America, America, what have you done to yourself

In the previous edition of The Christian Herald, we had an article about Barack Obama and his policies. In the conclusion of that article we wrote:

Mr. Obama, “you should get on your knees before the Almighty and be grateful to Him for placing you at the head of this great nation. Give up on your homosexual and abortionist agenda, for if you don’t, He will not be with you in the trying times ahead!”

We were hoping that President Obama might consider changing course for the sake of his nation, but as it turned out that was a forlorn hope. He is determined to implement that policy after receiving support from some very high placed people.

“Obama’s gay army” “WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s bid to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military received another boost yesterday when retired US general Colin Powell emerged to support its repel. General Powell said that times had changed since 1993, when he backed the controversial compromise known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell””. (The Daily Telegraph, Feb. 5, 2010).

Some Americans were not particularly happy that we meddled in the affairs of their nation. This is our answer to that.

Amo 3:8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

Eze 33:7 "So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.

Eze 33:8 When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.

Eze 33:9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

Eze 33:10 "Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: 'Thus you say, "If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?" '

Eze 33:11 Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'

Eze 33:12 "Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: 'The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.'

Eze 33:13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.

Eze 33:14 Again, when I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right,

Eze 33:15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Eze 33:16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

If we did not pass on God’s warning to American and the world, God’s wrath would fall upon us. The question is, why Obama’s policy represents such a deadly danger for his nation. Here is the answer.

Jos 7:1 The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.

Jos 7:2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the country." So the men went up and spied out Ai.

Jos 7:3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there,

Jos 7:4 for the people of Ai are few." So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai.

Jos 7:5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Jos 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

Jos 7:7 And Joshua said, "Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!

Jos 7:8 O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies?

Jos 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?"

Jos 7:10 So the LORD said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?

Jos 7:11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.

Jos 7:12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.

Jos 7:13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: "There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you."

Jos 7:14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes shall come according to families; and the family which the LORD takes shall come by households; and the household which the LORD takes shall come man by man.

Jos 7:15 Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.' "

Jos 7:16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.

Jos 7:17 He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.

Jos 7:18 Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Jos 7:19 Now Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me."

Jos 7:20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done:

Jos 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it."

Jos 7:22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.

Jos 7:23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.

Jos 7:24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.

Jos 7:25 And Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after

Jos 7:26 they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Now if God was so angry with Israel because of an accursed object to cause many to fall before their enemies, how much worse it is when people embrace a sin that is utterly abominable in His eyes? God will never support an army that has turned its back on Him and His laws; Obama’s policy means exactly that.

When I was in the navy, I was once subjected to homosexual advances during a shower. I cannot begin to tell you how revolted I was. I ignored it and turned away from it, but there are cases in which people have reacted very differently, some even committing murder.

Israel atoned for that sin by removing both the “accursed thing” and the person who committed it. Unfortunately, they did not learn their lesson and kept backsliding from God’s laws, leaving Him with no choice but to abandon them to their enemies.

Jdg 10:6 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.

Jdg 10:7 So the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon.

Jdg 10:8 From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead. Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan

Jdg 10:9 to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

Jdg 10:10 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!"

Jdg 10:11 So the LORD said to the children of Israel, "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the

Jdg 10:12 Philistines? Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand.

Jdg 10:13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.

Now lest people think that in the New Testament God is more tolerant of abominable practices, or that the law of God has been “done away with”, as many preachers would have you believe, this is what Apostle Paul wrote about it.

Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Rom 1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God,

Rom 1:21 they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Rom 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Rom 1:23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Rom 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

Rom 1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

Rom 1:27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

Rom 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness;

Rom 1:30 they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who,

Rom 1:32 knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Now let us go back to the case of Sodom and Gomorrah and consider an aspect of their sin that not many people have thought about, and see how that relates to our world in general, and America in particular.

Gen 18:16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.

Gen 18:17 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,

Gen 18:18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Gen 18:19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

Gen 18:20 And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,

Gen 18:21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."

Gen 18:22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. And Abraham came near and said,

Gen 18:23 "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Gen 18:24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?

Gen 18:25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You!

Gen 18:26 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."

Gen 18:27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:

Gen 18:28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?" So He said, "If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it."

Gen 18:29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will not do it for the sake of forty."

Gen 18:30 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Gen 18:31 And he said, "Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty."

Gen 18:32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."

Gen 18:33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

God could not find ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and as a result those towns vanished from the face of the earth and became a legend for posterity.

Now how many righteous people would He find in America if He came into the world today? We will give you the answer later, from Scriptures which say that there are not ten righteous people in the whole world, let alone in America.

It is now certain that America will become a legend as the greatest power that this world had ever seen, but one which implode upon itself in the end.

Now considering the financial crisis that has spread from America to the rest of the world in the last couple of years, and the unbelievable greed of the banking fraternity that has come to the surface since then, it is worth repeating what we wrote nearly two decades ago. Notice how prescient our predictions proved to be.

“People believe that communism failed. Communism never failed, atheism did! Communism never failed because it has never been tried. What they practiced in the Soviet Union and its satellite nations was not communism but a parody of it. It is a satanic ploy to undermine every good idea that comes from the Bible. True communism will work in the Kingdom of God.

Soviet communism failed, but so has American capitalism. Such is the vulgarity of capitalism that at a time when a company like General Motors is closing down dozens of factories and laying off thousands of people, it grants its retiring Chairman an annual pension of $US1.2 million. The Chairman of Chrysler, who has an allocated salary of $4.5 millions, went to Japan with President Bush to lecture the Japanese on work ethics. When it was pointed out to him that the Chairman of Toyota, a much more successful company, earns a fifth of his salary, he stormed out of the meeting and left Japan indignant.

No social conscience on the part of those who clamber their way to the top. No Christian concern for one's fellow human beings from the leading citizens of the, supposedly, number one Christian nation on earth. Has no one ever told these people that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" (Mat.19:24). Even at the retiring age they still do not think of the purpose of life and what lies beyond this temporary existence.

Where are the spiritual leaders of that nation? What have they achieved? Why are they silent in the face of such blatant greed and exploitation? Or are they part of the same mentality?

The country wonders why its economy is faltering so badly. Unfettered capitalism is just as unchristian as totalitarian communism. Soviet communism has collapsed; now watch for the collapse of capitalism. Those who believe that the USA will once again dominate the world as it used to, or that Great Britain will rule the waves as during the height of its empire, have some surprises coming their way.

This author grew up behind the “Iron Curtain” where a great part of his education involved indoctrination about the “glorious future the Soviet Union was leading the world into”. It was a trial by fire that few people have known. The communists justified destroying everything and everyone who opposed their march towards a God-less “utopia”, but instead of paradise it became a Devil’s nightmare.

Out of that atheistic nightmare, God had to bring someone at enormous personal sacrifice to preach His Gospel to the world, because those who had it all the time made a mockery of it by turning it into a money making venture.

The Soviet Union collapsed into ashes leaving a cauldron of ethnic tensions and unfulfilled dreams that threaten to draw the world into the end-time catastrophic conflict. The chaos left behind by that collapse is only now becoming apparent. God alone knows what three hundred million people will do with their nuclear weapons when wide scale starvation takes place. There are repeated warnings in the Bible that He will "bring disaster from the north and great destruction".

At a time when the world is facing the test of its survival, few people understand that there is a connection between current problems and the spiritual decline of the world. Even the Churches of God, who once prided themselves in their ability to understand the prophecies of God, have fallen silent. At a time that their input is needed more than ever, they are engaged in an internecine war that is sapping their strength from within.

Once again, as it has happened throughout history, God has raised people from the lowest levels of society to do His work. The message that John the Baptist delivered to ancient Israel, prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, is now being delivered to the whole world, just in time for His glorious return to this earth.

Mat 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of

Mat 3:2 Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Mat 17:9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."

Mat 17:10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say

Mat 17:11 that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.”

“So repent, for the Kingdom of God is truly at hand. Things are being restored before your very eyes.” (“Signs of the times”, The Christian Herald No 2, p.9).

So, is capitalism finished? Not yet. They keep patching it like they do an old clapped out car, but its end is unmistakably in sight. Like communism, atheism, feudalism, and other isms, capitalism has served its purpose.

God allowed human beings to experiment with just about everything that came to their minds, and learn the lesson that without Him they not only cannot govern themselves, but end up in the ultimate catastrophe – self-annihilation.

The world is experiencing the spasms associated with the death of an old age, the age of man, and the birth of a new one, the age of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, this transition ends up in a worldwide blood bath called the Great Tribulation. This planet needs to be cleansed of its spiritual, moral, and physical pollutions, and that will be done in an upheaval that will reduce the world population to a fraction of its current size.

It is a time when all nations of the world will be shaken and put through a sieve in order to select the wheat from chaff, the elect who are worthy of the Millennium Kingdom of Jesus Christ from the polluters, sinners, and destroyers of this world.

Rev 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"

Rev 11:16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

Rev 11:17 "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

Rev 11:18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth."

Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Mat 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

Rev 20:3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

The world is on the brink of the most awesome event in its history.

America beware, this is not the time to get on the wrong side of God (not that it is ever safe to do so, or that one should ever think of doing that).

More proofs of the Bible’s divine inspiration

Question: Which is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

Answer: Psalm 117.

And which is the longest chapter in the Bible?

Psalm 119.

What chapter is in the middle of the Bible?

The one which is between the two: Psalm 118.

There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118, and 594 chapters after Psalm 118.

Putting the two together you get 1188.

Which verse is in the middle of the chapter that is in the middle of the

Bible? Psalm 118:8.

Does this verse have any particular significance as far as God’s will for us is

concerned? What could be at the centre of God’s message for us?

Psa 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

(Translated from Romanian; origin unknown)

Now could this be the work of a mere man? Only a fool would think so! For just as the books of the Bible were written by a number of men at different times in history, the Bible division into chapters and verses was not done overnight by a single man. This is what GotQuestions.org is telling us:

“Question: "Who divided the Bible into chapters and verses? Why and when was it done?"
“Answer: When the books of the Bible were originally written, they did not contain chapter or verse references. The Bible was divided into chapters and verses to help us find Scriptures more quickly and easily. It is much easier to find "John chapter 3, verse 16" than it is to find "for God so loved the world..." In a few places, chapter breaks are poorly placed and as a result divide content that should flow together. Overall, though, the chapter and verse divisions are very helpful.

“The chapter divisions commonly used today were developed by Stephen Langton, an Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton put the modern chapter divisions into place in around A.D. 1227. The Wycliffe English Bible of 1382 was the first Bible to use this chapter pattern. Since the Wycliffe Bible, nearly all Bible translations have followed Langton's chapter divisions. “The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish rabbi by the name of Nathan in A.D. 1448. Robert Estienne, who was also known as Stephanus, was the first to divide the New Testament into standard numbered verses, in 1555. Stephanus essentially used Nathan's verse divisions for the Old Testament. Since that time, beginning with the Geneva Bible, the chapter and verse divisions employed by Stephanus have been accepted into nearly all the Bible versions.”

Now were these people aware that in dividing the Bible into chapters and verses they were in fact providing proof of the Bible’s divine inspiration? How could they when they lived centuries apart?

Neither could they have known that their work resolved a question that is as old as Christianity itself: which is the correct Bible out of the multitude of versions that various Christian denominations have produced in the course of history. Jews, Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have Bibles of different lengths.

“The books of the Bible that are considered canonical number 24 for Jews, 66 for Protestants, 73 for Catholics, and 78 for most Orthodox Christians. In addition to these, many versions of the Bible contain books which have not necessarily been considered canonical by their publishers, called apocrypha. All these books vary in length from a single page of modern type to dozens of pages. All but the shortest are divided into chapters, generally a page or two in length.” (Wikipedia)

Obviously, something isn’t right. If the Orthodox Bible is right all the others are wrong and missing important sections. If God inspired their Bible we would like to know what we are missing, for that could affect our salvation.

On the other hand, if the Protestant Bible is right, all the others are wrong by adding materials that are not approved from above. Anything that is not from God in the Bible is of the Devil. Jesus Christ made it clear that no one is allowed to add to, or take away anything from the Bible.

Rev 22:16 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."

Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Rev 22:18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;

Rev 22:19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Unexpectedly, the proof of divine inspiration that the middle of the Bible offers us resolves this question once and for all. For this proof works only with the “authorized versions” of the Bible such as the King James, New King James, and other translations that follow their structure. It does not work with any of the Bibles that contain Apocryphal books (sections that are considered canonical by non-Protestant traditional Christians) or Deuterocanonical books (later additions to the Old Testament that are not part of the Jewish Bible).

Hopefully, this also resolves the great chasm that has existed between Jews and Christians in regard to the complete Bible – the Jews having rejected the New Testament while traditional Christians have turned their back to the Old Testament.

In God’s eyes, they have both committed shipwreck as far as their mission to the world is concerned. None have any idea where they stand in relation to God’s prophecies for our time. This is not surprising, for having turned away from much of the Word of God they have blinded themselves to apocalyptic events that are about to change the face of the earth.

The consequences of their spiritual ignorance are incalculable. The world is on the edge of the abyss and they do not know it or do not want to believe it – an undeniable fulfillment of a powerful warning from Jesus Christ about our time?

Mat 24:11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Mat 24:12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

Mat 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Mat 24:15 "Therefore when you see the 'ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand). . .

Mat 24:20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Mat 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Mat 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

What false prophets, what deception, what lawlessness, they would say – the world continues much the way it always had. Or does it?

As for the Gospel of the Kingdom that must be preached in all the world, which Gospel would that be – the Catholic, the Orthodox, the Protestant? They are not only different but diametrically opposed in places. If any of these Gospels had been right, the end of the world would have come long ago, and there would have been no need for Elijah to come and restore the true Gospel just in time for the return of Jesus Christ.

As for the command that Christians must pray that their flight from the Great Tribulation may not be on the Sabbath, how would Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians know anything about that when they do not keep the Sabbath and are seldom if ever told anything about this end time cataclysm?

Can you see now what Jesus Christ meant when He said that because of deception the world will be taken by surprise by the Great Tribulation just as the people of Noah’s time were taken by the Flood?

They always quote Jesus’ words that no one knows the day or the hour of His return, forgetting that He also said that we would know the season of His arrival. There are plenty of buds in the world at present which tell us that that season is upon us. However, no matter how hard we have tried to prove this fact to the world, one Church has vehemently opposed us and tried to prove otherwise. Which Church is that? You guessed it – the Catholic Church; and to a lesser degree its siblings – the Orthodox and Protestant Churches.

For years, we have been engaged in a public spat with the Catholic Church over the nature of the devastating events that have struck the world in recent years. In vain have we tried to prove that global warming and climate change are not mere “natural cycles”, as that Church would have us believe, but serious heavenly warnings and prophetic fulfillments that have come exactly when the Bible said they would.

The fact is that that Church will never admit that this word will ever come to an end, that there is going to be a Great Tribulation, and that Jesus Christ will return to this earth to set up a new world order.

Its philosophy and doctrines are predicated on the notion that this world will go on forever, that Rome is an eternal city, and that its “Holy Father” will always be the King of the world. How deceived they could be! They should search the Scriptures under the terms “daughter of Babylon” and “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots” to see what is in store for them.

All these prophecies would have been redundant if they had treated the Bible as the inspired Word of God, kept God’s Commandments, and made themselves familiar with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, by diluting the Bible with uninspired works, they have ensured that no one knew for sure which the true Gospel is anymore. Consequently, instead of leading their followers to salvation, they are leading them on a sure way to perdition. But there is hope, for it is never too late to turn around, and repent and worship God in truth and in spirit. Now that there is no longer any doubt as to which is the correct Bible this undertaking should be easier than ever.

Humanity – wired to self-destruct in six thousand years

Christianity has something that no other religion has: the idea that this world has been set up for a specific purpose; that it has a beginning and an end, and that at the end of six thousand years humanity will self-destruct.

The question is where are we in this biblical timeline.

Biblical chronology places us near, or right at, the conclusion of six thousand years. This means that we are on the brink of what Jesus Christ called the Great Tribulation.

Do world conditions confirm this fact? Are there signs which would indicate that the world could explode into that cataclysm any time soon? Indeed, there are plenty.

We will not go into this now as we have spoken about those signs in virtually every edition of The Christian Herald. Sufficient to say here that all the signs that Jesus Christ spoke about in His famous prophecy about the end time (Matthew 24) have been fulfilled, including a departure from Gold and a collapse in morality around the world. World conditions are ripe for the culmination of those signs – the Great Tribulation which will threaten the very life of this planet. Rather, we will concentrate on other points which indicate that this planet has reached its nadir.

Apostle Paul once made the point that God made a “short work” upon the earth. “Short” of course from God’s point of view, but for us, who look for salvation and redemption, and have to trudge through the trials and tribulations of this world, it is still very long.

Now it would be easy for us to give you the specific Scriptures that deal with this topic, however, by keeping them in their context you can learn a lot more about both the length and especially the purpose of God’s creation. So read carefully the Bible passages and references that we give you, for they answer these and many more relevant questions. Here is chapter 9 of the book of Romans, with our comments interspersed in italics.

Rom 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

Rom 9:2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

Rom 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,

Rom 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

Rom 9:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Christ came, but at this stage we do not know what He came for. The Jews thought He would come to free them from the Roman occupation and restore the Davidic kingdom. The New Testament, however, tells us that He came for an entirely different purpose, namely to open the door for us to become real “children of God”. This is the first purpose of creation. More on this later.

Rom 9:6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,

Rom 9:7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED."

Rom 9:8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise: "AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON."

Rom 9:10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac

Rom 9:11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),

Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

Rom 9:13 As it is written, "JACOB I HAVE LOVED, BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED."

Here Apostle Paul speaks of predestination. Salvation without predestination is not possible, for that would mean that human beings can attain it on their own will, without the need for God’s grace.

There is nothing a human being can do to guarantee his own salvation, other than submitting completely to the will of God and accepting the fact that only those who have been predestined before birth to be saved will make it into the Kingdom of God. This is why those who preach freewill, free moral agency or freedom of choice have little idea what they are talking about. Predestination implies that God planned everything in advance. Only in that context can we understand why God made a “short work” upon the earth.

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?

Certainly not!

Rom 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I

WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION."

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God

who shows mercy.

Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I

HAVE RAISED YOU UP, THAT I MAY SHOW MY POWER IN YOU, AND

THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH."

[Here is the second purpose of creation – that God may be glorified in us]

Rom 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills

He hardens.

Rom 9:19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault?

Rom 9:20 For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"

Rom 9:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Rom 9:22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

Rom 9:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

Rom 9:24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Rom 9:25 As He says also in Hosea: "I WILL CALL THEM MY PEOPLE, WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, AND HER BELOVED, WHO WAS NOT BELOVED."

Rom 9:26 "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD." Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

Rom 9:27 "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BE AS THE SAND OF THE SEA, THE REMNANT WILL BE SAVED.

Rom 9:28 FOR HE WILL FINISH THE WORK AND CUT IT SHORT IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE THE LORD WILL MAKE A SHORT WORK UPON THE EARTH."

Rom 9:29 And as Isaiah said before: "UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT US A SEED, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WE WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE LIKE GOMORRAH."

Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

Rom 9:31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

Rom 9:32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

Rom 9:33 As it is written: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STUMBLING STONE AND ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME."

This confirms both that God is making a “short work” upon the earth and that the purpose for which He created the world is not merely to prepare people for heaven, but to reproduce Himself into many sons and daughters.

Creation, therefore, was not a haphazard act which went haywire from the very beginning, as Satan and his servants would have us believe, but a preplanned act carried out at a specific time and place in the vast expanse of the Universe.

The question is, how long was this creation designed for, how long is this “short work”? We will get to that shortly, but first let us establish another little understood yet very important point. Since God planned everything in advance, before the world was even created, how many sons and daughters has He allowed for? As many as possible, the more the better, some people would say. Nothing could be further from the truth for once again that would mean a haphazard act. If that were the case, what would be the meaning of these figures?

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Eph 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Eph 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

If those who were destined for salvation have been chosen for this purpose before the foundation of the world, before they were even born, would God leave their number to chance? Someone may well quote these Scriptures to counter this point.

Gen 32:12 For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' "

Jer 33:20 "Thus says the LORD: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,

Jer 33:21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

Jer 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'

What could be clearer than that? As the host of heaven and the sand of the sea cannot be numbered, neither could the descendants of Jacob and David be counted. But numbered by whom? By human beings never, but by God any time! God says that He knows even the host of heaven by name!

Psa 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.

Psa 147:5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

Isa 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One.

Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

Isa 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God"?

Isa 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary.

Isa 40:29 His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

Isa 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,

Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Scientists tell us that there are billions of stars in the Universe, numbers that human beings could hardly conceive let alone count. Yet, Almighty God says that He calls them all by name.

When you have eternity before you, and no one to rush you or take you to account for what you do, how would you spend your time? Obviously by creating things! Should we be surprised then that among the many things He had created He decided to enlarge His family by reproducing Himself?

First, He created the angels. Then He created a Son through whom an entirely new family of other sons and daughters would come into being.

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

Rev 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth."

Rev 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

Rev 5:12 saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"

Rev 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

Here we have the number of people that are destined to be saved: “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands”. If this was a mere figure of speech, it would have been mentioned once and left at that. But because it is mentioned twice, in both the Old and the New Testaments, it ceases to be a mere allegorical figure; it becomes a number that is telling us something.

Dan 7:9 "I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;

Dan 7:10 A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

These figures could refer to angels too, but we know that angels were created for us, to be the guardians and helpers for those who are saved.

Psa 91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said: "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL"?

Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

Now, if we multiply a thousand by a thousand, and ten thousand times by ten thousand we come up to 101 million people. Jesus Christ was not joking when He said that many are called but few are chosen (Mat 22:14). He must have seen this figure and realized that compared with the total number of people that lived in the world over the time span of the earth this is a small number indeed.

However, the Scriptures indicate that even after this world is finished, and a new earth and a new heaven are created, God’s spiritual Kingdom will continue to expand.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Therefore, it is safe to conclude that God knew exactly how long it would take to achieve the number of people that He wanted for His Kingdom. This is why there should be no wonder that this world has a limited time span. It will not last a day longer than is necessary, nor a day shorter. The question is how long that is? The answer is, seven thousand years. Aha, someone may say, why then did you say that humanity was wired to self-destruct in six thousand years? Because that is exactly what would happen if God did not intervene to put an end to human madness and prolong creation for another thousand years! But, as Jesus Christ said, for the elect’s sake, He will intervene and cut those days short, and let the world continue for another thousand years.

Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Mat 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Rev 20:7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison

Rev 20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Rev 20:10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Rev 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

Rev 20:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Apostle Peter said that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Look at the following passage carefully, for it contains other important points that are relevant to our topic.

2Pe 3:1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),

2Pe 3:2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,

2Pe 3:3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,

2Pe 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

2Pe 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,

2Pe 3:6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the Bible, nothing is put there for the sake of decoration. Everything has a purpose. However, not all people are given to understand the Scriptures.

Isa 28:9 "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?

Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."

Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,

Isa 28:12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.

Isa 28:13 But the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little," That they might go and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught.

Until Jesus Christ came and opened the way for the Holy Spirit, even the prophets of old did not understand what the creation was all about. Here is another important passage that explains many things about the purpose of creation, and confirms the point about predestination that we made earlier.

1Pe 1:10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,

1Pe 1:11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

1Pe 1:12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

1Pe 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1Pe 1:14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

1Pe 1:15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

1Pe 1:16 because it is written, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

1Pe 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;

1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

1Pe 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

1Pe 1:20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

1Pe 1:21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1Pe 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

1Pe 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

1Pe 1:24 because "ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS, AND ALL THE GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER OF THE GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND ITS FLOWER FALLS AWAY,

1Pe 1:25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

1Pe 2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,

1Pe 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

1Pe 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1Pe 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

1Pe 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1Pe 2:6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHIEF CORNERSTONE, ELECT, PRECIOUS, AND HE WHO BELIEVES ON HIM WILL BY NO MEANS BE PUT TO SHAME."

1Pe 2:7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE,"

1Pe 2:8 and "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

1Pe 2:10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Who is the “chosen generation, royal priesthood, and holy nation” that God is preparing for His Kingdom? Israel of old? That is what the Jews and a surprising number of evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians would tell you. But that is not what Jesus Christ and His Apostles said. One cannot be part of the “chosen generation, royal priesthood, and holy nation” without the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit comes only to those who follow Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that what we have here on earth is merely a shadow of what is, or will be, in heaven: twelve nations of Israel, twelve leaders, seventy elders, one hundred and forty four thousand kings and priests, and a multitude of other peoples – another picture of order and preplanned design.

God is telling us clearly that when the right number of people who are going to be saved is accomplished, this world will come to an end.

Rev 6:9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

Rev 6:11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

Rev 6:14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,

Rev 6:16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Rev 6:17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

It is generally agreed among biblical scholars that extrapolating he idea of “one day as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” over the creation week, we come to the lifespan for the creation as a whole – seven thousand years.

The only thing remaining for us now is to establish where we stand in relation to this timeline? Biblical chronology leaves us in no doubt about it. We are at, or near, the conclusion of six thousand years since creation. That places humanity on the eve of the Great Tribulation of which Jesus Christ said will bring an end to this age, and usher in a new world order – the much waited for Millennium Kingdom.

Every sign that He gave, and every prophecy that He spoke about in relation to the end of this age, have been fulfilled or are in the process of being fulfilled. They are too many to speak about here (we have given them amply space in previous editions of The Christian Herald, and more will be said in the future), but consider this:

. The earth has reached its maximum population carrying capacity six thousand years after creation.

. Production of food for the world’s teeming masses has reached its limit, and began to decline at this time.

. Provision of fresh water has reached crisis point six thousand years after the creation.

. And, six thousand after the creation, humanity has developed the means to annihilate itself, just in time for the Great Tribulation.

This is why talk about the end of this age this time is not the same as when they talked about it at the turn of the first millennium, as cynics would have you believe.

Finally, here is the Bible’s last word for true believers.

Rev 10:5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven

Rev 10:6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer,

Rev 10:7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

You have just learned the great mystery of God’s creation – that this world has been created for a special purpose, that God is reproducing Himself, that He is creating a special people for His eternal Kingdom, and that when their number is achieved, this world will come to an end.

The Mysterious Number 11 in the 9/11 Disaster

The following material came to us in a manner in which it cannot be attributed. So while we cannot tell you who discovered it, we can tell you that it came in the Romanian language. It is not the first time that revelations have come to us in this language. This comes as no surprise for God does say in the Scriptures that He will speak to His people with men of another tongue.

Isa 28:9 "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?

Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."

Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,

Isa 28:12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.

Isa 28:14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

Isa 28:15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."

Isa 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

Isa 28:17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.

Isa 28:18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.

Now to the mystery of number 11 in the current world tribulations.

1) New York City has 11 letters.

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb, the terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993, has 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

5) New York is State number 11.

6) The first airplane which crushed into the Twin Towers had number 11.

7) The airplane had 92 passengers on board. 9 + 2 = 11.

8) The second airplane, with number 77, which crushed into the second Twin Towers, had 65 passengers on board. 6 + 5 = 11.

9) This tragedy took place on September 11, better known as 9/11.

10)The day and month of this disaster are identical with the police telephone number in America – 911. 9+1+1=11.

11) The number of victims in all airplanes involved in this disaster was 254. 2+5+4=11.

12) September 11 is the 254^th day of the calendar. Once again 2+5+4=11.

13) The Madrid explosions took place on 3/11/2004. 3+1+1+2+4=11.

14) The Madrid tragedy took place 911 days after the one in America. 9+1+1=11.

15) One of the best known symbols of America, after the stars and stripes, is the Eagle – its national symbol. The following chapter is taken from the Koran, the holy book of Islam.

It is written that the son of Arabia will awake a terrible Eagle. Its power will be felt in all the lands of Allah; certain people will shake in terror but in fact they will rejoice, because the power of the Eagle will cleanse the lands of Allah and there will be peace. This chapter has number 9.11 in the Koran.

16) Now do the following.

a) Open Microsoft Word and write with capital letters Q33NY. This is the flight number of the first airplane that crushed into the Twin Towers.

b) Change 33 with 48, from Street 48 in NY in which United Nations Plaza Tower is located. Now go to WINGDINGS and write Q48NY.

You get: Q 4 8 N Y

Something to wonder about, isn’t it?

b) Now something about letter Q. Here is a revelation that could only have come in Romanian, the language in which we received this email.

There are 30 distinct phonetic letters in the Romanian alphabet.

A, Ă, Â, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, Ş, T, Ţ, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

These letters form all the sounds of the Romanian language. There are a few other compounded sounds such as ‘che’ (pronounced Ke), ‘chi’ (Ki), ‘ghe’ (as in get), and ‘ghi’ (as in gift), plus letter ‘ Î’ a duplicate of Â. These letters are pronounced the same, the only difference being in their position in a word. At the beginning and end of a word it is always written Î, while in the middle it is Â. Now leaving aside the compounded sounds and the duplicate letter, we find that letter Q falls in the 19^th place. Thus:

Q48NY becomes 1948 NY. What happened in 1948 in New York?

The United Nations voted to set up the state of Israel.

As far as God is concerned, New York is the capital of the Jewish state not Tell Aviv or Jerusalem.

c) It is in New York that the financial crisis began in the latter months of 2008.

2009, however, was the first full year in which the crisis was felt worldwide. Adding 2 and 9 we come to another 11. (In God’s Sacred Calendar, the equivalent year straddles both 2008 and 2009).

The Jews’ influence upon the world has been manifest not so much out of Israel as out of America: in financial terms out of New York, and in moral and spiritual decadence out of Hollywood.

d) The current President of America is Barack Obama. His name has 11 letters.

For the first time in the history of Israel, in the name of an equal hand, an American president places Palestinians on an equal foot with Israel. Obama’s determination to carve out a Palestinian State on the territories that God had given to the children of Jacob is tantamount to taking a position against God and His prophecies. No guessing here how successful that is going to be.

(This has nothing to do with people’s merit or demerit, but with God predetermined plan; If He dealt with us according to our merit, none of us would be alive today).

During America’s presidential primaries, Hollywood Jews were among the most enthusiastic and generous supporters of Barack Obama. An insightful Jewish commentator, Leah Lecareli, who looked at his record, expressed the fear that Jews could be making a big mistake. I don’t think any Jew would disagree with her now.

The election of Barack Obama has completely changed Middle Eastern politics, and hastened the coming of the end of this age and the transition to the Millennium Kingdom of Jesus Christ. None too soon we may add.

“Jacob’s trouble” began in New York in 2001. Will it come to an end in 2018 to add up to another 11? Only God knows, but what we do know is that the next decade will be the most fateful in the history of the world. At the end of it, the world will have a completely new face, and its population will be a mere fraction of its current size.

Happy are God’s ‘elect’ who will make it to that time!

……………………………

Alpha and Omega Christian Foundation, P.O. Box 123 Berowra Heights, NSW,2259, Australia,

Telephone: 02 4351 3848, Email: aocf at iprimus dot com dot au; www.thechristianherald.info

Newsletter 21 (05/10)

Friends and Leaders Around the World, Greetings!

It is time for some good news in the midst of the current world turmoil. It is time to lessen the grief and perplexity that have gripped humanity from the recent spate of natural and man-made disasters.

The Scriptures say that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). Why not take advantage of God’s promise and turn misfortune into a blessing. If you bow your head and bend your knees in humility, repentance, and genuine worship to our heavenly Father, you have His promise that whatever is happening in your life could be for your good.

You do not need to do this in a church, but in the privacy of your own home. And if you want to expand it to your whole family, you can find guidance in the article ‘House Churches’ in The Christian Herald No 7. It has become obvious that traditional churches have lost their compass and become a nest of falsehood, iniquity and sin. They have become a hindrance rather than a help on the path of spiritual enlightenment

What is happening in the Catholic, and other churches, is only the beginning. The end time devastation and cleansing have already began. There will never be a return to the old status-quo; the world is in transition to a brand new age in which hypocrisy, iniquity and deception will have no place. Stay tune for more prophetic revelations in The Christian Herald.

Our record over the two decades since we commenced this work provides ample proofs of where the Holy Spirit could be found these days. Even the most hardened cynics, if they are honest with themselves, could see that we have God’s support and inspiration in what we do.

For much of that time, we could only gauge our success by the number of letters we received from our correspondents. We do not speak of converts, but of correspondents, because from the beginning we knew that we would have no converts to our cause. Our work is not one of conversion (not that we would turn anyone away), but one of restoring and witnessing the true Gospel to a wayward world, a fact prophesied to occur at this particular junction in world history. God says that when this work is completed the world will enter a new age. It is in your interest to familiarize yourselves with our writings if you want to know where the world is heading. All our publications are freely available on this web site: www.thechristianherald.info.

We do not know who visits our site, and do not wish to know. We only know the countries from which they come. However, we are happy to hear from our readers and gladly reply to their personal enquiries.

The English speaking world has been our main theatre of activity, but we have sent our newsletters to other world leaders as well. Not surprisingly, until a few years ago, we got very little correspondence from the non-English speaking world. The advent of the World Wide Web, however, has produced some extraordinary developments. The United States of America, which provided the bulk of our readership for a long time, has now been overtaken by . . . the Russian Federation. At the current rate, Russia will soon provide more readers than the rest of the world combined. We can only say, good on you friends; keep up the good work, you are on the right track. You know that your nation has a mighty job to fulfill in these end times. You need to stay close to God in order to survive those times. When you get on your knees, pray to the God of Alpha and Omega Christian Foundation, for Alpha and Omega is none other than Jesus Christ. We are merely the venue by which He is addressing the world.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (Rev 1:8)

Yes, our Lord is coming - to take the faithful to Himself and to His Father’s Kingdom.

Now, aside from a few Newsletters and emails to Russian leaders, we have never sent anything else to other Russians, yet their readership has expanded at a phenomenal rate in recent years. We cannot imagine that the Russian President or the head of the Orthodox Church have urged their people to visit our site. Someone must have discovered it and spread the word. We did not expect to find that level of sophistication among the Russians, for this is hardly a work for ordinary folk.

At the opposite end of the specter, we are surprised at the level of resistance we have met from the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Geek speaking worlds. Cleary, these people are still very much embedded to their crumbling faiths. Is it a mere coincidence that these countries have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons – their dire financial straits? All we can say is that the more a nation resists Alpha and Omega – Jesus Christ, the Almighty – the more difficult it will be for that nation to survive the end time vortex, and the fewer of its people will make it into the Millennium Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Great Britain could do better too. We often get more visits from Germany that from it. France, from which we expected a fair bit of resistance, is coming along very nicely.

Africa and Asia are improving; unfortunately we cannot say the same about Latin America. Aside from a smattering of visits from Brazil, Peru and Mexico, the rest of the continent is largely absent. We get the feeling that they think we are just another English speaking “Gringo”. Well, we pray that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to the fact that if they want to know what really is happening in the world these days there is no other place to go but to The Christian Herald.

Myriads of publications and commentators look at current world developments from a human perspective; we place them in God’s overall plan for Mankind and tell you where the world is going and how that is going to affect your life. We know of no other publication that does it with the authority and track record of Alpha and Omega Christian Foundation. (…)

In the service of Jesus Christ

Grigore Sbarcea

Coordinator: A.O.C.F.