E. FUTURE EVENTS, CRAZY SCI-FI?

Prophets, astrologers and clairvoyants have predicted all kinds of events around the turn of the millennium or shortly after – the time in which we live. You don’t need to be a prophet, guru or sadhu to know that something has got to change.

It is not only global warming, destruction of the ozone layers, wars, natural disasters, etc., but the values of love and beauty that we have held sacred for millenniums that are being destroyed in our generation. Is darkness taking over?

When we a look at the different ancient, sacred writings in connection with the present and the future, then it becomes clear that things will have to change drastically. 

All four main world religions talk about this in their sacred writings:

A:  In Hinduism we learn in the Gita about the ‘kalyug’ and the ‘ghor kalyug’ before ‘Ram-rajya’, or
     the dark and extreme dark period before God will Rule. 

B:  In  Islam, we find in the Hadith and the Koran, that there will come a dark period over the earth
     with an evil ruler called the ‘Dajjal’, after which Jesus will return and destroy him and set up
     God’s Kingdom.

C:  In Judaism we learn from the prophets that God will set up His kingdom which will never be
     destroyed and that it will be a time of peace, where the lion shall lay down with the lamb.

D:  In Christianity or in the New Testament books of the Bible, this ‘Dajjal’ is called the Anti-Christ
     and we are given many more details of this time. Prior to his return, Jesus said that there will be
     a number of signs.

Foreword on prophecy: When there is a vital prophecy about our present days (i.e. in Daniel chpt 7 & 8 and Dan 9:24-27 about the last 7 years), these prophecies are all preceded by a prophecy that is already fulfilled, to tell us that the others will also come to pass. In  Matthew 24 Jesus first says about the temple not one stone shall be left upon another, before his foretelling about the last days. This temple prophecy was fulfilled 40 years later under Titus in 70 A.D. when his soldiers burned down the temple and the gold melted in between the stones, so they broke up every last stone in order to retrieve the gold.

Signs of the times:

·        You shall hear of wars and rumours of wars (Mat 24:6) (wars we know, and how the media love the rumours of wars) Washington Post declared, “Our century wars have been total wars…..  the barbarian wars of centuries past were alley fights in comparison.” 

·        There shall be famines and pestilences (Matthew 24:7) Famines: The World Bank reported that ‘some 40.000 hunger related deaths occur every day!’.

·        Pestilences (Mat 24.7) The W.H.O. (World Health Org.) declares: ‘more than 6000 people everyday are infected with HIV and the epidemic is getting worse’ ‘Diseases recently considered conquered are becoming unstoppable’ says A. P

·        Many will run to and fro (Daniel 12:4) (traveling and tourism worldwide has increased immensely in the last half century and has become a multi-billion dollar industry)

·         “Knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4) 80% of all the scientists that have ever lived are alive today, and add every minute 2000 pages to man’s scientific knowledge.

·        “The love of many grows cold” Violence increases: i.e. in the USA, by the time a child is 15 years old he has seen on TV the violent destruction and planned murders of 15000 people. Yet we think it strange that teenagers walk into their school with a machine gun and kill their own classmates.

The following is the chart of the last 7 years before Jesus returns. Please, study this together with the timeline to get a clearer overall picture.

·        The launching of the New World Order (NWO). The world will be divided into 10 major political, economic Regions  with a dynamic NWO-leader. A 7 year peace agreement a.k.a. Holy Covenant (Daniel 9:27) signed by many (U.N.), involving the Middle East. It will include points like the Jewish Temple building, and possibly making Jerusalem the int’l religious capital.  

·        After 3 ½ years of peace and prosperity (Dan 9:27) this NWO leader will break this agreement and he will set up a talking image of himself in the temple, which everyone must worship, a.k.a the abomination. (Rev 13:15; Dan 9:27; Mat 24:15,21) He will declare himself to be god. This leader is referred to in the Koran as the DAJJAL and in the Bible as the anti-Christ.

·        No man can buy or sell except he receives a mark in his right hand or forehead. (Rev 13: 16-18) (This refers to the end of hard currency or the collapse of the financial system, and a new global credit system, where we all have our personal RFID chip - Radio Frequency Identification – injected into our body. This is by many considered the ultimate Big Brother control and invasion of privacy, however it will be legally enforced or death penalty. It will not just be and economic decision, but it will include the renouncing of your faith and accepting the NWO leader as god, as well as worship of his image.

·        A period of 3½ years, 42 months or 1260 days, (Rev 11:2,3; 12:6,14) which will be the most difficult, troublesome time for the world. The “ghor kalyug” or extreme dark period, with enforced worship of the “Dajjal” or Antichrist as god. Many will refuse and stand against him, culminating in the final Jihad, an army of 200,000,000 will come from the east to fight against him and thus starts the Battle of Armageddon as well as the nuclear war.

·      There will be a great falling away - Will it be you?.
Christians have always believed for centuries that they will go through the
 tribulation, until C.I. Scofield published his writings in 1888 and his Bible in  1909, saying that we don’t have to go through the tribulation. Of course
everyone loved this theory and thus came the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory.
Post Tribulation is now only believed by 10 to 15% of the Christians.  Scofield however cannot change Jesus’ words “immediately after the tribulation…shall the Son of Man come in the clouds of Heaven” (Mat 24:29-31) Paul said it so clearly “let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed. . . who sits in the Temple of God showing himself as God” (2Th 2:3,4) Don’t be deceived by the Pre-tribulation theory and end up as one of those scoffers that say: “the Lord delays his coming” and turn on your brothers. (Mat 24:48; Lk12:45; 2Th 2:4). Jesus, Daniel, Paul were speaking of facts to come while Scofield wrote theories, taking a Bible verse, Rev 3:10 out of context. According Jesus in the book of Revelation we will go through the tribulation, but not the Wrath of God (Rev 16) ,which are the seven vials poured out after the seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet announces the Return of Jesus. (1Cor 15:51-53; Rev 10:7:14)

·        Before you believe Scofield please look up these verses: Mat 24: 15,21,29-31; Rev 7:14; Rev 12:6; Rev 12:12-17; 2Th 2:1-5; Dan 7:20-25; Dan 8:23-25; Dan 11:31-35; Dan 12:7 (time, times & half a time=3½ years or 1260 days)

·        At the end of 1260 days Jesus returns in the clouds of heaven and takes up those that believe in him together with the believers in Jesus that died. The graves shall be opened and resurrected bodies of those that died, shall go up. Paul explain it beautifully 1Cor 15:52-53  ”In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (the 7^th tribulation trumpet): for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible (rotting fleshly body) must put on incorruption (eternal heavenly body) and this mortal must put on immortality.” Mat.24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

·        A super wedding party: the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Rev 19:6-9 After 30 days of wedding feast we will go on white horses and join the battle of Armageddon and cleanse the sanctuary Dan 8:13,14 Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a 1290 days. Seeing we are taken up after 1260 days for the Marriage Feast, we will come back down 30 days later for the battle of Armageddon and to cleanse the sanctuary.

·        Rev 19:13-16 The battle of Armageddon will last 45 days. Those that are hiding out in the mountains and forests should wait it out for another 45 days as it says in Dan 12:12 “Blessed is he that waits, and makes it to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days” because then all this war business will be over and there will be peace on earth. The millennium starts. Dan 7:14,18,26,27;

·        Satan bound for a thousand years Rev 20:1,2; Rev.20:7-9  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.” What do you think his line of deceit will be “Let’s have a democracy Let’s have an opposition party, as a matter a fact we better take over completely.” And he will gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Fire comes down from heaven and devours them. The earth surface is burned up along with all the space junk and atomic waste.

·        Judgment Day Rev.20:12,13  "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works"
·    
      New heaven and earth. On the Earth will be sitting a new city of 1500 miles wide and 1500 miles long as well as 1500 miles high, with many layers inside, a huge place where all the believers in Jesus that ever lived will have plenty of space for beautiful mansions. Rev chpt 21 & 22

Sounds like crazy Sci-Fi, doesn’t it? However if you have a train schedule and take a train from one place to another and you pass certain stations you pretty much know what your next station is going to be according to the schedule until you get to your final destination. So it is with today’s world-events we see them happen and being fulfilled until we get to the final destination of God’s Kingdom.

Don’t be alarmed, because we can have the peace and light of God in our heart and mind even if the whole world around us is in darkness and turmoil, by simply being a step ahead and asking Jesus, to come into our heart now. He will protect us and care for us throughout the days to come. He has promised to care for His own children.

Here is a simply prayer:

"Dear Jesus,
I ask your spirit of light to come into my heart. Please forgive me for the wrongs that I have done and give me your gift of eternal life. Please protect me through any troublous days and times to come. Thank you that I am now Your child and that you have promised to care for your own! You said in psalm 91 that a thousand shall fall on my side and ten thousand on my right hand but it shall not come near me. Thank you for that promise.”

When you are God’s Child you don’t need to worry because God promises in the Bible: “if any provide not for his own….. he is worse than an infidel” This we can also turn around and apply to God as our father and us his children.

Also read Psalm 91 with beautiful protection scriptures. These are God's promises and God is not a man that He should lie. Now that you have Jesus and are God’s child, he will protect and keep you through these times as he promised. He will even give you special powers to do exploits (Dan 11:32). If you memorize God’s Word and not theories of man then you will stand strong, you will not be cowering but powering. Men like Moses, Daniel and other of God’s Greats will be helping us to stand strong and not be afraid of the Hocus Pocus tricks of the Antichrist and his false prophet, who had horns like a lamb and spoke as a dragon (horns means strength or power, Jesus is portrayed as a lamb) Could it be that the false prophet is a powerful “Christian” so-called, who deceives like the Devil? If he is not a “Christian” he is most likely a very powerful religious person. (Rev 13: 11-14)
Be Prepared and be not deceived!

        

D: CONTROVERSIAL ARTIFACT

THE SHROUD OF TURIN

The shroud is one of the most studied artifacts in human history, and one of the most controversial.

The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma in a manner consistent with crucifixion It is kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, northern Italy.  

The 14-foot-by-4-foot linen cloth is believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus. The shroud has a full-length photonegative image of a man, front and back, bearing signs of wounds that correspond to the Gospel accounts of the torture Jesus endured in his passion and death. The image on the shroud is much clearer in black-and-white negative than in its natural sepia color. The negative image was first observed in 1898, on the reverse photographic plate of amateur photographer Secondo Pia, who was allowed to photograph it while it was being exhibited.

The Shroud is marked with burns, scorches, and water stains from the 1532 Chambery fire. The triangular shaped areas are patches sewn on in 1534.

Dr. Frei pressed the tape onto the shroud causing dust, pollen and other particulate matter to stick to the tape and be lifted from the fibers of the shroud.     

The Man on the Shroud!

·        He was naked.

·        He was 5 feet 11 inches, almost 6 feet tall.           

·        He had a beard and shoulder length hair.

·        He had an enlarged chest from trying to breathe heavily       

·        He had been beaten with a Roman Flagrum. (John19:1)                

·        He had puncture marks on his skull (Jn19:2) (Mk 15:19)(Mt 27:30)         

·        He had bled whilst upright on the cross                   

·        He had suffered most of his wounds whilst alive

·        He had a swelling on his left cheekbone (John18:22)                    

·        Wound on his side with no swelling, indicating that the wound happened after he had died. (John19:34)      

·        Dirt on his knees and the tip of his nose is reported to contain minerals found in Palestine region.

·   The image of the hands showed no thumbs. (The nails went through the wrist contracting the thenar muscles, causing the thumb to bend into the palm)

·        Blood smears from the upper shoulder are thought to be microscopic oak wood remains. (John19:17)

·        Pollen has been found on the shroud’s surface from 28 plants. (John 19:40)

(All 28 plants grow in Israel. 14 of the 28 plants only grow in the Middle East. Of the 28 plants, 27 bloom in the springtime corresponding with the Jewish Passover. Zygophyllum dumosum, for which there is pollen as well as an image, grows only in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai. 

Professor Avinoam Danin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said: "This combination of flowers can be found in only one region of the world. The evidence clearly points to a floral grouping from the area surrounding Jerusalem."

Dr Peter J. Shield: “It is my considered opinion, having been involved in reporting on the evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin for over 20 years that it is the real article. The amassed evidence for its authenticity is indisputable!

Dr. Alan Adler about the possibility of it being a painting stated: “The blood was positive on the cloth while the image was negative. This meant that the blood marks were photographically opposite to the image that they accompanied. What pictures carry with them photographic opposites?”  “For a painter to have created this image, he would have needed a paintbrush the size of a fiber which is less than half the width of a human hair or 1 pixel.”

Hundreds of scientists have found no explantion as of today for the image on the shroud. All the theories from radiation to scorching to the bioplastic coating and from painting to vaporographic theories have been ruled out.

The only alternative is that the image on the shroud was the result of resurrection of Jesus. (The Bible states: We shall all be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye and our corruptible body will receive an incorruptible eternal body (1Cor 15: 52, 53)

C: ESSENCE OF LIFE

THE ESSENCE OF LIFE REVEALED

“Love, love, love - that is the soul of the genius” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave” M. Gandhi

We all want to be loved and love someone. For most of us love is the greatest thing on Earth! Mother Earth, the wonders of nature and life - the flowers, the starry nights, the amazing animals, the touch of a friend - all breathe love for us! Even our pets understand love and without love they do not thrive and sometimes die of grief.

When you stop to think about the reason of why we are here, then we realize that it is to learn to give love and receive love, as well as to enjoy the good things in life.  

Okay, this sounds nice, but then why is there so much hunger and suffering in the World?—So much evil, hardship, and death? Why can’t it all be good and pleasant? Well, it was originally made to be that way, but as humans we chose to go our own way; to be selfish and unloving. Our greed and stubbornness constantly cause most of the sorrows around us and in the world at large. We are spoiling what was meant for us to enjoy. We are ruining it with our arguments, greed and lust for power, resulting in violence and wars, which would not be there if we had more love. Love could heal so many wounds, broken hearts and suffering.

Although some of us deny it we are all aware of what is good and bad through that quiet voice that is constantly trying to guide us to make the loving and right decisions. That quiet voice which makes us realize that there is a higher Godlike power. This power wants to protect us from thinking only about ourselves, and instead tries to inspire us to be giving and show love!—Love for God, Love for others and even Love for ourselves! The more love we give, the more we become a conduit for love and we realize that, in spite of what is being hurled against God, He is love and loves you and me!

We know that we have all fallen short when it comes to loving others. We have all done things that are wrong for which we feel guilty and make us feel far away from God. So the question is how can we make up for these shortcomings and sins and be at peace with God? God knew we couldn’t be perfect, and decided to teach us how to live and love by His own example, so He came to us in the form of Jesus. 

Let’s take an objective look and lay aside our biases and prejudices.

·         Hinduism teaches that God has many faces, so for the Hindu Jesus is God’s face projecting God’s Love, Light and forgiveness.

·         Islam calls Jesus ‘Roohullah’ or the Spirit of God, born of a virgin, so for the Muslim Jesus represents the Spirit of God, who came into the world through a supernatural birth.

·         In Judaism we find over 300 prophecies that apply to Jesus as the Messiah.

·         Buddha refers to the Holy One who will come and show us the new way of salvation to Nirvana,

·         The Christians call him the Son of God, but whatever we call him, his aim in life was to bring forgiveness for our sins, resulting from our lack of love.

In most religions, we find traces of the doctrine that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, and people sacrifice a lamb or goat as atonement for their sins.  Out of love for you and me, God made a way to escape from the burden of our sin and the need to sacrifice. Jesus decided, purely out of love for us, to give his own life as atonement for our sins and He gave himself to be the final sacrifice. He is also called ‘Lamb of God’- As a lamb that was sacrificed, he was crucified and His Blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. By accepting what Jesus did for us we are forgiven and God will remember our sins against Him and His creation no more.

After Jesus gave his life for us and died, three days later he rose from the dead. Consequently by accepting Jesus we also receive the gift of eternal life and we lose the ‘Fear of Death’, which will hold no more power over us. The wall and the burden of sin that separated us from God is taken away and we have Salvation or Mukti – we now have access to God’s presence, as a child has access to its loving  parents, and we experience God’s parental love and concern  for us as His children. Please pray the following prayer with me: 

“Dear Jesus, thank you so much for taking on my punishment and giving your life so I can be forgiven for my unloving deeds. Now that I am forgiven I have peace in my life. Thank you. Help me to do the same and forgive others, who I feel have done wrong against me. Cleanse me from negative influences and powers. Fill me with your Spirit of love, happiness and strength and please give me the gift of eternal life”

Once you have sincerely said this prayer, then Jesus is in your heart and you are forgiven. You have peace with God, which is the greatest peace any of us can posses. In a difficult situation you can simply ask Jesus to help you, like you would ask your best friend. But let’s not wait to talk to Jesus until we are in trouble, we can thank Him for salvation, for life, for love, for the good and even seemingly bad things. This activates the loving, healing and positive energy flow in our life.