Today marks the 22nd anniversary of my father's death, Oct. 24, 2001, only one month after 9/11. I thought several times today, "I might be the only person on earth who's even thinking about you, Daddy."
For me his passing was as sudden as anything could be. I went to work that day knowing he was scheduled for 8 a.m. hip surgery. They never did operate because he was not in good shape during pre-op. They said he died of an aneurysm. It was at three-thirty that same day.
I had called him the night before and the last words I remember saying before "goodnight" were, "I'll be praying for you." He responded, "Do that."
It was only a month before when I had my last real conversation with him and it wasn't for very long because I was at a friend's apartment attending a birthday party and asked if I could use the phone. I was back in New York City and told him I found the books he wanted from the Left Behind series and that I would put them in the mail for him.
Of course, this was right after 9/11 and I was living in Hell's Kitchen. He made a smart remark, "How's the anthrax?" in reference to the scare happening in Manhattan with white powder in mailed letters.
But the other question was serious: "Are you working on that book?" I didn't realize he even remembered me once telling him I'd like to write a book to help people get saved.
The book was barely in my mind on 9/11 when I was sitting inside my hotel room at the old high-rise Hilton on Michigan Ave. I had just come back from the massive indoor swimming pool on the top floor, where a man got on the elevator (he was sweaty from working out in the gym and obviously had been watching a TV) and pointed my eyes to a small TV monitor inside our elevator car giving live footage from the World Trade Center just after the first plane hit.
He said, "Did you see this?" I responded something like, "I work in a building not far from World Trade. I better go make some phone calls."
The thing I remember most was watching the live coverage from the foot of my bed and witnessing the second plane hit. I remember praying soon after, "I get it now, God. I'm going to get busy. I'm going to dedicate myself to doing your work."
It was a year and a half later that I flew in from NYC for a friend's wedding in downtown Chicago. I rented a car so I could visit Shorewood the next day, a Sunday, when the church building was still at Grace and Neva in the city.
I made a point of waiting in line to talk to Pastor Jordan after the main service to inform him that I had just quit my job to write a book about the Bible. That's how long I've been working on this book and still haven't finished.
*****
Here is an article from last year and I will post a new article tomorrow for certain:
"There are three criteria used to determine whether one is racially an Arab. It's a mixed race. If you go to Japan, you can prove if one is genetically or racially a Japanese; there's a pure bloodline.
"In Revelation, John is standing there in the desert and the vision is of the fall of Mystery Babylon--he's actually standing in the very place where it's all going to come down," explains Richard Jordan.
"What do we know about this prince of Tyrus? Ezekiel 28: [1] The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
[2] Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
"John's in the desert and it's called the 'desert of the sea.'
"Verse 12: [12] Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
"God is talking to the mystery aspect of the prince of Tyrus; He's talking about an Antichrist out there.
Ezekiel 27: [21] Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
[22] The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
[23] Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Assur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
[24] These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
[25] The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
"The whole chapter talks about all of these merchants. We find in Revelation 18 that when Babylon the Great has fallen, you know what the merchants do? They wail, cry, their wealth comes to an end. They're crying because no one is buying their products anymore: 'I can't sell it anymore; Babylon's fallen.'
"This whole region is importing. You ever been to Dubai? They're importing because they're exporting the one commodity everybody needs. Oil. And they are so incredibly rich.
I Kings 10:15: [15] Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
[16] And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
"Here is a description of these kings of Arabia that bring to Solomon gold and silver. Are there gold and silver mines in Arabia? Where did they get it? Importation.
II Chronicles 9:13-14: [13] Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;
[14] Beside that which chapmen and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
"Oh, boy, what number is that? 666. We know exactly what this foreshadows.
Isaiah 21: [1] The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
Verse 9: [9] And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
"Revelation is where we read Babylon is fallen. Where does all of this take place? The burden of the desert of the sea.
"When John is transported to the wilderness, he's transported to an area that is very commonly known. It's the desert. This whole area that is called Shinar is the Arabian desert. We're not concentrating so much on Saudi Arabia as we are the 'desert of the sea.'
"By the way, the Arabian Peninsula means the Arab island. It's an island of sand. It is a desert of the sea. This is the wilderness area John is being transported to.
Isaiah 13:19: [19] And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
[20] It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
"Babylon is in the Arabian desert and God says it's going to be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isaiah 34: [8] For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
[9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
[10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
"Pitch is like a tar; distilled crude oil. What's God going to do one day to that whole Arabian desert? There are streams and lakes of oil down there and God says, 'I'm going to turn it into pitch.' That crude oil, God's going to ignite it all.
"Remember Noah? They took that distilled oil and created something called slime and it served as an adhesive. When you mix oil with sand you get clay.
"What do we learn about Daniel's image? It's feet are made of what? Is it any wonder it's clay?"
No comments:
Post a Comment