Perception

The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown course, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by Me. Matthew 13:13-15 (JB)

Perceive: 1) To attain awareness or understanding of, 2) To become aware of through the senses.

How we view and understand our reality is based solely upon the information we receive. The root of our perception of reality is formed early in our lifetime, we then built upon this foundation as we are instructed by parents, teachers, and religious/spiritual leaders. The foundation of our perception is primarily formed by our parents, or those who raised us through childhood. Those that laid our foundation also began their life having the foundation of their perception laid by their parents and so, ad infinitum. God emphasized the very important responsibility that parents have in instructing their children to follow the way of righteousness, to love and obey Elohim, and to love and respect their neighbor.

‘Let these words of mine remain in your heart and in your soul; fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet. Teach them to your children and say them over to them, whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that you and your children may live long in the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers he would give them for as long as there is a sky above the earth. Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (JB)

“Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you may have long life and may prosper in the land that Yahweh your God gives to you. Deuteronomy 5:16 (JB)

The purpose of Elohim in giving the “Law and Prophets” was to instruct the children of Israel in the ways of righteousness, but Israel rarely paid attention to that instruction and commands from Elohim. The Children of Israel were born and raised in the land of Egypt, therefore the foundation and structure of their life was Egyptian. The God of their fathers, who had only recently shown up in a wilderness encounter with Moses, was completely foreign to them. The Israelites determined early on that they preferred the ways and worship of the gods in the land of Egypt.
The Israelites must have been under the impression that this “God of Moses” was giving them a choice; that they could either choose to worship and obey Him, or go back to Egypt and continue the life that they had come to know.

And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, “Why did we not die at Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!” Exodus 16:2-3 (JB)

Once the Israelites entered a blood covenant with Elohim they could not pretend it never happened. Elohim had preserved all the first-born of those who had applied the blood of the Passover Lamb to the doorposts and lintel of their houses. In doing this they had entered an irrevocable covenant with Elohim. The only way to be liberated from this covenant was by death. The marriage covenant operates under this same principle. All but two of the first generation of those who left the land of Egypt (Joshua and Caleb) died in the wilderness.

Elohim does not coerce anyone into a vow of obedience, it must be prompted by love. Before you love someone you must know them. When it comes to knowing Elohim, you must first know the truth. In general, Christians are satisfied with the information they hold to concerning God. What is important for them is their “Christian walk”, whether it is the truth or not, it is the ‘truth’ that works for them.

Therefore, understanding God’s truth the only way to come to know God, and once you find the truth you must obey it. If the truth is merely what you prefer to believe then the god of trooth you believe in and worship is one of your own creation. You notice I purposely misspelled truth. It is evident to anyone reading this paragraph that there is an error in spelling. But if this ‘trooth’ was spoken out loud, you would hear ‘truth’, and never know that the trooth that was spoken was not the correct ‘truth’, because they both sound the same. Does it really matter how the word truth is spelled as long as it sounds the same? Does it really matter whether I know the God who is truth, or simply believe the god that sounds troothful. In the end the God of truth triumphs over the god of trooth, and over all who preferred his trooth.

Knowledge applied with understanding is wisdom. True knowledge applied with true understanding is true wisdom. Elohim has given us the truth, and They have preserved the truth throughout the ages by making it available to the whole world, each in their own language. This describes the wedding invitation offered to everyone, good or evil. All one need do is read the words of the Law, Prophets and testimony of the Son of God, and pay attention to the explicit instructions, follow them carefully and precisely, so they will be wearing the proper wedding attire at the great marriage feast (see Matthew 22:1-14).

Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do. Isaiah 55:10-11 (JB)

Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Matthew 7:7-8 (JB)

It would be wise if we could learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us, because we know that making the same mistakes will give the same results. The mistakes made by the children of Israel were many, but these mistakes have a root cause, and this cause is they did never knew their God. They were satisfied with what they had learned in Egypt, and what this “new” God was doing and saying did not appeal to them in the least.

Elohim had put together a wonderful system of learning through participation in the processes that detailed every requirement for becoming righteous. This learning process included God providing their daily bread (mana), the functions of the tabernacle/sanctuary, and the pure genius of the testimony/Ten Commandments. The children of Israel went through the motions, but never understood the meaning of what Elohim was teaching them. They saw and heard, but did not perceive and understand. Elohim was trying to show Israel the way to the kingdom of Elohim, but Israel decided to take another way. The way to the kingdom of Elohim is the way to eternal life, any other way leads to eternal death.

Who, if any, are accountable for the failure of the Children of Israel to accomplish what Elohim had instructed as the demands of righteousness? Some may blame Elohim for the poor a choice of people, a seemingly difficult/impossible process, poor choice of priests, clearer learning tools, better relationship. Others may blame the leaders. Moses was a difficult person to work with, because of his unwillingness to confront Pharaoh, short temper, and not thinking twice about his hubris in giving God counsel, before He did something foolish or rash. The priests certainly must be high on the list of responsible culprits, because the priests are the teachers/shepherds of the people.

Come back, disloyal children -it is Yahweh who speaks- for I alone am your Master. I will take one from a town, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and these shall feed you on knowledge and discretion. Jeremiah 3:14-15 (JB)

The shepherds are the ones who have been stupid: they have not searched for Yahweh. This is why they have not prospered and why their whole flock has been dispersed. Jeremiah 10:15 (JB)

I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice and there will be only one flock, and one shepherd. John 10:14-16 (JB)
Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News (Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness.And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest’. Matthew 9:15-17 (JB)

These texts are but a few examples of what God has been saying throughout the ages to those who have acknowledged He exists. An acknowledgment that God exists and believing is not what Elohim has required from those who desire to be accounted for in their kingdom.

Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know Yahweh!’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest- it is Yahweh who speaks- since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind. Jeremiah 31:33-34 (JB)

There is ample evidence proving that it was a lack of knowledge that kept the children of Israel from becoming the righteous kingdom of Elohim, and accomplishing God’s mandated purpose. If knowledge is light, then lack of knowledge is darkness. If truth is light, then the absence of truth (lies) is darkness.

‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be! Matthew 6:22-23 (JB)

This article began with the text from Matthew 13:13-15, where the Son of Elohim answered the question posed to Him by His disciples; “Why do you speak to them in parables”. His answer may be understood in two different ways. One way is that which is “obvious” to everyone. The purpose of a parable is to cull the flock, but this would be quite the opposite of what the Son of Elohim said about the “lost sheep of Israel”. To cull the flock is to reduce it, so in this instance the flock would need to be already in the sheepfold of Elohim. Then those who could not understand the parables would be put out. Yet this is not consistent with a shepherd looking for lost sheep to bring into his fold.

The Jews gathered round him and said, ‘How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ/Messiah, tell us plainly’. Jesus replied: ‘I have told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness; but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine. The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know then and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me. The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone, and no one can steal from the Father. The Father and I are one.’ John 10:24-30 (JB)

The Jews (religious leadership) were certain they had the truth. And the evidence of this was that Moses had received the Law/Torah directly from God. They also had the word of God which He had given to His prophets. For the Jews, this compilation is their scripture “Holy Bible”.

‘You study the scriptures, believing that in them you have eternal life; now these same scriptures testify to me, and yet you refuse to come to me for life! Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father: you place your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be your accuser. If you really believed him you would believe me too, since it was I that he was writing about; but if you refuse to believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say? John 5:19,46,47 (JB)

Here is a critical question: Do you believe in God and His Son, and trust them, and do you recognize their voice? I am sure that most, if not all of you would answer, ‘yes’. But the truth of the matter is that if what you believe is founded on a lie, then the truth will sound like a lie to you. The voice of Elohim is always the truth and only those who recognize the truth will recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd.

‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had! Matthew 7:24-27 (JB)

The Son of Elohim states clearly that His words are the standard of truth (the rock) upon which our hope is built. Therefore, the words from anyone claiming to have received special instructions from God must be compared to that standard of truth.

There are many deceivers about in the world, refusing to admit that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They are the Deceiver; they are the antichrist. Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him: only those who keep to what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them. if anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him in your house or even give him a greeting. To greet him would make you a partner in his wicked work. 2nd John 7-11 (JB)

John was very concerned that the testimony of his Master/Teacher would be lost or distorted. John knew that the Son of Elohim had come to this earth ‘in the flesh’ for a very important reason, which was to testify to the truth. What John is emphasizing by using the phrase “refusing to admit that Jesus Christ came in the flesh” points to the fact that the testimony of Jesus that He gave ‘in the flesh’ is the standard by which all other teaching must be compared and judged. Any teaching or ‘gospel’ that goes beyond (or is outside of) the clear boundaries of the testimony of truth as provided by Jesus ‘in the flesh’ are lies; and those that teach these lies are blasphemers, and teachers of wickedness.

‘So you are a king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes I am a king, I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth: and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’ ‘Truth?’ said Pilate ‘What is that?’ John 18:37-38 (JB)

What does the testimony of Jesus confirm? Everything in the Law and the Prophets continues to be authoritative, as well as His own testimony as recorded by His own eyewitness disciples in the New Testament. This includes the command to keep the ten commandments, which is the covenant of the kingdom of Elohim (Deut. 4:13). That Elohim requires righteousness in practice, not in theory. In order to enter the kingdom of Elohim you must be born from above (your Mother must be a spiritual being, i.e. the Holy Spirit). To accomplish this you must first become as a little child, one who knows nothing and is now ready to learn. Your Teacher must be the Holy Spirit, and the curriculum must be the Law and Prophets and testimony of the Son of God, as recorded by His eyewitness disciples Matthew, John, and Mark. Mark was not one of the twelve disciples, but it is proposed that he wrote for Peter, and this testimony is consistent with Matthew and John, (except for the ending which was added later-chapter 16:9-20). Everything John wrote is consistent with the testimony of Jesus. The two letters attributed to Peter (1Peter, and 2Peter) are believed to be pseudonymous, that is, no one knows who actually wrote them. Finally, Paul’s teaching goes completely against the testimony of the Son of Elohim.

Paul teaches that Jesus died to set us free from sin. The Son of Elohim teaches that the truth sets us free from sin. Paul teaches that sin is the transgression of the ten commandments, and the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus teaches that the ten commandments must be kept by all who want eternal life.

Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, that is, all who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12:17
These are the ones who have kept their virginity (purity) and not been defiled with women (spiritual harlots); they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been redeemed from amongst men to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. They never allowed a lie to pass their lips and no fault can be found in them. Revelation 14:4-5 (JB)

How we perceive the information we have available today is vital to our eternal life. Does our preference (our frame of reference or paradigms) affect how we perceive? Of course it does. People have said, ‘Paul says so many wonderful things’; or, ‘You are throwing out the Bible or the New Testament’. Simply stated, what is being disallowed is everything that conflicts in any way with the Law and Prophets, and the testimony of Jesus.

Elohim gives everyone the freedom to choose what they believe, but this freedom to choose does not exclude the judgments, which come with the choices we make. We are free to choose to obey all that the Son of Elohim commanded. We are also free to disobey. Just because we are free to disobey Elohim does not free us from the outcome of the final judgment.

On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God. John 3:19-20 (JB)

How is the following statement to be perceived? “I don’t hate the light, I certainly do not prefer darkness. I do not do wrong, so what I do I do in God”.

Here is the bottom line question: Do you refuse to test what you have always believed simply because it seemed to work for your parents and grandparents, or because it seems to work for your church/denomination? Do you believe that God has confirmed your beliefs through external/internal phenomena, rather than the Words of Truth that Jesus brought from His Father in heaven? This is the same attitude displayed by the Jews and the children of Israel when their King came in person (in the flesh) to try to help them see the truth, and what they asked for instead was ‘signs and wonders’.

All of us, since birth, have been in spiritual darkness, because we were taught to believe lies. We must become as a little child again and learn from the Holy Spirit as she guides us through the Law and Prophets and the testimony of the Son of Elohim. The Holy Spirit is represented by the woman in Revelation chapter 12. She is the One in the heavens through whom we are born, because we must be born from above (born again, spiritual birth). When this happens we understand spiritual things, as well as earthly things. We are then fit for service to the kingdom of Elohim.

God is our shelter, our strength, ever ready to help in time of trouble, so we shall not be afraid when the earth gives way, when mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, and its waters roar and seethe, the mountains tottering as it heaves.
Yahweh Sabaoth is on our side, our citadel, the God of Jacob!
There is a river whose streams refresh the city of God, and it sanctifies the dwelling of the Most High. God is inside the city, she can never fall, at crack of dawn God helps her; to the roaring of nations and tottering of kingdoms, when he shouts, the world disintegrates.
Yahweh Sabaoth is on our side, our citadel the God of Jacob!
Come, think of Yahweh’s marvels, the astounding things he has done in the world; all over the world he puts an end to wars, he breaks the bow, he snaps the spear, he gives shields to the flames. ‘Pause a while and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted over the earth!’
Yahweh Sabaoth is on our side, our citadel the God of Jacob!
Psalm 46 (JB)

The judgment is coming, and it now is. What kind of people should we be? Are our eyes sound, is our integrity pure? Are our hearts full of light with the truth? The outcome for each one of us depends solely on our perception of the facts in evidence. If we ignore the facts then the evidence testifies against us.

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall condemn him, since I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world: he who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For what I have spoken does not come from myself; no, what I was to say, what I had to speak, was commanded by the Father who sent me, and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore, what the Father has told me is what I speak.’ John 12:47-50 (JB)

Rick Sterling

The Grand Plan (Part 6) – Elohim Instructs Their Kingdom

Many are the times I have stepped out my bedroom door onto the balcony looked up at the night sky and pondered upon my existence, my purpose, my God. I wonder if Abraham was doing the same thing on the night when Elohim informed him that his offspring would be “numbered as the stars in the heavens”. I wonder if the prophets of the Elohim gazed into the star filled sky at night and wondered why Elohim persisted in their effort to persuade these recalcitrant Israelites to listen to Their sound reasoning.
I wonder if the Son of Man viewed the night sky whenever He felt homesick, and alone. I wonder about the Creator who made the heavens, earth and sea and everything in and on it; how the Almighty had already formulated a wonderfully marvelous plan to restore paradise to this earth, and the conditions under which such a plan would become necessary. I think about how much difficulty Elohim has with those whom They created in their own image and after their own likeness, and what it would take to convince these stubborn people to choose holiness and truth, and accomplish the flawless plan for restoration of integrity that They have put in motion. I marvel at how intelligent, thinking people that are themselves critical of the hard-hearted behavior they see in those who have come before them, continue demonstrate this same hard-hearted arrogance when they are confronted with the exact same issues that caused their spiritual forebears to stumble.
Those who believe in the Elohim in the heavens have not taken the time to learn about Them, believing they already know all they need to know about who their ‘God’ is. They know their God never changes, that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. They believe that their God saves sinners in their sin, not from their sin. They believe that the Ten Commandments are an ideal worthy of consideration, but the Law has no power to save a sinner. They believe that their Savior died to free them from the requirements of the Ten Commandments, and subsequently the curse which Elohim placed upon anyone who failed to obey them (see Deuteronomy 27:26 and Galatians 3:10-14).
These people of faith are certain that the compilation of writings that became their Bible, was done under the strict supervision of their God and contains only His own holy words. These people of faith are in for a terrible shock, one that will shake the very foundation of their faith when the revelation of the truth is staring them squarely in the face.

‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’ Matthew 7:24-27 (JB)

We have been instructed by Jesus that we must learn and obey the teaching of the Son of God because our eternal life depends upon it. We must consider carefully the accounts of His eyewitnesses and learn every element of truth that they heard from the Master. Careful consideration must be given to the substantive representations of His instructions which will enable us to understand their spiritual meaning. To do this requires eyes to see and ears to hear. We must also be careful not to accept a teaching, supposedly from the Son of God, that is dissimilar or contradictory to His very own instructions.

Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him: only those who keep to what He taught can have the Father and the Son with them. If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him in your house or even give him a greeting. To greet him would make you a partner in his wicked work. 2 John 8-11 (JB)

In Part 5 of the Grand Plan I described the two kingdoms, the kingdom of the world, and the kingdom of Elohim. The two stages of the kingdom of Elohim were shown to be a transitional/sanctification phase, where people are called out of the kingdom of the world into the kingdom of Elohim in order to accomplish all the demands of righteousness. When they accomplish this they become holy; the result is a people made wholly prepared to meet their Elohim face to face. Elohim now welcomes them into the kingdom that has been prepared for them. Upon entering this kingdom these holy people begin their work on behalf of their King to help others complete the same process. This continues until the censer is cast down to the earth from the sanctuary in the heavens (Rev. 8:5). Thus prepared, the people of the kingdom of God receive a commission to proclaim the truth to every nation, race, language and tribe. Understandably the evil one is working diligently to intercept this process thus preventing the accomplishment of the kingdom of Elohim. It matters not to the evil one how long the transitional phase lasts. In fact he is quite satisfied with a stalemate, which is what he has successfully maintained up until the present-day.
The seven messages in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are directed to the kingdom of Elohim in the transitional/sanctification phase. The people of this kingdom have come out of the kingdom of the world. This “exodus” took place in the early 19th century, when William Miller began a study of the end time prophecies in the bible to expose errors of interpretation. While researching the prophecy in Daniel chapter 8 he discovered there a timeline that would end in his near future. Highly motivated by his discovery he worked diligently to proclaim the 2nd advent of the Messiah in 1844 CE. Those who received and accepted this message were ultimately forced to leave their own denominations, and gather with those who were expecting their Savior to return from heaven. Those who received this invitation to the marriage feast (Matthew 22:1-14) and were determined to attend, went out to meet the Bridegroom.
The wording of this invitation is the testimony of The Son of God, that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples while He was here on earth. Those eyewitnesses to this testimony heard every word, and two of these witnesses wrote these words down; Matthew and John. This testimony contains explicit instructions regarding all the requirements each guest must follow to be properly attired in the banquet hall. The invitation clearly describes the demands of righteousness which must be completed before entering the banquet hall. No one will enter the kingdom of the Elohim any other way.
The key to success for the evil one has been (and continues to be) the wide acceptance of his doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. The evil one has successfully convinced Christians that God rewards people of faith with salvation through His gift of grace. This faith is in the name of Jesus, faith in the Christian church, faith that He will save sinners in their sins and from their sins, is the cornerstone of his teaching. Faith (according to the apostle Paul) has replaced the demands of righteousness as the only requirement for salvation. Obedience is now only a guideline and not a requirement. The requirement of grace is based upon an unsupported assertion that the flesh (the substance of the human body) has been, and will always be sinful. For this to be true it would be necessary that ‘the flesh’ had been sinful when God created it during Creation week, ‘in the beginning’. Paul’s teaching asserts that the spirit is totally separate from the substance of the physical body, and is (itself) righteous. This teaching asserts that both flesh and spirit are antagonistic to one another, and each have their own distinct consciousness awareness. Faith teaches that when you die your righteous spirit (consciousness awareness) goes to be with the Lord, and your flesh returns (decays) to dust. In actual fact, Elohim does not want believers that base their belief on faith. They (God) desires people who know the truth, and whose actions and behavior are founded on THAT truth (singular and absolute).

To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said: ‘If you make My word your Home you will indeed be My disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free”. John 8:31-32 (JB)

A few years ago I coined the following definition: “Faith allows a person to believe a lie as though it were the truth, without accountability”. Most Christians believe that faith is the key to salvation, and that God will reward them based upon the strength of their faith. This is exactly what the Evil One wants them to think. The Evil One is gifted in believable deceptions. He is not called the Great Deceiver because he is NOT good at it. He knows that if you give people what they want the vast majority will choose it over what they need. He has accomplished this in a very simple way; by compiling a book which contains the Law and Prophets, the teachings of the Son of God, and the teachings of various others, primarily Saul/Paul. He then convinced all Christians that this compilation of his is the holy word of God from cover to cover, and to say otherwise is blasphemy. By faith all Christians believe this to be true; but in truth it is a lie. God knew Satan would do this long before the compilation was canonized at the Council of Leodicea in 325 CE.
The parable of the wheat and darnel (tares) in Matthew 13:24-30 describes this very situation. The field is the world, the sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The good seed is the subjects of the kingdom, the darnel the subjects of the evil one. By comparing this parable in the context of other parables that address the same subject it becomes easier to understand. In the parable of the invitation to the wedding feast (Matt. 22) the good seed is the invitation. The guest wearing the proper wedding attire are the good seed. The guest without the proper attire is a product of the darnel. In the dragnet parable (Matt. 13:47-) the good fish are as a result of the good seed, the bad fish as the darnel. The darnel resembles wheat until it ripens, then you see the difference.
Faith would allow one to believe that darnel is wheat, if they didn’t know the truth about the difference. Knowing the truth precludes faith, because truth is based upon facts, faith is based on preference. If the basis of your preference is not true then what you believe must be a lie. Go back to page one and read that text again, and take it to heart. The foolish person acted ‘by faith’, the wise person acted based upon the truth, The Truth that is based solely on the words of the Son of God. The greatest deception is to believe that you are acting upon the teachings of the Son of God without knowing what He taught.
Willful ignorance is a common condition among Christians. ‘By faith’ they believe that what you don’t know won’t hurt you; ignorance is bliss. A common Christian attitude is to continue the status quo (don’t rock the boat), because they believe that there is safety in numbers. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The Son of God came to this earth to testify on behalf of the truth. The those who do not know the truth believe He came to die for sinners.

Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, My men would have fought to prevent My being surrendered to the Jews. But My kingdom is not of this realm.’ ‘So you are a King then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes I am a King; I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to My voice.’ ‘Truth?’ said Pilate ‘what is that?’ John 18:16-18 (JB) (Italics NASB)

So according to John the eyewitness disciple, the Son of God declares that He entered this world through the womb, in order to testify on behalf of the truth, so that all who wanted to know the truth would have access to it. Pilates response is echoed by most Christians. What is evident is this; Elohim put a tremendous amount of time and effort into securing the Truth, so as to ensure that human beings would have access to the truth. The requirements for entrance into the kingdom of Elohim are found only in the Law, Prophets, and the testimony of the Son of the Elohim (Matt. 5:17, Rev. 12:17). A logical fallacy is used by many skeptics to disprove this testimony is that a great length of time has passed since the documenting of this testimony (about three thousand years for the Law and Prophets, and two thousand years for the testimony of the Son of Man) would make it impossible to trust the veracity of that information, so it therefore is no longer reliable. This belief calls into question the power and ability of the Almighty, a.k.a. Elohim, who created the universe, with stars and galaxies, the earth with plants, animals, and humanity, was unable or unwilling to preserve the truth until the time of the judgment? This is well within the capacity of the Creator God to accomplish.

Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from My mouth does not return to Me empty, without carrying out My will and succeeding in what it was sent to do. Isaiah 55:10-11(JB)

The Lampstand, Symbol of the Kingdom of Elohim

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven. Matt.5:14-16. (JB).

In the wilderness God gave Moses the blueprint for the tabernacle, which included specific instructions on the manufacture of every article of furniture therein. Each article of furniture had a specific “spiritual realm” representation and meaning. The reason for this was that this tabernacle and its furnishings were copies of the one in the heavens, which is the realm of spiritual beings. There are two realms in which created beings dwell. Spiritual beings were created in the heavens, and the heavens are their home. Those who are made of earth, are of the physical realm, and live because of the gift of the breath of life which activates the physiological processes supported by the flesh (body). When theses physiological processes stop the consciousness awareness enters into a state of ‘sleep’, and conscious thought ends. Elohim will awaken all those who “sleep in the dust”, either at the first resurrection or the second resurrection.
For all of the past ages of time those of this earth exist in a reality/realm that includes both spiritual and physical phenomena. The spiritual beings who were given the responsibility of teaching and shepherding humankind took for themselves what was not theirs to take, rulership of the peoples of earth. They were able to do this because they presented themselves as the gods of this world to the peoples of the earth.
Elohim purposed to build a kingdom in the world but not of the world. It was necessary for them to use physical articles to represent spiritual realities. An example would be the representation of the kingdoms of the world as beasts, and rulers of those kingdoms as horns. Other examples are the kingdom of the Devil represented as a red dragon, and the Son of God represented as a Lamb. Similarly, in the Sanctuary, where the process of sanctification took place, each article of furniture represented elements of this process. The articles of furniture in the sanctuary represented the processes conducted in the heavens, and those in the outer court the processes on the earth.

For now we will focus on the Lampstand.

‘You are to make a lamp-stand of pure gold; the lamp-stand must be of beaten gold, base and stem. Its cups -calyx and petals- must be of one piece with it.
Then you are to make lamps for it, seven of them, and set them so that they throw their light towards the front of it. Exodus 25:31, 37 (JB)

The children of Israel were to be the light of truth in a world of darkness, because of the lies of the evil one. The lamp-stand was made of one solid piece of hammered gold, and was to be placed on the south wall of the tabernacle directly in front of the table of the presence. The lamp-stand represents the kingdom of Elohim, and the table of the presence represents the throne of Elohim. The lamp-stand was to light the area directly in front of it. The kingdom was to shine its light and reveal the only true God to the world in darkness.
Between the time when the Father withdrew His kingdom from the Jews (see Matthew 21:43) and the appearance of His kingdom at the end of days, the Father did not have a kingdom on earth. This dark period is represented in prophecy as the Woman in the wilderness (Revelation 12). It was also foretold in the prophecy in Daniel 8:13-14. The twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings would end with the restoration of the processes in Sanctuary; but not the Sanctuary on earth. The tabernacle on earth was a copy of the one in the heavens. The sanctuary in the heavens began the processes of sanctification at the end of 2,300 years. An evening and morning are one day, and one day on the restoration calendar is one year in time. The ultimate purpose of the functions of the sanctuary is to accomplish restoration.
Elohim are the rulers of their kingdom, they are not the rulers of the kingdom of the world, that is, the kingdom of the evil one. The kingdom of Elohim is offered to all who will commit to keep the Covenant of the kingdom, this Covenant is contained in the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place in the sanctuary in the heavens.

Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Revelation 11:19 (JB)

The seven messages in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 are directed to the seven assemblies (churches). Each assembly is represented by one of the seven lamp-stands. Please understand that the lamp-stand represents the kingdom of Elohim, the representative of the light of truth in the darkness of lies. It then stands to reason that these seven messages would not have application until the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens on earth. The issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem in 457 BCE began the 2,300 years. In the years leading up to1843-44 CE a group of people known as Adventists, went out to meet the “Bridegroom”, but the Bridegroom did not come as expected (see Matthew 25:1-13).
Just as with all the information given by the Son of Elohim, the true meaning is only discerned by those who have ears to hear. In other words, to those who do not have ears to hear these are only parables whose meaning is open to interpretation and application; they are life lessons with no specific purpose or interpretation. Those who have ears to hear capture the real meaning and understand the information.
Spiritual context is the key to understanding spiritual information. The spiritual context of the accomplishment of the plan of restoration is that of a marriage, although it is not a literal/physical marriage. The bridegroom is the Son of Elohim, the guest at the marriage are the family of the bridegroom, and the bride is not at all related to the bridegroom (not a member of His family). This means is that the wedding guests have been born from above, which is a spiritual birth. They are sons and daughters of Elohim. The bride is those who are from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and these were not born from above, but are joined to the family through the marriage covenant.
There are three tiers in the judgment. The first tier comprises those who are defined as the first-fruits/priests; these are the 144,000 (see Revelation 14:1-5). The judgment of this tier begins with the work of the Faithful and Wise bond-servant (see Matthew 24:42-51). The second tier judgment involves the kingdom of the heavens/bridesmaids. These people are those with oil in their lamps, that will accept the dramatic change in their paradigms because they are prepared, having the oil of the Holy Spirit in order to receive the truth. They are in a comatose state when the Bridegroom arrives, sound asleep, and very near death. The cry at midnight awakens both the wise and the foolish, and those who have oil listen to and follow the 144,000 to the grand banquet hall where the marriage will take place. Those without the oil arrive at the hall later, and discover to their horror that they are too late to enter the Marriage Feast. The judgment of the third tier is that of the nations. The opening of this judgment is announced by the first angel (see Revelation 14:6-7) and begins at the sound of the first angel’s trumpet. All nations will hear the testimony of the two witnesses, the 144,000, and the people in the Kingdom of Elohim, those represented by the wise bridesmaids. Through the efforts of these three groups the judgment will be conducted to the end. The nations/bride will be prepared by the 144,000 and the Saints, to meet their Bridegroom (see Revelation 19:6-9).
There are two purposes of the kingdom of the Elohim. The first is that Elohim is truth, and to learn the truth is to come to know the Elohim. The kingdom of the Elohim testifies to the truth; therefore, they are witnesses for the truth/Elohim. They are representatives for the Elohim in the world. They are righteous, and act with integrity and justness. Second, they are a light to the world in darkness. They offer to every people, tribe, language and nation, the facts in evidence that they have been believing and practicing lies, and need to change their ways. They tell the world that the catastrophic events occurring all around them are directed by the Elohim, and are their wake-up call and a warning to the people of earth that the judgment process is now underway. They specify that these judgments are redemptive, in that they only destroy a specific percentage of the earths population (see Revelation 8 starting with verse two and chapter 9). This is th redemptive segment of the great judgment, great because it involves the whole world, and concludes at the sound of the seventh trumpet. Some in the world will ‘see’, and some will not. The light of truth will shine brightly, showing the way to righteousness and life, and those who choose to follow the light will find eternal life. Yet many will deny they are in the dark To them the light is the darkness and they refuse to believe in it. Those who deny the light will worship the beast and obey the beast receiving his mark, and willingly receive the seal of the ruler of this world. This seal is the mark/name of the beast (six-hundred, sixty, and six). (This concludes part 6)

The Grand Plan (part 5)

The Two Kingdoms

The rebels have corrupted the earth, the earth created by the Elohim. The Elohim pronounced this creation “good”. The rebellious spirit beings have interposed their authority over humankind, those who have been and are being deceived; they have appropriating the authority of their own Creator.

How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn? How did you come to be thrown to the ground, you who enslaved the nations? You who used to think to yourself, “I will climb up to the heavens; and higher than the stars of God I will set my throne. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of the north. I will climb to the top of thunderclouds, I will rival the Most High.” What! Now you have fallen to Sheol to the very bottom of the abyss! Isaiah 14:12-15 (JB)

Son of man raise a dirge over the king of Tyre Say to him, “The Lord Yahweh says this: You were once an exemplar of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty; you were in Eden, in the garden of God. A thousand gems formed your mantle. Sard, topaz, diamond, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, carbuncle, emerald, the gold of which your flutes and tambourines are made, all were prepared on the day of your creation. I had provided you with a guardian cherub; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked amid red-hot coals. Your behavior was exemplary from the day of your creation until the day when evil was first found in you. Your busy trading has filled you with violence and sin. I have thrown you down from the mountain of God, and the guardian cherub has destroyed you from amid the coals. Your heart has grown swollen with pride on account of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom owing to your splendor. I have thrown you to the ground; I have made you a spectacle for other kings. By the immense number of your sins, by the dishonesty of your trading, you have defiled your sanctuaries. I have brought fire out of you to consume you. I have made you ashes on the ground before the eyes of all who saw you. Of the nations, all who know you are lost in amazement over you. You are an object of terror; gone for ever. Ezekiel 28:12-19 (JB)

The bringer of light/knowledge (Lucifer) had made himself the god of this world, and through the power of his lies he subjugated the people of earth to his authority, imposing his will upon them. The ethnic groups Elohim had created (Gen. 1:26-27) were now divided up between the rebel leaders. These rebels presented themselves as the creator gods, teaching their lies to the progenitors of the Egyptians, Sumerians, Mayans, Aztecs, Assyrians, and all the other ancient cultures. To blur the line between lies and truth these beings “tweaked” the truth with clever fabrications thus making them quite believable. Those who choose not to believe the truth use these ingenious lies to attack the truth, or call it into question.
The Elohim do not, nor will ever rule a corrupt kingdom. The Elohim will never share authority with corrupt beings. The Elohim use a just and righteous process that will culminate with the cleansing of this earth once more, this time they will cleanse with fire. The Elohim is just and righteous in all their actions, always following due process of their own laws. The evil beings deceived the nations and subdued them by causing them to submit to their authority. The nations obeyed these criminals because they did not have evidence to contest these claims. At this point in time the Elohim no longer ruled the nations, though they will always own their creation; they refuse to rule any kingdom operating under corrupt practices. This describes the beginning of the kingdom of the world, the kingdom of darkness. The ruler of the kingdom of darkness is identified as the “prince of darkness”, that “ancient serpent”, the devil, and Satan, “who has deceived the whole world (see Revelation 12:9). This murderous felon and his co-conspirators continue to use their cunningly designed fables and subterfuge in order to deceive society today. And these deceptions have reached a fevered pitch because these debauched criminals know their day of judgment is very near; the day when they must pay in full for all the wickedness they began.
The extent of involvement of the Elohim in the processes of the world are limited by the condition of character of each person who interacts with them. This means that those who are practicing a method of the understanding of truth that is unconsciously based upon lies but are trying to live up to the spiritual principle of “love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself” may yet receive Elohim’s offered responses. What is clear though is that Elohim requires all who are serious about worshiping and serving them must come to know them. And the way to this knowing is not the way of darkness; lies are the path of darkness. The Elohim have patiently waited for someone to come to this awareness; that is, the understanding of what the Elohim require. This path or way may be found through the following process; first ask for truth, then seek the truth, then learn the truth, and then demonstrate the truth (Matthew 7:7-9 and John 8:31-32). The first step in this process is by far the most difficult, because it requires an acknowledgement that what you believe may in fact be based in lies. Remember this, everyone on earth today is practicing a lie with regard to their spiritual/religious performance. So how do you response to this statement? Twenty-three years ago my response was, “I am not!”. I have found that there are two qualities everyone must have before they will be able to recognize the truth; first, they must be totally and brutally honest with themselves, and second, be willing to set aside their closely held beliefs in order to allow a truthful investigation of information to take place.
The Son of God came in the flesh to testify to the truth, the truth about God. But even among His chosen twelve disciples there was skepticism and doubt. The testimony of the Son of God is the “Good News/Gospel of the kingdom”.

He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23 (JB)
This Good News of the kingdom will be proclaimed to the whole world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14 (JB)

The disciples were being prepared to continue the testimony of the Son of God (Gospel of the kingdom) after He departure. He gave them the truth and appointed them to take His testimony, or good news of the kingdom of Elohim, to all nations. The evil one could not allow this to manifest into reality because his very life depended upon maintaining the darkness throughout the whole earth. The evil one knew very well that if Elohim ever accomplished the reality of His kingdom the end of days would soon follow. And then would come the final judgment with the execution of all those who are not righteous.
The ingenious ‘Serpent’ had a masterful plan to continue the darkness of deception no matter the fact that the Son of God had already come and testified in the flesh, and personally brought the truth to the world. The devil knew that if you give people what they want and make it believable they will certainly embrace it.
The evil one flooded the nations with differing spiritual identities. All these spiritual practices revolved around a central philosophy-Gnosticism.
Gnosticism: the thought and practice esp. of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries, distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis.
Gnosis: knowledge; esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth held by the ancient Gnostics to be essential to salvation.
Simply, Gnosticism is the belief that the flesh (matter) is evil, and spirit (divine knowledge) is perfect/righteous. This means that a spirit without a body of flesh is perfection. The doctrine was the basis of all ancient spiritual practices in the “civilized” world. This includes, but was not limited to paganism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and Buddhism. There were many Christo-Gnostic cults that flourished in the first and second centuries in the common era, but the one that ultimately became the standard of Christian practice was the teaching of Saul of Tarsus, who went by another name, Paul. I have written articles and a book, and given study presentations demonstrating the contradictions contained in Pauline teaching setting clearly in opposition to the testimony of the Son of God. Most have ignored me, or condemned me, telling I am gravely mistaken, and walk away.
The “Gospel of Grace” is the cornerstone of Christian teaching and belief. Saul/Paul is the “apostle” who teaches grace gifted righteousness. something the Son of God never taught. Paul says that his teaching was designed for pagans/non-Jews as a post resurrection salvation.

In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self (spirit) I dearly love God’s Law, but I can see that my body (flesh) follows a different law (evil) that battles against the law which my reason (knowledge) dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner (gnostic teaching that divine righteousness is imprisoned by a body of flesh and remains a prisoner until death of the body when it will be released) of that law of sin which lives inside my body. Romans 7:21-23 (JB)

Paul teaches that to have life you must die in order to be released from the sin in the body of flesh. Many times I have been “informed” that Paul truly believed what he was teaching, and that God Himself had given him this information, and that he (Paul) had been put to death for this teaching. The bottom line on Paul is this; does his “gospel” perfectly match the testimony of the Son of God? The answer is this, absolutely not (see second John).
The evil one had succeeded again by giving people what they want to be true, and clothing it with believability. There is an apt description of this given by the Master Teacher.

Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15 (JB)

All I command you, you must keep and observe, adding nothing to it, taking nothing away. ‘If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and offers to do a sign or a wonder for you, and the sign or wonder comes about; and if he then says to you, “Come, then let us follow other gods (whom you have not known) and serve them”, you are not to listen to the words of that prophet or to the dreams of that dreamer. Yahweh you God is testing you to know if you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul. Yahweh your God you shall follow, Him you shall fear, His commandments you shall keep, His voice you shall obey, Him shall you serve, to Him shall you cling. Deuteronomy 13:1-4 (JB)

I know all about you: how hard you work and how much you put up with. I know you cannot stand wicked men, and how you tested the impostors who called themselves apostles and proved they were liars. Revelation 2:2 (JB)

God has not yet completed the first requirement for restoration, which is the establishment of a kingdom of the righteous. But according to the Son of Elohim, they will. It begins with one person who is likened to the prophet Elijah (see Matthew 17:9-13). This person will promote the testimony of the Son of God, and the Law and the Prophets, above all other corpus of information (Rev. 12:17). This will finally accomplish the kingdom requirement.
The ‘kingdom of the heavens’ and the ‘kingdom of God/Elohim’ are are two terms which describe the heavenly kingdom. The “Kingdom of the Heavens” is this kingdom in transition. Those that are in this kingdom have accepted the invitation to attend the marriage feast, but must first meet all the demands of righteousness (see Matthew 3:13-15). This process includes cleansing, both by water and fire. The Son of God demonstrated this process in action. The Son of God implied in His response to John the Baptist, that righteousness has certain demands, and the water baptism is the first step. Righteousness is the condition which allows entrance into the kingdom of Elohim. Elohim accomplished this with the children of Israel when they led them through the water (on dry land) of the Red Sea. John the Baptist proclaimed this process, possibly not knowing it exactly, in his sermons.

I baptize you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11 (JB)

The next requirement of righteousness is to learn the truth. The testimony of the Son of Man/Son of Elohim is the standard of this truth. We must learn His testimony and put it into practice in our lives. When we make a commitment to learn the testimony of Jesus the Holy Spirit will be our Teacher and lead us into all truth. The truth will cleanse us from all sin; and this is sanctification/consecration, the fire cleansing. After all is said and done when Elohim sits upon the great white throne to judge the life of all humanity on earth, those who refused the fire cleansing offered by the Holy Spirit will be consumed by fire in the second death. The last demand of righteousness is a spoken promise, a promise to obey the Elohim to keep the words of the testimony (Ten Commandments). They must honor the sacred seventh day and keep it holy. Then will those consecrated ones enter into the kingdom of righteousness, and eternal life. This has been the Elohim’s plan all along. These are righteous in fact, not in faith. There is no lie in them. They act with honesty and integrity. Thus prepared, this kingdom sets about the task of proclaiming the testimony of truth to humanity.

The History and Future of the Kingdom of Elohim

(Read Isiah 5:1-13 and Matthew 21:33-46)

Elohim has made known the plan of restoration, which goes as follows: Elohim uses a messenger/prophet to issue an open invitation to all who are interested in entering their kingdom. This invitation includes all the requirements for gaining admission. Elohim invited the children of Israel twice, and both times the invitation was ignored. Elohim withdrew the offer from the children of Israel, and then invited all humanity, both good and bad.

Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Matthew 13:47-50 (JB)

Here is my understanding of this parable. The Kingdom of the Heavens is a transitional kingdom, moving from being the kingdom of the world to becoming the kingdom of Elohim, as explained previously. This parable/prophecy involves only this kingdom, and this kingdom is not identified as the bride. What this means is that the invitation is offered only to the guests that will attend the marriage of the Son of Elohim. A bride is never invited to attend her own wedding, she is not an invited guest. She is the reason the invitations are presented, it is for her wedding. Therefore, the kingdom of Elohim is not (cannot be) the bride, they are the family and guests. In fact, they are actually the servants of the Bridegroom and the bridesmaids. The servants of the Bridegroom are told when to notify the bridesmaids that the Bridegroom is on his way to take His bride to His Father’s house for the wedding. This parable does not directly concern the bride, who is not mentioned in the parable/prophecy; it is only for those who are tasked with ensuring that she is ready to meet her Bridegroom.
When compared with the parable of the wedding feast the intended meaning of this parable becomes clear.
So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’ Matthew 22:10-14 (JB)
The invitation is offered to all, both good and bad. The dragnet caught all kinds of fish, good (clean) and bad (unclean). The guest without the required robe had received the same invitation with the same words as had those who had the wedding garment. Those with the wedding garment had followed exactly the instructions in the invitation, and were made clean by the process of sanctification. The naked guest had not followed those instructons. The bad (unclean) fish were not thrown back, they were thrown away and burned up.
Elohim has given instructions to those who have answered the invitation. The book of the Revelation contains the instructions for the preparation of the bride of the Lamb. This book also contains the instructions for the final preparation of the kingdom of Elohim. At the beginning of Revelation is the purpose for this prophecy given:

This is the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ so that He could tell His servants about the things which are now to take place very soon; He sent His angel to make it known to His servant John, and John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. Happy the man who reads this prophecy, and happy those who listen to him, if they treasure all that it says, because the time is close.
Revelation 1:1-3 (JB)

When asked ‘what or who is revealed in this book?’, most people will answer; Jesus. But that is not what the verse actually says. The true understanding is that this is a revelation given to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, by His Father; information that He said He did not know while He was here on earth:

But as for that day and hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one but the Father only. Matthew 24:36 (JB)

In the culture of that day (when the Son of Man was physically on the earth) there was a specific process leading up to the wedding day. After the proposal was accepted by the bride and authorized by her father, the bridegroom would go to his house and make the necessary preparations (see John 14:1-3). These preparations included the addition of a room/rooms to the family house. The completion of these preparations did not determine the time of the wedding, because only the father of the bridegroom did this. This is why the Son said ‘no one knows the day or hour’ (of the wedding). What is clear is that the father would make this information known to his son because if he did not there would never be a wedding. At the time the Son gave this information to His disciples He had not been told the date of the wedding, as this would only occur after He returned home to make the necessary preparations. This is the revelation He received from His Father concerned His wedding day; therefore, the servants of the Bridegroom must be informed (by the bridegroom) so they can go inform the bridesmaids, who will then prepare the bride to meet her Bridegroom (see Revelation 19:7-8).
The kingdom of Elohim contains two groups. One group is the priests; they serve Elohim and work to prepare the kingdom for service. The other group are the tribes of the kingdom. Initially these were named according to the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel, but were never completed. The requirement to enter the kingdom was never accomplished, so the spiritual tribes were left incomplete. The kingdom of the heavens (wise and foolish bridesmaids) are in process (kingdom of the heavens), so they are identified as the twelve tribes. Only those who are wise will remain in their identified tribal name, the foolish will be too late to enter. The 144,000 are set-apart from these spiritual tribal groups (see Revelation 7:4-8). The 144,000 are the priests, and the bridesmaids are the kingdom of the heavens. The kingdom of the heavens has, and is, represented by a lamp stand (light source). In Revelation chapter one, the lamp stand is the symbolic representation of the kingdom of the heavens. There are seven lamp stands and seven messages. Each message concerns various characteristics of the kingdom of the heavens. Remember the kingdom of the heavens is the kingdom of Elohim in transition; transition from the world to the heavens. They become a kingdom in the world, but not of the world.
Before the end of the 2,300 evenings and mornings (2,300 years) and the time when the kingdom responsibility was withdrawn from the Jews, Elohim did not have a people on earth with a commission to perfect a condition of righteousness. When those represented as the bridesmaids went out to meet the Bridegroom, and He did not come as expected, they are identified as the kingdom of the heavens.

Then (at that time) the kingdom of the heavens will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the Bridegroom. Matthew 25:1 (JB)


I heard a holy one speaking, and another who said to the speaker. ‘How long is this vision to be-of perpetual sacrifice, disastrous iniquity, of sanctuary and army trampled underfoot?’ The first replied, ‘Until two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings have gone by: then the sanctuary shall have its rights restored’.
Daniel 8:13-14 (JB)

The sanctuary/temple on earth no longer exists. The only one that continues to function to this day is the one in the heavens. The process of sanctification is carried out and accomplished through this sanctuary. I sometimes refer to the sanctuary as the sanctitorium, the place where the process of sanctification takes place.
The kingdom of the heavens is a kingdom in the process of sanctification/consecration. Therefore, the restoration of the processes of the sanctuary would begin when there is a kingdom in transition to holiness. The 2,300 years ended in the 1843-44 CE timeframe, and a people did go out to meet the Bridegroom, who did not come. This group was called Adventists, because they believed the second advent of Christ would come at the specified time. Today their name is Seventh-day Adventists, because they recognize the seventh day Sabbath, and hold to the promise of the second advent. They would appear to have a name that is alive, but sadly, they are near death spiritually. This is a result of the successful work of the evil one. They believe in the message of the devil’s apostle and hold to the testimony of a false prophetess, Ellen G. White. Interestingly all this is addressed in the messages to the seven assemblies (churches) in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Some believe that these seven messages concern the time from the great commission to the present, but that is not possible. Remember, Elohim did not have a kingdom until the sanctuary began conducting its processes again, this began in 1843-44 CE, which means the messages would not apply until there was actually a kingdom of the heavens on earth. Each one of the messages is directed to one of the assemblies. Each assembly is represented by a lamp stand. The lamp stand is the symbol of the kingdom of the heavens; therefore, the seven messages would not have purpose until there was a kingdom of the heavens to receive them.
Remember also that the book of the Revelation contains the instructions for the preparation of the bride of the Lamb. Only those who actually are involved in that preparation need the instructions that are required to insure that the bride is ready when He arrives. Another proof that the information in Revelation applies to the last generation, other than “because the time is near”, are the last verses;
This is My solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book; if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book. Revelation 22:18-19 (JB)
Truly Elohim will not raise anyone from the dead to go through the plagues mentioned in Revelation. I have had many individuals inform me that the “book” mentioned here is the Bible, but that is not possible for two reasons; first, the Bible did not exist when Revelation was written. Second, to think that God will resurrect those who have added or taken away from the prophecies in Revelation would itself be adding something that is not in Revelation. This warning applies only to those that are alive on earth during the last generation, those who attempt to edit the things written in this book; they will live to experience its full reality.
Now, today, the faithful and wise bond-servant is feeding his fellow bond-servants their food, because the time for this to occur has come. The kingdom of the heavens has been asleep for a very long time. They are in grave danger of slipping into the sleep of spiritual death. The Bridegroom will come as unexpected as a thief at night, and will remove their lamp stand if no one is ready. The “Head of the House”, the one placed over his fellow bond-servants, will be at work with the expectation that the kingdom can be awakened and prepared in time. There is information to indicate that this is the case, which will be explored in part 6.

Rick Sterling

Addendum to God’s Biblical Timing of the End

I last updated this writing in 2008, from 2004 when I first described the chart I put together in 2003-2004 timeframe. It is now the last week of April 2016 and all but the scheduled start date of the 42 months has passed.

When I composed the chart defined in this writing, I determined that if the scheduled start dates did not materialize I would not make a new chart with using the dates of the next recurrent cycle in ten to twelve years; this would be my final timing chart.

At first it was difficult for me when January, February, then March passed without the scheduled events. And now April has just concluded. As I set about to try to understand why, why the signs of the end were occurring all over the world yet the Son of God had not returned as He had promised. After I had overcome my short period of discouragement I set about doing what I have done for the last twenty-two plus years, I prayed for guidance from my beloved teacher, the Holy Spirit. What I discovered, with Her guidance, was far beyond anything I would ever have expected.

There are two episodes in the apocalyptic prophecies which call for a delay of the scheduled occurrence. The first delay we find in Matthew 25:5.

Now while the Bridegroom was delaying they all got drowsy and fell asleep. (NASB)

This delay then caused the next scheduled event to be delayed, this is found in Revelation 7:1-3.

And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” (NASB)

Initially, this raised an important question in my mind and thoughts. Why would God, who knows the end from the beginning, schedule any event/events, knowing that these events would not transpire at the scheduled time.

God, who is eternal (who was, and is, and is to come) exists outside of time. In order to schedule appointments one must have a timepiece with which they can use for scheduling purposes. When God/Elohim created this earth, they created, they purposely created the time piece they would use to schedule event dates. This time piece functions on the movement of celestial bodies in respect to one another as observed from earth. The earth spins on its axis as it orbits around the sun. the moon orbits the earth, and transitions from a state of darkness (new moon) through full light to darkness once again, this measures the month. The earths spin measures the day, and its orbit around the sun measures the year and the seasons. God/Elohim uses this timepiece as their event planner.

The first “day” in Elohim’s event planner was the day of the new moon that occurred on or following the spring equinox. The last day in this event planner was March 19, 1994. The purpose of this specific event planner made it possible for Elohim to set limits of forgiveness. What I mean by this is, Elohim has a plan for restoration. According to this plan, Elohim will set apart a people for themselves, then through these people accomplish the restoration of their glory throughout the whole earth.

So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. (NASB)

The “Son of Man” answered, when asked by Peter what is the limit of forgiveness, said this.

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22 (NASB)

Some understand this answer to infer that there is no limit to forgiveness, but that is not correct. Peter asks if the limit of forgiveness is seven, his Teacher answers, that the limit is not one times seven, but seventy times seven, or four hundred and ninety times. It is clear He knew the exact limit of forgiveness. The restoration event planner testifies to the voracity of His answer.

The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. Leviticus 25:1-2 (NASB)
You are also to count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. Leviticus 25:8 (NASB)

Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemy’s land; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it. Leviticus 26:34-35 (NASB)

“As for you, lie down on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year. Ezekiel 4:1-6 (NASB)
For thus says the Lord, When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. Jeremiah 29:10 (NASB)

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans- in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Daniel 9:1-2 (NASB)

Seventy sevens (weeks) have been decreed for your people and your holy city… Daniel 9:24 (NASB)

The restoration calendar, or event planner, is what Elohim designed to schedule the end of the rebellion and the restoration of righteousness. This planner functions according to three measures of time, a year, a week of years, and a week of Sabbath years. Each unit of measure contains a built in limiter functioning on the limit of forgiveness. The first limiter is the seventh year. As described in Leviticus chapter 25, the seventh year was a Sabbath year. The Sabbath year was instituted by Elohim as a time of rest (Sabbath) for the land. This Sabbath year observance would be an indicator of the compliance or noncompliance of Israel. The forgoing texts in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel confirm the limit of forgiveness as revealed by the Son of Elohim, seventy sevens. Ezekiel was instructed to lie on one side then the other each indicating the years of violation. Jeremiah, in his instructions to the exiles in Babylon, informed them that they would be in captivity for seventy years. Elohim had specifically tied the exile to Sabbath year violations; which fit nicely into the 430 years in Ezekiel. Daniel was reading the letter Jeremiah sent to the exiles, and observed the number of years appointed for the captivity. The seventy years were coming to an end prompting Daniel to pray to Elohim asking them to remember their promise to Israel. The angel Gabriel came to answer Daniels question, and to inform him of the next scheduled date on the event planner. This scheduled date would begin with the issuing of the decree to restore, and to rebuild Jerusalem. Beginning with this decree a period of seventy sevens would commence. This time the compliance indicator was not tied to Sabbath year violations but a set 490 years. God gave Israel 490 years to accomplish the purpose for which they were commissioned, or be relieved of their responsibility.

The next to last scheduled date on this event planner occurred in the years of 1843-44 CE when the 2300 evenings and mornings prophecy of Daniel 8 arrived. The end of the event planner/restoration calendar arrived when the seventieth cycle of 49 years ended. The calendar started in 1437BCE and ended 1994 CE. Elohim intends to restore this world to a state of purity. In order to accomplish this Elohim must first establish a kingdom of their own on earth, a kingdom in the world, but not of the world. Elohim first chose the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. The plan required the candidates to be purified through the process of sanctification; this process involves the removal of sin/lies, and filling the heart and mind with virtue and integrity/truth. The function of the restoration calendar was to insure that those chosen to accomplish this purpose would have a limit on the time given them.

Israel reached the limit of forgiveness with the seventieth Sabbath year violation. Elohim promised to give them a second opportunity to succeed. When the middle of the seventieth week arrived the Son of God appeared, and began to give His testimony. Only a handful of people believed Him the rest rejected Him and hung Him on a pagan cross. Shortly before His death the Messiah made this announcement.

I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Matthew 21:41 (JB)

Elohim had graciously granted the children of Israel a second opportunity to become their kingdom triumphant. They informed them, through the prophet Daniel, how long they had to accomplish this task (490 years). This accomplish, according to the prophet, was the complete restoration of righteousness throughout the whole world. In the middle of the seventieth week Elohim took this mandate away from them and invited any and all who would meet the standard of qualification would be accepted into their kingdom. The standard of qualification is righteousness in fact, not in faith.

The Delay

“Now while the Bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. Matthew 25:5 (NASB)
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” Revelation 7:1-3 (NASB)

I have already written an article on the process of a marriage, which is the context the Son of God used to help us understand His going to His Father’s house and return for His bride. I will say this because it applies to the subject of the delay, if the bridegroom comes to get his bride to take her to the wedding, she must be ready when he arrives or the wedding will be cancelled for good. The only explanation for the bridegroom to delay his going to get his bride is this, he knows she is not ready. It is the responsibility of the bridesmaids to prepare the bride to meet her bridegroom, and the bridesmaids are asleep.

The second part of the timing that is being delayed is the release of the four winds. The instructions given to the four angels who are holding back these four winds, stipulated that when the restoration calendar came to an end (at the end of seventy cycles of forty-nine years) the people who had responded to the wedding invitation, the kingdom of the heavens, were to have the bride ready and the final judgment process would be over, like in the days of Noah.

The delay of the four winds was ordered because, although the end had come, the required process had had a late start with only a handful of people. These “servants” needed more time to complete the qualification process. From this handful of people will come the 144,000 first-fruits of the harvest. These are not the whole harvest only the first to become fully ripe. To complete all of the demands of righteousness is to be ready for harvesting. They then awaken the sleeping kingdom and lead them to the great banquet hall where the feast is conducted. This all happens over a very short period of time; revealing the great importance of having extra oil, and why it is essential. The oil represents the presence of, or affinity for, the Holy Spirit. It also represents those who are open to what the Holy Spirit teaches, and will readily accept the paradigm shattering message the 144,000 deliver. Then both groups will work during the time of the trumpets to “prepare the bride to meet her husband”; these are the people of all nations who accept this offer of marriage. Those who allow the bridesmaids to prepare them to meet their Bridegroom will be ready to meet Him when He arrives. These people of every language, tribe, kingdom, and nation, are the same group that is seen standing around the sea “clear as crystal” which is in front of the throne of Elohim. This is also the multitude which no one can count (Revelation 7:9).

The Delay Ends

And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, God’s secret intention will be fulfilled, as He announced in the Good News told to his servants the prophets. Revelation 10:5-7 (JB)

Elohim is a mystery; they are Divine spiritual beings that are completely unified in thought, purpose, and action. They knew from the very beginning of their creation what the future would be. They had a plan in place to restore peace, righteousness, justice, and integrity after the rebellion. Elohim is a mystery to those who do not know them. Those who acknowledge the existence of and their belief in God, but do not know them, are deceiving themselves. To these people Elohim is a mystery, and their intentions are a secret. Elohim reveals their plans to their servants the prophets, and it is the responsibility of these servants to reveal the mystery of God/Elohim, their secret intention, to every nation, country, language, and empire.

Elohim is a mystery. There are those who “Believe” in… and those who do not. Those who do not “Believe” in God, or any god give a variety of reasons in support of their certain conviction. Those who “Believe” in God offer no verifiable proof in support in support of their conviction, their confidence comes from the certainty of unknowing. This unknowing gives strength to what really matters, to God anyway, their unwavering faith that God is real, that He loves them, and will save them because they have great faith.

Willful: 1 obstinately and often perversely self-willed 2 done deliberately : intentional
Ignorant: 1 a : destitute of knowledge or education; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified b : resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence 2 : UNAWARE, UNINFORMED
Faith: willful ignorance (my definition)

I am sure you have heard the saying “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” but history proves otherwise. The people in the days of Noah did not know that a flood was coming until it came. The leaders of the Jews did not know that the Son of God was their anticipated Messiah because He did not fit their paradigm. And I say the people of faith (willfully ignorant) will not know their outcome until the judgment comes and removes all doubt. The evil one works in darkness because it gives him the best advantage to propagate his lies and deceptions.

Elohim uses mystery in a different way. Where the evil one uses mystery to facilitate and maintain ignorance and deception, Elohim uses mystery to foster learning through the knowledge of truth, leading to understanding and wisdom. It is not Elohim who wants to keep people in the dark; it is Their purpose to move people from darkness to light. The method which Elohim uses to accomplish this is a mystery, a mystery to those who refuse to allow Elohim to lead them through the path of understanding, but plain as day to those who KNOW their God.

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” And He answered and said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has (knowledge in truth), to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, not do they understand. Matthew 13:10-13 (NASB)

Truth is the mortal enemy of faith, because truth eliminates the need for faith. Truth is the first step on the way to the kingdom of Elohim. As you learn the truth more truth is made available to you. The Holy Spirit gives understanding based in the truth you have learned. Truth purifies the mind and heart culminating in the consecration of both these spiritual connectors qualifying the individual for service, service for Elohim.

“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens” the Son of God said to His disciples. What the Son of God was telling them was that they had been given the opportunity to learn what they needed to know to understand the mystery of God, His secret intention.

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful (though some hesitated (JB)). Matthew 28:16 (NASB)
God has invited all who are willing to listen to His word (the truth) to learn from Him. The testimony of the Son of God is the syllabus for the student/disciple. John and Matthew, possibly Peter through Mark’s writing, are the same words of instruction given to the twelve disciples. The mystery of God will remain a secret to those who are satisfied with faith alone, but to those who answer the call to follow the Teacher of truth the path to understanding is possible.

Revelation presents one of the greatest mysteries of all time, what with beasts, angels, horns, seals, trumpets, and the woman dressed in scarlet. With all the death, destruction, and rivers of blood most have labeled this account as the final judgment of God, and indeed there is judgment, but this account is vital for the bridesmaids. Revelation chapter 19 describes a bride prepared to meet her bridegroom, those who have read my articles concerning the importance of preparing the bride so she is ready when her bridegroom arrives to take her to the wedding will appreciate this revelation in the book of the same name “Revelation”. The account in Revelation describes the time during which the bride of the Son of God is prepared. When she is fully prepared He comes in the “clouds of the heavens” to take her to His Father’s house; the bride is the multitude which no one can count (Revelation 7:9 and 15:2).

The enemy of Elohim is Satan. Elohim operates with clarity of truth; Satan operates through deception in lies. Those who willingly assent to lies must do so through faith, because one does not need truth to believe by faith. Truth is the narrow way to the kingdom of Elohim; lies are the wide way which leads to desolation and death.
With this understanding about the mystery of Elohim, let us consider the information contained in Revelation chapter 10.

1: Powerful angel, small scroll (unrolled) in hand. Put his left foot in the sea and right foot on the land.
2: Shouts with authority
3: At this seven claps of thunder respond
4: John heard the voice of the seven thunders, and was about to write it down, but was instructed not to write what he heard.
5: He was told to keep these words secret and not write them down.
6: The powerful angel then raises his right hand to the heavens and declares by oath the end of the delay (the time of waiting).
7: John is told to take the scroll in the angel’s hand and eat it, it would be sweet as honey in his mouth but would be sour in his stomach.
8: Prophecy again, this time about many different nations and countries and languages and emperors’.
9: In the days when the seventh angel is about to sound the secret intention of the Elohim would be accomplished.

Considered the obvious question, that if Elohim knows everything, what was, is, will be, and could be, why delay the schedule dates in a prophetic sequence? Elohim created time and the mechanics for its measurement, not because they needed to keep track of it, but because we do. The process of overturning the rebellion requires certain elements, and time is a very important one. Forgiveness is a key element of this process, but as described earlier, has a limit. The only way to set a time limit is to have a way to keep track of time. The limit of forgiveness is set, allowing for a judgment that will put an end to the violations. This limit is not a secret, but can only be known through observation. The established purpose for the people of Elohim is a condition of purity in holiness, consecrated in truth, not to test the limits of forgiveness. Elohim gives the information required to know the limit of forgiveness only after it has been breached. Elohim created a calendar for specifically for restoration.
Then the land will observe its Sabbaths indeed, lying desolate there, while you are in the land of your enemies. Then indeed the land will rest and observe its Sabbaths. And as it lies desolate it will rest, as it never did on your Sabbaths when you lived in it. Leviticus 26:34-35 (JB)
(Page 8 I explain the limit of forgiveness also)

What Elohim has made known, and can easily be understood through observation, is that the “Restoration Calendar” aka “Jubilee Calendar” primary use was to count the years to the time of restoration. On the grand scale it sets the time limit on the role of humanity in this restoration process, specifically seventy cycles of weeks of Sabbath years. The restoration plan Elohim uses requires Elohim to prepare a kingdom for service. The preparation of the people who will comprise this kingdom must be holy in fact, not in faith. This quality of holiness is accomplished through a process of purification/sanctification; this is where the limit of forgiveness operates. If the invited guests willingly participate in the purification process they will become pure, with no sin in them. The first group (first-fruits) are the priests, these people help the rest of the harvest/kingdom to accomplish purity. When Elohim has a kingdom of priests and family (born of the Holy Spirit) they are commissioned to accomplish the purification of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (the rest of the peoples of the world), and then the end will come. The “Restoration Calendar” ended at twilight on the last day of winter 1994. It was on this date that the four angels were to release the four winds which harm the land, sea, and trees. Without any holy people on earth at that time this would have resulted in the extinction of all humankind. Elohim is righteous and just and will only execute the guilty. Guilt is willfully sinning. Elohim knew that the process of purification of the priests had begun, the “faithful and wise bond-servant” was at work feeding his fellow bond-servants their food, for it was the “proper time”. Thus the voice of the powerful angel (Revelation 7) commanded the four angels to continue to hold, and not release, the four winds until the priests (144,000) had completed the sanctification process are sealed. Elohim knew this all along, even when they made their restoration plan, but as described previously, they scheduled the release of the four winds at the end of the time for accomplishment.

Elohim revealed and explained all of this in a way that only those who had attained to a certain level of understanding would see it. Elohim was not trying hide anything, They designed the information so only the wise would see and understand it. The information itself has always been available to everyone, and anyone may understand it if they have come to truly know Elohim.

I listened but did not understand. Then I said, ‘My Lord what is to be the outcome?’ ‘Daniel,’ He said ‘go away: these words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the End. Many will be cleansed, made white and purged (Sanctified); the wicked will go on doing wrong; the wicked will never understand; the learned will understand. Daniel 12:8-10 (JB)
And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him… Matthew 17:10-12 (NASB)
(Verse 6) …that there should be delay no longer. (verse 11) And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”. Revelation 10:6,11 (NASB)

The above texts are only a selection of several which demonstrate the fact that Elohim knew from the start that they would be required to delay the final judgment; but this delay would not be long. I know this because the faithful and wise bond-servant and his fellow bond-servants were already in the process of sanctification when the powerful angel commanded the four angels to continue to hold the four winds. Revelation 10:11 implies that the delay makes it necessary to ‘prophesy again’ with new information. This new information is contained in the little scroll/book in the hand of the powerful angel. It is likely that the voice of the seven thunders may be the information concerning the delay, but this information was not to be recorded by John. The fact that the voice of the seven thunders had been heard by John, and that he had heard what they said, implies that this would be understood by those involved at the end of days.

This concludes this addendum. It is my hope that Elohim has guided me to this understanding to confirm the fact that they are actively working to accomplish the lawful requirements which will finally overthrow the rebellion. The earth will be cleansed/sanctified and a new heaven and new earth will be created.
But indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Numbers 14:21 (NASB)
We live our life, we make our choices, we determine our destiny. May Elohim ever be our Guide, Teacher and Counselor.

Rick Sterling

God’s Biblical Timing of the End

For many years I have had an ongoing interest in the study of apocalyptic prophecy. It is my view that God intended these end of days prophecies to be correctly understood by the generation who would experience these final events. Jesus told His disciples, before He left for heaven, that He would send them another Helper, a Teacher that would lead them into all truth.  I believe that the Spirit of Truth will guide the truth seeker, to the facts in evidence.  I am a student of the truth, and as a student I may misunderstand my teacher sometimes.  As my knowledge grows my understanding will sometimes change from what it had been.  If I have learned one thing in all my study it is this, truth makes sense and is consistent with the scriptures. I leave it to the reader to decide for themselves whether or not it makes sense.

As I studied the various lengths of time in Daniel and Revelation, I noted the differing units used, specifically, days, months and years. An idea occurred to me, maybe God intended for these units to remain unchanged. I then realized that by doing that I would be able to locate when these events might come about. I have not set a date for God’s return.  God has set the date and I believe He gave us the necessary information needed to be able to figure it out.

Before I say anymore I need to answer an important question that most Christians ask.  Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour but the Father, how is it that you claim to know this?  The weight of information given by Jesus concerning the signs that would foretell His soon coming would indicate that it is very important to know when we are in the time of the end.  Jesus uses the flood as an example of the end time.  (Matt. 24:37-39) As it was in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  There are two considerations tendered for the time of Jesus return.  The first suggests it happens before the great tribulation begins (pre tribulation).  The second proposal suggests it happens at the end of the great tribulation (post tribulation.).  The context Jesus used in the above verses would explain a pre tribulation coming.  I say this because it is hard for me to believe that life would be going on as usual during the great tribulation.  People would not be marrying and giving in marriage at that time, for the future of life on earth is dire, and clearly is about to end. During the great tribulation the human population of earth will be expecting something supernatural to happen.  Eating, drinking and having a good time is what people do when they feel secure.  When they feel that life will go on uninterrupted.  Another point is that the scarcity of food and drink would tend to contradict Jesus statement of the condition of people at His return.  It is about this coming that Jesus said the day and hour is not known.  A few verses down in Matthew we are given further information and warning.  (Matt. 24:42-44) Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  Please note: Jesus does not say you will never know the hour, He says it is an hour when you do not expect Him.  I make this point because, knowing and expecting are two different things.  The unexpected hour is at night like a thief.  The clearly supernatural events of the great tribulation would hardly be considered prophetic night.  Prophetic night is the absence of prophesied events.  Clearly every event to occur during the great tribulation has been given in the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation.  This is prophetic day when the predicted events are occurring. Jesus has given an important clue in the above verses, notice He said; “If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  Jesus says that the owner who knows the time of night, the coming like a thief occurs, will be expecting Him at the specified time.  It may truly be impossible to know the day and hour of Christ’s coming, but we are clearly able to know the time of night when it will come to pass.

It is with this information in mind, that I share this chart with you.  I am not saying this chart accurately shows the last 3 ½ years of life on earth as we know it.  I will say that it is a strong and credible possibility.

The chart is built upon God’s clock.  This time piece began when God created the world it is the sun, moon, earth and stars.  The sun gives us days, weeks and years.  The moon gives us months (festivals).  The sun and moon operate as a clock when observed from earth. The stars count the ages, they were not used in the development of this chart.

God’s year starts with the spring equinox, in the northern hemisphere, and continues on through to sunset on the day before the next spring equinox.  A year is given in prophecy as a “time”.  Two years is “times”.  And half a year is ½ a time.  A month starts with the new moon and continues to the next new moon.  It is important to note that during the function of the Restoration (Jubilee) Calendar, a day/year is the functional unit of time it uses.  So a day ran from the spring equinox to the next spring equinox.  A week was seven consecutive years and a week of Sabbath years was seven consecutive Sabbath years, a total of 49 years.  It is also important to note that the moon has nothing to do with the calculation of a year.  Therefore, time periods given in months have nothing to do with the timing of a year.  In other words, you cannot use the moon to accurately calculate an exact year.  I say this because the day/year calendar calculations can only be counted by the earth’s rotation around the sun and around its own axis.  It is impossible to calculate a day/year using the moon.  This means that when God gives time periods in months, the day/year system of reckoning is no longer in use.  We know that the Restoration calendar expired on March 19, 1994 and therefore all the time periods yet to occur will be literal, day=day, year=year and month=month. This is not the first time since the expiration of the Restoration Calendar, that this particular sequence has occurred.  In the years 1995 and 2000, 2008 were years in which the events of the great tribulation could have taken place. 2016 is the next time possibility (see addendum).

The key to the chart is the death of the Two Witness on the last day of Summer and the New Moon that occurs just after their ascension.  I won’t include the texts from Daniel and Revelation in this letter, because they are on the chart.  The Holy People are the saints that proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the world as long as there are individuals who are open to receive it.  The Two Witnesses are inexorably connected to the proclamation of the gospel.  When all have made their decision for or against the truth, probation closes.  When the power of the Holy People is shattered, in other words, when Satan has full control of those who have not accepted Christ, the Holy People have no more to offer.  Thus Satan has shattered their power.  We see that the power of the Holy People lasts for 3 ½ years (time times and half a time).  These 3 ½ years start on the spring equinox and continue through the last day of summer 3 ½ years later.  At which time the Two Witnesses are executed. For 3 ½ days their bodies lie in the street of the great city.  At the end of 3 ½ days the Two Witnesses are resurrected, when God breathes the breath of life into their bodies. They then ascend to heaven in a cloud.  At that very hour there is a severe earthquake….  The second woe ends and the third woe is about to occur (For reference please read Revelation chapter 11).   The three woes are the last three trumpets, 1st woe= 5th trumpet, 2nd woe=6th trumpet, 3rd woe=7th trumpet.  The 3rd woe is when the door to eternal life is closed for humanity.  Everyone has been sealed having made their resolution, for or against their Creator, the time of judgment closes and the 7th angel sounds his trumpet.  The kingdom of this world is represented as a seven headed composite beast in Revelation 13 and we are told that this kingdom will be given power to rule for 42 months.  Therefore, this kingdom would receive power to rule on a new moon, because the time given is months.  This beast will rule until the 42 months have completed.  So on the day the 43 new moon occurs, the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of God.  In Revelation 11:15 we are informed that this occurs at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.  With this valuable information we are able to figure the years in which this would be likely to transpire.  It is necessary to find a year in which the last day of summer falls four days before a new moon, this would allow for the 3 ½ days the Two Witnesses lie dead in the street.  As I checked my astronomical program for the next year that this would occur, I discovered that it would be 2019.  This particular sequence does recur approximately every 10-12 years, so there is really no way of knowing which is the one. It does allow one to know the time of night of expectation.

The fall equinox occurs at 9:51AM on Sept. 23 in Jerusalem, Israel.  The Two Witnesses would be killed just before this event.  The New Moon occurs at 8:28 AM on Sept. 28 in Jerusalem. If the Two Witnesses are killed on the morning of the 23rd and are resurrected on the evening of the 26th.   This would be exactly 3 ½ days. The predicted events prior to and following the seventh trumpet would take place.  If 2019 is the year these events occur, then by knowing the end we can calculate the year it begins.  This means the year 2016 would be when the great tribulation may start.  So the spring equinox of the year 2016 may be the beginning of the end, I certainly hope so.

You will notice that I show a shaking in the Seventh-day Adventist church, this is another study, not to be address it at this time.  I am a Seventh-day Adventist, but do not hold to many of the prophetic views of my denomination.  I do not believe that membership in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination improves your chances for salvation, any more than being a Jew did in biblical times.    I believe the Seventh-day Adventists’ have a great responsibility, concerning the end of time, because their name implies that they believe in the validity of the law of God and the truth of His second
advent.

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:17)

Rick Sterling

2008 Spirit of Truth Ministry

Please see “Addendum” for further information on this topic.

Fruits of the Sower

You did not choose Me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask Him in My Name. John 15:16

Questions have been raised concerning the reliability and authenticity of the written record in the Bible. A pertinent question often raised among skeptics is, ‘How trustworthy can the material in the Bible be without any original autographs available upon which to make a comparison?’ Translation, transliteration, and professional bias by the translators may also present counter arguments that support a position of questioning whether personal or group biases may have been inserted throughout the material, thus negating their effectiveness in establishing Truth. A further difficulty is the absence of a signature of authorship in any of the “gospels”. This issue is of particular significance when seeking to establish the words of God as delivered by His Son, which is the testimony of Jesus. Seeking an answer to these issues is the subject of this article.

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoning Jesus, said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is My kingdom is not of this realm.” Pilate therefore said to Him,” So you are a King?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a King. For this I have been born, and for this have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, What is truth?” John 18:33-38 (NASB)

Pilates question is very important, and one that demands a truthful and comprehensive answer. This question goes to the heart of whether or not God is indeed involved in planning outcomes for this earth, and what His expectations are for those who wish to be involved in that plan. How may we know and understand the information leading us to a truthful answer to this question? To being, it is first necessary to ascertain what would be the cause that would require any interaction between God and His created beings in the first place.

God created all things, from the vast universe to the tiniest quark, and He accomplished this work by the power/energy of His word. All things maintain an orderly arrangement through their Creator. A small part of this creation is the galaxy in which our earth resides, identified as the “Milky Way”. An even smaller element is our solar system. And on a tiny speck of dust in our solar system a highly important endeavor is underway.

Before humans beings were created God created spiritual beings to work for Him throughout the universe. One of their duties (after the creation of this world) was teaching humankind the knowledge they needed to know in order live and work on this earth. The beings God created on this earth were finite, mortal flesh and blood beings. Their brains were not pre-programmed with information, as are the instincts of the lower animals. Humans beings, identified as the collective ‘mankind’ (created in the image and likeness of God-Gen.1:26-27) were created with the ability to learn, and choose what they wanted to learn and practice. God provided teachers from His home planet to instruct humankind, giving them the information they required to accomplish their God given purpose to care for the earth (see Genesis 1:28). These teachers performed well, humankind learned the information and prospered. What happened next is the cause of the situation in which we find ourselves in today.

One data set of information given to the nations of the earth by these ‘watchers’ was about seeds. Seeds are planted, take root, sprout, and grow into a mature plant. The plant produces fruit containing seed that when planted will go through the same cycle. Information is “planted” by teachers/the “sowers”; students/disciples are the “soil” which receive (eat) the “seeds of knowledge”. Before graduation each student must provide evidence demonstrating their understanding of the “seeds of knowledge” they have consumed. Typically, students build trust in their teacher/s, and accept what they say as the truth. The beings (watchers/teachers) sent from God in the heavens, gained the trust of humankind, and then used that trust to effect a great deception. These teachers told humankind that they were their gods, they were the creators and were to be worshiped. The ancient gods of the nations were nothing more than created spiritual beings sent from the heavens, and they continue to lie and the nations of man deceive through these lies.

When consumed the fruit of lies is as a poisonous plant. When eaten the fruit of lies brings death to whomever eat of them. Those who believe these lies are caught in the deception created by the originator of lies, the Great Deceiver. When eaten, the fruit of truth brings true wisdom, and those who listen to the truth are full of true knowledge. Knowledge that has its root in truth when applied with understanding gives true wisdom. Truth is light, lies are darkness. Truth builds trust, lies build faith. Faith is required in the darkness; faith evaporates in light. Since in the darkness you are unable to see; faith is therefore necessary to be able to function when you cannot see.

Words are the seeds of all knowledge, for either good or ill. Words of truth produce good fruit. Seeds have two functions; one is to be converted into food, and the other is to be planted for a new crop. The preservation and transmission of knowledge depends upon the one who is responsible for the care of the seed/words.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11 (NASB)

God has been, and is now, working to restore righteousness, truth, and light to this world. He has revealed the process by which, this will be accomplished. This earth is His creation, and it was taken from Him. He is working to restore it to it prior glory. God can, and will, accomplish this goal, and our active participation is required for the completion of His plan. God has given us the seeds/words advising us of our responsibilities, and the requirements which must be accomplished for this to occur. The rebellious, evil beings that successfully deceived the whole world are committed to making sure that the requirements of God’s plan are never achieved. These are the masters of deception, giving their lies the flavor of truth. Like mixing sugar or honey into a bitter liquid, or fecal material mixed into a chocolate cake they know how to make death taste good. They know what people prefer to believe, and offer up a cleverly crafted, popular deception. The seeds they have planted are thistles and thorn bushes, and the fruit they produce are poisonous; eating this fruit brings death.

Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. Matthew 7:15-19 (NASB)

How are we able to know what is reliable teaching and information, and what is not? First we must determine whether we trust in God, or if God is real. The extra biblical evidence for the reality of God is everywhere around us. God, who created everything we see, and cannot see, is capable of preserving His spoken words of truth. The text previously quoted (Isaiah 55:10-11) is very clear; God delivers His word through messenger and prophet, and His word will accomplish its purpose. His purpose is the cleansing of this earth of all corruption, which includes sin, lies, and deception, and He will then restore of His glory throughout the whole earth (Ex. 14:21) How sin is dealt with is the all-important issue. This earth is full of sin; it is in the people, the evil beings, and in all that corrupts the earth. God has offered a way for sinners to be cleansed from all their sin. Anyone who teaches that this earth is chronically and incurably sinful, therefore requiring God to provide a way to save sinners from their sin, in their sin, is a thistle and thorn bush. God’s word of truth is a cleansing fire, it burns away all lies until all that is left is truth. God’s word purifies sinners from all their sinfulness, creating in them a reality of righteousness. The ultimate outcome is that God will cleanse sin from this earth by fire. Those who have already been cleansed/sanctified by fire of the word of God will not experience the cleansing “lake of fire”, which is the second death (see Revelation 20:14)

God has revealed future events long before they take place, and this is one way to verify the authority of the word of God. Daniel chapter two is a good example. Some “experts” state that the book of Daniel was written during the time of Greek occupation, 400-200 BCE. It can be demonstrated by observing the fulfilled elements of the prophecies in Daniel that it would have been impossible for anyone (or any group of experts) to have predicted with any accuracy after the fact the fulfillment of the prophecies that are contained in Daniel.

What we read in Daniel chapter two is unique. Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon and much of the eastern Mediterranean world, is lying on his bed thinking about the distant future. He wonders what influence he will have long after he is gone. God gives him a vision of great kingdoms/empires of the future; but God does not give him an interpretation of this vision. Nebuchadnezzar desires to know the meaning of the vision, but knows that if he tells his dream to his sorcerers, conjurors, and Chaldeans, they will get together and agree upon an interpretation based upon what he (Nebuchadnezzar) had already told them. Nebuchadnezzar does not want a fictional interpretation, he wants the truth. He knows that anyone who is able to tell him the vision in every detail and without prior knowledge, could be trusted to be accurate.

There are a couple of interesting elements to consider in this vision described in Daniel 2. One element is the distinct absence of the nation of Israel. There is seen the kingdom of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, followed by a mixture of kingdoms. It is in the days of this mixture of kingdoms that the God of the heavens will set-up/establish, a kingdom will be set up which will never be destroyed, and never given to another people. The nation of Israel experienced both the setting up and the destruction of their nation prior to Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. They had been sent into captivity in Babylon because their nation had been destroyed. Much later, after restating the vineyard story (see Isaiah 5) the Son of Man permanently took the kingdom away from the Jews and offered it to all peoples who would meet and fulfill all the required elements (see Matthew 21:43). Herein is a difficulty that the “experts” have failed to address; if this was a concocted story by Jewish scribes living in occupied Jerusalem in the second and third century BCE (as is postulated by ‘experts’), why then would they omit the very belief they held so fervently that the Messiah would finally come and restore the kingdom of Israel to glory, and make it the most powerful kingdom in the world. The complete absence of the kingdom of Israel in the Daniel 2 prophecy is revealing. Another difficulty is the characteristics of the feet. The feet were a mixture of iron and baked clay, We are told that one representation of this is that some of these kingdoms will have the strength of iron and some brittle as baked clay. The other representation of the mixture of iron and clay is that there will be a mixing in the “seed of men”. In ancient times nations consisted of a singular race or ethnicity. But in the last days the nations will be a mixture of all races of men; look at the world today and see the truth of this prophecy. No scribe in 400-200 BCE would have had any idea that the status quo of their day would be so dramatically changed.

The stone that separates itself from the quarry is also a unique feature of this prophecy. God was personally involved in the “birth” of His people. The God of Israel led His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand (see Deuteronomy 5:15). In the end of days Gods involvement in the separation of His kingdom out of the world is passive. God has now already sown the seeds of truth through the testimony of His Son while He was here on earth; and He has preserved the truth of their meaning throughout the ages since then. The “stone” that separates itself from the rock quarry uses the ancient words of God to accomplish this wonder.

The great deceiver does not want the faithful and sensible bond-servant to learn the words of truth, let alone feed his fellow bond-servants the bread of life, which is the testimony of Jesus. The only way that this will materialize is for God to preserve the true words of life. These words of truth are the seeds sown by the Sower, the Son of Man. Those who eat these words will come to the full knowledge of truth, and separate themselves from those who remain established in the rock quarry, and see no need to leave.

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” John 12:42-50(NASB)

Heed the words of the Sower!

Rick Sterling

The Grand Plan (part 4)

God instructs the people of His creation in an intelligent and consistent manner, making it possible to learn the processes God uses and to understand them. In the perfect world there would be no sin; therefore there would be no need for the elements used to remove sin and conduct a final judgment. When God created this world and all it contains it was perfect; but a rebellion ensued and sin corrupted the earth. The rebels are spiritual beings, who had been sent here from the heavens to instruct humankind, giving them the information they needed to achieve the purpose for which God had created them. (see Genesis 1:26-31).

Sometime after creation these spiritual beings presented themselves to the peoples of the earth (the nations) as the creator gods of this world, and were worshiped by mankind. God owns all that He has created, and He has authority to determine what justice demands. From the record of those who have received communication from God there is a unified understanding; there is a difference between guilt and the guilty. If sin is committed in ignorance it is still a sin, but justice demands that the sinner must know that they are sinning. The spiritual beings knew that what they were doing was against the law of God, but they violated that law anyway. The people of earth were deceived by these spiritual beings; they were informed by these beings that they (human beings) were the product of their genetic reprogramming. These people were instructed to worship these gods and obey them.

Unknowingly, the people of earth were shepherded into darkness. God allowed this to continue in time (how long I do not know), but it appears it may have been thousands to tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of years. Sin, as is always the case, reached a point where God needed to judge the people of the world. In order to adhere to the requirements of righteousness, God needed to inform the people of earth of their sin; it was at this point in history that God created the man of earth (Adam).

Adam, unlike those who were created before him, received instruction from Elohim. The essential element of righteousness is to obey Elohim/God. Adam, his wife, and their children were required to demonstrate obedience before they could act as representatives of Elohim; therefore Elohim placed the Tree of the Learning of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the very heart of the garden planted by Elohim.

Elohim had informed Adam that he was never to eat from this particular tree, and if he were to eat from it he would be put to death. When Adam and his wife violated this law they were to be executed by Elohim that very day, but they were not.

There is a point at which sin becomes irreversible. In other words, the sinner has reached a point in their sinful practices that even if they are informed that they were in violation of the law of God they would continue in their evil ways. Except for Noah this was the condition of all humanity at the time of the great flood. Apparently the spiritual beings were not put to death at this time because only Noah was righteous, not his family.

Noah was alive when Abraham was born, but it is not stated that they knew each other. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were chosen to be the fathers of the people of the kingdom of Elohim.

‘I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God’. Nicodemus said, ‘How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born again? Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’ John 3:3-8 (JB)

Abraham was the first born of all who are born from above. All who are born from above become offspring in the line of the first born; all born from above are the children of Elohim. The Son of God became flesh to open the way for us to be born from above. When we are born of the Holy Spirit, the mother of all the righteous, we enter the kingdom of God. This kingdom is defined the sons of Jacob/Israel. Therefore all who are born from above receive a family connection to one of the twelve patriarchs.
Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest (or last) of her children, that is all who obey God’s commandments and bear witness for Jesus. Revelation 12:17 (JB)

The “woman” is the Holy Spirit and the offspring are those “born from above”; note that the “woman” is in the heavens. The firstborn of this “woman” is the Son of God, these born last are sons and daughters of God/Elohim. These born last are the 144,000 and the kingdom (five wise bridesmaids). The people who come out of the great tribulation (multitude no one is able to count), those who did not worship the beast, or receive his mark are not born from above before the casting down of the censer or the start of the seven trumpets.

The Priests (144,000)

The priests of Elohim have been entrusted with the responsibility of preparing individuals to enter the kingdom of Elohim. The tribe of Levi were the first priests of Elohim. They served Elohim by instructing the kingdom in the way of righteousness; this involved teaching the Law, and performing the processes of the sanctuary. They were required to recognize sin and sinner and were to transport the confessed sins of the nation into the sanctuary and place the sins upon the horns of the altar of incense. Anyone in the nation who refused to confess their sin and continued in their sinful way was to be put to death. In this way the nation would be purified of all corruption.

The Son of God came down from the heavens to be born of a woman (Mary), and thus He became a Son of Man. He performed the requirements of the priesthood. He taught and explained the Law, He informed the people of their sins (in particular the scribes and teachers of Israel), He was put to death, and with His blood He sanctifies those who confess their sins, and with His blood He will purchase all those who complete the requirements of righteousness. It was necessary for Him to return to His Father, who dwells in the Sanctuary in the heavens, to perform the required processes of sanctification/consecration in this Sanctuary (see Daniel 8:13-14).

The testimony of Jesus (what He did and said) must be learned and reproduced by His followers/disciples. Sin is exposed through the process of learning His teaching. The Son of God told His disciples, John, Peter, and James, that there would come in the last days an Elijah type prophet, who would see that restoration was accomplished (Matthew 17:11). He informed His disciples that in those days there would come a person whom He identifies as “a person faithful and wise enough for the Master to place over His household” (see Matthew 24:45).

The information contained in Matthew chapters 24 and 25 was given in response to a question asked by His disciples; ‘Tell us, when is this going to happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?’ (See Matthew 24:3-4). The information is connected specifically to the end of the world and restoration; in other words, the servant who is faithful and wise will be responsible for the completion of the plan for restoration. Therefore, this ‘faithful and wise bondservant’ is the coming Elijah identified by Jesus “who will restore all things”. He said this to them as they were coming down from the mountain where He had been transfigured.

The Son of Man compared His words to planting seed and bread for the eating. And that His words would give eternal life to all who ate them. The Son of Man defines the activity of the faithful and wise servant as the same activity that He, the Son of Man, has done; that this servant will give his fellow servants their food (words of instruction) at the proper (set) time (Matt. 24:45-51).

The key to understanding the word of God is to know the difference between the physical and spiritual realms. We are physical beings, and we live in the physical realm. God is a spiritual being, and they (Elohim) dwells in the spiritual realm. The kingdom of God exists in the spiritual realm; therefore it is not in a geographical area on this earth. The kingdom of God is in both the heavens and in the world, but it is not a kingdom of the world. The kingdom of the heavens is in a spiritual wilderness, while on earth. When God led the children of Israel and “mixed multitude” out of Egypt, He did not lead them directly into the Promised Land; God first led this group into the wilderness. In the wilderness God gave them instructions concerning the process involved in transitioning from the physical to the spiritual realm.

So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ he asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, My men would have fought to prevent My being surrendered to the Jews. But My kingdom is not of this kind (lit. not from here).’ ‘So you are a King then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes I am a King. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to My voice.’ Truth?’ said Pilate ‘What is that?’ John 18:33-38 (JB)

The Son of God was on trial; the charge was He had declared Himself King of the Jews. The Jews were living in expectation of the coming of their Messiah (King), and that the time for His coming had arrived. The Jews believed that when their Messiah came He would overthrow the Roman occupation of their land and they would then be the most powerful kingdom on earth. It is ironic that when the Messiah came He did not fit their expectations. Although He never declared Himself King, they charged Him with this title. Their Messiah would then drive the Romans out and rule Judea, and then defeat the world.

We see how thoroughly the evil one had control over the spiritual leadership of the Jews. The evil one had successfully controlled the people at Mt. Horeb in the wilderness, and the people built a golden calf and worshipped it. This same group refused to enter the Promised Land. All but two of that generation died in the wilderness.

When the Son of Man came to His people they were living in a spiritual wilderness, and most chose to stay in the wilderness, calling for the crucifixion of this “fraud”, saying “We have no king but Caesar”.

God uses physical world representations to convey spiritual realm truth. A good example of this is the Sanctuary process conducted by the priests. These processes reveal the spiritual truth of sanctification and restoration. The parables of Jesus are physical realm accounts of spiritual realm truth. In the physical realm a wilderness is a wasteland, a desert. In the spiritual realm a wilderness is a place where the dead are alive, and the gods of the dead rule. This place may also be described as a bottomless pit.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were sojourners in the spiritual wilderness, they were living in expectation of a land that God had promised to give to their descendants. They were in the wilderness, but not of the wilderness, because they worshipped and obeyed the living God.

To truly know God we must know how to discern that which is spiritual. This is what the Son of God meant when He said to the woman at the well outside Sychar, God is spirit, and that a time was coming, and had already come, when true worshippers would worship God in spirit and in truth (see John 4:21-26).

It is important that all who desire to enter the kingdom of God learn how to discern the truth of God. The truth is like stepping stones across a wide river; but these same stepping stones can become stumbling blocks if you have not learned spiritual discernment.

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, for the life of the world. Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’ they said. John 6:51-52 (JB)

These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? “What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before? “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit(ual) and are life. “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. John 6:59-64 (NASB) Parenthesis and underline mine.

To understand the spiritual realm we must learn how to connect physical symbols with spiritual reality. Even the disciples, whom God had chosen, were having great difficulty with this subject. And this truth, with spiritual comprehension, would cause them to “stumble”, and possibly fall.

The dwelling of the Son of God was, and is, in the spiritual realm (the heavens). He left the place of His dwelling and entered our world. He was born of a woman (surrogate mother), thus He became a Son of Man. All of us are sons or daughters of man, for we are all born of a woman. We enter this physical realm and learn its ways. The Son of Man taught us that we must be “born from above” before we can enter the Kingdom of God. This He taught to Nicodemus, who himself was a teacher of Israel. Nicodemus apparently had no understanding of the necessity of connecting with the spiritual realm to enter the Kingdom of God. I am sure he thought that he, as an Israelite, had been born into it when he was born from his mother. It is evident how this teaching could easily have caused him to “stumble”. Note his response, “how can a man be born when he is old?”

With the introduction of faith into the belief system of Christians, the evil one insured that the importance of learning the spiritual teaching of the Son of God would never be accomplished. Christians know only that God is a spiritual being, and that He communicates in spiritual ways which we will never be able to understand until we “get to heaven”. Christians see no need to try and understand the spiritual realm, believing it to be an esoteric realm beyond the grasp of understanding by mere mortals. Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and they hold on to this statement and go no further.

All who have completed their spiritual realm training may enter the kingdom of God, and this is accomplished by completing the sanctification process. The children of Israel were physically led out of Egypt into the wilderness, but spiritually they remained in Egypt. God tried to teach the Israelites the way to the spiritual kingdom, but He knew it was easier to remove them from Egypt, than to remove Egypt from their mind and heart. The reason God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness (before Israel entered the Promised Land) was to demonstrate through genuine participation in its services the accomplishment of its spiritual purpose. It is with the mind and heart that the physical being may live in the spiritual realm, while still here on earth.

John the Baptist hadn’t made the transition to the spiritual realm any more than had any of the rest of Israel. If he had made this transition he would have known who he was (spiritually), and also the spiritual meaning of “a voice crying in the wilderness”. Many assume that God had visited John the Baptist, telling him what to say and where to say it, but this is not the case.

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews’ sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ’. ‘Well then,’ they asked’ are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No’. So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am as Isaiah prophesied; a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord’! John 1:19-23 (JB)

I did not know Him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with water had said to me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the One who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit”. John 1:33 (JB)

However, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognize him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.’ The disciples understood then that He had been speaking of John the Baptist.
So here is the conundrum: On the one hand we have John the Baptist publicly denying that he is the promised Elijah figure, and on the other Jesus saying that he was the promised Elijah. So not only did the religious leaders not recognize him as the Elijah, but John the Baptist himself did not recognize he was the Elijah of the prophecy. If he had had an understanding of how things of God are spiritually discerned he would have responded much differently.

The information in both eyewitness accounts in Matthew and John indicates that John the Baptist understood he needed to go into the physical wilderness, which he did. Yet the prophet Isaiah was describing a spiritual wilderness. The spiritual condition of Israel was desolate and dark, because they were of the world.
The Word was the true light that enlightens all men; and He was coming into the world. He was in the world that had its being through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own domain and His own people did not accept Him. John 1:9-11 (JB)
Darkness is another word used to describe the spiritual condition of humanity when Elohim is not their God. Wilderness and darkness are frequently used to define the spiritual dwelling place of people that are in the kingdom of the world. Without God Israel was only a group of people who lived on the land under foreign rulers. Nothing has changed since then, as we still live in a spiritual wilderness. God has shown us the way out of this wilderness and into His kingdom of truth and light.

Christians today have the same certainty of conviction as did the Jews at the time of the Messiah. Christians believe they are already in the kingdom of God, and are simply waiting for their Savior to soon appear. The Jews believed they were already in the kingdom, and at any moment their Messiah would appear and end their servitude to Caesar.

More often than not, the mistakes of the past are repeated by subsequent generations in the future; why? The answer would seem to be obvious; people are certain they know the truth. But if they believe a lie they will not recognize the truth when it appears. When the promised Elijah appears would you be able to recognize him? Are you even watching for his appearance?

God revealed that there will be 144,000 priests sealed first (first fruits), and I know that God always tells the truth. The 144,000 have the responsibility of preparing the kingdom of the heavens for the great banquet. Revelation 14:5 lists seven characteristics that all 144,000 have; one of these characteristics is, “there is no lie in their mouth. The 144,000 are sanctified by the truth before they are sealed. The 144,000 complete this process before they are sealed, not after. The reason the 144,000 have not been sealed yet is that no one has ever accomplished the sanctification process. The work of the faithful and wise bond-servant, who is the Elijah type prophet (the one who will accomplish God’s plan for restoration) is to give his fellow bond-servants their food at the time of the end. This food is the word of God, the testimony of Jesus. These words are available to all right now, and have been for around two thousand years. The faithful and wise bond-servant uses the words of God from the Bible to feed his fellow bond-servants, just as John the Baptist used the words from the Law and the prophets to fulfill his purpose. The key to this whole process is the Holy Spirit of God. She gives spiritual understanding to those who have ears to hear what She is saying.

Servant: one that serves others; one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer.

You may be quite sure of this that if the householder (master of the house) had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. ‘What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the Master to place him over His household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his Master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you solemnly, He will place him over everything He owns. Matthew 24:43-47 (JB)

Allow me to ask a question at the beginning of the explanation of this description. “What sort of servant is faithful and wise enough for the Master to place him over His household to give them their food at the proper time?

The key to the correct answer is this; faithful (trustworthy, believing, sure, true) and wise (thoughtful, sagacious, acumen, intelligence, mental acquirement) enough. This person is not randomly selected, he is completely qualified for service. This is closely related to the account later in this message, the three entrusted servants.

The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.” His Master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your Master’s happiness”. Matthew 25:20-21 (JB)

The five, two, and one talents were not the property of the servants who received them, they belonged to their Master. These talents were not gifts, and the three servants understood this; particularly the third servant. What does this account show us, that we are able to apply its meaning for us to understand?
The Master representation is pretty clear; this is the Son of Man.
The talents He gave us before He went away to His home in the heavens, are His words. He commanded His servants (disciples) to invest (plant the seeds, which is His testimony, thus they would feed His lambs and sheep) His testimony is the truth, the truth is the currency of heaven.

The servants are His disciples, not only those who followed Him while He was in ministry here on earth, but also those who study His testimony (teaching) and learn the truth today. The process of learning the truth the process of sanctification occur concurrently. When they are full of truth they are also pure, because there is no lie in them, therefore no corruption is in them.

The master returns at the end of days, at the time of the harvest. The original disciples are not present when He returns, but His servants are; these are the steadfast and wise servant and his fellow servants. So the answer to the question posed in Matthew 24:45 is the same as the representation of the servant given five talents. The fellow servants are represented by the servant who received two talents. More is required from the first servant, this is why he is given more.

The steadfast and wise servant, the one who has demonstrated these two main qualities over the required length of time, has been tasked with the duty of completing the plan of restoration. God does not inform this person with a personal visitation, he is called through the word of prophecy. Who then is steadfast and wise enough to be placed over the household of Elohim? As described earlier, this particular servant is the Elijah who will “restore all things”, a promise made by the Son of Man (Matthew 17:11).

The invitation to the wedding feast was first given to the original disciples of Jesus; “Go and make disciples of all nations, instructing them to obey all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). These instructions included the learning and following the Law and Prophets (Matthew 5:17-18), learning and practicing the truth (John 8:31-32), completing the sanctification/consecration process (John 17:17), learning the testimony of Jesus, and instructing others to follow this testimony. When the instructions in the wedding invitation are followed the guest will be properly attired in the required wedding garment (see Matthew 22:1-14).

The enemy of the Son of God altered the wording of the invitation by changing the instructions concerning the proper attire. The information in this counterfeit invitation specified that a wedding garment would be provided free of charge to all guests. The Son of God being aware of this deception, and not wanting anyone to question whether or not the wedding gown was actually provided, included information that countered this counterfeit inside the parable, leaving no doubt as to what the guest must to to gain entry to the wedding.

“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And he was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 22:11-14 (NASB)

The enemy has enjoyed great success with this rouse (deception), which has caused the wedding to be indefinitely delayed, because there was no one who realized that there was a certain process that needed to be followed to acquire the required wedding gown.

‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. Revelation 3:4-5 (NASB)

The messages to the assemblies recorded in Revelation chapters two and three, are messages to the kingdom of the heavens in the end of days. The Lampstand situated in the sanctuary of God has always been a representation of His kingdom. The seven assemblies are each represented by a lampstand. God is the God of the kingdom of God, He is not the God of the kingdom of the world. People who choose to worship and serve the only true God must make a decision to leave the kingdom of the world and participate in the process of sanctification/consecration. This process is administered by the Spirit of Truth acting through the servants/disciples of the Son of God.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. Revelation 1:1-3 (NASB)

God is not the ruler of the kingdom of the world; God owns all of creation, but does not rule the kingdom of the evil one. The evil one is the ruler of the kingdom of the world; it is this kingdom that makes war on the kingdom of the holy people. Revelation 11:15 records the announcement made at the sound of the seventh trumpet. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Messiah/Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” If God were the ruler of all the kingdoms of the world there would be no need to conquer them, this would be a kingdom at war with itself, a kingdom divided against itself.

The kingdom of God is a kingdom which only the righteous may enter. The people in this kingdom have made a promise to faithfully keep the commands of the covenant (Ten Commandments), and to follow the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17). God communicates information to the people who have made a commitment to learn from the only true God and worship Him in spirit and truth. The seven messages in Revelation chapter two and three are intended specifically for the people in the process, or have completed the process of consecration/purification. This process takes place through the activities of the sanctuary in the heavens, and is carried out by the High Priest (Son of God)
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In Matthew 21:43 a declaration is made; The kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will produce the fruit of it. The kingdom of God would not be realized until the end of the 2300 evenings and mornings. The kingdom of God has at its heart a functioning sanctuary/temple. Daniel 8:14 tells us that after the 2300 evenings and mornings have elapsed the sanctuary will have its rights restored; this means it will begin operating once again. Daniel heard the length of time but did not hear when it would start or end. He did not understand what the meaning of this was (Daniel 8:27). Daniel was informed that this particular vision concerned the final period of the indignation (fury), the end of days. Daniel prayed for an explanation of the vision and Gods assurance of the restoration of Jerusalem and the children of Israel. The angel Gabriel was sent to give Daniel this information (Daniel 9:20-25). The implication was that the two time periods were connected, because the shorter was determined from the longer one.

When the Messiah took the kingdom of God away from the Jews the sanctuary no longer had a kingdom on earth, its processes ceased. In 1844 CE the sanctuary in the heavens began operations because a new kingdom had separated itself from the world (Matthew 25:1). You might say that a new exodus had taken place, but this time it was not preceded by signs, wonders, and plagues. It was a spiritual exodus into a spiritual wilderness. It was prompted by the study of the very prophecy which foretold of this event. Although the expectation was incorrect, the process which would lead to the conclusion of sin had begun.

The process of sanctification purifies the mind, because Elohim requires a pure heart and consciousness. The words contained in the testimony of Jesus are words of truth and will “cast out” all lies if they are allowed to.

‘Make a tree sound and its fruit will be sound; make a tree rotten and its fruit will be rotten. For the tree can be told by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can your speech be good when you are evil? For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart. A good man draws good things from his store of goodness; a bad man draws bad things from his store of badness. So I tell you this, that for every unfounded word men utter they will answer on judgment day, since it is by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words condemned.’ Matthew 12:33-37 (JB)

Consecrate/Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17(JB)

Then, leaving the crowds, He went to the house; and His disciples came to Him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’. He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears. Matthew 13:36-43 (JB)

The events in this parable are described by the prophecy of the “ten bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13). The bridesmaids are called the “kingdom of the heavens”. There are two groups, the the wise and foolish. The wise have extra oil and the foolish do not. The wise went in with the Bridegroom into the wedding hall and the door was closed. The foolish arrived later, and they were too late. The Bridegroom said “I do not know you”!
(Continued in Part 5)

The Grand Plan (part 3)

THE END OF DAYS

For over three thousand years God has patiently waited for His kingdom to produce good fruit. He personally interacted with His chosen people, communicating through his servants the prophets. He gave them instructions, warnings, and trustworthy information concerning future events; but Israel had better things to do than listen to their God.

God was generous in His dealings with Israel, clearly defining His expectations and the timeframe within which they were to be accomplished. God demonstrated loving kindness and patient endurance in His dealings with Israel; but there is a limit to His forgiveness.

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22 (NASB)

Many have said to me that what Jesus meant is, there is no limit to forgiveness, if this is true then why didn’t He just say; there is no limit? His answer to Peter indicates that there is a limit, but it is not seven times, it is seventy times seven; or four hundred ninety times. God confirmed this specific limit of forgiveness in His dealings with the children of Israel. As presented earlier, the restoration calendar was established with a day/year timing. The limit of forgiveness is noted in its function. God commanded Israel to let the land rest (enjoy a Sabbath) every seventh year (see Leviticus 25).

“Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it. Leviticus 26:34-35 (NASB)

…in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. Daniel 9:2 (NASB)

God had clearly and specifically connected the Restoration Calendar with the limit of forgiveness. God also connected Sabbath year violations with the exile; the number of years the exile would last would be determined by the number of violations. Jeremiah wrote that it would be seventy years, and Daniel recognized this time was close to its end.

Daniel’s prayer was a humble request for God to remember His promise and restore His people to the land of Israel. The angel Gabriel was sent to inform Daniel that God would allow the next generation, the children born to those in exile. There would be a specific length of time in which Israel was to accomplish God’s plan, e.g., exactly four hundred ninety years, and it would start with the decree to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem”. In 457 BCE King Artaxerxes issued a decree to restore national sovereignty to Israel and rebuild Jerusalem. Four hundred eighty-five years later, the Son of God announced that time had run out; the kingdom was taken from the Jews and would be given to all who would commit to complete the requirements for restoration. The parable of the marriage feast (Matt. 22), and those who were invited, explain the two opportunities afforded to Israel, followed by an invitation to all peoples of the earth.

Sin kept the children of Israel from becoming the kingdom of God. Sin continues to enjoy success among those who have accepted the invitation and are waiting to be escorted to the marriage feast. A white robe/wedding gown is required to be worn by every guest. This white robe is the proof of righteousness. This wedding garment is not handed out at the door, as though it were a gift; it is a product of character, the evidence of holiness. Each guest has successfully completed the process of sanctification through the operation of the sanctuary in the heavens.

Two times Israel reached the limit of forgiveness. Both times they chose the path of disobedience, seventy Sabbath year violations, and seventy weeks of years. The restoration calendar would end with the conclusion of seventy weeks of Sabbath years – (70 x 49 years) 3430 years in total. The day before the Spring Equinox of 1994 was the last day of the Restoration calendar. You may ask the question then, if the calendar ended at that time why are we still here?

God sent His Son into the world as a witness for the truth, His testimony is true, and it is the standard by which all other teachers teaching is to be compared and judged. The Son of Man testified to the truth, and all those who are truthful listen to Him and obey His teaching (John18:37). The Son of God revealed to John, His disciple, that at the end of days the last offspring of the Woman (Revelation 12:17) would have two distinctive qualities; they keep the commandments of God, and hold to (have) the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Saul/Paul is not the testimony of Jesus.

When the Restoration Calendar ended in 1994 CE the four angels, who were holding back the four winds, had been instructed to release these four winds at the time of the end; and no later than the end of the Restoration Calendar.

Next I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the world back to keep them from blowing over the land or the sea or in the trees. Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God’. Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel. Revelation 7:1-4 (JB)

Delay: 1) Put off, Postpone 2) to stop, detain, or hinder for a time.

Now while the Bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. Matthew 25:5 (NASB)
And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there shall be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the secret intention (mystery) of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. Revelation 10: 5-7 (NASB)

There are two separate delays. The first delay began when the “ten bridesmaids”, the kingdom of the heavens, failed to complete their mission. As Israel had done before so too had the people of this calling. Their expectation failed to materialize and they were greatly disappointed; the Bridegroom did not come as expected. This is a classic case of the blind leading the blind; although those who believed in the Second Advent and had the Sanctuary message as one of their core beliefs, they also failed to realize that the “gospel of grace” contradicted this understanding. Grace does not require an operating sanctuary, the sole purpose of which is to accomplish the sanctification process. The sanctification process removes the confessed sin from the sinner and transfers it to the horns of the altar of incense in the Sanctuary, thus the sinner is cleansed from that sin. When the last sin is exposed and confessed the person is righteous (without sin). God’s plan for His kingdom is that it be filled with righteous/holy people. The bridesmaids failed to complete the sanctification process, therefore their expectation never materialized.

The kingdom of the heavens is a kingdom in the wilderness (spiritual wilderness). This spiritual wilderness is a place in between the world and the kingdom of God. The Israelites were supposed to be a physical demonstration of this when they followed God out of Egypt (the world) and before they reached the Promised Land (Kingdom of God). The kingdom of the heavens is a people learning about the God of their kingdom. The people of the kingdom of God must know God, for they must worship in spirit and truth. You must not worship who you do not know, for the devils masquerade as god. If your worship is based in a lie you are worshipping the god who lies. Only those who know the truth, know the true God, the God of truth.

Had the Bridegroom come in 1844 CE, He would have come to judge the world. No one knew the truth, no one was righteous, therefore the whole world would have been destroyed by fire. The end of the Restoration Calendar was to be the time when the true God would pour out His four dreadful judgments on the people of earth (see Revelation 6: 7-8; Deut. 32 “The Song of Moses). These four dreadful judgements are: Sword, Famine, Plague, and Wild Beasts.

The Bridegroom was delaying His return because He knew His bride was not ready. As described earlier, the bride needed to be ready when the bridegroom came to her house or the wedding would be cancelled forever. The fact that the Bridegroom is delaying, would indicate that His Father had said He could go get His bride. Remember what the Bridegroom said to His disciples about who alone knows the time! (Matthew 24:36). If the Son was never to know the time when He could go get His bride He would never (ever) be able to go get His bride. The Father did reveal the time of the wedding to His Son (Rev. 1:1-3). There is a process which will insure that the bride is ready when her bridegroom arrives so the marriage will not be cancelled. When the father told his son the date of the marriage the Son then began this process to insure that His bride would be ready when He arrives at her house. Upon arrival the bride and bridegroom will go to His Father’s house for the marriage supper (see Revelation 19:9). The book of Revelation includes the instructions for the preparation of the bride of the Lamb.

And I seemed to hear the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean or the great roar of thunder, answering, ‘Alleluia! The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun; let us be glad and joyful and give praise to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.’ Revelation 19:6-8(JB)

There are three separate groups in the hierarchy of the Kingdom of God. The first group are the priests, the second the people of the kingdom, and third the people of the nations. Each group has a standard equivalent to the performance of those in each group. The first group, the priests, are those who have learned the truth about God, obey His commands, and have done so without any supernatural signs and wonders. This first group is described in Matthew 24:42-51, Revelation 1:1-3; 3:4-6 and 7-13; 7:1-4; 14:1-5. The 144,000 are the priests. The second group described in Matthew 25:1-13; Daniel 2:44; 7:18, 27; 8:13-14; 12:7 Revelation 2:12-29; 3:1-6 and 14-22; 5:9-10. The third group explained in Revelation 7:9-17; 11:2-3; 13:7-9; 14:6-13; 15:1-4; 19:6-9; 22:1-2.
Each group will be explained in part (4) of this paper.

The Grand Plan, part 2.

In the “Grand Plan” part (1), there is an expose of the blueprint that God has for defeating the rebellion and restoring His world to integrity. The key to this accomplishment is to recognize the strategy the devil has carefully insinuated into the fabric of truth to confound the way to renewal. The evil one has a well thought out and masterful deception designed to delay indefinitely, or better yet (from his point of view), to ensure that God’s plan is never accomplished. He must also make sure the people of the world never reach the level of wickedness that existed prior to the great flood; because he too will be put to death this time. When it is apparent that God has a people ready to defeat the kingdom of the world, the evil one will remove all the checks and balances on his kingdom of darkness. What the evil one has done, and is doing now, is to delay the outcome of the plan of restoration. This is the subject of The Grand Plan part 2.

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As described in the preceding article, God had given the responsibility of restoration to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (aka – Israel). God gave Israel two opportunities to accomplish this purpose, but they refused Him; so God withdrew this offer from them because they proved themselves unworthy of this responsibility. The Son of God had informed the teachers of the Jews-the scribes, Pharisees, and Levites, that God had now taken the kingdom away from them, and would give it to a people who would accomplish this plan.
The evil one had succeeded in keeping the children of Israel from accomplishing the instructions that God had given them. He then made a modification to his plan to continue his successes, and delay his day of reckoning. God had shifted responsibility from the children of Israel to all of humanity; to all who were willing to follow the instructions and join with God to defeat the kingdom of the world. The Evil One had been successful because he gained the confidence and allegiance of the majority of priests in Israel. Based upon his proven successes he devised a similar ruse designed to gain the confidence and allegiance of the priest, pastor, minister, and theologians down through history. God sent His Son into the world with the “good news” of the kingdom (aka the “gospel” of the kingdom). The great deceiver believed he could do better; he would give the people a more desirable “gospel”, the gospel of love and grace.
The Son of God spent a whole year teaching truth to His disciples and all who would listen and were willing to learn the words His Father had given Him. It was essential for Him to return to His Father and make the necessary preparations for the arrival of the saints (holy people). These people would be those who would read the words of the eyewitness disciples, and put the words in their minds and hearts, and obey them. The Son of God did not leave the people without a teacher, someone who would help them along the spiritual way. He gave His disciples the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit “breath” of God and His word of truth.
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them.

He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and He said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent Me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this He breathed on them and said; ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ John 20:19-23 (JB)

One might think, ‘What could the Great Deceiver do that would enjoy success against these powerful words of God?’ The Great Deceiver knew if you give people what they want, and clothe it with believability, they will eagerly eat it up. The devil needed the perfect person, one who knew the Law and Prophets, and the Psalms. One who could claim scriptural authority, most of all, one who had had a complete change of heart; someone who was completely opposed to the followers of Christ, but because of an epiphany, was now a professed partner in their work. The Great Deceiver found the perfect foil: Saul of Tarsus. Saul/Paul, and his protégé Luke, overpowered the “Gospel of the Kingdom” with the “Gospel of Grace”. Ninety percent of all the information in the Bible about the “early church” has come from these two sources. John “the disciple whom Jesus loved” was the only eyewitness writer present for the information concerning that time period. John gave certain and explicit warnings about those who have a different or distorted “gospel” from that which the testimony of the Son of God explains.

Children these are the last days; you were told that an Antichrist must come, and now several antichrists have already appeared; we know from this that these are the last days. Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged; if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us; but they left us, to prove that not one of them ever belonged to us. 1 John 2:18,19 (JB)

Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him; only those who keep to what He taught can have the Father and the Son with them. If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine you must not receive him in your house or even give him a greeting. 2 John 1:7-11 (JB)

Saul/Paul by his own admission had a different “gospel” (Gal.1:6). His “gospel” was specifically purposed for gentiles.

It was not till fourteen years had passed that I went up to Jerusalem again. I went with Barnabas and took Titus with me. I went there as the result of a revelation, and privately I laid before the leading men the Good News as I proclaim it among the pagans; I did so for fear the course I was adopting or had already adopted would not be allowed. The same person whose action had made Peter the apostle of the circumcised had given me a similar mission to the pagans. Galatians 2:1,2,8 (JB)

What was the content of Saul’s “gospel”?

Though we were born Jews and not pagan sinners, we acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law (Ten Commandments), but faith in Jesus Christ. We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had, and now we hold that faith in Christ rather than fidelity to the Law (Ten Commandments) is what made us righteous, and that no one can be made righteous by keeping the Law Galatians 2:15-16

Saul concluded this teaching with these words in verse 21;

I cannot bring myself to give up God’s gift; if (obeying) the Law can make us righteous there is no point in the death of Christ.

John refuted this teaching in his first letter:

I am writing this, my children, to stop you sinning; but if anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just; He is the sacrifice that takes our sins away. And not only ours, but the whole world’s. We can be sure that we know God only by keeping His commandments. Anyone who says, ‘I know Him’, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone does obey what He has said, God’s love comes to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in Him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived. 1 John 2:1-6

The great deceiver knew he must act quickly with his deception to accomplish his purpose among those believers in the Christ. The great deceiver knew that the Ten Commandments were, and continued to be, the covenant of the kingdom of God. The Ten Commandments are the promises made by God and by those who plan to enter His kingdom, it is a promise to perform all ten commands.
Two important elements of the conditions of admission into the Kingdom of God are overturned by the “gospel of grace”. The first component is that the “Law”. Saul identifies that the “Law” as the Ten Commandments is the standard of righteousness and was given because of sin. Saul says he didn’t know what sin was until the “Law” came, and when it came it killed him (see Romans 6 and 7). Saul goes on to state that any attempt to keep the “Law” is futile and an absurdity. The “Law” is an attempt to “establish your own righteousness” through your own works and by doing so you are refusing the free gift offered by God through Christ.
The second element is the testimony of Jesus. Paul identified himself as the one chosen to be the apostle to all who were not Jews. He could mitigate the efforts of the disciples of the Son of Man who were the ones commissioned to go to all nations and teach them to obey all that the Son of God had commanded them (see Matthew 28:18-20).
The great deceiver knew that God needed a kingdom on the earth before He could make war upon the kingdom of the world. By convincing people that they were already “in Christ” apart from the “Law” they were now people of God. By making it “sinful” to try and make yourself righteous by strict obedience to the Law, you were denying Christ, and refusing the gift of righteousness offered by God to all believers.
We know that we belong to God, but the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One. 1 John 5:19(JB)
The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world… Revelation 12:9 (JB)
The Evil One succeeded in his efforts to control the nations, first through political and religious authoritarian rule. When this system had accomplished the subduing of Christianity, he ushered in grace and the reformation was born. Protestantism as succumbed to the “gospel of grace” in varying degrees. This outcome is the main reason for the delaying of the return of the Bridegroom (Messiah).
The Evil One understands that the “bride” must be ready when her bridegroom arrives to take her to his father’s house, but if she is not ready the wedding is cancelled permanently. It is the responsibility of the kingdom of God to prepare the bride so she will be ready to go to the marriage feast as soon as the Bridegroom arrives; but the Kingdom of God is now sound asleep.
It would appear to be an impossible situation for God to accomplish His plan. God needs a kingdom with righteous people in it before He will be able to defeat the kingdom of the world and its ruler/rulers. Unlike the first worldwide judgment (the time when God executed the guilty by drowning) humanity has been kept from the level of wickedness which existed at the time before the great flood. The evil one has maintained an equilibrium of ideologies and/or moralities among the people of the world, thus delaying with hope of averting, the final judgment. The evil one knows that this judgment will be different from the first. This time all the rebellious spiritual beings will be executed along with the wicked.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive all the nations in the four quarters of the earth… But fire will come down on them from heaven and consume them. Then the devil, who misled them, will be thrown into the lake of fire and Sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are… Revelation 20:7-10

He will pitch the tents of his royal headquarters between the seas at the mountains of the Holy Splendor. Yet he will come to his end-there will be no help for him. Daniel 11:45 (JB)

THE COMING OF THE “PROPHET ELIJAH”

And the disciples put this question to Him, ‘Why do the scribes say then that Elijah has to come first?’ True;’ He replied ‘Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:9-13 (NASB)

‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your Master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the Master to place him over His household to give them their food at the proper time? Matthew 24:42-45 (JB)

The prophet Elijah exposed the gods that Israel worshiped, specifically Baal, were only frauds. Queen Jezebel was primarily responsible for the preeminence of Baal worship. This caused the decline of Israel, bringing it to a disastrous conclusion. The northern kingdom (Israel) went into exile never to return. The prophet Malachi foretold of the coming of the prophet Elijah, or an Elijah type prophet.

Remember the Law of My servant Moses to whom at Horeb I prescribed laws and customs for the whole of Israel. Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before My day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse. Malachi 4:22-24 (JB)

The truth is crucial for an accurate understanding of prophecy. The Great Deceiver’s success depends solely on the plausibility and accomplishment of his lies. He knows who would give whatever is required, and do whatever it takes to gain power, authority, and prestige. He gained control of the theologians by producing a belief that their understanding was accurate. They wrongly believed that they had correctly interpreted the prophecies.
The priests, the Sanhedrin, the scribes, and the theologians knew the time for the arrival of their Messiah from a prophecy given to the prophet Daniel. Knowing that it was now that time they were looking for the prophet Elijah to come. Knowing that Elijah had been taken alive into the heavens they expected him to descend to earth for the great announcement. There was also the remote possibility that there would be an Elijah “type” prophet; certainly they believed that this person would recognize that he was this prophet.
This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews’ sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quire openly, ‘I am not the Christ’. Well then,’ they asked’ are you Elijah?’ I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No’. So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied; a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord’.

As they came down from the mountain Jesus gave them this order, ‘Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead’. And the disciples put this question to Him, ‘Why do the scribes say then that Elijah has to come first?’ ‘True; He replied ‘Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be; however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognize him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.’ The disciples understood then that He had been speaking of John the Baptist. Matthew 17:9-13 (JB)

I doubt whether it would have mattered if John the Baptist had known he was the Elijah who was to come. His denial gave support to the case against the Son of Man as the anticipated Messiah. The leaders of the Jews had plenty of evidence in support of the truth; this man from Galilee was their expected Messiah. They chose to ignore or distort the evidence because they wanted no part of this man. This Man did not meet their expectations; that of the messiah they had created in their minds.
In the end the Great Deceiver accomplished his purpose, the children of Israel lost their God given responsibility to accomplish the plan of restoration. Yet God did not abandon the nations to suffer under the tyrannical rule of the great red dragon for all time, not at all.
Prophets have always been an important and necessary part of the plan of restoration, and the great deceiver uses this to his advantage. Therefore, the ability to recognize a fulfillment of prophecy is directly connected to the truth in the understanding of its meaning. Another important fact regarding the use of prophecy is the willingness to change when it is evident that the interpretation is in error. Prophecy does not need the support of experts, nor behaves in accordance with the authorized interpretation, to meet the requirement for fulfillment.
The greatest of all prophets is the Son of Man/Son of God, Jesus Christ. If any of the prophets of the Bible is to be believed, it is He. He was the last true prophet God sent to the world. His message is intended only for those who choose to enter the kingdom of God. When the time was at hand for the Son of God to return to His Father He gave His disciples instruction to go to all nations and teach them to obey all that He had commanded them (see Matthew 28:18-20), His disciples were given a tremendous responsibility; make disciples from all nations;

“This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to the whole world, as a witness to all nations, then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

The religious authorities in Jerusalem ignored or overlooked any information that would discredit their conviction concerning the Son of Man. This same attitude is pre-eminent today among Christian scholarship. Saul/Paul calls himself an apostle of God. According to his account he had a supernatural experience on the road to Damascus, that was impressive enough to cause a complete turnabout in his attitude toward the followers of “The Way”. Saul/Paul explains that he wanted to make sure that the Jerusalem assembly understood and accepted his calling. He goes on to say that he shook hands with the disciples of the Way with the understanding that God had authorized him to take a different message to the nations, the “gospel of grace”. The testimony of Jesus and the “gospel of grace” are very different and contradictory to one another, and this fact is totally overlooked and misunderstood by Christians. Christians erroneously believe that everything in the “Holy Bible” is true, and there are no contradictions, period. This belief is based upon an assumption that God has protected His “holy word”. God has preserved the words of His testimony spoken by His Son and written down by His eyewitness disciples.
The “Gospel of the Kingdom” is not the “gospel of Grace”. The “Gospel of the Kingdom” requires obedience to the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments is the testimony of performance of the Kingdom of God. It is the Law living within them for it is written on their heart. It is the tie that binds them to their God. Is it any wonder that it is this very covenant that Saul/Paul attacks? He states that the “Law” (this is his term for the covenant) was given because of sin, he informs all that until it was given there had been no knowledge of what constituted sin. He goes on to say that God gave the “Law” to Israel so that after the resurrection there would be a greater appreciation for His great love and saving grace.
Today the Great Deceiver’s lies have caused God to delay His timetable for restoration. I am not saying that God has been surprised by the effectiveness of the deception; in fact, He foretold that it would happen.

Now while the Bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. Matthew 25:5 (NASB)

And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” Revelation 7:2-3 (NASB)

And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created Heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer. Revelation 10:5-6 (NASB)

The plan for restoration is built upon a definable timetable for its completion. The timetable (calendar) was designed so that its key feature was restoration (Jubilee) (see Leviticus 25). Any period of time that operates during the operation of this calendar is a day for a year. All timing after this is understood as customary.
God does not want to put everyone to death, so He is delaying His return. The delay is necessary, allowing time for His bond-servants to complete the sanctification/consecration prerequisite. Before the end of the restoration calendar arrived certain people were awakening from their slumber; God knew that the delay was necessary for the preparation of the 144,000. This sequence would begin with the appearance of the promised prophet Elijah; the faithful and wise bond-servant.

In Matthew chapter 17 the disciples inquired about the appearance of the prophet Elijah. The answer Jesus gave them was thought-provoking; “Elijah is coming and will restore all things” (accomplish restoration). The disciples did not ask Him if Elijah was coming. They knew that the scribes had said that “Elijah must come first”, and that this meant that the scribes based their disbelief in Jesus as the Son of Man on the “fact” (their understanding of the prophecy in Malachi) that the prophet Elijah had not yet appeared. Since the restoration has not yet been accomplished the prophecy in Matthew 24:42-51 has yet to be realized.
No one knows the day or hour of the return of the Master! This statement has succeeded in preventing self-respecting “believers” from even entertaining the thought of time study, but this statement is totally misunderstood. The Son of God used the process that was involved in a marriage to describe what He would do. He explained that He was going back to His Father’s house to prepare a place for His disciples, and by extension, all who would believe and accept His testimony. His disciples would already know how the process of a marriage worked. The bridegroom, after his proposal was accepted, would go to his father’s house and prepare a place for his bride to live. The completion of this preparation did not determine when the bridegroom could go and get his bride. The Father would tell his son when he could go; at the time of proposal the son did not know when that time would be. The bride needed to be ready to go with her bridegroom the moment he arrived. If she was not ready the wedding was immediately, and forever, canceled.
Clearly there was provision made to insure that the bride would have been informed at the time when her bridegroom would be on his way. When the father revealed the time to his son, the son would inform his servants of the time of the wedding. The servants would then go on ahead of the bridegroom and inform the bridesmaids, who would then go to the bride and get her prepared to meet her bridegroom. This information has already been given, but no one has taken notice, primarily because of the success of the great deceiver’s lies. For all who do not know when the Bridegroom will return, it will be fatal. The foolish bridesmaids found out too late, the importance of knowing the time to be ready.

This is the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ so that He could tell His servants about the things which are now to take place very soon; He sent His angel to make it known to His servant John, and John has written down everything He saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. Happy the man who reads this prophecy, and happy those who listen to him, if they treasure all that it says, because the Time is close. Revelation 1:1-3 (JB)

[Continued in part 3]