WE INTERRUPTED THIS MESSAGE ON THE WOMAN OF MYSTERY IN OUR FEBRUARY ISSUE; IN ORDER TO INSERT A MESSAGE PREACHED WHILE THE DESERT STORM WAR WAS GOING ON. WHAT WE INSERTED, JUST SORT OF BROUGHT THE MIDDLE EAST PICTURE UP TO DATE PROPHETIC WISE; AND ALLOWS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR READERS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHY THE MIDDLE EAST IS IN SUCH A TURMOIL AT THIS PRESENT TIME. WE HAVE SEEN THAT GOD IS CLEARING THE WAY AND GETTING ISRAEL INTO POSITION TO GET THE REST OF HER LAND BACK. SHE HAS TO HAVE IT BACK IN HER CONTROL BEFORE THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL CAN BECOME A FULLING REALITY; BECAUSE THE FIRST HALF OF THAT WEEK OF YEARS WILL BE A TIME OF PEACE; AND THE LAST HALF, ISRAEL (THE WOMAN) WILL BE RUNNING FOR HER LIFE, GETTING AWAY FROM THE WRATH OF THE ANTICHRIST, WHEN HE KILLS THE TWO PROPHETS OF CHAPTER 11, AND DETERMINES TO RID THE EARTH OF JEWS.

WE DO WANT TO KEEP OUR SERIES OF MESSAGES RUNNING THOUGH, UNTIL WE PROJECT THIS BIBLE PICTURE ALL THE WAY INTO THE NEW CITY, RECORDED IN REVELATION, CHAPTER 21; SO AT THIS POINT WE WILL PICK UP WHERE WE INTERRUPTED OUR FEBRUARY MESSAGE. WE WERE LOOKING AT A PROPHECY IN ISAIAH 49, VERSES 11-21; AND WE WERE READY TO READ VERSE 14. WE WILL REREAD VERSES 11-13, AND THEN CONTINUE WITH THE COMMENTS AS WE GET BACK TO VERSE 14.

ZION SAYS: THE LAND ITSELF SPEAKS

You can look at your February issue, page 5, and catch up with where we are. Isa. 49:11 says,“And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. (12) Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. (13) Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” God is going to show mercy unto His afflicted nation. Verse 14, takes on a different tone. Zion begins to speak. Zion is the mountain area on which Jerusalem, the city of God sits. This spot was chosen by King David; and in a sense he chose it because of its strategic importance; but he was divinely guided by God Himself, to take it from the Jebusites. God caused him to do a certain thing; and right there is where God chose to place His name. Just notice how this prophecy is speaking in behalf of this geographical spot, Zion, and the city that sits on it. (14) “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” Since 69 A.D. when the Jews were carried away from there by their captors, there has been no Jews there singing Psalms and worshipping at the temple. That particular spot became a place for Gentiles, from that time on. Only the Lord Himself knows how the Gentile powers of the world have fought over that little piece of land. They have fussed, fought and killed for it; and for what reason? We know why the Jews want it, it is part of their inheritance; and their Capitol city. With the Jews out of there for almost two thousand years, scattered to the four winds, the land cries out, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” You certainly cannot say the land has been without habitation all this time. There have been Arabs, Greeks, French, Germans, Russians, and who knows what, dwelling there during that time. Wealthy people went there and retired; just simply to live and die in the land of sentimentality and antiquity. But Zion languished. Zion wept. Verse 15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Oh brother, God has been looking at that little spot of ground for almost 2000 years, remembering those to whom He had given it. No matter how that old city has been treated, desecrated, made to stink like a hog pen many times, God knows all about it; and He certainly knows all of those who belong there in it, and how to get them back there from wherever they may be presently. Notice verse 16, God is speaking concerning that spot and city. “Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” He has seen those walls when they were not even there. He saw them when they were rubbish. He saw them as the Crusaders rebuilt what they thought would suffice; but that is not what the Lord was looking at. He was looking at her old dimensions, where there will again be walls that will fulfill the prophetic picture the way He wants it. He even has a prophecy that tells how He is going to do it; but to do that, these other things have to be set in motion. Verse 17, I like this one. First He says, I have engraved thee upon the palm of my hand; (still talking to the land) but now, listen to this, “Thy children shall make haste; (This lets us know that is to be a generation of Jews somewhere in time, that God is to definitely deal with, to bring back to inhabit that place on Zion. There will be a time come when they will make haste to make their presence there. That is the way you have to see it.) thy destroyers and they that made thee waste (This is talking about the Arabs that live there.) shall go forth of thee.” That is the stalemate today, in the peace process in the Middle East. Israel stopped when she took Jerusalem proper. She stopped at the western wall. She would not enter the temple grounds, for fear that the whole world would pounce upon her and say, “Oh you have turned it into a holy war.” You know you cannot do that. Therefore for the sake of what world pressure might be, she stopped short. That took place 23 years ago; but at least it brought the Gentile flags down. That fulfilled what Jesus had said. No more, will Gentiles feet trod the city of Jerusalem while flying their flag there. It is just that little spot, the temple ground, that is the focal point. For the last 23 years now the bickering has been, If Israel wants peace, she must not only give up east Jerusalem, (which is the old Zion city) she must give up the territories of the west bank also. That would be basically, land belonging to the tribe of Judah. Israel, from a political standpoint, is divided. Her politicians cannot agree upon a proper stance for them as a nation to take. Never has there been an era of time that they were as divided as they are right now. They know the Arab pressure inside their society is just about to explode like a stick of dynamite. They know on one hand they have to do something, but they have world pressure whispering in their ears, You cannot do that. Unless you do thus and so, we will not do this and that. She is caught between the cross fires of what the Arabs say; and whatthe the rest of the world is saying. That is why I say, We may as well make up our mind, it takes a condition like that for God to show His hand. I want you to know, Pharaoh was not an agreeable character. He was a dirty, stinking, lying, conniving character. One minute he would be sitting crying, and saying, Go ahead, get on out of here. An hour and half later he had called his men in and forgotten all about it. You just have to realize, that if God is going to show His hand so that Israel will know assuredly, I am on your side, then He has to bring it about in a way that will cause them to recognize His hand in what takes place. They are going to triumph over the liberal, peace now philosophy that says, Give up, give back, go back, anything just to have peace. It will not work that way. God will not let it go that way. That is why He will bring about conditions that will require the governors of Judah to be compelled to get their heads together and look at their existence, and their future, from the standpoint of, We either do thus and so and survive, or we compromise and eventually be nothing. Time just in front of us, will tell what that will all lead to. This prophecy thrills my soul though; just listen to how it is worded. (17) “Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.” You know, as well as I do, that this is not going to be brought about in an election. This is not a picture of the Israeli parliament saying to the east Jerusalem Arabs, We will give you an option. We are going to have a free election, so you can vote to stay, or you can vote to leave. Such an idea is pure nonsense. Those Arabs that are in that east city are definitely determined that they are going nowhere. Do not forget, when this thing started back in December 1987, it started in Old Jerusalem and the Gaza strip, the two areas pertaining to the prophecy of our hour of time. Right where it started is where the prophecy said they would eventually leave. Therefore that lets me know, George Bush, Jim Baker, Gorbachev, nor anyone else in the west, is ever going to change the picture through negotiations. It can look like it is not going to be according to this prophecy; but I imagine, that if you had stood in Pharaoh’s court and heard the conversation between Moses and him, you would probably have said it looked pretty dark then also. When God got through working in the situation, that bunch of Egyptians were ready to say, Go ahead, get out of here. Leave. The quicker you go, the better. When this thing is just right, those Arabs are going to leave east Jerusalem; because there will be nothing left for them to do but get out of there. They are going to leave the Gaza strip also, just as sure as you are sitting here listening to me say so.

WHY JEWS ARE GOING HOME

I really like this next verse. Did you ever drive down a country road and see an old farm house that looked more or less deserted? As you looked it over, you could see that at one time it had been a beautiful homestead. Maybe two stories, wrap around porch, a house that could have accommodated a large family. You say in your mind, A well to do family was raised there. Maybe two, three, or four generations of people have been born in that house. You said, If that house could talk, it would no doubt have a story to tell. That is what Zion is doing. This prophecy tells us Zion has a story to tell. (Isaiah 49:18) “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, (the city shall clothe herself with them all) as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.” This pertains to Jews coming home in an appointed time. Jews that are ordained by God to eventually inhabit the new occupation. It will be Jews coming home with a vision. Jews coming with an outlook, we are coming because our Messiah is coming. We want to beautify the city. The Arabs could not care less how it stinks; because they have no prophecy that encourages their heart to do anything for the city; but the Jews do have. In that appointed time, when those Jews that are ordained to be its new inhabitants do come home, they come with a vision. They will not just come expecting a free ride, they will have something to contribute to the overall picture. The prophecy is telling how the city should clothe herself with them as though they were ornaments. She will adorn herself with them. (19) “For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.” Because of these prophecies, there is destined to come a great mass exodus, and flow of immigrants into the land of Israel. Russia, and our the State Department is telling Israel, Now this aid we are giving you, you cannot use it to establish these new immigrants in the west bank and occupied areas. That includes east Jerusalem, the old city. Well regardless of what anyone says, this prophecy tells us they are going to do just exactly what they are cautioned not to do. By that, we know that somewhere on up the road there is going to be some diplomatic, political shaking taking place. I cannot help but believe, that when the hand of God has shaken this other thing and got it all lined out the way He wants it, we will see some action here. When that door is propped open so that it fulfills that part, then He is going to start preparing the land to really receive the influx. It will be very interesting to see what happens here; for what I have just read, plainly tells us how that in that hour the land will be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed it up shall be far away. That lets us know that the new population of Jews that are eventually to settle that city, will be so many, that it goes on and tells us in this next verse how they will cry, Make place for me. (20) Notice, “The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.” Let me tell you in my words, what this is actually saying. The population that will occupy you when you are restored, shall be greater in number than that society that occupied you when you were destroyed and carried away from here. That is what it means. I am a seed of David also; so I want to live in this city. When we see that take place, it can help us understand why the rural areas of Judah had to be reestablished first. That establisheds a foothold; an area of protection, so that when God does fulfill the city part everything will be as it should be. We will realize that this is a picture of the reestablishing of the whole house of Israel; not just the two southern tribes. It comes about, all at the same time. (21) “Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, (This is Zion speaking) and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?” That is how she has been for the last 1900 and some years. Not desolate because of not having people dwelling there, but because it was not Jewish people. Brothers and sisters, when you and I live in a generation that is privileged to see all of this coming up, it is almost like projecting a picture on a screen that is a little out of focus. All it needs is to be brought into focus. At a certain time, it will all clear up. It is still a blurred object now; but after awhile, the projector brings it all into perspective with a proper focus. Then you will look at it and have to say, How beautiful it is. We are living in the hour of time, and the generation of this world, that will see all of this come about. Yes, Zion the city, will say, Where have these been? They have been in a lot of different places; but now they are home, praise God. They are right where their Creator wants them to be, at this present time.

IT IS TIME FOR A RENOVATION

We could go a little further in the rest of this 49th chapter; but I want to take you to the 60th chapter of Isaiah. This is the chapter that deals with the building of Jerusalem, beautifying, renovating, building the temple, and getting everything set for the coming of their Messiah. The temple cannot be built in a city that is hostile to such a thing. That is why the three fourths Arab population has to go. The Jews know it; but they also know that world political pressure will not let a thing like that be done before the proper time. When the time is right, the Jews will be pressured by the hand of God to do it; and when those Arabs are out of there God will show Himself in such a marvelous way. As we look at this 60th chapter, it covers the same period of time, so let me just go right to verse 9. You can read the preceding verses, because all of it is pointing to this period of time in which we live. Here, is what verse 9 says, “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee.” What is God talking about, He hath glorified thee? That Means, He has taken possession of old Jerusalem. He is getting the city ready to take on that renovating era wherein that city is going to be beautified and renovated for the coming of the Messiah. Then, as that city goes ahead in that great renovation, the temple will also be started. Remember this, God said He will shake all nations. He will shake everything that can be shaken. What will He shake all nations for? To line them up, and set everything in order for the fulfillment of His word. He will shake A-L-L nations; not just the Communistic part of the world. He is going to shake Uncle Sam so badly, it will cause a lot of people to do drastic things. Naturally I do not know what our shaking will incorporate; but this country will be shaken like you have not seen before. God will shake the high places, He will shake the low places, He will shake the Arabs, and the whole Middle East, until He gets everything lined up for the finish. As God promised to shake all nations remember this, that shaking is not something that happens in six months; and then everyone can take a breathing spell. This shaking is something that keeps going on, evolving, bringing about sudden changes you never thought could have been possible. Suddenly there it is. All of that shaking will eventually lead to the fact that God is establishing peace. Peace to what? The whole earth. What has man been trying for the last forty years to do? Establish his own carnal, lucrative, bureaucratic era of peace. God only knows the numbers of innocent people that have suffered and lost their lives, to carry out some of the diabolical, political schemes that have been presented under the disguise of peace. The millions that have been spent, just literally taken away from poor people, to carry on these miserable programs of self centered politicians have not gone unnoticed by the Creator. There is a payday coming. That is why God has let them go. He has let them do their little thing, and they think they are going to keep on going. One of these days He will reach out and strike something and begin to set it in motion the way He wants it to be. There is truly going to be a Jewish temple built; and it will be built upon the very spot of ground where the first temple stood, regardless of what world opinion may be right now. If there is going to be a temple built, what is it built for? It is going to be built for a Messiah to sit in, and rule from. Not a carnal one, but the one God’s word speaks of. That temple will not be built in the midst of an old dilapidated run down hog smelling cesspool, like it is now. You would need to have been there yourself, to know what I mean when I say that. Those who have occupied that land for centuries, have not been concerned with maintaining the beauty, the majestic splendor that God will require for the Messiah to come to. God is going to beautify that city, and He will not be forty years in doing it. It tells us right here in the Bible how He is going to do it. Let me read this verse 9, again. “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.” After reading in the Jerusalem Post, how Israel was seeking to establish direct flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow, to help bring the immigrants home, it let me know, this is not just a nonchalant happening, it is serving a prophetic purpose of God. Russia does not know what is really taking place; and neither do most of the one’s that are involved in making the arrangements to facilitate the immigration; but we know what it will all eventually lead to; because we see it in God’s word. Hallelujah! Even knowing what we know, I believe we all may be in for a surprise, as time gets closer to the hour for God to wrap the whole thing up. One thing we do know though, is that this shaking will lead to the reshaping of world thinking; and to the eventual rebuilding of Jerusalem, renovating it, dedicating it, and getting it ready for the appearing of their Messiah; and for a Messianic reign. Verse 10 says, “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.” This is not talking about Jews; nor is it talking about 13 year old kids either. Who are the the sons of strangers that will build up the walls? It is professional contractors, professional construction men who have modern, twentieth century equipment and ability. Once that old Jerusalem is in the hands of the Jews, and the world is made to know it is now Jews who have the say so, you will see a completely different picture. You are going to see the hand of God work in such an outstanding way, Gentiles will know that God is on the side of the Jews. They will plainly see Him working on their behalf. He will be fulfilling things in Israel; and those who recognize what is happening will want to have a little part in it. When the six day war was going on, and the Jewish relief agency was having their drives to collect money, Hollywood actors, and people from all walks pledged money. (I know they do not live right; and that they cannot buy salvation; but God can cause the richest men on earth to walk up and say, I will give a million dollars to the cause of Israel.) Why will they do such a thing? Because as the Lord prophesied through Haggai saying, (Haggai 2:7) “And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts,” this lets us know what the end result of all of this shaking will be. If it were left up to politicians to build that city, they would take up the next hundred years trying to decide what kind of tax they need to put upon the working people to raise the money for it; but when God does it, He just creates a condition that shows His hand, and you will have Gentile construction men, and wealthy people of every sort saying, I will dedicate my resources for six months to help with that work. Suddenly some will say, I am going to Israel! Others will say, Why, to do what? To help rebuild Jerusalem. Why? There is something going on and I want to have a little part in it. Will that bring about a world conversion? Absolutely not. We do not look at it that way. This will just be God’s way of getting the job done. But why will He look to worldly people to do His work? Why not? If, as the Bible says, all the silver and gold belongs to God, and He has allowed them to use it in this life, why should He not get a return from it? It is not a matter of anyone buying salvation or favor with God; that only comes through personal faith and trust in the finished work at Calvary; it is just a simple matter of God using what is His. Just as Isaiah prophesied, “And their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, (That is what He did.) but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.” Rumania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, all those Communist states that was so locked up with Russia, as soon as they threw out the Communist system and established their own, they immediately contacted Israel to set up diplomatic relationships. For what reason? A few little Jews in every one of those nations, and now they are standing out, because they know they have the opportunity to go home. Those new governments are going to stand by, to see that they get to go there. I like this next verse, verse 11. “Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.” This is not referring to armies of military forces. This is material forces, material means, material equipment. Why? Everyone has his eye on something in that hour. As the little song says, Something is going on in Mt. Zion. I love that little song. There is something going on in Mt. Zion; and it is going to cause the world, one day, to sing. The Mafia will not rejoice; but if God wants them to give up some of that filthy money, He sure knows how to get hold of it. In other words, elements of the world, for a period of time, are going to bring their material means to the Jews, for them to use. The next verse lets us know how God looks upon Israel in that hour when He has gathered them homhome for the fulfillment of His purpose. (12) “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. (That is the end result.) The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, (What in the world does Lebanon have left now, after all she has gone through with? Let us read further.) the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; (That is the temple.) and I will make the place of my feet glorious.” (still talking about His temple.) What is the glory of Lebanon? When we were there, we learned that high on the Lebanese mountain range, ten thousand feet above sea level, is an ancient national park. They claim there are so many ancient cedars, and they say they are close to five thousand years old. Of course you cannot prove that by me; but these cedar trees are old; and they are the remains of what was once the giant cedar forest that King Solomon got the cedars from, as well as ship builders along the Mediterranean, for hundreds of years. I have read a little about that cedar forest. In order to preserve it, not to lose the identity of what that particular forest was known for, Lebanon turned it into a national park. There is no more timber cutting in there. They still talk about the oldest cedar trees on the face of this earth, growing on top of the Lebanese mountain range. Therefore if God wants a few cedars, you have to realize, He will not have to get them from the state of Washington; nor the state of Colorado. Somehow or other, someone in Lebanon, (not the street cleaners, but Lebanese government officials) when they see what the hand of God is doing in Israel, and how it is all coming about, will want to have a part in it. God is going to force nations to say within their political decision making, We want to have a little part in this thing that is going on. This scripture goes on and tells us how the city will be rebuilt, and how the temple is going to be built. Let us go ahead and read this scripture pertaining to the temple. The 16th verse tells us how God will treat the Gentile forces; but we may as well read the other verses that go with it. (Isaiah 60:14-17) “The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee; The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (15) Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. (16) Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. (17) For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.” What does it mean, “Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles?” When you put that in proper language for our day, that does not mean He is going to turn the dairy herds over to them. He will just cause them to commit their economic potential to Israel for a little while. As you consider the temple and its contents, just keep in mind, it is not a large building. You are not looking at a huge building that will take years to build; you are looking at a beautiful building; that could be built in just a few short months. That is what you need to realize. Notice also that all of the former material used will be upgraded. “For brass I will bring gold, (Now King Solomon used a lot of brass in the making of door knobs and things like that. Whatever King Solomon used in making beautiful brass ornaments and such like, this temple is going to be replaced with gold which of a much greater value.) and for iron (for iron that rusts.) I will bring silver, and for wood (Yes, where they formerly used wooden beams, He would bring something of greater quality) brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.” Brothers and sisters, we know in ancient times the buildings had stones, with their walls ever so thick. That is the way they did it. However for this latter house He will bring Iron But why did He say, for stone He would bring iron? Look at the Empire State Building. That thing is built of iron piling driven deep down into the ground, and then that steel girder work goes up, to form the structure of the dimensions of the building, and then that is veneered with Bedford limestone. I read that in an article. The best quality of limestone in the world comes from up here in Bedford. Can you not just almost see them driving the piling for a temple. Instead of building a wall ever so thick with just stone, you put down the iron, and then prefab the rest of it. That will not take many truck loads of that kind of stone, to prefab such a structure.

WHAT COMES NEXT AFTER THE SHAKING?

We will return to Revelation 12:6, now that we have examined some of the events that need or needed to transpire between verse 5, and verse 6 where the woman is seen fleeing into the wilderness on the two wings of an eagle. We have titled this message, The Woman of Mystery of Revelation 12, because for centuries of time church people have debated about who the woman is. Well we know who the woman is, who the man child of verse 5 is, and why the woman is pictured fleeing into the wilderness in verse 6; but we do not know the exact time when verse 6, will be fulfilled. We do not need to know the exact time; but there are some prophecies of the scriptures that must be fulfilled before then; and that is what we have been looking at. We have seen how, in the last 40 some years God has been fulfilling prophecies related to how He would bring Jews back from dispersion; and we know why they need to be back in the land; that is the only place where they can hear the two prophets of chapter 11, that will appear there when this Gentile age is drawing to a close. Verse 5 was fulfilled when the Jesus the Christ was received up into heaven in a cloud, after His resurrection from the dead. He fulfilled the promises of the scriptures concerning a coming Messiah to Israel; but the nation as a whole rejected Him as their Messiah; and opened up the way for us (Gentiles) to become partakers of a great blessing from God; a plan whereby lost sinners of every race may have opportunity to become loving sons of the living God. Let us read the first five verses of chapter 12 again, to get them fresh in our mind; and then we will continue on with the rest of the thought. (Revelation 12:1-5) “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: (2) And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (3) And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” (We have thoroughly covered that; and I believe every one of you have had a chance to understand that all of this description has been represented in the Roman Empire as it passed through various stages of evolution; as it evolved from what it was before the birth of Christ, to what it is today, with the Roman Catholic pope sitting in the seat of the old caesars, just awaiting the hour when he will conduct himself as they did in centuries past. (4) “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (the woman being the nation of Israel, and the child the baby Jesus) “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” The Romans crucified Him; but it was the Jewish Sanhedrein court that condemned Him to death. They were the ones that stood in the streets crying, Crucify Him, Away with Him, Let His blood be upon our shoulders, and upon our children. For two thousand years, generation after generation of Jews in various nations of the world have been persecuted. Many of them no doubt have wondered, Why are we so persecuted, what did we ever do to deserve to be treated like this? Their ancient forefathers brought it upon them; when they cried, Let His blood be upon our shoulders, and upon our children. Jewish people, are a proud race of people. I am not saying these words to humiliate any Jew, if he or she should ever read this or see this video. We are living now, 1900 and some years after the descent of the Holy Ghost, which came on the day of Pentecost, in an upper room in Jerusalem. That experience was first given to Jews that would receive it. God set in motion the fulfillment of something; and even today it is not completely fulfilled. Certain Jews received and accepted that prophetic blessing; but the nation as a whole rejected it. Then God gave it to the Gentile people, to fulfill scriptures that related to you and me. The Jews do not yet understand why Gentiles received Jesus Christ as their Savior, when the Jews could not see Him as their Messiah. Well the apostle Paul explained how blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Well we have just about run our course. Gentiles have just about had their last call. Jesus is still on the mercy seat; but the fast way so many prophecies are now being fulfilled, He is destined to soon step forth with the little scroll open in His hand, calling for those whom He has redeemed with His own blood. When that time comes, the Holy Spirit will from that time forth to the end, work exclusively with Jews. No Gentile will even have an opportunity to believe the gospel and be saved. For 1900 and some years, we have had the gospel of Jesus Christ; just about as long as the Jews had the Law dispensation and the prophets, from the call of Abraham to the birth of Christ. Our time is running out. Yet you cannot tell the Gentile church world time is running out; they are still looking for a great worldwide revival. All you have to do is look across the waters, at what is going on in Israel; and if you know your Bible, you will know that Gentile time is running out. We realize of course, that many of the Jews that are there in Israel today, are as secular minded as any Gentile anywhere. They are not there to get ready for a Messiah; they just want a place, a nation where they are economically and racially allowed to function as a people, and be left alone. Well that is one standpoint; but we realize that all scriptures have to be fulfilled. We can see from the past forty years, how prophecies of Isaiah, Zechariah, and those have come about, by the regathering and birth of the nation, up until now, and as we brought in about prophecies that are now in the making, of bringing back the rest of the remnant of Israel, basically the ten northern tribes, somewhere in front of us in a little short interval of time, and then this will all lead to the rebuilding of Old Jerusalem, cleaning it up, restoring it back to its original city of glory, as it is supposed to be for the coming of the Messiah, as well as the building of the temple. At that time, as we have already shown you from the prophecies, the people now that occupy that old part of the city, which we know also, are Arabs, for some reason or other, they are going to have to pick up and leave. The world will say, You just simply cannot do that; those people were born there. Well the world is not running everything else; and they have already said what they want to do; but God Himself is running this; and He is going to show some people what it is like, when prophecies of the scriptures are fulfilled in a way no one can deny that it is the hand of God doing it. As we stated some time back, this verse 1, of Revelation 12, is a panoramic picture of the nation of Israel, through all time; coming from the Law Age, right on into her Millennial glory. From the time they rejected their Messiah and God cut them off and scattered them, the Jews have existed only as a people, not as a nation. However for the last forty some years He has been bringing them back, getting them ready to pick up verse 6. They have got to be restored as the real nation, geographically and spiritually, to be in a position for verse 6 to be a reality. Therefore as we see her (Israel) in this heavenly scene, this is God’s unique way of telling a whole story with one picture, to those who will allow the Holy Spirit to open their eyes to see and understand truth. Seeing her clothed in the sun, lets us know that this is her glory in the Millennium age which is just ahead. That is when Israel will shine as the nation in which God, ruling in and reigning in and through the person of His Son, the Messiah, draws the attention of the whole world; and knowledge shall go forth from the Lord, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. All nations shall flow unto Jerusalem to worship the Lord of hosts. For the sake of what some critics may be led to say concerning the Zionist movement, I want to say this, Yes, I too know what the Zionist movement has been. I know what their philosophy was, according to their own writings. They were going to try to fulfill prophecies based solely upon a carnal objective. Well God let certain parts of it come about, to set in motion certain things that He wanted to use; but when that objective reached a certain point, He just simply reached out and cut it off. There will be a Messianic reign in Israel; but Israel as a nation, will not reign over Gentiles. That is right. Jews will not rule over Gentiles. To the Jew who would hear me, your Zionist philosophy that the Jewish nation will rule the world, is not according to the plan of God. Your own prophets have prophesied how it is to be. It is the Jewish Messiah that will rule the world; not the Jewish people. Furthermore your Jewish Messiah will not be a mortal man that you have selected; It is going to be one who is immortal, coming back to earth from above, where He has been for the past almost two thousand years. The one your forefather’s rejected two thousand years ago, and crucified, putting scars in His side and in His hands, one day will be asked by you, Whence come these? He will say to you, In the house of my friends, I received these scars. The one you crucified is the very one who will be your Messiah; and you will not dictate to Him where He is to rule. He will tell you where you belong; and He will have a Gentile wife which at this time, you do not even see. His wife will not be bureaucrats, elected by a Gentile bureaucracy. She too will be an immortal people. They will come from heaven with Him; and they are divinely appointed by the God who chose her to be the wife of His Son. Through His wife, which is His true Church, which you Jews also fail to see, the Gentiles will be ruled. That is God’s theocracy government, the way it is set up in the Bible.

ANOTHER PANORAMIC VIEW–WHAT IS IT?

As we look at this great red dragon in verse 3, we understand that this also is a panoramic view of something else. It represents the Roman Empire from its beginning all the way through to its ending. It is pictured as a great red dragon because of that conquering and devouring spirit that has always been present in it. When the Roman Empire first came upon the scene, it did not yet have seven heads nor ten horns; but it was still called a beast nonetheless. As I stated before, We have to associate those other characteristics as connected to the various evolution that took place through political changes. As we are made aware of this reflection in the heavens, we need to realize that whatever the heavens reflect, somewhere down on earth geographically, it has to come into fulfillment. Have you ever stopped to think, that for the past forty years while Israel has been in the process of being restored, and enjoying her rebirth as a nation, a nation out of which a certain element will flee from the clutches of the Antichrist, there has been another restoration taking place also. During that same time there has been a move in the air bringing about the reviving and restoration of the Roman Empire, just as prophecy said it would be. It was Rome before there was a Christ. It was Rome when there was a Christ. It was Rome after He was crucified and taken away. It was Rome when the Church was born in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. It was Rome that ruled right on into the Dark Ages; and Rome will again rule, just as she did in the Dark Ages. The point we need to be sure we understand, is HOW Rome ruled during the Dark Ages, when Roman rule was no longer seen in the form of the ancient caesars. It was through the power of the Roman clergy. They were first called bishops, then popes; but their form of rulership was just as diabolical as any Roman Caesar that ever lived. Bro. Jackson, why are you always talking about the Catholic Church? How else can I help you, if I do not tell you the truth? I am not talking about individual Catholic people; I am talking about a system of religion that is as diabolical as the Mafia; and affects the lives of more people than the Mafia could ever touch. Any person that will close their eyes to history, and try to look somewhere else for the antichrist, is scripturally blind and insensitive to truth. I say that, realizing that some doctor of divinity might get hold of a paper or a tape; and want to take issue with what we teach. I do not argue with anyone about these things; but if anyone is willing to bring a Bible, and try to convince me by the scriptures that I am wrong, I can be easily found. Ever since WW2 ended, we have been witnessing the restructuring of the continent of Europe, and today all those horns are there, economically and politically tied to the geographical area that was once part of the Roman Empire. When the Reformation struck the world around 1520 A.D., it was the sword of God coming against that power that kept all of Europe in such a state of darkness and bondage. What was it directed against? The power of the papacy of course. It was that papal head that was wounded by a sword with what looked like a deadly wound; but was healed. First came Martin Luther with the revelation that the just, or justified shall live by faith in God, not by the power of the pope of Rome. Then there came Huss, Swingley, John Knox, Calvin, and finally a man by the name of John Wesley, out of the church of England, a system of religion that was half sister to Roman Catholicism, adding an even more deadly blow to that already wounded head. These Reformation preachers attacked the power of the hierarchy of Rome enough, that when in 1887 A.D., Napoleon of France dethroned the pope and declared that there would never be another pope sit in that chair, that would have power to exercise authority over the temporal heads of Europe, it looked like the power of the papacy was a thing of the past, never to be reinstated. According to secular history, from that time until just a few short years ago, the popes were little more than just figure heads. Through the order of the Jesuit priest, Catholicism still carried on their underhanded political tactics, always trying to undermine those who did not bow to their dictates; but the power of the pope was no more a threat. They pit system against system, waiting their hour and time to come out on top. When WW2 was fought, no matter what good deeds you may have read about, that Catholic nuns or priests did in a humanitarian way, it was all in the interest of the spirit of that system. That has been their tactics for centuries. They will build a hospital and give medical service to all kinds of people in a humanitarian way, just for the chance to undermine the politicians of that city; and twist their politics around so their purpose will be served. Can you honestly tell me that true Christianity has any calling from God to do such things? Is that the way to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? You know it never was meant to be so. I am not against helping needy people; I am just against anyone trying to buy human souls with such carnal tactics. It is all a front, a disguise. Anyhow the pope is back in the place where he needs to be, in order to fulfill his role in prophecy for the future. When the reformation struck Europe, and Napoleon did what he did, that fulfilled Revelation 13:3 “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; (Then when Europe was restored and the pope brought back into the spotlight, we can see how the rest of that verse fits the occasion.) and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” It is in history, that even Catholic writers, after Napoleon had done that, wrote one article that said, (I have copies of it.) The power of the papacy is wounded, and not one finger is lifted to heal the wound. After that, the horns of Europe, France, Germany, Belgium, were all free to do as they pleased. That old pope is not going to tell us where we can go and what we can do any more. That was the era of colonialism. Our young people read all about colonialism in school today. Do you know what allowed it to be? The wounding of the power of the pope. Then that is why we had WW1. It set the stage. It turned the tide. Then when WW2 came, mankind was moving close to a point where prophecy must again pick up; so God pressed the button that released the time mechanism; and the old clock started ticking again. When WW2 came to a close, what has the past forty some years been? The release of those ten horn nations of Europe from all their colonial territories throughout the world. England came home from India. The Dutch came home from the Dutch East Indies. France came home from Vietnam. Belgium came from the Congo. Germany came from central Africa. Portugal came away from that little place, Bangladesh, Pakistan. Why? Because they all must come home, bringing their power back home for the fulfillment of these end time prophecies. God was weakening them to such a point that the only time they will ever shine again, is in the hour of Revelation 13. Therefore for the past forty years, while Israel, as a nation, has been rising to a restored position, Europe has slowly been reconstructed also. When their power of colonialism was cut off over here in these other areas, it only forced them to come home and be realigned in the continent of Europe. Therefore a year ago, when President Bush went to the NATO conference in Brussels, and stood there making his speech, he said words that fit right into prophecy. At that time he was going to offer Gorbachev this sort of gesture, If you will be prepared to pull back certain conventional forces and you will go that far, we will take out of Europe so many thousands of troops also, as a token that we believe Europe can be rid of all this massing of armament, and the fear of another war. As the ten horn nations sat there listening to him, every one of their leaders were smiling. There seemed to be a unified spirit come on that gathering. The words were said, Greater Europe is in the making. That is a twentieth century name for the beast of Revelation 13. When you read it, (Rev. 13:1) “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” That is the same old Roman Empire that had went down, wounded and defeated, in the closing of the Dark Ages; and it stayed in that wounded state for a hundred and some years. Now they are all unified and tied together once again. Every last one of these political leaders, when it comes time to make a move of some kind, the first thing they do is run to the Vatican and talk with the pope. Saints, I want you to know, The Vatican is not God’s holy seat. The Vatican is not God’s church headquarters. It is Satan’s strong hold. The pope sits today in Rome, right where Caesar Augustus and Tiberius and Claudius, and Nero used to sit. It is the same spirit of Satan, only his men wear a different cloak. The caesars were temporal powers; and the pope represents ecclesiastical power; but they are all of the same spirit. The pope of Rome is not looking for the coming of Jesus. He might let you think he is, but behind the scene, he does not believe this world is ever going to be ruled by the Messiah, the way you and I believe it. As we see Europe coming to the surface and entering this era she is destined for, she has not yet come to the point of requesting that the pope become the administrator of this new, greater Europe envisioned for mankind; but she will. Remember the article I read last year, written and compiled by a bunch of Charismatic church men, and a copy sent to the pope, suggesting that he receive the Prince of Peace Award. That is how this carnal minded church world thinks today. We hear much today about men receiving This award or That award; especially the Nobel Peace Prize; but that is not what they are suggesting the pope receive. It is another type of prize altogether. They envision that this should be brought about, at least by two years from the time that letter was written. Well we know already, that the economic market has 1992 as their focal year for setting things in motion. We can see how, for the past forty years the west has fortified Europe, and spent millions of dollars rebuilding it financially, and we can see what it is all leading to. As I sat watching, when President Bush made the speech suggesting what he did, I said, Europe will never fight another war among themselves. Fighting is gone from them. They have no will to fight any more. Why? They see a new era. They actually want to be brother helping brother. They are yielding themselves to this vision. As they yield themselves to this, you cannot help but see it is a Europe in which economists are now saying, Europe is the next great industrial power the world will be forced to contend with. The United States is a dying industrial nation. Europe is coming alive now, as the new world order our President spoke of, is being ushered in. As Europe came on with this, just all of a sudden, within the same year of time, as Europe was beginning to rejoice with such a hope, what happened? The hand of God began to strike the great Communist empire. The thing that had stood there as a scare crow for forty years, making Europe do what she has been doing, all of a sudden God just reached out and blew it all to pieces. That is why I say, You Assemblies of God, and you charismatic preachers who have preached for years that Communism is the Antichrist, where is your revelation now? Even Gorbachev had to come and stick his cheek against the pope, like they were brothers. Something is wrong somewhere down the line.

THE POPE, WESTERN EUROPE, THE ANTICHRIST, WHO IS WHO?

Of course the pope is playing it very cool these days; just like the others before him always have. That is the spirit of Rome. When we see all these other things that will be done in that terrible time, it is not that the pope is that smart, it is just that the world economists, world politicians, are the instruments that Satan anoints and inspires; and they hand it over to him. When he gets their heads all together, they come out with this beastly, carnal, world system. It is their utopia, their era of peace and tranquility upon the earth. Oh praise the Lord, they say. Well I know what it says in Revelation 13; it plainly tells you there, that John saw that one head wounded with a deadly wound; but the wound was healed. Oh you religious character that think you have the answer to everything, tell me this, When and where was it wounded? It was sure not wounded in Russia, nor New York City, nor Tokyo. Wherever it was when it was wounded, when it comes back up out of that water, that is where it will be. That gets them. When you take Roman Catholicism from 500 A.D. and bring it through the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, you see the power of the Roman clergy, and then the power of the pope growing, conquering, subduing, becoming fierce, abominable and diabolical. Even their own writers speak against what they were. That is why in the past forty some years, the Roman Catholic Church has tried to take a lot of the writings of their old writers out of the libraries. They would like to rid the libraries of the records of some of their old writers that wrote those dark pages of their past history. Whatever conditions were back there, that is what still lies ahead for the world. In Daniel, chapter 7, where you see that Roman beast come up, and then you see how it eventually had ten horns come upon it, those ten horns are the territories of old Rome in its geographical makeup. The interesting thing though, is the little horn that came up in the midst of those ten. It exalted itself above its fellows. It had eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. That horn was not a national horn, it was the power of the Roman Church over secular state. That is the picture you get of the Roman Empire in the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, centuries. I am not shooting you history in the exact dates. We have repeated it enough, until sometimes my mind has so much history in it, I can hardly think of anything else. That is why we printed the message, From Rome to the Vatican, you can take that tour, but you still have not gone anywhere. You just went from one building to another, still in the same city. It is still the same devil running the show, no matter which chair he sits in. In 1990, the world is fast moving toward the hour when the horns of Greater Europe, because of conditions that will be brought about by the hand of God, will surrender their power to the power of the pope for a little short time while prophecy is being fulfilled. Just prior to that though, old Jerusalem is going to face an era, a short interval wherein she will be completely renovated, renewed from one end to the other with all new structures. The Jewish Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will not come to earth and set up His earthly kingdom in the midst of a city that looks like old Jerusalem does in its present desolate state. That is why I read the 60th chapter of Isaiah; so you could see that it is going to take on a face lift. In that short interval while it takes on that face lift, it also leads right into Israel building the new temple for their Messiah. That is why Haggai prophesied about the shaking of all things, which is going on right now; it is to eventually lead to that era when the temple is to be rebuilt. Israel today, finds it hard financially, to be able to bring this great influx of immigrants home from dispersion; so what would they do if they were suddenly faced with the era that requires them to build the temple? It is to be the most glorious building on the face of God’s green earth. That is where we have to realize why we see scriptures like the one we read in Isaiah, how the forces of the Gentiles shall be converted unto thee, and how the sons of strangers will come and build up thy walls. And the ships of Tarshish shall bring thy sons and daughters from afar, and their gold and silver with them, and their kings shall minister unto thee. Do you think that is going to bring a world wide Holy Ghost revival? No. You are not going to revive the pope. You are not going to convert Roman Catholicism. The six day war did not do it; and neither will anything else, no matter how miraculous it may be. I will tell you what the six day war did do, In six days Egypt that was set to push Israel into the sea, had been driven back across the desert. the war was over. In just six days, Israel did that; but it was obvious that God had intervened. As we talked with that certain Israeli General, a Jew out of France, he told us that he was a commander of one of the tank divisions that went through the Sinai. He himself stated that the six day war was a miracle war in which the hand of God was shown favoring Israel. He said, As we chased the Egyptians through the Sinai with our artillery and our tanks, many times as we were firing upon the Egyptians, it looked utterly impossible in the natural term of artillery potential for us to hit them, knowing what our range was supposed to be; but it seemed like every time we fired toward them, it went farther than we believed it could, and would hit its mark. Brother, that was not hard for me to believe. God just had angelic beings up there grabbing those projectiles and passing them on to their targets. Hallelujah! When God wants to turn something into a miracle war, Do not ever limit Him. He went ahead to say, Many times Israeli soldiers were known to have seen angelic beings in the desert. Saints that is just like it was back in early Bible times. We have not heard much about anything like that for a long time, out of Israel. That little war made our military men in Washington, as well as England and Europe, at least for a short while afterward, to know there was a higher power fighting for Israel. Military men of the west who knew the fields of warfare, and the technological advantages various things, knew Israel was out numbered, out gunned, and at a disadvantage in everything as far as potential ability. However God just took the little they had, (and as the song goes) Little is much if God be in it. He multiplied it ten thousand times over again, and those military men all over the world readily confessed that the hand of God was with Israel. It was the hand of God for sure! How many of those who witnessed that miracle, became Christian’s as a result of it? It never made any of them get down on their knees to repent and say, I want to be a Christian. God has His ways to make rich, mighty, kings and all, bow their heads and acknowledge that there is a God; but it does not cause very many of them to become Christian’s. In front of us, there is another condition coming up, when God will do the very same thing. Israel will have all of Jerusalem, the temple grounds and all. God will design the outcome of an unfavorable condition that will bring it about. Under pressure, various one’s of the Israeli governing body may be coerced into a compromise concerning their stand on various issues; but God will not let them go too far. The hour is to late. Those Northern tribes are not going home just for the sake of increasing Israel’s population; God is getting them ready to meet their Messiah.

A LOOK AT SOME WELL ESTABLISHED FACTS

Some may think we put too much emphasis on the Roman Empire; but I assure you, we had better not fail to watch what is taking place in that part of the world, lest we get caught sleeping while something takes place that we have been looking for. As you bring John’s vision down to an earthly, geographical application, you see it in greater Europe today. Once again the pope is slowly working his way to the head of the class, so to speak. Keep in mind, the pope is not out making speeches, threatening, Now boys you had better be good, or I am going to cook your goose. No, he is not threatening anyone; but he has done more traveling than all the other popes of any other era of time. Wherever he goes, he takes every opportunity to make speeches about world peace; and about the world sharing its wealth with poverty stricken people. He does not tell how the former popes, of the Middle Ages looked upon that kind of thing. That is why South America is in the pitiful state she is in even today; simply because the Catholic Church has held the people in darkness, poverty, and superstition, throughout past years; never allowing them the opportunity to better themselves. She has persuaded the people that riches only makes fools out of people; and that the church should control all such. As long as the church has it, then she can control the masses. She did not even care how many peasants starved to death, just as long as they were obedient to walk in her light (which is darkness) and serve her system of religion. Now, times have changed; so the pope has to approach the world from a different standpoint. He is nonchalantly awaiting his hour. No he does not know everything about the role he will play in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy; he is just doing what he believes he should do. He can look back through history and see how powerful other popes have been; and he no doubt feels that he should have more to say about the affairs of the world; but he is smart enough to know he will have to work his way into that position; and what better way is there, than to talk of peace and sharing, when multitudes are starving to death, and the whole world is crying for peace? He is getting into position for his role in the great peace covenant that is just ahead for many nations, including Israel. In the meanwhile, as Jews continue coming home from dispersion, and a rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple gets under way, a spirit will hit the Gentiles; and a certain element of them will want to contribute to what Israel is doing. That is what fulfills the prophecies we have already read, especially Isaiah 60. This will also usher in that era of time when the two prophets of Revelation 11, will appear on the scene in Israel. All of this has to go together. You will not find God fulfilling some of these end time prophecies now, and then waiting another hundred years to bring it all to a climax. It is all pointing to the same era of time; but each chapter gives certain details of things that will fit into the overall picture. Therefore when these two prophets do come on the scene, it will be during the time when Western Europe is in power. The pope will be enjoying his acceptance as the moderator of that great peace and prosperity covenant that will be signed to invoke the seventieth week of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophesied to Israel. He will have made the covenant with the nations in and around the Middle East, Israel included. That is when the great revival breaks out in Israel; as those two prophets prophesy to them of their Messiah, and of what is ahead for them. You talk about the Holy Ghost being poured out, brother it will be. Also, there will be miracles; for it says in Revelation 11:5-6, that in the days of their prophecy if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. It says these have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. That is exactly what Moses and Elijah of old did. These miracles will not be taking place world wide; they will just be basically in the Middle East; because that is where god wants the attention of the world drawn to. They will see water turned to blood, something that has not been witnessed since Moses and Aaron went to Egypt 3500 years ago, to set the children of Israel free from bondage under Pharaoh. Bro. Jackson, do you really believe that? Yes I do. You may think it is fanaticism; but it is not fanaticism to God; it is exactly what He has ordered for that hour of time. When God had all those frogs hopping in everyons’s windows, getting in bed with them, and causing an all out nuisance, it made a lot of people angry; but it served its purpose in His plan. They would go to bed at night, stick their feet down in the sheets, and there was a little old slick frog already there. Can you not just imagine the screams that were heard throughout all of Egypt during that time? That was only a part of their problem. Next came lice throughout the land. God really knows how to aggravate people when He has a reason to do so. He just literally gets under their skin. Things they cannot produce, He can. When frogs and lice did not do the job, He sent swarms of flies; and then death to their cattle, and so forth until He broke Pharaoh’s will to resist. Well those two prophets of Rev.11, are going to be doing some of those same things in Israel, getting the attention of some who might not otherwise respond to just their prophesying and witnessing. For a period of 3 1/2 years, their ministry will bring a great revival in Israel; and they will be exposing Catholicism, the Antichrist, and that beast system; so do you think the old peace loving pope is just going to ignore all of that? Not on your life. By the time that has gone on for 3 1/2 years, he will be fed up with it. He will have those two pests (That is what he will call them.) killed right in the streets of Jerusalem; and let their dead bodies lie right there in the presence of the whole world, (T.V. News coverage will make sure of that.) until God resurrects them and calls them to “Come up hither.” The pope cannot afford to ignore them any longer. He will already have Europe in his hands. He will already have the world church in his power; so why allow that to go on? What do I mean by that? Simply this, All Protestantism is going to be trotting right along in his footsteps. When it says in Revelation 13, that his deadly wound was healed, and that the whole world will wonder after the beast, that is exactly what is implied. The head was wounded by the Reformation, as those Reformation preachers hacked away at the power and authority of those old popes of the Dark Ages; so it took a returning to the old mother church by the Protestants, to bring about the healing. Not that they go back into Catholicism, but the fact that they no longer protest that Roman Catholic dogma; and they are all just one big happy, ecumenical conglomeration that can coexist with each other. That scripture says, (Rev. 13:4) “And they (The world church, so to speak) worshipped the dragon (the devil, that anoints that beast man, which is the pope, which is also called the antichrist, and the false prophet) which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” That does not mean people will literally fall down and worship the devil; it just simply means they will be so thrilled about the signing of that peace covenant, they will be saying, This is wonderful. We should have had this a long time ago. No one will dare start a war, with the holy father, as they call him, being the moderator over world situations. Why has it taken so long for us to have such a beautiful era of world peace? With Europe (which is what makes up the body of that beast) solidly behind every decision the pope makes, why would the carnal minded people of the world not say, “Who is able to make war with the beast?” The pope is going to be sitting right in the saddle. What those two prophets will be doing inside the nation of Israel will just literally upset all of the plans of those that are lined up behind the pope. At that time there will be four different elements of Jewish people. You will have the liberal, political minded element that will be responsible for selling out the nation, to cooperate with the beast system. At the same time, you will have the woman element that is seen fleeing into the wilderness to hide from the terror of the Beast, after the two prophets are killed, and the peace covenant is no longer in effect. You will also have the 144,000 servants of God that will flee into the nations of the world preaching the everlasting gospel to their brethren which are still in dispersion among the nations. If you will think about it, you will see that there are four elements of Jews during that time. The woman, and the 144,000 servants, will be sealed with the Holy Ghost. The political element that has found no time nor place for God in their lives will be marked for damnation; and many of those in dispersion (which is your fourth element) will seal their own testimony of faith and trust in God, by giving their lives in martyrdom rather than accept the mark of the beast, after those servants of God preach the everlasting gospel to them, warning them to Stay away from the beast and have no dealings with the 666 mark of the beast! Their message will not be a Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins message, it will warn them of what is coming down the road; and instruct them on how to escape damnation, admonishing them to fear God and worship Him. Let us just read it. (Rev. 14:6-10) This is the Apostle John speaking, telling what was being shown him, that would take place at a later time. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” I believe you already understand that the angels flying through the air are not the ones doing the preaching to earthly inhabitants; they are just simply anointing the 144,000 servants of God to preach the last gospel message dwellers on this earth will ever hear.

TWO BIBLE WOMEN, ONE A HOLY NATION, THE OTHER A WHORE

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When we speak of the woman of Revelation 12, we are speaking first of a nation that brought forth a man child; and then a spiritually awakened element of Jewish men and women, boys and girls that have to flee into a hiding place for the duration of the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation that is just ahead. On the other hand, when we speak of the woman of Revelation 17, we are speaking of the Roman Catholic Church, an antichrist system of religion that the word of God calls, a whore; and I might remind you that her Protestant daughters are called harlots. That system has produced harlots and abominations of the earth. As for the woman of Rev. 12:14, being given two wings of a great eagle, I am sure all of you realize that this is symbolic; there will not literally be a woman with eagle’s wings fleeing from the Antichrist forces. The woman of verse 1, verse 6, and verse 14 are all three Israel, just portrayed for different era’s of time. Verse 1, portrays her from her birth as a nation of people, all the way into the Millennium where she is clothed with her Millennial glory. Verse 5, speaks of the hour she gave birth to the man child they called Jesus, verse 6, speaks of an hour just ahead, which marks time exactly in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel. Naturally the Gentile grace age of two thousand years, is squeezed in between verses 5 and 6; and the two wings of a great eagle of verse 14, is symbolically pointing to the message delivered to her by those two prophets during the first half of that week of years. You can go to Exodus 19:4, and see how the bible refers to God’s prophets as eagles. Notice, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” It was God’s prophets Moses and Aaron, that brought the Israeli’s out of Egyptian bondage; yet the Bible refers to it as them being brought out on eagles’ wings. For you who do not know what we mean when we refer to the seventieth week of Daniel, it is that one week of years still left to be fulfilled to Israel of the seventy weeks prophesied to her, that God would deal with her because of her idolatrous ways of long ago. Of that 490 years, of the total dealings with her for her disobedience, 483 years have been fulfilled already, leaving only the one week referred to in Daniel 9:27, “And he (the antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst (or exact middle) of the week he (the antichrist) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (This is where he breaks the peace covenant and kills the two prophets; and starts an all out persecution of the Jews.) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” At the end of that week of time, Jesus will return to earth literally, with His bride Church, to pour out the wrath of God upon the wicked, judge those who are left alive at the conclusion of that, and set up His Millennial reign upon earth.

WHERE THE SEAT OF AUTHORITY IS-OF THE ANTICHRIST

I assure you, the antichrist man will come from Rome Italy; not out of Moscow, nor Antioch Syria, nor Damascus. The fact that he must come out of Rome does not mean he is a Roman born citizen; it just means that is where his authority comes from. He could be a German. Right now he is a Polish man; and it could very well remain so; I am not saying it will or will not. Most of the popes we have observed up until now have been Italian; and things did not progress very fast; but when this man went into that office, things pointing to the end time have really been on the move. That just lets us realize, Got puts up whomsoever He chooses to; and by the same token He casts down whomsoever He will. He knows what He is doing. He always sees to it that the right man is on the job, when the time comes. Regardless of whether it will be this pope or another one in his place, I can just see the pope of that hour when the two prophets begin their ministry in the nation of Israel, sitting across the Mediterranean, in Rome, Something is going on in Mt. Zion. Tom Brokaw will be there, Connie Chung will be there, Dan Rather and no telling how many more. All of the major News Networks will be there. They will no longer have their eyes on Russia. Gorbachev is an old story by that time. On the other hand though, things will really be going on in Israel. They will come on at night, Our featured story is from Israel again this evening. Today there were protests throughout all Israel as their water was turned to blood. It seems that those same two men some are calling prophets of God, are behind this latest disturbance also. We have had continuous coverage there for days now; and this thing just goes from bad to worse. It seems that nothing can stop them. This is just a little example of what will be heard on the News Networks during that time; and it will go like that for 3 1/2 years; so it is no wonder the Bible says people will rejoice over their sudden death; and that they will have nothing but praise for those who put them to death. Not the true people of God, that worldly multitude that will be doomed for damnation. In other words, when God is on the scene doing just exactly what His word says He will be doing, critics are rising to protest, smart alecs are blaspheming, and the old pope is getting more angry every day. It says fire comes out of those men’s mouths and devours those who try to harm them before they finish the work God sends them there to do. The Holy Ghost will be falling upon Jews who believe what those men will be prophesying to them. The political element of Jews will be those that try to harm them; for their anger will intensify from day to day. He will be unable to see anything worthwhile in what is going on. Naturally their mind will be on what this is costing the nation in a material sense. That is all politicians of this sort are concerned about; they could not care less about whether the God of heaven is doing it or not. They do not believe in Him; or their outlook would be different. Any time you have a revival going on, you always have a bunch of carnal people ready to rip it to pieces, finding fault with everything anyone does. While these prophets for three and one half years walk the streets of Jerusalem prophesying, they are going to expose the developments in world affairs. To one element of that Jewish society which makes up this woman, pictured right there, (on the chart) will be given understanding of the world in its political, economic, and military makeup. They are going to know that in just a short interval of time, this is all going to be over, and their Messiah is going to be here. Just as those two prophets will cause that 144,000 Jewish men to be sealed for their part in the prophetic picture, so also will the woman element be sealed for her part. She will reign with Christ in the Millennium.

WATCHING THE POPE

Let us just watch the pope in our mind’s eye, while this prophetic picture is being fulfilled to Israel. He has sat and watched this scene in Israel for 3 1/2 years; and has seen that no one could contest what those two prophets were doing without being struck down. He has watched as they shut up the heavens and would not allow it to rain; and he knew what that would do in Israel. That is going to hurt her agricultural productive capability. This means economically, she is going to have less and less to export to Europe. After so much of that, she is going to begin to have an economic deficit. She is going to begin to have economic problems beyond anything they have known to that point. That is why that political Jewish element is not going to be very happy. He has nobody to blame but those two men out there in the streets. Is that not what it was in the days of Elijah of old. He sent word to Ahab, It will not rain until I say for it to. It will not rain; and what water there is will be turned to blood. Men will go looking for water. They will dig wells for water; but to no avail. It is going to bring a hardship. It has to be that way to accomplish the full purpose of God. As the pope begins to envision this, he begins to take all of it into consideration, as to the effect it will have upon their economic agreement; and by the time three and one half years have passed, (which is the first half of that week of Daniel) God will allow him to think an evil thought. God will allow him to conclude, I have to bring this thing to an end. That is why it says in Daniel 9:27, that in the middle of that week the same man that made a covenant for a seven year period, (which is one week) will break it. Something has to cause him to do this; and it will certainly not be what is going on in Rome, that will cause it. It is what will be going on in Mt. Zion. All of that will cause a lot of problems over there. The political Jews will be crying, Our economic system is in ruins; something has to be done to stop this thing before our economic condition goes beyond the point of no return. When the pope hears that, he is going to begin to theorize, I think it is time for me to step in and bring this thing to an end. Well he is the only one that could; and he will not do anything until they have prophesied for the full appointed time. Just imagine anyone else up until this particular time, trying to reach out and hurt them: it says fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. That very simply points to the fact that they will have power to pronounce death upon them. Did not Elijah do exactly that? You know he did. In the book of 2nd Kings it will tell you what he did. As we think of this antichrist sitting there in Rome, do you think he will have any power to do anything before the middle of the week? Absolutely not. Only when God allows him, will he have power to lay a finger on them. When he does begin to think like that though, I can see him load up his international police force and head for Israel. Here comes the amphibious landing craft, well trained European troops, paratroopers, and everything else needed for modern day action in a situation like this. Only at this time, is he anointed to do what he will do; when the prophets have finished their testimony to Israel. We can read it in Rev. 11:7, “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit (That will be the spirit of the devil in the pope; it is only a spirit, that can come out of the bottomless pit; and that spirit will enter the pope; just like it entered Judas to cause him to betray Jesus.) shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” The pope and his international police force will enter Jerusalem, placing Jerusalem under international control. He will confiscate and take control of the temple. He will deny the Jews the right to offer any further sacrifice upon the altar. When he successfully accomplishes all of that, can you not just imagine the affect that will have upon the people of the world? They will be saying, I guess that shows who is the greatest. Now who will we worship? Those prophets that it seemed like no one could get to are dead; and look who took care of them. If they were really prophets of God, how come they allowed themselves to be killed like that? That no doubt, is what some of the people will be saying; but what will the pope do next? You can read it in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2; and in Daniel 11. I will just read a couple of verses from 2nd Thessalonians at this time. (2:3-4) “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, (the rapture of the Bride Church) except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” That is the kind of devil your peace loving pope turns out to be. After he successfully kills the two prophets, he will take over the Jews’ temple and literally demand worship. That scripture is all you need, to know that the temple will be rebuilt before the Millennium starts. We know by this, that it is already built when the middle of the seventieth week of Daniel arrives. Just think of it, the temple that the Jews will build for their Messiah, will first be occupied by a false Messiah; and it will be that carnal, political element of Jews that will open up the way for it. That is exactly why Jesus said in St. John 5:43 “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, (meaning the antichrist) him ye will receive.” It certainly will not be the spiritually awakened element of Jews that receive the antichrist; they will know from listening to the two prophets who this fellow is; and what he will do. That is why they flee from there until after their true Messiah has come and set everything in order for a true reign of peace. God will allow that false prince of peace to sit in the temple for the space of three and one half years; but when that comes to a close there will never be another manifestation of the antichrist. He will be bound and reserved for the lake of fire. Naturally though, the very fact that he successfully killed those two prophets that no other man could touch, convinces a willing element of the world population that he is the most powerful force there is; and they reverence him. None of those miracles manifested through the ministry of the two prophets will mean anything to the element of mankind still walking the streets; they will be too taken up by the fact that there is one present that had power over them. For the next 3 1/2 days after their execution, there will be great speculation due to the fact that they are left lying there in the street without burial. Verse 10, says, “And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.” I do not picture the street cleaners and other not so important people doing that; it will be King So and So, and this dictator, and important dignitaries of the world that will take so much delight in seeing them put to death. These are the kind of people who rejoice over developments such as that. After three and one half days, Tom Brokaw, and all the rest will no doubt still be there, when all of a sudden those two Jews stand up. Try to picture this, They will have already begun to swell, flies will be swarming all over them, and no one will want to touch them; and suddenly they just stand up; and it says great fear fell upon those who witnessed it. That in itself could cause a lot of heart attacks; but then a great voice from heaven is heard saying, “Come up hither;” and they ascend to heaven in a cloud, just like Jesus did. God will make sure the Television News gets a good picture of what is taking place; because the whole world has been seeing everything else and speculating about the significance of it all. I do not know what Connie Chung, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and all the others will tell the world; but I do know this thing is so close at hand, that these I have called by name could very well be on the scene with live coverage of those events. We must realize, that when it says in Revelation 11:9, “And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations (a worldwide scope) shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves,” it has to be through the medium of television that this is accomplished. One hundred years ago, there was no way the whole world could have witnessed this event and been rejoicing about it while it was still going on. No saints, it is the satellite technology that has made the fulfillment of this prophecy an understandable thing. Everything is right on schedule. Time is moving right on schedule; and prophecy is being fulfilled right on schedule. Somewhere just ahead, when that antichrist seeks to bring that picture to its end and kill those prophets, that will be the signal for the 144,000 servants of God to go to the nations with the everlasting gospel. Read the 14th chapter of Revelation. We have already preached it, printed it; and talked about it in this message. They will have that everlasting gospel to preach to their brethren in dispersion. The last good news of any kind that mankind of the world is ever going to hear, will be preached by them just before God closes this era of time and pours out His wrath upon unbelieving mankind.

TO WHERE WILL THE WOMAN OF REV.12:6 FLEE FOR SAFETY?

A lot of people have asked, Bro. Jackson, where will the woman element of the nation of Israel flee to, that she can be kept safe during that time of awful persecution of spiritual Jews? I have never endeavored to project any certain place in the world where Jews would be safe from the wrath of the antichrist; but I do know that God will have a place prepared for them when the time comes that they need it; because the Bible plainly tells us so. It is not written where that place is; and I am persuaded that the wisdom of God would not let it be known ahead of time, lest it turn out not to be a safe haven after all. Here is the picture though, of that spiritual realm of Jews that will be spiritually awakened by the ministry of the two prophets. Not only will those prophets prophesy and testify, they will also instruct those who will believe what they speak. No doubt they will say to the believers, When you see so and so take place, it is time for you to get out of here and go to the place God has already prepared for you. Naturally they will tell them where that place is; and how to go about getting there. Let us read the verse we are referring to. (Rev. 12:6) “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” That is the exact amount of days as is allotted to the antichrist; and also to the great tribulation, which is the same 1260 days. It is God, that has chosen the place; and the T-H-E-Y is not the people fleeing; it is the people in a goegraphical area of the world somewhere, that God has prepared to take care of those Jews until the storm passes over, as the song goes. Naturally it is hard for us to realize that there could be such a place upon the face of the earth today; since world travel is such a common thing any more; but God will reveal it to them in due time. Their prophets will tell them. That is why it states in verse 14, that she (the woman) was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. As we have already stated, The two wings of an eagle represent the message of those two prophets; as we vindicated by reading Exodus 19:4, that speaks of the time when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage by the ministry of two other prophets. It is the purpose of God, to protect an element of mortal Jewish flesh; because when the tribulation is over and the wrath of God has destroyed the sinful element of mankind in the world, this woman element of Jews is going to come back into the land of Israel. This is the woman that is going to be there, to be clothed in the glory of God pictured in verse 1, and she will rule and reign there with Jesus the Messiah throughout the Millennium. He is their King, their Christ, their Messiah; and He will rule the world from the temple there in Jerusalem. He will have a queen, the Gentile bride Church; but they will not rule from Jerusalem over the Gentile nations. They will have thrones they sit upon, as is seen in Revelation 20, verse 4. Let us read that verse. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, (That is the bride Church.) and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, (That would have to be the Gentile foolish virgins of Matthew 25, those who let their lamps run out of oil.) and for the word of God, (That would be the Jewish element that accept martyrdom rather than the mark of the beast, during that tribulation hour.) and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Yes they will live and reign with Christ a thousand years in immortal bodies; but not in the same capacity as the bride Church.

THOSE WHO WILL BE MARTYRED IN THE GREAT TRIBULATION

We will take a look at verses 7, 8, 9, and 10, here in chapter 12; because they present a picture of the spiritual conflict that goes on in the heavens between good angels and bad angels. The bad angels are the fallen angels that sided with Lucifer when he tried to exalt himself to be equal with God. Most of you know this already; but we can read 4 verses in Isaiah 14, just for the sake of having it in the message. (12-15) “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” That gives a little picture of who the devil is. Before he sinned He was a beautiful archangel of God. Ezekiel 28, gives more information on what took place that caused God to kick him out of heaven; and thereby causing him to be the enemy of God, with a burning desire to thwart the plan of God for mankind. With that little background to set the thought trend in the proper direction, let us now look at the three verses in chapter 12, the verses that follow the one that speaks of the woman fleeing. It is what goes on between spirit forces, Satan’s angels which are the fallen ones, and God’s angels, the righteous ones, that ultimately affect us in our every day walk of life. Let us begin to read. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; (That represents the embodiment of Satan’s power in the Roman system.) and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; (In other words, they lost the heavenly battle.) neither was their place found any more in heaven. (In other words, when God drives them out of the heavenly spirit world, down to earth to be embodied and carried out in the earthly setting, it means time is just about over.) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, (I will not be able to say everything that could be said, because in the denominational church world today, they are doctrinally confused; and cannot get it straightened out about when the rapture will take place for the Church. They read the scriptures and some see the Church going through the dark tribulation, to be martyred by the antichrist forces; and again, certain ways you read other scriptures, the Church is taken. Well we just have to realize that what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the translation, the coming of Christ for His Church, and our gathering together unto Him, is exactly the way it is going to be. According to Paul’s revelation written to the Thessalonians, the coming of the Lord for His Church is a secret event; but what we read here is how and what is going to progress during that tribulation hour, affecting those who are going to be left here to face their part of it, spiritual and unspiritual, in that hour. I will now read the rest of verse 10.) Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” That literally means that in that three and one half years of time which is left when the two prophets are killed, Satan’s power is what is projected in the earth. The only people that he can possibly work against then, is the Jewish saints and the Gentile foolish virgins that you read about in Matthew 25. In other words, those who did not have the oil, (the Holy Ghost and a true revelation) will be left on the outside, to go through that terrible time of weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. That is not hell; but it is fair to say that it is like hell on earth, if you understand what I mean. Let us go on to verse 11, and identify those who are mentioned there. “And they (They who? Those Jewish saints, and the Gentile foolish virgins) overcame him (Who? The beast man and his beast system that will be motivated by that old dragon, devil spirit.) by the blood of the Lamb, (The Gentile foolish virgins will claim the blood of the Lamb, for they do believe in Jesus.) and by the word of their testimony; (Jewish saints will hold to their testimony, that they do truly believe in the God of their forefather’s) and they loved not their lives unto the death.” That simply means that these two elements of mortal mankind will refuse to take the mark of the beast; because they will have heard the everlasting gospel preached by the 144,000 servants of God, that distinctly tell them to worship God, give glory and honor to Him, and refuse the mark of the beast, lest they be damned; and they are killed (martyred) because of their stand. In other words, whatever their spiritual condition is when this hour comes upon the world, and they are found living in that time, they will be faced with conditions that will require them to prove it, if they truly do believe in God. If they do not have anything real, as pertaining to an experience with God, they will take the mark of the beast rather than face death for confessing faith in God. It is a simple thing to say you believe in God when there is no price to pay; but when sure death is staring you in the face if you make such a confession, it takes a genuine experience to face martyrdom for it. We every one know someone professing faith in God, that at the least bit of difficulty in life, they are ready to give up and quit going to church. Do you think an unstable person like that will look death in the face and refuse the mark of the beast, when it requires that identifying mark before they can buy bread to feed their starving children? Let us be realistic about this, When you see people literally overtaken, and overcome by mere problems in life that are nothing to compare with this, where will they suddenly get the strength and determination to face the antichrist and say; You can kill me if you like; but I will not renounce my faith and trust in God? Some people can just get in a financial bind, and they are ready to quit going to church and give up. What do you want to quit for? Salvation is too important. Well if anyone will do that now, what in the world do you think they are going to do when their life is threatened, and they cannot even work or buy and sell unless they abide by the dictates of that antichrist and his beastly system in that hour? This goes to show, that hour of time will bring out the true quality of every person left here. Nevertheless there will be a great multitude of people in that hour that will love God so much, that a million dollars in a bank account could not persuade them to renounce their faith in Him. You would not think so by what you see out here in the world today; but when you go to Revelation 7:9-17, and pay attention to what the angel told John about that great multitude standing there before the throne of God arrayed in white robes, you find that they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Let me read verses 13-14, and you will get the answer. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. (In other words, I do not know, but you do.) And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The best security bond in the world will not be worth two cents to those left here on earth to face that dark hour of great tribulation. Those who have believed in God, but just never get around to a full surrender to Him, will suddenly be faced with total commitment to God or damnation, when that beast rule goes into effect. Some will see for a fact, that to live for God and serve Him, or die for Him if need be, is more important than anything else in this world. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (12:12) Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” This is not a different picture, it is just looking at the picture from a different angle in the geographic world that will be in existence in that hour. (13)“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” That dragon spirit is the spirit of the devil, originally a beautiful angel of God, but now the enemy of God and of all that is righteous. God cast him out of heaven down to earth; and he will be embodied in those European nations that geographically make up the territory of the old Roman Empire when they enter the picture for their diabolical, end time reign with the antichrist. Rev.17:12 and 13, tell us they will give their power to the beast at the end time. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Saints, in that last three and one half years, human life will have little value; because that man of sin will have it all under his control. Notice, it says he (the dragon) persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. (This is not another picture. It is just another way of describing the picture, to bring out certain other details. The fact that he persecutes the woman, proves he has no heart for that Jewish, spiritual person. (That has to be referring to spiritual Israel. They are the Jews the devil wants to get rid of.) “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, (Where will she get them? From the two prophets, in the first half of the week. Therefore she knows where to go in the last half of the week.) into her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” (Read Daniel, chapter 8:19-27; and you will find the angel explaining much of this to Daniel.) “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood (a flood of persecution, You will find that water, here, points to people, the same as in Rev. 17:15, which says, And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.) after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” (this flood of racial persecution.) “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, (that is spiritual Jewish people) and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” That is Gentile foolish virgin people that have played around too long before they woke up to the fact of what is going on in the world. They will not be damned along with the ungodly; but they will have to go through the great tribulation and seal their testimony with their own blood, so to speak; for they will be slain for believing in God and refusing to accept the mark of the beast. In the natural, as all of this was given to John, he could see what symbolized a huge crack in the earth, we might say, just opened up; and all of that water which he saw come rushing out of the mouth of that dragon, just flowed right into that opening in the earth; but that is absolutely symbolic. The earth, as it is used here, speaks of the place and the people somewhere in the world, that will be prepared by God Himself to help the fleeing Israeli’s, referred to as the woman. When we can realize the terrible holocaust that six million Jews went through in WW2, and realize that it took that, to get the process of Jews returning to their home land under way, we can see that God allowed it to happen; just like He will allow this next group to suffer the same thing. We know, by the Revelation and understanding we have of the 5th seal, that when this hour has come again and the spiritual element of Jews in Israel have to flee from the beast with the dragon spirit, and hide out for 3 1/2 years until Jesus comes back to earth, there will be another bunch killed just as merciless as those of the holocaust. Let us go to Rev. 6:9-11, and read what is written about the fifth seal. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (This is the souls of the spiritual element of the six million Jews killed in the holocaust, crying out to God for Him to avenge their blood that was shed by an ungodly tyrant and his henchmen; and you can see how God answered them. There is yet another go around of this very same hatred toward the Jews; and then God will avenge all of them. In the meanwhile, they are to rest yet for a little season.) And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” That little season is the time between the holocaust of WW2, and the hour of great tribulation when the next unmerciful slaughter takes place. As we have already stated, Even though the woman element is protected from those evil forces, there will still be Jews scattered among all nations in dispersion, in areas of the world where that terrible beastly system can get to them; and you can be sure that he (the beast man with his beast system) is going to do his best to liquidate every Jew he can get his hands on. That is why it is said like that to the souls under (at the foot of) the altar. No doubt there are yet many details to be revealed of this end time picture; but meanwhile we are to live for God and wait patiently until the time comes for Him to reveal the rest to us. Surely we are so close to the end now, that it cannot be long until the rest comes. In the few short months ahead, as world events and time itself bring about things that are in the making, we will understand it all more clearly. No matter what you may hear some of these Radio and Television Preachers preach, the woman of Revelation 12, is the nation of Israel in a panoramic view coming from the Law Dispensation right on through to her Millennial glory. We know this also, when the tribulation period is all over, and Jesus has come back with His Church to rule and reign, Israel will be that great nation shining. Israel will be the nation that stands out, in that day.

A VINDICATED GROUP OF SAINTLY PEOPLE

Before we bring this message to a close, I just want to say a few more words concerning that great multitude John saw arrayed in white robes recorded in Revelation 7:9-17, that a lot of your modern day preachers are saying is the bride Church. Believing that this multitude is the bride, it is no wonder they teach that the bride has to go through the tribulation; for the angel told John in verse 14, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Well Bro. Jackson, how do we know they are not the bride? Because we take all of that which has been written about the bride, and build our revelation on the whole picture, instead of just one verse. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, speaks of a catching away of believers; and 5:9, says, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ;” therefore if the bride Church was appointed to go through the tribulation before the catching away, the apostle Paul would not have made that point about her not being appointed to wrath. Neither would he have said in 4:18, after describing the catching away, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Where would be the comfort, if we had the great tribulation staring us in the face before we get out of here? The simple truth is, people who do not know the difference between the bride of Christ and the foolish virgins, according to what Jesus illustrated in the 25th, chapter of Matthew, will always see the Church going through the tribulation. If you will carefully read Matthew 25:1-12, you will see a definite difference between the two groups in the parable; and then if you will read verses 13-30, you will see how God looks upon those who have had something given to them that they could have invested for gain, (spiritually speaking) and failed to do so. They were cast into outer darkness (the great tribulation) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yes saints, there is a beautiful picture laid out between the pages of this blessed old book of the bride of Christ; and because of that picture, and the hope that it gives believers, the apostle Paul could rightfully say, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Nowhere does the Bible promise us that we will slide through this life without being tested; and that testing can be pretty hard on our flesh; but the true child of God has an assurance in his or her heart, that when the testing is completed it will have worked for good to our spiritual man inside. Furthermore we have the assurance from God’s word, that we will no be tempted, or tested beyond that which we are able to bear. That is in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer (or allow) you to be tempted (or tested) above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” That is truth from the word of God; and we can depend upon it. We can also depend upon the truth of Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose;” no matter how dark the way up ahead may look. Hallelujah! Amen.