You done say what?: May 2018

Let me start out by telling you a rambling Bible story.

A righteous guy named Abram is directed by God to leave his home town of Ur (in modern day Iraq) and travel to a new land. God directs him to walk the region North/South and East/West and promises Abram that any place his shoes touch would be given to him and his offspring for ever. God confirms this promise by making a covenant with Abram (whom God later renames Abraham) and He confirms the same covenant to Abraham's son Isaac and to Isaac's son Jacob.

Jacob has 12 sons, a famine comes to where they and their families are living, but because of God's grace and foreknowledge Joseph has gone before them and is now 2nd in rank of all Egypt. The entire family moves to the land of Goshen in Egypt and stay there for 430 years. By that time the people, now numbering over 2 million, are slaves of the Egyptians. Moses is raised up as their deliverer and begins leading his people back to the land promised by God.

Within a couple of months they reach the borders but cannot enter in because of unbelief. Thus the people spend 40 years wandering the desert. This is actually a time of spiritual preparation for them and God provides Moses with directions to build a portable wilderness tabernacle in which the Shikina glory of God resides in the Most Holy Place, just above the gold mercy seat of a box or ark which contains the broken tablets of the 10 commandments, Aaron's rod which budded and a jar containing mana that God provided as food for the people throughout their 40 years of wandering.

At the end of 40 years Joshua leads this people across the Jordan river and they begin the process of possessing what God had promised them. Ever since Jacob had 12 sons the people have identified themselves as 12 different tribes. Now each tribe (except for the priestly tribe of Levi who were given certain cities) was given an inheritance in the land but to receive it they first needed to eliminated the existing inhabitants. Tribes combined strength to do this, some were more successful than others and although they became a united nation they never ruled to the extent of what God had originally promised.

For hundreds of years the Hebrews were ruled by prophets and judges but they finally demanded that God give them a king like the other nations. To answer the people God gives them Saul, just what they want, a tall, good looking warrior. However, because these are God's chosen people and this is God's chosen land the battle has always been more spiritual than physical. There are actual giants in the land (physical as well as spiritual) and Saul quakes in his tent. God chooses David, the youngest son of Jesse, to defeat the giant Goliath and eventually David becomes king.

David is both a fighter and a worshiper and is passionate about God and God loves him and blesses him because of his passion, even though David has committed some serious sins. David defeats many of the enemies of the Hebrews and conquers the city of Jerusalem, making it the nation's capitol. The portable ark which was in the Most Holy place is still around and David asks God if he can build a permanent structure or temple to place it in. Because of the blood on his hands God says no but allows one of David's sons, Solomon, to build it.

Solomon does indeed construct the first Jewish temple and during his reign as king the Hebrew nation reaches its greatest extent, although still not to the promised borders. One problem with having a strong king with big building projects is that taxes and demands for laborers become oppressive. After Solomon dies the people petition the new king asking him to reduce the burden on them. Not listening to wise advice he increases the burdens and the nation splits in two. The 10 Northern tribes form what was known as Israel and the two Southern tribes where Jerusalem is located becomes known as Judea.

Although Judea has it's ups and downs spiritually many righteous people from the Northern tribes move to Judea because of the temple and in the North Israel becomes apostate, setting up a new center of worship that quickly becomes paganized. After some years Israel is defeated by the Assyrians and it's people are either killed or deported. Judea holds out much longer but it too eventually is defeated, Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed by the Babylonians who relocate any one of worth to their country.

One of the people deported is Daniel who later on becomes one of the chief rulers of Babylon. Like Joseph, God has given Daniel great wisdom and the ability to interpret dreams. One day he is reading from the prophet Jeremiah concerning the desolation of Jerusalem and notices that Jeremiah predicted both the captivity and the return of the Jewish people to their promised land. He prays and fasts to gain insight as to when the return might be and 21 days later the Archangel Michael (who is the protector of the Jewish nation and who had to fight a high ranking evil angel known as the Prince of Persia before he could deliver God's answer to Daniel) appears, giving Daniel a vision of 70 weeks of years.

Starting in Daniel 9:24 it says; Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.

Notice that it talks about "your people", (the Jews), "your holy city", (Jerusalem), and "the most holy place", which is where the ark of the covenant was located.

Then Daniel 9:25 goes on to say; So you are to know and discern that, from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the prince (Jesus) there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, it will be rebuilt again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. The next verse says that then the Messiah will be cut off and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary (the temple and the most holy place) and that prince (the Antichrist) will make a covenant with the many for one week (seven years). At the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifices and offerings (then literally all hell breaks loose).

Not much longer after Daniel's visit by Michael, the Babylon empire is conquered by the Medes and Persians (as foretold earlier by Daniel). A few years later their King Cyrus issues the prophesied decree allowing the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem (and the territory of Judea) to rebuild the city. A remnant do return, first rebuilding the walls and eventually building another temple. Around 20 BC Herod the Great starts a massive seventy year project to make that temple one of the ancient wonders of the world.

The 69 weeks of years end in 32 or 33 AD on the same day Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The Jewish leaders reject Him and have Him crucified (cut off). That is the end of my Bible story.

There is still one week (seven years) of the prophecy that has not yet been full filled and that is the period most people refer to as the Tribulation period. Prophecies tell us that Jesus will return at the end of the tribulation, defeat the forces gathered against Israel and the holy city Jerusalem and rule the nations from Jerusalem and at that time Israel will have the full extent of land as promised by God.

Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by Roman legions (the people of the prince who is to come) in 70 AD. Most of the Jewish people are either killed or enslaved and scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Eventually Roman influence dies off and then later Islamic forces gain control around 700 AD, Crusaders retake the city around 1000 to 1100 then Muslim forces gain control again. The Ottoman Empire (centered in Turkey) then rules for 400 years until British forces in WWI gain control and finally in May of 1948 a Jewish nation emerges and takes as its name Israel.

In 1967 during a six day war Israel once again gains control of Jerusalem's holy sites although it still allows the presence of a Muslim mosque and their Dome of the Rock which was built over or very near the site of their two previous temples.

For the last week of years in Daniel's prophecy to occur there are some things that had to happen. First, there needed to be a Jewish nation where they were before and Jerusalem needed to be part of that. Check. Second, there then needs to be a Jewish temple with the establishment of sacrifices and offerings. The Jewish religious leaders of our day have been working busily at this.

Several years ago they appointed for that purpose a religious body called the Sanhedrin (just like in Jesus day). People have been identified and chosen from the priestly line of Levi and been trained for temple service. Their priestly garments have been made, gold and silver bowls and other sacred temple objects have been made and a lot of other things along this same live have been gathered, designed, made or done.

The major sticking point of course is how to go about building a Jewish temple at or very near the current Muslim holy sites.

So now we finally get to the part about how Donald Trump fits into all of this.

The United States has always been Israel's closest friend since Israel's inception, although often a lukewarm one (as far back as the 1950's our State Department, because of oil politics, has had a pro-Arab stance). Relations between our two countries hit a low point under the Obama administration (for a bunch of reasons, not least of which was the gift to Iran known as the Iran deal).

Then along comes Trump (who doesn't care what the State Department thinks) and he has shown a very positive attitude toward Israel. He has a personal connection in that daughter Ivanna married an orthodox Jewish guy and converted to his faith. He gets along well with Bibi. He pulls the US out of the Iran deal and not bowing to intense pressure from the rest of the world announces that the US would actually move it's embassy to Jerusalem and open on May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern nation of Israel.

In recognition of this and Israel's 70th anniversary the Jewish Sanhedrin issues a silver half shekiel temple coin with the image of Cyrus on one side and Trump on the other. In ancient times each Jewish person was required to pay an annual 1/2 shekiel temple tax. This means that today's orthodox Jews see Trump as being like the Cyrus who issued the decree to rebuild their city and temple.

This is interesting because when Trump was running for President I heard comments from several Christian leaders that they believed God told them that Trump would be like a modern day Cyrus. In other words it was not his current personal shortfalls or his past life style that concerned God but rather that here was a man who would further what God wanted for Israel as well as for our country.

At the embassy dedication the US placed a rectangular stone plaque there. There are 3 names on it. The first is Donald Trump, the second, Michael Pence, and the third is David Friedman (the current US ambassador to Israel). A guy named Luis Vega pointed out an interesting word study about the names on this plaque.

Donald - a Scottish name meaning great chief or chief king and is identified with a line of Scottish kings.

Trump - to announce or proclaim, to rank above others

Michael - Hebrew meaning "who is like Elohim" (God). This is of course also the name of the archangel assigned to the nation of Israel who gave Daniel the vision of the 70 weeks of years.

Pence - Anglo-Saxon English, a geographic area which is elevated. Fences to pen in animals were located there so it could mean "hill that gathers herd".

David - Hebrew name meaning "beloved". This was also the name of the great Jewish King David who conquered and made Jerusalem the capitol. Jesus was from the line of David.

Friedman - From German, Swiss and French. "fried" means "peace", "man" means "man".

One way to express these names would be -

Great chief who ranks above others
Who is like God who on His holy hill will gather His herd
Beloved man of peace

Israel was reborn in 1948. This month was it's 70th birthday. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70 AD. If we add 1948 years to 70 AD we get 2018 (fun fact).

There has to be a new temple built before Jesus returns at the end of the 70th week because the Antichrist desecrates it at the mid-point of the week. The Antichrist makes "a covenant with the many" marking the beginning of the last week. It is speculated that this is a deal in someway agreeable to the Muslim nations so the temple can be built again in Jerusalem, perhaps on or near the original site.

However this all works out, this I do know. By moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, thus officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Donald Trump has done something no one else did or probably could do. The ball is now rolling as well toward the rebuilding of the third Jewish temple and I believe this was God's timing and His doing.

The missing prophetic pieces are filling in quite rapidly. The end time alliance shown in the Ezekiel 38 referencing Gog and Magog now has all the partners together. Iran, Russia and Turkey's leaders have been meeting together and Turkey has recently pulled in the African portion to make it complete. If Iran keeps establishing bases in Syria then we are much closer to seeing the destruction of Damascus prophesied elsewhere. Saudi Arabia was not in the alliance of Ezekiel 38 and now we can see why. And French President Macron just announced a 10 nation military alliance composed of European countries (does the dark prince come from one of these countries?)

However, there still may be many more pieces left to place that we don't realize yet. Either way, keep looking up!

Possessing the Gates of the Enemy: A Training Manual for Militant Intercession

I have just finished reading the fourth edition of - Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy - by Cindy Jacobs, which deservedly is considered one of the classic books on intercessory prayer. Her original edition was first published in 1991 and Jacobs has both updated and included some new material for this latest version. The publishers (perhaps reflecting the type of language now used by some of the better know intercessory prayer ministries) have added a new subtitle - A Training Manual For Militant Intercession.

Intercessory prayer is when someone prays on behalf of another so that that person, group or region may experience what God desires for them. One of the most common descriptions of an intercessor would be that the person praying is "standing in the gap" for another, i.e. either calling out to God to move in a situation, binding the forces of evil that have been oppressing or declaring a freedom from bondages.

Including both Scripture and many personal examples, plus incorporating stories from others, Jacobs does a very thorough job of defining what intercessory prayer is and should be, what type of person does or should be involved doing it, how does the Holy Spirit operate in this area, what opposition does one encounter, how does one most effectively intercede for either a person, place or region and much more. There is a study guide in the back to help any small groups that might want to get together to read, discuss and better learn how to pray in this manner.

This was my first time reading a book on intercessory prayer and I learned quite a bit, even though I have been praying and fasting for well over 45 years. Praying for long periods of time for someone or something until the victory is won has always be difficult for me and I was surprised to learn that there are many people who actually have a passion for this. They have long prayer lists and spend most free minutes in prayer interceding for someone else.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that sometimes people who intercede for others receive information from the Holy Spirit about who, what or how to pray. They might get a picture in their mind or a deep conviction about something and then they pray for that person or about that situation until the burden lifts. What's funny about this is to me is that there certainly must be a lot of people who are intercessors who are not active in the other gifts of the Holy Spirit, maybe they don't even believe the gifts are for today, and yet here they are experiencing prophetic revelation.

There are a couple things Jacobs brings up that I find a little hard to grasp or comprehend and the examples she provides are not backed up sufficiently. One example is that a group binds a certain evil spirit over a particular school district and the proof that the spirit has been bound is that average test scores went up the next year. I get the concept but I still have a lot of questions.

Thanks to Chosen Book Publishers who provided this wonderful book for me to review.

You done say what?

Saturday, May 26, 2018

The Prophetic Significance of Donald Trump

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Review of - Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Stomp!