Category Archives: Bible Prophecy

Pondering Prophecy: The Firm Covenant

“For one week he shall make a firm covenant with the many;

Half the week he shall abolish sacrifice and offering;

In their place shall be the desolating abomination

until the ruin that is decreed is poured out upon the desolator.”

Daniel 9:27

All the analyses I’ve looked at interpret this to mean that Israel will make a 7-year peace treaty with her neighbors, but I don’t see that in the text.

“One week” is a common Bible prophecy term for seven years, so I have no problem with that. However, a “firm covenant” is not specifically a “peace treaty.”

FIRM: Solidly in place and stable; having steady but not excessive power or strength.

Synonyms: Stable, steady, steadfast, resolved, wholehearted, secure, resolute, unwavering, committed.

COVENANT: Agreement; legal contract.

Synonyms: Commitment, contract, guarantee, pledge, promise, pact, deal, arrangement, agreement, undertaking, understanding.

Also, I don’t see the text saying Israel will make a treaty with her neighbors. If you look at the structure of the passage, “he” refers to “the desolator”, not to Israel. Therefore, the agreement will not be made by Israel, but by the Anti-Christ.

As for “the many”, there’s no indication in the surrounding text who that refers to, but it could refer to “the great harlot who lives near the many waters” (Revelation 17:1). The angel tells John, “The waters that you saw where the harlot lives represent large numbers of peoples, nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15).

I’m thinking it’s possible, even likely, that “the many” is the United Nations in New York City. Not only is this a place of many waters where large numbers of peoples, nations, and tongues reside, but also it is a place where nations routinely gather to make “firm covenants” with each other.

———-

For the Record:

The Catholic Bible (New American Bible Revised Edition) footnotes this passage entirely as a prophecy that was fulfilled in 70 AD.

* [9:27] One week: the final phase of the period in view, the time of Antiochus’ persecution. He: Antiochus himself. The many: the faithless Jews who allied themselves with the Seleucids; cf. 1 Mc 1:11–13. Half the week: three and a half years; the Temple was desecrated by Antiochus from 167 to 164 B.C. The desolating abomination: see note on 8:13; probably a pagan altar. Jesus refers to this passage in his prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in Mt 24:15.

I believe the Mt 24:15 reference has been misinterpreted. The surrounding text in Matthew 24 makes it very clear that Jesus was talking about the Great Tribulation at the end of all time, not the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Look at the line right before it:

Matt 24:14 – “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The gospel had not been preached to all nations in 70 AD. It has been now.

For more, see my blogs:

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Signs in the sky

A few days before He was crucified, Jesus talked about what would happen before the End Times began. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” Luke 21:7-11

Speaking of SIGNS in the sky … this photo was taken the evening before the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on the United States and a year before our embassy in Benghazi would be attacked. It gives me goosebumps, especially since both assaults were by extremist Muslims who hate Jews and the USA and, by Jewish reckoning, where a new day starts at sunset, this photo was taken just as 9/11 was beginning.

2011_09 10 Patriotic Sunset night before Benghazi

“Patriotic Sunset” by Elizabeth Panko, who says, “I shot this image on 9/10/11 using my iPhone 4; edited with Snapseed to enhance the colors. I was amazed at the resemblance of the US Flag in the sunset.” Photo for sale @ http://500px.com/photo/11010321.

Re: 2012 date … best guess, this is when she finished enhancing it and posted it for sale.

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Two Witnesses Addendum

In which I share very interesting stuff you didn’t need to know to follow my argument about when the Two Witnesses will appear.

01 End Times timeline - Treaty Violated Destruction

ABOVE: End Times Timeline Part One appeared in my blog “The Last Seven Years of Time” @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/the-last-seven-years-of-time/

When a prophet prophesies, he utters prophecies.

N.b., This is just a grammar lesson. Bible prophets did not always predict stuff so much as teach, preach and annoy people.

  • Prophesy (PROF-a-sigh) verb To predict something.
    • Mnemonic: A prophet sighs when he prophesies.
  • Prophecy (PROF-a-see) noun A prediction.
    • Mnemonic: Prophecy is spelled like it sounds, with a c.

The Mount of Olives is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The Garden of Gethsemane was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. A gethsemane is an oil press, a very logical thing to have at the foot of a mountain covered with olive trees.

Woe One is part of TRUMPET FIVE (Revelation 9) when Satan is released from the abyss and those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads are tormented with a plague of painful “scorpion stings.”

Woe Two (Revelation 11) appears to be part of TRUMPET SIX (plagues of “fire, smoke, and sulfur”). It ends with the great earthquake in Jerusalem.

Woe Three is never specified. Based on the timeline, it looks like it covers all the bad stuff that happens during the 3.5 years that Satan rules, including the Mark of the Beast and the final war at Armageddon.

Sources:

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When will the Two Witnesses appear?

Two Witnesses

Revelation 11 prophesies that God will send Two Witnesses to Jerusalem to preach, teach and generally annoy sinners for twelve hundred and sixty days. They will wear sackcloth and have the power to stop the rain, to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. Anyone who tries to harm them will die.

Revelation 11 continues to say that, at the end of the 1,260 days, Satan will kill the Two Witnesses and leave their corpses lying in the street. After three and a half days, God will restore them to life and, as He carries them away in a cloud, a great earthquake will kill 7,000 people and destroy a tenth of Jerusalem.

Revelation 12 prophesies that, when Satan tries to destroy God’s faithful in Jerusalem, they will flee into the desert. Satan will try to stop them by spewing “a torrent of water out of his mouth” but the earth itself will open and swallow the flood. They will go to a place God will have prepared for them, a place Satan cannot go, where they will be safe “for a year, two years, and a half-year.”

Zechariah 14 prophesies that in the End Times, a great earthquake will split the Mount of Olives in two. Half the mountain will move north, half south and God’s faithfull will flee the city via the east-west rift that is formed.

Jerusalem Mt of Olives map

The Mount of Olives is just to the east of Old Jerusalem. It is the central peak of three forming a north-south ridge that acts as a watershed. The western side (Jerusalem) gets the rain; the eastern side is the beginning of the Judean Desert. Clearly, an earthquake big enough to split the Mount of Olives will seriously damage Old Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Mt of Olives Dome aerial and photo

It’s more than possible for Jerusalem to suffer an earthquake of this magnitude; it’s near a fault line.

Middle East tectonic plates

If these three prophecies describe a single catastrophic geological event, then the cumulative evidence is that it will occur at the MID-POINT of the last seven years. If I’ve got this right, the Two Witnesses will appear about a month after the 7-year treaty is signed.

End Times timeline 2 - Witnesses Earthquake

Sources:

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Dating the End of the World

God gave us SEVEN prophecies to help us know when the end is near. (SEVEN. What a shock. Not.) These key passages are:

  1. Daniel 7:25-26
  2. Daniel 9:27
  3. Daniel 12:5-13
  4. Revelation 11:1-14
  5. Revelation 12:1-15
  6. Revelation 13:1-8
  7. Revelation 20:1-10

N.b., I already blogged about 1 and 2 @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/the-last-seven-years-of-time/. And I will be working on 4-7 in future blogs.

Sometime after the Lord set me to do this extended study of the Book of Revelation, I had a dream about the numbers in the third of the seven passages – Daniel 12:5-13.

5 I, Daniel, looked and saw two others, one standing on either bank of the river. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was upstream, “How long shall it be to the end of these appalling things?”

7 The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, lifted his hands to heaven; and I heard him swear by him who lives forever that it should be for a time, two times, and half a time; and that, when the power of the destroyer of the holy people was brought to an end, all these things should end.

8 I heard, but I did not understand; so I asked, “My lord, what follows this?”

9 “Go, Daniel,” he said, “because the words are to be kept secret and sealed until the end time. 10 Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; the wicked shall have no understanding, but those with insight shall. 11 From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the desolating abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed are they who have patience and persevere for the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

13 Go, take your rest, you shall rise for your reward at the end of days.”

The message of the dream was, “What if it’s a word problem?” I woke up feeling excited, because word problems were my favorite thing in math class, probably because they were long on WORDS (which I love) and short on NUMBERS (which I do not love).

It’s been months since that dream, during which time I have been playing with the possibilities and pondering their meanings. Today, during my Bible study, I felt the Lord saying it was time for me to share my best guesses with all y’all.

The beginning point for the count is “the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished.” This happened when Jesus died once for all. I.e., 3793 in the Jewish calendar or 33 AD as we now count back on the common calendar.

One equation using 1,290 and the factors “a time” and “half a time” gets us to 1968.

You may recall from my blog “Jubilee” posted @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/jubilee/ that 1968 was the year I pegged as Jubilee Two.

This first equation leaves out 1,335 and the factor “two times.” The 1,335 passage can be interpreted to mean the time between the 1,290 date and the 1,335 date, which is a subtraction problem that uses “two” of the “times” given to us, thus completing the word problem and getting us to 2013.

Daniel 12 = 1968 and 2013

Jesus died in April of 33 and the major capitulation by the Jews in 1968 was in May. Since we’re in June of 2013, we may have already passed the critical time when this equation set should have borne fruit and I’m just spitting in the wind here.

Or … maybe the months aren’t that important.

  • 5773 will end September 4, 2013, so there are only about ten more weeks there. But we’ve still got six more months in 2013. And the United Nations General Assembly meets in September, which this year will overlap with the Jewish Feast of Booths (Sukkot, Tabernacles) in Tishri 5774. See http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=2013.
  • Things are heating up in the Middle East, but this time, Israel does not have a strong ally in the United States. Instead, our government has been actively arming Muslims while simultaneously down-sizing and demoralizing the American military.
  • I’m thinking there’s a distinct possibility that the Middle East could get so bad this summer that everybody feels compelled to hammer out yet another peace treat … one which just happens to be for 7 years and that just happens to allow for the Jews to rebuild the Temple.

The next six months should be interesting!

Sources:

February 2014 UPDATE:

I kept a close eye on the United Nations General Assembly last September, but saw no sign of any seven year agreement. Since then, I’ve learned of the SEVEN highly unusual lunar events in the FIRST THREE months of 2014, which are closely followed (first one April 2014) by an even more unusual TETRAD of total lunar eclipses divided in half by a full solar eclipse, all of which hit major Jewish holidays.

It occurred to me that Jesus didn’t tell us what relationship the Rapture would have with the last seven years that begin with the firm covenant. The SEVEN lunar events in January, February and March of 2014 are all New Moons and Full Moons, which are symbols of BEGINNING and ENDING. And the first LUNAR ECLIPSE occurs the very next month, ON the very Passover I had highlighted as a potential Rapture time because of how the Roman and Orthodox Easters overlap with each other and with the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits.

I’ve been rethinking my End Times calendar in light of this new information and it seems like a good bet that the Rapture will come in April 2014 and that the global chaos that will inevitably follow will set the stage for that seven year agreement (possibly next fall when the second Blood Moon happens) and the Anti-Christ’s abrupt rise to global dictatorship.

My idea that the seven years will track with the Jewish calendar fits this scenario beautifully, because the Jewish year that begins next fall (5775) is a Shemitah year when all debts are forgiven. These happen every seven years. If year one of the last seven years is 5775, the next Shemitah year will begin right after Armageddon with Tishri 5782 – Yom Kippur (Atonement) and Sukkot (In-gathering).  Final Judgment!

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The Miracle at Garabandal

San Sebastian de Garabandal is a small hamlet of some 80 humble dwellings located in the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. Between 1961 and 1965, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared hundreds of times to four local girls who spoke openly and familiarly with her and said the rosary in her presence.

Our Lady of Garabandal

Three great supernatural events were prophesied at Garabandal.

1) The first is a worldwide Warning from God to be seen and then felt interiorly by everyone on Earth. At that moment, we will see the wrong we’ve done and the good we failed to do. The Warning will be sent to correct the conscience of the world and prepare it for the great Miracle, which is to come within twelve months of the Warning.

2) The second is a Miracle that will take place at the grove of pine trees on a bluff overlooking the village of Garabandal. It will occur on a Thursday evening at 8:30, on or between the eighth and the sixteenth of April, on a feast-day of a martyred Saint for the Eucharist. It will also coincide with a great event in the Church, but not a feast-day of Our Lady or Our Lord. All those either in the village or surrounding mountains will see it. The sick who are present will be cured, sinners converted and the incredulous will believe. It will be able to be filmed, photographed and televised. As a result of the Miracle, Russia will be converted.

3) The third is a Sign. After the Miracle, a permanent visible supernatural sign will remain at the pines in Garabandal until the end of time. This visible proof of our Blessed Mother’s love for all humanity will be a “thing” never before seen upon the earth that can be photographed but not touched.

The date of the Miracle

The visionary named Conchita was told the date. She is to announce it eight days in advance which one supposes would give the faithful who wish to be there time to travel. The means of communicating the date to the world will be a miracle in itself. Conchita is presently about 64 years old; unless she’s going to be appearing from beyond the grave to announce the date, we can suppose the Miracle will occur within the next 30 years or so.

Conchita looked up the date on the calendar in her home and found it to be the feast day of a Holy Martyr related to the Eucharist. She has told us that he has a very rare name. Eucharistic martyrs aren’t all that thick on the ground; in fact, I found none on the general calendar for April 8-16. However, there is one on the LOCAL calendar for SPAIN.

The Feast of St. Hermengild, Patron of Seville and Martyr for the Eucharist, is on April 13th. His name is rare, to say the least! Hermengild was one of two sons of Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths (569-86). He was beheaded on Easter, April 13, 585, by order of his own father, for refusing to receive Holy Communion from the hands of an Arian bishop. Arianism is a heresy which rejects the divinity of Jesus.

Remember when I worked out the triple conjunctions of Roman and Orthodox Easters with Jewish Feasts of Firstfruits and pondered whether the Rapture might not occur in April of 2014? See https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/will-the-rapture-occur-in-april-2014/

Did you happen to notice that between now and 2028, only 2014 and 2017 feature triple conjunctions?

1990 to 2049 - TRIPLE conjunction years

And do you remember when I explained the significance of the Hebrew year 5777? See https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/1917-to-2017-and-the-significance-of-three-five-and-seven/.

Did you happen to notice that the Easter-Passover season of April 2017 will fall in the Jewish year 5777?

Nisan 5777 = MarApr 2017

Check it out!

In 2017, April 13th, the Feast of St. Hermengild, who was martyred for his faith in the Holy Eucharist, will fall on Holy Thursday … the Feast of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist!

There is another calendar anomaly here worth noting which is that the dates in Nisan, 33, when the first Passover-Easter occurred, will match the dates in April, 2017.

Dates first Easter and 2017 Easter match

The RCC has not passed judgment on the validity of Garabandal apparitions

Because the events prophesied have not taken place, the Church considers the Garabandal events to be incomplete and has therefore withheld judgment. Despite this very proper caution in granting the church’s stamp of approval to the apparitions, the local Bishop studied the content of the messages the seers reported Our Lady gave them and wrote in 1965,

“We have not found anything deserving of ecclesiastical censorship or condemnation either in the doctrine or in the spiritual recommendations that have been publicized as having been addressed to the faithful, for these contain an exhortation to prayer and sacrifice, to Eucharistic devotion, to veneration of Our Lady in traditional praiseworthy ways, and to holy fear of God offended by our sins. They simply repeat the common doctrine of the Church in these matters.”

Sources:

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Date Setting

Whenever people talk about when the Rapture might occur or if the End Times are near, someone else inevitably tries to shut them up by quoting Jesus’ line, “Of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Matt 24:36

I haven’t read any comments or emails about my “Rapture in April 2014” posting yesterday, so if you said this to me, please be assured that I am not singling anyone out. I’ve been hearing the same criticism for months from many quarters.

I don’t pooh-pooh anything Jesus said, so obviously I looked up the actual passage and read it carefully in context. Frankly, I was astonished! It’s full of parables I’ve been hearing out of context my whole life.

And it is part of a long teaching by Jesus that is called the Olivet Discourse, which I’d never heard of, despite the fact that it is as long or longer than the very famous and familiar Sermon on the Mount.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us how to live a holy life; in the Olivet Discourse, He taught us to be ready for His return and for Final Judgment. The Olivet Discourse appears in Mark 13 and Luke 21, but the fullest treatment is in Matthew 24-25.

In Matthew and Mark, the line about not knowing the day or hour (Matt 24:36, Mark 13:32) is preceded by the EXACT same lines:

Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, know that he is near, at the gates.” Matt 24:32-33; Mark 13:28-29

In Luke, the line about not knowing the day or hour does not even appear, yet the lesson of the fig tree does!

Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.” Luke 21:29-31

Olivet and date setting

What I get out of all this is that, while we cannot know the precise time when Jesus will return, we are supposed to watch carefully for the signs of His coming so we can be READY.

This reminds me of when our kids were deployed. We never knew the “day and hour” they’d return either, but we certainly knew the season. And as the great day approached, we’d get progress reports as they made the long trip home.

Then, as the actual hour approached, we would gather in the bleachers with our signs and our flags and our squirmy kids. And we would wait. And wait. And wait. WATCHING for the JOYFUL MOMENT when that door would burst open and our loved ones would march in!

Troop return montage

I strongly encourage you to read the entire Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25.

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Will the Rapture occur in April 2014?

I believe the Rapture will occur during the Passover-Easter season when both Roman and Orthodox Easter Sundays coincide with the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits. See https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/rapture-in-nisan/ for my rationale.

Based on my research, these dates overlap about 25% of the time. The first graphic shows the Roman and Orthodox Easter dates from 1990 through 2049. The second shows, on the left, where these dates match and, on the right, where the matchers also coincide with the day after the Sabbath within Passover, which is the Feast of Firstfruits.

1990 to 2049 Easters and Passover coincidence overlapped

1990 to 2049 - 17 overlap years

In every instance of triple overlap, the Monday of Holy Week is Nisan 14, meaning the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (celebrated Palm Sunday) coincides with the date of his crucifixion.

Jewish dates of First Holy Week

In only one of these 13 years, however, do the days of April match precisely the days of Nisan.

2014 April - A rare conjunction of days and dates

Will the Rapture occur next Spring? Obviously, I can’t say for sure. But I wouldn’t bet against it!

April 2014 Nisan 5775

Sources:

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1917 to 2017 and the significance of Three, Five and Seven

  • THREE is God’s number for Himself.
  • SEVEN is His number for completion and perfection.
  • THREE SEVENS (777) is called the SEAL of GOD.

In 1917, the Blessed Mother appeared six times in Fatima, Portugal. During FOUR of these apparitions, she opened her hands in what was described as the gesture of a loving mother opening her heart and intense rays of light emanated from them.

Hamsa

On May 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima promised she would appear in Fatima a SEVENth time. So far, she has not done so, but I think it’s possible, even likely, that she will come on or near the centennial of her promise and that, when she appears, she will open her hands and bless us with Heaven’s light for a FIFTH time!

Here’s why.

May 2017 falls within the Jewish year of 5777.

  •     5777: The Hand of Mary plus the Seal of God.
  •     May is the 5th month; 2017 = 3 and 7.

The centennial of the promise will be on Saturday, May 13, 2017.

  • Sunset, Saturday, May 13, 2017 to sunset Sunday, May 14, 2017, Jews will celebrate Lag B’Omer. Lag means 33.
  • May 14, 2017 will be Mother’s Day.

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We shall be saved by Jesus

April 16, 2008: Battle Hymn of the Republic performed by the US Army Chorus

President and Mrs. Bush welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the White House

The news gets worse and worse. But we need to remember that the good guys ARE going to ride in an save us! God has promised it.

Revelation 19:11,14-15,19-21

Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was [called] “Faithful and True.”

He judges and wages war in righteousness. The armies of heaven followed him, mounted on white horses and wearing clean white linen.

He himself will tread out in the wine press the wine of the fury and wrath of God the almighty. He has a name written on his cloak and on his thigh, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to fight against the one riding the horse and against his army.

The beast was caught and with it the false prophet who had performed in its sight the signs by which he led astray those who had accepted the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped its image. The two were thrown alive into the fiery pool burning with sulfur.

The rest were killed by the sword that came out of the mouth of the one riding the horse.

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