Bad Eschatology, Part 5 – Why This Is So Hard
The Steam-Powered Printing Press, God's Purpose and Seal Six
Before going after all the other purveyors of Bad Eschatology, I’d like to take a deep breath and talk about two reasons why the Last Days were always going to be impossible to understand.
God’s Purpose
Seal Six
And, I can tell you from personal experience how hard it has been to see even a little bit of what will happen in the Last Days. So, let’s take a moment to understand why this is so hard, and why we need to be a bit humble about what we know.
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Why This Is So Hard
After having blasted the pretrib theory to smithereens, I feel kinda bad that I still haven’t gone after all the other bad eschatology out there. And yes, they all get it wrong. Myself included.
The difference is that I know that I get it wrong.
Anyone who claims – or talks as if they claim – to completely understand the Last Days, is either lying or deceived. And, if you think that I’m claiming a complete understanding of eschatology, allow me to be extra clear that I’ve been wrong in the past and expect to be wrong in the future.
The best that ANYONE can do as they attempt to understand what’s coming, is say what can be seen, and refrain from claiming what cannot. We also need to point out those areas that we cannot know with certainty, and I hope to do that at some point in this series.
So, why do we keep getting eschatology wrong?
The Steam-Powered Printing Press
The most obvious reason is prideful men and women with access to a printing press. And, that’s what happened in the mid-1800s. The steam powered printing press made books easy to print and cheap to produce, along with fast ships and trains that allowed these books to be distributed quickly and cheaply around the world.
Let me quote what I said last week:
Now, Lacunza, Irving, Darby and Scofield would not have been quite so successful without the help of a major technological advancement that came along at just the right time:
The steam-powered printing press.
The first successful implementation of such a printing press happened in 1814, when it was bought by the Times of London. From that moment on, books and newspapers became cheaper and cheaper as new innovations in printing press technology allowed more and more people to get access to cheaper and cheaper books.
Edward Irving’s translation of Lacunza’s book might never have happened without the steam-powered printing press. News of Margaret MacDonald’s ‘visions’ might never have reached the headlines. John Darby’s Dispensationalism might never have gotten popular. And, Scofield’s Reference Bible could never have sold a million copies in 21 years, were it not for the electric printing press that replaced the steam-powered versions in 1900.
Like the Internet of today, steam and electric powered printing presses made it possible for knowledge to expand. It also made it possible for false teachers to get an even wider audience.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
– 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV)
And, the pretrib rapture is one whopper of a fable. Unfortunately, such fables are hard to dislodge from the minds of those who believe them. Once they have taken up residence, it takes a lot of hard work to get rid of them.
From Bad Eschatology, Part 4 – Pretrib History
– An Honest Error and a Corrupt Fable Meet The Printing Press
This means that the Body of Christ suffered a deluge of bad ideas. We were crushed under the weight of literally tons of books claiming this or that about the Bible. And, the great heresies that afflict us even today, would not have had any success without the steam-powered printing press that was eventually replaced by the electric powered press in 1901.
The list of heresies coming out of the 1800s is long, but here are a few that come to mind:
Seventh Day Adventists
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Christian Science
Mormons
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Modern Atheism
Karl Marx – Socialism and Communism
Spiritualism and Spiritism
Millerism and the Great Disappointment
Liberal Christianity, Liberal Theology and Christian Modernism
The Ouija Board
Movements that are less heretical, and even positive, that came out in the 1800s:
Dispensationalism
Pentecostalism
Disciples of Christ (aka, Campbellites)
Landmarkism
Secular Zionism
The Abolitionist Movement Against Slavery
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I’m sure that you can add your own in the comment section, and I hope that you do. But I want you see how the steam-powered printing press allowed really awful ideas – and a few good ones – spread quickly throughout the world.
To quote Spurgeon:
“A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.”
The only way to fight against the lies being forced upon us is to follow this rule:
“Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”
– Isaiah 28:9-10 (NKJV)
Since our churches and seminaries don’t do that anymore, we now have utter chaos. And, God has this to say to those who will not listen:
To whom He said, “This is the rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.
– Isaiah 28:12-13 (NKJV)
Since we have refused to hear, we have fallen backward and have been broken, snared and caught. It will only get worse, as we move deeper and deeper into these Last Days.
God Kept Us From Understanding
Our Lord made the truth of the Last Days impossible to understand until we got there. Yes, we might have had some glimmers of understanding here or there, but God did NOT want us to ‘get it’ until we got there.
This means that all the commentaries about Revelation and Prophets are wrong. All of them. Not one of them is correct except for Spurgeon’s, who was criticized for not speaking about the Last Days.
In fact, I hope that the two books that I’ve written are wrong, too. I am so horrified by what are in my own writings, that I earnestly desire for someone to prove what I said, to be completely incorrect. Until then, I suffer with the knowledge that billions will die in the worst way possible – long before the Antichrist begins to even think about world conquest.
Unfortunately, we humans never consider bad outcomes, until AFTER we start to suffer from them. We are amazingly short-sighted. Our blindness is only exceeded by our mind-numbing foolishness. But, back to God’s obscuring of eschatology.
Here is what God had to say about Jeremiah on the subject:
20 The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly.
– Jeremiah 23:20, ASV
24 The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it.
– Jeremiah 30:24, ASV
TRANSLATION NOTE: the Hebrew word for ‘ye shall understand’ in both verses is תתבוננו (pronounced: teet-bohn-noo). It’s a more complex verb than you find in modern Hebrew, but the root of that word is בינה (bee-nah), which means understanding, wisdom and comprehension. And, this is why the ASV translates those two verses better than the KJV or other translations.
What is the context of Jeremiah 23 and 30?
The redemption of Israel, the Return of the Children of Jacob to God. But at the same time, God will unleash His fierce anger against the nations that were against the Jews and against God’s plan for them.
The irony is that our understanding of what God is doing won’t truly happen until AFTER it has been accomplished. And, there isn’t a single eschatology that understands that the Redemption of Israel happens long before the Tribulation. Long before the Antichrist. Years, even decades before any of that happens.
Brothers and sisters, the salvation of the Children of Jacob could happen centuries before Revelation 8 begins. My gut feeling is that it won’t take centuries, but you should trust such notions. I’ve had ‘gut feelings’ about things that were awfully wrong.
The problem is this ‘anger of the Lord’. That’s coming at the time of Israel’s Redemption, and you need to be ready for that. I wrote about this in my book, Ezekiel’s Fire.
I truly hope that what is described in that book is wrong. Unfortunately, there’s too much science that agrees with this prophecy, that I cannot ignore what was said.
If nothing else, look at the warnings that Plasma Physicist Dr. Kazurai Shibata warned us about the inevitability of a superflare hitting earth. It’s happened before. They are happening on stars just like our own. It is as inevitable as tomorrow’s sunrise.
They just don’t know when.
However, you and I can read the Bible and see when such a Solar cataclysm will occur. When you see a vast, multinational army preparing to descend upon Israel, get out of tall buildings… get away from cities… have access to drinking water that doesn’t require an electric pump… be friends with people who know how to grow food. Our civilization will not survive what is described in that book. (Although, the Antichrist will bring it back.)
However, our ignorance over the Redemption of Israel is only one part of our problem. We are also clueless about the Antichrist and his five invasions of Israel. Yes, five – even though one or two of those might not be ‘invasions’.
Then after those invasions, and the final battle of Armageddon in the Hula Valley, God says that the Resurrection happens. And, Daniel is completely and utterly mystified by this, but God says:
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
– Daniel 12:4, KJV
TRANSLATION NOTE: Notice what I said about understanding (teet-bohn-noo). The word for knowledge is completely different. It’s דעת (dah-aht). There’s a ‘the’ – ה (hay) – at the beginning of the word, which is a syntax issue. The word דעת (dah-aht) is about what we know. The information that we’ve acquired. It is distinctly different from wisdom or understanding, which is the application of what we know.
Later on, God – through His messenger to Daniel – responds to Daniel’s lack of understanding:
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
– Daniel 12:8-10, KJV
In this passage God shows that we will go through the Great Tribulation, and that we will be purified and made white, and tried. I don’t think that ANY of us relish the thought of going through such purification, but we Christians have sinned before God. And, since God loves us and wants us with Him forever, He will purify and make us clean.
If you wish to avoid such purification, it seems that might be able to do so by choosing purity and spiritual cleanness. And yes, there will be places on earth that will escape the Antichrist. If God made such a place of safety in the wilderness for the Jews in Judea, He may do so for those of us who have remained true to His word, and kept our robes unspotted by the world.
As for the wicked, they were never going to be allowed to understand. And, I’m afraid that there is much wickedness among our pastors, holding back the truth. And, I see that wickedness and lack of understanding in the eschatology Facebook groups that I participate in – especially those that have thrown me out for speaking inconvenient truths. But, let’s keep going with one huge reason why eschatology was going to be impossible to understand until now.
Seal Six Is Another Reason Why This Is Hard
One of the biggest challenges that we’ve had, has been our difficulty with the chronology of the Book of Revelation. And, I understand how difficult it has been.
Every time that I would read Revelation, I’d get through chapters one through five just fine. Then, I’d hit chapter 6 – the Seven Seals. The first eight verses would make a lot of sense (especially, if you understand geopolitics and commodities). Then, trouble would begin with verse nine – the fifth seal – which is still difficult to understand.
Does that describe and represent a time of persecution?
Then… Verse 12. Ouch.
When I would hit Seal Six, I’d get horribly confused. Chapter 6 is right at the beginning of the prophetic part of Revelation, and it describes some pretty mind-blowing events that would seem to occur in later chapters of Revelation:
Big earthquake?
The sun turns black?
The moon becomes red as blood?
The stars fall to the earth?
The sky rolls up like a scroll?
That sounded more like something in chapter 16, when the bowls are poured out before the Battle of Armageddon. But, there was a problem with that, since the Book of Revelation shows the order of events this way:
The Seven Seals
The Seven Trumpets
The Seven Bowls
The Battle of Armageddon
The Millennium
They happen in that order. There may (or may not) be flashbacks between them, but the Trumpets don’t sound until AFTER the Seven Seals have all been opened. The bowls/vials aren’t poured out until AFTER the last Trumpet has finished. The Battle of Armageddon does not happen until AFTER the Bowls/Vials are poured out. But, Seal Six sounded so fantastic that you naturally wanted to put it somewhere towards the end of Revelation.
Does the Book of Revelation jump back and forth between the Seals, the Trumpets and the Bowls?
No, it does not.
If you believe that it does, you will never understand the Last Days. Ever. If God meant for us to move the seals, trumpets and bowls around, He would have told us. And, there are two very, Very, VERY important reasons why you should not do this.
Reason #1 – The Curse
If you play games with the Book of Revelation, God promised to curse you. You will suffer in this life, and in the Life-to-Come. If you value your place in eternity, never ever fiddle with the Book of Revelation. And, if you think that I’m joking read the curses that God will put upon you:
18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
– Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV)
If you add to the Book of Revelation, you suffer in this life – terribly. But, if you TAKE AWAY anything from the Book of Revelation, you suffer for eternity.
That scares me, and it should scare you.
Playing around with the interpretation of Revelation is deadly. Don’t do it. Not even a little. And for years, that’s why I would put a question mark over Revelation 6 and 7, and moved on. And, since I read my Bible all the way through, every year, I would hit that question mark again and again and again – every December.
Please do the same, until you are able to see what God is doing in Revelation 6. But, there’s another reason why we should keep Seal Six right where it is.
Reason #2 – Seal Six Happens During Gog and Magog
Again, I was completely confused by Seal Six for decades. Ever since I started reading my Bible through as a teenager, I kept hitting that passage and being puzzled.
But then, in 2019, I started writing When Gog Comes.
As I worked my way through the evidence of the timing of Gog and Magog, I came to the realization that this great invasion of Israel must happen at Revelation 6:12. Ezekiel’s Fire fit perfectly within Revelation 6:12-17. It couldn’t happen afterwards, and there’s no room (or not much) for it to happen before. So, it must happen at verse 12.
Why do I say ‘must’?
If God had left out chapter 7, from the Book of Revelation, I would not have been able to say ‘must’. But, since Revelation 7 is about 144,000 Israelis being sealed by God… It means that the Return of Jacob had happened before we get to chapter 7. These 12,000 from each tribe must be followers of Christ who have reached a level of spiritual maturity that would allow them to be sealed by God in their foreheads.
Yes, I know that we could imagine these Israeli Christians getting saved, baptized and then sealed immediately. Anything is possible, but is that how God works?
Is there any place in the Bible where someone is sent out by God, who is ignorant of the Bible?
Of course, God is God. He knows best, so if that’s what happens, I certainly won’t object. But, notice what an angel says in Chapter 7:
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
– Revelation 7:2-3, KJV
That angel is commanding the other angels to stop the events of Revelation continuing until AFTER a fairly long process has completed. It takes time. It’s not instantaneous. There might even be years and decades of time involved. After all, the first four seals take quite a bit of time all by themselves.
Also, God isn’t going to ‘seal’ those who are not saved. And, the question is…
…when does the salvation of these 12 tribes occur?
Revelation 7:1 begins with “After these things…”, so the salvation of Israel must happen somewhere in Revelation 6. But again, I couldn’t get past how the events of Seal Six were described. It was too confusing.
All of that changed when I realized what Isaiah 30:26 was describing:
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
– Isaiah 30:26 (KJV)
At first, I thought that it was just a really big solar flare. Then, when I did more research, I started saying that it was a superflare – a word that few scientists talked about. But, when I realized that this had to be a nova event, I finally was able to understand what happened when Seal Six was opened.
Once I realized that small nova events can occur on stars just like our own, I finally understood Seal Six. That understanding happened while I was writing When Gog Comes. It was so obvious to me that I immediately put it into chapter 16 of that book.
However bizarre this must sound…
…when you put the coming of Gog and Magog and Ezekiel’s Fire into Revelation 6:12-17…
…our understanding of the Book of Revelation increases dramatically.
It removes the question mark over Seal Six and confirms the chronological order of the Book of Revelation. It even helps us understand the Deadly Wound suffered by seventh head of The Beast.
Ezekiel’s Fire causes that ‘deadly wound’. Ezekiel’s Fire knocks out our civilization (The Seventh Head), and the Dragon will bring it back to life, turning it into the Eighth Head (Revelation 17:11).
People have forgotten what The Beast is, and what it represents. I can’t claim to understand the other six heads of that foul creature, but I understand the seventh one:
Our current civilization is the Seventh Head.
Of course, I’m assuming that we are close to the Last Days – or, already in it. If we aren’t, then forget I said anything. I mean, if we are head five or six, then our civilization will fall and be replaced with another one. It’s happened before. But, let’s assume that we are that seventh head.
What will Ezekiel’s Fire do to our civilization when it arrives?
Our way of live will be completely smashed to pieces. Every major city around the world – and most of the small one – will be completely destroyed. There won’t be a building even two stories high that will survive. There will be no electricity, and no way to bring it back. Every government building will be thrown down. No cars or trucks will work. No planes will fly. There won’t be any fuel.
After Ezekiel’s Fire, there will be…
…no government anywhere in the world
…no police
…no military
…no trade
…no communication
…no nothing
Everything will be flattened. The only survivors will be those outside the cities in small buildings. Those few who survive the earthquake, will die of violence, starvation and thirst.
THAT is how the Seventh Head of the Beast suffers its deadly wound.
That happens in Seal Six, and the description of Seal Six is straight out of what we would expect to see from a small nova event – a micronova that we have already seen on other stars.
When is the Seventh Head brought back to life?
When does civilization come back to life?
When the Antichrist turns the lights back on.
Anyone who could bring civilization back like that, would earn the undying devotion of the world. People would do anything, worship anyone, if it meant having enough food to eat, a cellphone and an Internet that works again, and most of all… prosperity. Latin Americans are pouring across the southern border of the United States for exactly this reason. Africans and Asians are flooding into Europe for this reason. People will do almost anything, take any risk, to be secure and to prosper. And, all that the Antichrist will require is that you worship him.
What a deal.
NOTE: Notice that after the Seven Seals are opened, the stars are back in the night sky in Chapter Eight. That’s additional proof that this is a nova event. The vast cloud of dust thrown out in the the Solar System from our sun dissipates, bringing the stars back to our night sky.
For those of you who are still unconvinced that our civilization is the Seventh Head, look around you. Look at the architecture. Look at our scientific and legal systems.
It’s all Roman.
All of it.
Science and Law uses Latin. All of our government buildings are Romanesque. The characters with which we write are roman. Our concept of a democratic republic is Roman.
And, did you notice how many of our rulers wear a tie?
That isn’t Roman, but it is a cultural symbol that connects to the system that is. And, you’ll notice that Xi Jinping stopped wearing a tie, when he decided to go to war against the West.
Now, I could be wrong about all of the above, but I doubt very much that I am. My point about the Steam-Powered Printing Press cannot be doubted. We have history to prove that one.
Unfortunately, I have little hope that you can prove me wrong about the rest. I enjoy the few comforts that I have, and do not look forward to having them taken away, when Ezekiel’s Fire comes. Nor, do I want to see people that I care about suffering and dying because they weren’t ready for our sun to brighten by seven times or for a gigantic earthquake to knock down our cities.
Prove me wrong, and my joy will be boundless.
Just be careful about those curses in Revelation 22. I wouldn’t want you to suffer any those.
I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3
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If you miss my rantings about geopolitics, idiocy, resource collapse and incompetent globalism, follow me on Twitter.
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These corresponds to the inevitability (as well as looming) of our sun's micro novae. https://www.youtube.com/@Suspicious0bservers/playlists
Wow, John, this is really coming together. Blessings on you and your family. Thank you.