Wednesday, April 23, 2025

HOW IS THE GOLD BECOME DIM! Serial 3 of 7: Wednesday April 23, 2025

Chapter Two: A Brief History of the C&S Society 

Chapter Two: A Brief History of the C&S Society

 

Several historical accounts have been written on the C&S Society. Many are excellent and serious works, including the book by Peel: Aladura, A religion Movement Among the Yoruba (O.U.P., 1968) and the three books by Omoyajowo: Cherubim and Seraphim, the History of an African Independent church (NOK Publishers, Lagos, 1982); Diversity in Unity; the Development and Expansion of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Relation to Church Nigeria (UPA, NEW York, 1984); and Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Relation to Church, Society, and State (Claverianum Press Ibadan 1976). There are hundreds of other books and booklets on the same subjects, including a good number of myths! We briefly recall here some of the salient points in these scholarly tomes.

 The two central figures in the establishment of the Cherubim and Seraphim Society, no doubt, are Moses Orimolade Tunolase and Captain Abiodun Emmanuel, nee Akinsowon. A third important figure often unacknowledged, would be Chief Jacob Kehinde Coker, “Chief of Founders” of the African Church.

 

2.1.      MOSES ORIMOLADE TUNOLASE

 Moses Orimolade, born in the late1870s, hailed from a ruling house in Ikare in the present Ondo state of Nigeria. There are several mythological accounts surrounding his birth which are rather difficult to verify; but if these were meant to add to his stature by his followers, it certainly would be unnecessary. Afterall, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself chose to come to earth as a very ordinary weak babe. What was generally agreed to however, was that Orimolade was confined for some years of the early part of his life due to an unnamed, mysterious illness, with the expectation that he would die. According to an account;1

“During the period of his illness, he was taught by the Holy Spirit how to read the

Bible and memorize whatever he read. This time of separation consisted of study,

prayer and fasting. It is also recorded that Orimolade stated that he saw continuous

visions for seven years during which he could not get up from one spot as a result of

being unable to walk. At the end of his illness, he became a lame man, but God made

him to walk miraculously. The period spent in confinement represented Orimolade's

heavenly training and preparation for his missionary work. He emerged from his

isolation full of wisdom and the power of God”.

He was reportedly baptized in 1901 at St. Stephens Church Ikare by a priest from Ado –Ekiti.

 Prophet Moses Orimolade spent a huge amount of his early ministry in what can only be likened to the missionary journeys of the early believers who through their itinerant ministries ensured that the gospel was shared to nations previously unreached.

However, before he became an itinerant preacher, he was very much a “church boy.” Here is an account that has been corroborated by many 2;

“At age 5, he went into St Stephen’s Anglican Church (C.M.S)-the only church at Ikare and sang alone. The strange light and sound in the church drew the attention of the resident minister who went to investigate. On opening the door, there was nobody except a young boy, that sat down and was singing alone - yet it sounded like a multitude of people singing. When Orimolade was asked who was in the church singing he answered, “We are”. This incident popularized Orimolade in the town and the Minister asked the young boy to come and teach the church some songs.”

 His love for music cannot be overstated, and it would go on to play a major role in the Cherubim and Seraphim Society.

 By about 1920, Moses Orimolade had visited several towns and villages not only in the Yoruba-speaking areas of Nigeria but as far east into the then Mid-Western state and as far North as Kano. He preached the Christian Gospel and made multitudes of converts. According to virtually all reports available, Moses Orimolade, though a stark illiterate, was quite able to quote very fluently and extensively from the Bible. This ability together with the several miracles, especially healing, attributed to him certainly contributed to his immense success as an itinerant preacher. All his converts he duly directed to already existing Christian churches in the locality or where none existed, he “organized his converts into a small congregation and named it after the predominant Christian denomination in the area”3. The feasibility of this latter assertion is unclear.  However, there is no doubting the fact that Orimolade’s heart was fixed solely on the assignment of spreading the message of the gospel as far as he could take it and he certainly was not interested in starting a denomination of his own. The nobility of this cannot be overstated, although many have argued that this only highlights his limitations as a man. Some critics even saw it as evidence of a very troubling “lack of foresight”

 On July 12, 1924, Orimolade finally arrived in Lagos (supposedly on invitation, so he could pray against the ocean surges), and lived with the sexton of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Ebute-Ero, where Archdeacon T.A, J. Ogunbiyi (later arch-critic of the C&S Society, was the Vicar). He was later expelled from the parsonage on September 11 following disagreements with Ogunbiyi, probably because of Orimolade’s close interaction with the African Church. But there were also reports that it was because Orimolade refused to commercialize his activities, especially the holy water. He next moved in with African Church’s Chief J.K. Coker on his Ifako farm and was there till December 20 before moving to the Chief’s residence at Ita-Balogun. He thus continued his ministry in Lagos, with Chief Coker taking him “round the district in his car to preach in African churches”.

 This extensive interaction with Chief J.K. Coker and the African church in general no doubts had considerable influence on Moses Orimolade which will be discussed later on in this chapter; but it was at this stage that he, as an itinerant preacher and faith healer, was invited to help out when Captain Abiodun Emmanuel, who was then a very young lady, apparently became mysteriously sick.

 Mose Orimolade died in the early morning of October 19, 1933, in Ojokoro, Lagos. He was guest of Rev J.D. Oguntolu of the Methodist Church.  Orimolade owned no material properties, and was celibate all his life.

 

 2.2       CAPTAIN ABIODUN EMMANUEL

 Christianah Abiodun Akinsowon (Captain Abiodun) was born on December 25, 1907 in Porto-Novo, now capital of the Benin republic. Her father was a lay preacher and organist in the Methodist church, but he later joined the United Native African Church. Abiodun herself had her education in various Mission schools, first a Catholic school, later Methodist Schools at Ago Ijaye and Ereko, and finally the Baptist Academy where she finished her schooling in the 1920s. She was a member of the choir of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Breadfruit, Lagos, where she was confirmed on May 24, 1925 by the Anglican Bishop of Lagos, Melville Jones, and his Assistant Bishop Isaac Oluwole.

 On June 18 1925, Captain Abiodun went to Campos Square in Lagos to watch the Roman Catholic celebration of “Corpus Christi” where an angel who had been visiting her regularly in her sleep had once again appeared to her and this time followed her home. A week after this, she went into a prolonged trance during which she claimed that she went or had been taken by her angel friend to the “Celestial City” where she had several spiritual experiences. She was taken as afflicted by some strange disease and the Baba Aladura was invited, (some reports say at her request), to come pray for her. She later related in her published book that she was “released” to stay back on earth by the angels that had accompanied her back from the “Celestial City” only because the Baba Aladura was able to answer some spiritual questions posed at him, presumably thus satisfying them she could be entrusted into his care.

 People started to pour in to hear Abiodun’s incredible story and behold the miracles that were being done. It was these gatherings which soon turned to an explosion that led Moses Orimolade to suggest they form a spiritual Society, where people could meet to pray and worship God in a charismatic interdenominational setting, apart from their regular churches which they would still be attending.

  

2.3       THE ROLE OF AFRICAN CHURCH MEMBERS

 From these humble beginning, the C&S Society soon launched out on extensive evangelization missions into the interior of the country apart from Lagos. These were huge successes. Unfortunately, the successes, it would appear, also led to series of negative developments and the Society soon fragmented into three units by the end of 1929. Endless schism and litigations have since become hallmarks of the Society. Unfortunately, because the Appeal Court allowed schismatic factions to still stick to the name “Cherubim and Seraphim”, the C&S ran into the peculiar problem that seventy years after its genesis, it has become a difficult task, determining who is the original C&S and what it looked like. This peculiar situation has led to the emergence of a number of practices, norms and doctrines which this book sets out to examine.

 The question has always been interesting; how is the C&S able to develop into a Church at all given the circumstances of its origins which were by no means special or even unique? There have been many itinerant faith leaders even before Moses Orimolade, and there have been other events as dramatic as Abiodun’s vision.  Indeed, in 1929, another young lady Akanke Igbalaolu, had virtually the same experience at Abeokuta.

C&S apologists will quickly say that the Society was ordained from heaven after 40 years of pleading from Jesus and the Father spending yet another 40 years considering the plea. Granted that this could be true, still the question is what provided the inspiration to Moses Orimolade, who had consistently refused either to form a Church or even join the established ones (e.g. he had persistent offers from the African Church)? What could have prompted him to form an organization which later blossomed into a Church? It is in this light that his many interactions with the African Church and Chief J.K. Coker in particular become pertinent. There can be very little doubts that Moses Orimolade was heavily influenced by the leaders of the African church, an issue that is well discussed by Omoyajowo4

“…..the concept of church which was developed in the urban milieu of Lagos, Agege, with its planters, bred the evangelical school of thought. There, the planters, who remained Yoruba to the core, had combined European economic techniques with African social conditions, thus discovering a system which provided the benefits of Europe without destroying the social fiber of Africa (Weber). The school of thought was not satisfied with the measure of indigenization. Weber observes that to the Agege group, Lagos thinking, which took no account of the interior but only of the few thousands in Lagos, lacked evangelical fire.”

 These postulates of Omoyajowo, derived in part from Weber’s earlier conjectures, are well supported by the fact that on August 13, 1925 ‘The African Church Evangelistic Society (ACES)’ was formed “to evangelize the continent of Africa ordained by God to assist the African church.” This Society took off in the same 10 Balogun street residence of J.K. Coker where Orimolade had stayed. The ACES was strongly resisted by the General Committee of the African Church and according to Dada5, on reading the letter sent by the ACES to the General Committee setting out their aims, “…all speakers were against the ACES and passed the resolution:

‘that the General Committee of the African Church cannot accede to the request of the ACES but shall closely watch the activity with interest provided it does not interfere with the Districts already created by the African Church”.

 There, indeed, were interferences between the ACES and the established African church districts, and more relevant to this book, the C&S Society was recognized as one of the creations of the ACES. According to the account by Dada6:

“By 1927, the relationship between the ACES and the African Church was then far from normalThe African Church was ready to fight the ACES face to face and to show that it was following its activities so far, when in one of its General Committee Meetings it passed the resolution to bar the “Seraphic” movement from its church”.

Dada explained the implication of this further6:

“This was the first conclusive evidence that the Seraphim and Cherubim Society originated from the activities of the ACES and under the support of J.K. Coker on his Agege plantation. The second evidence that the Seraphic movement started from them was then the statement made by Father Ekundayo Coker, a son of J.K. Coker, in an article in a newspaper that, Moses Orimolade, the direct founder of the movement came to his father on August 31 1924, and worked on the farm for many years”.

  The active participation of an African church clergyman, Rev Berber, in receiving and deciphering the name for the Society, is yet another pointer to the fact that the evangelistic minded African Church members saw the Seraphim Movement as their very own organization.

 

 2.4 THE C&S  SOCIETY AFTER 1929

 Thus formed, the C&S Society continued to operate as an evangelistic interdenominational assembly with members still attending their different churches. Even when the Society moved into the interior of the country (away from Lagos), it still continued to operate along this line. One of the early problems in Ondo, for instance, was the allegation by some Anglican Churches that new converts made by the Seraphim Society were being sent to rival parishes.  The District Officer. at Ife in a confidential report on the C&S on 26th May 1931 had also observed7:

“The meetings are in the nature of prayer meetings and the Society counts persons from all Churches in its attendance”

 Describing the C&S of this same year 1931, Rev Josiah Akindayomi, later to found the Redeemed Christian Church of God, noted in his autobiography8:

“In 1931, I went to join the Cherubim and Seraphim Society with the hope that this would satisfy my conscience.  At that time the Cherubim and Seraphim church was very good since they stood on the truth to the extent that they did not add to or subtract anything from the word of God.  I was very glad and joyous that I found what my heart needed.

“The Cherubim and Seraphim Society did not take any medications.  If somebody was ill, he or she would be prayed for, and the Lord would hear and the person would be healed.  That was when, I started to hear a silent voice in my heart saying, “You will be my servant.”

 However, the schisms that entered the Society in 1929 soon started bearing negative fruits.  The first schism involved Captain Abiodun separating herself from Orimolade, following Orimolade’s suggestion of that course of action. With the intervention of the police, Orimolade had written to Abiodun9:

“I am therefore asking you through this letter to inform you to form your own Society taking with you all the members as are willing to follow and cooperate with you.”

 In July 1929, William Folarin Sosan who was the private Secretary to the Alake of Abeokuta, Oba Ladipo Samuel Ademola, had attempted, at the instance of his principal, to nip in the bud the seething division between Moses Orimolade and Captain Abiodun.  However, the efforts proved abortive, and in December of the same year, the first schism in the C&S Society occurred.  Months later, the Prayer Band of the Society (under the leadership of Ezekiel Davies) also left to form an independent Organization. When further efforts to reconcile the three factions failed to produce any tangible results, the C&S churches from the seven major cities in the Yoruba hinterland in 1933 also proclaimed independence to form the Western Conference of the C&S Society, under the leadership of W.F. Sosan.

 With time, each faction started introducing new innovations and assumed some form of distinctiveness from the others. Later at different times, each faction finally constituted themselves into separate churches by incorporating Sunday morning services and other sacraments of the Church such as baptism and marriage.

 This transformation from an interdenominational spiritual Society into a Church denomination still remains to be perfected. (The PhD thesis by Timothy Baiyewu at the Bayreuth University10 was partly devoted to studying this transformation). In many C&S factions, the Constitutions are yet to be amended to reflect this big change, and no Articles of Faith are generally issued. Also, even till today sacraments such as the Holy Communion still remains a once-a-year affair in many a C&S church. Seventy years (as at 1995) after the founding of the Society, it still is running after the much elusive “unity”.  Seeing the enormous differences in the various congregations that go by the tag “C&S” and the spirit of the independence that reigns freely, the big question is what would be the price for such a "unity”?

 

NOTES

1.The Malachi Project Wiki. https://themalachiproject.fandom.com/

2. "A Biography of St. Moses Orimolade Tunolase." Kingdomers. https://kingdomers.com/a-biography-of-st-moses-orimolade-tunolase/.

3. "Moses Orimolade Tunolase." Dictionary of African Christian Biography.  https://dacb.org/stories/nigeria/orimolade-moses/

4. Omoyajowo, J. A. Cherubim and Seraphim: The History of an African Independent Church. New York: NOK Publishers, 1982.. pg 9

5. Dada S.A. A History of the African Church. AOWA Printers and Publishers, Ibadan. 1986. Pg 65.

6. Dada. Ibid. pg. 66

7. National Archives, Ibadan.  File OYOPROF1:661

8. Josiah O. Akindayomi: This is my Story (in English and Yoruba).  An authentic posthumous Autobiography of Revered Josiah O. Akindayomi.   One Hour Books, USA, 2010. Pgs 3 – 4.

9.     Institute for Religious Research. African Indigenous Churches — Chapter Ten. https://irr.org/african-indigenous-churches-chapter-ten

10. Timothy Baiyewu. The Transformation of Aladura Christianity in Nigeria A Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) University of Bayreuth, Germany. October 2014.




Saturday, April 19, 2025

Surely I Come Quickly - Serial 2 of 9: [CHAPTER 2: Agenda and Timelines]

 



CHAPTER 2: Agenda and Timelines

 

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“….. O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.” Dan. 9:22

 

“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; …. ”  I Chr. 12:32

 

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, ..”       Gal 4:4

 

“… shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:..”     Dan 12:4

 

“… Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. Rev 22:10

 

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.  1 Cor 15:22-26

 

 


 

A God of Purpose, Times, and Seasons

The almighty God is a God of order, Who works out His purposes according to preset timelines.  He cannot be railroaded or stampeded into acting precipitously.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”              Ecc_3:1

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”   Act 1:7

 Nevertheless, the Lord is willing to share with anyone curious and serious enough to seek to understand those timelines. But the responsibility for seeking is placed squarely on the seeker:

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is”.     Eph 5:16-17 

It was noted in the Scriptures that the children of Issachar, to their credit, had understanding of the time, and knew what Israel ought to do, per time. (I Chr. 12:32).  Indeed, the Lord Jesus makes it clear that it is essentially hypocrisy and unwillingness to face realities that rob people of the ability to see timelines that are clearly unfolding before their eyes:

“Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”  - Luk_12:56 

 So, we see that the Lord is willing to share His secrets with those who love Him, and displaying maturity as sons, express interests in what is going on around them.

A good demonstration of this Seek-and-Find principle is the situation with the heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar.  As he pondered on the bed what could be coming after his reign, the Lord graciously gave him the famous dream of the great image, in which was clearly revealed the future history of the world, up till the very end of time. (However, as soon became evident, it is one thing getting a dream, and another story entirely, getting the interpretation!):

“As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.”

“But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.”  Daniel 2:29-30

We can therefore conclude that, if only we would be truly interested, and would seek understanding of events unfolding around us, we should be able to identify critical developments, discern their implications, and very importantly, know how to respond to them.

Having understood the fundamental issues sketched out in Chapter one of this book, we can actually follow the progression of consequent actions happening in key sectors; and thereby discern how close to the resolution of these issues we might be.  The website RaptureReady.com has indeed developed a framework for such activity.  In the section labelled “Nearing Midnight”, the statuses of identified key indicators are used to compute a quantity called the “Rapture Index,” indicating how close the authors perceive we are to the Rapture of the Church, which is to herald the return of the Lord Jesus to earth. (see  https://www.raptureready.com/rapture-ready-index/)

A similar framework is maintained by a group of secular scientists, publishers of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They call their own model the Doomsday Clock, which is described as “a symbolic representation of the world’s proximity to global catastrophe”. This is the point of singularity where everything breaks down into chaos. It is interesting to note the fair agreement between these two models, developed from two different perspectives – one spiritual, and the other secular.  At the time of this writing, the Rapture Index on RaptureReady.com translates to a Nearing Midnight time of 11:58:00 pm, while the scientists’ Doomsday Clock indicates 11:58:30 pm (see https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/). On both clocks, 12:00:00 midnight marks the end of the world.

An interesting news headline, at the time of writing this chapter, says “Godfather of AI shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years.”  The story is that of Geoffrey Histon expressing his opinion that “there is 10% to 20 chance AI will lead to human extinction in three decades, as change moves fast.”1.

Unfortunately, even many of the few who can see the doomsday approaching, have little idea of how to respond to it.  A recent Project Nightfall report documented how billionaires are commissioning “doomsday vaults” where they and their families could take extended shelter at the arrival of the sure-to-come apocalypse2. This behaviour clearly betrays their ignorance of the promise of the Lord Jesus to go and prepare a place for those who will subscribe to His offer.  The place He has gone to prepare is infinitely superior to whatever any builder here on earth can build. And it takes care not just of the body, but of the soul, and the spirit as well.

An alternative escapist concept downplays the body entirely.  It involves “emulating” or copying the data in the brain (assumed equivalent to the mind) and uploading it into the computer Clouds, while discarding (or “recycling”) the body3.  A mid-way option conceptualizes downloading the mind into a humanoid android, thus indefinitely preserving the brain (and expectedly the mind and consciousness), with new “bodies” being procured as needed from time to time4.

In this chapter, we examine in some details, the approaching singularity on earth based on timelines revealed in the pronouncements and perspectives expressed by Satanists on one hand, and those revealed in the Holy Scriptures, on the other.  We will also sprinkle in, some of the predictions from the secularists and extra-Biblical references, for emphasis. As we shall see, the timelines towards the apocalypse from these different camps, tend to converge, indicating that time is indeed up for the current world order.

Before delving into details, we might consider, for example, one major common element predicted in the end-time scenarios from the two different camps: a mass depopulation event, involving a class of human beings, as a necessary prelude to the incoming new world order.

The new age Satanists unequivocally declare that their coming new age will be heralded by the “culling” from earth, of certain “separatists” who have consistently refused to cooperate with the coming new order.  For example, based on what “Voices” told new age medium, Barbara Hubbard, she wrote in her “Manual for co-creators”5:

“Humanity will not be able to make the transition from Earth-only to universal life until the chaff has been separated from the wheat. The great reaper must reap before we can take the quantum leap to the next phase of evolution. No worldly peace can prevail until the self-centred members of the planetary body either change or die.  That is the choice……

“We, the elders, have been patiently waiting until the very last moment before the quantum transformation, to take action to cut out this corrupted and corrupting element in the body of humanity. ……the self-centred members must be destroyed.  There is no alternative.”

These refuseniks comprising of people stuck on the old ways of living, will refuse, for example, the new sexuality, gender- and species-transitioning, and many other “progressive” ideas.  Being “self-centred” refers to their insistence of keeping their mind personal, and not pooling it together into a universal mind with those of others.  Possibly as their ultimate “nemesis”, they will also refuse to accept novel life-saving medical procedures [think of mRNA- based  procedures here] in times of the many pandemics which are expected to mark the end-times. They would therefore be selectively “panicked and confused” and consequently eliminated, en masse!  A popular version of this scenario has extra terrestrials (ETs) doing the sanitation work of removing these filthy “separatists” who are obstructing the new world order.  The ETs are thought capable of doing this via instigation of selective bio-engineered pandemics, or even more blatantly, via a UFO-associated mass abduction!   The statement of the “elders” in Hubbard’s book affirms this6:

“We are in charge of God’s selection process for planet Earth.  He selects, we destroy….We will use whatever means we must to make this act of destruction as quick and painless as possible to the one-half of the world who are capable of evolving…:”

Of course, Christians also agree on the inevitability of this same mass removal [“cutting-out”] event; but they interpret it as the blessed Rapture of the Saints!

In either case, there is a coming literal physical departure of Christians en masse, from this planet.  The only people who cannot see this reality are those who have no time for deep reflection.  These are people who see their reflections in the mirror and forget almost immediately what they saw.  The ones the Lord referred to as hypocrites.

It can also be surmised that, contrary to the scenarios depicted in the popular Left Behind series (by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins), the world will most likely not miss the missing Christians after the Rapture!  As a matter of fact, as explained later in this book, it will not be until three and half years after the Rapture, that the people left behind on earth will begin to feel the heat.  This will start with the Jews, when the antichrist takes over the newly rebuilt Temple declaring himself to be God, and demanding worship from all (Dan. 9:27, II Thess 2:4).  Then people from other nations will also begin to smell the coffee as the new wonder technologies they had hitherto celebrated begin to backfire (see Rev 14:9-11, Rev. 16:2).

 

What time is it, Watchman?

Can we specify a date for the coming of the Lord?  Absolute negative!

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.“                                                                Mat 24:36

What can be declared with full certainty is that the coming touchdown of the Lord Jesus to earth is at least some seven years away from now.  In other words, the world is not “ending”, for at least, the next seven years!  This is the seven-year period required to celebrate the Marriage Supper in the air, while the Lord is enroute earth.  Correspondingly, it is the period when the antichrist would be given absolute latitude to manifest on earth, trying out his much vaunted “new world order”.  These will be elaborated shortly.

So, to restate for the sake of clarity:  the Rapture of the Church could very well happen any moment from now, as all related prophecies and signs are already fulfilled.  However, it (the Rapture) will only mark the beginning of the 7 years that will precede the Lord’s actual descent to earth proper. Nobody can predict the date of the Rapture, but as long as it has not happened, there is still a seven-year period before the touchdown of the Lord on earth.

We might be able to better appreciate how far-spent the time is, by reviewing the timelines and schedules firmly believed by the two parties in this great Conflict.  The Satanic and the Divine Timelines are actually open for us to peruse, and as we will see again, there is pretty good agreement between the two. Both are unequivocal in declaring that we are already in “injury time”.  Things ought to have closed “yesterday”.

 

Satan’s Agenda and Timelines

The Satanist fresh efforts for a take-over of the world, after the great reset introduced by the Noahian flood, was recorded in Genesis chapter 11. It was a twin-project to build a City, and a Tower.

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven;..” Gen. 11:4

The “City” refers to social governance, while the “Tower whose top may reach unto heaven” component indicates a spiritual portal to bridge heaven and earth, and refers to religion.  The intervention of the almighty God stopping the projects is depicted in the uncompleted pyramid which today features prominently in several occult symbols and literature.

Many Christian writers including Gary H. Kah (in The New world Religion, already cited) have pored over these satanist literature and extracted for us some cogent points (so we, thankfully, don’t have to do so ourselves).  The summary is that, Satanists are absolutely assured that their disrupted Babylonian City and Tower project will be resumed in the year 5776 AL in their satanic calendar, where the AL refers to Anno Lucis/Anno Lucifer (year of light).  [Years in AL are derived simply by adding 4,000 to the years in the Gregorian calendar counted in AD Anno Domini – year of our Lord Jesus]7. The year 5776 AL / 1776 AD therefore marks the resurgence of their hope for a takeover of the world.  That year is found inscribed (in Roman numerals) on the one-dollar bill of the US currency.  Many people will swear that the inscription refers to Illuminati Freemasonry which was founded that year, noting especially the co-presence of the uncapped pyramid and the occult eye of Horus also inscribed alongside on the currency.  Officially however, the inscription supposedly refers to the year that the United States of America gained her independence.

The interesting point is that on the Hebrew calendar (supposedly denoting number of years since the creation of the earth), the year 5776 corresponds to the year 2015 AD.  Since September 14 2015 (Rosh Hashannah, first day in the Jewish calendar year 5776), Satanists have gone wild, claiming that their time has come.  They claim that that year ushered in their Aquarian (water carrier) age, and marked the end of the Pisces Age (the age of the fish, supposedly the Christian age).  The supposed opening of The “Abyss” and “new portals” to usher in extra-dimensional beings into our world on September 23 and 24 of that year were part of the several activities excitedly announced in the occult world at that time8.  Notably, the activities coincided with some esoteric physical experiments carried out, on those dates, at the sub-atomic particles-smashing facility at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), in Geneva.  A mysterious suicide, about the same period of one of the top scientists at the facility, one Dr Edward Mantill, further added to the tension and suggestions that new physical dimensions, with seemingly spiritual implications, were being opened up by the experiments9.  As to be expected most of these were pronounced “conspiracy theory” by the mainstream press. Interestingly, in her 70th year of existence, CERN is set to repeat those collisions at unprecedented high energies come October, 202410. 

Long and short, Satanists are irritated that there should still be people standing for Christianity today.  They are supposed to have been eradicated by now!  There are in fact well-documented step-by-step guidelines prescribed for the overthrow of Christianity by Satanists.  Describing the Plan of the “Hierarchy” in his book The New World Religion, Gary Kah wrote11:

“The Hierarchy has revealed to occultists that the teachings intended to condition the world for the new age (also known as the Aquarian Age or the New World Order), fall into three categories: (1) preparatory, given from 1875-1890, written down by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; (2) intermediate, given from 1919-1949, written down by Alice Bailey;  and (3) revelatory, emerging after 1975, to be revealed on a worldwide scale via the radio and television (meaning that some of the major film producers and script writers, as well as television personalities – whether they be politicians, religious leaders, or merely paid actors – would have to be tapped into the same occult forces and be privy to the same demonic “enlightenment” as their predecessors at the Theosophical Society)”

Alice Bailey’s “intermediate phase” strategies have been summarized into the so-called 10-point Charter, which prescribes:

1. Take God and prayer out of the education system

2. Reduce parental authority over the children

3. Destroy the Judeo-Christian family structure or the traditional Christian family structure

4. If sex is free, then make abortion legal and make it easy

5. Make divorce easy and legal, free people from the concept of marriage for life

6. Make homosexuality an alternative lifestyle

7. Debase art, make it run mad

8. Use media to promote and change mindsets

9. Create an interfaith movement

10. Get governments to make all these law, and get the Church to endorse these changes.

(See for instance https://www.inspiredwalk.com/6297/alice-baileys-10-point-plan-to-destroy-christianity).

 It is evident that virtually all the items on the list have today become fait accompli.  As can be seen, the contrived efforts to destroy Christianity begin with subtle manipulations in the education, family, and sexuality sectors, and end up in the psychic and spiritual dimensions. The media and the arts are to be the prized tools to actualize the objectives.  All these have systematically played out within the present generation, especially with the extra-vigorous push added since September 2015.

 A contemporary setting-out of Satanists’ scheme for our world is the infamous Georgia Guidestone. Erected by unidentified sponsors in 1980, it stood for 42 years, before it was destroyed by a mysterious explosion in 2022.  The top three of the 10 inscriptions on the Guidestone address human population, reproduction, and merger:

·         Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 (half a billion) in perpetual balance with nature.

·         Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.

·         Unite humanity with a living new language.

(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones#Inscriptions)

 Some of the expectations of globalists on the timelines for the realization of their dream is captured in Figure 1, taken from a Korean site, https://blog.naver.com/mcho1234/222357898119. Interested readers can check out the details of the diagrams on that site.

Having glimpsed these Satanist agenda, it is left to each of us to take heed to our individual selves, and ensure we do not become the devil’s tool for accomplishing or promoting them.  We should love and take care of the people God has placed in our sphere of influence, particularly those of our own families.  We should also endeavour to appreciate and guard our collective humanity – we should love, value, and respect other humans – irrespective of creed, colour, social status, or faith. On the global scale, we can be sure that the almighty God will not just fold His hands and watch the gloating globalists have their way.  We can look forward to His intervention again, like He did in Genesis 11.  It is He that will have the last word and the last laugh.  We have His sure words on this: “Surely I come quickly!”

 Figure 1: Globalists Satanic Timelines [From https://blog.naver.com/mcho1234/222357898119]

 

Divine Agenda and Timelines

Sometimes in codes, sometimes in plain language, the almighty God has also detailed in the Scriptures, the timelines towards the fulfilment of His agenda for our world.  Although the timelines are clear, and contain dramatic details at times, it turns out that at the end of the day, it is impossible for anyone by sheer deciphering of Scriptures, to pronounce with absolute certainty the date of Christ’s imminent second coming or the end of the world.

The reality is such that, as one sticks together the various pieces of timelines for God’s end-time agenda as revealed, one comes across a certain period of time whose value is blank or indeterminate.  This is often referred to as the Gap.   It is more or less like the situation in a football match which normally should last ninety minutes.  Invariably, there would be some stoppages during the match, which exact duration is left to the Referee to determine – at his sole discretion.  Technically, this is called “injury time”.

Most of the exquisitely detailed revelations of the divine timelines for the end-time are found in the Book of Daniel.  In Daniel chapter 2, we have the famous dream of Nebuchadnezzar already referred to.  In the interpretation given to the prophet Daniel, we have world history neatly laid out starting from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, through the various kingdoms that were to arise after him, up to the time that the God of heaven will clear off all human governments, and establish His own kingdom, that would last forever. 

“…Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:…..  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. Dan. 2:38-42

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”  Dan 2:44

 All this looks quite straightforward.  Surely the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom here on earth is referring to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.  In subsequent dreams and visions given to Daniel himself, in Daniel Chapters 7 and 8,  more details are further provided, substantiating this dream of the great image and its interpretation. The four kingdoms that “shall bear rule over all the earth” are clearly identifiable as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek, and Romans.  After these comes the kingdom to be set up by the God of heaven.  And it shall be everlasting.

So, what  stops us from determining the kick-off date for the coming of this kingdom, and of its King, our Lord Jesus Christ?  It is the Gap. 

Although each of the first three of the kingdoms mentioned came and left, replaced by a successor, the same is not true of the fourth, the Roman empire.  The Roman kingdom which replaced the Greek, indeed crumbled as a kingdom with global authority around 476 AD, (having first split into East and West factions in 286 AD), but it really has not completely left the scene of power, there not being any clear replacement or successor for it since12. In fact, what is indicated in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is that the Roman kingdom, represented by the legs of the image, will be rebirthed at a later time, now represented by the image’s feet.  We know it is essentially the same kingdom since the feet of the great image are comprised of partly the same material as the legs (iron) only that it is now mixed with another, much weaker material, clay.  Furthermore, the visions in Daniel 7 and 8 do not include any other human kingdom after this fourth kingdom.  As those of us priviledged to be living in contemporary times can affirm, there is currently no single authority in charge of the entire world.  Yes, the struggles are ongoing, and intense, but the Russian-Chinese axis are clearly not under the same sovereignty as the Western (NATO) axis at the present time.

What is currently playing out is the increasing influence of non-state players (think of groups like Blackrock, and people like George Soros and Bill Gates) who are gradually exerting global influence by taking over of key UN Agencies and Organs.  At the same time, they are doing their best to undermine the powerful nation-states (for example via unending wars) while propping up small nations who are willing to do their bidding and serve as fronts in the meetings of the UN.  In short, the global authority-wielding entity which will continue the reign of the Roman kingdom is still struggling to emerge.  How much longer it would take to do so is directly at the discretion and sovereign determination of the almighty God.  The time period between the crumbling of the Roman empire, and its coming rebirth is that unknown Gap.

The jewel of all prophecies giving detailed timelines of end-time events would be that recorded in the 9th Chapter of the book of Daniel.  It gives actual length of time, from a reference historical event, to the time that the Messiah will bring in eternal righteousness – apparently referring to the everlasting kingdom of Daniel 2.  Perhaps we can discern from this, how long exactly the Gap will last?  The prophecy:

Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 

Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 

Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We should note that two different “princes” are indicated in the prophecy.  One, “Messiah the Prince”, and the other “the prince that shall come”.

Several anointed and cerebral minds, including Sir Isaac Newton, have studied and written extensive commentaries on this prophecy.  The general consensus is captured by retired Scotland Yard detective, Sir Robert Anderson in his 1895 book, The Coming Prince.13  What comes out clear is that the prophecy is referring to two clearly separate periods of times, with the interval between the two periods left unspecified.  This also constitutes a Gap.  While we might theorize that both Gaps in Daniel 2 and Daniel 9 have the same duration, it does not bring us any closer to knowing the exact duration. 

Verse 24 states very clearly the mission which the Messiah the Prince would be coming to achieve within the indicated period of “seventy weeks”.  This comprised of six clear activities: “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” 

From our vantage point in history, we can see that these six activities fall into two distinct groups and timelines, indicating two different comings of the Messiah.  The first three activities were accomplished at His first coming, viz: finish the transgression, make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity.”  It remains that He should usher in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and prophecy, and anoint the most Holy.  These are to be accomplished at His expected second coming.

With the “week” used in the prophecy interpreted as a period of seven years[1], the “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” in verse 25, (that is sixty-nine weeks) therefore translates to 483 years.  According to calculations made by Anderson, based on lunar calendar, this turns out to be exactly, to the day, the time interval between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem given by King Artaxerxes on March 5, 444 BC, and the triumphant march of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday of AD 32.  Ironically, it is on the basis of this incredible accuracy that some liberal theologians, (the Higher Critics) reject the book of Daniel as a forgery14.  How can such details be written so accurately ahead of their time, they scoff! [2]

With 483 years already gone of the 490 years (“seventy weeks”) of history indicated in verse 24, it is clear that only “one week” (7 years) remains for the fulfillment of the entire prophecy indicated.  However, it is now over 2,000 years since the fulfillment of the first aspect of the prophecy!

The only explanation is that we are still in the Gap period. The fulfillment of the second aspect of the prophecy involving the commencement of an eternal kingdom of righteousness is currently put on hold.  And it will remain frozen for an unspecified period of time, at the discretion of the almighty God.

So what is this Gap period, the current dispensation, really all about; and how might we discern the mind of the almighty God, as to its duration?

According to Scriptures, the almighty God in His infinite wisdom has determined that, for an unstated period of time, “blindness” would come upon a major portion of the Jewish nation which would cause them to reject their Messiah.  This will consequently put a temporary halt to their status as God’s special people and His witness and “teaching aid” on earth. That priviledge would be transferred to the new creation, the Church, which will comprise of people from all nations of the world – both Jews and Gentiles. 

Looking closely at Daniel 9:24, we see that the time period indicated actually pertains specifically to the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city”.  The fulfilment of the entire prophecy therefore pertains primarily to the Jews, and this will resume only, after the Gap period is expired.

First, why the Gap?  The extension of God’s saving grace to non-Jews provided by the Gap, will be the fulfilment of His promise to Abraham, that he would be a blessing to all families of the earth. 

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  Gen 12:2-3 

Furthermore, the ministry of the Messiah, “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mat 1:1) is clearly indicated as not being limited to the people of Israel:

“And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”– Isaiah 49:6

In His first coming, before His sacrifice on the Cross to settle the issue of “sin, transgression, and iniquity”, the Lord Jesus made it clear He must give priority to the Jews in His ministry.  This is clearly exemplified in the story of the Canaanite woman of Mathew 15:

“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel…. It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. (Mat. 15:24,26) 

It was necessary that the Messiah first present Himself to the Jews as their King (as He did on Palm Sunday), and be rejected (as He was by them before Pilate on Good Friday), before the grace He brought could be offered to others.

“Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.” – Mat. 22:8-10

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” – Acts 13:46

So, how long might the Gap last?  Two key Scriptures give us clear hints. One refers to the holy city of Jerusalem, and the other to God’s chosen people, the Jews:

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”        -  Luke 21:24

This prophecy about Jerusalem is particularly clear to us in our generation, from our vantage point in history; and it is clearly an ongoing one.  The Lord foretold that Jerusalem would be trodden down by non-Jews for a period of time, but that the Jews will return to exercise sovereignty over the city at the time appointed for this.  The year 70 AD saw the sacking of Jerusalem and the Temple during Passover, by Roman forces led by Titus.  An estimated one million Jews were killed, and 97,000 enslaved.  Some six decades later, the city of Jerusalem was actually ploughed to remove every trace of Jewish presence, and its name changed to Aelia Capitolina.  Jews and Christians were banned from the city and its surrounding areas.15

Jerusalem subsequently witnessed various gentile rulers ranging from the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and finally the British.16  However, according to the word of God, the times of the gentiles did come to an end.  The Jews returned first to the land, Eretz Israel, and declared an independent state in 1948; took over the sovereignty of most of Jerusalem in 1967; and today is tenuously sharing governance of the spiritual heart of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, with Arab states. 

If this prophecy will be an indicator of the length of the Gap period, it is left for each of us graced to live in 2025 to discern how close we might be to its final fulfilment. We will return to this shortly.

The second prophecy indicating when the Gap will terminate is about peoples:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”     -   Romans 11:25 

This clearly states that the partial blindness of the Jewish nation allowed by God, will last only until a certain number of Gentiles have come in into the Church.  Thereafter the Church age will close, the  Gates of salvation by Grace will close, and the Saints will be removed from the scene - raptured.

From the other Scriptures already discussed, the rapture of the Church will be to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, on His way to earth to fulfil the remaining prophecies in Daniel chapter 9, which are to be fulfilled after a period of 7 years.  These 7 years correspond to the 7-year Marriage Supper in the air.

Further reference to the 7 years, giving detailed indication of what would be happening on earth is seen in Rev 12.  On earth, the first half of the 7-year period, (three and half years) will be bliss as the new world order unfolds and people celebrate the “excision” of the incorrigible separatist Christians. However, midway, the ruler of the revived Roman empire, (the “prince that shall come” in Dan 9:26) will reveal his true antichrist nature as he goes to the Jewish Temple (which would have been rebuilt at the commencement of the final Jewish 7 years), claiming to be God. [This prophecy is specially highlighted by the Lord in Mat.24:15].

While this may be okay with the rest of the world, the Jews will kick against it, leading to their intense persecution.  The treading underfoot of Jerusalem for the final three and half years (forty-two months) is referred to in Rev 11:2.

“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” 

Rev 12:14 details the helps and provision that God would have however prepared ahead for His people during this time. [Note that “a time, and times, and half a time” correspond to three and a half years (42 months), compare Rev 12:6 and Rev. 12:14]. 

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

The final three and half years (the second half) of the antichrist reign on earth will mark the outpouring of God’s wrath on the world as indicated in the sixth chapter of the book of Revelations, during the opening of the seals.  All these will be preparatory to the final coming of the King Himself to destroy the antichrist by the “brightness of His coming” (II Thess 2:8),  thereafter instituting the millennia reign on earth.

With all these accomplished, it will be time for restitution of all things, and the Lord Jesus can come to earth to fulfill the rest of Daniel 9, picking up His bride along the way during the 7 year Marriage Supper:

“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”  Act 3:21 

 

Figure 2, from Now The End Begins, summarizes the Divine Timeline for the endtime from the Book of Daniel a pictorial.  

A brief summary of Nebuchadnezzar’s and Daniel’s dreams on One World Govt

 

Daniel Chapter  2                    Daniel  7                 Kingdom                  Date

Head of Gold                          Lion                         Babylon                   605-539 BC

Breast of Silver                        Bear                         Medo-Persia            539-331 BC

Thighs of Brass                        Leopard   Greece                                     331-168 BC

Legs of Iron                             Terrible Beast         Rome                       168 BC - 476 AD

Feet of Iron and Clay              Beast                        10 Global ??

                                                (AntiChrist)            Regions   

 

History has proved not only the accuracy of the Bible in this matter, but also tells us point blank that time is up!  Are you making any preparation at all?

 

 Figure 2: Divine Timeline: Image taken from https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/book-of-daniel-by-clarence-larkin/.

 

Further Contemporary Insights on the Divine Timelines

We can appreciate the timelines in these upcoming events at even finer resolution by bringing in some contemporary Jewish prophecies.  (Being contemporary necessarily means they are extra-Biblical, and as such, cannot be given same weight as Scriptures). They have to do, in the main, with the restoration of Jewish worship and sacrifices in Jerusalem.  As repeatedly discussed, this development representing a wholesale return of the Jews to the God of their fathers, can only resume with the rebuilding of the third Temple, an event closely related to the rapture of the Church.

The prophecy in Daniel 9 specifically makes it clear that there would be a Jewish Temple standing in Jerusalem at the final 7 year “Jewish” period.  In their records of the teachings of the Lord Jesus on end times, the writers of the Gospels specifically draw the Reader’s attention to the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9, and that the Temple will be functioning at that period.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”  Mat. 24:15 (Also, Mark 13:14)

The Lord had earlier in the narrative stated clearly that the Temple would be destroyed at a period of time, before the final end period. 

“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mat 24:2, (Also Mark 13:2)

Thus, the erection of the third Jewish temple is a major event that can help us discern our current placement on the end-time timeline.

There have been two Jewish Temples to date, both built on the same location on Mount Moriah (or the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.  The first one built by Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonian on the 9th day of the month Av, in 586 BC.  The second one built by Zerubbabel-Joshua around 536 BC, and expansively refurbished by king Herod between around 20 AD, was destroyed on the same date of 9th of Av, in the year 70 AD by the Romans.17  The landmark prophecy in Ezekiel 37 speaks both of the return of a unified prosperous Israel nation to the land of Israel, and also of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle of God being with them, forever (verses 26-28).

At the present time, the Islamic shrine of the Dome of the Rock stands on the exact location where orthodox Jews believe the third Temple is to be rebuilt. Knowledge of the prophecy of this coming third Temple is the major factor in the seemingly intractable Arab-Israel conflict.  At the present time, the Temple Institute and other Jewish agencies not only have detailed building plans for the Temple, the materials for its construction have been pre-fabricated and awaiting deployment!  Similarly the instruments for service, specially-bred animals for sacrifices, and priests are already being prepared and groomed.18

One particularly relevant and well-known extra-Biblical prophecy is that by the Jewish Rabbi,  Judah ben Samuel (also called Judah the Pious). Based on his biblical calculations called the Gematria, together with his astronomical observations, he predicted a detailed timeline for the return of the Jews to their homeland, and the “beginning of the Messianic end-time.”  Given in the year 1217, it says:

“When the Ottomans (Turks) conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.”19

From history, the Ottomans did indeed conquer Jerusalem, in the year 1517, and bore rule for four hundred years after which they were displaced by the British, under the League of Nations mandate, in 1917.  Since a Jubilee is 50 years (Lev 25:10), the Ottomans’ rule had lasted exactly eight jubilees. Likewise, Jerusalem remained essentially a “no-man’s land” between 1917 and 1967 under various authorities (British/League of Nations till the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and thereafter with various wars with Arab nations, until Israel eventually took possession of the entire Jerusalem – West and East, particularly the “old city,” in 1967).  That was also exactly a Jubilee after the sack of the Ottomans. The accuracy of these fulfilled predictions lends considerable weight to the final statement that the Messianic end time is indeed here.  The general expectation from this “prophecy” is that the Messiah will appear within the 10th Jubilee, which started in 2017.

It can be remarked here that, significantly, every expansion of Israel in the Promised Land in contemporary times, had always come at the instigation of her Arab foes! The Jews were excited and contented just to have a homeland of their own, especially after Hitler’s holocaust and other deprivations poured on them over the centuries.  They therefore joyfully accepted the UN partition plan of 1947 offering them just a tiny slice of Palestine, even without Jerusalem.  It was the Arabs who violently opposed the UN resolution (Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947) and threw it into the gutters.  They were confident that the rag-tag Jewish army comprised of new settlers coming from various parts of the world and lacking the required armaments for modern warfare, stood no chance against the well-developed armies of five Arab nations which had been forged in the just concluded World War II.  The Jews were sternly warned they would be mercilessly exterminated should they dare proclaim a sovereign nation as allowed by the UN Resolution.  However, as is said, the rest is history. With everything turned to “Own whatever you are able to win in battle”, the UN resolution was tossed aside, and Israel unexplainably gradually gained the territories she currently possesses, one Arab-instigated war after the other.

While some Arab nations have come to terms with the existence of Israel and would be happy to maintain the current status quo, others remain hell-bent on having her exterminated.  The usual ground for this unending animosity is that Israel had grabbed land beyond the (militarily indefensible) borders initially specified in the UN resolution.  What is left unsaid is that such actions were inevitable responses to Arab bellicose actions.  In short, virtually every progress made by the State of Israel towards fulfilling the prophecies of total possession of the promised land had always been a response to intolerable direct aggression.by the Arabs. 

Which brings up the incredible event of October 7 2023, where over a thousand Jews were massacred, and abused in their land by Hamas militia. The action was largely celebrated far and wide in the Arab world20.  So far, it is clear that current [October 2024] developments are not following the scripts the planners of the attack might have envisaged a year previously.  Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu is defying all entreaties and insisting on sticking to his own announced endpoint – total and permanent incapacitation of Hamas. This would seem only a reasonable goal, though, seeing that Hamas and her sponsors, (notably the Iranian government) have not stopped boasting that October 7 would continue to be repeated, at increasingly grander scale, as long as both they and Israel existed!  Sadly, all these mean untold hardship and collateral damage to countless innocent civilians on both sides of the divide, especially the hapless Palestinians who Hamas deliberately and shamelessly continue to use as disposable human shields.

The remarkable similarity between the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas and an identical event in exactly a Jubilee previously, in 1973, has been pointed out by Bible teachers21.  Both events took place on the first Saturday in the month of October, on a sabbath and Jewish holy day.  And both resulted in wars.  Clearly there is a prophetic underlying, and nobody can claim to know how or when all these will end.  However, going by the historic precedents already cited, and the Agenda in view, it seems clear that everything is headed towards the rebuilding of the Jewish temple on Mt Moriah.  Based on Rev 11, notable Bible teacher Derek Prince, had suggested a scheme on how the Temple could be built whilst co-existing with the Islamic Dome of the Rock.  According to Dr Prince, the Dome is actually supposedly located on the site “given to the gentiles” (Rev 11:2) and could constitute part of the court of the gentiles in the new Temple. 

However, with the recent indiscriminate missile attacks by the Iranian regime and her proxies on Jerusalem, with some being intercepted right over the Temple Mount, who knows what a stray missile could wreak, if the Dome is accidentally hit (or conveniently left unprotected by the Jews!).  That might provide the opportunity for the soon-to-be-revealed antichrist (“prince of the people to come”) to intervene and help build the Temple which he would later desecrate three and a half years afterwards. 

By then the Church would be at the Marriage Supper in the heavenlies.


Prophecies involving living Actors

To conclude this section, we might even attempt to glean further finer resolution of the end-time timelines by considering prophecies that include actors who are currently living. Current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is one such actors.  Some 30 years ago, for instance, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe told a young Netanyahu that “he, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be Israel’s prime minister, who will pass the scepter to the Messiah.”22  Another related prophecy says that Benjamin Netanyahu will be the PM when the third Temple is built. Admittedly, all these are not necessarily firm time-specifying.  Netanyahu first came into office as PM in 1996 and left in 1999 without the unfolding of any Messianic event, (except the Y2K meltdown scare).  He was back in office ten years later, serving an unprecedented 12-year stretch till he was removed in 2021 in a tense political climate that saw Israel having four elections in two years.  But then he was back in office again in 2022 and has remained PM till date.

Another popular contemporary end-time prophecy referencing currently living actors include that of a St Malachy.  In the documentation of his vision, the mystic, an Irish Bishop later canonized as St Malachy, indicated that the total number of popes, counting from 1143 A.D., would be 112.  Most popular prophecy commentaries claim that the current Pope Francis is the 112nd since Pope Celestine II who became Pope in 1143.  However, the official list of Popes from the Catholic Encyclopaedia lists Pope Francis as the 266th Pope from the Apostle Peter, and only number 102 from 1143 AD.  The problem is that there are serious controversies in the list of Popes, As explained in the Wikipaedia article23 on Popes (commenting on the list used by the Catholic Encyclopaedia):

“This chronological list of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" (The Roman Supreme Pontiffs), excluding those that are explicitly indicated as antipopes….. The 2001 edition of the Annuario Pontificio introduced "almost 200 corrections to its existing biographies of the popes, from St Peter to John Paul II".   

Once again, it turns out that this “prophecy” also cannot offer any firm end-time timeline.  However, related developments in the catholic Church could be interesting, as they connect back to the Jewish Temple.  Even though, as previously mentioned, orthodox Jews have completed the fabrication of the materials and vessels to be used in the coming Temple, a bombshell of a news came out in October 2023 (ISRAEL 365).  It reads: “A leading Italian member of parliament, who prefers to remain anonymous, held a Zoom meeting with Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu in which he said that his country is prepared to return the lost Temple vessels to Israel – and that the time to do so is now”.

However, in reaction published in the same journal on November 3, 2023, Harry Hirschel Mosko, Director of the Museum Exchange Program, Jewish Heritage Project (located at the Vatican in Rome), tried to downplay the news, highlighting that there is a difference between the Vatican and the government of Italy.24 He suggested that the news was exaggerated.  So, once again, it seems there is a limit to how far we can go in our attempts to glean at very fine resolution, the divine timeline of the coming Rapture of the Church.  A situation akin to the famous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in physics.

 

 

Intersection of Divine and Satanic Agenda and Timelines

Even, if there is a limit to how far we can predict the timing of the fulfilment of end-times agenda, there can be no doubting that they are imminent.  One pointer of this is the increasing convergence of both Divine and Satanic timelines.  We observe that not only are all the themes heading for a crescendo at the same time, we see both divine agenda and satanic agenda heading for the same conclusion.  An interesting intersection is described in the book of Revelations, concerning the coming world-governing empire that would be in place at the return of the Lord Jesus.  We saw from Daniel 2 that the government would comprise of 10 kings (the ten toes of the iron-clay feet).  Revelations 17 clarifies that these kings with pre-existing domains will decide to surrender their kingdoms to the coming antichrist, in furtherance of the satanic agenda.  What they would not realize however (even though this is pre-written, and pre-published), is that by so doing, they are actually fulfilling the Divine agenda:

“For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. “   Rev 17:17

In the next Section, we examine, in three chapters, details of three main plots, (all rooted in the “trans” culture).  being used to actualize the grand agenda of corrupting and controlling mankind.  This, as already discussed, is the central strategy Satan hopes to use to stall or even frustrate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the planet earth in order to complete the work of redemption of mankind and creation.  Progress in these plots, and the singularity they herald are clear to everyone who would take time to see them and reflect on them. They are fairly good indicators to gauge the imminence of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

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He who has an ear to ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches

Rev 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22; and Rev. 13:9

 

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[1]  The Hebrew word used is shabua – Strong H7620, meaning “seven, period of seven, heptad”

[2] We note however, that this date does not accord with those specified in Rick Larson’s Star of Bethlehem, which date we consider more credible, being more transparently derived. Specifically it is based on the occurrence of blood moon around a Passover period, during the reign of Pontius Pilate.  Assuming the “blood moon” that Peter was referring to occurred that same year.