My Live Journal

Deceiver & Deceived

2012-01-04T16:19:00.001-06:00

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Living With A Monster - A Journey of Faith

2011-05-08T13:19:00.006-05:00

Personal Journal - All Alone With a Monster

July 10, 1997 –Thursday Evening

Fortunately throughout this experience I am not frightened, I am not afraid to die or be killed. As much as I am hated it is obviously by divine intervention in ways that will never be know that I am alive today.

I truly do not understand why I am allowed to be tormented and tortured by the United States Government. I must always be on guard and extremely careful. They constantly dig pits for me – my only trust and hope is in God.

July 16, 1997 – Wednesday Morning

I have been in this place which I call a zoo, for so long I hold no expectations of ever being freed. With this perspective it makes it difficult to even ponder what my feelings would be – I have grown so accustom to this type of life. I could never have survived these past four years if it had not been for the Bible Study which I do each day on my own being as one taught by God, through His word; I follow His trail through the wilderness which takes a very sharp eye to see. It has been an escape and a passion for me. I truly love the work and amazingly never tire of it.

I will pray – for God’s mercy and compassion and most importantly for His guidance and counsel.

I wish I knew where the stink of the allergens was coming from. I wish God would do something. Yet, I am so grateful to God for the Bible Study, it occupies my day and time in a most enjoyable way, even thought I am condemned and tortured for doing it. There is still so much work to be done – and that delights my soul, because if the time I spend here extends though out Clinton’s term – there will yet be hope.

January 20, 1998 – Tuesday Morning

My little cat Alex woke up gagging and snorting. This went off and on for about an hour. They must have increased the allergen level while I was sleeping. I as well have an excessive amount of allergen film.

January 22, 1998 – Thursday Morning

Alex was choke coughing – and sneezed blood out of his nose. My breath is very short – Oh, God – please help me! All I ask for is air to breath – that should never be too much to ask for. Please help your servant God – this cross is such a heavy load. If Your will prescribes me to carry this further yet – than I have no alternative. If so – then give me strength to endure to the very end. Open doors God – please open doors. I am so weary of suffering –

April 18, 1998 – Saturday Evening

Alex is very sick – he got sick again yesterday – and has not recovered. His little heart is pumping very fast – he hasn’t eaten since Friday – this is the second day. I need to get some fluid in him – and an extra dose of his high calorie vitamin supplement. I increased his prednisone to 2 tablets – one in the morning – one in the evening. He is not improving – I am so worried about him. I don’t want him to die-

I’ve prayed to God – all day. I know it’s up to God – I hope He lets Alex live. I’m doing everything I can to block the allergens. I really want to die – I’m not feeling well myself because of the allergens – and every task is a mountain.

May 17, 1998 – Saturday sometime towards evening.

(Life as a prisoner in America)

It could have been all over for me today. I was so ill last night- all night long. I was sick from the “allergen sickness” that I spoke of before – lasting an hour or so, but this lasted all night. I am being tortured.

Then this morning I heard a bunch of doors slamming – it is a message for my tormenters - the usual message – “You’re not getting out of here.” They use it as symbolism to convey their message, kind of like slamming the door in one’s face. Of course they then turned the allergens up – and I was beginning to really get sick – the spasms started. My arms and head were jerking, because the allergens had reached my central nervous system. And I coughed up a great amount of mucus.

They then cut the power off – all of my thirteen air purifiers where shut down. I had purchased these one at a time (through the “Easy Living Store” who subsequently made me sign a release for buying so many) thinking that the next one would over power the allergens that my tormentors were filling the trailer with. My Universal Life Policy was sacrificed in the purchase of these purifiers. You can’t see the allergens but they are in the air, some of the have a scent.

I had placed the window fan from the living room into the hall way to try to suck out some of the sickening air. And now all the power was turned off – and my utility payments were up to date. No air purifiers - now no fan. I didn’t have any choice but to go outside. I took Alex my cat with me because he is allergic to these allergens as well.

So here I am on a sheet I spread out on the concrete. Alex is right beside me. I haven’t eaten much over the last week.

I plan to spend the night out here. I have the dog collar that I kept after my dog Missy died, so I’m going to put her collar around Alex’s middle – with a make shift leash – towards the time of evening. I have no idea what time it is. When the sun begins to set – I’ll take Alex, as well as his water and litter inside – I don’t want another cat to share his things for the chance of his contracting feline leukemia. I will be extremely careful about him.

I’m very weak – I need to sleep – but I will wait until after it gets dark.

Alex is being very cooperative – he’s just resting on the sheet.

May 18, 2011 – Sunday Morning Sometime at Day Break

The birds woke me up singing before day break. Camping out here leisurely during the day can be tolerated, I’m not so certain however about spending the night openly, that people may know, so I will get up before full sun.

Alex has a lot of allergen residue around his nose – it’s from the inside of his nose. Other than his nose running he appears to be okay. I placed Missy’s collar around his middle and attached a leash, which I then tied to my wrist. That’s the way we slept – he attached to my writs in case he got up during the night – then I would feel the tug and he would as well be restrained.

Alex seems to be adjusting well – he’s snuggled here right beside me under the sheet.

Unfortunately, I must consider this to be a possible way of life for us, Alex and myself.

I’m suffering from occasional asthmatic attacks – my guess is residue allergen in my bronchial tubes or lungs. Alex is still snorting – and has discharge from his nose. His hair is a total mess, he is so matted. He let me groom him a bit as we wasted away the evening together yesterday – being exiled from the house. We are being tortured by the United States Government under Clinton’s watch.

Right at the moment Ales is asleep in my lap – he need’s the security – with this new environment.

The most difficult part of this is just to accept this as a reality … and a way of life. I must pan wisely and be prepared … certainly I can survive.

My chin is breaking out in a rash – to be expected.

Why can’t this persecution be stopped? The government has no right – I am not a criminal, I’ve done nothing wrong.

May 6, 2011 – The Monster Still Reigns in America

Alex has long since died. We both camped out in the yard for the entire summer until early November of that same year. One morning three police men came into my yard. I was backed up against the side of the trailer; one police man was to my right, the other to my left and one dead center. They said some people wanted to talk to me. I was escorted to Truman Medical Center for a psyche evaluation. There in went my credibility. There is much more to the summer’s account in my daily journal which I kept. I did write a personal account of this to Dr. Arturo Quiason, in Independence, Missouri. Those records should be in his file. Also, the court order gives a true account of this event.

Even to this very day, they are using allergens. At present I am suffering from a sinus infection onset by a very powerful allergen. I am on an antibiotic, but they are still saturating the house with their deadly poison. I am still alone in this struggle.

This very night I am once again exiled from my home at least for this night. I am being tortured and inhumanely treated. The sad part of it is, I am a United States citizen.

Medicine Man

All Alone With a Monster

2011-05-07T00:08:00.003-05:00

The Dragon and the Woman

2011-03-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

The Woman and the Dragon

Revelation 12:13-17 “And when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth, he pursued the woman who bore the male.”

“One of the darkest stains of the history of mankind has been the persistent specter of anti-Semitism. Over the centuries the Jews have faced more hatred and persecution than any other people.” - John MacArthur

“But the darkest hour in the long history of anti-Semitism was yet to come. In the early 1930’s the Nazi party came to power in Germany and their insane racial theories became public policy. Unlike others who had persecuted the Jewish people, the Nazis and their maniacal leader, Adolf Hitler, did not merely seek to persecute the Jews, but to eliminate them.”

“It is the fervent hope of the Jewish people that the horrors of the Holocaust will never again be repeated. The Bible warns that a time of suffering lies ahead for Israel that will be worse than anything the nation has endured in the past. Jeremiah called that time ‘the time of Jacob’s distress’ (Jer. 30:7). Jesus described it as ‘a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will’ (Matt. 24:21).”

During the days of the Tribulation Satan will make his last, desperate attempt to eliminate the Israel of God.

“Following his defeat by Michael and the holy angels the dragon (Satan) was thrown down to the earth. Frustrated and enraged by his ejection from heaven and desperate, ‘knowing that he has only a short time’ left to oppose God’s plans before he is incarcerated in the abyss, the devil furiously persecuted the woman, who gave birth to the male child. The Greek verb translated persecuted means ‘to pursue,’ ‘to chase,’ or ‘to hunt’.” -John MacArthur

Verse 14 “And were given to the woman two wings of the great eagle (symbolizing strength and speed), that she may fly into the wilderness, (an uninhabited, uncultivated track of land) to the place of her, where she is nourished (provided provisions, perhaps taught by God) there a time, and times, and half a time, from (the) face (aims and objectives, the purpose of mind) of the serpent (turning all his energies against the Israel of God).”

Holman Commentary – “Sky-drama has turned into earth-drama. The dragon’s angels have faded away; the woman who had given birth to the male child reappears. There is a great contest between the two. If the dragon cannot prevail against Michael, perhaps he can destroy the woman.”

Verse 15 “And the serpent cast water out of his mouth like a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried off by the river (seeking to ruin, consume and destroy her by that which comes out of his mouth – evil teachings - attributing to himself the attributes of God, so as God to sit). And the earth helped the woman, and opened the earth the mouth of it and swallowed the river (of religious debauchery) which the dragon cast out of the mouth of him.”

John MacArthur- “But just as He sheltered Israel from Satan’s initial onslaught, so also will God defeat this second assault. In dramatic fashion, the earth helped the woman; it opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. The imagery is reminiscent of Moses’ description of God’s destruction of Pharaoh’s army in Exodus 15:12: ‘You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.” Another Old Testament parallel is the dramatic story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, whose rebellion against Moses was crushed by God in a shocking, dramatic fashion:

Moses said, ‘By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing. If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.’

Then it came about as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them wend down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. (Num. 16:28-33)” -John MacArthur

Verse 17 “And the dragon was enraged over the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of the seed of her, those keeping the commandments of God and having the witness of Jesus Christ.”

War in Heaven

2011-03-13T15:48:00.001-05:00

Michael vs. Satan

Michael vs Satan

Revelation 12:7-9 “And occurred war (hostile conflict) in Heaven, Michael and the angels of him made war against the dragon. And the dragon warred (he fought back), and the angels of him, and not they had strength (the equivalence of God to prevail) not even place was found of them still in Heaven.

The conclusion being: The prerequisite of ethical perfection is obedience to God.

Revelation 12:9-12 “And was cast the great dragon, the old serpent, being called Devil and Satan the (one) deceiving the whole habitable world, was cast onto the earth, and the angels of him with him were cast. And I heard a great voice saying in Heaven, ‘Now has come into being the salvation and the power and the kingdom of the God of us, and the authority of the Christ of Him, because is thrown down the accuser of the brothers of us (holding to the law and obeying the command of God), the (one) (Satan) accusing them before the God of us day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb (who obeyed the command and will of God unto death) and because of the word of the witness of them; and they did not love their soul even until death. Because of this, be glad, the heavens and those tabernacling in them. Woe to the ones dwelling on the earth, and in the sea, because the Devil came down to you having great anger, knowing that he has a little time!'”

Again, the conclusion being: The prerequisite of ethical perfection is obedience to God.

Satan vs Jesus

New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:22 “I (John) did not see a temple (a building) in the city (of New Jerusalem), because the (pristine glory of the) Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (the light bearer) are its temple.”

Revelation 21: 25 “And the [praiseworthy] gates of it [viewed as emblems of justice- seen as symbols of “Grace” and hope for all humanity] not at all may be shut by day- for night will not be there [for the pristine glory of the Lord illumines the city and will reign for ever]- and they [those keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others while maintaining the boundaries of the law] will [in such a posture] bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”

The Woman and the Dragon

2011-03-06T15:16:00.000-06:00

The Woman and the Dragon

Revelation 12:4-9 “And the dragon stood before the woman being about to bear, that, when she bears, the child of her he may devour (completely consuming, thus destroy him). And she bore a son, a male, who is about to shepherd all the nations (oppressing the Israel of God) with an iron staff. And was seized the child of her to God and the throne of Him (which signifies God’s acceptance of his future redemptive work of saving the nation Israel from an apparent irreversible decline, by thwarting the malignant intentions of the Red Dragon).”

Verse 6 “And the woman fled into the wilderness (an uninhabited, uncultivated track of land), where she has a place having been prepared from God, that there they might nourish her days a thousand two hundred (and) sixty.”

The 1200 days is the same duration of time as that of the “Two Witnesses” revealed in Chapter 11. There is a great deal of difference of onion as to the identity of the two witnesses, but their identity is essential for the understanding of this book.

Perhaps, while in the wilderness, the women has seen them, in a figurative sense, in the early days of their testimony, being they are two unknown witnesses- that is, they have had no previous existence, and they have not yet appeared on the scene. It is certain that they are human witnesses from the description of them.

Possibly the “two witnesses” are a symbolic represention of two of the “beheaded one’s” (men who were unjustly punished and utterly defeated by the Church), who attempted to rule with Christ for 1,000 years before the Great Tribulation. In such a posture they could have been viewed as, men untouched by the spirit of idolatry.

“And it shall be in that day, not there shall be light; the glorious ones will shrink. And it will be one day which shall be known to Jehovah; not day and not night, but it will be at the time of evening, there will be light”. Zechariah 13:6-6 Could this verse suggest God’s use of “film”, for instance, to provide insight to the woman during her days in the wilderness?
Consider: http://mytheological.blogspot.com/2009/10/ezekiels-vision.html

Perhaps she saw visions or prophetic revelations in a way that no one had ever seen before and in such a manner she received nourishment while in the trackless waste.

“(As Israel’s King), I and the Father, are One.”

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The Great Tribulation

2011-02-27T19:41:00.010-06:00

The UFO sightings in Jerusalem were certainly sparking debates. The first thought that came into my mind upon hearing of the sighting was the word of Paul: “…God will send to them a working of error, for them to believe the lie.”

Personally I do not believe in UFO’s, but at the same time I do not underestimate the power of God. But the testimony of God reveals that when He created the heavens and the earth He found no other beings.

“You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” (Isaiah 44:8)

“Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me.” (Isaiah 43:10)
“Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.” (Isaiah 40:26)

What then of the UFO sightings in Jerusalem? A hoax? Or was it a “working of error, for them to believe the lie.” And if so, who is the “them” that is being referred to? I, must confess that I do not believe that the UFO sighting was a powerful delusion from God. Still, the word of Paul is a curiosity? And why would God do that anyway?

From this point, I decided to look very closely at the verse. If there is a “working of error” sent by God it seem imperative to try to find it. That is so unlike God to do such a thing! Why? What is it about?
A bit of background history: When Paul made the statement about the “working of error” he was preaching the gospel to new converts at a seaport town in Thessalonica. He was advising them to stand firm in the faith, and not be alarmed at the rumors they heard concerning the expected “second coming” of Christ, because, previously to this coming, there would be a great renunciation from the true faith, and the manifestation of a very bad man destined to everlasting punishment. Here’s what Paul wrote:

2 Thessalonians 2:2 “…we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. (Note: The day of the Lord, is used by the prophets to refer to any specific period of time in which the God of Israel intervenes in human affairs to save and judge.) Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”

What rebellion? The original word used for “rebellion” was “apostasy”. The word is frequently employed to indicate the “abandonment,” or “rejection” of God. The practice of idolatry is “abandoning” God.
Who then abandons God? The Jews? The Christians?

Note: It is offensive to the Jewish religion and considered idolatry to give God a form. The early Christians did not assert that Jesus was God. FOR many years, there had been much opposition on Biblical grounds to the developing idea that Jesus was God. To try to solve the dispute, Roman emperor Constantine who lived from 274 to 337 A.D. summoned all bishops to Nicaea. About 300, a fraction of the total, actually attended.
Constantine demanded that the 300 bishops make a decision by majority vote defining who Jesus Christ is. Constantine commanded them to create a “creed” doctrine that all of Christianity would follow and obey a doctrine that would be called the “Nicene Creed” upheld by the Church and enforced by the Emperor. The bishops voted to make the full deity of Christ the accepted position for the church.

It has been suggested that this decision back in 300 A.D, could fit in with what the apostle Paul foretold would follow after his time. They said that there would be an apostasy, a deviation, a falling away from true worship.

Did the forefathers of Christianity abandon God when they elected 300 years after his ascension to deify him? But there is support within the Old Testament to the deity of Jesus.

“For a child is born to us; a son is given to us; and is the government on his shoulder; and is called His name wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace.” Isaiah 9:5-6

The prophet Isaiah said that God would be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem (clinging to the House of David) He would be a trap and a snare.
“Is called his name … the Mighty God.” Reading this verse, as a simple prophetic fact holds to truth, for at the deification of Christ the Christians would, did and still do call his name Mighty God.

Furthermore, this doctrine places Jesus in a very precarious position, one that could be confused with that of Lucifer. For it is Lucifer who exalted himself saying, “I will go up to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God…, I will be likened to (God) the Most High.” The sons of Israel have been likened to “stars”. Is such a posture Lucifer becomes the figure of the Anti-Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 “… God will send to them a working (an undertaking directed to produce and accomplish the task ) of error (a working that will lead them out of the right way, or the right path, in a sense of a distortion of the truth) for (the misleading of ) them to (turn away from obedience to firmly) believe the lie (changing the truth of God for a falsehood, by the making of an idol)…”

Some sort of apostasy from the true faith, such as the “working of error”, will lead the way for the man of lawlessness. He will exalt himself above all divine authority taking on God’s attribute of theocratic power and vengeance. In such a posture he will have the highest place of authority within the Christian Church, as it pertains, perhaps to an underground vein of wickedness known as the Synagogue of Satan.
There is a system of corrupt doctrine which will lead to the general apostasy, already in existence, but it has remained a mystery. We can however catch up with Satan, in the Book of Revelation.

“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.” Revelation 12:1-2

“The ancients believed that heavenly signs signaled changes on earth. The magi followed a star a great distance to see the new king of the Jews. Because Herod knew the importance of such an omen, he gathered information about the star in order to kill his potential rival to the throne.” – M. Wilson

“That the woman was clothed with the sun reflects redeemed Israel’s unique glory, brilliance, and dignity because of her exalted status. The twelve stars on the woman’s head refer to the twelve tribes of Israel (10 tribes from the House of Israel, the Christians, and 2 tribes from the House of Judah, representing the Jews). Also, the reference to “the rest of her children,” those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” shows that this woman is a symbolic mother.”

Her children hold to the Ten Commandments. The sins forbidden in the first commandment are; idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one, or any with or instead of the true God. It would appear that she represents the nation Israel in a non-idolatrous state, viewed as those who come out the great tribulation, having washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb.

Just like a pregnant woman in labor feels pain, so the nation of Israel was in pain, waiting for the Sun of Righteousness to come forth and rise with curative medicine in his wings.

“The cause of some of the pain for the woman is the persecution by Satan, who attempts to destroy the mother. Having described the woman’s agonizing labor pains, John introduces the cause of her suffering.”
“And was seen another sign in Heaven, and behold, a great red dragon (identified in verse 9 as “Satan”), having seven heads (pointing to the time of fulfillment by figurative representation of fallen and active world empires that oppressed the nation of Israel over the course of history) and ten horns (symbolizing that this particular society of the beast derived its great power and support directly from the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom – the Christians, though perhaps in an underground context of the Synagogue of Satan), and seven crowns on the heads of him (denoting kingly or royal authority of the fallen and active world empires that oppressed Israel)...”

Crowned Heads
(1) Egypt
(2) Assyria
(3) Ancient Babylon
(4) Persia
(5) The Greek Kingdoms, Alexander the Great
(6) Rome
(7) Babylon the Great – the center of secular power of a secret underground society seeking one world order being the active, current empire. (In other words this would occur during the time of reign of Babylon.)
“His (Satan’s) tail (the end extremity of his great strength) swept a third of the stars (the select son’s of Israel who washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb) out of the sky and flung them to the earth (rebuking them as illegitimate son’s of Israel). The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child (the prevailer), who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And was seized the child of her to God and the throne of Him.”

Curative Medicine: Jesus taught, “And as (accordingly) Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so to must be lifted up the son of man that everyone believing in him may not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:14

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Jesus Rebuilds the Temple

2010-01-13T14:25:00.000-06:00

John 2:12-20 “After this he (Jesus) went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.”
“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’”
“His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”
“Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’”
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’”
“The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’"

Jeremiah 17:12-13 “A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame.”

Isaiah 53:10 “But Jehovah pleased [as His desired will] to crush him, to make him sick [inundated and beleaguered], if he shall put his soul a guilt offering [a ransom payment- for the sins of the nation], he shall see seed [for with his blood he shall purchase men for God to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God], he shall prolong days [of the dispersion] and the pleasure [the desired will] of Jehovah in his hand shall prosper.”
Verse 11 “Of the travail [the laborious effort, the great anguish] of his soul he shall see [accounting to the murderous conspiracy of the people the stroke was to him]; he shall be satisfied [justifying righteous- those who believe- and what generation shall consider this]. By his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many [by consuming the impurities within the Levitical Priesthood], and their iniquities he shall bear [in accordance to righteous demands of the law].”

EXODUS 28:38 “And it (the turban) shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things (the sacred gifts, whatever they may be), which sanctify (free from punishment) the sons of Israel, to all (the iniquity associated with) their holy gifts; and it shall be on his forehead continually, for acceptance for them before Jehovah.”

QUOTE: “Such is the dilemma, the malignant wisdom of an evil that we seem doomed to serve whichever way we turn. Humanity is caught in this bondage, caught without even being able to name it directly. We know not what we do.”

MALACHI 3:2-4 “’Behold, he [the “Messiah”] comes, ‘ says Jehovah of hosts, ‘But who can endure the day of his coming [into his everlasting dominion]? And who (will be) standing at his appearing [when he has gained conquest]? For he (is) like a refiners fire and like fullers soap [to wash white the stain that is there]. And he shall sit [in the posture of] a refiner and purifier of silver [to consume the impurities within]; and he shall purify the sons of Levi [the great company of priest], and purge them like gold and like silver, that they may be to Jehovah presenters of offering [of atonements] in [accordance to] righteousness.’”

The reconstructed temple, according to the above criteria, would be cleansed of impurities, benefits derived from the cross, which would lead to the unification of Israel. Jesus would accomplish this feat in three days.

New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:22 “I (John) did not see a temple (a building) in the city (of New Jerusalem), because the (pristine glory of the) Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (the light bearer of the Church) are its temple.”

Revelation 21: 25 “And the [praiseworthy] gates of it [viewed as emblems of justice- seen as symbols of “Grace” and hope for all humanity] not at all may be shut by day- for night will not be there [for the pristine glory of the Lord illumines the city and will reign for ever]- and they [those keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others while maintaining the boundaries of the law] will [in such a posture] bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”

How can the glory and the honor of the nations be brought into the New Jerusalem?

Revelation 22:2 “And the leaves of the tree [providing a divinely sanctioned Ethical Norm as a shelter of protection for all peoples] (will be) for healing [restorative medicine] of the nations.

Secular Ethical Norm
(Encyclopedia Version)

 Do not murder
 Do not commit adultery
 Do not bear false witness
 Do not steal (Insures right to own personal property)
 Do not covet
 In all things do judgment –
In summary, the non-corrosive tempering agent of “righteousness,” keeps the standard of the law in tack, yet, provides a judicial “balance” for the maintenance of moral purity. In this capacity, the doing of judgment for the maintenance of righteousness- can surpass the letter of the law. Righteousness is a fruit of just judgment; the two go hand in hand.
 Do not lift vengeance (rather, make application of the "Golden Rule" in accordance to the above criteria)

Revelation 21:27 “And not at all may enter into it all profaning (showing disrespect for the law and the doing of judgment for the maintenance of righteousness) and (any) making an abomination (a desolating trespass in defiance of righteousness) and (making) a lie (a crafty error - an ethical principle that is not consistent with legal and morally correct conduct, causing the stumbling of others), except (may enter) those (the righteous - keeping to the paths of justice) having been written in the Scroll of Life of the Lamb.”

Is your name written the Scroll of Life of the Lamb?
[Note: Obedience to the voice of God’s command insured eternal life for Adam and Eve. In a fallen state- all humanity had been barred access to the tree of life. Access could only be obtained through the “Grace of God.” The only one’s barred from entrance through the “Pearly Gates”, were the evilly wicked.

Jesus set the way, as witnessed through the salvation of God, manifest in his ascension. Jesus lead the way, becoming the way to truth and life.]

LIFE IN CHRIST
(Catechism of the Catholic Church)

The Ten Commandments

“Teacher, what must I do…?”
2052 “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the “One there is who is good,” as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Based on the testimony of Jesus, two fundamental elements temper and stabilize the moral standard of the law: (1) the testimony of the Prophets – by way of the “Word of God”; (2) and righteousness – through the application of the Golden Rule - keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others, while maintaining the boundaries of the law, as a non-corrosive admixture used as a principle designed for the maintenance of “moral rightness” – at times when a rigid law fails to be a boarder of defense for the innocent and becomes instead a malicious tool for the wicked. In such a posture the non-corrosive admixture of just judgment owes its flourish state to the rightness of an action under a particular circumstance or situation.

Analysis
Review
Based on the testimony of Jesus, two fundamental elements temper and stabilize the moral standard of the law: (1) the testimony of the Prophets – the “Word of God”; and (2) righteousness, as a non-corrosive admixture used as a principle designed for the maintenance of “moral rightness” – at times when a rigid law has failed.

Consequently, the last two “fruits” associated with the “tree of Life” – have a direct reference to the “prophets,” (the “Word of God”) and the tempering element of “righteous judgment,” geared toward the maintenance of moral purity in its highest standard- thus successfully surpassing the law in moral virtue. As two fruits of the tree of life they could symbolize: (1) The “Word of God,” the testimony of Jesus and the Prophets; and (2) the doing of “judgment” for the maintenance of righteousness.
Ø In all things do judgment –

In summary, the non-corrosive tempering agent of “righteousness,” keeps the standard of the law in tack, yet, provides a judicial “balance” for the maintenance of moral purity. In this capacity, the doing of judgment for the maintenance of righteousness- can surpass the letter of the law. Righteousness is a fruit of just judgment; the two go hand in hand.
Ø Obey the word of God: Do not lift vengeance (rather, make application of the "Golden Rule" in accordance to the above criteria).

“Teacher, what must I do…?”

Then Jesus tells him: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
“The ethic of reciprocity (mutual exchange, something done in return), also known as the Golden Rule, is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. Reciprocity is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has it critics. A key element of the golden rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration.”

“Therefore the "Golden Rule" presents God as having unconditional positive regard for all human beings. In order to be perfect as he is perfect, and to be "sons of the Most High, " we are to emulate the purest altruism and uncompromising impartiality of the Father, who seeks only the good of his creatures.”

Secular Ethical Norm

2009-12-18T13:44:00.000-06:00

Revelation 22:2 “And the leaves of the tree [providing a divinely sanctioned Ethical Norm as a shelter of protection for all peoples] (will be) for healing [restorative medicine] of the nations.

Secular Ethical Norm
(Encyclopedia Version)

 Do not murder
 Do not commit adultery
 Do not bear false witness
 Do not steal (Insures right to own personal property)
 Do not covet
 In all things do judgment –
In summary, the non-corrosive tempering agent of “righteousness,” keeps the standard of the law in tack, yet, provides a judicial “balance” for the maintenance of moral purity. In this capacity, the doing of judgment for the maintenance of righteousness- can surpass the letter of the law. Righteousness is a fruit of just judgment; the two go hand in hand.
 Do not lift vengeance (rather, make application of the "Golden Rule" in accordance to the above criteria)

THE TREE Of LIFE - Universal Ethical Norm

2009-12-17T14:39:00.000-06:00

(A Future Prophecy in Nahum’s Day)
Nahum 2 “Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him bearing good news, are making peace heard! Celebrate, O Judah, your feasts; fulfill your vows; for not will continue any more to pass through among you the worthless; completely he is cut off (brought to an end).’”

MacArthur Commentary.- mountains … feet. The verse echoes Isaiah 52:7, where it refers to those who announced the deliverance from Babylon.

“’And now what do I have here?’
Declares the Lord.
‘For My people have been
Taken away for nothing,
And those who rule them
Mock,’
Declares the Lord.
‘And all day long
My name is constantly
Blasphemed.
Therefore My people will
Know My name;
Therefore in that day they
Will know
That it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.’”

“How beautiful on the
Mountains
Are the feet of those who
Bring good news,
Who proclaim peace,
Who bring good tidings,
Who proclaim salvation,
Who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!’
Listen! Your watchmen lift up
Their voices;
Together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to
Zion,
They will see it with their
Own eyes.
Burst into songs of joy
Together,
You ruins of Jerusalem,
For the Lord has comforted His
People,
He has redeemed
Jerusalem.
The Lord will lay bare His holy
Arm
In the sight of all the
Nations,
And all the ends of the earth
Will see
The salvation of our God.”
Isaiah 52:5-10

McGee Commentary.- Isaiah spoke this in reference to the destruction of Babylon as he wrote to the southern kingdom of Judah. Nahum, writing to the northern kingdom, says the same thing but concerning Assyria.

Barnes Commentary.- Nahum joins on this signal complete deliverance from a temporal enemy, to the final deliverance of the people of God. The invasion of the Assyrian king was an avowed conflict with God Himself. It was a defiance of God.
The Assyrian king would make God’s people, his; he would cut them off, that it be no more a people, and that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

“The prophet, with irony and satire, ordered the Assyrians to prepare for the coming invasion …”

(Continuing Nahum 2) Verse 2 “Guard the rampart, watch the way, strengthen the loins (prepare all your strength for conflict), exceedingly firm up the power. For Jehovah has turned (aside) the glory (the honored position) of Jacob (the ancestor, the tribal head of the nation Israel), like the glory of Israel (illuminating the Law & holy standard of God). For those emptying (the people of God of their occupied habitation of righteousness) have emptied them, and their branches (their judicial system and courts extending or from the expansion of their personal interests or activities through the practice of a free and equal representation of the people as a righteous and just system of civil government) they have destroyed.”

(Review)
ISAIAH 14:1-2 “For Jehovah will have pity on Jacob, and will chose yet among Israel, and give them rest on their [home] land. And the alien [left helpless in the face of oppression- who of necessity relied upon others for justice, since they were not in a position to demand it, or mete it out themselves] shall be joined to them; and they shall cling to the house of Jacob [in the thick of the battle of life- for Jacob is in enemy territory and threatened by a hostile world]. And peoples [strong in righteousness] shall take them and bring them to their place. And the house of Israel [whose very covenant safeguards the liberties of others] shall possess them [in an ethical sense] on the land of Jehovah for slaves and slave girls [who meekly accept being ruled by the laws of a free and democratic society], and they shall be [socially restrained] captives of their [law enforcing] captors [restoring and maintaining the boundaries of the law], and [in such a social posture] they shall rule over their [lawless and cruel] oppressors [the ruthless Babylonians- a formidable political world power of underground organized crime- involved in a secret bid for worldwide domination].”

McGee Commentary.- “It is very interesting that Nahum, with biting sarcasm, tells Assyria, ‘You sure had better fortify yourself. The Assyrians (the best fighting machine - ferocious looters, building their state by robbing other nations) spared no one, and they thought that their capital was impregnable and that they could withstand any kind of a judgment. But God is saying to this nation, ‘You are going to be destroyed.’”

Barnes Commentary.- For the emptiers (the Assyrians) have emptied them out. Unlike the world, their emptiness is their fullness, as the fullness of the world is its emptiness. The Church falls, but to arise; for the Lord has restored the excellency of Jacob; for the emptiers have emptied them out and marred their vine branches, i.e., its fruit-bearing branches.

(The Assyrains forces molded into an irrestable fighting machine - sought to reduce the whole civilized world into a single empire)

Barnes Commentary.- The Assyrian King then was not a picture only, he was the agent of Satan, who used his hands, feet, tongue, to blaspheme God and war against His people.

“After He has employed these nations, as Nineveh and Babylon, for a time to fulfill His purpose, He lays them aside. But, He, in the case of His elect people (whose very covenant safeguards the civil liberties of the alien), restores them to His favor again (illuminating the Law & holy standard of God, “signifying the nation’s restoration to the promised position” – far from the corporation of tyrannical imperialism)."

Henry Commentary.- Here is an alarm of war sent to Nineveh. The prophet speaks of it as just at hand, for it is neither doubtful nor far distant. O Nineveh! Keep the munitions’; secure your towers and magazines: watch the way; set guards upon all the avenues to the city; make your loins strong; encourage your soldiers; animate (rouse) yourself and them (into activity); fortify your power mightily, as cities do when an enemy is advancing against them: (this is spoken ironically); “do the utmost you can, yet you shall not be able to put by (prevail against) the stroke of this judgment, for there is not counsel of strength against the Lord.”
A manifesto published, showing the causes of the war: The Lord has turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel, that is, the Assyrians have been abusive to Jacob, the two tribes (the Assyrians have humbled and mortified them), have emptied them, and marred their vine-branches. For this God will reckon with them; though done long since, it shall come into the account now against the kingdom, and Nineveh the head-city of it. Emptiers have emptied the cities, and marred the vine-branches in the country of Jacob and Israel; and must not the excellency of Nineveh, that is so much her pride, be turned away too?

Calvin Commentary.- The Prophet again teaches us, that whatever he prophesied respecting the destruction of the city Nineveh, was for this end,- that God, by this remarkable evidence, might show that He had a care for His people, and that He was not unmindful of the covenant He had made with the children of Abraham. This prophecy would have otherwise produced no salutary (beneficial) effect on the Israelites; they might have thought that it was by chance, or by some fatal revolution or through some other cause, that Nineveh had been overthrown. Hence the Prophet shows, that the ruin of the city, and of the monarchy of Nineveh, would be a proof of the paternal love of God towards His chosen people, and that such a change was to be made for the sake of one people… because God…purposed that some seed should remain; for it would have been inconsistent, that the covenant, which was to be inviolate (unaltered, kept pure, not subject to change or destruction), should be abolished. We now then understand the Prophet’s object, and how this verse is to be connected with the rest of the context.
Behold, he says, on the mountains the feet of him who announces peace. There would be now free liberty to proclaim peace on the highest places.

Barker – Bailey Commentary (Expounded).- God promised the cessation of hostility and the restoration of autonomy (existence as independent moral agents) to the people of Judah (via the exclusivism of the covenant). No more would the wicked invade the people of Judah. They (the Assyrians) would be completely cut off, a word of assurance that Judah’s subservience to Assyria would soon end. Literally, the Hebrew reads, “for not again still to pass over you Belial.”
In this chapter the prophet warned the city of the coming destruction “with biting irony…” Like almost everyone in Judah, he looked and hoped for the destruction of Nineveh.

“An attacker advances against you, (Nineveh).
Guard the fortress,
Watch the road,
Brace yourselves,
Marshal all your strength!”

For Nahum the ultimate shatter was God Himself. No matter who the human agent of destruction might be, God rendered the Assyrians powerless (in an ethical sense). He planned to rescue the peoples of the world and particularly to rescue His chosen people from the iron hand of the oppressor.
God had decreed the destruction of Nineveh. The only thing the people of Nineveh could do was attempt to defend themselves. Human nature demands that citizens fight to defend their lives and their property even when the cause is hopeless.

“The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob
Like the splendor of Israel,
Though destroyers have laid them waste
And have ruined their vines.”

Here is Nahum’s final word directed overtly to Judah. From this verse all else flows. Because God has decided to restore Judah’s splendor, the battle must be engaged. Nineveh’s splendor must vanish from the earth. Destruction for Nineveh meant comfort for Judah.
The message of the book is one of comfort to Judah by ending the oppression of Nineveh. Jacob will be restored because Nineveh’s oppression will end. In fact, all the peoples will feel restoration at the fall of the oppressor. When the peoples hear the word of Assyria’s demise, they will clap their hands, for all had felt the cruelty of the Assyrian power.

Robertson Commentary.- Nahum had been called of God to stand against the powers that be. But he did not discharge his duty of prophetic proclamation in a perfunctory (hasty or superficial) manner. Instead, he summoned the full force of his fertile imagination to communicate the fact that the mighty oppressor, still hovering over its cowed victims, would crumble into dust.

McComisky Commentary.- Nahum now relates a vision that he has received from God. It describes the demise of Nineveh. Nahum sees the end clearly; there is no doubt about the outcome. This one vividly portrays the confusion and horror that will come on the inhabitants of Nineveh when they meet their fate.
We imagine Nahum once again viewing the attacking army from the watchtower of Nineveh. As he does, he is caught up in a vision of the end of that city. Although he wrote these words years before the event, it is as if he were there. This vision imparts to the reader a feeling of certainty that what it depicts will be fulfilled. God has allowed the prophet to see the demise of Nineveh in vivid detail. There is no doubt that this event will take place.
(Continuing Nahum 2) Verse 4 “The (defensive) shield (the protective guard) of his mighty ones (raised in the defense of his battle axe, used for the hacking down of others for self-advancement and dominion) has become red (the color associated with blood and war); the men of valor (the men of courage, especially that shown in war or battle) (are) clothed in scarlet (the color of spilled blood as an ornamented ideological covering); with the (burning) fire of iron (irresistible war machines) (shall be) the chariots (symbolizing the doctrine or dogma upon which many ride) in that day of his preparation (of arraying for battle); and the cypresses (symbolizing men who conform to the authoritative standard of God) are made to quiver.”

A Teaching for Consideration – (A Disclaimer to Antichrist’s Claims)
Consider the Cypress

RIGHTEOUSNESS- is defined as holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard. The word “righteousness” comes from a root word that means “straightness.” It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness. Therefore, the righteousness of human beings is defined in terms of God’s.

CORPORATE UNITY OF MAN WITH GOD
HOSEA 14:9 “’I (Jehovah) am as a green cypress. From Me your fruit [the state of bearing a tree of like kind] is found.”

The corporate unity of Man with God is tied to purity of heart and moral rectitude of life; being and doing right. The righteousness or justice of God is the divine holiness applied in moral government and the domain of law. As an attribute of God it is united with His holiness as being essential in His nature; it is legislative, as He is the righteous governor of all; and is administrative or judicial, as He is a just dispenser of rewards and punishments.
In theology, as in the Scriptures, the terms justice and righteousness are used synonymously. The justice of God is both an essential and relative attribute of the divine existence. It is a necessary outflow from the holiness of God.

In summary, the non-corrosive tempering agent of “righteousness,” keeps the standard of the law in tack, yet, provides a judicial “balance” for the maintenance of moral purity. In this capacity, the doing of judgment for the maintenance of righteousness- can surpass the letter of the law. Righteousness is a fruit of just judgment; the two go hand in hand.

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed [favored for success] (are) those doing the command of Him [fearing the Lord, walking in His ways and obeying Him], that will be the authority of them over the tree of life, and by the gates [of “Grace and Hope” for all humanity] they [(those) applying the Golden Rule - keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others, while maintaining the boundaries of the law] may enter into the city [of refuge]. But the dogs (are) outside [wickedly enraged and unpitying malicious wretches who hound the god fearers to their doom]…”

Key to World Peace

Universal Ethical Norm

The people of Israel were themselves once immigrants and God had told them in Leviticus (19:33-34): "When an alien (a nonmember of the covenant community) resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself (do unto him as you would have him do unto you), for you were once aliens in the land of Egypt."

Global Ethic

The Old Testament. The term "Golden Rule" is not found in Scripture, but is the popular way of referring to the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31. Jesus states, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." With regard to the Old Testament, two main points prevail. Matthew's citation presents the Golden Rule as encapsulating the teachings of the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12 reads, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Second, even though the Golden Rule addresses human interpersonal relationships, its message is essentially theo- logical, serving as the “ethical bridge” that joins the Golden Rule with the message of the Old Testament. For these two points, the sum of the law and the cultural superior nature of the Golden Rule, are both found here. When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus claimed that to love God totally and to love one's neighbor as oneself was the sum of the Law and the Prophets. Obeying the mandate to love one's neighbor ( Lev 19:18 ) essentially conveys the Golden Rule.

The immediate context of the Golden Rule in Leviticus 19:18 is restricted to the covenant community upholding the Divine Law as the Ethical rule of conduct, thusly protecting religious freedoms, values and interests. The Golden Rule then is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, regardless of race, sex or religion, along with the responsibility to ensure justice for others. The “alien” in Israel is not to be mistreated, but is to be regarded as a native-born Israeli. “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19: 33-34)

A key element of the golden rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration. Defined another way, it “refers to the balance in an interactive system such that each party has both rights and duties, and that one’s rights are the other’s obligation."

There is to be no respecting of persons. Likewise Exodus 34:6 represents an often repeated theme in the Old Testament. God's love, mercy, and grace far exceed His desire to punish the wicked.

God's benevolence to Israel is paradigmatic of his goodwill toward all humans. His compassion for people is seen in His love for the aliens among Israel, pagan nations.

Therefore the "Golden Rule" presents God as having unconditional positive regard for all human beings. In order to be perfect as He is perfect, and to be "sons of the Most High, " we are to emulate the purest altruism and uncompromising impartiality of the Father, who seeks only the good of his creatures.

Several passages in the New Testament quote Jesus of Nazareth espousing the golden rule, including the following:

Matthew 7:12
12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Luke 6:31
31And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

Luke 10:25-28
25And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

Jesus taught: “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” In all truth, how could it be otherwise.
What by measure has surpassed the law in moral value?

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW
Consider the Word’s of Jesus
MATTHEW 5:17-20 “’Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the (testimony of the) Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Revelation 7:9-17 “After these things I (John) saw, and behold, a great crowd which no one was able to number them, out of every nation, even tribes and peoples and tongues standing in front of the throne, and before the Lamb, having been clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. And they cry with a great voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
Verse 11 “And all the angels and of the elders and of the four living creatures stood around the throne. And they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Verse 13 “And one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These, the ones having been clothed in white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?’”
Verse 14 “And I (John) said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’”
“And he said to me, ‘These are those coming out of the great affliction [commencing at the crucifixion and ascension of Jesus- a time when the brotherhood had been broken between Israel and Judah], and whitened e robes of them in the [innocent] blood of the Lamb [who set the course of human history toward reconciliation with God]. Therefore they [those inside the confines of the city] are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night [continually and unceasingly] in the temple of Him. And the (One) sitting on the throne tabernacled over them.”
Verse 16 “Not they will hunger longer, nor will they thirst longer, nor not shall fall on them the (relentless scorching of the garish) sun, nor every (kind of) heat (unrelenting judgment) because the Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will lead them upon fountains (the source) of living waters [reviving afflicted souls], and God will wipe off every tear from the eyes of them.”

WILL THE LIVING WATER LEAD US TO THE “TREE OF LIFE”?
(FOLLOWING THE TRAIL – A WILDERNESS PILGRIMAGE to the TREE Of LIFE)

REVELATION 22:1-6 “And he [the messenger of God] showed me [John] a clean river [in a moral sense] of water of life [waters of blessing, sustaining, reviving and invigorating provision], bright light crystal [free from impurity] coming forth out of the throne [the judgment seat] of God, and of the Lamb.”
Verse 2 “In (among the) midst of the street (the thoroughfare) of it, and of the river, from here and from there (on either side), a tree of life producing twelve fruits according to one month (the applicable season) yielding the (ripened) fruit of it.”

TREE of LIFE.- “The tree of life is an image of life and immortality, but also of irretrievable loss. Except for four metaphoric references in Proverbs, reference to the tree of life occurs only in Genesis and Revelation. The tree of life thus connects the creation of the world to the re-created world that is to come.

Proverbs 3:18 “She (Wisdom) is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.”

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy Ones [the prophets of Jehovah giving witness to the word of God] is understanding.”

Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the Lord is to hate evil…”

Proverbs 3:19 “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place…”

SUMMARY:
Wisdom, hatred of evil is a tree of life.

Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the just is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise.
Proverbs 15:4 “A healing tongue [a word of godly counsel] is a tree of life, but perversity in it [distorting the course of justice] is a breaking in the spirit.”

CONCLUSSION: The Tree of Life represents, morally principled words of godly counsel, respectable, upright words, based upon the hatred of evil: The counsel of true wisdom.

The Fruit of the Tree of Life
How to Obtain Eternal Life – Teachings of Jesus

Matthew 19:16-22 “Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’”
Verse 17 “’Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied, ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.’”
Verse 18 “’Which ones?’ the man inquired.”
“Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor (the aliens) as yourself.’’”
“’All these I have kept,’ the young man said, ‘What do I still lack?’”
“’Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.’”
Verse 22 “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Jesus told the man to keep the Ten Commandments. As the First Commandment forbids the worship of any false god, seen or unseen, it is here forbidden to worship an image of any sort, whether the figure of a false deity or one in any way symbolical of Jehovah. Only One is good. Obey God. Do good to the alien. This Christ declared to be the second commandment of the law.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
Mark 12:28-31 “And one of the scribes come and heard them arguing, and recognizing that he (Jesus) had answered them well, ask him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’ Jesus answered, “The foremost is, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God in one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

JOHN 13:34-35 (Jesus Taught) “’A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’”

LIFE IN CHRIST
(Catechism of the Catholic Church)
The Ten Commandments

“Teacher, what must I do…?”

2052 “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the “One there is who is good,” as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Based on the testimony of Jesus, two fundamental elements temper and stabilize the moral standard of the law: (1) the testimony of the Prophets – by way of the “Word of God”; (2) and righteousness – through the application of the Golden Rule - keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others, while maintaining the boundaries of the law, as a non-corrosive admixture used as a principle designed for the maintenance of “moral rightness” – at times when a rigid law fails to be a boarder of defense for the innocent and becomes instead a malicious tool for the wicked. In such a posture the non-corrosive admixture of just judgment owes its flourish state to the rightness of an action under a particular circumstance or situation.

Example:
In a comparative analogy- the only “corrosion-resistance” admixture within the scope of ethics is “righteousness.” For example, the law of God was written on “stone,” but the law in and of itself is not corrosion-resistant- it can fail.

In certain circumstance the law can fall short in its objective to maintain a border of defense for the innocent and actually became- instead a malicious tool for the wicked. For example, the law says, “Thou shalt not lie.” Written on stone it is a cold hard and brittle Law. The question arises, “Would it be wrong to tell a lie even to a would-be murderer who came to your door seeking to kill an innocent person hidden in your house.” This kind of situation illustrates the following testimony of Jesus.

Could it be imagined that the “Ten Commandments” are symbolized as the first of the ten “fruits” of the tree of life? Jesus taught: “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” In all truth, how could it be otherwise.

“Teacher, what must I do…?”

2052 “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the “One there is who is good,” as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Analysis
Review
Based on the testimony of Jesus, two fundamental elements temper and stabilize the moral standard of the law: (1) the testimony of the Prophets – the “Word of God”; and (2) righteousness, as a non-corrosive admixture used as a principle designed for the maintenance of “moral rightness” – at times when a rigid law has failed.

Consequently, the last two “fruits” associated with the “tree of Life” – have a direct reference to the “prophets,” (the “Word of God”) and the tempering element of “righteous judgment,” geared toward the maintenance of moral purity in its highest standard- thus successfully surpassing the law in moral virtue. As two fruits of the tree of life they could symbolize: (1) The “Word of God,” the testimony of Jesus and the Prophets; and (2) the doing of “judgment” for the maintenance of righteousness.

(Continuing Revelation 22:1-6) Verse 2 “In (among the) midst of the street (the thoroughfare) of it, and of the river, from here and from there (on either side), a tree of life producing twelve fruits [(1-10) the ten legislative enactments: the “Ten Commandments”’ followed by (11) the fruit of the ” Word of God”, viewed as the testimony of Jesus and the Old Testament Prophets; (12) righteousness – through the application of the Golden Rule - keeping to the paths of justice- safeguarding the rights and liberties of others, while maintaining the boundaries of the law, as a non-corrosive admixture used as a principle designed for the maintenance of “moral rightness”) (each) according to one month (the applicable season) yielding the (ripened) fruit of it. And the leaves of the tree [providing a divinely sectioned Ethical Norm as a shelter of protection for all peoples] (will be) for healing [restorative medicine] of the nations. And every curse will not be longer [for those having set in order his moral duty and obligation aright].”

“ Empathy is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think and wherever we come from. And although it isn’t possible to know what it really feels like to be a different person or live in different circumstances and have different life experiences, it isn’t difficult for most of us to imagine what would cause us suffering and to try to avoid causing suffering to others. For this reason many people find the Golden Rule’s corollary – “do not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself” – more pragmatic. [29]

The Golden rule appears to have an evolutionary basis, having a common descent from the teaching of God, boarding the scope of ethical responsibilities of the Jews as it pertains to reciprocal relationships toward all mankind.

The golden rule has its roots in a wide range of world cultures, and is a standard which different cultures use to resolve conflicts; it was present in the philosophies of ancient India, Greece, Judea and China. Principal philosophers and religious figures have stated it in different ways, but its most common English phrasing is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the Biblical book of Matthew: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The Hacker

2009-11-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

Underworld Army of Assyria
(Living by Crime)

NAHUM 1 “The burden of Nineveh: the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Verse 2 “God (is) jealous, and Jehovah is avenging; Jehovah is avenging and a possessor of wrath. Jehovah takes vengeance against His foes, and He keeps (wrath) against His enemies. Jehovah (is) long (before) anger, and great of power and not by any means does He acquit (exonerate the guilty). Jehovah (is) in the tempest and in the storm His way, and the clouds (are) the dust of His feet.’”

Barker and Bailey Commentary.- Sometimes before the fall of Nineveh, Nahum preached a message that sounds much like hate to the ears of people familiar with Jesus’ words to love our enemies. To the people of Nahum’s day, his message was one of comfort and deliverance of oppressed people. For the oppressed to be freed, the oppressor had to be removed. Nahum spoke about the end of the oppressor, Nineveh.

Luke 6:27-30 (New International Version)
(Hypothetical Interpretation - Jewish Rendition- Conforming to a Morally Pure Standard)
An Eye for an Eye
(Jesus Taught) “’But I say to you, those hearing: Love your enemies [your hating brothers]; bless those [of the divided nation of Israel] cursing you [that they might be under divine care]; and pray for those [offensively] insulting you. To those striking you on the cheek [for your faithful adherence to Jehovah your God], turn the other also [do not lift vengeance- hold fast to the Word of God].’”
“’And from those taking your garment [your coverings - things of moral values and principles] do not keep back the tunic [the outer covering of protection afforded within the divine Law]. And everyone asking you [of things concerning divine ordinances], give; and from those taking your things [pertaining to biblical norms] not ask back.’”

It has not been supposed that Jesus announced a higher standard of spirituality than Moses did. He introduced a more merciful code of conduct than that which was required during the days of the Old Testament economy.

NAHUM 1 “The burden of Nineveh: the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Verse 2 “God (is) jealous, and Jehovah is avenging; Jehovah is avenging and a possessor of wrath. Jehovah takes vengeance against His foes, and He keeps (wrath) against His enemies. Jehovah (is) long (before) anger, and great of power and not by any means does He acquit (exonerate the guilty). Jehovah (is) in the tempest and in the storm His way, and the clouds (are) the dust of His feet.’”

Barker and Bailey Commentary.- The name “Nahum” speaks of comfort and fits appropriately the message of the prophet. His message of the coming destruction of the oppressor, Nineveh, provided comfort for the oppressed people of the ancient Near East suffering under a heavy yoke of tyranny and barbarism.

Nahum’s message came to him by means of a “vision.” That is, “the prophet perceived God’s revelation with the mind’s eye.” “A vision is an event through which the Lord spoke to a prophet. The prophetic vision primarily involved a revelation of God and His word: God let it be known what He wanted or what He was going to do and showed it to someone whom He had chosen for this purpose.” Watts says, “In a vision the usual restrictions of reason, time and space recede and the prophet is seized by a compulsion to see and speak in a heightened consciousness what he recognizes to be from God. The excellent poetic form of the book was understood to be a direct result of ‘inspiration.’”

In Nahum’s day Nineveh served as the capital of Assyria, which had dominated the ancient Near East for a century. The armies of Assyria, with their ruthless methods, struck fear in the lives of the people of the time. Nineveh’s destruction would make the people of the world clap their hands. The people of Israel and Judah especially suffered from the onslaughts of the Assyrians. For this reason Jonah rebelled against going to Nineveh to preach repentance. He and many others wanted Nineveh judged instead of forgiven.

The cruel Assyrian policy of exile wreaked social havoc on the Northern Kingdom. The Assyrians removed many people from Samaria and exiled them to foreign lands while bringing other captured peoples to settle in the Northern Kingdom. The action effectively ended the possibility of revolt.

Nahum prophesied at the crossroads of history. He proclaimed a word that come to pass, and he called the people to authentic faith in God. Nahum demonstrated that he knew the Lord God of Israel. He described God as one who judges the guilty and gives respite to the oppressed. “He fulfilled the highest calling of prophecy in looking beyond the ‘facts’ of the news to discern and proclaim the intentions of God.”

Nahum’s, “book” encouraged Judah. God delivers the oppressed; He punishes the oppressor. Nahum’s message brought hope to a people without hope, announcing the victory of the Lord over the wicked ones. Nahum’s message demonstrates that the LORD is the Lord of history. He works His will in the world in His own way and according to His own time. For our world the message of Nahum is timely. God is at work. The forces of evil will not conquer all.

The greatest question of human history involves knowing God. Who is God? What is He like? In various ways the prophets sought to answer these questions. Isaiah spoke of the Lord as the sovereign Lord of the universe, the holy Creator God who is incomparable in the heavens. Nahum described God in classic Hebrew terms. He is slow to anger yet judges the guilty. He avenges the oppressed and comforts the powerless.

God’s “vengeance” in the Old Testament can be described as the punitive retribution of God, who, as the sovereign King – faithful to His covenant – stands up for the vindication of His glorious name in a judging and fighting mode, while watching over the maintenance of his justice and acting to save His people. Nahum emphasized the work of God to defeat His enemies. The notion of vengeance is no foreign element in the Old Testament revelation of God, but is a consequence of His holiness, coupled with His wrath, is subordinate to His justice.

Most often God’s vengeance is turned against foreign nations who attempt to reach out for world power in their unlimited lust of power. Vengeance over the enemy is often salvation for God’s people. He is the avenger of avengers.

The God of vengeance is a threatening picture only to those who want to be their own gods and rule the earth in their own ways, but to those who trust God it is a comfort and a affirmation that He is truly sovereign.

“O Lord, the God who avenges,
O God who avenges, shine
Forth.
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
Pay back to the proud what
They deserve.
How long will the wicked,
O Lord,
How long w ill the wicked be
Jubilant?”
Psalm 94:1-3

Barker and Bailey Commentary.- This all means that prayer for vengeance in the Psalms is prayer for the victory of lawfulness and the revelation of God. The imprecation (the curse, or call for punishment), in its deepest intention, is a cry for the breakthrough of God’s kingdom in liberation and vengeance. Without God’s vengeance there is no justice and no future [order].
God is jealous and avenges Himself against anyone who would occupy His place as God.
Vengeance describes the action that emerges from that jealousy, which is God’s attitude toward all rivals.

God’s wrath is always raised by human disobedience. Justice and rationality are the motives for His wrath. God can be angry at human cruelty, for God is passionately concerned about the lives of human beings and whether justice takes place among them. He shows the rational reasons for His wrath, often in the form of the presentation of legal evidence, so that the people can learn from experience, know what causes God’s anger, and avoid such action. Human repentance and divine mercy often acted to turn God from His wrath. Such understanding led Israel to pray for God’s mercy and to live out God’s righteousness.

Nahum does not simply picture God as a being of wrath; He is also master of that wrath, one who reserves it for His enemies. God holds His anger in reserve for the proper occasion to display it to His enemies. God’s government, including His judicial processes, is on schedule, even though to an awaiting mankind His timing may seem to lag. He displays a calculated control in His dispensing of vengeance.

The hymn’s opening verse starkly characterizes the God who will show Assyria who truly rules the world. The three ideas (jealousy, wrath, vengeance) bound together in these opening lines form the ground work for all of Nahum’s prophecy. As a jealous God, Jehovah demands the absolute devotion that the only true and sovereign God deserves; in His righteous wrath, Jehovah alone can and will deal justly… As an avenging God, Jehovah will discipline, defend, or deliver according to the demands of His holiness.

The holy and avenging God is the Lord of all the earth.
Nahum had news for the Assyrians and for Judah as they endured Assyrian domination: strength belongs to God and to no one else. God had often displayed that power: in creating the earth and all its inhabitants, forming the mountains, and calming the sea. His power redeemed and delivered His people. No one can stand against God’s power. Now Nahum says that God is going to prove that to Assyria. In so doing He will also prove it to His own people one more time. God is not only just, but as an omnipotent sovereign He has the inherent strength to affect His justice.

God is jealous, full of wrath, and by no means will clear the guilty; yet simultaneously He is good, long suffering, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving-kindness, and forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. This combination of elements inherently provides a framework for understanding such comprehensive doctrines as the love of God in providing atonement for sin, the sovereignty of God in working salvation.

Cook Commentary.-
The Certainty of God’s Judgment on Nineveh
Nahum wrote that Nineveh’s end would certainly come. Because Nineveh had plotted against the Lord she would receive His wrath. Yet God remains a refuge for those who trust Him. Nineveh’s destruction would comfort Judah who had been afflicted by the Assyrian threat. God’s wrath is extended to Nineveh and His goodness to His own.

“The lamp of the wicked is
Snuffed out;
The flame of his fire stops
Burning.
The light in his tent becomes
Dark;
The lamp beside him goes
Out.
The vigor of his step is
Weakened;
His own schemes throw him
Down.
His feet thrust him into a net
And he wanders into its
Mesh.
A trap seizes him by the heel;
A snare holds him fast.
A noose is hidden for him on
The ground’
A trap lies in his path.
Terrors startle him on every
Side
And dog his every step.
Calamity is hungry for him;
Disaster is ready for him
When he falls.
It eats away parts of his skin;
Death’s firstborn (punishment for the “fall of man”) devours him
Limbs (appendages of strength).
He is torn from the security of
His tent
And marched off to the king
Of terrors (symbolizing the personification of “Death”).
Fire resides in his tent;
Burning sulfur is scattered
Over his dwelling.
His roots dry up below
And his branches wither
Above.
The memory of him perishes
From the earth;
He has no name in the
land.
He is driven from light into
Darkness
And is banished from the
World.
He has no offspring or
Descendants among his
People, no survivor where once
Lived.
Men of the west are appalled at
His fate;
Men of the east are seized
With horror.
Surely such is the dwelling of
An evil man’
Such is the place of one who
Knows not God.”
Job 18:5-21

Cook Commentary.- As a righteous God, the Lord is jealous, that is, zealous to protect what belongs to Him, namely, Judah. He will allow no rivals. He is also an avenging God. God said, “It is Mine to avenge” and “I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me” (Deut. 32:35,41). God avenges His people in the sense that He champions their cause against their enemies. He does so because He is jealous or protective of His people. While God is avenging for or on behold of His people, He is avenging against His adversaries. Judah’s enemies were His enemies. He is filled with wrath.

The prophet added, He will not leave the guilty unpunished. He would serve as the Ninevites Judge because of their guilt. He would not treat them as if they were innocent.

Henry Commentary.- Darkness (consequence of their doings) shall pursue His enemies; terror and trouble shall follow them, wherever they go, shall pursue them to utter darkness; if they think to flee from the darkness which pursues them they will but fall into that which is before them (the God of irresistible power).

Cook Commentary.- In His dealings with Nineveh, God will be as destructive as a devastating whirlwind and storm. He is so great that the clouds are like dust under His feet. “His strides cover the vast areas of extenuated clouds. His movements are marked by the darkening of the heavens as the whirlwind sweeps and the tempest howls.”

Clarke Commentary.- The clouds are the dust of His feet. So Jehovah is represented as coming through the circuit of the heavens as rapidly as lightning, the clouds surrounding His as the does the chariot and horses.

His vengeance - counter attack on terrorism - shall sweep away the foe like a whirlwind. (Proverbs 10:23-25):

“A fool finds pleasure in evil
Conduct,
But a man of understanding
Delights in wisdom.
What the wicked dreads will
Overtake him
What the righteous desire will
Be granted.
When the storm has swept by,
The wicked are gone,
But the righteous stand
Firm forever.”

Calvin Commentary (Paraphrased).- With regard to Nineveh, we have already stated that it was the capital of the empire, as long as the Assyrians did bear rule: for Babylon was a province; that is, Chaldea, whose metropolis was Babylon, was one of the providences of the empire.

We indeed know that Nineveh was very large. In the days of Jonah its walls were one hundred feet high, and so wide, that chariots could pass one another without coming in contact: there were one thousand and five hundred towers. We hence see that it was not without reason that this city was formerly so celebrated.

… the burden of Nineveh … The burden of Nineveh is the same thing as though Nahum had said that he was sent by God as a herald, to proclaim war on the Ninevites for the sake of the chosen people.
Nahum begins with the nature of God, that what he afterwards subjoins respecting the destruction of Nineveh might be more weighty, and produce a greater impression on the hearers.

Baker Commentary.- The prophecy opens with a song of praise that extols God as a powerful Warrior. The victory of God against Nineveh is certain. So much so, that the prophet could utter the victory shout before the battle. The New Testament Book of Revelation is similar in that the “new song,” a biblical term for victory shout, is actually sung before the narration of the battle. When God leads the battle, there is no doubt concerning the outcome.

Nahum’s victory hymn presents a picture of God as Divine Warrior. The Divine Warrior has what might be loosely described as a positive and negative impact on the world. When God comes to war, He saves His people. On the other hand, in one and the same act, He judges His enemies. Accordingly, God manifests Himself as Savior and Judge. His appearance strikes joy in the hearts of His people and terror for those who have alienated themselves from Him and His people. Both aspects of God’s warfare are praised in Nahum’s opening hymn.

The repeated association of God’s covenant name with the concept of anger here sets the tone for the rest of the poem.
The bulk of the hymn deals with God’s judgment. This focus is not surprising since the book is predominately addressed to wicked Nineveh.

Continuing Nahum 1 Verse 4 “He rebukes the sea (symbolizing the destructive forces associated with chaos) and makes it dry, and all the rivers (of moral contamination, ethical pollution and religious debauchery used to revive weary souls) He dries up, Bashan (a region whose prosperity became a symbol of selfish indulgence and arrogant pride of evil pampered pleasure seekers) withers and Carmel (sites of pagan deities); and the flower of Lebanon (rich pasture land fostering potential kings holding unlimited ruthlessly corrupt sovereign power) withers (fades away – declines in strength – vigorous potency).”
Verse 5 “The mountains (the long established nations and kingdoms) quake because of Him, and the hills (lesser political units of the people) melt and is lifted up the earth from before Him even the world and all the inhabitants in it. Before His fury who can stand? And who can raise against the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks (what has long been adhesively joined in the wisdom of the ages) are broken down because of Him.”

Robertson Commentary.- Let haughty Assyria be warned of the fatal consequences of a nation that stands in the way of the Lord’s redemptive plan.
Not only does the Lord “rebuke the sea”; all the rivers He makes arid. Since the ancient city of Nineveh depended on its natural water-barrier as a basic element of defense, these words vivify (give life to) the city’s hopeless state. For this feeble barrier of water cannot deter the Almighty when He moves into action. As a matter of fact, the streams about Nineveh ultimately became the way of their destruction.

In the days of Elijah, Carmel had experienced a great drought as a judgment of the baalism that had polluted the land. But Nahum envisions a far more severe circumstance. For the most prominent fruit of Lebanon would have to be its world-famous cedars. Nahum’s declaration that these deep-rooted monuments to time are languishing indicates just how long the drought he conceives would continue.

During its zenith of power, Assyria had threatened Lebanon (rich pasture land fostering potential kings holding unlimited ruthlessly corrupt sovereign power). Sennacherib had said that he would cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon and it choice fir trees. Now if the Lord would bring such scathing judgments on the naturally blessed areas of his own land, what reason does Nineveh had to expect that it would somehow be spared a similar devastation from the Lord? Judgment may begin with the house of God. But judgment unquestionably will fall on those outside the Lord’s house. In the graciousness of God, Israel was promised that they would experience a return some day to the fruitfulness of Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon.

Robertson Commentary.- The latter portion of this verse makes it patently plain that the prophet is not speaking merely of a modest chastening of the wicked. The Lord shall not simply slap the naughty hand of the Assyrians. Like fire that totally consumes, His fury is poured out. This fire does not simply sting the flesh; it consumes utterly.

Continuing Nahum 1:7 “Jehovah (is) good (for a) stronghold in the day of distress and He knows those who trust in Him. But with a flood passing though (a judgment upon the wickedness of a people using unlawful violence and war for the achievement of political ends) a complete destruction He will make of its place and His enemies will pursue darkness (the doing of wickedness and evil).”

(Note):
A "200,000,000 man army" will rise and unleash their deadly weapons of mass destruction killing one-third of the world's population . . .

Global & Perpetual War Against Terrorism

Baker Commentary.- Verse 7 sets forth the positive function of God’s warring activity, that is, He cares for His people. By judging His enemies, He saves His people. Nahum recognizes this truth and witnesses to God’s goodness. When trouble comes, God’s people will find protection.

Barker Bailey Commentary.- God is jealous and avenging; He is slow to anger and great in power. God does command the clouds and the rain; He rebukes the sea and makes the rivers run dry. Who wants to serve such an awesome God. Can you do anything but stand in absolute terror before Him? Nahum stops to calm such fears by setting forth “’the positive function of God’ warring activities.”

The God who brings judgment does so as a part of His goodness. Yes, the same powerful God who does these things is good toward those who fear Him. He cares for His people who suffer from the hands of any enemy.

These verses have the menacing ring of a judicial indictment, citing the evidence against the accused. It reveals a conspiracy against the Judge himself, the Lord whose justice and preliminary proceedings; the outcome of the trial is therefore in no doubt, and the sentence is already anticipated in the charge developed here.

Jamison, Fausset, Brown Commentary.- In illustration of Hezekiah’s, trust, we read, he spoke comfortably to the people, “Be strong and courageous; be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; for is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles: and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Robertson Commentary.- Having introduced the subject of God as judge, the prophet now moves to an identification of the specific target of divine judgment, which is the city of Nineveh. In zeroing in on this specific city as the point of God’s wrath, the prophet sets the fierceness of divine wrath over against the tenderness with which He treats His own people. Good is Jehovah, a refuge in the day of adversity. And He knows those who seek shelter in Him.

The message of Nahum up to this point appears purely in negative terms. Almost nothing but judgment has been discussed. But now it becomes apparent that those who turn to the Lord have nothing to fear. He is Good. Actually the judgment on Nineveh must be viewed from the perspective of God’s intent to show mercy to His people. He responds to their cry for relief from oppression by sending judgment on their enemies.

Barker Bailey Commentary.- The Lord moves against all foes, whether Assyrian, Babylonian, or any of the myriad enemies of the Lord and of His people.

Whatever His foes plot, the Lord will bring to a full end. The day of distress comes to all people, and the Lord is good to all who trust in Him. His trusting people need not fear when God comes in the storms and clouds to wreak His vengeance and wrath on Assyria.
God promised to make a “full end” of His enemies. The “full end” refers to “her place,” a possible reference to Nineveh (indicating that the plots of the enemy will not come to fruition).

Calvin Commentary.- God will suddenly overwhelm the Assyrians as though a deluge should rise to cover the whole earth. God, he says, will of a sudden thunder against the Assyrians, as when a deluge comes over a land. Hence this passing of God is opposed to long or slow progress; as though he said, - “As soon as God’s wrath shall brake forth or come upon the Assyrians, it will be all over, for a consummation will immediately follow: by inundation, He, passing through, will make a consummation in her place. … so now He cuts off from them every hope, that they might not think that they could within a while gather strength and rise again as it is the case with the wicked, who ever contend against God. The Prophet then shows that the “destruction” which God would bring on them would be without remedy. …God would destroy them without affording any hope of restoration, for perpetual darkness would follow that sudden deluge. He afterwards adds –

Nahum 1:9 “What are you plotting (in your schemes and maneuvers) against Jehovah? A complete destruction He will make, distress shall not rise up a second time? For as long as thorns (causing inflictions of torments, distress and painful situations) are interwoven (together); and like their drunkards (indulging in moral abuses) who are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw. Out of you has come forth one (of a wicked disposition; a companion of the wicked) plotting evil against Jehovah (a mysterious figure), one counseling worthlessness.”

Nelson’s Commentary.- Their finest moves will be only the walk of drunkards.

The Lord will make a complete end of Nineveh’s place, referring directly to the city of Nineveh - the city serving the ambitions of a warrior king and statesman, the protector of the peace and conqueror of the enemies of the state, the defender of Babylon from assailants, its head in the political sphere.

Robertson Commentary.- In an earlier day, the prophet Isaiah had used the imagery of a cataclysmic flood to describe the assault of Assyria against Israel. The king of Assyria would come like a river swollen over its banks, rising even to the neck, with its “wings” stretching to the breadth of the land. But now Assyria shall be the one to experience submersion under a flood tide of invaders, making a complete end of her place suggests not only that the city itself would be destroyed, but that its site would become uninhabited and unoccupied.

Not only the site, but the people also shall experience the terrors of God’s judgment. For His enemies will pursue into the darkness.

Darkness in Scripture symbolizes distress, terror, mourning, perplexity, and dread. A combination of all these experiences shall be the final fruition of Nineveh for all the years that she suppressed and brutalized other nations. Egypt once sat frozen while undergoing the plague of darkness; but Assyria shall have the added curse of being pursued into the darkness. Their terror shall be intensified as they stumble forward into an impenetrable blankness.

The phrase He will make a complete end is repeated here, but with the added emphasis that it is He Jehovah that shall annihilate Nineveh.

To reinforce the finality of the deliverance promised by the prophetic world of the Lord, Nahum adds: Adversity shall not arise a second time. Once this deliverance has been accomplished, the Assyrian shall be finished.

The judgment of God shall come in a manner appropriate to the stubbornness of the sinner. The phrase as thorns twisted figuratively describes the hardheaded, hard-hearted resistance characteristic of the Assyrian to the authority of the one true living God. They have made taut their stubborn wills so that any and all approaches even from God will be met by prickly resistance, as (with) drink they are drunk depicts the deadened stupor into which they have sunk willingly.

This stubbornness is countered by the consuming fire of God’s wrath: they shall be consumed as stubble fully dried. Nothing burns more quickly and with greater intensity than fully dried stubble. The tighter this tangle of thorns, the more spontaneously it combusts. If the Assyrians abandons self-control in drunkenness, then he has forfeited all control of self and shall be turned into smoke vapors.

This stubborn rebellion against the will of God on the part of the city of Nineveh has produced a leader, a prince who has turned passive resistance into active opposition. The womb of wickedness which in Nineveh has produced a horrid monstrosity, a son of “Belial,” as the text reads literally (here translated he who schemes ruthlessly).

The precise origin of this term beliyal’al is difficult to determine. It may have originated by the conjoining of two words: beli, meaning “without,” and ya’al, meaning “value” or “worth,” a son of Belial would be a “worthless one.” The context in Scripture for the usage of the term appoint consistently to a person who is depraved, despicable. A few examples may serve to vivify its significance and to provide a framework for understanding Nahum’s use of the term.
The law code of Deuteronomy anticipates a situation in which “sons of Belial” may lad astray the inhabitants of a city, luring them into the worship of another god. The use of the same phrase in the book of Judges to describe the debase men who demanded the opportunity to abuse sexually the overnight guests of their neighbor probably intend to set the narrative in terms of the provisions of deuteronomic law about “son’s of Belial”.

Nahum alone of the prophets uses the term beliya’al, and he employs it twice. This “counselor of Belial” is evidently the king, the leader of this wicked people. He conspires against the Lord Himself, and not merely against His nation. In terms of a specific individual, Nahum could be referring to Sennacherib (the Assyrian king), who is described elsewhere in Scripture as one who set himself not merely against Israel, but “against Jehovah”. But although Sennacherib at the time of his invasion of Palestine in 701 B.C. fits the bill of this “counselor of Belial” who has come forth out of Nineveh, the phrase is best understood as having a more general application. Not only Sennacherib, but all those wicked kings and leaders of the enemies of God’s people who have come for the from Assyria manifest the characteristics of that brutal figure described by Nahum.

The term belya’al at first had a brood application to designate men generally possessing a set of scoundrelish characteristics. Subsequently the term narrowed so that it became a designation of Satan himself, the archenemy of God.

“Christ” and “Belial” are set over against one another. Righteousness and wickedness have nothing to do with one another; light and darkness cannot fellowship; believer and unbeliever cannot merge; the temple of God and the temple of idols have no agreement with one another; and Christ and Belial represent rulers of two diametrically opposed kingdoms. The contrast represents the climax of the conflict represented in Nahum. An ominous figure stands behind the ruler from Nineveh, prodding him on in his wicked determinations. But one stands against him, the divine counterpart to his position of power.

Assyria represents a critical moment in the divine program for preserving in the redemption of His people. The Lord displays through the destruction of Assyria that the most powerful of nations cannot succeed in their opposition to the purposes of the Lord.

Land of Nimrod
Nahum 1:7 “Jehovah (is) good (for a) stronghold in the day of distress and He knows those who trust in Him. But with a flood passing though (a judgment upon the wickedness of a people using unlawful violence and war for the achievement of political ends) a complete destruction He will make of its place and His enemies will pursue darkness (associated with the doings and consequences of wickedness and evil).”
Verse 9 “What are you plotting (in your schemes and maneuvers) against Jehovah? A complete destruction He will make, distress shall not rise up a second time (via perpetual war on terrorism)? For as long as thorns (causing inflictions of torments, distress and painful situations) are interwoven (together); and like their drunkards (indulging in moral abuses) who are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw. Out of you has come forth one (a mysterious figure of a wicked disposition; a companion of the wicked) plotting evil (deliberate harm) against Jehovah, one counseling worthlessness.”

Calvin Commentary.- When therefore the Assyrians came against Judah, they thought that they would have no trouble in obtaining a victory (through the use of unlawful violence to achieve their political ends - by hacking down others for self-advancement and dominion), as though engaged in war with an insignificant people. But the Prophet shows here that the war was with the living god, and not with men, as though falsely thought. What then imagine you against Jehovah?
As though he said, “Do you now know that this people are under the care and protection of God? You cannot then attack the kingdom of Judah without having God as your opponent. As it is certain that this people are defended by a divine power, there is no reason for you to think that you will be victorious.”

Now this is a very useful doctrine; for the Prophet teaches us in general, that the ungodly, whenever they harass the Church, not only do wrong to men, but also fight with God Himself. We may then gather invaluable comfort from these words; for we can full and boldly set up this shield against our enemies,- that they devise their counsels, and make efforts against God, and assail Him; for He takes us under His protection for this end, that whenever we are injured, He may stand in the middle as our defender. This is one thing.

Now in the second clause he adds, that He will make a complete end, Rise up again shall not distress; that is, God is able to reduce you to nothing, so that there will be no need to assail you the second time.
I thus simply interpret the words of the Prophet,- that God can with one onset, when it seems good to Him, so destroy His enemies, that there will be no need of striving with them the second time. God then will make a full end; that is, He will be able in one moment to demolish His enemies, and the ruin will be complete, that is, the wasting will be entire. There will be not distress again or a second time; for it will be all over with the enemies of God. He afterwards adds-

Nahum 1:10 “For as long as thorns (causing inflictions of torments, distress and painful situations) are interwoven (together – making things difficult to handle); and like their drunkards (indulging in unrestrained abuses) who are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw.”

When thorns are entangled, we dare not, with the ends of our fingers, to touch their extreme parts; for whenever we put our hands, thorns meet and prick us. As then prickings from entangled thorns make us afraid, so none of us dare to come near them. Hence the Prophet says, they who are as entangled thorns; that is, “However thorny you may be, however full of poison, full of fury, full of wickedness, full of frauds, full of cruelty, you may be, still the Lord can with one fire consume you, and consume you without any difficulty.”

God’s wrath will come upon you as on drunken men; who, though they exult in their own intemperance, are yet enervated (weakened), and are not (in a moral sense) fit for fighting, for they have weakened their strength by extreme drinking. There seems indeed to be much vigor in a drunken man, for he swaggers immoderately and foams out much rage; but yet he may be cast down by a finger; and even a child can easily overcome a drunken person. It is therefore an apt similitude,- that God would manage the Assyrians as the drunken are wont to be managed; for the more audacity there is in drunken men, the easier they are brought under; for as they perceive no danger, and are, as it were, stupefied, so they run headlong with greater impetuosity. It is therefore an apt similitude,- that God would manage the Assyrians as the drunken (fig., those offending against logic and moral purity – manifest in costly indulgences of moral abuses) are wont to be managed; for the more audacity there is in drunken men, the easier they are brought under; for as they perceive no danger, and are, as it were stupefied, so they run headlong with greater impetuosity. “In like manner,” he says, “extreme satiety will be the cause of your ruin, when I shall attack you. You are indeed very violent; but all this your fury is altogether drunkenness: Come, he says, to you shall the vengeance of God as to those drunken with their own drinking.”

Others indeed give to the Prophets’ word a different sense: as though he said, “You are indeed more than enough inflated, and hence all tremble at your strength; but this your excess rather debilitates and weakens your powers. When God then shall undertake to destroy you as drunken men, your insolence will avail you nothing; but, on the contrary, it will be the cause of your ruin as you offer yourself of your own accord; and the Lord will easily cast you down, as when one, by pushing a drunken man, immediately throws him on the ground.
And these comparisons ought to be carefully observed by us: for when there seems to be no probability of our enemies being destroyed, God can with one spark easily consume them. How so? For as fire consumes thorns entangled together, which no man dares to touch, so God can with one spark destroy all the wicked, however united together they many be.

“He will make an utter end of the place, the city of Nineveh thereof.” David wrote:

“Turn from evil and do good;
Then you will dwell n the
Land forever.
For the Lord loves the just
And will not forsake His
Faithful ones.
They will be protected forever,
But the offspring of the
Wicked will be cut off’
The righteous will inherit the
Land
And will dwell in it forever.
The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks what
Is just.
The law of his God is in His
Heart;
His feet do not slip.
The wicked lie in wait for the
Righteous,
Seeking their very lives;
But the Lord will not leave
Them in their power
Or let them be condemned
When brought trial.
Wait for the Lord
And keep His way.
He will exalt you to inherit the
Land’
When the wicked are cut off,
You will see it.
I have seen a wicked and
Ruthless man
Flourishing like a green tree
In its native soil,
But he soon passed away and
Was no more;
Though I looked for him, he
Could not be found.
Consider the blameless, observe
The upright;
There is a future for the
Man of peace.
But all sinners will be
Destroyed;
The future of the wicked
Will be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous
Comes from the Lord;
He is their stronghold in time
Of trouble.
The Lord helps them and
Delivers them;
He delivers them from the
Wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in
Him.
Psalm 37:27-40

(Continuing Nahum 1) Verse 10 “For as long as thorns (causing inflictions of torments, distress and painful situations) are interwoven (together – making things difficult to handle); and like their drunkards (indulging in unrestrained abuses) who are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw.”

Barker Bailey Commentary.- The verse describes a fire destroying dry thorn bushes or the stubble left in the fields after the harvest. The entangled thorn bushes allow the fire to spread over the land until they are all consumed. Those who set themselves against the Lord cannot stand. God will bring total destruction against His enemies. … the bush by it thorns, the drunkard by his drink, the stubble by fire. God will entirely consume His enemy. Though God’s enemies present a formidable front like a thicket of interwoven thorns, and though their warriors are stout, well-provisioned, and well-liquored- this is not a dried up thicket, but a green one- they will still be devoured like dried-out stubble.

(Continuing Nahum 1) Verse 10 “Out of you (Nineveh) has come forth one (a mysterious figure of a wicked disposition; a companion of the wicked) plotting evil (deliberate harm) against Jehovah, one counseling worthlessness.”

Gaebelein Commentary.- The enemy is again defined as one who “plots” against the Lord, being specified further as a distinct individual from whom the rebellion emanates (comes out from). Sennacherib, perhaps more than any of his dynasty, stands out as the most powerful aggressor to emerge from Nineveh against Judah.
The intent of this plotting is “wickedness”, a noun often translated as “worthlessness”, and implying a total lack of moral fiber and principle.

(Continuing Nahum 1) Verse 12 “Thus says Jehovah, ‘Though complete, and so many, yet they (the Assyrians) therefore will be cut off (brought to an end) and vanish.’”

Robertson Commentary.- It is hopeless for the wicked to think that somehow eventually they many become fortified against the coming devastations.

Robertson Commentary.- Even while they (the Assyrians) are undiminished in strength, full of arrogant self-confidence, God shall level them to the ground.
Nineveh was known to be a great city. Yet this numerous populace would be mowed down like so many blades of grass. Once a mowing operation has begun, thousands of blades of grass disappear in an instant.

Barker Bailey.- Any person or nation aligned against justice and righteousness is the enemy of God. Thus Christian preachers have been correct in using the Book of Nahum to remind tyrants such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Idi Amin of the Lord’s judgment against the oppressor. Believer in every age are heartened to know that “the Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.”
Any person who uses power, status, or material wealth against the weak in society plants himself as opposed to God.

(Continuing Nahum 1) Verse 13 “’Though I afflict you (with many problems and miseries), I will not afflict you anymore. And now I will break his (the Assyrian) yoke (of foreign dominion and payment of tribute) from upon you (“giving way to liberty and freedom”), and your bonds I will tear away (freeing the ten “lost tribes” of Israel from the tyranny of Assyria).’”

Barker and Bailey Commentary.- The yoke commonly referred to oppression and forced devotion. Breaking the yoke indicated a freedom from bondage and servitude. Breaking the yoke bar and snapping the bonds allowed the animal to go free. God intended to break the yoke and snap the bonds, ending the oppression…

Baker Commentary.- This imagery compares Assyria to a farmer who has tamed on ox by placing yoke on its neck. The yoke allows the farmer to control the strength of the ox, which has become a slave and does the bidding of its master.
With this verse another abrupt change takes place. The tone becomes judgmental, and the words are directed toward another person. The best explanation of this shift is that this judgment-oracle is directed toward the king of Assyria.

(Continuing Nahum 1) Verse 14 “And Jehovah has commanded about you, not (one) shall be sown from your name (as a descendant) any more (your name will be obliterated of identity as a dynasty). Out of the house of your (false) gods I will cut off the graven image and the cast image; I will appoint your grave, for you are despised.”

Baker Commentary.- The king who is addressed in this verse represents the people as a whole. He more than anyone is responsible for the actions of the nation. Thus, he is the appropriate object of God’s wrath.

The Lord utters three pronouncements of judgment against the king of Assyria. First, he will have no descendants who will survive him- a frightening prospect for any ancient Near Eastern king. It was a high priority of a king to ensure an heir to the throne and a peaceful succession. Second, God will remove the images from the temples. Cult statues were taken from their temples in the aftermath of a military defeat. It was one of the objects of ancient Near Eastern warfare to capture the cult statues of one’s opponents and destroy them or place them in one’s own temples. Third, the king will die and be buried.

Robertson Commentary.- Assyria may appear impregnable. But the publication of the divine decree seals their fate.

The decree of God declares that no one shall survive to maintain his name. None shall be sown, apparently indicating that his descendants would perish. The Assyrian king’s name shall not be sown. His descendants shall not carry on his tradition.

Furthermore, the graven and molten image of the gods of Assyria shall be cut off. Like the idols of Dagon who fell on their faces in humiliation before the ark of the Lord, so the mighty gods of Assyria shall come to naught.

As a final blow to the royal ego, God declares to the king of Assyria, I shall dig your grave. The end of his illustrious career shall display the vanity of his power. As the terminal humiliation of a crowned head, his enemy shall bury him. So shall it be with all that set themselves against the Lord and His people.

Why shall these repeated blows fall against the king of Assyria? Contrary to the modern emphasis of self-esteem, this Scripture declares that the king of Assyria has no significance, that he is worthless. Instead of being worthy of restoration, he is empty, hollow, trifling. His worthlessness before God assures the deliverance promised for Judah which shall be accomplished by his destruction.

Barker Bailey Commentary.- Nahum does not have to prove to anyone that Assyria is worthy of punishment. Its oppressive policies were well known throughout the ancient world. Assyria saw itself as invincible.

God vowed to cut off the idols of Assyria. The Assyrians worshiped a multitude of gods. Ishtar, the goddess of war and many other deities, including Asshur (god of war), Anu (the god of heaven who had power to judge those who had committed crimes), and Shamash (the god of justice), encouraged the Assyrians in their military adventures. Thus the gods of the Assyrians must fall with them. The judgment of Nineveh’s king demanded the destruction of the idolatrous religion on which his authority was founded.

When Assyrian generals overran a city, they often looted the temples of the subjugated peoples, removing the images to Assyria. By doing so the demonstrated the superiority of Assyrian gods over the god’s of the vanquished nation. The Lord determined to reverse the process. Removing the images and idols of Assyria powerfully communicated the sovereignty of the Lord God. He alone reigns. Assyrian might would be short-lived. Assyrians’ power came only by the Lords’ decree.

Assyria’s false value system eventually brought about its destruction. This important point should not be lost on the modern reader of Nahum. Any nation that lives by its might and opposes God cannot endure.

Calvin Commentary.- The kingdom of Nineveh would be so overturned, that it could never recruit its strength and return again to its pristine state.
It must, at the same time, be noticed, that the vain confidence, which the Assyrian kings placed in their idols and graven images, is here indirectly reproved; for we know that idolaters not only confide in their own strength, but that a part of their hope is also founded on their superstitions (irrational and false beliefs). Hence the Prophet says, that their temple was to be profaned by God.

Military Exercise – simulating how a “Terrorist Army” (fig., representing the “Assyrians”) could attack and defeat the United State of America in a single day.

Revelation 9:11 “And they (the locusts) have over them a king [the “false prophet”- a sovereign commander], the angel [the administrator over the affairs] of the abyss [representing the dark side of existence synonymous for the abode of those spiritually separated and excluded from the presence and favor of God], name to him [the administrator over the affairs of the abyss; the underworld hierarchy- a man of seniority and power], in Hebrew, Abaddon (ah BAD un) [destruction], and in the Greek (the) name he has (is) Apollyon (A poll yon] (the persecutor of the church).”

Besides massacring the enemy soldiers, Assyrians made mass deportations of the rulers (nobles, functionaries, craftsmen), so that the remaining people obeyed with humiliation. Enemy kings were beheaded, and their heads hanged in trees and cities were destroyed. Women were made slaves. This cunning policy, the army and good administration maintained the empire for centuries. The conquered populations had to pay heavy annual tributes.

Hypothetical: Major Positions Occupied by Assyrian

The Simulated Military Exercise –
(Based on9-11 being an “inside job”)

The people in general were left ignorant of the internal workings of the Assyrian populace hidden within - partly due to their reliance upon the mainstream collaborative media, which itself had been infiltrated.

General Military Stratagem: The Power of “False Flag” Operations

“… people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament …Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked …
-Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trails

“Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country. The goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison.” George W. Bush, Feb. 13, 2008

Indeed, every directive, act and decision of our post 9-11 has been to increase the power of the federal government to wage the Global War, while in truth the people have surrendered American liberty to terrorists. If 9-11 proved to be an “inside job” – who then are we surrendering or American liberties to?

WHAT NEXT?
Cyber Crime “With a single keystroke, a coordinated cyber attack could be launched on the U.S. Public infrastructure (large-scale public system- water, transportation), communications, government and military network all fall victim to the sophisticated adversary hidden within. Systematically they plot to shut down outside computer networks. They take control of the stock market, communications and utilities infrastructure, causing nation-wide chaos.

“All computers are at risks that connect “to the internet through the industrial remote control technologies, which allow remote monitoring and control of operations like manufacturing production lines and civil works projects like dams. Now terrorist are at the keyboards remotely shutting down factory floors or opening a dam’s floodgates to devastate cities downstream.”
The American public will soon be under lockdown.

“Because of the adversary’s planning and technical fortitude, systems nationwide fall victim simultaneously, opening the door to physical attacks, leaving our nations’ public works, transportation, financial institutions and other critical establishments completely exposed. The infrastructure of the U.S. dissolves with systematic precision. The public is in panic.”

“Anything run by computer will no longer work. Financial records gone, utilities gone, and so on. In other words,- they have taken total control of America – and what if …

…it was an inside job?

“It is easy to appreciate the devastation of a physical attack and what it can bring because as Americans, we need to see things in order to understand them. But we must not underestimate the potentially devastating consequences of an electronic attack, especially when used in conjunction with or as a precursor to a physical attack. It may be just that cyber attack that enables the physical attack.”

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

One-Third of the World's Population Killed

2009-11-10T15:51:00.000-06:00

The Destruction of Assyria
ISAIAH 10:15-19 “’And it will be, when the Lord has broken off all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem I (Jehovah) will visit on the fruit of greatness (produced from the arrogant and pompous designs and plans) of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his lofty eyes (the envisions of his secret vice and inward desire). For he (the Assyrian king) says, ‘By my hand’s might I have worked and by my wisdom for I am astute (very skillful and clever). And I (the Assyrian king) take away borders of peoples, and their treasures have robbed; and I subdued inhabitants as a mighty one. And my hand has found the riches of the people. Like a nest, I also have gathered all the earth, as forsaken eggs are gathered (“out of a nest when there are no parents who seeks to protect them”). And there was not one moving a wing or opening a mouth, or one chirping (no resistance was offered or even a word of rebuke).’”
Verse 15 (Divine Rebuke) ”’Shall the axe (used for the hacking down others) glorify itself over him chopping with it (for self advancement and dominion)? Or shall the saw magnify itself over him moving it? As (if) a rod (a whipping stick) could wave those who lift it (to an exalted position). As (if) a staff (of tyranny) (could) raise (what is) not wood (that is, the ambitions and crafting of a mere man - in the process.)!’”
Verse 16 “Therefore the Lord Jehovah of hosts shall send among his strong fat (hearty robust) ones leanness, and under His glory will burn a burning like burning of fire. And shall be the light of Israel (illuminating the Law and Holy Standard of God) for a fire, and His Holy Ones for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars (vexatious wickedness) in one day (via the proclamation of war on terrorism). And the glory of his (the Assyrian) forest (his army) and his fruitful field (of tyranny and oppression), from soul even to flesh He will consume, and it shall be as melts away a sick man (afflicted with a life threatening social disease). And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few; even a boy could write with them.”

A "200,000,000 man army" will rise and unleash their deadly weapons of mass destruction killing one-third of the world's population . . .

Global & Perpetual War Against Terrorism
(A Call to Arms – “One Day” 911)

Terrorism – the use of unlawful violence and war for the achievement of political ends- it is a badge which denotes a lack of legitimacy and morality.

Revelation 9:13-21 “And the sixth angel trumpeted. And I heard one voice out of the four horns [symbolizing the virtuous strength] of the altar of gold before God [wherein sin is avenged, where reparation for misdeeds were made], saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Loose the four angels, those having been bound at the great river Euphrates [where at Babylon, the ancient foe of God’s people was situated].”
Verse 15 “And were loosed the four angels, those having been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill [bring down in defeat and destruction] the third (part) of men [those who would destroy the earth - distinguished - from the Israelites and the Gentile population].”
Verse 16“And the number of the armies of the cavalry two myriads of myriads; and I heard the number of them [two hundred million]. (Note: "It is possible that the number is not to be taken literally, but simply suggests an army that is impossible to count and is greater than anything mankind has ever seen.") And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them, having breastplates [protective armor, used as impenetrable combat equipment being a defensive armor of the righteousness received from God] fire-colored [as though the military expedition had been necessitated through righteous and justifiable measures] and dusky red [a deep blue color; the color of a wound when in its healing throws off a deep blue hue, symbolizing there had been injuries, yet, were in a state of healing through the punitive judgment this action represented as the binding up of the bruises of an unjustly sustained injury] and [the color of the breastplate was] like brimstone [associating this action to carry divine retribution of judgment and perpetual destruction against those through whom it was waged]; and the heads of the horses [composing the division of this expedition were] as heads of lions [evoking irresistible strength]; and out of the mouths of them [communicating the duties of their office] proceeds fire[of consuming judgment] and smoke [the residue of judgment- completed acts of recompensive judgment] and brimstone [judgments of perpetual desolation].”
Verse 18 “By these three [judgments] were killed [brought down to defeat and destruction] the third (part) [the terrorist portion] of man [distinguished from the Israelites and Gentiles], from the [consuming] fire [of judgment, necessitated to restore the boundaries of the law] and from smoke [of recompensive compensation], and from the brimstone [judgment of perpetual desolation] coming out of the mouth of them [communicating the duties of their office], for the authority [of this military force out on expedition] is in the mouth of them [words tied to the defending of the law and preservation of justice, righteousness and the execution of divine recompense], and [the enabling power to achieve this objective, is] in the tails [the final stage of the military excursion] of them; for the tails of them (are) like snakes [having a predisposition toward that which is malicious], having heads [commanding authority and charge] and with them [this invested divisional authority] they do harm.”

119 - Assyria's Fall

2009-11-09T14:00:00.001-06:00

The Assyrian

The victory over Assyria will be accomplished through subordinate shepherds of the Messiah.

Baker Bailey Commentary.- Many interpreters agree that Assyrian here and Assyria are symbolic of all potential enemies of God’s people in the present and future. The principle point is that whenever God’s people are threatened with extermination, God will enable them to raise up a superabundance of capable leaders against their enemies.

Micah 5:4 “And this one (the Messiah who shepherds the son’s of Israel in the strength of Jehovah his God) shall be peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land (to transfer and install “key man” positions); and when he shall tread in our palaces (massacring the soldiers of Israel through mass deportations of the rulers, nobles, functionaries, craftsmen, so that the remaining people and the “forsakers of the covenant” obeyed the Assyrians through humiliation), then we shall raise up against him seven shepherds and eight anointed ones of man. And they (the god fearing remnant) shall depasture the land of Assyria with the sword (through the de-installation of “key men”), and the land of Nimrod (the realm of Mesopotamia connected with the towns of Babylon) at her entrances (gates, cutting off heads over much land). And He shall deliver (us) from Assyria, when he shall come into our land and when he shall tread within our border.”

(Treading in Our Borders) A Principle Issue – Consider:
(Hezekiah king of Judah prayer) “You (Jehovah) (are) He, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; You have make the heaven and the earth O Jehovah, incline Your ear and hear; O Jehovah, open Your eyes and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib (the Assyrian King) with which he has sent him (his commander) to reproach the living God. Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations, and their lands; and have put their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of the hands of man, wood and stone, and have destroyed them. And now, O Jehovah our God, we pray to You, save us out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall know that You (are) Jehovah God, You (are) alone.” (2 Kings 19:15-19)

Barker Bailey Commentary.- “Seven … eight” is a conventional Hebrew way of indicating “many” or more than enough.”

Allen Commentary.- The theme of victory over foreign foes has a constant place in royal psalms. It is implied here that the generals would be subordinate to God’s man (the Messiah): their “shepherding,” corresponds to his own in as merely the outworking of royal policy.

(“…when he (the Assyrian) shall tread in our palaces, then we shall raise up against him seven shepherds and eight anointed ones of man.” Micah 5:4)

Henry Commentary.- The Assyrian, a potent enemy, comes into their land, making a descent upon Judah, took all the defended cities, and laid siege to Jerusalem. This represented the gates of hell fighting against the kingdom of Christ, encompassing the camp of the saints and of the holy city, and threatening to bear down all before them. When the Assyrian comes with such a force into a land, can there be any other peace than a tame submission and an unresisted desolation? Yes, even then the church’s King will be the conservator of the church’s peace. Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men, that is, a competent number of persons, proper to oppose the enemy, and make progress against him… Note, when God has work to do He will not want fitting instruments to do it with; and when he pleases He can do it by a few; he needs not raise thousands, but seven or eight principal men may serve the turn if God be with them. Magistrates and ministers are shepherds and principal men, raised in defense of religion’s righteous cause against the powers of sin and “evil” in the world. Thusly, the opposition given to the church shall be got over, and the opposers brought down. This is represented by the laying of Assyria and Chaldea waste, which two nations were the most formidable enemies to the Israel of God of any. They shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof; they shall make inroads upon the land, and put to the sword all that they find in arms. Note, those that threaten ruin to the church of God hasten ruin to themselves; and their destruction is the churches’ salvation: Thus shall He deliver us from the Assyrian.

Consider:(“… seven shepherds and eight anointed ones of man.”)
PSALM 76:8-10 “You (Jehovah) have caused judgment to be heard from Heaven (when You came to overthrow and destroy the enemies of Your people); the earth feared and was stilled, when God arose to judgment, to save all the humble of the earth (the afflicted, the crushed, the oppressed; those forbearing under the affliction). For the wraths of man (taking forceful means to reestablish the boundaries of the Law) thank You (for the display of just principles and the stability and power of just government); You encircle Yourself (as with a sword- to make use of it as a weapon for the execution of Your own purpose, girding Yourself) with the wraths left over (the retributions that have been held in check through the lawful restraints by the godly, God fearing man).”

The Remnant among the Nations
Jesus Taught:
“Blessed are those who hunger
And thirst for
Righteousness,
For they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they will be called sons of
God.
Blessed are those who are
Persecuted because of
Righteousness,
For theirs is the kingdom of
Heaven.
Matthew 5:6-10

Micah 5:6-8 “And shall be the (god fearing -Law Abiding Righteous) remnant of Jacob in the midst of many people’s as dew from Jehovah, as showers (on) a blade of grass, which does not wait for man and does not delay for the sons of man. And shall be the remnant of Jacob among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through both tramples and tears- and there is none delivering. Your hand shall be high above your foes and all your enemies shall be cut off.”

Barker Bailey Commentary (Paraphrased).- The theme of Israel’s (Judah’s) faithful remnant triumphing over their enemies … is an oracle of salvation or deliverance. Positively, God’s people will be a blessing, bringing life and renewal to the nations (both Northern & Southern of Israel). Negatively, the remnant will be a source of death and divine judgment to their oppressor, as the tables are turned and the victims become the victors. God’s kingdom will be victorious. Here its negative effect is stressed” Israel will also be a source of death. Just as a lion mauls and mangles sheep and other animals, so Israel will overcome all her foes. Her covenant Lord will enable her to be invincible, so that her ultimate victory is inevitable. No one will be able to withstand her. The Messiah’s kingdom must triumph over all opposition.

When the Messiah’s kingdom comes in its fullness, he will enable his people to be victorious over all foes. Clark illustrates: “So it has been down the centuries. The spiritual blessings given uniquely to Israel enable her to outlast all the persecutions of her enemies from Nebuchadnezzar to Hitler and to survive after they have been destroyed.
The survivors of persecution are called the “remnant of Jacob” because they will represent all twelve sons (tribes) of Jacob. The similes (“like dew … like showers”) speak of life, renewal, refreshment, and fertility. Thus Israel will be a blessing to the other nations and people groups of the world, as her covenant Lord intended originally. Just as dew and showers do not depend on humankind to perform their refreshing influence, so Israel will trust in her Lord. The Lord Himself will make His people just such a blessing.

Nelson Commentary.- The Lord condemns the leaders who write laws that perpetuate evil in the community. The needy are regularly seen in Scripture as those to whom the righteous should show true piety. When godly people reach out to help those who cannot help themselves, they display pure, biblical religion.
The purpose of the arrogant Assyrians was to continue their path of uninterrupted conquest. But God had different plans for them. The Assyrians had conquered the nations who had false gods; surely, they believed, they would also have an easy time against Jerusalem.

Barnes Commentary.- “…then shall we raise against him (the Assyrian) seven shepherd, and eight principal men.” The shepherds are manifestly inferior, spiritual, shepherds, acting under the One Shepherd, by his authority, and he in them. The princes of men are most naturally a civil power, according to its usage elsewhere. The seven is throughout the Old Testament a symbol of a sacred whole, probably of the union of God with the world, reconciled with it; eight, when united with it, is something beyond it. Since then seven denotes a great, complete, and sacred multitude, by the eight he would designate “an incredible and almost countless multitude.” “So in defense of the Church, there shall be raised up very many shepherds and teachers (for at no time will it be forsaken by Christ;) yea by more and more, countless, so that, however persecutions may increase, there shall never be wanting ...”

They who were shepherds of their own people, should consume their enemies.
“And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof…” Hence … Babylon is called the land of Nimrod, as indeed he founded it, but therewith was the author of the tower of Babel also, which was built in rebellion against God. Assyria then, and the world-empire which should succeed it, stand as representing the God-opposed world.
The shepherds of Israel shall not act on the defensive only, but shall have victory over the world and “evil”, carrying back the battle into his (the Assyrians) own dominions, and overthrowing him there. Wherein the king of Assyria hoped to waste it, he shall be wasted; wherein he seemed to triumph, he shall be foiled.
“And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest …” Micah, as well as Isaiah, had prophesied, that a remnant only should return unto the Mighty God.
“And the remnant of Jacob (the sons of Israel) shall be in the midst of many people as dew from the Lord…” The dew comes down from heaven, is of heavenly not of earthly birth, transparent, glistening with light, reflecting the hues of heaven, gentle, slight, weak in itself, refreshing, cooling the strong heat of the day, consumed itself,, yet thereby preserving life, falling on the dry and withered grass wherein all nature droops, and recalling it to freshness of life. Showers are so called from the “multitude” of drops, slight and of no account in themselves, descending noiselessly yet penetrating the more deeply.

“And the remnant of Jacob shall be as a young lion.” What more unlike than the sweetness of the dew and the fierceness of the lion? What so different as the gentle shower distilling on the herb, and the savageness of vehemence of a lion roaring among the flocks of sheep? Yet both are ascribed to the remnant of Jacob. Why? Because the Apostles of Christ are both tender and severe, tender in teaching and exhorting, severe in rebuking and avenging.

Clarke Commentary.- The remnant of Israel will also be like a lion. Like a ferocious lion, domineering over other animals, Israel will be dominant and powerful over other nations of the world. God said He will lift up Israel’s hand … over her enemies, and that all her foes will be destroyed.

Zondervan Commentary.- “…when he (the Assyrian) shall tread in our palaces, then we shall raise up against him seven shepherds and eight anointed ones of man.” The prophet here looks into the dark tunnel of the exile to see what awaits the nation there. There seems to be no special significance to the numbers seven and eight. Probably they are used … simply to indicate a number of leaders adequate to meet the exigencies of the situation when the Assyrians invade out land. Not only will they deliver us from the Assyrian invader, but they will rule the land of Assyria itself. The land of Nimrod is a parallelistic synonym for Assyria; Nimrod was the founder of its capital Nineveh. These verses are rather difficult and admit of more than on interpretation. If referred to the background of Sennacherib’s (the Assyrian kings) siege, they portray not merely deliverance but even military conquest of Assyria itself – they will rule the land of Assyria a with sword.

Calvin Commentary.- Hence the prophet Micah says, that though Assyria should come to out land, and break through with such force and violence that we could not drive him out, we shall yet set up for ourselves shepherds and princes against him. It must at the same time be observed, that this prophecy is not to be confined to that short time; for the Prophets speaks generally of the preservation of the Church.
Micah, says, that when the Assyrians shall pass through the land and tread down all the palaces, God would then become the deliverer of His people. It might have been objected, and said, “Why not sooner? Would it have been better to prevent this? Why! God now looks as it were- indifferently on the force of the enemies, and loosens the reins to them, that they plunder the whole land, and break through to the very middle of it. Why then does not God give earlier relief?” But we see the manner in which God intends to preserve His Church: for as the faithful often need some chastisement, God humbles them when it is expedient, and then delivers them. This is the reason why God allowed such liberty to the Assyrians before He supplied assistance. The Assyrians shall come …this must be endured by God’s children, and ought in time to prepare their minds to bear troubles; but, on the other hand, a consolation follows; for when the Assyrians shall thus penetrate into our land, and nothing shall be concealed or hidden from them, then the Lord will cause new shepherds to arise. God will then arm these shepherds with warlike courage; for they must fight boldly and courageously against their enemies: he says, They shall feed on the land of Nimrod with their swords. Nimrod, we know, reigned in Chaldea (ancient region of Babylonia). Now the import of the words is, that these shepherds would be sufficiently strong to oppose all the enemies of the Church, whether they were the Babylonians or the Assyrians. And he names the Assyrians and Babylonians, because they had then a contest with the people of God.
But this shall not be until the Chaldeans and the Assyrians shall penetrate into our land, and tread in our borders. The Prophet again reminds the faithful, that they stood in need of patience, and that they were to know that God had not made a vain promise. The import (significance) is that no deliverance was to be expected from God’s hand until the faithful yielded their necks to his (the Assyrian) yoke, and patiently sustained the evils which were then approaching. In the meantime, let the faithful provide themselves with courage, and, with a meek heart, patiently to submit to God, the righteous Judge: but, at the same time, let them expect a sure deliverance, when they shall have gone through all their evils; for when the ripened time shall come, the Lord will look on His Church.
Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary.- As the Assyrians invade our borders, so shall their own borders or “entrances” be invaded. Thus shall He deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into out land. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as dew.
The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion. Judah will be “as a lion,” not in respect to its cruelty, but in its power of striking terror into all opponents. Israel’s foes are Jehovah’s foes. When Israel’s had is said to be lifted up, it is Jehovah’s hand that strikes the foe by her.

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The Destruction of Assyria

2009-11-03T17:47:00.000-06:00

Introduction

Bailey Commentary.- We often wish (the Book of) Nahum were not in canon, and the book has been almost totally ignored in the modern church. Its message of judgment does not fit the picture we want to have of a loving, forgiving God. Nahum centers attention entirely on the impending fall of Nineveh (the Assyrian Capital) resulting in the delivery of the people of Judah. This central focus produced a message of hope to the people of Judah in a most unusual literary form, sometimes called a hymn of hate. Nahum’s message has become the prototype of the destruction of all evil-from that of Nineveh to Nazi Germany to the final end of all evil like that of Babylon. Nahum’s message is essential and timeless: the Lord reigns and will have the final word against evil. This means hope and deliverance by God for God’s people.

The Book of Nahum dramatically portrays God overwhelming Assyria to relieve His oppressed people. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the Sovereign Lord of the universe. Like the prophets who came before him, Nahum saw the Lord exercising His authority over all the nations. Nahum had an uphill battle convincing his Judean audience with such a message. To the suffering remnant, there was little question that God would and did punish His own covenant people; but whether He was equally able and willing to impart justice to the powerful heathen nations surrounding Israel was untested… The severity and kindness of God were both under scrutiny: the former as to whether it applied only selectively to this own people and the latter in the context of God’s ability and desire to bring about ultimate salvation (rescue and deliverance) of those who were faithful to Him.

Nahum’s message follows the theme of Isaiah, who saw Jehovah as the Lord of history. Like Isaiah, Nahum knew that the Lord works in history was to accomplish His purpose. The same God who could use Assyria as the “rod of My anger” (Isa. 10:5) also could punish “the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes” (Isa 10:2). Nahum powerfully portrays the pride, greed, self-centeredness, idolatry, violence, lack of mercy, and false security of Nineveh. All nations condemn such characteristics and crave the destruction of such an all-powerful and all-sinful world dominator. No nation by itself has power to bring such dreams to actuality. Nahum introduced to the scene the One who could destroy the destroyer. The Sovereign Lord of history rules all nations, even those who do not acknowledge Him. He would accomplish what no other gods and no other nations could. Assyria would fall!
All history stands under His control. He waits in patience but eventually brings His justified judgment on the sin of every greedy, prideful nation because of His zealous jealousy to maintain the loyalty of His own people. His word is not entirely one of judgment. He gives hope to those who trust in Him. When the forces opposing God are so firmly ensconced and the flickering lamp of God’s people is at the point of extinction, however, it is easy for the remnant to forget. Nahum reminds us, as do the ruins of ancient Nineveh, that God Himself is the ultimate Ruler. He will have the final word.

Though these attributes seem contradictory, Nahum showed the righteousness of a caring God, a God who is zealous for the well-being of His people. After all, what truly good human being could sit idly by in the face of cruel oppression such as that meted out by Assyria? How much less could God allow such wickedness to continue? At the heart of his message is recognition of Jehovah as a God of justice who will not let injustice and oppression go unpunished.
Nahum showed that ending oppression requires the removal of the oppressor. He showed the compassion of the one who fights against evil. A man who is deeply and truly religious is always a man of wrath. Because he loves God and his fellow men, he hates and despises inhumanity, cruelty, and wickedness. Every good man sometimes echoes the words of Nahum.

Far from presenting a one-sided view of God, Nahum pictured God as faithful, mercifully, good, and just.

Nineveh, the head of the Assyrian world-dominating empire, had gone far beyond any moral boundaries acceptable in international diplomacy much less by the Holy God. She treated nations as objects of commerce (exchange) to be bought and an sold or as harlots to be paid for their love and loyalty and then discarded at will.

Nahum is a “seer of God who declares that the haughty city has decreed its own destruction because of its moral corruption, its oppression of Judah and other nations, its violence, bloodshed, lies, deceit, and, above all, its rejection of God.” Nahum shows that when the military might of a nation becomes its security and its god, then sin has conquered the nation, and it will fall. Sin is not limited to those with specific instructions from God’s book about it. Every person knows basic human values is condemned as a sinner and faces God’s judgment.

Nahum’s “concern to reassure Judah of Jehovah’s ability and will to destroy Nineveh runs throughout the book.” Nahum’s message was ultimate proclaimed to God’s people, not to Nineveh. He promised a day they would again celebrate their feasts and complete the vows they had made during times of hardship and oppression. The message of God through Nahum was to encourage God’s people. Oppressed by a seemingly invincible foe who had overwhelmed the entire region, Israel could not look to her own power, but only to God for deliverance. The message once fulfilled became a beacon of hope through the ages. Its light continues to shine brightly as God’s people endure a world ruled by materialistic godlessness. God did it once for Israel against ugly Nineveh. We know God can and will win the battles we face today. He will also win the intimate battle against all the forces of darkness until His glory and splendor are recognized and praised in all the ends of the earth. “Nineveh is not an ordinary city for the prophet, nor is Assyria just another degenerating civilization. They stand for the ultimate evil that frustrates and suppresses the purposes and people of God. Their defeat is a sign of the victory of God and the basis for hope that this power and justice will ultimately conquer all evil.

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The Locust Invasion

2009-11-02T19:14:00.000-06:00

LOCUST ARMY
(The Reign & Rule of the Destroyer)

Apocalyptic Hypothetical Rendition
Fundamental Variables:

(1) Non-Supernatural Invasion
(a) No Evidence of Divine Intervention
(b) Source: Human Ingenuity
(2) Army of the Destroyer

REVELATION 9:1-11 “And the fifth angel trumpeted, and I (John) saw a (heavenly body) a star (a symbol of a leader visible in the night sky) a star out of heaven having fallen onto the earth (indicating his degradation in some way).”

Henry Commentary.- Having ceased to be a minister of Christ, he who is represented by this star becomes the minister of the devil; and lets loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ.
Some think this star represents some eminent bishop in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do not agree.

Aune Commentary.- John does not say that he actually saw the star fall; he says only that he saw the star after it had fallen. Here the fallen star should be understood as a messenger and not to be identified with the angel of the abyss named Abaddon or Apollyon or Satan.

Thomas Commentary.- The idealist approach to Revelation usually tries to dodge the issue of identification by saying the star could be any one of a number of persons throughout history. Yet as much information is available here as has been for other trumpets where attempts to specify have been made. The suggestion that he is the Antichrist has very slim evidence.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 2 “And was given to it the key to the pit of the abyss (the unfathomable depths of many and bitter troubles which are without measure)…”

(Study Notes): “No angel retains permanent possession of the key of the abyss, so God had to give it to him for use on this special occasion. Here, the term abyss is the picture of a subterranean cavern connected to earth’s surface by a “shaft” or “well” whose opening has a secured lid of some type. Its inhabitants include the demonic prince (Abaddon or Apollyon) and the beast from the abyss (the Antichrist, seeking world dominion and rule).

Henry Commentary (Paraphrased).- To this fallen star was given the key of the bottomless pit. Having now ceased to be a minister of Christ, he becomes an antichrist, the minister of evil; and by the permission of Christ, who had taken from him the keys of the church, he becomes the devil's turnkey, to let loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ.

Boring Commentary (Paraphrased).- The vision opens with a fallen star-angel who opens the abyss which disgorges the swarm of demon locusts. The vision concludes with the declaration that the demon locusts are led by the “king/Emperor,” the angel of the abyss. The whole vision is thus framed with motifs from the myth of the fall of the evil angel.

The key was given to this star. When John saw the star, it was not in the act of falling, but had fallen already.

Stars.- The nearly seventy references to stars in the Bible highlight their status among the heavenly bodies. In a large number of instances, stars are mentioned with one or both of their familiar companions in the skies- the sun and the moon.
As physical features of the heavens, stars have from time immemorial seemed to the human imagination to be wanderers in vast space, and the Bible includes a reference to “wandering stars”.
Stars also become symbols of people. In Daniel’s apocalyptic vision, those who will awake to everlasting life “shall shine…like the stars forever and ever”(Dan. 12:3). False teachers/prophets who deviate from the truth are, as noted above, “Wandering stars” (Jude 13). –Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

God offered Abraham a posterity like the stars of heaven.

( Posssible Source of Falling Stars)
Renewal of Commitment to the Covenant
Moses rehearsed God’s dealings with Israel in the exodus and wilderness. He exhorted them to pledge themselves to covenant fidelity as the new generation chosen by the Lord to represent Him on the earth. Their commitment was to be personal and genuine. If not, the time of judgment would come in which the nations would question whether or not Israel was in fact the people of the Lord.

A STAR OF ISRAEL GOD WOULD NEVER BE WILLING TO FORGIVE
(Fallen Star Within the Nation Israel)
Moses gave this warning to all Israel: “…lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Jehovah our God to go (and) server the gods of those (pagan) nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood; and it happens, when he hears the words of this curse, that he should bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘Peace I shall have, though in the stubbornness of my heart I walk, to snatch away the drunken (those offending against righteousness) with the thirsty (those thirsting for spiritual teachings in accordance to moral and ethical soundness); Jehovah will not be willing to forgive him, for then shall smoke the anger of Jehovah, and His zeal against that man, and shall lie upon him all the curses that area written in this book; and Jehovah shall blot out his name from under the heavens. And Jehovah shall set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which is written in this Book of the Law…” (Deuteronomy 29:17-20).

How to Identify a False Teacher
Deuteronomy 13:5 “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not knows) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him. That people or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; He has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God command you to follow.”

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 2 “And was given to it (hypothetically: a false teacher of Israel) the key to the pit of the abyss (the unfathomable depths of many and bitter troubles which are considered without measure to inundate the earth), and went up a smoke (blinding the eyes of men to the light of knowledge, while promoting ignorance and error of false teaching) out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace (as if the great ”aggravations and exasperations” bound up in error and cruelty of that dark world had broken lose upon the earth). And out of the smoke (of such smoldering residue) came forth locusts (a great and treacherous army).”

Thomas Commentary (Paraphrased).- The “fallen star” used the key give to him to unlock the shaft leading to the underground chamber. When he did so, smoke rose from the shaft as from an erupting volcano, but this was no volcano. In Revelation smoke may pertain to holy things, but most of the time it is in connection with judgment, doom, and torment. This unfavorable tone applies here too. The smoke is a vivid reminder of divine judgment at Sodom and Sinai. The volume of smoke compares to that produced by a large smelting furnace, usually used for purifying metals.

The volume is so great that it darkens the light of the sun and the air through which that light must pass. Under the previous trumpet the striking of the luminaries had obscured their light too, but this is a hindering of the sun’s effect, not an enfeebling of its ability to illuminate.

Thus shall rise the following of the Antichrist, and the effect of the rise of that formidable power. This, of course, synchronizes the beginning.

Barnes Commentary.- This woe is represented under the figure of calamities brought upon the earth by an immense army of locusts. A star is seen to fall from heaven-representing some mighty chieftain, and to him is give the key of the bottomless pit. He opens the pit, and then comes forth an innumerable swarm of locusts that darken the heavens, and they go forth upon the earth.

Mounce Commentary.- The one symbolized by the star has been variously identified. Some, interpreting the phrase “that had fallen” in a theological sense, taken the star to be a fallen angel. This is strengthened by reference to the nefarious (wicked) nature of his activity (unlocking the shaft of the Abyss and releasing its hordes).

Wilson Commentary.- The consequences (of the stars actions) are a plague unlike anything yet experienced on earth.
“And out of the smoke locust came down upon the earth.” Locusts were a common plague in the ancient world, and total devastation was usually left in their wake.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) “And it was said to them (the locusts) that they should not harm the grass (fig., the common man) of the earth, nor every green (prosperous and flourishing) thing, nor every tree (prominent man of high rank), except the men only (members among their own ranks- the “Forsakers of the Covenant” – counterfeit “Warriors of Christ” subscribed into their service) who (by such virtue do) not have the seal of God on the foreheads of them.”

Forsakers Of the Covenant
(Identification of Those Who Forsake the Covenant)
Deuteronomy 32:23-38 “’I (Jehovah) will increase upon them (the perverse and unfathful children of Israel) evils; I will use up My arrows on them. Exhaustion by famine, and burning by consumed heat (judgment) and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts (manifest in Revelation as the Anti-Christ and the Kingdom of Babylon), I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust (those under the judgment of God consigned to the dust).
The sword shall bereave from without and terror from within; both the young man and the virgin, the suckling with the man of grey hairs. I said, ‘I will dash them to pieces; I will make cease from among men their memory. If not the provocation (provoking and aggravation) of an enemy I did fear least should misconstrue (misread or misconstrue) their adversaries (their opponents in the conflict), least they should say, ‘our hand is high’, and not Jehovah has done all this; for a nation void of counsel they (are); and there is in them no understanding. If they were wise they would understand this, they would comprehend their latter end. How shall one chase a thousand, and two put to flight ten thousand, it (it were) not for their God who sold them, and Jehovah had shut them up? For (is) not as our Rock their rock, even our enemies (being) judges. For of the vine of Sodom (is) their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes (are) grapes of gall; clusters (are) bitter for them. Their wine (is) the venom of serpents, and the venom of cruel asps. Is not it stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? To Me (belongs) vengeance and retribution; in due time, shall slip their foot; for (is) near the day of their calamity, and are hurrying the things prepared for them. For Jehovah will bring His people justice, and on His servants He shall have compassion; for He sees that is gone (their) power, and only (remain) the imprisoned, and the abandoned.’”

Note: Consider the Prophecy of Daniel
Daniel 9:26-27 “And the (invading) people of a coming prince (the Antichrist) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (devoted to the worship of Jehovah). And its end (shall be) with the (overwhelming) flood and (shall be) war until (the) end; desolations are determined. And he (the destroyer) shall confirm a covenant with the many (conspiring nations) (for) one week (i.e. seven years). And in half of the week (in the middle of the period of seven years, an important change would occur) he would make cease sacrifice and offering (ending the “deceitful refuge of impunity”), and upon a wing (the corner edges) desolating abominations (lifting the arbitration of punishment over and above obedience and moral purity in the ethical arena, resulting in judgments of horror), even until (the) end.”
Verse 27 “And that which was decreed (that which was determined, by divine Judgment of destruction) shall pour out on the desolator (the reigning band of terror).”
Wilson Commentary.- In Revelation, these locust do not devour their usual fodder but instead attack humans. These locust/scorpions are empowered to sting anyone missing the seal of God on their foreheads.

Thomas Commentary (Paraphrased).- The irresistible destructive power of locusts is proverbial in the Old Testament as is their seemingly limitless number.
But these locusts are different, and it remains to establish their identity. One perspective is that they signify human armies. The characteristics differentiating these locusts from ordinary ones are a serious obstacle to this view, however.
They have a form such as no human being has ever seen.

Mounce Commentary.- The key that is given to the angel unlocks the shaft leading down into a subterranean chasm called the Abyss. When the shaft is opened, out pour great clouds of smoke. From the smoke come evil spirits who have been imprisoned in the Abyss. Their mission is to torment the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. While there is no specific indication in Revelation that the Abyss is a place of torment, the rising smoke would normally be thought of as coming from fires below.
The dense clouds of smoke that rise up out of the Abyss recall the scene of God’s descent upon Mt. Sinai. Exod 19:18 says that the smoke of the mountain billowed up “like smoke from a furnace.” As the smoke rises, it blots out the sun and darkens the atmosphere of the earth. Here the darkening is brought about by the tremendous quantity of smoke that pours up out of the Abyss. While the Apocalypse uses metaphorical and figurative language with great freedom, it is not an allegory that must be decoded before it will yield its meaning. The experience itself is often “what is means.”
Out of the billowing smoke come a great horde of locust like creatures. Throughout the Old Testament the locust is a symbol of destruction. Bred in the desert, they invade cultivated areas in search of food. They may travel in a column a hundred feet deep and up to four miles in length, leaving the land stripped bare of all vegetation.

Barnes Commentary.- They (the locusts) have a command given them to do a certain work. They are not to hurt the earth, or any green thing, but they are sent against those men which have not the seal of God on their foreheads. Their main business, however, was not to kill them, but to torment them for a limited time- for five months.
At first the locusts were mingled with the smoke, so that they were not distinctly seen, but when the smoke cleared away they appeared in great numbers. The idea seems to be, that the bottomless pit was filled with vapor and with those creatures, and that as soon as the gate was opened the whole contents expanded and burst forth upon the earth. The sun was immediately darkened, and the air was full, but the smoke soon cleared away, so that the locusts became distinctly visible.
Locusts were remarkable for their numbers- so great often as to appear like clouds, and to darken the sky. In this respect they could naturally be symbolical of numerous armies or hosts of men. This natural symbol of numerous armies is often employed by the prophets.
Locusts are an emblem of desolation or destruction. No symbol of desolation could be more appropriate or striking than this, for one of the most remarkable properties of locusts is, that they devour every green thing and leave a land perfectly waste. They do this even when what they destroy is not necessary for their own sustenance. “Locusts seem to devour not so much from a ravenous appetite as from a rage for destroying. Destruction, therefore, and not food, is the chief impulse of their devastations. They reduce everything indiscriminately to shreds, which become manure.” Locusts become, therefore, a most striking symbol of an all-devouring army, and as such are often referred to in Scripture. The natural application of this symbol, then, is to a numerous and destructive army, or to a great multitude of people committing ravages, and sweeping off everything in their march.

Wall Commentary.- The church (keeping the commands and obeying God) is not harmed by the evils released from the Abyss; they “pass over” those who have the seal of God on their foreheads, corrupting only those who do not.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 5 “And it was given to them that not they should kill (destroy or annihilate them as a nation), but that they be tormented (with the resulting oppression and misery of their ravages) five months (symbolizing the season during which the locusts continue their ravage); and the torment of them (is) as (the) torment of a scorpion when it stings a man (diffusing misery, wretchedness- and general distress- through their acts of oppressive cruelties).”

Wall Commentary.- The meaning of five months is variously understood. Some commentators have suggested this period of time refers to the locust’s life cycle. This interpretation mixes together the symbolical locusts with biological ones. While we find John mixing the phrase is best read for its symbolic value, since elsewhere Scripture uses “five” to refer to the “short-term”. In this sense, then, the reign of locusts does not exact fatal or ultimate consequences-which may explain John’s next observation that People suffered agony…like that of a sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. Their work is nasty but temporary.
In fact, from the locusts’ perspective, their mission is to torture people; from humanity’s perspective, their experience is sheer agony.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 6 “And in those days men will seek death (the permanent cession of such systematic use of terror and coercion), and they will not find it (within their ranks), and they will long to die (from the effectiveness of such a powerful forces and from subscription into their service), and death (associated with separation from the hand of their tormentors) will flee from them.”

Wilson Commentary.- The venom of these locusts is sufficiently toxic to torture the victims for five months. The period of time again indicates incompleteness. The pain, however, is so great that everyone seeks death but cannot find it.

Barnes Commentary.- “And unto them was given power.” This was something that was imparted to them beyond their ordinary nature. The locust in itself is not strong, and is not a symbol of strength. Though destructive in the extreme, yet neither as individuals, or as combined, are they distinguished for strength. Hence it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance that they had such power conferred on them. “As the scorpions of the earth have power.” The phrase “the earth” seems to have been introduced here because these creatures are said to have come up from “the bottomless pit” and it was natural to compare them with some well-known objects found on the earth. The scorpion is an animal with eight feet, eight eyes, and a long, jointed tail, ending in a pointed weapon or sting. It is the largest and the most malignant of all the insect tribes. It somewhat resembles the lobster in its general appearance, but is much more hideous.
The torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man is thus described:- “When the scorpion has stung, the place becomes inflamed and hardened; it reddens by tension, and is painful by intervals, being now chilly, now burning. The pain soon raises high, and rages, sometimes more, sometimes less. A sweating succeeds, attended by a shivering and trembling; the extremities of the body become cold, the groin swells, the hair stands on end, the members become pale, and the skin feel throughout the sensation of a perpetual pricking, as if by needles.” The sting of the scorpion, therefore, becomes the emblem of that which causes acute and dangerous suffering. Their purpose would be to vex and trouble men. Their warfare would be with men.
They commenced war. They were not the friends of God. The leader of this host was a infidel or enemy of God.
“That they should not kill them.” This is in accordance with the nature of the symbol. The locusts do not themselves destroy any living creature; and the sting of the scorpion, though exceedingly painful, is not usually fatal. The proper fulfillment of this would be found in that which would not be generally fatal, but which would diffuse misery and wretchedness. There may be included in the fair interpretation of the words, general distress and sorrow; acts of oppression, cruelty, and violence; such a condition of public suffering that men could regard death as a relief if they could find it. But, they should be tormented. This is, that they should be subjected to ills and troubles which might be properly compared with the sting of a scorpion.

Beale Commentary (Paraphrased).- The locusts impose a form of psychological suffering…
Likewise, the Exodus plagues demonstrated that the gods of Egypt were false and that Jehovah was the only true God. This realization caused Egyptians psychological turmoil because of the realization that their religious commitments were vain and that they were in opposition to God through their idolatry and their persecution of God’s people. This realization included an anxious conviction of sin, not accompanied by repentance. These events make people live in fear and terror in response to their hopeless plight, the reality of which has dawned dramatically on them.
The depiction in Revelation emphasizes that the locusts are fierce and horrific beings that affect people in a fierce, horrific, and destructive manner.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 7 “And the likeness of the locusts (is) like [the strength of] horses [strong and mighty- appearing as an overwhelming military force of troops] having been prepared [for this specific service and made ready] for war, and on the heads crowns like gold [an ornament of honor or glory- alluding to the extent of their conquests and the multitude of powers which they subdued], and the faces [the outward disposition] of them as faces of men [having the cunning of intelligent beings- not simply using brute force, having the show of wisdom and sagacity]; and they had hairs of women [they were of a great number, though if to appear individually they would seem inconsequential and physically weak; though small- yet numerous; the image hints at the keenness of their precision], and the teeth of them were as lions [images of seemingly unconquerable, unstoppable power- whose teeth were ferocious instruments designed to break the power of those whom they intent on devour]; and they had breastplates [defensive armor] as iron breastplates [being impenetrable so to overcome resistance- serving for a shield or defense while moving in thorny shrub and brambles]; and the sound of the wings [the means of rapid movement] of them as sound (of) many chariots or horses [painting a picture of military might of great strength, denoting military superiority and fighting power on the battle field] running to war. And they have tails like scorpions [which causes acute and dangerous sufferings- dealing with men with the severity as a result of the afflictions proceeding from themselves], and the stings were in the tails of them, and the authority of them (is) to harm men five months [symbolizing the ordinary time during which locust continue their ravages].”

Verse 11 “And they (the locusts) have over them a king [the “false prophet”- the Antichrist sovereign commander], the angel [the administrator over the affairs] of the abyss [representing the dark side of existence synonymous for the abode of those spiritually separated and excluded from the presence and favor of God], name to him [the administrator over the affairs of the abyss; the underworld hierarchy- a man of seniority and power], in Hebrew, Abaddon (ah BAD un) [destruction], and in the Greek (the) name he has (is) Apollyon (A poll yon] (the persecutor of the church).”

Wilson Commentary.- The uncanny resemblance of locusts to horses was proverbial in antiquity. Hence their arrival was likened to that of an enemy army.

Barnes Commentary.- And their faces ere as the faces of men. They had a human countenance. This would indicate that, after all, they were human beings that the symbol described, though they had come up from the bottomless pit. Horsemen, in strange apparel, with a strange head-dress, would be all that would be properly denoted by this. And their teeth were as the teeth of lions. Strong; fitted to devour. The teeth of the locust are by no means prominent, though they are strong, for they readily cut down all substances that come in their way. But it is evident that John means to say that there was much that was unusual and remarkable in the teeth of these locust. They would be ravenous and fierce, and would spread terror and desolation like the lions of the desert.
The warriors referred to would be well clad with defensive amour. It was an army that was symbolized, and everything about them served to represent hosts of men well armed, rushing to conflict.
The quantity of these insects is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astounding number; the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard to a great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret. And their power was to hurt men. Not primarily to kill men, but to inflict on them various kinds of tortures. The word here used, rendered to hurt- properly means to do wrong, to do unjustly, to injure, to hurt- conveying the idea that they would produce distress by doing wrong to others, or by dealing unjustly with them. It does not appear that the wrong would be by inflicting bodily torments, but would be characterized by that injustice towards others which produces distress and anguish. And they had a king over them. A ruler who marshaled their hosts. Locusts often , and indeed generally, move in hands, though they do not appear to be under the direction of any one as a particular ruler or guide. In this case it struck John as a remarkable peculiarity that they had a king – a king who, it would seem, had the absolute control, and to whom was to be traced all the destruction which would ensue from their emerging from the bottomless pit.
All those hosts were subject to one mind-to the command of the single leader named Abaddon, or Apollyon-Destroyer. This name would be appropriate to one who spread his conquests so far over the world; who wasted so many cities and towns; who overthrow so many kingdoms; and who laid the foundation of ultimate conquests by which so many human beings were sent to the grave. The description of the leader “as the angel of the bottomless pit,”- the spirit of darkness himself- what term would better characterize the leader?

He was one talented, sagacious, powerful, warlike, wicked and fitted to subdue the nations of the earth and to hold dominion of the people under his yoke.

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The Assyrian

2009-10-30T18:11:00.000-05:00

The ASSYRIAN

The Book of Revelation predicts the rise of a global superpower, Babylon the Great, at the end-times.

But who is Assyria? And who is Gog, in the Land of Magog?

(Study Notes): “If we look at several of the prophecies of Assyria we find that they are often mentioned in parallel with prophecies of Israel’s true Messiah. Perhaps the most-quoted is from the fifth chapter of Micah. The passage begins with the prophecy that Bethlehem will bring forth the Messiah...”

“And this man (the Messiah, the “Mighty God”) shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall He deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders.”

“Note, furthermore, while Assyria is oppressing Israel they will be defended by ‘seven shepherds’ and/or ‘eight principal men.’ Historically, the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian armies (722 B.C.), and later in 701 the southern kingdom of Judah survived an Assyrian invasion under Sennacharib only through divine intervention. Yet this prophecy speaks of Assyria invading the land of Israel at the end-time. It is hard to avoid this prophecy’s end-time context.”

“Both Micah and the prophet Isaiah lived during the time when Assyria was a great threat to Israel yet their prophecies seem to speak on two levels. Firstly, as a warning to Israel at the time but, more importantly for us, they also look forward in time to the final appearance of Assyria as Israel’s deceitful enemy when he will invade and occupy Israel and then finally be destroyed in the end.”

“’The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from of their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall turn it back?’”

“So who is Assyria?”

“At a time when the Christians (those of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) were weakening spiritually, as well as physically and militarily, the Assyrians were growing stronger.”

THE LOST TRIBES
The Assyrians introduced a very interesting way of dealing with conquered peoples. It was called exile, the Assyrian policy of deporting conquered peoples to other lands within the empire, to destroy their sense of nationalism, and break any pride or hope of rebellion and replace them with strangers from far away. Assyrians were great warriors. Most nations at that time period were looters, building their state by robbing other nations. Assyria’s was the most ferocious of them all. Their very name became a byword for cruelty and atrocity.

The Assyrian king put out the eyes of enemy kings (blind submission) and led the officials into captivity with hooks in their lips (interweaving the words of the Assyrian). In this manner the several warrior kings wielded Assyria into the best fighting machine of the ancient world.
Meanwhile the Christian people of the north were settled in various locations throughout the Assyrian empire. Total occupation resulted from within and without, only remained the imprisoned and the abandoned.

ASSYRIAN CRUELTY
One of the ancient monuments discovered in the ruins of ancient Assyria has an inscription by the King of Assyria of a conquered city: “Their men, young and old, I took as prisoners. Of some I cut off the feet and hands; of others I cut off the noses, ears, and lips; of the young men’s ears I made a heap; of the old men’s heads I built minaret (tower).

Assyrian Cruelty
(Study Notes): “It is only half the truth when talking about the ancient Assyrian cruelty, perhaps, as some historian have suggested, the Assyrians were open about their cruelty because they hoped to quell rebellion or discourage opposition by publicizing the fate of losers. After all, those terrible punishments were meted out only to those people who resisted the Assyrian armies. Cities that surrendered without a fight were not sacked; they suffered only the indignity of an Assyrian governor and a yearly tribute.”

Assyrian Soldiers
From the tops of the wooden towers, skilled archers would sweep the walls of the defenders, to prevent interference with the work of demolition, while nearby other archers, sheltered by the shields of spear men, would fire arrows-some of them flaming in a high trajectory over the walls, to harass the defenders and to terrify the population. The methods used by the Assyrians did not originate with them, but were apparently borrowed from the Sumerians. But it was the skill and organization of employment which brought success to Assyrian siege craft.

Assyrain "Low Men"
Terror was another factor contributing greatly to Assyrian success. Their exceptional cruelty and ferocity were possibly reflections of callousness developed over centuries of defense of their homeland against savage enemies. But theirs was also a calculated policy of terror-possibly the earliest example of organized psychological warfare. It was not unusual for them to kill every man, woman, and child in captured cities. Sometimes they would carry away entire populations into captivity.

This distorted cruelty assumption is easily debunked by the late Assyriologist Henry Saggs who stated that, "There is no proven case of any atrocities committed by individual Assyrian soldiers as matters of mere sadism. It is true that there are some scenes on base reliefs which do show the mutilation or barbarous killing (as by skinning) of prisoners, but the indications are that these represent what was done to ringleaders by order of the king, not random acts of barbarity by private soldiers. Indeed, there are indications that the king insisted on very strict discipline in the matter of treatment of prisoners-of-war, and one royal letter to an Assyrian administrator dealing with provisions for such prisoners actually warns the official: 'You shall not be negligent. If you are, you shall die.'"

Assyria Sets Up an Underworld Army
(Underworld Army of Assyria)

"The Greeks are our intellectual ancestors, but these Mesopotamians are the true ancestors of modern medicine," said Scurlock, a professor of ancient history at Elmhurst College.
There are two main reasons why the Assyrian Empire became so powerful. First, the power of Assyria was largely dependent on the success of its army. The Assyrian military perfected the art of war with punitive expeditions or campaigns launched against foreign foes, rebellious vassals or other anti-Assyrian groups. Second, the Assyrians developed an efficient and effective administrative system with which to maintain, supply and expand their empire. In Assyria, warfare was a way of life, and its government was run as a military state. Early wars had been like raids; undertaken to obtain booty, settle disputes over land and water rights, or fought for military notoriety. The Assyrian Empire maintained a powerful standing army.

Enemies Make a Tumult
(COALITION OF NATIONS - Psalm 83)

In the Psalms one find a prayer having been lifted for God’s open interposition; since God’s foes tumultuously assail the people of God in a vast confederacy of ten nations, Edom, Ammon and Moab being the center. The prayer is grounded on God’s past deliverances that He will send His fiery anger on the foe, in order that all may know that Jehovah is most high over all the earth- in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
The object of the invaders was to root the nation Israel out of their inheritance.

Henry Commentary.- God’s people, in an all prevailing plea, rightly remind their Father that the invaders are not merely their enemies, but His; therefore His honor is at stake in delivering them. The foes are a type of the Gentile peoples, the followers of Antichrist, of whom Psalm 2 said, “Why do the nations tumultuously assemble? (marg.)…the kings of the earth…and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed?” They that hate You (God)- the real ground of their haltered is against Your people. They have lifted up the head- proudly and as oppressors. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people- they combine craft with violence and consult against Your hidden ones- Your people, whom God - in the time of trouble hides, in His pavilion, in the secret of His tabernacle.
They (the enemy) have said, “Come, and let us cut them off- let us extirpate (destroy and completely remove) them. They have consulted together with one consent- with the heart unanimously, (implying the hearty zeal with which they entered into the plot). They have cut or formed a covenant against You.
Edom, Moab and Ammon were the ringleaders; and around them respectively are grouped those allies whom they had induced to join in the expedition. Assyria also is joined with them; they give help to the children of Lot.

HISTORY
(Study Notes): The nations called Moab and Ammon are considered together because the men, Moab and Ammon, were brothers, children of incest involving Lot and his two daughters (Gen.19). After Sodom, Gomorrah were destroyed by God, Lot and his two unnamed daughter lived in a cave in the mountain near Sodom. There, on two consecutive nights, his daughter made Lot senselessly drunk and lay with him. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. The son of the older daughter was named Moab, and the younger daughter’s son was named Ben-ammi (Ammon).

(Children of Lot)
Incest – Health Risk
Note: Person’s birthed through an incestuous relationship pose a high risk of being affected with a sex development disorder characterized by both male and female gene tails. The reproductive organs might be fully or partially developed and can be at various developing states.

The wickedness of the Ammonites and Moabites is described in that they (as a conspiratorial nation) provoked other nations to fight against the nation Israel.

Judah is in danger of being invaded and destroyed by an overwhelming coalition of nations.
Throughout history, many nations have conspired to bring about the ruin of Israel and Judah. This dominate nation of Assyria that took captive the ten northern tribes of Israel (by exile and displacement) would now use smaller nations, like Moab and Ammon (the children of Lot) to accomplish its military goals to destroy Judah.

Ancient History
(Study Notes): God had given orders to Moses (at the time of the Exodus) not to oppose the sons of Moab or provoke them to war when making their pilgrimage to the Promised Land.
When the Israelites camped in the territory it had won in battle from the Amorites, the Moabites became fearful that the Israelites would take their land. Apparently, the Moabite king did not know, or did not believe, that God had forbidden Moses to take any land belonging to either of Lot’s children (Deut. 2:9,19). In an effort to weaken Israel, Moab’s king Balak offered an enormous monetary reward and a high position in his government to a world-renowned (pagan) prophet, Balaam, if he would come and curse Israel (Num. 22:24). Balaam came, wanting to curse Israel and receive Balak’s reward, but God would not allow him to curse Israel. Having failed, then, in his first desire, Balaam, with the elders of the Midianites, counseled King Balak not to war with the Israelites, seeing that God was determined to bless them, but- rather- to join the Israelites through marriage. The resulting intermarriage of the Moabites with the Israelites and the concomitant (simultaneous) intermingling of religions enraged the Lord, who then plagued Israel (Num.15:9). So, while Balaam could not curse Israel, by his craftiness he deceived Israel into great sin against God, who then punished His people with a grievous plague. Thus did Balaam, in a way, accomplish his evil mission through the use of Moab’s women to lure many Israelites into making a league with Moab and its gods.
Though this cleverly and maliciously designed precision, Balaam was able to curse Israel. This is the doctrine of Balaam. Balaam prophetically gave four blessing to Israel and finally said to Balak and the Moabites, “though you cannot conquer Israel by force of arms, you can seduce them: and that’s exactly what they did. The Moabite girls entered the Israelite camp (Number 31:16) and seduced the men (Numb. 25:1-9).

Now, Assyria has joined with the collation of nations to help the children of Moab and Ammon, the descendants of Lot.

Barnes Commentary.- (Psalm 83; Conspiracy Against Israel) The sons of Lot were permitted, as it were, to make use of the arm of these powerful nations in accomplishing their purposes. It would appear from this, that the purpose of destroying the Israelite people had been originated by the Moabites and Ammonites, and that they had called in the aid of the surround nations to enable them to carry out their plan. The enumeration of those who had joined in the alliance shows that all the nations adjacent to Palestine, on every side, had entered into the agreement, so that the land was completely encompassed, or hemmed in, by enemies. In these circumstances, the conspirators felt secure; in these circumstances, the people of God had no resource but to call upon God. Thus it often occurs that the people of God are so surrounded by enemies, or are so hemmed in by troubles and trials, that they have no other resource than the: -they are shut up to the necessity of prayer. Often God so orders, or permits things to occur, as to cut off His people from every other dependence, and to make them feel that there is no help for them but in Him.
The Hebrew people were offensive to all the surrounding nations by their religion and the constant rebuke of tyranny and idolatry by their religious and their social institutions. “They (their enemies) had said, ‘Come, and let us cut them (the people of God) off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.’” That the nation as such may be utterly extinct and forgotten; that the former triumphs of that nation over us may be avenged; that we may no longer have in our very midst this painful memorial for the existence of ONE God, and of the demands of His law; that we may pursue our own plans without the silent or the open admonition derived from a religion so pure and holy. For the same reason the world has often endeavored to destroy the church; to cause it to be extinct; to blot out its name.
There is no division in the counsel of the coalition on this subject. They have one desire- one purpose- in regard to the matter. Pilate and Herod were made friends together against Christ; and the world, divided and hostile on other matters, has been habitually united in its opposition of Christ and to a pure and spiritual religion. They are confederate against it.

Spurgeon Commentary.- They (the enemies) are by no means sparing of their words, they are like a hungry pack of dogs, all giving tongue at once. So sure are they of devouring Your people that they already shout over the feast. Confident of conquest, they carry themselves proudly and exalt themselves as if their anticipated victories were already obtained. These enemies of Israel were also God’s enemies, and are here described as such by way of adding intensity to the argument of the intercession.
Whatever we may do, our enemies use their wits and lay their heads together; in united conclave secret meeting) they discourse upon the demands and plans of the campaigns, using much treachery and serpentine cunning in arranging heir schemes. Malice is cold-blooded enough to plot with deliberation; and pride, though it be never wise, is often allied with craft.
“They consulted against thy hidden ones.” Hidden away from all harm (of extinction) are the Lord’s chosen; their enemies think not so, but hope to smite them; they might as well attempt to destroy the angels before the throne of God.
“They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation.'” Easier said than done. Yet it shows how thorough-going are the foes of the church. Theirs was the policy of extermination. They laid the axe at the root of the matter. Evil is intolerant of good. Men would be glad to cast the church out of the world because it rebukes them, and is thus a standing menace to their sinful peace.
They are hearty and unanimous in their designs. They seem to have but one heart, and that a fierce one, against the chosen people and their God. “They are confederate against thee.” At the Lord Himself they aim through the sides of His saints. They make a covenant, and ratify it with blood, resolutely banding themselves together to war with the Mighty God.
Assyria is also joined with them. It was then a rising power, anxious for growth, and it thus early distinguished itself for evil. What a motley group they were; a league against Israel is always attractive and gathers whole nations within it bonds. Herod and Pilate are friends, if Jesus is to be crucified. All these have come to the aid of Moab and Ammon, which two nations were among the fiercest in the conspiracy. There were ten to one against Israel.

Joseph Francis Thrupp.- The last class of enemies are those of whom Assyria is the type; the worldly potentates, whether ecclesiastical or temporal or imperial, who are unscrupulously ready to employ all mans for the ultimate accomplishment of their one object, that of extending and consolidation their dominion…
Such potentates seem to represent most truly that determined and resolute selfishness, which, to eyes that are not dazzled by the grandeur of its proportions or the gorgeousness in which it is arrayed, much ever appear as one of the most terrible embodiments of the enmity of the world to God. Pride of intellect and unbelief, -unholiness and lawlessness of life, -covetousness, -worldly ambition, -such are the characteristics of four important classes of those by whom God’s church is threatened.

Calvin Commentary.- “For they have consulted with the heart together.” The multiplied hosts which united their powers together to oppose the Church of God and to effect her overthrow, are here enumerated. As so many nations, formed into one powerful confederacy, were bent on the destruction of a kingdom not greatly distinguished by its power, the miraculous aid of God was indispensible necessary for the deliverance of a people who, in such extremity, were altogether unable to defend themselves.
To remove from the minds of the godly all misgivings as to whether help is ready to be imparted to them from heaven, the prophet distinctly affirms that those who molest the Church are chargeable with making war against God, who has taken her under His protection. The principle upon which God declares that He will be our helper is contained in these words, “He that touched you, touches the apple of mine eye” (Zech.2:8). And what is said in another psalm concerning the patriarchs, is equally applicable to all true believers, “Touch not mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm,” (Ps. 105:15).
God having declared that every injury which is done to us is an assault upon Him, we may, as from a watch-tower, behold in the distance by the eye of faith the approach of that destruction of which the votaries (devotees) of Antichrist shall have at length the sad and melancholy experience.
When it is said that Assyria and the rest were an arm to the sons of Lot, this is evidently an additional aggravation of the wickedness of the sons of Lot. It would have been an act of unnatural cruelty for them to have aided foreign nations again their own kindred (Lot was the nephew of Abraham). But when they themselves are the first to sound the trumpet, and when of their own suggestion they invite the aid of the Assyrians and other nations to destroy their own brethren, ought not such barbarous inhumanity to call forth the deepest detestation? Josephus (historian) himself records, that the Israelites had passed through their borders without doing them any harm, sparing their own blood according to the express command of God. When the Moabites and Ammonites then knew that their brethren the Jews spared them, remembering that they were of the same blood, and sprung from on common parentage, ought they not also to have reciprocated so much kindness on their part as not to have embarked in any hostile enterprise against them? But it is, as it were, the destiny of the Church, not only to be assailed by external enemies, but to suffer far greater trouble at the hands of false brethren. At the present day, none are more furiously mad against us than counterfeit Christians.

Henry Commentary.- The nations that entered into this alliance are here mentioned; the Edomites and Ishmaelites, bother descendants fro Abraham, lead the van; for apostates from the church have been its most bitter and spiteful enemies. These were allied to Israel in blood and yet in alliance against Israel. There are no bonds of nature so strong but the spirit of persecution has broken through them. The brother shall betray the brother to death. God’s heritage was as a speckled bird; all the birds round abut were against her, which highly magnifies the power of God in preserving to Himself a church n the world, it spire of the combined force of earth and the underworld.

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2009-10-26T08:56:00.000-05:00

ISAIAH 13:5 “Are coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens (the distant horizon), Jehovah and (the) weapons of His wrath, to destroy all the land (of Babylon)."

Barnes Commentary.- The assembled armies of the Medes and Persians, called “the weapons of His indignation,” because by them He will accomplish the purposes of His anger against the city of Babylon- to destroy the whole land. The whole territory of Babylonia or Chaldea, not only the city, but the nation and kingdom.

Young Commentary.- From a point remote as the eye can see, even where the vault of heaven seems to touch the earth, comes the enemy host. Persia is this land afar.
At their head is the God of Israel, Jehovah of hosts, and under His command are the instruments wherewith He executes His wrath. Great was the Babylonian empire; indeed, in all world history it was the first of empires, and in its destruction all the earth had been involved.

Calvin Commentary.- Babylon was so strongly fortified, and was surrounded as if there were no way by which an enemy could approach.

Though everything appears to be calm and peaceful, God can bring enemies from the end of the heaven. If this prediction had reached the inhabitants of Babylon, they would undoubtedly have laughed at it as a fable. Even if we should suppose that they paid some respect to the Prophets, yet, having so strong a conviction of their safety, they would have disposed those threatens as idle and groundless. So great is the insensibility of men that they cannot be aroused, unless they are chastised and made to feel the blows.

Henry Commentary.- The summons given them is effectual, their obedience ready, and they made a very formidable appearance: A banner is lifted up upon the high mountain. God’s standard is set up, a flag of defiance hung out against Babylon. It is erected on high, where all may see it; whoever will may come and enlist themselves under it, and they shall be taken immediately into God’s pay. Those who recruit for volunteers must exult the voice in making proclamation, to encourage soldiers to come in; they must shake the hand, to beckon those at a distance and to animate those that have enlisted themselves. And they shall not do this in vain; God has commanded and called those whom He designs to make use of and power goes along with His calls and commands, which cannot be resisted. It is the Lord of hosts that musters the hosts of the battle. He raises them, brings them together, puts them in order, reviews them, has an exact account of them in His muster-roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts, and gives them their necessary orders. Note, all the hosts of war are under the command of the Lord of hosts; and that which makes them truly formidable is that, when they come against Babylon, the Lord comes, and brings them with Him as the weapons of His indignation.

ISAIAH 13:6 “Howl! For the day of Jehovah (is) near; as destruction from the Almighty (who has all power) it shall come. Therefore, all hands shall droop and every heart of man shall melt (as the heralds bring word of the invasion); and they shall be afraid (courage will fail); pangs and sorrows shall seize them; as one giving birth they shall be in pain...’”

Biblical authors also attempt to impress on their audiences the emotional impact of the Day of the Lord by describing the reactions of those who experience God’s activity. For those who suffer under God’s judgment, the reaction is usually described in terms of traditional ancient Near Eastern mourning practices, such as wearing sackcloth, sitting on the ground, wailing loudly and throwing dust or ashes on oneself.

Finally, the Day of the Lord will be a day in which the oppressed people of God will experience deliverance. This is often described in terms including victory in battle; reoccupation of territory; rebuilding of dwellings and rejoicing.

ISAIAH 13:8 “’…a man to his neighbor, they shall be amazed; faces of flames (will be) their faces (red hot with fear of God’s judgments).’”

Barnes Commentary.- They shall look to each other for aid, and shall meet in the countenances of others the same expressions of wonder and consternation. Their faces shall be as flames. Their faces shall glow or burn like fire. When grief and anguish come upon us, the face becomes inflamed. The face in fear is usually pail. But the idea here is not so much that of fear as of anguish; and, perhaps, there is mingled also here the idea of indignation against their invaders.

Young Commentary.- Then will one man look at another and will fall into wonder, for the faces of all will be as flames, glowing red from embarrassment and lack of counsel. All are in the same predicament, and one looks with stupefaction at their condition. All countenances are red, not merely from crying, but glowing from fear. The enemy has come and with him destruction. Here is a picture of the greatest fear which reveals a burning glow both within and on the countenance.

Oswalt Commentary (Expounded).- They will stare at each other in an agony of both indecision and recognition. The recognition will be that everything in which they had reposed their trust had deserted them and they are stripped defenseless before God’s piercing gaze. Probably it is this shame of having trusted in the wrong resources that accounts for the flaming faces, in that terror alone would be expected to produce paleness. All of this should provoke the modern reader to ask, “In what am I trusting to defend me before the Almighty?” There can be no other answer than that of the hymn writer: “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless I stand before the throne.”

ISAIAH 13:9 “’Behold, the day of Jehovah, comes, cruel, and (with) wrath and heart of anger (“denoting the most intense indignation”), to lay the land waste.’”

Barnes Commentary (Expounded).- This does not mean that God is cruel (“For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men” Lam. 3:35), but that the day of Jehovah’ that was coming should be unsparing and destructive to them. It would be the exhibition of justice, but not of cruelty; and the world stands opposed here to mercy, and means that God would not spare them.

ISAIAH 13:9 “’And its sinners He (God) shall destroy out of it.’”

Barnes Commentary.- When he says, and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, he means by sinners not all men without distinction, but the ungodly and wicked men who inhabited Babylon.

ISAIAH 13:10 “’For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not shine their light the sun is dark in its going forth and the moon shall not reflect its light.’”

Barnes Commentary.- “For the stars of heaven and their constellations shall not shine their light.” This verse cannot be understood literally, but is metaphorical representation of the calamities that were coming upon Babylon. The meaning of the figure evidently is, that those calamities would be such as would be appropriately denoted by the sudden extinguishment of the stars, and sun and the moon.

ISAIAH 13:11 “’And I (Jehovah) will visit evil on the world, and on the wicked their iniquity. And I will make cease the arrogance of proud ones, and the pride of tyrants I will bring low...’”

Calvin Commentary.- Arrogance was joined, as it usually is, to violence and cruelty; and therefore he adds the loftiness of tyrants; fore when men despise others, this is followed by deeds of violence and injustice and oppression; and it is impossible for men to abstain from doing harm to others, if they do not lay aside all conceit and high estimation of themselves. Let us willingly, therefore, bring down our minds to true humility, if we do not wish to be cast down and laid low to our destruction.

("A case in point would be Hitler’s thousand-year Reich which ended in complete destruction hardly more than ten years after he proclaimed it.")

ISAIAH 13:12 “’I (Jehovah) will make a man more rare than gold; and a man than fine gold of Ophir (a district which was known for its fine gold).’”
Verse 13 “’Therefore, the heavens I will shake, and shall move the earth out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of the heart of His anger. And it shall be as a chased Gazelle; and as a sheep and none gathers; each man to his people they shall look, and each one, to his land they shall flee. Everyone who is found shall be pierced (as brother turns against brother); and everyone who is caught (by the Medes and Persians) by the sword shall fall.'”

Verse 16 “’And their children (fig. representation of their heritage and posterity) shall be dashed before their eyes; their houses (which have been filled with deceit) shall be robbed and their wives raped (fig., cities or churches seized and violently abused – through the factions intermingled within).’”
Verse 17 “’Behold, I (Jehovah) stir up against them (the center of a formidable underground political world power of organized crime setting its sights on a bid for world dominion) the Medes, who shall not reckon silver, and shall not delight in it gold (they will not be found guilty of plundering). And, young men bows shall dash to pieces; and the fruit of the womb (fig., representing their posterity and future heritage) not they shall pity; on sons (builders of their family name) not their eye shall spare.”

Verse 19 “And shall be Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans as when overthrew God Sodom and Gomorrah (completely and entirely overthrown) not it shall be inhabited forever, and not it shall be lived in to generation and generation.”

Barnes Commentary.- It does not mean that it shall be overthrown in the same manner as Sodom was, but that it should be as completely and entirely ruined.

ISAIAH 13:20 “And not there shall the Arabian pitch (a) tent (for Babylon is an unfit abode for a resting place), and not shepherds shall make (flocks) lie there. But shall lie there (wild and uncontrollable) desert creatures. And shall be full their houses of howling creatures, and shall dwell there daughters of ostriches; and he goats shall skip there. And shall cry hyenas with his widows and jackals in palaces of delight, and near to come (is) her time, and her days not shall be prolonged.”

Dragons shall hiss and hungry wolves hall howl;
In courts before by might lords possess’d
The serpent shall erect his speckled crest,
Or fold his circling spires to rest.
Leopards and all the rav’ning brotherhoods
That range the plains, or lurk in woods,
Each other shall invite to come,
And make this wilder place their home.
Fierce beasts of every frightful shape and size
shall settle here their bloody colonies.
-Sir R. Blackmoore

Barnes Commentary.- The idea here is that Babylon, so far from being occupied as a permanent residence for any people, would be unfit even for a resting place. It would be so utterly desolate, so forsaken, and so unhealthy, that the caravan would not even stop there for a night. What a change this from its former splendor! How different from the time when it was the place of magnificent palaces, when strangers flocked to it, and when people from all nations were collected there!

Young Commentary.- Not even for a transitory dwelling place will Babylon be sought. The nomads who wander in the desert will not choose her, nor will shepherds use her for a pasturing place. Can there be a stronger picture of utter forsakenness? The world city is gone, and only wilderness remains. When we doubt the power of our God, let us look to the wilderness where Babylon one was. So will He judge the wicked?
Using the very word of the preceding verse, Isaiah brings in a strong contrast. Shepherds will not cause their flocks to pasture in Babylon, but there will lie down there desert creatures, animals of the steppe (arid clearing) and wilderness (animals whose home is in the desert). There will also be houses, but they will be the houses of desert beings. Yelping creatures will fill them.
Once in Babylon’s palaces there was song and merriment, now the shrieking and howl of wild animals.
Babylon’s palaces! Those houses of pleasure have long since departed. Once they were temples of delight, but when judgment strikes, jackals will howl there. Babylon’s time for judgment is near at hand. It will not delay. Will Babylon take the warning? The days of her existence, in which she may continue as a mighty city, are numbered days. May all who read these lines turn to the Lord of all power in humble supplication for mercy?

Calvin Commentary.- Now the country around Babylon was exceedingly fertile before that calamity, which rendered this change the more astonishing and almost miraculous, either because the place lost its former fertility, or because the constant slaughter made all men abhor the sight of it. Undoubtedly the Prophet means that not only will the building be thrown down, but the very soil will be accursed.

Oswalt Commentary.- This verse speaks of the lack of human population. The point would not be disproven if from time to time Bedouin tents were set up within the confines of what was once Babylon. The point is that humanity cannot sustain itself by itself. It cannot expect in its own strength to produce more and more of everything until it fills the earth. There has come the day, again and again, in war, in famine, or in pestilence when a self-sufficient portion of humanity has been brought fact to face with its insufficiency. Thus far, in His mercy, God as allowed the torch to be passed to other civilizations, but as we move more and more toward a global society, Babylon’s burden becomes more and more the word addressed to the entire earth. God’s glory will fill the earth, not humanity’s. If we will not learn that voluntarily, we must learn it involuntarily.

Although precise identification of many of the animals mentioned in these verses is difficult, the general sense is clear enough. These are animals which inhabit dark and lonely settings. There is something vaguely ominous about many of them. The mighty city is silent except for the hoots and howls of the night-dwellers. The lovely palaces and mighty fortresses alike have become the home of the jackals and hyenas who can only feed on the carrion left behind when the lions have eaten their fill. How are the mighty fallen!

The result of Babylon’s overthrow will be the promised deliverance (for the nation Israel).

Barnes Commentary.- “But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there.” This word denotes properly those animals that dwell in dry and desolate places. They feed upon dead carcasses, and live in the woods, or in desert places, and are remarkable for their howl. Their yell resembles that of infants. “And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures.” “The owls shall dwell there.” The owl is a well-known bird that dwells only in obscure and dark retreats, giving a doleful screech, and seeking its food only at night. The Hebrew does not particularly denote the kind of bird intended, but means those that are distinguished for their sound- “the daughters of sound or clamor.” The ostrich is a sly and timorous creature, delighting in solitary barren deserts. In the night they frequently make a very doleful and hideous noise; sometimes groaning as if they were in the greatest agonies.

DESERT.- The desert is a dry place, were water is rarely found. Nevertheless, animals do live there. Perhaps the most common reference to the desert attempts to characterize the effect this land has upon man. It is a barren and terrifying place, where man does not, cannot live easily. It is lonely, sometimes characterized by a solitude that is threatening and frightening to man. It is desolate, and is often used to symbolize the desolation that will come upon the enemies of the nation Israel.

“The design of the Prophet is to show that the solitude within Babylon would be great- it would be a place deserted by men; for the wicked avail themselves of the tendency of solitary places to produce terror as enemies and robbers, by sallying forth from concealed lurking-places, to frighten men and more, so these creatures take advantage of the night and the darkness, and of places distant from the view of men, that they may be able to excite greater terror in the common man.”

Oswald Commentary.- “Shall dwell there desert creatures with jackals (or hyenas). These are animals which inhabit dark and lonely settings. There is something vaguely ominous about many of them. The mighty city is silent except for the hoots and howls of the night-dwellers.

HYENA.- The hyena is a striped scavenger that looks like a fox. Once numerous in Palestine, the hyena appears only at night. Because of it scavenger activities of digging up graves to devour dead bodies, the hyena was a repulsive animal in the ancient world. They were easily tamed, and the Egyptians kept them as pets.
Members of the dog family, hyenas have square snouts and powerful jaws. They run down prey and may even attach human beings. The Israelites hated hyenas and considered them unclean because they are scavengers. There eerie howls sound like demented laughter.

Animals as Signs of Desolation. As is true in some cultures today, the appearance of certain animals is regarded as an omen. Frequently these animals are ones whose nighttime calls seem to be messages from the spirit world (owls, hyenas’, frogs) or who themselves seem to be acting as messengers or animals that by habit already possess negative associations with death. Passages in Scripture, in describing he desolation of once inhabited cities, sometimes include among “real” animals reference to mythological creatures that frolic and cry in the ruins. Our post-Enlightenment cultural outlook requires us to distinguish between real and mythical animals; however the ancient poets were under no such constraint. To them some animals held evil associations. Some demons appeared as animals, as when frogs represent unclean spirits. The variation in translation of some animal names reflects the difficulty in identifying these creatures- consider the various translations of “litith” as “night hag” or “screech owl” in Isaiah- but generally their symbolic import is clear enough from the context, and parallelism provides additional hints as well. –Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

Animals as Dangerous. The Bible names many animals simply because the mere mention of them evokes fear. Their fierce behavior is likened to the dealings of God, enemies or wicked individuals. The predatory armies of Babylon resemble frightful animals. They are swifter than cheetahs, fiercer than wolves. Their horsemen fly from afar like vultures and are as swift as eagles. The imagery implies that the victims of war are a prey. – Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

HYENA.- The hyena is a scavenging carnivore larger than a wolf. It is about forty inches long, with a very powerful head and forequarters and rather sloping back. It is largely a nocturnal scavenger, though were there is plenty of game it is now know to do more actual hunting than was thought possible. In some countries it was the custom to encourage hyenas to remove refuse from compounds and villages, and even human bodies were left exposed, who no trace being left by morning. Hyenas must have been know to the Israelites to whom their habits would make them unspeakable unclean, but in a land peopled by a nation having a hygienic code far in advance of its times hyenas would have found fewer pickings than in the countries around.
Usually feeding on putrefying flesh of the dead, occupying deserted human habitations, the hyena was regarded as cowardly and cruel. Its cry is a disagreeable, unearthly sound.
The jaws and teeth of the hyena are exceedingly powerful enabling them to crack and eat bones which even lions cannot manage. Its dens are in desolate places and are littered with fragments of skeletons. They are able to digest bone completely, and they will regurgitate the parts of the animal that they cannot digest. They feed mainly on the remains of the remains of dead animals, often the uneaten part of a lions’ kill. They also eat small creatures and may even feed on fruit. These animals generally live alone, or in small groups. They usually catch very young or sick prey. Hyenas can run at speeds of up to 60 kmph (37 mph) for short distances. If lions and spotted hyenas are seen feeding together, it is likely that the hyenas, not the lions, have made the kill.
In many regions they depend for food on the remains of carcasses left by larger carnivores. The spotted hyena is the most robust and daring of the hyenas, and when food is scarce it has been known to attack sleeping people and to carry off young children. It produces both a wailing and a “laughing” call.

ISAIAH 13:20 “But shall lie there (in Babylon) (wild and uncontrollable) desert creatures. And shall be full their houses of howling creatures (yelping scavengers), and shall dwell there daughters of ostriches; and he goats shall skip there. And shall cry hyenas with his widows and jackals in palaces of delight, and near to come (is) her time, and her days not shall be prolonged.”

(Criminal Pathologist)

JACKAL.- The word rendered “jackal” are consistently used to conjure images of ruin and desolation, of crying in the night. When a city becomes abandoned, the harbingers (forerunners) of doom that have lurked on the outskirts move in. It becomes the haunt of the jackals along with ominous birds and evil spirits. – Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

JACKAL.- The prophet Isaiah spoke of jackals – wild dogs that make their dens in desolated places. As scavengers, jackals also feed on garbage in towns and villages in Bible times.
Jackals have an unpleasant smell, and they make a yapping and howling noise at night. They are also agricultural pests. Its food is small mammals, poultry, fruit, vegetables, etc. Canaanite farmer’s put up shelters for watchmen, who guarded their cucumber fields against jackals. Some farmers heaped up whitewashed stone to frighten the jackals, just as scarecrows are used in other places.
The jackal is a flesh-eating animal- a noisy animal, characterized by a nightly wailing.
Jackals usually go about in packs of up to a dozen, feeding mostly at night, and it is interesting that in all cases the Hebrew word is plural. The jackal is basically a scavenger, living rather as a hyena in game country, where it can clean up after the larger carnivores have killed. Several times it is prophesied that lands. Like Babylon, shall become the haunt of jackals.

Times.- “Medical students learn anatomy from cadavers, and in the post they got them on the sly, digging up fresh graves. In April 1788 a student at New York City hospital jokingly told a boy that he was dissecting the boy’s mother. When the boy’s father found that her coffin had been robbed, the discovery set off two days of uproar. Many of New York’s doctors hid in the city jail, where they were defended by local civic leaders, including diplomat John Jay. A mob pelted them with stones, knocking Jay unconscious. Only a volley from the militia, which killed three rioters, dispersed the crowd. The people of New York acknowledged, as a petition against grave robbing put it, that dissection served the ‘benefit of mankind.’ But they didn’t want their loved ones ‘mangled…out of wanton curiosity…’ After the riot, the state legislature appeased the public by giving doctors the corpses of executed criminals.”

(Above) The god Anubis.- The ancient Egyptian god of the dead, represented by a jackal or the figure of a man with the head of a jackal. He enjoyed a prominent (though not exclusive) position as lord of the dead.
His particular concern was with the funerary cult (those associated with burial, a place in which dead bodies are kept until burial) and the care of the dead: hence he was reputed to be the inventor of embalming, in his later role as the “conductor of souls.”
The Egyptians invented embalming. They believed that the state of the soul in the afterlife was directly dependent upon the preservation of the body.
Burial constituted the biblical procedure from the days of the earliest patriarchs onward. For a corpse to remain unburied or to be exhumed subsequent to burial, and thus become food for beast of prey, was the climax of indignity or judgment. Uncovered blood cried for vengeance and brought defilement upon the whole land. Even criminals were to be allowed burial; and it was an obligation resting upon all to bury the dead found by the way.
Jackal.- The Jackal is a nocturnal animal that usually conceals themselves by day in brush or thickets and venture forth at dusk to hunt. They live alone, in pairs, or in packs and feed on whatever small animals, plant material, or carrion (dead and putrefying flesh) is available. They follow lions and other large cats in order to finish a carcass when the larger animal has eaten its fill. When hunting in packs, they are able to bring down prey in as large as an antelope or sheep.
They sing at evening; their cry is considered more dismaying to human ears than that of the hyena. They have an offensive odor cause by the secretion of a glad at the base of the tail.

ISAIAH 13:21 “But shall lie there (wild and uncontrollable) desert creatures. And shall be full their houses of howling creatures (yelping scavengers), and shall dwell there daughters of ostriches; and he goats shall skip there. And shall cry hyenas with his widows and jackals in palaces of delight, and near to come (is) her time, and her days not shall be prolonged.”

Mounce Commentary.- Although precise identification of many of the animals mentioned in these verses is difficult, the general sense is clear enough. These are animals which inhabit dark and lonely settings. There is something vaguely ominous about many of them. The mighty city is silent except for the hoots and howls of the night-dwellers. The lovely palaces and mighty fortresses alike have become the home of the jackals and hyenas who can only feed on the carrion left behind when the lions have eaten their fill.

Calvin Commentary.- Isaiah continues the description of a desert place, and alludes to what he had formerly said, that Babylon will be destitute of inhabitants.
The design of the Prophet is to show that the solitude will be great; for evil men avail themselves of the tendency of solitary places to produce terror. As enemies and robbers, by sallying forth from concealed lurking- places, frighten men and more, so evil men take advantage of the night and darkness, and of places distant from the view of men, that they may be able to excite greater terror in those who are naturally timorous.
“And shall be full their houses of howling creatures (yelping scavengers).” He expresses the same thing as had been formerly said, and shows how dreadful that change will be, in order to make it manifest that it proceeds from the judgment of God, and not from chance. The picture is even heightened by adding that this will take place not in ordinary buildings, but in delightful palaces. While the shortness of time which is here laid down refers to the approaching calamity, it was at the same time necessary that the hope of believers should be held longer in suspense. I have said that Babylon was not so speedily overturned, and that the Medes did not inflict such a calamity upon it that it could be compared to a desert. He therefore said that it would quickly happen, because the beginnings of it were soon afterwards seen; for the people of God ought to have been satisfied with knowing that the punishment had not been threatened without good grounds.

Henry Commentary.- Nay, it (Babylon) shall be the receptacle of wild beasts that affect solitude; the houses of Babylon, where the sons and daughters of pleasure used to rendezvous, shall be full of doleful creatures, that are themselves frightened thither, as to a place proper for them, and by whom all others are frightened thence. Historians say that this was fulfilled in the letter. Benjamin Bar-Jona, in his itinerary, speaking of Babel which was of old thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste. There are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of man dare not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the place.” Let none be proud of their pompous palaces, for they know not but they may become worse than cottages; nor let anything that their houses shall endure forever, when perhaps nothing many remain but the ruins and reproaches of them.

Shall dwell their the daughters of the ostriches – lit., “daughters of crying: or “daughters of shouting”, from the root, making a hideous noise- symbolizing a heartless people- least under the law of natural affection who often contented most for the law of self preservation.

(Som'er forsaken eggs of the communal group)

The Ostrich
Ostriches live in family groups consisting of one cock and several hens. During breeding season, the male will mate with the dominant female and one to four other hens. Each hen lays between two and eleven creamy white eggs in a communal nest which can be nearly 10 ft (3 m) across and is simply a hollow in the ground formed by scraping and body weight. When egg laying is complete there are usually ten to forty or more eggs in the nest; the most ever recorded was seventy-eight. Only about twenty can be incubated, however, so the dominant hen will reject any surplus eggs by pushing them out of the nest. She always ensures, however, that her own eggs remain.Note that what we have here is a perfect example of the ostrich leaving -- indeed, forsaking -- the eggs "belonging" to her as dominant hen of the communal group, to the dust out where they can be trod upon.

So it seems momma is "hardened" against her young ones after all.

Barnes Commentary.- “She is hardened against her young ones.” The obvious meaning of this passage, which is a fair translation of the Hebrew, is that the ostrich is destitute of natural affection for her young; or that she treats them as if she had not the usual natural affection manifested in the animal creation. The ostrich has not that apprehension or provident care for her young which other birds have. She has not the wisdom imparted to her which has been conferred on other animals. Particularly, though apparently so weak, and timid, and unwise, the ostrich had a noble bearing, and when aroused, would scorn the fleetest horse.

Henry Commentary.- Care of herself. She leaves her eggs in danger, but, if she herself be in danger, no creature shall strive more to get out of the way of it than the ostrich. Those that are least under the law of natural affection often contend most for the law of self-preservation.

The New Interpreters Bible (Paraphrased).- The strange lack of parental concern displayed by the ostriches, so alien to the nature of humans, was used to symbolize the collapse of elemental social bounds in a destroyed community.

OSTRICH.- Name meaning: Daughter of the greedy one or daughter of the barren ground, or white, barren ground.
These birds came into the Bible because of their desert life, the companions they lived among there, and because of their night cries that were guttural, terrifying groans, like the roaring of lions. The birds were brought into many pictures of desolations, because people dreaded their fearful voices.
Their homes were on the trackless deserts that were dreaded by travelers, and when they came feeding on the fringe of the wilderness, they fell into company with the vulture, eagle, lion, jackal and adder, and joined their voices with the night hawks and owls. For these reasons no birds were more suitable for drawing strong comparisons from.

When Isaiah predicted the fall of Babylon, he used these words: “But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there.” (Isaiah 13:21) This was to be the destruction of a great city, located on the Euphrates River and built by the fertility and prosperity of the country surrounding it, and the ruins of those homes would be the home of the ostrich. The wild goats clambering over the ruins would be natural companions and the sneaking wolves.

(Above: "he-goat" Satyrs) ISAIAH 13:21 "And shall be full their houses of howling creatures (yelping scavengers), and shall dwell there daughters of ostriches; and he goats (symbolizing, the ones selected to carry all the sins of the people to a place of no return) shall skip there. And shall cry hyenas with his widows and jackals in palaces of delight, and near to come (is) her time, and her days not shall be prolonged.”

Satyrsā'tər, săt'ər, in Greek mythology, part bestial, part human creature of the forests and mountains. Satyrs were usually represented as being very hairy and having the tails and ears of a horse and often the horns and legs of a goat.
Satyrs have earned a reputation for naughtiness that has made them legendary over the centuries connected with the luxuriant vital powers of nature.
They were lustful, fertile creatures, always merrily drinking and dancing. They roamed the woods and mountains, living in a woodsy version of the Playboy Mansion. They have been described as a race good for nothing and unfit for work being drunken, lustful, and not very smart.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word sa’ir is found about fifty-two times. It is related to the term se’ar (“hair”), which means a “hairy one.” Mostly the word is used of the male goat that was employed as a sin-offering – especially that solemn sin-offering of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16).

The Scapegoat –
All of the guilt of the people was symbolically placed on the head of the scapegoat, who was then taken out into the wilderness and released.

The original meaning of scapegoat was escape goat, the goat that was allowed to "escape" with its life. He is as guilty as guilty can be, and he deserves everything that's coming to him, instead of being punished it was released into the desert, symbolically carrying with it the sins of the people to a place of no return.

On the Day of Atonement, the scapegoat, symbolically bore the sins of the people of Israel and was sent into the wilderness.
The idea behind the scapegoat is that he is to be sent out into the desert, separated from the people "as far as the east is from the west." That the sin is now returned to him, or put back upon him. This interpretation would mean the guilty party pays for the sin, but was also connected to ritual purification.

In a reconstruction of the scapegoat theory one person is singled out as the cause of trouble and is expelled or killed by the group. This person is the scapegoat. Social order is restored as people are contented that they have solved the cause of their problems by removing the scapegoated individual, and the cycle begins again.

When used as a metaphor, a scapegoat is someone selected to bear blame for a calamity. Scapegoating is the act of holding a person, group of people, or thing responsible for a multitude of problems. Related concepts include frame-up, patsy, whipping boy and fall guy.

Scapegoating is an important tool of deceptively distorting information to mislead the public in singling out a group of individuals as the source of moral woes and social/political collapse.

A tactic often employed is to characterize an entire group of individuals according to the unethical or immoral conduct of a small number of individuals belonging to that group, also known as guilt by association.
"Scapegoated" groups throughout history have included almost every imaginable group of people: adherents of different religions, people of different races or nations, people with different political beliefs, or people differing in behavior from the majority. However, scapegoating may also be applied to organizations, such as governments, corporations, or various political groups.
Mobbing is a form of sociological scapegoating which occurs in the workplace. A summary of research on workplace mobbing by Kenneth Westhues, Prof. of Sociology University of Waterloo, published in OHS Canada, Canada's Occupational Health & Safety Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 8, December 2002, pp. 30–36.
"Scapegoating is an effective if temporary means of achieving group solidarity, when it cannot be achieved in a more constructive way. It is a turning inward, a diversion of energy away from serving nebulous external purposes toward the deliciously clear, specific goal of ruining a disliked co-worker's life. ... Mobbing can be understood as the stressor to beat all stressors. It is an impassioned, collective campaign by co-workers to exclude, punish, and humiliate a targeted worker. Initiated most often by a person in a position of power or influence, mobbing is a desperate urge to crush and eliminate the target. The urge travels through the workplace like a virus, infecting one person after another. The target comes to be viewed as absolutely abhorrent, with no redeeming qualities, outside the circle of acceptance and respectability, deserving only of contempt. As the campaign proceeds, a steadily larger range of hostile ploys and communications comes to be seen as legitimate.

Scapegoating in psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory holds that unwanted thoughts and feelings can be unconsciously projected onto another who becomes a scapegoat for one's own problems. This concept can be extended to projection by groups. In this case the chosen individual, or group, becomes the scapegoat for the group's problems. In psychopathology, projection is an especially commonly used defense mechanism in people with certain personality disorders.

In two cases, sa’ir is translated “satyr” in the King James Version (Isa. 13:21; 34:14). In those passages it clearly alludes to wild goats of the sort that lived among the ruins of Babylon and Edom.

ISAIAH 13:21“And shall be full their houses of howling creatures (yelping scavengers), and shall dwell there daughters of ostriches; and he goats (symbolizing, the one selected to carry all the sins of the people to a place of no return) shall skip there. And shall cry hyenas with his widows and jackals in palaces of delight, and near to come (is) her time, and her days not shall be prolonged.”

Barnes Commentary.- The following testimonies from travelers will show how minutely this was accomplished:- “There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts.” In most of the cavities are numberless bats and owls. These caverns, over which the chambers of majesty may have been spread, are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrances are strewed with the bones of sheep and goats; and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den.
The mound was full of large holes; we entered some of them, and found them strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed. The ordure of wild beasts was so strong, that prudence got the better of curiosity, for we had no doubt as to the savage nature of the inhabitants. Our guides, indeed, told us that all the ruins abounded in lions and other wild beasts; so literally has the Divine prediction bee fulfilled, that wild beasts of the deserts should lie there.”

Henry Commentary.- “Her time is near to come.” This prophecy of the destruction of Babylon was intended for the support and comfort of the people of God when they were captives there and grievously oppressed. When the people of Israel were groaning under the heavy yoke of Babylonish tyranny, sitting down in tears by the rivers of Babylon and upbraided with the songs of Zion, when there insolent oppressors were most haughty and arrogant, then let them know, for their comfort, that Babylon’s time, her day to fall, is near to come, and the day s of her prosperity shall not be prolonged, as they have been. When God begins with her He will make and end.

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Proof - The Mighty God

2009-10-15T19:49:00.000-05:00

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1 year = 365 days x 16 years = 5,840 days x 8 hours a day seven days a week = 46,720 hours.

2009-10-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

ISAIAH 13 “The burden (the weighty and mournful prophecy) of Babylon (viewed as the true symbol of enmity toward God), which Isaiah the son of Amos saw: ‘Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, make the voice rise to them (to the assailants of Babylon); wave the hand (to direct the nations to march) that they may enter the gates (the entrance ways) of the nobles (the palaces of the kings and princes of Babylon, here called the gates of the nobles because of the abundance of noblemen’s houses that were there, stately richly furnished ones belonging to the political leaders of the people).”

Barnes Commentary.- “The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah did see.” The various events were made to pass before his (the Prophet Isaiah’s) mind in a vision, and he was permitted to see the armies mustered; the consternation of the people; and the future condition of the proud city.

Young Commentary.- Babylon appears as a world power, towering over other nations, “the glory of the kingdoms”.
Over Babylon’s downfall the entire earth is said to rejoice and glory. Even the trees of Lebanon [prided for the cedar- fig., men of height and strength- men in the position of effectiveness and power- men of good principle, policy and moral integrity] join in this rejoicing.
Now the enemy power is individualized and identified. We know who that enemy is…
The spirit of the world power is to be found in Babylon. In the first place Babylon is introduced as a center of world power, and secondly, as the center of idolatry [fig. worshiping any false god, whether the figure of a false deity or one in any way symbolical of Jehovah]. But even this apex (highest) of human power, directed against God and His proposes, is to be cut off.
Step by step we watch the enemy approach the holy city. Closer, closer he comes with hand raised in threatening gesture. Suddenly, however, the Lord strikes, and the enemy is gone.
This chapter carries out more fully the prophecies of the world power and its downfall.
That these prophecies appear in the Biblical book of Isaiah was not for the benefit of the Babylonians but for the people of God. From them they would learn that the hostile power of the world in its most powerful manifestation would finally be brought to ignominious defeat and ruin. No power that sets itself against God be it as haughty and pretentious as was Babylonia can prevail. Thus, Israel would learn that God does not permit to go unpunished the wickedness of those who have set themselves against the Lord and against His anointed, and who oppose His people.
To see the opponents of God’s purposes punished would bring consolation and encouragement to the children of God, for it would teach them how precious their salvation was in God’s sight. But they would also learn that they too were deserving of punishment, and that only by God’s mercy had a remnant been spared. Then, too, the raging of the nations is but a carrying out of God’s purposes. He is in control of all things. A topsy-turvy world is not really topsy-turvy. Even the darkest moments are in God providential control and rule.

Calvin Commentary.- These predictions were of no advantage of Babylon or the other nations; but by this consolation he intended to alleviate the grief of the godly, that they might not be discouraged, which they would have had good reason to conclude, if they had seen the Gentiles unpunished and escape the hand of God, but a worse suspicion might have crept into their minds, that God showed favor to accursed robbers, who gave themselves up to deeds of dishonesty and violence, and despised all law both human and divine. Indeed, they might soon have come to think that God did not care for His people, or could not assist them, or that everything was directed by the blind violence of fortune. Accordingly, that they might not faint or be thrown into despair, the Prophet meets them with the consoling influence of this prediction, showing that the Babylonians would be punished.
But the chief design which Isaiah had in view in these predictions was, to point out to the children of God how dear and valuable their salvation (their rescue) was in the sight of God, when they saw that He undertook their cause and revenged the injuries which had been done to them. The government of the world, which He undertook, is not abandoned by Him. Whenever therefore we behold the destruction of cities, the calamities of nations, and the overturning of kingdoms, let us call these predictions to remembrance that we may be humbled under God’s chastisements, may learn to gather wisdom from the affliction of others, and may pray for an alleviation of our own grief.
The prophet Isaiah expressly states that what he is about to utter was revealed to him by a heavenly vision, that the weight which is thus given to it may render it victorious over all the judgments pronounced by the flesh. It was difficult to believe that a monarchy so flourishing, and so prodigiously (strangely and extraordinarily) rich, could be overturned in any way. Their eyes being dazzled by beholding such vast power, the Prophet draws away their attention from it to believe the heavenly revelation, that they may expect by faith the judgment of God which they could not comprehend by the unaided exercise of their own minds.

Henry Commentary.- Here we have that which Isaiah saw, which was represented to is mind as clearly and fully as if he had seen it with this bodily eyes; but the particular inscription of this sermon is the burden of Babylon. It is a burden, a lesson they were to learn (so some understand it), but they would be loth (unwilling) to learn it (it would be contrary to their thinking), and it would be a burden to their memories, or a load which should lie heavily upon them and under which they should sink.

Barnes Commentary.- “Lift yourself up a banner.” A military ensign or standard. The vision opens here; and the first thing which the prophet hears, is the solemn command of God addressed to the nations as subject to Him, to rear the standard of war, and to gather around it the mighty armies which were to be employed in the destruction of the city. This command, “lift ye up a banner,” is addressed to the leaders of those armies to assemble them, and to prepare them for war.

Calvin Commentary.- “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain.” As it he had said, “When a signal is given there will be a vast assemblage from very distant countries, because all men will be attracted towards it by the wide and extensive influence of the sight.” Isaiah might indeed have threatened in plain and direct terms, “The Persians and Medes will come, and will burst through the gates of Babylon, notwithstanding the prodigious (extraordinary) strength of it s fortifications.” But those exclamations are far more energetic, when he not only assures the character of a herald and proclaims war, but, as if he exercised the highest authority, orders the Medes and Persians to assemble like hired soldiers. Not only does he show that they will be ready at the bidding of God, because they are moved by His secret influence; but, having been sent by God to announce the ruin of Babylon, he claims for his own voice the accomplishment of what appeared to be beyond belief. It amounts to this, “When God has spoken about what shall happen, we ought to entertain no doubt concerning it.”

False Flag Operation – Banner: War On Terrorism
(1) What if the attack on the twin towers had been an inside job- an act of “false flagging”?
(2) If the attacks of September 11 had been an “inside job”, puppeteered by the deceived neoconservatives in the White House (“Bilderberg Group”) what would have been the motive? Could it have been to justify the need for the creation of the “Department of Homeland Security”- which is rapidly becoming a militarized menace to American liberties?

"Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong." --Abraham Lincoln

False Flag Operations can be defined as covert actions of a people from one nation (such as those In the United States who giving their loyal support to a “New World Order”) or organization (like the “Bilderberg Group”) (while) pretending to support “Democracy” and “Civil Liberties”, but in truth parlay with members of a terrorist organization in the attacking of their own people, to better control them. Such operations are not limited to violence, but include spreading misinformation or committing sabotage in someone else’s name.
False Flagging Operations could involve attempts to frame another county or individual, for being behind the whole thing.
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, or other organizations which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one’s own.

“False flag terrorist operations”- occur where governments fund, set-up and execute their own covert terror operations and blame scapegoat nations or double-cross terror cells like Al Qaeda. Even though there could be evidence to incriminate top government officials, all official investigation can be blocked within the leading treasonous ranks.
The “false flag operations” have achieved their objective…they installed fear and suspicion into the society and have taken away through that fear “freedom” for “security”, whose ultimate design is to take away our right to bear arms and our freedom to speak.
The new terrorism laws have taken away our privacy. The government has freely intercepted all US domestic and international calls and internet activity “looking for terrorists” which is illegal and a violation of the constitution. Our freedom has been taken away and constitutional rights are abolished. Our government has become our own worst enemy.

Web Study Note Quotes: “The level of fear mongering we are being subjected to is absolutely overwhelming. New Your City highway tunnels are closed. Transportation is gridlocked. Machine gun-toting ninja cops infiltrate buildings, subways and airports. (While everyone else is denied the right to arm themselves!) All this over a computer found in Pakistan with “targeting” information that was over four years old!”
“These phony terror alerts do not happen by accident, nor are they the result of incompetent “intelligence” agencies. Instead, they are part of an elaborate, well-scripted scheme designed to keep Americans living in a constant state of fear. Americans have proved that we are more than willing to five up almost any amount of our freedom for the illusion of safety – even if that means heavily armed shock troops patrolling our cities and neighborhoods.”
“With the preparations for martial law well under way, it is obvious that the “war on terror” has nothing to do with protecting the American people, but has everything to do with controlling the American people.”
“President Bush told us that ‘we are a nation in danger’ and endorsed the creation of yet another bureaucracy to fight terror – the appointment of a ‘national intelligence czar’ and the establishment of a counter terrorism center. We can only wonder what additional restrictions on our freedoms this new ‘czar’ will impose on an unsuspecting population.”
“The President is correct about one thins – we are a nation in danger. Will the terrorists hit us again? (Was it really them that hit us the first time?) Who knows? But the real danger we face is not from al-Qaida or any band of roving madmen. The danger we face comes from the enemy within- from the ruling junta that has taken over our government and is turning American into a virtual police state.”
(The article concludes): The danger we face comes from a government that:
(1) Is grabbing large chunks of our freedom under the guise of “Homeland Security.”
(2) We are in danger from an enemy, all right. But it is not from the enemy we are supposedly fighting. Our real enemy is the one we have allowed to roam freely in our camp.

ISAIAH 13 “The burden (the weighty and mournful prophecy) of Babylon (viewed as the true symbol of enmity toward God), which Isaiah the son of Amos saw: ‘Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, make the voice rise to them (to the assailants of Babylon); wave the hand (to direct the nations to march) that they may enter the gates (the entrance ways) of the nobles (the palaces of the kings and princes of Babylon, here call the gates of the nobles because of the abundance of noblemen’s houses that were there, stately richly furnished ones belonging to the political leaders of the people).”

Poole’s Commentary.- Lift ye up a banner, to gather soldiers together for this expedition. Upon the high mountain; whence it may be discerned at a considerable distance. Together with this he seems to intimate that their enemies should come from the mountainous country of Media. To the Medes, shake the hand; beckon to them with your hand, that they may come to this service. That they may go into the gates of the nobles; that they may go and fight against Babylon, and take it, and so enter into the palaces of the princes, and spoil them at their pleasure; which the Medes and Persians did. The manner of expression implies how easily and expeditiously they did their work, that, like Caesar, they might say they only cam, and saw and overcame.

Calvin Commentary.- When he says, Shake the hand, and they shall enter, he means that the Persians and Medes shall no sooner begin to advance at the command of God than their road shall be plain and easy in spite of every obstruction. The Prophet draws our attention to the splendor of power in which the Babylonians gloried. They were furnished above others with forces and warlike armaments, so that it appeared to be incredible that they could ever be vanquished. But the Prophet threatens that nothing shall hinder God from opening up a way and entrance to the enemies.

Oswalt Commentary.- The army is called to enter the gates of the nobles, or perhaps “the noble gates.” In either case, the allusion is to the haughty and elegant. The function of this army will be to cast down the proud. But this is not just any army. It has been call the assembled by God. So these are God’s warriors, consecrated to Him to carry out His judgments and to exult in His being lifted up…whether they intended so or not.

(Continuing Isaiah 13) Verse 3 “’I (Jehovah) have commanded My holy ones (the sanctified ones, the Median and Persian soldiers solemnly set apart by Me for the destruction of Babylon, not inwardly “sanctified,” but designated to fulfill the holy purpose); also I have called My (mighty ones, those who are strong and who are so entirely under My direction, that they may be called Mine- the) warriors for My anger (to accomplish the purposes of My anger against Babylon), (the mighty one’s are the) rejoicers of My pride (My majesty and glory- those who are made to triumph for my honor).’”

Barnes Commentary.- “I have commanded.” This is the language of God in reference to those who were about to destroy Babylon. He claimed the control and direction of all their movements; and though the command was not understood by them as coming for Him, yet it was by His direction, and in accordance with His plan. The command was not given by the prophets, or by an audible voice; but it was His secret purpose and direction that led them to this enterprise.

What is the purpose of “Homeland Security”?
To protect the USA from more terrorist attacks like 9/11, also to improve the military's protection of the United States.
Homeland Security", is a Cabinet department of the U.S. federal government with the responsibility of protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters. Whereas the Department of Defense is charged with military actions abroad, the Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders.

Perhaps “Homeland Security” could do its job. Perhaps “Homeland Security” could destroy the corruptors hidden within its ranks. Perhaps then “Homeland Security” could be employed to fight the underground network of terror with the country, instead of being employed by it for the eventual “lock-down” of the American citizens.
Is “Homeland Security” past the point of recovery?
Perhaps this is a part of God’s stratagem.

Barnes Commentary.- “My sanctified ones.” The Medes and Persians; not called “sanctified” because they were holy, but because they were set apart by the Divine intention and purpose to accomplish this. The word “sanctify” often means to set apart- either to God’ to an office; to any sacred use; or to any purpose of religion, or of accomplishing any of the Divine plans. Here it means that the Medes and Persians were set apart, in the purpose of God, to accomplish His designs in regard to Babylon.
It cannot be supposed that the Medes and Persians really exulted, or rejoiced in God or in His plans; for it is evident that, like the Assyrians King, they were seeking to accomplish their own purposes, and were not solicitous about the plans of God.
The plan of God in regard to Babylon was a mighty undertaking; and one in which the power, the justice, and the dominion of God over nations would be evinced. In accomplishing this, the Medes and Persians would rejoice or exult, not as the fulfilling of the plan of God; but they would exult as if it were their own plan, though it would be really the glorious plan of God.

God’s Word
Jeremiah 50:24-32 “I (Jehovah) set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord. The Lord has opened His arsenal and brought out the weapons of His wrath, for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians. Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant. Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished. Listen to the fugitive and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the Lord our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for His temple. Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,’ declared the Lord. ‘See, I am against you, O arrogant one,’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty, ‘for your day has come, the time for you to be punished. The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”

Jeremiah 51:11-14 “’Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is to destroy Babylon. The Lord will take vengeance, vengeance for His temple. Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The Lord will carry out His purpose, His decree against the people of Babylon. You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be cut off. The Lord Almighty has sworn by Himself; I will surely fill you with men, as with swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

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The Beast

2009-10-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

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The Wilderness

2009-10-11T16:25:00.000-05:00

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My Story

2009-10-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

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This is my story and how it began. Over 16 years ago I found the vision of Ezekiel. Was it manufactured by Steven Spielberg, or was it genuine? That I could not answer, but I knew I was not alone in my search for God and His truth.

I was in virtual "lock-down"- all my paths were blocked. A wall had been built around me so strongly fortified I was unable to escape in order to even seek help.

I was alone...except for the visions from God.
-Karen Tabler

Ezekiels Vision

2009-10-10T23:04:00.000-05:00

The Vision

The prophet Ezekiel was a priest who received prophetic messages from God. He lived among other citizens of the nation of Judah during the years of Babylonian captivity, in the year 597 B.C.

In the very first chapter of his book, he describes an amazing vision of God, which came to him at the beginning of his ministry.

Ezekiel 1:1-21 “Now it was, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth (month), in the fifth (day) of the month, as I (Ezekiel) (was) among the captives by the river Chebar (which was the main canal of the Euphrates, south of Babylon, (there, by the river) were opened (to view) the heavens (the higher expanse of the abode of God, as seen from the eyes of a mortal man who dwells upon the earth) and I saw visions (revelations) of God.”

“On the fifth of the month, it (was) the fifth of the month, it (was) the year the fifth of the captivity of the King Jehotachin, the word of Jehovah came to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. And was upon him there the hand of Jehovah (overpowering his limited human perception, enabling him, thusly to see the vision of God).”

Matthew Henry.- That he might see the visions of God the heavens were opened; the darkness and distance which hindered his visions were conquered. He felt the power of God opening his eyes to see the visions, opening his ear to hear the voice, and opening his heart to receive both.

(Continuing Ezekiel 1:1-21) “And I (Ezekiel) looked, and behold a wind of storm came out of the north, a great could (a visible, buoyant, moving body mass, “Also (in addition to all this) from its midst (the center of all this action) (came) the likeness of four living creatures (living beings).”

High up, in the heavens, God “mounted the cherubim and flew”; He soared on the “wings of the wind” through His providence unrestrained by time or matter to reveal this vision to the prophet Ezekiel.

(Continuing Ezekiel 1:1-21) “And this (description I Ezekiel give to you) (was) how they (the living creatures ) looked (to me back in the year 597 B.C.); the likeness of a man (was) to them; and to each four faces (as there were four distinctly different men that I saw- but to me, never having seen such marvelous creations, the living creatures seemed to be part man) and ( with) four wings to each of them (not comprehending at the time that they were men in airplanes- consequently, the following narrative); and their feet (i.e., the main landing gear of the planes) (were) feet of straightness (they were extended rigidly and did not bend); and the sole of their feet (upon which the main landing gear seemed to rest- the mudguards actually) (was) (to my recollection) like the sole of the foot of a calf; and they sparkled like the color of burnished copper.”

“And from under their wings on (all) four of their sides (i.e., on each side of the two biplanes were seen) the hands of a man (they were the hands of those seated in the open fuselage); and there (were) (four) (on the biplanes), joining each on (that is on the left and right) (of) their wings to the other. (The aircraft moved, this way and that but) they (the men) did not turn in their going; each one (of the men) toward the front (the direction) of their (pilots) face they went.”

“And the likeness of their faces (looked like) the face of a man, and (in addition, the man) on the right (side) (fig., the man on the right is in a position of strength and power) to the four of them (on basis – they being the only passenger with sole use of a weapon; this one man), had the face of a lion (accounting to the thick growth of his beard); and (in addition to these two men in the biplane) on the left (the weaker) (side) to the four of them (defensively speaking the two pilots in the fighter planes, without weapons were in a position of what would seemingly be an disadvantage; one of the two, the first one I saw had) the face of an ox (in comparative likeness to that sort of an animal); and (lastly) to the four of them (the remaining one had) the face of an eagle (owing to the goggles he wore) , so their faces (were).”

“And their (that is, the) wings (of the biplane) were spread (the lower wings were separated longitudinally) upward (from the lower by the use of wing struts); to each (the left and right sides of) the two (wings) were joined (of) each one (that is, though the wings of the biplane had a right and left side- the construction was of one piece), and (the) two (wings) (that is, the left and right side of the top wings) covered their bodies (from above-were, also constructed of one piece). And each toward the front (in the direction) of their (pilots) faces (they) went (they did not fly backwards but in a forward direction). To where there was the (willful desire of the) spirit to go: they went; they did not turn (as one would bend a horse’s neck to change direction) in their going.”

“And the likeness of the living creatures (firing the weapons), like coals of burning fire (were the projectiles expelled from the firearms), (and) the appearance of torches (were the weapons using an explosive as a propellant). It (the volley of the simultaneous discharge) (was) continually circling among the living creatures. And bright (was the fire of the volley) and out of the fire (the explosive discharge) went forth (a flash, like) lightening (when the weapons were discharged). And the living creatures kept running (rapidly) and (swiftly in the sky) returning (in their continuing attacks), like the appearance of (the great speed of) a flash of lightening.”

“And I looked at the living creatures (in the vision), and behold one wheel (of a motor vehicle) (was) on the earth (this man in the vision was) beside (in addition to the vision of) the living creatures, with the four of its faces (I previously described).”

“The appearance of the wheels (of the motor vehicle) and their workmanship (the rim and hubcap were) like the color of beryl (which is a silver white metal- similar to aluminum) and the likeness one (was) to the four of them (the wheels were all alike). And their (the vehicles hubcaps, were round in) appearance and their workmanship was like the wheel in the middle (in the center) of the (rims of the) wheel.”

“On the four (corners) of their sides (housed within the wheelwell were situated) in their going (forth) they (all the wheels) went; they (the fender areas of the vehicle itself) did not turn (in different directions, but remained stationary) in their going. And their rim, even high (in magnificence and splendor) to them (in my eyes) even awesome (in my sight were the tires) to them (extraordinary and exceptionally outstanding); and their (the tires) rims (with their highly polished chrome hubcaps) (were) full of eyes (like a mirror reflection) all around the four of them.”

(Post #37) Sept. 11 - "False Flag" Attack

2009-09-28T17:13:00.000-05:00

(Above Fig. "Belshazzar" King of Babylon)

The Book of Isaiah
GOD: MASTER OF THE NATIONS

God is mustering the armies of His wrath against the inhabitants of Babylon. This chapter foretells the destruction of Babylon by the Medes (serving under the command of Cyrus- being “Liberators of Justice”) and the Persians (forces who are expressly mentioned as the principle agents in the overthrown of the Babylonian monarchy).

Clarke Commentary.- The prophecy opens with the command of God to gather together the forces which He had destined to this service. Upon which the prophet (Isaiah) immediately hears the tumultuous noise of the nations crowding together to His standard; he sees them advancing, prepared to execute the divine wrath. He proceeds to describe the dreadful consequences of this visitation, the consternation which will seize those who are the objects of it; and, transferring unawares the speech from himself to God, sets forth, under a variety of the most striking images, the dreadful destruction of the inhabitants of Babylon and the everlasting desolation to which that great city is doomed.

(1) Who are the modern counterpart to the“Medes & Persians”?
(2) What if the attack on the twin towers was an inside job- an act of “false flagging”?
(3) If the attacks of September 11 had been an “inside job”, puppeteered by the neoconservatives in the White House (“Bilderberg Group”) what would have been the motive? Could it have been to justify the need for the creation of the “Department of Homeland Security”- which has rapidly becoming a militarized menace to American liberties? That's a startling thought, if the attack of 911 was an "inside job."

REVELATION 18:4 “’And I heard another voice out of heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her people of me, that not you share in the sins of her (trusting in her wickedness), and that not you receive the plagues of her; because her sins joined together, even up to Heaven (the throne of God).”

“These oracles are not so much an announcement of doom upon the nations as they are an announcement of salvation of Israel if she would trust her Lord.”

ISAIAH 13 “The burden (the weighty and mournful prophecy) of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw: ‘Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, make the voice rise to them (to the Medes, the assailants of Babylon, the “Liberators of Justice”).”

Who really blew up the twin towers?

Christina Asquith
The Guardian, Tuesday 5 September 2006
Article history
Shards of glass and dust from the World Trade Centre towers sit on Professor Steven Jones's desk at Brigham Young University in Utah. Evidence, he says, of the biggest cover-up in history - one too evil for most to believe, but one he has staked his academic career on exposing.
The attacks of September 11, Jones asserts, were an "inside job", puppeteered by the neoconservatives in the White House to justify the occupation of oil-rich Arab countries, inflate military spending and expand Israel.
"We don't believe that 19 hijackers and a few others in a cave in Afghanistan pulled this off acting alone," says Jones. "We challenge this official conspiracy theory and, by God, we're going to get to the bottom of this."
While this sinister spin strikes most American academics as absurd, Jones, a physics professor, is not alone. He is a member of 9/11 Scholars for Truth, a recently formed group of around 75 US professors determined to prove 9/11 was a hoax. In essays and journals, they are using their association with prominent universities to give a scholarly stamp to conspiracy theories long believed in parts of Europe and the Arab world, and gaining ground among Americans due to frustration with the Iraq war and opposition to President Bush's heavily hyped "war on terror".

- Christina Asquith

“The Homeland Security Act signed by President Bush on November 25, 2002 creates the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and grants it momentous responsibilities and powers. It is earnestly hoped that DHS will provide needed coordination to government anti-terrorism efforts. The new Department will have wide-ranging authority to compile, analyze, and mine the personal information of Americans.”

Is the Federal Bureau of Investigation worried that corrupt U.S. officials (secretly promoting a New World order via the “Bilderberg Group”) have treasonously crossed the nation’s political border to intentionally expose Americans to serious risk? Are they now the silent minority in control?

What of our border crossings? With suspicions of corrupt U.S. officials allowing the further infiltration of illegal immigrants to enter the country, the FBI should be concerned that terrorists and materials could be used in a “false flag” terrorist attack. Slipping in, in such a disguised manner - they could initiate a “Code Red” lockdown, imprisoning all U.S. citizens.

If you’re a corrupt security official and you’re allowing illegal immigration to come into the country, you’re not going to know who you’re letting in.
Corrupt security officials (secretly sheltered within the New World Order) willing to betray the United States- represent a potentially grave national security threat.

Whether it’s a truckload of illegal immigrants or whether it’s components of a weapon of mass destruction, who will know what those are. We have no assurance that our borders are safe, that our borders are secure when the very source of our security organizations have been compromised.

The first line of defense for the security of a free American lies in scrutiny and examination of the “forces used for our protection”- with certainly that the forces employed- do not become the means of our own destruction.

Critical to the mission and the collaboration among federal agencies is professional integrity where among its members no incident of corruption is tolerated. Our survival in a free world depends upon it.

What if the terrorist attack of 911, was an inside job? Does the then deceived public at large constitute the real enemy or are are real enemies the one’s watching us? Consider the following:

“Code Red”
If the national terrorism threat level were ever to go to “Code Red,” the country would “go into lockdown mode.” Planes could be grounded, trains could stop running, and bridges and tunnels could be closed. US borders might be sealed off, and roadblocks might be set up on interstates and major highways. You literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are required to be out.

(Study Notes: Web Source)
“Under a Code Red, summarizes the Courier-Post, "you will be assumed to be the enemy if you so much as venture outside your home." In prison parlance, this condition is known as a "lockdown."
A foretaste of the U.S. in lockdown mode was offered by New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. National Guardsmen and troops from the 82nd Airborne were deployed in the city to deal with looting and other disturbances. Their first priority, chillingly, was to disarm private citizens and evict those who resisted evacuation orders.

"No one is allowed to be armed," declared superintended of police P. Edwin Compass III. To carry out that decree, the rump NOPD (New Orleans Police Department), supplemented with elements of the National Guard from Louisiana and Oklahoma, as well as agents of the U.S. Marshals Service (a division of the Justice Department), began "breaking into homes at gun-point, confiscating their lawfully-owned firearms, and evicting the residents," reported Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute in Reason magazine.
In addition to being a constitutional outrage, this confiscation (act of seizing property without compensation and submitting it to the public treasury) of firearms at the point of a bayonetis a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the use of military personnel as law enforcement officers within the United States. That prohibition has become honeycombed with “exceptions” in recent decades, due to the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror In New Orleans, a new and ominous wrinkle was added to the increasingly familiar militarization (equipping or train for war) of law enforcement: The use of mercenaries or contract with the Department of Homeland Security.

“The men form Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit,” wrote Jeremy Scahill in an on-site report for The Nation. “Some patrolled the streets in SUVs with tinted windows and the Blackwater logo splashed on the back; others sped around the French Quarter in an unmarked car with no license plates.” When asked by what authority they were operating in New Orleans, one armed Blackwater operative replied: “We’re on contract with the Department of Homeland Security… We can even make arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary.” A separate contingent of 164 Blackwater operative received a separate contact to provide security of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reconstruction projects.
“This is a trend,” one Blackwater mercenary told Scahill. “You’re going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations.”

Policing the Homeland
* Six days later, Dwight Scarbrough, a Navy veteran who works for a federal agency in Boise, Idaho, received a visit from two armed DHS officers who ordered him to remove political "signs" he had supposedly displayed on federal property--in this case, bumper stickers critical of President Bush and the Iraq war that were displayed on Scarbrough's pickup truck. Despite the fact that Scarbrough was not in violation of the relevant statutes--a fact he made clear in the audiotaped conversation with the Homeland Security officers--he was compelled to move his truck to a nearby parking lot.
"My rights are very dear to me," Scarbrough told Boise Weekly. "I served my country to defend them." His experience with the DHS's anti-bumper sticker police, however, has led him to conclude that "this is a fascist state. At least, it's the beginning of a fascist state."
With the DHS extending its control over local police agencies, prepping the country to go into lockdown, and harassing ordinary citizens for no defensible reason, it's clear that Scarbrough's assessment, while premature, is correct in principle.

By Jeremy Scahill
This article appeared in the October 10, 2005 edition of The Nation.
September 21, 2005
The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit. The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join[ing] the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the ground told a different story.
Research support was provided by the Investigative Fund of The Nation Institute.
Some patrolled the streets in SUVs with tinted windows and the Blackwater logo splashed on the back; others sped around the French Quarter in an unmarked car with no license plates. They congregated on the corner of St. James and Bourbon in front of a bar called 711, where Blackwater was establishing a makeshift headquarters. From the balcony above the bar, several Blackwater guys cleared out what had apparently been someone's apartment. They threw mattresses, clothes, shoes and other household items from the balcony to the street below. They draped an American flag from the balcony's railing. More than a dozen troops from the 82nd Airborne Division stood in formation on the street watching the action.
Armed men shuffled in and out of the building as a handful told stories of their past experiences in Iraq. "I worked the security detail of both Bremer and Negroponte," said one of the Blackwater guys, referring to the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and former US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte. Another complained, while talking on his cell phone, that he was getting only $350 a day plus his per diem. "When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?'" he said. He wore his company ID around his neck in a case with the phrase Operation Iraqi Freedom printed on it.
In an hourlong conversation I had with four Blackwater men, they characterized their work in New Orleans as "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting criminals." They all carried automatic assault weapons and had guns strapped to their legs. Their flak jackets were covered with pouches for extra ammunition.
When asked what authority they were operating under, one guy said, "We're on contract with the Department of Homeland Security." Then, pointing to one of his comrades, he said, "He was even deputized by the governor of the state of Louisiana. We can make arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary." The man then held up the gold Louisiana law enforcement badge he wore around his neck. Blackwater spokesperson Anne Duke also said the company has a letter from Louisiana officials authorizing its forces to carry loaded weapons.
"This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown of the government," says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "These private security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity, in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal."
Blackwater is not alone. As business leaders and government officials talk openly of changing the demographics of what was one of the most culturally vibrant of America's cities, mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235. Some, like Blackwater, are under federal contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite, like F. Patrick Quinn III, who brought in private security to guard his $3 million private estate and his luxury hotels, which are under consideration for a lucrative federal contract to house FEMA workers.
A possibly deadly incident involving Quinn's hired guns underscores the dangers of private forces policing American streets. On his second night in New Orleans, Quinn's security chief, Michael Montgomery, who said he worked for an Alabama company called Bodyguard and Tactical Security (BATS), was with a heavily armed security detail en route to pick up one of Quinn's associates and escort him through the chaotic city. Montgomery told me they came under fire from "black gangbangers" on an overpass near the poor Ninth Ward neighborhood. "At the time, I was on the phone with my business partner," he recalls. "I dropped the phone and returned fire."

Blackwater's success in procuring federal contracts could well be explained by major-league contributions and family connections to the GOP. According to election records, Blackwater's CEO and co-founder, billionaire Erik Prince, has given tens of thousands to Republicans, including more than $80,000 to the Republican National Committee the month before Bush's victory in 2000. This past June, he gave $2,100 to Senator Rick Santorum's re-election campaign. He has also given to House majority leader Tom DeLay and a slew of other Republican candidates, including Bush/Cheney in 2004.

Obamacare Sets Up a Health Dictatorship
WRITTEN BY DR. SAMUEL L. BLUMENFELD
Thursday, 13 August 2009

Now that the Obama Healthcare Reform Bill has been posted on the Internet, anyone can read it. It is over one thousand pages long, and its complexity defies any easy understanding.

The new legislation sets up a Health Choices Administration with a Health Choices Commissioner. The bill (Sec. 141) reads:

"There is hereby established an independent agency in the executive branch of the Government, a Health Choices Administration….The Administration shall be headed by a Health Choices Commissioner who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate."
For all practical purposes, the Commissioner will have the power of a Czar, or dictator, over the new national healthcare system.

The trappings of a police state will come with the law’s enforcement mechanism.

If you are one of those taxpayers who find the Internal Revenue Code treacherously complicated, wait until the National Healthcare system is in place. Its regulations and enforcement will create new nightmares for the average American, for no one will be able to escape the net.

The new law will effect everyone every day: average Americans going for routine checkups, doctors and how they practice, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, hospitals, nursing homes, medical schools, dietitians, therapists, employers, employees, pharmaceutical companies, drug distribution, infant inoculations. It will also effect your Social Security payments, your taxes, your retirement plans. And, of course, it will effect the insurance industry big time.

The law will also create a vast new army of government bureaucrats and a data collection system in which every individual American will be registered. In that file will be a complete picture of your life, from birth to death, your diseases, your hospital stays, your family relations, what you eat, your habits, your religion (so they know where to bury you), and to what extent you should be cared for in your old age.

The law will also regulate what hospitals can do to expand their facilities.
The Secretary will decide what a hospital can and can’t do. In other words, all hospitals will be nationalized and they will begin to look like hospitals run by the Veterans Administration.

And we haven’t even discussed what all of this is going to cost the taxpayer.

Although I hurriedly scanned this encyclopedic law governing healthcare, I was not able to find the word abortion. The law does not come with an Index. But I did find a section devoted to Family Planning Services. You can be sure that tucked away in that Family Planning section is a provision that will make it mandatory for the government to pay for abortions as medical procedures.

Any nation that voluntarily enacts a law of such far-reaching control over the private lives of its citizens and health facilities deserves the kind of care it will get. In Canada, the waiting period for medical services endangers lives. That is why many Canadians head south when serious medical attention is needed as soon as possible. They have a shortage of doctors north of the border. Any doctor who wants to excel in his or her profession is not going to have his horizons limited by a government run health system.
There is a good chance that the more people know the details of this horrendous law, it will be rejected by
their representatives in Congress. The strong showing of opposition at the town-hall meetings ought to send the right message to members of Congress. Vote for this law and you’re out!

By Dave Eriqat
Tax On Being Alive
This morning I skimmed through the entire 1017-page bill known as H.R. 3200, which I’m sure is more than did most of the congress people who voted for the bill. All I can say is, oh my god! This is a sweeping, disastrous piece of legislation that is more appropriately described as a back door route to totalitarian dictatorship!
What they failed to achieve with the two Patriot Acts, they will accomplish under the guise of “health care reform,” and that’s what I call “change you can be terrified of.” Yet, while the Patriot Acts were ostensibly aimed at terrorists, this new law is aimed squarely at U.S. citizens who have done nothing wrong, transforming those citizens who don’t wish to participate in this totalitarian health care regime into de-facto criminals.
This new law essentially establishes for the first time, a tax on being alive, as those individuals who refuse to purchase health insurance that meets with the government’s approval will have to pay a tax equal to 2.5% of their income.
Participation is mandatory whether you need or want the health care it offers.
New Burdens For Individuals
The bill imposes staggering new information reporting requirements on individuals, businesses and health care providers,
If you are a poor person who starts earning more money, you will be required to notify the government of your increase in income, so that the government can increase your health care premiums. And should you fail to notify the government of such a change, you will be liable for back payment of any premiums you should have paid.
This is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare for poor people and a powerful disincentive to working, not to mention hiring. One will be better off becoming, and remaining a ward of the state under this new law. We’re going to have to provide the government with extensive details about our personal lives and finances in order to implement this law.
The above goals simply cannot be accomplished without massive, detailed databases and individual identification schemes. We will inevitably be issued ID cards, which like our social security numbers have become, will become de-facto national ID cards. We will no doubt also be required to provide our bank account information, both to determine our “financial responsibility” for this health care monster, and to automate payments.
Moreover, we are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of the information provided to the government on our behalf. The bill contains numerous provisions for punitive fines in the event that any of the information on file is incorrect. The bill contains so many paragraphs pertaining to enforcement, audits and penalties on those who fail to pay sufficient premiums, that the primary focus of this bill is clearly on generating revenue. In other words, it’s little more than a massive, across the board tax increase.
Reduced Access To Health Care And Higher Prices
Under this bill, the government will dictate the medical care received and collect premiums (taxes), literally from cradle to grave. Private health care is effectively being outlawed. No longer will a person be able to walk into a clinic, pay a reasonable fee and receive treatment. From now on, all health care providers will have to check with the government first to determine what services a patient may receive and how that person will pay for those services.
This bill will accomplish the opposite: fewer health care providers, poorer quality and higher costs.
Since this bill vastly increases the size of the middleman bureaucracy, there is no possible way it can lower costs, since all those additional bureaucrats aren’t going to be working for free.
Additional Objectives
The subtitle of this bill reads,
To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes [page 1].
“And for other purposes” is the exact same wording that appeared in an ominous bill passed a few years ago to build detention camps capable of housing millions of people. I wonder what “other purposes” the government has in mind.
In addition, this bill gives the government massive new surveillance authority over peoples’ medical and financial records, while also giving the government the authority to decide what health care we are entitled to receive, regardless of our means to pay for it.
There is no worse time than right now to impose such an ill-conceived, burdensome bill on the nation. If the intent is to fiscally hobble this country so that economic “recovery” is impossible, this bill will achieve that goal. While this bill might increase access to health care for a tiny segment of the population, it will do so by reducing access to, and the quality of health care for the vast majority of the population, while substantially increasing the cost to them, which is the exact opposite of the purported goal of the bill, which is “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.”
Update – 22 July 2009
The always awe-inspiring Catherine Austin Fitts has just written a piece that I sense is related to the health care reform initiative passing through Congress. As I mentioned above, the bill seeks to increase accessibility to vaccines. Moreover, the threat from [fill in the blank] flu is being hyped beyond all sanity in order to scare people into submitting to vaccination. Finally, I have long believed that there is a desire among the global elite to reduce the global population and that disease and/or “treatment” for such disease would be an ideal and concealed means by which to accomplish that goal. And as Ms. Fitts points out, if the depopulation process is carried out slowly, it can be profitable as people pay money in a vain quest for a remedy for their terminal disease.
While such a plan sounds utterly preposterous to normal people, the people running the world are by no means normal. They are psychopaths, pure and simple. They would exterminate their entire families without a shred of remorse if it would profit them in some way. Once one understands that fact, nefarious schemes such as described in Ms. Fitts’ piece aren’t so preposterous.

Who are the "Medes & Persians"- of the end of the days?

2009-09-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

HEADS Of The BEAST

REVELARION 17:9-11 “The seven heads (fig., representing fallen and active world empires that oppressed the nation Israel over the course of history) are seven mountains (dynasties, or forms of government), where the woman (the spirit- the “vital principle” of idolatry who rides upon them– as a dominant ruler of the world,) sits (to abide sovereign) on them; and the (earthly) kings (having had dominion) are seven: the five (past empires, within the course of ancient history) fell, [(1) Egypt, (2) Assyria, (3) Ancient Babylon, (4) Persia, (5) The Greek Kingdoms- “Alexander The Great”] and the one (the 6th head – Rome) is (currently in existence, having prevailed throughout the great part of Europe to become the basis of civilization which we now know), the other (the 7th head, representing the dominion of the Antichrist) not yet came (into existence at the time of John’s writing), a little he must remain. And the beast (that will come out of the earth, the Great Harlot, the “Babylonian Empire”) which was (in existence in past history, for the literal Empire) and is not (any longer in existence as an independent nation), even he is eighth (head), and of the seven it is, and to perdition it goes.”

(Prehistory Preview)
REVELATION 17:12-14 “’And the ten horns which you saw [on the Beast with the Seven heads], are ten kings [the heads of the ten tribes of Israel comprising the Northern Kingdom- the Christians], who a [unified] kingdom not yet received [they are persons of distinguished honor forming the heads of a loose tribal confederation], but will receive authority as kings [over their own independent tribes] one hour [independently yet] with the [scarlet] Beast [in a time frame of these events] ’”
Verse 13 “’These [the loose tribal confederation of Christians] have one mind [though wholly independent of each other, they are united in promoting the same ultimate end- to profess belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ], and the power and the authority of themselves [as demi gods] to the [scarlet] beast they shall give up [acknowledging his designs to be abominable]. These [of the scarlet beast, the “Synagogue of Satan”] with the Lamb [the “Mighty God”- having left his life as a quilt offering for the offences within the Jewish Levitical Priesthood] will make war, and the Lamb will overcome them because Lord of lords he is and King of kings, and those with him (the) called and elect [the armies of heaven- the “prophetic soldiers”- the prophets having borne the “Word of God” as the ultimate revelation of God’s will to man] and [those with the Lamb will be the] faithful ones [the glorified believers who will follow and accompany Christ into the battle ].’”
Verse 15 “And he (the angel, who came to me to show me the judgment of the great harlot), says to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot (the center of a formidable political world power involved in a secret bid for worldwide domination), sits, are peoples[joined together by the common bonds of society- distinguished from magistrates- free citizens, even heathens and Gentiles] and [disorganized] crowds [common people and the rabble], even nations and tongues [hypothetically the deceptively lead puppeteer members of the Bilderberg Group]. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast [the loose tribal confederation of Christians- claiming Jesus Christ to be the “Mighty God”], these will hate the harlot [the city of Babylon seeking bid for worldwide dominion], and will make her desolated and naked [lacking of any and all spiritual clothing- strip her of all her power and all her attractiveness], and the flesh of her they will eat [utterly and completely obliterate all vestiges of the false religious system used to gain control of the world by the Antichrist and his henchmen], and will burn her down with fire [so to be consumed in total and absolute destruction]. For God gave in to the hearts of them to do the mind of Him, and to do one mind, and to give the kingdom of them to the beast, until should be completed the words of God."

PSALM 149:6-9 “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations [through seizure and enforced dominion] and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them [to bring back the boundaries of the law].”

2009-09-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

Revelation 13:15 “And (through covert operations and political stratagem) was given to it (the formidable political world power of Babylon) to give a spirit (a breath of life) to the image of the beast (so to publicly raise the 8th head, the throne of Babylon), that even might speak the image of the beast and might make as many as would not worship the image [poised as “protection and security” to the homeland] that they be killed [brought to a political ruin– considered as a terrorist sympathizer].”
Verse 16 “And it (the treasonous underground branch- removing the boundaries of the law, dissipating the light of sinful rebellion in it’s secret bid for world dominion) makes all, the small (the insignificant one) and the great (in magnitude), and the rich and the poor, and the (independent) freeman and the slave (those in servitude), that it (the underground “reign of terror”) may give to them a (blemishing mark) on the right hand (of those who joined their hand in pledge or service voluntarily or involuntarily), or on the foreheads of them (distinguishing them as devotees) even that not any could buy (safe passage) or sell (their service without the risk of reprisal), except he having the (blemishing) mark, or the name (of the godless renown) of the beast, or the number of the (of the 6th head epitomizing the) name of it [as being that of Rome, whose heads of state having usurped the scepter of Jerusalem by treason and war immediately assumed the sacred title of vice-regent of the Deity]. Here is wisdom. The (one) having reason let him count [in historical sequence] the number of the beast: for it is the member of a man [and not a god]. The number of it (is) 666 [symbolically portraying Rome- a nation that endured through three consecutive falls of Jerusalem, at the hand of Babylon].”

(Post #36) False Flag Operations

2009-09-16T22:20:00.000-05:00

Revelation 13:13 “And it (a Babylonian Monarch, a son of Nebuchadnezzar, underhandedly) deceived those dwelling on the earth (luring them into a disadvantageous action- entrapping them), because of the signs (grave or serious prophetic events) which was given to it do before the beast (the Antichrist) who has the wound of the sword (first denying self-deification) and (yet) lived.”

False flag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"False colors" redirects here. For the imaging technique, see False-color.
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's strategy of tension: A theory of strategy of tension (Italian: strategia della tensione) is an alleged way used by world powers to divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, as well as false flag terrorist actions.[1]

Thomas Commentary.- The Pseudo-prophet (false prophet) will perform these to obscure the truth, to confuse people, and to win the wrong orientation for their inner allegiance. These will be genuine miracles [Study Notes: via, the fulfillment of genuine prophecy, thusly, then construed as] supernatural accomplishments, not mere trickery. They will almost deceive the elect, but the faithful will recognize them for what they are because of the purpose for which they are performed and the doctrine that they are seeking to prove.
The beast’s sign-producing power extends even to the point of John’s wildest dreams of calling down fire from heaven.

The signs performed by the beast will serve to lead people astray [relinquishing their liberty and freedoms for protection and security] and bring them [as sheep to the slaughter] to the worship of a false god.

Beale Commentary.- Therefore, the beast poses as a spokesman for truth but is a false prophet and false teacher.
True prophets receive their inspiration and commissions as they stand “before the presence of the Lord”. Likewise, the false prophet receives his inspiration and commission as he acts “in the presence of the beast (Antichrist).

(Post #35) A Sign

2009-09-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary.- “And I will set among them a sign and I will send from them those who escape [“from the tokens of the divine displeasure”] to the nations…” – a banner on a high place, to indicate the place of meeting for the dispersed Israelite exiles, preparatory to their return to their land. The Gentile survivors spared by God shall act as missionaries to their several nations and represent it.

Gaebelein Commentary.- The survivors (of Jerusalem) are the Israelite remnant, and they go out to many a foreign country to proclaim the glory of the true God.

Poole’s Commentary.- Prophets were to be judged true or false, not from any signs or wonders which they did, but from the doctrine they taught, and would by those signs establish.

2009-09-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

(Babylonian Empire - Secret Bid for Worldwide Dominion)

Revelation 13:15 “And it (one of the Babylonian monarchs, drunk on the blood of the saints) does great signs (evidenced by a grave “Memorable Occurrence” or serious prophetic event), that even it makes (consuming) fire (of divine wrath) to come down out of heaven onto the earth before men.”

Great Sign
ISAIAH 66:19 “And I will set among them a sign and I will send from them those who escape [“from the tokens of the divine displeasure”] to the nations…”

Barnes Commentary.- A Sign. The word used here, and translated sign- means a flag, or a standard; a memorial, or any pledge, token or proof of a Divine mission, or a miracle wrought in attestation of a Divine promise or message. It was customary for miracles or prodigies (grave or serious prophetic event) to be exhibited on similar occasions.
What is its meaning here is to be determined by the connection. That would seem to me to require some such interpretation as this: That when God should come to take vengeance on His foes, and to manifest His glory, He would establish some mark or memorial; would erect some standard or give some signal, by which His true friends would escape, and that He would send them to distant nations to proclaim His truth and gather together those who had not seen His glory. What that sign should be, He does not here say. Whether a standard, a secret communication, or some intimation beforehand, by which they should know the approaching danger and make their escape, is not declared. It is by no means easy to determine with certainty on this passage; and it certainly become no one to speak dogmatically (inflexibly) or very confidently. The heavy judgments referred to may have been the impending calamities over Jerusalem. The glory of God referred to, may have been the signal manifestation of His perfections at that period in the approaching destruction of the city, and in the wonders that attended the “manifestation” of the Messiah (the “Mighty God”).
By these warnings and previous intimations they were to be preserved. The sign was “among them,” i.e., in the very midst of the nation; and the object of the intimation was, to secure their safety, and the speedy propagation (broadcast or circulation) of the true religion among them.

(Review)
911 - ARMAGEDDON – Proclamation of War on Terrorism

ISAIAH 30:25-26 “And shall be on every high mountain and on every lifted up hill, rivulets, steams of [reviving] water [of retributive measures of justice] in a day of great slaying [when human aspirations go beyond the limits of the law, in the day of great slaying] when towers fall. And the [reflected] moon light [of armed defensive combat necessitated through right and justifiable measure] shall be like the light of the sun [the law of the land in its going forth]; and the sun’s light [of divinely sanctioned retributive judgment upon the rebels- to re-establish the age old foundations] shall be sevenfold [in perfection of divine vengeance of the Almighty], as the light of seven days [when the prophecies are accomplished and has been summoned a bird of prey from a far off land to fulfill the purposes of Jehovah], in the day of Jehovah binding up the [violent] break of His people [through the forceful entry made upon them by foreign invasion], and the wound of His blow [the severe chastisement manifest in the bondage and captivity of His people He] heals.”

(Post #34) Worship Of The Beast

2009-09-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

(Babylonian Empire)

Revelation 13:12 “And it [the Babylonian monarchy, a counterfeit political imitation of the Dragon] makes the earth and those dwelling in it [groups of politicians, academic and business leaders- members of the international power elite capable of influencing international policy] that they should worship [the Antichrist, effecting the capitulation of society to the worship of secular power, that is], the first beast of which was healed he wound of (the) death of it [claiming himself to be the true follower of the Lamb- who was equated equal in power and authority to God].”

(Review)
Mounce Commentary.- Deification of secular power is in fact the worship of Satan. The motivation of worship is not the beast’s moral greatness but the awesome power of his might. The authority he wields is the authority of Satan himself.

Poole’s Commentary.- And they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast?’ Possibly worshipping in this latter clause is not to be understood of Divine adoration, but a civil subjection.

(For Serious Consideration):

In conspiracy theory, the term “New World Order” (the capital letters are distinguishing) refers to the advent of a cryptocratic or totalitarian one-world government.
Cryptocracy, from the ancient Greek κρυπτός (kryptós, hidden) and κραττείν (krateín, to rule), refers to a type of government where the real leaders are hidden, or merely unknown.[1] A puppet government or figurehead, whether aware or not of their status as such, usually figures into this type of government in concept. It can also be used when referring to similar arrangements in organisations, orders, sects and cults. As such governments are, by definition, secret, they are most commonly featured in conspiracy theories or works of conspiracy fiction rather than the historical record.
Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible[2]. Totalitarianism is generally characterized by the coincidence of authoritarianism (i.e., where ordinary citizens have no significant share in state decision-making) and ideology (i.e., a pervasive scheme of values promulgated by institutional means to direct the most significant aspects of public and private life)[3].
The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a powerful and secretive group of globalists is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an autonomous world government, which would replace sovereign states and other checks and balances in international power struggles. Significant occurrences in politics and finance are speculated to be caused by an extremely influential cabal operating through many front organizations. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination through secret political gatherings and decision-making processes.

Mounce Commentary.- In the final days of Antichrist the false prophet stands for the role of false religion in effecting the capitulation (surrender and submission) of society to the worship of secular power. It is the universal victory of humanism .

[Humanism: A human philosophy for the here and now it is a cultural movement based on the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans who enjoyed the open-endedness of a quest and the freedom of discovery that it entails- rather than on the sovereign authority of God.]

Mounce Commentary.- Peterson, in his self-styled and highly readable “pastoral midrash,” writes that “dragon, sea beast and land beast are a satanic trinity that infiltrates the political world in order to deflect our worship from the God whom we cannot see to the authorities that we can see, and to deceive us into buying into a religion or belief-system that has visible results in self-gratification [NOTE: lust for power and authority].

Mounce Study Notes Expounded Out of Context: As the dragon gave his authority to the first beast, so the second beast exercises the authority of the first. He carries out the desires of the first beast as a prophet who stands in readiness before his god. His purpose is to cause everyone to worship the beast whose fatal wound has been healed [emulating to some degree the order sent out by the Roman Empire to be tolerant to Christians, which was seen as an imperial backing to the church. The primitive Christians derived their orders from the decrees of heaven and therefore Constantine, though he usurped the scepter by treason and war, immediately assumed the sacred title of vice-regent of the Deity making himself accountable to the Deity alone for the abuse of his power. The healing of the tatal wound could be viewed as the promotion of emperor worship.]

Mounce Commentary.- His purpose is to cause everyone to worship the beast whose fatal wound has been healed.

Thomas Commentary.- A specific exercise of authority is to bring men to worship the first beast, to practice gross idolatry by worshiping a man as God.

MacArthur Commentary.- The false prophet’s efforts to promote the worship of the Antichrist will receive a tremendous boost from a startling, spectacular event: the apparent healing of the first beast’s fatal wound.

(Post #33) The Babylonian Empire

2009-09-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

(Babylonian Empire)

Revelation 13:11 “And I (John) saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and spoke as a dragon [seeking dominion over a New World Order]. And all the authority [the designed stratagem] of the first beast it does before it [as an enforcer- being a counterfeit political imitation of Antichrist]. “

Study Note: Although the dragon is not mentioned in this scene, yet from its position on the seashore it now calls up a second evil helper.
John uses only a few words to describe this monster. On sentence is extremely suggestive: he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon [seeking universal dominion through stealth]. And all the authority [the designed stratagem] of the first beast it does before it [as an enforcer- being a counterfeit political imitation of Antichrist]. And it makes the earth and those dwelling it that they should worship the first beast [seeking world dominion] of which was healed the wound of death of it [claiming their victory through Jesus Christ - manifesting themselves to be the firstfruits of God and the Lamb- to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the people].”

The second monster gratifies the needs of the first monster, so he exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf. The nature of this service is clarified immediately: he assists in ensuring that earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.

Beale Commentary.- The beast has primarily a "prophetic" role since it is later repeatedly call “the false prophet”. Whereas the true prophet was to lead people to worship God, this prophet leads them to worship the state. This is reinforced by Christ’s prophecy that false prophets and messiahs would arise in the believing community itself. Jesus also likened false prophets to beasts and foretold that “false prophets” would “come…in sheep’s clothing but are inwardly ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). The image of a wolf in lamb’s clothing suggest a traitor within the fold of the church [or trusted political system]. Though the beast professes to represent the truth and appears harmless as a lamb, his inner Satanic nature is revealed through his speaking- with the authority of the dragon, reflecting the alluring, deceptive speech of Satan…that led to the sin of Adam and Eve.
Therefore, this imagery and background suggest deception within the covenant community itself. Whereas the first beast speaks loudly and defiantly against God [through abominable defamation of the righteous and good character of God], the second beast makes the first beast’s claims sound plausible and persuasive. Therefore, it takes a discerning Christian to detect the evil inherent in the second beast.
The second beast is now explicitly said to be aligned with the first beast, further confirming its identification with the state. He exercises the authority of the first beast. This is emphasized by saying that he exercises this authority “in the presence” of the first beast. This authority also comes from Satan [seeking to usurp the throne of God- World Supremacy and a New World Order]. The second beast uses its authority to “coerce the earth and those dwelling in it to worship the first beast.”

Barnes Commentary (Paraphrased).- “Coming out of the earth.” Professor Stuart renders this, “ascending from the land.” The former was represented as rising up out of the sea; indicating that the power was to rise from a perturbed or unsettled state of affairs- like the ocean. This, from that which was more settled and stable- as the land is more firm than the waters.
“And he had two horns like a lamb.” In some respects he resembled a lamb; that is, he seemed to be mild, gentle, inoffensive animal. “And he spoke as a dragon.” The general sense is, that while this “beast” had, in one respect- its resemblance to a lamb- the appearance of great gentleness, meekness, and kindness, it had, in another respect, a haughty, imperious, and arrogant spirit. “And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him.” The same amount of power; the same kind of power. This shows a remarkable relationship between these two beasts; and proves that it was intended to refer to the same power substantially, though manifested in a different form. In the fulfillment of this, we should naturally look for some government whose authority extended far, and which was absolute and arrogant in its character, for this is the power attributed to the first beast.

[This description would have a remarkable fulfillment in the blending of church and state, considered as a theocratic dominion. The relation to the secular power is the same as would be indicated by these two beast; the dominion was as wide-spread; the authority was as absolute and arrogant. In fact, on these points they have been identical. The one has sustained the other; either one would long have fallen if had not been upheld by the other. These two things, the secular and the spiritual power, constituting a New World Order in the proper sense of the term, are in fact – united so as to constitute in reality but one kingdom, and yet so distinct in their origin, and in their manifestations, as to be capable of separate contemplation and description, and thus properly represented by the two “beasts” that were show in vision to John.]

[The meaning here, according to the interpretation proposed all along in this chapter, is, that the “supreme head”, considered in its religious influence, or as a spiritual power- represented by the second beast- secured for the civil or secular power- represented by the first beast- the homage of the world. It was the means of keeping up that dominion, and of giving it its ascendency among the nations of the earth. That new power gave life and energy to the influence of the Dragon.]

MacArthur Commentary (Paraphrased).- the major weapon in Satan’s arsenal is deception. "Satan", Jesus declared, is “a liar and the father of lies”. From his first appearance on earth in the Garden of Eden until his final appearance at the end , Satan is a liar and a deceiver. He constantly seeks to confuse people, “blind(ing) the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…
Since Satan is a deceiver, it follows that his agents are also deceivers.
The partnership between political and religious power exhibited by Antichrist and the false prophet will not be new. The Roman Empire united political and religious power by demanding that its subjects worship the state (personified as the goddess Roma) and the emperor.
The worldwide joining of political and religious power will occur in the end times. For a time, the two powers will coexist.
Some view this second beast as an institution, a form of government, or an ideology. But he, like the first beast will be a person. Further proof of that comes from 19:20: “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the ark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

[Obviously, it is people along with their ideologies, institutions, or governments, that God will cast into the lake of fire.]

MacArthur Commentary.-That a the false prophet arises from the earth suggests that he will be subtler, gentler, less overpowering and terrifying than the Antichrist. He will be winsome and persuasive, the epitome of the wolves in sheep’s clothing Jesus warned of.
The description of the first beast, with its ten horns, seven heads, ten crowns, and seven blasphemous names, was grotesque and frightening. In contrast, the second beast merely had two horns. That indicates that he is not characterized by the same massive might as Antichrist. And unlike the savage, ferocious, fierce, and deadly Antichrist who is likened to a leopard, bear, and lion, the false prophet seems as harmless as a lamb. He does not come as a conquering dictator, but on the surface appears as a subtle deceiver, with meekness and gentleness, though not without great authority.
Despite his deceptively mild appearance, the false prophet is not less a child of “evil” than the Antichrist. That is evident because he spoke as a dragon- a strange voice indeed for a lamb. The false prophet…will be the dragon’s mouthpiece, SPEAKING HIS WORDS.
False prophets often appear meek, mild and harmless. They offer hope and solutions to the problems troubling men and women. The false prophet will come like a lamb, speaking false, deceptive words of comfort.

Mounce Commentary.- The beast out of the earth is a deceiver. Elsewhere (in Revelation) he is uniformly called the false prophet. His two horns like a lamb represent his attempt to convey the impression of gentle harmlessness. This passage recalls the warning of Jesus, Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt. 7:15). The horns like a lamb may refer to the seductive inducements (considerations of loyalty, patriotism, self-interest, etc.) held out to Christians by the beast.
The role of the second beast (the formidable political underground world power- involved in a secret bid for worldwide dominion now visible on earth) is to cause people to worship the first beast. To achieve this end he is empowered to work miracles.

Wall Commentary.- “…this beast, the false prophet, is an exemplar of those subtle forms of evil which deceive people into embracing lies as God’s truth.

[All agree that this must be some great impostor, who under a pretence of addressing worldwide political problems, shall deceive the souls of men.]

Henry Commentary.- The power which he exercises: All the power of the former beast; he promotes the same interests, pursues the same design in substance, which is, to draw men off from worshipping the true God to worshipping those who by nature are not God, and subject the souls and consciences of men to the will and authority of men, in opposition to the will of God.

Holman Commentary.- What is the earth monster? So far in the description this could be thought of as religious power gone corrupt… Religion has frequently joined political power as its handmaid. Throughout time kings have often been accorded divine status and been served by the state priesthood. By the end of the first century, the priests of the emperor’s cult were active in promoting emperor worship.
Now the earth monster becomes what must be a specific individual [of particular, yet successive kings of the monarchy], though often through church history the monster has been seen as representative of an earthly power such as the Roman government or a religious heresy.

Ironside Commentary.- To be forewarned is to be forearmed. God’s holy Word has predicted the coming of this false one and has clearly shown what will lead up to his revelation. No Spirit-taught Bible student can fail to observe the shadow of the Antichrist falling across many pages of prophecy. “you have heard,” wrote the apostle John, “that Antichrist shall come” (1 John 2:18). The only question that troubles many has to do with the identification of the person of thing referred to. Is the Antichrist a person or a system? Many weighty names could be quoted in favor of either view, but, in order that our faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God in this matter as in all else, we desire to be guided by the written Word.
The Antichrist will be a man, as the Christ of God is a man. Babylon is a vast organized system, even as the church of God is a divine organization. But the one is a Satanic counterfeit of the other. The Antichrist is the final head of the apostate system.