Year
2000
It would appear that about seven million people are beginning to descend on Jerusalem and in particular Mt Zion in the belief that as the sun rises on Mt Zion and the "New Millennium" starts; Christ is going to descend out of the clouds and take control of the earth from this mount, or beam them up to heaven in a secret rapture, the other date given for this is 20 April. Well we are going to have some very disillusioned people. And we are going to hear the phrase "My Lord Delays his coming". It appears that Israel is now extending its mental hospitals to accommodate these "unhappy ones".
So why do we have this state of affairs where many false prophets are saying the year 2000 is going to be the year when Christ returns or whatever?
They simply do not read the bible properly. No where does it
say that the year 2000 is the year of Christ's return. No where does it say that
the year 2000 is going to be any different from 1066. Before Christ returns the
world has to go through 7 years of agony including nation fighting nation to
such an extent that NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED (Matt 24:21,22) except that Christ
intervenes to save mankind from himself.
The beam up that WE have been referring to in the last few Countdowns will happen at ONE OF THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS. This will happen at about the Autumn Equinox. But the year has NOT been defined.
One of the tribes that came out of Egypt was Judah (see Exodus 1:2) the same people who are attempting to make Jerusalem their capital now.
Once God had got the Israelites out of Egypt, they had not only forgotten when the Sabbath day was after being there 430 years; but they were also moaning for food. They had gotten hungry.
So He said unto them Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you: and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove then, whether they will walk in my law, or not. Ex.16:4.
And it shall come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
So God was about to teach them when the Sabbath day was. NOT Sunday the first day of the week but the Sabbath.
One of the things to note is that each day when the Israelites had gathered that which he wanted, and left the rest, that which was left in the fields melted when the sun came up hot. Ex 16:21. So the manna had to be kept under cover.
The next thing to be noted is that during the week some of the clever clogs decided that they would hold some back so that in the evening of the day and at night they would still have some to eat. They found however that by the following morning, the previous mornings manna bred worms and stank. Ex 16:20.
God therefore was giving a specific instruction, collect the manna in the morning and eat it. They also had quail at night.
Now we come to the Friday or the sixth day (or the preparation day) where they were told to gather twice as much, which they did. They had to eat what they wanted on the sixth day and lay up the rest for the following morning of the seventh (or Sabbath) day.
Then surprise surprise what did they find on the Sabbath day? Ex 16:24 And they lade it up (overnight) till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
This shows quite clearly that the night before the Sabbath ( the Sabbath night) God had placed his presence there in the sense that the manna held over this night would not decay. The Israelites would also have had a peaceful rest that night (Sabbath means rest) as they did not have to go and collect manna the following morning. The night after the Sabbath they would have eaten quail.
There were a minimum of four miracles that had occurred during this time. One was the appearance of the manna daily from heaven. The second was that the Sabbath day (a period of 12 hours daylight) was re identified. Third was that GOD supplied food for a period of forty years. The forth was that the manna on the night before the Sabbath did not breed worms as it did the other nights. There is also the miracle of clothes and shoes not wearing out for forty years.
So it become perfectly clear that the Israelites had manna in their possession from early morning of the sixth day to almost the evening of the Sabbath or seventh day. At Friday sunset they had manna in their possession so they would have had a restful sleep at night not having to worry about the following day food. After Friday sunset they would have also be eating quail so there tummies would also be full. This went on for forty years. God was identifying for them not only when the Sabbath day was, but also by pure action alone when the Sabbath night was; ie the Sabbath night preceding the Sabbath day. The sixth day is the day of preparation.
This is not a tradition of the Jews in the sense that the Jews created the Sabbath day or night as the Jews as a people did not exist for another 700 years. It was GOD that was doing the re identifying of HIS Sabbath. The Sabbath that was made for man. In this case the Israelites.
So God identified for the Israelites when the Sabbath day was. They then went into Babylon and after coming out, it was God in the form of Christ that showed that Judah was still keeping the Sabbath on the correct day as Luke 13:10--And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath----shows.
Sunday--[sunnan daeg, day of the sun] n, The first day of the week, the Lords day, the Christian Sabbath.
From The Concise English Dictionary ISBN 1-85079-153-8 page 1133.
From the Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Sunday is called "the Lord's day." The weekly commemoration of the Resurrection replace for Christians the synagogue meeting on Saturdays.---Despite massive legislation (some attempting to express Christian ideals-e.g. making Sundays a rest day, he (Constantine) failed to check the drastic inflation that began about 250 (AD). From Encyclopaedia Britannica vol 16. 15th Edition 1993 pages 262-263.
From A History of Christianity:
Constantine did, indeed, retain the pagan high priest title of Pontifex Maximus, and for a decade his coins continued to feature some of the pagan gods, notably his own favoured deity the Unconquered Sun.
Constantine made the first day of the week a holiday, he called it 'the venerable day of the Sun (Sunday).
The Christian church took over many pagan ideas and images. From sun-worship, for example, came the celebration of Christ's birth on the twenty-fifth of December, the birth of the Sun.
Saturnalia the Roman winter festival of 17-21 of December provide the merriment, gift- giving and candles typical of later Christmas holidays. A History of Christianity ISBN 0 7459 3690 3 pages 139-141.
So it was not the Sabbath keeping that was the problem in 250 AD but that of inflation which is a polite term for the problem of charging usury. I wonder what the people of Britain would have said if they knew that over 1500 years later they would be charged 30 billion in banking service charges in 1998.
Oh how Rome has conned the Church of England. Just think when the Church of England is having its evening services at 6 pm after sunset mid winter they have really gone into the second 24 hrs of the week. As God has said, in vain do they worship me.
Finally on this topic the people in the Church of England should consider that you have kept Christmas and Easter and Sunday worship for the past 120 years since the height of the empire, now the empire has gone and your church attendance is down to 10 % do you think God is telling you something. Most people in the Church of England have gone totally asleep.
We would like to thank Glen Myer of the USA for pointing out to us that there should be a comma after the word "Christ" in the scripture 1 Corinthians 15:23. "But every man in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming". This shows a series of resurrections.
We would like to thank Mr Philip Derstine for his articles on The Marriage supper; Judgement; and the article on the 5th Seal. Now we know that these article are controversial but they make a lot more sense than what is generally being taught today.
While it may have escaped the notice of some of the people behind the scenes, it is a fact of life that God made male and female different. The Question is why? The answer is that God is in the process of making more God type beings. The only way that he can do this is to make the female in such a way that she can take the minute life form, which we call a seed and make it grow.
The male on the other hand supplies the seed and has the harder qualitites about him required for protection and hunting. Both are different. God is in the process of developing multiple billions of God type beings who have the potential to live forever.
But God does give instructions in this area. As an example Lev. 18:22 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is an abomination". Lev. 20:13 stresses this.
Lev. 19:29 "Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness".
Deut. 22:5 "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a womans garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God".
1 Cor.11:14 "Doeth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering".
Any potential leader of any country should read their bible and specifically Timothy and Titus.
1 Tim. 3:1; "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach--"and so on.
Tit. 1:7 "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-will , not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre".
There has been of recent times in the west the "Christian" idea that when we go to war that we really only want to "remove" the leaders. We don't want to kill the civilians because they are so innocent. The other idea which comes from the media especially when a war correspondent gets killed, is that oh agony "he actually got killed". Wake up you dumb media news casters when there is war people get killed.
Saddam Hassan
To remove Saddam Hassan from office. That is to kill him. No one in the west need to have even gone near the bloke--if he is that evil that is.
The solution which God used in ancient Israel was HORNETS .Deut 7:20; Josh 24:12; Ex 23:28.
He came across so beautifully on Breakfast with Frost on Sunday morning 17 Jan 98. Sir Ted was asked did he think that Britain should join the single currency and out trotted his most beautiful answer. This believe it or not was the Great advantage of getting deeper and deeper in Europe,
He said by having a single currency like America and Japan when we go abroad then we will not have our money debased when we travel from one country to another so that if we start off with one hundred pound in Dover, by the time we have travelled the rest of the different countries of Europe we will not be left with about 60% of the value of our money. Sir Ted conveniently did not mention Russia that also has a single currency the Rouble and has defaulted on paying back its interest on its NATIONAL DEBT. NO that's not mentioned not good banking PR. Or Brazil that could also send the world into total depression with its single currency.
Sounds good doesn't it? No more currency changing problems in Europe. This is the only apparent one advantage of being in Europe.
Is it an advantage? NO just the reverse. Once the currency of an individual country goes then the individual power or sovereignty of the country goes and you are in the control of the bankers. The people of the different countries of Europe know this and don't want the single currency, that is why they are allowed to use there own individual currency for now.
Keep in mind Europeans that even when you have a single currency, the interest rate that you have to pay when you borrow money from your friendly local banker it's still going to be controlled by the Central Bank by an individual that is scared stiff to show his face; not you..
Remember that it was the Rothschild dynasty that first advised Edward Heath to take the British people into Europe in the first place.
Many people are asking the question if sour face Heath is so pro European why does he not just pack his bags and go and live in Germany, in Frankfurt near his masters. He could then take Tony Blair and his family and the Rothschild dynasty with him and live happily ever after in Germany
As an example Rev 12 covers events in the pre adamic period, verse 4 and his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven. Write for our free article "Origins". Then what most people do not seem to appreciate, (we are using the Authorized King James version ISBN 0-529-10225-0 for this discussion) is that because of an incorrect chapter topic "The coming of Christ" that many people are mislead by Rev. 22. In reality Chapter 22 covers a period that is over a thousand years after the return of Christ and when the Ancient of Days or God Himself is in control.
So now to cover the Chapters.
Rev. Chapter 1, This is an introduction to the book and reveals what Christ is like now. We know that it is describing Christ as verse 18 contains --and was dead-- is in iit.
Rev. Chapter 2, The Character of some of the churches is described here with the blessings or reward for over comers.
Rev. Chapter 3, This one covers the Character of some churches again including the famous Philadelphian church.
Rev. Chapter 4, Around the throne of God is the best way to describe this chapter.
Rev. Chapter 5, Introducing the 7 seals and who is going to open them.
Rev. Chapter 6, This Covers the opening of seals 1-6 and the introduction of the great day of his wrath.
Rev. Chapter 7, The Sealing of 144,000 plus introducing the great multitude.
Rev. Chapter 8, This is the opening of the 7th seal and introducing the seven trumpets. The first four trumpets sounding and introducing the three woes.
Rev. Chapter 9, We now come into the intense part of the book of revelations where God is using Satan to do his correcting for him. 5th trumpet Woe 1; 6th trumpet part of 2nd woe. 1 star which is Satan
Rev. Chapter 10, This is the chapter which shows that the mystery of God is to be finished, the Angel with Book which is assumed at this stage to be the Bible.
Rev. Chapter 11, This is the chapter of the famous two witnesses
and their reign for 3 years. 2nd woe end of witnesses and the temple
of God seen in heaven.
Rev. Chapter 12, Unfortunately many people seem to ignore this chapter as it
appears not to fit in. In reality it is the history of the Devil going back to
origins and then trying to finish off the remnant of the church after he was
cast out of heaven.
Rev. Chapter 13, This chapter covers the beast power that rules the whole
earth for a period of 3 years after the witnesses have been beamed up to heaven.
Rev. Chapter 14, This is the start of Christ's actual return as verse
14----on a white cloud ---shows.
Rev. Chapter 15, Where the nations of the earth that are
left on earth will see right into the third heaven where Christ and the
144,000 and a great multitude as spirit beings are; while they are on earth and
awaiting the arrival of the 7 last plagues.
Rev. Chapter 16, Pouring out the 7 vial plagues which some of the nations
will withstand and God will correct them as at verse 16, Armageddon.
Rev. Chapter 17, The story now goes to the history of the great Whore and
Babylon which is Rome; identified by 666 later on; as the woman.
Rev. Chapter 18, Fall of Babylon (Rome) and watched sadly over by the, it is
believed to be the merchants Rothschild and others . Esau of old.
Rev. Chapter 19, This chapter covers the marriage supper of the lamb. Christ
coming on the white horse. Overview and finish at Armageddon verse 19 being pre
Armageddon.
Rev. Chapter 20, Shows Satan is bound and Christ rules for a thousand years.
The final battle after a thousand years . Lake of Fire--2,4; 1000 years, the
second death.
Rev. Chapter 21, Vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem that comes down from the
third heaven after about 1100 years.
Rev. Chapter 22, Christ has already been on earth for over 1100 years and we
are at this point in time in the Kingdom of God with His Father as overall
ruler.
After going through the 5th seal article we left the reader with
one main idea.
The main idea which we want the reader to take on board is that the
two witnesses (Rev 11:3) continue 1260 days or 3.5 years; until the beast (Rev
11:7) kills them, and it continues forty and two months or 3.5 years (Rev
13:5).
Now using the Revelations table at the back of the 5th Seal
magazine Countdown number 56 January 1999.
The idea content of Rev 22 where it says (Rev.22:20 Surely I come
quickly) which the printers put as the topic of
chapter 22, is merely an encouraging statement from Christ to John in the Isle
of Patmos.
We have moved on about 1900 years since then. The book of Revelations
although in chronological sequence is more like a stack of cards of correction.
On top of the 7 seals is placed the 7 trumpets but more compressed together. In
similar fashion the 7 vials are place on top of the trumpets but more compressed
together.
Such that Rev 16:17; IT IS DONE. Rev 10:7; MYSTERY TO BE
FINISHED and Rev. 8:1; SILENCE, are in roughly the same time
zone. Christ is coming on a white cloud as a reaper in Rev 14:14.
It says that The Kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord in
Rev 11:15, 17. And then in Rev 6:17. For the great day of his wrath is come.
In our table the WH, RH, BH and PH are simply White horse, Red horse, Black
horse and Pale horse. These have been riding for some time now. People have been
slain for their beliefs in Christ as our article by Allan Campbell Great
Tribulation shows
We have not had a massive worldwide earthquake at seal 6. Or hail and fire
come down from heaven. We would have thought that Rev. 12:9 and Rev.9:1 is
talking about the same time period which has not happened yet.
Alex Cain
First, I wish to restate the definition of plagiarism from Black's Law
Dictionary, 5th edition, page 1035:
Plagiarism: The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or
parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and
passing them off as the product of one's own mind. To be liable for plagiarism
it is not necessary to exactly duplicate another's literary work, it being
sufficient if unfair use of such work is made by lifting of substantial portion
thereof, but even an exact counterpart of another's work does not constitute
plagiarism if such counterpart was arrived at independently.
Please reread that definition. Since I am in the publishing industry
(employed by the world's third largest publisher of textbooks), that is the
definition I had in mind when I made this analysis of Armstrong's work.
How to Prove Plagiarism
To demonstrate that Herbert plagiarized J. H. Allen's "Judah's Sceptre and
Joseph's Birthright" in writing his book, The United States and British
Commonwealth in Prophecy (hereafter US&BC), I must demonstrate:
(1) that HWA never cited Allen as a source;
(2) that HWA had knowledge of Allen's book and thus did not arrive at his
opinions independently;
(3) that parts, passages or the language of Allen's work is duplicated by HWA
even if not quoted verbatim (the popular conception of plagiarism).
In regard to point (1), an examination of the US&BC.
Allen is nowhere mentioned as a source.
It is not enough for an author to orally reveal a source for a significant
portion of his own book. The acknowledgment must accompany the author's book so
that his readers are informed of the source. Since a book may
enjoy a printing of thousands or even millions of copies, and since an author
could in no way orally reveal his source to that many people, it is immediately
apparent why the source must be referenced in the author's own book. The US
& BC enjoyed a distribution of several million copies (15 million if I
remember correctly). If HWA had orally informed every member of the WCG of his
use of Alien that would only amount to 1% of his reading public. Point
(1) is proved.
As to point (2), please consult the Jan-Feb 1996 issue of
the Global Church News. In the text box on page 11, an unnamed author writes:
In the late 1920's, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong became acquainted with Allen's
book and subsequently incorporated some of Allen's ideas in a book which he
later published. It is, however, quite untrue that Mr. Armstrong in any way
plagiarized material from Allen's book. I possess copies of Judah's Sceptre and
Joseph's Birthright, as well as various versions of Mr. Armstrong's US and
Britain in Prophecy. But I have never seen so much as a single instance in any
of the numerous versions of Mr. Armstrong's work that plagiarized even one
sentence from Allen's book. On numerous occasions, Mr. Armstrong freely
acknowledged his indebtedness to Allen for having clearly explained the biblical
identity of the Anglo-American peoples-ideas which later helped inspire him to
write his own 300-page paper on 'Anglo-Israelism'.
Therefore, HWA did have prior knowledge of Allen's
book before he wrote the US&BC and one cannot argue that HWA
arrived at his ideas independent of Alien. Point (2) is proved.
Incidentally, we shall see that the writer of the above quote obviously has
not examined Armstrong and Allen closely, for if he did he would not have
written "I have never seen so much as a single instance in any of the numerous
version of Mr. Armstrong's work that plagiarized even one sentence from Allen's
book." We shall find that statement to be entirely untrue and quite unfortunate.
As to point (3), consider the following:
According to the legal definition of plagiarism provided at the beginning of
this post, plagiarism consists of an unfair use of a substantial portion
another's work, even if not exactly duplicated, passing another's work off as
one's own. How do we determine if indeed an author used a substantial portion of
another's work when there is no exact duplication of text?
I put that question to the legal department of the publisher
for whom I work.
They replied that in such a case plagiarism is proved by demonstrating that
the work in question evidences a remarkable similarity to another work's
arrangement of material, development of argument, proofs adduced and, if
possible, use of peculiar phraseology. The arrangement of material is considered
not at the level of the entire book but at the level of a section or subsection.
Since there are innumerable ways to present a subject, and it is assumed that
different authors will naturally have different modes of presentation, the
development of the argument is examined to determine if one author's argument
proceeds substantially as another's. Examination of proofs adduced to support an
argument proceeds along similar lines. The nature of the subject must be
considered when examining development of argument and proof's adduced, for
discussions of hard science (mathematics, physics, chemistry) will, by their
very nature, proceed similarly; such is not the case with soft sciences or
philosophy.
As to peculiar phraseology, I was told that only significant words are
examined. Where an author is found to have used an uncommon word or phrase, and
where that word or phrase can be shown to be within a section of text whose
arrangement and development of argument are substantially that of another
author, it is considered to be presumptive evidence of 'prior knowledge' and
hence plagiarism.
A final point made by the legal department was this: plagiarism is proved by
the cumulative weight of evidence, not by the individual proofs adduced. That
is, it could be remotely possible that two authors coincidentally demonstrate
similarity in a handful of expressions, ideas or presentations, but as the
number of coincidences grow so does the likelihood of plagiarism.
It is very important for the reader to keep in the forefront
of his mind the definition of legal plagiarism and the criteria for its
determination as the reader progresses through this post. The reader will not
see the plagiarism if the reader loses sight of what plagiarism is and how to
recognize it.
Text Used in Analysis
For my texts I am using the 1967 edition of the US&BC and the 19th
edition of Allen's 1917 work (available from Destiny Publishers, Merrimac,
Massachusetts). I am comfortable using the 1967 edition for two reasons: (1) it
was one of the most widely circulated editions and is still in the possession of
many members and (2) --------To be continued.
It is more blessed to give than receive. Acts
20:35
You will have noticed that we do not have a shiny front page with this issue,
it is because our printing machine is getting older and we need a new one. We
would also like to move forward on the Internet more with a better web site set
up. Unfortunately this requires money and we are asking readers if they can give
money. We require about 2000 ($4000) to move forward.
This will give us another computer and printer and hence a forward movement
on the Internet. We would also like to hear from a lot more
people in respect to what they feel about the magazine.
Pull out
Britain should not only NOT join the single currency of
Europe but should keep the (pound) and pull out of Europe all together. The
Bankers the Rothschild, Esau of the Old testament are the ones that are
operating behind the scenes. Read "The last days of the Red Throne" by Des
Thomas. It means the last days of the Rothschilds (Esau).
How do we know they are not Jewish. Jews operate in the open. Esau is
operating behind the scenes and is scared stiff of publicity. The Jews are
really only interested in Jerusalem. The Rothschilds are only interested in
WORLD control at any cost. They operate (have offices) in 34 countries. And now
are developing a Global Strategy refer Daily Telegraph Nov 14
1998 page B8.
In a recent book Jewish Chronicle Feb 12 98 page 13. Quoting "But there was a
sense that they (the Rothschilds) were not quite of the wider
Jewish community"
Editors comment. No, they are Esau of the Old Testament that has
infiltrated the Jewish community.
Since "Joining" the modern day Babylon of Europe in 1975. Our Fishing
capacity has been obliterated. Our Coal industry has gone. The Germans are
determined to obliterate our beef industry. We have gone from about 150 billion
in NATIONAL DEBT to just over 400
billion. THAT'S NOT PROSPERITY BUT DEBT. The Bankers received 30
billion in Usury Charges last financial year. Deut 23:19. Don't charge usury.
Brussels bureaucracy is strangling John Bull.
Did Herbert Armstrong Plagiarize J.H.Allen's Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's
Birthright in the US&BC in Prophecy?