Most powerful thing on the planet

(will be certain to have new article this evening. as I wrote yesterday, we had power outage that lasted 40 hours--makes me think of the Flood. You really do get a "reset" on how to think about your life, and be grateful, in addition to resetting clocks, TVs, etc.)

You want to see a bunch of messed-up people, look at the Corinthians. You know, you look at what’s going on out in the world today--they can’t decide what marriage is, they can’t decide what sex you are.

You need to go read I Corinthians sometime. You talk about transgenders; they were there in the church. There were homosexuals in the church at Corinth. There were crossdressers. You know how they got there? They got saved, says Richard Jordan.

They were in a pagan culture and they’d get saved and come into the local church and then say, “Well, can I still do what I used to do?” and Paul had to deal with that.

By the way, there were a bunch of folks who were home-schooled in a religious environment, separated from the world, in the same church.

Now, think about getting that crowd together. I mean, if you were in the Jewish culture, you lived in a very cloistered atmosphere. You were home-schooled. Mom teaches you, dad oversees it and there’s a patriarchal system and it was very structured.

You had people come out of that and others come out of a very pagan background. I mean, there was drunkenness, extortion . . . There was a guy who thought it was okay to be living with his daddy’s wife. You just hope she was his second wife.

You look at the world we live in. Listen, the façade of Christianity that’s kind of kept our culture identifiable is gone; it’s evaporated. What is now here is exactly the kind of culture Paul dealt with.

The Book of Corinthians says, “Look, you come out of all that background. Here’s what grace does; here’s the change it makes,” and Paul deals with those kinds of things.

When you have physical pain, it tells you there’s something wrong in your body. Well, emotional pain is the same thing. It tells you there’s something wrong in your inner man.

Understanding how you function and how you operate helps you to correct that inner-man malfunction.

Paul’s talking here about you walking worthy. Where’s that walk going to come from? The Word of God working in your inner man.

Listen, the most powerful, the most influential force—the most potent force on Planet Earth in any culture is the Word of God working in the lives of Believers.

You understand that? The most powerful thing on this planet today is God’s Word working in and through people who believe His Word and allow it to work in their life—individually and collectively. That’s where the power of God works and that’s the most powerful thing that’s going to happen in life.

Rain and fire

The power went out at our house around 11 p.m. Monday due to a thunderstorm. We just got it back on late this afternoon!

When I left Chicago Monday morning it was raining and I drove through steady rain ALL the way home, dealing with many traffic slowdowns, etc. Little did I know that was just a prelude for the real fun! So I've been given a real reset as I return to reality here in southern Ohio.

I will have something new later this evening. In meantime here is an old article that received VERY high readership:

You can say “I am Rain Man” no matter what gender you are to try to pay homage to Baal so that he will bless your life with fame, money, prosperity, says a YouTuber.

It’s the same as, you know, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. He’s the god of this world; he can give you all these riches and everything.

These people who have taken that offer—a lot of celebrities whether they’re basketball players, musicians, whatever—you’ll see them throw those signs up with their hands. The 666, the horns, the index fingers.

They’ll just sit there and flash them back to back and you’re like, “What are they doing?” I’ve literally seen like LeBron James or somebody, he’s not even looking at the camera. He’s just kind of looking up and it’s real fast, flashing the signs. He’s giving allegiance just like Christians would be praying, “God help me do this thing; speak through me.”

The more times you can actually pay homage through symbols in whatever you do or say the more it’s said that you are going to be blessed with fame and fortune. You call on Rain Man, in reference to someone who offers abundance of blessings from above.

The Rain Man found in hip-hop music is shown in videos by throwing money or having money appear to be coming down from above. Rain Man, as we’re connecting the dots, is Baphomet or the devil and they will use the words “rain,” “umbrella,” “ella” and “a.” Those are like the key terms for you invoking Rain Man.

In the years of Elijah, they were worshipping Baal and they were saying the rain came from Baal. It’s interesting to see where this comes from and what it actually means.

*****

"Fire and water must have made you their daughter," is a line from the famous 1970 tune Fire and Water. If you think about it, references to fire and water in American songs are quite common. Of course, Satan's minions, we know from the Bible, are huge fans of both.

When Jesus Christ returns at the Second Coming, Zechariah 10:11 tells us, [11] And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

Similarly, Habakkuk 3 says, [9] Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

[10] The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
[13] Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. 

“The ‘head out of the house of the wicked’ is the Antichrist,” explains Richard Jordan. “He’s the head of the satanic policy of evil and the judgment on the rivers . . . 

“The cloaking effect in the rivers, where they’re trying to hide, and the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, have places where there are openings that go down into the heart of the earth into hell—places where some of Satan’s emissaries hide in these waters. 

“When Christ comes back and judges these things, He’s not just pitching a hissy fit and being capricious; there’s a connection between the satanic program and that stuff. 

“In Zechariah 10:11, Jesus Christ is literally assaulting the demonic forces of the Adversary and there’s that army and that fight. 

“In Joel 2 we talked about that at great length. He’s come to put all of that away; He’s literally going to take the armies and artillery of the strongman and bind him and put an end to the conflict. The Second Coming of Christ settles the battle that started in Genesis 1. 

*****

In the appendix notes about Tammuz at the end of his classic book (circa 1858), The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop writes, 

"Everywhere are the Zoroastrians, or fire-worshippers, called Gabrs. Now, Genesis 10:8 proves that Nimrod was the first of the Gabrs. As Zoroaster was head of the fire-worshippers, so Tammuz was evidently the same . . . 

"1. In the first place, Tammuz and Adonis are proved to be the same divinity. Jerome, who lived in Palestine when the rites of Tammuz were observed, up to the very time when he wrote, expressly identifies Tammuz and Adonis in his commentary on Ezekiel, where the Jewish women are presented as weeping for Tammuz . . . 

"2. Now, if Tammuz was Nimrod, the examination of the meaning of the name confirms the connection of Nimrod, with the first fire-worship, there needs no argument to show that, as the Chaldeans were the first who introduced the name and power of kings, and as Nimrod was unquestionably the first of these kings, and the first consequently, that bore the title of Moloch, or king, so it was in honor of him that the 'children were made to pass through the fire to Moloch.' But the intention of that passing through the fire was undoubtedly to purify . . .

"It is evident fire itself was worshipped as Tammuz, for it is called the 'Father that perfected all things.' In one respect this represented fire as the Creative god; but in another, there can be no doubt that it had reference to the 'perfecting' of men by 'purifying' them. And especially it perfected those whom it consumed. . . And this also, no doubt, reconciled the parents who actually sacrificed their children to Moloch, to the cruel sacrifice, the belief being cherished that the fire that consumed them also 'perfected' them, and made them meet for eternal happiness."

*****

Ezekiel 8 is a passage mentioning Tammuz: “Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

[13] He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
[14] Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”

Jordan explains, “Tammuz was the son of the goddess of the sun. In the Baal worship system there’s always a Madonna and child. Tammuz is the baby and he has two tremendous things happen in his life. One is he’s killed. Then, later on, he’s resurrected.

“He dies in the fall of the year as the ‘god of agriculture,’ as the winter approaches, and in the spring of the year he’s resurrected. These women are weeping not for their sin, or the judgment of God that’s coming. They’re weeping for Tammuz, of all things.

“Verse 15 says, ‘And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.’

“You see what these guys are doing? They’re in the temple and they’re making out like they’re worshipping Jehovah and yet they’re really just eyeball deep in Baal worship.

“Verse 17 says ‘they put the branch to their nose.’ That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? You know, four times in Old Testament the Lord Jesus is called by the title ‘the branch.’ Isaiah 4, Jeremiah 23, Zachariah 3 and 6.

“Each one of those four references is a reference to a particular characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ that’s reflected in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It’s a fascinating portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Author of life.

“This idolatrous system here has taken that title and developed their own idolatrous source of life. God is love, therefore love is God, and the highest act a man can perform is to create life. That’s why the tremendous sexual abominations that were involved in this—in fact, the word used there is the word used for 'phallus.' The Greek phalex that later on shows up.

“You know, we say you’re ‘thumbing your nose at God.’ That’s the modern-day derivative of this term here. The Italians have a vulgar, vile gesture that they use that’s a similar kind of a thing. They just show the earthy, abominable nature and that’s what’s going on there.”

 

Underlying Paul's stories

(I am staying this evening near the lakefront on Chicago's Northside with two dear old friends who are a married couple. We will go to an old-school Italian restaurant for dinner--possibly even Gene & Georgetti if I have my way and they are willing to deal with the parking. As a result, I won't have internet access again until tomorrow evening and will post a new article then.)

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was dealing with a Greek culture that placed a tremendous emphasis on the human wisdom of its philosophers—Socrates, Plato, etc.

An epistle is not just a letter. In the 1^st century in the Greek world, when an epistle was written it started with the name of the teacher, the topic and the subject and it was a formal communication from a teacher to his students. There’s this form in which they come, explains Richard Jordan.

People say about Paul’s writings, “Well, these were just letters he wrote.” These are letters, but they’re really letters from an authoritative teacher to communicate information and doctrine.

When you’re dealing with Paul’s ministry and the other epistles really, you’re dealing not just with stories that represent the doctrine but the doctrine that underlies the stories.

In Paul’s epistles there’s a fascinating thing. They’re not just syllogistic dissertations of doctrine. He takes the doctrine and wraps it in the experiences of the people he writes to, or his own experience. So, there’s this doctrine being communicated, but it isn’t like point A, B, C; 1, 2, 3.

Some people get frustrated and say, “Well, why does a book of theology look so different than these books of doctrine?” It’s because Paul doesn’t take the information out of the context of real life.

He’ll communicate the teachings in ways that always permeate the lives of the people he’s talking about—and mainly his own life.

I’ve said to you that II Corinthians is the most personal of Paul’s epistles. You can see into him the most, and he tells you something key about himself in verse 5 of the first chapter: [5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

He’s saying, “Just like the sufferings of Christ, the things that come upon me when I suffer things because of the work of Christ, if I suffer then there’s a consolation that comes to me. There’s a comfort that I receive from God in those sufferings.”

[6] And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
[7] And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

You see how Paul recognized that he was made “an ensample” of what God wants us to understand about suffering? When he suffered, it was to be an example to you about how to handle that. And when he was comforted, it was an example for you about how God comforts the saints.

Paul’s Christian life was lived in an exemplary manner for us; it was lived out for our benefit as a pattern. So, when I read Philippians, he’s not laying out his testimony about his life just to tell you about him. He’s laying it out as a pattern for us.

Philippians 3:10: [10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

I want to know Him, and again, it’s not just come to know Him initially. I want to know Him more intimately, more fully. The greatness, the infiniteness of God.

You’re going to spend eternity getting to know more and more and more and more about Him because you can never come to the place where you say you know Him fully, completely, and there’s nothing more to discover.

Upheld by His righteous omnipotent hand

I was reading the testimony of a cancer survivor and liked this quote from him:

"Life is like a sailboat. You can only focus on the things you have control over, like your boat, sails and rudder. You have to let go of the things you don't have control over, like the water, wind and current. What I had the control over was the decision to fight for my life."

Today at the Bible conference we sang a hymn that has become a top favorite of mine for its lyrics. What most aren’t aware of are these older lyrics to this song dating back to 1787--one in which no one really knows who its author is:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health,
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand shall thy faith ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid,
I'll strengthen thee, help thee and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow,
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply,
The flame shall not hurt thee: I only design,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age, all my people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love,
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
As lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus Hath leaned for repose,
I will not - I will not Desert to its foes,
That soul, though all hell Should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no, never, No, never forsake!

*****

From one website: How Firm a Foundation first reached the public when John Rippon – an influential English minister who pastored Carter Lane Baptist Church in London – published A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors in 1787. This collection featured a variety of hymns that Rippon found to be especially powerful, which turned out to be true as the collection quickly rose in popularity. In fact, the collection was so popular that eleven different editions were released between the time of original release and Rippon’s death in 1836. One such edition made its way to America, and specifically to Baptist Churches in Philadelphia. As popular as the collection was in England, it was perhaps more-so in America, and even became known as the "unofficial hymnbook for Baptist Churches."

*****

From writer Luke Powell:

“Well, there's a mystery behind the song because the name of the writer has never really been found. It was 1787 when a Baptist minister, Doctor John Rippon in London, published a book of hymns, including this great song, and where the author's name normally goes, was just an initial K, and nobody can say for sure who this mysterious K is.

"There are some theories, and the first is that it was probably a man named Robert Keen, who was the musician at Doctor Rippon's church in those days. Apparently, Mr. Keen was later dismissed from this church on a charge of drunkenness, believe it or not, but it seems as if he may have been the author, and in fact later hymnals actually cite him as the author. If you see some hymnals in the 1800s, they have got Robert Keen as the author.

"As I've been going through the Canaan Melodies hymnal and recording it, I found the song. It was number 24, I think, and the author was cited as George Keith, and I didn't think much of it. When I released the song, I put George Keith as the author.

"But looking it up this week, I wondered if he was the mysterious K. It seems as if this theory about Keith being the author only came up later. In fact, it was a man named Daniel Sedgwick who owned some bookshops in London and was quite a hymn person himself.

"He liked to compile hymnals, and it seems as if he helped Charles Spurgeon with the publication of his hymnals. This man said that George Keith was the author of this hymn, and it seemed as if Keith was a member of Doctor Rippon's church as well in the late 1700s, but research shows that he was part of a group that split and didn't like Rippon, so they left the church. This makes it unlikely that he was part of the publication of this hymnal.

"There are other theories. One theory is that a man named Kirkham, who was a contemporary of the Wesleys in the 1700s, wrote it. But the truth is, nobody can say for sure. But somebody obviously sat down and put these words together.

"It's a beautiful piece of writing. It's very unusual in that it takes Scripture and paraphrases it, but so slightly that you can tell that it's Scripture. You can recognize a lot of the words, but it paraphrases it so that it seems as if God is the one speaking. This is quite a comforting thing to hear and to sing. So thank you to K, whoever you were. We're just blessed to have these words. Let me take you through the words that this mysterious man wrote.”

Antichrist becomes 'a law unto himself'

(just arrived late this afternoon to Chicago for my church's weekend Bible conference and will have a new article tomorrow)

Revelation 13:4: [4] And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

This issue of power and worship, that's exactly what the devil sought to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, explains Alex Kurz in a study.

When the devil gives to this Antichrist--all that power, governmental authority--guess who worships who? Satan now receives all the worship. This is a repeat of a scenario of an event that did happen over 2,000 years ago. Satan possesses these kingdoms.

Verses 5-7: [5] And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

[6] And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
[7] And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

"Wasn't that the promise the devil made to the Lord Jesus? He said, 'I'll give it to you if . . ' Conditional, right? Makes you wonder about that deal that was offered. I can't help but think about the similarity between the two.

Revelation 13:12: [12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

"What we begin to see in Revelation 13 for the first time is this power that is given to this individual, but not only that, look at Revelation 13:8: [8] And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

"Prior to this, there's nothing said about anybody worshipping. Listen, whoever this man of sin is, he's a great charismatic, intelligent individual. He's able to thwart three of those kings and the remaining seven capitulate. We saw that perhaps he defeats the first three and by threat of long-range weaponry, the remaining seven say, 'Listen, we're not going to get stamped out,' so they capitulate to this guy.

"The worship part of this man does not begin until the middle of the week. Hence, as we just read in verse 8, they're going to begin to worship.

Verse 15: [15] And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Revelation 14:7: [7] Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

"For the first time, there's this issue of who is worshipping who. That man of sin has to be taken out of the way and he's going to be cut down, and now power is going to be given to the resurrected guy. Now the world does something for the first time. Adoration and worship is being given.

Revelation 13:3: [3] And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

"That word 'wonder' means they 'admire' this guy. This is, by the way, willful adoration, willful wonderment.

"This isn't out of compulsion. He's the Superstar. How do we know that? The world asks, 'Who is like unto the beast?' Someobody else asks that question. Exodus 15:11: [11] Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

"The son of perdition is going to portray himself as being the epitome of holiness. The world is going to fall in love.

"Sometime we think of the second stage of the career of the Antichrist as him being some sort of a monster; a kind of Hitler-type tyrant and dictator. Far from it. He's going to be a benevolent dictator.

"Listen, he EARNS the love, worship and adoration of the masses. Do you love a tyrant? If there is a dictator who cruelly oppresses you, do you worship that guy? In your heart? These people say, 'Who's like this guy?!' He's a wonderment. 

"Here's something E.W. Bullinger wrote regarding the second half of the week and the career and activities of the Antichrist:

'It's clear from this that everthing is combined in this man to make him not only acceptable to the world but to call forth their wonder, admiration and praise. He's not in any way a terror to men, but full of attractions, allurements and activities which will be all put forth in the interest of human greatness and happiness.'

"You know what this guy's doing? He wants to create his own Garden of Eden. Satan wants his own uptopia with HIS man. Everything Satan's doing is an exact duplicate; it's a counterfeit of what God Almighty is doing.

"God creates man from a pile of dust and the devil, within a few seconds of time, crushes what He thought God was seeking to do. You see, Satan's man would never do what God's man Adam did, right?

"Satan's got HIS man and this man will, for the first time, achieve what mankind was not able to achieve--that great societal development. This societal utopia. His man is a Superman and all the world, they love him for that.

"It's real easy to think he's some of kind of monster everybody hates, but it's the Tree of the Knowledge of GOOD and Evil. Not evil in the sense of rape, burn, pillage, but evil in the sense of defying what God's doing and carrying out the policy and strategy of Satan, because Satan wants to be the most high God and wants people to willingly worship him because of his benevolence to humanity.

"Bullinger writes: 'It will be Satan's brief Millennium in which mankind will, by every art and artifice, be made happy.' 

"We'll see in Daniel 11 this guy is filthy, filthy rich but he's also generous, only the generosity extended by this guy is sort of like a politician who seeks to win your vote. In light of this, it will be a time of peace and progress. The Bible says peace is his mantra."

“Imagine being a member of that remnant and here’s this character out providing to humanity all they ever really wanted in ‘utopia,’ and you as the little flock say, ‘But he’s not the Christ.’

“Can you imagine how the world and the religious system is going to crush this ragtag team of heretics telling them, ‘Get out of there; don’t participate!’ You see why the hatred and the policy of extermination that’s being launched?

“This guy makes WAR with the saints because the saints are opposed to what this fraud is doing, trying to establish his Garden of Eden.

“It will be a time of peace and progress for the world. Great secrets of nature will be discovered. Evil angels will be the teachers and deceiving demons the guides of mankind.

“Keep that in mind when you go back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel whose top may reach unto what? They were trying to call down these evil angels to serve as spirit guides.

“Great inventions and discoveries will be made. Who needs God if man functions as their own gods, right? Philanthropy will be the governing principal of the world: ‘Man can take care of man.’

“In the Book of Daniel you see this guy’s going to change laws and times. Which laws and times do you think he’s seeking to change? The laws of Scripture.

“Remember, the Book of Revelation is like a daily newspaper. It’s like the Metra schedule; you know exactly when the next train is coming. There are specific times and events that are predicted in Revelation. This guy is going to seek to change times.

“You have members of the little flock saying, ‘Listen, this is Antichrist because the Scriptures provide a timeline and he who sits in the temple being worshipped as God—he’s going to change the times to confuse the blind.’

“Oh, he’s a genius. Corrupted, satanically empowered genius. Satan doing it through him as long as Satan is being what? Worshipped.

“I love what E.W. Bullinger says: ‘He becomes a law unto himself. Men will delight in him and regard him as the greatest benefactor the world has ever seen. Kings will gladly owe him, and behind all will be Satan himself, swaying the tongues, hearts and energies of thousands of willing agents.’

“You see in Genesis the satanic attempt to be the mastermind behind civilization, agriculture, the fine arts. Why is Satan interested in the fine arts? You would think all he cares about is pushing the drugs and all that. No, that’s not what Satan’s interested in because your flesh is pretty capable of doing that anyway.

“Revelation 18 deals with commercial Babylon. The kings of the earth, when it comes to the destruction of commercial Babylon, they cry. The greatness, the economic system and the system of commerce that’s established by this wicked genius comes to an end by Almighty God and the response by humanity is just horrible.

Revelation 18: [2] And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
[3] For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

"Something is going to happen to that literal city of Babylon and it’s fallen.

"Revelation 18:4: [4] And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

“Paul says ‘the love of money is the root of all evil.’ The greed is the motivating force that causes man to bend their knee in worship to this guy who is operational control of it all because all power is given to him by that seven-headed dragon.

“Verses 7-9: [7] How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
[8] Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
[9] And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

“They mourn over her: ‘My business is bankrupt!’ He’s not some tyrant who brings humanity under this slavish fear. He’s benevolent and he’s participating. He wants all men to live happily and prosperously.

“Why? Did not God say, ‘If you worship me and obey my commandments I will bless you with overabounding fruitfulness and wealth.’ You see what the fake king of kings is seeking to do in his phony Millennium, his phony Garden of Eden?

“He’s doing the thing that God says: ‘I will do, worship me.’ Satan says, ‘Worship me, I’ll bless you,’ and you know what that apostate nation of Israel is going to do? They’re going to crack open Deuteronomy and confront the members of the little flock and say, ‘Try and argue against Deuteronomy 28.’

“Because he’s doing it! He’s doing Deuteronomy 28! 'Who is like this guy?!' You see why members of the little flock are getting their heads cut off? You understand the tremendous pressure?

“Imagine being a member of the little flock who’s trying to convince someone who’s using Scripture and here’s this guy feeding it.

“That’s why Revelation 13:10 says, [10] He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

“The Lord wasn’t playing around when He said, ‘They that endure.’ Hebrews isn’t playing around when it says, ‘Hold fast; don’t let go of that hope.’ Like Paul says in II Thessalonians, ‘Strong delusion.’ Wow, this guy is EARNING worship because he’s practicing what Jehovah God said He would do based upon that covenant and program.” 

Modeling Solomon

As part of the first-ever “America Reads the Bible,” a weeklong scripture-reading event in Washington, D.C. featuring more than 500 participants, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sen. Ted Cruz, President Donald Trump recited II Chronicles 7:11-22.

“And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice,” read Trump, seated behind the Resolute Desk and in front of the camera. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Anyone familiar with Freemasonry knows Solomon is highly revered and seen as a model for their own pursuits.

“Masons consider King Solomon as a role model for their own endeavors, which is why numerous lodges and chapters are named after him,” informs freemasonry.wiki. “ In Masonic ritual, he is often referred to as the ‘Grand Master’ and is regarded as a representation of the principles that Masons strive to exemplify.”

Here is a post on everything Solomon:

Imagine God grants you more wisdom than anybody else on the face of the earth and, by the end of your incredibly successful career as third king of Israel, you wind up a marrying a bunch of heathen women and adopting their pagan-occultist ways and, in the process, become a type of the Antichrist in the Bible.

This is the sorted story of Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, who began his 40-year reign in 967 BC (while David was still alive) and enjoyed an unparalleled era of security, prosperity, and international political and economic importance in a domain that stretched from Tipshah on the Euphrates to Gaza on the border of Egypt.

It’s absolutely fascinating how Solomon’s life—the good and the bad—is laid out in such explicit, unusual detail in the Old Testament. Through his own writings in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is more of a personal diary or journal, we are made privy to Solomon’s deepest insights at the time of his downward spiral.

*****

From I Kings 3, we know God first came to Solomon in a nighttime dream and asked him what he wanted as king. When Solomon humbly answered, “I’d like wisdom to rule over this people,” God was so pleased by the reply He made Solomon the smartest man alive, granting him untold riches and honor in the process.

I Kings 4:29 reports, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
[30] And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
[31] For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
[32] And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.”
[33] And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
[34] And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.”

“He was wiser than all men; I mean, he was the wisest man on the planet. He spake three thousand proverbs. He codified his wisdom. He took that wisdom and put it into codes and instructions that people could learn by," explains Richard Jordan.

*****

King Solomon lived in such over-the-top opulence even the cup he used to rinse his teeth out at night after brushing was made of gold. Just look at this passage from I Kings:

“And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
[22] For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
[23] So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
[24] And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
[25] And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
[26] And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.
[27] And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.
[28] And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
[29] And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

“Can you imagine cedars as plentiful as just old scrub brush? Ever been in a cedar forest? You ever smelled a cedar chest? You know how fresh it makes everything smell? The environment around this guy was perfumed with the fragrance of a prosperous creation. . .

“Year by year, he was given horses and chariots. Everybody knew how wise this guy was so they’d bring him presents; they’d bless him in order to get the benefit of his wisdom and benefit of his counsel. It was just everywhere—the wealth, the grandeur.”

*****

Of course, it was in the midst of this unparalleled blessing Solomon got it in his head to go after “outlandish women,” as Nehemiah defines them, and “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.” (I Kings 11:3)

I Kings 11 explains, “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
 [5] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
[6] And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
[7] Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
[8] And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.”

The primary distinction between Solomon and his father, as verse 4 clearly tells, is Solomon’s “heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” 

“David was an adulterer, a philanderer, a murderer. He’s a guy who would have been a good senator from Massachusetts. He commits adultery, covers it up with murder and destroys the integrity of his own army and commanding staff by doing  so. He makes them complicit with it and brings judgment on his nation.

“He’s a lousy father. He raised some of the biggest brats you’ll ever want to know who destroyed his nation, his kingdom. One of his boys raped his own sister. I mean this is not a happy home and yet King David is a great man in the Bible; a sainted man—the man God made a covenant with and said, ‘I’m going to bless him.’

“God had said of David, ‘He’s a man after my own heart.’ David got caught up in a lot of the sins of the flesh but his heart never left the Lord; he never went out and worshipped idols. Solomon did, and in doing so, he forsook the wisdom of God and sought after the wisdom of man.”

*****

In a classic macro code tucked into the Old Testament, pointing to Solomon as a type of the Antichrist, I Kings 10 lists the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year as “six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.” That’s 666!

I Kings 10:16-19 further reveals, “And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
[17] And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
[18] Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
[19] The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two.” 

“You notice in Solomon’s life from this point on there becomes a fixation; a downward spiraling fixation with sixes. In verse 18, he’s got six steps, six lions, six steps. He does that in the architecture. Now do you think when he sought wisdom from God, God divided the architecture like that? No! He did that from human viewpoint, and as you go on in Solomon’s ministry life, you see Solomon just slowly drifting, falling down and it’s at this point in his life somewhere along in here that Ecclesiastes is written. 

“It’s in these books (Job through Song of Solomon), by the way, that there’s demonstration to Israel for when they’re in exactly the same situation; when there’s the temptation and the draw to be pulled into the 666 system.”

Seeds of Abraham

My April 8 post entitled, "Goofy, nutty ignorance on Abrahamic Covenant," continues to receive high readership and so I thought a compilation of material on the subject would be of interest:

“I can honestly confess that growing up in church I never heard a sermon or a lesson expounding the content and meaning of the Abrahamic Covenant,” writes R. Dawson Barlow, Bible scholar and long-term China missionary, in his book The Two Gospels.

“I dare to say that as long as Believers remain ignorant of the message—the merit and unconditional nature of the promises of God to Abraham and his posterity—they will never be clear in their understanding of the Bible . . .

“God made it clear that throughout the Old Testament He would be dealing with Israel (the Jewish people, the Hebrews, i.e., the physical descendants of Abraham) on the basis of that great Abrahamic Covenant.”

*****

When Abraham goes into the land of Canaan and sees it for the first time, “the stage for the conflict of the ages” is set.

In Genesis 6, it was the whole human race that was the object of the satanic policy of evil because God’s purpose was to have a “seed of the woman” come out of the human race.
 

But in Genesis 12 the seed line’s reduced down to the seed of Abraham and it becomes the point of attack. That line results in the royal seed of David, and when Jesus Christ shows up in the genetic line, He is the object of the Adversary’s ire.

*****

“When God called Abraham out, he wasn’t just calling out another man to do another job; He was calling somebody special who was going to change the course of all of human history,” explains Richard Jordan.

“God was changing His dealings with men in a very special way and there’s something doctrinally going on with Abraham; when you’re studying Abraham, you’re not just studying Daniel in the Lion’s den, or David fighting Goliath.

 

"It’s not just another Bible story; this is something that radically changes God’s dealings with men.

“If you’re ever going to understand the Word of God you’ve got to understand what God does and establishes with Abraham.

“Without understanding Abraham and the seed, and the nation that comes from him, you'll never understand God’s Word and what will happen is what Peter told people in his day (II Peter 3)--the Word of God will become destructive in your life.

"It will actually become something where he says the unlearned 'twist Scripture to their own destruction.' It will cause your Christian life to be an absolute frustration to you."

*****

Lot was Abraham’s nephew and the last one of Abraham’s kindred to hang on. Once Abraham finally separates himself from Lot, though, and he’s out all by himself with wife Sarah, the Lord comes and renews the promise, showing Abraham the land He’s going to give him.

“He shows Abraham the inheritance he’s going to have and tells him, ‘Go out and walk around in it and get to know it. Go out and enjoy it and see what it’s like.'

“Later, in Genesis 15, God actually makes a covenant; a written contractual agreement to give Abraham. First, there’s the promise, then there’s the details of the promise, and then finally there’s the covenant.

*****

Unbelievably, the Koran says Abraham took his son Ishmael, not Isaac, for the sacrifice. Just as bad, it says Abraham was thrown into a fire by Nimrod when Abraham wasn’t even born until centuries after Nimrod’s death!

The events of the life of Nimrod, grandson of Ham, are recorded in Genesis 10, where it says he established an empire in Shinar and then spread his rule northward along the Tigris over Assyria.

“Nimrod took over that whole Mesopotamian basin and all of that area we call Iraq, and Palestine, and Jordan, and Israel, and Saudi Arabia—all of that area.

"You see, though, the descendants of Ham (after the Flood) were to go south, and the descendants of Japheth to go up, and the descendants of Shem out that way (to the east). You say, ‘But who was to take this middle ground?’ God had a people for that.

“God raised them up; that’s what he’s doing with Abraham! You see, there’s a satanic policy of evil designed against God’s purpose in that part of the land and it’s a satanic policy to contest the occupancy of the Promised Land. Satan’s policy was to occupy the land in advance of Abraham coming into it in order to contest Abraham’s seed taking it over.”

“Satan understood from the very beginning the importance of that piece of real estate over there—that part of the earth from the edge of Egypt over to the Persian Gulf, up to the apex over there; what we call that the Fertile Crescent.”

*****

In Genesis 12:1, God appears to Abraham in Mesopotamia and utters the famous lines, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.”

“That’s the first time God has appeared in Genesis since the Garden of Eden. He appears personally to Abraham to call him out. It was at a time when the world deserved absolutely nothing but judgment and wrath.

“Do you know another time in your Bible where the world deserved nothing but wrath and judgment and the Lord Jesus Christ appears (from heaven) and calls out one man to send salvation and blessing to all men?

“In Acts 7, the whole world is guilty before God and the nation Israel strikes out and sends the message back, ‘We’ll not have this man reign over us,’ and Stephen looks up and sees Christ standing at the ‘right hand of the Father.’

“Stephen sees Jesus (ready) to come back and pour His wrath out, and just as the time is ripe in Acts 7, a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus—a blasphemer against God who had joined the world’s rebellion against the Savior—is made Paul the Apostle and through him forms a new agency—the Church the Body of Christ.

“You have to come all the way over to Acts to get to another crisis point like you have in Genesis 12 where God chooses one man out to send salvation to the nations. It’s a wonderful parallel there.”

*****

Stephen actually makes reference to Abraham at the beginning of Acts 7 when he pleads with the Jews ready to kill him, “Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
[3] And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
[4] Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.”

What is often not realized about Abraham is that when God deals with him in Ur of the Chaldees and tells him to flee, Abraham is a sophisticated city-dweller in the midst of a tremendously advanced civilization.

“We get the idea that all these cities back there in time past—well, they were all headhunters and cave-dwellers. That just isn’t true, though. Ur of the Chaldees has been extensively excavated, and they had running water, indoor plumbing and all kind of things in their homes—things we only had in this country as a general rule everywhere in the last 80 years. And yet in 2,000 B.C., Ur was a prosperous, advanced technological city and Abraham was urbane and he leaves there to go across the Arabian dessert to Palestine.”

*****

It was only after the death of his father, Terah, that Abraham, then 75 years old, “took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.” (Gen. 12:5)

“It took death to sever the natural link that bound Abraham to Haran (the name actually means ‘barren’ or ‘parts’) and Abraham was never going to go into the fullness of the blessings God had for him, and He was never going to go in and occupy and have the land until he had completely severed his ties with his family back there.

“Note that when God first told Abraham to go out, he didn’t do that. His obedience was very partial and it wasn’t complete obedience. It wasn’t something where he just did exactly what God said. God gave him about three things to do and he did one of them and two of them he didn’t do.

“God is separating Israel away and God is waiting until Abraham is separated alone—out here by himself—and Abraham had to take that step of faith to step out and be what God called him to be in order to look for the program to operate. That’s what circumcision is about!

“Later on, when God gives Abraham the covenant, He gives him the sign of circumcision, which is the seal of righteousness Abraham had by faith. Circumcision in your Bible speaks to death—death of the flesh; death to man’s ability to produce a work that God would accept.”

*****

“Calling one of us to, ‘Move to Chicago!’ well, God wouldn’t do that to anybody,” says Jordan in an old study from Hebrews, “But He did to Abram. He took Abraham and said, ‘Get out of thy kindred from thy house to a land that I’ll show you,’ but didn’t tell him where it was going to be.

“Abraham’s over in that land some time before God shows him the perimeters of it. Now God took him and walked him around in the land that later on He’s going to give him and his seed forever. But when Abraham first started out he didn’t know what was what and where was what and what was where or anything else.

“Abraham just took God at His Word in spite the lack of details involved. Isaiah 51 says, 1] Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
[2] Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
[3] For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

“That hole and that rock . . . it was a pit of idolatry that God reached down in there and saw a man and called him out of.

“God called him, underline the next word—ALONE. God took Abraham and set him apart from all the other families of the earth and all the other kindred of the earth and set him alone.

“He sends him off, saying, ‘I’m going to separate you from everybody else and I’m going to put you over in that land over there and you’re going to be MINE!’ You know, you think about loneliness—whew! That’s something.

“He doesn’t say, ‘C’mon, let’s go down here and I’m going to make you a part of a great big influential movement of people.’ He said, ‘C’mon, Abraham, I’m going to sit you out here where there isn’t anybody else but just you and me.’

"Hebrews 11:9 says, ‘By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.’

“By faith, he didn’t only obey in going out, but he sojourned in the land of promise. By the way, that’s what that land ought to be called. The land over there in Palestine is not the Holy Land. Ezekiel says it will be holy one day but it will be holy because God is going to dwell in it and sanctify it and He’s going to put His presence in it.

“Abraham sojourned in the land and they lived in tents and tabernacles. He was by faith saying, ‘This is MY country! This is MY land! God gave me this!’

“God said, ‘Don’t worry about the details. Forget all the details. Just trust me. Go out here and enjoy it!’ So he does. Well, how can he do that?

“Hebrews 11:10 says, ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.’

“Abraham says, ‘I’m not going to be satisfied until I get the city God’s going to build. I’m not going to build me a city. I’m going to let God build it! He said He would. I’m going to trust Him.’ ”

Antichrist's 'becoming'

 (new article tomorrow)

When Satan’s cast out of heaven in the great tribulation, the beast in the bottomless pit rises up to become the “son of perdition.”

The Antichrist is killed in the midst of the week, and when a man dies his soul goes to hell. This beast out of the bottomless pit comes up and inhabits his body and he literally becomes “Satan incarnate.” There’s an angel who’s king over the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:11, so there’s a lot of weird stuff going to happen, explains Richard Jordan.

Revelation 9: [11] And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The Antichrist is described as “the beast who ascends out of the bottomless pit.” That takes place in the midst of the 70^th week when he’s killed. If a man dies, he’s dead. Your soul dies and goes to hell and you don’t get out of hell and come back.

This beast animates that body and so you have all these movies, books, TV shows, etc., about vampires and the walking dead.

There’s this fascination with all that kind of stuff because that’s part of the mythology of man’s mind; it’s part of what’s there because the creative genius of unsaved people is satanically inspired.

And if I want to prepare the world to worship me, what am I going to do? I’d take all the young people in the world and I’d teach them this is normal, common, ordinary kind of stuff.

*****

Regarding the Antichrist, Zechariah 11:17 reveals, [17] Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

The way that verse is understood in most teaching is the sword, like in the Book of Job, is his power that’s going to be broken. Then they say his eye--the source of light, wisdom, understanding--is going to be dried up and so the judgment’s going to come and his arm’s going to be “clean dried up.”

He’s going to lose all his power and his wisdom’s going to be completely gotten rid of and that's what’s going to happen in the Second Coming of Christ. The Antichrist and his power will be negated and gone forever.

That’s what the preachers say about the passage and that’s okay if you want to take it with a spiritual bent like that, but if you just leave it for what it says, there are some fascinating things in connection with this. What it would mean is that the sword shall be upon his arm and his right eye. This guy’s going to be wounded.

How do you get both a guy’s eye and his arm? You could probably get this eye and that arm, but you’d have to whack at him. You remember Peter in the garden; he cuts the guy’s ear off with a sword? How would you do that?

To swing hard enough to get it you’d hit his shoulder. But if he was ducking, you could get his ear and it would fly up in the air. Jesus caught it and stuck it back on and healed him. In other words, Pete was trying to cut his head off. Well, in the case of the Antichrist, there’s a sword attack that wounds his arm and his right eye.

Revelation 13, talking about the Antichrist in verses 1-2, says in verse 3, [3] And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

The Antichrist sustains a deadly wound that’s healed. If you have a deadly wound, that’s a mortal wound you die from, so this means he’s not dead anymore. In the process he lives.

Talking about the two witnesses, Revelation 11:7 says, [7] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Notice there’s a beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit that used to be on the earth. You’ll see him again in chapter 17:8. The beast used to be on the earth, he’s gone out, and now he’s going to ascend and be the one who ultimately goes into perdition.

*****

Isaiah 37 reports, [5] So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
[6] And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
[7] Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

This is Hezekiah and the Assyrians that are attacking him, but notice what he says in verse 7. You can find all that in Daniel 11. ‘And I will cause him to fall by the sword.’

About the judgment on the Antichrist, Isaiah 14:18-19 says, [18] All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house (i.e., they’re all dead).
[19] But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

He’s killed by his enemies with a sword, but notice what happens to him. He goes down into the grave, wounded with a sword like all these others, but then he gets cast out of the grave.

The idea there is this guy professes himself to be God. Somebody says, ‘Well, how do you know Jesus Christ is God?’ Romans 1:4 says, [4] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

The dude gets assassinated. He dies. When a man dies, you know where his soul goes? To hell. You know how his soul gets out? You know how people get out of hell? You get out at the Great White Throne Judgment when God casts you into the lake of fire.

But there lies that dude’s body and there’s a spirit down in the bottomless pit (a fallen angel) which ascends up, takes residence in that body and animates that body.

He stands up and all the world goes, ‘We knew HE was the One!’ That deadly wound is healed and all the world declares him to be God because he’s declared to be God by that resurrection.

Listen, Satan is a consummate imitator and counterfeit of what God has done. Satan is a counterfeit of God the Father; “your father is the devil.”

The Antichrist is a counterfeit of God the Son and “the false prophet” is a counterfeit of God the Holy Spirit. That unholy trinity--the beast, the false prophet and Satan--works together. Revelation 20:10 says they all wind up in the lake of fire.

That idol shepherd and the wound he has--the things we’re reading about and why those things become so prominent in the Scripture is because there’s some things that go on in the midst of that 70^th week in connection with the Antichrist BECOMING, and that’s the word people use—he’s becoming.

You ever seen the movie Red Dragon? The red dragon, the protagonist, keeps saying, “I am becoming. I am becoming.” And he’s transforming himself into this great demonic thing. That becoming is a part of the occult.

*****

“Mystery Babylon the Great comes into all of that. Zechariah 11:16 says, [16] For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

You remember how they worship the queen of heaven? They have drink offerings of blood, as Psalm 16:4 calls it, and are eating flesh. You go to a Catholic church and their Mass, and they believe when they ring the bell and do the blessing that little cracker becomes the flesh of Jesus Christ. When you put that cracker in your mouth you’re literally eating the flesh. When you take in that hooch you’re drinking the blood.

In Zechariah, when they eat that flesh, they’re literally sacrificing those believing Jews, the souls under the altar. They’re literally sacrificing them to this character in their religion. “They teach thy servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols.” That’s not just the symbolic stuff; at that point it gets to be the real thing!

So God’s people are being persecuted in a way that’s hard to fathom. Back in Kings it says they had such famine they ate their babies a span long. They’d take a little 18-inch baby and starve him so bad that he dies and then they eat him.

You think, “How does it get that bad?” This stuff, though, they’re not doing it just because they’re starving; they’re doing it to sacrifice to Satan. 

Witchcraft-based government with Trump as 'The Magician'?

On April 17 at 8:57 in the morning, Trump wrote an X tweet stating, in part, “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon anymore. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank You! President DJT.”

What’s interesting is there is a Tarot card from the 1982 Illuminati Card Game showing a screaming head that looks very much like Trump and the title of the card is “Enough is Enough!”

From Wikipedia: “The 1982 game has ominous secret societies competing with each other to control the world through various means, including legal, illegal, and even mystical. It was designed as a ‘tongue-in-cheek rather than serious’ take on conspiracy. It contains groups named similarly to real-world organizations, such as the  Society for Creative Anachronism and the Symbionese Liberation Army. It can be played by two to eight players. Depending on the number of players, a game can take between one and six hours.”

So, what’s even more telling is there’s a famous Tarot card showing a magician wearing a red shawl over a white robe, exactly like Trump was depicted in his personally sent message on Orthodox Easter (April 12 ) showing himself as a Jesus-like figure healing a man in his sick bed. The name of the Tarot card is “The Magician.”

Here’s commentary from a YouTuber who is a Bible-believing Baptist preacher:

“When you’re a man like Donald Trump and you’re obsessed with higher consciousness and the ‘Power of Positive Thinking’ (ala Norman Vincent Peale who was Trump’s preacher growing up) and stuff like that, you want everybody around you to be propping you up like that because, in a sense, you think that feeds the mantras and the spiritual energy that you are getting so that you will eventually become who they think you are.

“We talked about how, in the esoteric meaning, he posted what he posted because he believes in the ‘Power of Positive Thinking’ and its manifestation, which is magic.

“Donald Trump, by his philosophy of life, basically practices magic; he’s a white magic magician. That’s what he is.

“Now there’s another layer to this picture, in that it was obviously an AI image created from an account that has been depicting Donald Trump as a messianic figure more than one time.

“Of course, Donald Trump is on the ‘I’m big on myself’ side, but when he has people around him who are enabling him (like his personally picked White House spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain), feeding this side of this man, it’s not healthy for him spiritually, and so naturally he thinks of himself as a messiah-type figure.

“But all of this is groundwork for this. There is a strange coincidence with this image. I looked at it and I thought, 'Man, there’s something up.' Everybody was talking about how there was this Baphomet figure above his head (with the three spikes coming out) in this AI portrait that Trump says he thinks was meant to show himself as a Red Cross doctor.

“I looked at this and I thought, ‘I have seen what he’s wearing before; I’ve seen that,’ and I just couldn’t place it, and I had a listener send me an email and they connected the dots for me.

“It’s just a ‘strange coincidence,’ but let me compare what Trump is wearing in this AI image to a Tarot card called ‘The Magician.’ You look at that and you tell me that that’s not weird. I mean, ‘Yee-haw, guys, yee-haw.’ We’re in the kooky territory now.”

*****

Here is a post from last June entitled “Trump’s Appeal Comes From Peale”:

I remember once near the beginning of my years in New York I sought out an authentic Norwegian restaurant in Manhattan (my father was 100 percent Norwegian; his parents came over from the Kristiansand area) and when I walked out of it after dining there by myself, not far from it (possibly even next door or across the street, as I remember) I was shocked to find I was outside the Marble Collegiate Church made famous by Norman Vincent Peale, who, and this was the real shocker for me, has a life-sized statue of himself, in preacher-mode, right off of the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue!!

When I was in high school, living in the Sunday morning TV realm of Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral out of Garden Grove, Calif., (especially when my dad decided to my delight some Sundays at the last minute that we would not be attending the main service at our First Baptist church in downtown Loudonville, OH), I was totally aware of Norman Vincent Peale.

Peale was Schuller's mentor who appeared on his nationally televised Hour of Power service. Peale had best-selling books on how to be a happier, fully confident, always upbeat--and above all, "successful"--Christian.

Think about this. Trump was following his parents in going to Marble Collegiate when he was young. That's where HIS father made him go and he LOVED it--worshipped it, in fact. There are quotes from him saying that no one wanted Peale's sermon to end on those Sunday mornings he was in attendance.

I never remember being told by anyone as a kid that Peale was a phony preacher. He was admired and respected--just like a kind of Dale Carnegie, really!

I can now see the great marketing job with Peale, a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason!!! This is where Trump got his skills to be such a master trickster. It's been engrained in his psyche starting with his childhood preacher!

From the website Esoteric Freemasons: "The 33rd degree Mason Ritual has its origins in 18th century France, when members of the Masonic Lodge developed rituals as a way to bring new members into their ranks. These rituals were used to symbolize various concepts, such as brotherhood, justice, and morality. Over time, more elaborate rituals were developed and eventually the Scottish Rite emerged as an independent organization with its own set of rituals.

"The 33rd degree Mason Ritual consists of four parts: initiation, instruction, instruction in symbolism, and passing through the degrees. During initiation, new members are instructed in the principles and values of Freemasonry. They are then instructed in symbolism such as handshakes and symbols that represent various concepts. Therefore, they pass through each degree until they reach the 33rd degree."

*****

Here's an excerpt from an online article posted by Politico magazine in 2016, entitled "How Norman Vincent Peale Taught Donald Trump to Worship Himself":

Is this guy for real? Or more to the point, could anyone really possess that much self-confidence? There has been no shortage of explanations—a huge inferiority complex, infantile narcissism, delusional thinking—for Trump’s undying self-assurance. But as I discovered when writing a book about Donald, his father, and his grandfather, if you want to understand what goes on underneath the blond comb-over, you’d do well to look back to two crucial events in the early 1950s.

Event No. 1 occurred in October 1952, when a book appeared called The Power Of Positive Thinking. Written by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and translated into 15 languages, it remained on the New York Times best-seller list for 186 weeks and sold 5 million copies. Donald was only 6 years old at the time and didn’t read the book until much later, but it quickly became important in the large Queens household in which he grew up, and it would play a critical role in his future. His parents, Fred and Mary, felt an immediate affinity for Peale’s teachings. On Sundays, they drove into Manhattan to worship at Marble Collegiate Church, where Peale was the head pastor. Donald and both his sisters were married there, and funeral services for both Fred and Mary took place in the main sanctuary.

“I still remember [Peale’s] sermons,” Trump told the Iowa Family Leadership Summit in July. “You could listen to him all day long. And when you left the church, you were disappointed it was over. He was the greatest guy.” A month later, in the same news conference at which Trump tossed out Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, he again referred to Peale as his pastor and said he was “one of the greatest speakers” he’d ever seen.

Known as “God’s salesman,” Peale merged worldliness and godliness to produce an easy-to-follow theology that preached self-confidence as a life philosophy. Critics called him a con man, described his church as a cult, and said his simple-minded approach shut off genuine thinking or insight. But Peale’s outlook, promoted through his radio shows, newspaper columns and articles, and through Guideposts, his monthly digest of inspirational messages, fit perfectly into the Trump family culture of never hesitating to bend the rules, doing whatever it took to win, and never, ever giving up.

“Believe in yourself!” Peale’s book begins. “Have faith in your abilities!” He then outlines 10 rules to overcome “inadequacy attitudes” and “build up confidence in your powers.” Rule one: “formulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding,” “hold this picture tenaciously,” and always refer to it “no matter how badly things seem to be going at the moment.”

Subsequent rules tell the reader to avoid “fear thoughts,” “never think of yourself as failing,” summon up a positive thought whenever “a negative thought concerning your personal powers comes to mind,” “depreciate every so-called obstacle,” and “make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 per cent.”

Peale’s philosophy fell on willing and eager ears in the Trump family. Long before this self-esteem guru codified his canon, Donald’s grandfather Friedrich used Peale-like confidence and tenacity to make the first Trump fortune during the Klondike gold rush. A few decades later, Donald’s father, Fred, deployed proto-Peale thinking to become a multimillionaire real estate developer in Brooklyn and Queens. And Donald Trump himself has cited Peale’s advice many times in his own career.

Here is another post from last year:

Isaiah 47: [10] For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

[11] Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
[12] Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

You know what an enchantment is--you have these code words to try to release power. You have the chants and all that stuff people do. They're going to use these sorceries and stuff, casting spells to try to gain an upper hand, explains Richard Jordan.

[13] Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

They have the word of prophecy and are going to tell the future and they're going to use what look like signs and wonders and so forth to do these things and it's going to deceive the nations.

*****

Nahum is a book of judgment and chapter 3 is sort of walking it out the door. This is the final judgment of God against Nineveh, which is the stronghold of the Antichrist and the book's looking to the time in the last days, especially at the time of the Second Advent.

Verse 1: [1] Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

He's describing a battle going on here. He's talking about the violence that makes the city of Nineveh the capital of bloodshed.

In verses 2-3 He literally describes the carnage of the battlefield: [2] The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

[3] The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

This is a description of a live, contemporary military engagement. It's not talking about some cemetery; this is the battle going on right then and the city's just being wiped out.

Here's what's behind the military carnage: [4] Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

That's a description of the power, the spiritual activity that lies behind that militaristic world dominion domination kind of conquest that Nineveh represents. The Antichrist has sought to be the ruler of the world.

There are two forces that propel that militaristic world dominion idea and these two forces don't just compel the Antichrist; he's harnessing what's there in life all along.

If you went around today and tried to explain what it is that causes nations to rise against nations and causes the militaristic dominion over nations, there's two reasons . . .

In verse 1, he's talking about just that lust for wealth: "You've got something I want; I'm going to come and rob you and I'm willing to shed blood to get it."

In 3:16, talking again about Nineveh as it's being destroyed, [16] Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.

That's like that thing in Ezekiel 28 about Satan's merchandise and how he's out selling his ideas.

They're pillaging, robbing and it's that greed; that lust for wealth and gaining things that other people have. That's why Jesus warned His apostles, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."

The second thing is down in Nahum 3:4 and it's more sinister. You understand the greed issue, the human nature kind of thing, but Satan uses that human nature to accomplish his purposes

That verse is not talking about a house of ill-repute; that's talking about that thing in Revelation 17:

[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

[6] And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

It's talking about that satanic-inspired religious dominion and you remember that city in Revelation is the city that rules over the kings of the earth and it's made the kings of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication.

She's literally intoxicated them and put a spirit within them that causes them to fall in line with the Adversary's goal of making the Antichrist the head ruler of the nations, and no matter what kind of bloodshed it takes to do it, they'll do it.

In Nahum 2, back in verse 11, the thing about those three lions there: [11] Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

I've tried to say to you Egypt, Babylon and Assyria are associated together and the issue about the Antichrist being an Assyrian, the terminology goes all the way back to Genesis 11 and the idolatry with Nimrod. That's that spiritual power.

The Egyptian, the Pharoah in Isaiah 14, Babylon is called Assyria. In Isaiah 52, Pharoah is said to be the Assyrian running them. So, there's a spiritual power behind the political manifestation.

You'll see that city in Isaiah 47: [1] Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

[2] Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
[3] Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

You have the virgin daughter of Babylon, which would be Revelation 17. Here's the virgin. In that religion when you worship the queen of heaven she's the virgin, the Madonna. This city, in verse 5: [5] Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

So, she's 'Our Lady,' she's the queen of heaven, she's the virgin. All of those terms have to do with the religious system called Baal worship.

*****

Here is a post from last June entitled “Trump’s Appeal Comes From Peale”:

I remember once near the beginning of my years in New York I sought out an authentic Norwegian restaurant in Manhattan (my father was 100 percent Norwegian; his parents came over from the Kristiansand area) and when I walked out of it after dining there by myself, not far from it (possibly even next door or across the street, as I remember) I was shocked to find I was outside the Marble Collegiate Church made famous by Norman Vincent Peale, who, and this was the real shocker for me, has a life-sized statue of himself, in preacher-mode, right off of the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue!!

When I was in high school, living in the Sunday morning TV realm of Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral out of Garden Grove, Calif., (especially when my dad decided to my delight some Sundays at the last minute that we would not be attending the main service at our First Baptist church in downtown Loudonville, OH), I was totally aware of Norman Vincent Peale.

Peale was Schuller's mentor who appeared on his nationally televised Hour of Power service. Peale had best-selling books on how to be a happier, fully confident, always upbeat--and above all, "successful"--Christian.

Think about this. Trump was following his parents in going to Marble Collegiate when he was young. That's where HIS father made him go and he LOVED it--worshipped it, in fact. There are quotes from him saying that no one wanted Peale's sermon to end on those Sunday mornings he was in attendance.

I never remember being told by anyone as a kid that Peale was a phony preacher. He was admired and respected--just like a kind of Dale Carnegie, really!

I can now see the great marketing job with Peale, a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason!!! This is where Trump got his skills to be such a master trickster. It's been engrained in his psyche starting with his childhood preacher!

From the website Esoteric Freemasons: "The 33rd degree Mason Ritual has its origins in 18th century France, when members of the Masonic Lodge developed rituals as a way to bring new members into their ranks. These rituals were used to symbolize various concepts, such as brotherhood, justice, and morality. Over time, more elaborate rituals were developed and eventually the Scottish Rite emerged as an independent organization with its own set of rituals.

"The 33rd degree Mason Ritual consists of four parts: initiation, instruction, instruction in symbolism, and passing through the degrees. During initiation, new members are instructed in the principles and values of Freemasonry. They are then instructed in symbolism such as handshakes and symbols that represent various concepts. Therefore, they pass through each degree until they reach the 33rd degree."

*****

Here's an excerpt from an online article posted by Politico magazine in 2016, entitled "How Norman Vincent Peale Taught Donald Trump to Worship Himself":

Is this guy for real? Or more to the point, could anyone really possess that much self-confidence? There has been no shortage of explanations—a huge inferiority complex, infantile narcissism, delusional thinking—for Trump’s undying self-assurance. But as I discovered when writing a book about Donald, his father, and his grandfather, if you want to understand what goes on underneath the blond comb-over, you’d do well to look back to two crucial events in the early 1950s.

Event No. 1 occurred in October 1952, when a book appeared called The Power Of Positive Thinking. Written by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and translated into 15 languages, it remained on the New York Times best-seller list for 186 weeks and sold 5 million copies. Donald was only 6 years old at the time and didn’t read the book until much later, but it quickly became important in the large Queens household in which he grew up, and it would play a critical role in his future. His parents, Fred and Mary, felt an immediate affinity for Peale’s teachings. On Sundays, they drove into Manhattan to worship at Marble Collegiate Church, where Peale was the head pastor. Donald and both his sisters were married there, and funeral services for both Fred and Mary took place in the main sanctuary.

“I still remember [Peale’s] sermons,” Trump told the Iowa Family Leadership Summit in July. “You could listen to him all day long. And when you left the church, you were disappointed it was over. He was the greatest guy.” A month later, in the same news conference at which Trump tossed out Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, he again referred to Peale as his pastor and said he was “one of the greatest speakers” he’d ever seen.

Known as “God’s salesman,” Peale merged worldliness and godliness to produce an easy-to-follow theology that preached self-confidence as a life philosophy. Critics called him a con man, described his church as a cult, and said his simple-minded approach shut off genuine thinking or insight. But Peale’s outlook, promoted through his radio shows, newspaper columns and articles, and through Guideposts, his monthly digest of inspirational messages, fit perfectly into the Trump family culture of never hesitating to bend the rules, doing whatever it took to win, and never, ever giving up.

“Believe in yourself!” Peale’s book begins. “Have faith in your abilities!” He then outlines 10 rules to overcome “inadequacy attitudes” and “build up confidence in your powers.” Rule one: “formulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding,” “hold this picture tenaciously,” and always refer to it “no matter how badly things seem to be going at the moment.”

Subsequent rules tell the reader to avoid “fear thoughts,” “never think of yourself as failing,” summon up a positive thought whenever “a negative thought concerning your personal powers comes to mind,” “depreciate every so-called obstacle,” and “make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 per cent.”

Peale’s philosophy fell on willing and eager ears in the Trump family. Long before this self-esteem guru codified his canon, Donald’s grandfather Friedrich used Peale-like confidence and tenacity to make the first Trump fortune during the Klondike gold rush. A few decades later, Donald’s father, Fred, deployed proto-Peale thinking to become a multimillionaire real estate developer in Brooklyn and Queens. And Donald Trump himself has cited Peale’s advice many times in his own career.