Commercial Break: "Never Before Understood", by the COGs. The Book of Revelation

The author of Revelation was doing in his turbulent times what we do in ours. Trying to match up this or that political and/or religious leader with the times and creating a prophecy to tell the story of what is happening and what ultimately "will happen". With the outcome, of course, going to the good guys and in this case, the Jews and Jewish Christians during the sweep of Vespasian through the Levant and ultimately on to destroy Jerusalem in 70 CE. Did't quite work out that way. 

Only the passage of time shows what actually will happen, and in this the case of the Book of Revelation, did happen. Contrary to "I have read the end of the book and WE WIN!" I have read the end of the Book....and they lost.

Every age tries to figure out where it stands with its craziness and "end times" it seems. Seems we don't want to die and would prefer to "be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye"!

I don't personally believe that anyone can "pre-dict" the future. But trying has become big biz. Some have the need to see themselves as prophets. They don't tend to do it well. Their prophecies tend to fail due to unforeseen circumstances. I believe we all or most all here can recall the days when Franz Joseph Strauss, as potential "Beast" visited AC and made it on to the cover of the PT. Alas...

Arch of Titus in Rome celebrating the his victory over Jerusalem in 70 CE

Revelation is "a Failed prohecy" in the sense that the Romans won the day with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Messiah, neither Jewish nor Jewish Christian returned at the end of three and a half years. Within that time from 70 to 73 when Masada fell, the Romans put an end to any hope of Messianic deliverance. 

Nero has often been thought to be "the Beast" and this may be possibly true in the minds of many in the day. "NERO" in Hebrew does spell out as 666. Some translations give 616  as the number of the Beast which translates into the more generic "Anti-Christ" evidently. Either way, it points towards the Caesars of 68 through 72 CE in the two years either side of the destruction of Jerusalem.  Nero died in June of '68.  

Rev 17:9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

In this prophetic scenerio,  the first 5 meaning, Julius Caesar (d. 44 BC), Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero is the 6th and the one that "now is". Galba, who followed after Nero's suicide in '68, lasted just one year into '69 and is the 7th.   The "Beast" who once was and now, or not yet, is the 8th and part of the succession of the 7.  This can be seen as Vespasian who became Emperor in '71 declared so by his troops as his Son Titus destroyed Jerusalem during his return trip to Rome at Galba's assassination.  Testy times those!  

To give the times a fuller context, the complete 7 and beyond after the destruction of Jerusalem are 

FIVE ARE FALLEN

1.Julius Caesar (d. 44 BC)

2.Augustus

3.Tiberius

4.Caligula

5. Claudius

ONE IS

6.  Nero

YET TO COME FOR A SHORT SPACE

7. Galba

(Otho, Vitellius,)

(Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor in December of '69. Otho and Vitellius contested Vespasian's claim to the throne but didn't last but a few months each. The author of Revelation did not consider them players.  Vespasian is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" Vespasian is to be the last ruler of Rome, the man of sin, the antichrist who will be destroyed by the Jewish Christ, but it didn't work out that way. )

The 8th that was and is not, yet is...

8. Vespasian

9.Titus

10.Domitian (d. 96 AD).

The Foreign Kings who supported Rome in the Armies against Jerusalem

12 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 

And the Romans won. In this way the Prophecy of the Book of Revelation failed to deliver. 

14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

It's all fascinating of course. While agnostic at best in my views, I have always been and always will be fascinated with how we try to explain our world and the drama and trauma of political and religious intrigues and the Biblical view of how it all will work out even as it doesn't as we all might have hoped. 

Vespasian builds the Colosseum in Rome in '72 and finishes it during the rule of his son, Titus. 

(That passing of torches in both politics and religion from Father to Son has always been a perk of the position)

 

 

Why you do not need to fear ANYTHING Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland, Rick Shabi, Gerald Weston or Beto Bob Theil has to say.

No one could have imagined that in 1996 we would have witnessed the Worldwide Church of God implode in a most destructive manner.

Neither could we have ever imagined so many self-appointed men would raise up with so many splinter groups, each one trying to out lie the other. Of course, the church had many men and women who tried to do the same thing previously by claiming they had special blessings from god. The difference between then and now is that Herbert Armstrong was alive and kicked them out of the church so fast they never knew what hit them. Plus, the membership remained loyal to Armstrong's edicts. If he said to not go with those people and to avoid them, the overwhelming majority of the membership did. 

Not so in the 2000's. The internet came into its own and the insanity of the splinter group leaders spread like wildfire. Church members no longer had a base to be loyal to and latched on to whichever group made their itching ears feel all warm and fuzzy. Church hopping quickly became the routine in the church as loyalty was no longer a controlling factor. 

Almost every year that went by saw a new self-appointed church leader arise and declare himself as the chosen one with all revealed truth. The craziness has multiplied exponentially and here we are today with some of the biggest liars and frauds the church has ever seen.

The Bible verse that self-appointed apostles, prophets, and an endless supply of wannabes NEVER want to talk about is found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18:22 --- "If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared."

There is not one single man leading a Church of God today that has the authority to be doing so. Nothing any of them have to say has any direct impact upon your salvation or standing with God. Not one single thing!

Hypocritical Prophet Condemns Another COG

 

Nothing irritates a self-appointed Church of God prophet more than seeing other COG's spend money, money that HE doesn't have and will NEVER have.

Beto Bwana Bob is not happy about the Church of the Eternal God and a recent series of articles about a supposed temple being built in Jerusalem by the Jews.

09/05/22 a.m. This morning, saw an online advertisement from CEG that had the following:
Coming soon – a 3rd temple

Plans to build a 3rd temple are ready. Construction will soon begin.

It is distressing when any COG spends tithes to promote something that is false. 

Wut? Seriously, dude! If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black I do not know what is. Beto Bwana Bob is using the tithes of his followers to pay for all kinds of heresies that he preaches. His entire ministry is a fraud and it is a shame that people are spending their hard-earned money on something so useless and false. 

Jews cannot possibly construct the Temple of God. No massive '3rd temple' needs to be built in this age--nor is such a massive temple about to be constructed. 

 

Instead of realizing that, CEG is wasting money promoting something that is false. 

Note: Beto Bwana Bob and Norbert Link are both equally delusional in their biblical interpretations. Neither has an understanding of what they preach on, particularly when they do happen to discuss that Jesus dude.