Bible Believers' Newsletter 702
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
Sunday will be the tenth anniversary of that false flag black op we know as 9/11. Where were you when the planes struck the twin towers? I was working behind my computer.
What was your first reaction to the false video replayed ad infinitum? "I said to myself, This is a black op," and called one of the Brothers who booted up his computer and agreed the destruction of the WTC was almost certainly a black op. Our suspicions have been well and truly confirmed, yet the Establishment continues to blanket our alien-controlled media with lying propaganda, and the best politicians money can buy pursue the City of London's imperialistic agenda: looting natural resources and slaughtering innocent Muslims to create the enemy cast in the City's 1871 military blueprint for World War III and world hegemony.
Today I listened to a recording of someone purporting to be Stewardess Betty Ong on American Airlines Flight 11, and someone purporting to be hijacker Mohamed Atta (abc.net.au). I expect long-deceased CIA employee Osama bin Laden will soon release yet another post humus video. Perhaps he will do an Elvis impersonation. Homeland Security claim it has received intelligence [sic] of the likelihood of another terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11. However the MOSSAD will likely execute the next false flag black op in Israel! Oy vey!
Is Benedict XVI a Jew? Or is he a Jew? Next we'll be told there is no tooth fairy, and that Santa Claus is your father! Hold to God's unchanging hand, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who is present with us now.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
The PC Brigade kills off Jesus Christ
September 2, 2011 — A decision to use politically correct terms—which do not mention Jesus Christ—for dates BC and AD in the new national history curriculum was an act of Christian cleansing, church leaders said yesterday.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, yesterday condemned the move as an 'intellectually absurd attempt to write Christ out of human history'. . . Full story: dailytelegraph.com.au
Comment: Australia is to remove the birth of Jesus as a reference point for dates in school history books. Under the new politically correct curriculum, the terms BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) will be replaced with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
The Common Era was originally introduced in the Sixth Century and appeared in English as early 1708. Its use is traced back to the Latin term vulgaris aerae and the English Vulgar Era. Use of the CE abbreviation was introduced by Jewish academics in the mid-19th century . . . but both still use the Gregorian calendar and the year-numbering system revolving around BC and AD . . . based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus, with AD counting the years afterwards and BC denoting the years before.
Another 'Liberation,' another Unimaginable International Criminal Tragedy
September 3, 2011 — The NATO-'liberated' country, after seven months, looks a lot like 'liberated' Iraq after eight years.
Queues of cars now wait for petrol in another oil rich country; other queues form, carrying containers for water. The multibillion dollar development of Libya's vast underground aquifers had been dubbed the 'eighth wonder of the world. Libya's water supply infrastructure has been systematically bombed throughout the country.
Shops are without food. All is: 'absolute disaster,' according to an eminent legal observer, very familiar with the country. And with electricity largely off, those seeking knowledge as to whether friends and relatives are injured, fled or dead, find the internet and phones dead.
As the injured overwhelm hospitals, many bombed, damaged or without power and pharmaceuticals. No incubators, life support machines or surgery. Another country with a modern, developed infrastructure reduced to the pre-industrial age—with the rebuilding contracts reportedly already being divvied out—in the West. . . Full story: globalresearch.ca
Arab Spring: Revolutions, Lies, and Intervention
August 31, 2011 — The Arab Spring movement also reached all the way to Libya, however, things were quite different as instead of having peaceful protests, opposition forces were picking up arms and fighting the Libyan military. Due to the then-leader of Libya, Col. Mummar Gaddafi, having never truly been a Western puppet, America launched a propaganda war to allow the US-NATO war machine to intervene in Libya on the grounds of 'humanitarian intervention.'
The question that must first be asked is why the West even wanted to intervene in Libya. The answer is because Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves and Western oil companies wanted access to them. However, there are also larger economic reasons. Months prior to the intervention, Gaddafi had called upon African and Muslim nations to adopt a single currency: the gold dinar. This would have excluded the dollar as the gold dinar would have been used to purchase goods, thus threatening the economies of Western nations. However, the creation of a gold dinar may have also empowered the people of Africa, something black activists say the US wants to avoid at all costs. . .
There was also geopolitics at work as during the war, Gaddafi 'vowed to expel Western energy companies from the country and replace them with oil firms from China, India, and Russia.' This would have effectively excluded the West from ever getting at Libya's oil. By ousting Gaddafi, the West would be able to have a puppet regime to counter Chinese and Russian moves in North Africa as well as access to Libyan oil.
What many of the media never asked until the conflict was nearing its end was who exactly were the rebels. In the Iraq war, most of the foreign fighters came from Libya and in that, 'almost all of them came from eastern Libya, the center of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion.' A Libyan rebel commander even admitted that some of his soldiers had links to Al Qaeda. . .
The hypocrisy of the West ran deep as they found an excuse to intervene in Libya, but not in Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine, or any other location where people were being oppressed by local regimes. However, Western hypocrisy was shown near the outset of the conflict when it was reported that Egypt's military had begun to ship arms to the rebels with Washington's knowledge. This clearly shows that supposed arms embargo on Libya was in reality, an embargo on Gaddafi's forces. . .
The Americans constantly denied that they had boots on the ground, yet, as usual, they were lying. . . Due to the imperialists succeeding in Libya, many are worried that the US-NATO war machine may set its sights on a new target: Syria. . . Full story: globalresearch.ca
Comment: NATO bombs itself into a country and sets up military bases and doesn't leave (globalresearch.ca).
Bankster's plan announced by Lindsay Williams and Jonathan May to bankrupt Arabs. This explains how the "greatest depression that ever was" as Bro. Branham put it, may transpire.
Al Qaeda in Syria: Jihadists Wage NATO's "Humanitarian Wars"
September 2, 2011 — What triggered the crisis in Syria? It was not the result of internal political cleavages, but rather the consequence of a deliberate plan by the US-NATO alliance to trigger social chaos, to discredit the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad and ultimately destabilize Syria as a Nation State. Since the middle of March 2011, armed Islamist groups covertly supported by Western and Israeli intelligence have conducted terrorist attacks on government buildings and acts of arson.
Amply documented: trained gunmen and snipers have targeted police, the armed forces as well as unarmed civilians. The objective of this armed insurrection is to trigger the response of the police and armed forces, including the deployment of tanks and armored vehicles with a view to eventually justifying a "humanitarian" military intervention, under NATO's "responsibility to protect" mandate.
There is certainly cause for social unrest and mass protest in Syria: unemployment has increased in recent years, social conditions have deteriorated, particularly since the adoption in 2006 of sweeping economic reforms under IMF guidance. The later include austerity measures, a freeze on wages, the deregulation of the financial system, trade reform and privatization. . . The majority of Syria's population (including the opponents of the Al Assad government) do not support the "protest movement" which is characterized by an armed insurgency. In fact quite the opposite.
Ironically, despite its authoritarian nature, there is considerable popular support for the government of President Bashar Al Assad, which is confirmed by the large pro-government rallies. . . The role of the US-NATO-Israel military alliance in triggering an armed insurrection is not addressed by the Western media. Moreover, several "progressive voices" have accepted the "NATO consensus" at face value: "a peaceful protest" which is being "violently repressed by the Syrian police and armed forces". . .
In a Christian village outside of Dara'a, in southern Syria, eye witnesses reported that twenty masked men on motorcycles opened fire on a Christian home while shouting malicious remarks against Christians in the street. According to another ICC source in Syria, churches received threatening letters during the Easter holidays telling them to join Salafi protestors or leave.
Full story: globalresearch.ca
Comment: This is further proof that the lawless (once) Christian nations are now the apostate image unto the beast. Syrian traitors (trained, armed and financed by the Turkish government) have already formed a National Salvation Council dominated by the outlawed [MI6 sponsored] Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (smh.com.au) in consultation with Turkey (the second largest military force inside NATO) and the Pentagon.
The strategy is to give the citizens and subjects of the dictatorships and monarchies in the Middle East people over to the Muslim Brotherhood as their governments are defeated in "humanitarian wars" insinuated by and prosecuted 'the City of London' (deploying NATO forces of their colonies such as Britain, France, Italy, Canada, the USA and Australia, and occupied countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea and Israel). This is their way of ensuring World War III between political Islamists and political Zionists (fighting with the blood and borrowed funds of nominally Christian nations) proceeds according to the strategy of Albert Pike's 1871 military blueprint which agrees with Bible prophecy. "Today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them" (Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, October 17, 2003).
Australia's Detention Camps
January 24, 2011 — The FEMA head came to Australia last year (see Part 1) to instruct Australians how to build detention camps for those who reject the UN global government take over when this region becomes the ASEAN Union. Recent Investigations indicate this complex was built by the UN and there's also one being built in Western Australia—Something that has been kept secret—The IMF banking cartel will take over government as it has in Argentina, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain Ireland, etc. . .
Australian people have been duped and deceived concerning the NWO, UN, CFR, take-over, the corrupt media being under the control of the IMF banking cartel, demonize any whistleblower who raises the warnings as 'conspirators'.
In this planned attack on Australia, as in all previous take-overs, FIRST the UN coerce the governments which are also corporations to sell public assets into private corporations, and buyers from the US such as Halliburton, Rockefeller, KBR, etc. then squeeze the economy, close banks, take possession of properties, enforce vaccinations, etc.
Full story: youtube.com youtube.com youtube.com.
The NWO crowd are planning YOUR tomorrow today. Take the KBR train from Adelaide to Darwin to embark for Christmas Island, a great spot to park recalcitrants from within ASEAN. Full story: youtube.com
Global Depopulation: Aggie the Traveling Agrobacterium
The Purpose of this GMO Primer is to demonstrate how genetic engineering endangers not only our food supply, but the very planet itself. These slides illustrate the genetic engineering process—what can happen when a transformed agrobacterium (Aggie) escapes into the wild and woolly plant kingdom, and how, through shedding and horizontal gene transfer, our food supply and health are at risk. . .
There are two very important risks involved in the genetic engineering of our food supply: Contamination of normal crops through shedding (cross-pollination) threatens to eliminate any non-GMO sources of food we have. Antibiotic and/or herbicide resistance and the transgene contained in these plants is horizontally transferred between other bacteria in the environment, as well as eukaryotic organisms, especially when transgenic plants are consumed.
Contamination by Shedding Shed pollen is picked up by insects, birds, or mammals, and carried to other plants. Shed pollen is also carried by the wind and spread to other plants. The transgenes from the plants that shed the pollen and the non-GM plants that receive it and are fertilized, mix together, converting the non-GM plant to a transgenic plant. Plants shed pollen in order to fertilize themselves (self-pollination), or to fertilize other plants (cross-pollination). . .
Full story: authorstream.com
Full-Blown Civil War erupts on Wall Street as Reality finally Hits
September 3, 2011 — Finally, after trillions in fraudulent activity, trillions in bailouts, trillions in printed money, billions in political bribing and billions in bonuses, the criminal cartel members on Wall Street are beginning to get what they deserve. As the Eurozone is coming apart at the seams and as the US economy grinds to a halt, the financial elite are starting to turn on each other. The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here's an extensive roundup: . . .
First up, this shockingly huge $196 billion lawsuit just filed against 17 major banks on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bank of America is severely exposed in this lawsuit. As the parent company of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch they are on the hook for $57.4 billion. JP Morgan is next in the line of fire with $33 billion. And many death spiraling European banks are facing billions in losses as well. . . Full story: ampedstatus.org
The Pale Horse Rider, the Pope, and the City of London
Question: If the horseman riding the pale horse is the pope, or whoever is pulling the strings of the Catholic church (ultimately it's Satan) then do they give the orders to the City of London?
Answer: The rider of all four horses is Satan.
He breached Adam's race after Eve was beguiled by the seed of discrepancy, spiritual Serpent's seed (Genesis 3:13; II Corinthians 11:3-4) and seduced in miscegenation with the Devil-incarnate Serpent whose physical seed conceived Cain (Genesis 3:14-16; II Corinthians 11:2; I John 3:12). By the time God shut Noah and his group into the Ark Satan had conquered the world, and slipped the physical Serpent's seed Naamah into the Ark along with the spiritual Serpent's seed Ham and his wife.
Again Satan conquered by miscegenation but principally by spiritual Serpent's seed at Babel until the Lord intervened by "the confusion of tongues" . Centuries later He made promise to Abram and separated him, but his grandson Esau who was spiritual Serpent's seed intermarried with the physical Serpent's seed, and from the time of Solomon Israel began to fall to the spiritual Serpent's seed. God dispersed the Northern Kingdom throughout the Assyrian empire, then Judah fell under thrall to spiritual Serpent's seed and He sent the nation to exile in Babylon where they adopted and instituted the spiritual Serpent's seed of Babylonian religion in what we now know as the Babylonian Talmud, but which Jesus called "the traditions of the elders which makes the Word of God of no effect" (Matthew 15:9).
John Hyrcanus, high priest and prince of the Maccabees hired mercenaries, defeated and forcibly assimilated the Edomites in 123BC. In 129BC Ammouius wrote, "The Idumeans were . . . subdued by the Jews [i.e. Judahites] and compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject to the same laws, they were called Jews." Numerically greater and predominantly physical Serpent's seed, these Edomites "were hereafter no other than Jews" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, 9:1). Hence in the days of His flesh Jesus lived in "Galilee of the Gentiles; He would not live in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill Him" (John 7:1). Spiritually, in this day Edomites are apostates of Adam's race entitled to claim the birthright but proven to be profane persons in spiritual fornication with man-made traditions against Christ the Word (Hebrews 12:16). Physically, they are predominantly Serpent's seed.
In AD740 Talmudic Jews from Babylon converted king Bulan, and his physical Serpent's seed nation adopted Judaism by decree. Originally from Lower Mongolia, they migrated to the Caucasus and established the powerful kingdom of Khazaria that fought Russia for 1,000 years until their invasion from the East side of New York City brought final victory in 1917. Meanwhile they had married into the royal and aristocratic houses of Europe, ruled the Vatican and conquered the United States and the rest of the world through subterfuge, usury and the power of the purse. Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be more meaningful once you see that Judaism and the Talmud are the antithesis of Moses and the prophets, and that the souls under the altar are Torah-believing Israelites of the Old Covenant descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not their Talmudic non-Semitic, anti-Semitic self-styled impersonators in covenant with Death (Isaiah 28:14-22; Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6:8).
Here we are at the end of the world, and Satan is again bringing genocide to Adam's race by miscegenation with the children of Cain as Moses and Jesus prophesied (Genesis 6:1-4; Matthew 24:37), and of course both natural and spiritual adultery.
Yes, I believe Rome and then the Black Nobility are at the top of the ancient pecking order, with Jewry their servant. However, I also understand apostate Jews and Rome organized the Roman Catholic church, and that from around AD1200 these self-styled Jews had intermarried all or most of the noble families of Europe and England and through the breakdown of belief and the rise of philosophies such as communism, and the spread of literacy and education across all classes, even Rome and the Black Nobility now rely as much upon the power of their wealth and martial force as they do upon religion and the law.
On the one hand is the spiritual Serpent's seed and on the other is physical Serpent's seed. God set this enmity against Adam's race to "prove" His elect, and chastise the non-elect with a view to correction, and to destroy the reprobates (Genesis 3:15).
The short answer is: Rome is at the top working hand-in hand with the City and that all three—the Judaeo-Roman Universal church, the Jew's City of London, and Judaeo-Communism, are actually Serpent's seed of one kind or both, and while they work together for mutual advantage, each is competing for mastery. Initially Rome will rule one world government by defeating Communism, but when it endeavours to suppress the MoneyPower of City, the Black Nobility will switch their allegiance to Judaeo-Communism, which will annihilate Rome and the United States, (as Brother Branham foresaw). This will lead to the destruction of all life.
The people in all of these groups are either physical and spiritual Serpent's seed, or useful idiots and thus spiritual Serpent's seed.
Zechariah Chapters Seven and Eight
I contemplated bypassing Zechariah chapters seven and eight supposing this would be historical and scarcely relevant to Christ's end-time Bride. But no, human nature does not change and Israel types the Church. Here was a moral warning, a situation not unlike Laodicea wherein the prophet discerns motive and objective and brings correction. And here Zechariah declares the future universal salvation is not restricted to Israel but includes the more numerous Gentiles. Malachi was another straight-talking prophet: "A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If I then am a father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is My fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My Name. You say, How have we despised Your Name? By offering polluted food upon My altar. And you say, How have we polluted You? By thinking that the table of the Lord may be held in contempt: when you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is that not evil? Present that to your [heathen Persian] governor; will he be pleased with you, and show you favour? asks the Lord of hosts. And now, entreat the favour of God, that He may be gracious to us. With such a gift in your hand, will He show favour to any of you, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 1:6-9).
The Israelites have returned from Babylonian captivity to the land of Palestine and God's prophets Haggai and Zechariah are attempting to encourage them—disheartened as they are by the surrounding perils and by the humble aspect of the temple—to the work of rebuilding as instructed by the Lord. In the midst of their work a delegation sent from Bethel visits to consult with the priests.
Zechariah 7:1-3, "In the fourth year of king Darius, the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, Chisleu, when the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favour of the Lord, and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, Should we weep in the fifth month, [sanctifying] ourselves by separation [from all defilements], as we have done for so many years?"
This visitation took place two years after Zechariah had received eight major consecutive visions and a direct Word from the Lord, during which time the work of rebuilding the temple had proceeded with the promise of a speedy restoration of the ancient worship in its integrity. Now the people of Bethel who had returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, having rebuilt their city (Ezra 2:28; Nehemiah 7:31-32) sent delegates to offer sacrifices and beseech the Lord's favour, and to speak with the priests regarding the propriety of continuing to observe the solemn fasts, especially that commemorating Nebuchadnezzar's razing of the city and temple on the tenth day of the fifth month.
Zechariah 7:4-7, "Then the Word of the Lord of hosts came to Zechariah, Say to all the people of the land including the priests, "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, for these seventy years, was it for Me that you fasted? Was it for Me? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? When Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and when the Negev desert in the South and the coastal plain of Shephelah were inhabited, the former prophets (Isaiah 1:16-29; Jeremiah 7:5, 23) warned that this [hypocritical] attitude would surely lead to ruin, as it has".
Here Zechariah rebukes the delegation and also the priests, "for the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the Law at his mouth: as he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 2:7) but these priests were unable to enlighten the delegates and required instruction in understanding themselves. They had become formal and public worship had become the emptiness of mere ritual which leads to hypocrisy. The delegation was from the remnant of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in Bethel where the golden calves were once set up; Zechariah discerned they were still hypocrites whose prime objective was to receive priestly approval for their religious observance of man-made ritual as a mask for their disobedience. For had they obeyed the Words and warnings of God's prophets there would have been no occasion to institute these fasts as Jerusalem and the temple would never have been destroyed (Zechariah 7:9-14). It was not sacrifice and fasting God sought, but obedience, without which their fasting was hypocrisy. The fact God was prospering construction of the new temple rising before their eyes should have caused them to rejoice, yet they were prepared to fast and mourn for the old temple destroyed eighty years beforehand.
The priests themselves needed instruction even though the fast upon which they were questioned was not a Divine appointment but had been decreed by man as was the fast of the seventh month which was observed on the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah and his companions (Jeremiah 41:1-11). It was therefore a matter of supreme indifference to the Lord whether they observed these man-made fasts, or not, just as it was entirely a personal affair whether a man ate and drank or fasted. None of these issues was observed in service to the Lord, and construction of the new temple was progressing, so was it not hypocrisy to mourn? There was in any case only ever one compulsory fast in the ritual of the Old Testament, and that was the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29), yet today the self-styled Jews observe as many as fourteen annual fasts and "by their traditions transgress and make the Commandment of God of no effect" (Matthew 15:1-9).
Denominational churches today observe annual manmade fasts, feasts and rituals like Easter and Christmas, saints' days, catechisms, christenings, nicolaitane priesthoods and false baptisms that originated in Nimrod's Babel with far greater zeal than they apply to "study to show themselves approved of God, as workmen with no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (II Timothy 2:15). Like Zechariah in his day Brother Branham directed the heart of God's elect to the faith once delivered to their fathers, for the Lord is not satisfied with ritual and cold lectionary preaching, which is what led Judah and more recently the churches of Laodicea into apostasy, and they "know it not."
Paul had the same experience and declared: "The mystery of iniquity is already at work." Galatians 4:8-11: "Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to so-called gods that did not even exist; but now when you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments to which you want to be enslaved once more? You observe days and months, festivals and years. I am afraid I have laboured over you in vain." Paul elaborates further on the subject of manpleasing and bondage in Colossians 2:13 – 4:6: "Let no man judge you in questions of food and drink, or the observance of a festival, new moon, or sabbath-keeping, which are shadows of things to come; but the Body of Christ is the substance that cast the shadow. Let no one defraud you of salvation's prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels based upon delusional visions which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind . . ."
Those religious spirits that imprisoned the souls of the Judeans in the days of Zechariah and Paul have multitudes of souls imprisoned now.
Zechariah answers the delegates' question and corrects the people: Zechariah 7:8-14, "And the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, Thus spoke the Lord of hosts, Render justice [based on the true facts without regard to personal considerations]; let everyone show lovingkindness [to the unfortunate] and mercy to his brother, and do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger [Heb. 'ger'], or the poor. Let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, turned a rebellious shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear. They made their hearts like adamant, lest they should hear the Law, and the Words which the Lord of hosts has sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. And it came to pass, that as He called out and they did not hear, so they call out and I do not hear, says the Lord of hosts; and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one even traveled through it: and the pleasant land was made desolate".
Zechariah told the people his instructions were not his personal understanding but "the Word of the Lord." Overstrained devotion to ritual observances misleads men to lay stress upon mint, anise, and cumin—legalism in dress and conduct rather than judgment and mercy—hence he exposed the hollowness of mere outward fastings then reminded them that the cause of their fathers' ruin was not inattention to ceremonial observances, but disregard to the commonsense duties of justice and humanity. The Lord requires obedience rather than sacrifice and the obstinate disobedience of Jewry today is evident in their determination to build another temple at Jerusalem. But the disobedience of professed Christians in their adamant refusal to hear the Words of the former prophets, and the vindicated "Elijah" of this day whose ministry revealed "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever—in the office of Son of man discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. . . as it was in the days of Lot," will cause Him to "smite the Earth with a curse" and they will perish in the great tribulation (Malachi 4:5-6; Luke 17:28-30; Hebrews 13:8; 4:12).
Isaiah 1:4-17 prophesied Judah's rebellion, the Captivity and desolation, and as Jesus prophesied the moral depravity and religious duplicity of modern Jerusalem (Revelation 11:8), Isaiah also compared Judah to Sodom: "Of what significance is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and with the fat of your fatted calves; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs, or he-goats. When you come to appear in My Presence, who required you to trample My courts with these offerings? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I am weary of bearing them. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they have become a burden, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands [in supplication] I will hide My eyes from you: even though you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood".
The Lord was fed up with the religious hypocrisy of the Judeans. And today He is similarly vexed with denominational worshippers. Jesus has cried out to this last age, "You have the Word. You have more Bibles than ever, but you are not doing anything about the Word except dividing and hacking it into pieces, taking what you want and leaving out what you don't want. You are not interested in LIVING it, but debating it. I would sooner you were cold or hot. If you were cold and rejected it, I could stand that. If you would get white hot to know its truth and live it, I would praise you for that. But when you simply take My Word and don't honor it, I in return must refuse to honor you. I will spue you out for you nauseate Me" (William Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 340:3). Therefore the Lord must be grieved with worshippers in the denominations that have arisen in the circle of this Message, whose people know the rhema but not the Logos of the Message and parrot, "The Prophet said"! "The Prophet said"! Not understanding what he MEANT.
Isaiah alludes to God's promise of redemption from sin by the Blood of the Lamb under the New Testament dispensation (Revelation 7:14): "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your ways from before My eyes; cease from evil; learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken".
Scarlet was a fast colour which neither dew nor rain nor washing would remove; hence it is used as a metaphor for the fixedness and permanency of sins in the heart of man. No human means will wash them out. No effort of man, no external rites, no tears, no sacrifice, no prayers are of themselves sufficient to wash away that stain.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!
That dilatory spirit on the Judeans in the days of Malachi led the Jewish church to crucify the Son of Man four hundred years thence; the same spirit today is leading the Gentile churches to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.
We have to say the right thing to God, which means we must have His mind in us. We need to distinguish and correctly place the dispensations of Son of man, Son of God, Son of man, and Son of David if we are to recognize our day and its Message. How can we call upon Him if we do not know whether He is working in the Office of Prophet, Priest, or King, as typed in the Old Testament? Brother Branham said, "Jesus, His Name on earth was Redeemer, Jesus. When He was on earth, He was the Redeemer; that's true. But when He conquered death and hell, and overcome them, and ascended on high, He received a new Name. That's the reason they holler the way they do and don't get nothing; it'll be revealed in the thunders. See" (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p. 158:3)?
Zechariah had rebuked the people for their formalistic self-works that brought "great wrath from the Lord of hosts" as the dreadful consequence of disobedience through carnal reasoning against the revealed Word of God, since perpetuated in the Babylonian Talmud by recalcitrant Jews. God did not want them to abandon the activities ordained in His Word but to align their hearts to His revealed will, and as Isaiah said: if when reasoning is concluded they submit to Him, by grace through faith He will transform their desires into the substance of things hoped for. He does not want you to try your best to obey His Word but to trust, obey, and yield soul, spirit and body to Him. There is nothing man can of himself do for the Lord. He wants the preeminence to live through you and accomplish for you. This alone will bring the Token on display whereby His Life is "known and read of all men".
After urging the Israelites to obedience by the fate of their fathers, Zechariah in chapter eight urges them to obedience by promises of coming prosperity vouchsafed by a decalogue of "Thus saith the Lords." Naturally, the promises pertain to the ongoing restoration of the nation; spiritually they will come to pass "in the last days" or Messianic age of redemption and completion when the Kingdom is extended to we Gentiles.
Zechariah 8:1-8, "And the Word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great fury [against her oppressors] I am jealous for her. Thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called the city of Truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 2:2-3) the holy mountain" (Jeremiah 31:23).
The glory of the Lord departed the Temple when Jerusalem yielded to her foes (Ezekiel 11:23). His absence had caused all of Israel's woes and His return is the one sure pledge of permanent restoration (Psalm 46). The beginning and indispensable condition of all true prosperity is the Presence of the Lord. Now He has decreed His determination to return to Zion, and Jerusalem was certainly the place where Truth was found for God only meets man under the blood of the lamb so that Jerusalem was then God's only provided place of worship (Deuteronomy 16:2, 16). However the strict fulfillment of this promise must be referred to the Messianic period for the glory of the Lord never returned in the form of the Shekinah and in the bodily form of Messiah—the Logos and Truth of God manifest (John 17:17), His glory was despised and rejected.
The Shekinah will not return to Jerusalem until it manifests unrecognized above the Mount of Olives signifying the end of the Gentile dispensation and Christ's second or 'parousia' Coming to Israel to take residence in the millennium temple of 144,000 elect Israelites after the midst of Daniel's Seventieth week (Ezekiel 43:1 – 48:35; Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5; 15:2-4; 19:1-9). Throughout the millennium, as in the renewed heavens and renewed Earth, the Shekinah will overshadow God's dwelling place, which is New Jerusalem, His elect called Jehovah-Shammah: "The Lord is there" (Ezekiel 48:35).
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets".
The future restoration of Israel is portrayed in all security and happiness. Long life and a numerous progeny were ordinary theocratic blessings as temporal rewards of obedience (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 7:13-14).
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because this will appear in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days so difficult as to be incredible, should it be unbelievable in My eyes also that I should be able to fulfill My promises because of natural circumstances? says the Lord of hosts." A great source of unbelief is the limitations men place upon God's power. Faith is righteousness, sin is righteousness perverted to unbelief in God's revealed Word.
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save My people [from all lands as far as the Sun shines] from the land of the sunrise and from the land of the sunset; and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness".
Zechariah proceeds to encourage the Judeans of his day on the basis of these promises. However there is certainly no historical evidence of a general return of the disapora to Palestine and this promise must be restricted to the time of Daniel's Seventieth Week (Psalm 17:7; Isaiah 6:10-13; 11:11-16; 13:14; 27:13; 49:17; Jeremiah 3:12, 18; 16:15; 23:8; 31:8; Ezekiel 37:14; 39:27; Micah 5:3; Zechariah 10:9-12; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 12:14, etc,). Only then God will reconfirm His New Covenant (Jeremiah 31; Daniel 9:27) through the ministry of the two Hebrew witnesses promised in Zechariah 4 and Revelation 11.
Zechariah 8:9-13, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who in these days hear these Words from the mouth of the prophets, since the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be rebuilt. For before those days there was no wage for man, nor hire for beast; neither was there any peace for anyone going out or coming in because of the enemy: for I had set every man against his neighbour. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the Lord of hosts. For I am sowing the seed of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And as you were a byword of cursing among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong".
To have strong hands is a metaphor meaning "to be of good courage" (Judges 7:11; II Samuel 16:21). In this instance because God is "jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great fury [against her oppressors] I am jealous for her" as declared by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah on "the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid that the temple might be rebuilt." Construction was disrupted by the Samaritans throughout the reigns of Cyrus and Darius, and in the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus (Ezra 4), so there was great unemployment and insecurity both within the city and in the country where it was no longer safe to farm. But now that the Lord is bringing peace and Judah will prosper, rather than being an imprecatory formula, it will be a formula of benediction among the heathen. The distinct mention of "Judah" and "Israel" here proves there has as yet been no general return of the disapora to Palestine as we commented on verse eight.
Zechariah 8:14-17, "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I repented not: so have I thought again in these days to do well to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear not. These are the things that you shall do; Speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and justice, leading to peace in your gates. Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these are things I hate, says the Lord".
God's Word is true, just as His threatened chastisements did not fail to befall the nation when their fathers failed to repent, so His blessings are assured so long as Judah obeys his instructions. "For all these are things I hate," and in conformity to God's nature, we should love what God loves and hate what God hates.
Zechariah 8:18-23, "And the Word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace".
Here begins the second "Word of the Lord of hosts" to Zechariah (8:1). And here the prophet answers the enquiry of the delegation from Bethel in Zechariah 7:3 concerning the fast in the fifth month commemorating Nebuchadnezzar's razing of the city and temple by a reply applying to all of their fasts—the fast of the fourth month in commemoration of the overthrow of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 39:2), the fast of the seventh month in commemoration of the murder of Gedaliah and his companions (Jeremiah 41:1-11), and the fast of the tenth month in commemoration of the commencement of the siege (Jeremiah 52:4)—are to be turned into festivals of joy because the general condition of Judah and Jerusalem will be blessed with such happiness and prosperity as to render fasting inappropriate.
On the day of Pentecost, which inaugurated "the acceptable year of the Lord" or Pentecostal jubilee and release from sin (Isaiah 61:2), ritual fasting including the Day of Atonement was done away, for by one sacrifice for sins Jesus Messiah took away the Law of the Old Testament that He may establish the New Testament of good things to come as witnessed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost which puts God's laws into our hearts and into our minds and remits our sins so that there is no more offering for sin (Hebrews 10:7-20).
When Israel crucified Messiah the nation rejected its Atonement and the Lord ceased dealing with Israel until the Gentile dispensation is fulfilled (Romans 11:25). We will discover as we progress through Zechariah's prophecies how the elect of Israel will truly weep, sanctifying one another by separation from all defilements, when they catch the revelation of Christ's 'parousia' Coming to them after the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week. "And they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10; Leviticus 16:29-31; Acts 1:7).
The Holy Spirit will quicken the Message that was delivered by Israel's "Moses" and "Elijah" "to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a laurel wreath instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called oaks of righteousness planted by the Lord for His own glory. And [in the millennium] they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. . ." (Isaiah 61:3-4).
"And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah 35:10). Glory!
Zechariah 8:20-22, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities; the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to beseech the favour of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I too will go. And many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the Lord".
Stimulation of revelation! The Lord is emphatic, notwithstanding all past desolations, yet this will come to pass. And peoples, not merely individuals, but entire nations will embrace Christianity, although the general exhortation, "Let us go speedily" leads to the individual affirmation, "I too will go." This is vouchsafed by the preface "Thus saith the Lord." Just before Christ's Coming, a sense of the inadequacy of their systems of philosophy and religion grew up among the heathen which disposed them favorably towards Yahwism embraced by proselytes from various parts of Asia who in turn embraced the fulfillment of its prophecies when Christianity was preached to them (Acts 2:5-12, 37-47; 10:34-48; 13:46-48; Romans 11:12-15; Isaiah 60:1-5; 66:23).
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt [by the fringe and blue ribbon upon it which was a distinguishing badge of an Israelite (Numbers 15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12)], saying, We will go with you [to Jerusalem]: for we have heard that God is with you".
Prior to Calvary it was necessary for all adult males to assemble in Jerusalem for worship three times in the year: in the feast of Unleavened Bread, in the feast of Weeks, and in the feast of Tabernacles. Hence Zechariah describes the Gentile converts as seeking the Lord in Jerusalem where the blood of the Pascal lamb was shed; no Israelite could conceive of real conversion except one had come under the blood of the lamb (Deuteronomy 16:16). Thus the glorious conversions of Gentile nations throughout all Seven Church Ages of the Gentile dispensation foretold by Israel's prophets for Israelite ears were presented throughout the Old Testament in harmony with Jewish conceptions.
Zechariah reveals that future universal salvation is not restricted to Israel alone but the nations of the Gentiles as well, and that the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel will lead to the removal of all the fasts that mourn their refusal to heed the Word of God in the past. Revelation 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away". nl702.htm
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