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Messages - Ian Liddle

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General Discussion / Re: Revelation 13:5 fulfilled
« on: December 19, 2017, 09:33:45 AM »
Hi Pete

Many thanks for your reply - and I accept what you say.  Regarding the seventh head on the beast, this was the historic Islamic Empire (or Caliphate), and the 42 months in Revelation 11:2 do indeed refer to the 1279 years from 688 A.D. to 1967.  I have no problem with that, I have believed that for several years, and I still do.

The problem is that the 'beast from the sea' itself is the eighth anti-God entity (see Revelation 17:11), the resurrected Caliphate, the "image" or replication of the seventh head that appeared "as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed".  Thus the 'beast from the sea' itself is the End-Times Caliphate that was spoken into being ("given breath") by the 'beast from the earth' (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) on 29th June 2014 - and there is absolutely no way that this eighth entity is going to continue for 1279 years!

Revelation 13:5 appears to me to refer to the 'beast from the sea' itself, the eighth entity, and not to one of its heads.  Like you, I had originally thought that the 42 months in Revelation 13:5 were simply a reference to the 42 months in Revelation 11:2, representing the time period of 1279 years that the "seventh head" was given authority to establish Gentile control over the holy city of Jerusalem.  However, on further reflection, the context of Revelation 13:5 (look back at verse 4) suggests that this verse appears to refer to the 'beast from the sea' itself, the eighth entity, and thus it refers to the resurrected Caliphate rather than to the original one.

Of course, Biblical prophecy is often multi-layered, and sometimes it has more than just one fulfillment.  If you wish, therefore, we could say that Revelation 13:5 points both to the time-period of 1279 years that commenced when the "seventh head" was given authority and also to a time-period that is relevant to the End-Times Caliphate (the eighth entity).  In respect of the End-Times Caliphate, the "42 months" cannot refer to 1279 years (far too long) and so this must have a different interpretation.  Applying the "days for years" principle in respect of the "seventh head" time-period, but applying literal Biblical months in respect of the End-Times Caliphate, allows us to distinguish between the two.

The "days for years" principle is clearly a correct one, because the calculations involving this principle are too accurate to be just a coincidence.  Likewise, I would contend that interpreting the "42 months" as literal Biblical months in respect of the End-Times Caliphate is also too precise to be just a coincidence.

Please note that I am only saying that authority was given to the End-Times Caliphate over a geographical area for 42 Biblical months (from 29th June 2014 to 19th November 2017).  I am not saying that the 'beast from the earth' has met his end, because he has not.  I am also not saying that all the followers or members of the 'beast from the sea' have died or gone away, because they have not.  I am only saying that a 42-month allotted time-span for the 'beast from the sea' to control territory has expired - but the 'beast from the earth' and his followers will continue to do their worst until the very end.  In particular, the "ten kings" who "receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast" still have their job to do in respect of the burning of 'Mystery Babylon'.

The reason that I posted my comments on the fulfillment of Revelation 13:5 is because I think that the fulfillment of this verse shows us how near to the very end of the age we are getting.  I mean, what else is left to happen?  With Revelation 13:5 fulfilled, we then move on to Revelation 14 - which gives us a sequence of events.  Verse 6 tells us of the angel with the everlasting gospel.  This angel has been giving dreams and visions to many people across the world already, and many Muslims in particular have come to faith in Jesus through dreams, visions and other supernatural occurrences - especially in countries like Iran - and there are millions of them (praise God!).  Verse 8 tells us that "Babylon is fallen", after which we are warned that those who persist in worshipping the 'beast from the earth' (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) and his "image" (the Caliphate that he spoke into being as a replication of the original Islamic Empire, even though it no longer "has authority") shall indeed "drink of the wine of the wrath of God".  Then, in verses 14 to 16, we can read that the faithful church is 'raptured'.  All of this suggests to me that the only "big" event now remaining before the 'rapture' is the fall of 'Mystery Babylon' - and, once this occurs, Jesus will be getting in to the heavenly elevator to come down on the clouds for us.  So, time is short!  And I think I will stop there.

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General Discussion / Revelation 13:5 fulfilled
« on: December 16, 2017, 05:04:18 AM »
Taking the seventh head on the 'beast from the sea' to be the Islamic Empire that was founded in the seventh century, accepting that this was the head that looked as if it had been mortally wounded and its deadly wound was healed, and noting that the beast himself is the eighth - and the very image of the seventh head, then the 'beast from the sea' was "spoken into being" (or "given breath") by the 'beast from the earth' on 29th June 2014 (when the Caliphate of Islamic State was proclaimed).  On the Biblical (Jewish) calendar this was 1st Tammuz 5774.  Revelation 13:5 says that the beast was given authority to continue for 42 months.  If we count on 42 Biblical (Jewish/lunar) months then that brings us to 1st Kislev 5778 - or 19th November 2017.  So what happened on that day?  According to news websites, on that very day the Syrian army took full control of Albu Kamal, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in Syria.  Just two days earlier (on 17th November) the Iraqi army had captured Rawah, the last major town held by Islamic State in Iraq.  Therefore, after exactly 42 Biblical months from the day that their Caliphate was officially declared, to the very day, the fighters of this resurrected Caliphate were removed from their last town - and forced to hide out in remote villages and patches of desert - thus fulfilling Revelation 13:5, that this resurrected beast would only have authority (over a geographical region) for 42 months.  How accurate is that!

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Many thanks for your most detailed reply.

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I understand that, in November, 'Islamic State' declared its intention to mint and issue Islamic currency along the lines of the coinage issued by Abd al-Malik at the very end of the seventh century.
Some information on this is given in the following article -
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-18/islamic-states-currency-is-so-7th-century

Is this the means by which the Beast with a head that appeared "as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed" (Revelation 13:3) might control all buying and selling - as in Revelation 13:17?  What do you think?

5

I need some help:

FYI, I've been all the way through Ellis' study guide several times.

What in the context requires us to interpret 2300 evenings mornings as 1150 days?  Why couldn't this just be a distinct expression of literal days and not day/year days (as you pointed out in an earlier post)?  In other words 2300 cycles of evenings mornings. (2300 literal 24 hour days).  I've heard it argued that the 2300 evenings mornings represents 2 sacrifices per day, but is the taymid in verse 11 different than the 2 sacrifices per day?

The interpretation seems to ignore verse 11 which is interpreted for us in verse 25... that he will stand up against the prince of princes.  Who is the prince of princes?

My apologies, ExMilitary, for not replying earlier to your post on July 4th, but I have not logged on for a while.

The context of the 2300 "evening-mornings" is the taking away of the regular sacrifices.  The Hebrew word tamid (Strong's 8548), as used in verse 11, appears to have a number of possible renderings in English, but seems to refer to the regular (twice daily) sacrifice in Daniel 8:11.  Clearly 2300 "regular sacrifices" (half of them in the evening and the other half in the morning) would be equivalent to 1150 days, which are literal days.  This then makes sense in the historical context of Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiling the temple and preventing the regular sacrifices from taking place over this period of time.

With reference to the "Prince of Princes", I can only assume that this expression refers to Jesus, the "Arm of God" and the leader of Heaven's army.  Elsewhere in the Book of Daniel (e.g. Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 12:1), He is referred to as Michael (literally: "[He] Who is like God").  Battles on earth are complemented by battles in the spiritual realm, and "little horn" (Daniel 8:9) is a type of the final Antichrist, who is the personification of Satan, from whom he gets his power.  The war on earth between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and God's people was mirrored by a struggle in the spiritual realm.  Much of Scripture needs to be read on more than one level, and this applies especially to the Books of Daniel and Revelation.

I hope this is helpful (belatedly).

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I received a helpful reply from Ellis Skolfield, in which he referred me to the section in the Study Guide entitled "11 Beasts in Daniel".
From reading this segment of the Study Guide, I make two observations -
  • The "time of the end" in Daniel 8 is taken to mean the "time of the end of the Old Testament Levitical Era", which is clearly not the same as the post-1967 "time of the end".  In other words, Daniel 8 has already been fulfilled - and the details are given in this section of the Study Guide.
  • Ellis Skolfield would appear to agree with me in respect of the 2300 "evenings mornings", which are taken to represent 1150 literal days.  This fits the approximate time-span during the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, from this tyrant's abolition of the daily sacrifices until the temple was eventually cleansed (as commemorated at Chanukah/Feast of Dedication).
Problem solved!

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Thank you, also, ExMilitary, for your helpful 'keys' to Daniel 8.
I would exercise caution in using the days/years principle in respect of Daniel 8:14, though, because in the original Hebrew the word "days" (yamim) is not actually used here.  The Hebrew text actually says "evenings mornings", and some translators have changed this to "days".  Remembering that the Jews used to have an "evening sacrifice" at the ninth hour and a "morning sacrifice" at the third hour, I have always assumed that the "evenings mornings" referred to the number of occasions when these sacrifices could not be carried out.  Two thousand three hundred lost evening and morning sacrifices would account for 1150 literal days.  I may be wrong in my assumption here but, until I find a better explanation, I am assuming that the time-span is 1150 days, being 3 solar-calendar years plus 55 extra days.

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Many thanks for the suggestion to ask Ellis Skolfield directly.  It will be interesting to find out what his view is on this.

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Another implication of Ellis Skolfield's "Time of the End" being our current (post-1967) epoch, with which I agree, is how we should interpret Daniel chapter 8, the vision of a Ram and a Goat.
Let's start with Daniel 8:3-4, which states: "Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.  I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great."
Most scholars believe that the Ram equates with the lop-sided bear in Daniel 7:5, referring to the Medo-Persian Empire, a view that is reinforced by Daniel 8:20.
Daniel 8:5-7 continues the vision as follows: "And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole [known] earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.  Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river [Ulai], and ran at him with furious power.  And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns.  There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand."
Daniel 8:21 explains that the Goat refers to Greece, and most scholars accept that the "notable horn" was Alexander the Great, who made swift conquests.  The Goat would seem to equate with the leopard in Daniel 7:6.
After conquering the Medo-Persian Empire, Alexander the Great died - and Daniel 8:8 states: "...the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven."  Scholars note that the Greek Empire split into four parts after the death of Alexander the Great.
One of the four horns (that succeeded Alexander) became great, controlling many lands in the Middle East - including "the Glorious Land" (Daniel 8:9).  Scholars generally accept that this horn refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
But then we run into difficulty.  Not only does this "horn" conquer a large swathe of the Middle East, but it also carries out some profound events in heaven, casting down "some of the host and some of the stars [angels] to the ground" (Daniel 8:10), etc.  And when the angel Gabriel interprets the vision for Daniel, he says, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end." (Daniel 8:17).  Verse 19 reinforces this message.  And that is the problem.
Gabriel's explanation of Daniel's vision makes no break between an historical fulfilment of the vision and a separate thing that is to happen in "the time of the end".  Gabriel simply says that this vision of the Ram and the Goat pertains to the time of the end.
Should we infer, then, that the classical interpretation of Daniel 8 is only a foreshadowing of a final fulfilment post-1967?
If the final fulfilment of Daniel's vision is perhaps now and/or yet to come, does the Ram represent Iran exerting its influence "westward, northward and southward"? And then the Goat?  Turkey?
Does Ellis Skolfield have anything to say on this?  Or anyone else?

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I apologize if I gave the impression that I thought we were not near "the end of all things", for indeed I do believe that we are.  I expect many things to happen in a short space of time, as implied by Isaiah 60:22, which states: "I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time."  Also, Revelation 22:20, in which Jesus is quoted as saying, "Surely I am coming quickly."  The word "quickly" here can also be translated as "speedily" or "hastily", and to me it implies that events will occur in a rush at the very end of the age.  However, whenever Jesus returns (and I have some very strong beliefs and reasons for assuming it is surprisingly soon), I believe that Scripture teaches us to live out our Faith as if the Lord were to return tomorrow.

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You make an interesting comparison between Ezekiel 37:11-12 and Daniel 12:1-2.  However, I am not yet totally convinced (even after reading Skolfield) that 1948 was necessarily a complete fulfilment of Daniel 12:1-2.  Many people (including probably most of the Jews at the time) thought that the "Abomination of Desolation" was the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, but we know that this was only a foreshadowing of the "Abomination of Desolation" that was built on the Temple Mount in 688 AD.  Might not the Holocaust and the deliverance of the remnant in 1948 not also be a foreshadowing of the final Battle for Jerusalem and the deliverance of the remnant by Jesus Himself at the end of the age as described in Zechariah chapter 12?  The reference to Michael in Daniel 12:1 is to me a reference to the one and only leader of Heaven's armies, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, or do you not equate Michael (Hebrew: He Who is like God) with Jesus?  If not, please note that other Biblical descriptions of Michael do seem to describe Jesus, and even the term "The Archangel" means "The One Who is Chief over all the angels".  Finally, the coming "awake" of "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth" (Daniel 12:2) sounds to me very much like one of the resurrections (with reference to Revelation 20:5), which is not until the end of the age.

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I like your explanation of the 'Time of the End' and the living parable of the Fig Tree.  The Messianic Jewish teacher Amir Tsarfati explains that the Fig Tree relates specifically to the benefit of a Nation State for Israel, while the Olive Tree represents the Religious benefits of Israel (e.g. the priesthood), and the Vine represents the Spiritual benefits of Israel (and of course Jesus is the True Vine).
I agree that the re-formed Nation State of Israel (from 1948) gives us a "generational marker" for the return of Jesus, and there are many blogs where people discuss the length of a generation.  If we take the "normal" duration of a generation to be the "three score years and ten" given by Psalm 90:10, then the natural conclusion is that Jesus will return by 2018.  Even those people who are unhappy with using Psalm 90:10 in this way must agree, though, that the return of Jesus can not be far away.
We might also note that Jesus will not return in any random year.  It is generally accepted that Jesus will declare a Year of Jubilee when He returns.  Since Jesus said that He did not come to change the Law, but to fulfil it, we must expect Jesus to respect that a Year of Jubilee can only be declared on one special day in every seven years - Yom Kippur in a Shemittah year.  The next time that Yom Kippur occurs in a Shemittah year is on 23rd September 2015, which is not very far off, and the next opportunity after that is several years past 2018.  We need to watch and be ready, keeping ourselves kiddushin for the Bridegroom.  By the way, in case any readers are unfamiliar with the "Feasts of the Lord" (as per Leviticus 23), please note that Yom Kippur is when Jesus descends to the Mount of Olives; it is not when the 'Rapture' takes place, which is at Yom Teruah, also known by the Jewish idiom of the feast "when no one knows the day or the hour".

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I have a question.  Whilst ISIS is an acronym for "Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham", Isis was also the ancient Egyptian goddess of love, fertility, motherhood and magic.  The Sumerian / Babylonian equivalent of Isis was Inanna / Ishtar, also known as "The Whore of Babylon".  Is this just a coincidence?

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Reading through the various posts above, I note that some people are confused by Revelation 11 verses 7 to 10.  First, when the beast (Islamic) makes war against the two witnesses and kills them (verse 7), it does not explicitly say that all members of each 'witness' are killed.  We know from other scriptures (like 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) that there will be living members of the faithful Church who will be raptured along with the resurrected believers (whose rapture is described in Revelation 11:11-12).  Secondly, most Bible translations of Revelation 11:9 are technically inaccurate.  The Greek word that most Bibles render as "dead bodies" is ptoma, which is actually in the singular.  It can mean one dead body, or "corpse", or "carcase", or "ruins".  Given that each of the two witnesses is an ekklesia (a "church" or group of "called-out ones"), and that the English word "church" is interchangeably used to describe both an assembly of believers and also the place where they meet, I personally prefer to translate ptoma here as "ruins".  Take a look at the ruins of all the destroyed churches in Egypt (the one unambiguous place mentioned in Revelation 11:8 ), for example, which are still "lying in the street" after being attacked last summer.  We are seeing many verses of the Book of Revelation being fulfilled before our very eyes - and, yes, I do believe that we are currently in the middle of those three and a half "days" (years) that lead up to the rapture described in Revelation 11:11-12.

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Much has been made of the words in Revelation 11:3 that the faithful Jews and the born-again Christians in the Gentile Church "will prophesy 1260 days [= years]".  But Revelation 11:3 adds the words "clothed in sackcloth".  To me, this implies that, during their (undefined) total time of prophesying, the two witnesses will metaphorically "wear sackcloth" for 1260 years (because, for these 1260 years, "the woman is wandering in the wilderness").   In other words, it appears to me that the time of being "clothed in sackcloth" is 1260 years, rather than the total time of prophesying.  After all, some of us are still "prophesying" - or speaking forth the word of God.  How can we be sure what the apostle John was emphasizing here - or can we?

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Thank you, Pete, you make some interesting points.  I was particularly interested in your link to Obama's brother, which led to much useful information about President Obama and his family.  Also, I do not deny the "usefulness" of the so-called 'Arab Spring' to the Muslim Brotherhood, who effectively hi-jacked what started out as a broader-based protest against authoritarian rule.  I will reply to one comment you made, viz.- "It seems you are indicating a "pre-trib", 'rapture' doctrine".  Actually, I do not make any assumptions about the so-called "great tribulation" (and therefore its timing in reference to the Rapture) because I am unsure how other Christians define this "great tribulation".  For example, Revelation 2:10 refers to the persecuted church (in Smyrna) having "tribulation for ten days" (i.e. for ten years).  We know that the period from 303 to 313 A.D. was a time of extreme persecution for the church, with thousands upon thousands of Christians martyred for their faith due to the resolve of Diocletian to eliminate Christianity from the Roman Empire.  If we could speak to any of those fourth century Christian martyrs, we might have great difficulty persuading them that they had not lived through the "great tribulation".  Perhaps, however, some scholars believe that the catastrophic time described in Revelation chapters 6 to 9 is meant to refer to the "great tribulation".  I have written under a different topic that the events in Revelation chapters 6 to 9 were fulfilled in 536 A.D. (or shortly thereafter), and there is overwhelming historic and scientific evidence in support of this.  Perhaps other scholars believe that the final three-and-a-half years (as described in Revelation 11:7-10) are the time of the "great tribulation" - in which case we are in the middle of that time now.  Whilst some of us (maybe in the UK or in the USA) might not be suffering direct persecution, a great many Christians most definitely are being persecuted and even killed for their faith - as in Egypt, North Korea, northern Nigeria, Syria, etc., etc.  It is only if you define the Days of God's Wrath (as in Revelation 16) as the time of the "great tribulation" that you can describe me as holding a pre-trib rapture viewpoint!

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Thank you, Pete, for your helpful words on why "Muslims" or "Followers of Muhammad" would be better terms to use than "jihadis".

With reference to the Grand Mufti's pronouncement that "there should be no churches in Arabia", you are quite correct that this most senior Muslim cleric was restating the recorded words (in Hadith) of Muhammad on his deathbed.  However, my point was that many Muslims do appear to have taken this reminder from the Grand Mufti as some kind of "prompt" to renew their attacks on churches (and on Christians in general) with increased vigour and zeal.  Being unable to find any other obvious "signal" for the greatly increased incidences of church-burning in 2012 and 2013, I personally believe that the Grand Mufti's words marked the beginning of the final three-and-a-half years that lead up to the Rapture.

So next, with reference to Revelation 11:11-12, you asked what I meant by "The Rapture".  The title derives from the Latin translation of "caught up".  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 states: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout [Hebrew: teruah], with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first [e.g. those mentioned in Revelation 11:11].  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air [Note that Jesus does not fully descend to the earth until Yom Kippur].  And thus we shall always be with the Lord."  The Latin for "caught up" is rapiemur, hence the expression "Rapture".
I am assuming that you are familiar with Leviticus 23 as God's outline timetable of key dates in His great plan of salvation.  This chapter is often entitled "The Feasts of the Lord", although the Hebrew word moadim more properly means "appointments" or "fixed times" rather than "feasts".  The word is also translated as "seasons" in Genesis 1:14, but "fixed times" may also be more appropriate here.  The four spring feasts in Leviticus 23 were established as dress rehearsals (Hebrew miqra, which is often translated as "convocations") for the four key dates in the first coming of Messiah.  At Passover, the Lamb of God was sacrificially killed.  At Unleavened Bread, He was in the grave.  At Firstfruits (Easter Sunday to us) "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).  At Shavuot (Pentecost), when the Jews celebrate receiving the Torah, the disciples received the living Torah in the form of the Holy Spirit.  That leaves the three autumn (or fall) feasts, which are the three key dates in the second coming of Messiah.  Since Jesus said that He had come to fulfil the Torah and not to change it, we can be assured that He will fulfil the three autumn feasts during the appointed year.  Yom Teruah or "Feast of Trumpets" (poor translation) is the feast "when no-one knows the day or the hour" - as the old Jewish idiom calls it.  Indeed, the Jews were often unsure when Yom Teruah would commence because it relied on two witnesses seeing the new moon (difficult if the sky is cloudy!), so sometimes Yom Teruah started a day late.  Yom Teruah is the fixed appointment of The Rapture, when the heavenly Groom comes calling to fetch His Bride.  At Yom Kippur both the Groom and His Bride return to rescue the Jewish remnant at the Battle for Jerusalem (sometimes referred to as Armageddon), and it is Judgment Day.  Sukkot or "Feast of Tabernacles" is the final celebration which eventually ushers in the Millennial Reign of Christ.  Bring it on!

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Revelation 11:7-14 told us what to expect in Egypt.  Verse 7 tells us that near the End of the Age the "beast" (Islamic jihadis) will make war against the two witnesses (Jews and the Gentile Church).  Verse 8 specifically mentions Egypt as one of the locations.  Verse 8 is usually mis-translated, since the Greek word ptoma (meaning dead body, corpse, carcase or ruins) is in the singular.  Verse 8 would be better translated as "And their [i.e. the Church's] ruins will lie in the street ...".  The BBC reported that over one hundred Christian churches and other Christian buildings were attacked and burned in Egypt last summer (2013).  Together with many attacks on Christians and Christian churches in other countries recently (e.g. Nigeria), it seems that the upsurge in attacks over the last two years is in fulfilment of John's prophecy in Revelation 11.  When did it all begin?  Was there a signal for attacks on churches to commence?  Yes, I believe so.  On March 12th 2012, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia stated that there should be no churches in Arabia.  The Grand Mufti is the most senior Sunni Muslim cleric in the Arabian peninsula, with the power to issue a fatwa.  He is respected by many Muslims far beyond Arabia.  When will the war against Christians and churches end?  Revelation 11:11-12 says that the three-and-a-half years [since "days" = years] will end with the Rapture.  Now you can do the sums and work out when I believe that the Rapture will take place  :)  [at the feast of Yom Teruah during the next Shemittah year, as highlighted by the 2014-15 tetrad of blood moons on Jewish feast days].

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General Discussion / Re: 536 A.D.
« on: February 15, 2014, 08:50:18 AM »
Thanks for your welcome Pete, and for your useful comments and links.  I was aware that some of the parables of Jesus were chiastic, but I had not linked that structure to Daniel and Revelation.

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General Discussion / 536 A.D.
« on: February 14, 2014, 06:23:27 AM »
I was studying the first half of the Book of Revelation, knowing that most Christians take the prophecies in chapters 6 to 9 to refer to the End of the Age.  It seems to me that the Book of Revelation is much more chronologically ordered than many people might think.  Chapter 11 starts in 688 A.D., as we know, with the Abomination of Desolation (Dome of the Rock) constructed in the outer courtyard of the former temple of Solomon, which area was given to the Gentiles (Muslims) for forty-two months (i.e. until 1967, using the principle of "days" = years).  It seems to me that the content of the earlier chapters (including chapters 6 to 9) refers to things that happened prior to 688 A.D.  The events prophesied in chapters 6 to 9, thinking particularly of the cosmic disturbances (in Revelation 6:12-16) and the disasters associated with the first five trumpets (Revelation 8:7 to 9:12) up to the end of the "first woe", all seemed to me to be fairly contemporaneous.  The associated timescale is quoted as "five months" in Revelation 9:5.  Since "five months" would be 152 days (using the Julian calendar), this timespan would represent 152 years.  If the 152 years end in 688 A.D., which is where we have reached by the beginning of chapter 11, then the 152 years must start in 536 A.D.  The date of 536 A.D. meant nothing to me, so I did a "Google" search for 536 A.D., and others may wish to try this.  It seems that 536 A.D. was an exceptionally calamitous time for those on planet Earth.  There are historical records that speak of eighteen months of darkness, famine, disease and death.  In other words, the catastrophic events of Revelation 6:12-16 and Revelation 8:7 to 9:12 really happened in 536 A.D.  An article in 'New Scientist' attributed these catastrophic events to multiple comet impacts and a resulting 'dust cloud' that filled the atmosphere.  I invite others to check this.  Revelation 9:13-19 then describes the rise of Islam after the effects of the catastrophe of 536 A.D. were beginning to wear off.  The catastrophe of 536 A.D., in which (according to John) one third of everything was afflicted, gives us some insight regarding what will happen at the very end of the Age when everything will be afflicted - see the 'Bowl Judgments' of Revelation 16.  Whether the events of Revelation 16 will be caused by an even greater cometary impact is a matter of speculation, but I am watching!  Does anyone else have similar thoughts on Revelation chapters 6 to 9?

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