One of my best friends at Microsoft, and brother in Christ, is Ken Curtis. We’re both Digital Architects, retired Army officers, and between us have a lot of big Army smiles accompanying wear and tear from war, peace, training, and all that. Most importantly, we share a deep love of God’s word. Ken explains:
“Whenever I speak with most casual Sunday School Christians about the Bible, they casually and lightly talk about Genesis. Kings and Prophets are ignored, and they occasionally step to the holiday favorites around Christmas and Easter in the Gospels. They might mention a few of the Scary Bits in Revelation but that makes them uncomfortable. Many pastors want to preach about sunshine and happiness without getting into too many details. Beginning in Genesis, the Body of Christ is astonishingly ignorant about their Bible.”
Okay, then. Let’s look at the American ‘RaptureITIS Dementia’ that people think they find in Revelation. We will discover from Genesis to Revelation that the Bible contains a lot of Scary Bits, but we are NOT to fear our own Bibles…
Beginning in the astonishing book of Daniel, that young prophet’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream framed the Times of the Gentiles. This detailed Israel’s 2,500-year loss of ‘The Land’, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount. Too often, Daniel’s interpretation and the prophecies in Ezekiel are forgotten in the flurry of studying Revelation and The Great Tribulation… Or ignored as ‘Scarry Bits’ in the Bible.
Times of the Gentiles begins with end of Nebuchadnezzar’s third siege of Jerusalem in ~587 BC. From Head to Toe, we see:
Babylon… Persia… Greece… Rome…
Crucifixion 32 AD
Subset of Church Age Begins at Pentecost in Acts 2, 50 days after Resurrection.
Church Age Ends at Rev 3: 22
~ 2,100 years since Pentecost
~ 2,500 years since Daniel, From Head to Toe
The problem of RaptureITIS…
A uniquely American dementia
Just because the Church might not go through The Great Tribulation,
why should we escape
what most of the Body of Christ
in most of the world
for most of the past 2,000 years
has had to endure?
The Possession of Jesus Christ—Letters to the Church in the World, Rev Chapters 2–3
1. Letter of Christ to the Church in Ephesus, Chapter Rev 2:1-7
2. Letter of Christ to the Church in Smyrna, Chapter Rev 2:8-11
3. Letter of Christ to the Church in Pergamum, Chapter Rev 2:12-17
4. Letter of Christ to the Church in Thyatira, Chapter Rev 2:18-29
5. Letter of Christ to the Church in Sardis, Chapter Rev 3:1-6
6. Letter of Christ to the Church in Philadelphia, Chapter Rev 3:7-13
7. Letter of Christ to the Church in Laodicea, Chapter Rev 3:14-22
Seven Key Elements
A key aspect to understanding the letters is to grasp the structure of their design. A careful examination of the letters reveals seven key elements in their design:
1. The meaning of the name of the church being addressed (see below);
2. The title of Jesus, each chosen relevant to the message to that particular church;
3. The commendation of things that have been done well;
4. The "criticism" of things that need attention;
5. The exhortation, specific to the condition of the particular church;
6. The promise to the "overcomer" included with each letter;
7. The key phrase, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches."
Each church flows across the Meaning of Names, linked epistles, to the 7 parables in Matt 13
Church Name translation Epistle Matt 13
· Ephesus: The Desired One Ephesians Sow Seed
· Smyrna: Myrrh; Death Philippians Tares
· Pergamos: Mixed Marriage Corinthians Mustard
· Thyatira: Semiramis Galatians Yeast
· Sardis: Remnant Romans Treasure
· Philadelphia: Brotherly Love Thessalonians Pearl
· Laodicea: People Rule Colossians Dragnet
Amid the worship due to Him, the Lamb begins to open the seals (Revelation 6:1). With each seal opened, the scroll is unrolled a little more, revealing bit by bit the judgments God has in store for the world. The first four of the seven seals release what are known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, because the judgments appear symbolically as a horse and rider bringing devastation in their wake.
Strategic Trends
Struggle for Jerusalem Zech 12; Luke 21
Magog Invasion Eze 38, 39
Rise of European Super State Dan 2, 7
Rise of China Isa 49; Rev 19
Toward Global Government Dan 11, Rev 13
Ecumenical Religion Rev 13, 17, 18
Global Pestilence Rev 6:8
Decline of United States Hosea 4 – 14
Weapons of Mass Destruction Matt 24:22
Other Issues
The Magog Invasion
The Rebuilding of the Temple
The Rebuilding of Babylon
The Battle of Armageddon
The Refuge in Edom
The Rise of a European Super State
The Rise of the Far East
With this in mind, let’s do a little analysis and Imagine If application. In the contexts of each church, each seal, and Current events – what was written about each Church and next to each Seal, detailing the cost?
These are the WEF Globalists’ stated goals by 2030. They are their Great Reset that declares:
1. You’ll own nothing and would be happy about it.
2. The US won’t be the world’s superpower
3. You won’t die waiting for an organ donner.
4. You’ll eat less meat
5. A billion people will be displaced by climate change
6. You could be preparing to go to Mars
7. Western Values will have been tested to their breaking point – especially the church.
8. Fossil fuels will not be used, and Carbon footprints made exorbitantly expensive.
The Seals:
First Seal: Rule of world Tyrant – World brought under Tyranny.
o Impact for us… The US won’t be the world’s superpower. Will be interesting and horrible to watch this happen and perhaps be in the middle of it. The reason will be to crush the one country with ‘Creator’ in its Declaration of Independence and a Constitution that walked down Mount Sanai in Moses’ hands.
·Second Seal: Warfare (in spite of tyrant rising with promise of peace)
o A billion people will be displaced by climate change (and war).
Third Seal: Economic tribulation that includes currency devaluation, hyper Inflation, starvation…
o You will own nothing and like it. (Socialism at its best)
Fourth Seal: One fourth of Earth killed by famine, death, disease.
o You’ll eat less meat (Eat ze Bugs… Great documentary by Tucker Carlson)
o Fossil fuels will not be used, and Carbon footprints made exorbitantly expensive. (Which makes everything very expensive from fertilizer for crops to fuel costs for transport)
Fifth Seal: Destruction of the Body of Christ.
o Western Values will have been tested to their breaking point– especially the church.
Sixth Seal: Earth upheaval –
o A billion people will be displaced by climate change (and war).
Seventh Seal: Solemn Silence in face of judgement of seals
Recall that breaking a seal on a tittle deed means it was either paid in full, or punishment meted out. The Lamb that was slain is the only one who can break the seven seals because he paid the price, but the evil landowner usurper who stole the title deed from Adam and Eve in the garden has his little day of punishment… Interestingly, it lands on those who did not believe, therefore were not in the congregations among the lampstands. The irony is that the usurper punishes his own, causing even more people to believe in the Lamb that was slain.
“We do not have a political problem of competing agendas. It is a theological problem of good vs. evil.”
Tucker Carlson
Jay Inman from Cave Man’s Man Cave
I would love to discuss what the Bible says about the future but first we should discuss what the Bible says about discussing. 2 Tim 2 says we should not quarrel but should be gentle and humble. The best way to start a quarrel is to insult a man's wife. We should not call the bride of Christ astonishingly ignorant or demented. Another way to start a quarrel is to insult a man's ancestors. So we should not say the Israelites did not take God's word seriously. Many times God told them to be careful to do everything He commanded. That did not mean to understand things figuratively. Remember Nadab and Abihu. Only when the Jews rebelled did they stop taking God's word seriously. Eze 20:49. Another lesson from 2 Tim 2 is not to dispute about words. There are over 1200 verses in the Bible about our future. That's over 28000 words and every one of those words was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Almost every one of them means just what it says. The few others may be understood from their use in the rest of the Bible. Let us not dispute God's words with any private interpretations. 2 Pet 1:20-21. We should not "imagine if" these words mean anything else.