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The Woman
Survives
The
Bible describes the 1,260 years the saints
suffered by saying, “The woman [the
invisible church] was given the two wings of a
great eagle, so that she might fly to the place
prepared for her in the desert, where she would
be taken care of for a time, times and half a
time, out of the serpent’s reach.” (Revelation
12:14, insertion mine)
Comment:
The language, “the two wings of a great
eagle,” indicates a miraculous escape, not
from persecution, but from extinction. Some
historians estimate that fifty million people
were martyred for their faith during the Dark
Ages, but miraculously, the invisible church did
not perish! No doubt, many Protestants wished for
their wings of a great eagle as they languished
in filthy dungeons. Even thought Prophecy I
(Revelation 12:1-6) and Prophecy 2 (Revelation
12:7-14:5) are separate and distinct prophecies,
the tine, times, and half a time in verse 6 is
the same time period as the 1,260 days
mentioned in verse 14. Because the Bible
describes the same time period in two
different ways, we know that a time, times, and
half a time equals 1,260 day/years. This
information also proves that a time, times, and
half a time mentioned in Daniel 7:25 equals 1,260
years. The Bible also predicted that the little
horn would persecute the saints for 1,260
day/years (Daniel 7:25) and history confirms the
fulfillment of these prophecies. In other words,
the 1,260 year (A.D. 538-1798) time period is
mentioned three times in the Bible. All three
instances must be translated using a day for a
year because the Jubilee Calendar is operation
during this time.
Note: For reasons
presented in the segment on the Two Witnesses,
the time, times, and half a time in Daniel 12:7
and the 1,260 days granted to the Two Witnesses
in Revelation 11:3 are the same time
period. The 1,335 days given in Daniel 12:12
represent the total time allotted to the Great
Tribulation. Because these time periods occur
after the expiration of the Jubilee Calendar in
1994, these time periods should be considered a
literal time of 1,335 days and should not be
translated a day for a year.
“Then
from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a
river [a flood, KJV], to overtake the
woman and sweep her away with the torrent.” (Revelation
12:15)
Comment:
This is a surprising contradiction. John
saw the enormous red dragon spew water out
of his mouth! This is surprising because ancient
dragons were believed to be “fire breathing
creatures.” God surprises us with an
interesting point using reverse caricature. A
torrent of water is one of nature’s most
destructive forces. Weighing a little more than
sixty-two pounds per cubit foot, a torrent of
water traveling at a high rate of speed is a
deadly and utterly destructive force, but it is
not annihilating. In other words, life resumes
after a flash flood, in fact, vegetation often
prospers after a flood. The language in this
verse indicates the devil did his best to destroy
God’s people during the Dark Ages through
legislation. The dragon spoke (an endless torrent
of laws) through church edicts. The devil tried
to destroy the woman with wave after wave of
persecution, but the blood of martyrs only fueled
the growth of the invisible church.
The
devil soon realized that perpetual persecution
required perpetual darkness. In 1401, the devil
moved upon King Henry IV to decree that anyone
owning or producing a translation of the Bible
would be burned at the stake. In 1409, Archbishop
Thomas Arundel imposed punitive measures on
anyone who would presume to produce any written
material that departed from the Latin Vulgate.
(In other words, Bible texts could not be
translated into the common language of the
people.) These and other various threats did not
keep the woman from the Bible. Prior to Gutenberg’s
invention of the moveable type for printing
presses in 1439, Bibles were very rare. But
Gutenberg’s invention enabled Bible
distribution to flourish, so the devil prompted
government leaders to outlaw Bible reading! In
1543, England’s parliament passed a law
forbidding common women to read the Bible and the
penalty was death!
Using
the church as a puppet, the devil made it
impossible for anyone to disagree with pope or
priest without suffering the harshest of
penalties. Open speech against the Church and/or
its leaders was considered hate speech or
blasphemy, and heretics were often condemned to
death on the testimony of one witness. When the
church rules over the state, religious freedom
becomes a myth. The church ruled by fear, not
love. The devil found a way to torment millions
of good-hearted Catholics through false
doctrines. For example, Catholics were led to
believe that salvation required the required the
receipt of seven sacraments. Consequently, few
parishioners spoke out about the excesses and
abuses of the clergy because the cessation of
sacraments meant the loss of eternal life. For
1,260 long years, the devil did everything
possible to make life miserable for the people of
Europe, whether in the visible or the invisible
church.
“But
the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth
and swallowing the river that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth.” (Revelation
12:16)
Comment:
After Noah’s flood, God divided Earth
into continents. (Genesis 10:25) For thousands of
years, God reserved a large parcel of Earth that
would one day help the woman. Over time, this
parcel of land became known as the United Sates
of America. Just twenty-two years before the end
of the 1,260 years (1798), God raised up a new
nation (1776) to serve His purposes. He gave this
nation a form of government that was unlike
anything the world has ever seen. Today, we call
it a “Democracy.” God did not raise up
the United States of America for the sole benefit
of its citizens; rather, God established the
United States for a divine purpose. He gave this
nation a form of government that was unlike
anything else the world has ever seen. Today, we
call it a “Democracy.” God did not
raise up the United States of America for the
sole benefit of its citizens; rather, God
established the United States for a divine
purpose.
God
gave Protestants a place where they could freely
translate and publish the Bibles in hundreds of
languages. He also gave Protestants vast
resources and much wealth so that they could
spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. From 1798
onward, the United States has produced more
Christian missionaries, published more Bibles,
and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ farther
than all other nations on Earth combined. The
citizens of this wealthy nation have given more
money for Christian missions than all the other
nations combined. These endeavors fulfilled God’s
plan that Earth would help the woman! Today,
approximately nine percent of the world’s
population is Protestant. This is amazing
considering the Protestants in 1798 amounted to
less than 0.1% of the world’s population.
This phenomenal growth occurred because
immigrants came to the United States of America
seeking religious freedom. From the Protestant
country, Protestantism spread around the globe.
Of course, millions of non-Protestants also
immigrated to this country because they wanted to
live in a land blessed with opportunity and
promise. The United States of America has shared
more of its wealth with other nations than any
other. Earth physically helped the woman, and the
United States became a powerful influence for the
gospel of Christ in a short period of time.
Unfortunately,
the United States has turned away from honoring
and serving God. As a nation, it no longer nor
exalts our Creator with its actions. Christians
are entertained with sinful behavior that is
constantly glamorized on television and in
movies. U.S. printing presses produce more filth
and garbage than its population can digest. Its
radio stations spew hate talk and music that
glorifies drugs, sexual immorality, and violence.
Occasionally, citizens might hear a political
leader say “God bless America,” but how
can God bless the United States when corporately
speaking; its national behavior is an insult? The
United States is in a state or moral and
financial decline. Many of the nations leaders
(both political and religious) are corrupt. Love
for money and pleasure has displaced love for God
and His Word. Integrity is disappearing. Honesty
and transparency in business and government is
fading. Sexual immorality is rampant. Clergy have
become multimillionaires and priests have
sexually abused thousands of children. The United
States has offended and lost many of its
international friends, it has squandered much of
its wealth on selfish indulgence, and if the Lord
does not come soon, the country will fall, just
like all of the great nations in history. The
Earth did help the woman, but that helping hand
is gone and the remnant of the woman is wondering
how much longer will God tolerate this planet
before casting down the censer.
The Final
Assault Will Soon Begin
“[Unable
to destroy the woman for 1,260 years] Then the
dragon was enraged at the woman and went off [to
prepare] to make war against the rest
[KJV: the remnant] of her offspring –
those who obey God’s commandments and hold
to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation
12:17, insertions mine)
Comment:
When the papacy received a fatal wound in
1798, the devil called off the chase. Even though
he had made the woman miserable for 1,260 years,
he realized he could not destroy her. Being the
devil that he is though, he did not give up. He
went off to regroup and make plans for a final
assault. Lucifer and his demons know all about
the Great Tribulation. They understand every
verse in the Bible. They were present when every
event written in the Bible took place and they
personally know each Bible writer in the Bible
and person mentioned in the Bible! They
understand the prophecies of Daniel and
Revelation better than we do and the demons know
they will be given one final chance to destroy
the saints. Of course, the demons also know that
they will be destroyed at the end of sin’s
drama. Since there is nothing they can do about
that, they intend to destroy as many saints as
possible before their doom arrives. This is the
way hatred works. Lucifer knows that he is going
to die just as Jesus knew that He was going to
die. Their respective actions and attitudes show
the enormous gulf between hatred and love,
between selfishness and selflessness.
The
devil and his demons have had over 200 years to
prepare for their final war against the woman.
The stage is set. The world is consumed with
idolatry, greed, sexual immorality, and violence.
The devil has carefully studied world conditions.
He has strategically placed his demons and human
agents (demon possessed people) in highest
places. He is delighted that even though hundreds
of millions of Christians have Bibles, the vast
majority of them are virtually ignorant of his
coming ambush. The devil keeps this information
hidden from view in various ways. Prejudice and
apathy work very well. When someone says that
Jesus is coming soon, Christians often respond,
“No one knows the day and hour of Christ’s
return. Why, people have been saying ‘Wolf,
wolf!’ for 2,000 years. Anyone speaking
about the imminent return of Jesus is just crying
‘Wolf, wolf!’” Pastors usually
agree. Many churches discourage or even prohibit
discussion of new ideas on Bible prophecy because
it is seen as being potentially divisive. Too
many churches are more concerned about unity than
truth. They think it is far better to be united
in error than to be divided over truth. The bible
has been put into lockdown. It is not allowed to
speak for itself. Christians are told the Bible
is too complicated to understand on its own merit
and must be left to the scholars to decipher. How
can the Bible teach Christians truths that they
do not know and do not want to hear? If we limit
what the Bible can say, how can it say something
that is new and relevant?
Consider
the following text and especially notice the last
half of the sentence: “Then the dragon
was enraged at the woman [the invisible
church] and went off to make war against the
rest the last of the remnant] of her
offspring – those who obey God’s
commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
(Revelation 12:17, insertions mine) During
the Great Tribulation, the invisible church will
become very visible! The remnant of the woman
will be identified by two hey features:
- The saints will obey God’s
Commandments – all twelve of them!
The two greatest commandments are these: “Love
the Lord with all your heart, mind and
soul and your neighbor as yourself.”
(Matthew 22:37-40) Expressions of love
for God and man are not defined by human
beings! Instead, our Creator has defined
what love will do within the Ten
Commandments. The first four commandments
declare how love for God will be
expressed and the remaining six
commandments define how love for
our neighbor will be expressed. When we
do the things required by the law out
of love for God and man, we fulfill
the law! (Romans 13:10)
Currently, most of God’s
people are unaware of their obligation to obey
the Ten Commandments, especially the fourth
commandment. This will change. When the 144,00
proclaim, “Worship Him who created the
heavens, the earth, the sea, and the fountains of
water, and honor His holy Sabbath day,”
people will think God’s servants are
fanatics. But when Babylon forms and implements
laws mandating the observance of holy days, the
issue will become serious and the question will
be, “Which day does God declare sacred?”
The 144,00 will boldly address this question and
the importance of God’s Sabbath will become
widely known. God’s Word clearly states that
His people will obey the Ten Commandments because
they love God and man. The fourth commandment
declares Saturday, the seventh day of the week,
is God’s holy day. The commandment will
become an inflammatory issue during the Great
Tribulation because Babylon will defy and oppose
the fourth commandment. In countries where
Catholicism and Protestantism are a majority,
laws exalting the sacredness of Sunday will be
enforced. In countries where Islam is the
majority, laws exalting the sacredness of Friday
will be enforced. In Israel, laws exalting the
sacredness of Saturday will be enforced. The laws
of Babylon will cause the remnant of the woman to
stand out like evergreen trees in a snow-covered
forest.
- The remnant of the woman
will also obey the testimony of Jesus.
The testimony is the Spirit of prophecy.
(Revelation 19:10) Notice how this works:
Jesus will speak often during the Great
Tribulation. The Holy Spirit will speak
the words through His prophets. Thus,
144,000 mouthpieces will deliver the
words of Jesus in real-time to a
listening world and the honest in heart
will recognize the voice of Jesus and
honor Him by obeying His commands. “My
sheep listen to my voice; I know them,
and they follow me. I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish; no one
can snatch them out of my hand.” (John
10:27,28) Think about this: People all
over the world will actually hear the
words (the testimony) of Jesus coming out
of the mouths of His prophets. This rare
phenomenon has occurred a few times in
history and it will happen again during
the Great Tribulation.
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