Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Ezekiel Chapter 35 - Part II

Bible Believers' Newsletter 735

"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.

When you visit our Church Website you have the option of viewing "The Second Coming of Christ" or visiting the files. This is not the literal, physical return of the glorified Man from Galilee, His precious feet will not touch this earth before the millennium. This introduces His second or 'parousia' Coming promised throughout the New Testament. To view the presentation on-line, please click the image. If you would like to receive a free PowerPoint presentation on CD which you may study and copy for Christian friends and loved ones, please advise your postal address and we will send it in the mail.

This week we review our exposition of Ezekiel 35 and progress to chapter 36 which is a continuation of the present great theme of the prophet—Israel's prospective revival and prosperity as the Lord's Covenant nation—always with respect to the Messianic promises in connection with the millennial reign of the Good Shepherd in the office of Son of David. True Israel is contrasted with Edom, which is representative of the end-time apostasy of all of the (once) Christian nations of heathendom, including YOUR nation, which ever it is.

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.

Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott


State Propaganda, Historical Revisionism, and Perpetuation of the 9/11 Myth

May 6, 2012 — In the immediate wake of President Obama's May 1, 2011 announcement of the alleged extrajudicial killing of Osama bin Laden by US military forces, a struggle reemerged over the official 9/11 myth that major journalistic outlets have been complicit in perpetuating over the past decade. The corporate media's reaction to the robust skepticism over bin Laden's assumed execution suggested a great deal about the extent to which they are locked in to upholding the broader 9/11 parable and serving the Anglo-American political-economic establishment and status quo.

Osama bin LadenAfter Obama's statement on bin Laden's fate citizen journalists and activists employing blogs and social media posed questions that should have been asked by professional journalists—specifically pointing to the need for further evidence supporting the president's claims and the Obama administration's curiously inconsistent description of events. Many cited reports and commentary by mainstream news outlets, such as CBS, CNN, and The New York Times, quoting government sources that bin Laden was in failing health and likely died in December 2001. Nevertheless, once a lie has been put in to motion and accepted as truth by the intellectual class it often becomes a de facto reality the broader society is obliged to endure, for better or worse.

In 2005 author and media critic Norman Solomon contacted the Washington Post to inquire whether its reporting of the 1964 Tonkin Gulf incident alleging the North Vietnamese attacked US ships was ever retracted. Though later proven false. "I can assure you that there was never any retraction," said Murray Marder, who wrote much of the Washington Post's coverage of August 1964 events in the Gulf of Tonkin. . . A similar dynamic is at play in defending the 9/11 myth. Yet today public skepticism more forcefully presents itself as an unmanageable chorus of disbelief through the internet. . .

Intellectual cowardice is reinforced by a set of circumstances whereby even if alternative accounts questioning the official line are exhaustively researched and documented with credible information and sources, mobilization of the “conspiracy theory” label by state censors and their journalistic accomplices will render the counter-arguments suspect. And, in an on-the-go culture where citizens are heavily reliant for information on headlines and sound-bites versus deliberate analysis, such lines of reasoning are destined for the memory hole. Full story: globalresearch.ca

Comment: Like religion, modern history is composed of media lies and propaganda repeated into unbending tradition. "So you see, my dear Conningsby, the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes" (Benjamin Disraeli, Conningsby).


DHS Informant: 'We are Preparing for Massive Civil War'

May 3, 2012 — "Folks, we're getting ready for one massive economic collapse," [Doug] Hagmann told TruNews host Rick Wiles. "We have problems . . . The federal government is preparing for civil uprising," he added, "so every time you hear about troop movements, every time you hear about movements of military equipment, the militarization of the police, the buying of the ammunition, all of this is . . . they (DHS) are preparing for a massive uprising."

Hagmann goes on to say that his sources tell him the concerns of the DHS stem from a collapse of the US dollar and the hyperinflation a collapse in the value of the world's primary reserve currency implies to a nation of 311 million Americans, who, for the significant portion of the population, is armed. . .

Through his sources, Hagmann confirmed Rickard's ongoing thesis of a fear of a US dollar collapse at the hands of the Chinese (US treasury bond holders of approximately $1 trillion) and, possibly, the Russians (threatening to launch a gold-backed ruble as an attractive alternative to the US dollar) in retaliation for aggressive US foreign policy initiatives against China's and Russia's strategic allies Iran and Syria. . .

Escalating preparatory activities by the executive branch and DHS throughout the last decade—from the Patriot Act, to countless executive orders drafted to suspend (or strip) American civil liberties "are just the beginning" of the nightmare to come, Hagmann said. He added, "It's going to get so much worse toward the election, and I'm not even sure we're going to have an election in this country. . . Full story: beaconequity.com

Comment: "A shocking US Army manual that describes how political activists in prison camps will be indoctrinated by specially assigned psychological operations officers contains numerous clear references to the fact that the policies do apply domestically to US citizens."

Because of 'the rising potential for civil disobedience within the inner cities' it is 'inevitable' the US Military will be employed more often within American borders. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced US Military wants to 'microchip' troops.


How Hitler defied the Bankers!

March 15, 2012 — When Hitler came to power, Germany was hopelessly broke. The Treaty of Versailles had imposed crushing reparations on the German people, demanding that Germans repay every nation's costs of the war. These costs totaled three times the value of all the property in Germany.

worthless hyperinflated US$100 notesPrivate currency speculators caused the German mark to plummet, precipitating one of the worst runaway inflations in modern times. A wheelbarrow full of 100 billion-mark banknotes could not buy a loaf of bread. The national treasury was empty. Countless homes and farms were lost to speculators and to private (Jewish controlled) banks. Germans lived in hovels. They were starving. . . On top of this came a global depression. Germany had no choice but to succumb to debt slavery under international (mainly Jewish) bankers until 1933, when the National Socialists came to power. . .

Within two years, the unemployment problem had been solved, and Germany was back on its feet. It had a solid, stable currency, with no debt, and no inflation, at a time when millions of people in the United States and other Western countries (controlled by international bankers) were still out of work. Within five years, Germany went from the poorest nation in Europe to the richest.

Germany even managed to restore foreign trade, despite the international bankers' denial of foreign credit to Germany, and despite the global boycott by Jewish-owned industries. Germany succeeded in this by exchanging equipment and commodities directly with other countries, using a barter system that cut the bankers out of the picture. Germany flourished, since barter eliminates national debt and trade deficits. (Venezuela does the same thing today when it trades oil for commodities, plus medical help, and so on. Hence the bankers are trying to squeeze Venezuela). . .
Full story: northerntruthseeker.blogspot.com.au


Journalist accuses Israel of Fukushima Sabotage

FukushimaOctober 14, 2011 — According to Yoishi Shimatsu, a former editor of Japan Times Weekly, these nuclear materials were shipped to the plant in 2007 on the orders of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, with the connivance of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The shipment was in the form of warhead cores secretly removed from the US nuclear warheads facility BWXT Plantex near Amarillo, Texas. While acting as middleman, Israel transported warheads from the port of Houston, and in the process kept the best while giving the Japanese older warhead cores that had to be further enriched at Fukushima.

Shimatsu credits retired CIA agent and mercenary Roland Vincent Carnaby with learning the warheads were being transported from Houston. In a strange twist, Carnaby was mysteriously shot dead less than a year later by Houston police at a traffic stop. He was shot once in the back and once in the chest. He did not have a weapon in his hands. Intelligence sources said he had been tracking a Mossad unit that was smuggling US plutonium out of Houston docks for an Israeli nuclear reactor.

In an even more explosive charge, the journalist says that 20 minutes before the Fukushima plant's nuclear meltdown, Israel was so upset with Japanese support for a Palestinian declaration of statehood that it double-crossed Japan by unleashing the Stuxnet virus on the plant's computers. The virus hampered the shutdown, leading to fallout from a section of the plant housing uranium and plutonium retrieved from the warheads supplied in 2007.

FukushimaWhile it is impossible to verify some of Shimatsu's claims, there was a massive cover-up at the time of the Fukushima disaster in March [image Reactor 4]. Explosions at the site were immediately downplayed. While it was subsequently reported that three reactors suffered meltdowns, Japanese authorities tried to rate the disaster as a Level 4 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, although outside experts declared it a 7, which is the highest level. . . A factor that undoubtedly would have encouraged the Bush-Cheney White House to provide Japan with the means to secretly build nukes was the growing power of China... Full story: americanfreepress.net

Comment: As the late Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke Petersen would say, "Don't you worry about that." Keep your eyes on God's Word for the sinking of Los Angeles and the cleaving of the Mount of Olives at the close of our dispensation.


The Greatest Story ever denied: Interdimensional Reality

April 15, 2012 — In this two hour video, film maker Jose Escamilla interviews retired US military men who had higher security clearances that any of the presidents of the United States to the military-Industrial Complex which is part of the invisible government that rules this world and flies UFOs generations ahead of known technology, including over unity. The energy industry will not disclose knowhow to the public. NASA scientists and astronauts are introduced and 1970s plans for the invasion of Iraq are disclosed. There is considerable footage of interdimensional life as well as UFOs and the HOAX of the Moon landing is discussed. Full story: youtube.com   Comment: Also see related files on biblebelievers.org.au


To all Friendly Atheists & Agnostics

April 13, 2012 — The following references will provide positive information to what I have stated below; 'The Holographic Universe is an illusion, but consciousness isn't.' 'Beige the Colour of the Universe,' Holographic & Spherical Universe—Scientific America (August, 2003), fractal crystals and Wikipedia on fractals, and note the 'Koch snowflake' fractal.

Can the atheists or agnostics prove atheism? Can they also satisfactorily explain why time remains stable? or why there are uniform, 'universal laws of physics'—such as, the speed of light or makeup of elements?

Some take for granted everything works by mere chance. . . dreamers!

Time must exist before matter can be created, and only an animate entity can conceive of space-time. Time must be a stabilized and uniform condition before matter can form, thus Monotheism is a Truth.

The Universe consists of space-time; which is functionally active and growing but remains stable. These combined characteristics are indicative of an animate entity only, thus Pantheism is a fact. [???]

As a consequence, all mortals' behaviours and attitudes become conspicuous by our Creator.

Reality is the dream of a Universal sentient being. Sensations of all mortals are merely light flashes within elongated fractal crystals, flowing in a white mist which is time itself; ensconced within a beige coloured and velvet textured Pearl, that is, a holographic universe.

If all electrical particles were in different time zones—matter would not form, thus time is a controlled electromagnetic radiation (energy) E = mc2. To be perfect—one must know the past, present and future, there is only one, the One who created Time. Full story: johnberbatisau@hotmail.com


Ezekiel 35 – Part II


In Genesis 35:11 El Shaddai promised Jacob: "A nation [Israel] and company of nations [the federation of Israel's twelve tribal states] shall come from you, and kings shall come out of your loins." Esau "lived by his sword"—war, pillage and robbery supported him and marked the character of his descendants is a barren country, the antithesis of the fruitful land of Jacob. But Genesis 36:31-39 informs us that eight kings reigned over Edom before Israel's first king, so it would seem that "the wicked prosper"; the prosperity of the children of this world is often immediate and brilliant but it is temporal, materialistic and transitory, while that of the children of Light is slower in coming in order to try belief and mature faith as character is not a gift but a victory that must be won by the Overcomer. But faith in the revealed Word of God endures and abides forever (I Peter 1:23), and of the Kingdom of Israel's King Jesus Messiah there will be no end (Luke 1:33).

In commending "the unjust steward, because he had done wisely [or prudently in his own interest] his master observed: the children of this world are in their generation [or race alike in endowments, pursuits, and character; especially in the bad sense of a perverse race like Cain's accursed lineage] wiser [more intelligent, being prudent or mindful of their own interests] than the children of Light [truth and revelation]" (Luke 16:8). In His parable Jesus was unfolding the character of the Edomites to His disciples, and verse 14 states that "these idolaters heard all these things: and they derided Him. And Jesus said to them, You are such as the unjust steward; you justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." The Babylonian Talmud imparts the equivocating loopholes by which of which these hypocrites justify themselves before men with the distorted pietism of Judaism (then called Pharisaism) and pretend to follow Moses and the Prophets.

The Roman Catholic church organized in AD325 at the First Nicaea Council by "the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" presents Judaeo-Catholics with similar loopholes of equivocation in a false baptism, false new birth, confirmation, the worship of pagan gods and the deceased, a papal substitute for the Holy Spirit, novenas, mythical purgatory, indulgences, unction, nicolaitane priesthood, Balaamism, confession to men, and the bloodthirsty martyrdom of over sixty million Christians.

In looking forward to the restoration of true Israel as a nation and the blessings of their elect IN Christ, God's curse is not so much upon the ignorant heathen world as a whole of whom multitudes whose names remain in the Book of Life will be granted into salvation by the saints at the White Throne judgment, but against the antichristian world within counterfeit Israel that stands against them as their type, Edom and the neighbouring nations stood against Israel, and resemble Edom's "perpetual hatred" (Ezekiel 36:7; Genesis 3:15).

The Jewish Encyclopedia says that "Edom is in Modern Jewry." This witness from the 1905 edition records the connection between modern day Jews and the race of Edom: "Some anthropologists are inclined to associate the racial origins of the Jews, not with the Semites, whose language they adopted, but with the Armenians and Hittites of Mesopotamia, whose broad skulls and curved noses they appear to have inherited" (Vol. X, p. 284). (This is corroborated by The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925, Vol. 5, p. 41; The Biblica Enclyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 1187; Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971) Vol. 6, p. 378; and The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (1977) p. 589). Thus Esau/Edom was now absorbed into the Canaanite people by means of his Hittite and Hivite wives. And according to Strong's Concordance the word Canaan means "trader or merchant" and the Phoenicians as Canaanites are derived from Ham's incestuous relationship with Naamah the sister of Tubalcain, the wife Noah took with him in the Ark (Genesis 9:18-27; 10:6, 15-19).

Owing to the intermarriage of their forefathers with Canaanites, there were probably few Israelites without Phoenician, that is, Serpent's seed blood in their veins. Judges 3:5-6, "The children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods." The Jews claimed to be the children of Abraham: that they were not true children of Abraham is certain when they say that they were never in bondage (John 8:32-33; Matthew 23:33-36).

In Ezekiel 35 Israel's Light is set in contrast with the Darkness of Edom's "perpetual hatred" against Esau's brother Jacob. And as Brother Branham said, "Israel types the Church," but also the church. As Israel in its apostasy united with Edom both naturally and spiritually, and Edom was predominantly physical and spiritual Serpent's seed, and more numerous than the Judahites, these Edomites "were hereafter no other than Jews" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, 9:1). This union emulated the miscegenation of the days of Noah for which God destroyed the world, and types the miscegenation prophesied for today (Matthew 24:37) called multiculturalism in the natural and ecumenism in the spiritual whereby the Absolute of God's unchanging Word is compromised all are called Christians when we do not share the "common faith," or all French, Americans, Australians or Germans and our nations are no longer one homogenous kindred race.

As God commanded Israel, "the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:39), He commanded Christians to separate from worldly people and not reckoned among the denomi-nations (II Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 5:17; Titus 3:9-11; Revelation 18:4).

II Thessalonians 1:6-10, "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints [the wise virgin], and to be admired in all them that believe [the foolish virgin] (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day".

Thus God contrasts Seir, the mountains of Edom with Zion, the mountains of Israel, promising to fill Esau's mountains with his slain men and He continues the metaphor in Ezekiel 35:8, 15; 36:4, 8, 12; 37:22; 38:8. Edom regarded the separated Israel and Judah as Goyim, and took to account Israel's sin regarding Jacob's injury to Esau but took no account of grace and the nation's eternal destiny guaranteed by God's Covenant. This was Edom's active atheism and heathen unbelief. Practical atheism in both cases.

In Ezekiel 35:10-15 God tells Edom, "Because you have said, 'These two nations and these two countries [Israel and Judah] shall be mine, and we will possess it, although the Lord was there.' Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy which you showed out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. And you will know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all the revilings which you have uttered against the mountains of Israel saying, 'They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour.' And you have boasted against Me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against Me: I have heard it."

Verses 14 to 15 are the key: "Thus saith the Lord God, When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I deal with you: you shall become desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord." These things could only meet their full and final accomplishment in Christ as they are of a higher order than anything that could be accomplished under the curse of the Law which was a temporary measure to chastise, teach and bring Israel to Christ that an election might be justified by grace through faith (I Chronicles 16:31; Psalm 97:1; Galatians 3:24). In Genesis 12:3 Abraham is to be a blessing "to all the [Adamic] families of the earth, through his Seed who is Christ" (Galatians 3:27-29).

"Mount Seir, and all Edom—all of it"—is contrasted to the inheritance of the house of Israel as "rejoice" and desolate" correspond to one another, for instead of joy all Edom will become desolate. Deuteronomy 32:43 (LXX), "Rejoice, you heavens, with Him, and let all the angels of God worship Him; rejoice you nations, with His people, and let all the Sons of God strengthen themselves in Him; for He will avenge the blood of His Sons, and He will render vengeance, and recompense justice to His enemies, and will repay them that hate Him; and the Lord shall purge the land of His people"  (Isaiah 42:10-25).

As we discovered in Newsletter 734, in Daniel's Seventieth Week the whole apostate world will be as Edom: the "saved" and even the 144,000 elect Israelites will be martyred. The subject of rejoicing will be the glorious salvation that comes that comes to Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Revelation 14:1-3, "Then . . . (write your name here) . . . looked and on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty four thousand who had His Father's Name written in their foreheads. And I heard a Voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders: and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth." Like the song of Moses theirs will be a revelation—the revelation of Israel's Seven Trumpet mysteries only the 144,000 can receive.

This review of chapter 35 leads us to chapter 36 which continues the prophet's theme of Israel's prospective revival and the essential distinction between Israel and Edom typing the apostasy of all of the (once) Christian nations of heathendom, including YOUR nation, whichever it is, because God concludes them all in unbelief (Romans 11:32; Galatians 3:22). That knocks British Israel/Christian Identity theory out of the water! Zechariah 14:1-2, "Behold the day of the Lord comes . . . I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. . ." The nation of Israel comprising an election of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is distinguished from Edom, Britain, the USA, Kenya, Russia and every other heathen nation, in that Israel has a Covenant with God ensuring it must revive and flourish after chastisement (Hebrews 12:5-8), so that the heathen's hope of securing possession of the elect nation's inheritance must fail, and they themselves be made desolate. Ultimately Edom types every nation, hence the Babylonian Talmud calls Rome Edom, and Rome will rule the world to the consummation, while the Bible calls the self-styled "Jews" heathens since they are impersonators of the children of Israel and the faith of Moses and the prophets. So-called "Jews" are excluded from God's Covenant with Israel and all who are not baptized into Christ before the manifestation of the Sixth Seal and Seventh Trump will have no place in the new Jerusalem.

As in the former chapter the Lord spoke to Mount Seir personified as "all Idumea," here He personates the "mountains of Israel—specifically the ancient high places" of Zion and His Temple, the seat of everlasting dominion in the new heavens and new earth. Whereas "the everlasting hills" (Genesis 49:26) of Israel's elevation are moral and Spiritual, not merely material and physical like Edom's greater heights, "the enemy" representative of all of God's foes. Hence when Judah's inheritance was vacated by the exile of its inhabitants to Assyria and Babylon the Edomites exclaimed "Aha!" and claimed their Brother Israel's estate as if they had come to an end despite the Covenant and God's promise that after seventy years they would return from Babylon. As the brother of their father Israel, Esau/Edom is a nearer kinsman than Jesus Messiah whom Israel rejected and murdered like Joseph before Him. Moses prophesied Israel's idolatry, dispossession and tribulations to the return and redemption of their 144,000 elect in "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Deuteronomy 32:1-43).

Throughout this chapter Ezekiel qualifies his prophecy with "THUS SAITH THE LORD" to silence any gainsaying of the Adversary and to contradict what eyes tell doubting hearts. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all parts of the land is implied: inanimate hills, rivers, desolate wastes and forsaken cities are personified and addressed, implying "the whole creation groans and travails in pain together . . . for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:19-21). And the Lord swears that Edom and the neighbouring heathens shall perpetually bear the shame of their reproach against Himself, the people and the land of the Covenant. Their enmity against Israel in not merely on account of Jacob's injury to their father, but on account of their heritage through his Canaanite wives, placing them in Cain's race which God set at enmity with Adam's race (Genesis 3:15).

Verses 6 to 15 declare a change of roles with honour restored to the land and people of the Covenant (Ezekiel 25:11-14). "You, mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My people of Israel; for they will soon be coming home [twenty of the seventy years had already elapsed (Jeremiah 23:21), and the return from Babylon is an earnest of millennium blessings (Acts 1:6)]. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men on you—the whole house of Israel—all of it: and the cities will be inhabited, and the wastes rebuilt: I will multiply both man and beast in the land; and they will increase and be fruitful: and I will populate you as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before: and you will know that I am the Lord".

Verses 10 to 15 refer to (Isaiah 58:12; 61:4 and) Amos 9:11-14 studied in Newsletter 734, and Ezekiel 34:23,24 which we studied in Newsletter 733, where the Son of David, Jesus Messiah was introduced in connection with the millennial reign and restoration of the Good Shepherd. Thereafter the Israelites will possess and walk upon Mount Zion which shall no longer provoke God to bereave them of children (Jeremiah 15:7) as it shall be their inheritance and in the millennium there will be no more stumbling, the consequence of sin and cause of Israel's downfall and judicial punishments, sterility, pestilence, famine, and war.

The Lord overcame and dispossessed the Canaanites because they were an accursed race and He warned Israel: "You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, and do none of these abominations; neither the native nor any stranger who sojourns among you: (for the men of the land who were before you did all of these abominations so that the land became defiled); lest the land vomit you out, when you defile it, as it disgorged the nation that preceded you" (Leviticus 18:26-28; Numbers 35:34; Jeremiah 2:7).

Verses 16-21 trace the reason for the period of Israel's chastisement as if their connection with the Lord was a curse rather than a blessing to their incorrigible wickedness, and the necessity of God vindicating the cause of His holiness by exercising on them the severity of His displeasure at Israel's sin and the profanation of His Name. Israel was to be holy, separated from the nations and spiritually as clean as the driven snow but they themselves went to the heathen, profaning the Name of the Lord as in their own land, and giving the heathen a handle of reproach against God. "When they came to the nations whither they went, they profaned My holy Name. Naturally the heathen said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord who take usury, oppress, commit adultery, murder and idolatry and who, in such an abject plight, are "gone forth [as exiles] out of His land," as specimens of what Jehovah can or will effect for His people, and show what kind of God this so-called holy, omnipotent, Covenant-keeping God must be (Isaiah 52:5; Romans 2:24)'." As the Jews are the initiators of the desecration, although the heathen certainly desecrated His Name in their lips, they are not looked upon as desecrators of His holiness (Romans 2:24-29). Israelites like us Christians were God's representatives to the world, "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; to the praise of Him who has called us out of Darkness into His marvelous Light"

Verses 22-33 show that the purpose of the Lord is for Israel's good (Romans 8:28), but their sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own Name" as the God of Covenant grace (Psalms 106:45), which He must vindicate from the dishonor brought upon it by the Jews before the heathen. Hereby He will revive His cause among His people, and in the most effectual manner, by first renewing their hearts to holiness, and then restoring them to flourishing conditions outwardly.

He will sanctify Himself before the eyes of the rest of the world by taking and gathering them out of all nations and countries and placing them again as His people in the land of the Covenant. The return from Babylon was an earnest of this but though they put away literal idolatry they brought with them the Babylonian Talmud, the antithesis of the Law and the prophets "that makes the commandments of God of none effect" (Matthew 15:9). That took such a hold on them that when the Word of God manifest in Jesus Messiah, the nation called His blood upon their own heads and on the heads of their children as it is today (Matthew 27:25). "Cleansing from all their idols" such as covetousness which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5), and prejudices against Jesus Messiah which is blasphemy as He is God—both commended by the Talmud—await the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week.

Throughout this Book Ezekiel is addressing the Israel nation and not individual Israelites although we recognize Romans 9:6-7, "It is not as though the Word of God has taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel, [and that eliminates Israelites from the election merely because their lineage from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is unsullied]: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, 'In Isaac shall Your seed be called,' [and this eliminates Ishmaelites, Edomite and Khazar self-styled Jews from the Old Covenant]".

"When I the Lord God am sanctified [vindicated and manifest as holy] in the eyes of the Judeans in opposition to the heathen reproach upon My holiness brought on by the Jews' sins and their chastisement, then I will be regarded in your eyes as the Holy One, and righteous in My dealings towards you." God's self-sanctification is fulfilled primarily in the return from Babylon; this act forgave, justified and sanctified Israel before the heathen; but ultimately in the restoration "from all countries" in the first half of Daniel's Seventieth Week. His self-sanctification makes observable the infinite grandeur as well as the omnipotence which are able to secure due regard for themselves:

Malachi 1:11, "For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered to My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, says the Lord of hosts".

Next Israel is brought to its own land, the forgiveness of sin thereby proclaimed and where it is sanctified in its separation from the surrounding heathen nations (verse 25). Then the heathen, understanding from their regenerated lives how holy God is, would perceive Israel's past troubles to have been only the necessary vindications of His righteousness. Thus God's name would be "sanctified" before the heathen, and His people prepared for outward blessings.

Moses prophesied, "Israel has moved Me to jealousy with their idols: and I will move them to jealousy with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation" (Deuteronomy 32:21). As Paul expounded in Romans 10:19 and 11:11, "that through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy".

The sprinkling of clean water is signified as an act consecration. Jesus told Nicodemus "Except a man be born-again by water and the Spirit, He cannot enter the Kingdom of God . . . a truth a master of Israel should know" (John 3:5, 10). For Ezekiel clearly taught that Israel had to have a new heart and spirit and be sprinkled with clear water by the Spirit of God, and John the Baptist unquestionably adopted it to his rite of lustration.

Verses 26-27, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them." The partial reformation at the return from Babylon was an earnest of the full renewal "in the last days" of redemption and completion under Messiah so that the Christian truth of the prophecies is to be regarded as their true and full reality (Joel 2:28).

From verse 29 we might see the Messianic promise of Matthew 1:21, "She shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins," harking back to the Messianic promise of the Good Shepherd, David's greater Son in Ezekiel 34:22-24 as described in Newsletter 733.htm. However, if the New Testament regeneration were to be sought here we would rather expect to witness joy in the Spirit.

The outcome of the foregoing will impress upon minds of the heathen the power and goodness of God manifested so palpably towards the restored people with bounteous harvests and heartfelt remorse (36:30-38). The heathen once made Israel's desolation a ground of reproach against the Name of the Lord (verses 20-21); but since He has vindicated its sanctity (verses 22-23), and Israel once desolate is to be as "the garden of Eden," these same heathen are constrained to acknowledge Israel's more than renewed blessedness to be God's own work, and a ground for glorifying His Name (verses 35-36; Isaiah 51:3).

Whereas the Lord had refused to be inquired of by Israel when the people were not in a fit condition to receive a blessing (14:3; 20:3), hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon (Nehemiah 8:1 – 9:38; Daniel 9:3-23), God will prepare His people's hearts (verse 26) to pray aright for the blessings He is about to give, and resuming the imagery of Ezekiel 34:23-31, "I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord." And in the final verse the abundance of men of restored Israel is compared to the great abundance of sheep brought up to Jerusalem at the three great annual festivals, the Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles. nl735.htm


Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
 
e-mail   URL
Order Bible Believers' video & web site on CD.
FREE The Second Coming of Christ PowerPoint presentation.
Subscribe to Newsletter
Unsubscribe from Newsletter

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ezekiel 35 - Part I

Bible Believers' Newsletter 734

"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660

We greet you in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and especially welcome our new subscribers.

In this issue we will be studying Ezekiel 35 to learn how by subterfuge Edom broke Jacob's yoke from off his neck. After being evicted from its own land of Seir Edom occupied the land of Simeon and most of the land of Judah, which became known as Idumea. The Edomites were defeated and forcibly assimilated into Judah which they came to rule and now wield global dominion. As "The people against whom the Lord has indignation forever" (Malachi 1:4) Edom will be destroyed in "the Day of vengeance" by true Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 35, whose natural portents have found their natural fulfillment in subsequent history, foreshadows future Spiritual history, much of which will never be written.

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.

Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott


Who was Osama? Who is Obama?

May 2, 2012 — Each and every statement in Obama's May 1st speech at Bagram Air Force base regarding the role of Al Qaeda is a fabrication: (below are excerpts from Obama's Remarks in italics, author's comments are indicated inside square brackets [ ] ):

It was here, in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden established a safe haven for his terrorist organization.

[Osama bin Laden was recruited by the CIA, Al Qaeda was set up with the support of the CIA. Osama's safe haven was protected by US intelligence].

It was here, in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda brought new recruits, trained them, and plotted acts of terror.

[The Mujahideen were recruited and trained by the CIA. America's ally Saudi Arabia financed the Wahabbi koranic schools, Ronald Reagan praised the Mujahideen as "Freedom Fighters". Unknown to the American public, the US spread the teachings of the "Islamic jihad" in textbooks "Made in America," developed at the University of Nebraska]. . .
Full story: globalresearch.ca

Comment: Obama's objective is to foment conflict between political Zionism and political Islam into World War III.


UN Mute over NATO's Syrian Death Squads

May 1, 2012 — Since March 2011, reports of arsonists and gunmen amongst Syria's opposition have been included in reports regarding the unrest in Syria, albeit buried under sensational headlines of the Syrian government's "brutality." More recently, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has conceded that indeed the Syrian opposition "Free Syrian Army" is conducting widespread, systematic abuses including the kidnapping, torture, and murder of both security forces and civilians.

The HRW report, "Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses," is broken into three parts; kidnapping, torture, and executions. . . Now, almost daily, the Syrian opposition is carrying out vicious attacks not only on security forces, but a terrorist bombing campaign across Syria that has already killed and maimed scores of civilians. While the Syrian opposition claims it lacks the ability to carry out such attacks, the opposition is exposed as very well armed, their fighters sheltered in NATO member Turkey, its leadership sheltered in Washington and London, and their fighters wielding not only an endless supply of small arms, but rocket propelled grenades, mortars, missiles, and even tanks. . . Full story: landdestroyer

Comment: Evidence of the apostasy of the once Christian West with the US and NATO funding and arming thugs of the CIA's al Qaeda and MI6's Muslim Brotherhood to kill and maim innocent citizens in the overthrow of Syria as they have in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and plan to do in Iran to incite hatred and ignite the 'hot stage' of World War III planned along with World Wars I and II by the criminal entity behind the League and United Nations, whose international controlled media will not publish truth. Jesus told their forefathers: "You are of your father the Devil who was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth" (John 8:44).


Syria: UN Duplicity, Kofi Annan and Diplomats Wives

April 26, 2012 — America's decades long plan for another puppet government and quasi client state status for the country is well underway. Any observer of the shenanigans within the US Embassy in Damascus would be forgiven for mistaking it for a covert operations centre rather that a seat of diplomacy. Michel Chossudovsky gives graphic life to Ambassador Ford's—surely coincidentally—eminently pertinent and relevant qualifications.

Of course no plan for a country's ruination is complete without the help of the UN. . . Lynch-law rules, under UN mandate. Who then, better to be appointed "Peace Envoy" to Libya than Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General (1997-2006) who silently acquiesced to the average deaths of 6,000 children a month in Iraq from "embargo-related causes", throughout the hundred and nineteen months of his tenure, bowing to the US-UK driven UN embargo.

Inevitably, for his silence, the man who one diplomat described to this publication, as: "like Pontius Pilate, he washes his hands", was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2001, jointly with the UN, for amongst other delusional rubbish, his: "emphasizing its obligations with regard to human rights." Presumably this "emphasis" also applied to his deafening muteness as America and Britain, illegally, bombed Iraq for his entire tenure, often daily, routinely re-destroying vital infrastructure and erasing lives in uncounted numbers. . . Full story: globalresearch.ca


Hanging by a Thread

Daiichi Reactor 4, FukushimaApril 27, 2012 — After an onsite tour of what remains of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear facilities, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, sent a letter to Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki saying, "The scope of damage to the plants and to the surrounding area was far beyond what I expected. The precarious status of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear units and the risk presented by the enormous inventory of radioactive materials and spent fuel in the event of further earthquake threats should be of concern to all and a focus of greater international support and assistance."

"Reactor No. 4 building [pictured] is on the verge of collapsing. Seismicity standards rate the building at a zero, meaning even a small earthquake could send it into a heap of rubble. And sitting at the top of the building, in a pool that is cracked, leaking, and precarious even without an earthquake, are 1,565 fuel rods." If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire that could wipe out most of the northern hemisphere; certainly it would be a massive civilization-breaking event. . . Full story: blog.imva.info


Jewish Man Exposes Israel's Lies

January 14, 2011 — This author, born in Israel, condemns Israeli policies and lies and reveals the truth about the (shameful and merciless) Zionist state: As I write these words I am in Jerusalem and it is a cold, windy and rainy day. Yesterday at the protest in Nabi Saleh, facing the IDF terror squads and in full view of the villas of the settler terrorists, we were drenched in rain and then frozen by the cold wind. Some of the protesters, a group of young women who were gutsier than most, did not run like most of us but stood firm as the IDF terror squad operated its "Skunk" and sprayed them with a foul smelling substance that remains on the skin for days. Now, in this horrid weather, tweeting from the Mukata'a, young Palestinians are protesting against the useless, demeaning process of the PA negotiations with Israel. . .
Full story: youtube.com


Jewish Ex-Marine speaks out on Israeli Involvement in 9/11

September 4, 2011 — 2011 Interview of Alan Sabrosky regarding the tragic events of 9/11. Full story: youtube.com


Pentagon Employee says Plane did not crash into Building – 9/11 Inside Job

August 11, 2011 — A DOD Pentagon employee declares she saw absolutely no evidence that an aircraft had struck the Pentagon. She exited the building via the hole said to have been made in the structure by a 'plane' and saw no evidence of airplane wreckage, debris such as seats and luggage, or jet fuel. Full story: youtube.com


You are All Suspects Now. What are You going to do about It?

27 April 2012 — "You are all potential terrorists. It matters not that you live in Britain, the United States, Australia or the Middle East. Citizenship is effectively abolished. Turn on your computer and the US Department of Homeland Security's National Operations Center may monitor whether you are typing not merely 'al-Qaeda,' but 'exercise,' 'drill,' 'wave' . . . What has changed is that a state of permanent war has been launched by the United States and a police state is consuming Western democracy. What are you going to do about it?" Full story: abc.net.au


The US Government Health Care Plan

Know the truth about government health care, read the bill. Don't be fooled into believing this is an affordable option. This not free and it is not an option, it is mandatory and it comes with a $2 trillion price tag. Full story: youtube.com.


Ezekiel 35 – Part I


In Ezekiel 33 and 34 Ezekiel was living among the captives in Babylon when he announced the unwelcome prophecy of the desolation of Jerusalem and God's Temple, telling his them that he would be struck dumb until a refugee leaving Jerusalem the very day his prophecy was fulfilled should arrive in Babylon with tidings of the judgment. Until then they would suffer the suspense of their unbelief. And so from chapter 25 to 31 Ezekiel was silent, writing judgments on Ammon, Moab, Seir, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, and Egypt. God's objective was to vindicate His prophet in the eyes of the captives that they might abandon their idolatry and be encouraged to belief, obedience and faith in the Lord.

As the map illustrates, Ammon, Moab, and Seir (Edom) were contiguous countries, stretching in one line from Gilead on the north to the Red Sea. They therefore naturally acted in concert and in joint hostility to Judea. When the Chaldeans profaned God's Sanctuary, the Ammonites gloated [like the five Israelis filming the WTC on 9/11] and the Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar who took the Ammonites into exile, then the Ishmaelite Arabians occupied their land and eventually invested Moab through their common border. Likewise, the Moabites and Edomites declared, "Behold, the [God of the] house of Judah is like all of the heathen [gods]." Thereby denying and blaspheming the Holy Spirit who was chastising Judah in the early stages of the Captivity.

Ezekiel 25:12-14, "Thus saith the Lord God, Because that Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out My hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. [Teman (in Yemen, hence Yemenite Jews) to Dedan (on the Syrian border) designates Edom from south to north]. And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance, saith the Lord God".

The Edomites gave what help they could to Nebuchadnezzar when he captured Judah. Later Ammon and Moab, Israel's cousins, were pushed out of their own countries into Southern Judea making Hebron their chief city. When in AD70 the Romans under Titus besieged Jerusalem, Josephus says the Edomites joined the Jews in rebellion against them, and 20,000 Edomites were admitted as defenders of the city. Once within the walls they pillaged Jerusalem, raping and killing, and not even sparing the priests, though the traitors themselves had been previously forced to become circumcised and were recognized as Jews. The Roman conquerors slew them, and Edom ceased to be (except as today's so-called "Jews"). The forecasts of the prophets regarding Edom are in striking contrast to those of their neighbours, Moab and Ammon. The latter two countries were to suffer great and severe judgments, as was Edom; but restoration and renewed prosperity were promised to them "in the latter days," while Edom was never again to be rebuilt. This is obviously nearing fulfillment (Deuteronomy 2:9; II Chronicles 20:10; Psalm 137:7; Jeremiah 25:17-21; Lamentations 4:21-22).

As Israel was to execute God's vengeance on Edom, Nebuchadnezzar was not involved. The Idumeans were conquered centuries later in 126BC by John Hyrcanus, who in 123BC compulsorily circumcised and incorporated Edom with the Jewish state (Isaiah 34:5; I Maccabees 5:3). Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII Footnote 25: "This account of the Idumeans admitting circumcision, and the entire Jewish law, from this time, or from the days of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their entire history afterward. See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1; B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9. Of the War, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 1; B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5. This, in the opinion of Josephus, made them proselytes of justice, or entire Jews, as here and elsewhere, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1. However, Antigonus, the enemy of Herod, though Herod were derived from such a proselyte of justice for several generations, will allow him to be no more than a half Jew, B. XV. ch. 15. sect. 2. But still, take out of Dean Prideaux, at the year 129, the words of Ammouius, a grammarian, which fully confirm this account of the Idumeans in Josephus: "The Jews," says he, are such by nature, and from the beginning, whilst the Idumeans were not Jews from the beginning, but Phoenicians and Syrians; but being afterward subdued by the Jews, and compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject to the same laws, they were called Jews." Dio also says, as the Dean there quotes him, from Book XXXVI. p. 37, "That country is called Judea, and the people Jews; and this name is given also to as many others as embrace their religion, though of other nations." But then upon what foundation so good a governor as Hyrcanus took upon him to compel those Idumeans either to become Jews, or to leave the country, deserves great consideration. I suppose it was because they had long ago been driven out of the land of Edom, and had seized on and possessed the tribe of Simeon, and all the southern parts of the tribe of Judah, which was the peculiar inheritance of the worshippers of the true God without idolatry, as the reader may learn from Reland, Palestine, Part I. p. 154, 305; and from Prideaux, at the years 140 and 165".

So complete was the amalgamation in Christ's time that the Herods of Idumean origin, as Jews, ruled over the two races as one people. Thus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled, "The elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23). Predominantly physical Serpent's seed and more numerous than Judahites in the days of our Lord, these Edomites "were hereafter no other than Jews" (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, 9:1).

We are quoting historical sources to establish Bible truth, which is stranger than the 'fiction' that so-called are Jews are even Semitic let alone Israelites as taught in most churches because of the corruption of language. The motto of Thirty-third Degree Masonry is Ordo ab Chao, Order out of Chaos—such as the chaos generated when the modern word JEW was coined and introduced into the Bible in the late eighteenth century. This satanic subterfuge has caused great confusion in secular and religious circles because its meaning is contrary to the meanings of the two words it has replaced.

In Genesis 27 Esau learned that further to purchasing the birthright he had despised, his brother Jacob had deceived their father Isaac into bestowing him with His blessing. "And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will slay my brother Jacob." Right now his descendants are killing Israelites by the spirit of revenge at the hands of US and NATO forces serving counterfeit Israel as documented above in the news items; while in the more distant relationship of Ammon and Moab, the nations founded by the children of Lot's daughters born by incest with their father, malignant joy vented itself in vengeful actions (Ezekiel 24:14-19).

Let us turn back almost 900 years beforehand to Numbers 24:14-19 where before entering a vision from the Lord, Balaam told Moab's king Balak, "Come, I will inform you what Israel will do to your people in the latter days. And Balaam took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said: he who hears the Words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees visions of the Almighty, falling down, but having his eyes open: I see Him, but not now: I behold Him, but not nigh: a Star shall come out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, which shall crush Moab from one end of the country to the other, and destroy all the children of Sheth [tumult – Ammonites, Amakekites, Edomites, etc.,]. And Edom shall be dispossessed, Seir also, who were Israel's most hostile enemies, shall be dispossessed; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall One come having dominion, and destroy the survivors of the city [of Jerusalem]" (Genesis 49:10-11; Revelation 14:20).

The imagery in the hieroglyphic language of the East denotes some eminent ruler and finds its preliminary fulfillment in David who broke the power of Edom and Moab, but its final and complete fulfillment will be in Jesus Messiah after the revelation of His 'parousia' Coming to Israel when He will "smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron; and tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God" (Psalm 60:2; Revelation 19:15; Isaiah 63:1-6), destroy the enemies of Israel, and restore the Kingdom to Israel with global dominion over all nations in the millennium. The star which the wise men from the East saw, and which led them to the new-born "King of the Judahites," refers clearly to Balaam's prophecy (Matthew 2:1-2). But this was not the Star Balaam "saw, but not nigh"—that star was Christ. The star which appeared to them announced that the Star seen by Balaam had now arisen out of Jacob. And just as Balaam had joyously exclaimed, "I see Him [and] I behold Him," they could say 900 years alter, "We have seen His star" (Matthew 2:2).

"The latter days" is a term used thirteen times in the Old Testament and each appears to relate to "the time of Jacob's trouble" in Daniel's Seventieth Week. This will be the final week of seven years before God "smites the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:6). According to Daniel 12:4 and 9, and Revelation 10:4 we have been in "the time of the end" since Christ opened the Seven Seals in 1963.

map of IdumeaNow turn to Ezekiel 35 and God's judgment on Mount Seir. As the removal of Israel's false shepherds or rulers in chapter 34 (discussed in Newsletter 733) was preparatory to the raising up of the Good Shepherd, so the subject here is the dissolution of the 'Jewish' nation, as foretold in Numbers 24:18-19, represented by Edom and Seir. The Jewish nation is called Seir because Edom was included in the Jewish community; Idumaeans formed part of the nation whose kings were of Edomite descent; just as the land of Palestine is called Idumea, whence Jesus Messiah will come "on the day of vengeance . . . and the year of My redeemed [when He] will tread down the nations" (Isaiah 61 and 63). The basis is that the part represents the whole, as for instance counterfeit Israel is called a 'Jewish' nation when in fact the vast majority are non-Semitic apostates following the Talmud that opposes the Tanakh, Muslims or agnostics. In Revelation 11:8 Jesus Messiah regards the so-called Holy City as "Sodom and Egypt." Likewise the United States is called a 'Christian' nation when in fact the vast majority of churches and (so-called) Christians are apostate. So Edom here is mainly symbolical and not literal as it is in Ezekiel 25:12-14.

During the Babylonian captivity the Nabatheans had driven the Edomites out of Petra, which lies south of Bozrah, and out of their country, Seir, which took possession of the southern parts of Judea, and settled themselves in the whole of the land of Simeon, and in half of the territory of Judah. Their capital was Hebron, about fifteen miles south of Jerusalem. This was the city taken by Judas Maccabeus as reported in I Maccabees 5:63, not Bozrah as prophesied in Isaiah 63:1 where Jesus states emphatically, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there was not a man with Me," so Judas Maccabeus did not fulfill that prophecy. Jesus' statement indicates the universal antichristian spirit that will prevail over the nations in the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week, so that no one in conscious willingness to assist the God of judgment and salvation in His purpose associates himself with Him. Jesus foresaw Himself alone. The guilt of the nations not one of whom was with Him compelled Him to declare their punishment also. 'Political correctness, which is "fear of the Jews," will ensure they are all Edom then. There is a year of Jubilee appointed for the redeemed; it is on the horizon now, and the Lord will see none of the peoples of the world on His side. "I looked, and there was none to help; I was appalled, but there was none to support, so My own arm executed vengeance, and brought My salvation, and My indignation upheld Me. And I will tread down the people in My anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth".

The setting is the latter part of Daniel's Seventieth Week. It describes the martyrdom of Israel which was born in one day. "And I . . . (your name here) . . . heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; whose results follow them."

"Then . . .
(your name here) . . . looked and saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like the Son of man. On His head was a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, who called with a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud: Thrust in Your sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in Your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel swung His sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of God's wrath. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood flowed out of the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for about two hundred miles" (Revelation 14:13-20).

Luther, who understood Edom as the synagogue of the Jews, under Bozrah was right, the blood is the blood of self-styled Jews. Christ comes inflicting judgment on Jerusalem, the capital of Lucifer's totalitarian one world government. As Isaiah observed, there is only a little flock the will follow Him (Isaiah 6:13; Revelation 7:1-8; Revelation 11; 14:1-5), for many are called, but few are chosen.

The prophecy which is against Edom is to be regarded as a prophecy of judgment which will befall the antichristian, persecuting world in the last days as described in Revelation 14 and 19. When the Lord has held judgment at other times, the nations have stood at His disposal to execute it, such as Sennacherib of Assyria (Isaiah 7:17-20), Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:6), and Cyrus of Persia (Isaiah 44:28). There is now no people ready or worthy to help Him in His judgment upon Edom because His mercy is exhausted beyond reprieve; and those who are the "saved" must secure their names on the Book of Life by martyrdom, even the elect Israelites must surrender mortal life in martyrdom. The judgment upon Edom is the time in which the Lord judges all nations. Thus there is none to help the judge, and all are objects of the judgment.

Messiah is the Conqueror of Edom as Balaam prophesied. However not until He, as true Israel (Isaiah 49:3), raises up the fallen tabernacle of David is possession in the highest sense taken of Edom and of all the heathen as prophesied in Psalm 110 which speaks of David's Greater Son as expounded by Paul in I Corinthians 15:23-28:

The resurrection and glorification of "Christ the firstfruits; and afterward they that are Christ's at His ('parousia') Coming [which leads us to Wedding Supper and the millennium]. After that comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, after abolishing every ruler and government and power. For He must be King until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death [following the general resurrection and white throne judgment (Revelation 20:7-15)]. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says all things are put under Him, it is clear that He who brought all things under subjection to Him is excepted. However, once everything is subjected to Him, then the Son, too, will subject Himself to the One who put all things in subjection under Him, so that God may be everything to every one [in the eighth day, which will be eternity in the renewed heavens and renewed earth]".

              The Lord said to my Lord,
              "Sit at My right hand,
              until I make your enemies
              a footstool for your feet."


              The Lord sends forth from Zion
              your mighty sceptre [the emblem of majesty]
              Rule, therefore, in the midst of your foes.

              Your people shall be willing
              in the day of your power,
              in consecrated array at early dawn
              The flower of young warriors come to you.

The bolded declaration of the Lord God on verse 1 assigns a place at God's right hand implying the participation of power (Matthew 28:18) and promises a complete overthrow of His enemies (Hebrews 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12-14; 12:2; I Corinthians 15:24-28; Ephesians 1:22). Verse 2 is the revelation addressed by believers to our Lord that by the grace of God He will extend a global Kingdom out of Zion and rule or judge as Son of man in the days of His 'parousia' Coming (Psalm 2:8-9; 45:6; Isaiah 59:20-21; Daniel 7:13-14; John 5:27; Romans 11:26-27; Hebrews 1:8). Verse 3 pledges the willing loyalty of His Christian people—a kingdom of priests—under preeminence to His rule in the days of His 'parousia' Coming when He is both King of kings and judge. We will be "Those with Him on white horses also, and they are called "the chosen before the foundation of the world," (Amen.) and they are faithful to the Word. Amen. Whew. I like that one. Called, chosen before the foundation of the world, and then faithful to the Word by their choosing, all stimulated with new wine and oil just riding right along, coming down to meet Him" (Revelation of the Seven Seals, p. 322:5; Revelation 1:6; 19:14).

              The Lord has sworn,
              and will not change His mind,
              "You are a priest forever
              after the order of Melchizedek."

This bolded declaration of the Lord God on verse 4 assures the indissoluble union of priesthood and royalty, unheard of in Israel and transferred to Messiah in His Person, and forever. Jesus Christ is Himself Melchizidek, "having neither beginning of time nor end of life," manifest in virgin-born flesh (Hebrews 7; I Corinthians 15:25).

              The Lord at your right hand
              He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

              He will execute judgment among the nations,
              He shall fill them with the corpses;
              He will shatter the rulers over many countries.

              He will drink from the brook by the way;
              therefore He will lift up His head
              (Psalm 110:1-7).

"At your right hand" denotes the place of protection and assistance as in Psalm 109:31, a term probably derived from war where one who protects another may be said to strengthen the right hand which he uses in his own defence. The day of God's wrath commences with the manifestation of the Sixth Seal, Seventh Trumpet and Seventh Vial, opening the Day of the Lord, our Pentecostal Jubilee, Daniel's Seventieth Week and "the Day of vengeance of our God" (Isaiah 61:2). Verse 6 describes Messiah's conquests and verse 7 refers to Armageddon (Isaiah 63:1-7; Amos 9:10; Revelation 19). As a conqueror, "faint, yet pursuing" (Judges 8:4), He shall be refreshed by the brook in the way, and pursue to completion His divine and glorious triumphs.

Now we turn to Amos 9:1-12 where the Lord tells the degenerate ten tribes that Israel's election will not prevent their exile and dispersion, and says He esteems Ham's posterity, "the sons of the Cushites" as highly as the sons of Israel, but by grace He "will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," only sift them in exile throughout the ancient Assyrian Empire whereby the good grain, dust and chaff are thrown up together; the solid good grains are preserved while "all the sinners of My people die," including, in the end-time, those of Judah. "In that day [after the Messianic Age of redemption and completion in Daniel's Seventieth Week] I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all of the Gentiles upon whom My Name is called, says the Lord who does this".

So Edom will represent all of the nations after the close of the Gentile dispensation and the resurrection and translation, except elect Israel of 144,000 souls. This takes us to the regeneration of 12,000 elect souls from each of Israel's twelve tribes at the end of the "last days" or Messianic age of redemption and completion during the great tribulation in the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week (Genesis 49:1, 10-11; Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 38:16; Hosea 3:5; Joel 2:28 – 3:2). Israel and Judah will be reunited as one nation in the land of the Covenant, Spiritually separated from the Edomites and sinners of counterfeit Israel, no longer enfeebled and prostrate but born-again then hunted down like dogs and martyred. Thereafter Armageddon will destroy all sinners and purge heavens and earth for the millennium.

"The tabernacle [or hut] of David" expresses the low condition to which the kingdom and family of the Davidic monarchy had fallen in Amos' time, subsequently at the Babylonian captivity before the restoration, and secondarily, in the last days preceding Israel's restoration under Messiah, David's antitype. His Royal house is not a palace but a booth or hut, and a fallen one full of breaches and ruins. The Royal palace had to become the hut of Nazareth before the Redeemer would be born to "raise up" and restore the former power and greatness of David's reign as prophesied by Balaam. And an elect remnant is gathered into Christ's Church not only from Edom, Israel's most hostile enemy, but from "all nations upon whom My Name is called," to dwell under Israel during the uninterrupted day of a thousand years of peace.

Now lets turn to the Council at Jerusalem where the denomination of Pharisaism, now called Judaism, sought to impose the curse of the Law of sin and death upon the Christian Church. Peter stood up in defence of our liberty in Christ with reference to Matthew 16:19 where Jesus, acknowledging the rock of revelation from Above granted that he should unlock the faith to those under the Old Covenant, to the Samaritans, and to we Gentiles who were "afar off . . . purifying our hearts by faith." Barnabas and Paul declared the miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them, then James addressed the Brethren, saying: "Peter has declared how at the very beginning of the Church God visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name (Acts 2:7-11; 13:39; 11:43-48). And to this agree the Words of the prophets; as it is written (Genesis 9:27; Isaiah 11:10; 54:1-5; Malachi 1:11), after this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My Name is called, may earnestly seek Me says the Lord, who does all these things" (Acts 15:14-17).

This passage from Amos foretold the dissolution of Pharisaism which is Judaism after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and the abolition of the temple service; it next conveys the promise that from the Day of Pentecost God will build a new Church on the ruins of the old, and gather into it Gentiles from every nation, tribe and tongue of Adam's race; it lastly states as per Acts 4:12, "there is not another name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." This work is entirely of God by grace through faith; Jesus said He who is born-again is "a Pillar in the Temple of My God and shall no more go out" (Revelation 3:12; Ephesians 4:30). He is closing up the breaches and will soon raise up the parts that have fallen asleep through the Church Ages. The closing verses of Amos 9 turn to the Millennium where "the kingdom is restored to Israel" (Acts 1:6), with David's Greater Son Jesus Messiah ruling over all nations, and the 144,000 elect Israelites are His servants and millennial temple of praise. n7734.htm


Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
 
e-mail   URL
Order Bible Believers' video & web site on CD.
FREE The Second Coming of Christ PowerPoint presentation.
Subscribe to Newsletter
Unsubscribe from Newsletter

Friday, April 27, 2012

Ezekiel 33 - 34

Bible Believers' Newsletter 733

"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. We are pleased you could join us in fellowship around God's unchanging Word.

Our main article is a study on Ezekiel 33 and 34 to demonstrate these prophecies relate to the imminent future and God's dealings with the an election of the natural seed of Abraham, Isaac and Israel who are also the Spiritual seed of his Seed of Promise, Jesus Messiah. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people".

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.

Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott


NATO rehearses for War in the Arctic

USS Connecticut surfaces through Arctic iceApril 23, 2012 — To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources and long-dreamed-of sea-lanes... Cold Response 2012 was conducted from March 12-21 primarily in Norway but also in Sweden with the participation of 16,300 troops from fifteen nations as part of full spectrum—air, sea, infantry and special forces—maneuvers against the backdrop of the past three years’ new scramble for the Arctic. . . Four of the five Arctic claimants—the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark—are members of NATO. The other, Russia, is not.

"The importance of why we need forces capable of operating in the Arctic is very basic power projection—to make a show to other players in the international community that we are an Arctic nation, and we are going to protect our interests in the Arctic Circle" . . . "Russia has all grounds for concern given that ships equipped with the…Aegis Combat System can be deployed in the Arctic" . . . The Western campaign for global dominance has reached the top of the world.
Full story: voltairenet.org

Comment: Western insanity and belligerent hypocrisy. Together with Russia they established the UN criminal organization to decide such matters "peacably".


Mossad/CIA murdered US Troops in Iraq

January 21, 2011 — Back in 2006 a story made its rounds through the internet and the worlds media that Israeli snipers were killing US Troops in Iraq and pinning the blame on "insurgents" in order to enrage American troops so that the slaughter continued. After a thorough investigation into this older story there is more than enough evidence to point to the fact that Mossad (with the CIA) is operating inside Iraq and has been for years. . .

The CIA/Mossad are masters at false flag operations, e.g., The Oklahoma City bombing, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the July 7, the 9/11 attacks in New York & Washington DC, the assassination of the Prime Minister in Beirut, the bombing of the Hassan al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, etc.

Mossad & CIA Agents freely move among US and UK troops in Iraq, and have access to top-level US intelligence. . . Because of this access, the "insurgents" (i.e., CIA/Mossad agents) know exactly where US vehicles will be and who will be inside them. This allows them to target for maximum false flag effect. . .

Whenever the CIA/Mossad carry out these false-flag operations they produce a videotape or a recording from an "unnamed source" that is "close to al-Qaeda." Sometimes they say "the claim was posted on an Internet website, but its authenticity could not be verified." These videos have been widely proven to be false and the CIA has even admitted that they faked Bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein videos. Full story: federaljack.com

Comment: Our contributing author John Kaminski wrote about this seven years ago globalresearch.ca. Iraq was practice for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran . . .


SYRIA: UN working with NATO to provide Pretext for Intervention
UN 'Aid' Program to be used in establishing NATO 'Humanitarian Corridors'

April 21, 2012 — Recently reported in Reuters', "UN seeks Syria nod for major aid operation," the UN is seeking to bring in "aid workers" and open offices all across Syria in order to carry out what they call a "major humanitarian operation."

Syria has criticized certain nations of what is clearly the "politicizing of humanitarian aid." Fortune 500-funded US policy think-tank, the Brookings Institution has openly stated that US foreign policy would best be served by taking advantage of "gaining humanitarian access" allowing the West to "add further coercive action to its efforts" to topple the Syrian government. Specifically, Brookings foresees gaining such access may lead to establishing "safe-havens and humanitarian corridors" protected by NATO military forces, in yet another example of the "mission creep" that led to regime change in Libya. Such "creep" would give proxy militant forces unassailable positions to continue their campaign of violence against the Syrian people.

Brookings Institution's Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)," makes no secret that the humanitarian "responsibility to protect" is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.

Despite the UN's "peace plan" being fully rejected by both the Syrian rebels and their Western and Arab League backers who have openly pledged cash, weapons, and support for them to continue fighting, in full violation of the proposed ceasefire, the Western media has instead accused the Syrian government of failing to meet its obligations. As the West continues to fuel the violence, and if "humanitarian access" is approved, military intervention will be proposed to combat what will be claimed to be Syrian government "belligerence" . . . Full story: landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au


Iran says it is copying US Spy Plane, claiming it has uncovered Drone's Secrets

April 23, 2012 — AN Iranian military commander says the Islamic republic is building a copy of a US spy drone captured in December 2011 and revealed what he said were "codes" gleaned from the unmanned aircraft. . . Iran has "started producing a copy of the RQ-170 drone," stressing it used the same US technology in stealth fighters and bombers. . .
Full story: theaustralian.com.au


Big Brother is watching: Surveillance Box to track Drivers

self-driven car of Bro. Branham's visionMarch 31, 2009 — The government is backing a project to install a "communication box" in new cars to track the whereabouts of drivers anywhere in Europe . . . Under the proposals, vehicles will emit a constant "heartbeat" revealing their location, speed and direction of travel. The EU officials behind the plan believe it will significantly reduce road accidents, congestion and carbon emissions. A consortium of manufacturers has indicated that the router device could be installed in all new cars as early as 2013. . . The messages will be picked up by other cars in the vicinity, allowing vehicles to warn each other if they are forced to break hard or swerve to avoid a hazard. The data is also picked up by detectors at the roadside and mobile phone towers. That enables the road to communicate with cars, allowing for "intelligent" traffic lights to turn green when cars are approaching or gantries on the motorway to announce changes to speed limits. . . Full story: guardian.co.uk

USA, April 19, 2012 —Legislation—already passed by the Senate and likely to be passed by the House—will impose a legal requirement that all new cars made beginning with the 2015 models be fitted with so-called Event Data Recorders... These EDRs are not new. GM and other automakers have been installing them in new cars for years—in GM’s case, since the late 1990s. What’s new is the proposed federal mandate, which would make it illegal to not have one—or (in all likelihood) to remove or disable one in a car required to have the device. . .

And naturally, they—the government, insurance companies—will be able to track your every move, noting (and recording) where you've been and when. This will create a surveillance net beyond anything that ever existed previously.

Viola. "Your" car is suddenly under the control of others. Just as "your" other (cough, hack) property—"your" home, for example—is under the control of others. It does not matter that you paid for it. Or even that you have the legal fiction of ownership. You do not control "your" property—hence it is really the property of others. You are merely allowed to use said property—under certain conditions, by the leave of the true owners—the government and its cronies in the corporatocracy . . . Full story: ericpetersautos.com

The fourth of seven continuous visions the Lord showed Brother Branham showed a plastic bubble-topped car that was running down beautiful highways under remote control so that people appeared seated in this car without a steering wheel and they were playing some sort of a game to amuse themselves (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 321.5). See Google's fleet of self-driving cars.


International Forecaster April 2012 (#6) – Gold, Silver, Economy + More

April 22, 2012 — For a company whose corporate motto is "Don't Be Evil," Google Inc. certainly has found itself at the receiving end of its share of lawsuits, claims and controversies. Still, even by Google's standards this past week has been a difficult one. . . For those unfamiliar with the Street View brouhaha . . . sniffing wi-fi networks and, supposedly by accident, private information, including emails, passwords, and any other data flowing through unencrypted networks whenever the cars were rolling by. . . Also in 2006 an ex-CIA agent went public claiming that CIA seed money had helped to get Google off the ground and that the two had maintained a "small but significant relationship" . . . Alarm bells were raised in 2010, however, when it was announced that Google was collaborating with the NSA on cybersecurity operations. . . Full story: goldseek.com


If I wanted America to Fail

April 23, 2012 — Barack Obama appeared on the American political scene in 1994 like a phony magician's trick. His victory in 2008 was an illusion designed to make voters believe he actually won the votes that supposedly elected him in 2008. It was an electoral smoke screen to conceal the fact that the "new voters" who cast their ballots for him were an illusion, too. He promised change. The voters forgot to ask him what type of change he had in mind. Obama is a Manchurian Candidate who was funded by Watermelons (green on the outside, communist red on the inside] to destroy this nation. Obama's "political manager," George Soros, amassed his wealth by destroying the monetary system of the countries he targets. His target? The United States. Obama sees the destruction of the United States as a win-win scenario since not only does Soros get what he paid for—the collapse of the US dollar and the destruction of the free enterprise system, but enough chaos in America that Obama can declare martial law and become an Abraham Lincoln-type dictator. . . Full story: jonchristianryter.com

Comment: The video clearly demonstrates how YOUR 'democratic' government has legislated YOUR inescapable return to serfdom by placing you under the curse of law with respect to energy. In Australia the federal parliament passed the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 under which all laws now passed by the parliament must be compatible with seven United Nations treaties to which Australia is a party. MPs who propose a bill must complete a statement of compatibility for human rights (Epoch Times, January 11, 2012). As none of these treaties were ever assented to by the Australian people the act is another nail in the coffin of the nation's sovereignty.

Also Ex-CIA: 'Forged document' released as birth certificate.


Derivatives: the Unregulated Global Casino for Banks

burning $100A derivative buys you the option (but not obligation) to buy oil in 6 months for today's price/any agreed price, hoping that oil will cost more in future. (I'll bet you it'll cost more in 6 months). Derivative can also be used as insurance, betting that a loan will or won't default before a given date. So its a big betting system, like a Casino, but instead of betting on cards and roulette, you bet on future values and performance of practically anything that holds value. The system is not regulated what-so-ever, and you can buy a derivative on an existing derivative.

Most large banks try to prevent smaller investors from gaining access to the derivative market on the basis of there being too much risk. The derivative market has blown a galactic bubble, just like the real estate bubble or stock market bubble (that's going on right now). Since there is literally no economist in the world that knows exactly how the derivative money flows or how the system works, while derivatives are traded in microseconds by computers, we really don't know what will trigger the crash, or when it will happen, but considering the global financial crisis this system is in for tough times, that will be catastrophic for the world financial system since the 9 largest banks shown below hold a total of $228.72 trillion in Derivatives—Approximately 3 times the entire world economy. No government in the world has money for this bailout. Lets take a look at what banks have the biggest Derivative Exposures and what scandals they've been lately involved in. . . Full story: Derivatives: The Unregulated Global Casino for Banks Global Financial Crisis: A World In Debt


Ezekiel 33 – 34


Like Daniel and the Revelation, Ezekiel is a book of prophecy whose mysteries are veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Our study begins at chapter 33 which commences the second and principal part of this Book and concerns faith in Jesus Messiah, the means through which God's mercies toward an election of the blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the glory of the nation of Israel is to be restored.

Ezekiel was called to prophesy in the fifth year from the date of his being carried away with king Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) by Nebuchadnezzar in 599BC (II Kings 24:11-15). The upper echelon and godliest of the people were among the first carried away (Jeremiah 24:1-10; Ezekiel 11:16). The ungodly were willing to do anything to remain in their native land; whereas the faithful believed God's prophets and obeyed the first summons to surrender as the only path of safety. The Chaldeans believed that with them out of the way the nation would fall to pieces of itself, and they were despised by their brethren in Judah as having no share in the temple sacrifices. Thus Ezekiel's sphere of labor was happier and less impeded by his countrymen than that of Jeremiah in the homeland. The first scene of his prophecies was by the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates near Circesium in south-eastern Syria (Ezekiel 1:1). His residence whither the elders came to inquire as to God's messages through him was at Tel-Abib (now Thallaba, Ezekiel 3:15). They were eager to return to Jerusalem, but he taught them that they must first return to their God.

In the twelfth year of the captivity, when fugitives from Jerusalem (Ezekiel 33:21) arrived in Chaldea, he foretells better times, the re-establishment of Israel and the triumph of God's kingdom on earth over its enemies, Seir (the Edomites), the heathen, and Gog (Ezekiel 33:1 – 39:29). After an interval of thirteen years Ezekiel received the closing vision of the order and beauty of the kingdom restored to Israel in the millennium (Ezekiel 40:1 – 48:35; Acts 1:6). As we shall see, chapters 33 to 48 pertain almost exclusively to Daniel's Seventieth Week.

The prophet's Divine mission outlined in 595BC in the vision of chapters 1-3 was remarkably similar to the vision of John. We commented on some of the parallels to Revelation and Isaiah 6 in Newsletter 732. As a silver sword representing God's Word materialized in Brother Branham's hand as He was praying in Sabino Canyon early in 1963 prior to receiving the revelation of the Seven Seals, Ezekiel received his new commission when a hand materialized and opened a scroll written within and on the backside, full of warnings and woe. Like Christ's end-time Bride (Revelation 10:8-11), Ezekiel was told to eat or become one with the Word and "Say what the tapes say. Say what the visions say" to the captives. As a watchman to the house of Israel Ezekiel was commanded to convey God's warnings as they were revealed to him. The Lord told him that after relating his experience his fellow Israelites would place him under house arrest. "And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth so you will be dumb: you shall not be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall declare, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD; He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house".

How like the postscript to the Messages of the angels to each Church Age. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches," followed by the blessing promised to the saints of each Age. The preceding Message already contained correction for failing God's Word and encouragement in the new Message. Each Message was directed to both the true vine or elect Church and the false vine or reprobate churches so like God's Messages of warning and repentance delivered by Ezekiel, further reproof was unnecessary.

The following chapters contain prophecies of judgment upon Judah, Israel and Jerusalem: we rejoin Ezekiel in chapter 24 which sets the scene for today's study. In 590BC on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year [of king Jehoiachin's captivity] the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel commanding him to pantomime boiling water in a copper pitted with rust and wickedness and fill it with the choicest mutton, the meat with the bones. The caldron and its contents represent Jerusalem, City of Murderers, and he was to boil it till the meat separates from the bones; then empty the copper, burn the bones, and set the empty pot on the coals so that its copper may burn and its poisonous scum may melt and its rust be consumed. As Ezekiel increases the fire beneath the cauldron, so God will pile fuel beneath Jerusalem.

"In vain I have wearied myself; its thick rust, Jerusalem's filthy lewdness, does not go out of it by fire. I would have cleansed you and because you would not be cleansed of your filthiness, you shall not be purified until I have spent My indignation upon you. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it, I will not relent nor show mercy. Moreover, I am about to take away your wife. Suddenly she will die. You must show no sorrow or shed tears. Let there be no wailing at her grave, do not bare your head or feet, or accept food brought by consoling friends. Ezekiel proclaimed these things in the morning and at evening his wife died. The next morning he did as the Lord had charged."

Solomon's TempleWhen asked the meaning of the pantomime and his strange behaviour, Ezekiel replied: "The Lord told me to say to the house of Israel, I will profane My Sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; your sons and your daughters in Judea will be slaughtered by the sword. And you shall do as I have done: you may not mourn in public or weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and mourn privately for the evil you have done. Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you. You will do as he has. And when that time comes you will know that I am the Lord."

"On the day I finish taking from them in Jerusalem the joy of their hearts and their glory, the delight of their eyes, and the desire of their soul, their wives and sons and their daughters, on that day a refugee from Jerusalem will commence his journey to Babylon to report the news. And on the day of his arrival your mouth shall be opened to him; you will speak, and no longer be dumb. Thus you shall be a sign for the people and they shall know that I am the Lord".

Our unchanging God vindicated Ezekiel's calling and raised faith in the exiles by the same technique He employed to raise Abraham and Sarah's faith to bear their promised son Isaac when He "discerned the thoughts and intents of their hearts" in the days of Lot. And when those abominable conditions of Sodom repeated in our day He vindicated Brother Branham's ministry by "discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart, revealing Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" to raise faith in Christ's end-time Bride (Luke 17:28-30; Genesis 18; Hebrews 4:12; 13:8). Up to this point Ezekiel had been prophesying Jerusalem's guilt and punishment; the evil got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem with the razing of God's Temple as a consequence of the sin of Zedekiah and the Jerusalemites.

Chapters 25 to 32 represent a transition from the prophecy of judgment, and the consolatory element preponderates with the prophecy of compassion and the judgment of her adversaries. In 587BC Ezekiel's Divine mission to perform the part of a watchman (Ezekiel 33:2-9) and warn the captives is renewed and in chapters 33 to 37 he is admonished of his duty to reveal to Israel his sin and hypocrisy, reprove the ministry, prophesy the destruction of Edom, and exhort Israel regarding his future hope in the unity of faith and brotherhood.

Reading from Ezekiel 33:1, "Once again a Message came to me from the Lord: Son of man, tell your people [whom he had been forbidden to address from chapter 24:26-27 when he was struck dumb until Jerusalem had been overthrown and a refugee arrived with tidings of judgment, so that from chapter 25 to 31 Ezekiel addressed Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt with pronouncements of judgment]: When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the Trumpet refuse to take action, their blood will be upon their own heads [as it has been upon the Israelites since Calvary (Matthew 27:25; Psalm 69)]. Had they heeded the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn't sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their deaths. They will die in their sins, but I will charge the watchman for their deaths."

Isaiah 55:11, "The Word that goes forth from My mouth will not return to Me void but shall do what I purpose and accomplish what I commissioned." So we see God's charge to the watchmen applies to the seven Trumpet judgments that befall Israel from Pentecost to the consummation of life, and to the seven Vials that befall the foolish virgin and false church in the same eras. Hence Paul declares, "Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel" (I Corinthians 9:16).

"So, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for Me. When I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn them to repent and they don't repent, they will die in their sins, but you will not be responsible."

The watchman's Message to the Israelites in verses ten to twenty is the Message of justification by grace through faith. He foretells better times, of Israel's restoration, of the triumph of God's Kingdom over the natural Serpent's seed of Edom, Sidon, the spiritual Serpent's seed of the Judaeo-Roman world empire, and at last, the millennium: "O people of Israel, You are saying, Our sins are heavy upon us; we pine away with guilt! How can we live? As surely as I live, says the Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your wickedness, for why will you die, O Israel? For the good works of a righteous man will not save him if he turns to sin, nor will the wicked behavior of wicked people destroy them if they repent and turn from their sins. And when I tell the wicked that he will die, but he turns from his sins and does what is just and right, as for instance, he gives back the borrower's security and returns what he has stolen, and walks the paths of righteousness, not doing evil—he will surely live and not die. None of his past sins will be brought against him, for he has turned to the good, and he will surely live."

[This puts the lie to the Jewish cult of Two Souls/replacement of souls based upon Talmudic fables and Ezekiel 18:4 while ignoring Ezekiel 18:5-9].

"Your people are saying, The Lord isn't fair, but it is they who are not fair. For again I say, when good man turns to evil, he will die. But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live. Yet you are saying the Lord isn't fair. But I judge each of you in accordance with your deeds."

"In the twelfth year of our captivity, on the fifth day in the tenth month, [a year and a half after the capture of the city
(Jeremiah 39:2; 52:5-6), in the eleventh year and fourth month (of Zedekiah's reign], a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, The city has fallen! The previous evening the Lord had taken hold of me and restored my voice so I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning."

"Then this Message came to me: Son of man, the scattered remnants of Judah living among the ruined cities keep saying, Abraham was only one man, yet he gained possession of the entire land. We are many, the land has surely been given us to possess. But the Lord God says: You eat meat with the blood, you worship idols, and murder. Murderers! Idolaters! Adulterers! Should the land belong to you"?

"As I live, those living in the ruins shall die by the sword. And I will send wild animals to eat those living in the open fields. Those hiding in the forts and caves will die of disease. I will completely destroy the land and demolish her pride. Her arrogant power will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will even travel through them. When I have completely destroyed the land because of their detestable sins, then they will know that I am the Lord."

"Son of man, your people are whispering behind your back saying: Come on, let us hear the prophet tell us what the Lord is saying! So they come pretending to be sincere and sit before you as [those who should be] My people. They listen to your words, but have no intention of doing what I tell them to; they talk sweetly about loving the Lord, but in their hearts they are loving their money
(Matthew 15:8-9). You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays well on an instrument. They hear what you say, but don't act on it! But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they will—then they will know a prophet has been among them".

How like our apostate so-called Christians, who having ignored the prophet's Message will "hide themselves in the dens, [the underground cities that have been built], and in the rocks of the mountains; saying to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of He who sits on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb: for the great day of His anger is come; and who will be able to stand [under the Sixth Seal and Seventh Vial]"? And what of the Israelites and their impersonators who have rejected the warning of the Sixth Trumpet from World War II to the present and "repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, or their thefts" (Revelation 9:20-21). Hence Jesus Messiah regards present day Jerusalem "spiritually as Sodom and Egypt . . . and the great city will be divided into three" (Revelation 9:20-21; 16:19; 11:8, 19; Zechariah 13:8-9; 14:4-5). Keep your eye on the types, remembering the dreadful judgments prophesied for the beast of Rome and the United States of America, her (once) Protestant image, and their followers (Revelation 19:20, 20:10).

The fact is now accomplished—Jerusalem is taken and Ezekiel's Divine mission vindicated, having announced the very day of the beginning of the investment of the city by Nebuchadnezzar "this same day" (Ezekiel 24:27), and confirmed by the arrival of the refugee and the opening of Ezekiel's mouth as prophesied when he was among the captives at the river Chebar three hundred miles away from Jerusalem. Despite the woeful news, the vindication of the prophet should engender faith and confidence among the Israelites. He cannot speak comfort after the example of Abraham (Genesis 12:7) and the comfort sought by the exiles in Canaan who regarded themselves as the continuation of Abraham's being to whom the inheritance was given, overlooked the fact that as Jesus said, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham [who served not sin but the living God]" (verse 24; John 8:39); but he can reveal Israel's sin and hypocrisy, reprove the ministry, prophesy their Messianic expectations and exhort Israel regarding their future hope. Yet the former prophets such as Moses, David and Isaiah had declared Israel's impenitence would keep them from salvation, and that when Messiah came they would reject and murder Him. Jesus Himself said, "Had I not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty; but now they have no excuse for their sin" (John 15:22).

Our Christian duty is to speak the truth in love, spelling out the requirement of God's unchanging Word, "whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work will be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25; I Corinthians 9:16).

In chapter 33 Ezekiel laid down the necessity of repentance as preliminary to happier times for the people, in chapter 34 he reproves and promises the removal of the false shepherds or rulers as preparatory to the raising up of the Good Shepherd. This ministry of repentance was fulfilled by Jesus Messiah's forerunner John the Baptist. The prophecy of this chapter is very general, and not closely connected with specific occasions and circumstances of the past two thousand five hundred years, however believers in the Brother Branham's Message will appreciate its relevance to us today and to an election of Israelites soon to be restored to the land of their Covenant.

The "shepherds" were the entire body of officials responsible for the leadership of the people. Like the political, religious, business, banking, military and 'intellectual' leaders in this end-time they ought their own selfish ends and not the good of the people. The Shepherd King David, a type of Christ, was taken from the sheepcote to lead and guide and protect his people as Jesus called fishermen for apostles in token of their spiritual office of catching men. As today's leaders have no Absolute, because there was "no shepherd" in Judea worthy of the name Jesus said, "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill [the scene of idolatries sanctioned by the rulers]: yes, My flock were scattered upon the face of all the earth, and none sought after them" so the flock became prey to the nations thereabout, Babylon, Egypt, Syria, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria.

Jeremiah 23:1-8 and a hundred years later Zechariah 11 prophesied the three offices of "shepherds" by which Israel was ruled—the civil authorities, the priests, and the prophets (or scribes who were teachers of the Law) who five hundred years thence would buy Messiah from Judas Iscariot for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a gored bond-servant, for His "visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Exodus 21:32; Matthew 26:15; Isaiah 52:14; 53:5). After the crucifixion and resurrection all were subsumed in Jesus Messiah as confirmed in Zechariah 13:7: "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fellow, says the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." The destruction of the temple by Titus transformed this prophecy into historical fact.

In chapter 34:10-20 the Lord prophesies the abrogation of the relationship of the foolish shepherds to His flock by the all-expressive personal declaration, "I am against the shepherds . . . I will deliver My flock from the mouth of the shepherds, that they may be food for them no longer. I, even I, will manifest Myself." So in John 1 and Matthew 10:6 we read, "He was in the world . . . [and] He came to His own . . . to [seek an election among] the lost sheep of the house of Israel . . . and His own received Him not." And when the Shepherd was smitten the sheep were scattered.

Verse 12 speaks of Christ's second or 'parousia' Coming to Israel after the close of the Gentile dispensation. "As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that He is in the midst of His sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." That cloudy and dark day is the "Day of the Lord" (Ezekiel 30:3; Isaiah 60:1-2; Jeremiah 13:16; Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15; Zechariah 14:6-7; Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12). "And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country".

The ministry of Christ's second or 'parousia' Coming to us Gentiles before the close of our dispensation was introduced by Brother Branham with the midnight cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom! Come out of Babylon to meet Him and be filled with the Spirit" (Matthew 25:6; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 10:1-7; 18:4). He is in the midst of His sheep that are scattered among the denominations "gathering them together in one . . . in the unity of the faith for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation" (Ephesians 1:10; 4:13; Romans 8:19). The Reformation of the Judaeo-Roman system of false worship has passed, the apostolic faith has been restored and "the mystery of God is finished," there is no hope for the world (Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 17:11; Revelation 10:7). There is no point praying for revival as the Lord is about to smite the earth with a curse: Christ has been crucified afresh by the rejection of His revelation in the Seven Seals. The only revival is in the heart of His Bride and the day of vengeance is imminent. Our "shepherds" are the warmongering politicians whose concern is for votes, money and prestige, apostate preachers careful for popularity with the world which is their meal ticket, and of offending Satan and their colleagues who rule this wicked and adulterous generation, the duplicitous diplomats, the corrupt captains of industry, and those effete pusillanimous prigs who pose as 'intellectual' opinion-makers.

Verse 13 confirms what we have been teaching all along, which is that although a counterfeit state of modern Israel has been established, "for fear of the Jews" it is not yet the homeland of the Covenant people descended from Abraham, Isaac and Israel who will NOT return until the first half of Daniel's Seventieth Week when Christ is "in the midst of His sheep." God's prophets do not make mistakes (Psalm 17:7; Isaiah 6:10-13; 11:11-16; 13:14; 27:13; 49:17; 65:9-10; Jeremiah 3:12, 18; 16:15; 23:3, 8; 31:8; Ezekiel 28:24-31; 36:24; 37:14, 21-22; 39:27-28; Micah 5:3; Zechariah 10:9-12; Matthew 24:29-31). Contrary to popular misconception, subterfuge and deception, the people of the Old Covenant have NOT returned to Palestine since 1948.

diagram of Daniel's Seventy Weeks

Speaking of His 'parousia' Coming to Israel, this will be signified by the mystic Cloud above the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4-5) after the end of the Gentile dispensation when Christ will gather genuine Israelite tribesmen from the Muslim lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire, the Lord says: "I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold shall be upon [Zion], the mountain height of Israel (Isaiah 46:13; Ezekiel 17:23; 20:40; Joel 2:32): there they shall lie down in a good fold, and feed in rich pasture upon the mountains of Israel. I Myself will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost and bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the wounded, I will strengthen the sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong (Deuteronomy 32:15; Jeremiah 5:28), I will feed them with judgment. As for you, O My flock, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the he-goats".

The offending "shepherds" of verse 10 are gone; here the Lord is going to judge between one class of citizens of equal rank according to their individual character. The "the rams and great he-goats," answer to "the fat and strong," as opposed to the "sick." These are the rich and ungodly who imitate the bad shepherds in oppressing their poorer brethren, as if it enhanced their own joys to trample on others' rights (Ezekiel 34:18; Zechariah 10:3; Matthew 25:32-33).

"Not as though the Word of God has taken no effect. For not all of the descendants of Israel belong to Israel"  (Romans 9:6). After the removal of the offices of the Shepherds and the separation of the sheep from the goats chapter 34:23-24 brings Israel to the Millennium. "And I appoint or raise up One [incomparable] Shepherd over them (Song of Solomon 5:10-16; John 10:16). The allusion is to God's declaration to David, "I will raise up your seed after you" (II Samuel 7:12; Psalm 2:6; Acts 2:30; 13:23), "and He will feed them, even My servant [under My pre-eminence—not one following a course of his own choosing (Isaiah 49:3, 6; John 5:19; 8:26, 29)]; David will feed them, and will be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it" (Ezekiel 37:22; Zechariah 14:9).

Millennial blessings follow Israel as God promised Moses on condition the nation walk in His statutes and obey His commandments "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land" (Leviticus 26:3-6; Jeremiah 23:6; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23; Zechariah 8:13).

Verse 29-31, "And I will raise up for them a plant of renown [the righteous Branch], so that the people will never again hunger, or suffer the reproach of heathen conquest (Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Hosea 2:18). Thus they will know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God. As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God".

As God had promised many things which mere "men" could not expect to realize, He shows it is not from mans' might that their realization is to be looked for, but from GOD, who would perform them for His Covenant-people, "His flock." As He promised in Zechariah 4:7, "Not by man's might, nor by human power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." When we realize our weakness and God's power and faithfulness to His Covenant, we are in the fittest state for receiving His blessings.

Jesus told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. [To which Paul said within himself], Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. . . for when I am weak then am I strong" (II Corinthians 12:9-10). Thus, "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). nl733.htm


Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
 
e-mail   URL
Order Bible Believers' video & web site on CD.
FREE The Second Coming of Christ PowerPoint presentation.
Subscribe to Newsletter
Unsubscribe from Newsletter