PreConceived Ideas about the Tribulation

Christian Widener has written two books that give new insight into how most Christians view the Tribulation in Bible prophecy. They are: The Temple Revealed: The True Location of the Jewish Temple Hidden in Plain Sight and Witnessing the End: Daniel's Seventy Sevens and the Final Decree Everyone Missed. Because he is interested that people know this information, he has made both available on his website (https://endtimesberean.com) as free downloadable PDFs. His occupation as an engineer gives him a mindset that considers the possibilities when compared with the specifications in the Bible text and not according to the script of a Bible prophecy slideshow. The Abomination of Desolation is a vital event mentioned in both testaments that serves as a case in point.

Daniel 9:27

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.' In the middle of the ‘seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Matthew 24:15-17

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.

In the Daniel verse, ‘He’ is the AntiChrist and the word ‘seven’ refers to seven years. The phrase ‘he will put an end to sacrifice and offering’ is where Widener brings a different approach. Many people have assumed that, to put an end to sacrifices, the sacrifices must already be going on. However, before a priest can do anything related to a sacrifice, he must be cleansed first by sprinkling with the ashes of a red heifer. This obscure ceremony is explained in the Torah in Numbers 19:3-9. Finding a perfect red heifer was difficult until a Jew from Israel and a farmer from Texas learned of each other. The Covid pandemic provided an excellent situation because these cows were not stapled with a tag in their ears, as is usually done, which would have made them unacceptable. A recent article in CBS News explains some of this:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-war-hamas-red-heifers-from-texas-jerusalem-jewish-temple-al-aqsa/

“Instrumental in bringing the heifers to the Holy Land was Yitshak Mamo, of Uvne Jerusalem, a group committed to seeing a new temple built in Jerusalem's Old City…

"Any hair that isn't red would disqualify the cows from fulfilling their prophesied role. Finding the red heifers took years. The quest led Mamo not to Jewish breeders but to Christian ranchers thousands of miles away.

"After a long search, we found them in Texas," he said. "Texas red angus."

“A massive white altar awaits, where they are to be burned on a plot of land overlooking the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Mamo said the ceremony must be performed looking directly into where the ancient Second Temple stood, [looking through the Eastern/Golden Gate] until it was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70.”

This Jewish Rabbinic website explains why the Mount of Olives is acceptable for sacrificing:

https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-astonishing-significance-of-red-heifers-in-our-day/?network=s&placement=&target=&campaignid=19758812114&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkuy_94WJiAMVdTIIBR0nugXOEAAYASAAEgKuo_D_BwE

“As long as the Temple Mount is in eyeshot, the red heifer can be sacrificed anywhere on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is also called Har HaMishkah (the Mount of Anointing) and is considered “outside Jerusalem” (Mishna Middos 1:3)."

The horrific attack that occurred on October 7, 2023 was an attempt by the Muslims to prevent the sacrifice of the red heifer. It worked in that it stopped that from happening. According to Christian Widener, the events of October 7, fit the Abomination of Desolation prophecy perfectly: “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.”

Widener says that we, the readers, should understand this current event in light of what happened, and not by our pre-conceived ideas. If he’s right, and I think he is, then that means we are in the Tribulation! Which brings me to Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, which has long been an interest of mine. Widener’s book Daniel's Seventy Sevens and the Final Decree Everyone Missed, is talking about a stone plaque written in Jerusalem by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent commemorating the finishing of a plaza and moat. It has the intriguing date of 1537, which is 483 years before 2020! And we all know what happened then. He is relating the Corona virus to the crown on the rider of the white horse of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse! He’s right in that everyone missed that! He is essentially saying that there are TWO seventy-sevens. One for the first coming and one for the second coming. To learn more, read his books and check out the many interviews he’s done on YouTube, with folks like Janie Duvall.

Review of Jonathan Cahn's book Return of the Gods

 This post is long overdue. I have previously written detailed reviews of Jonathan Cahn's books, and it is time to do so on two of his recent works: The Return of the Gods and The Josiah Manifesto:The Ancient Mystery & Guide for the End Times. He recently finished one called The Dragon's Prophecy: Israel, the Dark Resurrection, and the End of Days, which I have yet to read. I believe Jonathan Cahn is uniquely gifted by BG (Biblical God) to be a prophetic voice for our times, representing the “End-of-Days.” To keep this post shorter, it will only cover the Return of the Gods.

The Return of the Gods: The essence of this book is that the ancient world before Jesus was filled with false gods that were possessed and animated by demonic powers. In the ancient world, these had names such as Enlil of Sumer, Ra of Egypt, Kukulkan of Central America, Wotan of northern Europe, Dionysus of Greece, Obatala of Africe, Tiamat of Babylon. Others that directly affected the Biblical world had names such as Baal, Ishtar, Molech,…etc.

These gods had a common source: Satan. The ancient world was captive to his dark agenda. The Good News is that the coming of Jesus put many of these gods in the background for hundreds of years. The Bad News is that because our country and the world have embraced secularism and eschewed our Biblical roots, the gods have returned. 

Jonathan breaks down this massive shift into these categories: 

The Dark Trinity of:

• The Possessor: Baal, Zeus. Baal’s preeminent symbol was the bull. To see how this is making a comeback, I invite you to watch on YouTube, the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. New York City recently installed a monument to Baal in Lower Manhattan. This quote from page 68 sums up the section called Days of the Golden Calf. It mentions that there is a depiction of Moses in our Supreme Court:

“He looked down from the Supreme Court with the Ten Commandments in hand as the Supreme Court struck down the Ten Commandments in the public square. He looked down on the podium in the House Chamber  when the officiant dedicated the new congress to the pagan god Brahma… The nation that had been founded after the pattern of ancient Israel had now fallen… Everything was inverted. And Baal, the god of inversion…had worked his magic.”

• The Enchantress: She was known as the Queen of Heaven, and was the goddess of sexuality and prostitution. Ancient Israel gave into her allure through the Ashtoreths, which were evident in many high hills throughout Israel and Judah when there was a king who did what was evil in the sight of God. She was also known as Ishtar. She came to America through the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. She also infected America as we redefined marriage, and accepted pornography, and homosexuality. 

• The Destroyer: This was Molech - a hideous evil system that caused families to burn their children on the altar of Molech. The prophet Jeremiah spoke passionately of this evil just before Israel went into captivity; in fact, it was one of the reasons Babylon conquered them.  The counterpart today is abortion. Here is a quote from page 103:

“America was now offering up its own children as sacrifices. Other nations would be led by its example into taking up the gruesome practice as well…The civilization that had, in ancient times, cast out the spirits was now repossessed by them, and America, the shining city on the hill, had now become a blood-soaked high place of Molech.”

• The Transformer: This is another look at Ishtar. She blurred the line between masculinity and femininity. To quote from page 117:

“Upon its return to the world, [Ishtar] would set out to accomplish its mission:

• To altar the definition of male and female

• To blur the lines and nullify the distinction between the two

• To transform the nature of man and woman

• To feminize all that was male and masculinize all that was female

• Attempt to turn man into woman and woman into man

• War against the sanctity of secuality and gender by confusing the two

• Work its way from the fringes of society into the mainstream

The book ends with these thoughts:

“The gods have returned. They have ascended the throne of the modern world. They seek to make every knee bow down before them. But their kingdom is false, their authority illegitimate, and their days numbered. Their kingdom will end. And those who have stood for the light, who have lived their lives by the light, and those who have believed in, hoped for, and waited for the light, for them the Light will come, and in that Light they will arise and shine.

Chapter 7 The Black Regiment

Important points summarized, as follows: pages 189-215

“The seventh thing every Christian should know about the founding of America is that many of the clergy in the American colonies preached liberty. The pulpits of New England were especially important in helping to bring about independence. Long before the general population understood the threat to American liberty, some colonial ministers saw what was coming and boldly spoke out about it from the pulpits.”

The title black regiment needs explaining. It was the black color of the robes the ministers wore that gave rise to the term the Black Regiment. These colonialists, who were organized under the Black Regiment to protect their towns from the British at a moment’s notice,  were called Minutemen.

The Minutemen were usually laymen from a particular church, led by their minister or deacon. They conducted military drills after Sunday services. Rev. Jonas Clark, for example,  was in charge of the Minutemen in Lexington, Massachusetts, who were attacked in the first conflict of the Revolutionary War.

Many people today, especially those on the left, don’t realize that the many of the first settlers of New England were devout Christians. They also downplay the pivotal role that the Great Awakening had in preparing the Colonialists for Independence.

Although there were many in the Black Regiment from other colonies and regions, it was the New England pulpit.. to which this honorary designation was given…. John Adams observed, ‘The Philadelphia ministers ‘thunder and lighten every Sunday against George III’s despotism.’

More important than the freedom of religion is the freedom to change one’s religion. England wanted to do impose their will on the colonies. The British Parliament intended to impose upon all the American colonies membership in the Episcopal (or Anglican) Church. All the hardships the Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Huguenots had endured to escape religious persecution would have been all for nought had England imposed such a requirement on America.

Although the Minutemen were poorly equipped volunteers, they used a unique and effective form of warfare for their day. Wars in the late 1700’s were customarily fought by lining up armies in columns in the open field and shooting at one another until one army retreated. During the Revolutionary War, the British army would line itself up, but the Minutemen, instead… chose to hide behind trees or hills and fight from there.

The danger today to our freedoms is as important today as it was when we broke away from England. The pulpits of America need to preach on returning our country to the Biblical values we were based on so real freedom can continue.

The word Abortion is a Euphemism

I attend a weekly Bible Study group called Torah Club. The Jewish world goes through the Torah (5 books of Moses) and related readings from the Prophets and Writings in one year. Torah Club does the same thing, but it is directed and augmented by the fulfillment of those same scriptures in the person of Yeshua the Messiah and the writings of the New Covenant. Each weekly Torah Reading has a name. This week’s Torah reading is called Toldot, taken from Genesis 23:1-25:18. In addition to the reading, there is a commentary. I’d like to share some of those comments because they are greatly needed by the world. 

In this week’s portion, Rebekah delivers twins: Jacob and Esau. These two were struggling with each other in the womb up until their birth as Jacob grasps the heel of Isaac who is born first! Their struggle continues when their very different personalities clash with each other, culminating when Esau despises his birthright and Jacob barters it away from him. In addition to this illustration of babies in the womb having a sense of what is going on, the commentary also mentions this interesting thought:

“From the moment of conception, the souls that come to inhabit human bodies are already people. The personalities are already there… They are individuals in possession of their unique souls - transcendent and heavenly beings - each one on his or her mission and path in life.”

The word “abortion” is a euphemism, in that it hides what is really happening. The truth is that when a pregnancy is ended barbarically, or otherwise, the beating heart of a human being, who has a different DNA than its mother, is stopped; it kills not only the human body, but separates the heavenly spirit from the body. I can say without a doubt, that this crime saddens and angers the Biblical God who breathed life into the child. There is absolutely no excuse for this travesty. This reminded me of the debate between Dixon and Whitmer in Michigan’s recent Governor election. I think the subject of “abortion” was handled far too gingerly. I might suggest questioning Whitmer as follows: “Governor, how do you determine what is morally right or wrong? Governor, we constantly hear of a woman’s right to choose, but no mention is made of what is happening to the baby! Perhaps, Governor, you could relate to us what the baby is going through when the surgeon’s blade cuts through the baby’s arm as it is sucking its thumb? When you stop the baby’s heart, you are stopping its soul from living out its purpose. Only God knows what that person could have become. It is not a good idea for a person, a state, or a nation to anger the Biblical God this way. It’s like spitting into the wind.

We have all heard of all the senseless killings and attacks in the news. I suggest that our culture's obsession with killing babies has lead to a general cheapening of life. When children see that adults kill babies with little regard to the baby's life, topped off by no regard for what the Biblical God thinks of such things, then I believe that results in an increase in crime. Proverbs 14:34 says: "Righteousness exalts a nation,

But sin is a reproach to any people." Wisdom, according to the Bible, begins with the fear of the LORD. To fear the LORD is to have knowledge and understanding that the Biblical God punishes evil and rewards right living. Our country needs to do everything it can to promote the respect for life by promoting righteousness.

The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening, which occurred in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War, is desperately needed today! It would be wonderful if history could repeat itself and turn our fractured, sinful country around, before it’s too late. Here are a few quotes from chapter 6: 

“The Great Awakening was a spiritual movement, not a political one, but it had political consequences as communications were established between the various colonies up and down the eastern seaboard. British historian Paul Johnson says it was the ‘original dynamic of the continental movement for independence.’ The sixth thing every Christian should know about the founding of America is that the Great Awakening, a religious revival, was a key factor in uniting the separate pre-Revolutionary War colonies and in increasing communication among them.”

“As we have seen, America had been founded primarily for religious purposes… The Americans were overwhelmingly church-going, much more so than the English, whose rule they rejected.”

The Great Awakening had its early roots among German immigrants who were most thankful for this “promised land” and for their delivery from poverty in Germany. In 1719, the German pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, Theodore Felinghuysen, led a series of revival meetings in the Rarity Valley in New Jersey.  Another early preacher was a Scottish-Irish Presbyterian named William Tennent in Pennsylvania. He established what would become known as Princeton university. He and his son Gilbert were fiery preachers who practiced… emotional hymn singing along with their sermons. They emphasized Godly living and the need for personal Bible study. This made reading, and therefore, education, a must. This linkage caused the literacy rate to climb to nearly 100% in the late 1700’s. Jonathan Edwards, a prominent preacher during the Great Awakening, would one day become president of Princeton.

Jonathan Edwards’ influence reached far beyond this time. Not only were thousands converted through his sermons, but even the unconverted benefited from the social and political consequences of his preaching. He and his wife Sara had eleven children, who were all raised to be Godly people.

Their success as parents was revealed in a study done in 1990, showing that their descendants included 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, a dean of a law school, 80 public office holders, nearly 100 missionaries, 3 mayors, 3 governors, 3 United States senators, 1 comptroller of the US Treasury, and 1 vice president of the United States. 

However, the last person mentioned, had a different story. Vice President Aaron Burr lived in rebellion to the Christianity of his childhood. Aaron Burr was a man of low character who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Later Burr would be accused of treason.

The Great Awakening had thousands of amazing testimonies where the spirit of the Biblical God moved through entire families, towns, and regions. Edwards wrote about this in his book, A Faithful Narrative on the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton. 

At the height of The Great Awakening, the New England churches grew daily. Robert Flood reports that between 1740 and 1742, out of a total population of 300,000 in New England, 25,000 to 50,000 people joined the churches. The movement changed the entire moral tone of New England for the better and justly earned the name of the Great Awakening.

The other famous preacher of the Great Awakening was George Whitefield. Whitefield came from Old England, where he had attended Oxford University with John and Charles Wesley, brothers who were also great evangelists and hymn-writers who would later impact the east coast of America.

George Whitefield preached from New England to Georgia, uniting all the colonies spiritually before American independence was even a dream. At the same time, Whitefield had a concern not only for the spiritual health, but also for the physical health of the colonies. He founded an orphanage for the children who were unprovided for.  He preached over and over again about the need for being born again. His wife said, ‘It is wonderful to see what a spell he casts over an audience by proclaiming the simplest truths of the Bible. Our mechanics shut up their shops, and the day laborers throw down their tools to go and hear him preach, and few return unaffected.”

Whitefield returned to America for seven continental tours over thirty years. 

Even Benjamin Franklin, who was definitely not a man of faith, recognized the beneficial  social effects of these revivals and of Whitefield’s preaching:

“It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”

Paul Johnson points out that this Great Awakening sounded the death-knell of British Colonialism. The Great Awakening helped to forge the sections of the country together. The chapter goes into considerable detail on the interaction of the British and the Colonialists, but for my purposes, I’ll close with this:

The unified response of the colonies confirms what Paul Johnson has pointed out - that the message of the Great Awakening, which created new men and women in Christ in all thirteen colonies, had undoubted political overtones. Johnson concludes: “The Great Awakening was thus the proto-revolutionary event, the formative movement in American history, preceding the political drive for independence, and making it possible.”

The key text for the Great Awakening was Revelation 21:5: “Behold, I make all things new.”

Founder John Adams, who later served as America’s second president said, “The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations.

Paul Johnson wrote: 

“The Revolution could not have taken place without this religious background. The essential difference between the American Revolution and the French Revolution is that the American Revolution, in its origins, was a religious event, whereas the French Revolution was an anti-religious event. That fact was to shape the American Revolution from start to finish and determine the nature of the independent state it brought into being.”

Cutting the Cord and SkyWatchTV

 I recently cut the cable cord and found something far better. I kept the Xfinity internet and added three things instead: 1) Discovery +, primarily so I could get Magnolia Network and the History Channel (though History channel no longer shows new episodes on Discovery plus), 2) Disney +, though its recent announcements that Disney has gone woke has me almost ready to cut that cord too, and 3) FOXNATION. I discovered that ROKU itself has some cool options. For example, Real America’s Voice is a very good conservative news station, and NewsMax is good too. I’ve also enjoyed an interesting show called the Shape of Pasta on Roku. But the best thing I added to Roku is SkywatchTV. It is a free Christian program with some very cool shows that are way more interesting and cutting edge than your “typical” Christian network. Some of its personalities, who are very prolific authors, are Thomas Horn, Josh Peck, and Derek and Sharon Gilbert. Their weekly show is hosted by Joe Horn (I think he’s the son of Thomas Horn). They have a publishing business called Defender Press with some amazing titles. I just finished reading The Messenger by Thomas Horn, The Lost Prophesies of Qumran by Josh Peck, and the Ancient Mysteries of the Essenes by Ken Johnson. These are really good.

If you are into streaming, then I highly recommend these alternatives to cable.

One Nation Under God, Chapter 5

 A recent article in FOXNEWS stated that a survey of Harvard University graduates found that only 6.4% have a conservative leaning after attending the elite Ivy League institution.

That’s a good segue into chapter 5 of One Nation Under God, which states The education of the settlers and founders of America was uniquely Christian and Bible-based. It mentions that the early colonial education used the Bible as their chief textbook. The education for the primary grades was based on the New England Primer which taught the ABC’s using wisdom from the Bible. Later, the first United States Congress meeting under the new Constitution in 1789 passed a law directing that each additional state and territory to be added to the new nation should be committed to promoting religion, morality, and knowledge by building schools.

America’s first colleges, such as Princeton, Yale, and Harvard were all Christian in their beginnings. For example, here is a quote written in stone in a Harvard building:

After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had built our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity: dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.”

Another school, William and Mary in Virginia had these three goals (summarized): 

1. Youth of Virginia should be well educated to learning and good morals
2. Churches of America, and especially Virginia, should be supplied with good ministers…
3. The Indians of America should be instructed in the Christian religion…

Yale had this to say:

“Where there is no religion, there is no morality… With the loss of religion… the ultimate foundation of confidence is blown up; and the security of life, liberty, and property are buried in ruins. (Timothy Dwight, President of Yale, 1798)

Columbia University

“Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals of mankind. (Benjamin Rush, Signer of Declaration of Independence)

Quote from President of Columbia College at one of its graduation ceremonies:

“Remember, too, that you are redeemed of the Lord, that you are bought with a price, even the inestimable price of the precious blood of the Son of God. Adore Jehovah, therefore, as your God and your Judge. Love, fear, and serve Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Acquaint yourselves with Him in His word and holy ordinances.”

Obviously, today’s “progressive” movement is not leading us forward, but is one of entropy where mankind is reverting backward to a time that our founders feared might happen. Look at today’s headlines to see that where there is no life-changing, Bible-based “religion”, our security of life, liberty, and property are buried in ruins,” as Timothy Dwight said.