Revived Roman Empire, Islam and "Mary"

Something I forgot to add to the last post or the one before. On Jan Markell's radio show her guest pastor Barry Stagner said that during the Tribulation the Church will be out of the way, raptured of course, but also that radical Islam will be out of the way, and I must have missed how he thinks that is going to happen. I may go back and see if he explains it somewhere but whatever he thinks the explanation is I have to disagree. (******************************************************************************* My disagreement is based mostly on Chris Pinto's belief that the papacy has been behind the influx of Muslims into Europe and as far as possibsible so far into the US as well, which he interprets as their plan to use them as the weapon of their revived Inquisition against us "heretics," Protestant Christians as well as others. With a Pope as the final Antichrist and Mystery Babylon as the Harlot Church of Rome along with all the little harlot religions it is incorporating into itself, the Tribulation period will be a revived Inquisition for sure. Throughout the Middle Ages the RCC martyhred some fifty million Protestants or protoProtestants along with some 17 million Jews, Muslims, witches and others (according to Plaisted). Then the Reformation came along and put an end to it for a while but with the Jesuits dedicated to overturning the Reformation they've never stopped plotting to regain their power in the Holy Roman Empire. The RCC itself is regarded as the continuation of the Roman Empire through that era, and that is what will no doubt be revived after the Rapture with the Pope at the helm The Reformation is no doubt the "wound" that will be healed when the revived RCC and its Inquisition resume. ***********************************************************************************&&&&&&& Islam figures into this in more than one way. Some have interpreted Islam as one of the legs of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream as reported in the Book of Daniel, the other being of course the Roman Empire. Islam began at just about the same time as the Bishop of Rome was elevated over all the other bishops to dominate European Christendom as the Holy Roman Empire. Islam and the RCC have been at odds of course but the Pope has been courting them assiduously lately, and Chris Pinto makes the case that Islam will unite with the RCC through "Mary" as they also revere her and many Muslims visit the sites of her supposed appearances. (*********************************************************************************************** So Mystery Babylon will incorporate Islam as wwell and why should they give up their jihad? It expresses essentially the same thing the Inquisition does, the aim of ridding of the world of all "infidels" to establish Islam, in this case the Islam-RCC harlot religion. Through the sword when conversion fails. *********************************************************************************************** It is the worship of "Mary" which has dominated the last few Popes as well as this Jesuit Pope, which apparently also captivates Islam, that gives some credence to the idea that "Mary" is the "Beaast" of Revelation, to be worshipped by the whole world. I think it was Alexander Hislop who suggested this possibility in his book "The Two Babylons."

Why the Rapture Will Be the Trigger for the Tribulation/Day of the LORD, plus other loose ends

Realized I didn't fully appreciate my own thought in the previous post. Seems to me now that since Palm Sunday was the day on which the Seventy Weeks prophecy of Daniel ended at the 69th, leaving one "week" or seven years yet to be fulfilled, and that the same day inaugurated what is known as the Church Age, the day that the seventieth week resumes will be the same day the Church Age comes to an end, and that will be with the Rapture. ***************************************************************************************** Certainly the Rapture IS the ending of the Church Age. And EXACTLY at the end of that same day the seven-year Tribulation or Day of the LORD would begin. That is, there would be no gap, the Rapture WILL be the trigger for the Tribulation because it ends the Church Age so that Daniel's seventy weeks can resume, and there's no room in there for a gap. Not the same day but the next day since the weeks are sequential of course with no overlaps. So if the Rapture occurs in relation to Palm Sunday it would be the day after. God's clock is perfect. ***************************************************************************************** Rosh Hashanah is still my next best favorite for the Rapture. I know they say it could occur at any time and all this fussing I'm doing about dates will come to nothing, which it very well may, but I still do think an event as momentous as the Rapture could very likely occur on God's established calender. We probably won't know the year but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for any likely date as it comes around every year. ******************************************************************************************* A couple other loose ends from the previous post: If the papacy is the Antichrist as the Reformers and many of their predecessors proved from scripture, then most or all of those signs that identify him in the book of Daniel were already fulfilled when the Bishop of Rome was elevated to Universal Bishop in 606 AD, I don't remember all the scriptural interpretations but I know he displaced three other Bishops which would be the three "kings" of the prophecy. So the final Antichrist, already having fulfilled many of the prophecies, has only a few left to fulfill. ******************************************************************************************* The Roman Church is Mystery Babylonh the Great in the sense that its pagan trappings, the bishop's fish head mitre for instance, and the image of mother and child, all come down originally from the pagan religion of Nimrod and Semiramis. It is THE embodiment of all the satanic religions in history invented by Satan to thwart the true religion of the prophesied Messiah. I'm wondering if there is even a connection back before the Flood to the Nephilim and the relgion of Cain and maybe this book I'm reading will shed light on that.

Rapture and Tribulation Timing Until and Timing Between

So near and yet so far. The Rapture, the End. Right around the corner, any minute even, and yet time goes on and things keep getting worse until you wonder how bad it has to be before God lowers the boom. We're to be anxious for nothing, worried about nothing, just trusting in the LORD, but it's so hard when you know so many family and friends who keep resisting the gospel while time is getting so short. I get overwhelmed with how MUCH people would need to know to get through the Tribulation for instance, people who get saved then I mean of course. They know nothing now, nothing. The timing will be crucial and they don't know to look in the Book of Daniel or the Book of Revelation. I want them to become believers NOW so they don't have tgo deal with all that but so far it's not happening. I don't even know if they will become believers during the Tribulation either, I can only hope that events will be so startling it will force them to rethink things and get saved. ******************************************************************************************** Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Year, years? I know we aren't to know but certain days always hit me as more likely than others because I keep thinking that since all the major evens of the coming of Jesus and the founding of the Church occurred on Jewish high holidays it makes sense that something as momenentous as the Rapture should also be marked by occurring on a special day in the biblical calendar. Of course it's foolish to guess but I'm foolish. The next date that seems likely to me is Palm Sunday, which this year is only a week away, on March 28. And Palm Sunday seems likely because that is the date on which the 69 weeks of Daniel's Seventy Weeks prophecy ended, with the announcement of Jesus' Messiahship. The full Seventy Weeks wree not fulfillable at that time, putting the seventieth week, or seven years, into the future. Time after that date is known as the Church Age, and when the last or seventieth week of the Seventy Weeks prophecy occurs it will be the last seven years before Jesus returns as Conquering King. We know the seventieth week will encompass the seven-year Tribulation period laid out in the Book of Revelation but we aren't told when it will begin. And since we aren't supposed to know the time I must be wrong about this, it just seems so fitting that since the prophecy left off on Palm Sunday the week before Jesus was crucified, that its last seven years might resume on the same date. Of course even if it did it wouldn't necessarily be this year.... ***************************************************************************************** Scripture tells us believerfs will not be taken by surprise but I don't know for sure what that means since if we have no warning at all it's going to be a surprise no matter when it happens. No warning other than all these signs we are seeing now I mean of course, signs that tell us it is close but not HOW close. Closer than before, but not HOW close. ******************************************************************************************** And the timing is even more complicated when it's not entirely clear whether the signs refer to the time before the Rapture or during the Tribultion. Most of the prophecy ministries these days insist that there will be NO signs before the Rapture, it will be a total surprise so they think the signs will occur during the Tribulation. I tend to see the Rapture as a phase of Jesus' Second Coming so signs could very well anticipate it. We won't know until we know. ******************************************************************************************************** I was just listening to the latest program of Jan Markell's Understanding the Times radio which is about what happens after the Rapture, for those who will be left behind and have to deal with it. As usual it's a good presentation but as usual it's the most popular view that I always differ from on a few points. ********************************************************************************************* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GS7KUa_sXA ******************************************************************************************* In this episode the speaker says how there may be a gap between the Rapture and the First Seal which begins the Tribulation Period, because some things according to the popular view are going to take time. For instance they think the Antichrist will not be revealed until the Tribulation begins, or even not until the midpoint of the Tribulation, and he will have to rise to power and make a covenant with Israel and all that will take time. So there might be a fairly long gap between the Rapture and the Seven Year Day of the LORD or Tribulation period. ********************************************************************************************* Unless the Antichrist is the papacy as the Protestant Reformers and hundreds of their predecessors said he is, using the very same scriptures to identify him as are now used to put off his revelation until after the beginning of the Tribulation. IF the Great Apostasy was the RC Church itself as the Reformers believes, and if the Restrainer that keps the Antichrist's identiy from being revealed was the Caesars as they also believed, then he's been revealed and the Restrainer is not the Holy Spirit. The current Pope needs little extra time. He's already well established as a world figure, he's participated in many international events. The end times religion doesn't need to be formed either, because the Roman Church itself is its foundation and the popes havbeen working for decades to include all the other religions of the world under its umbrella. No doubt some i's need to be dotted and some t's crossed but it looks to me like the stage is fully set already. If the popular scenario is true then it WILL take time, but not if the Reformation was right about the identity of the Antichrist. ********************************************************************************************* Altho8ugh there's nothing in scripture that requires the Rapture to be the trigger for the Tribulation that I know of, it just makes more sense for there to be a solid seven years between the Rapture as the first phase of Jesus' Second Coming and His return aftger the Tribulattion. The Church's time in heaven with Jesus should be a neat seven years just as the timing of the Tribulation is to be a neat seven years. I suspect there is biblical support for this but I'm not sure what it is. There was the idea that the seven years parallels the week a Bridegroom gives to his bride in marriage customs, but since the wedding feast doesn't occur until Jesus' final return this doesn't seem to work out. But I'm probably missing something. ***************************************************************************************** Anyway I'm still going with the Reformation view of the identify of the Antichrist. Time will tell.

A Book About the Giants That Were Born before the Flood

(I did something that caused the formatting of blog posts to revert to an earlier form and I don't know how to fix it and I've forgotten how to use the old form. I can't figure out how to make paragraphs so I'm going to have to use characters to create spaces. Sorry I'm getting more tech challenged every day). ***************************************************************************\ I discovered a new book about the Nephilim of Genesis 6 -- The Judgment of the Nephilim by Ryan Pitterson -- and have the Kindle version on my PC Kindle page. It's a long book and I'm only aboutg a sixth into it, and although it's white on black which helps a great deal my eyes are getting bad enough that it slows me down quite a bit. ***************************************************************************\ Anyway it's a fascinating study of a controversial biblical passage: ********************************************************

Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

*********************************************************************************************************** It's controversial because it just seems so outlandish that angels and humans would have married, so some claim that "sons of God" doesn't mean angels. However, everywhere else in scripture that's exactly what the phrase means, and Pitterson's book makes use of all the relevant sources to prove it. Outlandish it may be but apparently it actually happened. ************************************************************************* Those were the years just before the Flood and the mingling of the human and angelic seed produeddyced giants, also known as the Nephilim. This is considered to be the reason God brought the Flood on the earth, because this corruption of the human gene pool made them unredeemable. The Messiah was to save human beings, not angels, so that these hybrids made the prophesied salvation impossible. By the time of Noah the corruption was widespread. *****************************************(********************************************** What's particularly fascinating about this study is how he brings out the theme of Satan's ongoing attempts to thwart the prophecy of the Messiah who was to save humanity and defeat Satan. The prophecy was first given to Adam and Eve right after the Fall. Satan had already engineered the Fall, the disobeidence of God by Adam and Eve, because according to Pitterson their being placed in the Garden of Eden usurped Satan's own place there. This was new to me. And after the Fall God promised to send a Redeemer who would save them from their sins. He would "bruise the head" of the serpent, who was Satan, and Satan would bruise His heel. This being a threat to Satan he set out to find a way to make the prophecy unfulfillable. **************************************(**************************************************** His first effort was to corrupt Cain so that as the firstborn son of Adam and Eve he couldn't be the sinless Messiah. When Cain murdered Abel the second candidate for Messiah was out of the way. ****************************** But Adam and Eve kept producing children, and so did Cain in his new location east of Eden. This required a new strategy, so Satan provoked the angels called the Watchers to lust after human women. Creating unredeemable babies would have thwarted the plan of redemption if it spread through the entire human race. *********************************************************************************************************** I hope I have that much right. We know of some later attempts to thwart the messianic promise when Pharoah was provoked to have the firstborn sons of the Israelites killed, and then when the Messiah was born in Bethlehem Herod did the same. ******************************************************************************************** But the book is no doubt going to get far more detailed and interesting in its exploration of the time of the giants, and how it relates to us today since we are very close to Jesus' prophecy of the repeat of the "days of Noah" just before His return.