The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is being concerned about the environment but not obsessed with it.
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Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of February 7, 2009
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
The Church—Christendom collectively—“died” through separation from God so long ago that silver is thought to be gold. New Jerusalem is not pure silver, clear as glass, but pure gold clear as glass (Rev 21:18). Silver is worth nothing in New Jerusalem. But what the world perceives as Christianity today shines like light reflected from silver. Following the second Passover liberation of disciples from indwelling sin and death, the silver becomes polished iron as the world’s attention turns towards pleasing God. Visible Christendom will acquire muscles that are hard as iron; however, it will make war with itself, for as one leg of a man is not significantly stronger than the other leg, neither Unitarians nor Trinitarian Christendom will initially be significantly stronger than the other. Nevertheless, they will war with one another from the day the great falling away occurs through the sixth Trumpet Plague, when Unitarians will seem to prevail thanks to the mass conversion of Islam to Unitarian Christianity … the first half of the Tribulation isn’t about Christendom warring against Islam, but about Christendom warring against itself. The King of the North isn’t a Christian alliance of nations, and the King of the South isn’t an Islamic alliance of nations. No, not at all: biblical prophecy is about Israel and what happens to Israel, now a nation circumcised of heart (Rom 2:28–29) and not a physical nation. So the King of the North isn’t the European Union led by the Catholic Church coming against earthly Jerusalem, but rather, the King of the North is the demonic beast behind Unitarian Christianity. This king represents death and is called Death (Rev 6:8). He devours, breaks to pieces, and stomps on what is living—and it is from his head that the little horn sprouts, with this little horn being the man of perdition, a human being possessed by Satan but believing that the angel inside him is Christ Jesus so this man of perdition can with good conscience declare himself God.
Common bronze (90% copper, 10% tin) looks like 14 carat gold-copper alloy. Polished iron looks like slightly oxidized silver.
The earth-worship presently sweeping across the world isn’t ideological sun worship in a pure form, but is alloyed with science and humanism and manifests itself in all things green. The principle tenet of modern earth-worship that must be accepted by faith is global warming, for isn’t it global warming that is causing the winter of 2008-09 to be the coldest in a decade and perhaps the coldest in three decades? Of course it is, if an environmental activist is asked.
The schism that divides the humanoid image King Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision occurs in the bronze portion of the image, not in the iron portion; so disciples can expect to see earth-worship split and take two positions, neither of which are “Christian.” Whether these two positions are global warming versus global cooling, or merely two approaches about how to address global warming remains to be seen, but it is from these two positions that Unitarian and Trinitarian Christendom will emerge separated from each other when the great falling away occurs. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that within academic communities this schism already exists, that there is not scientific agreement about global warming, especially since carbon dioxide’s affect on the earth’s temperature was capped long ago according to Beer’s Law—was capped before the Industrial Age began. This schism will push scientists at, say, Brigham Young University (BYU) in a different direction than scientists at, say, Duke are going.
Religious instruction in American public schools is prohibited, but environmental awareness is encouraged. Therefore, for the past two generations the youth of America have been taught to passively worship the earth as the only home that human beings have. Some “Christians” have decried the absence of God from public schools and the insertion of humanism and environmental studies into grade school curricula, but this is light reflected off silver protesting the greenness of the bronze … again, New Jerusalem is not made of pure silver clear as glass, but of pure gold clear as glass. Within American classrooms (and in classrooms around the world) are vessels of 14-carat gold as well as vessels of bronze and silver: it is those vessels of 14-carat gold that will be refined during the second half of the seven endtime years of tribulation to form the majority of New Jerusalem from the third part of humankind.
Those vessels of silver, when refined in the fiery trials of the Tribulation, will still not be part of New Jerusalem, a reality visible Christianity will vigorously deny today … Jesus said, “‘Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments [the Law, in the Law & the Prophets] and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt 5:19). The vessels of silver, if they do not break the commandments but only relax one of the least of the commandments, will be in the kingdom of heaven, but will be called least. Refined vessels of silver will rule the night as the moon gives off reflected light of the sun at night. But ruling the night is far less that what these disciples could have been when glorified if they hadn’t swallowed the Christianity of the demonic kings of Persia and poisoned themselves on a silver oxide elixir that had them attempting to enter into God’s rest on the following day, Sunday.
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The person conducting the services should again read or assign to be read Zechariah chapter 13, verses 7 through 9.
Commentary: Jesus identified Himself as “‘the man who stands next to’” the Lord of hosts, the shepherd who would be struck (cf. Matt 26:31; Zech 13:7).
If Jesus is the shepherd to be stuck, then it is His sheep that will be scattered … the first disciples would be and were scattered. But disciples are not sheep; they are only metaphorically sheep. So the scattering should also be read metaphorically, and if metaphorical, the referenced scattering is not geographical.
How can the first disciples be scattered in any way but geographical, a rhetorical question answered in Jesus’ Olivert discourse, which Jesus begins by saying, (Matt 24:4), which when directly translated reads, See to it not anyone you deceive. This is not how the sentence is translated into English; it is translated into English with the oppose meaning. Instead of Jesus warning His disciples not to deceive anyone, what Jesus actually said, usual English translations have Jesus warning His disciples about being deceived.
Who was going to deceive Jesus’ first disciples? Satan? Yes, Satan entered in Judas Iscariot and deceived him, but Jesus adds to His warning not to deceive the fact that many would come in His name and would deceive many (Matt 24:5). And certainly throughout his ministry, Paul fought with the Circumcision Faction, which actually had Scripture on their side, thereby making Paul legitimately subject to the charge that he added to Scripture which of course was done when his fourteen epistles were canonized. But the Great Assembly, beginning in the generation of Ezra, added to Scripture—so Scripture itself is not a closed canon earlier than the writing of Revelation, and is not even then closed for the admonishment at the end of Revelation is not to add-to or take away from that book, not canonical Scripture. For Scripture forms the earthly shadow and copy of the heavenly Book of Life which will not be closed until Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:15). The Acts of the Apostles as a book is cut off early: its end remains to be written.
If the scattering of Jesus’ first disciples is metaphorical rather than geographical; and if the “those who seemed influential” in Jerusalem (Gal 2:6) added nothing to Paul’s gospel that he received directly from the Lord by revelation (Gal 1:12); and if the Circumcision Faction consisted of influential men in Jerusalem, then the many who were to come in Jesus’ name to deceive the many didn’t wait to come until the 4th-Century CE, but were present from the beginning of the sect of the Nazarenes … the serpent didn’t wait long to deceive the first Eve, and Satan didn’t wait long before he deceived the last Eve.
Paul writes, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way” (2 Thess 2:7) … what is meant by, until he is out of the way? Christ Jesus is the One who restrains the man of lawlessness so that this man of perdition can be revealed in his time (v. 6), and when this lawless one is revealed and declares himself God, it is Christ Jesus who will kill him with the breath of His mouth (v. 8). But between when Jesus ceases to restrain this lawless one who comes by the workings of Satan (v. 9) and when Jesus destroys this lawless one, Jesus will get out of the way. And it is this period that has been overlooked by Christian writers and teachers since the beginning, for the sheep were scattered and have had no shepherd throughout a long spiritual night that began at Calvary.
· There will be a period when the lawless one is not restrained by Christ Jesus;
· During this period, Christ Jesus will have gotten out of the way, disclosing that a separation of the Head from the Body of Christ has occurred.
· No man can separate a disciple from Christ, but the Lord of hosts can initiate this separation just as He caused the sword to strike the Shepherd.
· It is the Lord of hosts that turns His “hand against the little ones” (Zech 13:7).
Christ Jesus will have gotten out of the way when the lawless one is revealed and the great falling away occurs.
“In the whole land” (Zech 13:8), now, is also a metaphorical expression (like “sheep”) that has Judea representing the earth.
· Two parts of the little ones will be cut off and will perish;
· One part shall be left alive [the concepts of equal thirds is not directly expressed by Zechariah, but implied].
If the sheep are disciples (this is how Jesus read the passage), then two of three parts of the disciples will be cut off and will perish. And if the saints are given into the hand of the little horn on the head of the fourth beast for a time, times, and half a time (Dan 7:25), then the two parts of the sheep that perish are delivered into the hand of the little horn. But the court of the Ancient of Days shall sit in judgment and dominion shall be taken from the little horn (v. 26), and from the four kings (vv. 9–14, 17), and this dominion shall be give to one like the Son of Man; i.e., to the people of the saints of the Most High (v. 27).
Dominion over this world is not taken from Babylon, the humanoid image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision, and given to the Son of Man on many occasions, but on one occasion only. Therefore, the scene in Daniel chapter 7, verses 9 through 14, is the same as what is seen in Revelation chapter 11, verses 15 through 18. And the explanation of this scene that was given to the prophet Daniel discloses that the saints will be given into the hand of the lawless one (by Christ Jesus getting out of the way) for the destruction of the flesh so that their “spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5) … the Apostle Paul did not invent a new concept when he told the saints at Corinth to deliver the man who was with his father’s wife to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Rather, because Paul understood the plan of God, Paul applied a consistent principle of Scripture to a situation that should not have occurred. The saints will be delivered into the hand of the man of perdition by Jesus getting out of the way so that their flesh will perish that their spirit might be saved.
But the above is not what visible Christendom in all of its silvery brightness teaches.
Following the second Passover liberation of Israel when the now dead Body of Christ is returned to life, suffering no theological corruption despite the present theological stench of the corpse, the saints will be delivered into the hand of the man of perdition for the destruction of the flesh … a man does not marry his body but is already one with his body; however, a man marries his bride and the two become one flesh, with the husband being the head of the wife as a man’s head is over his body.
Unless a man suffers from a mental defect or deficiency, the man does not abuse his body but sees to it that his body is well fed, clothed, and housed. A man shall treat his wife likewise for she is his body, the body that brings forth his offspring made in the likeness of himself (Gen 5:1–3). Thus, the Muslim fundamentalist that becomes a suicide bomber hates his body as he hates his wife (if he is old enough to have one). The suicide bomber believes the lie the serpent told Eve, “‘You will not surely die’” (Gen 3:4); this bomber believes that he (or she) was born with an immortal soul, when the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Thus, this bomber serves Satan, not God. But then, visible Christendom serves the silvery Persian kings of Babylon, not the Father and the Son.
The kingdom of this world is taken from Babylon and given to the Son of Man halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation: the four kings of Daniel chapter 7 constitutes what remains of Babylon’s hierarchical structure after the first king or horn of the king of Greece is suddenly broken because he is first.
The breaking of the first horn of the king of Greece comes at the second Passover liberation of Israel, when the focus of the world is taken from itself and turned toward God … when every firstborn not covered by the blood of Christ Jesus taken as the sacraments of bread and wine on the night that Jesus was betrayed—when every firstborn of man and angel is suddenly slain as the firstborns of Egypt, man and beast, were suddenly slain, then the remaining two-thirds of humankind will not worry about global warming, or ozone depletion or energy-saving light bulbs.
Today, about one of every three individuals is a firstborn. And unless these firstborns cover (or will have covered) themselves with the blood of Christ Jesus, they will perish in a very short period of time, in a period represented by a day. This means, simply, that approximately 2.3 billion men, women, and children—including President Obama—will be supernaturally slain in what is unmistakably an act of God on about the date of the second Passover (the 14th to 17th of the second month of the sacred year). Of course, there will be those who say that God would never again slay the firstborns of a nation, let alone of the world. But every firstborn belongs to the Father and to the Son to do with as they please, and the best way to keep from having these firstborns included in the great falling away is for God to seal them in death and then resurrect them in the great White Throne Judgment after the 1,000 year reign of the Messiah.
Consider for a moment the effect of 2.3 billion deaths: there would not be a household anywhere not affected. The nation of China would almost cease to exist. Europe has a birthrate less than its death rate, so an abnormally high percentage of its population is firstborn. The U.S. birthrate is close to its death rate, so nearly half of the non-recent-immigrant population is firstborn. Thus, those nations upon which prophecy pundits have focused for the past century will be reduced to shells of themselves after the second Passover liberation of Israel. Their strength and vitality will be death in their streets. And Babylon will have been dealt a below-the-belt blow that staggers Satan’s hierarchy, for the first king of the king of Greece appears on the humanoid image Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision as an erect penis, broken at the second Passover because he is first.
The vulgar expression commonly used by ranchers, loggers, and miners for environmentalists throughout America’s western states has considerable validity. As representatives of the now erect first king of the king of Greece, environmental activists are certainly green w—.
Satan remains, but only as the little horn on the head of Death, the fourth king or beast of Daniel chapter 7 — this little horn is the same little horn that is seen in chapter 8. There are not many little horns. One is enough.
Following the trampling of the ram by the he-goat, the kings of Persia are broken and are no longer scripturally present. Again, the king of Greece has trampled them, as the green movement is presently trampling visible Judeo-Christian teaching: when a postal worker in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, cannot say, "Merci Seigneur pour la belle journee (Thank you Lord for the beautiful day)," for fear of being fired, the he-goat has stomped the ram as political correctness runs amuck. Earth-worship has become prescribed.
The ram that is the silvery king of Persia had both of his horns broken (Dan 8:7), interpreted to mean that no demonic king can any longer stand up for visible Christendom … visible Christendom is left as a ship without sail or rudder, adrift on the sea of humanity, lost in a fog of scientific inquiry, with a compass that has trees bearing fruit before the sun is created. If ever a ship deserved to run aground, visible Christendom is the ship.
It is the second Passover liberation of Israel that begins bringing this present age to an end; that changes the focus of humanity from saving the planet to saving their lives; that for Christians ends grace … once Israel, a nation circumcised of heart, is liberated from indwelling sin and death, Israel has no need for grace, or the mantle of Christ Jesus’ righteousness. Rather, every person born of spirit can walk uprightly before God as the man Jesus of Nazareth walked. And if a disciple refuses to walk uprightly before God, the disciple will commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, blasphemy that will not be forgiven.
The silvery Christendom of the kings of Persia will end, but not disappear—for 220 days into these seven endtime years; 220 days after its liberation from indwelling sin and death, the vast majority of “Christians” will rebel again God and will (as if they are polarized magnets) attach themselves to one tarnished-silver colored iron leg or the other of now doubled-over Babylon, paralyzed by where God dealt Satan’s hierarchy a hard blow.
Sabbatarian disciples are neither bronze nor silver vessels that await refining, but are vessels of gold, concerned about the environment but not obsessed with it; concerned about the welfare of humanity, but not obsessed with doing human good works; concerned mostly about the things of God and about bringing as many disciples as possible into covenant with the Father and the Son. These gold vessels mark themselves by Sabbath observance; thus, they will be targeted by so-called Christians attached to each iron leg of Babylon. And as Cain slew Abel and as Esau sought Jacob’s life, they will kill the fleshly bodies of Sabbatarians until only two remnants remain, the 144,000 natural Israelites and the remnant of the offspring of the woman that is Israel.
But more about this next Sabbath.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."