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Prophe-Zine Issue 100
PropheZine #100
August 1, 2000
Bob Lally Publisher
Lori Eldridge Senior. Editor
Bob Ippolito Asst. Editor
Zenith Merrill
To Subscribe, Unsubscribe or Change email addresses see notice at the bottom
of this newsletter.
======================================================
IN THIS ISSUE
----GREETING FROM LORI ELDRIDGE
----MINISTRY NEWS
----ARTICLES
James BeauSeigneur..... The Sixth Trumpet Judgment
---An Explanation through Dramatization
Ken Onweller..... Bearing Great Fruit
Dr. David R. Reagan..... The Nature of the Lord's Return:
Is the Lord Returning in Love or Wrath?
----DEVOTIONALS
Spurgeon..... Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God (1
Thess 1:4)
----POETRY
Lori Eldridge..... It's That Simple
----SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
----SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE
----PRIVACY NOTICE
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GREETING FROM LORI ELDRIDGE
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Hi All,
I would like to welcome Zenith Merrill to the staff of PZ, who has
offered be an assistant editor of the newsletter. She and I have been
on the same mailing lists for about a year now and I have really come
to appreciate her knowledge of Jewish studies and also other matters
related to defending the Gospel. She has her own web page called The
Lighthouse-Cult Awareness Center which has an Apologetic focus so
please check it out and welcome her to PZ.
http://www.bloomington.in.us/~lgthscac/
We have a new article by Ken Onweller relying a guideline for those
of us who would like to increase our fruit production as Christians
and another article on the Rapture by Dr. David Reagan.
Be blessed,
Lori Eldridge
lorield@uswest.net
Senior Editor
======================================================
MINISTRY NEWS
by Bob Lally
======================================================
Hi Everyone:
Issue #100. I remember reading issue #12 and praying for Ray Gano who sent
the issue. Who was this Ray Gano? That was June of 1996 - 4 years ago.
Issue #13 I felt led to pray for Ray again.....then issue #14 and #15. I
then sent an email asking if I could help in any way. In October of 1996 we
went live with 5 features and we really started growing. From 50 to 100,
then 150 visitors daily to 3,000 now. 500 readers of the newsletter to
60,000. Seems almost comical but I remember when we went from 150 daily
visitors to 275 in 1 big jump. I called Ray on the phone and we were
practically screaming because of the number of visits! 3 years later and we
have 10 times that amount visiting daily.
Not one moment goes by that I do not realize that although it is our efforts
that make the site look nice and have lots of features it is the Lord who
must bring in the people. I truly thank the Lord for this.
Ray is now living in Texas with his new Bride and his extremely happy.
Well, we have added a few additional countries to the list and we now have
visitors from 182 countries. Praise God for this as it is the Lord who
brings them to PropheZine. I certainly am unable (yet not unwilling!) to
travel around the world inviting people to the site.
The PropheZine News (which is presented on the home page) may now be added
to any website! We have received numerous inquiries of late asking us to
make the PZ News available to other sites. Simon, famous in the UK, has
been extremely busy making this feature available. Please visit the home
page (http://www.prophezine.com) and look in the news section for
information.
Also, because of the coding changes Simon inserted we will now be adding
news almost daily to the home page. The majority of the news that we post
will be related to prophecy: weather, wars, rumors of wars, corruption,
morality issues.....
We have around 80,000 monthly visitors from 182 countries. Please consider
advertising with PropheZine (http://www.prophezine.com/text/adrates.html).
Your continued donations are very, very helpful (bob@prophezine.com)
Thank you and may the Lord Bless you and yours today!
Bob Lally
Owner/CEO
bob@prophezine.com
**************
ARTICLES
**************
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The Sixth Trumpet Judgment
--An Explanation through Dramatization
by James BeauSeigneur
======================================================
"The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from
the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth
angel who had the trumpet, 'release the four angels who are bound at the
great river Euphrates.' And the four angels who had been kept ready for
this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third
of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million.
I heard their number.
"The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their
breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads
of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came
fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three
plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The
power of the horses was in their mouths and their tails; for their tails
were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury."
(Revelation 9:13-19 NIV)
The sixth trumpet judgment is by far the most brutal and devastating (in
terms of human life) of all of the end times judgments. With the
sounding of the sixth trumpet, a full one third of humanity is murdered
-- not killed by plague, famine, storm, or even asteroids, but murdered
at the hands of a demonic army. (1)
But how can a demon -- a spirit being with no body -- kill? A demon
cannot hold a gun or bayonet. A demon's only power to do physical harm
lies in its ability to control a person's mind.(2)
So then, how will this vast demon army carry out its mission? The only
way it can is by possessing and using human hosts. And we can be
relatively sure these vile demons will select the most brutal methods at
their disposal in the gleeful execution of their task.
According to the prophecy, this murderous demon possession will begin at
the Euphrates River, which runs through Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The
sixth trumpet signals the release of "four angels who had been kept
ready for this very hour and day and month and year." It is probably
only coincidental, but certainly interesting, that along the banks of
the Euphrates in Iraq there are
four ancient river guard posts near Baia Malcha, Auzura, Jibb Jibba, and
Olabu, the purpose of which no one has ever been able to explain.
How will this reign of death occur? Will the murders be scattered
throughout the world? Or will they localized over a single land mass?
Describing this event, the prophet Joel wrote:
"Like the dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army
comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the
land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste -- nothing
escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along
like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the
mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty
army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like
soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They
do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge
through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they
run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter
through the windows." (Joel 2:2-9 NIV)
Clearly, the tactic is a straight on, frontal attack. Joel says, "They
all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle
each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks." So then, expanding outward from the Euphrates
River the demon army marches, killing every human in their path until
one third of the world's population is exterminated.
It would be a mistake to try to exactly determine how far geographically
the demonic army will reach before they have fully spread their circle
of death. The size and geographic dispersal of the world's population
will have undergone significant changes by that time. As a point of
reference, however, the boundaries of the circle may reach as far south
as Uganda, north beyond Moscow, east to New Delhi, India, and as far
west as Austria. Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, and others
will all be devoid of human life.
The following offers a dramatic presentation of the first two days of
the sixth trumpet judgment. It is adapted for PropheZine from chapter 14
of BIRTH OF AN AGE, Book 2 of THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY. Some of the
more violent scenes from the book have been edited. In THE CHRIST CLONE
TRILOGY, I have attempted to present the events of the end times in a
manner that will make the reader aware of the full measure of the terror
that awaits any who have not accepted Jesus as savior. The books are
written for a secular audience, and hence are more frank in their
depiction of the world than one will find in books written primarily for
sale to the Christian market. The books are available through the
PropheZine Bookstore at
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html).
This is the last of these articles on the Trumpet Judgments of
Revelation. (Earlier articles appear in PropheZine 96-99 available at
http://www.prophezine.com/search/database/archives.shtml.) There are,
of course, a total of seven trumpet judgments, but the seventh trumpet
judgment is made up of the seven bowl judgments, just as the seven
trumpets comprise Revelation's seventh seal.
Dark Legion
March 9, 2023 Northwest Iraq (6:16 a.m. local time, 3:16 a.m. GMT)
From deep below the bed of the Euphrates river, between the Iraqi
cities of Ana and Hit, and bordered by the four ancient river guard
posts of Baia Malcha, Auzura, Jibb Jibba, and Olabu, a dark assembly
crept eagerly toward the surface, its members fighting and clawing in
the agitated hive to be among the first ranks to emerge. Their time
was near. They knew it. This was the hour and the day and the month
and the year for which they had waited since before the dawn of human
history. Their manumission would not last long though, and each hoped
to make the most of it while they could. Then, unheard by physical
ears, a trumpet sounded and thunder rolled and chains were loosed and
fell to the ground. John and Cohen's most recent prophecy was about
to be fulfilled upon the people of the earth.
At last the time had arrived. The earth retched and the waters of the
Euphrates churned and boiled and then violently erupted, releasing an
ooze of savage, shadowy, repulsive brutes into the world of men. Like
lava from a volcano or pus from an inflamed abscess, the vile horde,
imperceptible to human sight, spread out in all directions across the
face of the earth, seeking out human life wherever it could be found.
The foul stench of burning sulfur rose to the heavens and filled the
air for a thousand miles as row upon hideous row of the ghoulish
spectral mass emerged upon the earth. Arrayed in ghostly armor, their
otherwise gray hides covered with breastplates of fiery red, dark
blue, and yellow, each of the sinister throng rode upon an
aberrational mount which resembled nothing so much as it did a horse
but which had a head and mane more like that of a lion and nostrils
filled with putrid breath of yellow smoke and flame. The tail of each
beast seemed to rise and move independent of the movement of the
beast itself and on close examination appeared less like a tail and
far more like a venomous serpent grafted to the beast's hindquarters.
Scores of the malevolent legion rose above the earth on leathery
wings and filled the sky with foul shrieks of glee as they eagerly
scouted ahead of the dark army of 200 million, each bent on
participating in the destruction of man.
Northeast of the city of Ar-Ramadi, a small village of Iraqi "Marsh
Arabs" from the marshy areas around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers
lay sleeping in the cool pre-dawn March air. Unaware of the
approaching danger, an old man rose from his sleep and threw on his
cloak in preparation for morning prayer toward Mecca. Outside his
home the invisible legions advanced with incredible speed, bearing
down upon his small village, eager to draw first blood. Unheard and
unseen, one of the phantom riders passed effortlessly through the
wall of the man's house, saliva dripping from the corners of his
grotesque mouth as he spotted his first victim. Sensing only the
faint odious fetor of burning sulfur, the old man's body shuddered as
though he had tasted a bitter fruit as the invisible demon entered
him and took control of his mind and body. Quietly, so as not to
awaken anyone else in the house, he walked to the kitchen area and
picked up a large knife...
Throughout the small town the invisible army found other victims and
murder reigned triumphant over every living thing. Both screams and
laughter filled the air as the old man ran from his house, howling in
crazed revelry as he brandished the knife, looking for others to feed
his blood lust.
In a house nearby, a young woman worked in her kitchen preparing
breakfast for her still-sleeping husband. Abruptly she stood up
straight and dropped her cooking utensils to the floor. Looking
around, she picked up a large heavy skillet, left her meal
preparations, and went to the bedroom. Laughing out loud as she
returned to the kitchen a few minutes later, she lifted the hem of
her blood-splattered dress and held it up to the flame of the stove
until it caught. With her clothes in flames, she giggled as she
swayed gently from side to side and the fire engulfed her.
With increasing swiftness the murderous mounted madness swept across
farm, village, town, and city. The slaughter was unimaginable as
people turned on one another, driven on by forces they could not see
or understand. Seven and a half hours after it started, the insanity
reached Umm Qasr and Faw and the other cities on the Persian Gulf,
and people ran by the thousands like lemmings into the sea to drown.
As the madness swallowed the capital of Baghdad, all communications
with the outside world were lost. There was no one to report the
story to the rest of the world because no one survived. Everyone was
killed. For death's agents, the more violent the slaughters, the
better. And when no one was left to kill, the last person standing
would take his own life.
March 10, 2023 - London (6:03 a.m.)
Stan McKay spit out a pistachio shell and washed down the half-chewed
meat with a quick swallow of his soft drink. The young journalist was
still new on the job and so was quick to respond to the blinking
light before him. Picking up the receiver of the phone, he answered
simply, "McKay." No more answer than that was necessary since anyone
intentionally calling that number would know they had reached the
headquarters of World News Network in London.
"Let me talk to Jack Washington," the voice demanded urgently.
"I'm sorry, sir," McKay responded. "Mr. Washington is out of the
office right now."
"Then let me talk to Oliver Peyton."
"I'm sorry," McKay said again. "He's with Mr. Washington. Can I help you?"
"Yeah, yeah," the voice said after a second's hesitation. "Look, this
is James Paulson. I'm about to send you a live feed from the Riyadh
office. I want you to make absolutely certain you're set to record
and then I want you to be sure that the report gets to Jack
Washington. Can you do that?"
"Yes, sir," McKay answered confidently.
"Okay, I'll start the feed in twenty seconds. Is that enough time for you?"
"Uh . . . yes, sir. I think so," he answered with less certainty.
"Okay, just do your best."
It took about thirty seconds for McKay to check his equipment. "All
set, sir," he said when he returned to the phone, and switched on his
own monitor so he could see what was coming across.
"This is James Paulson reporting from the WNN offices in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia," he said in the same hurried tone he had had on the
phone. Stan McKay had no actual experience in front of the camera but
he had studied it in school which really didn't qualify him to have
an opinion but it seemed to him that this James Paulson character
was talking much too quickly for television. "Outside the window of
our offices," Paulson continued, "a scene of utter chaos is
unfolding." The hand-held camera moved from Paulson to the WNN office
window, revealing the grisly spectacle on the street, superimposed
over the reflection of the camera and its operator in the glass of
the closed window.
"It looks like a war zone out there," he said. And, indeed, it did.
There were people throwing bricks and stones and other heavy objects
at one another; there were a few people with knives and other sharp
objects; and scattered around there were the bodies of those who had
already fallen. "The violence seems to be totally indiscriminate,"
Paulson continued. "Shop owners killing customers and vice versa; men
and women killing each other in the most brutal ways imaginable; and
perhaps the strangest aspect to it all: no one appears to be doing
anything to protect themselves. No one runs, no one hides. They just
stand in plain view, without seeking cover, as they continue to
assault and kill each other."
As Paulson spoke, the camera pulled back just as a man jumped head
first to his death from the eighth floor of an adjacent building.
Paulson paused in stunned silence and then struggled to continue.
"The melee appears to have begun about ten to twelve minutes ago when
sirens were heard throughout the city as police, fire, and emergency
medical teams responded to reports of random violence. Immediately
following that, the sound of gunfire began and still continues
sporadically. As you can see out our window, the sky is beginning to
fill with smoke from hundreds of fires that have sprung up all over
the city as savagery rules the streets
"Here at the WNN offices we have sealed ourselves in, locking
security doors and terminating all elevator access to the two floors
. . ." James Paulson abruptly stopped speaking and looked somewhere
off-camera, behind the camera operator. His right eyebrow raised in
apprehension. His eyes shifted about the room. Something was
obviously happening in the office, though Paulson didn't seem to know
exactly what.
Stan McKay, watching the monitor in London, twisted and turned in his
seat, instinctively looking at the screen from different angles
hoping to get a better view, though logic told him it really wouldn't
change his perspective of the office. The look on Paulson's face went
from apprehension to sheer terror. The picture tumbled as the camera
dropped and then the screen went blank.
Saudi Arabia (2:57 p.m. local time, 5:57 p.m. GMT) The sound of
air passing through regulators was entirely drowned out by the
swirling blades of the United Nations helicopter as it hovered a few
hundred yards from a camp of 80 to 100 Bedouin tribesmen camped a few
miles south of the helicopter's destination of As-Mubarraz, Saudi
Arabia. Inside the helicopter, a team of four men and two women plus
the helicopter's pilot and copilot studied the actions of the
tribesmen, while cameras recorded the event and transmitted the
pictures via satellite to an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean.
According to satellite photography, a rapidly-growing circle of
death, inside of which no human life remained, extended from Yazd,
Iran in the east, 1,050 miles to Mahattat Al-Qatranah, Jordan in the
west; from Nachicevan, Azerbajdzanskaja in the north, 920 miles to
Al-Hulwah, Saudi Arabia in the south. As-Mubarraz, 82 miles below the
southernmost edge of the circle, thus far appeared to be unaffected
and the Bedouin camp was the first sign of human life the team had
spotted this close to the periphery of the circle.
The preponderance of evidence about the circle of death indicated the
presence of some incredibly fast-acting, 100 percent virulent,
rapidly-dispersing biological or chemical agent. There were two
pieces of data that conflicted with that thesis. The first was that
whatever the killing agent was, it traveled in all directions at
about the same speed and was therefore unaffected by air currents, as
would have been the case with any known nuclear, biological, or
chemical agent. The second chink in the thesis was the macabre video
report that had come from World News Network in Riyadh.
For protection, each member of the helicopter's crew and research
team wore an entirely self-contained nuclear/biological/chemical suit
which provided protection against any infiltrant larger than .005
microns. Gas masks were used until the helicopter came to within
twenty kilometers of the city, after which point respiration was
provided by individual tanks of compressed air carried by each member
of the team and the crew members. Because of this protective
encasement, communications among the team were carried out by means
of short-range radio transmitters and receivers that were built into
their masks and hoods. Anything said by a member of the team would be
heard by all other members and transmitted back by the helicopter's
communications equipment to the carrier in the Indian Ocean.
There was no indication of anything unusual when the helicopter
reached the southern edge of the city. The residents were going about
their daily lives. Hovering about 150 feet above the ground, the six
cameras mounted below the helicopter recorded everything they
encountered, providing a complete panoramic view from the chopper's
belly. Inside, the team members scanned the vicinity for anything
that seemed at all unusual, but found nothing. The team leader, Col.
Terry Crystal, leaned through the doorway from the cargo bay to the
helicopter's cockpit and signaled the pilot to proceed northward,
stopping at each of the predetermined coordinates for subsequent
inspection.
The helicopter was a flying laboratory with equipment on board to
provide immediate analysis of all environmental data and the
retrieval and collection of samples for further analysis on their
return to their base in Qal'at Bishna. At each of the several stops
made over the city, air samples were taken for immediate analysis but
so far nothing unusual had been found.
Arriving at the northern edge of the city the helicopter slowed
again, hovering while the team repeated its routine. If nothing was
found, the itinerary would take them next to Al-Hulwah, a location
within the known radius of the circle of death, where satellite
photographs indicated no human life remained. The air sample from the
city's northern border indicated the presence of no contaminants and
there appeared to be no visual indication of anything out of the
ordinary on the ground. Col. Crystal checked with each member of his
team and then, leaning back into the cockpit again, motioned to the
pilot to continue.
The pilot was about to carry out Col. Crystal's order when the
copilot thought he noticed something. "What's that?" he asked,
pointing to something on the ground.
Col. Crystal and the pilot looked where the copilot was pointing.
"It's just a woman doing her laundry in a washtub," Col. Crystal said.
"No, look closer," the copilot insisted.
Col. Crystal picked up his binoculars and stepped into the cockpit
for a better view. "What the . . .?!" he gasped, still holding the
binoculars. His response drew the attention of the rest of the team
in the helicopter's bay.
"There's something else!" someone said, pointing about a hundred
yards from the woman. Shifting their attention, they watched as a man
picked up a pitchfork and ran toward another man.
"Quick! The woman!" someone else yelled cryptically, and pointed back
to the previous scene, where a man with a rifle was approaching the
woman at the wash tub.
"Get us out of range of that rifle!" Col. Crystal ordered quickly.
"Everybody hang on!" the pilot yelled as he pulled the chopper
sharply up and to the left to take cover behind one of the city's
taller buildings. He did so just in time, as the man turned and
started shooting at them.
"Look! Over there!" one of the female team members called.
"And over there!" someone else said.
It quickly became apparent that there were more than enough
atrocities to keep them all busy; no one needed to point them out.
Even from a distance of hundreds of feet in the air, the slaughter
was sickening to watch. The madness spread below them at incredible
speed.
"Are we getting all this on camera?" Col. Crystal asked.
"Yes, sir," came the answer from the team member monitoring the cameras.
"Let's get our air samples and get out of here," the colonel
directed. Crystal stepped back into the cockpit. The cockpit's large
windows provided a much wider angle of view than the observation
windows in the helicopter's bay. Despite the horror on the ground,
the attention of all three men in the cockpit was fixed on it, unable
to conceive of such mindless slaughter. For a while no one spoke;
they all watched in disbelief, struggling to comprehend what could be
causing this.
"Sir," the pilot said, addressing Col. Crystal, "I don't know what's
going on down there, but if your people have their samples I think we
ought to get the h*** out of here and come back for the other tests
when things have calmed down. Right now we're a sitting duck for
anyone with a gun. They've pretty much ignored us so far, but . . ."
The pilot's sentence was cut short by a flashing light on the
instrument panel, followed by a sudden shift in the helicopter's
weight distribution. "Someone's opened the bay door!!" he yelled.
Col. Crystal turned on his heel and went back into the
helicopter's bay. What he saw there defied logical explanation. The
bay door was indeed open as the pilot's instruments had indicated,
but the research team was gone.
After waiting a moment but hearing no word from Col. Crystal, the
pilot decided to have a look for himself. "Take over," he told his
copilot. "I'm going back to see what's going on."
The same scene greeted him as had met Col. Crystal. The door was open
and no one was there not even Col. Crystal. "No one's back here!"
he reported in stunned disbelief to his copilot by way of the
internal radio in their protective suits. "It looks like they've all
jumped!"
"Oh, d***!" the copilot answered. It didn't take much to realize that
whatever was affecting the people on the ground had taken its toll on
the research team. "Let's get out of here, skipper."
"Roger that. Just let me get this door shut and we'll be gone!"
The pilot moved quickly to the rear of the bay and reached to pull
the door shut. Behind him there was a flash of movement and someone
lunged from behind some equipment. Hit by the man's full weight, the
pilot flew through the open doorway of the helicopter along with his
attacker. Tumbling through mid-air towards his certain death, he saw
who had tackled him. It was Col. Crystal.
"Get back to base!" he yelled as loud as he could, hoping that he was
still within range for radio contact with his copilot it was
imperative that the data gathered by the team be delivered. Two
seconds later the pilot and Col. Crystal were dead.
Inside the helicopter, the copilot had heard the pilot's last order
and was already making good its completion. Moving south as quickly
as the chopper would take him, he retreated back the way they had
come. Everywhere below him the killing progressed with amazing speed.
The cameras were still rolling, capturing the details of the
bloodshed and sending them back to a stunned analysis team in the
Indian Ocean. Then unexpectedly, the copilot caught the smell of
something like rotten eggs or burning sulfur.
The dark legions of the Euphrates River had not yet reached the
Bedouin camp south of the city. Looking up from feeding his father's
camels, a teenage Bedouin boy watched with great interest the return
of the helicopter that had passed overhead about half an hour
earlier. Curiously, it flew straight toward them and upon reaching
their camp, hovered there, frightening the animals in camp and
bringing everyone out of their tents. For a moment nothing happened,
and then it seemed as though rain was falling but the rain burned
their eyes. The rain' was fuel from the helicopter's tanks being
dumped on the camp and blown about by the helicopter's blades. Many
people took shelter in their tents, which soaked up the gas. With
about a quarter of its fuel remaining, the helicopter shot straight
up into the sky. At about a thousand feet up the copilot changed
course and took the helicopter into a power dive, coming down
directly into the heart of the Bedouin camp and turning the entire
camp into a spectacular blazing inferno.
By the end of the second day there was not a person left alive within
1,200 miles of the Euphrates River and the murderous madness was
continuing to spread, reaching as far west as Libya, as far east as
Afghanistan, as far north as Volgograd, Russia, and as far south as
the Gulf of Aden. Five hundred million men, women, and children had
been killed and there was no sign of abatement. The following night
the circle of death had reached Timessa, Libya, and the heel of the
boot of Italy in the west; western India in the east; Moscow in the
north; and Burji, Ethiopia in the south. Eight hundred million people
lay brutally slaughtered; the populations of Iraq, Iran, Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Yemen, Oman, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria,
Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, as well as most of Romania,
Turkistan, Libya, Ethiopia, and the Sudan were dead. There was one
exception: not one person within the borders of Israel had been
killed.
James BeauSeigneur
<sr@selectivehouse.com>
The three books of THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY (In His Image, Birth of
an Age, and Acts of God) are available through PropheZine at
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html with a percentage of
each sale going to support the on-going ministry of PropheZine. Mr.
BeauSeigneur's other published works include technical manuals on
military avionics and strategic defense technology.
Reviewer Jay Carper says of The Christ Clone Trilogy: **Apocalypse
fans, here is your Hobbit. Every turn was unexpected. The characters
were real. The plot was real. And never have I seen the Seven Seals
broken with such clarity and imagination. . .**
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html
Reviewer Bob Lally (PropheZine): **The most exciting end-time story I
have ever read. I have read the trilogy two times in the past 18
months and will most definitely read it again this summer.**
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html
======================================================
Bearing Great Fruit
By: Ken Onweller
======================================================
Have you ever wanted to bear great fruit for the cause of Jesus
Christ but found yourself bearing thorns, instead? In 2 Peter 1:5-
8 we find what may be the actual reason people fail to bear great
fruit.
OVERVIEW
2 Peter 1:5
5 And beside this, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity.
In this passage we see the progression of steps towards great
fruit-bearing. Each step draws from the previous and leads into
the next. To miss a step is like building a house and forgetting
to put up the walls before the ceiling. It just doesn't work.
Step 1: ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE
What is interesting about this step is that you are adding virtue
to your faith. This means that you must already have the faith you
are adding to. So, where did this faith come from?
Ga 2:16 Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the
law, but by THE FAITH OF JESUS
CHRIST... [emphasis mine]
Since the faith is from Jesus it isn't something that you actually
need to work on. No, not like the other things in the list.
So instead of pursuing something which you already have (faith),
you need to go after those things which you do not have. And you
must go after them with ALL DILIGENCE. Why? BECAUSE YOU DON'T
AUTOMATICALLY HAVE THEM LIKE YOU DO WITH FAITH!!!
So what is virtue? It is purity. The kind of purity that
represents the absence of sin. Imagine a fresh snowfall. So
smooth and untouched. This represents virtue. If the snow is left
alone it will remain perfect. Allow anything into that snow and it
is marred. Likewise, a virtuous person is easily marred by sin.
Heb 12:1 ...let us lay
aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset
[us]...
Step 2: TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE
In Step 1, we saw the need to keep our lives as sin-free as
possible. In Step 2, we see there is another element: adding
knowledge. This should be almost a no-brainer. How do you think
you increase your knowledge of Jesus Christ?
Through devotional bible study.
It isn't just reading the bible which draws you closer to God. No,
you need to make it a daily conversation between you and he. Are
you spending time in the word each day getting to know Jesus better
and seeking his will for your life?
If so, you are promised a strength great enough to withstand
whatever life throws your way.
Matthew 7:24
24 Therefore whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a
rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house; and it fell
not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Step 3: TO KNOWLEDGE TEMPERANCE
With increased knowledge of Jesus Christ will also come the power
to control yourself. When a temptation to sin comes along, you
should be able to withstand it completely.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common
to man: but God [is] faithful,
who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear [it].
The only question is this: are you seeing the escape? If not, are
you growing in knowledge as you should be?
I believe that what the Holy Spirit is teaching us here is a
progression of baby steps leading to a very powerful life.
Step 4: TO TEMPERANCE PATIENCE
Patience, here, isn't patience in the sense we commonly think of
it. No, it means endurance. So, after you've become successful at
resisting sin you need to grow in endurance.
Don't allow yourself to slack off, but go at it with all of the
gusto which Jesus supplies you through his Spirit.
Php 4:13 I can do all things
through Christ which
strengtheneth me.
Ro 2:7 To them who by patient
continuance in well doing seek
for glory and honour and
immortality, eternal life...
Step 5: TO PATIENCE GODLINESS
This part amazes me the most for it serves as a sort of a hinge.
We know that the next two characteristics of a rich Christian walk
are brotherly kindness and charity (vs. 7). But as we've been
following a progression, we cannot have brotherly kindness and
charity except we have godliness.
And, we cannot have godliness except we have been diligently
putting sin out of our lives, having regular devotional bible
studies, resisting temptation, and enduring patiently without
giving up.
So it is, with these preliminaries established we can now have
godliness. And what, exactly, does godliness mean? According to
the Greek, the word for godliness means having a proper attitude
towards God.
If you feel like God just isn't there or that you just don't seem
close to him, maybe you've slacked off a bit. Are you really
following all of the proper steps?
Step 6: TO GODLINESS BROTHERLY KINDNESS
Once we have the proper attitude towards God we can begin to
fulfill the commandment of Jesus Christ.
1Jo 3:23 And this is his
commandment ... love one
another, as he gave us
commandment.
Brotherly love is far more than just helping out other people
occasionally. No, it is learning to look out for and to put every
one of their needs before your own. It requires incredible self-
sacrifice. And, it isn't easy. But as you have begun to
experience TRUE godliness, you'll find that your ability and desire
to express brotherly love should also increase.
Php 2:13 For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and
to do of [his] good pleasure.
Step 7: TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS CHARITY
Charity, or agape, is the very epitome of who and what God is. It
goes above and beyond loving your brother. It is the expression of
how God feels about all of creation. Everything which God has done
in the past, in the present, and in the future is motivated by
love.
These seven baby steps towards Christian maturity may seem like a
lot but look at the end result.
Ro 8:29 For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate [to be]
conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
God's purpose for us is that we be extensions of Jesus Christ on
this earth. As you follow these steps you should find yourself
conforming more and more to the image of Jesus Christ with each
day!
SOURCE OF DOUBT
2 Peter 1:8
8 For if these things be in you,
and abound, they make [you that ye
shall] neither [be] barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was
purged from his old sins.
By way of reminder, as you follow the seven steps of putting sin
out of your life, having regular bible time, resisting sin,
enduring patiently, reverencing God, loving your brother, and
loving as God does, you will be a very productive child of God.
You will in no possible way be barren nor unfruitful.
However, if you do not follow these steps in your life, you are
lacking and short-sighted. When you are short-sighted you will be
swallowed up by your life and what is going on around you. You
will lose sight of the Rapture and all of the glory to be given you
when Jesus returns. You will forget about New Jerusalem and the
invigorating energy afforded you when you are given the new spirit
body that can never run down.
Now, whatever Paul meant by the last part, "...and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins," I'll let you draw your own
conclusions.
SOURCE OF CONFIDENCE
2 Peter 1:10
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do
these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be
ministered unto you abundantly into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In contrast to the depressing downslide you face in not growing in
Jesus Christ, this passage offers incredible hope for your
diligence. As you follow the seven steps you'll realize the great
encouragement that, "...ye shall never fall: For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ".
Of course, you could still make it to heaven without following these
steps at all. It's really between you and Jesus. But what a
difference your life will make if you do.
======================================================
The Nature of the Lord's Return: Is the Lord Returning in Love or Wrath?
by Dr. David R. Reagan
======================================================
When you think of the coming of the Lord, what do you think of? What
is your image? Is it positive or negative? Is it a return in love or
in wrath? And what do you feel? Fear or joy? Comfort or anxiety?
How would you characterize your overall attitude about the Lord's
return? Desire or apathy? Do you pray for it? Or, do you try not to
think about it? Are you enthusiastic or passive?
Finally, how would you describe the Lord's coming? How would you
explain it to someone who knows nothing about it?
The Scriptural Images
There are two detailed descriptions of the Lord's return in the New
Testament, one written by the Apostle Paul and the other by the
Apostle John. These descriptions are reproduced on page 2, side by
side. Stop for a moment and read them carefully.
Now, let me ask you some more questions. How can these two
descriptions be reconciled? I ask that because they are as different
as night and day. Did you notice that?
Look again and make a careful comparison. Notice that they have
absolutely nothing in common. In fact, they are totally incompatible.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
"(13) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those
who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no
hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (15)
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede
those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend
from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (17)
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall
always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore comfort one another with
these words."
Revelation 19:11-18
"(11) And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who
sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He
judges and wages war. (12) and His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon
His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which
no one knows except himself. (13) And He is clothed with a robe
dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. (14) And the
armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
were following Him on white horses. (15) And from His mouth comes a
sharp sword, so that with it He many smite the nations; and He will
rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the
fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (16) And on His robe and on His
thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'"
Comparison and Contrast
The passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 presents a scene of love, mercy, and
grace. The picture that is painted by Revelation 19 is one of
vengeance and wrath. In the Thessalonian passage, the Lord appears in
the sky, but does not descend to the earth. In the Revelation
account, he come to the earth. Zechariah 14 says He will return to
the Mount of Olives from which He ascended into Heaven.
One of the most significant differences between the two passages
relates to the Church. In the Thessalonian account, the Lord comes
for the purpose of taking His Church, both the dead and living
members, out of this world. In Revelation, by stark contrast, He
returns with His Church. This is indicated in Revelation 19:14 where
it says that "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean were following Him on white horses." We know these
people constitute the Church, because the same group is described a
few verses before (verses 7 and 8) as being the "bride" of Christ.
Thus, in Paul's description of the Lord's return, He is portrayed as
coming for His Church, to deliver believers from the "wrath that is
to come" (1 Thessalonians 1:10). But in John's description, Jesus is
portrayed as returning with His Church in great wrath. In
Thessalonians Jesus returns as a Deliverer. In Revelation He comes
back as a Warrior. In one scene He is coming to claim the righteous;
in the other, He returns to condemn the unrighteous.
A Problem in Reconciliation
What is going on here? How could these two passages be talking about
the same event? How can they be reconciled?
I believe there is only one way to reconcile them and that is to
conclude that they are describing two separate events. That, in turn,
implies rather clearly that there are going to be two future comings
of the Lord.
One of those the one described in 1 Thessalonians 4 will be more
of an appearing than a coming, for the Lord will not actually return
to the earth. He will, instead, appear in the heavens and
supernaturally draw the Church, living and dead, to Him.
The second future appearance of the Lord the one described in
Revelation 19 will be the true "Second Coming," for the Lord will
actually descend to the earth to pour out the wrath of God and
establish His reign over all the world.
This means the "Second Coming" of the Lord is going to be in two
stages. The first stage will be what has come to be known as the
Rapture the snatching of the Church out of the world. The second
stage, which will occur later, will be the return of the Lord to the
earth.
The Issue of Imminence
This method of reconciling these passages solves a serious problem
that emerges when you think of only one future coming of the Lord.
That problem relates to the emphasis that the Scriptures give to
imminence.
What I am referring to, of course, is the constant warning of the
Scriptures that the Lord may appear any moment and, therefore, we are
to always be ready for the Lord's return (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44, 50
and 25:13).
If there is only one future coming of the Lord, then these warnings
are a waste of time and there is no imminence because there are many
prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled before the Lord can return.
For example:
1. A peace treaty must be signed that will guarantee Israel's peace
with all of its Arab neighbors (Daniel 9:27).
2. The Jewish Temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15, 2
Thessalonians 2:3-4, and Revelation 11:1-2).
3. The Great Tribulation must begin and run its seven year course,
resulting in the death of over half the world's population
(Revelation 6-18).
4. The Antichrist must reveal himself and begin an unprecedented
persecution of the Jews one that will result in the death of
two-thirds of all the Jews (Revelation 12:13-17 & Zechariah 13:7-9).
5. The Gospel must be preached to every person on the earth (Matthew
24:14 and Revelation 14:6-7).
6. An unprecedented system of economic control must be established
that will prevent persons from buying or selling anything unless they
can display on their right hands or foreheads the mark or name of the
Antichrist.
7. The worldwide kingdom of the Antichrist must be destroyed in "one
hour of one day" (Revelation 17 & 18).
These are all events that are clearly prophesied in Scripture as
occurring before Jesus returns to earth. None of them has yet been
fulfilled in history. If there is only one future coming of the Lord,
and it must take place after these events, then why should we be
looking for Jesus Christ? We should be looking instead for the
Antichrist!
Living with Expectancy
The only way that the imminence taught by the Scriptures can be
maintained is to believe that Jesus can return any moment. The only
way to maintain that belief is to conclude that the Lord's appearing
for His Church (the Rapture) is an event that is separate and apart
from the Second Coming and is an event that can occur any moment.
That is what I have concluded from my study of prophecy, and I
therefore live looking for the Rapture to occur any moment. This is
exactly what Paul commands us to do when he writes that we are to
live "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:13).
I therefore do not believe there is one prophecy in the Bible that
must be fulfilled before the Lord appears for His Church. He can
appear any moment. And the imminence of His appearing increases daily
as the signs of the time point to the events that will culminate with
His Second Coming. Those signs include, among others, the
re-establishment of the state of Israel, the Jewish reoccupation of
the city of Jerusalem, the reunification of Europe, and the rise of
Arab militancy in the Middle East.
Keep in mind that the Rapture is not the event that will kick-off the
Tribulation. That event is the signing of a peace treaty that will
guarantee the peace of Israel with all its Arab neighbors and will
also authorize the Jews to rebuild their Temple (Daniel 9:27). The
Rapture could occur years before the Tribulation begins, although it
is most likely to occur near the beginning because the Tribulation is
the time for the pouring out of God's wrath, and 1 Thessalonians 1:10
says that Jesus will "deliver" His Church "from the wrath to come."
Hope or Terror?
To summarize, we should be looking for two future comings of the Lord
one at the beginning of the Tribulation, the other at the end. The
first, the Rapture, will be the appearing of the Lord for His Church.
The second, the Second Coming, will be the return of the Lord to the
earth to "judge and wage war" against the enemies of God (Revelation
19:11).
The signs of the times point to the fact that Jesus is at the very
gates of Heaven, waiting for His Father's command to appear for His
Church. The Rapture is imminent.
Are you ready? Will Jesus appear (the Rapture) as your Blessed Hope?
Or, will He return (the Second Coming) as your Holy Terror? The
choice is yours.
Copyright © 1996 Lamb and Lion. All rights reserved worldwide. Dr.
David R. Reagan is founder and senior evangelist of Lamb & Lion
Ministries in McKinney, Texas http://www.lamblion.com/
*******************
DEVOTIONALS
******************
Spurgeon's Devotion:
"Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God."
- 1 Thessalonians 1:4
Many persons want to know their election before they look to
Christ, but they cannot learn it thus, it is only to be
discovered by "looking unto Jesus." If you desire to ascertain
your own election;-after the following manner, shall you assure
your heart before God. Do you feel yourself to be a lost, guilty
sinner? go straightway to the cross of Christ, and tell Jesus so,
and tell him that you have read in the Bible, "Him that cometh
unto me, I will in no wise cast out."
Tell him that he has said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." Look to Jesus and believe on him, and you shall make
proof of your election directly, for so surely as thou believest,
thou art elect. If you will give yourself wholly up to Christ and
trust him, then you are one of God's chosen ones; but if you stop
and say, "I want to know first whether I am elect," you ask you
know not what.
Go to Jesus, be you never so guilty, just as you are. Leave all
curious inquiry about election alone. Go straight to Christ and
hide in his wounds, and you shall know your election.
The assurance of the Holy Spirit shall be given to you, so that
you shall be able to say, "I know whom I have believed, and I am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to
him." Christ was at the everlasting council: he can tell you
whether you were chosen or not; but you cannot find it out in any
other way. Go and put your trust in him, and his answer will
be-"I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee. " There will be no doubt about
his having chosen you, when you have chosen him.
"Sons we are through God's election,
Who in Jesus Christ believe."
*******************
POETRY
*******************
It's That Simple
by Lori Eldridge
We're being
strangled
by apostasy.
Faith
plus works
equals nothing.
God's
grace
rejected;
A precious gift
forsaken
by man's
foolish pride.
Submit,
repent,
accept,
obey,
commit,
receive,
confess,
and baptize
your way
into
deception.
Work
your way
to heaven
if you can.
Waste your time.
Waste your life.
Waste other's lives.
Follow
Satan's
twisted plan
or just believe:
He came,
He died
for me
and you,
He was buried,
He rose again.
(1 Cor. 15:1-5)
Lori
Eldridge
(c) 7-18--00
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