one that overturned) make me think we could be under attack. Our hedge IS being lifted, after all. Or perhaps things are just exploding at all these secure facilities for no reason. Your take?

Posted in theology

Another Baptist preacher falls to sin: caught with rentboy

Posted on by elizabethprata

The chortles and glee have already started. Baptist preacher, anti-gay activist and prominent Christian, was caught returning from a vacation with a gay escort hired through the website rentboy.com. The Miami New Times broke the story that George Alan Rekers was photographed returning through customs at Miami International with a gay hiree. When queried, Rekers claimed he had hired rentboy to push his luggage because Rekers had previously had surgery.

Rekers had testified for the state of Florida against gay adoptions, had worked with Dr. James Dobson on the Family Values Summit, and has spent thirty years in activism against anything and everything gay.

There is more to the story of course, the lurid details are included in the Miami New Times’ reporting and also in other articles, but suffice to say it is a personal and spiritual tragedy of the largest proportions.

The usual attitude when yet another Christian man is discovered to be gay, is that the Christianity has proved itself wrong again and thus homosexuality is normal. That the Christian man should not struggle nor rail against it. But that is a backward thinking. Homosexuality is wrong, and no one knows that better than the Christian man, who preaches against it at every turn. That’s WHY he preaches against it at every turn. ‘But that’s hypocritical!’ you might say. It is not. It is simply sin. No one knows better than the Christian man what sin is and why God hates it. No one knows better than the Christian man that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) We all succumb to sin. A gay man falling into homosexuality is no different than one who lies or murders or gossips: they are all sins and they are all things that God hates. Fortunately for us, they are all things that God forgives, if the sinner asks Him.

We should not mock Dr. Rekers. We should not say “There goes another gay man professing to be a Christian” but instead say “There goes another sinner in need of God’s mercy. Just like me.” Pray for Rekers instead. God’s precepts are good. They are true. We all strive and we all fall short. Homosexuality is wrong and an abomination against nature and thus against God. (1 Cor 6:9). However, God’s mercy is large enough to cover any sin, including Dr. Rekers’ … And yours.

Posted in theology

Without natural affection

Posted on by elizabethprata

A horrifying story has broken in our area, one that is though terrible, is becoming all too tragically common. A father who did not have custody of his two sons asked the mother to visit them over the weekend, and when he got his sons he drove them into the woods and shot them. Then he shot himself. One boy was 4 and the other was 7.

Just a few days before that, in my old home town, another father killed his autistic son, then himself. Reports of parents killing their children are becoming less rare and more common as each day passes. Unfortunately, the bible prophesies that the end time would be filled with families “without natural affection”.

2 Timothy 3:3 it states the end times will be rife with people who are “Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good… The Greek word for ‘without natural affection’ is astorgos and the short definition is ‘unfeeling.’ The word originates from alpha and storgé (family affection). “The Greek means ‘Without natural affection – To their own children. Intemperate, fierce.”

Matthew Henry said in his bible commentary:
“See what a corruption of nature sin is, how it deprives men even of that which nature has implanted in them for the support of their own kind; for the natural affection of parents to their children is that which contributes very much to the keeping up of mankind upon the earth. And those who will not be bound by natural affection, no marvel that they will not be bound by the most solemn leagues and covenants. They are truce-breakers, that make no conscience of the engagements they have laid themselves under.”

What could be worse for a child, but to feel in peril for their very lives from the one to whom it is entrusted, their father? As Matthew Henry said, ‘see what a corruption of nature sin is…” O Lord come quickly!

Posted in end time, great tribulation, prophecy, rapture

The purpose of the Tribulation

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jeremiah 30:7 shows God talking to Jeremiah, explaining that in due time, both Israel and Judah will experience trouble like the two kingdoms never had before. “How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.” He was prophesying of the time of the Jews from then until the Tribulation, the last seven years of Daniel’s prophesied seventy sevens.

Daniel 9:24-27 explains it:

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah
“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

Seventy weeks of years, or 490 years are decreed for the Jews to finish their transgression, or rebellion. Ah, but it seems that the 70 weeks is not spoken of as occurring consecutively. 

“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”

When Jesus died and rose again, the time of the prophetic clock paused and the 490 years was interrupted by the Church Age. The Old Covenant was suspended at 483 years upon Jesus’ death (Not forgotten! Not set aside! Simply paused) and the Church Age began. In Acts 15:13-18 James states “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.” The Church Age is the taking a people from among the Gentiles, the Gentiles are grafted into the Covenant. Galatians 3:8 confirms this is part of God’s Plan: “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” Acts 15 continues with Stephen reminding the Jews that

“‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, ” (Acts 15)

That rebuilding will take place at the outset of the Tribulation. Jerusalem is the scene of the Psalm 83 war and the Gog-Magog Battle. Though they do emerge victorious, the city does not emerge unscathed and there is rebuilding to attend to.

An interesting thing happened when Jesus died and rose, and the Church Age began. Not only did the Old Covenant pause and the New Covenant begin, but the Holy Spirit entered a new phase of His ministry. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon people, and sometimes left people, but during the church age the gift of grace includes the doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved by the promise and strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit. However before the Church Age and after the Church age in the Tribulation, Jews and Gentiles alike were and are responsible for maintaining their faith through outward displays of service and obedience to the Lord through sacrifices and worship.

“Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.” (Daniel 9)

The prince to come is the Antichrist.

“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (Daniel 9)

The covenant will be confirmed for a period of seven years, resuming the last ‘week’ necessary for the Jews to finish their Transgression. That seven years is the Tribulation. It will not occur until two things happen: first as Paul revealed in Romans 11:25, the Jews have had a hardening of the heart until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. [“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”] “Full number” is a nautical term indicating the practice of by law, requiring a certain number of sailors and soldiers to man the ships, without which, they could not set sail. The hardening of the heart means that the Jews cannot and will not recognize their need for a Messiah until that hardness is lifted. And that hardness will not be lifted until the Church is lifted, literally, raptured and the last 7 years begins. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant do not mingle. At that point the prophetic clock resumes and the Old Covenant resumes as well, with the Jews suddenly clamoring for a Temple and the sacrifices allowed because their hearts are no longer hard.

And secondly, the hardness of heart won’t be lifted until the Gog-Magog battle occurs, as prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39. — “My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,” declares the Lord GOD. “That is the day of which I have spoken.” God uses the Gog-Magog battle to show Israel His presence in their lives and uses His direct intervention in that battle to draw Israel back to Himself. (Ez. 39:7-8). The Jews recognition of God’s direct intervention in their lives occurs by the end of that battle. The 7-year peace treaty is signed and the Temple is immediately rebuilt. Sacrifices resume.The Church is gone by then.

So Daniel prophesied 490 years for the Jews’ full transgression. After 483 the clock stopped when Jesus died and the Church Age began. God builds up His church to a full number only He knows. It is a 2000 year pause as the Old Covenant is suspended temporarily and the New Covenant begins. (Hebrews 8:6-8; Luke 22:20). The end times are prophesied with its signs, and then when the full number of Gentiles is reached we are raptured. The Church Age is over. The end time is over. The clock starts again and the last 7 years begin: the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. The Tribulation is completely about Israel, and God’s conclusion of His punishment for their transgression. The Holy Spirit resumes His Old Testament ministry and the Jews resume their old covenant style of worship (along with Gentile believers- Acts 15:17). Church Age believers eat a banquet supper with Jesus as His bride and earth-bound unbelievers and new believers on earth go through a living hell.

Won’t you accept Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins NOW? Now is the day of your salvation – “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2) We are warned: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. (Is 55:6). Do not say you will wait and see. Do not say that you need signs. Do not wait because He is near, even right at the door! His gift to you awaits. His love and mercy and forgiveness of your own rebellion. It is the most precious gift…and it is free. Here you can read How to Be Saved.