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Weinland, Ronald.

Prophesy Against the Nations

ISBN: 978-1-5323-1377-6 (softcover)

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

WHO WILL LISTEN?

Chapter 2

A DECEIVED WORLD

Chapter 3

APOSTLES AND PROPHETS

Chapter 4

AN END TO DECEPTION

Chapter 5

THE SEALS AND ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

Chapter 6

IF YOU WILL LISTEN, GOD WILL LISTEN

Chapter 7

COUNTDOWN TO CHRIST’S COMING

Chapter 1

WHO WILL LISTEN?

IF YOU WERE UNDER NORMAL conditions in this world, due to your own personal beliefs, habits, and daily life, you would have no reason whatsoever to be drawn to read this book. However, the vast majority of you who read this do so because, at this very moment, conditions around you are anything but normal. As a matter of fact, they are becoming more threatening, catastrophic, and truly fearful.

You may have been drawn to this book because someone you respect, trust, and/or love has told you that it has real answers to what is currently happening in this world and with a warning that has been given for years about these exact events with uncanny accuracy. This book also continues to tell what is yet to take place in this world before all this comes to an end.

Another possibility as to why you may have been drawn to this book is that you somehow just have a hope, belief, or sense of knowing that this is important for you to read.

Nevertheless, above all, you want answers to what is happening, why it is happening, and what will follow. The only true and meaningful answers to your questions are indeed in this book and in my two previously published books, which foretold precisely that all this would happen. The first, The Prophesied End-Time, was published in 2004, and the second, 2008—God’s Final Witness, was published October of 2006. The only thing that has changed is that the events that were foretold in those books are beginning to occur seven years later than what had first been believed.

True answers to your questions are not, will not, and cannot come from any government, economist, or from any other religious leaders in this world.

Therefore, if you have any genuine concern for the welfare and even survival of yourself, family, and friends, then you owe it to yourself and to them to read all of this with an open mind because their welfare and immediate future may well depend upon what you glean and what you may be able to share with them. This time in human history could best be described as an “end-time” for mankind. Yet do not misunderstand. That does not mean an end to mankind or to this world, but it does involve apocalyptic events that threaten mankind’s existence. Yes, the world is about to dramatically change, with a vastly smaller population that will continue on in a new era for mankind that emerges on the world scene. That which follows all this is actually “good news,” the best news you could ever hope for or imagine once we are through this last war that is to be waged by mankind.

Facing Truth

Regardless of any kind of religious beliefs you may or may not have, the reality is that many of those beliefs will now be challenged as the result of a natural human response to some of the material you read that is so different from what you have always believed. You are now going to be faced with the need to objectively and open-mindedly address everything you think about God. It is the One Almighty, Self-Existing God who is front and center to all that is now taking place. Thankfully, we are very rapidly approaching the most historic moment ever in the entire existence of mankind, when God is now going to intervene to completely change this world from the way we have always known it to be. You need to know why the Great God is allowing mankind to come to the very edge of extinction itself and why for the most part He has kept hands-off in the affairs of mankind until now.

Nearly everyone who reads this book is going to be confronted by the need to examine long held beliefs about the Great God who created us. As a whole, for the past 6,000 years, God has indeed kept hands-off the general affairs of mankind and has allowed mankind to experiment with every kind of government, economic system, and religion—even religion supposedly based on true belief in Him. However, that is all about to change as God ushers in a new era for this world as He stops mankind from destroying itself and this earth.

For those who are of traditional Christianity, the process of confronting what you have always believed will be just like when you were a child and you learned that there was no Santa Claus and no Easter Bunny. You learned that they were fictitious—simply a lie passed down by parents to their children. Isn’t that a great way to begin grounding children in character and moral values, especially when associated with religious beliefs? Of course not, yet that is exactly what most have done. Such behavior is so easily dismissed as being “okay” and harmless because it is fun, cute, and exciting to participate together in such a manner for family sake and memorable times spent together.

Now you are an adult, but much of the same kind of thing is going to occur again concerning many other things that you have believed about God and Jesus Christ. You will be shown clearly that much of what you have been taught about them has not been true, but simply fictitious and based on lies.

For now, the immediate reality is that the world is about to engage in a final world war—World War III (which may well be underway when you read this). That war is going to end in an all-out full-scale nuclear war.

Before the final phase of that horrific war, vast millions will have died, and some nuclear weapons will have been detonated. But toward the end of that war, God declares that a combined military axis of China and Russia will engage in an all-out nuclear confrontation against a final realignment of exactly ten nations in a United States of Europe. God reveals that one-third of the earth will be destroyed in that final conflict. This means that over 2 billion people will die in that very short space of time. This is the true “Armageddon” spoken of in the pages of the Bible and not the one that the rest of the world or religious leaders have touted that it would be.

This truth and reality about such a war should strike great fear and stark soberness in every person. Indeed, it is a time to be afraid. Although the previous books I have written give these same warnings, less than a thousand people (as of this writing) have truly believed what was written in them. However, this time will be different. Now people do not have to stand by with a skeptical or mocking manner in a “wait and see” approach concerning whether what has been previously written might come to pass. Now it has already begun and the evidence is crushing in on people’s lives.

It is a sad commentary on human nature, but most always people are more willing to listen to God only after everything they have trusted in the past begins to be destroyed around them and they begin to experience events that God told them would come to pass. That is the basis of the primary reason God is allowing mankind to experience the fruit of his own ways. Horrifying events in this world are going to continue to escalate and become far worse than what they are now. All those events that were foretold before in those previous two books are now coming to pass exactly as written!

My predecessor, Herbert W. Armstrong, who died in 1986, foretold of this final world war—World War III. He began warning about it shortly after WWII. He explained fully that it would be a great nuclear war and also proclaimed what God declared about the result of that war. God said that it would be of such magnitude, power, and destruction that mankind would annihilate himself if He did not intervene to stop it. That is mankind’s only true hope—that God intervene in this world’s affairs and stop mankind from such an unimaginable atrocity.

The reality is that there are enough nuclear weapons in the hands of mankind to destroy all life on this earth several times over. Yet it only takes once! This is what the world is ultimately confronted with at this time.

Not only did Herbert W. Armstrong forewarn this world of what was coming in these final end-time events, he also gave the outline of the nations that would be involved and some of the process that would lead to the final group of nations that would emerge and bring Armageddon to our door.

It was revealed to Herbert Armstrong that ten nations would come together in Europe to form a union of nations in a seventh and final revival of the spirit of the old Holy Roman Empire. He taught that these nations would come to a final confrontation with China and Russia in World War III. If my memory serves me correctly, it was in 1950 that staff members of the magazine, The Plain Truth, of which he was the editor, were sent to Europe to report on the meeting of several nations that were organizing the European Common Market at that time, which later became known as the EU (European Union). He did this because of prophecy that God had revealed to him concerning ten nations of Europe at the end-time that would come together in a final great union in this seventh revival. He was given to know that they would become united by a common currency (and the euro emerged after four decades), a common government, and eventually a common military—a military bolstered by all the seized weaponry of NATO, including nuclear weapons.

As of This Writing

At this present time, as this book is just beginning to be written (mid-2015), the world is fast asleep and fully oblivious to what is rapidly coming upon it in the form of a devastating global economic crash and a third world war. Some few are only beginning to be awakened to such a potential reality. Only within the past year have several noted economists and a few leaders begun to cry out and warn of a far greater economic crash than what occurred in 2008, yet even they do not grasp that it will be far worse than they have imagined possible. Again, this will have likely occurred before you read this.

About a month ago, the billionaire investor, George Soros, gave a warning of the potential of a third world war as he was speaking at a Bretton Woods conference at the World Bank. He warned that unless the U.S. makes a “major concession” to allow China’s currency to join the IMF’s basket of currencies, “there is a real danger China will align itself with Russia politically and militarily, and then the threat of world war becomes real.”

Soros concluded his speech by focusing on the fact that military spending is on the rise in both Russia and China as he went on to give an ominous warning that, “If there is conflict between China and a military ally of the United States, like Japan, then it is not an exaggeration to say that we are on the threshold of a third world war.”

A few days after his speech, the nationalist Global Times, which is a tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party of China’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, had an editorial that contained another such warning. It stated that war was “inevitable” between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding that Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the South China Sea. The article stated, “We do not want a military conflict with the United States, but if it were to come, we have to accept it.”

Since November of 2008, God has taken his protection and favor away from the United States. The United States only became great because God gave this country to a prophesied people who were to establish a nation of mighty wealth that God Himself would make great. In the end-time it was prophesied to become the single wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known. Yet God foretold that it would become lifted up with such pride and haughtiness that it would become responsible for turning the world against it, which in turn would lead to these final end-times.

For some time now, nations of this world have not trusted the United States and have become sickened with how it constantly tries to “strong arm” others into following its own selfish will. Contrary to the President’s comments a few weeks ago that the nations of the world hold the United States in greater respect than ever, the truth is, the United States is disrespected and loathed, more than at any other time in history by nations all around the globe.

Once God removed his favor, intervention, and protection, the government of the United States no longer functions with a sound mind, united purpose, or a meaningful focused will. Instead, it has become filled with political posturing, manipulation, intense lying, and blind, uncaring arrogance. As God describes this people at this time, they are sick from the head to the toe.

Then yesterday, NATO defense ministers were meeting in Brussels and agreed to the enlargement of the organization’s Response Force to 40,000 from its current level of 13,000. A day before the meeting, the U.S. Defense Secretary announced the positioning of hundreds of American tanks, military vehicles, and heavy artillery pieces in the Baltic States as well as in Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania.

In reporting on this, a news article commented, “There is only one conclusion the Kremlin can draw from such threatening and aggressive measures: Washington and its European allies are preparing to go to war against Russia, and Moscow is undoubtedly preparing accordingly.” It went on to say, “If the post-World War II period of peace is over, the build-up to World War III has begun.”

In that NATO meeting in Brussels, the Secretary General explained that the expanding deployment of NATO forces in Eastern Europe was purely a defensive response to Russian “aggression” in Ukraine. He stated, “We are carefully assessing the implications of what Russia is doing, including its nuclear activities.”

In testimony given earlier this month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Robert Scher, told Congress that the Pentagon was considering a variety of options for responding to alleged violations in the INF Treaty, including preemptive missile strikes against Russia.

It Is Time to Listen

As with the first book, this one is being written in a “matter of fact” manner. It is not worried about tiptoeing around people’s sensitivities or being politically correct. There is no concern of what others will adversely think or say in response to what is written.

The primary reason it is written in such a manner is because its content is from God to mankind. God is not concerned with the petty grievances and judgments of mankind toward Himself. The content throughout, concerning catastrophic events that will come to pass and the reasons for them, have been given by revelation from God through the power of His spirit. God is not concerned with political correctness or if we are offended at what He says. Instead, we should want to hear what He tells us. We should desire and strive to do what He instructs us to do—to obey Him. Actually, this has a lot to do with where we now find ourselves in human history. God is beginning to intervene in the affairs of mankind and people are going to be measured and judged by whether they will begin listening to God or not.

History has shown that mankind’s record for listening to God is extremely poor. This is one of the main reasons that this end-time is going to be as horrific as it is. When mankind came to the time for great advancement in science and technology, God knew that he would become lifted up with far greater pride and self-reliance than at any other time in human history. The result of mankind having such high levels of pride was that he would also come to resist God and refuse to listen to Him more than any other time in all human history.

Mankind is so arrogant that people tend to believe that WE have finally come to be great in the past couple centuries because WE have begun to harness science and technology, and as a result, WE have made great discoveries that make mankind look primitive in the previous 5,800 years by comparison.

In the midst of such human reasoning, adulation, and self-aggrandizement, how many would actually entertain the possibility that it was God who gave us all great advancements in knowledge with discovery in science, mathematics, and technology? Who would entertain the thought that such discovery and knowledge would be impossible for mankind to attain on his own? The true testimony (witness) that mankind cannot attain it on his own is precisely what is evidenced in the first 5,800 years of human life, in which mankind was incapable of such achievement. Yet in that first 5,800 years, the basic makeup of mankind was the same as in the past couple of hundred years when the greatest strides in science and technology have catapulted forward.

The very reason such advancement in science and technology was withheld from mankind until closer to the end-time is that mankind would have annihilated itself long before fulfilling the time that God had allotted for mankind’s self-rule. Again, God established 6,000 years for that self-rule as part of His plan and purpose from the beginning of creation. In actuality, if mankind had been given such knowledge from the beginning, he would not have survived to the time of Noah’s flood, which was not long after the first 1,000 years of mankind’s existence.

It is now time—high time—for mankind to begin listening to God, who is our Creator God, and who deeply desires to save us from ourselves, from our own selfish nature, and to deliver us by leading us into a new era of an exceedingly better world for all to live.

On a personal note, it would be my hope that everyone who reads this will profit from what is written and respond in a quick and positive manner to God. In this way, they can themselves potentially receive, and then give to their loved ones and others, the kind of information, encouragement, and hope that all will need to embrace in order to better endure and ultimately survive what is yet ahead. That help can come from only one source that can give them such a thing. It can only come from the Almighty God who desires that we listen to Him, and that as His children we respond to Him for who He is—our loving Father. In that manner, He can then begin to bless us and lead us out of the horror and spiritual bondage that is working to consume this world.

It is important to understand that God will not intervene to help those who refuse to listen to Him. Those who do refuse to listen to God will only manage to bring far more hurt, suffering, and greater sorrow upon themselves and others, and very likely, death itself. Yet the sooner one begins to really listen to God, and then act upon what He tells them that they should be doing, the sooner He will begin to intervene on a personal level to bless them.

God is now intervening in this world, with its entire population, in a way that He has not done since the flood of Noah’s day, except this time, it is for the purpose of not just saving one family, but multiple millions. Within His timing, God will allow horrifying events to occur on earth and God Himself will also bring certain destruction and death to come as a matter of Him executing judgment, but the worst of all devastation will be caused by mankind himself. Within the midst of mankind moving toward self-annihilation, God Himself will bring destruction to vast numbers who refuse to listen to Him and who are contributing to the destruction of what He created.

This story of Noah and the ark is an excellent one to help illustrate mankind’s true attitude and deep spirit of unbelief toward God and His great power and might. People have a difficult time believing that such a being could perform what is recorded in the Bible involving the events surrounding that flood. How much more difficult is it for the human mind to believe God is the Creator of the whole universe? Consider this story and see where you stand as to whether you believe these things to be true, and if you do have the slightest difficulty believing it all, then why not simply consider asking God for help so that you can “see” it? Then, as you proceed through this book, in any areas of struggle, it would serve you well to ask God to help you to have the ability to “see” if these things are true.

Some so-called religious scholars now teach that the flood was just a nice kind of children’s story, and that it didn’t really happen. But it did take place, just as written in scripture! All animal life throughout that region and all human life in the world were destroyed by that great flood, except for Noah and his immediate family. As another sad commentary on human nature, after the flood was over, not one in Noah’s family turned to God in thankfulness for being spared and delivered by Him. Instead, due to incredibly selfish and pride-filled human nature, they had bitterness and a condemning judgmental attitude toward God for what He did.

That attitude and spirit underscores much of mankind’s current reaction and response toward God for not only allowing mankind to suffer through such catastrophic end-time events with great devastation, destruction, and death, but for Him also bringing much of it upon the world Himself. This attitude and spirit exercised toward God is one that reflects a very basic flaw in human reasoning and judgment. The attitude is one that does not fear to judge God. It is one that refuses to recognize that only God alone has the perfect righteous character to judge such matters and that mankind definitely does not.

Noah’s family, even after all that they witnessed of God’s great power to execute His judgment upon mankind, still did not fear to judge God Himself. They made themselves as “God” to be the judge of right and wrong. They took upon themselves the prerogative to judge, and in that judgment, to even condemn God. How twisted can the human mind be? This illustrates quite well that perversion of thinking.

So what is missing here? If God is our Creator and has given us our lives to live upon the earth that He created, then shouldn’t we listen to Him and to how He tells us we should live life? It is like the scriptural example of the “potter and the clay” where the question is asked, “Can the clay cry out to the potter that it does not like how it is being formed?” That example illustrates the foolishness of questioning the God who created us.

However, if God did not create us and there is no God, then we are doomed!

Very often, pride-filled human beings would rather turn to the idea that we somehow came into being by crawling up out of slime, then in time, over millions upon millions of years, we began to walk and develop limbs, digestive systems, and other more complex life-sustaining organs, as well as underwent complete bodily changes in order to finally evolve into human beings. What a crock!

Far too many people would rather believe that story of very subhuman creatures crawling out of slime as they began to evolve, but what kind of laws regulate it in biology and chemistry? And what kind of mind, or ability, is there in something like a shrimp, clam, or fish that it could decide, or somehow just have the insatiable “need” to evolve in order to become something greater? We are to believe that this then requires the ability to engage in very slow changes and struggles over millions of years.

Such things are so ludicrous when looked at in such a manner that it rather makes the scholars who believe it to appear as simpletons and fools. By what laws of nature can such things happen? Man has always wanted to fly, so why did the birds “beat us out” if we are so much better and advanced in complexity? Instead, we had to do it by mechanically engineered means, but perhaps that was because we came to a point when we somehow “sensed” within our makeup that we needed to do it soon because we wouldn’t last the millions of years it would take to evolve and grow our own wings without first destroying ourselves.

Then what about the “big bang” theory that somehow brought the universe into existence? It would seem that it would be good to ask a couple of obvious questions about this before blind acceptance. So, when that “big bang” occurred, where did the unfathomable vast volumes of matter come from that were shot out into space to produce billions upon billions of stars and galaxies? For that matter, where did all the space come from that is so many times more vast? What laws existed to enable such a bang? If those laws existed, then where did they come from?

Yet in all of this, you are not to question this in schools or universities, for to do so could bring ridicule, mockery, and the possible disdain of peers. We are expected to believe that not only did a “big bang”—a really “big bang”—bring the universe into existence, we are to also believe that when that happened, incredibly complex and orderly laws also came into existence at the same moment. You are supposed to swallow a “big bang,” but you are expected to disbelieve that there is a great God who actually created the universe instead.

Noah and the Ark

Before continuing to look at such human nature that so easily sets itself up to judge and even condemn God, and that will not listen to His guidance and instruction, let’s now begin looking at the story of Noah and the ark. It illustrates the struggle within the human mind to accept the most basic works of God.

In order to properly review this story, it is simply best to do so by reading what God Himself recorded for us. Before giving what is recorded in that account in Genesis, there is the need to examine a Hebrew word used in that story. It is translated poorly into other languages, therefore, when read in context it does not adequately convey the intent it is to contain. The word is simply translated into English as “corrupted,” which is fine if you understand the intent in context. A couple of examples will help give better understanding.

An account in Hosea illustrates quite well the meaning and right usage of this word.

“They have become deeply ‘corrupted,’ as in the days of Gibeah. He [God] will remember their iniquity and He will visit their sins” (Hosea 9:9).

This is speaking in a context of how Israel had turned from God’s ways as they turned to their own ways of iniquity—living contrary to God’s ways—and were filled with sin, where sin is defined scripturally as “the transgression of God’s law” (1 John 3:4).

Another account concerns the archangel Lucifer and what he did to become known as Satan. God had created the angels to be free moral agents, and therefore, able to make decisions and choices on their own. Otherwise, they would have only been robotic in nature and programmed similar to the animal kingdom that functions on instinct and not by individual thought and reasoning. This is also how God created mankind to be, as free moral agents with the ability to think and reason.

However, with the angelic creation, the mind that God gave them was one that was filled with knowledge and understanding of only God’s ways. This was all they knew and all that they experienced in life around them until Lucifer, and others who followed his reasoning, began to make choices in life that were contrary to the ways of God.

In an account of what Lucifer did, it reveals to us how those wrong choices affected his very mind, corrupting it. “You were the anointed cherub that covers [identified as Lucifer in Is. 14:12], and I had set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God [in the upper administration of God’s government]. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire [among those throughout the angelic realm]. You were perfect in ‘your ways’ [because at this time, those ways were in unity and harmony with God] from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:14-15).

“Your heart was lifted up [pride, haughtiness] because of your beauty [in the excellence and power that God had created in him]. You have ‘corrupted’ your wisdom by reason of your brightness” (Ez. 28:17).

Lucifer began to be lifted up in self-importance and began to view his way of thinking and ideas above that of God. He then began to live contrary to God’s ways as he turned to his own. God told him that by thinking in such a manner and acting upon such choices, to live differently than God’s one true way of life, he had “corrupted” his very mind and thinking, which was the result of sin.

With more insight into the use of this word “corrupt,” it is easier to better understand what God addressed concerning those living in Noah’s day. This word implies a state of mind and thinking that is not concerned with God’s ways but its own ways, which results in sin. This is important to understand because this is exactly where the world is once again in our time.

“And the Eternal saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [the intent, purpose, desire, and thinking] was daily on evil” (Genesis 6:5).

Because of mankind’s state of corruption as a result of it drifting so very far from God’s ways and becoming so vile, He responded, “I will destroy mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth” (Gen. 6:7).

“But Noah found grace [favor] in the eyes of the Eternal” (Gen. 6:8).

This means that there was only one person on earth at that time who was of a right heart and mind toward God, with whom God could work and lead in His ways. He was literally the last one who was of a true mind and of a willing spirit to follow God. Although Noah was a servant of God and the only one who would yield to Him, God extended favor (grace) to his immediate family to the degree that they would be saved from death and delivered to the other side of the flood. It was through this that God would begin to have mankind repopulate the earth.

It is further recorded, “The earth was also ‘corrupt’ before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was ‘corrupt,’ for all flesh had ‘corrupted’ their way upon the earth. So God said unto Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them from the earth’” (Gen. 6:11-13).

As explained earlier, the word “corrupt” used here and throughout scripture is one that implies the state of mind and thinking of those who had, as it says here of mankind, “corrupted their way upon the earth.” People were not concerned with living God’s way, but only their own way, which means they walked contrary to God’s ways, which is to live in sin.

God said that the earth had become “filled with violence.” This aptly describes the condition that this world has been experiencing far more fully over this past decade. Mankind has now come full circle once again. It has become just like the days of Noah.

This is the state of the world once again as far as the corruption in mankind, which has been increasingly turning further and further away from God. The statement that is about to be made will be rather shocking, but nevertheless, it is true. Although Noah was the only one with whom God could work, lead, and teach His ways during that time, the world is proportionally far worse off today.

Today, there are over 7 billion people on earth, and although you will have difficulty believing what is about to be said, it is true, and will be explained far more thoroughly. As of right now, there are less than 500 adults with whom God is currently working through with the power of His spirit, who are servants to Him as Noah was, and who are being led, guided, and currently being instructed in His ways. The rest of the world has rejected God’s warnings, instruction, and truths that He has been revealing to the world for over 80 years now. With the earth’s current population, the equivalent ratio of those with whom God is working is 1 in every 14 million people.

Mankind, due to the misuse of science and technology, has sped up the pace whereby it has been moving further and further away from God. People and nations have become filled with greater pride than ever, and modern technology has made the dissemination of evil easier and faster to spread. Evil in the world has accelerated over the past few decades through television programming, movies, music, social media, the Internet, advertising, and so much more. Murder, terrorism, drugs, war, government oppression, corporate oppression, sexual immorality and promiscuity, ad infinitum, has mushroomed throughout the world. Due to this, mankind is equal to, and has even surpassed, the level of corruption that existed in Noah’s day.

Not only has mankind come to a point where self-extermination is at the door, the level of corruption is so great that God’s judgment must once again be executed against mankind. Yet this time, God will not destroy the earth by a flood, as He has a plan to deliver multiple millions into a new age for mankind. However, millions will be directly dealt with by God as He is going to destroy those who are set on destroying the earth and bent on living corruptly.

Noah’s Day and Ours

As the focus on this story of Noah continues, it will be important to begin understanding that there are important parallels between the state of mankind during that time and now.

Once again, before continuing with this story, it is needful to focus on another word that needs more clarity, which has not only been very poorly translated from Hebrew into other languages, but this time, it has been translated completely incorrectly. It is the word that is sometimes translated into English as “repent.” There is another Hebrew word that describes the act of repentance, but this one does not.

In the King James Version, the word is translated as “comfort” nearly twice as often as “repent.” The word “comfort” is closer to the true meaning, but there is more contained in the complete meaning and intent of the word. This Hebrew word comes from a root word that means, “to sigh, as to breathe strongly.” It carries a meaning of “comfort from sorrow.” This comfort can come from the simple act of sighing (as in breathing outward in a strong fashion) in a manner that releases an outward expression of the pain of sorrow that is felt internally. This can also be used to express “comfort from sorrow” that can be received from others who often come to one’s aid, to one’s side, to comfort them when they are in anguish and sorrow.

As this story of Noah continues, God addresses the state of mankind as it existed in that moment in time. Previously, only part of this section of scripture was quoted, but now there will be a closer focus of the full content.

“And the Eternal saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [the intent, purpose, desire, and thinking] was daily on evil. And it ‘repented’ [caused sorrow and the desire to be comforted] the Eternal that He had made mankind on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. Then the Eternal said, ‘I will destroy mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth, of even mankind, animals, things that creep, and fowl in the air, for it ‘repents’ me that I have made them [mankind]’” (Gen. 6:5-7).

This last verse would be more correctly translated to say, “Then the Eternal said, ‘I will destroy mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth, of even mankind, animals, things that creep, and fowl in the air. Thereby I will have comfort from my sorrow.’”

God said that mankind had become so wicked, so far from His way of life, that it grieved Him to His inner being, and as a result, He determined—judged—that He would be comforted from such sorrow over the state of what mankind was doing to itself by bringing the life of mankind to an end, except for one family.

God’s desire is to deliver mankind as a matter of salvation and much of that deliverance will come at a future time. This is an awesomely exciting and inspiring phase of God’s plan to be fulfilled in the future, yet religious teachers and leaders are fully ignorant of what God has taught throughout the ages and of what is fully revealed in His word through scripture.

During the days of Noah, if mankind had continued to grow in and exercise more wickedness, then their mind and the spirit in them would have become far more corrupt. The longer that condition continued, the ability and likelihood of saving them in a future time would be lessened greatly. It had come to a point where mankind was so damaging the very spirit in the mind that it was better that they be temporarily stopped by death itself.

God has the power to resurrect to life, which is part of His great plan, and their next waking moment will be at a future time when God will give them opportunity to then be saved, within an environment that God will provide for them. At that time, the ability to receive salvation will be multiplied many times over what it has been in this world, or what existed in the world during Noah’s day. That period of time in the future when all those who died in the flood will be resurrected back to life once again for the purpose of salvation is after the 1,000-year reign of God’s government over all nations.

Establishment of the Millennium

At this juncture, before continuing with this story that covers the days of Noah, it would be good to introduce some of what is spoken of concerning the 1,000-year rule of God’s government on earth—the Millennium. It is after this period of time that all those who have not yet had an opportunity for salvation will be resurrected back to life for that very purpose and opportunity in life.

Some of what is being covered may sound strange or even far-fetched, but it is not, and the farther you progress in reading, the more all this will become much clearer. God loves His creation, and mankind is the pinnacle of that physical creation. He extends a level of mercy to mankind that most have never remotely imagined nor been taught. It is an exceedingly merciful God who intervened in the days of Noah in order to stop mankind from going beyond the point that would prevent them from being able to attain true salvation. God mercifully reserved for them to be resurrected into a future time where they will have far greater potential for that salvation. This knowledge has literally been lost and mostly hidden from nearly all mankind for the past 6,000 years.

Mankind is once again faced with judgment that God is going to fully execute upon this earth, but it is vastly different than from the flood in the days of Noah. Although most of mankind will die in this end-time and be resurrected to life at a future time, many are going to be blessed to live on into a new millennial age for this earth, one in which God will establish His government to reign over the nations.

Although it will be covered in greater detail, it would be good to take a quick glimpse into what God reveals is about to happen on earth when He brings an end to 6,000 years of mankind’s self-rule and establishes a 1,000-year reign of His government.

A section of scripture is going to be quoted that is out of the Book of Revelation, which is found in the New Testament. Now there are those of Judaism who may choose to stop reading at this point, since this does not come from any writing of the law or prophets. However, it would truly be a shame to stop because there is much for those who are Jewish to glean from what it written here, for it is from Yahweh Elohim—the only One Eternal Self-Existing God. Perhaps it would be good to let those readers know that this book is written in agreement with the fact that there are not two or three in the Godhead with the Eternal God, but that only He is God—Yahweh Elohim.

The following verses that will be covered will be taken from their story flow in Revelation in order to make this easier to follow, and at this stage to help give a clearer grasp of the government of God that is to reign during that 1,000 years that follows the end of WWIII.

“I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he who sat upon it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war [a war to end WWIII, to stop those who are destroying the earth]. His eyes are as flaming fire, and on his head were many crowns [symbolic of rulership over nations], and he had a name that no man knew, except Himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. Armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron [with great power against those who resist], and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11-16).

This is an account of what is clearly expected to occur on June 9, 2019. The long prophesied Messiah, the Christ (both words, Messiah and Christ, have the same meaning), will be sent by God to take control of this earth and to establish His government to rule over the nations. The self-rule of mankind will be brought to an end as the Messiah and his army will take control of all government over all nations. He will do so with great power—a level of power never before witnessed by mankind.

For simplicity and the ability to better grasp what is recorded next, the following verses will be quoted in a manner that make the actual flow easier to follow:

“I saw thrones, and they who sat upon them, and judgment was given to them” (Rev. 20:4).

This is referring to those who come with Christ (the Messiah) in his army, who are also being given rule within God’s government, to reign over the nations under Christ. These are those who have been resurrected to everlasting life, and who will then be spirit in composition, but able to manifest as physical human beings. This is in a similar manner as the times that God manifested himself in physical human form when he visited and had a meal with Abraham and who also later wrestled with Jacob.

Those who will be resurrected and will reign with the Messiah, with Jesus Christ, are people like Abel, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Deborah, David, Elijah, prophets of old, apostles of the Church, along with many other faithful throughout time. The same verse goes on to say, “and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4). Why has most all of traditional Christianity completely ignored and failed to teach about this 1,000-year period of Christ’s reign and that which is clearly stated about it here in Revelation?

This speaks of those who are coming with Christ to reign as being those who are in this “first resurrection.” It states, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection,” and further, they “shall reign with him [Christ] a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6).

How many have ever heard of this 1,000-year period that is better known as the Millennium, in which those who have been resurrected to everlasting spirit life will come with the Messiah to reign on earth during that period? Why are these verses and what they say ignored by traditional Christianity, teachers, and religious scholars? The entire story of how and why such things have happened is astoundingly incredible as it unfolds.

A Future Resurrection

It has just been covered that there is a 1,000-year reign of God’s government that is going to be established on earth once God puts an end to WWIII. It is at this same moment in time that Jesus Christ is going to return with those whom God has resurrected in that first great resurrection, those who have lived and died throughout the previous 6,000 years. These are those with whom God has worked within their lifetime. Those in this resurrection will rule under Jesus Christ over all nations throughout those 1,000 years.

During that millennial period, people will continue to live and then die, as in the previous 6,000 years, except all will live under God’s government and no longer under mankind’s. They will live in a world where justice is swift (not drug out for years), righteous in judgment, and simply just and fair.

There will be no prosecutors or investigators who can twist, distort, and redefine fact in a manner they desire that is often with the sole purpose of winning a conviction, establishing a record to advance oneself, making their own personal judgment of guilt or innocence, and/or from an unjust bias of personal prejudice. There will be no lawyers who defend clients they know to be guilty. There will be no need for the legal system as it exists today. There will be no need for such things because those who come with Christ will know what has happened in all cases requiring matters that need to be judged. Nothing can be hidden from them. No one will be able to get by with lies, cons, deceit, false witnessing, or twisting the truth in any way.

Since all nations will be under God’s government, there will be no dictatorships and no forms of government as exist today. There will be no democracies that are “of the people” who govern by “their own” established laws. The way of politics, lying, lobbying, voting, compromise, judicial inequality and opinion, and other abuses of power will not exist in God’s government.

Also in today’s world, there exists only massive division, disagreement, confusion, and opposition among those who “practice” religion. In the Millennium, there will be no more mass confusion about God and religion. Only the truth of God’s ways will be taught. There will be no more false religions or the deception that permeates them as it does throughout the world’s religions today. The factions and vastly varying beliefs within Judaism, Islam, and traditional Christianity will no longer exist, as God will establish only one true way and belief, which will be accomplished through His one true Church on earth. It is the Church of God that will continue as it is today—preparing for the Kingdom of God.

Finally, mankind will begin to experience real peace—true peace.

Earlier, it was mentioned about those who died during the flood and how it was through death that God stopped the process whereby they were corrupting the spirit of their mind. God did this as part of an overall plan and purpose He has for mankind, which is to offer salvation to as many as possible in a future time. During this time, they will have a far greater potential for salvation—to be saved. During the time of the flood, the mind of some had become so corrupted that they could never be saved.

The inability to be saved can only occur if one’s mind becomes so corrupted that it cannot be reversed under any circumstance or condition. That can happen if a person comes to a point in thinking, reasoning, and personal choice that they fully reject God and His ways and will not change—will in no way repent of their own ways. They have concluded that they do not want to be a part of anything to do with God, not even salvation. They have come to a point of unpardonable sin because they refuse to repent and only want their own way.

However, through death a vast number of those who died in that flood were prevented from becoming corrupted to the point of no return. They still have the potential to receive salvation in a future time when God resurrects them back to life.

A brief glimpse of that future time for salvation is contained within the context of what was just covered concerning the 1,000-year reign of Christ and those who were resurrected to come with him. The translation of these verses is rather sloppy and not well-ordered, punctuated, or structured. It is difficult to follow what is actually being covered in a proper context. The later addition of numbered verses has created some confusion as to the actual order of specific subject matter that quickly moves back and forth. So the flow will be covered in a similar manner as before with explanation along the way.

Speaking of those who were resurrected in this first resurrection, of those who would reign with Christ, it said, “they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4).

The very next verse continues by saying, “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished” (Rev. 20:5). Then the last of that verse goes on to refer back to those who lived and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years as it states, “This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, for on such the ‘second death’ has no power, for they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:5-6).

These two verses have absolutely no real meaning whatsoever to those in traditional Christianity. It does not fit into their doctrine of heaven or hell nor with the belief of an immortal soul. This is all really quite clear if you know the truth—if you can simply listen to what God is saying and accept it as with all other scripture that is from God, and therefore, true.

Looking more closely at this, it states that after the first resurrection “the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.” For some, this clear statement may be challenging. Who are the rest of the dead? Perhaps a way to better grasp that question is to ask, “Why does it say the rest?” Or maybe even better, “Who were the others, who were not part of the rest?” This is about two specific groups of people: (1) “the rest” that did not live again until the thousand years were finished, and (2) those who were not part of this group referred to as “the rest.” Those who are not of “the rest” are those who were mentioned first, who were resurrected to spirit life and who would then reign for 1,000 years. The point of this being stated in this manner is that this group in the first resurrection “had been dead” and still in their graves until they had been resurrected. They were not alive.

It then goes on to speak of “the rest” of those who were dead and that they did not live again until later, after the millennium. So this is about the rest of mankind who had died throughout that same period of 6,000 years, just as those who lived (and died) within that same period who had just been resurrected in the first resurrection, at the beginning of the Millennium.

This is showing that both groups were without life until resurrected from the dead. Those who had died and were resurrected to spirit life (in the first resurrection) will come with Christ at his return. Then, “the rest of the dead” who lived in that same period of time will not be resurrected until the thousand years are finished.

The False Doctrine of Hell

At this point, it is important to state a great truth. There is no hell in which some who have died are tormented for eternity as taught by traditional Christianity.

The word “hell” that appears in scripture in the King James Version of the Bible is translated from four different words, one being from Hebrew and three from Greek. Those with roots in traditional Christianity who translated scripture into different languages from the original Hebrew and Greek misled people by inserting this single word that carried a definition derived from their own wrong doctrine on the subject and not from the actual meaning of the words in their original language.

One word that is translated as “hell” is from the Greek word “tartaroo,” which is only used once and carries the meaning of “a place of temporary restraint.” It is used to describe a period of time when Satan and the demons are restrained from the presence of mankind. It is actually during that 1,000-year period of God’s rule over the earth as previously described.

There are two other words that are translated as “hell,” which have the exact same meaning. One is the Hebrew word “sheol” and the other is the Greek word “hades.” Both simply mean “a hole in the ground.” In scripture, these simply describe what happens to most at death; they are buried in a hole in the ground—a grave.

Finally, there is a word that has been misused, misconstrued, and deliberately clouded so that a new meaning could be attached to it that would match a false doctrine that these same people were attempting to force upon Christianity. That word that is also translated as “hell” is the Greek word “geenna,” which is from the Hebrew word “gehenna.” That word simply means “the valley of the son of Hinnom,” which was a valley by Jerusalem. For a long time that area had been used to dump and then burn refuse. It was also known for its reputation as a place where some who had been sentenced to death were thrown and then burned, along with the refuse.

In the New Testament, this word is often coupled with the word “fire.” There are several examples of statements referring to judgment and being cast into hell [geenna] fire. This is where the concept emerged during a medieval age in which some calling themselves “Christian” devised the false teaching of “hell” as being a place of judgment where condemned people would go after death to then be tormented by fire and demonic beings for the rest of eternity. The primary time for this medieval period being referred to fell approximately between the 10th century through the 15th century C.E.

When Jesus Christ preached about God’s judgment for unrepentant people and then used the term of “gehenna” fire, this did not escape the Jews of that time who knew the reputation of this location as a place where refuse, as well as the bodies of those convicted and put to death, were cast and burned. These Jews did not have in their mind any concept of a “hell fire” that was contrived and developed more fully through those medieval times.

Further, when God tells mankind that the punishment for those who ultimately refuse Him and His ways is to be a punishment of death, it is often in the context of an eternal punishment. This concept of an eternal punishment goes hand-in-hand with the false doctrine taught that mankind was created with an immortal soul. By those who believe it, this soul is spoken of as a kind of mysterious part of our being that continues to live on forever after physical human death. Therefore, as the result of having an immortal soul, the teaching continues that upon death one must go immediately to either heaven or hell, with of course heaven being the preferred destination.

But when God speaks of eternal punishment, He is not inferring that one is to be eternally punished. Instead, it is simply a clear statement that if a person is judged to receive death as a penalty for unrepentant sin, it will be a judgment that carries an eternal sentence. In other words, that person can never be resurrected to life again, since that sentence of death is final. It is an eternal sentence or eternal punishment from which one can never be brought back to life again, unlike so many others who will have the opportunity of receiving a resurrection to age-lasting life.

The False Doctrine of an Immortal Soul

Before addressing this doctrine of the immortality of the soul, it should already be quite obvious that such a doctrine is not true. We have already covered verses in Revelation that speak of “the rest of the dead,” which consists of billions of people who had lived during some period within that previous 6,000 years.

It was stated, “But the rest of the dead did not live again [because they had remained dead] until the thousand years were finished” (Rev. 20:5). It really cannot get any clearer than that. These people who had died were not only going to remain dead for another 1,000 years, many had already been dead for several thousand years before this. Should one question God and not listen to Him as to whether or not mankind was given an immortal soul?

Clearly, mankind was not given any such thing. Although this has already been adequately covered, it is important to grasp more fully how such beliefs have come about, and then to see even more clearly what is actually true.

The word that is translated into scripture as “soul” is from the Hebrew word “nephesh.” It simply has the meaning of a “breathing body, being, or creature.” This term is even used of animals in Genesis as being a “nephesh.” If it had been translated consistently the same, as it was consistently with mankind, it would have said of animals that they were living souls as well. Even when being used of human life, the context is one of being a living soul and not one of having a living soul.

An example of this word “nephesh” being used when referring to animals is when Adam gave them names. “Out of the ground the Eternal God formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living ‘creature’ [nephesh], that was the name thereof” (Gen. 2:19).

Not only is a soul not immortal, it is shown that it can die. All physical life ends in death. But there is more to this than just a physical death of a living, breathing being.

It states in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” This is in reference to judgment for sin when one will not repent of committing it. This is not about the fact that all human life simply ends in the death of a physical living being, for all die, but it is about a punishment that is a sentence lasting for eternity. It is death from which there will not be life again—no resurrection from the dead. Truly, the soul is not immortal.

There are several verses in the New Testament that speak of God raising Jesus Christ from the dead. Many scriptures make it a very specific point to establish that Christ was resurrected from the dead after a prophetic period of being in the grave for exactly three days and three nights. A good example of this states, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise the third day from the dead” (Luke 24:46). Other verses speak of those who came to the sepulcher on Sunday morning and who made comment themselves or were told by others that he had risen from the dead.

These clear statements about Jesus Christ being dead in the grave for exactly three days and three nights are problematic for a lot of people. It contradicts their long-held beliefs concerning Jesus Christ, which involves yet another doctrine that will be covered more in-depth in another chapter. That doctrine is about the Trinity. Some believe Jesus Christ has eternally existed just like Yahweh Elohim, who describes Himself as the only One Eternal God. Yet in many verses it states that Jesus Christ was dead for three days in the grave within the sepulcher. Those who believe in this doctrine are challenged deeply, because if Jesus Christ were eternal and had the same self-sustaining inherent life as God Almighty, then how could he have been dead for three days and three nights? Furthermore, why would he then have the need for God to raise him from the dead? The truth of all this is a most fascinating and awesome story that is yet to be covered.

Again, the teaching of the Trinity includes the belief that Jesus Christ has eternally existed. However, God makes it clear who has always existed and who alone is God.

“I am the Eternal, and there is no one else, there is no God beside [Heb.- except] me.” (Isaiah 45:5). “For thus says the Eternal who created the heavens, God Himself who formed the earth and made it; He has established it. He did not create it in vain [Heb.- without purpose, to be desolate, or in a state of confusion], but formed it to be inhabited. ‘I am the Eternal, and there is no one else’” (Is. 45:18).

If mankind had an immortal soul, then surely Jesus Christ would have gone directly to heaven after death. However, not even Jesus Christ went to heaven upon his death. It is actually made clear by Christ himself that he did not ascend to be received by God until after three days in the grave. It was only after he had revealed himself to a few after he had been resurrected by God that he went to heaven to be received by Him, and then he returned later that same day.

Indeed, the teaching of an immortal soul is false. It is simply a lie and God states that no lie is of the truth. We should already grasp that, but even in this, people will not listen to God. Not only is this doctrine false, but it is actually blasphemous against God. That is because immortality, self-sustaining eternal life is only inherent in one, and that is the One Eternal Self-Existing God—Yahweh Elohim. He is the Creator and the only one “true giver” of all life that exists, which is either physical or spirit life. Only the Eternal God has the power to give age-lasting life to anyone, and He is the only one who sustains it.

This is yet another example of those in medieval times concocting a means by which they could begin to distort and change scripture to fit their false doctrines, and that was enhanced by the opportunity of mistranslating a good amount of scripture from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

As translators worked to insert false doctrine into scripture by camouflaging the true meaning with certain words, such as the few examples like “soul” and “hell” that have been covered, followers were being led further and further away from the truths of God. The proliferation of such teachings over the past 100 years has become so great that it just adds mightily to another important reason why God’s judgment is now beginning to be executed upon those who promote and those who embrace such false beliefs.

The greater the acceptance and stubborn insistence to continue in belief of so many false doctrines, the greater the lengths some will go to keep the truths of God out of their lives. The refusal to listen to God is exceedingly strong in today’s world. Again, this is exactly why judgment has now come at this time.

God is now bringing the world to a time of great judgment where people will have to begin to truly decide once and for all whether or not they are going to begin to “listen” to Him or if they are going to continue to insist upon and hold onto their own ways.

The False Doctrine of Heaven

The belief of those who hold to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul has already been partially covered. This doctrine teaches that upon death a person will then immediately go to heaven or to hell. As with the false doctrine of a hell that constantly gives great torment to those who are in it, the notion of going to heaven immediately after death is yet another false doctrine. Although there is no actual place where a hell of continual torment exists, there is a place called heaven which consists of a spirit realm where angels exist and where God is, however, it has never been God’s teaching, or His purpose, that anyone at death should go there, except one—Jesus Christ.

In the following example, Peter’s discussion of scriptures concerning David and Jesus Christ make it clear that only Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven.

David was not only a king, but was also called a prophet through whom God inspired much prophecy to be written in the Psalms. God even said of David, “He is a man after my own heart.” As it has already been stated, David is one of those who will be in the first resurrection, who died several hundred years before Christ.

When the Church of God began on Pentecost in 31 A.D., Peter revealed insight that he was given regarding what David had prophesied concerning the Messiah. Again, it is important to note that David had died several hundred years prior to this, and he was still highly esteemed among the Jews. Peter was inspired through the power of God’s spirit to tell those Jews the true meaning of some of those prophetic verses in the Psalms. While Peter was explaining to them what God had just fulfilled in prophecy concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, part of what he said also plainly reveals what is true about life after death, whether mankind goes to heaven after death, and the fact that mankind does not have an immortal soul.

Breaking into the story flow, Peter is telling the crowd that God had now raised to life again the one whom the Jews had just killed, Jesus Christ. Then he went on to tell what David as a prophet had written in the Psalms concerning Jesus’ death and what God had promised concerning his death and resurrection.

“Because you [speaking of God] will not leave my soul [Gk.- a body, with the purpose of breathing life] in hell [Gk.- hades—the grave], neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption [Gk.- decay]” (Acts 2:27). This is a quote from the Psalms (Ps. 16:8-10), which David wrote. It is written in prophetic terms as though Jesus Christ is speaking about what God had foretold about him. God said that He not only would not leave Christ (His holy one) in the grave, but He would not allow his body (a body that had breathed life before death) to see decay in the grave, which normally begins to happen not long after death.

Peter went on to say, “Men and brothers, let me freely speak to you about the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher [tomb] is with us to this day” (Acts 2:29).

Peter was making a point to the Jews that this Psalm, written by David, was not about David, as most thought it was, but was prophetic about the promise of the Messiah and what would be fulfilled in him. At the same time, it is evidence that David is not in heaven, but that he is dead and buried. Of all people, one would think David, who was a man after God’s heart, would be in heaven (if this was where faithful individuals went after death).

“Therefore being a prophet [speaking of David], and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him [to David], that out of his loins [of David’s lineage], according to the flesh [that the Messiah would be born in physical life], He [God] would raise up Christ [the Messiah] to sit on his throne” (Acts 2:30).

That which Peter quoted from the Psalms revealed that the Messiah was prophesied to come first as a physical human being, as a result of being born of the lineage of King David. Further, the Messiah would die, his body put in a grave, and then God would raise him up—resurrect him from the dead. Then in time, which will be at the start of the Millennium, Christ would then be established as not only the King over Israel, but over the whole world.

“He [David] seeing this before [God revealing it to him as a prophet] spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul [body] was not left in hell [Gk.- hades—the grave], neither did it see corruption. This Jesus has God raised up [resurrected after those three days in the grave], whereof you are all witnesses” (Acts 2:31-32).

When speaking with Nicodemus, even Jesus Christ spoke in prophetic terms concerning himself. He told him that he, Christ, must die and be resurrected. He told these things in terms of what could only happen to him and could not pertain to any other man.

Jesus Christ said, “No man has ascended up to heaven, but he who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13).

Christ spoke in these and other verses of those things that were prophetic about himself that could apply to no other man. These things could only be fulfilled in him because as it states, he came down from heaven. No other man has, and the reason is that only Jesus Christ would have a Father who was God, as God placed within the womb of Mary of His own being to form the embryo that would lead to the life of the only Son of God to be born of mankind, who would become the Messiah, the Christ. He would die and then be raised up from the dead to then ascend into heaven, where no other man has or will ever ascend, and he would sit in power and authority at the right hand of God Almighty—His Father.

Rather than anyone going to heaven upon death, people are simply meant to return to the dust of the earth. Then, in God’s time, within His plan of salvation, people will then be resurrected to life once again. That is according to God’s set time in the future. The story of that life to follow, for all who are resurrected, is most incredible, inspiring, and filled with peace.

It was never God’s purpose that mankind should be given eternal life in order to dwell in heaven. It was God’s purpose that only one, the Messiah, should die and be resurrected as a spirit being to then ascend into heaven and dwell there for nearly 2,000 years before returning to meet the 144,000 whom God will resurrect as spirit beings at Christ’s coming—the first resurrection. Those resurrected at the first resurrection are not going to heaven, but they are coming to this earth to rule and reign with Christ over the earth in the Millennium. For nearly 2,000 years now, Christ and God the Father have been working within God’s Church to prepare a larger body of people for the first resurrection (the majority of the 144,000), more than all who had been prepared in the previous 4,000 years.

There is much more concerning the false doctrines that have been addressed to this point, such as the immortality of the soul, a hell of fire and torment, and mankind going to heaven after death, but by now it should be clear how false such doctrines are.

Why haven’t you known about these false doctrines? Or better, why haven’t you been taught the truth of these things? Although scholars know the definition of these words, they would still have you to believe in these doctrines that have been passed down through traditional Christianity for centuries. When considering the twisted and perverted doctrine of an ever-burning place of fire and torment as being a place of judgment and punishment upon the unfaithful, what kind of a loving God would have people tormented in such a fashion for the rest of eternity? He wouldn’t! This simply comes from the mindset of those from medieval times who were so perverted in thinking, since they themselves tortured people, supposedly in the name of God, to force them to confess. That was not of God, and these false doctrines are not either.

Now is the time in which God is bringing mankind to have to address these false things that have been promoted in His name. The time has come that God is beginning to execute His judgment on this earth.

Returning to Noah

In Noah’s day, the corruption of mankind had become so great that God had to intervene to stop it, just as it is happening once again. Society has become deeply corrupted. To see this corruption, one only has to look at the news, television programming, movies, music, economic and business practice, judicial practice, advertising, clothing and styles, common conversation with cursing and foul language, crime, and the government over it all.

However, there is one area that many would not likely think of or admit as having become deeply corrupt, yet it is the worst and most evil of all, for it has helped foster the very mindset of all the rest of this corruption just mentioned. It is the practice of religion. Religion has become the most corrupted of all, especially that which claims to be of God.

The true history of mankind is that by its very nature, it does not want God and His ways of life; instead, it wants its own way.

Earlier in this chapter, it was mentioned that this story of Noah helps to illustrate mankind’s true attitude and deep spirit toward God and His great power and might. The point was made, that if people have such a difficult time believing this story of what God did concerning Noah’s life, the ark, and the flood, then how much more difficult is it for the human mind to grasp all the other truths, feats, and prophecies recorded by Him? To believe that He is the Creator of the entire universe is then altogether another matter that is even more difficult to believe.

Who believes that when God told Noah to build an ark, “Noah was five hundred years old” (Genesis 5:32)? What about the verse that follows later? “Behold, I, even I [the Eternal God] will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh from under the heaven, where in is the breath of life, and everything in the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant. You shall come into the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. Everything of all flesh, with two of every kind shall you bring into the ark to keep alive with you, and they shall be male and female” (Gen. 6:17-19).

Then there is the covenant that God made with Noah and all mankind to follow, and He gave a sign to confirm that covenant. The vast majority of people have never even heard of this, let alone have believed it when they did hear.

“I will establish my covenant with you, and never again will all flesh be cut-off by waters from a flood and neither shall there be another flood to destroy the earth. This is a token [sign of that covenant], which I will make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I will set my bow [rainbow] in the cloud, and it shall be for a token between me and the earth. It shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow [rainbow] shall be in the cloud” (Gen. 9:11-14).

No one fully knows what God changed on the earth, but before the flood the rainbow did not exist. There are things within the atmosphere itself that changed, including the way God had originally created the earth to be watered. But who can simply just believe what God said?

This story also records, “Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters were upon the earth” (Gen. 7:6). This means that it took just over 100 years to build the ark. Further it says, “And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died” (Gen. 9:29). So Noah lived 350 years beyond the flood. This means that ten generations later, Abram (Abraham) was born and lived to know his very-great grandfather. It wasn’t until Abram was in his mid-fifties that Noah died.

Who truly and genuinely believes these things? Very few! If these things are so difficult for mankind to accept, how much less will prophecy be believed? Then to compound matters further, who would believe it if one were to come along in these end-times and say they were sent by God—that they were God’s prophet for this end-time?

This book contains and explains much prophecy, and it gives additional prophecy never recorded in scripture. You are now living in the midst of times where you are able to begin to witness these things come to pass. The fulfillment of prophecy will increase and accelerate in fulfillment, and end-time events will grow far more catastrophic. You and the rest of mankind will increasingly be challenged to address whether you will begin to truly listen to God and turn to Him and begin to change your life.

Christ’s Own Words

When Jesus Christ walked this earth, he personally taught several thousand people, and he performed many miracles of healing, and even raising the dead. Yet the vast populace did not turn to him, although many had their hopes that he might be the promised prophesied Messiah who would come to free them from being under Roman rule. Yet once he died, many fled from following him and wanted nothing to do with his teachings or that of the apostles that followed. Only a few hundred actually continued with the disciples after Christ’s death of those who had been holding on to Jesus Christ’s teaching.

The vast populace did not like what he taught. Most everyone who saw themselves religious and faithful followers of God not only rejected Jesus Christ’s teaching, but also hated it. Worse, they came to hate him and preferred that he be dead than to continue his teaching.

It is no different today. People do not like to be told that what they believe about God and Christ is in grave error and that most of all the doctrines they have believed are false. The examples that have been covered already concerning simple doctrines are challenging enough, but there is so much more to come that is far more serious than those basic, but important beliefs.

Why address all this? Why is it so important? Because it is important to God! It is also important for our welfare, peace, and happiness if we can only grasp that. God’s desire for us is that we choose His ways because then our lives can be blessed. If we refuse, we will only suffer, and others around us will suffer. No parent wants to see their own children suffer for living a wrong way of life, and God has far greater love for us than any physical parent.

Living contrary to God’s ways and in disobedience to His laws only brings great sorrow, suffering, and curses in life. However, when a person chooses to live in such a manner, it doesn’t just hurt oneself, it has a rippling effect that hurts those close to them in family, job, and society. The world is at the point where that ripple has turned into a tsunami of destruction, corruption, extreme suffering, and evil that simply permeates this world, and to the point that mankind is about to annihilate itself. Either mankind will be destroyed or God will intervene. Which do you choose? It is as God told the Israelites when He stated that He had placed before them life and death, and He said to them to choose life. They did not!

Mankind is now living in a period of time where God is giving them the ability to “see” His truth, and now people must begin to choose whether or not they want to live by it. He is now intervening in the affairs of this world to bring 6,000 years of the oppressive self-rule of mankind to an end. It has grown beyond the evil and corruption that existed in the days of Noah. Mankind now has the power to destroy itself and all life on earth.

Indeed, it is just as Christ said about this end-time. The disciples had come to Christ and asked him when all these things should be and what would be the sign of his coming and the end of the world (Mat 24:3). This word “world” is speaking of an “age,” the end of this “age” of mankind’s self-rule and the time of his coming to establish his rule. It is not about the end of the world, but the end of one age, as mankind moves into another, the Millennium.

Christ told them, “But as in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of man be [the Messiah’s coming]. For until the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not know until the flood came, and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37-39).

This is not saying that eating, drinking, and getting married is wrong. It is simply saying that life was going on as it always had for them and that they had no concern or belief that their world was about to change—to be destroyed. However, there are reasons why they were like this because they could have responded differently, just as people could have been for more than 50 years now, but have not.

In other words, just like people’s response over this past half-century as the warning of this end-time has gone throughout the world, those of Noah’s day ignored, ridiculed, and mocked Noah and his 100-year project of building the ark. That ark was being built on dry land. No one had remotely seen anything of such an undertaking as this. The news of this spread throughout the known world at that time. It was a massive undertaking and people all around knew what he was building and why, and they did not believe him in the slightest. They did not believe him that God would destroy them by a flood. That was ludicrous to them. They would not listen to him, just like today.

Due to the warning becoming stronger in 2008 about what is coming in this catastrophic end-time, some few were sobered for a time, but as time went on they began to mock, ridicule, twist and distort, hate, and even threaten that which was true. However, now things will begin to change as during the time of the flood. But for those in that time period it was too late when they realized that Noah was right. When the waters came, and continued to build, growing deeper over the many days that followed, people began to drown and die. By that time, it was too late, and it only became worse until there was no more life.

The flood continued to rise for 40 days and the ark was lifted and began to move upon the waters of the flood. Many tried to survive the waters, but by this time, all life had died. During this end-time, as catastrophic events become worse and worse, people will be given time within a period of 3 ½ years to begin to change their course of life from “their own way” to God’s ways.

Yes, these days are very much like the days of Noah when the mind of mankind had become so very corrupted. However, it is now much worse, and God is intervening to bring in a new age for mankind. It will be an age of rest, prosperity, family, and great peace that this world has never come remotely close to ever experiencing.

Chapter 2

A DECEIVED WORLD

THIS WORLD IS EXPERIENCING great suffering, and the catastrophic events that are engulfing it will only get much, much worse. God is now bringing mankind to a preplanned point in time when it must begin facing reality and truth, which is something that human nature actually resists and fights against. This is akin to how human nature works to portray itself different and often better than it actually is, while hiding what it truly is deep down inside.

God is not going to allow mankind to live in a world of such vast deception any longer. Long before anything was ever created He had a plan with a very specific timeframe, which involved bringing mankind to this very point, to see what its own self-rule and own ways have produced.

To understand why the world has come to the condition it is in today and the level of vast devastation that is engulfing it, one must go far back in history to learn what started it all and where we are now as a result. It is all tied together. Through understanding of that past, a person can far more easily begin to come to grips with why the world is now experiencing what it is. One will also be able to better understand why God is allowing this to happen so that a much better world can now be offered to mankind. Before this, it could not be offered.

The current level of chaos that can be witnessed in crumbling and imploding economies, civil unrest, dissention and infighting within governments, nation against nation, escalating warfare, clashes of religion, and growing evil in this world, is the product of great deception. Much of that deception has come from government, the media, business and industry, religion, and it has even been self-imposed.

That which has been self-imposed is the result of a willing blindness on the part of those who have wanted things to “go on as normal,” without any disruption to their lives. There has been a kind of silent and unspoken mob-like mentality that joined forces and helped to inflate the stock market, commodities, and other areas of financial investing. Things like the stock market became exceedingly bloated because of mutual greed among investors, as they turned a blind eye to corruption in business and of the economic collapse that was taking place in “other” areas of the world. But as long as it wasn’t “too close to home” there was a general willingness to just ignore world news and focus inwardly.

News in most of the so-called western world sensationalizes stories about sports figures, politicians, movie stars, criminal figures, and a myriad of rather unimportant events within our culture that has only worked to distract people from reality, thus proliferating deception. Most people have willingly allowed themselves to be deceived. Deception has been self-imposed in an effort to play “make-believe” that our immediate world is not as bad as the true reality.

Deception is simply the absence of reality and truth. The world is filled with lies, lying, half-truths, false-witness, and overall deception where a constant distorting and twisting of what is true flourishes. Then, at the heart of this, is a level of deception that is exceedingly powerful. People are not even aware of it nor are they willing to admit it when they are shown. The ability to come to grips with reality rests once again upon whether people are willing to listen to God. Only God can clearly tell us what is true and where deception exists, just as He is now beginning to expose its existence and its practice throughout this world.

Once truth comes to light and illuminates deception and lies, just as the world is now being awakened to the true condition of its actual state, it creates shock, feelings of betrayal, disbelief, great sorrow, fear, anger, and often vengeance and anarchy.

This story of deceit and the perverse power behind it first began within the angelic realm long before God ever created mankind on this earth. The reason God first created the angelic realm, and then mankind, has everything to do with why God created us differently and why we are now in this final period of this end-time. Only by understanding such things can we come to see the marvel of God’s creation and the next great step in His plan. At this time, God is working to save a large portion of mankind to live on into a new age. Yet make no mistake, billions are still going to die during this final period before the Millennium is established.

God has revealed that human beings in our current state with the minds we have are not able to comprehend God’s existence. We are physical beings and we deal with physical realities around us of things we can see, touch, smell, calculate, measure, etcetera. Such things are a matter of all that is physical, which function within established laws. This, of course, is a little simplified, but it serves to stress the point that we are a physical creation that exists in a physical universe. That is all we can work within. Yet there is also a spirit creation that we cannot see which is composed of spirit, just like this physical universe is composed of physical elements.

In our physical world, there are laws that we can work within that are exact, as with laws that regulate physical science, mathematics, chemistry, etcetera. Our ability to then work within this physical creation is made possible by laws that do not change. Those laws are exact, reliable, and always working and repeating in a uniform and orderly manner, yet there is so very much we still cannot grasp about such laws. We have learned how to utilize and harness a great deal of power because of them, but we still do not understand their existence.

Mankind is not capable of creating new laws nor of altering those that exist. Those laws cannot be seen through any physical means, but we can see and experience the results of their existence. We simply know that they exist. We cannot see them, cannot weigh them, cannot fully grasp them, but we know they are there. That is very much what the spirit creation is like. We cannot see spirit, cannot weigh it, as it has no physical properties whatsoever, just like laws.

In many ways, this is like trying to understand God. We try through our limited means of reasoning on a physical plane, but we cannot really grasp such existence. Neither can mankind fully grasp the existence of laws that regulate this universe. He also cannot fully grasp spirit, and what is of God, unless God gives His spirit to enable a mind to “see” some of those things on a spiritual plane. Such ability simply does not exist in us, of and by ourselves.

If people could only grasp and believe an important reality about these laws that exist in our midst in an otherwise very physical world, then we would be far wiser and far better off. That reality is that laws that are in motion are a matter of a spirit function that are controlled and sustained by Almighty God. I cannot begin to grasp this and neither can any other human being. We were created to only have a limited ability and capacity as far as the human mind is concerned. If mankind refuses to believe that God is the Creator of all things, then it will not believe that God sustains all things either.

God’s Word

The only way we can grasp anything about a spirit creation is if God reveals it to us—if He tells us about it, and He has. Let’s journey back to the beginning where this story first starts to unfold.

God does not explain more to us than what is basic, and then we have the choice to believe what He says or not. God simply says that in the beginning there was only Him—only God. In the beginning was only God. God further speaks of Himself in that spirit existence, before anything else existed, in terms of the “Word” in John 1 and as “wisdom” in the Proverbs.

Both terms, “wisdom” and “the Word,” are about the most inner being of the mind of God that reveals who He is—His thinking, His thought, His purpose, His ways. That is a matter of something spiritual, of God’s very spirit—the “holy spirit.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with [Gk.- unto] God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

The word “with” is a mistranslation and done so on purpose by those who did the translating. It was done in an effort to give credibility to a false doctrine that traditional Christianity strongly embraces. The reason this was mistranslated is because translators had the belief that Jesus Christ had eternally existed alongside (together with) the Eternal God. It is part of a doctrine that did not come into existence until 325 A.D. in the Council of Nicaea concerning the Trinity, and this will be covered later.

There are other Greek words that mean “with” when indicating “being with” someone, “beside” someone, or “alongside” someone. The Greek word used in this verse is not one of them. The mistranslation of “with” gives the sense that there were two different beings “with” each other. However, the actual Greek word used in this verse is “unto” and means that it was fully “unto” (belonging to) the one being spoken of, exclusively so.

It is simply saying that the Word was “unto” God, and to no other, because there was no other. The Word was God’s and it was unto no other. It has already been covered how God clearly states that He alone is God, the Eternal God, and that there is no other.

Later it speaks of the Word “becoming flesh,” who dwelled together with the disciples. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

In these verses it is speaking of Jesus Christ who was born of the Word of God, which is about being born of the very spirit mind and being of the One Eternal Self-Existing God. Jesus Christ’s inception came directly from the One Eternal God—from His Word. However, the false teaching of the Trinity states that there are three separate beings in the Godhead who have eternally existed together. This false doctrine identifies these as the Father, the Word (or Jesus Christ), and the Holy Ghost. It further states that the Word, who they say was Jesus Christ, gave up his power within the Godhead to become a physical human being by being born of a physical mother so he could then die for mankind. Yet the truth is that Jesus Christ had no existence until he was begotten from the Word of God the Father (vs. 14), as he was born a physical human being, indeed, in order to become the Passover sacrifice for all mankind so that there could be forgiveness of sins through his blood that was spilled upon the earth.

The entire teaching of the Trinity becomes so twisted and distorted that it became known as a “mystery.” The reason it is a mystery is because they cannot explain their own convoluted ideas with soundness and clear reason. Astoundingly so, this is one of the primary doctrines of traditional Christianity.

The “Word” is from the Greek word “logos,” and the most accurate meaning is “revelatory thought.” It is the essence that identifies one’s very thoughts, thinking, and identity. As with every individual, we are identified by that which we think in the mind and by the very thoughts that come out of an individual in actions. These actions reflect the “logos,” the revelatory thoughts. What comes out of the mouth of a person, the “words” (logos) that are spoken, is what reveals what is in the mind of an individual.

This word “logos” is not just a word in scripture that is used about God. It is also used about mankind. It is used in expressions identifying things that come out of people in the words they speak, that reflect their mind, their thinking. These examples include, “in vain words,” “malicious words,” and in the expression, “their words eat as a cancer.” Christ warned people of their use of words because it reflected their true being—what came from their own ways and thinking. He stated, “by your own words you will be justified, and by your own words you will be condemned.”

As with every individual, we are identified by that which we think in the mind and the very thoughts of the mind that come out of an individual in action, which can be written words, spoken words, or other literal action. The actions reflect the “logos”—the revelatory thoughts of one’s mind.

Everything about God that can be explained to mankind began from the Word—Logos—which is God. It is who He is. From the Word, from God, His revelatory thought began to become manifest as He created the spirit world and the angelic realm. Later, He created the physical universe and eventually mankind. To this day, He continues to reveal His will in all that He has purposed. This is God. This is the Word of God being made manifest (revealed) to the world.

There is much history in the Bible, but most is a revelation of God’s will and purpose for His creation. It is the Word of God. Jesus Christ did not claim to be the Word of God. In John 14:24, he clearly states to the disciples, “the word [logos] which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.” In John 17:14-17 it records Christ praying to God: “I have given them [the disciples] your word [logos].” He also said, “Sanctify [set apart for holy use and purpose] them through your truth. Your word [logos] is truth.”

Indeed, continuing on with the verses in John 1 it says, “All things were made by Him [referring back to the Word that is God—that reveals who God is], and without Him [again, the Word that is God] nothing was made that was made. In Him [the Word that is God] was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4).

All that exists comes from the planning and purpose of God, which He formulated and determined. This is summed up in the Word of God and is a matter of the very will of God.

So in verse 14 when it states that the Word was made flesh, it is speaking of the very revelatory thought (Word, Logos) of God Almighty that was given to Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, and was the very manifestation, the revelation (thinking) of God to man. Jesus Christ was born with the very mind of God, who was his Father, but he grew up separately with his own identity being formed through all that he experienced in his physical life, having his own individuality that was unique and apart from his Father.

God’s Spirit Power Versus the Holy Spirit

There is a difference that needs to be understood about God and His spirit powers. There is a difference between the power of His spirit whereby He creates, and the power of His spirit that originates from His mind, which is the holy spirit. Though both are spirit in nature, the spirit power whereby He works and creates is not the holy spirit. It is just spirit power available at His command.

Therefore, the holy spirit should not to be confused with His power that is at His command to accomplish work. The power by which God accomplishes, works, and performs all that He does is by the power of His spirit. However, that which is a matter of His mind—of His thought, thinking, and very being, and which emanates from His mind, which reveals such thinking, is of the holy spirit. The holy spirit is a means through which He communicates His ways, thought, will, purpose, truth, and mind to others.

It is in this fashion that God poured out His holy spirit (of His very mind, thoughts, ways, and truth) upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. This enabled them to see truths and ways of God that they did not and could not see until this moment. When this happened, they were then able to individually see those things that God was communicating to them through the holy spirit. They were then able to teach these things to others that they could now see and understand, just as Peter began to teach about the Psalm written by David that we have already covered. Peter was able to reveal that this Psalm written by David was not about David, as it seemed to be written, but that it was prophetic about the Messiah.

The actual power of God is spoken of in terms of things He does, accomplishes, creates, sustains, etcetera, which are a matter of “His spirit power” that He can direct and command as He wills. That which He chooses to share and communicate to others is of His very being, of His revelatory thought, mind, and spiritual ways, which is a matter of His holy spirit.

For a human being, the closest we can come to grasping some of what this is saying is to recognize that, individually, who we are is a matter of our mind and thinking. Everything we do in life is the result of what begins in our mind. We think and reason, and only then can actions follow which “reveal” more outwardly to others what we are like, what makes us unique, what our character and personality is, what our ways are, and simply how we think. In addition, we can communicate such things in a strong way through speech, sign language, and written words.

In a similar manner, mankind is also without excuse when it comes to knowing more about what God is like simply because it should be able to be seen by observing the creation that surrounds our lives. That creation reveals much about God and His love for His creation and for mankind that He placed over it.

God gave us an awesome creation to help fill our lives with much richness of life and innumerable experiences to enjoy. He gave us a world of order, beauty, abundance, and an incredible variety of life that fills it. He has given us the blessing of family life through the ability to procreate. He has provided vast numbers of ways to be productive and reap blessings that can be produced from this earth, and all made possible by what God has provided. We don’t have to look far to recognize that there are countless things that God has placed on this earth in order for us to have the potential for awesomely abundant life.

Yet the world has constantly turned its back on its Creator. It has ignored Him and has not listened to Him. It has constantly sought to change Him into something on a physical plane, something that is more conducive to excusing wrongdoing and wrong living. Such efforts are also geared toward appeasing the human conscience, in seeking to feel good about itself, and of lifting self up before others in a show of goodness or ability that one supposedly has and lives.

Indeed, through the creation itself, we can then learn much about God. We can also learn more directly from God, if He so chooses to give us of His holy spirit in order to more fully reveal His will, purpose, and ways to us. Through the holy spirit He can communicate directly with anyone whom He chooses. He can do so directly into our mind to a spirit essence that is in the mind of every human being. He does not need to have verbal communication that is a function enabled by physical laws and the physical makeup of the lungs, voice box, mouth and tongue as we do when we speak to one another.

God reveals that there is a “spirit in man,” but it is not the holy spirit. It is a spirit essence within the mind of every person. This spirit essence that is part of the physical brain is what gives humans the ability to think, reason, remember, and communicate as they do. This essence gives each person reasoning ability that enables individual freedom for personal choices, creativity, planning, etcetera. Through God giving each person such a capacity within the human mind, He has made every person individually responsible for their own actions in life and has given them freedom to formulate, choose, and live their life as they themselves determine.

The animal kingdom has also been given a spirit essence within the brain of each living creature. However, that spirit essence given within the animal kingdom is not even remotely on the same plane with that which God has given mankind. Instead, the spirit essence given to animals is more of a “preprogrammed nature” that has been given for each variety of life. We generally refer to such programming as “instinct.”

The spirit essence in the mind of mankind and the spirit instinct that God has placed in the animal kingdom is a part of the brain that mankind cannot measure nor detect by any scientific means. Spirit essence in the brain of any living being is “spirit,” and that which is spirit is not detectable in a physical realm, yet spirit exists within a physical realm.

Although animals do not have the capacity for individual reasoning, planning, and creativity as mankind, some animals have been given a limited capacity for memory and learning; however, that process of development is vastly different than human life. That which God has given to animals does sometimes result in what can be viewed as differing kinds of personalities, uniqueness, and/or individuality that can make each creature distinct from others in animal life. That development is not the result of thought-out “individual” reasoning and thinking as in human life. Instead, it is the result of preprogrammed responses that can produce a wide range of unique characteristics in each specific variety of animal life.

The spirit essence that God has given to mankind is on a plane that enables a highly functional mind to plan, design, reason, communicate thoughts and ideas, and make choices of how to live life on a moral plane, as free moral agents. God has given mankind a mind that is capable of highly communicative and interactive relationships between one another and even with God. Such does not exist in the animal kingdom.

This spirit essence in the human mind is joined together with a physical brain that can enable astonishing results when God begins to work directly with a person to continue His creation in them. This will be covered later.

God planned those things that He desired to create and then He set out to accomplish what He had purposed in order to bring it into existence. He began by creating a spirit realm. There are only a few descriptions of things that exist in that realm. They are explained in physical terms because that is the only way we can begin to see and understand something that is beyond human ability to know or grasp. One example of such a thing is what is described as “a sea of glass” of great brilliance and color that is before the throne of God.

Even Hollywood has tried to use this description to simulate a kind of existence of advanced beings or even gods who exist and live in such surroundings.

Although God later created a physical Garden of Eden where He then created Adam and Eve, He first created a spirit Garden of Eden within the spirit realm, which is simply a description of all that was created within heaven to fully provide for the angels He created.

Creation of the Angels

After creating a spirit realm, God then created spirit beings of spirit composition who were given life and minds with which to think—spirit minds. Just as the physical human mind has a spirit essence in it that gives the ability of thought, reasoning, planning, creativity, individual decision-making, etcetera, angels were given a mind composed of spirit and a spirit essence that also enabled this same process of individual thinking and reasoning. As with the human mind, they were made free moral agents. They were not created with automatic responses, but with their own personalities and individuality. They were not created like robots that have to respond in a preprogrammed manner. Neither were they created like the animal kingdom, which was preprogrammed in God’s creation to have automatic responses to varying conditions, which we refer to as instinct.

God created millions of angels, each one being distinct with their own unique mind as a free moral agent with the capacity of free choice. This, too, is how mankind was created to be, but with a major difference in composition that is for a vastly different purpose. As was just stated, the mind placed in a spirit being that is an angel is different in overall composition; it is all simply spirit matter. The purpose for the creation of angels in this fashion has a far different design, purpose, and outcome than that of the human mind.

Of the angels, there were three archangels created at the pinnacle of that creation to whom God gave specific responsibilities concerning His government. Those three were Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer. They were described as the angels who covered the very throne of God, as a matter of excellence, power, and authority within God’s government.

At this stage, you may be wondering, “Why is any of this important or needful to know?” It is because it reveals much about why God made mankind different and under different conditions for an incredibly greater purpose. It is the very purpose for why mankind was created as designed in the first place. The full purpose of why God specifically created the mind of angels as He did and the mind of mankind as He did has only been revealed by Him in this end-time period that began in 1994, when a literal countdown to the return of the Messiah began. Before this was revealed, the world had not known or understood any of this. It is God’s purpose to now begin revealing it to the world, which He will do in more increasing power the closer we draw to the Millennium, and especially once it has been established.

Much of mankind has an untrue and shallow concept of a future life. It often consists of a hope that “just maybe” one will continue in life after death. It is often with an idea and hope that the life which follows death will be some kind of blissful existence in some state of pleasant euphoria. Some speak of perhaps being able to look upon the face of God for all eternity or to engage in some activity that they loved all their life. It is like at a funeral where someone may say, “Ol’ Joe always liked fishing, and I know he is up there fishing right now.” It is as though “ol’ Joe” is now going to fish for the rest of eternity, which is a whole lot better than going to that “other” place. No one questions such concepts any further, like what does he do with the spiritual fish he catches, what kind of bait does he use, or can he then cook them on some kind of spiritual fire? Such things are truly shallow indeed, yet people make such comments without soundness or reason of thought.

What kind of a God would want His creation to live a physical life and then to die so that it could simply look upon Him for the rest of eternity? How fulfilling would this be after a few days for either the one looking or the one being looked upon? How incredibly shallow, unfulfilling, and boring that would be. That isn’t God’s plan and purpose. His plan for mankind is so far beyond anything that mankind could ever conceive or has ever conceived.

Right now, we happen to live in a very specific time that God long before appointed within His overall plan of creation to bring mankind to this exact point as part of a far greater purpose. Our very creation is about to enter a new and exciting phase once the Millennium is established. It far exceeds any ideas of going to heaven.

This complete story is exciting, inspiring, and awesome beyond what words are capable of expressing. You live during one of the most exciting times in all earth’s history, although getting to that time—the Millennium—will not be easy. Yet it really isn’t that far away anymore. Nevertheless, the time remaining before the Millennium is established will be fraught with vast devastation and horrifying catastrophic events. As you continue, you will be given the knowledge of why all this is necessary and why this kind of exceedingly difficult and painful transition can truly happen in no other way.

Creation of the Universe

When angels were created, they were given vast knowledge in minds that had the capacity to receive that knowledge. Then God began to reveal to them some of the initial things that would begin to be accomplished within a process that would span billions of years. They were shown phases of His plan in a progressive manner as it came time for those things to be fulfilled within His overall design and purpose. This would be much like a construction project that focuses on specific blue prints when that phase of a project is being worked upon. When foundations are being poured, they are not focusing on the finishing touches of the interior that has not yet begun to be built.

One of the first exceptionally exciting things the angelic realm was able to share with God was when He began creating a physical universe. We are not given much about that until later when God specifically began speaking of the creation of the earth itself.

Although the creation of planets and stars did not happen with an instantaneous “poof,” they did come into existence by God’s command through the power of His spirit that worked to accomplish these things in what we could only view as being in a relatively quick manner. But just as in construction, each project and each facet takes focus, time, and work to perform it. With God, the actual work is a matter of Him doing things through the power that is at His command once it is time to accomplish a specific phase or feat. These things are a matter of fiat—brought into existence by His command and the work of His spirit.

Indeed, the creation of the universe did not happen instantaneously, but covered millions upon millions of what we can only compare to earth years. We cannot even begin to imagine all that this massive creation involved, let alone the time required to accomplish it. Some have the concept that it was indeed accomplished in an instant, and all of the sudden, the universe was there. There was planning, design, work, and time required in accomplishing all, just like in building anything that would be constructed on a physical plane. We just have not yet been told about all the details.

In the very creation of the physical universe, mankind cannot really fathom such a thing nor remotely begin to comprehend its vastness, let alone the greatness and power of Almighty God who created it all. We can try to grasp some of its basic complexity through simple mathematic comparisons, but even in that, the physical mind cannot really grasp it all.

Mankind cannot actually grasp the size of what was created in some of the smallest portions of this creation. We can play with the numbers, but its complexity, variety, massiveness, and space it encompasses is really beyond human understanding. Then scientists have the foolish audacity to choose to believe that such a thing came out of some kind of a big bang. This is so unscientific that it staggers the mind.

When considering the massiveness of those things that have been created within the universe, a good place to begin would be in a comparison of the size of the earth to that of the sun. The diameter of the sun is 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) from one side to the other. You would need to place a little over 100 earths side by side to reach through the diameter of the sun. I can’t fully comprehend that.

If you took the matter in all the asteroids, moons, and planets and put them together, they would only account for .1 percent of the matter in our entire solar system. In other words, the sun is so large that it accounts for 99.9 percent of all matter in our solar system. It would take nearly 1,000,000 earths to fill up the size of the sun.

Yet even in such a comparison to other stars, our sun is quite small. There is a star called VY Canis Majoris. If it were placed in our solar system in place of the sun, its outer surface would extend beyond the orbit of Saturn. It would take over 2,000 of our suns, side by side, to reach through that diameter.

Such things become so vast that science begins to speak of such size and distance in terms of the speed of light. In other words, in terms of how long it would take light to travel that distance, because our minds cannot begin to deal with distances that are so great. Once again, our sun seems quite small when comparing it to this giant star. It would take light only 14.5 seconds to travel completely around our sun’s surface, while it would take 8.5 hours for it to travel around VY Canis Majoris. How can we grasp such things?

If we could begin to travel from earth at the speed of light to the nearest star, it would take 4.5 years to do so. Then there are various nebulas within the Milky Way Galaxy, as with the Horse Head Nebula which would take 1,500 years to reach at the speed of light. Another is the Eight-burst Nebula that is 2,000 light years away, which means that light leaving that Nebula during the time of Christ is just now becoming visible on earth.

Then consider the size of the Milky Way Galaxy itself. If you were to travel at the speed of light across it, from one side to the other, it would take over 100,000 years to do so. When I was growing up, it was believed that the Milky Way Galaxy itself contained 100 billion stars. In some science text books now it is stated there are between 200 to 400 billion stars. It is believed that there may be that same number of stars in each galaxy.

Further, it has been estimated that there may be over 200 billion galaxies in the universe. However, that number is considered to be grossly under-estimated since a German super computer simulation in 2009 put that number to be closer to 500 billion galaxies in the universe.

How do we comprehend something that is so very vast and complex? We cannot!

The question might then arise, “How long did it take to create such a universe?” It certainly didn’t just “all of the sudden” burst into existence. It took a very long, long time, and that is something our feeble minds most definitely cannot begin to grasp.

The number of stars in the universe is so far beyond human comprehension that even a highly speeded up concept of time cannot reduce this to a level any human can comprehend. For example, if we were to take a considerably lower number of galaxies, approximately 250 billion, and a considerably lower number of only 250 billion stars in each one, the number is so vast that we have difficulty just grasping the number itself. It is the number 625 followed by 20 zeros. Since that is far too large to grasp, let’s reduce this concept to a factor of time.

In this example, we are going to say that every star has a name. Next, we are going to sit down before a computer screen and watch as the computer flashes 1,000 names of stars per second on the screen. In reality, we could not even read one name per second at that rate, but we can sit there and watch the computer perform this function on the screen.

How long do you think it would take us to sit there until the computer had finished its task? Someone might guess it would take an entire day. Well, at the rate this is being done, there would be 60,000 names flashing on the screen per minute, or 3,600,000 per hour. So in a day we would come up exceedingly short, as that would account for only 86,400,000 stars, and that wouldn’t even give us a good start on the Milky Way Galaxy itself. Even after a year, you would not yet be beyond the Milky Way Galaxy. It would take almost 8 more years before the computer could begin listing names in another galaxy.

The actual amount of time it would require for a computer to complete such a task for the entire universe would take nearly 2 trillion years. That is the number 2 followed by 12 zeros.

We are so very, very small, but we tend to think we are so very, very great.

Creation of Physical Life

Within the process of creating the universe and all the galaxies within it, there came a time when God revealed to the angelic realm more about His purpose for their creation, and that of the physical creation of the universe itself. God created the angelic realm and the physical universe in order to accomplish a far greater purpose in His plan. It would be by far the greatest of His creative ability to perform and fulfill.

God had not yet revealed this part of His overall plan to the angelic realm while so much was being created throughout the universe. Finally, that time did come, and God began to reveal more to them about a very special galaxy that was to be created. They were told that a very specific solar system would be created in the midst of this one galaxy. It was about our Milky Way Galaxy. God revealed to them that in the midst of this galaxy, of all the galaxies that had been created, there would be the creation of physical life, which had not been done previous to this in all the other galaxies.

In this one galaxy, there would be one little solar system placed within the midst of well over two hundred billion others. Then, within this one little solar system, there would be physical life created on one very small planet—Earth.

At a point in the creation of the galaxy, the earth was created, but not as most people in traditional Christianity believe. Many of them think that the creation of the earth happened at the same time that Adam and Eve were created. However, that is not true. It was created long, long before.

Where I grew up in Kansas (in the middle of the United States), we could go out and collect prehistoric shark’s teeth in areas that can be seen as the edge of shorelines where an ocean used to be. Dinosaurs and a great deal of other prehistoric life have left behind evidence of their earlier existence of life on earth. Their bones and fossils are in museums all over the world.

When a person begins to read Genesis, they have been taught that this is an account when God first created the earth. It was not! It was created well over a hundred thousand years prior. We simply cannot know the exact time until God reveals it.

The word for “the” in the following verse should read “a,” as there is no definite article like “the” in Hebrew. “In the [a] beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the water” (Gen. 1:1-2).

This is not well translated, but when one looks more closely at what is being said, it becomes clearer. It helps to know the Hebrew words that are translated as “without form” and “void.” The word translated as “without form” is the Hebrew word “tohu” and means “a place of chaos and waste,” and the word “void” is the Hebrew word “bohu,” which means “filled with emptiness.”

God specifically speaks of this in Isaiah. “For this is what the Eternal has said, who created the heavens; God Himself who formed the earth and made it. He has established it and He did not create it in vain [Heb. - tohu—a place of chaos and waste], but formed it to be inhabited. I am the Eternal and there is no one else” (Is. 45:18).

The earth and the heaven (the atmosphere around it) had been created. God had created it beautiful and filled with all kinds of life. There was abundant plant life, life in the waters, life in the air, and life on the land. This story in Genesis 1:1 began as God spoke of the condition of the earth being in a state of desolation and of it being laid waste. The atmosphere itself was polluted and no life existed on earth.

That which had caused this to happen to the earth is explained later. At this specific moment in time when God begins to address the condition of this earth being in the ruined state that it was, He began a process to reestablish life on earth. This time it would not be the kind of prehistoric life that we have already covered, but it would now be for the creation of the kind of life that exists today, including mankind.

This process of reestablishing life on earth begins with how God, through the power of His spirit, began to have His spirit move upon the face of the water. The water was already here because the earth was already here. God had to reestablish continents and the boundaries of the oceans. The following verses begin to tell a shortened version of the story of how God moved to set the earth in a proper orbit and to establish days and nights through a proper rotation on the earth once again. He then continued by parting the heavens, which were also here, so that the rays of the sun could once again shine on the surface of the earth so that life, which was about to be created, could once again flourish.

A Progressive Revelation

Before covering more about the period of the reestablishment of life to inhabit the earth, it is necessary to return to the flow of how God was working with the angels as the creation of the universe was unfolding.

As it was covered, God began to reveal to the angels that He was going to create a physical universe composed of galaxies with constellations, nebulas, and solar systems within. The angels were able to share in all that God was doing, yet we are not told specifically to what extent, until it came time for the earth itself to be created.

The earth was now the primary focus of the entire universe, and there was physical life that had been created upon it. There was much more to yet be prepared within the universe before God would later reveal that mankind was to be created on earth. The only created life that now existed outside the angelic realm was in the physical life that now existed on earth. As this was now the focal point of the universe, and physical life now existed on earth, God gave Lucifer charge, along with a vast number of angels under him, to “dress and keep” (cultivate or foster growth, and to sustain) the earth as God directed them to do.

There was still much more to be created within the Milky Way Galaxy while Lucifer and that vast company of angels were primarily working on the earth. God continued to reveal more of His plan and purpose in a greater way when it came time to prepare for each new phase of that creation. He revealed things in a progressive manner as it came time to focus on each phase. That is why God has been revealing what He has for some time now, in the same kind of progressive manner, about the final stages of this end-time. It is all in preparation for what mankind must first go through in order for that self-rule of 6,000 years to be brought to an end and to now prepare for a new era for mankind—the Millennium.

Therefore, at some moment in time, God revealed to the angels something additional about the physical creation of life on earth. They were told that He was going to also create mankind of physical existence. But there was more. He told them that this creation would lead to the greatest of all His creation and that it would be the greatest of His creative ability to perform and fulfill.

As revealed in the Book of Hebrews, the angels learned that they were themselves ultimately created to be ministering spirits to serve mankind as part of a process whereby God would create something even greater within mankind. The first step of creating mankind in physical life would only be the first phase of their creation.

When God created Adam and Eve, He made them incomplete. God’s purpose for creating mankind goes beyond just being made as temporary, living physical human beings. God inspired Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, to speak of another creation or a further creation that can take place in each person. God’s plan for giving physical human life is only the first phase of His purpose for creating us. There is a second phase of that creation which is spiritual in nature, and it begins within a physical human body—specifically, in the mind. It is a creation performed by God that cannot be instantaneously or quickly accomplished as when Adam and Eve were created, and as all other things were created by God and brought into existence.

This further creation requires years of work and cannot be done quickly, as it requires the willingness of each person to choose to want to participate in this process that takes decades to accomplish. It involves what Paul referred to as a “transformation of the mind,” and it actually involves a spirit creation that begins in the mind of a person that works to change the very way we tend to think as selfish human beings. God cannot instantaneously create a mind to be in unity and oneness with Him and His ways, but instead, His spirit works within the mind of a person to literally create a new mind and way of thinking that is no longer motivated by human nature, but by God’s nature. Only after this spirit creation within the mind takes place can a person then be given spirit life—everlasting life. This spirit creation and God’s purpose for this entire process will be explained in more detail later.

Lucifer: The Beginning of Deception

Once God had revealed to Lucifer His plan for the creation of mankind, something began to change in Lucifer’s mind—in his thinking and reasoning. When the angels were told that physical human beings were created for a greater purpose than themselves, and not only that, but that they were created to be ministering spirits to mankind, Lucifer began to think differently than he ever had. After God told them of His purpose to create these living beings, who would become greater in majesty, power, and purpose than the angels, Lucifer’s spirit changed. He began to resent God’s purpose. He began to become jealous of what was going to be created. He began to hate God’s plan.

Before covering God’s plan and purpose of what He will further create in mankind, it is first necessary to understand what happened to Lucifer and a third of all the angels. This is where deception was born. Here is where deception began to become powerful, and it has only gained in power ever since. It is a great power that has had a very forceful impact upon mankind—one that mankind has largely been unaware of.

God states of Lucifer, “How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [day star], son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, who did weaken the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12).

God had given a name to Lucifer that reflected much about the purpose for his being created. Lucifer means “day star” or “light bringer.” Stars are used in scripture, especially in prophecy, to identify angels. It is like the star that was pictured as showing the way to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. People think it was a literal star that gave great brilliance over Bethlehem to show the way. The “star” that led the way to Bethlehem where Jesus was born was about an angel. It was not a literal star that was hundreds of light-years away that shined all the way down with laser-like rays, pointing to Bethlehem.

So there came a time when Lucifer was cast from heaven and confined to this earth. It continues by saying, “For you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [depicting being over the angelic realm]. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Although most people believe that angels have eternal life because they are spirit, they do not. They are created beings, and they are not created with God’s inherent being of self-sustaining life. The angels were given spirit life, and God can take that away just as easily as He gave it. God created the spirit realm and He sustains it, just as He does the physical realm. God can alter any of what He created as He wills in both the physical and spirit creation. Even Satan’s mind became so corrupted and void of sound reason that he began to believe that God was limited in what He could do with His own creation.

The next verse goes on to tell of God’s judgment for Lucifer, which in God’s time will become fully established against Lucifer and then be executed upon him: “Yet you shall be brought down to hell [hades—the grave], to the sides of the pit” (Is. 14:15). God begins here in this verse to reveal that Lucifer will come to an end of life—that his life will cease.

When God states that the wages of sin is death that not only applies to human life, but it also applies to those who were given spirit life as angels. Even in this, people do not believe what God says through Ezekiel. They have chosen instead to believe that people have a soul and that at death it will continue to live on and leave the body, going to either heaven or hell. They have NO concept of a need for God to resurrect them from the dead.

More about Lucifer is revealed through Ezekiel. In this account, Satan is being described as a “prophetic type” of a king of Tyrus whose reign was brought to an end.

“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus [speaking prophetically of Lucifer]. You have sealed up the sum that was filled in wisdom and perfect in beauty [he was created as the highest of the angelic realm]. You have been in Eden, the Garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:12-13).

Although Lucifer was in the physical Garden of Eden that was created for Adam and Eve, he had first been in the spirit created Garden of Eden that was in heaven itself. It goes on in verse 13 to describe things of a spirit creation in physical terms for comparison and then it mentions those things that God had given to him that made him so great, and it states that all those things had been given to him “in the day that you were created.” The very fact that these verses speak of Lucifer’s creation reveals that this was not speaking of a physical human king as some have supposed.

“You are the anointed cherub who covers [speaking of him as one of the three archangels who at times covered the very throne of God], and I [the Eternal] have set you so. You have been upon the holy mountain [used in scripture as the government of God]. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you” (Ez. 28:14).

“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty [pride and haughtiness set in]. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness” (Ez. 28:17).

Just as those in the time of the days of Noah had so corrupted their minds, Lucifer was the first to corrupt his mind—his thinking, reasoning, and ways.

Control Versus Free-Will

Once God revealed to the angels that the creation of man and woman would lead to His ultimate purpose for all of creation, God also revealed to them that they would share in the joy of what He would ultimately create through mankind on a spiritual plane.

Lucifer’s response to what God revealed was not good, and he began to corrupt his spirit mind by sin. He started to see himself greater than he was. He lifted himself up in pride in his own eyes and before that of the angelic realm, especially those who were working together with him to “dress and keep” the earth.

In his now perverted thinking, he began to reject the knowledge of God’s ways and began to believe that his own ways were better. He became so self-deceived, willingly so, that he began to believe he could rise up against God and take over all rule of the physical and spirit realm. God later changed his name to Satan, the adversary, because his way became one of working against God at every turn. He became eaten up inside (in spirit) and began to spread his disdain for God’s plan to other angels. He worked within the angelic realm to stir up jealousy and resentment against mankind.

The Bible does not give a time frame but only the results that a third of the angelic realm sided with Satan in a horrific rebellion against God. However, Satan shortly began to experience that he was actually very puny before the great God who created him.

Lucifer had been created with vast power, power that God did not immediately take away even though God knew that Lucifer had begun to corrupt his own mind due to sin. God allowed Satan to continue in his way of defiance and rejection of God’s only true ways. God had great purpose in allowing Satan to continue on that course in order to reveal to His creation the true nature and destructiveness of sin. The angelic realm had never witnessed such a thing, as none had ever chosen any other way but God’s. Such an example would not only serve as a powerful lesson within the angelic realm, it would also serve as a powerful lesson for mankind.

God did not stop Satan from his sin. God did not stop Satan from spreading his evil ideas and attitude of rebellion among the angels, although He could have easily done so. God’s purpose is not to control those whom He has given free will. A government that works to “control” its subjects will never experience real unity and peace.

Indeed, God’s purpose is not to control angels nor mankind by force in order to have a pseudo-peace. That is a concept of mankind where the idea of peace exists if you will do things my way, and then we can have peace because my ways are right. That is the way the world thinks. Nations have always tried to enforce their will upon nations who have wanted nothing to do with them, but because of being conquered, they had to submit. That is not true peace. Submission by force that is a matter of control does not change one’s will.

This is like the saying that goes, “He who is convinced against his will is really of the same mind still.” This may not resonate as well in other translations as it does in English.

A kind of conformity can be enforced, but that does not create agreement, which is the only way true peace can be achieved—when two or more are in agreement. Yet even that does not work with selfish human beings because someone most always wants to have their way in order to get peace.

That is exactly what God was referring to when He admonished Israel for not listening to Him, and so they were told that as a result He would punish them for refusing to do so. God then asked the question, “Can two walk together except they are in agreement?” (Amos 3:3).

It would be good to interject an important distinction here. It is needful to recognize there is a vast difference between control and occasional punishment or discipline that is administered when some infraction has occurred that might require such a thing.

The only way for real peace and genuine harmony to exist is if God’s way is chosen, since only His ways (or laws) can produce peace. For anyone to come into agreement with God and His ways, it must be because they agree that only God’s ways produce peace.

The ability to better grasp what “control” means in this kind of context is perhaps best explained by looking at an example of family life. A parent can “control” many things in the lives of their children. The greatest challenge often starts as a parent begins to give freedoms to their teenager. The balance and soundness of mind involved in “knowing” how and when to let go of certain “control” is usually quite challenging to a parent.

However, for a parent who is more “control” oriented, and the longer they may tend to exercise control in an excessive manner, the final result and response from a child is most generally not what the parent wanted. That is because control does not insure “agreement,” nor does it produce “agreement” within a family. Genuine and lasting agreement is a matter of choice—free choice and free will.

Parents can work to control a teen’s environment, but they cannot control their mind. A parent who is seeking what is best for their own child because they want to see them prosper, not suffer, and be happy in life cannot be dictated by control. Instead, it involves much more needed work on the part of a parent to try to help instill right values in a child in the hope that they will then be better equipped to make better choices for their own life. Certainly, this process requires rules and discipline, as well as a great deal of true caring and love along the way. The best one can do is to work hard to nurture a child in an environment of caring concern and love and also work to help instill good values in them from their youngest years and forward.

God gave free moral agency to both the angelic realm and to mankind. It was with the desire and hope that both would willingly choose His ways and then be able to share the creation with one another and with God into age-lasting life. However, in giving free moral agency to both, God knew that all would not choose His ways. Those who choose not to embrace God’s ways because they are not in agreement with Him always do so because they want to live some other way. Yet any other way but God’s only produces evil. Only God’s way can produce real peace and good in life, but not all want peace and good in life—just their own ways.

Satan’s Response and the Corruption of His Mind

Over time, as Satan grew in greater resentment and disdain for God’s revealed purpose for mankind, he moved a third of the angelic realm to side with him. He then plotted against God and God’s creation. They planned their rebellion and then set to carry it out.

Again, self-deception that results from the corruption of one’s mind becomes apparent by what they did. After all these angelic beings had witnessed of the great powers of God, they still abandoned any realistic thoughts of fear toward God to go against Him. They became hardened in their own mind and blinded to reality because they so wanted their “own way” that their own sense of injustice and self-justification grew so strong that they became fully set against God.

Since God did not intervene to stop what they had begun to do against His creation, they then became emboldened to do more. That is exactly the course that human nature follows. The more that one thinks they can get by with, the more emboldened they become to do more. For those angels, God had great purpose in allowing them to continue in “their own way,” just as God is doing now with mankind.

This great rebellion originated from earth. Satan set out to destroy all physical life and the earth itself because his hatred for God’s plan and for God had become so great. His plan even included ascending to God’s throne and then to rule in God’s stead. Some who read this might think that it doesn’t make any sense that Satan could have believed that he could do such a thing by trying to take it all from God. It doesn’t reflect any semblance of soundness of mind for him to have attempted such a thing. It would seem to be rather insane. Yet that is what sin and the corruption of the mind produces—the absence of true soundness.

Mankind’s Proclivity to the Same Unsound Thinking

Mankind is no different when it comes to how people think. There is no acceptance of God’s true greatness and power. There is no real fear to do differently than what God has revealed as His only true way for life to be lived. You may think that isn’t true, but you haven’t yet read this whole book. It is very unsound and even rather insane that people do not keep God’s real greatness and ways in their thinking and reasoning when making decisions. Yet that is exactly what has happened as people accept deception and excuse it.

If a person is truly willing to look at oneself, the simple example given earlier of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny is a good place to help a person begin seeing if this kind of reasoning exists in their own mind in which they accept deception and readily excuse it. Most people are not willing to look at themselves under such a light. Most prefer to willingly continue to practice teaching deception and lies to their children, since they see no harm in doing so. Such thinking is a matter of their own way of thinking and not of God’s. That is the kind of thinking that is the result of the corrupting of one’s own mind.

Human nature simply does not want to listen to God when its real desire is to do something different than what God instructs. So obviously, people still choose to live in deception and they willingly accept it for themselves and even their own children. It is easy for the mind to justify one’s actions in such things. It “seems” to such a mind that something like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny is innocent and harmless. Some will defensively claim that the practice of letting children believe in a Santa Claus as part of the observance of Christmas and the Easter Bunny as part of Easter observance is innocent and has nothing to do with religious beliefs in God. That is what the corruption of the mind leads to—ignoring God and judging for oneself what is right and wrong, what is harmful and what is not, and what is sin and what should not be sin. What should be easy to grasp is that God is the true authority and not us.

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

If people do not respond well to the truth of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, then how do you think they respond when they are then told the truth that not only is the observance of a Santa Claus wrong, but the entire observance of Christmas is unbiblical and against God’s will? Then, how do you think people respond? Among those in traditional Christianity, it is not good. It is a bad response, almost always.

However, the bottom line isn’t a matter of “if” a person sees harm in such practices or not. It doesn’t really matter that a person might reason, “It surely can’t be wrong to have an observance in remembrance of Christ’s birthday in order to show honor to him.”

A person who uses such reasoning is not as concerned with listening to God as much as they are in having their own way. They are convinced that “their way” seems okay. Where is God in such a decision? He is ignored! In such cases, what God says about it really isn’t part of their consideration. What difference is there in that kind of thinking with how Satan began to think?

It is an easy thing to find the truth of the true origins of Christmas and Easter. One only needs to go to a good set of encyclopedias, or even better, just look up the history of both on the Internet. Yet in the past, people wouldn’t even be bothered doing that simple thing, and those who generally did look it up saw “no big deal” in the truth of it nor did they see a need to change as a result.

What about you? Are you willing to listen to what God has to say about these observances that have no foundation in scripture? Are you willing to listen to the truth concerning how such observances were deceitfully worked into teachings about Christianity and how God’s Holy Days were taken out? Are you willing to even consider what God commands about the observance of His Holy Days? Are you willing to change so that you can then truly begin to honor and obey God?

God established what He states are “appointed times” (just as in appointments that are to be kept), whereby mankind is to set aside those days as holy time that is to be observed and kept perpetually—forever. That means they are to be observed as long as mankind exists. Much more is yet to be stated about these periods of time which were given to reveal God’s entire plan of salvation for mankind. People do not observe them, and therefore, they do not know God’s true plan.

God gave His Holy Days that mankind is to observe. He did not give the holidays (religious holidays) that mankind has replaced Holy Days with over time. God gave annual observances that reveal “how” to truly honor God and His Son Jesus Christ, and the observance of any birthday to honor Christ is not one of them. These truths have been loudly proclaimed over the past 70 years. This proclamation reached its height during the late 1970s and first half of the 1980s in a powerful way through The Plain Truth magazine that was established through Herbert W. Armstrong. At that time, there were over 8 million copies of that magazine going out into the world in many languages every month.

The attitude of the world in response to what was written concerning God’s Holy Days, which were mentioned at various times within those magazines, was basically summed up in one question: “Who really cares?” Although it was known that tens of millions read that magazine, it had a dismal effect because people really do not listen to God. That is now about to change. The Almighty God is going to change it.

There are a very, very few in this world who apply themselves to observe those Holy Days. In most likelihood, you haven’t even heard of them. Have you heard of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), or the Last Great Day? Most likely, you have not.

Whether you can comprehend it yet or not, and whether you believe it or not, God is now in the process of intervening in this world’s affairs. This world is now going through a process whereby God is going to bring every single adult in the world face to face with the truth of these Holy Days. Each and every person will have to decide whether they are going to listen to God and embrace what He is powerfully revealing to them or whether they are going to hold to their own days like Christmas (the Mass of Christ) and Easter.

The incredible reality of the time you are living in right now is one when the world is about to enter into a new age. It is one where God is no longer going to allow mankind to practice its own government or religions, but instead, God will rule and govern mankind. This also means that religion itself will be governed, as no other religious practice will be allowed on earth except for what is true. That will be established through His one true Church that has existed since it began in 31 A.D.

That Church has been small from its inception. It has been hated, maligned, persecuted, and a vast number of its leaders have been imprisoned and/or even put to death. It has been so small that most in the world have never even known of its existence. But that is all about to be changed, as it is now God’s purpose to make it a powerful Church, and the only Church on earth.

Satan’s Foul Influence to Deceive

Lucifer set out to turn the angelic realm against God in his ultimate goal of destroying all life on earth, including the earth itself. In addition, he fully intended to establish himself as ruler over all creation. His mind became deeply unsound as he continued his deeper corruption of it.

There really is no difference in what can happen to a mind in spirit life or physical life once one begins to sin. It will become corrupt. The greater the willingness to keep God out of one’s life and delve more deeply into sin, the greater the corruption of the mind. Deception and the willingness to deceive self can become so great that a mind can truly no longer “see straight.” Soundness of mind and true balance in life simply “go out the window.”

That is the kind of world we live in today. There is not much that truly reflects good soundness or balance any more, whereas, only a few decades ago, its presence was far more apparent, yet still highly lacking even then. The farther away the mind moves from God, the more corrupt the mind becomes, and the greater the self-deception and the sin that will follow. Hence, mankind is about to repeat, in its own way, what Satan did due to his pride, greed, jealousy, lust, and pure evil.

More than any words can adequately express, there is incredibly great power in deception and the evil that accompanies it. It all began with Satan, and to this day he works to deceive others. He seeks to deceive the whole world, and he has. God describes Satan’s true power and mission in life when He spoke of him being cast from heaven and bound to this earth.

“And the great dragon was cast out [when free access to heaven was taken away], that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).

Satan the adversary is described as a serpent, as that is representative of the nature he developed once he began to corrupt his mind through sin. He became like one who slithers around in hidden areas and in the dark. He works at trying not to be seen, and then whenever possible, he strikes out quickly against those who are not on guard to his presence. Even then, most never know or recognize it, even after they are struck and injected by his venomous poison.

Further, this being is described as having the power to be able to deceive the whole world. This is especially true concerning all the religions of the world. However, this being has also been highly active and influential over the governments of the world from the very onset of them becoming established on earth. Satan is described as the actual influence and power that is behind a final revival that will take place in Europe and lead to WWIII. This is all covered more in another chapter. All in all, Satan has and continues to exercise power that mankind is oblivious to and doesn’t believe in even when told. That is because mankind hasn’t listened and won’t listen to God.

Satan’s power for deception is far greater than what man is capable of grasping. He is a spirit being of cunning and power who has mastered deception to an evil art form. He has honed his evil skills for over tens of thousands of years and possibly hundreds. We cannot fully grasp that power nor the ability he has to twist and pervert truth into lies and deception that “seems” true to the human mind. Much of why his power is so great over mankind is because mankind’s basic nature is one that is easily willing, and often even desirous, to believe a lie. The only person who has ever been able to fully withstand that being was Jesus Christ. All others have failed.

For nearly 6,000 years now, the Devil has worked to lead mankind far away from any semblance of what is true about God. He has the power to broadcast, in spirit, to the human mind. We understand something similar to this in the way signals can be transmitted through the air and then picked up by a receiver. He is not able to communicate to us as God can through the power of His holy spirit, but as a spirit being he can broadcast in spirit attitude to the human mind. He also has a limited ability to broadcast in thoughts and ideas to a mind, but is unable to communicate clearly on a higher plane.

If a person yields to their own selfish human nature and begins to lust, they open themselves up to the potential of Satan or demons intensifying thoughts and feelings. To a carnal mind that so often willingly submits to it or has great desire to be influenced by the mystic unknown, it can become almost overpowering. If a person becomes upset or mildly angry, Satan can often magnify such feelings and attitude so that the anger becomes far more intense and sometimes uncontrollable.

As an example, two people might enter into a disagreement over some matter. Two people, on their own, can become quite upset with each other over something that is relatively small. This is what Satan and the demons seek out in life, as they have power to broadcast a higher intensity of anger in the form of an “angry attitude” that can work to highly influence a person’s own thoughts toward another and stir up far more of a negative reaction than would be normal. A person can be stirred quickly in such cases to rage and uncontrolled anger.

These beings thrive on such perverseness and evil. The more a human mind becomes corrupted, the more power these beings have to influence and stir such a person to higher levels, creating responses and actions that can be very destructive. The extreme of such responses can often result in actions and behaviors that will become news in the media, such as mass killings. It is the same spirit that works to stir up greater divisiveness than would otherwise normally exist between cultures, race, religion, and general differences among people.

Satan and the demonic world have great power to highly influence and magnify the attitudes—the spirit—toward doing evil if that mind is receptive to it. When a person begins to stray farther away from the way God has shown mankind how they should live toward one another and treat one another, they become easier targets. By moving away from God’s way, which is sin, a person becomes vulnerable and is then easily swayed to magnify an already wrong response toward others. Obviously, most people have no idea that such beings are present throughout the world, as they cannot be seen since they are spirit. Nevertheless, they are there, and God has great purpose for why He has allowed them to exist in their current state among mankind.

Such beings are not to be feared as Hollywood tends to portray them. They are simply evil spirits that seek to make the life of mankind as miserable, unfulfilled, and futile as they possibly can. They hate mankind. The more people work to have right relationships toward their fellow man and God, the less power these beings can have on a person. Simply put, if one will strive to live by the Ten Commandments, then these beings will have a lesser influence on them. The first four Commandments simply reveal how mankind can have a right relationship with God, and the last six reveal how to have a right relationship with others. They reveal how to actually love others.

Be careful in regards to the Ten Commandments if you look them up. A very large part of traditional Christianity has not translated these accurately and some have conveniently omitted one.

Although demonic beings can influence people in such an adverse manner, as it has been described, it is still the ultimate choice of the individual whom they seek to influence whether or not they choose to give into those wrong feelings, emotions, attitudes, and spirit.

Ultimately, no one can make a person act wrong or intensify their already bad behavior if they choose not to engage in it. When a person allows things to start working in their mind, they can then choose not to become more inflamed, angry, stirred-up, jealous, unhappy, etcetera. This is when a person needs to learn to exercise self-control and stop the wrong thinking before it manifests itself in wrong actions.

The really good news in all of this is that Satan and the demons are about to be removed from the presence of mankind for the next 1,100 years.

Satan’s Rebellion

Satan and a third of the angelic realm rebelled mightily against God. They had great power at that time, which was taken from them long ago. That which God had given, He was able to take away. They used the great powers that God had given to them in an effort to begin destroying the entire earth. It happened quickly and in a manner that we can only understand as being like massive nuclear weapons exploding in an instant. The power they collectively unleashed began throwing massive amounts of debris into the upper atmosphere and far beyond. The power that was at work to destroy everything immediately created incredible havoc in the atmosphere itself. It created what can best be understood as a perpetual nuclear type winter that engulfed the earth until God came on the scene tens of thousands of years later to renew the earth.

The power that was used against the earth was so violent that it actually toppled the earth out of its perfect orbit and rotation. Large areas of the earth experienced massive and abrupt change. Parts of the earth itself were quickly ripped apart and thrust into space. All these things occurring in an instant destroyed life quickly in one way or another. Most life simply did not survive the impact. Some life quickly froze when extreme temperatures of cold burst through from the upper atmosphere due to this cataclysmic event. There is even evidence of such a thing in prehistoric mammoths that have been discovered frozen in such a state, implying a quick death by freezing temperatures.

This was so powerful that debris struck the moon, Mercury, Venus, and even Mars. God has revealed that the asteroid belt itself was formed from massive debris ripped free from the earth and scattered into space. There is additional debris within this region that was thrust into space, but it has not yet been revealed where it came from. The earth was originally created with greater mass than it has today. God allowed the power of Satan’s rebellion and his attempted destruction of earth to extend out into space to that point and no farther. It was here that God intervened and stopped any further destruction.

God established a belt of debris in our solar system from what was thrust into space to serve as a constant reminder, to all who come to know it, of what rebellion produces—destruction, chaos, waste, and death. God intervened and stopped the earth from being destroyed, just as He will intervene again, and this time to stop mankind from destroying it.

The process whereby the level of destruction, chaos, and violence grows and escalates in intensity is the result of a corresponding escalation and growth in the power of deception that works in the mind.

Freedom and Vastness of Choice

Earlier, it was mentioned how God had created mankind in a vastly different manner than the angels, and specifically because of the mind that they would be given. There was a vastly different purpose for each being specifically created as they were. Once a person learns of this difference and of God’s reasons for it, the plan of God can then begin to become so much more incredibly inspiring and a matter of deep awe.

In order to begin to understand God’s great purpose for making mankind to exist of physical matter instead of spirit, it is first needful to know more about angels who were created of spirit matter. As it has been stated, God first created a spirit realm in which angels could dwell, just as mankind was created within a physical realm to be able to live in it.

The most important aspect in each creation, in that of angels made of spirit matter and of mankind made of physical matter, is the mind each was given. The body, which contains the mind, is a matter of that which facilitates the ability to interact with God’s creation on an exceedingly high plane for life. This awesomely enhances the ability to experience all life on an incredibly meaningful, fulfilling, and highly active plane for life itself. But the mind God has given to both angels and mankind is the most precious thing of all.

It is the mind that gives each being the ability for independent thought, reasoning, and choices within life. Within the great expanse of variety in God’s creation, each being has vast freedom in choices they can make for how to live life to the fullest within such a creation. There is not just one way of living life to the fullest when it comes to making choices of those things we might individually choose to do or participate in as a matter of our personality and individual desires—as long as it is lawful within God’s ways.

So please understand this context, as there is only one true way to live as a matter of how life is to be lived in accordance with God’s ways. This is a matter of how we treat, respect, and interact with others and with God’s creation itself. Such a thing is simply a matter of striving to live in God’s love that is based on outgoing concern for others and for God’s creation itself. It is the opposite of living in selfishness that is at the expense of others or of God’s creation.

God’s laws given to mankind are for the very purpose of teaching mankind of His ways, which is about a right concern and way to live toward both God and toward mankind. It is the only way that produces peace, happiness, well-being, fullness, and an overall abundant life. Living in pride and selfishness that opposes God’s ways can only produce unrest, confusion, anger, jealousy, lust, bitterness, unhappiness, chaos, destruction, unsoundness of mind and reasoning, evil, suffering, pain, hurt, etcetera.

One way produces good results and blessings in life and the other produces evil and cursed results in life. As you look at the world around you, what do you see? It is so very easy to see what has been reaped by mankind, and it truly should be just as obvious that it is the result of choosing other ways to live other than what God has given as the only one way.

That which mankind has reaped is all simply the result of spiritual laws that are in motion, just like the physical law of gravity. One can work “within the laws” that God has established or one can choose to work against them. The laws that regulate a physical creation, as with gravity, are readily accepted by mankind, since they are able to quickly learn what it means to work against such laws. However, the laws that are of a spiritual nature that affect relationships are easily ignored because of a willingness to minimize the true hurt and damage they actually cause. This is due to selfishness and an insistence of human nature getting its own way, and that most often works at the expense and/or lack of concern toward others.

In the statement that there is only one way to live life, that is always in the context of living God’s one true way of life that produces only good. It is always “a given” when speaking in a context of our own ways, or of someone else’s way, as opposed to God’s only one true way of life. In that context, there is only “one way”—God’s.

When it comes to choices within God’s one true way of life to live, there is great freedom and a vastness of different choices and ways to do things. There is not just a single way, as God offers incredible variety in life that becomes a matter of one’s preference, personality, and individual choices based on personal aspirations, plans, goals, likes and dislikes, etcetera.

Free choice and doing things in a different way than others is what adds much fullness, enjoyment, and zest to life itself. In the simplest examples we should see this. A person may choose to have a cup of coffee in the morning and another may not. Even in that choice there are numerous ways to have that cup. All one has to do is to stand in line as a barista fixes a wide variety of requests. The same is true about choices of food that we eat and where we eat it or the kind of beverage we desire to complement it. These are very simple examples that become magnified so many times over in all kinds of decisions and choices that one makes day in and day out.

This is reminiscent of Adam and Eve living in the Garden of Eden where everything was provided for them in great abundance. They had great freedom in all kinds of choices in life. Yet they were drawn to one choice that God told them they were not free to make. This would determine their willingness to listen to God. They ultimately chose not to listen, and that decision that likely would have been made in time on its own was accelerated by deception that originated from Satan.

God has given great freedom and an infinitely vast arena for choices to be made within life. Each individual has a multitude of choices before them throughout life, made possible by God, who has given such things to us to highly enhance life with incredible variety, fullness, and joy. This can then be multiplied many times over when such things are shared with others and all the choices that can then be shared within that. This is how God has designed family to be and marriage to be—to be highly engaged in sharing life together. That is meant to offer some of the richest life that a human being can ever attain and experience.

This is exactly what God set out to do in the beginning. His desire was to share with the angelic realm the fullness involved in the planning and producing of such variety, beauty, and marvel of all that was being created in the universe. But then it came time for the creation of mankind, and Satan and those angels who followed him ended their experience of sharing in that fullness and joy that they had been able to participate in with God and the rest of the angelic realm. They cut themselves off from it all. They robbed themselves of the fullness God had created for them to experience together in life and on into life everlasting. Now, they are tormented beings as they wait out the day of the execution of their judgment. They know their time is getting shorter every day.

Mankind has been doing the same thing. Because of selfishness, jealousy, immorality, lust, adultery, perversion, and all other sin, the result has been one where individuals, marriages, families, communities, and nations have suffered mightily. They have robbed themselves of the good fruit and richness in sharing that comes from obedience to God’s one true way to live their lives. They are unable to share in the real fullness that exists within the vast arena of life that is filled with such incredible variety, abundance and good experiences that can come from right living.

Minds Become Set

Now we come to the reason why mankind is created differently than spirit beings, angels, and it is to produce a vastly different purpose.

Some have pondered, since Satan and the demons sinned, “Why would they not repent?” The answer is that they cannot nor do they have a desire or will they ever have a desire to do so.

Angels were created of spirit with a mind of spirit composition and within that mind a spirit essence was given from God. That essence gave them the power and ability for vast memory, thought, reasoning, and individuality that could then develop. They had great freedom of choice within all the variety of life placed before them.

They only knew what God had given to them. They were deeply fulfilled with the vibrant life they were experiencing and enjoying the richness of being able to share it all with one another and with God. Knowing the way of God produced excitement and rich fullness in their lives. They had no need or desire for anything different. That is, until Lucifer began to want a different way than what God was revealing to them because of his jealousy and the great desire he had to protect an image he sought to portray.

That resulted in sin as he began to work against God’s purpose and against God. When he began to be lifted up in pride and turn to his own ways, God said that he had corrupted the perfect mind that He had given to him. For a spirit mind with spirit essence, that corruption, that kind of thinking that turns against God, becomes “permanent.” There is no reversal in a spirit composed mind. The spirit mind becomes “set in corruption,” and it has no desire to change. It wants only its own way, no matter what.

God knew that by creating spirit beings with their own will, individuality, and freedom of choice, that in time it was inevitable that some would turn away from Him. They would turn from God and His one and only way of life that can be lived, which produces an environment of peace, prosperity, joy, and great fullness in life. Satan and a third of the angelic realm rebelled against God. Then their minds, composed fully of spirit, became fully set against God and set in their own desire for their own way.

There is no other way that a living being can be created than the way God has done so, if they are to be individually offered free will and free choice. For such a creation, there was no way to insure that they would always choose God’s way. If that were the case, then the choice would not be free. It would either have to be preprogrammed or always controlled by force. No other way can produce true agreement, unity, harmony, freedom, and peace, or the ability to actually “share” life. So the angels, and even mankind, were created in the only way they could be in order for them to have the ability to decide for themselves the life they would choose as a matter of their own free will. Anything else would simply not be free, but controlled in some manner.

As a result of the rebellion of Satan and the angels who followed him, the rest of the angels had now seen and learned first-hand what rebellion and sin produces. They became more convicted and strengthened in a deeper and greater agreement with God than ever. They clearly chose to remain faithful and became set in that mind. They have chosen to share in the fullness and joy of God’s work into everlasting life.

That level of conviction and purpose that was achieved in their spirit mind could have come in no other way. It has become their set choice to always follow God and His ways.

A Different Mind

God has an astoundingly different purpose for the creation of mankind than of angels. It is one which goes far beyond that of the angelic creation. It is the greatest thing that God can create, as it cannot be created by fiat as all phases of creation were. It is not a matter quickly accomplished as when God created each angel or when God created Adam and then Eve from the dust (elements) of the earth on the sixth day of Genesis 1. That creation which included the ability to procreate on a physical plane is only the first creation that can lead to a far greater creation later.

Mankind was created with the potential to enter into a second creation—a literal creation by God—one that God performs. A physical creation and existence that are only temporary can potentially lead into a second and vastly superior one. Not all will receive that next creation from God, and it is not owed to anyone. For many, this physical life is all they will ever experience. However, the majority will eventually choose God’s way and then seek that creation, just as a majority of the angels have chosen God’s way.

However, because of a different purpose, mankind had to be created in a totally different fashion first—in a physical existence. It is because of the means and potential for such a creation that this could not be accomplished in any other way. Mankind could not be created as spirit first. Some of this will become clearer later. For now, however, it suffices it to say that it had to be done in this manner because of the kind of power, might, and very life that mankind can potentially receive, and this is the only means by which such a thing could be accomplished.

Just as we cannot really grasp the greatness of this universe, let alone of God, that which God will create on a spirit plane from mankind is of that kind of greatness. It is impossible to grasp the awesomeness, power, and might that will be created by God in the lives of those who receive this next creation.

At this point it is simply best to summarize some of the most important aspects of why mankind was first given a physical existence in physical bodies. It was because of the kind of mind God would give to us. It first had to be created of physical matter. God has not yet revealed the great complexity of how it all functions as it does, but a physical brain with the kind of spirit essence God places in each one who is born is the only means through which such a creation can take place.

Although all will not choose it, that second creation that God will offer most all of mankind can lead to an entirely higher and unimaginable level of existence. However, God will not perform that creation unless a person has come to “see” and “believe” that this is what they truly desire for their life—as a matter of their free choice and agreement with God.

Unlike the mind composed of spirit that can become fully corrupted and set in its own way after making a single choice to turn from God, the human mind is different. A human mind can turn from God, and a process of corruption will begin to very slowly develop, but the mind does not become immediately set against God because of sin.

The greater purpose of all this is astounding, but for now, it is necessary to only begin to grasp that God made us this way so that we can repent, and a process that began long before, due to a carnally selfish human nature, can begin to be reversed. It is interesting to note that the word translated as repent in the New Testament comes from a Greek word that means “to think differently.” Upon one’s own free choice, if one desires to reverse the corruption that has so deceitfully worked within their human mind, they can choose to change.

God made us knowing that by our being created physical, we would be drawn to want our own way. It begins as a baby and continues to grow stronger throughout life. A baby has a nature that begins to be developed from birth. It is the basic development of a selfish nature within a physically created being, simply because of living in a physical created life. It is a nature that “wants its own way.”

An uncomfortable baby, a hungry baby, will let you know when it wants its way. We have been made subject to our own selfish nature. As one grows, so does the selfishness and the desire to have one’s own way. When one becomes an adult, selfishness is set, and that produces sin. God states that all have sinned, except for one, Jesus Christ. So mankind by nature is selfish, seeks its own way, and the result is sin.

However, the good news is that such thinking can be changed. Once a person enters into a second phase of creation, that initiates a long process that is an ongoing participation with God of a spiritual creation within the very mind itself. In God’s timing for each, a person can be offered the opportunity to choose to develop a “new mind” and way of thinking that can come into full agreement with God and His ways of life, if they so desire.

The world is right now at the verge of time when this choice to change and live in actual peace and unity around the world is about to be offered to all mankind as God establishes His government throughout the earth.

As you read this book, those choices are beginning to be placed in front of you, just a little ahead of others. Now is an opportunity to seek help for yourself and loved ones and to let God know if you want to be part of that new age. The choice is yours. It is good to begin right here to look honestly and truthfully at your own human nature. One has to come to see one’s own true nature before a choice can truly be made to want something else for themselves or loved ones—a choice for the way of this present world or one that God offers.

The bottom line is that mankind is subject to its own selfish nature. People do not really have control of their nature that becomes inward and selfish from childhood. One of the best examples to help explain this is what I learned from one of God’s apostles before he died. Herbert W. Armstrong was speaking of this very thing when he was describing the difference between God’s kind of love that is always outgoing and caring toward others and that of mankind’s love.

The example is one of a mother’s love toward her own child. It is hard for people to grasp that even in such a beautiful picture as this of a mother’s love of her child, it is actually one of selfish motivation from the mother. The mother does not have the same kind of care, nurturing desire, and love toward all other children as she does her own. Yet for mankind, a mother’s love for her own child is indeed a beautiful thing. It is just that it isn’t comparable to God’s kind of love, and although beautiful, it is still selfish by nature.

God’s love is all encompassing and fully outgoing toward mankind in its desire to give care, concern, help, nurture, and great love toward others. If only everyone could see it and accept it from Him, but instead, mankind resists and fights against God.

It is an awesome thing why we have been given a physical mind (a brain) with spirit essence in it, instead of having a spirit composed mind. In our state, the corruption of the mind can be reversed and the corruption fully erased. Deception can begin to be seen and then removed as one begins to be made free of the bondage it has had upon our mind and our thinking.

We do have the potential for entering into a further creation that can begin to take place in the mind itself—after free choice and personal desire for it to begin, if indeed that is truly what we want. That next phase of our development, if we choose to receive it when offered it, is a creation that is “spiritual” within the mind and then leads to the creation of becoming “spirit in body”—into life ever-lasting.

Chapter 3

APOSTLES AND PROPHETS

PLEASE BEAR WITH ME at the beginning of this chapter, as I start this on a very personal level. I am not one who likes to talk about myself, especially when speaking about God, His Son, and His way of life. Too often when people talk about God, especially when it comes to preachers, or people who consider themselves to be especially religious, the tendency of human nature is to elevate oneself or one’s own self-importance before others. Doing such a thing is like the ultimate practice of “name dropping” in order to curry favor from others.

I detest such things and have, therefore, tended to swing to the complete opposite extreme, in an effort to make certain, as much as possible, that no attention is drawn to me. For over 34 years now, I have been a minister—a servant of God. It has always been a work and an honor that I have taken seriously and soberly, but also with a great sense of fulfillment, joy, and excitement. As a result, it has been my purpose to turn the attention of others to God and Jesus Christ, where it should be.

I have been blessed for a long time now to be able to readily recognize human nature. I fully understand that the only reason I have been able to see this so clearly is because I am experiencing exactly what was described in the last chapter about a new creation—another spiritual creation within the mind itself. This ability and others that I have been given come from what God has been giving me, as He and His Son work through the power of the holy spirit to transform—to completely change—my way of thinking.

As explained before, that process cannot be created by fiat from God; it cannot be instantaneously brought into existence. It requires the free will of the one to whom it is offered. It must be one’s own choice, and this individual must be filled with a strong desire to experience a complete change in life in one’s thinking, from the way of get to give, and from selfishness to outgoing love toward others.

Since 1969, I have been blessed to be one of those few, who throughout the past 6,000 years have actually been experiencing that creation and its power at work in my own mind. How can such an experience be shared with others so that they can begin to grasp and understand what I am saying? It is my deep conviction that what I am sharing will begin to resonate with many who will be given the help they need so that they can begin seeing what must now change in themselves and the whole world as God intervenes to change it.

That is why I am spending time explaining some of those things that have happened to me and the profound difference it has made on my way of thinking that is now in unity and oneness with God’s. This same process is what God is about to begin offering to the entire world, for all who are blessed to live on into the Millennium.

This “change” that I have experienced, and that others will begin to as well, is described by the first apostle to the gentile world, Paul, where he states, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be [become] you transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

The English word “transformed” comes from a Greek word that is used to describe this “change,” which is “metamorphoó.” This very word is the origin of another, “metamorphosis,” which is used in biology to describe a complete change in body and makeup that produces a butterfly.

This is an incredibly awesome verse in Romans. It is about that process of a new creation whereby God actually works over many years to help one’s mind become changed—transformed into something completely different in “how” one thinks and reasons.

Beginning of a Transformation

As I entered my teen years, the Vietnam War was being fought. It had been my dream during my early teens to become a commercial airline pilot, and at about age 15, I drove from northwestern Kansas, where I grew up, to the airport in Denver, Colorado, in an effort to find out what I could from any of the airlines about what I should realistically try to accomplish in order to better prepare for and fulfill that dream.

It was during that time that I learned that I needed to get a college education and that often a person could get “a head start” by joining the Air Force and becoming a jet pilot. And so that became my goal. I was in a hurry. I worked to graduate from our little high school in three years rather than the normal four years that were required. After this accomplishment, I then went to a local two-year college. It is what is classified as a junior college that offered an Associate of Arts degree and not a full degree of a four-year college or university.

Again, the Vietnam War was in full swing and constantly in the news. As I had just turned 17 when beginning college, I became aware of what was called ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). It was a program that one could apply for in some of the larger colleges and universities which would help pay for the last two years of college, while it also prepared one as a candidate to enter a branch of the military as a Lieutenant.

Even before I had decided I wanted to become a pilot, I had from my youngest memories always wanted to join some branch of the military. Before ever focusing on a definite goal to become a pilot, I had instead dreamed of making the military my career and of advancing as far as I possibly could. I not only thought of aspiring to become a general, I wanted to become a five-star general.

God’s Intervention

As a follow up to the last chapter, it is important to note that there is a way that God works in people’s lives to bring them to a moment in time when He offers them the opportunity to enter into a second creation. It is when God “calls” a person into that relationship where He will then work IN them—in their very mind to perform the first phase of that new creation. Over the past 6,000 years, God has only fully completed such a work in 144,000 people. God is not out madly trying to “save” the world as many in religion seem to think. If He were, He would not be doing a very good job, and God accomplishes what He sets out to do.

It is good to note here that the word that is most often translated as “calling” is from a Greek word that means “invitation.” When God begins to draw a person and reveal His truth and ways to them, He does so because that is the time that He is inviting a person to enter into a willing participation and work of a further creation in their life. It is one that is beyond physical existence, but one that potentially leads to spirit life in age-lasting existence.

These 144,000 are the ones whom God chose throughout that vast period of time and in whom He worked to perform a complete transformation in their mind and spirit essence. It is the first phase of that second creation that leads to the second phase where they then become spirit in body and composition. That does not happen for any until they are resurrected to meet Jesus Christ upon his return to earth to rule.

Each of these people had been worked with directly by God, as He helped them to change the way of their “natural” human selfish thinking and reasoning. Their thinking was changed to come into unity with God’s very thinking that is a matter of His very mind and being. It is a matter of coming into complete oneness of spirit with God through the power of His holy spirit that works in the mind. This is the first phase of the second creation.

It is only when this transformation has become complete that a person can then receive a resurrection to ever-lasting life that is spirit in composition. This is that second phase of the second creation.

Before someone can be “chosen” to receive that age-lasting life in a spirit body, and before the process of the transformation of the mind can even begin to take place, God must first “call” them, which is when He first offers them the opportunity to begin to “see” Him (spiritually) and His ways—His truth. God will begin to “draw” a person by His holy spirit and then only after, and upon their willing choice, He will begin to help their mind to change and come into spiritual oneness of mind with Him.

Many people believe they can simply choose to “accept God” and He will then “receive” them into a relationship with Him. That is not true on a spirit plane.

Jesus Christ stated that no one could come to him unless God the Father draw them (first). It is a matter of God’s calling and His personal involvement as to who it is with whom He will work. It is in God’s will and purpose to call whom He will and when He will call them.

Often, when God calls someone, that person must first be humbled before they will begin to truly listen to Him. Only when a person is of a humble enough spirit are they actually willing to listen to God. Otherwise, human nature simply resists.

Different things are stated about such a calling, but one scripture simply states, “many are called, but few are chosen.” Not all have embraced what God has offered to them because of their human pride, and many others, once they had initially accepted, became slack and did not pursue their calling as they should have, and they too became lifted up with a form of pride. God does not force a complete transformation of the mind on anyone. This creation can only occur as a matter of free choice and a continual great desire on the part of the one to whom God offers it.

The story of Job (in the Book of Job) is about this very thing. He had great pride and had to first be humbled before he would begin to truly listen to God. His story is of an individual who would have put all among mankind to shame when it came to his desire to serve God. On a human physical plane of obedience to God, he was a righteous man. But on a spiritual plane, he was not.

He was exceedingly committed and zealous in his worship and dedication toward God, but his motivation was one that was normal to human nature. It was selfish. He was not converted in the spirit in his mind. He went through the motions and practice of religious worship toward God, but he was filled with pride, self-sufficiency, self-accomplishment, and self-reliance. God then allowed Satan to take “everything” from Job, except his very life and wife. God used Satan’s attempt to get Job to curse God and His ways as a means to humble Job so that He could actually work with him on a spiritual plane. In the end, Job finally became converted and began to experience a transformation of his mind.

Confused and Uncertain

It is in such a manner that I was called, as God first humbled me over a period of several months through hardships and trials I first needed to experience so that I would listen.

While at college, I wasted no time in applying to an ROTC program geared for service to fly for the Air Force. I went to a location in Eastern Kansas to take tests for that program. In a few months, I had been told that I had been accepted and was to report to a specific location to enter a training program and then enter the university that fall after its completion. In my mind, I knew I was headed to Vietnam and I wanted to go. A good friend of mine had been drafted and he was already fighting there.

I believed that if I was going to fight there I had the opportunity to do so in a far better manner than just going into a battle with a rifle or machine gun, and I would have the bonus of being able to enter as a Lieutenant. I, candidly, had the thinking that if I am going to be involved in killing an enemy, one that the United States declared to be communist North Vietnam and the Vietcong, then I could inflict far greater harm on them by flying a jet that carried a tremendous amount of destructive killing power.

Let me add to this story that, although I was doing fairly well in those first two years of college as far as my education was concerned, I did not have my heart in the education, but in college party life. I worked at a couple of jobs to pay my way through college, but I wasted a lot of what I earned on partying and consuming alcohol, mostly beer, and a lot of it. Alcohol tends to lower inhibitions and it tends to create a more carefree, careless, unrestrained, wild, and immoral environment.

It would be good to add here as well that I had NO interest in religion at all. All that I do remember is that some of my friends were supposedly good Catholics, and some were Methodists or Lutherans. As for me, I did not have any real belief that God existed. Some had talked me into attending church services with them on occasion and even some young adult Bible studies.

Many of the kinds of questions I would come up with in those Bible studies had answers that were highly lacking and did not make much sense, as when they would try to explain the definition of “soul” and what happened to it at death. Although they believed in such things, they had no real meaningful definitions to explain their beliefs. This is the way it always was concerning nearly every subject discussed, so I simply quit, as I had no interest anyway.

The only hint of a religious belief that I had at that time was that “if” there was a God, then He likely used evolution and a “big bang” to accomplish what He did in creation. Beyond that, I really didn’t think He existed and life was the here and now.

That began to change over a period of one year, beginning while I was yet 18 (and about to turn 19) toward the end of my sophomore year. I experienced four things that were closely bunched together over about a two-month period that proved to have a pretty hard impact on my life. The year that followed these four events started out as being very unsettling but changed dramatically toward the end.

Let me interject here that if all these things had not happened to me with the kind of hard impact they had on my life, I would not have listened when God began to “call” me. It is typical that when a person begins to be “called” by God to be given opportunity of a “new creation,” most often they must first be humbled.

Only when a person is of a truly humble heart and mind can God work with them. Pride must first be knocked down through difficult experiences, hardships, and trials. If one is not humbled, the tendency is to resist and refuse God, and simply not listen to Him.

I am not 100 percent certain of the exact sequence of these events, but I believe this to be the order of how this all unfolded. Regardless, it still had the impact it did, which is what is important here.

Everything seemed to be going exceptionally well up to this point. I was graduating with the Associate of Arts degree and getting ready to enter my final two years of college while in an ROTC program at a university in eastern Kansas, and all with the hope of becoming a pilot in the Air Force. In addition to all of that, things were going so well that I believed I would be able to continue with my current plans and become married at the same time. So I became engaged.

Then one day, I received horrible news from home. The friend of mine in Vietnam had just been killed. It cut me to the core. I was highly distraught and deeply struck by how unfair life was. Here was a young man just beginning in life and it was taken from him. It seemed so very senseless, and the cost of it stirred up questions of how the war was being fought and whether the U.S. was engaged in a war that was really going to make any difference in the world.

This was my first real experience with the death of anyone close to me. For the first time I began to wonder what life is all about. Is there anything beyond this? From what I could see, life seemed rather futile. Yes, I was shaken, rattled, and in shock over this experience. I was so distraught that I remember an aunt of mine giving me a couple of Valium tablets that helped to numb my senses that first day.

For whatever reason, it seemed that this experience began to help me start looking at my future in a little different way than I had before, although still only slightly. That, in turn, began to be somewhat of a battle in my mind, because I knew that I had certain goals and that those things seemed to be on track. But “how” I was living had really never been a consideration, and I saw that there were things not good about it.

Over the next six months, this battle grew as I went back and forth with giving into my own human nature and continuing in the “party life,” and then realizing things needed to change in my life in “how” I was living it. I simply didn’t know where to go with my life next or how to address some of what I was beginning to see and feel.

During that six-month period, I was actually rather lost. I was frustrated with things that I was beginning to see around me in how people actually treated one another and in how I had been treating many around me. I was beginning to “see” my selfishness and I did not like it. The matter of my friend being killed helped bring some of this thinking to light as I thought about how life seemed so very unfair because of what happened to him. Life was here, and then life was gone; the experience of it had ended for him.

So, I went from realistic moments where I could clearly see what was before me, and at other times, I went ahead and gave into my carnal human nature and went right back to drinking, partying, and just living selfishly.

Around a week after the funeral of my friend, when I was a little more lucid and able to be more pragmatic and realistic about getting married and where that marriage would lead, I realized it was foolish, not a good mix, and didn’t hold prospects for a very good future for either one of us. So I called off the engagement just two weeks after I had become engaged.

Both the funeral and that short engagement over such a short period of time was hard. I was hurting, and I was hurting others. I did not like what I saw in my nature. Shortly after this, I wrecked my 1966 Mustang convertible. One night, while only about seven miles from getting back to where I was living near the college, I fell asleep and began to veer off the road. Immediately, I was startled awake, and in front of me was a bridge. It was too late to do anything, so the car simply struck the bridge and it was hurtled into the air, flipping it end over end two and a half times. It is likely that the only reason I was not killed is because upon hitting the bridge, I was thrust to the floorboard of the car where I rode out the entire wreck.

The car frame was literally bent in half at nearly a 90-degree angle. The salvage of $300 was enough that I was only able to find one car in the area that seemed to be a decent value for that amount. It was a 1959 Volkswagen. For a young man of that age who had one of the nicer cars in the entire college, it was a very humbling experience to now be driving that VW.

Another thing that began to affect my thinking, due to the wreck, was what happened right after. Probably because of the mild concussion I received, I can vaguely remember walking away from the wrecked car and up to a farmhouse that was right next to the area of the bridge that I hit. When I walked up to the house, a farmer living there met me at the door and told me he would drive me to the hospital. I was bleeding a great deal from my head because an eight-track stereo player in the car had broken loose and had been tumbling around on the floor board and beating me about the head, and as a result, cut it in several places. That was one beating I really needed, as it literally helped to begin knocking some sense into me, although still very slowly.

As we got in his truck, he slowed down as we were passing the wrecked car and he asked me a question that actually terrified me for a moment. He asked me if anyone else was in the car. For a moment, that really struck fear in me because I thought that maybe there was, and what a horrifying thing if I had killed someone. As we were about to stop and check, it suddenly just came to me that no one had been with me.

The fourth event that I experienced, before all this was over, was that the military sent me a letter and let me know that I was not to report that summer to the camp where I had been assigned to attend the ROTC training. I called a Major whose name was on the form and he simply stated that he had no record of this, but that if I had received the letter, then I should abide by it. I could not find out from anyone what had happened, but that basically ended my hope of entering the Air Force and of ever becoming a pilot.

God’s Calling

There was one more event that happened about six months later that finally helped me to get hold of my life. I was going back and forth between partying and that of extreme frustration about “how” my life was going and “how” I was living it. I did not like myself very much at that point, as I was beginning to see the truth of my human nature being one of selfishness. It was something I was blinded to before, but now I was beginning to clearly see it in depths that I did not like. It is not easy for any person to see themselves and their selfishness in a kind of mirror that reflects it back to them. Yet it is something that indeed all must eventually come to see. If not, then one will never recognize it for what it is nor be able to make the choice of continuing in that way or seeking help to change it.

As that first six-month period drew on, I gradually became immersed back into partying and drinking a lot. The college that I had chosen to attend had a strong party life associated with it and a very high ratio of beer consumption to student enrollment. It wasn’t a good environment for me and I easily gave into it. A custom of several of my friends and myself was that on Friday afternoon after classes we would go to a place that always had a band playing music for dancing, and there was a lot of beer consumption by students that were eager to get a head start on the weekend. It seemed that most were always highly intoxicated by 6 PM.

On one particular afternoon, I was in a rather somber mood. It was one of those times when I was seeing human nature full blown—both in myself and in others. It wasn’t pleasant. I wasn’t in a drinking mood because of this nor did I even care to dance, which was very unusual for me. There was a moment that was about to occur when this ability to see the ugliness of selfishness hit an all-time high. It was when I looked out on the dance floor at the person I had brought with me. She was dancing with another person, and I saw something that I had never seen.

As I watched, I saw something in her that reflected an ugly part of selfish human nature. She didn’t even acknowledge the person with whom she was dancing. It was as though he wasn’t even there. Yet he was doing the same thing toward her. Her demeanor was simply one of self-indulgence. She was in love with herself and how well she could dance. I looked around and saw this same thing so clearly in others. People were in love with themselves as though they were the best dancers on the floor, and not only that, but they seemed to want others to notice this about them. That was the spirit. They loved themselves and the dancing was all about themselves and whether others were noticing them.

The reason this was striking me so hard is that I saw myself. I was that way. It was ugly. Our human nature is such that we tend to really have a love affair with self. We pamper self, lift up self, give into what self wants, and want self to be seen by others as being far more important and better than we are. It is a spirit that cries out, “I want others to recognize (to see) how good I am.”

I became so sickened by what I saw, and of what I knew was in me, that I excused myself and went back to my dorm room. We had arrived at the dance at about 3:30 PM and I was now leaving at about 5 PM. This is something I would never have dreamed of doing before, but I was filled with disgust about my own nature, and the way of thinking that I was now able to see so clearly within me.

Upon returning to my dorm room and thinking about these things for a while, I did something that I had not remembered doing since I was a young child; I prayed, and I basically stated that I did not know, but if He (God) did exist, I asked that He might show me, and to then help me to hear (listen to) whatever it was that I needed to know.

It was directly after that prayer that I went down to a recreation room in the dorm where some of the people generally gathered after the dance before going out again for the rest of the night. I was talking to some of my friends and meeting some others whom I didn’t know. One was a football player that I knew of, but hadn’t yet met. As I began to talk to him, it was quite clear that he was drunk out of his mind. He suddenly began cursing at me from out of nowhere. I turned and shrugged my shoulders at some friends in a gesture of not knowing what this was all about.

As I began to turn back toward him, I had not seen that he had already reached way back and was now on an upward swing with his arm, his fist clenched tight, and on a collision course with my jaw. I barely saw the last moment of that swing before his fist struck. The force of it spun me around and nearly knocked me over. My body was bent half way over with me looking straight down at the floor. Immediately, I could see that blood was gushing out of my mouth and onto the floor.

I turned away to go upstairs to my room where I could get cleaned up. I had several people following me and wanting to take me to the hospital. I said no, but suddenly feeling started coming back, and I realized I could not close my mouth. My jaw had been broken in two places at about two inches (5 cm) apart. That two-inch section was totally dislodged from the rest of my jaw and was protruding forward somewhat, just enough to prevent my mouth from fully closing.

At that point, I took them up on their offer and left immediately for the hospital. A dentist had to be called in and they took me to his office that night to have my mouth wired closed. It took ten weeks of drinking through a straw before the wires and braces could be removed.

Needless to say, my mouth had been shut and I was ready to listen. It was at this point that I began to make some big changes in my life, and I started thinking differently about the direction it was going. I started making changes to how I had been living, and I quit my party life and excessive drinking. I was beginning to “see” more clearly the kind of things that I needed to do to make real improvement in my life, and I had the willingness to do so. The selfishness became less and less, and I began to be more caring toward others. I slowed down immensely from my normal more aggressive, boisterous, and wild manner of living.

It was just a few months after the jaw had healed and my new way of living had become more established within me that I returned to my hometown where I was going to work for the summer. I needed to make enough money in order to return and continue in my senior year of college. I arrived home at about 10 PM that evening.

Before continuing in telling what happened that evening as I sat down to listen to some things my dad wanted to tell me, a little side story about my home life might help shed more light on why I was rather surprised that he even wanted to talk to me, let alone because of the subject matter.

Our family was rather dysfunctional as I grew up. My younger brother, sister, and I did not have much to do with each other. I was the oldest. We each grew up rather on our own, as we basically were left to take care of ourselves. We were each given chores (work to do) that had to be done each day, and we learned to make sure that we did them. A second brother was not born until I was 10, so he wasn’t around during those particular years. When I finally left home, he was only about 6 years old, so I never got to know him very well as he grew up.

Around ages eight through twelve, my workload was pretty big. During the summer we did custom hay baling. I remember learning to drive a tractor at age eight. It was an old John Deere and it had one basic gear for forward, slow travel. A large floor mounted lever had to be moved forward and then the tractor would as well. It was very simple operating. The gas throttle is the only thing that changed the speed, which had a maximum of about 5 miles per hour. At that time, I drove the tractor as it pulled a circular moving rake that would gather alfalfa from off the ground after it had been cut and left a while to dry, and the rake would then put it in a row so that a baler could come along to pick it up and make bales.

However, before going to work in the fields, chores had to be done, as well as when we returned. These same chores had to be done before and after school. We generally had three to six cows that needed to be milked (by hand) in the morning and in the evening. After completing the milking, I would use a hand-cranked separator to separate the cream from the milk, which left skim milk that would then be fed to several sows (female pigs) that were pigging (having baby pigs).

We generally had some sheep to tend to, although it took little work to care for them. The cows had to be fed. But the hardest job was feeding all the pigs, of which we had the most of out of all the livestock. We generally had anywhere from fifty to a hundred pigs, and although I may be mistaken, I believe we got up to about two hundred pigs that we were raising. Throughout the year there were always some sows that were having baby pigs. These had to be kept in separate pens during that period, and obviously, had to be fed separately each day as well.

The hardest part of these chores involved carrying water from a tank where the water had to be hauled in by a truck, since we did not have running water until about the time we moved from this home. Before that, I had to carry a five-gallon (19 liter) bucket full of water in each hand back and forth between the tank and troughs used to water the hogs. This took many trips back and forth to a few different troughs. If you have never lifted a five-gallon bucket of water (or two) you might try it some time, and then you would certainly have a much better appreciation of this part of the story. If you do this, make sure that you carry them for at least a hundred feet. For a child, this was a pretty hard job.

The summer was the worst, as these swine had to have much larger volumes of water at that time. I really learned to dislike hogs. My only regret is that my dad didn’t learn much quicker that pork is in the “unclean” category for use as food. God has given clean meats that mankind’s body was designed to be able to digest and be nourished by, while others were not created for human consumption at all and are unclean. It is clear that the world doesn’t really care what God says, even about the foods one should eat and should not eat.

When putting up hay in the summer, we often bailed a few thousand bales. That too was an incredibly hard job, because during most of those years, we did it by hand. We would pick the bales off the ground and throw them up on a truck and stack them for hauling to a different location, where we would once again throw them off the truck and stack them onto larger stacks.

I mention some of these things because it was not something that was done in balance, but something that I was given to do most always on my own when it came to the care of the livestock. My brother was three years younger, and in time, some of these things began to fall upon him as well. This environment was not very balanced for a child, which led to some of the dysfunction in our family life.

Although it was not given in balance, I did develop a very strong work ethic and am thankful for that, as it seems today that young people are not even given the simplest of chores or responsibilities. As a result, they do not develop a work ethic and this is shown readily in today’s work force.

This has been a kind of overview to show that which created a dysfunctional home life that had little interaction, but it did have a lot of work. So when I returned home one summer to work in the area, it was rather a shock to me that my dad wanted to talk, because the truth is, we rarely spoke much to each other as I was growing up, unless it was about work.

Upon arriving, my dad wanted to go to the kitchen and talk to me about some literature he had been reading which excited him. I sat down and began to listen to him talk about God and some of the things he had been reading. All this rather floored me because he had never mentioned God the whole time I was growing up unless it was to use His name while cursing. So I listened.

He had received this material from the Worldwide Church of God, and everything that he had been reading was written by Herbert W. Armstrong, whom I later came to “see” and believe was an apostle of God. My dad spoke of numerous things he had been reading, and some of those same things are referred to in this book as well. He had been reading about how the time we were living in was an end-time for mankind’s 6,000-year rule on earth and that Christ was going to return at the end of this period to establish a new era. Other things he spoke about concerned the kinds of deception that existed in religion and laws of God that had been ignored by traditional Christianity, as well as prophecies concerning the United States and Europe, and WWIII.

There is no other way to describe this but to say that I did not need to read any of this myself, though I did later, but I knew it was all true. Knowledge, truth, and much understanding were suddenly flooding into my mind as though I had always known it. It was that powerful and that real. I then began to read that literature myself and much more material. As I read more of Mr. Armstrong’s writings, the same thing was happening as I was reading. It was an incredible and fascinating thing to experience.

In time, I learned what I had been experiencing. It is part of what was described in the previous chapter. It is the way God communicates to the human mind. He can pour out His holy spirit and reveal the true meaning and even spirit meaning of His word directly to the spirit essence that is in the mind of a person simply upon a person hearing or reading His word. However, at first I did not know what I was experiencing. On one weekend shortly after this, we had a few of our relatives visiting us and I began to share some of what we had been learning.

At first, there was some interest because they had never heard such things, and knowing me they were probably a little surprised, and therefore, a little more willing to listen, just as I had been to my dad. However, as I tried sharing what I believed to be incredibly exciting, I soon learned that others did not think the same way. Not only that, but it was becoming evident that some disliked it a great deal. It took me a little while to learn that they couldn’t “see” what I had been given. That is because only God can give it.

Ability to “See” Truth

It would be good at this point to explain how one has the ability to “see” truth. The human mind cannot receive God’s word and truth through its own ability, reasoning, and studying. It is God’s alone to give, and no one can receive it unless He gives it, as it is spiritual in nature. God’s holy spirit is the only thing that makes His word come alive, which then gives one the ability to actually “see” the truth contained in those things that have been written.

Otherwise, as people look into God’s word contained in scripture, they simply come up with their own ideas, beliefs, and interpretations that are the result of their own studies, thinking, and reasoning.

That is why so many organizations exist today that call themselves Christian, and they have come up with all kinds of doctrines and beliefs that really do not exist in scripture. People tend to read their own ideas into what is being said. God’s word makes it clear that there is only one truth, one way, one gospel (good news revealed from scripture), one Church, one faith and belief that is true. Human nature does not like this truth, and generally, becomes defensive and often belligerent towards such a “suggestion.”

But it isn’t a suggestion, it is the truth. Who is right? Why so many differing doctrines and why don’t they agree with one another in all those varying organizations? There are many doctrines and beliefs within traditional Christianity that are in direct opposition with one another, but no one seems too concerned that there is only one God, one truth, one Church, and one faith, although God says so over and over again.

This ability to “see” what is true is what Paul describes in his first letter to the Corinthians. He begins by explaining that mankind has not yet been able to receive the things that God has prepared (planned) for them, except for those who have been called by Him.

“But God has revealed it [His word—those things not yet given to mankind in knowledge and understanding] unto us [the Church] by His spirit [the holy spirit], for the spirit searches all things, yes, and the deep things that are of God. For what things can a man know except by the spirit in man [the spirit essence placed in the mind of every human] which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11a)

It is stating here that a person can only know and learn things that are on a physical plane. That is because of the spirit essence God has given every person that gives them the ability of memory, thinking, and reason that is possible only within the physical realm in which they live. Mankind was not given an ability to know what is spirit or spiritual of and by himself.

“Even so, the things of God, no man can know, but by the spirit of God” (verse 11b).

Paul is stating that the ways, truth, and word of God cannot be known by a person unless God first gives His holy spirit to them so that they can “see.”

“Now we [the Church] have not taken hold [accepted, received] the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is of God, so that we might [be able to] know the things that are freely given to us by God, which things we can then communicate [to or with others], but not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches [not of man’s interpretation, study, or reasoning], but that which the holy spirit teaches by combining [Gk.-comparing, building upon] spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man [human nature at the core of human reasoning] does not accept the things of the spirit of God, as they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know it, because it is [it is only] spiritually discerned” (vs. 12-14).

Back to My Story

These things being given to me that I could now “see” were happening at the beginning of the summer of 1969, just as I had now turned 20. The things I continued reading led me to deeper convictions of what I knew I wanted to live. I knew that it was a right way of life and the only true way of life that mankind was supposed to be living. My thinking about many things began to change, especially after I became baptized and received God’s promise of His spirit that would continually dwell or live within me, within my mind, to accomplish a new creation in me.

Many will experience some of the same kind of things that I have. When God begins to give one the opportunity to “see” what is true for the first time in their life, then they are confronted with many challenges and choices that have to be made. It isn’t easy and it is not intended to be. It is simply that human nature just resists God and that is not an easy thing to come to grips with, let alone to begin to change. However, that is the choice every person must make once God begins to draw them and reveal truth to them that they have never known.

For those who continue forward and choose God’s way, they will experience much of what I did those many years ago.

One of the first things that began to change in my mind was a realization that I needed, and wanted, to begin honoring God’s annual Holy Days and weekly Sabbaths. I determined that I would never work on any of God’s Sabbaths, weekly or annual, which is what He commands. This led to much more that God would begin revealing to me about His way of life.

One of the reasons I spoke of this story about my wanting to become a pilot in the Air Force and my desire to kill and destroy as much of the enemy as I could is because of the dramatic change that followed my calling by God.

The way that I had thought about killing and war changed quickly. I went from wanting to kill as many Vietcong and North Vietnamese as possible to becoming a conscientious objector to the military. That is quite an extreme swing from one way of thinking to another, and one that many consider cowardice. However, it is really far from that.

Some may think that the change in thinking toward war and the military took place because of the death of my friend. That is not the case at all, because after that, my desire grew even stronger to be a pilot and have the ability to kill more of an enemy that I knew was responsible for the death of my close friend. It was God that changed my thinking through the power of His holy spirit. If He hadn’t, my thinking would have remained the same.

War is a way of the world, as it is the only way within mankind’s system to try to keep some kind of control on people and nations that seek only to conquer and destroy others, as Hitler was doing during WWII. However, many wars are simply a matter of others seeking to exert greater control over nations for selfish motivation, and often for economic reasons. The Vietnam War was senseless. It really achieved no real purpose.

Make no mistake, what is being said here about war and the military is in no way a slander to those who do not know God’s complete plan and way of life that all should be living. On a physical plane, there are many who enter military service who have given great sacrifice, been heroic, displayed incredible acts of valor, and exercised other attributes of character that are noble. It is just that these things are futile in the kind of world we live.

The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East region are futile. There is no way to ensure peace for those who live there. They think differently than Americans or Europeans—quite differently. People just don’t seem to be able to actually grasp something that is so basic; you cannot “give” peace or “control” peace for those who do not want it.

The UN estimated that by the end of 2014 there had been 59.5 million people displaced worldwide by conflict and war. The civil war in Syria alone accounted for 11.6 million of that total. Syrian refugees are now numbered at 3.9 million and Afghanistan is second with 2.6 million refugees. The world is truly sick.

Military service is glamorized, even in toys and video games, and advantage is taken of patriotism, as politicians play with people’s lives in such a truly hideous manner. The truth and shame of such a thing should be seen in how those in the military are so easily discarded after they have completed their service. In large part, they are forgotten. The medical follow-up and care of veterans is atrocious and beyond reprehensible. Far too many end up suffering mental and psychological problems the rest of their lives. Far too many actually end up homeless and are forgotten as well.

What about the toll in death, dismemberment, lifetime illnesses, disabling injuries, broken homes, fatherless or motherless children, widows or widowers, and so much more that is included in the horrible and hideous cost of war? Over the past 70 years, have wars made the world any better? Or have they actually exacerbated the problems that already existed? If indeed such wars are noble and honorable, where is the honor due that is shown to those who have shown honor in service? Instead, they have become so quickly forgotten.

God revealed to me the futility, arrogance, destruction, politics and manipulation, as well as the simple evil of war. Thankfully, God is going to now stop mankind from waging any more senseless wars after this next war, WWIII, as that will be the last one. God will allow NO MORE! The next 1,100-year period will be one of peace, true peace, and not the peace of mankind.

These things that were beginning to change rapidly for me, as God was calling me, were only the beginning of a life long journey in a process whereby God has been working to create a different mind within me. It is one that is continually being brought into greater unity, agreement, and oneness with Him and His ways of life. I “and others like me” am by no means perfect, but incredible changes have taken place in the way I think.

Ministers and the Church

As I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, I have not been one who likes to have the focus on me, and therefore, have generally steered clear of talking about myself. Yet because of what God has given me to do, I am supposed to speak about some of these things that God and Christ have done in my life and what they are doing now.

In addition to God inviting (calling) a person to take part in a new creation that is spiritual and leads to becoming spirit, God also calls some of those whom He has invited to become ministers to serve those whom He calls. In 1981, I was ordained as a minister in God’s Church. At that time, Herbert W. Armstrong was the earthly head of God’s Church, under the Church’s head, who is Jesus Christ. Herbert W. Armstrong was an apostle.

But what is an apostle? That really needs to be answered because this should scream out to people about the identity of God’s Church. Is it possible there is only one, one Church alone that is God’s? You need to answer that openly and truthfully.

You probably have never heard of apostles, except in the context of the original twelve apostles who first led God’s Church once it was formed in 31 AD. Such knowledge has become lost to the world, even in these simplest of things.

There are different levels of service within the structure of the ministry in God’s Church. An apostle is the highest of these. In 1 Corinthians 12:28, it states the order that exists in the ministry as “first apostles, secondarily prophets, and thirdly teachers.” Ephesians 4 speaks of this order in a little different manner as it lists “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.” All of these are actually teachers, but those specifically listed as teachers are often organized differently according to the needs of the Church and the service needed at a specific time or place.

You may have heard some of the other terms used in traditional Christianity, such as pastors or even evangelists, although very few have ever used the term prophet. However, there is no one that uses the term apostle, except for God’s Church.

Most people are familiar with terms like pastor, preacher, father, reverend, etcetera. Usually these are used as titles such as Reverend So-and-so, Father So-and-so, or Pastor So-and-so. Yet the New Testament does not reveal such a structure that includes a description of reverend or father as traditional Christianity uses, and no such descriptions are ever used as titles. Those which are mentioned, as in Ephesians and in 1 Corinthians, are simply job descriptions, but they are not titles and have never been accepted as such by God’s Church throughout its entire history.

It is very interesting to note one of the first things Jesus Christ had to say about using such descriptions as titles when addressing someone: “But don’t you be called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all of you are brothers [spiritually, each member of the Body of Christ, the Church], and call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:8). In other words, no one should have a religious title before their name like Rabbi, Father, or Reverend, nor be addressed in such a manner. No man is Father, and no man is Reverend.

This should begin to raise some questions about some very, very basic beliefs and practices that are clearly against Christ’s own instruction. Why is that? Does it not matter what he said? Is this important to God that we listen and do as His Son instructs?

This is actually where questions do need to begin to be asked. This is what can begin to lead a person to where God is actually working and with whom He is working. It would be good at this stage to point out another important feature that is also an identifying sign of those whom God has been inviting (calling) into a relationship with Him to become a new creation.

In his prayer on Passover night, just before he would be betrayed, bound, severely whipped and then killed by those of Judaism of that time and by the government that ruled the region, Jesus Christ expressed something important to his Father. “Holy Father, keep through your own name those you have given me, that they may be one as we are” (John 17:11).

This is exactly what God has done. He has kept all who have been and are now given to Christ in His own name, the Church of God. Notice that name that was used to describe those whom God called and delivered to the care of Jesus Christ:

“Peter therefore was kept in prison, but earnest prayer was made without ceasing of [by] the Church of God for him” (Acts 12:5).

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the Church of God which is at Corinth...” (1 Cor. 1-2). Paul was not one of the original twelve, but was called to be an apostle to the gentile world at that time.

So those whom God has called have been kept in His name, the Church of God! It wasn’t named after a man like the Lutheran Church or the Wesley Church. It wasn’t named after some doctrine like the Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, or Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was never referred to in scripture as the Catholic Church, Methodist Church, Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, Church of the Latter Day Saints, or by any other of the thousands of names that organizations have come up with to identify themselves and their specific beliefs.

Does any of this matter to you? Is this important? This may be a big mirror that you are looking into right now as you have to make a choice as to whether you believe this is important to God, and important to you, or not.

Passover of 31 A.D.

From the beginning, there has only been one Church. It began on Pentecost of 31 A.D. This Church has not only kept the name that God gave it, the Church of God, but it also knows the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. Other churches that call themselves Christian, which began hundreds of years after Christ, do not know the truth surrounding all Jesus Christ actually fulfilled and how he fulfilled it through his death. It is important to grasp what happened on Passover of 31 A.D. from the beginning, which then led up to the establishment of the Church on Pentecost of that year.

In 31 A.D., after Jesus Christ fulfilled the role of the Passover by dying for all mankind on that exact day (Passover), he was put into the heart of the earth, into a tomb, right at sundown on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday). Jesus Christ had stated that the ONLY SIGN that he would give to the world that he was the prophesied Messiah is that he would remain in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. He said it would be for the same time that Jonah was in the bowels of the great fish.

This is another account of sheer ignorance on the part of traditional Christianity, which teaches that Jesus Christ was killed late on Friday afternoon, placed in the tomb right at sundown, and was then resurrected on Sunday morning. That is a lie! Do the math. Even if you counted all day Friday as the first day, although it was just minutes before sundown when he was placed in the tomb, and then add to that all day Saturday, then you only have two days and not three as Christ said there would be. Biblical scholars are not so scholarly or genuine in how they address these discrepancies.

These scholars suggest that you can count the few minutes of daylight on Friday, all day Saturday, and then the first rays of the morning on Sunday as the fulfillment for three days. That is quite a mathematical feat, but even that isn’t true and not what happened. Of course, they do have a problem by only being able to count Friday night and Saturday night, since that only gives two nights. How can they justify that and say it fulfills what Christ said about being in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights?

There may not be time to go more fully into this in the book, so I’ll simply give a true overview of the actual events that happened when Christ died.

First, it would be good to give a short overview of how the Jews kept the weekly Sabbath of God on the 7th day of the week (Saturday) and how they observed all the annual Holy Days which are annual Sabbath observances. There is the “weekly” Sabbath on the 7th day (Saturday) and seven “annual” Sabbaths (Holy Days) during the year.

No work was done on these Sabbaths, and they were observed from sundown to sundown. For a few thousand years, time had been kept in this manner with a day starting at sundown on one day and ending at sundown on the next day, unlike how it is kept today, with a new day starting at 12:00 midnight. For example, the weekly Sabbath would start after sundown on the 6th day of the week (Friday) and end on the 7th day of the week (Saturday) at sundown.

This method of how they counted a “day” from sundown to sundown is necessary to understand because it points to important timing that took place around the events of Jesus’s death. It is also good to note that Passover, which started at sundown, was an appointed time for observance, but was not a holy convocation, not a Holy Day, and not an annual Sabbath, therefore, work was permitted on that day.

We are now returning back to the account of the actual events that happened when Christ died.

Passover that year in 31 A.D. began at sundown on the 3rd day (Tuesday) of the week, which was then the start of the 4th day of the week. Jesus Christ was taken in the night of the Passover on that 4th day, arrested, and given a trial. He was later whipped so severely that it states he was not even recognizable. The only way the Jews could have him convicted and sentenced to death was to threaten Pontius Pilate, prefect (governor) of Judaea, by saying that Jesus had claimed to be a king. Pilate was determined to let him go free, but then relinquished to the Jews because of their threat.

“From that moment forward, Pilate sought to release him [Jesus Christ], but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, then you are not Caesar’s friend, for whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar” (John 19:12).

Jesus Christ died in the late afternoon on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday) just before sunset. Another myth of traditional Christianity is that Christ died on a cross. He did not! The Greek word translated as “cross” into English in scripture is not a word for “cross,” but for a “pole” or “stake.” This becomes very important concerning events that surrounded Jesus Christ’s actual death.

Toward the end of the 4th day (Wednesday), which was the daytime portion of Passover, a Holy Day (the first day of Unleavened Bread) was going to begin at sundown. Since an annual Sabbath was going to begin right after Passover that day at sundown, the Jews wanted to get the dead bodies down and buried so that no work was done on that annual Sabbath.

In John, it states that in the mid-afternoon on Passover day, a soldier had come by and pierced Jesus Christ in the side with a spear, and out came water and blood. He died at that time by spilling his blood to the earth. This too was prophetic fulfillment, as the Passover lambs had to have their blood spilled on the ground, and Christ was going to fulfill that observance once and for all by becoming the Passover for all mankind by having his blood spilt upon the earth.

Since an annual Sabbath was going to begin at sundown, and the Jews wanted the bodies down and buried, soldiers went by to break the legs of the thieves and of Christ. You can read these different accounts on your own that are recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves, but when they came to Christ, they marveled that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs, thus fulfilling another prophecy that stated there would not be a bone broken in Christ’s body.

Why did the soldiers come by to break the legs of the thieves? What did this have to do with their being able to take the bodies down to bury them before sunset?

It is because very soon after one’s legs are broken, when the body is in a certain position, death occurs. If the thieves’ arms had been stretched out on a cross, nothing would have happened to them once their legs were broken. They would have continued living until they simply died from lack of food and water, which would have taken much longer than half a day.

Before explaining further, just stretch out your own arms as if you were nailed to a cross, and then consider the effect it might have on the human body if the legs were broken. If you were hanging there with your arms stretched out wide, from side to side, would this make a difference in any bodily function? No.

Now, put your arms over your head with your hands overlapping each other, as though one spike was driven through both hands together above your head. Do you notice anything different from before? Consider what that might be like if all your weight is pulling you down. When someone is stretched out in such a manner on a pole, with one spike driven through both hands, and their feet in the same manner below them, what effect do you think this might have on the body if one’s legs are then broken?

The answer is that they would lose their ability to breathe. They would suffocate. Before one’s legs were broken in such an execution, they had the ability to push themselves upward so that they could continue breathing. However, when the legs were broken, they could no longer do so and would suffocate. Therefore, the soldiers came by and broke the legs of the two thieves so that they would die well before sunset. The legs of Christ were not broken because he was already dead.

Nevertheless, traditional Christianity insists on holding to the story of an execution that was carried out on a cross. The reason the story changed over time to the cross being the means of Christ’s death will be covered later, along with “why” they have perpetuated such a lie.

Christ’s Burial and Resurrection

As previously stated, Christ died in the late afternoon on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday) just before sunset. They took him down from the pole and placed him in a rich man’s tomb. As soon as they had placed him in the tomb, it became sundown and the annual Holy Day of the first day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, began.

Now Christ was to remain in the tomb for exactly three days and three nights, and those cannot be partial days or nights because of the comparison to the time period Christ made to Jonah and how long he was in the belly of the great fish. The Hebrew language concerning this event is far more specific when considering this exact period of time, and it has to be exactly 72 hours—a full three days and three nights.

What is most incredible about all this is that this was going to be the ONLY SIGN that Jesus would leave that he was the Messiah, the Christ. If traditional Christianity teaches that he died on Good Friday and was resurrected on Sunday morning, then Jesus was not the Christ. So whom do they worship?

What a horrible doctrine they teach about these events, and they do so out of sheer ignorance of the annual Holy Days and how they were observed by Israel. If they observed these annual times according to God’s perpetual command to do so, they would not be ignorant of what actually happened.

Here is the actual order of events as they occurred:

Jesus was placed in the tomb just before sundown on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday). The women did not have time to prepare all the spices and different things that were customary for burying someone before Jesus had been placed in the tomb, and because of their beliefs and obedience to the annual Sabbath, they did not go out on the 5th day of the week (Thursday) to buy those necessary items they would then prepare for Jesus’ body. Again, the reason they did not do so on that day is because on all Sabbaths there is no work done or any business conducted. They waited then until the 6th day of the week (Friday) to purchase those things and then prepared them during the rest of that day.

When those of traditional Christianity read about these events, they become easily confused about the sequence, because when the scriptures are talking about a particular Sabbath, they assume it is simply about the 7th day Sabbath (our Saturday, which always begins to be observed at sundown on a Friday). However, there is an annual Sabbath in the mix of all this that they do not recognize because they have never been taught about God’s Holy Days or the command to keep them. Therefore, they simply conclude that all these things happened on a Friday. This does not have much logic to it anyway, and no wonder, because these events are only read as a story by them, and they do not bother with the details of the actual events or facts. It does not enter into their thinking.

So on that 6th day of the week (Friday), during normal business hours, the women purchased those things that they needed. Then, at sundown on the 6th day of the week, the 7th day began, which is the weekly Sabbath (Saturday). Since no work is done on the Sabbath, they would not go to the tomb at that time and do “work” of making Jesus’ burial complete. So instead, they waited to do it early in the morning on the 1st day of the week (our Sunday). Some went very early that morning just before the rising of the sun in order to finish their work. However, when they arrived, they found that Jesus Christ was not there. They were told by two angels that he had already risen—that he had already been resurrected.

This is where traditional Christianity goes off on another one of its tangents, but this one was planned for a very deceitful purpose that will yet be covered. The truth of what really happened has been kept hidden, and the order of these actual events have been twisted and fully misrepresented—on purpose!

It is taught that Jesus Christ was resurrected on that Sunday morning, but the angels simply stated that he had already risen and was not there. They did not say he was resurrected that morning just before they arrived. But this is the deceit and lie that has been handed down by traditional Christianity.

If you go back to the moment Jesus Christ was placed in the tomb, and if you believe his words and that he was the Passover of all mankind, and the Messiah, the Christ, then it should not be difficult for you to know when he was actually resurrected. To repeat, late on the 4th day he was taken down from the pole and placed in his tomb just before sundown. Then three full days later—that is, three full nights and three full days—brings you to the 7th day just before sundown.

This all starts on the 4th day (Wednesday) just before sundown. Then going from that point to the 5th day just before sundown is the 1st full day, and then going on to the 6th day just before sundown makes the 2nd full day. Now going on to the 7th day just before sundown brings you to the 3rd full day.

That is now three complete days, just as Jesus said. So he was actually resurrected just before sundown on the 7th day of the week, which is the weekly Sabbath of God. He was resurrected just before sundown when a new week, the 1st day of the week (Sunday), was about to begin. So not only is a Sunday morning resurrection a lie, he was not resurrected on a Sunday at all, but at the end of a weekly Sabbath, since he was resurrected before sundown on the 7th day.

God’s One True Church

After Jesus Christ was resurrected, the first people he communicated with on that morning of the 1st day of the week were not allowed to touch him because he said that he had not yet ascended to the Father. He had not yet ascended to God’s very throne to be accepted by Him, which was a requirement that had to be fulfilled, according to the law. The requirement Christ had to fulfill was another observance in scripture, the Wave-Sheaf Offering. That offering was always waved upward before God on a morning of the 1st day of the week that was always in the midst of the annual Holy Day season of Unleavened Bread.

As mentioned before, the 1st Holy Day of the year is the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Seven days later is the 2nd Holy Day of the year, which is the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. So every year the Wave-Sheaf Offering falls on the 1st day of the week (Sunday) somewhere between those seven days of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the Wave-Sheaf Offering later that same morning when he ascended up before God to be received by Him, which is when the Wave-Sheaf Offering was traditionally offered. This event occurred soon after some had been made aware of his resurrection, in the very early morning of that day.

Christ then spent the next 40 days with them before ascending back to heaven where he has remained for the past nearly 2,000 years now. He gave the disciples signs that the Church would be able to recognize as being those things that would precede his second coming. Most all those signs have already been fulfilled and we are now rapidly approaching his return.

This time, Christ is not coming as he did before when he did not resist or fight back as the Lamb of God, in humility, subjection, and willingness to die for all mankind. This time, it reveals he will return as a Lion with great power and that he will use that power in order to take control of this earth. This time, he will fight and destroy those who are destroying the earth, as he works to establish God’s Kingdom, God’s government, on earth for the next 1,100 years.

Before departing the disciples, Jesus Christ told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise that God would give to them, in which He would pour out His holy spirit upon them, and upon all who would be called. After Christ left them, it was 10 days later, on the 1st day of the week, on Pentecost, that the Church began.

It was on a Pentecost that God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. It was on a Pentecost that God began to pour out His holy spirit upon those who were to become His Church. The significance of this happening on the same annual Holy Day as the Ten Commandments being given is that it signifies the only means whereby mankind is able to obey God, and that is through receiving the holy spirit which works to change and transform the very mind of those in whom it works.

Although we had believed Christ would return in 2012, it will still be a Pentecost when he returns—Pentecost of 2019! There is great purpose “why” he did not return then, and that will be thoroughly explained. Although many ridicule and mock this change, and use it to try and discredit what I speak, people will in time become astounded why that date actually did change.

All that happened on that Pentecost in 31 AD was the beginning of God’s one true Church. But who has heard of it? Most churches that do carry that name are not God’s true Church, as they observe false doctrines that they actually received from a different “old” church.

God’s Church was never well received, just as God’s prophets of old were most often not well received. Many were just killed. Jesus Christ stated that fact to the Jews by saying they were the ones who killed the prophets of old. They were also bent on killing him, the most important Prophet of God ever.

Confusion—Two Churches Emerge

Most are able to easily follow the accounts in scripture of a Church that the apostles were given power to establish beginning in 31 AD. In all the Jewish world at that time not very many who had heard Christ’s teachings actually continued to follow him after his death. Those of Judaism, especially the leaders, made life difficult, as this new sect was a great threat to them and their doctrines. Just as they used the Roman rule to their advantage to finally have Jesus Christ put to death, they also pursued those who continued to follow him and sought to eradicate them as well.

Of those relatively small numbers who did continue to follow the teachings of Christ through the apostles, many were persecuted. Some were imprisoned and killed, just as prophets of old. Being called into God’s Church was not easy on people. The Church is described as always being small, and although God called people throughout the Roman ruled world at that time, it never grew large and most accounts are of family and individuals who would meet together on the Sabbath in homes.

Jewish leaders and the Roman government set out to destroy God’s Church, and Saul is one who had been given authority to pursue the members of the Church, imprison and/or kill them.

“And Saul was consenting unto his death [speaking of giving permission for Stephen to be killed]. At that time there was great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem, and they scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judah and Samaria, except for the apostles” (Acts 8:1).

“As for Saul, he made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women away, and casting them into prison” (Verse 3).

A minister named Philip had been among those scattered and in the region of Samaria. He had gone to the city of Samaria to preach there of Christ and found many who believed the teachings, and some began to be baptized. The apostles who had remained in Jerusalem heard of this and agreed to send Peter and John to help Philip.

It would be helpful at this point to insert some knowledge about the region of Samaria to give a better understanding of some of the content that will yet be covered.

Samaria itself was a larger region than Judah. It was just to the north of Judah, and a few hundred years before this had been where the nation of Israel was located. The first three kings over all of Israel were Saul, David, and then his son, Solomon. During their reigns, Israel consisted of twelve tribes. Tribe is the expression that is used to describe specific family lineages that became very large over time. There were twelve brothers whose individual families carried their names as their tribe. These all descended from Abraham. There was Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob. Jacob’s name was later changed to Israel and his twelve sons carried his name as a nation of people; therefore, they were known as the twelve tribes of Israel. The lineage of each individual brother, carrying their name, was one of the tribes. For example, there was the tribe of Dan, Benjamin, Levi, etc. These tribes are the ones that had grown large as a people in the land of Egypt, and these twelve tribes collectively carried the name of Israel. When Moses came along and God used him to deliver Israel out of Egypt, they had grown to be a few million people. The Exodus itself was very large.

After 40 years in the wilderness, God led them to a promised land where they continued to grow larger until a time when they were brought together under their first king, Saul. Next, David ruled. But after his son, Solomon, there was a great conflict over who should reign as king. The kingdom split and Judah became a single nation that primarily continued to reign over the Jewish people and some from other tribes that stayed with them. However, the rest of the tribes of Israel that mostly lived in that region to the north of Jerusalem, rebelled from being under the king in Jerusalem and formed their own nation, and retained the name of Israel. The nation identified as Israel, consisted primarily of ten other tribes, the majority of them, which is why they retained the name Israel.

This is confusing to many people today, because when they hear the mention of the name of Israel, they tend to think of Israel as it is today which is comprised primarily of Jewish citizens, therefore, they tend to think that when Israel is mentioned in the Old Testament that it is about the Jewish people. That is not the case. The first place that the word Jew is used in scripture is when it states that the Jews were at war with Israel. This then tends to confuse people.

After a few hundred years, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and as the practice of the Assyrians, they moved another conquered people into that area that Israel once occupied. It was the people of Samaria, who themselves had been conquered and moved. When Israel was conquered by the Assyrians they were moved up into the regions of Western Europe and eventually lost all identity of who they were. Even Judah (the Jews) began to refer to them as the lost 10 tribes of Israel.

The world to this day does not know that these 10 tribes have become the modern day nations of much of Western Europe, including the English speaking nations of the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. This is also why people are largely ignorant of many end-time prophecies that specifically foretell many of the things that will happen to these 10 tribes. This is especially true concerning the tribe of Joseph, which consists primarily of these major English-speaking nations just mentioned, as well as the United Kingdom.

The nation of Judah was primarily Jewish (mostly of the tribe of Judah), and it is those same people who have reestablished the nation of Israel today.

This short history will become more important, but Judah at that time continued as a separate nation to the south of Samaria. Although they were only one of the original tribes of Israel, Judah and many of Levi and Benjamin remained as a separate nation that continued as the nation of Judah. So in the time of Christ, there was no nation of Israel, but only Samaria where the rest of Israel once had been.

It is that region that was once called Israel, and now known as Samaria, where many in the Church had scattered once the government began to persecute them. It is here that a man named Simon came into the picture and would, several decades later, become the beginning catalyst of what later contributed to a massive movement that led to an incredible volume of false doctrines creeping into traditional Christianity. This movement would eventually cause great confusion throughout the world concerning what Christ actually taught. This movement began by this individual named Simon. He was one who practiced sorcery and the mystic arts. He had a following of people as he traveled from area to area throughout the region of Samaria, and he received great gain and recognition as he worked to deceive, entice, manipulate, and entertain people.

“There was a certain man, called Simon, who was before in this same city [that Philip was teaching in] and had used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, and giving the appearance of himself as being some great person. They all gave great attention to what he had to say, from the least of them even to the greatest, as they would say that, ‘This man is of the great power of God’” (Acts 8:9-10).

Simon traveled throughout the entire region of Samaria and far beyond with his craft, and he gained great recognition and fame as a result. He presented himself as an important religious figure as he worked to also mystify and deceive his audiences by his practices and stories. It was his livelihood and he fared quite well at it.

Simon had become enthralled by Philip’s stories and by what he had witnessed in some of the miracles that had been performed through Philip. He even wanted to be baptized as others were and so he, too, became immersed, but not for the purpose of repentance as others. Simon had other motives.

Once Peter and John arrived, Simon became even more excited as he witnessed what they were doing in laying hands on those who were being given of God’s holy spirit. He had witnessed enough to come to believe that these ministers were doing things that were not a matter of normal power that could come from man.

He believed that they had real powers and that they could pass those to others as well. The disciples spoke of this power as being the holy spirit given by God, and he wanted it. But his reasons were not because he believed the teachings of the apostles about the death and resurrection of Christ or the things they had been taught by Christ. He just wanted the same powers in order to add them to his abilities in the practice of sorcery.

Simon had for some time immersed himself in mystic practices and had been indulging himself in demonic influence and power. Since he eagerly sought out such evil practices, and very willingly gave himself to them, these beings were able to work in him in a way they could not do through others.

It finally came to a point when he had heard all that he cared to, and he now just wanted these powers that he had come to believe were very real. He offered the apostles money so that they would give him this power of the holy spirit. Upon asking them, he was immediately rebuked very strongly by them and turned away.

This didn’t stop Simon from incorporating very large portions of what he had learned into his routine. He continued his travels and even expanded them, but now he did so in a stronger religious guise than ever before.

Simon used his “mystic powers” as before, but he incorporated teachings that were about God, Christ, and many of the stories he had learned from the disciples. He presented these as though they had been his own experience, and as though he, too, had been with Jesus Christ. People actually became drawn to his stories more than they were to the truth that the apostles were teaching. His new methods and teaching gained him even far greater notoriety, admiration, financial gain, and stronger following than before.

His form of religion and religious belief was accepted by far greater numbers of people than that of the disciples because of how he would use some truth with those things he had already learned, practiced, and taught before. He had always presented himself as a religious figure who had power and importance, but he did so with teachings that were steeped in paganism and practices of Baal worship, as well as other similar gods that were extensive in the region of Samaria. He mixed many of the different pagan practices and beliefs with that of stories about Jesus Christ and the God of the Hebrews.

Since he would go from one region to another, once he left an area his absence created a vacuum for others to step into and take up his religious practice. Such individuals could mold this practice into their own style and teaching, but always with the motivation of financial gain, political influence, and notoriety, as many began to follow these religious ideas in a superstitious kind of way, just as they had been doing in their pagan practices. Since so many of them already had the pagan beliefs that they did, the addition of those things about Jesus Christ and the stories of the apostles just made it all that much more attractive and humanly desirable in a very carnal and distorted kind of way.

These practices were incorporated into religious services as was done in the worship of other gods like Baal. These services were cloaked in lavish ceremonies, brightly colored and flamboyant attire, and always with many religious relics and objects that were themselves supposed to have contained powers and/or served as a kind of talisman that was like a window or key that opened communication to God, Christ, or “saints” that were said to be in heaven. Some simply came to believe these talisman kind of objects could themselves exude special powers and favors.

These groups actually even began to call themselves Christian. In time, some even referred to Simon as being the chief apostle, Simon Peter. By about 150 AD, two distinctive kinds of people began to exist side by side and each identified themselves as being Christian. However, only one retained the name of the Church of God, and only one continued in the true teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

The false movement only taught “about Christ” and not what he taught concerning what they should believe, what they should obey, and how they should live. This false movement went through an evolution of its own over the next 100 years. It was not long after this that it began to gain powerful recognition in the world as these false doctrines began to be established as the official state religion—the official religion of an empire.

Herbert W. Armstrong

The next chapter will address some of the major false doctrines that became an official state religion, but for now it needs to be noted that there has only been one Church that has continued on since it began in 31 AD. It is the Church of God in which God and Christ have provided a lineage of apostles to lead it. That Church has never died out, although Satan has often tried to destroy it.

In the story flow I gave at the beginning of this chapter that was about my calling, God had finally opened my mind to understand the teachings of the apostle He had given His Church. As I mentioned, it was Herbert W. Armstrong. Although many in different areas of the world became familiar with his name because of the Plain Truth magazine and his radio broadcasts and television telecasts of “The World Tomorrow” program, most never knew the significance of who he was. Although he was identified as an apostle, traditional Christianity never acknowledged him as being every much an apostle of God as the original twelve were.

The Church of God has always remained relatively small, especially when compared to other religions in the world. The Church in Mr. Armstrong’s day grew to be around one hundred and thirty thousand, which included both children and adults. The churches of traditional Christianity, whose worldwide numbers were approaching two billion at that time, hated God’s Church whenever they came in contact with its teachings, and that is because they hated the doctrines it taught.

The teachings of God’s Church have never been popular. Quite the contrary, most people have hated the true teachings of God, Jesus Christ, and the Church of God ever since it started in 31 AD. Much of that hatred has been taken out on members, but the focus of the bitterness and hatred has always been first and foremost upon the leaders of the Church, as they have always been seen to be to blame for any such following because of their teaching.

Of the original twelve apostles, there is only one who is believed to have lived to an old age to die naturally, and that is John. He lived into his eighties and very possibly a little longer, as some details are lacking. He wrote one of the original books referred to as the Four Gospels, the Book of John, and also 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

However, John wrote one more book that focuses on end-time events at the end of the age of mankind’s self-rule on earth. God and Christ gave John the ability to envision things depicting certain prophesied events for the future and he then wrote these things in the Book of Revelation. All that is written in Revelation was given to him on the Isle of Patmos, where he was imprisoned for a time by the Roman government. John was a very unique apostle, as none of the other early apostles held an office within the ministry of being both an apostle and a prophet.

However, concerning all the other early apostles, it is believed by much tradition and writings that all of them were imprisoned, and some several times, but then all eventually killed at the behest of the government and Jewish leaders, just as Jesus had been. Even before Jesus was killed, John the Baptist had been killed by being beheaded, and of course, Stephen was killed shortly after the Church had begun.

It states that Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

Paul, the apostle to the gentile world, was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, and then kept under house arrest in Rome for an extended period of time before he was eventually killed. Candidly, ever since that time, people have continued in great hatred of the message that God’s apostles and teachers have brought, and as a result, many other leaders of God’s Church have been imprisoned and/or killed.

At the time of my calling, Mr. Armstrong was God’s apostle. He died in January of 1986, and yet to this day the Internet is filled with written content that contains intense hatred for him. Most of what is written contains things that have been contrived, twisted, distorted, and just plain lied about concerning him and the life he lived. Yet it is amazing that most people who read such things “choose” to believe all or at least part of what is written because their mind is prejudiced against him solely due to the doctrine he taught, the truths of God, some or all of which they reject.

There are many who have written things that are on the Internet who had been part of God’s Church at one time, but in time turned against it, just as God and Christ said would happen. These are those who had been given opportunity through a direct invitation from God to enter into a new creation, yet in time began to reject what God was offering and teaching them. They turned from the grace, the favor, that God had shown to them.

Some of those have gone so far in their bitterness and hatred that they have done exactly what Lucifer did and their minds have now become set against God. God will not force anyone to receive His way of life if they do not want it, even if after having accepted His invitation, they later turn away; that is their free choice. God’s creation within the mind of mankind cannot be completed in anyone who does not want it.

Herbert W. Armstrong was raised up by God to become an apostle in His Church and to fulfill a specific prophecy that is about the end-time. It concerns what Christ gave to the disciples about signs that would precede his coming. They asked Christ, “Tell us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of your coming [the sign of his coming into his Kingdom as Messiah] and the end of this world [Gk. word for ‘age,’ and in this context, the ‘age’ of mankind’s self-rule]” (Matthew 24:3).

The disciples believed that these things would yet be fulfilled in their lifetime and that Jesus Christ would then take over the reign of government over the earth. They had no idea that he was going to first be killed, resurrected to spirit life, and then remain in heaven at God’s side for nearly the next 2,000 years. Even after Jesus was killed, they still believed he was going to return during their lifetime.

Mr. Armstrong understood that there was a very specific scripture that applied prophetically to him and the primary commission God had given to him to fulfill. He very often made reference to that commission and that specific verse because God had given to him to know that this was for him to accomplish. He was as certain about this being his commission from God as he was about each and every truth that had been given to him as well. He knew where it came from, and it was from God.

How could he have been so very certain and so dogmatic about such things? It may be easier for a person to understand how the early apostles were able to be so certain and dogmatic about what they taught because of the experiences they had of personally being with, and then taught by, Jesus Christ himself. Even Paul had a powerful experience that brought him to conversion after being struck blind and being spoken to directly by Christ, although Christ was not literally in front of him to perform this, but in heaven.

So what about Herbert W. Armstrong? He had an absolute “sense of knowing” because of what has already been addressed about how God can communicate directly with the human mind. People expect that voices must be heard or that the personal presence of an angel or Christ himself is the means God uses to give direction, instruction, and truth to His servants. Those are physical expectations from a very human mind and way of thinking. Yet that is not the main way God has worked with His apostles and prophets.

It is true, as stated in the Book of Hebrews, that God has spoken to the prophets in many different ways through time. Moses had the experience of hearing God speak to him directly out of a burning bush. It was mentioned earlier how Abraham was spoken to by God while He manifested a literal, physical body before Abraham that conversed directly with him. But that body was not Almighty God. It was simply a physically manifested body in human form and appearance that God used in order to visit with Abraham, or better said, so that Abraham could visit with Him.

God revealed himself to some through Melchizedek, and He sent Michael the archangel to some. There is even an account where God spoke through a donkey to a man.

For most everyone since the disciples, however, God has communicated directly to the mind of an individual. For most of the Church, it has been a matter of God using that means to reveal truth and spiritual understanding to those whom He has called. For apostles, it has been more than that, as He has also given them direction and instruction or simply the sense of knowing certain things that they are to do that is beyond simple revelation of His word in order to lead the Church in a manner that God and Christ are leading them.

Herbert Armstrong’s life was filled with experiences of God communicating His will to him of things he wanted him to do or to accomplish. So it was with this scripture; he knew it was about himself and the commission that God had given him to fulfill. Here is that verse that he so often quoted as being his commission:

“This good news of the Kingdom shall be preached in [into] all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).

It would be good to include here more about how Herbert W. Armstrong spread the gospel (the good news) of God’s true way of life and of the Kingdom of God. As it has already been mentioned, it was done in a very powerful way through printed literature that was sent out free to any who would ask for it and through the media of radio and television. But there was another means which God opened to him in order to reach out to other areas of the world, and that was done directly with world leaders who themselves were accountable to the people of their nations—accountable before God. This too was a further fulfillment of Matthew 24:14.

You have very likely never even heard of this man whom God and Christ raised up to do a work before actual end-time events would begin, when an actual countdown to Christ’s coming would start. Since his death, many things in the Book of Revelation have already been fulfilled. They are things not seen by the world, but by God’s Church. That has been changing somewhat beginning in 2008, as other prophetic events of a more physical nature began to be fulfilled. So let’s give some consideration of what God did through his apostle whom He gave to fulfill that prophetic verse in Matthew 24:14.

Although Mr. Armstrong received awards and honors from leaders of various nations, with many being drawn to him with a remarkable fondness, they still rejected the gospel message he brought them about the Kingdom of God.

Early on, Mr. Armstrong received a very unique award from King Leopold III of Belgium. It was a watch made from a cannonball taken from a battlefield in World War I by Leopold’s’ father, King Albert I. King Albert had the cannonball cast into four watch cases with the desire that they would be presented to the four individuals that he felt had made the most significant contribution to world peace. The king never found anyone he felt worthy to receive the fourth watch, and so, he passed it on to his son, who was moved to give it to Mr. Armstrong in 1970.

Mr. Armstrong became known to many as an “ambassador without portfolio for world peace.” He carried the gospel message to Prince Mikasa and a number of the members of the Japanese Diet. Emperor Hirohito conferred upon Herbert W. Armstrong the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class—one of the highest decorations that can be presented to a non-Japanese. During a period that covered two decades, seven successive Japanese Prime Ministers counted Mr. Armstrong as a personal friend and counselor. Some members of the Japanese Diet referred to themselves as being his Japanese sons. Yet none of these leaders accepted the message of the coming Kingdom of God.

Mr. Armstrong was endeared in friendship with King Hussein of Jordan, King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit of Thailand, and Prime Ministers of Israel, including Golda Meir and Menachem Begin. Others who counted him as a personal friend were Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat; Jomo Kenyatta, Founder and first President of Kenya; Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia; Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem; and longtime friend, Nagendra Singh, who was a Justice at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Herbert W. Armstrong also had personal meetings with leaders like Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom; Juan Carlos, the King of Spain; Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak; and Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Yet of all of these world leaders, none received the message he carried of the soon-coming Kingdom of God.

President Ferdinand Marcos decorated Mr. Armstrong with the Presidential Merit Medal “for his moral presence and compelling influence in moving people toward the creation of a just and peaceful world order.” He received the decoration of “Commander of Our Most Nobel Order of the Crown of Thailand.” Yet neither of these leaders nor their people received the message of the soon-coming Kingdom of God.

Other leaders with whom Mr. Armstrong met included President Allende of Chile; President Suharto of Indonesia; South Vietnam’s President, Nguyen van Thieu; and he was invited to Romania by President Nicolae Ceausescu. Mr. Armstrong also met with Deng Xiaoping of the People’s Republic of China and was the first recognized Christian leader to officially visit leaders inside China, yet this went unreported in the world. In this unprecedented visit, he addressed officials from 76 nations in the People’s Great Hall in Beijing. He spoke concerning the way to real peace and why humanity fails to achieve it.

Herbert W. Armstrong received numerous other honors and visited many other world leaders, but it went fully unnoticed by the western world to whom God had primarily sent Mr. Armstrong to proclaim His message. It should also be noted here that a very specific nation, to whom he had been sent, did not acknowledge or receive him. It was the United States of America, who is the beginning focal point of cataclysmic prophetic events that unfold during the final period of the end-time. Toward the end-time, God fulfilled a promise to make this specific people the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known. It was a promise God fulfilled concerning one of the brothers—one of the tribes—mentioned earlier, and yet even after these blessings, they still rejected the one whom God sent to them.

The Last Apostle

For some time after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death in 1986, the Church was without an apostle. There was a man who had been placed in the position of being over the Church, who was a minister in the Church, but he was never placed in the position of being an apostle. Much more will be said about him and the prophetic role he played in this end-time, as he was to become the second and last individual to be known as the “son of perdition.”

The first “son of perdition” was Judas Iscariot who was one of the original twelve disciples, and the one who betrayed Jesus Christ which resulted in his arrest on that last Passover night. Yet God had purposed that there should be twelve who were with Jesus Christ as “witness” of his teaching and all other things he had done during his ministry. So Judas was replaced by another man who had been with Christ, throughout that same period, along with the other disciples.

The Church of God operated under the incorporated name of the Worldwide Church of God. Within only nine years, this man who was now leading the Church, along with some other leaders, had worked to nearly destroy all of God’s Church. It went almost completely unnoticed by the rest of the world because it did not recognize God’s one and only true Church. Although it will be covered later, this event was the prophesied main sign that Jesus Christ gave in Matthew 24 about his coming. It was an event that had occurred in the Church, which began “the countdown” of specific days and specific periods of time that would exactly lead to Christ’s coming. That countdown and all those dates will be covered in a later chapter.

Some like to quote what Christ said when he referred to the timing of his return. He made the statement that no man knows the day or the hour. The reason this is quoted by others is because they do all that they can to mock, discredit, and turn people from what I have been given to say, just as it has been from the beginning. Yet they do not understand what this verse is fully saying and what other scriptures reveal about this matter. As just mentioned, all this will be covered.

When this prophetic event occurred, a second “son of perdition” had betrayed Christ and the First Seal of Revelation was opened. This resulted in the Church becoming scattered throughout the world. When this happened on December 17th of 1994, the countdown to Christ’s coming began. Within the next three to four years, the original Church had become so fragmented and divided that it split into over 600 different organizations. Yet only one group would continue on as God’s true Church.

We have now come full circle in this chapter. I am back to doing what I have always been uncomfortable doing, and that is talking about myself. Yet that is exactly what God has charged me to do.

When I wrote the first book, The Prophesied End-Time, published in 2004, God had revealed to me that I was to declare that He and Christ had made me a prophet to His Church. I didn’t really want to do this and resisted for a time before I finally realized that I really had no choice but to do what God had given me.

From the time I had come into the Church in 1969, I knew there had not been any prophets in God’s Church during that entire period. This was even somewhat of a foreign term for the Church and was basically recognized as referring to individuals like Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets whom God had raised up hundreds of years prior to the time of Christ. Although John, who was among the original apostles was a prophet, the Church mostly recognized him only as an apostle. But since the time of John, God simply had not had a purpose for placing someone in that position again until he gave it to me to write that book. Even then, I was still resisting somewhat and did not claim the full role of a prophet, but only a partial definition as is written on the back cover about me: “Then in 1997, he was called to be a prophet for this end-time. A prophet, in this context, is ‘one given inspired interpretation of recorded prophecies.’”

As time continued on, I knew and was then able to accept the fact that I was a full prophet of God. I had come to see many things God was giving me to know that only a full prophet could fulfill. However, that still was not an easy thing for me, but instead, a very uncomfortable one. Even then I did not realize that He had first made me an apostle to His Church, even before being made a prophet. God had raised up one last apostle to lead the Church from the destruction it had begun to experience in December of 1994. I was given charge to raise up a prophesied remnant of the Church that would continue on to Christ’s actual coming.

So yes, I am both an apostle and a prophet of God and of Jesus Christ to the Church of God, and to the world, in this final period of the end-time. I am the last apostle in this age of mankind’s self-rule.

Yet even more, I am the counterpart of John who wrote the Book of Revelation. He was the only other apostle whom God also made a prophet. John wrote the book, but did not understand the revelation it contained. It was not for his time, but for the end-time that would lead up to the return of Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God that will reign over all mankind for 1,100 years. Nearly all of the Book of Revelation is about those things that would occur in the end-time which lead to the Kingdom of God being established on earth for 1,100 years.

Just as John was imprisoned and placed on the Isle of Patmos and then given the contents for the Book of Revelation that he wrote, I too am currently in prison as I am writing this book.

The government of the United States has convicted me of willfully and purposefully evading paying taxes. It doesn’t really matter what I say about it, as people believe what they choose. I have stated some about this on the book website. There is no purpose in trying to unravel all that has been twisted and misrepresented concerning what is true. God will do that soon enough.

However, I will add just a little more to this. Ever since I was called into the Church in 1969, I have been as faithful in paying the taxes I have believed were due the government as I have been in obeying God when paying His tithes and offerings. I have never been deceitful in figuring the payment of either. Jesus Christ said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s (taxes to one’s government) and to God what is God’s. I have always striven to do both truthfully and faithfully.

John wrote the book of Revelation, but God has given to me to show the full interpretation and full meaning of what is written in it. God gave some understanding to Herbert W. Armstrong concerning certain sections of Revelation, which primarily had to do with a great false church and a final revival of the European Roman Empire. It had six previous revivals that have often been referred to as revivals of the old Holy Roman Empire. The sixth one was primarily under the rule of Hitler during WWII. One more is prophesied to rise and has been forming for the past 66 years now. It is prophesied to become ten nations that will form the final configuration of a United States of Europe.

There is much more to be stated about all this, but my experiences as a minister of God follow the verse that Mr. Armstrong recognized as his commission. He never went beyond that verse because it was for another time. The very next verse is where my experience and work began, and it runs through the verses that follow.

However, the commission I have been given is primarily covered in the Book of Revelation. It is in both chapters 10 and 11. Revelation 10 covers the account of a “little book” that was in an angel’s hand and that was given to John to eat. That “little book” (or little scroll) contained what was written of the Seven Thunders. John was not allowed to record what was written about those Seven Thunders, but God gave them for me to write and to reveal. All this will be covered in another chapter.

Revelation 11 is a prophecy about two prophets of God who will finish His work that leads directly to the coming of Jesus Christ. The primary work of these two people will be conducted within a very specific timeframe. It is the 7th and last period of 1,260 days that are contained in the complete count to Christ’s coming. These two prophets are also given the title of God’s two end-time witnesses. I am one and my wife, Laura, is the other.

God’s great plan concerns “family.” The real meaning of this and the fullness in life that is to be experienced in family—in both the human family and in God’s Family— has been mostly lost since the very beginning after Adam and Eve turned from God and the world has followed the same way ever since. In the Millennium, one of the main focuses of God is to reestablish what was lost and to establish and greatly bless “family.”

God worked with Abraham and Sarah and their family. It is their lineage that became known as the nation of Israel. It was a physical nation, but the prophecies concerning much of Israel are about a spiritual one that God is creating. It will be made up of all nationalities and races of people. It is often referred to as the “Israel of God” which is about a spirit born family that will live into age-lasting life. Physical Israel did not follow God’s ways, but the spiritual one will.

The point of God working through Abraham and Sarah is given to illustrate a great desire God has to work with families, as He began to work through a physical one to teach about a far, far greater one that is to follow. It is “family” that God is getting ready to bless in the Millennium. Everything is getting ready to change mightily in families and society. One of the most exciting is the revelation that God has just revealed in the last few years.

Genesis gives an account of how the first two, Adam and Eve, who were to be the first family to be blessed in life’s experience, disobeyed God. Because of their sins, they brought curses upon themselves and all generations that followed, as all followed the same natural course of selfishness that exists in all of mankind. They did not follow the pattern God had given to them concerning how families should live His ways. Instead, they began to live their “own way” that is based on raw and selfish human nature. It speaks of how the woman was cursed from that point forward, and since that time, women have not been treated as equals with men in God’s creation, but more as servants and very largely as even sex objects. Mankind is sick and God has revealed that this curse is now going to begin to be taken away during the Millennium. God’s church has already begun the process of removing this curse.

Family is going to learn to be structured and live the way God intended from the beginning. True husband and wife teams are going to become the norm as they learn to work and share life together the way God has always intended. The woman is not servant to the man! That struggle is about to end, and thank God for that!

My wife and I have been a team in God’s Church for right at 40 years now, and I am thankful to say this is just barely the beginning. We have served in God’s Church together within the ministry for 34 years. We have been exceedingly blessed and now God has given both of us a work to fulfill together as a team. It is our commission and one that God and Christ will fulfill through us that will lead up to Christ’s literal return, and finally, the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Chapter 4

AN END TO DECEPTION

PREVIOUSLY, IT WAS STATED how Satan has deceived the whole world. Sadly, due to being naive, most cannot even begin to grasp the depth of what such a statement truly means. It does, however, mean exactly what it says, and especially when it comes to religion. For many who hold to traditional Christianity, few really believe that Satan is a living, present, and active spirit being who works to deceive all mankind. Not only is he a very live and active, evil being, but candidly, only God can free people from the clutches of his deception, for he is far more powerful than most have the ability to know. Satan has had 6,000 years to refine his systems that work to deceive mankind, and so by this time now, people are simply born into those systems and accept them as true.

Satan is simply a liar, and as Christ said of him, he is the father of lies. It is just his way. With the kind of power that he and the demons have, individually and collectively, they are able to highly influence and sometimes even possess some people. They exercise such power on those who are willing subjects or who want to practice evil. They can highly influence those who are filled with strong pride, selfishness, and desire for wealth and/or power, because such people more readily yield themselves to this influence. Those who have less control of their mind due to drugs, abuse of alcohol, or deep sickness can also be open to such influences. These evil beings highly influence some individuals in order to motivate them into doing their bidding, to create chaos, or to plant and promote their own evil, concocted deceptions into a person’s thinking so they believe it is their own.

This has been done down through the centuries in the lives of those who have been highly influential upon society and nations. Such things have occurred often in religious leaders, scholars, authors, professors (skilled teachers), scientists, and leaders of nations and kingdoms. These spirit beings have focused on those who can have a greater impact upon society and the world, instead of on the average person.

Long ago, Satan established false religious beliefs in the world that had counterfeit attributes of things that are true. Although these beliefs appeared to have aspects of truth, they were highly distorted. These are often referred to as pagan beliefs or doctrines. These are the very things that some, like Simon who was mentioned earlier, have used in order to mix together with the practices and beliefs of true Christianity. This then created a popular false religious movement calling itself Christian.

There is one writing alone that has had a strong impact upon religious leaders and organizations due to weird concepts people have had of life after death in a hell or heaven. It was a work of Dante’s entitled, The Divine Comedy. Willing minds have accepted perverted concepts and distorted ideas from this writing alone, which have led writers and religious leaders into further distortions, especially of a hell with fire and torment.

A great world ruler, Emperor Constantine, had the greatest impact of all upon what is accepted today as traditional Christianity. His account will be covered shortly. It was “through him” that the strongest foundational doctrines of traditional Christianity were concocted and established.

Much of what Satan and the demonic spirit realm worked to establish very early on in the world of pagan beliefs, has only become more refined and strengthened in the form of modern false practices and beliefs. Now, most people simply accept the religious beliefs of their parents or some close facsimile to it. Most are simply “born into” the false systems that Satan established long ago.

A person may be born into a Catholic family, but later in life they may change to become a member of the Church of Christ. Someone born into a Church of Christ family may change and become a Seventh Day Adventist or Baptist. Regardless, their faith is still based upon the same foundational doctrines that exist in all of traditional Christianity and that is all held together by a very common core of shared beliefs. So although some people may make some change and prefer to attend a different church from what they were exposed to as a child, their foundational beliefs are still very much the same.

As this chapter unfolds, it will be incredibly difficult for some to grasp the enormity of Satan’s deception that he has masterfully woven into the doctrines and beliefs of traditional Christianity.

If it were not for the fact that people are now beginning to see that something is horribly wrong with this world and that it is very rapidly getting worse, then most reading this book would have just quit reading it long before this point. If they hadn’t stopped before now, they would do so in this chapter. Yet people are experiencing a world that is rapidly becoming more out of control, and each day it seems to be getting much, much worse. And it is!

So if it were not for the catastrophic events of this world becoming increasingly worse and at a much faster pace, most would simply not pay any attention to what I am writing. THAT is the very reason God is allowing this world to experience devastation and death to the degree it is, for if He did not, people would not listen to Him. This is the only way that a sizeable number of people can be spared and begin to be prepared to embrace the return of His Son, who is now to become that great King—the Messiah.

What is being written here is from God, and as His apostle and prophet for this end-time, I am telling you that every bit of traditional Christianity is fully deceived and plagued with false doctrines.

It is truly a very difficult thing to contemplate the possible reality that so many people can be so very wrong. How is such a thing remotely possible?

Again, this is attributed to the fact that there is power that we as human beings do not see or understand. This is about a spirit realm of spirit beings who have been misusing their power, and it is power far beyond that of human beings, and in addition to this Satan and the demons have been honing their skills in the misuse of such power for possibly hundreds of thousands of years. How can a human mind grasp such a thing? This is something that is far beyond mere human comprehension. As it was stated, only God can deliver one from such powers, powers that indeed have been used to deceive the whole world. That is exactly what these beings have done.

Not only have all people in the world been deceived with various ideas about gods, the afterlife, immortality, and the like, but over half of the entire world’s population who think they have a true belief about God Himself are deceived. There are nearly 2.5 billion people who consider themselves part of traditional Christianity who are completely deceived. They are deceived by what they believe, and as a result, are blinded from what is actually true concerning God, His ways, and His truth.

A List of False Doctrines

So what are some of the false doctrines of traditional Christianity? Some have already been addressed in this book. These are the doctrines upon which today’s traditional Christianity has been built. If you come to really “see” that these are all false doctrines as stated, then really, “What is traditional Christianity?”

These false doctrines and accepted beliefs are not Biblical. They have no true Biblical foundation, and they are actually in direct opposition to true doctrines and beliefs that God gave to mankind.

The following is a list of some of those false doctrines and beliefs:

• The Trinity

• Sunday is “the day” for formal worship

• Christmas

• Easter

• Christ died on a cross

• Christ died on a Friday, referred to as “Good Friday”

• Christ was resurrected on a Sunday morning

• Mankind has an immortal soul

• God’s law was “done away with” through Christ

• Upon death a person will either go directly to heaven or hell

• The reward for the “saved” is to go to heaven with ever-lasting life

• There exists a hell of ever-lasting torment

• Children can be christened and/or baptized

• There will be a rapture

• Weekly communion or just communion

• Saints are in heaven

• One can pray to the saints and/or Mary

• Christ was rather weak looking, pious in appearance, and had long hair

• A minister or priest can absolve a person of sin

• A minister can be addressed as, or have the title of, Reverend, Father, Pastor, Bishop, or Pope

Origin of False Beliefs

So from where did all these false teachings and beliefs come? This should be fairly easy to answer with a little thought concerning some of the things that have already been covered. They came from their author, Satan. He is the great deceiver and adversary to God. It should come as no surprise that he is the author of these “false” and “deceitful” beliefs.

Satan has worked to twist, distort, misrepresent, hide, shade, and lie about the truth of God. He has been relentless in his endeavors to turn the mind of every human away from God. The Devil has consistently fought against God’s truth, His ways, and those whom God has called. He hates God and he especially hates mankind.

Satan was already at work directly after the great flood during Noah’s time and began working on mankind to turn them to false concepts and ideas about the existence of different gods. Satan has easily deceived people by giving to them what is appealing to carnal human nature. The actual truth that requires change in how people choose to live is contrary to our very nature.

There is no purpose to delve into things here about false (pagan) gods that Satan established in order to lure people away from true knowledge of God, since this information can be found in many sources on the Internet, in various reference books, and even encyclopedias. It is stated in scripture that in earlier times, some worshiped a “goddess of heaven,” and due to different languages in different regions, it took on different spellings. It was the worship of Ashtoreth, also known as Astarte, Ishtar, Eostre, etc. (the origin of the word for Easter), and much of this worship involved fertility and immoral sex practices, as well as facing the east in worship as the sun would rise.

There was Baal worship that was associated with worship of the sun, as was Moloch. Although there were many other religious beliefs that sprang up, these that have been mentioned are the primary ones that Satan used to lure the Israelites away from the knowledge and worship of God.

It would be good to note here that when the nation of Israel became divided, as it was covered earlier, the nation to the south, Judah, continued in its observances of the Holy Days of God and the weekly 7th day (our Saturday) Sabbath. The nation that was to the north, who acknowledged a different king, retained the name of Israel since it was comprised of nearly all of the other tribes.

That king of Israel was Jeroboam, and he was afraid he would not be able to keep the Israelites united and supportive of him as their king. As recorded in scripture, he feared that when the Israelites would travel to worship God at the temple in Jerusalem on the annual Holy Days that they might begin to long for the former glory when the entire nation was united as one.

Since Jeroboam feared that they might choose to take back King Rehoboam of Judah, he changed the Holy Day observances to different times and built up three areas in Israel that the people could travel to, so that they could worship in those places instead of going all the way to Jerusalem. The entire way of worship was changed to a mixture between how God had been worshipped and how other gods in the region were worshipped. The main god worshipped throughout the region was Baal. Not only did Israel change the timing of when God said they were to observe the annual Holy Day seasons, they also changed the day of the week that the weekly Sabbath was to be observed. Instead of keeping it on the 7th day, it was changed to the 1st day of the week.

Baal worship and the worship of Molech involved sun worship and that was done on the 1st day of the week—our Sunday. Satan had already established this pagan practice several hundred years earlier. Upon leaving Egypt, God gave His commandments to Israel, which included keeping the 7th day Sabbath. Satan hated God’s Sabbath day, and he had already deceived other nations of people, even during that time, to have Baal worship on the 1st day of the week, on our modern-day Sunday, the day for sun worship.

Jeroboam’s actions in changing Holy Day observances is the reason Israel was later taken captive by the Assyrians. God sent the Assyrians to conquer Israel and they transferred them into different regions of Europe. God did this because Israel would not repent (change) from keeping their own holy days (holidays) and of worshipping on the 1st day of the week (Sunday) instead of on the weekly Sabbath day (Saturday). It is stated over and over how Israel continued in the sins of Jeroboam. Continuing in these sins is exactly the reason God gave to them as to why they were taken captive, and it is the reason they completely lost their identity. It is why Judah began to refer to them as the lost ten tribes of Israel.

Today, those people still have no idea who they really are and from where they descended. Nations of western mainland Europe, as well as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States have no idea that they are the descendants of those ancient tribes of Israel.

Judah, on the other hand, was also taken into captivity, but they never lost their identity. The Jewish people have always known who they are and they have always held to the 7th day Sabbath that God commanded. God told them the reason they would be taken captive over a period of 70 years before being able to come back to Judah and Jerusalem was because they had polluted God’s Sabbaths. They did not observe them in the manner God had commanded. And although they did continue to observe those times, they began to do business on those days, therefore polluting them.

Changing the Sabbath

As the Church was being scattered throughout regions of Judah and Samaria because of the immediate persecution that followed its formation, the worship of Baal and other pagan gods had been well-established and practiced in Samaria for several hundred years. However, these beliefs or ones directly related to them were also being practiced throughout the Roman Empire at that time. After many generations, people were fully accustomed to keeping such observances and religious practices related to deities of the sun with worship that was conducted on the 1st day of the week—our Sunday.

Throughout this period of the original apostles, they were teaching about Christ, what he taught, and of his death and resurrection to life again. The Roman world had been somewhat rattled because of those teachings, as it interfered with their well-established beliefs, beliefs that rulers used to wield greater power, inspiring even partial worship of themselves from their subjects. This has been true for many rulers throughout history who have supposedly had a special “in” with the gods or were sometimes themselves revered as being part god. Satan has truly done a number on weak minded human beings.

The Pharaohs fit into this category, as well as other leaders through time, but this also existed in part among the Caesars. So the Roman Empire saw the true Christianity of the apostles as a threat and they hated those teachings. There was already great hatred toward the Jews who were known for their worship that was practiced on the weekly 7th day Sabbath. The practice of the Jews was an irritation to the Roman government, especially because of the Jews’ strictness in refusing to conduct business on that day or on the annual Sabbaths.

When true Christianity was born, it had two great enemies: Judaism (primarily of its leaders) and the Romans.

Simon did not find it difficult to begin mixing aspects of his pagan worship with truth about Christ. It was a simple thing for him to do, just like what Israel had done long before. So he, and others like him, changed the truth taught by the disciples of a 7th day Sabbath to that of worshipping on the 1st day of the week. This was easy and not questioned by those who were already practicing their pagan beliefs on that day.

Other religious leaders who had been fully immersed as priests of Baal or other similar gods and were already teachers of those beliefs now began to do as Simon did, as it added strength, popularity, and far greater wealth to what they were already getting. They simply added stories about Christ and his life to that of their already existing practices and beliefs. They blended quite well, in a perverse sort of way, but that is the way Satan had already planned it long before.

By 325 A.D., the Church of God was still exceedingly small and was still being heavily persecuted. It was hated then as it always has been by society, religious leaders, and government officials. Constantine had come into power in Rome shortly before this and had been influenced by his mother who had become “Christian.” However, she was not following the way that was being taught by the Church of God and the apostles of that time, but she was following those who had now mixed many of their pagan practices and beliefs together with true stories of Christ.

That method has not changed much over the past 1,800 years. It has only become refined, as religious leaders speak much about Christ, but do not actually teach what he taught and lived. Jesus Christ lived in obedience to God’s laws. He kept the Sabbaths of God and taught the people about God’s plan and purpose, and he taught them on those Sabbaths. But today, most of traditional Christianity teaches that God’s laws, the Ten Commandments, were done away with through Jesus Christ, although the apostles, after the death of Christ, clearly taught on those days and observed them just as Christ did.

One of the first things recorded that Jesus Christ taught concerned the law: “Do not think that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. I say to you truly, that until heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle will in any way pass from the law until it is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18).

The world of traditional Christianity twists things to say that Christ fulfilled the law, but many scholars know full well the scriptures that contain such expressions are about Christ fulfilling things within the sacrificial system and the laws that pertained to it. So they use Christ’s name to support their false doctrines, but they fail to truthfully teach what he taught.

In Christ’s comments about the law and the prophets, he was making it very clear that nothing written in the law or in the prophets would be destroyed (changed or done away with) until it had all been fulfilled. God makes it clear that all that He has recorded in prophecy will be accomplished by Him—it will be fulfilled. It will be accomplished within a period that goes just a little beyond the next 1,100 years. After that, all that the prophets have written will have been fulfilled—completed.

The law will have become fulfilled once God’s spiritual creation is complete in all who are called and in all who then yield to that complete transformation and creation that must take place in the mind before one can enter into spirit life. That will be completely fulfilled in a period that goes just a little beyond the next 1,100 years because God’s spiritual Family will have become complete by this time, as all who become part of it will have been resurrected as spirit composed beings into ever-lasting life.

Their minds will have become completely transformed to be in full unity and oneness with the mind of God, the ways of God, as the law will have become fulfilled in them—in their thinking and in their mind.

Christ was making it clear that the fulfilling of the law and all prophecy is so important that not one jot or tittle can be removed (done away with or destroyed) from it. This is like saying that of all that is written in the law and prophets, not one apostrophe or dot above the letter “i” can be removed.

Yet many churches make no qualms about teaching that Christ did away with the law. The only law that was done away with is spoken of primarily in the Book of Hebrews. Many who read such writings think that what they are reading is about the Ten Commandments, but it is not. It is about the practice of the law of sacrifices by the Levitical priesthood. This was about the sacrificial system of killing animals, spilling their blood to the earth, and offering those up before God on the altar. Hebrews makes it very clear that such animal sacrifices never took away sin, but that the spilling of the blood of Jesus Christ through this one sacrifice does take away sin. Jesus Christ simply fulfilled what the sacrificial system was picturing.

So when some ministers of traditional Christianity say that the Ten Commandments were done away with, you can begin to go through each one. They can be asked, “Then do you mean that adultery, as well as stealing, lying, murdering, and cursing God are all okay?” The answer is always, “Well of course not.” But if you ask whether the keeping of God’s Sabbath is required on the 7th day, then the usual comeback is, “No. That has been done away with.”

The Sabbaths of God, both weekly and annual, have always been hated by others. People do not realize that there is a real spirit power that stirs up such resentment and prejudice against these observances. The reason Satan wants people to keep away from any real observance or teachings of God’s Sabbaths is because these are what reveal God’s plan from the beginning to the end.

Instead, Satan has been successful in getting people to focus on the birth of Jesus Christ, who wasn’t even born in the winter months. Satan has successfully deceived people in observing Easter, and especially the sunrise service of Easter, which they say is to commemorate the fact of Jesus Christ being resurrected at that time, which he was not.

The Council of Nicaea

As Constantine was coming into power in the Roman Empire a few hundred years after the death of Christ, there was an occasion in which he had an “experience” just before he engaged in a great battle. There are many stories that exist concerning this. These stories vary quite a bit in terms of the exact details of what happened, so whether it was a dream, premonition, or some kind of vision, this story is not definite. Nevertheless, he did experience something. These accounts all agree that he saw a cross in the sky with certain letters or words inscribed on it.

As some of this and other historical events are discussed in this chapter, an overview will be given, but not an over-abundance of detail. Those who want to learn more can easily look up such stories in a variety of reference material that is available on many of these subjects. As an example, there is much more that can be learned by looking up the history and documentation of such subjects like Christmas, Baal, Easter, Council of Nicaea, Sunday worship, the Trinity, etcetera.

Concerning Constantine’s “experience,” it is said that after seeing the cross, he had his soldiers paint this symbol with letters on their shields. The letters are IHS, which are a kind of monogram or symbol for Jesus. He believed that what he saw concerned the death of Christ and that this “experience” was given to him from Jesus.

The story is that the soldiers did as Constantine instructed and they went on to win an overwhelming victory. It is here that the cross began to take on greater significance as a symbol that would be affixed to traditional Christianity in an even more substantial way than it already had been. This symbol and a couple variations of it had already been in use in pagan practices that went back over a thousand years earlier and it had already been creeping into use within this evolutionary process of traditional Christianity that was growing in momentum.

For hundreds of years, the cross had been steeped in superstition and pagan worship as a kind of talisman and a symbol of their religion. It is how the story came about that Christ died on a cross and this false concept began to be merged into the practice and observance of traditional Christianity.

This event that Constantine experienced was most assuredly not from Jesus Christ or God. It should not be a difficult thing once again to know who actually was responsible for this deception. This experience did seem to have a strong impact on Emperor Constantine. He began to take more of an interest in his mother’s religion. He involved himself directly with priests who were representing this movement of what is now traditional Christianity. Nothing that Constantine was doing had any involvement with God’s true Church or God’s apostles at that time.

Over a relatively short period of time, Constantine had become upset over dissension and disagreement that existed in his empire among many of these groups that were springing up in false Christianity. By this time, these groups covered areas in Egypt, up through the regions of Judea, and of modern Turkey, and westward past Rome itself.

In 325 AD, Constantine convened a large group of these teachers and priests from throughout the empire in what became known as the Council of Nicaea. Constantine did not simply turn this meeting over to them to discuss and decide things amongst themselves, but he had direct input, control, and direction to give to it.

There were two primary objectives for this council, though it resulted in even more decisions and decrees that were made.

First, Constantine wanted it settled once and for all concerning a dispute that many were having concerning Christ’s deity. One belief that had support was that Jesus Christ’s existence did not occur until he was actually born of Mary in a physical birth, but in this there were different ideas concerning his deity.

The concept that some priests and Constantine pushed was what became known as the Trinity. It was the belief that Jesus Christ has always existed, just like God the Father. The Trinity also included the belief of a third being, a spirit, that has taken on different names, but is probably best translated as the Holy Ghost. These three are described as being fully separate beings with their own identity, but also one—one single God.

In time, this basic belief became a part (and still is) of congregational worship where the relationship of these three, in one, within the Godhead is recited during Sunday morning worship. It is recited much like an allegiance and affirmation of the Trinity. It became established as the Apostles’ Creed.

In order to establish such doctrine, this great church believes that it has had a succession of people who have carried the authority of apostle, however, none of these religious leaders are actually known as apostles or called apostles. Further, no apostle can change any doctrine established by God in scripture. Those things never change! But it is believed that at the decree of a Pope, changes can be made to existing Biblical doctrine.

Passover to Easter

In addition to them establishing a belief that was to be a unified teaching for the church concerning the Trinity, there was also one other big change that Constantine was set on making to standardize doctrines and beliefs of the church.

Some of these false Christian groups were observing a Passover, while others were observing Easter. To the Roman world, Passover reeked far too much of Judaism, which was an extremely hated religion, as were the Jews. But there were ulterior motives for adopting Easter, and those were quite sinister and highly deceitful.

Constantine wanted to adopt what many were already observing in the false Christian groups and in the pagan practices of various groups within the empire. It was the establishment and observance of Easter. A declaration was made stating that Passover was to no longer be observed. In the false Christian groups, Easter was observed as a celebration of the early Sunday morning resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Since its observance revolved around timing having to do with Christ’s resurrection, the specific lunar Sunday it became associated with always fell relatively close to the time of Passover, since Passover was when Jesus Christ was put to death.

Easter had now been made the official observance for this newly organized and more fully unified religious organization that Constantine was exerting control over. The Trinity and Easter were now the “official” belief of this newly unified religion. As time went along, Constantine continued to put more authority and power into making this “new Christianity,” which was actually a unified false Christianity, the official state religion of the Roman Empire.

Constantine had a great underlying ulterior motive for establishing Easter as the official observance of this newly developing forerunner to traditional Christianity. Because of the teaching that Jesus Christ was resurrected on a Sunday morning, and being that Easter was an early morning sunrise service on a Sunday, this gave credence to always having a Sunday morning worship, instead of the 7th day as some were still observing. It wasn’t long after this that Sunday was declared to be the day of observance for this church throughout the Roman Empire and worship on the 7th day began to be outlawed.

The Council of Nicaea, through Constantine’s leadership, became the formal push for the firm establishment of a church that would become very great in the world—the Roman Catholic Church. It has always reflected everything that is opposite to what is true. It has decorated itself in great pomp, ceremony, and the use of religious relics, statues, crosses, as well as a flood of pictures of God, Christ, and Mary with baby Jesus. All such practices are completely against what God instructs in one of the Ten Commandments. God clearly states that mankind is not to use any such images for religious purposes or worship.

Satan established his own mockery toward God, His word, and His laws by influencing a church to rise up who twisted and misrepresented every truth of God, even the very commandments that instruct people concerning how to honor, respect, and properly worship God.

The First Commandment was broken by adopting the doctrine of the Trinity, as this false church was now declaring there was more than one God being. Although it deceitfully states they all are one God, the Trinity says that there are two other beings besides God the Father, and that goes directly against this First Commandment.

Acts 2 establishes the truth that the father of Jesus Christ was God the Father who identifies Himself as Yahweh Elohim through the verses quoted from the Old Testament. It also bears repeating what the Eternal—Yahweh Elohim—had to say about Himself: “I am the Eternal [Heb. - Yahweh Elohim] and there is none [no one] else, there is no God beside [Heb. - except, but, only, save] me” (Isaiah 45:5).

The Second Commandment was broken through the use of statues, artifacts, and pictures, depicting God, Christ, the angelic realm, and numerous other “religious representations” in religious services and ceremonies, and their place as decoration throughout buildings for worship.

The Third Commandment was broken concerning not taking God’s name in vain, as every doctrine adopted by this false Church was against what God gave as true, yet they used God’s name and that of Jesus Christ as being their authority, which was truly taking God’s name in vain.

Then the Fourth Commandment was broken as they completely removed any requirement to keep a 7th day Sabbath by adopting a pseudo-Sabbath day for worship on the 1st day of the week—the day of the sun—Sunday.

Prophecy About That Great Church

The Book of Revelation speaks of this great church that now has well over 1.25 billion people around the world. There are also just as many that have adopted its same basic doctrines, as their foundational doctrines come from the Catholic Church.

From 31 A.D. and forward, the true Church of God, led by God’s apostles and ministry, has continued in the doctrines God established from the beginning. By the end of that first century, other groups were springing up who called themselves Christian, but were not. They had simply adopted some of the same practices of Simon the sorcerer who mixed paganism with counterfeited doctrines of God’s true Church. They contained stories as told by the disciples and those that came from old scripture, as well as stories “about” Christ and his resurrection. However, these groups were not unified or organized in any real way.

It wasn’t until 325 A.D. that Constantine began to organize and unify the doctrines within one church that would carry authority backed by the Roman Empire. A unified and organized Catholic religion was born.

God’s true Church and the Catholic Church continued on for several hundred years before any other church organizations began to spring up. As always, the true Church remained small and rather obscure, as it often was forced to be in hiding, remote from others, and/or restrained in their ability to speak openly of their different beliefs. This false Church has a long history of pursuing the true Church and persecuting it, which often included killing those whom they found to be part of it.

In the 1400s through the 1600s, there was a movement from which several new organizations began to be formed as they broke away from the Catholic Church and formed their own separate governing bodies and clergy. Although there were many that were formed, probably the best-known organizations originated from Luther and Calvin, and of course, the Church of England that became separate, primarily because King Henry VIII was not able to divorce and remarry as often as he would have liked due to rulings enforced within the Catholic Church.

Most of these churches only had slight doctrinal differences, but most came down to disagreement over government and power held by the clergy.

So not all churches in traditional Christianity have had long histories like the true Church of God and the Catholic Church. Both of these existed many hundreds of years before these other church organizations were ever created or formed. But of all of these, only God’s true Church has a history that goes all the way back to the original apostles with doctrines that remain the same to this day.

Those churches that broke away from the Catholic religion still retained her most basic doctrines like the Trinity, Sunday worship, communion, Easter, and Christmas (the mass of Christ). However, these splinter churches have no authority in scripture for any of these beliefs just mentioned. Those doctrines and teachings do not exist in scripture. In all truth, their authority rests in the Catholic Church and the authority the Popes have assumed in order to change doctrines or invent new ones.

There is one primary section in scripture that identifies this great church and those who splintered from her that retained her same foundational doctrines.

In these verses that will be covered, and in others later that pertain to prophecy, I am going to give you the prophetic meaning as God’s prophet. Some of these verses about this great church are so descriptive that some people have been able to grasp that these are indeed about the Catholic Church, yet most have not recognized they are also about them and their beliefs as well.

In the following scripture, an angel has taken John to show him the wonders (or marvel) of that church that has had the kind of power it has exercised over rulers and nations since its inception:

“So he [the angel] carried me [John] away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, and having seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 17:3).

The “woman” is used to indicate a church, even as God’s Church is described as a woman in some scriptures. This woman in these verses has a drastically different description being given of her than what God’s Church does. This church is made to stand out in very bright colors that are used in a lavish manner of pomp and grand procession in ceremony. It is the beginning of a description of the Roman Catholic Church.

This church is being described as having names full of blasphemy, as it has changed true doctrines to false ones and used God’s name and that of Christ as their authority to do so. Even the descriptions of its leaders are a blasphemy to God and His name as some are called Pope, Father, and Cardinal. These leaders have even taken it upon themselves to absolve people of their sins, of which only God Almighty can do through the sacrifice of His Son as the Passover who spilled his blood to the earth for that very purpose—so mankind can become forgiven of sins.

The scarlet colored beast is what has given strength and power to this church and is spoken of in two manners by which this is fulfilled. It is first and foremost accomplished by Satan who is a beast described as a great dragon. He has given his power to various nations that comprise a great kingdom. That single kingdom that has received its power and influence at various stages from Satan, only when God has allowed it, also carries the description of a beast, for it exists and is empowered by “the beast” who is the great dragon—Satan.

The seven heads are a reference to seven specific revivals of this kingdom, which has always been within Europe. In the past, it has primarily been known as the Roman Empire in the early revivals, however, it has consisted of different nations of Europe during different revivals. Not all have had the label of the Roman Empire, but nevertheless, all have existed as definite powerful military forces that have been well known within Europe.

One revival that most will be familiar with was under Napoleon. Another, and the most recent, was under Hitler when Germany was determined to establish a Third Reich. The translation of the German word “Reich” is “Empire or Kingdom.” The “Third Reich” became the most popular term to describe this historical period, although it was Hitler’s desire that it be known as “Großdeutsches Reich” (Greater German Reich). Another term he used was “Tausendjähriges Reich” (Thousand-Year Reich). He wanted to transform Berlin, to make it the capital of a Greater German “World Empire.” He declared at a rally in Nuremberg that “…in the next thousand years there will be no other revolution in Germany.” Even in this, Satan seeks to mock God’s truth, as there is only one Millennium, which is the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

The rise of Hitler during WWII was the sixth revival, and there is yet one more, which may have fully come together by the time you are reading this. This last revival will be from ten nations, which are represented by the ten horns. God gave to His apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong, the understanding of these prophecies concerning the seven revivals of the Roman Empire and the meaning of those ten horns.

Those ten horns emerge during the seventh revival. They are ten nations in Europe who engage Russia and China in WWIII. That revival has been underway since 1950, and it has been very slow in forming, but at the end, it is given great power because of the beast and the woman who rides it.

These ten nations will emerge out of the current European Union. Even now as I am writing, the nations in the south of this union are unsettled within it causing a ripple effect, and the north is becoming weary of carrying them. Talk for the past couple of months has been whether or not there will be a “Grexit,” which is in reference to a Greek exit from that union. Before this is over, ten nations will be forced to unite as a matter of survival, as all the rest will either leave or be excluded from this final formation.

The primary advocates for a stronger union have seen certain countries as a burden. They refer to the economy of these countries by the acronym PIIGS, and they include: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain. The acronym itself expresses much about some of the frustration and disdain that some in the north have toward these nations. Currently, this is hardly a recipe for being a united empire, as these deep-seated feelings still exist.

Finally, these verses in Revelation describe the woman riding the beast. It is about the Catholic Church that has had great sway over Europe, and especially when it was organized in the heart of the Roman Empire that was ruled from Rome. As time continued on and other religious organizations began to arise, especially in the 1400s through the 1600s, that church began losing more and more of its influence over other nations in Europe. However, for a very short period it will have a very strong influence on this final revival of those ten nations merging as one.

This prophecy continues: “And the woman [this great false church] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colors, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness from her fornication” (Rev. 17:4).

This verse simply uses a description that reflects her actual appearance on a physical plane, which describes her immorality on a spiritual one. Such appearance is reflected especially in ceremonies, rituals, and lavishness used in decorating the Vatican itself. The use of the “golden cup” reveals a great spiritual perversion concerning the blood of Christ and the true meaning and commanded observance of an annual Passover. Their communion ritual is a perversion of this observance and is a blasphemy toward Jesus Christ and God and is very much the definition of an abomination. This all describes fornication on a spiritual plane as they take symbolism of those things that are true and mix them spiritually and unfaithfully with things that are false.

“And upon her forehead is a name written, ‘Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth,’ and I saw the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of witnesses of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered in great astonishment [amazement]” (Rev. 17:5-6).

The reference of Babylon is used for two reasons. The first concerns what began to happen shortly after the flood in Noah’s day when false religion once again began to spring up in different cities, one of which was Babel. Those living in that city had determined to build a tower that would reach up into the heavens. The ruins from that tower still exist today in the area of Iraq. Corruption and pride were accelerating at such a fast pace in the minds of those living there that God had to intervene once again to slow any further corruption.

At this point in time, all spoke the same language. The means by which God was going to slow mankind in their evil pursuit was to confound the people with different languages. This is the origin for the basis of differing languages today. God changed a portion of the spirit in their mind in an instant so they had understanding and ability to speak another language. When God did this, different groups could no longer understand each other, and they were only able to understand those who were given the ability to speak the same language as themselves.

It would be like everyone speaking English one day, and then all of a sudden, certain groups could only speak French, others Japanese, while others spoke only Russian, and so they would divide into groups. It may be hard to imagine such a thing happening, but that is exactly what occurred. For a person who spoke a single language on one day and a completely different one on another, it was as if they had always known the new language they were now speaking and had no memory or understanding of their previous one.

The name of the city became known as Babel and it simply means “confusion.” That is what had been created with the different languages on that day. However, the practices of the people, raising up different religious beliefs, already created great confusion on their part, so God simply placed confusion between them with different languages.

The term Babylon, which became one of the first prophetic world ruling empires, carries that same meaning. Babel and Babylon both mean “confusion.” That term has become synonymous with the way of religion and governments of this world. They are man-made systems that only create confusion, turmoil, division, and wars. These are all opposite to the way of God that produces unity, soundness of mind, and true peace.

This great false religion that became a great church is the Roman Catholic Church. It has exercised great power and influence upon the Roman Empire and upon Europe as a whole, and has done so to acquire great wealth, and to maintain and even strengthen the power it has had. It is also described as “the mother of harlots,” and that is because of all the churches that have been born of her.

It is this Church that has persecuted God’s Church ever since its formation, and as this verse points out, it is guilty of the blood of those who have been part of God’s true Church. Since its formation, it has been the primary power responsible for many of God’s people being imprisoned and killed. It refers to those killed as the “witnesses” of Jesus (some translations use the word martyr), but it is referring more to those who have faithfully lived God’s way of life within the Body of Christ, the Church of God, and have been witnesses that have experienced the purpose of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice in their life, which has made God’s spiritual creation possible in the transformation of the mind of those called.

End-Time Prophecy

The Book of Revelation was given to John to write, but only a few verses actually applied to his time. The book is written to describe the events that were to happen nearly 1900 years later. Those are the events that lead directly into the time of Christ’s coming. Chapters 3 through 20 focus on a few events that involve the last 70 years as things began to move more deeply into the end-time, but the vast majority of it covers a period that began on December 17, 1994. On that date the First Seal of the Book of Revelation was opened by Jesus Christ. It was the beginning of a very specific countdown to his return. Another chapter will cover that thoroughly, but people need understanding of other things first before they can begin to grasp what will be given later.

After the Roman Catholic Church is described by John, the verses that follow quickly move on to address actual revivals within Europe. It is done as an overview, but then the Book of Revelation moves directly into events that occur within the actual timeframe of the end-time countdown.

“Then the angel said to me, ‘Why is it that you wonder at this? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. They who dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is’” (Rev. 17:7-8).

This is written partially in the form of a riddle. It has already been mentioned that this beast carries the woman—the Catholic Church. It is the beast that gives the woman even greater power and prominence. This beast is Satan and the term “beast” also describes those nations he specifically works through (creates) to carry and lift up that church to greater power and prominence during each revival. These revivals are for the purpose of war. This Church has always been involved in one way or another in those revivals. Much of that has always been behind the scenes and in secret, but nevertheless, it is a large part of it because of the actual power that supports it—Satan and the demonic spirit world.

Although these last few revivals did not carry the name of the actual Roman Empire, the early revivals did, but the latter ones still focused on nations of Europe who are revived for war, and who have this unusual relationship with the Vatican and the Catholic religion.

Satan is the one in scripture who is referred to as being restrained in a “bottomless pit” and who then ascends out of it for a short period of time. The timing of these references that use the form of a riddle is very specific.

This “bottomless pit” is first referred to in events that result from the blowing of the Fifth Trumpet. In that specific account, smoke begins to ascend out of the pit at a time when a spiritual phase of the Fifth Trumpet was being fulfilled (Rev. 9:1-3). That phase was fulfilled and was about persecution that Satan was allowed to exert upon God’s Church. That period is now past, and the last phase, a physical one, is to yet be fulfilled once Satan is fully released when he actually ascends out of the pit, out of his restraint, in order to revive ten nations of Europe for one last great war.

The time when Satan will be allowed to fully ascend out of that pit from that restraint is when it is God’s time to allow those ten nations of Europe to be brought together. When those nations are able to fully unite as a single power, without the drag of the rest of the current European Union, it will be time for a full scale WWIII.

If God did not control the timing of all this and release Satan when he does, these nations would still come to war. This is especially true in the end-time. The nations of the world are headed toward WWIII no matter what, just as a result of people and nations becoming so corrupt in their thinking. If God did not intervene in exactly the way He does and yet will, that war would last much longer and carry with it far greater agony, suffering, and a long, hideous upheaval in the world. So not only is God going to intervene to stop mankind from destroying himself, He is also shortening the time that would otherwise multiply the intensity and length of mankind’s suffering.

The “bottomless pit” is simply a physical description derived from two words. One has the meaning of an “abyss” (translated as bottomless) and the other word “pit” is often used to describe a cistern (literally, “a place prepared for holding water”).

It is rather difficult to describe things that exist in a spirit realm by the use of physical explanations or examples. This place is simply a specially prepared spirit state that restrains Satan’s ability to exert his full spirit power. It is a condition or state where he can simply be kept in spirit restraint. This restraint prevents him from using his full powers that have not yet been completely taken from him. However, even when restrained in this spirit abyss, he is still able to broadcast in strong spirit attitude and influence upon mankind. Once he finally becomes sealed in the bottomless pit at the start of the Millennium, he will have NO ability to use any powers upon others during that entire time.

The timing of Satan ascending out of the bottomless pit from this condition of spirit restraint is at the last and seventh revival. It is this last revival that has the ten horns and that will be spoken of again a few verses later.

The Beast that Was, and Is Not

Some of these verses read like a riddle, just as one verse uses the term, “the beast that you saw was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.” The beast “was” could be referring to any time Satan was active during one of the revivals in Europe when he was not being restrained by the spirit abyss. However, this section of scripture is referring to a very specific time period. It is referring to the last time that he was unrestrained and when he was at work with Germany and Italy through the power of influence that he used directly upon Hitler.

Once WWII was brought to an end, Satan was restrained again, and it is in that current restraint that he “is not” exercising his full power because he is restrained by the spirit abyss, as has been the case now for nearly 70 years.

Even when in spirit restraint Satan has always been able to exercise deceit and powers through his broadcasting in spirit attitude in order to have influence, but he has not been allowed to always use his greater powers to influence to destroy as the Destroyer. This verse goes on to foretell what will follow after this period ends, when he “is not” in full power because of being restrained: “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Rev. 17:8).

Satan is described as ascending out of the spirit abyss, his place of restraint, and he then goes on into “perdition.” This word “perdition” is one that has a wide variety of use and can mean “waste, destruction, to perish, to die.” This has a dual purpose, as it is used here, because once Satan is released, he will quickly move people and nations into WWIII. His actions lead to great destruction, waste, and death. However, this is also the last time Satan will be allowed to stir up a war that causes massive destruction, although he will try one more time.

As Satan stirs up one last great war that causes great destruction and death, he is also pressing forward toward his own destruction and death, for once he has engaged in one last war, he himself will be headed more directly toward his own perdition.

The language of a riddle is used again in the last half of the verse: “They who dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev. 17:8).

This is prophetic and looks at the time, after the 7th revival, when Satan is finally placed in the bottomless pit (spirit abyss) for 1,000 years, beginning right after Christ returns. This is covered in Revelation 20:1-3.

Those mentioned, who are aware that Satan is now bound for a thousand years and who “wonder” (or are astonished) at what Satan has done over the past 6,000 years, are those who rejoice that he can no longer be in the presence of mankind throughout the entire period of the Millennium.

Those “whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world” are those who live in the Millennium, who do not have Satan and the demonic world’s influence throughout that 1,000 years.

Those whose names “are written” in the book of life from the foundation of the world are the 144,000 who come with Christ at his return. This description does not mean that specific individuals were predestined, as there is no such thing as some groups teach. This is not about specific names of people that were written down in a book before the creation of mankind.

Those “written in the book of life” are about a specific number of 144,000 that God had planned before the foundation of the world who would become part of the first resurrection to spirit life upon Christ’s return. Names have been written in the book of life throughout the past 6,000 years. They are those whom God has “chosen” to be part of the first resurrection to spirit life at Christ’s coming.

In verse 8 that was just quoted, it refers to Satan again in the form of a riddle, as it states, “when they behold the beast that was, and is not, but yet is.” This is speaking of the specific time when the Millennium has finally become established, and “the beast that was” is referring to when he was over the seventh and last revival of a European empire, but now he “is not.” So the timing is showing that he had been over this seventh and last revival, but once the Millennium has become established, he “is not” in power any longer because he is once again in the spirit abyss.

The expression “but yet is” simply refers to the fact that he still is—that he exists—but he can no longer deceive and influence mankind. He yet is the great Destroyer who is still alive and still exists, but now he is “in” the bottomless pit (the spirit abyss), and this time a seal has been set upon the abyss so that not only can he not ever arise to be over any more revivals of a European empire, but he can in no way influence mankind through any broadcasting or any other means over the next 1,000 years.

Although much of what has just been covered may seem a little confusing, in time it will come to mean much more as everything you experience from this time forward begins to fit into place in all those things that God is bringing to pass. As you “see” these things more clearly and “experience” them in your life, you will become more fully encouraged and hopeful of all that lies ahead in a new age. Then, as you begin to experience the things you had actually begun to hope would come to pass, you will experience a joy, fullness, and excitement for life that you have never before remotely imagined possible.

Revelation Given To Herbert W. Armstrong

As these verses continue to unfold, they give an overview of things that will follow. This chapter continues to describe the order of events in a kind of “outline format” that lead up to a final countdown of Christ’s coming.

“Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits” (Rev. 17:9).

This wisdom was spoken of earlier in the book as being from the very mind of God, as it is the word (logos) of God. Only God can give that to another. Here, God was giving Mr. Armstrong understanding of these verses that applied to the end-time. He had been given to understand that God uses mountains to prophetically speak of larger nations. In this verse, it was clearly revealing that the woman, the Catholic Church, was “on” each of these beasts during their revivals.

“There are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet, and when it comes, it must continue a short time [a little season]” (Rev. 17:10).

There was only one period of time, lasting only a few years, that this specific verse could be read and have the specific meaning that applied to that very period. Its meaning was revealed to Herbert W. Armstrong during the time when it was being fulfilled. God began by showing Mr. Armstrong that these verses coincide with a description that was given to Daniel the prophet. God was revealing that there was one more revival of the old Roman Empire (though not bearing that name) that was to be fulfilled before Jesus Christ would return. Mr. Armstrong had come to see that there would be seven revivals in all.

So at a point toward the end of WWII, God revealed this specific verse to him that was prophetic for that exact time in which he was currently living. He knew there would be seven revivals and that there would be one primary ruler over each of those revivals, even as Napoleon and Hitler have already been mentioned. At this time, when this verse was being revealed to him, Hitler was over the sixth revival.

From this verse, he came to see that, yes, there would be seven kings (one over each revival), five had already fallen, and the sixth one was currently underway in this Second World War. So of the seven kings (revivals), five had already reigned and fallen, one was currently reigning in the form of Hitler, and the other—the seventh and final one—“was not yet.”

It states that the one that comes—the seventh one—“must continue a short time.” That seventh revival will be much shorter in duration than all the others before it, but because of modern weaponry, much more devastation will occur than all the previous six put together.

The next verse, still speaking in the form of a riddle, continues by saying, “And the beast that was, and is not, even it is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition” (Rev. 17:11).

As a result of understanding what has been given to this point, it becomes more obvious what this verse is now saying. The one that goes into perdition is Satan. Satan is the beast who gives power to each revival. He is known as the beast power, working during the time of the revivals. Satan is the beast that “was, and is not” that was spoken of previous to this.

So Satan is “of the seven” because he is the power over each revival, and because he is “of” each of the seven and over all of them, he is counted as the eighth.

Ten Nations Unite as One

“And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power, and strength to the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

The ten horns that are described as ten kings receiving their power together as “one kingdom” is this seventh revival. These are the ten countries that will be forced together quickly as a United States of Europe. Shortly before this event, Satan will already have ascended from the bottomless pit (the spirit abyss). He will quickly maneuver events in such a manner that these ten nations will believe that they must unite quickly, as one, in order to survive what they see happening in the world.

It states that they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. It is not a strongly knit kingdom that is revived once they unite together. After being united, they cannot undo what they have done, although they will wish they could. Once everything has been set in motion and a further expanded world war ensues, it cannot simply be “turned off.”

The Book of Daniel describes this last revival in a little different fashion, but gives more insight to some of its inherent weaknesses.

In this account, God gave Daniel the ability to understand a dream of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel told him what he had seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s own dream, and he gave him the interpretation of those things as well. He had seen a statue that was made up of different metals from head to toe. The first was the head of gold. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that this head was about him and the great kingdom over which he was now ruling, the Babylonian Empire.

Daniel went on to tell him about three more great kingdoms that would follow and lead up to the end of mankind’s age of self-rule, when God would intervene and establish His own kingdom on earth. The second kingdom was described, which was the Medo-Persian Empire, then the third, which was the Greco-Macedonian Empire. The fourth was the Roman Empire or Empires of Europe.

The last kingdom was represented by the legs, which were made of iron, with feet and toes that were both of iron and clay.

“The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, in as much as iron crushes into pieces and subdues all, and as iron that breaks all these, it shall crush in pieces and break. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it the strength of iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with wet clay, and as toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly fragile. In the days of these kings [ten toes and ten kings, the last revival and last part of the statue] shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people [not ruled by mankind, but by Christ and the 144,000], but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:40-42, 44).

In this prophecy given to Daniel, hundreds of years before God revealed the things contained in the Book of Revelation to John, God prophesied what would happen in the rise and fall of every major kingdom until Christ’s return in the Kingdom of God. Daniel’s prophecies lead up to God revealing things that foretell of exact timing of Christ’s first coming, as well as much about the timing for Christ’s second coming.

These verses in Daniel reveal that the Roman Empire would be strong like iron until the end when the feet and ten toes are described as a mixture of both iron and clay. This is an accurate description of something that God was revealing about this last part of the statue and the last part of the old Roman Empire (a European Empire) that would come together for a short time at the very end. On one hand, it would have great strength, and on the other, it would be very fragile. It would not be held together very well, much like one can see of the European Union today. It is great in combined strength, and yet it is fragile.

In those verses in Revelation 17 about these ten kings, they are described as receiving their power for one hour together with the beast. Satan, of course, is the beast that has brought these kings together as one, and when he does so, they unite and “give their power and strength to the beast”—to Satan. This is speaking mostly of the power to wage war.

Although the specific ten have not yet been revealed, there is one specific country that is currently in the European Union that already possesses nuclear weapons. The final ten nations will have many nuclear weapons to use in that war, weapons that will be used against Russia and China. This particular nation, France, although a descendent of ancient Israel, was the primary nation at the forefront in one of those earlier revivals. Even if France does not become one of the final ten, there are massive amounts of those weapons that the final ten nations can take control of. It should be noted here also that Germany is not only one of those final ten nations, it will be the primary one.

God has not yet revealed all the timing of some of these events, although we will be fully aware of all timing once the event of the ten nations uniting finally comes to pass.

It may well be that God will not allow the full force of this great war to materialize until toward the end of the final countdown to Christ’s coming. If that is the case, then Satan will not be allowed to be released—to ascend out of the bottomless pit—until close to the end of that time. A nuclear war will quickly cause unimaginable devastation and destruction over a very short period of time.

The one hour mentioned here is definitely a prophetic time and is likely speaking of an actual period of 60 days, as God has revealed similar prophetic timing to mean. Regardless, at the time I am writing this, we still do not know at what point that period of time actually begins.

God does not always just reveal something to me immediately, but instead, he does so over a period of time, and the Church has come to understand this as “progressive revelation.” Generally, this is done so that He can reveal several other related matters as well in order to eventually reveal a far clearer understanding, future focus, and ability to understand His will. This is part of a process whereby God also trains, molds, and fashions His servants to have greater unity of mind with Himself, as they are being prepared for specific future placement of service within His Family.

There will be a chapter dedicated to the timing of end-time events, and more will be covered in that chapter regarding things that have been addressed here as well. It is likely that by the time that chapter is written God will have revealed more, as this has been my experience over the years in how God works with me. There are patterns that I have become accustomed to, and that is comforting, because God has given me greater confidence and strength, through time, as I have witnessed how His power works to reveal His truth and will.

The Fate of the Catholic Church

There is something very unique that happens to the Catholic Church during this period of time. It is incredible what God has revealed about this. The woman has sat upon each beast that has been revived. Each time she has done so, history has revealed that something else has been occurring during these revivals; the woman has been losing more power and authority as each revival has come and gone.

Yet at this last revival, she will strive to exercise more power and sway over these ten nations. This revival is unique over all the others because its purpose for becoming united is totally different than any other. It is not like others before who have had kings (rulers) who have been bent on conquest, power, wealth, and pursuit of imagined or real fame. Napoleon and Hitler have been mentioned a few times now because more people in our time tend to know of them. Most people nowadays do not grasp much of history. The kings in previous revivals pursued war and rattled sabers, even as China, and Russia under Putin, are doing right now, whereas the leaders of this last revival do not.

This final revival is more a matter of what is seen as “a necessity” and “a responsibility” on the part of European leaders. They are not driven by desires of conquest and hunger for war, yet they will enter into that war. Many in the western world were very reluctant to enter into WWII, but Hitler did not leave nations much of an alternative. It is with that kind of reluctance that these ten countries engage in war.

It is good to return to Revelation 17 to see what else is stated that will happen within this last revival of a great European power:

“These have one mind, and shall give their strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:13). Ten leaders and nations reluctantly join together and will surrender their individual sovereignty to a single government to rule over all ten—“to give power to the beast.” They form the very thing Satan (“the” beast) seeks to accomplish through them, which is a nuclear power to engage two aggressive nations in an escalation of great war. Even now there are foul demon spirits working within Russia and China that are pushing them in planning for world war.

What many do not realize and would find hard to believe right now, as I am writing this, is that there has been no mention of the United States or the United Kingdom in these final end-time events that are in the prophecies being covered here. That is because we have not yet addressed prophecies that cover the complete destruction of government, wealth, and power of these countries before those ten nations are even united. The very formation of those ten nations uniting has much to do with what results due to the downfall and destruction of the United States.

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall conquer them, for he is the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).

“These” that “make war” are the ten nations, or perhaps better said, that final beast power that will actually resist the return of Jesus Christ and those who are coming with him—the 144,000. At some early point after this final European power has formed and have already engaged in war, Jesus Christ, along with the 144,000 who are being gathered together to come with him, are made physically manifest throughout the earth. Although this is strictly a spirit event that cannot be seen by a physical world, God makes it a very great physically manifested event. It will be one of such magnitude and brilliance that it will strike deep fear in all who witness it.

It can only be likened in slight part to science fiction movies that try to depict some kind of alien invasion where massively constructed alien vessels approach earth. This event will make Hollywood’s enactments seem small by comparison. How do people and nations respond to such a thing? The response of Russia and China is probably a little easier to imagine. Since it is highly unlikely they would ever consider that this has anything to do with God and that such a thing would be totally out of the question, it is likely they will believe this is an alien invasion. We live in that kind of world today where people speculate about the possibility of alien life, and even being invaded seems a very real possibility in today’s thinking. Even the Pope has spoken of it, yet if he really believed God, he wouldn’t.

But what will Europe do?

It states quite clearly here that they will make war with the Lamb. The nations of the world are so rattled by what they see just above the earth’s atmosphere that is so massive and brilliant in display that these world powers that have been waging war with each other now stop their aggression toward each other and focus on this perceived “invasion.” They turn to make war against what they do not understand or accept as possibly true.

It is at this time that God will begin to pour out what is referred to in Revelation as the Seven Last Plagues. These will be poured out first and foremost upon China and Russia, and all who are aligned with them, and will fully destroy their governments, all military forces, and much within major cities. God will destroy over a billion people at this time and very possibly well over two billion before it is over.

The ten nations of Europe will also receive of these plagues that are directly from God, as a very similar pattern occurs within them as with Russia and China, but to a lesser degree.

God and Christ will begin to extend mercy on those individual nations as they repent for the foolishness of their error when they come to understand that they have been so deceived by the woman. They will begin to see that they actually have been fighting against the return of Jesus Christ, and many will begin to repent. Their eyes begin to be opened to a great reality about the Catholic Church as they begin to learn that they (these European nations) have been lied to and deceived by her for nearly 1700 years.

“He said to me, the waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev. 17:15).

That great false church has exerted power and influence over nations throughout the earth, across oceans and on entire continents, as with South America.

“The ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Rev. 17:16).

Once these nations begin to see that the return of Jesus Christ is real and that they have been deceived, they will begin to expose the woman who has sat upon the beast and has deceived them through the centuries. They will actually expose the lies and tell the truth of those very things quoted earlier in this very chapter concerning all her false doctrines. The expression about making the woman “naked” is a spiritual expression that means all deceit and lies will be exposed and all will then be able to see the real truth about her.

These nations not only expose the woman for what she really is—a great spiritual whore—they also turn on her in great hatred and begin to destroy her churches and her center of power where she has been dwelling for so many centuries. Before Satan is cast back into the bottomless pit (the spirit abyss), and this time with a seal upon him for a thousand years, these ten nations begin to turn on the church that has been “riding so high” on the support they have given to her, and that most all of Europe has done for nearly 17 centuries.

That great church comes to a quick end. Once the world sees her nakedness, it will also see the nakedness of her harlot daughters in traditional Christianity and turn against them as well. This movement more fully paves the way for God’s true Church to finally become established quickly over all the earth.

Before embracing all the truth that God desires to offer it, the world must first begin to see the lies and deception it has lived under for such a very long time. Once people begin to see this, then and only then can they begin to truly repent. At that point, God can pour out His holy spirit on mankind as He has planned from the beginning. This will be the establishment of a world that has only one government and one true religion.

It is truly great news, when a few verses later an angel proclaims with a loud voice: “Babylon has fallen, has fallen.”

Chapter 5

THE SEALS AND ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

OVER THE PAST DECADE, the world has teetered closer and closer to global economic collapse. All of South America is in an economic downfall. Some nations have once again begun to rattle sabers, while others are engaged in wars. In the midst of this rapidly mounting turmoil, people have become increasingly more curious and interested in subject matter about end-time events, the end of the world, and catastrophic natural disasters.

This has been true especially in television, movie productions, and in some religious circles, where there is almost a fascination with such things. Yet hidden in the midst of this within much of society has been a growing fear and concern of these things becoming reality.

Although many in the western world have seemed determined to “bury their head in the sand” concerning steadily increasing global economic upheaval, some have been becoming more fearful of what they are beginning to see as a “day of reckoning” that is ahead.

The United States of America has used “quantitative easing” as the answer to the global financial crisis. The truth is that the U.S. herself is responsible for what is happening and has only exacerbated it by her own federal and international policies with the world banking system and petrodollar (reserve currency). She has also performed some very fancy and deceitful juggling of the books, primarily with statistics. She has created the greatest Ponzi scheme the world could ever conceive, but has not called it such, and the rest of the world has not called her out on it.

The reason she has been excused by economists, corporations, worldwide banking institutions, and even nations themselves, is because it has been in their own selfish interest to do so. If they had not supported it in the manner they have, by “winking an eye,” it would have collapsed much quicker; but collapse, it will.

Those on Wall Street play the game very well. Upon bad news, it has not been unusual for stocks to rise, when in times past they would have fallen. Everything has seemingly turned upside down. As prophesied, good is bad and bad is good.

By the time you read this, there will have likely already been an implosion of the U.S. economy, which means the worldwide economy will largely collapse as well. This too has further ramifications, because nations then come face to face with the great reality that the human solution to “resetting the economy of the world” is through a world war.

It has been mentioned how China and Russia have already seen “the writing on the wall” and they have been preparing for war for some time. Truly, if you were “in their shoes” and were being treated by the U.S. in the manner that they have been, you would likely do the same thing. In many respects, the U.S. has pushed them into a corner. That isn’t smart diplomacy by any measure. Most people would not dream of trying to push a bear into the corner by prodding it with a stick. And there is such hypocrisy. When the U.S. was confronted with nuclear weapons being placed in Cuba, the world came close to a nuclear war. However, the U.S. has pushed to put nuclear weapons closer to Russia, and they are supposed to not be concerned.

Quite candidly, the world is sick of the attitude of selfishness, bullying, and egotistical ways of the government of the United States. She is not the nation she was once known to be. Many nations have been trying to establish other systems in order to counteract the downward spiral caused by the policies of the U.S. and institutions she controls. Nations have begun direct trade in other currencies as they move away from doing all business with the petrodollar, through which other nations have been held captive by this reserve currency of the world.

China has just organized a new system to offset and counteract the negative influences and control that institutions like the IMF and other centralized banking systems have, which are largely influenced and/or basically controlled by the U.S. Although the United States put tremendous pressure on other nations not to join this new system, Japan is about the only one who bothered listening, as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Banking (AIIB) system is now being established with most all Europe, Canada, Australia, Israel, South Africa, and nearly 60 nations joining.

It has taken the world quite a long time for it to begin speaking of the possibility of an approaching world war. When I began writing 2008–God’s Final Witness back in 2005, and telling of the inevitability of WWIII that was soon to erupt, no one really listened. There were no real news articles or world leaders warning of such a possibility. Then, finally, this year (2015), some have begun to wake-up and speak of such concerns. Nevertheless, most are not listening or considering that such a thing is really possible. It is almost like, if you ignore it, it will go away and will not happen. That didn’t work before WWII became full-blown, and it will not work now.

Blind to Prophecy

Why is it that God’s Church has been able to foresee what is now upon us in this world, and the world has been blind? For over 70 years, God’s true Church has been forewarning of one last great world war—an all-out nuclear war.

First, it goes back to what has been covered in the beginning of this book. People do not listen to God. They never have! They wouldn’t even know who to listen to if they were of a mind to want to know the truth, and actually had a desire to listen, which they do not and have not. That is the true witness and was God’s final witness that began at the end of 2008. From the end of 2008 to mid-2012, God established a FINAL end-time witness of what mankind has been like for the past 6,000 years. As God has revealed, people will only begin to take notice and have more of a genuine desire to listen once catastrophic events come crushing down upon them, the world economy implodes, and a final world war erupts.

Even if people were to look at actual prophecies in the Bible that concern the end-time, they would not begin to understand what is written. However, there are many church organizations that do have a belief that we may well be living in what is referred to as an end-time. They cannot help but realize that the world is moving more rapidly toward evil than ever before. Many try to interpret the Book of Revelation and have come up with all kinds of ideas and speculation about this.

The reason people cannot understand what is written there is because it can only be revealed by God. That is why God’s Church has not been blind to the prophecies of Jesus Christ and the Book of Revelation that give step-by-step details about what will lead up to the Messiah coming in his Kingdom as King of kings.

Yet even the Church cannot know fully what is recorded in prophecy unless God reveals it first to His prophets. We have touched upon a few things concerning prophecy that God did reveal to His apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. That was because God revealed to him the truth concerning the “key of David” that was prophesied to be given to him.

God gave him understanding of the meaning of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the rise and fall of those kingdoms that exist up to Christ’s coming. He also revealed the meaning of the revivals of the Roman Empire (nations of Europe) that would also lead up to Christ’s coming. These things were necessary in order to understand who are the modern day nations of the lost ten nations of Israel.

These things were needed by him so that he could fulfill Matthew 24:14 of spreading the gospel (good news) of God’s soon coming Kingdom in all the world.

There is also a prophecy that Mr. Armstrong would refer to when speaking of major catastrophic events that would unfold in the end-time just preceding Christ’s return, although, it is certain he did not grasp the extent of the importance of why this verse in Amos had such significance.

“Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but [before] He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Before this final countdown to the coming of Christ began, the Church of God often used this verse as a prelude to actual end-time events beginning and of the ability to know what those events entail. The Church had speculated about some of the possibilities of what some of these things might mean, but it has not understood them until the literal countdown to Christ’s coming actually began. That countdown and its timing will yet be covered.

The Church knew that in time God would provide two prophets for the end-time who would be known as the two end-time witnesses. Back in the 1970s, it was speculated that those two might even be the two who were seen as being the primary leaders of God’s Church at that time—Herbert W. Armstrong, who was God’s apostle, and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong, the leading evangelist at that time. However, they were not those witnesses, and those two witnesses would not come on the scene until nearly three decades later.

Since its inception, the Church has looked forward to the return of Jesus Christ. It has done so through every century since he ascended into heaven ten days before Pentecost in 31 AD. He has remained there ever since. God’s people have always longed for His Kingdom to become established in their lifetime.

Seals of Revelation

When people read about the Seals of Revelation, everyone in the past has taken them to mean that they are all literal, physical events that must unfold. Even today, the true Church that became scattered back in 1994, as the result of a great prophesied Apostasy, has looked upon the seals in only a physical manner. God had not yet revealed those things to His prophets; prophets had not yet been established in His Church. The Church was not accustomed to having any such thing as prophets in it.

When God began to reveal the true meaning of the Seals of Revelation to me, as His prophet, the Church that had become scattered did not receive it. They would not receive what was revealed because they would not receive me as a prophet being sent by God. Although it is yet to be covered, God has prophesied that he will offer to 63,000 who were scattered the opportunity to come to see the truths of these prophecies before Christ’s return.

It is God who reveals His truth and His secrets to whom He will. These things do not come from any man, even as the prophet Daniel made clear when he was preparing to tell Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of a dream he had about a great statue he had seen. God actually revealed both the dream and its interpretation to Daniel.

“Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. He changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings, and he set up kings [when it is His purpose to do so]. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, as the light dwells with Him’” (Daniel 2:20-22).

God has to reveal prophecy. When people read about the seals, they read them in a physical manner, with a physical interpretation. It is like the occasion when some Jews wanted a sign that Christ was who he said he was, that he was indeed from God, and was speaking the truth of God.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews said, ‘This temple took forty-six years to build, and you will rear it up in three days?’ But he [Jesus Christ] was speaking of the temple of his body” (John 2:19-21).

Jesus was referring to what he already knew concerning the length of time he would be in the tomb after his death. He knew that as a result of how he had chosen to yield himself to God’s purpose of fulfilling the role of the Passover, that God would raise him up in three days. The Jews could only “see” a physical reality, as they had no ability to “see” the spiritual one, unless God were to give it to them.

It is the same when people read the description concerning the seals, like the second one quoted below:

“When he [Jesus Christ] had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him who sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:3-4).

Some interpret this as being a matter of war and much killing that follows because “peace” is taken away.

Then there is the example of the third seal.

“When he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ I looked, and behold a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of balances in his hand. I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, ‘A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see that you do not hurt the oil and the wine’” (Rev. 6:5-6).

This is correctly seen as being a description of great famine, but it is not a physical famine that follows the war they see occurring from the opening of the second seal.

The truth is that both of these are descriptions that are spiritual in nature, and they do not apply to this physical world. These seals have already been opened and are explained more fully in the first book, The Prophesied End-Time. These are about God’s Church and things that happened to the Church on a spirit plane and not something that was to have happened in this world on a physical plane.

This is why the world has no idea that the seals in the Book of Revelation have already been opened. The world is fully blind to this reality, as is the Church that had become scattered after the Apostasy. We are currently deep into the prophesied end-time. All seven seals of Revelation have already been opened by Jesus Christ. We are now rapidly closing in on the actual coming of Jesus Christ.

The reason others do not know or believe all these seals have already been opened is because they do not recognize God’s true Church or the prophets He and Christ have sent to it. That will change rapidly very soon from now.

About God’s Church

Before the Book of Revelation was given to John to write, Jesus Christ had already given a prophetic parallel account of those things that John would write much later. This prophetic account of his coming is given by Jesus Christ himself. When he was with his disciples at the temple, he began to tell them about events that would happen before he comes into his Kingdom.

“Jesus went out as he was departing the temple, and his disciples came to him, and they all began to look upon the buildings of the temple. Jesus said unto them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say unto you that there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be cast down’” (Matthew 24:1-2).

Again, this simple, prophetic statement by Jesus Christ is misinterpreted by many to mean the nearly complete destruction of the temple area in 70 A.D. Some believe there is yet another destructive event that must take place to fully remove any remaining stones that may yet be on top of one another.

This was not a physical event that Christ was speaking of, but it was about a future one that would occur in God’s Church, as that would serve to be the sign of his imminent coming and the beginning of a literal countdown to it.

The stones of the temple are spiritual. This is about God’s Church. “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and the household of God [the Church of God], and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building is fitly framed together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God through the spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

Peter referred to the Church in a similar manner: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone [Jesus Christ], rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, you also, as living stones are being built up a spiritual house [a temple], a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4-5). This is describing the members of God’s Church as being living stones that are being built as a spiritual house—a spiritual temple.

As Christ told the disciples that there would not be left one stone upon another, they knew he was speaking of the time he would come into his Kingdom as the Messiah.

“As he [Jesus Christ] sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him and asked him privately, ‘When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of your coming, and the end of the world [Gk.—age, speaking of the end of the age of mankind’s self-rule]’” (Matt. 24:3).

Jesus Christ began by giving them a warning. Although this would certainly be something that they would want to be on guard about always, this was a specific warning for the Church in the end-time. It should be remembered here that at the time of this discussion, the disciples didn’t even know that Jesus Christ was about to die as the Passover. They had no idea that Jesus Christ would remain in heaven with his Father for almost 2,000 years before he would actually come into his Kingdom as the Messiah. They believed that in their lifetime Jesus Christ was going to begin to take over the governments of the world, and they wanted specifics on that timing.

“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many’” (Matt. 24:4-5).

Again, this is about the Church and not about the world. The world has always been deceived. The only ones not deceived are those to whom God reveals His truth and His ways of life. This was a warning to the Church that many would come along and seek to deceive them. Remember, this is speaking of the end-time—about the Church at the end-time. Only God’s Church can become deceived, because once they have the truth and spirit of God, they are no longer deceived.

Christ was giving a clear warning that part of the sign of his coming would entail many who would come along and try to deceive the Church. Who can come to the Church in the name of Jesus Christ? Only the ministry! Jesus said many would come in his name and try to deceive many in the Church.

This sign was the first that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples that would reveal the end-time had come. There is much more detail about all that is covered in Matthew 24 in the first book, and there is no need to write it here. However, there is one more area that needs to be mentioned that pertains to this first answer that Jesus Christ gave to his disciples.

Earlier it was mentioned about Mr. Armstrong quoting a verse that he knew was about the commission God had given him toward the end-time. These verses record what Jesus Christ was telling his disciples about his coming.

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14).

Now this is clear when you consider the context of what we have been covering. These final end-time events were not to happen during Mr. Armstrong’s ministry as God’s apostle. But the following verse would apply to what I would begin to experience IN the end-time and have to address as God’s next apostle to His Church and the world. After that commission of Mr. Armstrong became complete, then the rest of the verse in Matthew 24:14 states, “and then shall the end come.”

Abomination of Desolation

“When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso reads, let him understand), then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains” (Matt. 24:15-16).

This reference to the “abomination of desolation” in Daniel is well understood by most as a time when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple of God by robbing the temple of its treasures and of offering swine upon the altar. This is referring to the abomination of desolation of the temple.

People are very physically minded in their thinking about this prophecy, even in the Church that became scattered. They believe some kind of physical desecration must happen a second time to a physical temple. Even a well known former evangelist of God’s Church has said that if the physical temple is not rebuilt, then at least an altar must be put back in place in Jerusalem in order for a second abomination of desolation to be accomplished before Christ will return.

That screams volumes about the incredible depth of blindness one can develop if they stray from God and become cut off from His spirit. When that happens, one can only see things from a physical perspective and not from a spiritual one. It is absurd to believe that a third temple could be erected in Jerusalem where the first and second had been. There would be an instant great war with the Muslim world that would erupt if the Jews or anyone else tried to move just one rock onto what the Muslims consider to be one of their most holy sites where a mosque now stands in the area where the temple used to be.

Not only that, but the Jews know full well they cannot initiate any kind of sacrificial system or erect an altar for such a thing. That requires a Levitical system and priesthood. The Jews have no such system in place nor can they set one up. They know that. So this is one of those ideas that just smacks of absolute absurdity.

That evangelist would have known better if he had only listened to his apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. Before he died, Mr. Armstrong made it quite clear that another temple, and any kind of construction requiring a Levitical system, could not be established in Jerusalem because the Jews have no Levitical system or priests to perform such functions. Since no such place could be established where God would place His name, then there could be no abomination.

Antichrist

There is a reference to antichrist in scripture that people neither grasp nor understand. Some think that there is a single individual who will come along to deceive the world at the end-time who is “the antichrist.” Again, the world is already deceived as has been covered quite a bit in this book. Only those who are not deceived can become deceived. This is not about some false religious leader in the world who leads part of traditional Christianity that is already deceived.

Once again, this is about the Church. The warning about “an antichrist” was first given by the apostle Paul, which will be quoted momentarily. He does not specifically use the term “antichrist,” but that is the description, which gives further insight into what Christ was speaking about when he warned of many becoming deceived in the end-time by many “false teachers.”

Of all the false teachers that would arise, one specifically would be the most heinous of all. John makes reference to what Paul said about a man who would “turn against” Christ. He would become antichrist. So when John wrote the Book of 1st John, he made reference to that spirit of antichrist that was already in the Church during the time of his writing. He was not speaking of people in the world who are already deceived, but he was speaking of people who were in the Church and who had then turned against it and the truth God had given them.

John said that there already were many antichrists, and not just the one, as they had been looking for a specific one to come on the scene before Christ would return. He was showing that there were those who had been given opportunity to live God’s way of life that were now turning against the truth, against God’s Church, and against others in the Church. By doing so, they were acting against the very purpose for which Christ had died for them, and that is so that they could be forgiven of sin so that both Jesus Christ and God could dwell in them through the power of the holy spirit. So in John’s time there were those who were already turning against Christ—becoming antichrist.

But Jesus Christ and God Almighty revealed to Paul that there was one man who would become “the antichrist” of all antichrists, and that upon revelation of him, the sign of Christ’s coming would be fulfilled and the countdown would begin. It would become a literal countdown of a literal number of days, just as Daniel was given the exact count in the “Seventy Weeks Prophecy” that would be fulfilled concerning the Messiah’s first coming. This is Paul’s account:

“Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as though the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except [unless] there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).

The context of what Paul is saying should not escape anyone. He is telling the Church not to let anything or anyone trouble them concerning the coming of Jesus Christ because a very specific event would happen first. It is described to be of such magnitude that it would powerfully impact the entire Church. It would be something that all would see and experience, so there was no need for anyone to be troubled by any concerns that it could possibly happen before this event.

The context is most assuredly about what the Church has always looked forward to happening—the coming of Jesus Christ in his Kingdom, just as the disciples were doing before Jesus Christ had even been killed. So there are definite phrases in these verses that reflect that very context of his coming. First, “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Second, “our gathering together unto him,” the gathering of the Church at his return. Third, “as though the day of Christ is at hand.” And fourth, “for that day shall not come, except…” It should be quite obvious what this timing is all about.

Paul is explaining to the Church that very specific events must occur within the Church before the end-time comes—before the coming of Jesus Christ can occur—just before the Kingdom of God is established. The countdown for the coming of Jesus Christ and the final fulfillment of end-time events would not begin until two very specific things occurred in the Church.

First, Paul mentioned that the end cannot come “unless there come a falling away first.” The expression “falling away” concerns a falling away from the truth God gives to those who come into His Church. “Falling away” is translated from the Greek word apostasy. Not all continue in the “calling” that God gives to those who come into His Church. It has been covered that God does not force His way upon others, and once someone starts the process of the transformation of their mind, they can at any time choose to resist or refuse to continue in the process that’s working in them, thereby leaving the Church and becoming fully separated from God’s holy spirit. This has happened throughout the centuries. However, this account is speaking of something far, far greater concerning the impact it would have upon God’s Church.

This account that Paul gave the Church is about a single individual who would turn against Jesus Christ in such a manner that it would be the cause of this great “falling away” within the Church, which would nearly destroy it. This man who would do this was “the antichrist” that John referenced in his writings when he made the statement to the Church that “you have heard that antichrist should come.” The Church had been made aware of what Paul had written a few decades earlier.

The second thing that would have to take place before Jesus Christ would return is stated right behind the first: “…except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thes. 2:3). So, not only would there be a falling away from the truth God gave to His Church, but a man of sin, who would also become known as a second son of perdition, would be revealed to the Church.

These two events would become manifest only to God’s true Church. The rest of the world would not see it, and even the Church that became scattered as a result of it would not accept it as being true.

When the disciples asked Christ about the timing for his coming, the first thing he gave to them was a warning and a sign of that coming: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5).

This would serve to be one of the most important signs of Christ’s coming—a great deception by those coming in Christ’s name—ministers who had been ordained in God’s Church. These are the only ones who would be able to come in his name. Only a minister can do that. So this is speaking of a time when “many” of God’s ministers would turn against the truth that God had given to them. They too would turn against Christ and be antichrist.

But there would be one great “antichrist” who would turn against the truth God gave to him and against the head of the Church, Jesus Christ. The first recorded person to turn against Christ, who had been within his midst from the beginning of his ministry and all the way to the end of it, the first son of perdition, was Judas Iscariot. He was one of the original twelve disciples who betrayed Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

The second son of perdition would also become known as the “man of sin” and “the antichrist” of all antichrists. He would be known as the “man of sin” because he would not only sin, he would do so on such a high plane of betrayal and disobedience that, as a result, he would lead most of the ministry and most of the Church away from obedience to God.

The Man of Sin

Paul revealed more about this man of sin. “...for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasy] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thes. 2:3-4).

This is not about the physical temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D. This was written to the Church, and is about the Church and a “falling away” that would occur within it. It is describing one who sits in the temple of God. It has already been covered here how the Church is referred to in scripture as the temple of God. It is spiritual—a spiritual temple of God.

No one could be in this temple of God unless they are part of the Church of God. Yet there is much more to this description. This is someone who sits in the temple of God. This is not in a context of someone who is sitting down to relax. This is a context of someone in authority who is set in the Church, bearing authority. This word in such a context in Greek actually means “to cause to set” as in “to set, appoint, or to confer a kingdom unto one.”

A couple of examples from scripture are quoted below:

“To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21).

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28).

Only one man in the end-time became appointed—set—to have great authority in the Church of God, yet he was never an apostle of God. Herbert W. Armstrong was in his early 90s and was becoming more frail. He became concerned as to what would happen to the Church, as he began to realize that he would most likely die before Christ’s coming. He stated that it had never been made clear to him who should lead the Church if he should die.

Long before this, even in the late 1970s and on into the early 1980s, Mr. Armstrong had to deal with many battles that were beginning to emerge within the Church, which were mostly coming from the ministry. Not only were these battles coming from within the ministry, but they were from those directly under him in authority. They were the ones who over the years had become ordained as evangelists. During this time, there were no prophets in the Church and therefore, the order of authority that God established within the Church, as was covered earlier, was first apostles, then prophets, and after that, evangelists. Mr. Armstrong was the only apostle, and he had actually trained and taught these evangelists, most of whom were students of his in classes he personally taught when Ambassador College was first established.

There began to be an undercurrent of struggle for power within the Church, as it was becoming more apparent that Mr. Armstrong was likely to die before Christ’s return and that someone would be moved into his place as the one who would lead God’s Church. It is almost unimaginable that such a thing could happen within God’s very own Church, but this was all part of a process that God allowed to develop of which there is much more to the story, but not for this book. This reveals the spiritual condition that many were beginning to drift into within the Church—a Laodicean spirit.

It had come to the point that Mr. Armstrong did not feel he could fully entrust the Church to any of these long-ordained evangelists, let alone to entrust them with some of the most important positions within the Church. At one point, he even brought a pastor to the Church in Pasadena, California, where the Worldwide Church of God was headquartered. I knew him fairly well, as he was the pastor of the Church I was attending in Houston, Texas. That pastor was Leroy Neff, who had proven himself to be a man who was faithful and could be trusted, and so Mr. Armstrong made him the Treasurer of the Church, as he would not give this job to any of the evangelists.

Even when it came to one of the other most important positions within the Church, Mr. Armstrong would not give it to any of the evangelists, but instead, to a man who had been serving for a long time as an elder in the local congregation. His service was only to the local congregation of the Church in Pasadena, and not of any specific services within the organization’s structure of the administration of the Church. That elder was Joseph W. Tkach, Sr., and Mr. Armstrong placed him over all the ministry of the Church worldwide.

Within the headquarters itself, God was allowing Satan to stir up distrust, suspicion, jealousy, lust for power, and even doctrinal division. The Church was becoming weaker spiritually and headed into what was known as the Laodicean Era spoken of in Revelation, as people were becoming lifted up in pride, and trusting in self more than trusting in God. The Church was becoming ripe for an apostasy. Nothing like this had happened in its nearly 1,950-year history.

Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. was the primary one conversing with Mr. Armstrong when he was confined in his home because of ill health. More of the administration of the Church was being turned over to Mr. Tkach. Mr. Armstrong died in January of 1986. Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. stated that he had now been placed over the Church as its physical head. In the beginning, he seemed supportive of Mr. Armstrong’s leadership and teaching. By the end of the 1980s and into the first couple of years of 1990, that was beginning to change. Literature and books written by Mr. Armstrong were being discarded and replaced by other publications. Administrative changes began to be made that seemed somewhat innocent in the beginning, but they were not.

Behind all this, however, was Mr. Tkach’s son and others who had been placed into important positions of administration within the Church. These were not the long-time ministers, but mostly newer ones. Now, an even larger group of ministers was beginning to merge together with these men in a mindset and unity that was opposed to the past. These men highly disliked Mr. Armstrong and his teachings and began to work to turn the entire Church in a different direction. By 1992, this group had joined together, in the same mind, in a secretive kind of brotherhood that was determined to see the Church become more “mainstream” like the churches of traditional Christianity. Much of their “behind the scenes” activities did not become fully known until 1995.

Joseph Tkach, Sr. was highly influenced by this group that had been brought in to surround him in his new administration, and in time, it became clear that this was his mind also. Yet there was much more at work here, as Satan was very active in their midst, just as it is stated by Paul in what he was given to record about this event that would emerge in the end-time.

The Apostasy

It states of the man of sin, who is also the son of perdition, that he is the one “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing [Gk.—exposing to view, to reveal] himself that he is God” (2 Thes. 2:4).

For over two years, these individuals conspired as to how they could lead the Church away from the truth God had given it through Herbert W. Armstrong. They had begun to make plans to change literature that would reflect major doctrinal changes, but had not yet written them. They were planning to “take” God’s Church and make it a church that agreed with traditional Christianity. Those plans were not ready to be implemented when Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. was on a church visit to the Atlanta area congregations of the Church.

Although it did not become known until later, Mr. Tkach had prepared to give a completely different sermon from the actual one he ended up giving in Atlanta. Some things were coming to a head quicker than they had planned and Mr. Tkach felt forced into giving a completely different sermon on that day of December 17, 1994.

In that sermon, which was later sent out to all the churches worldwide, Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. began to inform God’s Church that every major doctrine was being changed. Most of these changes were addressed in three sermons he gave in three different areas.

The 7th day Sabbath was being declared a matter of personal choice. Individuals could decide whether to worship on that day or the following day—a Sunday. It was no longer to be seen as a commandment required by God. In addition, God’s annual Holy Days were being treated in the same manner, as the Church was being told that they were not really commanded to keep them, but that much of the Church would be doing so, more as a matter of tradition. Also, Christmas and Easter were not forbidden as in the past. There were numerous other changes being mentioned, even down to saying that the laws of God concerning what was unclean for mankind to eat were not valid.

Needless to say, this was a GREAT APOSTASY! Here was a man who was seen as sitting in authority over God’s Church on earth who had now placed himself in the place of God, as he set out to change the very laws of God.

Indeed, what Paul stated about the man of sin, the son of perdition, had come to pass: “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing [exposing, revealing] himself that he is God” (2 Thes. 2:4). God does not change His way and truth, but Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. believed he could.

The Man of Sin Revealed

Since some may not be able to acquire the two books written previous to this, there is one section from The Prophesied End-Time that is being copied here before the highlights of this Apostasy continue to be covered in this book. The section has the same subheading as above, “The Man of Sin Revealed,” and it best states what needs to be addressed now.

The rest of this section is from that book:

Although Mr. Tkach showed his opposition to God by delivering a sermon contrary to sound doctrine, God had not yet revealed that he was indeed the “man of sin”—“the son of perdition.” Although brethren may have wondered if he did fulfill such a prophecy, only God could declare it so. For anyone to make such a declaration apart from God’s revelation would be presumptuous and taking on a prerogative that is God’s alone.

There is more to Paul’s prophecy. As we continue the story in 2 Thessalonians, we should begin to see more clearly why this unique event is so pivotal to end-time prophecy.

“And now you know what withholds [Gk.– restrains, holds back, detains] that he [the man of sin] might be revealed [Gk. – to make known, to disclose what before was unknown] in his time. For the mystery of iniquity is already working; only he who now lets [same Gk. Word – restrains, holds back, detains] will do so, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed [Gk. – to make known, to disclose what before was unknown], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thes. 2:6-8).

What is being restrained, held back, and detained from happening? It all refers back to what Paul was addressing from the beginning of this prophecy. “Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as though the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thes. 2:1-3). Paul was not explaining that this event was delaying the return of Jesus Christ, but that the return of Jesus Christ would not begin until these things happened. The very return of Jesus Christ was being held back—detained—until these events occurred in the Church. This did not prevent a specific timing for the coming of Jesus Christ in his Kingdom, but these things had to occur first before it would be revealed to the Church that the end-time had come and that it was now time for Christ to return.

This prophecy shows that the man of sin—that wicked—would be revealed: “…whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” Many who were once in fellowship in the Church of God have not been able to understand this verse because they can only see it being fulfilled in a literal, physical way. They believe this prophecy can only be fulfilled at the time of the actual coming of Jesus Christ on the very day the end-time comes to a close.

But it is this very verse that shows how God alone would reveal who the man of sin was and what this meant for the Church. Although most had neither ears to hear nor eyes to see, God did make it abundantly clear that He was the one who would reveal who the man of sin was. After Mr. Tkach betrayed the trust placed in him by giving that defiant sermon in Atlanta, the Spiritual Temple of God became defiled. An abomination of unprecedented proportions had taken place within the Church. As will be discussed later, this led to massive desolation and destruction of the spiritual temple itself. Remember Jesus’s words in what is known as the “Olivet Prophecy?” “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso reads let him understand)” (Matthew 24:15).

Exactly 40 Sabbaths (to the day and very hour) after Mr. Tkach gave that sermon, he died. This was God’s own declaration. By taking his life, God revealed that Mr. Tkach was indeed the “son of perdition”—“the man of sin.” By this, God also revealed that the Church and the world had entered the end-time. This was finally the time, after 6,000 years, for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled. The process had begun. It all began on the same day Mr. Tkach gave his defiling sermon, but it was God who had to reveal it.

“And then shall that wicked be revealed [Gk. – to make known, to disclose what before was unknown], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy [it was God Himself who took his life] with the brightness [illumination] of His coming” (2 Thes. 2:8). This prophetic fulfillment, of God destroying the man of sin, is the very event that declared—illuminated—the coming of Jesus Christ. His time had now come and was no longer being held back from view by the Church. The time had come—the end-time was here!

The number 40 is used as a declaration of the very judgment of God. Do you remember the flood that lasted 40 days and nights because of man’s rebellion? Do you remember the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years because of their rebellion? The very man who had been set in authority in God’s Church on earth, directly under Christ, declared the seventh-day Sabbath was no longer a sign for God’s people. Is it any wonder then that God gave a judgment upon Mr. Tkach that would be accomplished exactly 40 Sabbaths—to the hour—from the Sabbath day when Mr. Tkach declared it?

The True Abomination of Desolation

That last section that was quoted from the first book shows how God is the one who had to reveal this man of sin, this antichrist, to the Church. That sermon given by Mr. Tkach in Atlanta on December 17, 1994, was the beginning of a literal countdown to the coming of Jesus Christ.

After that sermon was given, one-third of the Church left the truth of God as they fell away from the truth God had given to them. They embraced the beliefs of the very thing God had called them out of—traditional Christianity. That was incredible desolation to God’s temple and what they did was indeed an abomination to God.

However, there was much more destruction. Another third became so disillusioned that such a thing could happen in God’s Church that they simply gave up, having no hope. In their minds, if such a thing could happen in God’s Church, then surely all that they had believed must be wrong. They simply cast away all belief and began to live life however they wanted to, just as they had done before being called.

Yet that is not all that happened as a result of this great abomination that was spiritual and about God’s very temple—the Church of God. That prophecy was never meant to have anything to do with a second abomination of a physical temple.

The last third of the Church became scattered, as great confusion had struck the Church. These were made up of those who wanted to hold on to the doctrines and truths they had received from God when they were first called. Different splinter organizations were springing up and members of the Church had to decide with whom they would become affiliated. There was no single group that stood out clearly as being a definitive continuation of God’s Church—of where God was working.

Many groups that were springing up could not agree to join together as there were far too many differences among them concerning the form of government structure they should have, who would be leading the groups, and differences concerning doctrine. After Mr. Armstrong had died, the Church had gone into the last of the seven Church eras that Jesus Christ had revealed would exist in the Church until he returned. This was the seventh and last one, which was known as the Laodicean era. It was prophesied to be an era that was lukewarm in spirit, while at the same time being lifted up with pride, self-reliance, and self-righteousness of belief in “being right” above that of others.

Great confusion began to become manifest, and in a short time, nearly 600 separate organizations had formed from this last third of those who had become scattered, as it was prophesied they would.

One of two of the largest groups had already formed a short time before the Apostasy because its leaders knew what was happening in Pasadena, the headquarters of the Church. They knew of these men who were trying to move the Church into mainstream Christianity, and they knew their beliefs and many of their plans. Most of the ministry that were in outlying areas throughout the rest of the world were not aware of most of these things that were happening at the headquarters. This group that formed before the Apostasy had formed under the leadership of one of the older evangelists, Roderick Meredith, in what became known as the Global Church of God.

Although these individuals had known about these events nearly two years prior to when the Apostasy actually happened, they never took a stand against it nor tried to inform the ministry of what was going on, but rather separated and started their own organization.

A few years after forming, that church group split, as most of the ministry and Roderick Meredith formed a new organization called the Living Church of God, while others retained their old name and their debts.

The largest group that formed was one that came together after the Apostasy and one with which I became affiliated. I was also with a different group that wanted me to continue as their minister. We became incorporated, before this larger group did, as far as being able to do business as a physical organization in order to serve the needs of the spiritual Church of God. We were a small group in Toledo, Ohio, and shortly after coming together, a group in Detroit joined with us. We had become incorporated as the United Church of God - Toledo. We became affiliated with that larger group that took on a similar name and called itself the United Church of God, An International Association.

After only about two years in association with this group, we left, as I could not conscientiously support some of the administrative matters and politics that began to emerge that reflected what the Church had become just before the Apostasy.

In Revelation, God later revealed that there was a prophetic period of time, 1260 days, in which He protected these scattered groups from Satan, so that Satan could not pursue us and completely destroy the Church. God had promised in the prophetic writing of Ezekiel that He would deliver a remnant from out of this scattering, through which He would finish His work.

We had all sinned by allowing ourselves to become lukewarm in spirit. Only those who genuinely repented of that Laodicean spirit could be worked with by God as a remnant that He would raise up.

Seals of Revelation Opened

God established His remnant Church on Pentecost of 1998. It was exactly 1260 prophetic days after the Apostasy had taken place. We became incorporated as the Church of God - PKG (Preparing for the Kingdom of God). It was here that God began revealing much prophecy to me that concerned the Church and the Apostasy we had experienced. The first commission that God gave for us to accomplish was to reach out to the scattered Church and strive to help them understand what had happened to the Church and why.

The reason for this is that no one was addressing it and the truth associated with it. God blessed the Church with a publication, entitled, “Time is Running Out,” in which God gave the answers to what had happened to the Church and why. But only a handful of people were awakened out of their spiritual sleep, and that was because God had to do the awakening since it was spiritual. He offered that awakening to many others, but they refused it. We referred to this spiritual awakening as being akin to a second calling, but that was not it. It was simply a matter that individuals needed God’s help through the power of His spirit to become awakened in the mind—the mind He had previously been transforming before the Apostasy had occurred.

God can put a halt to that process of transformation and a person will then go into a kind of spiritually neutral state—asleep spiritually—and can only become awakened when God offers it. The only reason such a person enters that state is because of unrepented sin, which in this case is simply sin they cannot fully see or cannot yet accept as true. God can resume such a work in those individuals at any time. It can be before the Millennium is established, after it is established, or in the second resurrection.

God was revealing to me the significance of the 280 days from the Apostasy to Joseph W. Tkach, Sr.’s death that revealed he was indeed the “man of sin” and the “son of perdition” spoken of by Paul.

He was revealing the meaning of the stones of the temple spoken of by Christ in Matthew 24. He revealed the meaning of “not one stone would be left upon the other.” He revealed that this was spiritual and about the Church that would be scattered after experiencing the spiritual Abomination of Desolation.

He also began to reveal that on the day of Mr. Tkach’s sermon the First Seal of Revelation had been opened and that was not something physical that would happen in the world, but something spiritual that would happen to His Church.

“I saw when the Lamb [Jesus Christ] opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living creatures saying, ‘Come and see.’ I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer” (Rev. 6:1-2).

God had revealed to Herbert W. Armstrong that great tribulation would come upon the world once the Seals of Revelation began to be opened. However, he was not given to know that this would begin first as great spiritual tribulation upon the Church, and that in time, great physical tribulation would begin upon the world.

God revealed that this First Seal was about the Church and corresponded to what Jesus Christ had warned about in the Olivet Prophecy concerning “many” false teachers arising that would deceive “many.” God also revealed that what Paul had written about the “man of sin” was also about this First Seal. These were all about the same thing—the abomination of desolation that would happen in God’s Church that would serve as a sign to God’s people that the time had come for Christ’s long awaited return.

This First Seal was not about Christ, but an anti-Christ who would set out to destroy the Church. The First Seal was about this leader who was set in the temple of God with great authority. When it was God’s time for this seal to be opened, the man of sin went forth to conquer—to destroy the Church—to commit the abomination of desolation.

“When he had opened the Second Seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ Then there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him who sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:3-4).

The first four seals are actually all related as they are all tied together by what happened when the First Seal was opened and Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. gave that sermon in Atlanta which resulted in great destruction of God’s very Church.

Once this Second Seal had been opened, peace was rapidly taken from the Church, not from the world. After Mr. Tkach gave that sermon, nearly overnight an onslaught of ministers joined together with his movement and almost three-quarters of them fully adopted the new teachings, which were simply the old teachings of traditional Christianity. Even for those who did not accept all those teachings, they still accepted some and they turned against Christ, and many more false teachers went out to deceive as many as they could within the Church.

The emergence of so many false ministers led to a quicker dissemination of false doctrine and teaching. Those ministers were no longer wielding the sword of God’s word, in spirit and in truth, but a false sword that served to take truth from brethren and that worked to destroy their spiritual lives.

“When he opened the Third Seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ I looked, and behold a black horse, and he who sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand, and I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see that you do not hurt the oil and the wine” (Rev. 6:5-6).

Since so many ministers themselves also became antichrist, people were not being fed the word of God any more, so a spiritual famine came upon the Church. Brethren were becoming famished spiritually, as they simply grew weaker and weaker from lack of true spiritual food they should have otherwise been receiving Sabbath by Sabbath.

“When he had opened the Fourth Seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come and see,’ and I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name who sat on him was Death, and hell [Gk. – the grave] followed with him. Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Rev. 6:7-8).

Again, this has been covered in more detail in the first book, and so there will only be a summary given here about the meaning of this Fourth Seal. However, since the writing of that book, God has revealed more, so that will be included here.

God had given the first 1260 days after the Apostasy as a time for protection from Satan for the Church that was scattered. Satan was not allowed to pursue those who made up that third of the scattered Church who were striving to hold to the commandments and foundational truths God had given His people when they were first called. However, during that three and one-half year period of time, the scattered groups were not growing spiritually, but instead were becoming steadily weaker, set in their ways, and growing far more blind to their true condition.

They would not admit that they had been part of the cause of the Apostasy due to all becoming lukewarm in spirit. Although many had been rattled in the beginning and worked harder to hold to the basic doctrines and 18 Truths God had given through Herbert W. Armstrong, they gradually began to become weak again as before the Apostasy. Because they had not admitted to nor repented of that Laodicean spirit of being lukewarm, they began to become ripe once again to more easily be deceived by their own ways and to be conquered spiritually.

They became content with going through the motions of the religious practices of old, and they tried hard to duplicate a “work” that they believed had to continue. It was that “work” that Herbert W. Armstrong saw as his commission of the gospel being sent into all the world. None of these ever came to accept a very obvious truth. Mr. Armstrong had completed that work, and the Church had now been thrust into a period that followed the gospel going into all the world, and that was the time for the abomination of desolation (Matt. 24:14-15).

None of the scattered groups could bring themselves to admit that when Mr. Armstrong died, the Philadelphia era of God’s Church ended and the Laodicean era began. Mr. Armstrong had come to believe, well before he died, that 90 percent of the Church had already drifted into a Laodicean spirit.

The remnant Church was established on Pentecost of 1998, exactly 1260 days after the Apostasy. Another thing happened at that time. Satan was no longer going to be held back from attacking the Church, since that period of protection had now passed. It was at that moment, after the first 1260 days had elapsed, that the Fourth Seal was opened. If you look at the language used to describe this seal, you will find that it sounds similar to the description that results in the second and third seal occurring. It states that “power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Rev. 6:8).

The expression of “with the beasts of the earth” is simply a reference to wild animals that are scavengers, and that they went out to pick off what was left over.

Two-thirds of the Church had already been conquered spiritually as a result of the effects of the Second and Third Seal. This next seal was simply a combined mixture of a repetition of the same kind of events that occurred in the previous two seals, but this would now be the means by which most of the remaining third of the scattered Church would be conquered spiritually in the years following the Apostasy. However, God was not going to allow the entirety of the Church to become conquered and instead offered a few thousand the potential to become part of His end-time remnant Church. God has worked with a remnant of the entire scattering, who comprise those He has drawn, received, and granted the opportunity to continue in the Church all the way to the time of Christ’s coming as King of kings.

However, since that time, many who have been given such an opportunity have since turned against God’s remnant Church and its leadership, while others simply succumbed to their own human nature and left out of weakness. Most of those whom God had reserved to offer them the opportunity to become a part of that remnant never even accepted His offer to be awakened out of their spiritual sleep. They simply had too much pride to accept the possibility that God could be working with such a small group, and they did not like what God had inspired His prophet to write concerning the truth of those things covered in this chapter.

Indeed, the first four seals of Revelation resulted in a great number of spiritual casualties in God’s Church. All that remains out of nearly 96,000 baptized people that experienced the Apostasy is about 150 people. Since that time (after the Sixth Seal was opened), God has been adding new people He has been calling into His Church who are being prepared to be the foundation of the Church at the start of the Millennium.

Those reading this will likely be rather dumbfounded by the fact that nearly 30,000 people who were of the last third of His Church that was scattered have all refused to accept that they ever experienced an Apostasy. Yet their own lives are the true witness (testimony) due to the fact that they are part of just one of the 600+ organizations that are made up of those who were scattered. Their small size, compared to the 96,000 baptized members that existed at the time of the Apostasy, is the very proof of the Apostasy being true.

Yet there is good news about all who became scattered and that will yet be covered. It has already been stated that there will be 63,000 people from among all who were scattered that will have opportunity to enter into the Millennium if they accept what God offers them around the beginning of 2019. Yet even then some will not accept and they will not be given the opportunity to live on into that new age at Christ’s coming. It needs to be stated here that NONE of these will be part of the 144,000.

Most of these people whom God offers this to will come from among those 600+ organizations that became scattered in the Church. There will also be a very large amount from the third that simply gave up when the Apostasy occurred, but it will be far less than those of the third that were scattered. The least amount that will be awakened spiritually and given this opportunity will be among those who believed the lie and who moved back toward traditional Christianity. Their numbers will be rather small.

Fifth Seal

God has not revealed the exact date this seal was opened, but by this time, the first four seals had resulted in the spiritual devastation of nearly 90,000 baptized members of God’s Church.

“When he had opened the Fifth Seal, I saw under the altar the lives of those who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said unto them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Rev. 6:9-11).

The Fifth and Sixth Seals mark a transition in time, a time when most of the spiritual tribulation caused by the first four seals comes to an end. It is a transition that begins to move events toward end-time physical tribulation that will begin on the earth.

In this Fifth Seal, the people being spoken of in these verses are not alive, but dead. This is not about people who have died and are now in heaven crying out.

It is like what God records about righteous Abel: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he also obtained witness that he was righteous by God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaks” (Hebrews 11:4).

This is such an account. It is reflecting on the fact that nearly 144,000 have already died and are going to soon be resurrected at Christ’s coming, but that there are still a few more who need to be made fully ready so that they can join together with them. This is being spoken as a matter of encouragement to the Church that there isn’t that much time remaining until the return of Christ. The encouragement to the Church is that there are yet a few more who must be readied and sealed in order to complete the full count for the 144,000.

Sixth Seal

It was mentioned earlier how God reveals His prophetic writings to me in a “progressive revelation,” a progressive manner, in which not everything concerning a revelation is shown all at once. Instead, it is like the example that Herbert W. Armstrong used to describe how we grow and come to see God’s plan as He reveals it, which is much like putting pieces of a puzzle together so we can get a better picture. In much of prophecy that is revealed, it is like being given the pieces of a puzzle, and then they are set in place, or close to where they must fit. As more and more pieces are fit into their actual place, the picture becomes clearer and clearer. That is true concerning how God has revealed the greater meaning contained in the Sixth and Seventh Seals. This is able to be seen when looking at what was given concerning these two seals and how they were written about in the first book compared to how they became even clearer by the time the next book was written a few years later.

To a first time reader, all the things that are revealed in the Book of Revelation can sometimes begin to seem a little overwhelming, but in time they begin to become clearer.

Some understanding of these two seals grew by the time the second book was written. However, even more understanding has been given for the writing of this third book. I had not fully been given to see that the events of the Sixth Seal would continue on into the timing following the Seventh Seal. Some of the events of the Sixth Seal actually coincide together with the time of the Seventh Seal all the way up to Christ’s coming.

Even when the second book was written, a section, entitled, “Division of the Seven Seals,” stated, “The Sixth Seal (the current period at the time of this writing) has Seven Thunders that sound intermittently throughout this period, growing louder, even as they continue into the period of the Seventh Seal.”

What I did not fully grasp is that the Sixth Seal is not something that came to a conclusion once the Seventh Seal was opened. Instead, they overlap and continue fulfilling their specific prophecies.

“I looked when he had opened the Sixth Seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake [shaking], and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together…” (Rev. 6:12-14).

This is only about half of what is quoted concerning this seal being opened. It is best to consider what is first being said here.

This Sixth Seal was opened on September 11, 2001. Everyone in the world should be familiar with the expression “9/11.” This opening is the announcement of a transition in time when events concerning great tribulation coming on this earth become the primary focus point for all the cataclysmic events that are prophesied to take place.

This day was not only when the Sixth Seal was opened, it was the day for the beginning of the First Thunder of Revelation. Much more about the Seven Thunders will be covered in the next chapter. The opening of this seal is a forewarning of what would follow over all the earth once it became time for the events of the Seventh Seal to be fulfilled.

The Seventh Seal was opened on November the 14th of 2008, and will now soon begin to be fulfilled. It is from this date that world conditions began to move peoples and nations toward those events that will begin to become fulfilled in the dramatic conflict that engulfs mankind in a worldwide economic collapse, as well as the third and final world war. These catastrophic end-time events will complete the fulfillment of this Seventh Seal.

However, what happened at the opening of the Sixth Seal on the 11th of September in 2001 was a prophetic event that was fulfilled. It was actually the FIRST physical event that not only served to fulfill a small beginning for end-time tribulation that had just begun, it served as a prophetic sign of what would follow that would thrust the world into that third world war—a nuclear war.

All that happened on that day is a foreboding—a prophetic glimpse—of the future of the United States of America. People will come to realize, once the Millennium has been established, that the rise and fall of the United States was a focal point for end-time prophecy. She is one of the lost ten tribes of Israel. She is one of the sons of Joseph, Manasseh. She was prophesied to become at the end-time the single greatest nation the earth has ever seen. She has, and was given by God, greater wealth, a stronger military, and more natural resources than any other single nation throughout time.

Because of her great pride and sins, God is going to take away everything He gave to her. It is in the nation of the United States that God placed both of His last apostles. Herbert W. Armstrong was never received by God’s own physical nation whom He alone made great. She did not make herself great. Instead of being received as God’s messengers, both have been persecuted, maligned, and rejected. But the reality is that this rejection was not done to mere men, but it was done to God who sent them.

Consider what happened on that day of 9/11. From the vantage point of all nations of the world, there could have been no greater symbolism of the height of the greatness in wealth, might, and stature of the United States than that of the World Trade Center towers.

Seven buildings were destroyed, and there are Seven Trumpets of the Seventh Seal. This says a lot, and more than most can know.

The World Trade Center was best known for its iconic 110-story Twin Towers. All the original buildings of the complex were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Towers One and Two collapsed, and the others (numbers 3, 4, 5, & 6) were damaged beyond repair and later demolished. Building Seven collapsed in the late afternoon on the day of the attacks. The meaning of a world trade center and the symbolism there for Wall Street and a worldwide economic system should not be lost on anyone, as the first thing that will happen has to do with worldwide trade, as a major global economic implosion first destroys the economy of the U.S. above all others.

Even the jet that struck the Pentagon is a prophetic foreboding of what will happen once the first four trumpets of the Seventh Seal are unleashed upon the United States, as these apply first and foremost to her downfall and even that of the world’s greatest military power.

Here is the symbolism of what is described in the first part of the Sixth Seal. As the two towers fell from the sky, the eerie sight of a cloud rolled open and over New York, as a scroll opening across the sky and later rolled together again. From all inside, the sky became black as the sun disappeared. The effect of dust in the air caused the moon to turn reddish in color, and the stars simply seemed to disappear. All these things are forebodings of what will come throughout all the earth, but it begins first with the collapse of the United States.

The rest of what is recorded about the Sixth Seal follows: “… and every mountain and every island were moved out of their places. The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and they said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?’” (Rev. 6:14-17).

Yes, on that day, 9/11, every nation and country, large and small (prophetic mountains and islands), were moved by what happened. They were startled and sobered. It was a prelude to that time when this literally will happen to entire nations, beginning first with the United States. Yes, the time for God’s great wrath is about to unfold. Who will be able to stand? That is the announcement of the Sixth Seal.

Chapter 6

IF YOU WILL LISTEN, GOD WILL LISTEN

MUCH HAS ALREADY BEEN STATED in this book about how mankind has not listened to God over the past 6,000 years. One should be able to readily see what mankind’s selfish choices have produced over the centuries as a result of their refusal to listen. There has been great human suffering, unhappiness, poverty, famine, massive sickness, crime, oppression, decadence, inequality, injustice, war, and so much more that is simply evil.

Enough is ENOUGH! That is exactly where mankind now finds itself. God is beginning to intervene and tell this world that indeed, after 6,000 years, this is enough!

Is there anything that can begin to motivate mankind to finally start listening to God? Over the past several years now, that is exactly what God has been working toward, to bring people to the point to where they can become more willingly motivated to listen to Him so that they can be saved to live into a new age for mankind.

This is a near impossible task, as the entire history of mankind attests to the fact that people will not listen to God. However, God is going to bring about a change in such behavior, one way or the other. Either way, it will be difficult and there will be horrible physical tribulation regardless. In this final end-time, mankind will now bring much destruction upon itself, and if God did not intervene, mankind would destroy all life on this planet. This has been said before, but it bears repeating, because at some point everyone must come to see this.

In addition to what mankind is doing to itself in this end-time, God is also going to bring certain catastrophic events upon this world in such a manner as to target those who are resisting Him the most, those who carry a greater responsibility and/or are actively causing much of the misinformation, suffering, corruption, injustice, confusion, and evil that is hurting families, communities, or nations. God will do this in the most merciful manner possible in order to help motivate people to change. Yet there will be many among those who are being directly affected by such events who will believe they are not resisting God, but instead, embracing Him. However, it is not God whom they embrace. Instead, it is their false religious beliefs about God, as with traditional Christianity, and other false religious beliefs.

Sadly, however, people are not generally motivated to listen to God until everything in which they have put their trust is destroyed and/or no longer exists. Only then can people potentially begin to genuinely look for answers and listen. The word “potentially” is used here, because even after God gives people every opportunity to begin to listen to Him, they still will have the same free choice in their life as they have always had. Therefore, the potential for change still lies squarely in their own hands. God has shown that this is the only way people will begin to listen, but even then, many still will not.

So, when the money or savings a person relies upon becomes worthless, what will they do? When stocks and bonds have no value, what will people do? When the transport of food to grocery stores and fuel to gas stations ceases, what will people do? When there is no government support or even a military, what will people do? What will people do when they no longer have a job or place to work? What will people do when their religion cannot give them any answers, hope, or peace? What will people do when there is no television, radio, cell phone service, Internet, Facebook, etcetera? These things are going to fully disappear in many regions of the world and only be intermittent in others.

Mankind is bringing about its own global economic collapse. Mankind is bringing about its own great war—a nuclear war. Yet this in itself isn’t enough to stir people to listen to God. You might think that it would be enough. Some few will begin to listen as a result of these man-made evils, but not the billions or even the hundreds of millions.

God is not going to allow the total destruction of mankind, but He is going to allow mankind to engage in a nuclear war that will build into a final all-out nuclear confrontation. He reveals that this event alone will result in the death of just over 2.3 billion people. That is mankind’s own doing, and God is going to allow it. If God did not allow it to reach this shocking level of destruction, the vast majority of the world would still not listen to Him, even after it was revealed that it clearly was Him who ended that war. Yet indeed, God will end it, before it goes beyond 2.3 billion people.

Even after God intervenes to stop any further destruction from any more nuclear weapons after a third of mankind has been destroyed by them, there is much more that must happen to begin moving the greater numbers of mankind toward a different spirit—to one that becomes humbled and willing to listen to its Creator. The world has great pride, and it is not easily humbled. Therefore, it strongly resists listening to God.

God is taking control of this world. Mankind’s self-rule will end! God is sending His Son to a world that has been humbled and ready to listen. He is going to establish a new government—His government upon this earth.

Whatever it takes to humble this world to a level that is needed in order for that government to become established without any more defiant resistance, it will be done. Any strong resistance to it is simply going to be destroyed. The 6,000-year period of mankind’s self-rule is finally and definitely coming to an end, and God is going to establish His righteous, just, and merciful rule over mankind for the next 1,000 years.

It will no longer matter whether anyone likes it or not, or whether they agree with it or not. Mankind’s self-rule is almost at its end.

God’s great desire through all this is to create the best means possible whereby the maximum number of people will potentially become humbled and begin to listen to Him rather than be destroyed. Opposition to God and refusal to listen to Him is what has brought mankind to the point of its own self-extinction. That kind of strong opposition is finally going to be brought to an end.

God’s Intervention

God is working to create the best possible environment to potentially bring more people to humility so they will become more willing to listen to Him. What are some of those things that God will be doing to help create such an environment? God is going to intervene in several different ways and at different times in order to maximize the potential for bringing many more to humility, so that they might then begin to choose to listen to Him.

This will all involve much human suffering, since there is no other way such a thing can be accomplished. However, the level of death and destruction has the potential to be reduced mightily if people do respond in a right spirit of humility. One example that helps reveal the hard-heartedness and stubbornness of human pride concerns why God must not intervene right away when mankind begins its final course to self-annihilation in an all-out nuclear war.

If God were to intervene too soon, mankind would simply dismiss what the true outcome would be if He had not intervened. They would hold to their own pride and belief that they would not go so far as to annihilate themselves. They would not believe the truth of the actual outcome—self-annihilation. So God knows when to intervene in order to prevent much of mankind from dismissing and ignoring what is true. God has determined to intervene at a point after this final all-out nuclear conflict destroys one-third of mankind. Even then, there will still be vast numbers who will not humble themselves and admit what is true. The pride in mankind is exceedingly great.

Since God allows mankind to bring destruction upon itself to the extent of 2.3 billion people dying, some would respond by saying, “Then God isn’t merciful since He wouldn’t stop it sooner.” God does mercifully prevent mankind’s self-annihilation. If God did not allow this level of self-destruction to come upon mankind, it would not begin to be humbled to any meaningful level. If it did not become humbled, but instead continued to resist and fight against God and the government He is establishing over all nations, then the result would be that most of mankind would perish. Those who resist God and insist on their own course of engaging in the destruction of the earth will be destroyed. There is no negotiation in God taking control to end mankind’s self-rule and in establishing His own government over all the nations.

The reason God will stop an all-out nuclear war should be obvious, and that is so that mankind does not annihilate itself; however, the manner and means God does so has far greater meaning and that needs to be understood. Again, it is a question of how the spirit in mankind can be humbled so that it will begin to listen to God and thereby have the potential to be saved alive. God’s great desire, above all things, is to extend mercy to mankind, but mercy only has meaning if people are seeking it. If they do listen with the desire to change and live into the Millennium, then God will listen. The more who will listen and begin to seek change, the more that can be protected and given continuing life rather than death.

Further, God is not only going to intervene to stop that nuclear war, but He is going to intervene in the affairs of mankind in many other ways as well. Again, this is for the purpose of helping to crush human pride so that people can be brought to humility and begin listening. That which God does will definitely not be welcomed by those who will be most affected by His direct intervention because it will involve much suffering.

It was stated earlier that there is a prophetic day when God will pour out what is described in the Book of Revelation as the Seven Last Plagues. These are what God will use to intervene and stop that nuclear war. It is stated that by these plagues, God will “destroy those who are destroying the earth.” These plagues have the potential for destroying more than all that will be destroyed in that nuclear war; however, the actual outcome of those plagues is fully dependent upon the response mankind has to them.

Yet in all of this, God’s great desire above all else is to extend mercy so that people can live. However, it is not just so they can continue to live on into an otherwise sick and polluted world as they have been, but that they might live into a new age of peace, abundance, blessings, prosperity, true justice and equality, happiness, and all of this with great fullness of life.

Purpose of the Seven Last Plagues

First, God’s purpose in direct intervention through the Seven Last Plagues is to stop the nuclear war—to stop WWIII. Yet there is more to how those plagues can now be administered in order to humble a larger amount of people and to potentially save many more who can then live on into the Millennium. This is one major area God is now changing that has only been made possible by the addition of seven more years beyond 2012.

If God had allowed WWIII to begin soon after 2008, His plan to end that war would have been accomplished in one day, which would have been on Pentecost in 2012. That would have been such a powerful event that mankind would have been stopped in its tracks, shocked to the core of its being, and truly readied to listen to God. However, if the world had been humbled in that one day, the death and destruction would have been exceedingly great.

God prophetically reveals that the Sixth Trumpet of Revelation is the time where mankind will engage in a final all-out nuclear confrontation. It has already been stated that this confrontation will destroy one-third of all the earth, which means one-third of mankind will die as a result, or 2.3 billion people.

Yet the next trumpet, which is the Seventh Trumpet, consists of the Seven Last Plagues, and this is when God intervenes and stops that war. It states that the purpose of these final great plagues is for Him “to destroy those who are destroying the earth.” This destruction will come upon those people and nations who are engaged in and supporting that war—a war that is destroying the earth. If this event in the administration of these plagues had occurred in 2012, there would have been at least an additional 3.5 billion people destroyed in that single day, and likely hundreds of millions more.

These events that happen toward the very end of this end-time should be feared, just as the flood of Noah’s day should have been feared. God will be executing great judgment on this earth against those who have so corrupted their minds that they become blindly engaged in helping to destroy this earth.

But what if these plagues could be administered by God in a different manner whereby many could then have the potential to be saved? What if the number of those that will die could potentially be cut in half or even far more than if these things had occurred in 2012? When asking these questions, it is important to understand that the only way that number can ultimately be reduced in such a large manner is IF “those who are destroying the earth” will begin to listen to God and cease from their evil. That is what God is now preparing to offer to those who would otherwise come under these plagues and be destroyed. As always, the choice is theirs and theirs alone to make.

As stated, those plagues are going to be poured out first and foremost for the purpose of stopping WWIII and to destroy those who are destroying the earth, and those prophetic events are set and cannot be changed. God is now revealing another purpose for these plagues. He is revealing the answer to the following question: “How can these plagues be poured out in a different manner so they might potentially produce a stronger desire within many people, and even perhaps within an entire nation, so they can become humbled, begin listening to God, and then cease from the evil they are causing on the earth?”

By understanding how God has now changed the manner in which He can administer these plagues, once He begins to directly intervene, then one will be able to begin to understand other things that God is doing and changing in order to offer many more people the potential to live into a new age. Again, as always, the actual results in people’s lives are a matter of individual free choice, and therefore, fully dependent upon how they respond.

Initially, God gave the date of Pentecost 2012 for Christ’s coming. That date was not set as absolute, nor was it the only time He could send His Son to reign over this earth, although in the four years preceding that date, God’s Church believed it was the only date for Christ’s coming, and they lived their lives accordingly in faith all the way up to that very day. As a result, the Church was harshly mocked because of this belief. Nevertheless, that was the first date given to God’s Church of Christ’s coming. Yet God is not confined by time to accomplish many prophetic events, unless He has specifically given something that is absolute, where no more time or mercy can be extended. However, there are many areas given within prophetic events where there are exceptions, if mankind will listen and turn to God.

For now, however, it is important to know that for the day of Pentecost of 2012, God had revealed that it would be a “prophetic day” in which He would pour out the Seven Last Plagues.

There was a time by mid-2008 that God had set for when He would make a final judgment as to when Christ would come, as to whether it would be the first date He had revealed to His Church, Pentecost of 2012, or whether it would be seven years later on Pentecost of 2019.

It is important to understand that there is a very great difference in how those final plagues would be poured out depending upon which date God would judge was best for the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. If these had been poured out on that final “prophetic day” in May of 2012, it would have been such a destructive event and would have so shocked and stunned the world that on the following day the world would have been ready to listen to God. No matter the date, when Jesus Christ does return, the world will have been made ready to listen to God.

It is necessary to understand the use of the term for a “prophetic day,” as this is extremely important in what is about to be covered. This is simply a prophetic expression for a very specific time period in which God alone must reveal the actual period it defines. These periods vary according to God’s purpose and design, and again, no one can know the actual period of a specific “prophetic day” that is spoken of, unless God reveals it.

The seven-day week that God gave to mankind prophetically pictures 7,000 years, where a “prophetic day,” in this case, is 1,000 years. In this example, the seventh day Sabbath is equivalent to the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ.

There are several examples where a prophetic day is equal to one year in actual fulfillment. There is also the seventh Holy Day that is called the Last Great Day. It is a prophetic day that foretells of a 100-year period that follows the Millennium in which a second life is given to most of mankind who have lived and died throughout the span of human life.

Any period of time can be represented as a “prophetic day,” and the actual duration of what God will fulfill in it can only be known after He reveals it. In the case of the Seven Last Plagues, their duration for when God directly intervenes is actually the last “prophetic day” of mankind’s self-rule on earth, but that does not mean it is a literal one-day period.

Seven Last Plagues in a Determined “Prophetic Day”

As mentioned, the “prophetic day” God had determined for 2012 as being the first possible date for Christ’s coming was the literal one-day period that would have been on Pentecost of that year.

For all of the reasons being stated in this chapter, God judged that seven additional years be granted to mankind before the final stages of the end-time should commence, and that Pentecost of 2019 would be the next date set for Christ’s return to this earth. It will be on that day that he will once again stand upon the Mount of Olives as scripture foretells. In making this change, God has also made a change in the duration for which that last “prophetic day” is to be fulfilled. Instead of that period being defined as a literal one-day period as it was before 2012, God is now defining that “prophetic day” as 50 actual days.

On the day that Jesus Christ begins his return to this earth, he will become manifest above the atmosphere of this earth, and after this, God will then begin a process of pouring out those plagues. Rather than pouring all of them out in a single day, God will now do so throughout the period of 50 literal days. Yet just before these plagues begin to be poured out, the 144,000 will be resurrected.

This event of Christ appearing in the atmosphere above the earth begins in the midst of God’s Holy Days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is on the same day when the offering of the Wave Sheaf was performed yearly at the temple. This has incredibly awesome significance and meaning that has now been added to this timing for Christ’s coming, because it now ties together in an awesome manner both the Wave Sheaf Offering during Unleavened Bread and the offering of the Wave Loaves on the day of Pentecost.

The offering of the Wave Sheaf in the Old Testament represented Jesus Christ as the first of the firstfruits, and the offering of the Wave Loaves on Pentecost represents the rest of the firstfruits of God—the 144,000. Jesus Christ was the first of the firstfruits of God, and the 144,000 are the rest of the firstfruits of God. Although these are resurrected on that day of the Wave Sheaf, they will not stand on earth until 50 days later on the day of Pentecost, along with Jesus Christ. That Pentecost reveals that they have been fully received of the Father and are now established to reign in the Kingdom of God on earth from that day forward.

This all has very profound meaning in the greater fulfillment of God’s great plan of salvation.

From the point of that day, which represents when the Wave Sheaf was offered, the Seven Last Plagues can begin to be administered in a completely different manner than had been purposed before in 2012. Now these plagues can be interspersed throughout this entire 50-day period, and they will be. Each of these can also occur at different times, in different areas, with different lengths of duration, and any can be repeated if God so chooses.

This entire process is one of the means whereby God is revealing His desire to extend great mercy to as many people as possible in this final end-time. The means of God’s intervention and use of these plagues reflects that desire and purpose that He is seeking to work out, whereby a vastly greater number of people can potentially be delivered into the Millennium. Though there will still be great suffering and death, that number can be reduced mightily throughout this time period if people will only humble themselves before God. God is extending much mercy through this process, as people are being offered a far greater opportunity for being saved alive. If they will not be humbled by this process and begin listening to God, then the last of these days will be very strong against those who are destroying the earth, because mankind will be humbled before Christ returns.

This entire process, although very catastrophic in nature, is all designed to heighten the potential for mankind to become humbled, and then to become motivated with the desire to listen. People must be brought to the point where they will begin to look at themselves realistically and far more truthfully in order to acknowledge great change must take place in themselves.

Yet again, throughout the administration of these plagues, the level of destruction that will be administered rests solely upon how those who are destroying the earth respond. If they still will not be humbled, they will simply be destroyed, and that total number could still be in excess of 3.5 billion people. This period of the plagues will be mankind’s last opportunity to begin to listen to God. God has been very patient and full of mercy. It is mankind that has refused to listen to Him, and is instead bent on its own self-destruction.

Nations Struck By Incredible Fear

On this day that Christ returns in the atmosphere above the earth, the 144,000 are resurrected in order for them to be gathered together unto him. This event will be visible throughout the entire earth. God is going to physically manifest elements of this event that is happening in a spirit realm, as Jesus Christ is spirit and the 144,000 who are resurrected to be with him are resurrected as spirit beings. Being spirit, they cannot be seen by mankind, except for whatever physical manifestation God gives of this event.

This physical manifestation will appear as it is described in Revelation as it occurs on a spiritual plane, a sea of glass that is mingled with fire. It will be massive in size with great brilliance and a dancing display of color that runs throughout it. It simply appears and remains stationary for a time, just above the earth’s atmosphere as the earth rotates beneath it.

From the perspective of people on earth, they are able to see this incredible brilliance that is large in size, but they cannot detect what it is. No instruments can measure the size, mass, or shape that it has because it has none. This in itself creates even greater fear because all that can be detected is simply by human sight. The display from earth will cause wonder, awe, shock, incredible fear, and panic. It is so intense that the nations who have been at war with one another will stop their fighting.

The only thing that most can bring themselves to believe at this point is that this is an invasion, and many nations will then unite for the sake of what they believe is self-preservation in order to fight against it. Suddenly, WWIII takes a back seat as nations now set out to fight against what they can only believe is an invasion. Some will believe it is an alien invasion from another world, and yet others will believe what they are being told, that it is an invasion from the antichrist.

Those who are aware of the contents of this book have already been forewarned of what will appear in the heavens, and many will have knowledge of the exact date that this will occur. They are without excuse and must decide if they are going to believe a great false Church and fight against what they are told is the power of antichrist coming to destroy mankind, or whether they will choose to believe what most already know deep down inside—that this is indeed from Almighty God.

These have the opportunity to immediately respond and act upon what many are already beginning to believe is true, or they will suffer quickly from the First Plague. That plague is described clearly in prophecy: “There fell a debilitating affliction of exceedingly painful ulcers upon those who had the mark of the beast, and upon those who have worshipped its image” (Revelation 16:2). This description of the first plague is directed first toward a very specific group. It is not directed to most of the regions of Russia, China, and their allies.

By this stage in reading this book, it should be no mystery who this is directed toward. This is squarely directed at those ten nations of a United Europe who have finally come together as one from out of the European Union. By the time the First Plague is poured out, which quickly follows the manifestation of Christ’s coming, God has given them great potential to begin listening to Him, and if they have not responded, then many will begin to die from this plague. It will not be a small number, but tens of thousands will begin to die, and very quickly so. By this point, it could also be judged that tens of millions will die from this one plague if the vast majority of people in this new ten-nation union remain defiant and unyielding to God.

If people still fail to begin listening once this plague has been poured out, they will then suffer from the Second Plague, and the next, and so forth, until they do respond.

The First Plague is first and foremost directed upon those who have supported the Beast over many centuries now, and especially during the previous six revivals of great European aggression and continental war, beginning with Justinian in 554 A.D. This plague is directed toward those who are described as having “worshipped its [the beast’s] image.” This is especially directed toward Germany who is at the helm of these final ten united nations of Europe. This is also directed toward many throughout the rest of Europe who have all received the “mark of the beast,” due to a very long history that is religiously aligned with these ten nations.

This is simply speaking of the mark or sign of that great false religious system since it first began, which became the predominant sign that distinguished it from the primary sign identifying God’s true Church. God’s true Church has always had the sign of the seventh day Sabbath that is observed from Friday (the 6th day of the week) at sunset until the sun sets on Saturday (the 7th day). The great false church that arose in 325 A.D. adopted its own sign or mark, and that was the first day of the week—Sunday as their day of worship.

Some who have grown up in the past thirty to forty years in different nations of the world have a difficult time understanding this difference between what is being described as the 7th day Sabbath and the false observance that is on the 1st day of the week, Sunday. In the late 1970s, many within Europe began to adopt a calendar that changed the way calendars had been observed throughout the centuries before this. However, calendars remained the same and did not change in countries like the United States, which show the week correctly, beginning with the 1st day, Sunday. The 6th day is Friday followed by the 7th day, Saturday (the true Sabbath of God).

The change on Europe’s calendars showed Monday to be the first day of the week. By doing this, they could show Sunday to now be the 7th day of the week, thus making the true Sabbath or Saturday the 6th day of the week. There was great deception involved in making this change. It was not to help facilitate a better means for setting out the five-day work week by having those five days listed first in the week, as they purported that they were doing. Actually, the true motive behind this was strictly done to promote Sunday as the Sabbath. Now they could finally show Sunday as being the 7th day of the week. Many other nations, with the same influence of that great European church, adopted this same calendar that began to show the 7th day of the week to be Sunday.

So, a United Europe, bearing “the mark of the beast,” or Sunday, will now have far greater potential to listen to God and live. It is important to remember that if Christ had returned in 2012 all those plagues would have been poured out in one day in order to simply “destroy those who are destroying the earth.”

It is also important to understand that most of the nations in the world will get dragged into this final war, and that would be true regardless of the date Christ returns. Vast regions of Africa, South and Central America, the entire Middle East, Eastern Europe, and especially nations throughout Asia will become involved in supporting that war in one way or the other, and they will experience some or all of these plagues that God Himself pours out upon them.

The Potential for Nations and People to Be Saved

The destruction that will be caused by these plagues now has the potential for being changed. The magnitude of that destruction is not set as it was for 2012, where all the destruction from all seven of those plagues would have occurred in just one day. The scale of destruction can now change IF some of the nations and peoples in them will begin to listen to God.

IF some of these nations will begin to listen and people begin to bring about change in their lives before Christ is seen returning in the heaven above the earth’s atmosphere, then they have strong potential to be delivered early. If people, and especially leaders of nations, will begin to listen to God, no matter when that is, then God will begin to listen to them.

The context for those who will begin to listen means that they become humbled before God and begin to reflect and express a genuine desire to begin listening to Him and to make actual changes in their life. If they will begin to cry out to God and cease from their evil ways as they begin to seek His mercy and help, He will listen to them.

However, some people and nations have already so corrupted their minds that it is already known that most will not change and will not humble themselves, just like in the days of Noah. Some of those nations will be nearly completely destroyed.

One of the areas where the greatest change might possibly occur as a result of all prophetic events being moved forward by seven years concerns Europe. This region of the world will now have some of the greatest potential to dramatically reduce its own levels of destruction and death. If many of the leaders of these nations will begin to listen to God, they can help to save multiple hundreds of millions of lives, including that of their own families and themselves. If they refuse, their families will become some of the first to suffer.

Not only will Europe need to begin listening to God early on, but she is also going to have to begin making a very strong stand against that which has worked to keep her blind throughout the centuries. Ever since the rise of the Roman Empire under Constantine and his establishment and support of a single state religion, that religion has flourished over Europe with great power and deception. Europe will find herself with the need to step up and begin destroying that influence and exposing that false religion for what it truly is. That means that the great false woman (the Catholic church) and her daughters (churches that have come from her) who have deceived the world with false religion must come to an end.

Russia and some of those nations next to her also have greater potential to become humbled and to begin listening to God, yet that is unlikely until possibly well into those 50 days when the Seven Last Plagues are poured out. The choice is always theirs alone to make.

The extent to which these plagues are poured out upon the nations of the world is fully in the hands of each nation, especially its leaders, and the people themselves to a lesser degree. If Europe and Russia begin to listen and put an end to the massive destruction they themselves have been causing once WWIII has begun, and IF many of them begin to repent of the evil they have allowed into their lives, then clearly, God will begin to listen to their cries. This is obviously true for any nation and people of the world, but some regions will now have far greater potential for doing so than before 2012.

Sadly, at this time, there is no indication that any of the Muslim nations will be inclined in any way to listen to any of the words of this book. Two such nations wouldn’t even allow the first two books into their country, though they could not prevent them from being downloaded from the Internet. This in itself reveals the depth of their conviction against what has been given from the God of Abraham to be written here. If these nations continue to refuse to the end and stubbornly refuse to listen to whom God sends to them, then they may well be among those who suffer the most of all the nations.

Primarily, China and India, as well as many of the nations throughout Asia, are among those who will tend to resist God the most, and these will be among those who will cause some of the greatest destruction that will occur during WWIII. Some of these are already set against God and most will refuse Him, and as a result, they will be among those who are the recipients of the greatest destruction and death that will come from the Seven Last Plagues. There are some few regions and peoples amongst these nations who do have strong potential of listening and turning to God, and if they will, they can receive of God’s protection in the very midst of massive destruction around them. God is all-powerful and can easily deliver any who turn to Him in genuine humility.

How Prophecies Can Be Fulfilled

God has many ways in which to fulfill the prophecies He has had recorded in scripture. Over a third of the Bible is about prophetic events, and nearly 90 percent of that is prophecy about this end-time. Some large portions of those end-time prophecies have been about God’s Church, although not even God’s own Church knew this until after the Apostasy occurred.

This very large amount of prophetic scripture that is about the end of mankind’s self-rule and the establishment of the Millennium, clearly reveals the kind of significance God has placed on the events that finally lead up to His Son’s return. So indeed, this period of time in which you are now living just happens to be the most momentous and important period in all human history.

Prophecy is one of those things that people wrestle with as they try to figure out what certain prophecies mean or how they will become fulfilled. Often, something stated about prophecy is taken by people to mean that it cannot change in any fashion, or that it must happen in only one specific way. That is not true. God has many ways in which He can fulfill His own word, and the only way to know what any prophecy means is by what God reveals through His own prophets.

When God has recorded prophecy in scripture, He has recorded things that He will bring to pass. “How” He does so is not always set. There is not one way of doing it, although many believe otherwise. Yet there are exceptions, and one example of this was in what was prophesied concerning the Messiah and his coming the first time as the Passover of all mankind. There were specific things concerning Christ that God fulfilled in exact detail, without any change or variation, as to when and how those things became fulfilled.

However, most of the time, there is simply a basic structure that God has given for the fulfillment of prophetic events. God will bring that to pass, similar to following a blueprint in the construction of a building. The primary structure that is to be built can be set, while yet allowing for many other details that can be added and/or changed within it.

With prophecy, there are details that can sometimes be changed, while not affecting the primary structure of a specific area of prophecy. This is especially true if a particular outcome or purpose for a prophecy is directly tied into varying factors that can come about as a result of human response. That response most generally has to do with whether or not people will choose to listen to God or not.

Without getting into too much detail here, some examples concerning things already mentioned should prove helpful.

During Noah’s day, God gave people 100 years in which they could have chosen to listen to Him if they wanted to do so. God already knew their minds had become so corrupted that no one would listen, yet they did have the choice. They chose not to listen. God told Noah what would come to pass by bringing a great flood, and the fact that there would be such a flood could not be changed because God already knew the level of corruption that existed in their human mind.

During more than 50 years of Herbert W. Armstrong warning mankind, no-one truly listened except those whom God specifically called to become part of His Church. God has clearly revealed the bull-headedness of mankind to resist and its refusal to listen to Him. Only at a time when mankind brings great destruction upon itself, or when God intervenes to chasten mankind, will it show any signs of a willingness to begin to listen to Him. However, even then, many simply will not, no matter how bad it gets.

That is why God is now working to create the best possible environment that has the greatest potential possible to humble and motivate people to listen. That process will consist of both, a combination of great destruction that mankind will bring upon itself, and of what God will bring upon it as well. All these highly destructive events will work to help maximize the ability for pride-filled mankind to begin to become humbled because this is the only thing that can actually help mankind to change so that it can be saved.

The way in which God is doing this is the only way for the largest number of people possible to have the potential to become humbled to the point of becoming motivated to listen to God. This is not an easy thing, as it still involves much human suffering and death. Sadly, this is the only way to bring about a millennial period in which people will begin to want what God is offering them as they become truly and deeply sickened with the ways of mankind and the misery those ways have produced.

So again, there is certain prophecy that is set, as in the example when God declared that there would be a prophetic structure for the end-time whereby ten nations of great military might would rise in a seventh and last revival in Europe. That structure of prophecy cannot be changed. Seven revivals for Europe were set by God to become fulfilled over a period of several hundred years. These were absolute. In the last revival there will be ten nations in a united Europe that will agree together for a very short time as they engage in a third world war. That prophecy is a structure that will not change, and it will happen exactly as God has stated.

Jesus Christ will return to the earth and stand upon the Mount of Olives on a day of Pentecost. That cannot change.

At Christ’s coming, there will be 144,000 who will be resurrected to reign with him in the Kingdom of God, and that prophecy is set and cannot be changed.

Some Prophecies Can Change

As it has already been covered, God will begin to pour out the Seven Last Plagues after the coming of Christ is manifested in the heaven above the earth’s atmosphere. That structure cannot change, as it is set. But the extent of the destruction that follows, and how long it can last can be changed, as that is not set. As in all these cases, any change is dependent upon whether people will begin to respond in a right way to God—whether or not they will begin to listen to Him.

The prophecy of WWIII is set. The extent of destruction caused by mankind is set because God is going to allow mankind to use the nuclear weapons it has made. The purpose is so that people will then have to acknowledge that if God did not intervene, mankind would destroy itself. Otherwise, mankind would learn nothing about its true real potential to completely destroy itself. Over 2.3 billion people will die from the final nuclear confrontation alone. This is set, and if God did not intervene, nothing would be left alive on this earth.

Earlier, when it was mentioned about the many nations that would be affected by the Seven Last Plagues, the United States of America was not mentioned, and some may wonder why. The reason is that the Seven Last Plagues are the result of the Seventh Trumpet of Revelation. The United States will have already ceased to be a viable nation by the time the Fifth through Seventh Trumpet blasts are fulfilled.

The Seven Trumpets of Revelation are set, and the United States of America will collapse as a result of the first four trumpet prophecies. That will not change. However, the extent of the destruction from these four trumpets can change. This is an example of where one of the greatest factors for prophetic change can potentially occur, and again, the result of the destruction is dependent upon who and how many will listen and begin to change.

There is a well-known story that applies to how some prophecy can change. Many are likely familiar with the story concerning a prophet of God named Jonah and how he attempted to run away from a responsibility God had given him to prophesy against the great city of Nineveh because of their evil. God first revealed to His prophet what He was going to do to Nineveh, and Jonah was to tell that to them.

However, Jonah boarded a ship and tried to run away from that responsibility. Once at sea, God caused a great storm, and the ship became in danger of being destroyed. After a short while, the crew was led to Jonah and became convinced that this mighty storm was happening because of him. So they cast him overboard, and the sea then ceased from raging.

This is a story that some people find just too hard to believe, but it did happen. God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and after it did, he was then in the bowels of that fish for three days and three nights. It is this account that Christ referred to when he stated that he would remain in the bowels of the earth (the tomb) for the exact same period of time.

It didn’t take Jonah long before he began to cry out to God for deliverance as he acknowledged the error of his ways. This account describes how seaweed became wrapped around his head and how water was constantly washing over him. So wherever he was specifically lodged within that great fish, he was able to breathe, but he also experienced the effect of some digestive acids that worked to bleach much of his skin.

At the end of those three days, the fish vomited Jonah out on dry land on the coasts of Nineveh. Once again, God told Jonah to warn the people and give them the prophecy that He had told him to deliver in the first place. So Jonah began his journey toward the city center which was about a day’s journey away. This city-state of Nineveh was so great that it would take a three-day’s journey to simply travel all the way through it.

Something notable in all this is that Nineveh had religious beliefs and worship that included the use of images in the shape of fish, and in particular, the head of a fish. When people heard that Jonah had been spewed on shore by a great fish, and they saw him and saw that his skin was partially bleached, Jonah was not only easily recognized, but the story of what happened to him spread quickly, as did his prophecy from God.

Jonah traveled a day’s journey into Nineveh where he began to do most of his warning. He told the people that he was a prophet from God and that he had been sent to them with a warning from Him. They were told that due to their evil ways they would be overthrown within 40 days.

The people were moved with fear and actually believed what Jonah was saying. Once the king of Nineveh heard Jonah’s warning, he came down from his throne and began to fast and seek God’s mercy. He also sent out a decree to all Nineveh that they should fast, and that neither they nor any animals should eat or drink. They were told by the king to turn from their evil way and from the violence in their hands.

The king concluded his decree by saying, “Who can know if perhaps God will turn from His fierce anger so that we do not perish?” The people humbled themselves and did as the king commanded. Then God listened to their words and turned away His earlier judgment from them.

This is a perfect example of how God sent a prophet to prophesy against a people, and they humbled themselves, listened, and began to turn from their evil. Otherwise, they would have been overthrown. That was prophecy that could be changed, as its outcome depended upon the response of the people, and all because of the great mercy of God. It is that same mercy that God is now extending to the world for those who will listen to Him.

An Opportunity to Listen

It would be wise if the people of Germany took special note of this story because a large portion of them are the direct descendants of ancient Nineveh. IF they will listen to God, then they can once again (as in Nineveh) seek His mercy, and He will listen. For it is just as God asks, “Why will you be destroyed?”

That which will now be stated is directed to Germany and the other nine nations that join together from out of the overall European Union to form a final military alliance of a kind of “United States of Europe.” God is giving each of you the opportunity to listen to Him. You will know the time has come for you to decide whether or not you will start listening to God once the ten of you are united. How else could that exact number for you have been known by God’s Church for over 66 years if God wasn’t the one who gave it? This knowledge and understanding of the ten nations uniting was first recorded by the prophet Daniel who wrote it several hundred years before Christ.

God also gave John more to add to that prophecy in the Book of Revelation. In addition, for over 60 years now, God’s Church has been telling the world that Germany would be the primary head of these ten nations who would unite politically, economically, and militarily. This will be completely fulfilled in the final months that lead up to the appearance of Christ’s coming. Each of you ten nations has a great weight upon your head to use your final power to best serve your people and the true welfare of this world. Whether or not you will finally begin listening to God and to what extent, will be the determining factor as to whether many hundreds of millions of lives can be saved in this world or if your own nations will come close to being completely destroyed.

In addition to God’s Church knowing for so long that ten nations would finally unite out of the entire European Union, how could anyone know that when the manifestation of Christ’s coming takes place above the atmosphere of the earth that the Catholic church would proclaim it to be antichrist, instead of Jesus Christ, unless God has revealed it?

The Fifth Trumpet of Revelation is all about the moment the ten nations unite, but the scale of destruction that follows and comes upon them will largely be the result of their own choices. Once the Seven Last Plagues begin to be poured out, after Christ’s coming begins to appear in a physical manifestation above the earth, if you still have NOT chosen to listen to God, then as His prophet, I have to tell you that the Seven Last Plagues will begin to destroy you. Then, if you continue to refuse to listen, those plagues will also continue, and they will cause your nation far greater human suffering and destruction than what would have happened to Nineveh.

Outline of End-Time Events

If people can begin to grasp that God can fulfill His prophetic word in any manner He chooses, then they will begin to better understand what is going to be covered next. It has been stated in simple terms that God has given basic structure to major prophecies concerning the end-time, but how the details can be filled-in leaves much room for many changes.

Some examples have been given of things that are set and of others that can be changed or already have been changed. The Book of Revelation gives a very ordered outline for the basic structure of end-time prophetic events. Here is that outline:

SEVEN SEALS: OPENED BY JESUS CHRIST

• 6th Seal opened, 7 Thunders follow

• 7th Seal opened, 7 Trumpets follow

• At the 7th Trumpet, 7 Last Plagues begin

This is actually a detailed structure that cannot change, as it is set. Yet there are many details within this that can change because they are highly dependent upon matters of timing and the response of mankind to them.

First in this outline are Seven Seals. Jesus Christ was revealed as the one who would open each seal, and over the past several years he has opened every one of them. These have gone unrecognized by the world, and even unrecognized by the Church that became scattered after the Apostasy. The reason for this is because the scattered Church believes that the first four seals are about great tribulation that will come upon the world. Instead, these seals have been about great tribulation that came upon God’s Church once the Apostasy began. The world does not know God’s Church, and the Church that was scattered has not accepted the organization through which God has reestablished it. As a point in timing, the last seal, the Seventh Seal, was opened on the 14th of November in 2008.

The Sixth Seal was opened seven years earlier on the 11th of September 2001. The event of 9/11 in New York City was the first sounding of the First Thunder of which there are seven in total. These thunders can sound anywhere and at any time. They can sound individually or together with other thunders. Although the first of these thunders began to first sound on 9/11, the main fulfillment of the Seven Thunders (when their sound will become the loudest and occur most often) will be in the later part of the final end-time period that began on the 7th of November 2015 and ends in early 2019.

The Seven Thunders are largely intertwined with the work of God’s two end-time witnesses.

Within the Seventh Seal, there are Seven Trumpets that are blown. Each trumpet reveals a very specific structure of what is to be fulfilled as the result of each trumpet sounding. Those Seven Trumpets were blown on the 14th of December 2008, but the physical tribulation they portend has not yet occurred, but it will within the final 3 ½ years leading up to Christ’s coming.

The Seventh Trumpet that sounded points to the time when God will begin to pour out the Seven Last Plagues. These will now occur within the final fifty days that precede Jesus Christ and the 144,000 becoming fully established on earth in their rule over it.

It has already been explained how the administration of the Seven Last Plagues has already been altered due to a change God made for the time of Christ’s return. Those plagues will now be administered within that final 50 days instead of being poured out in a single day.

Indeed, there are changes to many of the details within the overall structure of the trumpets, thunders, and plagues that are yet to be made manifest and physically fulfilled.

Demise of the U.S. in the First Four Trumpets

The first four trumpets of the Seventh Seal are about the demise of the United States of America. She has been the greatest of nations in the end-time, and these four trumpet blasts are structured to end her world dominance, influence, and power. She is the first of all nations to begin to be humbled by God because she has been given the most by Him and has been given the greatest opportunity to listen, but has not. This humbling process that will be poured out upon the United States will be very strong against her.

Several nations of Western Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will also receive a certain impact from these first four trumpets and will also suffer mightily; however, the extent of their suffering fully depends upon how each country will listen and begin responding to God once the impact from the First Trumpet becomes realized. If they do not listen as the force of each trumpet begins to be unleashed, then they will multiply their own suffering.

Since the time the other two books were written, some of how these four trumpet blasts will be fulfilled has now changed as well. Before, when the timing for the fulfillment of end-time events was to be accomplished before Pentecost of 2012, the destruction was more fully set. That is because the kind of destruction that had been prophesied to happen against these nations was a set judgment for that specific period, and it was going to be swift and absolute.

Those English speaking nations, along with some of those of Western Europe, had much destruction judged against them, much like the U.S., because they chose not to listen to God’s warnings that He had given to them through His previous apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. These nations, as well as the U.S., have had far greater opportunity to listen to God than any of the other nations of the world. Judgment from the first four trumpets was therefore directed toward them, but to a lesser degree than upon the U.S. Although these nations still have a judgment set against them that will be realized by these four trumpet blasts still being directed toward them, that impact can now be reduced greatly, and tens of millions can now be saved. God is now revealing that if these nations will begin to listen and turn from their stubborn pride, and repent of their evil, He will begin to listen. If they will do this, they will not have to experience the same level of destruction as what the United States is going to experience. These nations will now be given the opportunity to change their course depending upon whether and when they choose to begin listening and turning to God. The level of destruction and tribulation that comes upon them from these first four trumpets is in their own hands as a result of their own choices.

The destruction that comes upon the United States has not changed and it is still going to be struck a very severe blow, as her pride has only gotten worse, much worse, since 2008. If she does not begin to listen early on, she will suffer much more than what would have been the case before 2012. The first four trumpets now have the ability to cause the death of over half of its population.

Before these first four trumpets become physically fulfilled upon the United States, the Fourth Thunder will have an incredible impact upon the world when the United States economy implodes, along with a global economic crash. This event alone will create such great chaos in the U.S. that it will cripple its government. All this paves the way for great physical devastation from the first four trumpets. Even as this is being written, the Fourth Thunder is getting much louder and will soon reach its peak.

Another prophetic change that will now occur is that the greatest blow to the United States that falls within the events of these first four trumpet blasts will not be the result of terrorists as previously prophesied, but of the direct and crippling result of a military first strike against her. A nuclear EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) strike alone will so cripple communications and mobility as to prevent any meaningful response. The complete collapse of the United States as a great nation will result in great death and destruction throughout every one of its fifty states.

Due to how much worse the United States has become in the past seven years, she will now suffer far worse than she would have before in the period following 2008. The corruption within the mind of leaders and the general populace has grown so fast that NOW the destruction and death that comes upon her will be much more severe in the beginning. Her pride has mushroomed during this last seven years, and her refusal to listen to God has become more fully set against Him. Yet after this massive destruction does begin, she can always change and begin to listen and thereby suffer far less from the effects of the trumpet blasts that follow.

God has now placed the main hope of the United States squarely in the hands of His two witnesses who alone are given the power to help deliver them. The extent of destruction that each of the trumpet blasts and thunders can inflict upon her depends solely on the extent that she will humble herself and listen to God’s two witnesses. If she will not listen, she will not only suffer from great destruction inflicted by a powerful military strike against her, but catastrophic events from natural disasters and plagues can have just as massive an impact. These actually have the ability to become far more destructive than the weapons that will be used against her. It all depends on her response toward God and those whom He has sent to them. The fate of the people of the United States rests fully in their own hands and whether they can be humbled quickly or not.

The United States of America is the first country to be impacted on such a massive scale of destruction by end-time events. That is because she is the one nation in all the world that has received from God the greatest wealth and power of any single nation on earth through all time, and yet the one that has resisted God the most. She has not listened to God when, above all other nations, she has had the greatest opportunity to have done so over the past 70 years.

The United States government and its people would not acknowledge Herbert W. Armstrong as God’s apostle nor would they listen to his warnings, but instead tried to take control of and destroy the Church in the late 1970s—the Church over which Mr. Armstrong was God’s apostle. She also tried to destroy God’s Church again in 2012. God has not taken this direct affront to Him lightly.

However, at any time, the United States and/or her people can begin to humble themselves and begin to listen, if they so choose. They have been given great opportunity to do so, above all other nations. Most certainly, God will humble the United States. If she will not begin to humble herself after the great economic implosion that results from the Fourth Thunder, she will experience the full brunt of the First Trumpet blast. If she will not repent and still will not listen, she will experience the full brunt of the Second Trumpet, etcetera. She will additionally begin to experience the power of plagues and devastating thunders that will escalate against her until she begins to listen. This process will largely be determined by God’s two witnesses.

The more the United States holds to her pride, the more she will suffer until she is humbled. This is a matter of God’s judgment and what He has determined concerning how the U.S. should be humbled. This is in similar fashion to God humbling Pharaoh in the time of Moses. God humbled Egypt in order to deliver Israel out from her, but it was at great cost to Egypt and to all her people due to their pride. Most every bit of Egypt’s agriculture was totally destroyed, most of its livestock became destroyed, and finally, even all the firstborn of Egypt died, and lastly, Pharaoh and his military were destroyed in the Red Sea. Pride is a great evil, and it is a stubborn foe to sound reason.

The Fifth Trumpet

The United States has become so much more corrupt in spirit within the past seven years that there may now be more likelihood that the ten nations of the final revival of Europe begin listening and changing before the people of the United States do so. Although the Fifth Trumpet pictures the time Satan and the demonic realm have power to deceive and bring this final formation of these ten nations together, there is now more potential for them that they can break away from that evil influence once they begin listening to God.

It is good to understand what Daniel was given to record about these ten nations that form during the fulfillment of the Fifth Trumpet. Daniel describes them as being like iron that is mingled with clay. They have nuclear weapons they can seize, take control of and use. However, they are loosely united in will and purpose in the use of such power, as their formation is not for the purpose of seeking to conquer others as the previous revivals of Europe before them had set out to do. Their motivation is more of self-preservation and their actions are out of a necessity in order to stand against a Russian/Chinese axis that has already begun to engage in war. War will have already begun by the time the next trumpet begins to be fulfilled, as it will lead into an all-out nuclear war. That is what this Sixth Trumpet fulfills—an all-out nuclear war that begins just before the coming of Christ.

The prophetic structure that is pictured by the Fifth Trumpet where these final ten nations are brought together in a final great military revival of Europe is one that is set. However, the details that are yet to be accomplished by them in the complete fulfillment of this trumpet blast is now in complete flux and can change drastically from one extreme to another. This is within their own power as the result of the kind of choices they make. That will in itself determine the extent of destruction they will experience. They have the ability to begin listening to God and using their power wisely or they can begin to use that power for evil objectives as Satan tries to influence them to do. Although they initially do not become united with an evil objective, that will change if they do not begin listening to God.

Although Satan is behind the formation of these ten nations coming together, things may very well not go the way Satan intends. These nations are prophesied to remain together as iron and clay for a short span of time that is described as a prophetic hour. Again, the details of this Fifth Trumpet are in great flux, and there is great potential that these events will now not go the way of that great adversary, the Devil. These events can turn against what he desires just as events have already turned against him in what was fulfilled concerning the Church during the sixth prophetic period of 1,260 days that is known as the period for the measuring of the temple, the Church. Although Satan attempted to destroy the Church, it instead became much stronger, and he became much weaker.

God has not yet revealed the specific meaning of the actual length for this prophetic “one-hour” period that is to occur before the Sixth Trumpet begins to be fulfilled. However, there is a precedent that was set concerning an end-time period known as “30 minutes of silence” which lasted 30 days. If this does prove to be the case, then these events will occur during a period of 60 days, and they will become fulfilled a short while before Christ begins his return.

The main catalyst that brings this final ten nation European revival together will not be known until it actually happens. When it does happen, these nations will agree to combine their powers, combining all their own military ability and might, while also seizing and taking control of a strong nuclear arsenal within its grasp.

The Sixth Trumpet

This trumpet is explicit and is set concerning the kind of destruction that will result from a final confrontation and escalation in WWIII in which one-third of mankind will be destroyed (2.3 billion people). A war that has already begun will escalate to become a far greater confrontation between a United Europe and a Chinese/Russian axis.

The massive destruction from this confrontation will be in addition to the death of multiple millions that will have already occurred. The Sixth Trumpet simply describes a period when this Chinese/Russian axis of power strikes out far more aggressively against the world than it previously had to this point in time.

China will continue its escalation of war around the world and will begin to focus on Europe itself. The degree to which Russia will participate and “how” they will do so is now a factor that can also change, even right up to the time of this final confrontation that begins to occur not long before Christ appears in the atmosphere above the earth. Even if Russia will not listen, it will have to decide how it will ultimately deal with China and vice versa. They may side with each other for a time, but they do not trust one another, and rightly so.

Why 2012 Was Changed

This brings us back to some of those things discussed at the beginning of this chapter concerning how God first revealed that the Pentecost of 2012 was the time for Christ’s return. That, however, was changed to another date exactly 7 years later to the Pentecost of 2019. Why did this change? What happened?

To come to understand this and everything else that is happening and changing for this seventh and final prophetic end-time period, it is necessary to once again take a look at history. God executed judgment upon the world in the days of Noah because mankind had become so deeply corrupted. Many had so damaged the minds they had been given that they had come to a point where the ability to reverse that corrupting process within the mind had already been surpassed.

Once individuals have been given the ability to see their human nature by God revealing it to them, His desire is to then give them the opportunity to change that selfish nature if they will choose to do so. If a person becomes set in the corruption of their mind, then there is no means whatsoever by which to ever help them or to reverse that course they have chosen and their existence will simply come to an end— forever.

After the flood, God changed the lifespan of mankind. Before that flood, the lifespan for mankind was hundreds of years. By living so very long in a solely selfish existence, very deep levels of corruption in the human mind were produced and evil flourished. If the mind becomes so corrupted that it becomes set in evil, then it will not be able to have that process reversed in order to transform that mind into a different way of thinking to one that is opposite of selfish motivation and pride. In contrast to this, by mankind having a much shorter lifespan, the mind of many will never reach the point of becoming set in corruption and evil. Yet some people continuously pursue evil as a choice in how they want to live their life so that their mind becoming set in corruption is inevitable anyway.

God allotted 6,000 years for mankind to rule himself so that a powerful testimony would be established that proves what mankind’s selfish nature will always produce. God is now going to establish a testimony (witness) of what mankind can accomplish within only 1,000 years when it is ruled by His government and when all people can know what is true and are able to finally learn and live His ways of life. Yet even then, some will not choose God’s ways.

In the days of Noah, man’s spirit had become so evil that God simply worked with the last man with whom He could who would listen to Him. So God called Noah in order to repopulate the earth through him and his immediate family. Now, mankind is once again on the brink of that same level of irreversible corruption, and although that corruption and practice of evil is outwardly just as great right now, and some of it much worse, the mind of mankind has not yet become as fully set in that evil as so many during Noah’s day.

In Noah’s time, since people lived for several hundred years, they became professional in the practice of selfishness and evil and after living for such a long period of time as they did, their minds became set in that corruption. Today, mankind’s lifespan is much shorter and the damage to the mind, although it is rapidly moving toward that same depth of corruption, has not become as deeply set within the human mind as in Noah’s day.

Although the lifespan of mankind is now near one tenth of what it was at that time, the rate of acceleration toward deep corruption within the human mind is occurring at an exceedingly faster rate than in the days of Noah. The reason for such a rapid rate of deterioration is due to modern technology. For nearly 5,800 years, mankind was not given the ability to pursue the kind of scientific advancement that it has been experiencing over the past two hundred years.

God gave scientific advancement to mankind. It is not something that mankind came to discover on his own through his own abilities. Instead, God began to give mankind knowledge of such things within a very controlled timeframe toward the end of this age. If it had been given too soon, mankind would have destroyed itself far too early and it would not have reached the allotted period of 6,000 years God established for its own self-rule.

So it is God who gave mankind the ability to advance in modern technology. Mankind did not do this on his own, as he would like to believe. God knew the state mankind would come to once they were given the kind of technology we now have. Technology has been the pathway to deep corruption of the human mind at an accelerated rate to levels not seen since the days of Noah.

It is only through God allowing mankind to experience technology that it can come to more fully see itself as it really is. As time moved forward in the development of technology and how mankind misused it, so the corruption of the mind accelerated further. The greater the technology, the greater the corruption has become, and the faster mankind has been moving toward annihilating itself.

As scientific advancement has progressed and rapidly moved forward in the growth of technology, mankind has only grown to misuse it more and more. It has now come to a time that mankind has simply lost control of its use. People have become more enslaved to their own desires than ever before. The misuse of the Internet, social media, cell phones, video games, chemistry (drugs), advertising, entertainment, and so much more has simply placed mankind into greater bondage and depravity than ever before. The speed at which the human mind is corrupting itself is staggering.

The level of corruption in the human mind that took hundreds of years to develop in the time of Noah has now been sped up in a horrifying manner through the misuse of technology.

To make a long story short, by the time 2008 rolled around, the world had become so corrupted that God’s judgment for mankind had already been made and was ready to be executed upon it. The earth was going to be cleansed through great physical tribulation that would lead up to the Pentecost of 2012 for Christ’s coming, as God would then intervene to stop mankind from annihilating itself.

Several years before 2008 God placed everything in motion that would bring about the end of this age. Mankind was already so corrupted that most of the earth was going to be destroyed. God is letting the world know that this would have been His fair and righteous judgment to have so cleansed the earth at that time.

This process would have included mankind being allowed to begin its own annihilation while the additional execution of God’s judgment was also going to be experienced, which would have resulted in massive destruction that could have easily ended in the death of well over 6.5 billion people. It still can, but now God is giving great potential for mankind to first be humbled so that it might begin to listen and thereby be saved alive.

The Factor in Determining Christ’s Return: The Church

There is one factor in the midst of all this that would determine which date God would send His Son to rule in His Kingdom. That factor was the Church—His Church.

Before 2008, the world had already been judged that it was worthy of such massive cleansing, and it would have received an even more condemning judgment up to 2012 through an ongoing final witness. At that time, just before 2008, everything was moving rapidly toward a worldwide economic collapse, WWIII, and major catastrophic end-time events. Even some thunders were becoming more pronounced and destructive in the time leading up to 2008. Although the world had already been judged as to what would happen at that time, the variable concerning what condition God’s remnant Church would be in by this time was unknown. That variable would determine whether God would proceed with great physical tribulation then or whether it could be withheld for seven more years.

As it has been stated, the first five seals of Revelation were about God’s own Church at the end-time. It was prophesied that it would experience massive devastation on a spiritual plane as it went through great spiritual tribulation. During this period of time, God was going to humble and bring a remnant of His Church through the end-time. That not only included bringing a remnant through the great spiritual tribulation that came upon the Church beginning on the 17th of December in 1994, but also bringing it through the great physical tribulation that would occur just before Christ’s actual coming.

In all the end-time events that would lead up to Christ’s return, God’s first and greatest desire was to send His Son to reign on the earth beginning in 2019. This was largely so that He would be able to extend great mercy upon the Church that had become scattered and to offer deliverance to the majority of them so that they might have opportunity to live on into the Millennium. In addition, God also desired to extend mercy and give greater potential for many millions more in the world to become humbled so that they could also be saved to live on into that same millennial period.

However, the great variable allowing for any change in all of this rested upon God’s own remnant Church and the spiritual condition and shape it would be in by mid-2008. That would be the time when God would make His final judgment as to when Christ should return.

All that is being addressed at this point is only being done as a basic overview. All that was involved in God determining His final judgment for when Christ should return is far from being just a simple matter to explain. It involves factors of God’s judgment, planning, the execution of that planning, and the spiritual development, growth, and the state His Church would be in by mid-2008.

The highly complex process in the ability to coordinate nations, economies, technology, along with the growth and development of God’s people, and so very much more that could be mentioned here, is candidly beyond human comprehension. Yet all this is something that God is doing as He prepares to end mankind’s self-rule and establish His Kingdom on earth. Human ingenuity, design, planning, and coordination in massive building projects cannot truly be compared to this; however, that is the only kind of physical example that I can give as a comparison whereby some might begin to better grasp the enormity of what is being said here. A comparison between man’s ability to plan and build and that of God’s, would be like comparing a child using a few blocks of wood to make what they conceive as a building, to that of the most prestigious and well-constructed building that mankind has ever built. Yet even in this, there is really no way to compare the two.

God’s final judgment as to when His Son should return rested upon a great unknown. It was a question as to the exact state the Church would be in by mid-2008. That is when such a judgment would have to be made one way or the other. The condition of the Church could not be guaranteed, and therefore, such a judgment could not be made until this was clearly established.

The exact state of the Church could not be foreknown due to all the suffering it would experience after the Apostasy and all the spiritual tribulation that would follow. The necessary strength the Church would need to have and where people would be spiritually by mid-2008 would determine how things could proceed forward in the fulfillment of end-time prophetic events. The true condition of the Church would be the final deciding factor for when God would send His Son to reign on earth. This would reveal whether things were to proceed to a conclusion by Pentecost of 2012 or whether seven more years could be granted to mankind and to the Church that had been scattered.

After the Apostasy in the Church, God began to prepare and work with a remnant from the scattering that followed that destructive event. This remnant Church would continue up to the coming of Jesus Christ, and God had predetermined that His Son could return on either Pentecost of 2012 or Pentecost of 2019. God’s primary desire and plan from the time of that Apostasy was to send His Son to return on the Pentecost of 2019. Even though it was God’s desire that His Son return on the Pentecost of 2019, it would remain unknown whether the Church would reach a level of spiritual strength necessary to accomplish a greater purpose by this addition of seven more difficult and very trying years.

Although it was known that the Church would survive and continue all the way up to the coming of Christ, it could not be known what spiritual level of strength it would be at by mid-2008. This was the point in time that was necessary to make a final judgment as to when Christ should return. By mid-2008, the Church was highly focused on the return date of 2012, and everything in their lives had been geared to that moment in time. Since the Church’s spiritual state hadn’t been judged before this and the date for Christ’s return was still unknown, God had been preparing His Church for the return of His Son to be on the Pentecost of 2012.

However, if God were to move the return of Christ forward by seven years beyond this, and accomplish what would need to become fulfilled on a spiritual plane in the Church through that period, it would require a very strong spiritual level of faith, trust, and conviction on the part of the Church. This is because the addition of seven more years would bring a very heightened level of persecution, trial, and hardship upon God’s people. For the Church to endure and accomplish all of this it would require it to be at a very specific level of spiritual growth and development by mid-2008.

God had judged and established a first date of 2012 for Christ’s coming, and He would make certain that the Church would survive spiritually to that point in time. For the Church to be able to experience what it would have to endure beyond that time, its spiritual state could not be judged until mid-2008. That date would be the optimum time whereby such a judgment could be made as to whether the Church could accomplish what would be required of it in order to fulfill a much greater work that would lead up to the Pentecost of 2019.

To make this judgment, there were specific things that God would do to reveal the Church’s true spiritual state at that point in time in order to know whether it had the kind of growth, maturity, and spiritual strength necessary to warrant another seven years.

If the Church was not at that necessary level of spiritual strength and development it needed to reach by mid-2008, then God would proceed with the execution of His judgment against the world that He had already established. God was not going to put more upon His people than what they would be able to bear. In this matter, the Church came first! The world had already been judged of what it justly deserved, and so had the Church that had been scattered.

Since the Apostasy, God’s Church had gone through great upheaval and unrest. These were such turbulent times that unless one had experienced it, one cannot begin to fully appreciate it or understand the depth of what individuals in the Church had gone through and were continuing to go through. That which the Church was experiencing was on a spiritual plane of great spiritual tribulation. It is something that can only be grasped fully by actual experience. God has declared that no one in His Church has ever experienced anything of such magnitude before and that no one will ever experience anything like it again.

It is one thing to suffer on a physical plane as so many in times past have done, but to suffer on a spiritual level such as this is altogether another matter. All of God’s people in times past have suffered on a spiritual plane in spiritual tribulation, but it has not been to the extent of this or of a magnitude such as the Apostasy produced.

The Church was nearly destroyed after December 1994 when that Apostasy occurred, but God was not going to let that happen. However, He was going to allow great devastation on a level that was unprecedented. Over a full 6,000 years, this event alone will serve into the future as one of the greatest examples and teaching tools ever. This will be used as an example throughout the Millennium as a sober reminder and warning to future generations, as it contains incredibly important spiritual lessons that all must come to see and understand before entering God’s Family.

At that time in 1994, those who attended services in God’s Church numbered about 150,000 people, of which 96,000 were baptized adults. By 2008, the Church was decimated, and very few remained. After that Apostasy in December 1994, two-thirds of the Church went by the wayside, and the remaining one-third was scattered as a result. Of that one-third of the Church, most eventually settled into four larger groups (organizations), and the rest were dispersed into over 600 other groups. In the midst of all these groups was the one group that God used to raise up His remnant Church that had been prophesied long before by the prophet Ezekiel.

When the Church was scattered after the Apostasy, during the first prophetic period of 1260 days, it was protected from Satan just as God said it would be. After this period ended and into the years that followed, many of the smaller scattered groups began to fall apart and go by the wayside. The larger groups had struggles and divisions, but became settled into their own routine of continuing a “work” that they believed was a continuation of what Herbert W. Armstrong had been doing through the Worldwide Church of God. These not only “settled in,” but they drifted into a much deeper spiritual sleep, a kind of sleep from which only God can awaken them—in His time—at a time that is now fast approaching.

However, for God’s small remnant Church, the spiritual battles and attacks were growing more powerful. During most of the time that followed the start of the remnant Church on Pentecost of 1998 (exactly 1260 days after the Apostasy), the Church had been whittled down to less than 300 baptized adults who had experienced the Apostasy. Over the years, many more came along and entered into that fellowship, but many also left. The battles were far too much for most people. If all who had come along had stayed in that remnant fellowship, God’s remnant Church would have been many times larger than what it was, but that was not to happen. It was just too much for too many.

Prophetically, God has revealed that He offered over 3,000 people the potential to become part of this remnant Church. There is a great lesson in this because although a much larger group would be offered this opportunity, it didn’t mean that all would choose to accept it, and they didn’t.

This history has been needful in order to help a person come to understand why the spiritual state of the Church could not be fully known by mid-2008. The Church would have to be of a necessary spiritual strength and faith that God alone could “measure” by that time. That would determine whether the Church could be moved forward to the degree necessary in order to accomplish a far greater purpose in extending great mercy and life, both within the world and the Church that had been scattered.

God knew the kind of devastation that would come upon His Church once He allowed the Apostasy to occur. God knew the kind of spiritual warfare and destruction that would follow and that there would be very large casualties along the way. However, even in that which concerned a very large Church that had become scattered, God’s greater plan would make it possible for most of these to be saved within another period of time—in the final 100 years beyond the Millennium.

God’s purpose and will has always been that He be able to lead a strong remnant group within the Church through the greatest spiritual tribulation it has ever known since the Church began in 31 A.D. However, God’s will first and foremost was not only to lead a remnant group well beyond mid-2008 to Pentecost 2012, but it was also to create within them a much stronger faith and higher level of spiritual strength. This would then enable them to do a far greater work within the eleven years that would follow 2008, all the way up to the Pentecost of 2019.

Above all things, it has always been God’s desire that the optimum number of lives be saved in the end-time, both in the Church that had become scattered and in the world. But such matters always come down to individual human choice, and because of that, there is no guarantee what choices people will make. When God created the angelic realm, there was no guarantee how many would choose to continue to follow Him and how many would not. Yet God knew that by creating them to have free choice and free will that the result would be that there could be many who ultimately would not choose Him and His ways. In time, one-third of the angels did reject God and His way of life.

All people have been created with the same ability of free choice and free will. The vast majority of all those whom God awakened out of a spiritual sleep within the Church that was scattered were not able to endure the spiritual tribulation that the Church has experienced ever since the Apostasy. They were simply unable to stay in the fight. Some succumbed to the human weakness of pride, desire for power and/or recognition, selfishness, sexual lust, spiritual lethargy, jealousy, and/or general weariness of battle. Everyone who experienced the Apostasy was in a state of being spiritually asleep before God awakened them, and those within the remnant who gave up the battle went right back to sleep again.

Yet there has always been a core of people who have remained more spiritually alert and on guard through this period. As a result, God has been able to work with them on a spiritual plane that has made them stronger in faith and in spiritual battle. Exactly where the Church would be overall spiritually by mid-2008 remained an unknown factor throughout the years preceding this. The growth, spiritual state, and faith of the Church was not to be measured until this specific time in order to determine what might be able to yet be created within them by moving beyond 2012.

The Determining Test for The Church

Throughout time, there are things that God has done in the lives of those whom He has called that put them to the test in order to reveal what is actually deep down inside their being—in the innermost part of their mind. These tests serve as a kind of trigger to force a person to address and act upon a decisive issue in their life at that specific moment in time. Such a test will reveal openly where a person truly stands spiritually in their relationship toward God and His Church. The actual degree of strength or weakness an individual exhibits when they are confronted with such a thing will be made manifest by their response, and it is measurable by God.

There are trials and tests that can clearly reveal the strength or weakness within the spirit of a person and of where a person truly is spiritually. These things can reveal the strength of conviction, faith, and level of commitment a person has toward God. However, these may reveal such great weaknesses that it becomes obvious that they will not be able to continue to endure further testing or trials. There is no “sitting on the fence” in a relationship with God. There is no ability to continue in a relationship with God if a person is only lukewarm in spirit, and definitely not if a person is not in agreement.

A good example of such testing is where God allowed Abraham to believe he should offer up his son, Isaac, in sacrifice. Yet it should be understood that human sacrifice is against God’s will and ways, but Abraham did not know that at this point in his life. Nevertheless, God let Abraham believe this was a requirement. Abraham was so strong in his convictions toward God and believed that God was filled with such mercy and righteousness that He would resurrect Isaac if needed in order to keep His promise concerning Isaac’s future. This story tells how God stopped Abraham from killing his own son and provided him with an animal standing nearby so that it could be offered instead. Abraham was put to the test in order to clearly reveal (manifest) what was truly in the deepest part of his being concerning his faith, conviction, and dedication to God. This event was established to help teach the world of the kind of love God has for mankind because He was willing to sacrifice His own Son to save mankind.

After this account, God said to Abraham, “Now I know you.” This revealed the true mind and spiritual creation that had been developed in Abraham to that moment in time. It revealed the level of commitment which Abraham was determined to live by in obedience and oneness toward God, regardless of the obstacles or trials that might come his way.

Similar to how God worked with Abraham in this account, God also allowed the Church to believe that the return of Christ was still going to occur in 2012, even after He had judged in mid-2008 to extend it by seven more years beyond 2012. God made this judgment in mid-2008 to move forward Christ’s return after putting the Church to a test that revealed the true spiritual state and level of actual spiritual development in its members to that moment in time. This was a test to determine the kind of choices individuals would make that would reveal their true faith toward God. It was a test that would force a response to be triggered that would reveal, one way or the other, what was deep down inside the spirit of each person.

This test was when God revealed a new truth to His Church that Christ would return to this earth on a Pentecost and not on the Holy Day of Trumpets as previously believed. Ever since I have been in the Church, it had been believed and taught by the ministry that Christ would return on a Feast of Trumpets. This would not be a small change for the Church, and it would reveal where everyone stood spiritually. Matters concerning Holy Days are very foundational doctrines, and the Church knows well that God will not change any truth concerning those days and their meaning for fulfillment. Although God had given His Church much truth concerning His Holy Days, there have been some things about those days that He never fully revealed. That was by design.

Over time, God reveals more and more truth to His people. It has been that way ever since Adam and Eve were created. Over the past 6,000 years, God has progressively revealed truth of Himself, His plan, purpose, and ways of life. As an example, in the time of Moses, God revealed much more about Himself, His purpose, and true ways of life that mankind should live. God had worked with certain individuals and families for several hundred years before, but by the time of Moses, He began to reveal much more to Israel than he had to those who had previously lived.

As time continued on, God began to reveal more through His prophets and then through the greatest Prophet of all that was sent to mankind—Jesus Christ. It was at this point nearly 4,000 years from the beginning of mankind’s existence that God began to reveal a greater amount of knowledge and understanding. Jesus Christ began to reveal the spiritual intent of God’s laws and ways of life. Even after the Church began in 31 A.D., God continued to progressively reveal much more to His Church through his apostles and the prophet John.

Over the past 80 years, there was only one other change in the Church that was of such proportion with the potential for trials as this one. It was when God had given truth to Herbert W. Armstrong that the Church should be keeping Pentecost on a Sunday and not on a Monday as the Church had been observing for nearly 40 years previous to this. So in 1974, when God led Mr. Armstrong to make this change within the Church, it was a trigger that forced people to address where they stood as a matter of “faith” in God’s Church, how deeply they believed God’s calling, and of how convicted they were of how God was working with them.

When that change was made, it truly did reveal where people stood spiritually. The response from members of the Church now allowed for each of them to be easily measured by God as to where they were in their spiritual development. There were large numbers of people, including quite a few within the ministry, who left the Church over this. Even in this, there were people who opposed this change who were on two different sides, nevertheless, it revealed where they truly were spiritually. Some would not make the change because they could not accept that God had revealed such a thing to Mr. Armstrong because they could not believe that they had been wrong all those years before this. Others left because they believed Mr. Armstrong had not made the change quick enough. This test was a trigger that caused people to respond, one way or the other, thus revealing their true beliefs and convictions.

God could have revealed this truth to the Church from the beginning, but He did not, and that was by design so that at a future time this might be used to test and refine His Church. This test worked to help cleanse the Church spiritually, and as a result, a stronger body remained as it continued to follow God’s apostle, as he was following Jesus Christ.

It was by this testing in 1974 that many were weeded out of God’s Church, yet the vast majority of the Church simply took this in stride, and were thankful for another great truth that God had revealed. They were excited by what God had given to them.

Such tests are designed as a trigger that forces a person to respond to something they have never yet been faced with in their life. At such a moment, they are forced to decide and choose what they will believe. In this case of a change being made concerning the day that Pentecost was to be observed, the announcement of this change forced people to respond to their true thinking and convictions. Each person was confronted with having to make a personal decision concerning what choice they would make in response to what they heard. This test, which resulted from this announcement of a big change in the observance of one of God’s Holy Days, worked as a kind of trigger upon the mind. It would instantly spark a reaction that would begin to manifest where each individual stood. It would reveal one’s faith and level of conviction or the lack thereof.

Oftentimes, individuals don’t even know their own true self and actual convictions until such a test comes their way that reveals it.

In this particular example, people were instantly tested as to their actual conviction and belief in God’s Church and of their own level of confidence that God was leading Herbert W. Armstrong as His apostle. It would reveal each person’s level of conviction, their belief in the doctrines of the Church, as well as their belief in the means through which God reveals truth to His people.

It was at Pentecost 2008 when God began to reveal a new truth—the 50th Truth—to His Church concerning the Holy Day when Christ would once again stand upon the Mount of Olives at his return. The response to this truth from God’s Church would be the determining factor for what year God would send His son to establish His Kingdom on earth.

There were two objectives God had for the Church if that return was to go beyond 2012. God’s purpose wasn’t that the members of the Church just simply carry on as they had over the previous 13 years, simply continuing a process for the normal transformation of the mind that was being created within each of them. The Church had already been on a very long, turbulent journey since the Apostasy, and there was no point that it should simply suffer more unless there was some far greater purpose for it.

Instead, if the Church was going to be carried forward another 11 years, up to the Pentecost of 2019, God was first going to make it a Church that would become even far, far stronger in faith and spiritual strength than it had ever been. This would entail a creative process that had never before been done on such a level within the Church.

God’s greater purpose for continuing forward was that if indeed a greater creation were to be worked within them, then they would also do a much greater work than could have been accomplished after 2008 and up to 2012, if that had been the time for Christ’s coming.

If the Church was not where it needed to be by mid-2008 in order for these additional things to be accomplished within it, then there was no point in continuing further. Instead, it would be more expedient to simply carry out the execution of prophetic end-time tribulation upon the world, a world that had already been judged worthy of tribulation.

This new truth that was to be a test on the Church was given to it on the 28th of June in 2008. It was then that this change about Christ returning on Pentecost was revealed to the entirety of the Church. This did prove to be unsettling for a very few, which included a handful within the ministry. These did not respond well and this began to reveal their true spiritual state. In time, most of these became weakened by other events and eventually went by the wayside. This was a test that triggered a true response within these individuals that then began to become manifest and proved to be a major turning point in their life as they turned away from God.

However, for some in the Church, this proved to be a great spiritual wake-up call, as they began to recognize that a lethargic spiritual condition of Laodicea was starting to creep into their lives. This motivated these individuals to repentance and greater spiritual growth.

For most who were actively growing on a continuing basis on a spiritual plane, this new truth proved inspiring, especially as they then began to see a far greater importance in it. The Church became more excited about this change as the weeks progressed, and it proved to be a strong catalyst for far greater spiritual growth.

There was more to this new truth beyond the fact that it revealed the actual Holy Day when Christ would stand on this earth once more. It also revealed a big change that was to occur in what had been seen as the actual day when Christ would return. This in itself proved to be exceedingly exciting for God’s Church.

As it was stated, before this change in understanding that Jesus Christ would return on a Pentecost, it was believed that he would return on a Feast of Trumpets, which is autumn in the northern hemisphere. Several months prior to this change given in June 2008, the Church had come to believe that Christ was going to return on the Feast of Trumpets in 2011. The reason for seeing that it had to be that specific year was because God had revealed that 2008 was the year that a final witness to the world would begin to be established, hence the title of the second book, 2008—God’s Final Witness. Since 2008 had been revealed to be the year when God would begin to establish a final end-time witness, the Church knew that witness would be accomplished within a prophetic period of 1260 days as prophesied. The only Feast of Trumpets that could be measured from any date within the year of 2008 and out to a future Feast of Trumpets had to be the Feast of Trumpets in 2011.

So with this new truth about Christ returning on a Pentecost, this also required announcing a change to a new date for the return of Christ. The only time that could be measured to a specific Pentecost from 1260 days within the year 2008, had to be the Pentecost of 2012.

Although there was a change in our understanding about a different Holy Day being the date of Christ’s coming, this now became incredibly exciting. This count of 1260 days is one that is directly related to Daniel’s prophecy for timing of end-time events that includes the count of three specific periods of time. In addition to a 1260-day count, there is also the count of 1290 days and 1335 days mentioned in Daniel 12. All of a sudden, these days began to fit into a very meaningful pattern, whereas they didn’t before in the previous count to Trumpets of 2011.

By counting back 1335 days from the Pentecost in 2012, it leads to the 30th of September of 2008, the Feast of Trumpets for that year. This was incredibly inspiring for the vast majority of the Church, as this had awesome meaning that everyone understood. The Feast of Trumpets pictures the trumpeting of the announcement of the coming of the King of kings—the coming of the Messiah. That is the primary meaning of that Holy Day, and that is why the Church previously believed that Trumpets must be the Holy Day on which Christ would return. However, with the new truth given to the Church in late June 2008, this now took on even deeper meaning. That is because it was now believed the trumpeting (announcement) of Christ’s coming would occur on Trumpets of 2008 and then 1335 days later he would begin his return to this earth at the very moment Pentecost began in 2012.

This test upon God’s Church in 2008 was actually far more important than we ever knew. It was of double importance in one sense because it was like two tests in one. Not only had truth been changed about a Holy Day, but now the timing for Christ’s return was also altered as a result, since it was now understood that he would not return on the day of Trumpets 2011, but on the day of Pentecost 2012. This was a mighty strong and telling test for God’s Church, as it would quickly and powerfully reveal the belief, conviction, and faith of every individual.

So indeed, God triggered a response that manifested the true spiritual condition of the Church, which could then be measured. It was then that God proceeded with His plan and purpose to create something far greater in His Church, to a degree and in a way that had never been done before. Since the Church passed this test with resounding success, God would now not only move forward the timing for Christ’s coming from the Pentecost of 2012 to the Pentecost of 2019, but He would begin preparing the world to now have the potential for far greater numbers to be delivered into the Millennium.

Although God changed this timing, He did not reveal to the Church that He had done so. That in itself would become the primary tool God would use whereby He would continue an even greater spiritual creation within His Church. As a result, the Church experienced a molding and spiritual fashioning of faith and strength to a level where members were made to stand fast against Satan, the demonic world, and the world itself, regardless of what these would throw at it.

At One With God

This experience of a dual test the Church had been given at the end of June in 2008 actually worked to launch the Church forward with greater conviction and focus than ever before. After another six months had passed, the Church had grown to a much stronger level of spiritual oneness with God. This was reflected in what the Church then did in early January of 2009.

Although God had revealed an important truth to His Church that the return of Christ was now going to occur on a Pentecost, He never revealed to the Church that 2012 was no longer to be the year for Christ’s coming. It would be a few more years before God would actually reveal that everything had been moved forward by seven years.

Throughout the four years that followed the time the Church was tested, all the way up to the Pentecost of 2012, the Church still believed that Christ was coming on that day. It lived that belief as a matter of unquestioning faith, similar to Abraham who had unwavering faith that God would resurrect his son if he were sacrificed. For the Church, everything they lived was geared to that day for Christ’s coming. People made important financial, future family planning, and career decisions based on this world’s system coming to an end by late May of 2012. For many, this would later prove to make their lives more difficult in the years that immediately followed, but nevertheless, they did it all in faith.

Although the Church experienced the months, weeks, and days leading up to that day with nothing happening, this experience actually became the catalyst that would pave the way for God to do a much greater spiritual creation within them in a way that could not have been accomplished through any other means. That is the very reason God did not reveal that everything had been moved forward by seven years. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t for quite a while after Pentecost 2012 that God revealed what He had done. In all those years leading to that date, the Church grew into a more responsive and unified body that had been prepared to follow God in whatever direction He would lead it and through whatever change was thrust before it.

The Church is God’s creation and now He was going to create something on a far greater plane through this entire process. The astounding purpose behind all that God was doing within those in the Church, began to be revealed in what He inspired His Church to do soon after the Seven Trumpets of Revelation sounded in mid-December of 2008. In the beginning of January, God’s Church entered into a two-day fast. This was unprecedented in the Church. It was stated that this fast was for baptized members to participate in. Yet some who were not baptized and some younger in age joined in as well, and some of those who were young did so for one day instead of two, but nevertheless, they participated.

This fast was a powerful tool to bring the Church into far greater unity and oneness with God’s very purpose in moving forward in a second date for Christ’s coming. In this fast that the Church observed, the desire, as with all fasts, was to draw closer to God through humbling oneself before Him, as one would focus more on their own need for growth, change through repentance, and transformation in mind (thinking). In this fast there were also many prayers that included a petition to God that He might deliver far more people from destruction in this end-time, both in the world and in the Church that had been scattered.

That was God’s purpose all along for the world and for the Church that had been scattered. Through this fast, the Church had been brought into greater unity and oneness with God’s purpose. Yet the Church would not fully learn about all that God had accomplished until they could read the pages of this book, and this is long after God already implemented His plans to achieve the very thing this fast was directed to accomplish—that many more might be able to be delivered into the Millennium.

God actually did reveal a portion of this to the Church before 2012 that concerned the Church that had been scattered. God revealed that far larger numbers of those who had been scattered were potentially going to be delivered, although we did not realize at that time that this was not to happen for at least seven years or more from when it was revealed. If Christ’s coming had been in 2012, only a much smaller number could have been potentially delivered into the Millennium.

There is a prophecy in Revelation that speaks of destruction that will take place in Jerusalem where a total of 70,000 people are affected. God said that 7,000 of them would perish in a great earthquake (shaking). If the date of 2012 had been fulfilled, this would have occurred within that literal physical city, as this would have then been fulfilled as a physical type for the physical city.

Since the date was changed to 2019, God then provided the means for the Church that had become scattered (a spiritual type of Jerusalem) to have the potential for 63,000 people to live into the Millennium in a continuing physical life, rather than having to wait to be resurrected in the final 100 years of a second physical life. Yet this prophecy also reveals that of the total of 70,000 who are counted among this scattered group, that 7,000 notable (marked and specifically named) people from that total will definitely die. These will include many who did not “stand” as they should have for God’s Church when they had the opportunity to preceding the Apostasy and in the few years following. Although 63,000 are offered potential to live into the Millennium, it does not mean that all will accept what God offers to them, which means they must also accept His remnant Church and His two end-time witnesses, who are His prophets and the leaders He has placed over His Church.

In this two-day fast that the Church observed in early January of 2009, the Church had considered participating in a three-day fast. The reason it did not do so is because there was a desire not to take anything away from the incredible story of Queen Esther, who had called a three-day fast for all the Jews who were in captivity, so that they might be delivered from imminent destruction. These captives humbled themselves for three days and fasted before God by not eating or drinking for that entire period of time. It is an incredible story of how God then delivered them.

One of the most powerful means that God has given for people to use in seeking His favor, mercy, help, and intervention in life is to humble oneself before Him in fasting, prayer, and repentance. It is a powerful tool.

God’s Love and Mercy

If people get nothing more than only one thing from this book, I personally hope they could begin to receive an awesome truth. It is that God is just, and a God of infinite love, and great mercy. The Psalms speak often of this fact, and I am going to quote a couple of those verses here.

“The Eternal is gracious, and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Eternal is good toward all, and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalms 145:8-9). The creation and purpose God has for mankind is the greatest of all His work. This verse describes the true desire that God has for all people.

“For you Lord are good and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who will call upon you” (Ps. 86:5).

That verse says so much. God is always ready to forgive and show mercy, but the problem is with people who simply will not go before Him to repent so that He can forgive and grant mercy to them. Mankind is so stubborn, selfish and self-willed, just as this end-time is revealing. How long will people refuse to willingly humble themselves and repent of their ways to then begin embracing God’s true ways? Mankind’s track record over 6,000 years is not good.

“The Eternal says, ‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Do I not rather that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Ezekiel 18:23).

The last section of this chapter should help reveal the greater depth and kind of love God has for mankind. People have not known the great purpose for WHY they have been created and put on this earth in the first place. They have not known why they have life. It is because of a loving Father’s plan that has been in motion for billions of years and is only now fully coming to light.

God’s True Will for Mankind—to Become Elohim

There is so much that I would truly like to share in this book, but there is not enough space to write it all. There is much more contained in the two previous books that I do not want to repeat here either. So I am going to attempt to summarize God’s purpose and will toward mankind as concisely as possible. Yet there is so much that still needs to be told.

Some information that was given earlier in this book explains a second creation (into spirit life) that God has designed for mankind to potentially receive, and for that creation to be possible is the very reason why God first made mankind a physical creation. Let’s jump ahead a little and show what God’s will and greater purpose is for the creation of mankind in the first place. By explaining this and then focusing on the great goal that is potentially before us all, then it should make it easier to understand why God has a 7,100-year plan for the existence of physical human life on this earth.

At the very beginning of Genesis, God gives us a picture of a planet that had been created much earlier, but that was in total disarray and in a complete state of great destruction. There was no life on it whatsoever, and the rays of the sun could not even reach its surface. This chaotic and lifeless condition was because of what Satan and a third of the angels had done to it.

In the beginning story in the first two chapters of Genesis a word simply translated into English as “God” is used. This word is used repeatedly as it describes this God making the earth habitable for life once again. Then that same God creates the first two human beings. After creating the first man and woman on the sixth day, God then rested on the seventh day.

That word simply translated as “God” is the Hebrew word “Elohim.” This phase of a re-creation on earth reveals Elohim refashioning the earth to make it habitable once again and then creating life on it.

However, in some other areas of scripture in the Old Testament, God is sometimes described by the simplest and most basic Hebrew word for God, which is simply “El.” But most often, the Hebrew word “Yahweh” is used which carries the meaning of the “Eternal One,” or even more accurately, the “Eternal Self-Existing One.” Yet God’s most complete name is very often recorded throughout the Old Testament as “Yahweh Elohim.”

God inspired this very basic word “Elohim” to be used by itself in the first couple chapters of Genesis concerning Himself and what He was creating, but it also is being used in a prophetic manner to reveal so much more.

When it describes this momentous occasion of making the earth habitable for life and the creation of actual life upon the earth once again, the use of the word “Elohim” can give the sense that more than one is involved in doing this creation. Since translators did not grasp what God was doing or why, they simply translated things in a way that reflects normal human reasoning. They translated this in such a manner that it can seem as though a conversation is taking place by more than one being described as Elohim or that some kind of relationship exists between more than one being. God used this word in these two chapters to reveal a very great purpose for His creation of mankind, and He does so in a prophetic manner.

God did not begin by identifying Himself as El or as Yahweh. Instead, God starts from the beginning—at the start of Genesis—to reveal His great purpose prophetically for the creation of mankind.

As stated before, Elohim is often used when God identifies Himself in His full name of Yahweh Elohim. Yahweh can best be translated as the single word “Eternal,” yet it is much more. It actually reveals the One Eternal Self-Existing God. That actually better describes the full meaning for the word Yahweh.

Elohim, however, is very unique. It is a uniplural word for a “family” name and carries the uniplural meaning of family. It is much like the last name of most people that reflects a specific “family” lineage—as a family name. Actually, that is exactly what this word Elohim is. It identifies a “family,” but here, it is the “God Family.” Elohim is the word that describes “God’s Family” name with its origin being El—God as the head and one through which that Family has existence. That is why mankind was created. God reveals Himself as Yahweh Elohim—Yahweh who is the beginning of the God Family.

In the book of Hebrews, Paul quotes Psalm 8 written by David. It is a quote of David where he comments on looking out into the heavens and considers the vastness of stars that can be seen. He then poses the question to God, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” Paul goes on to explain that God was giving that answer to David in that prophetic psalm.

These verses in Hebrews 2 explain that God did not place the world (age) to come under the subjection of angels (not under their rule). It continues on to explain how God made humans a little lower than the angels, and yet His purpose was to crown them (mankind) with glory and honor above the angelic realm. Unlike the purpose for the creation of angels, it states that God did set mankind to be over the works of His hands and that “all things” will be put in subjection under his feet and that nothing is left that will not be put under him. This means that God’s purpose, in time, is to put all things He has created under the rule of mankind, but that is in a context of what mankind can become—part of Elohim.

As Paul reveals what God gave to David to record in Psalm 8, he continues with the same kind of language explaining that we do not yet see that fulfilled, except in Jesus Christ who has already been crowned with glory and honor, and that all things have been put in subjection under his feet, and that nothing is left that is not put under him (under his rule). The point being made is that for all who enter into the God Family, as Jesus Christ did once he was raised from physical to spirit life, they too will inherit what has been given to Christ. All who become part of the same God Family will share in having all things put in subjection under them, as they too become crowned with glory and honor. So to this moment in time, when Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, only one had entered into that Family with God the Father, and that was Jesus Christ Elohim.

Angels are created spirit beings. However, those who can enter into Elohim are first described as those of mankind who can become begotten of God’s holy spirit who must then grow spiritually in embryo, and then later, become born as spirit beings into God’s Family. God’s spirit Family consists of those who are born into that Family in what can best be described as a spirit birth and not through that of a spirit creation like the angels. That is why scripture speaks of how mankind must come to a point of baptism to receive the impregnation—the begettal—of God’s holy spirit in them. It involves a spirit creation, but not one that is instantaneous in composition as when the angels were created instantly of spirit composition.

It has already been partially explained why God first made us physical so that once His holy spirit begins to work in the spirit essence that exists in the human mind (once begotten of God’s spirit) then a complete spirit transformation can begin. In this manner, begettal and then later birth on a spirit plane, better explains the creative process mankind must experience before being born into—resurrected into—everlasting spirit life IN Elohim—the God Family. Our potential is not to become God as our Father is Almighty God, but we are to become gods in a God Family. It was due to Christ revealing some of this to the Jews that they wanted to kill him for saying such things.

Satan rebelled when he learned of what God had planned to accomplish through the creation of mankind. That is why Satan has mocked God’s Family with stories and beliefs he has inspired that involve god families in religion and mythology. There is much more to learn about all this, but this has been a quick summary.

God’s love for His creation of mankind is far beyond what we are capable of grasping without His help to do so. If one can try to imagine the very best kind of love that a parent can have toward their unborn child, and the hope they hold for that child’s future, then please know, God’s love and hope for mankind is so very, very far beyond such capacity of humans in His Almighty desire and love toward all of us.

God’s will has always been that every human have the opportunity to be born into His Family—the God Family, but such cannot be for every person because mankind is a free moral agent with free will, and therefore, with free choice. Just as with Satan and a third of the angels, there will be millions and likely billions who simply will not choose God and His Family. Like Satan, these individuals will want their own ways and will refuse God’s ways.

God has no pleasure in the suffering of selfish human beings, but there is no other way that Elohim can be created except in the exact way that God is doing it through mankind first living a physical life. Human life is not easy and it was not meant to be easy. Mankind had to be created as physical beings that would develop selfish human nature, as it was explained earlier.

A Second Physical Life

God has awesome purpose in giving most who have ever lived and died the opportunity for a second physical human life. It was not God’s purpose that large numbers of people over the past 6,000 years should be called into a spiritual relationship with Him in His Church in their first lifetime. The reason for that is because if vast numbers had been called during the period of mankind’s self-rule on earth, there would have been massive loss in potential spirit life. In other words, it would have been like massive abortions or miscarriages that would never be able to come to full term.

God has “called” many more than those who were eventually “chosen” throughout the past 6,000 years. Throughout that long period, only a few (144,000) have actually been “chosen” to become those who will be resurrected first—born into His Family at Christ’s coming. Some of this process of how “many have been called, but few chosen,” and the reasons why this process has worked as it has, would take a few more chapters to adequately explain. Suffice it to say, however, God does not want to lose anyone, and being “called” while in the kind of world that has existed for the past 6,000 years has been exceedingly difficult for those individuals. The very best means whereby the maximum number of people have the opportunity to become part of His Family, is being accomplished through the exact way God has been doing it.

God called many and then chose a specific number (144,000) throughout that long period of time in order to mold, try, refine, and prepare them to serve in His government under Christ in the Millennium when all rule will be placed under their feet. Since they were called and worked with in an evil age, the age of mankind’s self-rule, they went through great spiritual tribulation, hardship, and persecution in order to become part of that future government. There has been great sacrifice to prepare that Family so that the potential to save billions could be highly enhanced and made far easier for those who live during the Millennium, and for those who are resurrected afterward into a second physical life. People who live in either of those two later periods of time will be blessed to live under a righteous, just, and prosperous rule of the God Family over them.

But what is this second life and what does it mean?

There are multiple billions who have lived over the past 6,000 years in a world governed by mankind. It has not been a good age to live through, as mankind has not chosen to live by God’s ways, which alone can produce peace, abundance, blessings, and true fullness of life. Mankind has lived just the opposite, in a world of selfishness, war, oppression, injustice, immorality, and evil.

The simplest way to explain the purpose of a second physical life is to simply say that God is providing mankind with the best possible means to judge life by making a choice between mankind’s ways and God’s ways. They will be able to compare their first experience in life and their second physical life.

Mankind’s first physical life is one that has experienced the fruit of great selfishness and pride within self and others. It is the only way that anyone has ever lived life, except those few through time who were called of God to experience and live a different life—God’s way of life that is just the opposite of mankind’s.

Satan’s way is one of pride and selfishness, so God created man to first experience what it is like to live such a life while in a temporary physical existence. Then when God gives a second life in a vastly superior world that is ruled by His ways and His government, the potential for people to then choose His way is vastly greater and much easier. It is in this manner that the greatest number of people will have the greatest potential to choose and become part of God’s Family and be able to be given age-lasting spirit life in that Family.

Most all who are going to be given opportunity for a second physical life have already experienced mankind’s selfish world in their first physical lifetime. Most will have seen and personally lived the way of pride and selfishness, except for those who were very young when they died. In a second opportunity of physical life, those who are resurrected will be able to more perfectly judge between that selfish, pride-filled, and evil way of life that mankind lived in the first 6,000 years in contrast to the way that God has given for them to live in a new and highly superior world. Most of mankind resurrected to that second physical life will have experienced the kind of life that Satan chose—the way of pride, sin, selfishness, ego, lying, cheating, immorality, etcetera.

Before the time when these billions are resurrected to a second physical life, people in the Millennium will have a very clear and truthful history of what 6,000 years of mankind’s ways produced. They will far more easily be able to learn from that past while they are living under a perfect, just, and righteous government leading them. They will not be confronted with any confusion within the world like there is today, especially from the confusion of religion. Instead, there will be one true Church throughout all the earth and one righteous government that rules and nurtures them.

Finally, after 6,000 years, mankind will be shown God’s ways and then be better equipped to make a sound choice for God’s ways rather than that of their own ways as mankind has chosen throughout the past. By the end of the Millennium—the end of the 1,000 year reign of the God Family—billions will have lived and died and will have had the potential to choose God’s way. The billions who do choose God and live faithfully toward Him will be able to enter into God’s Family at the end of the Millennium, just as the 144,000 entered that Family a thousand years earlier.

But there are billions who lived before the Millennium. This now brings us to addressing the question about their fate and the reason God purposed and planned for a second physical life to be given to most all of mankind that lived and then died in the first 6,000 years of human existence.

Scriptures covered earlier not only reveal the 144,000 who are resurrected in the first resurrection to spirit life, but they also reveal a second physical life God will give to most of mankind who lived out their lives at some span of time within that first 6,000 years.

In reviewing some of those verses that spoke of the 144,000, it stated, “...and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:4-5). It doesn’t say anyone is alive or that they went to heaven.

Most of those among the 144,000 lived and died at some period during that first 6,000 years of mankind. The exception to this is for a very small handful of people who will actually be alive when Christ returns, as they are part of the Church at the end-time and are still living. These few who will also be resurrected at that time are not part of the dead spoken of here, but are indeed part of the 144,000. God simply explains for these few who are alive at that time that they will simply be changed from mortal to spirit life in an instant, “in the twinkling of an eye,” as Paul describes it. They simply will not experience death.

However, in these verses just quoted, it also speaks of “others” besides most of the 144,000 who lived and died throughout that 6,000 year period of time: “...the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.”

These verses in Revelation are describing two main groups among all mankind that have lived and died at some span of time within that first 6,000 years of mankind’s existence on earth. The first much smaller group that is being spoken of is that of the 144,000 who are described as being resurrected first to spirit life into Elohim at Christ’s coming.

Yet there is also a vastly larger group being described: “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.” This is revealing that a large group of multiple billions are to be resurrected after the Millennium. However, since they have not yet had opportunity to be begotten of God’s holy spirit, they will be resurrected to physical life again so that they can then have the opportunity to make such a choice in their second physical life if they so choose.

The last of God’s Holy Days is called the Last Great Day. It pictures this 100-year period of time that all will be given in a second physical life. A baby who died right after birth will be resurrected as a whole and healthy baby, and there will be plenty who are related to that child, and even likely, one or both parents who will be able to raise that child in a new world.

This period is described as a time when people will be protected from death so that they can live out a full and healthy hundred years of life. Scripture speaks of special protection that will exist at that time for children. It states that nothing can harm them as opposed to today’s world. They are described as being able to play in the hole of a viperous snake and it will not harm them.

God will provide a full hundred years for every person so that they will have that entire length of time to live and experience this new world that has been established after 1,000 years of change has occurred on earth. In this timeframe, all will then have free opportunity to choose God’s way or not.

Even the animal kingdom is described as no longer being wild and dangerous to mankind. God will actually change their nature and some of their physical makeup. It even describes a lion eating hay. Descriptions of that new world, although not yet fully understood, can be found to show what God reveals in scripture as a lion, a lamb, and a small child leading them.

People who had deformities, debilitating injuries, missing limbs, disease, mental illness, or were blind and/or deaf, or had other kinds of physical weakness in their first life will be resurrected as whole and healthy. A person who lives to be one hundred will now be far healthier when resurrected than they were when young, and they will be able to live another hundred years in excellent health and strength.

Then, at the end of this 100-year period of time, all who have chosen to live God’s way of life and who have experienced a new creation in them through the spiritual transformation of their mind, will be able to be resurrected into the God Family. They will be able to then become spirit in composition and live everlasting life just like those in the first resurrection at Christ’s coming had received and those billions at the end of the Millennium.

It is the great and merciful Almighty God who has planned His Family, Elohim, and will bring it to pass. As our Father, He has purposed, planned, and created the best possible means whereby all who choose Him and His ways can become saved and live full, happy, and abundant lives into everlasting life, again, if they ultimately choose to do so.

Chapter 7

COUNTDOWN TO CHRIST’S COMING

FROM THE PROPHETS OF OLD and throughout the New Testament, there have been prophecies given concerning Christ’s first and second coming and the timing regarding the countdown for each.

Through the prophet Daniel, God foretold the exact timing when the Messiah would first come to fulfill a work on earth. These scriptures also foretold when he would die. As with most prophecy, it was not written to be readily known or understood.

God also recorded another prophecy which speaks of a specific event that would reveal the beginning of a countdown to Christ’s second coming. That countdown will be covered in this final chapter. Some who do not like math or calculating dates may not like or understand some sections of this, but you can gain a profitable overview just the same. Also, the meticulous process and precision that God has revealed through this timing should prove very meaningful and hopefully stir certain awe as well. This is all quite profound and great proof of Christ’s coming.

The fact that the Messiah had a specific work to do on earth in a first coming, and the fact that he would die before establishing God’s Kingdom, was never understood by prophets or religious leaders all the way to the time of Christ’s resurrection. Even the disciples, whom Jesus Christ foretold about his own death, did not understand what he was telling them, nor did they understand the work that he was fulfilling as the Messiah until after he had already died and been resurrected.

70 Weeks Prophecy

This prophecy in Daniel, often referred to as the “70 Weeks Prophecy”, gives information on the countdown of Christ’s first coming. For this prophecy, God reveals that each “prophetic day” in this specific prophecy is equal to a literal year.

The prophecy first begins with a specific segment of time: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince [when he would begin his work, his ministry], there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times” (Daniel 9:25).

The first period mentioned is “seven weeks,” which is 49 days. Those prophetic 49 days are equal to 49 literal years. In 457 B.C., Artaxerxes issued the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem that took place through the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. It took 49 years to reconstruct the streets and walls, which fulfilled this first seven weeks prophecy (49 years) that concluded in 408 B.C.

The next period mentioned was “sixty-two weeks.” Multiplying this number by seven days in a week is equal to an additional 434 prophetic days or 434 literal years. Adding 434 years, beginning from 408 B.C., brings us to 27 A.D. (adding a 1 since there is no year 0). Jesus Christ began his ministry in 27 A.D. and was killed 3 ½ years later on Passover 31 A.D.

That 3 ½ years is what the next verse in Daniel is about: “And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off [killed], but not for himself [he was going to die for all mankind as their Passover]” (Dan. 9:26). The following verse adds even more: “And Then he [Messiah] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week [3 ½ days] shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease...” (Dan. 9:27).

The prophets of old, religious leaders, and the disciples themselves did not know that the Messiah would first come to die as the world’s Passover, nor could they grasp that by doing so he would cause the physical “sacrifice and the oblation to cease,” meaning his death would fulfill and do away with the laws pertaining to the sacrificial system. When scriptures speak of laws being done away with, especially in Hebrews, this is not about the 10 Commandments, but it is about the law of sacrifices, the sacrificial system and laws pertaining to it, which symbolized that which was to come.

This prophecy concerning Christ’s first coming in which he would fulfill a ministry lasting for 3 ½ years, after which he would be “cut-off” (put to death), is easily understood; however, this prophecy also contains meaning concerning the events at the end-time as well, although not all of it has been completely revealed. That which is known will be covered later.

Final Countdown Begins

Some history that will be covered in this chapter concerning a specific countdown to Christ’s second coming has already been mentioned, but it is important to receive all that has been given in a complete picture to see how all the periods of time fit together precisely.

Even after the Church began on Pentecost in 31 A.D., they still did not know that Christ would not return in their lifetime. For generation after generation within the Church, for nearly 1,900 years, the Church waited. It wasn’t until God raised up Herbert W. Armstrong to be His apostle that He began to reveal to the Church that they were living in the end of the age of mankind—in the end-time.

God revealed to Mr. Armstrong that there were seven specific eras for God’s Church as recorded at the beginning of the Book of Revelation. The first era during the time of the original apostles was known as the Ephesian Era. Mr. Armstrong was raised up to lead in the sixth period known as Philadelphia (Rev. 3). When he died in 1986, that era came to an end and the seventh and last era began—Laodicea.

It was about half way into the era of Laodicea (9 years) when a prophecy that God had given Paul to write became fulfilled. This prophecy was the sign to God’s Church that Christ was now coming. This was covered in Chapter 5 concerning what was written in 2 Thessalonians 2 about an Apostasy that had to occur in the Church of God before Christ would begin his return. Because of those verses, the Church had known for decades that an Apostasy would occur in the end-time, but it had no comprehension of its magnitude or destructive power.

To understand the countdown that began at the time of the Apostasy, it is necessary to become somewhat familiar with certain prophetic periods of time that are associated with the end-time.

1260 Days in Prophecy

The Church has long understood that there are specific periods of timing associated with Christ’s coming that involve 1,260 days. In prophecy, there is a description of 42 months which is about a specific period in a countdown to Christ’s coming. That period is 1,260 days in length. In other words, 42 months is an equivalent prophetic period of 1,260 days.

Other places in scripture refer to a time, times, and half-a-time that is also equivalent to exactly 1,260 days, where a “time” is defined as 360 days, “times” is 720 days, and “half-a-time” is 180 days, which when added together is 1,260 days. These are all prophetic periods of time and have been understood by the last two eras of God’s Church to be periods of specific time that would be fulfilled at the end-time before the coming of Christ. It is just that the Church has not known how all these fit together.

Before proceeding, it also needs to be mentioned that there is additional prophetic meaning contained within these periods of 1,260 days. This period is subdivided into another count, where 280 days reveal God’s direct judgment in a matter.

This one period of 280 days stands alone as a period of judgment from God. The remaining time of 980 days (1,260 – 280) reveals more about why a judgment has been made. That remaining period of 980 days can also be referred to as “time, times, and half-a-time” when pertaining to judgment. In the case of judgment, 280 days is a “time,” 560 days is “times,” and 140 days is “half-a-time.” All these periods have significance, but God has not yet revealed all of this to His Church. Nevertheless, the complete sum is still 1,260 days (280 + 980).

In this example, 280 days is for judgment, and the period of “time, times, and half-a-time” is the remaining 980 days (280 + 560 + 140 = 980). This 980 days plus the 280 days of specific judgment is equal to 1,260 days. It is not necessary to fully understand matters about this period of “judgment” contained within the prophetic end-time number of 1,260 days, but it does help to reveal that God is very exact and methodical in all that He does. The fulfillment of prophecy is not a matter of random chance, but of order, organization, planning, design, and that which is constant.

Back to the Countdown

After the Apostasy occurred on the 17th of December in 1994, the Church learned that a countdown had begun to Christ’s return. Yet in the midst of all this we did not yet know when that would be or how all these prophetic periods of time fit into that countdown.

The first thing God revealed to His Church was a matter of judgment and the importance of a period of 280 days that revealed God’s judgment. When Joseph Tkach, Sr. gave his sermon that polluted God’s temple, the Church of God, the prophesied Abomination of Desolation of the spiritual temple of God became fulfilled. This prophecy of Paul concerning the Apostasy had begun. God revealed a powerful judgment that He personally executed upon the man of sin, this son of perdition. Exactly 280 days later, to the hour, from when Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. gave that sermon, God took his life.

Once the remnant Church became aware of the significance of this judgment upon this prophetic man of sin, the son of perdition, more understanding began to be given concerning important periods of time that fit into what the Church was experiencing.

God eventually revealed to the Church that it had experienced a specific prophetic end-time period of 1,260 days after that Apostasy. It was the first of several such periods that God would reveal. It proved to be more than a coincidence that from the day of the Apostasy on the 17th of December 1994, to Pentecost of 1998, 1,260 days had been fulfilled. God later revealed that this Pentecost of 1998 was the day that the remnant Church had been reestablished as the one true Church that God would work through until Christ returned. Although it was revealed at a much later time to the Church, it was also on this Pentecost of 1998 that God made me an apostle to His Church—the last apostle for this end-time.

This first period was also revealed to be the one spoken of in Revelation 12:14. This scripture speaks of the Church that remained after the Apostasy that was spiritually nourished and protected from Satan during a time, times, and half-a-time (1,260 days). This period of protection following the Apostasy was needful for God’s Church in order to rebuild, strengthen, and prepare it for a work that would follow.

2012—First Date for Christ’s Coming

Over the years that followed the reestablishment of the Church on Pentecost of 1998, God worked to mold, fashion, and prepare the Church for greater things it was to accomplish through this countdown. Jesus Christ inspired the Church to produce two booklets that focused on crying out to those who had become scattered from the Apostasy. The first was entitled, Time Is Running Out. It revealed to the scattered groups what had happened to them, as they had no answers. They could not even see that there had been an Apostasy, although two-thirds of the Church no longer existed, and what remained had been scattered and split into over 600 different groups.

These scattered groups did not recognize that Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. was the prophesied man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2. They did not see that all the Church had been spewed out of God’s mouth as prophesied for the Laodicean Era of the Church.

The second booklet, Time Has Run Out, was a much stronger message toward those scattered groups and served as warning for them to address the truth of what had happened to them. This was also a strong message against all in the ministry who failed to acknowledge what God had revealed, and by doing so, had failed to truly serve and warn God’s people.

Then the book, The Prophesied End-Time, was written and sent out to the world in several languages. It was advertised in several nations and was free of charge to any who requested it and it could also be downloaded for free.

Then God began to reveal that 2008 was the pivotal year in the countdown to Christ’s coming, and the book, 2008—God’s Final Witness, was written. It too was sent out in several languages and was offered free on the Internet or paperback. The Church paid the full cost of publication and postage. It tried to make it as easy as possible for any who were interested in knowing about the catastrophic events of the end-time to be able to receive it.

In the previous chapter, it was covered how the Church came to believe Christ’s coming would be on Pentecost of 2012. In this period from the Apostasy to this date of Pentecost in 2012, God began to reveal prophetic periods of great significance. Again, all these different counts and the dates on which they occurred became a matter of awe, as these began to reveal patterns and order that could not be by chance, but only by design. The mathematical probabilities for so many prophetic periods of fulfillment, along with the meaning associated with the dates many of these occurred, were simply dumbfounding and deeply inspiring.

As a quick review, it was previously stated that 2008 was the pivotal year that determined whether the date of Christ’s coming would remain the same and be in 2012 or whether it would be moved forward by seven more years to 2019. However, the Church did not realize just how pivotal 2008 really was.

It had been revealed that the three prophesied periods of time mentioned in Daniel 12 (1,335, 1,290 & 1,260 days) were to begin within the year 2008. The first period of 1,335 days would lead up to the specific Holy Day that God had revealed Christ would return, Pentecost 2012. When counting backward from Pentecost of 2012 by 1,335 days, the count came to September 30, 2008. This was the day for the annual observance of the Feast of Trumpets in 2008—a startling revelation. In addition, the meaning of Trumpets had great relevance here because the meaning of that day concerns the announcing (trumpeting) of the coming of the Messiah.

God then revealed that the final seal of Revelation, the Seventh Seal, would open on the 14th of November 2008 (1,290 days before Pentecost 2012). Then, on the 14th of December 2008 (1,260 days), the Seven Trumpets of Revelation were blown, and the physical tribulation they announced would occur when it was God’s time that they each should begin doing so.

70 Weeks

The time between when the Apostasy occurred up to Pentecost on the 27th of May 2012 became another astonishing revelation of time. Although God later revealed that He had changed the time of Christ’s coming in 2012 to that of Pentecost in 2019, He still clearly revealed the purpose of this first date and its great significance. This period of time contained a total of 6,370 days.

When counting up to Pentecost of 2012, the 27th is not included in the count, as Christ’s coming would have been at the very end of the 26th, just when the day of Pentecost would begin on the 27th.

This number of 6,370 is a specific multiple of three numbers that have highly significant prophetic meaning. God revealed those numbers as 7, 70, and 13. When these numbers are multiplied together they equal 6,370 days.

Earlier, God’s judgment upon the man of sin was shown by revealing he died 280 days after the Apostasy. This number is the multiple of the 7-day week times 40, where 40 is a number used prophetically that indicates judgment. The man of sin sought to change God’s Sabbath of the 7th day of the week, and God executed His judgment against him for doing so by ending his life exactly 7 x 40 days later (280 days), to the hour, from when he declared that it was no longer required to observe the Sabbath. The number 7 that was used here is the number that contains the prophetic meaning of being complete—completeness.

When used prophetically, the number 70 is one that has always been known to contain the meaning of Christ’s coming. This comes from that well-known prophecy of Daniel that is widely understood as the 70 Weeks Prophecy. For this count following the Apostasy, it was not a matter of years, but of days. With seven days in a week, times 70, which is the number for Christ’s coming, there are 490 days.

Then there is one more multiple in this sum of 6,370 days and that is the number 13. This number has great significance and has the meaning of apostasy and rebellion. This is recognized in various reference books. Beyond this, it is also a number that is prophetically attached to Satan, who is the ultimate epitome of rebellion and apostasy.

All these dates and numbers carried great meaning for God’s Church because the Church understood that Satan would be bound by Christ for over a thousand years at his coming. Satan and the demonic world will not be allowed to be in the presence of mankind during the Millennium or during the final hundred years when all of “the rest” of mankind are resurrected to a second physical life.

So not only did this overall number (6,370) have great meaning concerning Christ’s coming (70), but it also reflected the meaning of Satan’s rule (13) coming to an end over this earth and Christ being established to rule instead, which completes (7) God’s plan for the establishment of His Kingdom to rule on earth (7 x 70 x 13 = 6,370).

Then, in addition to that, what had happened in the Church through a prophesied rebellion of the man of sin, the son of perdition, in an Apostasy had incredible meaning in the use of the number 13. Indeed, the great meaning for this entire period of time from the Apostasy to the first date of Christ’s coming proved incredibly inspiring to God’s Church.

These numbers continue to become more astounding and revealing the further we go into them. These are so very far beyond any possibility of coincidence or chance that it defies the imagination. The mathematical probability of these numbers occurring along with the dates associated with them continues to increase exponentially the more that is added. The numbers that have been used, which give such resulting totals are in themselves astounding, but the fact that “exact meaning” is also contained in all of them, carries this into a realm of incredible improbability and is a powerful witness as to who the designer of it all is.

Second Use of 70

This total period of 6,370 days contains God’s indelible and undeniable handprint. However, God did not stop at simply giving a period of time that validated Christ’s coming by the use of a literal 70 weeks prophecy. God also revealed the importance of the 1,260-day time cycles that identify end-time prophetic periods. This period of time was mentioned earlier, showing how it is described in different ways, yet is always used in the context of specific end-time prophetic periods that last 1,260 days.

To understand all this, it is necessary to first explain the use of two numbers that are used to symbolize mankind. These are the numbers 5 and 6, with each containing its own unique and special meaning regarding mankind.

As the number 7 in God’s plan is used to symbolize “completeness,” the number 6 is used to symbolize “incompleteness,” and in this case it is in reference to mankind being “incomplete” in the manner he was created. When God reestablished the existence of physical life upon the earth during the period that is often referred to as the seven days of creation, He created mankind on the sixth day. Then God rested on the seventh day and established it as the weekly Sabbath given to mankind to observe forever as a special day of worship.

Mankind was created on the sixth day, albeit created incomplete as physical human beings who do not have God’s holy spirit in them. God’s holy spirit dwelling IN mankind is necessary in order to make mankind’s creation complete—enabling one to potentially be born into Elohim, the God Family.

This number 6 is used to reveal the incompleteness of mankind. It is during the first 6 1,000-year periods that mankind has been allowed to govern himself and choose how to live life. The lesson is that for 6,000 years mankind has proven that he cannot govern himself successfully. Every government of mankind has failed. The “ways” of mankind have produced great confusion, suffering, injustice, wars, and much perversion in life. That confusion created by mankind has permeated every facet of life and is reflected in the failure in government, religion, economic practice, society, and family life. And now, with modern technology, mankind will annihilate itself if God does not intervene to stop it. Mankind is incomplete and needs God and His ways if they are to survive.

The number 5 is also about mankind, but this number is used to reveal another aspect about mankind and its relationship to God. This number reveals the “ways” of mankind in contrast to the “ways” of God. The ways of mankind are opposite to that of God and these ways reveal the selfish nature that exists in them. That selfish nature is motivated by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Whereas, the ways of God are that of total unselfish and outgoing love toward others—which includes mercy, forgiveness, kindness, patience, and love that is genuine, sacrificing, and always “giving” toward others.

In the second use of the number 70 that is used to proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ, it was stated earlier that God also revealed the importance of the 1,260-day time cycles that identify end-time prophetic periods. The number 5 is used in relationship to these cycles of 1,260 days.

The use of the number 5 has great meaning here because it reveals the “ways of mankind” that have led to God’s judgment on the earth due to the fact that mankind has not listened to Him and has now brought itself to the point of annihilation. Although the ways of mankind are revealed in symbolism through the use of this number, the number 5 also reveals “God’s way” of working with mankind from the beginning, which is that of great patience, mercy, and love toward them.

It was also mentioned earlier that if 2012 had remained the date for Christ’s coming that the devastation and vast death toll around the world would have been exceedingly greater. With that first date for Christ’s coming, mankind had already been judged and the execution of that judgment would have been far more severe than if it could be moved to 2019. However, God has revealed the vastness of His great mercy and love by extending that judgment for 2012 by an additional seven years so that millions could yet be saved.

In this number of 6,370 days, there are 5 equivalent periods of 1,260 days (with 70 days remaining that signifies Christ’s coming). God revealed two very important and specific end-time prophetic periods of 1,260 days within the countdown from the Apostasy to the first date of Christ’s coming. The first was from the date of the Apostasy (December 17, 1994) to Pentecost of 1998 (May 30, 1998).

The second specific end-time prophetic period of 1,260 days that God revealed to be of great significance is what was seen at that time as the final period leading up to Christ’s coming. It began when the Seven Trumpets of the Seventh Seal were blown (December 14, 2008) and then 1,260 days later led up to May 27, 2012 (Pentecost).

God has not revealed what significance or meaning there may be in the other three periods of 1,260 days that lie in between that first and fifth period, or even if there is any significant meaning in them other than the fact that they add great meaning for the total being 5 periods of time. The total of those five periods of 1,260 days is 6,300 days. That leaves 70 days remaining (from the total of 6,370). This too is not a matter of chance, but of design, and signifies God’s purpose—that mankind had been judged and that Christ could return on the Pentecost of 2012, if time was to remain cut short. However, it has already been shown that God’s greater desire was that Christ should return on the Pentecost of 2019.

FIRST COUNT to 2012:

With Two Prophetic Signs of Christ’s Coming

1st Sign: 7 x 70 x 13 = 6,370

Apostasy up to Pentecost 2012

• December 17, 1994 up to May 27, 2012

• Total number of prophetic days = 6,370

2nd Sign: 5 x 1,260 + 70 = 6,370

1st prophetic 1,260 days

• December 17, 1994 to May 30, 1998

2nd, 3rd, & 4th periods + 70 days

• May 31, 1998 to December 13, 2008

5th prophetic 1,260 days

• December 14, 2008 up to May 27, 2012

NUMBERS:

Prophetic Significance

5 = mankind

7 = complete

13 = rebellion & apostasy / Satan

70 = Christ’s coming

280 = execution of God’s judgment

1,260 days = a prophetic period marking the end-time

Beyond 2012

After the Church had moved beyond 2012, God finally began to reveal that the countdown for Christ’s coming had been extended by exactly 7 more years, from Pentecost of 2012 to Pentecost of 2019. It was revealed that His purpose for doing so was to create a greater transformation in those who were in His Church so that they would be prepared to accomplish an even greater work in the end-time that remained.

Christ returning in 2019 gave the Church a new focus. God could now work to create far greater potential for those of the Church that had been scattered after the Apostasy to be saved into the Millennium. This later date also made way for a vastly greater and more complex work to be accomplished whereby a far greater potential could exist to deliver hundreds of millions more people into the Millennium.

This period of additional time revealed another remarkable total number of days that contained even greater meaning. This could be described as an extended deeper meaning to Christ’s coming. This change from 2012 to 2019 added another 2,570 days to the countdown for Christ’s coming. This too is awesomely significant, as this now gave the addition of two more very specific prophetic end-time periods of 1,260 days to that overall count.

Within this extension to Christ’s coming, the first of these two new periods is from May 27, 2012 to November 7, 2015. God revealed early on that this first additional period of 1,260 days was the 42 months mentioned in Revelation 11 that is about the “measuring of the temple” of God that would occur within that period of time, which is about the final preparation of God’s Church for the final work leading up to Christ’s coming.

This second additional end-time period of 1,260 days runs from the 8th of November 2015 to the 20th of April 2019. This count concludes on the weekly Sabbath that is in the midst of the first Holy Day season of that year, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This period is now recognized as the time for God’s two witnesses to complete the physical fulfillment of their witness to the world.

Revelation 11:3-6 reveals that for a period of 1,260 days God will send His two end-time witnesses to prophesy with power throughout this time. Much of that witness and the power given to it is the writing that is contained in this very book. Toward the end of this period of time, they will be able to shut up the heavens so it will not rain wherever and for however long they say. They will strike the earth with plagues as often as they choose. Much of what is fulfilled during this period will have to do with the Thunders of Revelation that will be more completely fulfilled by those things they proclaim.

Within this extension of seven more years, there was then this addition of two more end-time periods of 1,260 days to the overall existing count for Christ’s coming. The five 1,260-day periods that occurred before the Pentecost of 2012, along with these two additional ones, now give 7 complete end-time periods of 1,260 days. Again, there is great significance in that number, as the number 7 is used for completeness in God’s plan. The week is complete with the 7th day Sabbath. The annual Holy Days are 7 in number and they give the complete plan of God for mankind. God has given 7 one thousand year periods (7,000 years) for mankind to be able to live out the first life He has given them.

Yet there is another period in all this that also needs to be addressed. The inclusion of two more periods of 1,260 days that were added beyond the Pentecost of 2012 give a total of 2,520 more days for the countdown to Christ’s coming. However, from the 27th of May 2012 (counting that day) to Pentecost on the 9th of June 2019, there is a total of 2,570 days. This number contains an additional 50 days that remain beyond these two final prophetic periods.

That 50-day period has already been mentioned. It is the time when God begins to pour out the Seven Last Plagues, which will lead to Christ coming to a world that has been humbled and ready to listen to him. As it has been stated, the day when his coming will be manifested in the atmosphere above the earth is the 21st of April 2019. It appears that this manifestation will be at the moment that the Wave Sheaf would have been waved before God on that day, which was in the midst of the Holy Day period of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23). This manifestation of Christ coming will be on the morning of the 1st day of the week that follows Passover that year.

The Wave Sheaf pictured the time when Jesus Christ would fulfill its meaning of being accepted as the first of the firstfruits of God’s great harvest—of those who are gleaned from the world to be in His Family—Elohim. Jesus Christ died on Passover and was laid in the tomb just before sunset on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday) in 31 A.D. After sunset, the weekly observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. Then at the end of the 7th day (the weekly Sabbath) just before sunset, Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead after being in the tomb for exactly three nights and three days.

Therefore, Christ was resurrected just before sundown on that weekly Sabbath. As soon as the sun went down, it became the 1st day of the week (Sunday). It wasn’t until the morning, Sunday morning, when the priests would offer up the Wave Sheaf, that Christ would then ascend to God. Christ then being received by God the Father would be the spiritual fulfillment of the Wave Sheaf. Later on that same day, after he had ascended and been received by God, he returned to be with his disciples and others for the next forty days.

Not only is this time for the Wave Sheaf offering about the beginning of God’s spiritual harvest, as it pictured Jesus Christ being the first of the firstfruits, but that day was also the beginning of a specific count that God commands so that people will know when the Holy Day of Pentecost should be observed. Pentecost is the day that the Wave Loaves were offered up and they picture the firstfruits (the 144,000) being offered up before God to be received by Him in the same manner that the Wave Sheaf was offered up before God for acceptance of Jesus Christ.

Paul described Jesus Christ as being the first of the firstfruits of God to be resurrected. In 1 Corinthians, a description is given of the order for all the firstfruits of God to be resurrected—all those who would be first to be resurrected into God’s Family—Elohim. Christ is described as the first to be resurrected and then the rest would be resurrected later at his coming.

“But everyone in their own order, Christ [of] the firstfruits, and afterward those [the rest, the 144,000 firstfruits] who are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Christ is described clearly as being resurrected first and then the rest of those firstfruits are resurrected at his coming.

Chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation begins by mentioning the 144,000 who will be resurrected to be with Christ at his coming and are described in the following manner: “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among mankind [over 6,000 years], and are the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4).

So Pentecost is the annual Holy Day that pictures the firstfruits of God—the 144,000—who are resurrected to spirit life in the first resurrection at Christ’s coming, and who then return with him to the Mount of Olives on that day, on Pentecost 2019.

The first five periods (of 1,260 days) that preceded the Pentecost of 2012 had 70 days added that symbolized the coming of Christ. There are two more periods that have been added after this that now make seven complete periods of 1,260 days since the Apostasy. These two new periods that followed have 50 more days that are added, and that symbolizes the coming of the firstfruits (the 144,000) with Christ. These all contain very great meaning concerning Christ’s coming to reign in the Kingdom of God for the next 1,100 years.

Yet there is even more meaning contained in this, as Pentecost reveals the command God gave for how to determine when that Holy Day should be observed. Pentecost literally means “count fifty.” It is that final 50 days that ties together, in an incredible manner, the great meaning of Jesus Christ as the first of the firstfruits, along with the rest of the firstfruits—the 144,000—who all come down to this earth on that final fiftieth day—Pentecost 2019.

SECOND COUNT to 2019:

Pentecost 2012 to Pentecost 2019 (2,570 days)

• May 27, 2012 to June 9, 2019

6th prophetic 1,260 days

• May 27, 2012 to November 7, 2015

7th prophetic 1,260 days

• November 8, 2015 to April 20, 2019

Final 50 days to Christ’s coming

• 50 is the count from the Wave Sheaf to Pentecost

• April 21, 2019 to June 9, 2019

Two Great Signs

The countdown for Christ’s coming, beginning from the Apostasy to 2019, covers a period of nearly twenty-four and one-half years. The first part of this chapter covered much of the numerical breakdown that contains great prophetic meaning in that complete count. Yet even beyond this precise and ordered counting, God gave two additional great signs to His Church that would serve to mark Christ’s coming: one at the beginning and one at the end of this countdown. The first sign concerned the Apostasy, which served as a sign for the beginning of the countdown to Christ’s return.

The events surrounding the Apostasy cover many years and were mostly a result of the first four Seals of Revelation that are often referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These events were not about the world, as so many have supposed, but they concerned God’s Church and a prophesied rebellion that would occur at the end-time. That Apostasy was a great falling away from God’s truth that He had given His own Church and is symbolized by these four horsemen.

The second and last sign God gave to His Church was a revelation of God’s two end-time witnesses and the work they would fulfill that would lead up to the end of the countdown to Christ’s return. The two witnesses would be raised up within God’s Church and their work would be a sign for the completion of the end-time.

Although the Church had understood for decades that the period for the work of the two witnesses leading up to Christ’s coming would last for 1,260 days, the Church did not know that their work would actually cover three of these prophetic end-time periods of 1,260 days and not just one.

The work these two witnesses fulfill is outlined in the Book of Revelation. It was not until this final chapter that God revealed that the writing of this book is actually the focus and primary means through which one of these verses will become fulfilled.

After writing each chapter of this book, it was my practice to send it into the Church for editing to have it double-checked for grammar, spelling, and clarity. If something I had written was not completely clear to those who were editing it, then I could work on that portion to make it clearer. Although, there are still some things that will not be clear until later, as they are prophetic in nature and are not immediately understood. When writing this last chapter, I sent in the first half that covered the various combinations of counting that God had revealed in the overall count to Christ’s coming. There was one last section that I knew I needed to write—this section. However, I was not certain what needed to be covered in order to complete this book.

Only after about three weeks had passed did I then begin to write this last section that is entitled, “Two Great Signs.” My wife, who is the other end-time witness, was also reading the book and giving me feedback. After reading the book up to this point, she told me that I needed to read a specific verse in Revelation that she believed this book was fulfilling. Upon reading that verse, it became clear that it was indeed about what had just been written and that it would serve to be the primary means through which that verse would become fulfilled.

The remainder of this book will outline those events which God has been fulfilling and will continue to fulfill through His two witnesses. Knowledge and understanding of these two witnesses will help people to better understand events that will occur right up to Christ’s coming.

The first part of this chapter focused on the actual breakdown of the counting and the deep meaning contained in the way God established those numeric multiples that lead to His Son’s return. Those numerical combinations reveal that it is all a matter of God’s design and that only God could fulfill such a thing. This final section reveals some of the prophetic fulfillment and work that God will accomplish through His two witnesses that will finish the work that is involved in the last of this countdown to Christ’s return.

There are two chapters in the Book of Revelation that outline the work that God purposed through His two witnesses that He had John record nearly 2,000 years ago. Those chapters are going to be explained as they apply to events that have already taken place and events that are about to begin to take place which will bring an end to the end-time. Those events that will yet be accomplished through the two witnesses are astounding, and they will happen within the same period of time that catastrophic end-time events and WWIII occur.

The Seven Thunders

This story begins in Revelation 10 where John wrote something unique concerning the Seven Thunders, and although he heard what these thunders were, he was told that he was not to record them. It is because they were not to be revealed until the end-time, as God’s purpose was that this should be revealed through the end-time witness who is John’s counterpart. Both John and this witness have been the only two in the history of the Church to whom God uniquely gave each to be both an apostle and a prophet.

The story that leads into the introduction of God’s two witnesses begins by John seeing an angel coming down from heaven crying aloud the Seven Thunders.

“He [the angel] had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, and cried with a loud voice like a lion roaring. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write [what had been uttered], but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me to seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them” (Revelation 10:2-4).

This description that John gives of a little book is somewhat obscure because of how this is translated into today’s languages. It states that the angel had a little book or booklet, and this generally conjures up something different in the mind, as if this was a literal small book. However, it was not a book at all, but a very small scroll which John was later told that he was to eat. This little scroll contained what had been uttered by the angel, which was the Seven Thunders.

“Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little book [scroll] which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and the earth.’ So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter” (Rev. 10:8-10).

John is describing how he ate this little scroll and how it affected him physically, but this simply pictured what would later be fulfilled on a spiritual plane by John’s counterpart at the end time.

When writing the book, 2008—God’s Final Witness, it was given to me to reveal those Seven Thunders. Indeed the experience of being given this to fulfill was inspiring and exciting, especially when understanding that these things would help lead vast numbers of people to change and repent so that they could have opportunity to live on into the Millennium. This most certainly could be likened to eating something that tasted sweet.

However, once these things had been written and published, the resulting experience of scorn, ridicule, hatred, and mocking that was received from nearly all who read it was bitter. Although that is the normal response of mankind to those things God has given to His prophets through time, it is another thing to experience such hatred and evil from others. It is bitter.

The height of the ridicule, hatred, and mocking—the bitterness—was experienced throughout the time of the 5th prophetic period of 1,260 days. This book went out into the world in a volume that God accounted as a sufficient number to fulfill an end-time witness of mankind’s normal response to Him. That was made manifest by their response toward whom God had given to write the book, to whom He had sent into the world. This book was received by a few million people in over 170 nations and sent out in seven different languages. Not only had these Seven Thunders been covered in that book, but the Seven Trumpets, Seven Last Plagues, and the catastrophic events they reveal were addressed as well.

Some who read this book wondered if these things might possibly come to pass, but they really didn’t believe them. As the year 2012 came along, the bitterness grew as people responded with even greater anger, mocking, and contempt for what had been written. Yet all these events will still occur, just seven years later, but now with some changes because of what God is mercifully offering mankind, if they will listen.

SEVEN THUNDERS:

• The Little Scroll

• Covered thoroughly in 2008—God’s Final Witness

• Thunders increase in repetition, frequency, and intensity

• The Seven Thunders:

1) Terror of War

2) Earthquakes: increasing in power and destruction

3) Weather: extremes in drought, flooding, temperatures, and winds

4) Global economic upheaval

5) Death: plagues and death of primarily notable people

6) Revelation of God’s end-time witnesses

7) Accelerated revelation of God to man

Measuring the Temple

After John gave the account of the Seven Thunders, he then began to speak about certain events that were to take place in the midst of the last three prophetic end-time periods. This 6th period of time was about God’s Church, and it covered a time from Pentecost 2012 through the 7th of November 2015.

“Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod, and the angel stood and said, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God [the Church], and the altar, and those who worship there’” (Rev. 11:1).

This period of time served as the final preparation period for God’s Church to be made fully ready for the coming of Christ. This period is highlighted by a final cleansing of the temple of God (God’s Church), as well as a time for the final strengthening, teaching, and molding of God’s people so that they could be made to stand strong throughout the final end-time tribulation, and be fully readied for the coming of the head of the Church—Jesus Christ. God is going to have a refined, spiritually strong, and faithful Church made ready to meet Christ once he returns.

This final refining meant that the Church was to be brought up to the measure of the stature God intended His people should have by the time His Son arrives. However, this also meant that those who were not yielding and not being faithful to their calling would be removed from the Church.

“But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the gentiles, and they will tread the holy city [the Church—spiritual Jerusalem] underfoot for forty-two months” (Rev. 11:2).

Those who were “outside the temple” is speaking of those who gave the appearance of being within the environment of the fellowship of the Church, but who were not yielding to the calling they had received. These were not being faithful to the truths of God—to God. During this period, these people were not being worked with by God nor being brought up to the measure of the fullness that God required of His people, and therefore, they were not to be measured as part of the temple.

These people are described as being rejected in the measurement of the temple, as they are in the area of the court. In other words, they gave the appearance that they were part of the Church, but they did not practice true worship of God within the temple. Being within the court would reveal that they were not part of the Church and were living falsely before God and before those who were actually in the Church. So the instruction was to keep them separated from the temple, as they were not to be measured as part of it. Instead, they were to be revealed for where they truly were, which is within the court—within the environment of the Church—but not in the temple, not in the Church. By only being in the court, they were actually with the gentiles (a term used for unbelievers). These were rejected by God and removed in one way or another from the appearance of being part of God’s Church.

This is indeed what happened during that period of time, and at the time of this writing, there are now only a couple of months remaining in this period for measuring the temple. Once that is complete, then the world will enter into the 7th and last end-time period of 1,260 days before Christ’s coming. Within the environment of the Church, God has been removing members who have been unfaithful. In that group there have been quite a few in the ministry that have been removed as well, including the removal of several senior ministers and even one evangelist.

This period has not only included a great cleansing of the Church, but those who have remained faithful have been going through a measuring process of being far more fully trained, strengthened, and made ready for Christ’s coming. During this time, the Church has drawn closer together spiritually with one another and with God than at any other time within the history of the last several hundred years of God’s Church. Before this book is published, the Church will have been made fully ready for the coming of their High Priest, Passover, and elder brother—Jesus Christ.

42 Months

There is one more prophetic fulfillment that took place during this 6th prophetic end-time period that is referred to in these verses. This first and foremost is about what would happen to God’s two end-time witnesses within this period of time, and as a result, it would also be experienced by the Church.

The last verse that was quoted about this period gave instruction not to measure those who were in the court outside the temple (the false worshippers), but to instead give them over to the gentiles (unbelievers). Then the last part of the verse continues by making reference to what many of these gentiles would do during this period. This needs to be understood in the context that the gentiles now included those who were no longer to be measured as part of the temple, as they were cast out from the Church. It states of these gentiles, “...and they will tread the holy city [God’s Church] underfoot for forty-two months” (Rev. 11:2).

This is the time that the gentiles, and especially those who were not measured as part of the Church, had the greatest ability to trample upon and attack the Church of God, and primarily, its leadership. This is also a time that Satan and the demonic world worked their hardest to attack God’s people, which was largely accomplished by working to adversely influence those who were referred to in this verse as the gentiles.

Although the Church may have outwardly appeared to these gentiles to be in one of its weakest states ever, it was actually a time when God was making it to stand in one of its strongest states ever, as people were being strengthened spiritually and receiving final training and preparation for Christ’s coming. The attacks from others actually worked to enhance this strengthening process.

To the gentiles referenced here, the Church appeared to be at its weakest point when a judge sentenced God’s apostle and end-time prophet to 42 months of a federal sentence for attempting to evade payment of taxes. Although a trial by jury gave a guilty verdict, that did not change what was true about God’s servants and God’s Church. This 6th period of the end-time included events surrounding that trial, the sentencing, home confinement and imprisonment. These events are all partially or completely included in this actual prophetic 42 month period (1,260 days). It did not go unnoticed that the sentence given God’s prophet was 42 months, although that period for the actual fulfillment of the sentence did not fully fit within this 6th period, all the events concerning matters of the aftermath of a trial, sentencing, and most of that confinement did fulfill that prophecy of 42 months.

As mentioned, this entire period of the gentiles trampling upon God’s Church did not weaken the Church, it actually worked to do just the opposite. It strengthened the resolve, faith, and spiritual conviction of God’s people. All this, again, simply served God’s greater purpose for molding and fashioning a stronger Church, along with preparing His two end-time witnesses to become thoroughly equipped so that they could more perfectly accomplish what was ahead of them during the final 7th prophetic period.

The Two Witnesses

The 7th and last end-time prophetic period of 1,260 days will be the period when God gives His two end-time witnesses the primary work that they have been prophesied to fulfill. Throughout the entirety of the 5th and 6th prophetic end-time periods, these two individuals have been the focus of much ridicule, hatred, mockery and scorn, and during each of these prophetic periods, these two will have fulfilled a specific kind of witness, yet their major witness is during the final 1,260 day period.

“And I [Almighty God] will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (Rev. 11:3).

Wearing sackcloth is used to symbolize the practice of walking humbly before God. This verse is describing how God’s two end-time witnesses are clothed in humility as they carry out the commission God has given them. Humility is the opposite of pride, and God has prepared both of these individuals to be able to accomplish the work that is before them in a manner that reflects true justice, mercy, and active living faith. The purpose for the power God gives to these two is to humble others who are filled with pride and who are refusing to listen to God.

These two witnesses will exercise that power they are given according to their own will, according to what they themselves determine to use against others for the purpose of stripping them of their pride, just like what was done against Egypt and Pharaoh in the days of Moses.

Although these two are given such great power to use as they will, as they choose, they will not be lifted up in pride because of it. Instead, the use of that power will be reflected in humility because they fully understand that it is from God as a matter of His purpose being worked out, and that it is by His great power such things are accomplished, and no one else’s. These two witnesses understand, mightily so, that all that is taking place is about what God is doing to humble this earth in order to establish His Son as King of kings.

This matter of them wearing sackcloth—of being clothed in humility—is simply the result of God molding and fashioning them into such a state through all that they have had to experience in the previous seven years of those two end-time prophetic periods before this (the 5th and 6th 1,260 days). It is within those periods of time that these two have been ridiculed, mocked, hated, and later trampled upon that they have learned humility on a strong spiritual plane.

Due to what these two leaders of God’s Church experienced, the Church also experienced much of the same thing, and they also learned greater humility of spirit in their service toward God, as they have shared in the same manner of attacks from others. All that transpired through those two prophetic end-time periods worked in a very powerful way to create far greater spiritual strength within God’s people. It worked powerfully within them to prepare them for Christ’s coming.

It states in the verse just quoted that these two “will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Much of this fulfillment to prophesy is because of what is written in this book and the one before it. This book will have been completed and offered to the world early in the final 7th end-time prophetic period of 1,260 days. Prophecy that has been recorded in this book and in the last book, 2008—God’s Final Witness, will come to pass as it has been written. This will be the primary manner by which this verse is fulfilled because it is during this final period that most all of those prophecies become fulfilled.

Yet there is much more that is stated about what these two witnesses will be involved in doing within this last prophetic end-time period.

“These are the two olive trees and of the two lamp stands standing [set, established] before the God of the earth” (Rev. 11:4).

Although God has not yet revealed the full extent of the meaning contained in this verse, nevertheless, it is of incredible importance to Him. This states that these are of the two lamp stands and the two olive trees, which are spoken of in the Book of Zechariah concerning God’s two anointed ones, whom He will give of His great power to fulfill many prophetic events that will lead up to Christ’s coming. God gave this prophecy to Zechariah a few hundred years before Christ was born. So indeed, the work these two are given to do is important to God and His purpose for the end-time.

The verses that follow describe what God has set or established that they should do before Him upon the earth.

“If anyone will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth and devour their enemies, and if anyone will hurt them, they must in this manner be killed” (Rev. 11:5).

God reveals that some will so hate these two witnesses that they will try to do them harm and even attempt to kill them. However, God makes it clear that these two will not die until God allows it. The fire that is described as proceeding out of their mouth is symbolic of the power they are given to pronounce any consuming judgment upon any who would desire or attempt to harm them.

“They have power to shut the heavens so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” (Rev. 11:6).

God will give His two witnesses power to cause devastating destruction from whatever plagues they determine, according to their own judgment. This means they will decide when, where, what kind, and how long specific plagues will strike and when plagues should be repeated. Some of these plagues that are pronounced will be coupled with events outlined within some of the Seven Thunders.

There is still more that is stated about these two end-time witnesses whom God refers to as His prophets. For any who desire to read about this in the Bible, it is in the verses that follow those that have just been quoted in Revelation 11.

Book Fulfills A Prophecy

As with the previous books, this one will also go out to most of the nations of the world, to people of several different languages. Earlier in this chapter, I stated that my wife told me I needed to read about a prophecy that this book will fulfill. Once it is complete, this book does fulfill that prophecy.

This specific book will be advertised and translated into more languages than before. This is for the purpose of seeking to reach out to millions more giving greater potential for many more people to be saved.

Yet there are several nations and people of different languages who have no desire whatsoever to read such a book as this, no matter what is stated in it or how bad the world becomes. God knows who those people are and this is not being made directly available to them, although they have been forewarned.

Each of you who has now read this book and come to this very point needs to face the reality that you and you alone are at the most important juncture of your life. It is the time that only you can now choose how you are going to live from this moment forward. It is one of either holding onto your old way—your own ways—or of embracing what God has told you throughout this book. One way or the other, life cannot simply continue on for you as it has in the past. The world is going through major change, and compared to the population of the world right now, far fewer will live on into the new millennial age God is going to establish.

God is currently bringing people to the greatest crossroads of their lives where major decisions have to be made concerning how each person will choose to live the rest of their life. It will either be one of listening to God and changing their life to be in agreement with Him and His ways or it will be to refuse what He is offering.

Only you, and you alone, can make that choice for your life. That responsibility belongs to no one else.

If someone has the desire to live on into God’s new age, and to live His way of life in it, then they must change. No one can continue to live as they have been. No one can continue to hold on to their false religious and/or immoral practices, but instead must reject them.

The entire reason the world is going through end-time catastrophic events is because mankind has consistently lived disobediently toward God for 6,000 years, and it has now come to the time, because of the advancement of technology, that it is about to annihilate itself.

Disobedience to God’s ways only brings suffering, sorrow, and evil in life. God is bringing an end to that, as He brings an end to mankind’s self-rule, rebellion, and prideful selfish living that has been the cause of such suffering and sorrow throughout the millennia.

It is because of mankind’s selfish and pride-filled ways that God is now intervening to end that self-rule and to establish His government as His Kingdom is established under Jesus Christ who will reign over every nation on earth. Not only is God going to establish His government to reign over every nation, He is also going to establish His one true Church throughout all the earth. It will be the only Church and religious practice that is allowed to exist on earth. Once the Millennium is established, there will be no more practice of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, traditional Christianity, or any other false practices in religion, but only that which is true and originates from God’s one true Church.

Whether people like that or not, that is what is happening. Those who do not like it are among those most likely to die before Jesus Christ returns. Those who do live through what is coming and then begin to practice their old ways in the Millennium will not escape death. God reveals they too will soon come to an end if they do not quickly respond to what God is establishing after 6,000 years of mankind’s miserable governments, religions, and ways that have caused such incredible suffering throughout the ages.

By the time the Millennium is established, once Jesus Christ and the 144,000 stand upon this earth once more, over half of the world’s population will have been destroyed. Knowing the stubbornness, rebelliousness, selfishness, and pride of human nature, that number will likely be far higher. If need be, God can reduce the earth’s population to a few million or even a few hundred thousand before the Millennium is established. That is fully up to the different nations, rulers, and people that live in this final end-time.

The full amount of destruction and death that will occur is fully dependent on how people throughout the world respond to God and whether they will begin to listen to Him or not. That is where you are at this very moment. You alone can decide whether or not you are going to embrace God’s ways that lead to selflessness rather than selfishness, to the way of give and love rather than the way of get, hatred, prejudice, and jealousy. God’s way, and His way alone, is the only thing that can produce true unity, caring, friendship, peace, and genuine love toward fellow mankind. The ways of man have never produced such a thing, and they cannot. The ways of mankind produce just the opposite of God’s way.

Right now you are at a place in your life where you must choose whether you are going to now follow God’s way or continue on with your own. This is not something you can simply put off deciding. That time is now, and it is a matter of whether each person will choose to listen to God or not. It is very much like what God told Israel when He had led them out of captivity in Egypt. God gave to them His way of life that they should live by and then said to them, “This day I have set before you life and death.” Then He revealed His great desire toward them, just as He does for each of you now, and He said, “Choose life!” That choice was left in their own hands. The result of life or death was fully within the power of each individual’s choice.

For the Israelites at that time, this was not a matter of immediate death that would be executed upon them. However, at this time it is different. Everyone now lives in a time of great death and destruction on this earth, and only God can give the kind of intervention that can protect and save people from that destruction and death, so that they can live on into the Millennium.

So indeed, this book fulfills a prophecy that reveals the very purpose for why it was written. It is also the reason for the title of this book. God’s desire is that people will receive the words of this book and listen to what He has revealed to them, so that many more might be saved and have opportunity to live on into the Millennium that is about to be established.

It is for this very reason that God has addressed specific nations and their leaders, as leaders have the greatest responsibility and potential ability to influence others to at least listen to those things written here, as was done by the king of Nineveh in the days of Jonah. So God gave charge that this book be written to explain why He has granted seven more years to the world so that many more have the potential for being saved through this final great world war and the catastrophic events that have finally come to be fulfilled on the earth.

This book will end with the prophetic verse referred to that this book fulfills. Although this was stated to John, the charge was not his to fulfill. It was for John’s counterpart, who is God’s prophet, apostle, and end-time witness. This verse was stated prophetically to John’s counterpart to fulfill by writing this book. Although the previous book, 2008—God’s Final Witness, was also sent out to most of the nations of the world, and in several languages to those people and their leaders, God’s purpose for this book is that a stronger message be sent out again, one last time.

The angel said to me, “You must prophesy again against [about, toward] many peoples, nations, languages, and rulers” (Revelation 10:11).

Table of Contents

cover

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7