Below are the 11 most recent journal entries recorded in mwilliamslive's LiveJournal:

Monday, January 12th, 2009
4:15 pm	BIBLIOGRAPHY - Chap. 19 Note that all references in this book are keyed to this bibliography through author's last name, title (if I listed more than one book by the author), and page number.   Achtemeier P. J. et. al., Harper's Bible Dictionary (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985).   Alonso, Joaquin Maria, C.F.M., The Secret of Fatima, Fact and Legend (Ravengate Press, 1979).   Anon., The Message of Marienfried (AMI International Press, 1970).   Armstrong, Herbert W, The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last (Pasadena, CA: Worldwide Church of God, 1959).   Armstrong, Herbert W, The Mystery of the Church (Pasadena, CA: Worldwide Church of God, 1986).   Armstrong, Herbert W, The United States and Britain in Prophecy (Pasadena, CA: Worldwide Church of God, 1967).   Augustine, St., The City of God (New York: Marcus Dods Translation. Modern Library Publishers, 1950).   Avi-Yonah, Michael, A History of the Holy Land (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1969).   Babylon the Great Has Fallen (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1963).   Baldwin, Robert, The End of the World (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1984).   Barclay, William, The Revelation of John, in two volumes (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976).   Barnes, Albert, Notes on the New Testament: Revelations (London: Blackie and Sons, 1884, reprinted Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998).   Berrigan, Daniel, The Nightmare of God (Portland: Sunburst Press, 1983).   Birley, Anthony, Lives of the Later Caesars (Hammondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1976).   Brainton, Roland H., The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 1952).   Burke, Michael, Mexico, an Illustrated History (New York: Hippocrene Books, 1999).   Burrows, Millar, The Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: The Viking Press, 1955).   Bushman, Claudia Lauper and Richard Lyman Bushman, Building The Kingdom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).   Caird, G. B., A Commentary on The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966).   Carr, Joseph J., The Twisted Cross: the Occult Religion of Hitler and the New Age Nazism of the Third Reich (Shreveport, LA: Huntington House, 1985).   Carroll, Warren H., The Founding of Christendom: A History of Christendom (volume one of a six volume set) (Front Royal, VA: Christendom College Press, 1985).   Catholic Encyclopedia, Prepared by an Editorial Staff at The Catholic University of America (New York, McGraw Hill, 1967).   Cayce, Edgar, The Revelation: a Commentary Based on a Study of Twenty‑four Psychic Discourses (Virginia Beach: A. R. E. Press, 1945).   Chamberlin, Ernest R., Antichrist and the Millennium (New York: Saturday Review Press, 1975).   Chilton, David, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelations (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987).   Clarke, Adam, Clarke's Commentary (in 6 volumes) "Revelations" in volume 5, originally published in 1832 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1977).   Collins, Adela Y., Crisis and Catharsis: the Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984).   Cooke, Jean, Ann Kramer, and Theodore Rowland-Entwistle, History's Timeline (New York: Crescent Books, 1981).   Cornfield, Gaalya, general editor, Josephus: The Jewish War (Israel: Zondervan, 1982).   Coyne, William, Our Lady of Knock (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., ).   Crozier, Brian, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (Rocklin, CA: Forum, 1999).   Culleton, James, Fr., A Key to the Apocalypse (Publisher not indicated, perhaps Academy of California Church History, 1959).   Culligan, Emmett J., The Last World War and the End of Time (Emmett J. Culligan, 1950).   Dalin, Rabbi David G., The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis (Washington, D.C.: Regency Publishing, Inc., 2005).   D'Aragon, Jean‑Louis, S.J., Introduction to Revelation (A Commentary in the Jerusalem Bible) (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1960 &, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968).   Danielou, Jean, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Primitive Christianity (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1958).   Davis, Marietta, Scenes Beyond The Grave (Dayton, OH: Stephen Deuel, 1870).   Davis, Marietta, Caught Up into Heaven (New Kensington. PA: Whitaker House, 1999).   De Angelis, Gina, Hernando Cortez and The Conquest of Mexico (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000).   DeMar, Gary, End Tines Fiction (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001).   Douay‑Rheims Bible, Baltimore edition, (Baltimore: John Murphy Co., 1899).   Doyle, Stephen C., O.F.M., Apocalypse: A Catholic Perspective on the Book of Revelation (Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2005)   Edinger, Edward F., Archetype of the Apocalypse, a Jungian Study of the Book of Revelation (Chicago: Open Court, 1999).   Encyclopedia Britannica, Fifteenth edition, (c. 1974), 1986 printing.   Esuebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, translated by G. A. Williamson. (London: Penguin Books, 1965).   Faulkner, Neil, Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome, A.D 66–73, (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing Limited, 2004)   Feinberg, Charles L., Millennialism: The Two Major Views (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), (Originally published in 1936).   Fermi, Laura, Mussolini (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961).   Finkelstein, Louis, Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1936) and (Cleveland: The World Publishing Co., 1982)   Flynn, Maureen, Fire From Heaven, (Herndon, VA: St. Dominic Media, 2005).   Ford, J. Massyngberde, The Anchor Bible: Revelation: a New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1975).   Foy, Rev. Felican A., O.F.M., ed. Catholic Almanac (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1990).   Franciscan Friars of The Immaculate, A Handbook on Guadalupe (Waite Park, MN: Park Press Inc., 1996).   Freedman, D. L. and Greenfield, J. C., New Directions in Biblical Archaeology (Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1969).   Giet, Stanislaus, L' Apocalypse et L' Historie Ethude Historique Sur L' Apocalypse Johannique (Paris: Presses Universitares de France, 1957).   Ginzberg, Louis, Legends of the Bible (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1978).   Ginzberg, Louis, The Legends of the Jews, volume I of a 7 volume set. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1966).   Gobbi, Stefano, Fr., To The Priests Our Lady's Beloved Sons, 18th English edition, (St. Francis, Maine: Marian Movement of Priests, 1997).   Gonzales, Catherine Gunsalus and Justo L. Gonzales, Revelations (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997).   Graham, Billy, Approaching Hoofbeats (Waco: World Book, 1983).   Grayzel, Solomon, A History of the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1947).   Gregg, Steve, Revelation, Four Views, A Parallel Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997).   Grimm, Harold, J., The Reformation Era 1500–1600 (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1973).   Gutzke, Manford George, Plain Talk on Revelations (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979).   Hailey, Homer, Revelation, an Introduction and Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979).   Haffert, John M., Meet the Witnesses (Ave Maria Institute, 1961).   Haffert, John M., Deadline: The Third Secret of Fatima (Ashbury, N.J.: 101 Foundation, 2002).   Hanegraaff, Hank and Sigmund Brouwer, The Last Disciple (Wheaton, IL: Tyndal House Publishers, Inc. 2004).   Hanegraaff, Hank and Sigmund Brouwer, The Last Sacrifice (Wheaton, IL: Tyndal House Publishers, Inc. 2005).   Harel, Menashe, "The Jewish Presence in Jerusalem Throughout the Ages." in Jerusalem, ed. Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher and Anna Siani (New York: The John Day Co., 1974).   Harrington, Daniel, Revelation, the Book of the Risen Christ (Hyde Park: New City Press, 1999).   Harrington, Wilfrid J., S. J., Revelation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1993).   Haydock, George Leo, Fr., Annotations in The Holy Bible (Douay-Rheims) (England: The National Publishing Co., 1883).   Heidt, William G., O.S.B., The Book of the Apocalypse (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1962).   Heber, Albert Joseph, SM., The Tears of Mary and Fatima. Why? (Albert J. Heber, 1983).   Henry, Matthew, Revelation (Nottingham, England, Crossway Books, 1999).   Hoppe, Maurice, Christ and the Dragon (Middleton, IA: CHJ Publishing, 1999).   Jeske, Richard L., Revelation for Today (Philadelphia: Fortran Press, 1983).   Johnson, Alan F., Revelation: A Bible Study Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983).   Johnston, Francis, The Wonder of Guadalupe (Rockside, IL: Tan Books, 1981).   Josephus, The Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus: in Two Volumes translated by Wm. Whiston. (Philadelphia: J. Grigg, 1829).   Jung, Carl G., Answer to Job, translated by R. F. C. Hull (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1954).   Kirban, Salem, 666 (Huntington Valley, PA: Salem Kirban Inc., 1970).   Klein, Mina, C., Israel: Land of the Jews (Indianapolis: Bobbs‑Merrill, 1972).   Klein, Mina C. and H. Arthur, Temple Beyond Time (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1970).   Kraljevic, Svetozar, O.F.M., The Apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje (Franciscan Herald Press, 1984).   Kramer, Herman B. Rev., The Book of Destiny (Belleville: Buechler Publishing Co., 1955). Republished in Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1975).   Krodel, Gerhard A., Revelation: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1989).   LaHaye, Tim and Jenkins, Jerry B., Left Behind Series (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc,. 2000).   LaHaye, Tim, Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973).   Larkin, Clarence, The Book of Revelation (Glenside: The C. Larkin Estate, 1919).   Lawrence, D. H., Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelations (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980).   Liberty Bible Commentary, Jerry Falwell, editor, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983).   Lindsey, Hal, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (King of Prussia: Westgate Press Inc., 1980).   Lindsey, Hal, Apocalypse Code (Palos Verdes, CA: Western Front Ltd. 1997).   Lindsey, Hal, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970).   Lindsey, Hal, There's a New World Coming, a Prophetic Odyssey (Santa Anna: Vision House Publishers, 1973).   Lindsey, Hal, The Rapture (Toronto & New York: Bantam Books, 1983).   Lindsey, Hal, Vanished into Thin Air (Beverly Hills: Western Front, Ltd., 1999).   Lucia, Sister Mary, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words (Ravengate Press, 1976).   Luther, Martin, Works of Martin Luther: Translated with Introductions and Notes, volume VI of a six-volume set. (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman and The Castile Press, 1916).   Lyle, Denis, Countdown to Apocalypse, Unlocking Bible Prophecy (Greenville, SC: Emerald House, 1999).   Maindron, Gabriel, Fr., The Apparitions of Our Lady in Kibeho, Rwanda, Africa (Wayne, IN: Stanley Karminski and Ashbury, NJ: 101 Foundation, 1989).   Malachy, St., The Prophecies of St. Malachy: Introduction and Commentary by Peter Bander (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1973).   Mansoor, Menahem, The Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983).   Marguerite, Message of Merciful Love to Little Souls (Pope Publications, 1975).   Martindale, C. C., S.J., A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1953).   Martinez, Bernardo, Apparitions of Our Blessed Mother at Cuapa, Nicaragua (World Apostolate of Fatima, 1982).   Mary of Agreda, The City of God (Ave Maria Institute, 1949).   Mather, Cotton, Commentaries. Taken from Patrides, C. A., et. al. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984).   McGinn, Bernard, Visions of the end: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979).   Mede, Joseph, Commentaries. Taken from Patrides, C. A., et. al. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984).   Menendez, Josefa, Sister, The Way of Divine Love (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1981).   Mohammed, The Koran (Originally in Ancient Arabic, 610), translated by N. J. Dawood (London: Penguin Classics, 1956).   Morris, H. M., The Revelation Record: a Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the prophetic book of the End Times (Wheaton, IL: Tyndal House, 1983).   Mounce, Robert H., The Book of Revelations (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1977).   Newell, Coke, Latter Days (New York: St. Martin Press, 2000).   Oesterricher, John M. and Sinai, Anne, Jerusalem (New York: The John Day Co., 1974).   Pareus, David, Commentaries. Taken from Patrides, C. A., et. al. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984).   Patrides, C. A., et. al., The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984).   Payne, Robert, The Holy Sword: the Story of Muhammed to the present (New York: Harper and Brothers., 1959).   Pelletier, Joseph A. Fr., God Speaks Garabandal (Assumption Publications, 1971).   Pelletier, Joseph A. Fr., Our Lady Comes to Garabanbal (Assumption Publications, 1970).   Perez, Ramon, The Village Speaks (Workers of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, 1981).   Perkins, Pheme, The Book of Revelation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1983).   Piper, Dean J., Is He Coming Soon? (Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Co. Ltd., 1999).   Pipes, Richard, Three” Whys” of the Russian Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1995).   Potok, Chaim, Wanderings (New York: Knoff and Ballentine Books, 1978).   Price, Walter K., Next Year in Jerusalem (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975).   Quispel, Gilles, The Secret Book of Revelation: the Last Book of the Bible (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979).   Ricciotti, Giuseppe, The Life of Christ, translated by Alba I. Zizzamia (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1974).   Richard, Abbe M., What Happened at Pontmain (Ave Maria Institute, 1971).   Riggs, Robert F., The Apocalypse Unsealed (New York: Philosophical Library, 1981).   Rimmer, Harry, The Shadow of Coming Events (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1946).   Risk, Martin and Hough, Lynn, "Commentary on Revelations" in: The Interpreter's Bible, vol. XII, page 351 ff. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1957).   Rosten, Leo, Religions of America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975).   Ruiz, Ramon Eduardo, Triumphs and Tragedy (New York, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1992).   Sachar, Abram L., A History of the Jews (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965).   Schneemelcher, Wilhelm, The New Testament. Apocrypha, volume II of a two-volume set. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964).   Schurer, Emil, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus (New York: Schoken Books, 1961).   Scullion, John J., S.J., "Revelations," a commentary in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Rev, Reginald CX. Fuller (London & Nashville: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1969).   Sena, Patrick J. Rev. C.PP.S., The Apocalypse: Biblical Revelation Explained (New York: Alba House, 1983).   Sharkey, Don, The Woman Shall Conquer (Prow Books, 1954).   Smith, George D., DD, PhD, editor, The Teaching of the Catholic Church (In two volumes). (New York: MacMillan Co., 1955).   Smith, Joseph, The Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith with an Introduction (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1823).   Smith, Joseph, Joseph Smith's Testimony (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1976).   Steckoll, Solomon H., The Gates of Jerusalem (New York: Frederich A. Praeger, 1968).   Steiner, Johannes, Therese Neumann, A Portrait Based on Authentic Accounts, Journals and Documents (Staten Island, NY: Abba House. 1966).   Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, in two volumes. translated by J. C. Rolfe, PhD., (London: William Heineman Ltd. and New York: The MacMillan Co., 1914).   Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, in the Complete Works of Tacitus, translated by Alfred J. Church and William J. Brodribb (London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1906).   Tacitus, The Histories, in the Complete Works of Tacitus, translated by Alfred. J. Church and William J. Brodribb (London and New York : Macmillan and Company, 1906).   The New American Bible, New Testament, "Introduction to Revelation," (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1970).   The Jerusalem Bible, New Testament, "Introduction to Revelation," (Garden City: Doubleday, 1966).   Tickle, John, Rev., The Book of Revelation: A Catholic Interpretation of the Apocalypse (Liguori: Liguori Publications, 1983).   The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments, King James Bible (New York: American Bible Society, 1878).   Trochu, Francois, Abbe, Saint Bernadette Soubrious (Longmans, Green & co., 1957).   Valtorta, Maria, The Poem of The Man God (in five volumes) (Sherbrooke, QC, Canada: Editions Paulines, 1986).   Van Der Broek, Silvere, Rev., The Spiritual Legacy of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1981).   Whalen, William J., Separated Brethren (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1972).   Wilson, Edmund, The Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969).   Yadin, Yigael, Bar Kochba: the Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Second Jewish Revolt against Imperial Rome (New York: Random House, 1971).   Zeitlin, Solomon, The Rise and Fall of the Judean State, volume III., (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1962).     REVELATION: FALL OF JUDEA, RISE OF THE CHURCH Copyright 2009  Maurice A. Williams http://www.mauriceawilliams.com (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 9th, 2006
6:38 pm	REVELATION: WHAT WAS NOT REVEALED Revelation intrigues people. The graphic scenes capture one's imagination. Symbolic visions fit many different interpretations. All interpretations claim some nation, at some time, will experience disaster. Most interpretations predict that we or our children will face these predicted, terrifying calamities. I, at first, agreed. Then, after investigation, I became convinced that these warnings were primarily addressed to the Judeans of Christ’s time if they failed to recognize and accept the Messiah promised to their ancestors and announced by John the Baptist. I may be wrong, but even if I am wrong, Judea did experience catastrophic disasters for sixty years following Christ's crucifixion. In A.D. 135, Rome deliberately destroyed the entire nation. From A.D. 135 to the nineteenth century, only a small population of people descendant from the Judeans made Palestine their home. For example, as late as A.D. 1856, only 10,500 Jews resided in Palestine (Harel, p. 147 see Bibliography). If I’m right, Revelation seems so harsh on Judea that I want to look at the other side of the coin, not the side that shows what happens when you are not ready when God is ready, but the side which shows God's overall plan throughout history as revealed to the ancestors of the Judeans. I did this using a structure similar to the structure in Revelation. I present seven grand scenes or visions. Instead of someone on the ground viewing scenes in the sky, I ask you to imagine yourself in the sky viewing scenes on the ground. I then describe seven historical events that occurred on Mt. Moriah, events that span the past and the present. My first scene is the day after Christ's birth. My second is David contemplating the Temple. My third is Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac. My fourth is Omar accepting Jerusalem' surrender. My fifth is the British conquering Jerusalem from the Turks. My sixth is the events leading to the six-day war. My seventh goes back to Christ on the cross. With these seven scenes, I try to point out a destiny more hopeful to the Judeans. I try to bring some perspective to the visions in Revelation that are so somber for these people. I hope this gives everyone a wider perspective on Revelation and help us all recognize and prepare for what is likely to happen in our lifetime. So here it is. Imagine that you are hovering above Jerusalem, high enough that you can see the whole city. Imagine your head pointed north, your feet south, and you are looking straight down on the city. Today is the morning after the birth of Jesus. The sun's first rays slowly creep from your right but have not yet swept across Jerusalem. The rays will, in a few moments, illuminate the Temple's front wall. Covered with gold leaf, this wall will shine almost as bright as the sun. Imagine yourself closer now. The Levite on morning watch just sighted the sun's first light illuminating the east behind the Mount of Olives. "It's becoming light!" he shouts down to the others, "The East is bright!" Someone shouts, "Is the East bright as far as Hebron?" He looks to his right. "Yes!" he shouts back, "The light has risen." Then the priests and Levites who were waiting for that moment begin the morning sacrifice. As the lamb is sacrificed, the front of the Temple begins to glow with the reflected light of the rising sun. The Temple is the city's tallest structure. Part of its outer surface is plated with gold. This day, the day you are watching, the savior God promised to restore all things has finally arrived. He was promised to our first parents. He will make remedy for the bondage our first parents took upon themselves and their offspring by their sin. He is the one predicted to the serpent, the one who will subdue the spirit behind the serpent. He will accomplish the mandate given our first parents to subdue and dominate everything that moves upon the earth (Gen. 1:28). The priest and Levites who are conducting the sacrifice this morning are, of course, unaware of his birth. If they were aware of it, they might have conducted the ceremony with more fervor and joy. If they realized the prophetic implications of the sacrifice they just made, they might wonder why God would allow such things to happen. And they would be apprehensive over the choices they must make as they and their fellow Judeans interact with the promised one now that he is here. Now imagine yourself moving higher. All of Jerusalem comes into view, then the surrounding area, as you go still higher. To the southwest of Jerusalem, five miles from the Temple, under your right foot, is Bethlehem. The shepherds talk to one another, awed by what they saw. If you look to your upper right, you can see, not far away, the Magi's caravans heading toward Jerusalem. They will soon call on Herod to ask him about the new king whose star they follow. Continue moving upward and see Jerusalem in relation to Judea and Judea in relation to the neighboring countries, they in relation to the whole world. Then come back again. As you come down, you can see ground detail getting larger. Everything blurs as you pass through the depths of time as well as space. Then you can see clearly again. You recognize that you are coming in to the same spot, but at a different age. It is now one thousand years before Christ's birth. David is king, and the Temple has not yet been built. All that exists of Jerusalem at this time is the first part of the Lower City atop Mt. Ophel. You can see it there under your knees. It looks quite different than it did when Christ was born. David is in his dwelling on Mt. Ophel to the south. He recently offended God by ordering a census to count his subjects the way pagan kings do. He had been told not to do it, but he did it anyway. He was given a choice of punishments for his arrogance. The people whose number he impiously learned will be reduced in size to a number unknown to him. This can be done through an enemy attack or through a famine or through a contagious disease. David had chosen a contagious disease. A disease is under God's direct control, and David knew that God is merciful. Today while you are looking down upon Jerusalem, David is looking up. He sees a vision. He sees the Lord's angel approaching Jerusalem with sword unsheathed to continue the punishment already started in the other cities. When the angel of the Lord had stretched his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough. Now hold thy hand. And the angel was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite (2 kings (2 Sam) 24:16). Now imagine yourself moving higher. All Jerusalem comes in view again, then the surrounding area, just as it did last time as you moved away. Continue upward till Jerusalem fades in the mists of time, and you can again see the whole hemisphere containing Judea and the neighboring countries. Then come in again. Everything blurs once more as time recedes ahead of you. Then you notice the smell of fresh mountain air as your vision clears. The first things that catch your eyes are the abundance of wildlife on and around the mountain. You realize that this is a very early stage in Mt. Moriah's history. There are no structures, not even a threshing floor. The highest points of the mountain, the points that will later become the foundation for the altar and the Holy of Holies, are bare rock and are plainly visible. As you descend closer, you see a man and a boy approaching Moriah's summit. The boy carries wood on his shoulders. As they ascend, the boy asks the man: "Father, we have the fire and the wood, but where is the victim for the holocaust?" The father, very much concerned and sorrowful, says: "God will provide himself a victim for the holocaust, my son" (Gen. 22:8). The time is two thousand years before Christ; the man is Abraham; the boy, his son Isaac. They journey to where Abraham will make the sacrifice God asked. Abraham solemnly stops at the bare rock and sorrowfully spreads wood for the holocaust. His sorrow will soon turn to joy because God will not require that he make the sacrifice. God rewarded Abraham for his faith. God promised that Abraham's offspring would multiply and be as numerous as stars in the sky or sand on the beach, not only from his son Isaac but also from his first son Ishmael. "And as for Ishmael I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bring forth to thee at this time next year" (Gen. 17:20?21). Now back away; and, as you back away, watch in your imagination the descendants of Abraham as they increase and multiply. First there were Ishmael and his branches of Abraham's seed passing down through Ishmael’s twelve sons. Then there were Isaac and his two sons Esau and Jacob who passed down Abraham's seed through Jacob's twelve sons and Esau's fourteen grandsons. Then there were more branches through Abraham's six additional sons by his wife Cetura whom he married after Sarah's death. Watch as his progeny multiplies. They become whole tribes and whole nations, not only the twelve tribes of Israel, but tribes and nations of Arab and other Semitic peoples as well. Imagine them as numerous as sand on the beach or as stars in the sky, and wonder how can God be God to so many peoples with so many conflicting ideas. Now imagine yourself coming back again. Just hold your arms close to your body and fall. When you feel close enough, spread your arms to slow your descent. As you get closer, you can see that Mt. Moriah is much different than it was during Christ's time. It is now A.D. 638. The whole Temple site is ruined. The platform marking the outer courts that King Herod improved is still intact, but not one building is standing. As you draw closer you can see, and smell, that the platform is being used as a refuse dump. Where the Temple once stood now stands a deep layer of human excrement. The Byzantine Christians piled it there in a misguided attempt to humiliate the Jews. Just outside the city, you can see a caravan approaching. When it gets close, two men with one camel break off and approach the wall. One man is Omar, Caliph and successor to Mohammed. Only twenty?eight years before this occasion, Mohammed led the Arabs out of paganism into faith in the Most High God, the God who spoke directly to their common father Abraham. Mohammed told his followers to accept circumcision to mark themselves as descendants of Abraham and, like Abraham, to be submissive to God's will. Until then, most Arabs had embraced pagan religions even though they were Abraham's descendants. Their neighbors to the east, the Persians, had also worshiped pagan gods. The Persians fought often with the Byzantines. Their success pushed Christian influence away from the Arabs, consolidating the Arabs in their acceptance of paganism. In A.D. 533, after many fruitless wars, proving that both empires were too strong to defeat the other, they signed an "Eternal Peace Treaty" (Cooke, p. 51). The two empires agreed to accept the status quo. This gave Persia a free hand to dominate all Arabs. Thirty?seven years later, Mohammed was born. Forty years later, in 610, Mohammed called the Arabs out of paganism. Thirty?four years after that, only about one hundred years since the eternal peace had been signed, Mohammed's followers launched a holy war against the Persian empire and conquered it. A few years later, the Moslems attacked the Byzantines and forced the surrender of Jerusalem. This day, the day we are looking down on Jerusalem, is 105 years after the eternal peace was signed. Omar ibn?Khattab, Caliph of all Islam, is approaching Jerusalem to accept the city's surrender from the Christian Bishop Sophronius. He is walking. The other man, a man who is subordinate to him, is riding the camel. Omar is doing this humble act in accord with Mohammed's teaching. He also wants to show his profound respect for the city where the Most High God spoke to Abraham. He wants to emulate the ancient prophets and patriarchs who were submissive to God's will. When Omar reaches the bishop, he will accept the surrender. He will pledge not to mistreat the inhabitants. He will then ask to see the holy shrines made sacred by the God of Abraham. He especially wants to see the rock where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac. In your imagination, watch the bishop's face as he realizes the rock his conqueror reveres so much lies buried under tons of human excrement. Imagine also Omar's shock and disbelief when he realizes what the Byzantines have been doing. He immediately gets on his knees. With his own hands, using his own cloak, he begins cleaning this holy place where Abraham expressed faith and where David and Solomon built the Temple (Klein, Temple Beyond Time, p. 135). How inscrutable is God's Providence. How quickly and inexplicably prophecies come true. And how difficult it is for us to understand why God lets history unfold the way it does. And yet most of us, like the Byzantines of that age, so disgrace what God has already done that we are not entitled to understand why and how God brings prophecies to fruition. This day, the day we are watching, and every day afterward, all the tribes descendant from Abraham, be they Jew, Christian, or Moslem, will at least recognize the God Abraham worshiped. Now back away. As you back away, catch a glimpse of the Moslems down through the succeeding years revering the rock upon which stood the altar: clearing it, washing it, anointing it every day with perfume. They will build a beautiful dome over it. They will care for it until such a time as the Most High, in an unfathomable way, shall decree what will happen next. Now come in again. When you are close enough to make out the city's outline, you can see that it is much larger. As you get closer you can see that it is modern times. It is 1917, December 9, 1917. Several months earlier, Arthur Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, declared Britain's intention to support Jewish claims for Palestine as their national home. Five years in the future, the League of Nations will accept their claims. But, today, December 9, 1917, the British are still conquering Palestine from the Ottoman Turks. As you come closer, you can see British warplanes flying over the Temple mount. The Turks have prepared for the British assault, but they do not have antiaircraft artillery. The British bombers fly over the city to encourage surrender. The Turks do not want the holy shrines damaged during a bomber attack. Cognizant that their resistance cannot stop the bombing, they will retreat without firing a shot and allow the city to fall unharmed into British control (Rimmer, pp. 27-8). As you hover over Jerusalem, the Turks watching the warplanes are coming to that realization. For almost thirteen?hundred years, Moslems controlled the temple site, save for a few brief periods during the Crusades. When John wrote about measuring the Temple, he prophesied that the outer court was not to be measured. It had been given to the Gentiles (Rev. 11:2). Moses spoke of a proviso in God's law concerning land. The land that God gave the twelve tribes was not to be taken away from them or their descendants. Even if their descendants sold it, or otherwise lost possession of it, it was to revert to the original heirs within fifty years. "And thou shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of the land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family . . . .. In the year of jubilee all shall return to their possessions. When thou shall sell anything to thy neighbor, or buy of him: grieve not thy brother: but thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee . . . .. The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost . . . .. The land also shall not be sold forever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me. For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the conditions of redemption . . . .. . . . the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor." (Lv. 25:10?28). Now as you move away, let your imagination span through the next fifty years from 1917 to 1967. They are years of bitter conflict as the Arab nations insist the Jews shall not possess the land. Arab nations once allied with Britain, now chaff against British control. They helped the British defeat the Turks. They felt Britain should have placed the land in their hands. Repatriation of Jews becomes more serious, and for the Jews more desperate, as Nazi Germany murders six million Jews during the Holocaust. Repatriation turns Palestine into a powder keg as Arabs and Jews struggle for control when the British prepare to leave in 1948. When the British do leave, the surrounding Arab nations attack the new Jewish Commonwealth. But by incredible, almost impossible, victory for the Jews, they defeat the Arab armies and maintain their independence. There are more confrontations, even another war, but the new Jewish Commonwealth cannot be extinguished. Finally in 1967, a serious war erupts as the surrounding Arab nations, again in a concerted effort, try to extinguish Jewish independence. This war will last six days. The Arab armies will be defeated. The Temple site will be conquered from Jordan. Fifty years after Britain publicly promised that the Jews could possess their ancestral homeland, Jerusalem and much of Palestine will fly the Israeli flag. Jeremiah, 2580 years ago, prophesied that something like this would happen (Jer. 23:7-8). Think what this might mean as you move farther and farther away. Could this be the end times of the Gentile era? If so, will the Gentile nations who resist God face the same disasters the Judean nation faced at the beginning of this era? Let us move back in time to the beginning of this era. We will see how Jesus responded in his heart when he reached his ultimate confrontation with his enemies. We will see how he chose to deal with those who did not want to obey and whom he did not want, not yet anyway, to force into obedience. The years flee away as you come closer. Then you see the city clearly on that Friday when Jesus came face to face with his opponents. He had God's power at his disposal. He could easily have forced all his opponents into absolute and total obedience, against their will, merely by himself willing that they obey. But he did not want to do that. To do that would destroy their liberty. If he forces them against their will, he would get obedience, but what a sorrowful experience it would be for him. Their bodies would do what he wants because he has the power to make it so. On their faces would be the expressions he wants; through their lips would flow his words; in their minds would be his thoughts. Only in their wills could they resist. They would will what they want, and he would instantly flood them with the force he possesses to compel obedience. Their defiance would never be put into thought, much less into words and deeds. Their choice to disobey would immediately be stifled by an overpowering compulsion to do what they choose not to do. Their complaints would be drowned with words they do not want to speak. Their resentment would be smothered with thought-control of unimaginable magnitude, the degree of magnitude that only God can generate. It would be infinite, untiring, and everlasting. What agony for God to deal this way with individuals who are totally dependent upon God. What unimaginable hell for those individuals who experience it. If God so wanted, God could forever postpone using force, but why should that be done? Sin, disobedience, cannot go on forever. From the beginning of God's revelation through Moses even to the revelation through Jesus, God always made it clear that human disobedience will not be tolerated forever. If God were human, God would risk life itself, if humans were minded to take it, rather than use force. God's Word did become human. In the human confrontation Jesus had with the people of his own generation, he did refrain from using force. He did so right up to his death. Come in closer. As you come closer, you can see him hanging on a cross on a small hill just outside the city walls. People surround him. They taunt him saying: "If you really are the son of God come down off the cross." How can he control his human emotions so effectively? Almost anyone else, if he could, would come off the cross. But if Jesus comes off that cross, then he will come down off the cross of our wills, the crosses you and I have given God. That would be the end of our ability to disobey, ours and everyone else with us. Scripture prophesied important events in Christ's life long before his birth. He was to be the Pascal lamb. Many things the Israelites were told about the Pascal lamb have some bearing on Jesus. They were told not to break any bones in the Pascal lamb (Exodus 12:46). The Pascal lamb was offered as a sacrifice to make recompense for sin, to stay God's hand poised in retribution. It was the Pascal lamb's blood that spared the Israelites when God disciplined the Egyptians. As you look down into the city you can see that it is getting late. The Temple officials observing the crucifixion are impatient because Jesus is not yet dead. They send men to ask Pilate to order Christ's legs broken to hasten his death. If you look closely, you can see the men going northeast toward the Praetorium outside the north wall. Jesus could endure his sufferings forever. He has the power to lay down his life and the power to pick it up again (John 10:18). But his mission was to fulfill Scripture. The lamb's bones are not to be broken if the sacrifice is to be acceptable. It is time now for him to die before the men return. He stirs one more time on the cross. The people become silent. You can hear his words: "It is consummated. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit." His heart, already filled with sorrow, literally breaks as the muscles rupture with the intensity of his sorrow, and he dies. Back away now, and for the last time move away from Jerusalem. As you move away, try to get a wider perspective on this day's events. What do they mean for the people of that city? What do they mean for all people? As you leave, you can see that things are happening below. A storm moves in, darkening everything. An earthquake shudders The Temple mount. Everyone in the city had all day been nervous because of the trial and crucifixion. Now their anxiety turns to terror because of the storm and the earthquake. In the sky, brilliant flashes of lightning illuminate the clouds. On the ground, the earthquake opens tombs. The dead mingle with the living amid frightening peals of thunder and cries and moans of people convinced the world is ending. If God were like you and I, this would have been the end. Two or three mega flash thunderbolts and a massive earthquake, and all would be finished. After all, the promised savior has been killed. It is time to judge all humanity. But this is not the end. It is a new beginning, the beginning of the end times, assuredly, but a new beginning anyway. With this new beginning, there will be a new temple. It will not be like the old, built by human hands. God will build this temple. It will be built of people marked by baptism. It will span through time and through space, in heaven and on earth. Jesus will regulate this temple as a head regulates the body. He will nourish it and bind it together, giving it identity and unity as the vine gives the grapes. It will be wonderful to behold. As you catch your last glimpse of this holy place, let your mind's eye look through the ages and see how this new temple spans time and place. Imagine people through the ages that have followed Jesus. Start with the apostles at the last supper. Imagine Mary's fifteen lonely years after her son died. Imagine the approach of his disciples. At first they were a small gathering, about one?hundred individuals. Thousands joined them on Pentecost, the day the Church got its official start. Their gathering grew rapidly as the Church spread among the Judeans. It was a Judean Church then, almost exclusively Judean. They were the elect allowed now for the first time to enter the "Holy of Holies" and eat at God's table. They were joined later by Greeks, Romans, and Gentiles from other nations. These are the others that join the elect, the others who are too many to count. These others come from all nations and all strata of society, following Christ despite disapproval and opposition from those who do not believe. The Church grows and spreads until ten times twenty?four years later the elders of the Roman Empire, and the emperor himself became Christian. Under them, and after them, the Roman Empire will be remade into a Christian society. Imagine that you see those who have left this life before you and now reign with Jesus. They passed from death into the first resurrection. They reign with Jesus right now in a spiritual way. They already have been given dominion over everything that moves upon the face of this earth. They strengthen us in our struggle, for the struggle is in this life. They are now worshiping the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son through the Incarnation of the Lamb that was slain but now lives. They, and all the angels with them, even before you began imagining it, have been singing beautiful songs of praise and joyful happiness and eternal gratitude in the heavenly counterpart of the new temple. BIBLIOGRAPHY Harel, Menashe, "The Jewish Presence in Jerusalem Throughout the Ages" in Jerusalem, ed. Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher and Anna Siani (New York: The John Day Co., 1974). Cooke, Jean, Ann Kramer, and Theodore Rowland-Entwistle, History's Timeline (New York: Crescent Books, 1981). Klein, Mina C. and H. Arthur, Temple Beyond Time (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1970). The above is condensed from “Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes.” By Maurice A. Williams Available as a free download on http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 9th, 2005
7:53 am	ST AUGUSTINE'S VIEWS ON REVELATION I recently studied many commentaries. Researching prior works helped me prepare my own commentary. I found many interesting prior interpretations in my search. I though this commentary by St. Augustine might be of interest. St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430) interpreted Revelation in his book "The City of God," (New York: Marcus Dods Translation. Modern Library Publishers, 1950). He divided humans and angels into two societies or, as he puts it, cities. One serves God and is populated by the good angels and all humans of good will. The other opposes God and is made up of fallen angels and all humans of evil will. The human elements of these two societies were founded on earth by Cain (who rebelled against God) and his brother Seth (who served God). As these societies developed, they spread and attracted the other offspring of Adam. The earthly city attracted those who prefer earthly things over God; the godly city attracted those who prefer God. All humans are exposed to these two alternatives and choose according to their hearts. Augustine outlined the history of these two societies to Christ's time. Then, in book XX, section 19, he predicts their future by interpreting Revelation. Augustine believed the millennium started with Christ. He quotes Matt. 12:28, Luke 10:9 and Luke 11:20 to show that Christ told people the kingdom had already started. This kingdom is really the city of God's people brought to a higher perfection by Christ. In this more perfected state, it will continue until Christ returns. Augustine's commentary begins with the binding of Satan and the establishment of the thousand-year rule of saints. Before getting into that, however, Augustine discussed Daniel's beasts from the sea. Daniel's four beasts represent four empires: the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman (Dan. 7:1-28). Augustine explains that these are successive manifestations of the city of the wicked. Augustine had a problem with the ten horns (or kings) of the fourth beast (Dan. 7:7 & 24) because Rome had more than ten kings during the monarchy. He felt that ten stood for fullness of number, representing all the Roman monarchs. The little horn that arises (Dan. 7:8 & 24) is the antichrist, who will appear shortly before the final judgment and attack the followers of Christ (XX, 23, p. 748). God will intervene and stop this persecution (XVIII, 53, p. 665). Then comes the final judgment and the saint's eternal reign. Antichrist's three-and-one half year reign will coincide with the last three-and-one half years of the saint's terrestrial reign (XX, 13, p. 730-2). Satan, bound since the beginning of the terrestrial millennium, will be released when antichrist reigns. Augustine's interfacing of past history to Revelation occurs at the point when Christ bound Satan. Christ started binding Satan right after Pentecost as Christianity spread throughout Judea. As Christianity spread, Satan's activity within the converted areas was progressively curtailed. When Christianity spread outside Judea into the surrounding nations, the binding of Satan became more widespread. Once bound, Satan will remain bound until Christianity becomes established, then Satan will be released. Afterward will come Antichrist's three-and-one half year reign. Augustine felt the wicked would not return to God then because Satan would once again be fully armed (XX, 8, p. 722). To defend his interpretation, Augustine quotes Matt. 12:29: "Or how can any one enter into the house of the strong, and rifle his goods, unless he first bind the strong? and then he will rifle his house." (XX, 8, p. 724). This is what Jesus is doing during the Christian age: binding Satan so Jesus can rifle, or take away, the people of good will that once were claimed by Satan. In addition, as Christianity grows, Satan is more and more restricted to the bottomless pit, which Augustine defines as a spiritual abyss fueled by the mentality of the wicked whose malice towards Christ is bottomless. Satan was in that spiritual abyss all along. Deprived now of god-fearing people, Satan takes even firmer hold on the wicked (XX, 7, p. 720). The souls released from Satan's grip had lost spiritual aliveness due to their own sins and the lasting effects of our first parents' sin. Christ restores spiritual life to the souls he releases by applying his own spiritual life to them through their faith. They sealed his life in themselves through baptism. Now they who were spiritually dead are alive. This is the soul's resurrection. The second resurrection will be the body's resurrection. He quotes John 5:25-6 to prove his point: ". . . the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice . . . and they that hear shall live." This describes the first resurrection: the soul's resurrection from spiritual death. Then Augustine quotes John 5:28-9 on the second resurrection: ". . . for the hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And . . . shall come forth unto the resurrection . . .." (XX, 6, p. 275). Augustine then draws a parallel. Since there are two regenerations: one of the soul in faith by Baptism, the other of the body in flesh by incorruption, so are there also two resurrections. The first one is of the soul in this world; the second one is of the body in the next world (XX, 6, p. 718). The first resurrection is into the kingdom already established. We on earth participate in it. There are tares with the wheat in this world. The tares (the wicked) will grow along with the faithful until the end. Angels will first reap the tares and burn them; then they will reap the wheat (XX, 9, p. 725). To show that the first resurrection is not bodily resurrection, he quotes the New Testament on resurrection through baptism: ". . . risen with Christ (Col. 3:1) . . ." and: ". . . walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:4) and: "Rise . . . Arise from the dead: (Eph. 5:14) . . ." and ". . . go not aside from him lest you fall." (Eccles. 2:7). Fall in Latin is derived from the Latin word "cada," as in "cadaver." It is used here to mean fall dead. He also cites Rom. 14:4: "To his own master he standeth or falleth." And 1 Cor. 10:12: ". . . he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall." (XX, 10, p. 728). The thrones the elect sit upon in Rev. 20:4 are not thrones of judgment, but those of Church rulers (XX, 10, p. 726). The martyrs are named for a part, the best part, of all deceased that belong to Christ (XX, 10, p. 727). The saints will continue to reign after Satan is loosed (XX, 13, p. 732). Christianity will not disappear. Augustine claims that Scripture indicates that Satan, when loosed, will seduce the nations--not merely humans--but whole nations, nations now united with Christ, but before were in error and impiety. Revelation does not imply that Satan, when bound, shall seduce no person anymore; but that, when bound, Satan shall not seduce the whole people who make up Christianity. Augustine feels the reason Christ bound Satan for one thousand years was to allow the nations to grow sufficiently strong, so that, when Satan is released, the nations need not be, and have no excuse for being, deceived by Satan (XX, 7-8, pp. 721-2). Gog and Magog are not specific barbarian nations, nor are they the Getes and Massagetes. Gog and Magog depict the "house" (gog) and "of the house" (magog); that is, "the house" and "he that cometh out of the house". Both names refer to all nations, neither refers directly to Satan. The nations are "the house" because Satan is hid and housed in them. They are "of the house" because having harbored secret hatred, they now spew open hatred, and attack Christ's followers throughout the earth (XX, 11, p. 729). Augustine described two kingdoms of God. For the first resurrection there is a kingdom where both those who obey the Commandments and those who disobey are found. For the second resurrection, there is a purified kingdom where only those who keep the Commandments can enter. This purified kingdom is perfect and utterly exempt from evil. So the earthly kingdom is both the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven; whereas, in the next life, there will only be one kingdom, the one of heaven, the one without tares (XX, 9, pp. 725-6). "Fire came down from heaven and devoured Gog and Magog." Augustine interprets the fire as the saint's unyielding firmness against the wicked. Their firm faithfulness to God shall burn the wicked (XX, 12, p. 730). Even though we all know the world will end, Augustine cautions against any attempt to compute the years still remaining. Christ himself said it is not for us to know these things (XVIII, 53, p. 665). When the final judgment occurs, those not belonging to the City of God will go to eternal misery, which is the second death. Souls there shall forever be separated from God, their life, and their physical bodies shall forever be subjected to everlasting pain (XIX, 28, p. 709). Augustine interprets the new heavens and new earth this way: the present world shall lose its form by worldly fire, as it formally was destroyed by earthly water; and all corruptible qualities will burn away. God will then renew the world to make it fit for people with immortal bodies. This renewed world is the place, the new heaven surrounding the new earth, where the immortal ones of the second resurrection will dwell (XX, 16, p. 735). The new Jerusalem is a vision of the eternal heaven, the place where humans and God interact. There is no grief there, no death, no sin (XX, 17, p. 736). Augustine's writings have strongly influenced Catholic thinking about Revelation. For more information, please visit my website http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 Maurice A. Williams Author of Revelation and the Fall of Judea ISBN: 1401068049 (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 5th, 2005
12:17 am	GENOCIDE IN RWANDA In 1981, Christ sent messages through his mother to six girls and one boy in Kibeho, Rwanda. Rwanda is Africa’s most Catholic country. Of the country’s eight million people, approximately 65% are Catholic. On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down near Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. Immediately thereafter came one of the most devastating massacres in human history. In the months following the assassination, an estimated eight hundred thousand to one million Rwandans, nearly one-seventh of the country’s entire population, were slaughtered by guns, machetes, hammers, and spears. Ernest Rutaganda received messages in his sleep. At 3 AM on day in 1983, he saw Jesus and Mary. Five years later, he saw Jesus again (1988) during a pilgrimage in Kibeho where Jesus and Mary were appearing to other visionaries. For refusing to obey government orders to stop holding prayer meetings in his home, where people came in great numbers daily from 1988 to 1990, Rutaganda was imprisoned for six months (March 12 to December 12, 1990) in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Jesus visited Ernest in prison and advised him to leave Rwanda immediately upon release, or he will be killed. When Rutaganda was released, he hesitated and was arrested and taken with others to a desolated spot to be killed. A guard recognized that Rutaganda was recently freed from prison and let him go. During one vision of the future, which lasted eight hours, the visionaries saw horrible images of tragedy: massacre, decapitated bodies, and many bodies thrown into the rivers. They saw that if Rwanda did not return to God, there would be "a river of blood and many abandoned, decapitated corpses". The Rwandan holocaust came a few years later. Christ told one of the visionaries: "Too many people treat their neighbors dishonestly. The world is full of hatred. You will know my Second Coming is at hand when you see the outbreak of religious wars. Then, know that I am on the Way." In 1993, Ernest was told that there would be a massacre of Tutsit. This happened a year later in 1994. Other predictions are that if people do not pray, a country in North America, one in Europe, and one in Asia will provoke World War III. The famine after the war will encourage many to follow the Antichrist. It is important to reconcile oneself with God right now. Recently, the Oprah Show interviewed Lisa Ling, who showed a documentary about the massacre in Rwanda and another massacre in The Congo: almost a million killed in Rwanda in 1994 and more than 3,500,000 killed in the Congo since 1997, with no end in sight. Suffering without end for human beings caught in a maelstrom of hatred and destruction. Surprisingly, Lisa did not mention the apparitions. We were warned, and our Media ignores the warnings. In late July 2005, one of the main American TV networks aired a documentary about Rwanda. The documentary covered the political background that led to the hostility between the Tutsit and Hutu peoples in Rwanda, the rebellions, the coups and counter coups, the assassination of President Habyarimana, and the ensuing genocide. I was surprised that the documentary did not mention the apparitions in spite of the fact that the apparitions would have lent a more universal appeal to the documentary. The messages given the children at Rwanda were not merely meant for black Africans, they were meant for all of us. The God who created all of us has been warning all of us to repent. We have been warned to give up our lives of defiance or face the consequences. Unchecked sin can and will race through the world inspiring unprincipled persons to commit atrocious acts against those deemed weaker and unable to defend themselves. Because we do not listen, all of us are faced with these warnings right now. There are also two movies about the genocide: Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April. Both are excellent, well-done movies that show the suffering the Rwandan people experienced during the genocide. Sometimes in April was especially poignant because two of the main stars portrayed brothers who were on opposite sides during the genocide. Surprisingly, neither movie mentioned the apparitions. Hotel Rwanda was a true-life story of a man who tried to save as many people as possible. He managed a hotel in Kigali, the capital city, where Rutaganda was imprisoned. It’s hard to believe that he did not know about the apparitions. Excerpt from “Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes.” All of the above is easily found surfing The Internet. Maurice A. Williams Author of Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 4th, 2005
8:41 pm	EVOLUTION OF "LIGHT" In the beginning, there was nothing, not a single thing, except God. God made light. This "light" should not be understood through the primary definition of "light" because "light," in its primary meaning, does not yet exist. There is no physical universe, no stars, no sun to provide "light" in its primary meaning. Consider a secondary definition of light: perception, cognition, illumination, not the luminosity of the physical universe, but something non-material. Consider something spiritual like thought. We all have a spiritual capacity to think, to perceive, to "catch on," to "see the light." The first thing God created was the spiritual world, uncountable spiritual beings brought into existence out of nothing, having no mass, no size, occupying no space, suddenly appearing, and appearing before the physical universe was made. They came into existence fully potent: no infancy, childhood, adolescence like we experience. They were fully able, immediately, to perceive what God made: every spiritual being, all individuals, everything open, nothing hidden, each of them perceiving the whole harmonious spiritual world. They discovered things as things really are, true, because God is true, everything wonderful because God is full of wonders, everything lovable because God is love. God loves them all. But there's more. God made each spirit a person. God granted each person autonomy, the ability to choose to love and serve, or to refuse and pursue their own ambition. What an honor: to be able to freely choose, without compulsion, what God offers. What a risk! being capable of rejecting what Gods offers and choose differently. That would lead to chaos. Because who, other than God, would know what should be chosen to keep what was made in complete harmony? Choosing against God would bring chaos, disorder, not the "light" that was omnipresent to begin with, but darkness, blind darkness, night. In the beginning, that's what happened. God created "light," presenting each spirit with free will that each spirit might be a real person, not an automaton, a robot, a thing that appears conscious, but actually has no choice. Such a thing's not really "alive." It's not a person. Each free spirit chooses, and, with that choice, darkness can enter. God separated the darkness from light, and now the spirits are in two camps. One camp remained light, perfect harmony, perfect love, unending happiness and purpose. All are persons, free to choose, freely choosing to love and serve God. The other camp pursued their own ambitions, knowing full well that they are free persons. How can one choose wrong, if one isn't free? Free persons now out of harmony with God and everything God made. God separated that camp so that disharmony will not disturb the perfect expression of God's love among those who exist in light. This was the first act of creation. Then God made the physical universe, and, with it, three-dimensional space and time, matter and energy. Who can say how long it took or how long ago it happened? It started at the beginning of time, when darkness was separated from light. We humans start existence extremely small and develop slowly, so slowly that none of us can recall the events of our first few years, yet we know we were alive and active those first years even if we can't remember. We live, grow old and die, all in the matter of a hundred years at most, and, for many, far less. Scientists say the physical universe began 13.7 billion years ago. What a long time that is for us who are locked in the dimension of time. I wonder how long it seems to God, who exists outside of time, or for the spiritual beings who were made before time and who, like the spiritual souls animating our bodies, will never cease to exist. I wonder how it seems to the spiritual beings of darkness, separated now from light, probably interacting with the physical universe, there to express their self-ambitions, their rebellion against the one who must be obeyed so that light can permeate everything. How illustrating the "Big Bang" theory is. An unimaginably huge explosion from an infinitely small, infinitely dense, origin at the beginning of time, exploding and expanding with immense force and power, seemingly ordered but filled with chaos, collisions, explosions, perils at every quarter; and, for us, accidents, sickness, sadness, and physical death, for us and every other living, physical being. This is not light. It is far closer to darkness than light. This physical universe is a long night of darkness. Do you realize that none of us can perceive God? Maybe some of us can realize that God must exist, but we have almost no perception of any details about God. We live all our days in darkness. It's almost the same with our knowledge of the physical universe. Of the immense vastness and intricate complexity of the physical universe, we know very little, far less than a fraction of one percent of all there is to know. Similar with each other. We know very little of what goes on in other person's hearts and souls, even within our own family, even within the children we've raised all through their formative years. A far cry from those who dwell in light. For them, every thing is knowable. No thing is hidden, even the spiritual lives of others. For us here in the physical universe, every thing is barely perceived, and very little is agreed upon. Argument, conflict, disagreement, darkness confronts us on all sides. Doesn't it seem possible that the spirits who chose against God would perceive, through the physical universe, the consequences of disharmony with God? It starts with the stars and planets, with the cataclysmic way the universe began: horrendous explosion, unimaginable temperatures, colliding bodies, matter forming stars, blowing up, condensing, colliding, forming planets, some re-igniting into new stars, continuing until our own day. It all seems ordered, but there's much chaos and uncertainty, ruin and sometimes destruction. The same continued when living organisms appeared on our planet. Organisms seemingly ordered and in ecological balance, but, with these organisms, chaos and destruction reigns on an individual basis, especially with animals. Strong animals hunt down and devour weaker animals, in many cases their own offspring. Frightening as the animal world is with dinosaurs, for example, the insect world is even more brutal. Surely, intelligent persons ought to get the point that the physical universe mirrors the chaos that follows from choosing for self regardless of what God chooses. Then human beings appeared, the first physical life forms able to think, to realize they exist, persons, really. Is it really true that the first human beings were enticed to disobey and do what God did not want them to do? Is it true that from that first disobedience, the human race plunged into the same darkness and disorder that the whole physical universe is in? Interesting, if it's true! The knowledge of such information would have to be sustained by Divine Revelation for humans to remember it for so long. Just consider what is said. After the separation of darkness from light and the creation of the physical universe (who knows how long that took?), God created the first human beings. They were perfect: no sickness, no accidents, no sorrow. They were in harmony with all nature. They were told to fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over every living thing that moves upon the Earth. They were also given a simple test of obedience: don't eat the fruit of one tree. No special reason, just an opportunity to show they were willing to freely obey. The same opportunity that was given the angels, to demonstrate that, as free persons, without any compulsion, they would freely choose to obey. If every person chose to obey, all persons would dwell in the happiness and harmony that God provides. The tradition passed down to us, most likely preserved by Divine Revelation, is that one of the fallen angels, the most powerful one, took the form of a snake and moved on the Earth. That would put that angel under the dominion of the first human beings, wouldn't it? No wonder the mandate was "subdue and rule over" everything that moves on the earth. It's no simple task for a human being to subdue and rule over a rebellious angel. The first human beings were misled by the fallen angel and disobeyed God, and chaos came to them and all their offspring because we all, even today, possess the same genome, biological DNA, inheritable traits, that they had after they disobeyed. Enlightening story! They and the fallen angel, all three, were judged. Human beings from now on would experience nature opposed to them. Humans would have to provide for themselves. They would experience hardships and bodily death. Tough punishment! But they were offered a promise of redemption. It was much more severe for the fallen angel. "Because you have done this . . . I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your brood and hers. They shall strike at your head, and you shall strike at their heel." Now we have some explanation of what is going on. We are in a titanic struggle, we humans, against the spirits of darkness. God has decreed the impossible task that we will subdue and dominate them, have dominion over them and rule over them. If these stories really are preserved by Divine Revelation, our situation is further clarified when the very first human being (that we know of) is born in the natural way we are born. Cain was jealous of his brother and was sulking. God told Cain: "Why are you so angry and cast down? If you do well, you are accepted; if not, sin is a demon crouching at the door. It shall be eager for you, and you will be mastered by it." How would you feel if you heard God tell you that directly? Would you then murder your brother? I believe these stories are true and are preserved by Divine Revelation. They are the only sources that allows one to make sense of this world. We are immersed in darkness, and our own sins make us so deeply immersed, we can't possibly bring ourselves out of it. The woman's seed is one of her descendants. That descendant will carry out the mandate to subdue and dominate. As Divine Revelation continued through the years, it becomes obvious that the woman's descendant will make remedy for all sin and will bring salvation to all who are repentant and want salvation. This Divine Revelation was preserved, and later ratified, through one race of people. Consider the situation with the vast majority of people who, within their races, did not preserve the traditions of what happened in the beginning. Their offspring have no idea of what is going on. Like us, they do not remember the first instant of their existence. Whatever interaction the spirits of darkness previously had with the physical universe, these spirits now have to deal with persons, physical bodies with spiritual souls that do not automatically comply with whatever they are prodded to do. They question the prodding and are able to resist. They have minds of their own. Look at the misery the human race experiences, the aggression, hatred, wars, murders, people grabbing for themselves whatever they can take. Doesn't this mirror the darkness among spirits who refuse to obey? However, even with many thousands of years of human beings questioning their inspirations, the rebellion continues. So, a few thousand years ago, a Divine Revelation is made through Moses to the Israelites. They are given God's ordinances that must be obeyed even if free persons are not inclined to obey. Now a small beacon of light illumines the darkness. Even so, the rebellion continues. So, in the fullness of time, the promised descendant of the first woman appears. He is the one who will carry out the mandate to subdue and dominate everything that moves on the earth. After 13.7 billion years, he appears. Surely this has to be the "End Times." How much more time should be given to those who, after observing the physical universe for billions of years, still refuse to obey? The promised descendant came with a "gospel." The original meaning of "gospel" was not "good" news, as we understand it today, but "good" in the sense that it is reliable. It is the official news that should not be doubted. It's not rumor or speculation. It's authentic! Roman magistrates used to send messengers ahead of them to tell the people whom they are going to visit what to expect when they arrive. Their "gospel" will dispel all doubt, so that persons will have no delusions when the magistrate arrives. The news is still "good" in that some persons will be glad to hear it, but, primarily, it is "good" because it is unerring. The promised one came. His "good news" was and still is accepted by, but not by all. He set up a procedure to offer salvation to all who are willing, but many do not accept it. For two thousand years, persons have fought against it and are still trying to destroy it. If this revelation is true, how close can we be to the end of God's patience, to the end of time, to the end of all rebellion? At the end of time, as we know time, all persons will experience the final separation of darkness from light, we humans also. We humans too will be separated into children of light and children of darkness. Doesn't this seem a more plausible explanation of the origin and purpose of the physical universe that the theories of evolution? Maurice A. Williams Author of Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)
Monday, October 3rd, 2005
6:56 pm	LUTHER'S COMMENTARY ON REVELATION In 1534, Luther published his German Translation of the Bible. He also wrote many commentaries on Scripture, including two commentaries on Revelation, a short one and a long one (Luther, pp. 479-488 see bibliography). I was interested in commentaries on Revelation because I was writing a commentary myself. I thought this article on what I discovered about Luther's commentaries would be of interest. Luther starts his longer commentary proposing that the seven letters are pastoral letters to actual churches. The letters exhort the Christians in those cities to abide and increase in faith and to reform their lives. The four horsemen (the first four seals) are: (1) persecution by the state, (2) persecution by war and bloodshed, (3) persecution by scarcity and famine, and (4) persecution by pestilence. The three woes (the last three seals) are Arius the great heretic who led many Christians astray (first woe); Mohammed and the Saracens who almost conquered Christendom (second woe); and the papal empire and the imperial papacy as the third woe. The bitter book John must eat represents the papacy with its sham church and its spiritual stage-show, the Mass. Luther believed the Catholic Mass was nothing more than a spectacle, something put on merely for show. The two witnesses are pious teachers who remain faithful to Christ despite the three woes (pp 483-5). The first four trumpets are four heresies: (1) the heresy of Tatian, who forbade marriage; (2) the heresies of Marcion with his Cataphrygians, plus the Manichaeans, the Montanists and Luther's foe Münzer; (3) the heresy of Origen, who embittered scriptures with reason; and (4) the heresy of Novatus, with his Cathari who deny penance, and the Donatists (pp. 482-6). Luther identified the sea beast as the Holy Roman Empire (the Catholic secular empire) and the land beast as the papacy (p. 483). This is the first time the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy had been identified as the beasts in Revelation. Other Reformation leaders, especially Calvin, believed the same. The Reformation leaders soon developed a new school of interpretation. It held that Catholicism was an apostate church and was the whore of Babylon and had persecuted true Christians ever since Constantine's time (or, as others put it, since an early Church council), and that the papacy was antichrist (Patrides, pp. 131 and 269). Luther believed the millennium started when Revelation was written and will end when the papacy falls (p. 485). When the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire fall, Satan will be loosed to mobilize Gog and Magog (whom Luther identifies as the Turks and the red Jews) to attack the Church (p. 486). The final judgement will come quickly. Then comes the new Jerusalem, the holy city. It will wed Jesus Christ in an eternal marriage. All godless people will be damned along with the devil and confined to hell (p. 486). Luther felt he was living near the end of the millennium, the end of the world. Luther started a new school of interpretation claiming that: (1) Catholicism is the "whore of Babylon" sitting atop the revived Roman Empire (the Holy Roman Empire), (2) Catholicism is an apostate church that suppressed true Christians into the "Babylonian captivity," and (3) the Pope is the antichrist (p. 485). These claims found wide acceptance because of the laxity and immorality of many unworthy Catholic clergy. It has been almost five centuries since the dream of European unity under a single empire and a single church collapsed. Through the years, the hostility of these separated nations and churches has gradually subsided. Today, efforts to reunite Europe, politically with the European Economic Union and spiritually with the Ecumenical movement are underway. Who knows what the future holds? Whatever the future holds, understanding the past enlightens our minds. BIBLIOGRAPHY Luther, Martin, "Works of Martin Luther: translated with Introduction and Notes," volume VI of a six volume set (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman and The Castile Press, 1916). Patrides, C. A., et. al,, "The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature," (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984). For more information, please visit my website http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 Maurice A. Williams Author of Revelation and the Fall of Judea ISBN: 1401068049 (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 2nd, 2005
9:17 am	THE POISONWOOD BIBLE IS FLAWED A gifted writer, Barbara Kingsolver shows considerable skill in "The Poisonwood Bible." Her skill with words makes the book easy to read. Her vivid imagery makes, not only the characters, but also the locale, come alive. Her point-of-view through the eyes of a snake at the beginning and end of the book make you imagine that it is you who is witnessing the events. A skilled writer doesn't merely tell a story; there are several layers to a skillfully crafted novel. There's the story itself, in this case, a purely fictional story. There's the setting for the story, in this case the Congo, the real Congo of the 1960's. And there's the overall view of the author, the rationale of why the author wrote the novel. Kingsolver is so skilled in writing that these layers are easily discerned in her book. Having given her credit for her skill, I am now going to explain my problems with this book. The story of Nelson and Orleanna Price and their four daughters is, as Kingsolver states in her "author's note," "a work of fiction." The main characters do not exist. They are a product of Kingsolver's imagination. One wonders why Kingsolver portrays Nathan Price, an imaginary Baptist preacher, as such a total failure. He is a failure as a husband, a failure as a father, and a failure as a missionary. Nathan accomplishes nothing of value. Since Nathan is a fictional character created by Kingsolver, he is one-hundred percent what Kingsolver wants him to be and nothing other than Kingsolver wants him to be. That's all right. A novelist is entitled to create fiction. One wonders, though, why Kingsolver didn't portray Price after someone more successful as a missionary, like Dr. Livingston, for example, or Rev. Billy Graham. She must have a reason to characterize Price as she did. The historical setting of her novel, the Congo of the 1960's, is, as Kingsolver said in her author's note, real. Kingsolver cites many historical events that occurred at that place and time and has her characters draw conclusions from them. She presents a harsh picture of American involvement in the political affairs of the Congo, of the West's exploitation of the Congo, and the nonrelevance of Christianity for the Congolese people. Here, in the Congo of the 1960's, she is dealing with the real world, not with a fictional world of her own creation. To be fair with Kingsolver, no one can extract in a few thousand words, an accurate and objective appraisal of what happened at that time. The author's personal understanding will always slant the appraisal. But Kingsolver, I think, has emphasized some facts and omitted other facts. Whatever her reasons, she has presented a slanted view that, joined with her characterization of Nathan Price, makes it easy to guess her rationale in writing the book. She mentions how the West, particularly the United States, intervened when the Congo became independent in 1960, when Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister. On page 161, one of her characters sees newspaper headlines "Soviet plan moves forward in Congo" and (The newspaper) "said Khrushchev wanted to take over the Belgian Congo . . ." On page 308, one of her characters hears that Eisenhower orders Lumumba's death. On page 319, Dulles (in Aug., 1960), sent a telegram ". . . to replace the Congolese government at earliest convenience . . ." Kingsolver's readers would wonder why was the United States so involved in the internal affairs of the Congo. Kingsolver, on page 233 has one of her characters state that when Lumumba asked Khrushchev to come to the Congo's aid, Lumumba was bluffing." Kingsolver never mentions that in 1959, Khrushchev brought Castro's Cuba into the Soviet circle. We all should remember the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960's because it almost led to nuclear war. I do not condone what the United States did in the Congo, but knowing about Cuba, I can realize the seriousness of Lumumba's bluff. Lumumba's personal friend, Thomas Kanza, wrote "The Rise and Fall of Patrice Lumumba: Conflict in the Congo" (ISBN: 0-8161-9015-1). In it, he quotes, verbatim, Lumumba's request to Khrushchev (p. 207) and states (on p. 225) that "Lumumba was involved in a dangerous, perhaps mortal, struggle; for though the West wanted to save the Congo, it had had enough of him" (of Lumumba). Kingsolver remarks that the Congo was exploited for gold, diamonds, copper, ivory, and slaves. She didn't mention uranium. Kanza (p. 46) mentions uranium. Uranium, being of strategic importance in the cold war, still doesn't excuse the West, but mention of it would make the West's panic more understandable. On page 232, Kingsolver reveals that "People are angry at the Europeans. They are even hurting women and little children." She then criticizes Belgium for sending troops back into the Congo. Kanza (p. 226) quotes from an UN speech claiming "white women raped before their children's eyes, little white girls raped." In another book I read that this violence was directed against the families of white officers in the Congolese army. Lumumba did not condone it, but was unable to stop it. Two website articles about Mobutu Sese Seko state that Belgium sent troops to protect its citizens from the violence. Kingsolver's understatement of the degree of violence makes her readers think Belgium had other motives for sending troops. Her omission of pertinent details slants her readers toward her main theme, which I will describe below. Kingsolver patterns her book after Scripture. The book is divided into seven main divisions, entitled "Genesis," "Revelation," "The Judges," "Bel and the Serpents," "Song of Three Children," and "The Eyes in the Trees." The eyes in the trees are the eyes of the mamba snake, presented as though they are our eyes. The eyes also make one think of the serpent in the tree in the Garden of Eden. In spite of the Scriptural titles and the fact that Nathan Price is a Christian missionary, Kingsolver is very critical of Christianity. On page 522, she makes the blanket statement that "Priests held mass baptisms on the shore and marched their converts onto ships bound for sugar plantations in Brazil, slaves to the higher god of commodity agriculture." On page 201, she writes "Poor Congo, beautiful bride of men who took her jewels and promised her the kingdom." These obvious prejudicial statements coupled with the ineptitude of Nathan Price, the Baptist missionary, set against the backdrop of partially described history serves to make the point that the white man's mistreatment of blacks is more that racial: it is white men poisoned with Christian ideology that inspired them to do what they do in nonwhite countries. She sums it up on page 490 where she has Leah say "Jesus is poisonwood. Here's to the minister of poisonwood, and here's to his five wives." Leah's father is the minister; his wife and four daughters were referred to as his five wives by the Congolese. The book gets its name from a tree in the Congo similar to poison ivy but more noxious. Near the end of the book, Kingsolver states her main view of life (p. 528): "This is the story I believe in: when God was a child, the Rift Valley cradled a caldron of bare necessities, and out of it walked the first humans, upright on two legs . . . They made the Voodoo, the Earth's oldest religion . . ." I do not accept any of this. God was never a child. God is unchanging. Human beings did not originate out of a cauldron of bare necessities in the Rift Valley. God created the first humans. Voodoo is not the Earth's oldest religion. The relationship the first humans had with God is the world's oldest religion. I'm not surprised that so many people applaud Kingsolver's book. It is very well written, but when you penetrate through the sugar coating, you discover that it also contains poison. Maurice A. Williams Author of Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)
9:13 am	JOHN THE BAPTIST'S ROLE IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION Revelation is presumed to have been composed in its entirety at Patmos in A.D. 96 by John the Evangelist. However, there has always been speculation that someone other than John the Evangelist wrote at least parts of Revelation. Some scholars believe that Chapters 4 through 11 had their origin in the preaching of John the Baptist. J. Massyngberde Ford explains this in considerable detail in "Revelation," The Anchor Bible, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1975) (pp. 3-57). The thinking is that John the Baptist, prior to Christ's ministry, preached the earliest portions of Revelation to anyone who would listen. His visions explained the Messiah John was sent to announce and warned his listeners what would happen to anyone who opposed the Messiah and tried to frustrate the Messiah's God-given mission. The Baptist electrified his disciples, many of whom became Christian, one of whom was John the Evangelist. John's disciples also preached these visions, repeating them in their original form, for approximately thirty years. Around A.D. 66, a Christian disciple added more visions and preached the combined text during the Judean revolt against Rome. Finally, the letters to the seven churches were added (Ford, p. 3). This was twenty-six years after the Temple's destruction, thirty-eight years before Judea's final, disastrous defeat. This reorganized text is the text we read today. The possibility that Chapters 4 through 11 originated with John the Baptist, as the Baptist announced the Messiah, is the key I use to relate these visions to events when Christianity first started. Try to imagine the Baptist when he began his ministry. Coming from the hot desert, he might seek the cooler areas along the Jordan. He would, perhaps, set down his walking staff, motion to attract attention, and start describing his visions. What he had seen were vivid symbols showing the relationship between the people God created and their creator. We all know that the symbol H2O represents a molecule of water; yet, this visual symbol only partly resembles a molecule of water. One could go further and draw a symbol showing the nucleus of an oxygen atom surrounded by eight electrons. The oxygen nucleus lies between two nuclei of hydrogen atoms, each with one additional electron. All three nuclei share the ten electrons, which align to form two orbits around the oxygen. Two electrons are in the inner orbit, eight in the outer orbit. Now we have a more meaningful visual symbol that shows more detail about a molecule of water. Even if it is more meaningful, however, this new symbol is still not exactly like a molecule of water because a molecule of water cannot be seen by the human eye. This is a limitation of our human nature. We cannot see things that are that small. Even if we became small enough to see them, a molecule of water would still not look like the visual symbol. It would look more like the solar system with immense space between the electrons and the nuclei. John's theophany (Rev. 4) is similar. John the Baptist is the Messiah's herald, the one sent to make the Messiah's arrival known so that people might recognize him. This voice in the wilderness speaking with Elijah's spirit saw visions similar to what earlier prophets had seen. John's visions made it clear that the awaited one had finally arrived. The visions showed John what the awaited one's arrival portends for the Judean people and for the whole world. The first of these visions, a magnificent mental image (Rev. 4:1-11), shows what God is like and shows the relationship between God and the promised Messiah. This vision representing God uses symbols people can understand, similar to the way a molecule of water is represented by symbols. The vision shows the three persons in the one God and some activity of the three persons. The ancient one symbolizes the Father. The twenty-four kings symbolize the Holy Spirit. The four living beings symbolize the Son. The Lamb is in this vision. The Lamb is related to the four living beings. The four living beings represent the second person, the Word, the Son of God. The Lamb is worshiped within the Godhead because the Lamb is the Word's incarnation. John the Baptist was the Lamb's herald, so it is not surprising that the Baptist would open his ministry describing who the Lamb is. The Lamb is ready to begin his ministry. John's mission was to prepare the Lamb's way. The Lamb will be accepted by some and rejected by others, who will kill him. Why is that? The vision provides an insight into this when the sealed scroll the Fathers holds is opened seal by seal. The scroll, I believe, represents what is involved if God grants us genuine freedom. Some of us may disobey. Our disobedience will have catastrophic consequences. Someone has to make remedy for the consequences. No one can do that--except the Lamb. The scroll has seven seals symbolizing the consequences. Opening the first four seals releases the four horsemen. The four horsemen symbolize the horrors unleashed upon the world if humans abuse the freedom God gave them. First there is the horror of human ambition that refuses to serve God and demands to be served by others. It rides out of the human heart, like the white horse, in a spirit of conflict and envy, conquest and tyranny, exploitation and greed. The second horror is the reaction of humans who, not willing to serve God, will not willingly serve other humans. Their resentment will spread through the world, like the red horse, in a wave of rage calling for resistance and war. The third horror is the result of such activities. The tasks God requires us to do remain undone, and what we have already accomplished is attacked and destroyed. Ruin results and famine, blind terror and despair. These spread behind the combatants like a black scourge that afflicts the innocent as well as the guilty and ruins everyone's happiness. In the wake of these three comes the fourth horror: sickness and death, the pale horse. This is the worst horror of all: humans seemingly abandoned by God, torn from this life and thrust into the unknown terror of death. Such are the immediate risks of granting humans freedom, but there are more risks. Many will die; all will suffer if humans abuse their freedom. And God will punish the abusers. This freedom is dependent upon the Son. The Son, in the Son's divine nature, grants every person existence and provides the ability and the continued existence for every person to perform deeds, even if those deeds be disobedience. Disobedience brings suffering to humans and to God, if God could suffer. But how could God suffer? Jesus Christ, the promised one, is God, and yet he is fully human as well. In his human nature, the Son really did suffer, for his crucifixion and death really happened. He suffers today also in the extension of his human nature through those who have been baptized. They are a part of him, as branches are part of a vine. They suffer. He suffers. All humans suffer because of the abuse of freedom by those who do not obey God as they should. This suffering is symbolic of the underlying relationship that the Son, in the Son's divine nature, has with each person. The Father wants each person to act freely. We many times act against the Father's will. The Son keeps us in existence and provides us the ability to perform our actions, even if we act against the Father's will. The Son could refuse granting us ability to disobey, but that would destroy our freedom, the freedom the Father wants us to have. In a sense, the Son is crucified against our will by the Son's own perfect and flawless obedience to the Father's will that we all be granted genuine freedom. As a human being, the Son was willing to endure suffering and death rather than call us to judgment. But in the Son's divine nature, the Son will not accept our disobedience forever. God always revealed from the very beginning that we will be held accountable. Each of us will be brought to judgment day. That warning is in the last three seals. God will requite all people according to their deeds. It will be a terrible day then, the day God makes retribution for each person's disobedience. These visions about the ancient one, the twenty-four kings, the four living beings, the lamb, the sealed scroll, the four horsemen, and the three woes were preludes to Christ's ministry. They nudged people who were already seeking God. The visions drew upon biblical traditions, using symbols already used by the prophets, to clarify who Christ is and what relationship Christ has with God. Even David, long before Christ's time, had been inspired to write that the promised one, though to be a descendant of his, was still his own Lord. He wrote in Psalm 109:1 "The Lord said to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'" Jesus will affirm this during his ministry when he asks his critics: "If David then call him Lord, how is he David's son? They couldn't answer and didn't dare ask any more questions after that" (Matt. 22:45-6). Jesus will say the same thing about Abraham when he tells his critics that their father Abraham "rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). It is this Lord, the Lord of David and Abraham, that the Baptist announced. I see no reason to doubt that chapters 4 through 11 came from John the Baptist and that the theophany and seals (Rev. 6) really were the Baptist's symbolic way of identifying who and what the Messiah is. Understanding the seals as John's announcement of Christ, before Christ's ministry, was the key that enabled me to connect chapters 4 through 11 to historical events experienced by John's listeners. This article is adapted from "Revelation and the Fall of Judea," ISBN 1-4010-6804-9 available on www.xlibris.com. For more information, please visit my website http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 Maurice A. Williams Author of Prophet and Historian: John and Josephus ISBN: 1411627091 (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 24th, 2005
12:30 pm	WHAT'S REALLY LEFT BEHIND The “Left Behind” series has popularized the futurist interpretation of Revelation. During the future rapture, righteous Christians are suddenly taken to heaven to rule with Jesus Christ while the unrighteous are left behind. Curious proposal that so many are caught up immediately to be with Jesus. I would have thought that very few human beings are so eminently righteous, while in this life, that they qualify for immediate acceptance into heaven to rule with Jesus. How many people do you know that are absolutely perfect, everything God wants them to be, without the slightest imperfection? I think when the proposed rapture comes; nobody will notice it because everybody will be left behind to face the tribulation. Consider what it must be like to be presented one-on-one with Almighty God. No physical body anymore, with all its limitations. Your bodies got left behind. Does your soul harbor resentment, anger, jealousy, gossip, rash judgment, prejudice, and all those peccadilloes everybody tends to ignore? Will God be pleased with our imperfections? Will we be ready, immediately, as we are, to be alongside Christ and rule with the saints? I really doubt it. All of us have heard every conceivable contradiction of what Jesus taught. Did you ever teach anybody something Jesus knows is not true? What possible excuse can you have before the one who knows? The one who will say “I gave you MY Word. Why did you not believe? What about non-Christians? They will one day be one-on-one before God just like we will. Was it something you said that caused them not to believe? Have you ever hurt someone with an unkind word, something that seemed small to you but had a really negative effect on that person? Which one of us is so perfect that we can immediately rule with God, as we are, without the slightest rehabilitation? When we die, we will all be presented before God outside of time because we have left our physical bodies behind. In a situation where time is no longer relevant, since, among other things, God is not bound by the dimension of time, God will cause us to purge our own defects, if we are willing, in a self-awareness process that would take many years if we were still in our bodies; but, in eternity, this happens outside of time. I think the main reason that we, ourselves, experience purification is because we do not loose our identity as persons. It was each one of us that had imperfections. It will be each one of us, the very same persons, who will become absolutely perfect without losing our identity. It will be then, and only then, that we will be fit to RULE with Christ as one of God’s saints. Should any one of us balk, resist, refuse to become what God created us to be, our resentment against the person who created us and wants out total and willing, our free obedience, will turn to hatred. If unchecked by us, our hatred will become an overpowering hatred, unchecked by time, eternal, an eternal hatred for God who wants our free obedience. This will be our individual private judgment. There will be another judgment at the end of the world when our bodies will be raised and reunited with our souls. That will be a public judgment, the final judgment. I think the notion of less-than-perfect persons, joined immediately with Christ, coming back to Earth to kill and send to eternal damnation, persons less perfect than they, just doesn’t ring well in my ears. God wants salvation not vengeance. Sure, there are some whose hatred and defiance will merit punishment, but I think, in the final days, God wants a harvest of repentant souls from all races, all nations, from sources you never dreamed of. All that’s really left behind is the presumption, self-righteousness, and intolerance, that all of us, in varying degrees, are afflicted with. Maurice A. Williams author of Prophet and Historian: John and Josephus 1411627091 http://www.lulu.com/maurive-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)
12:21 pm	WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST? How close are we to the final defiance of Antichrist against Christ? Most people expect the Antichrist to be a human being. Antichrist will be a human being, but the human being will only be a figurehead for the real Antichrist, who is a rebellious fallen angel. The rebellion of that fallen angel against God has been ongoing ever since the angels made their choice to serve God or not serve. They were all perfect when first created, knowing everything they needed to know from the first moment of their creation. They were not at all as we are, who have no recollection of our coming into existence, and no infused knowledge. We cannot remember beyond out third or fourth year, and everything we know, we learned from others who taught us. Whether or not those people knew the truth is a big factor on the accuracy of what we know. No so with angels. They knew from the beginning when they were still perfect. Scripture tells us some rebelled. “We will be as gods,” they thought. They followed the lead of one of the most powerful, most knowledgeable angel God created: Lucifer. The name means “bearer of light.” Other angels followed. They all were cast from heaven and became devils. Lucifer became “The Devil” or “Satan,” which means Adversary. Lucifer is Christ’s adversary, Christ’s rival, the real Antichrist. The human figurehead, the man we will recognize as “The Antichrist” will have freely allied himself with Satan, allowing Satan to function in human form through him. The human Antichrist will have a very short career, seven years, we’re told. His career is so short, that he will be upon us before we recognize him. The person to track, if one wants to predict the final days is Satan. Satan’s influence on the human race is mentioned all through Scripture, from Satan’s influence on the first human beings to the warnings Christ gave about Satan. Satan is the great red dragon who tried to destroy the woman and her child. Satan and the fallen angels were bound so that Christ’s Church could become firmly established. Then, Scripture warned, Satan will be released to seduce the nations. The historical question is “when was Satan released?” I think Satan was released five to six centuries ago. Satan influenced clergy to falter in their faithfulness to Christ, and used the scandal of their infidelity to encourage whole nations to rebel against the Church Christ founded. That rebellion destroyed the unity of the Church and totally destroyed the then existent Christian Political Empire. Since then, what was once Christendom, has disintegrated into separate nations that, for five hundred years, have fought war after war, each one more deadly that the preceding one, until now we are faced with a possible war of annihilation. What was once a unified Christian Church has splintered into twenty thousand conflicting sects with many conflicting opinions, so that everything Christ revealed is contradicted by at least one sect. Their arguments and rebuttals have reduced the Christian message to near chaos. The nations, today, tell us that we are in the Post-Christian era. New forms of religion, non-Christian, occult, even Anti-Christian are promoted daily. The conduct of peoples, tribes, and nations is now almost as rebellious against God as was the conduct of people before the flood. It does indeed look like all nations have been deceived. How much further will God let this deception to go? Christ has been sending messages through his mother, mostly to young children, warning us that God’s toleration of our defiance is coming to an end. Yet the nations ignore the messages just like the Israelites ignored the prophets before Christ came into the world. Maurice A. Williams author of Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)
Monday, September 19th, 2005
8:42 am	WHAT GLORY FOR GOD? The “Left Behind” series has popularized the futurist interpretation of Revelation. During the future rapture, righteous Christians are suddenly taken to heaven to rule with Jesus Christ while the unrighteous are left behind. Curious proposal that so many are caught up immediately to be with Jesus. I would have thought that very few human beings are so eminently righteous, while in this life, that they qualify for immediate acceptance into heaven to rule with Jesus. How many people do you know that are absolutely perfect, everything God wants them to be, without the slightest imperfection? I think when the proposed rapture comes; nobody will notice it because everybody will be left behind to face the tribulation. Consider what it must be like to be presented one-on-one with Almighty God. No physical body anymore, with all its limitations. Your bodies got left behind. Does your soul harbor resentment, anger, jealousy, gossip, rash judgment, prejudice, and all those peccadilloes everybody tends to ignore? Will God be pleased with our imperfections? Will we be ready, immediately, as we are, to be alongside Christ and rule with the saints? I really doubt it. All of us have heard every conceivable contradiction of what Jesus taught. Did you ever teach anybody something Jesus knows is not true? What possible excuse can you have before the one who knows? The one who will say “I gave you MY Word. Why did you not believe? What about non-Christians? They will one day be one-on-one before God just like we will. Was it something you said that caused them not to believe? Have you ever hurt someone with an unkind word, something that seemed small to you but had a really negative effect on that person? Which one of us is so perfect that we can immediately rule with God, as we are, without the slightest rehabilitation? When we die, we will all be presented before God outside of time because we have left our physical bodies behind. In a situation where time is no longer relevant, since, among other things, God is not bound by the dimension of time, God will cause us to purge our own defects, if we are willing, in a self-awareness process that would take many years if we were still in our bodies; but, in eternity, this happens outside of time. I think the main reason that we, ourselves, experience purification is because we do not loose our identity as persons. It was each one of us that had imperfections. It will be each one of us, the very same persons, who will become absolutely perfect without losing our identity. It will be then, and only then, that we will be fit to RULE with Christ as one of God’s saints. Should any one of us balk, resist, refuse to become what God created us to be, our resentment against the person who created us and wants out total and willing, our free obedience, will turn to hatred. If unchecked by us, our hatred will become an overpowering hatred, unchecked by time, eternal, an eternal hatred for God who wants our free obedience. This will be our individual private judgment. There will be another judgment at the end of the world when our bodies will be raised and reunited with our souls. That will be a public judgment, the final judgment. I think the notion of less-than-perfect persons, joined immediately with Christ, coming back to Earth to kill and send to eternal damnation, persons less perfect than they, just doesn’t ring well in my ears. God wants salvation not vengeance. Sure, there are some whose hatred and defiance will merit punishment, but I think, in the final days, God wants a harvest of repentant souls from all races, all nations, from sources you never dreamed of. All that’s really left behind is the presumption, self-righteousness, and intolerance, that all of us, in varying degrees, are afflicted with. Maurice A Williams author of Prophet and Historian: John and Josephus 1411627091 A companion volume to "The Last Disciple" hppt://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams http://www.geocities.com/mauricewms2003 (Comment on this)