PROPHETIC SIGNS THAT WE ARE IN THE END TIMES [A good summary of SOME key evidences--QX]

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The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. As the Christian church is increasingly drawn into the interfaith movement, and as more and more churches go into isolation, preparing to sleep through the growing attacks on their faith, perhaps God knew it would take a few signs to wake us up and remind us that we have work to do.

Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.

It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.

Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.

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In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.

Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."

In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.

Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."

Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Africa in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."

This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.

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II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.

I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."

Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.

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Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."

An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.

Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."

Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."

The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.

Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."

Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.

4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM

For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.

Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."

Daniel 9:27 "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 desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Daniel 9:26 "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."

Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.

There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:

1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.

2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.

3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.

A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.

Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."

A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.

Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.

Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."

In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.

Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."

In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.

Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."

In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.

Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."

On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."

Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.

The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.

Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."

Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.

Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."

TOMMY HICKS' END-TIMES VISION.

The following is a stunning vision given to American preacher Tommy Hicks (who was a major figure in the powerful 1954 Argentina Revival).

VISION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST AND THE END-TIME MINISTRIES

My message begins July 25, about 2:30 in the morning at Winnipeg, Canada. I had hardly fallen asleep when the vision and the revelation that God gave me came before me. The vision came three times, exactly in detail, the morning of July 25, 1961. I was so stirred and so moved by the revelation that this has changed my complete outlook upon the body of Christ, and upon the end-time
ministries.

The greatest thing that the church of Jesus Christ has ever been given lies straight ahead. It is so hard to help men and women to realize and understand the thing that God is trying to give his people in the end times.

I received a letter several weeks ago from one of our native evangelists down in Africa, down in Nairobi. This man and his wife were on their way to Tanganyika. They could neither read nor could they write, but we had been supporting them for over two years. As they entered into the territory of Tanganyika, they came across a small village. The entire village was evacuating
because of a plague that had hit the village. He came across natives that were weeping, and he asked them what was wrong.

They told him of their mother and father who had suddenly died, and they had been dead for three days. They had to leave. They were afraid to go in; they were leaving them in the cottage. He turned and asked them where they were. They pointed to the hut and he asked them to go with him, but they refused. They were
afraid to go.

The native and his wife went to this little cottage and entered in where the man and woman had been dead for three days. He simply stretched forth his hand in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and spoke the man's name and the woman's name and said, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command life to come back to your bodies." Instantaneously these two heathen people
who had never known Jesus Christ as their Savior sat up and immediately began to praise God. The spirit and the power of God came into the life of those people.

To us that may seem strange and a phenomenon, but that is the beginning of these end-time ministries. God is going to take the do-nothings, the nobodies, the unheard-of, the no-accounts. He is going to take every man and every woman and he is going to give to them this outpouring of the Spirit of God.

In the book of Acts we read that "In the last days," God said, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." I wonder if we realized what he meant when God said, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." I do not think I fully realized nor could I understand the fullness of it, and then I read from the book of Joel:

"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain -" (Joel 2:23). It is not only going to be the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, but he is going to give to his people in these last days a double portion of the
power of God!

As the vision appeared to me after I was asleep, I suddenly found myself in a great high distance. Where I was, I do not know. But I was looking down upon the earth. Suddenly the whole earth came into my view. Every nation, every kindred, every tongue came before my sight from the east and the west, the north and the south. I recognized every country and many cities that I
had been in, and I was almost in fear and trembing as I beheld the great sight before me: and at that moment when the world came into view, it began to lightning and thunder.

As the lightning flashed over the face of the earth, my eyes went downward and I was facing the north. Suddenly I beheld what looked like a great giant, and as I stared and looked at it, I was almost bewildered by the sight. It was so gigantic and so great. His feet seemed to reach to the north pole and his head to the south. Its arms were stretched from sea to sea. I could not even begin to understand whether this be a mountain or this be a giant, but as I watched, I suddenly beheld a great giant. I could see his head was struggling for life. He wanted to live, but his body was covered with debris from head to foot, and at times this great giant would move his body and act as though it would even raise up at times. And when it did, thousands of little creatures
seemed to run away. Hideous creatures would run away from this giant, and when he would become calm, they would come back.

All of a sudden this great giant lifted his hand towards heaven, and then it lifted its other hand, and when it did these creatures by the thousands seemed to flee away from this giant and go into the darkness of the night.

Slowly this great giant began to rise and as he did, his head and hands went into the clouds. As he rose to his feet he seemed to have cleansed himself from the debris and filth that was upon him, and he began to raise his hands into the heavens as though praising the Lord, and as he raised his hands, they went even unto the clouds.

Suddenly, every cloud became silver, the most beautiful silver I have ever known. As I watched this phenomenon it was so great I could not even begin to understand what it all meant. I was so stirred as I watched it, and I cried unto the Lord and I said, "Oh Lord, what is the meaning of this." and I felt as if I was actually in the Spirit and I could feel the presence of the Lord
even as I was asleep.

And from those clouds suddenly there came great drops of liquid light raining down upon this mighty giant, and slowly, slowly, this giant began to melt, began to sink itself in the very earth itself, and as he melted, his whole form seemed to have melted upon the face of the earth, and this great rain began to come down. Liquid drops of light began to flood the very earth itself and as I watched this giant that seemed to melt, suddenly it became millions of people over the face of the earth. As I beheld the sight before me, people stood up all over the world! They were lifting their hands and they were praising the Lord.

At that very moment there came a great thunder that seemed to roar from the heavens. I turned my eyes toward the heavens and suddenly I saw a figure in white, in glistening white - the most glorious thing that I have ever seen in my entire life. I did not see the face, but somehow I knew it was the Lord Jesus Christ, and he stretched forth his hand, and as he did, he would stretch
it forth to one, and to another, and to another. And as he stretched forth his hand upon the nations and the people of the world - men and women - as he pointed toward them, this liquid light seemed to flow from his hands into them, and a mighty anointing of God came upon them, and those people began to go forth in the name of the Lord.

I do not know how long I watched it. It seemed it went into days and weeks and months. And I beheld this Christ as he continued to stretch forth his hand; but there was a tragedy. There were many people as he stretched forth his hand that refused the anointing of God and the call of God. I saw men and women that I knew. People that I felt would certainly receive the call of God. But as
he stretched forth his hand toward this one and toward that one, they simply bowed their head and began to back away. And each of those that seemed to bow down and back away, seemed to go into darkness. Blackness seemed to swallow them everywhere.

I was bewildered as I watched it, but these people that he had anointed, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, in Africa, England, Russia, China, America, all over the world, the anointing of God was upon these people as they went forward in the name of the Lord. I saw these men and women as they went forth. They were ditch diggers, they were washerwomen, they were rich men, they were poor men. I saw people who were bound with paralysis and sickness and blindness and deafness. As the Lord stretched forth to give them this anointing, they became well, they became healed, and they went forth!

And this is the miracle of it - this is the glorious miracle of it - those people would stretch forth their hands exactly as the Lord did, and it seemed as if there was this same liquid fire in their hands. As they stretched forth their hands they said, "According to my word, be thou made whole."

As these people continued in this mighty end-time ministry, I did not fully realize what it was, and I looked to the Lord and said, "What is the meaning of this?" And he said, "This is that which I will do in the last days. I will restore all that the cankerworm, the palmerworm, the caterpiller - I will restore all that they have destroyed. This, my people, in the end times will
go forth. As a mighty army shall they sweep over the face of the earth."

As I was at this great height, I could behold the whole world. I watched these people as they were going to and fro over the face of the earth. Suddenly there was a man in Africa and in a moment he was transported by the Spirit of God, and perhaps he was in Russia, or China or America or some other place, and vice versa. All over the world these people went, and they came through fire, and through pestilence, and through famine. Neither fire nor persecution, nothing seemed to stop them.

Angry mobs came to them with swords and with guns. And like Jesus, they passed through the multitudes and they could not find them, but they went forth in the name of the Lord, and everywhere they stretched forth their hands, the sick were healed, the blind eyes were opened. There was not a long prayer, and after I had reviewed the vision many times in my mind, and I thought about it many times, I realised that I never saw a church, and I never saw or heard a denomination, but these people were going in the name of the Lord of Hosts. Hallelujah!

As they marched forth in everything they did as the ministry of Christ in the end times, these people were ministering to the multitudes over the face of the earth. Tens of thousands, even millions seemed to come to the Lord Jesus Christ as these people stood forth and gave the message of the kingdom, of the coming kingdom, in this last hour. It was so glorious, but it seems as
though there were those that rebelled, and they would become angry and they tried to attack those workers that were giving the message.

God is going to give the world a demonstration in this last hour as the world has never known. These men and women are of all walks of life, degrees will mean nothing. I saw these workers as they were going over the face of the earth. When one would stumble and fall, another would come and pick him up. There were no "big I" and "little you," but every mountain was brought low and
every valley was exalted, and they seemed to have one thing in common - there was a divine love, a divine love that seemed to flow forth from these people as they worked together, and as they lived together. It was the most glorious sight that I have ever known. Jesus Christ was the theme of their life. They continued and it seemed the days went by as I stood and beheld this sight.
I could only cry, and sometimes I laughed. It was so wonderful as these people went throughout the face of the whole earth, bringing forth in this last end time.

As I watched from the very heaven itself, there were times when great deluges of this liquid light seemed to fall upon great congregations, and that congregation would lift up their hands and seemingly praise God for hours and even days as the Spirit of God came upon them. God said, "I will pour my Spirit upon all flesh," and that is exactly this thing. And to every man and every woman
that received this power, and the anointing of God, the miracles of God, there was no ending to it.

We have talked about miracles. We have talked about signs and wonders, but I could not help but weep as I read again this morning, at 4 o'clock this morning the letter from our native workers. This is only the evidence of the beginning for one man, a "do-nothing, an unheard-of," who would go and stretch forth his hand and say, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command
life to flow into your body." I dropped to my knees and began to pray again, and I said, "Lord, I know that this time is coming soon!"

And then again, as these people were going about the face of the earth, a great persecution seemed to come from every angle.

Suddenly there was another great clap of thunder, that seemed to resound around the world, and I heard again the voice, the voice that seemed to speak, "Now this is my people. This is my beloved bride." And when the voice spoke, I looked upon the earth and I could see the lakes and the mountains. The graves were opened and people from all over the world, the saints of all ages, seemed to
be rising. And as they rose from the grave, suddenly all these people came from every direction. From the east and the west, from the north and the south, and they seemed to be forming again this gigantic body. As the dead in Christ seemed to be rising first, I could hardly comprehend it. It was so marvellous. It was so far beyond anything I could ever dream or think of.

But as this body suddenly began to form, and take shape again, it took shape again in the form of this mighty giant, but this time it was different. It was arrayed in the most beautiful gorgeous white. Its garments were without spot or wrinkle as its body began to form, and the people of all ages seemed to be gathered into this body, and slowly, slowly, as it began to form up into the very heavens, suddenly from the heavens above, the Lord Jesus came, and became the head, and I heard another clap of
thunder that said, "This is my beloved bride for whom I have waited. She will come forth even tried by fire. This is she that I have loved from the beginning of time."

As I watched, my eyes suddenly turned to the far north, and I saw seemingly destruction: men and women in anguish and crying out, and buildings in destruction. Then I heard again, the fourth voice that said, "Now is My wrath being poured out upon the face of the earth." From the ends of the whole world, the wrath of God seemed to be poured out and it seemed that there were great vials
of God's wrath being poured out upon the face of the earth. I can remember it as though it happened a moment ago. I shook and trembled as I beheld the awful sight of seeing the cities, and whole nations going down into destruction.

I could hear the weeping and wailing. I could hear people crying. They seemed to cry as they went into caves, but the caves in the mountains opened up.

They leaped into water, but the water would not drown them. There was nothing that could destroy them. They were wanting to take their lives, but they could not. Then again I turned my eyes to this glorious sight, this body arrayed in beautiful white, shining garments. Slowly, slowly, it began to lift from the earth, and as it did, I awoke. What a sight I had beheld! I had seen the end-time ministries - the last hour. Again on July 27, at 2:30 in the morning, the same revelation, the same vision came again exactly as it did before.

My life has been changed as I realised that we are living in that end time, for all over the world God is anointing men and women with this ministry. It will not be doctrine. It will not be a churchianity. It is going to be Jesus Christ. They will give forth the word of the Lord, and are going to say, "I heard it so many times in the vision and according to my word it shall be
done."

From:

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~revival/hicks.html

[Quix note: added blue, red bolded emphasis are mine. Other color etc. emphasis original with the doc. Diffs can be compared with original doc at the site]

SECTION 1 OF 3:

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Briefing—

Post Election Takes on a Kerry ELS

In the October issue

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/263

, we noted one "President Kerry" ELS with a skip of 7,467 for which we offered two possible translations. The first was, "Someone who is not quite capable ruled. Yes, Kerry the President is dead." The second was, "The humble (poor) have a ruler. Yes, (the) president! Kerry is dead."

We asked Moshe Shak to look at this string again in light of the election results, and he offered the following new translation:

A Ruler Blocked You—The President Bowed—
Kerry is Gone/Defunct.

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/img/1204BCDBriefing.GIF

Shak noted that "The President Bowed" could be interpreted as "Took His Victory Bows."

Nathan Jacobi also reviewed this ELS and offered this translation, "He was stopped as a magistrate. The President has bent down. Kerry (as President) has expired."

Curiously, the second to last letter of this ELS (a Mem) appears in Ezekiel 39:3 in the middle of a passage about a future time when Gog (Russia?) and Magog (various Muslim nations?) will invade Israel and be decisively defeated. This passage is widely regarded as a prophecy of an early event at or near the beginning of the Tribulation.

Bible Code Bombshell is Ed Sherman's long-awaited book on the most important code findings since the publication of the results of the "Famous Rabbi's Experiment" (Witztum, Rips & Rosenberg) in Statistical Science in 1994. It may well become the book of the year on science and religion.

Bombshell's main chapters are easy-to-read. Technical appendices buttressing its findings have been properly placed at the end of the book.

The first two chapters introduce Bible codes and summarize code developments over the last decade.

The next four chapters present the most convincing evidence yet presented for the reality of the phenomena of Bible codes. While pieces of this evidence have been presented in past BCD issues, the thrust of the case Ed makes in Chapters 3 and 4 is fresh material.

The BCD website is loaded with so many articles and past Digest issues that it can be bewildering. Bombshell boils down the results of five years of extensive research into an enjoyable read. It is limited to covering the most important and significant findings of BCD researchers.

The gist of Ed's case is this:

1. He "blindfolded" an acknowledged Hebrew expert and had him look for codes in the Hebrew Bible and in an ordinary non-encoded Hebrew text.

2. He recorded how many "codes" were found in both texts, how coherent their content was, and how long they were.

3. He developed a clear benchmark for how much "encoded" material would be "discovered" in the ordinary, non-encoded text.

4. He chose a chapter of the Bible that many believe is a prophecy about Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53) and searched for a set of short words about Christ that appear as ELSs in that passage.

5. The Hebrew expert examined each of these short ELSs to see if they were part of a longer phrase or sentence.

6. The Isaiah 53 findings exceeded the benchmark to such an overwhelming extent that "chance" had to be completely ruled out as an explanation.

Not only were the extended codes in Isaiah 53 far longer than chance might produce, but the coherence and relevance of these codes to the topic of Christ sharply contrasted with the kind of random content one would expect from chance "codes."

It is one thing to find a very short code like "Peter" in Isaiah 53. It is quite another to find a lengthy code right before Peter that reads, "Have obedience to God, even if for a day only." How fitting would such words be as ones spoken to the impulsive and unruly Peter.

It is an interesting thing to find a short code like "chosen people." It is quite another to find a potent message surrounding this code that reads, "Know who the chosen people are or God will be angry." What words could better summarize Jewish reactions to the radical early Christians who were seeking to set aside Jewish laws and customs in favor of a new religion?

It is not that unusual a thing to find a short code like "resurrection of Jesus" here and there in the Hebrew Bible. It is utterly amazing to find the following sentence encoded right afterward: "He is risen indeed." What an emphatic reiteration of an event that forever changed human history.

Finding "Jesus is the way" as a code in Isaiah 53 was a bit unusual, though it could have been a coincidence. But finding that this phrase is only part of a longer sentence that reads, "In his name, as he commanded, Jesus is the way," is truly astounding.

Bombshell isn't a dry exposition of a scientific investigation. It is dramatic in its unfolding—because of the stunning content of the codes that were discovered tightly interwoven between the letters of the most controversial passage in the Hebrew Bible.

Not so long ago, a skeptical Ed Sherman was blown away by the profound findings that emerged from his careful investigation. Bombshell provides you with the opportunity to share that experience.

Bible Code Digest—
December 2004 Continued

Psalm 22 Cluster Dwarfs Skeptics’ Best Counterexample

As Christians prepare to celebrate the best of times, the birth of the Savior, it seems somehow inappropriate to be focusing on the worst of times, the execution of the Savior. Yet as Ed Sherman's book, Bible Code Bombshell is published with its claim that Bible codes give evidence that God authored the Bible, it seems fitting after all to examine a fascinating cluster of codes that focuses on the central figure of the Bible, not to mention all of creation (which He, incidentally, is responsible for orchestrating). As horrible as the crucifixion was, the subsequent resurrection of Christ changed everything for mankind, so there is great hope in its subtext.

Great Opening Words

One of the great opening sentences of modern literature is that of Charles Dickens' masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

And yet it pales in comparison to the opening words of Psalm 22, written by King David, one of Jesus' ancestors: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" This psalm is a clear prophecy of the death of Christ, written hundreds of years before His birth. They were the last recorded words that He spoke before he died, nailed to the cross.

One intriguing area is an Old Testament prophecy concerning the Lamb of God. In Exodus 12, where God is first telling Moses about the Passover, He commands that the sacrificial lamb was to be killed "between the two evenings," which some have translated as "twilight," between the 14^th and 15^th days of the month (the Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset).

As it turned out, although we don't have the precise time of His death, Jesus apparently died on or very close to that time. There was an extra twilight that day, when God caused darkness to fall on Jerusalem from noon to 3:00 p.m. Matthew 27:45-46 tells how Jesus died soon after that first darkness ended:

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (NIV)

Extremely Significant

The Psalm 22 cluster is not in the same league with the Isaiah 53 or Ezekiel 37 clusters as yet. Still, though, it is extremely significant, dwarfing the skeptic’s best example of a chance cluster (the Hanukah cluster presented by Prof. Barry Simon in The Case Against the Codes).

http://wopr.com/biblecodes/TheCase.htm

Consider this comparison of the number of long codes in each cluster:

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/img/1204BCDPS22.1.GIF

While this is not a fair comparison, in the sense that we probably looked for many more ELSs than did the skeptics, it still raises the question of why the skeptics haven't presented a cluster of comparable extent and complexity to that of the Psalm 22 cluster, or any one of a number of other clusters that code researchers have presented in recent years.

The simple answer is that it would take decades of searching for the skeptics to produce such an example. They know it, and they are intelligent enough to not bother to invest that much time in such a project. In contrast, BCD researchers looked for only 120 terms, and yet we came up with the mind boggling collection of long ELSs presented in this article. Yes, there are a number of terms we looked for but did not find in Psalm 22, but the rate of discovery of long ELSs was exceptionally high. And the clarity and relevance of the content of most of the codes in the Psalm 22 cluster, with the exception of some of the longest ones, is compelling. And that is a key part of why BCD maintains that the phenomenon of Bible codes must be real.

The Most Interesting Codes

One of the most interesting ELSs in this cluster is the 15-letter, The Guilt Offering, the Son of Man, Humbled Himself. Not only does it harmonize with the Bible's descriptions of Jesus, it nearly paraphrases key scriptures about Him. Take, for example, "Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:5-6 NIV)

Long Live the Risen God of Action. It is Finished. And Where is the Resurrection of Jesus of Blessed Memory? For Whom are the Twelve? This 30-letter code is delightful and mysterious at the same time. The first two sentences make perfect sense to the student of the Bible, and they also harmonize beautifully with Psalm 22. Sentences three and four bring mystery to the ELS. There seems to be a shift in point of view to that of people doubting the hopes of Jesus’ followers that he would be raised from the dead.

Two codes focusing on the ascension of Jesus to heaven 40 days after His death and resurrection are also remarkable. The Ascension of Jesus: for the Sleeping One Will Shout. Listen! (20 letters) and The Ascension of Jesus, the Lofty One, to Him (12 letters) both line up nicely with scripture, although some may argue that "shout" might be a bit strong if the "Sleeping One" refers to Jesus as the resurrected Christ. Others might say that His victory over death and ascension to Him, the Father, certainly shouts a message of hope to a sorry world.

The 23-letter He Wove the Light to be My Might. A Living Sacrifice for Him to Put On is poetically enigmatic, but may be referring to the new life of a believer in Christ, which is sometimes paralleled with a garment. In Ephesians 4:22-24, for instance, the apostle Paul encourages new Christians in the Ephesian church this way:

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (NIV)

Bible Code Digest—
December 2004 Continued

Psalm 22 Cluster Dwarfs Skeptics’ Best Counterexample Continued

Serendipitous Finds Continue to Expand Psalm 22 Cluster

There is still potentially a great deal of material left to be dug out, but other priorities have caused it to be shelved for some time. Even so, while searching for codes in other clusters, serendipitous finds have turned up in or passing through the psalm, and so the cluster has slowly increased in size even without our direct attention to it.

What the connection is between the longest ELS, the other clusters that it passes through and this cluster, is a mystery, unless it in intended to connect the significance of the sacrifice of the Messiah with end times events. There is Quarrel in His Speeches. A Living Brother Uttered Words to Them and to Me. And Zubaidah Turned to His Sea, Without Then Lying for a Whole Week. Oh, the Mountain of Her Interior Will Bear a Testimonial to Her Name also passes through the Ezekiel 37,

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/51

Ezekiel 40

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/98

and Ezekiel 7

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/50

clusters, as well as the Jeremiah 17 cluster.

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/99

These other clusters are concerned with terrorism, the third temple in Jerusalem and the Battle of Armageddon.

We will Advise the Dove. He will Place in Me the Multitude of Gog. You will be Weakened is an interesting, 24-letter ELS in that it not only contains a hint of the end times and also passes through the Isaiah 53 super cluster,

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/9

which is also concerned with the execution of Jesus Christ. Gog is generally considered by prophecy experts to be modern day Russia, which Ezekiel 38 prophesies

http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=EZEK+38&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on

will spearhead an attack on Israel. Some even believe that this assault will signal the beginning of the Tribulation period. Here are the first few verses of that scripture:

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.'"

"'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.'" (Ezekiel 38:1-9, NIV)

The following table lists those in the cluster that are longer than any ELSs in the skeptics' best counterexample cluster:

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/img/1204BCDPsT2.GIF

Bible Code Digest—
December 2004 Continued

Psalm 22 Cluster Dwarfs Skeptics’ Best Counterexample Continued

The next table presents ELSs found in Psalm 22 that are comparable in length to those in the skeptics' best counterexample cluster:

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/img/1204BCDPsT7.GIF

The following terms were searched for in the cluster but not found: Jesus is the Rock, Jesus is the Way, Jesus is the Salvation and the Light, My Name is Jesus and Salvation, Jesus is Her Seed, Jesus is Truth, My Righteous Servant, Jesus is the Son of Mary, Jesus is the Son of Joseph, Only Way, God is My Banner, Jesus Our Righteousness, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, Lord of Lords, God of Gods, Lord God of the Heavens, It Shall Bruise Your Head, The Prince of Peace is Jesus, Sin Bearer, The Prophesied Messiah, Chief Cornerstone, False Messiah, Jesus the Everlasting Father, Jesus Reigns.

[Qx: SOFTWARE FAQs to be posted in a follow-on post.]

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