Church of God News

Shroud of Turin, poster from 1898

COGwriter

Here is something about the Shroud of Turin:

Devotees believe the shroud, which is imprinted with the image of a man who appears to have been crucified, to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

Sceptics are just as adamant that it is nothing more than a Medieval forgery which scientists have carbon-dated to around 1300 years after Christ supposedly died on the cross.

Despite their certainty about the likely age of the most-talked-about length of linen in history, researchers have not been able to explain how the remarkable image was created, leaving space for theories of some sort of miraculous process to flourish.

The Church does not officially maintain that Christ’s body was wrapped in the shroud or that the image was the product of a miracle.

But it does accord the cloth a special status which has helped to sustain its popularity as an object of veneration. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/features/article/relic-or-hoax-turin-shroud-pulls-million-strong-crowd-on-return-to-public-v#sthash.9RrPoCz2.dpuf

So, the Church of Rome will not say it is the real deal, but that it is fine to idolize (which is what the practical application of their veneration means).

In the past year, I have seen comments from some Protestant leaders who seem to believe Jesus used this shroud.

From time-to-time I get questions about the Shroud of Turin. Many have claimed it to be the burial cloth of Jesus.

But is it?

If not, why not?

Here are a few comments on the Shroud of Turin from the Answers.com article titled Is the Shroud of Turin true or fraud?:

There is no record of the shroud during the first centuries of the Christian era, it is first mentioned in the 14th century, having been found in the Diocese of Troyes…

The Gospel writers say that the body of Jesus, after being taken from the stake by Joseph of Arimathea, was wrapped in clean fine linen. (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56) The apostle John adds: Nicodemus also came bringing a roll of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds of it. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it up with bandages with the spices, just the way the Jews have the custom of preparing for burial. John 19:39-42…writers of the third and fourth centuries, many of whom wrote about a host of miracles in connection with numerous relics, did not mention the existence of a shroud containing the image of Jesus. What happened to it at this time, if it did exist, is unknown.

Let’s quote John 19:39-42 in its entirety:

39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. (John 19:39-42)

Basically, strips of linen were placed on Jesus’ body somewhat like a mummy (this is also basically what happened to Lazarus, see John 11:43-44). If the Shroud of Turin was saturated with myrrh and aloes, it would by now be fairly stiff and would tend to look quite different than it now does.

Notice furthermore that Jesus’ burial cloths, though mentioned in scripture, are basically only mentioned as being folded after the resurrection (and the description of multiple cloths also does not necessarily seem to quite match the Shroud of Turin):

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. (John 20:6-10).

By the time the Apostle John wrote this, if there had been any real special powers, it would have seemed that he would have mentioned them, but he did not.

Notice also the following:

Curiously enough, it was a Roman Catholic bishop who first branded the shroud a fraud. When, in the year 1356, the fourteen-by-three-and-a-half-foot piece of linen was exhibited at the obscure church of Lirey in central France — the first known historical record of its existence — it quickly became the subject of a lengthy memorandum to the Pope from Henry of Arcis, bishop of Troyes. Bishop Henry alleged that the Lirey canons had “falsely and deceitfully, being consumed with the passion of avarice and not from any motive of devotion but only of gain, procured for their church a certain cloth cunningly painted, upon which by clever sleight of hand was depicted the twofold image of one man, that is to say the back and the front, they falsely declaring and pretending that this was the actual shroud in which our Savior Jesus Christ was enfolded in the tomb.” …

In Search of a Past

“I am convinced that this is the shroud that covered Jesus Christ after His crucifixion.” So declared Dr. Max Frei of the University of Zurich after painstakingly testing for pollen grains in the linen of the shroud and analyzing them.
“My analysis of pollen grains has been confirmed under the electron microscope beyond any reasonable doubt…. I isolated from the shroud more than a dozen pollen grains from plants growing in Jerusalem and surrounding deserts. They grow only in the Near East,” he said.
“The pollen most found on the shroud is identical to the most common pollen in the sediment of Lake Tiberias, in Israel” (National Enquirer, Nov. 29, 1977).
But even if we accept that the pollen proves the shroud once resided in Palestine, it would not necessarily connect it with Christ, for Dr. Frei also found in its fibers pollen from the area of southeastern Turkey! This finding would, perhaps, support Ian Wilson’s theory that the shroud itself is none other than the famous Mandylion (meaning “napkin” or “handkerchief’ in Arabic) which had been brought to Constantinople from Edessa in eastern Turkey. From there he postulates the Knights Templars took the shroud to the Holy Land before bringing it to France.

The Byzantine Connection

Fifty years before the shroud enters history in the possession of Geoffrey deCharnay and the Lirey church, there was another Geoffrey deCharnay. This other Geoffrey is not provably related, but shroudists suspect that he was. This man was a famous knight of the Templar organization, which King Philip the Fair of France charged with secret “idol” worship of a disembodied head — the image on the shroud, says Wilson and Geoffrey was martyred, all the while denying there was any idol.
The Templars had sacked Constantinople (Byzantium) in 1204, which, as capital of the Byzantine Empire and center of its religion, had become glutted with relics and icons innumerable. Among the relics, according to extant records, was something called a burial cloth of Christ, which apparently bore a full length image, and also the famous Edessa image, the Mandylion, which had been taken by force from the Moslem rulers of its city in A.D. 944. These both disappeared in the looting — possibly taken to the Templars’ Palestine headquarters.
Ian Wilson speculates that both cloths were one and the same. He explains the double listing as possibly referring to copies of the original. A flourishing industry existed in Byzantium of making cloth and other images of “Christ.” Many of these were, like the Mandylion itself, regarded as miraculously produced.
The problem for Wilson’s theory is that the Edessa image is specifically described as a face only, appearing on a towel, a veronica napkin, while on the Turin shroud is undeniably a double full length figure. Wilson suggests the reason was that the shroud had always been kept folded in such a way that only the face was showing.
In any event, the image on the shroud has a long, sad face and long hair. A writer for the London Tablet was moved to observe: “The first thought likely to occur is: But how very strongly the figure resembles the Christ of any number of old masters [painters of the fifth century on]”‘ (quoted from Wilcox, p. 26).

What the Earlier Paintings Looked Like

There is more to that statement than meets the eye.
The oldest pictures of Christ are paintings on the walls of the catacombs of Rome. Most date from the second and third centuries. It was against the teachings of the church to have such pictures (see box: The Early Church and Images). Nevertheless, those who sketched them only about 100 years after the apostles — were undoubtedly acquainted with individuals who were familiar with the general appearance of Christ that came by word of mouth from His own generation.
“… There is a painting of the Resurrection of Lazarus in which Christ is shown — youthful and beardless, with short hair and large eyes…. Although it is now only barely recognizable, this picture is of great interest since it is the oldest representation of Jesus that is preserved anywhere” (Roderic Dunkerley, Beyond the Gospels, p. 57).
In all of these early portrayals, “He is almost invariably boyish…. His hair is short” (Frederic William Farrar, The Life of Christ as Represented in Art, 1894, p. 43). Short hair was the predominant style among men in the Hellenized areas of the eastern Mediterranean (including Palestine) in Christ’s time. …

How Was Christ’s Body Really Wrapped?

The shroud theory demands that Christ’s body was covered differently than was the custom in Jewish burial. The usual fashion was for the body to be wrapped cocoon-wise in strips of linen cloth which were bound at hands and feet. All representations of Christ’s burial in the first four centuries assumed this Egyptian-like style. “The [Jewish] corpse was wrapped in a shroud, and bandages soaked with resin were wound around the hands and feet: a cloth, the sudarium, was placed over the face (John 11:44). Finally the tomb was shut” (Bo Reicke, The New Testament Era, p. 187).
The account of the raising of Lazarus illustrates the method. “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth.” It would appear that he was so enclosed and tied as to be scarcely able to walk until “Jesus said to them, `Unbind him, and let him go”‘ (John 11:44). Shroud of Turin theorists postulate that Joseph of Arimathea, not having time to bury Christ’s body properly, simply covered it, leaving the body lying amidst the rolls of cloth he had brought for the usual wrapping, perhaps intending to return and use them after the Sabbath. They suppose this may have been what Peter saw when he came into the tomb after the resurrection and saw “linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head… rolled up in a place by itself (John 20:6-7).
But Matthew tells us that “Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud” (Matt. 27:59). This shroud was obviously not merely a long flat cloth like the Turin shroud, laid out under the body, then folded over it from the head.
The Gospel of John plainly tells us that Joseph and his company actually “bound it [the body — not merely covered it] in linen cloths [plural] with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews” (John 19:40). This was done even before they carried the body to the tomb (verse 42). (Briggs LC. ICON SUPREME? THE SHROUD OF TURIN. Plain Truth, December 1978)

Even if the actual burial cloth of Jesus were the Shroud of Turin or some other similar relic, it should not be venerated by Christians. History records that the early Christians opposed venerating relics. Many do not seem to realize how negatively early Christians viewed such items.

The Continuing Church of God does not consider that the Shroud of Turin is holy nor the burial cloth of Jesus.

Amongst other reasons, it is not supported by the historical record nor scripture. The image on the Shroud of Turin shows a long-haired male. Yet, Jesus did not have long hair.

Notice that even Catholic translations of the Bible support that:

¹⁴ Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, ¹⁵ but when a woman has long hair, it is her glory? (1 Corinthians 11:14-15a, New Jerusalem Bible)

While hair does grow after death, it does not grow quickly enough for the length that is on the Shroud of Turin. Jesus said He would be in the grave three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40), and that would not be enough time for long hair to appear.

Most do not know a lot about the Bible and know even less about early church history–and what many think they know is clouded by misinformation and misconceptions. And the Shroud of Turin does not provide helpful information into original Christianity, only for those who seem to prefer improper traditions of men over what the Bible teaches.

Those interested in early Christianity may wish to study the following documented items and presentations to learn more:

Jesus: The Son of God and Saviour Who was Jesus? Why did He come to earth? What message did He bring? Is there evidence outside the Bible that He existed? Here is a YouTube sermon titled Jesus: Son of God and Saviour.
What Did the Early Church Teach About Idols and Icons? Did the early Church use icons? What was the position of Christians about such things? A related sermon is available: The Second Commandment, Idols, and Icons.
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Continuing Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? Which group best represents true Christianity? This documented article answers those questions. [Português: Qual é fiel: A igreja católica romana ou a igreja do deus?]
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 Do they matter? Most say they must, but act like they do not. This article contains some history about the Church of God (sometimes referred to as the continuation of Primitive Christianity) over the past 2000 years.
What Do Roman Catholic Scholars Actually Teach About Early Church History? Although most believe that the Roman Catholic Church history teaches an unbroken line of succession of bishops beginning with Peter, with stories about most of them, Roman Catholic scholars know the truth of this matter. This eye-opening article is a must-read for any who really wants to know what Roman Catholic history actually admits about the early church.
Nazarene Christianity: Were the Original Christians Nazarenes? Should Christians be Nazarenes today? What were the practices of the Nazarenes.
Location of the Early Church: Another Look at Ephesus, Smyrna, and Rome What actually happened to the primitive Church? And did the Bible tell about this in advance?

Bilderberg Hotel (M.M.Minderhoud)

COGwriter

The infamous Bilderberg meeting took place earlier this month. It has been difficult to get a lot of details, but there are some in the following (the first of which was in Spanish, which I machine-translated into English):

Each year, a small elite group composed of some of the most powerful people on the planet meets to discuss world news. This time, the central theme of the Bilderberg club meeting was the presidency of Donald Trump and his impact on the world. The meeting was held in Virginia, USA, and, despite the fact that the president did not attend, was attended by senior members of his cabinet, as well as influential politicians, military, journalists and businessmen from 21 countries.

“Unforeseen chaos”

Cristina Jiménez, author of several books on the Bilderberg group, argues that the members of this secret club of powerful “the Trump Administration brings them quite lost and confused “, because “since World War II, a president who does not belong to the club Bilderberg and who does not belong to the American establishment has managed to enter the White House.

“For them, this is a rather unforeseen chaos and they have taken it to the forefront of the debates,” he adds.

The expert stresses that another of the issues dealt with refers to transatlantic relations between the European Union and the United States, “relations that Trump has also broken.” “Although Trump has not been invited, he has turned everything around him, because he is also ruining one of the big stars of the Bilderberg club, the EU,” he says.

Jiménez also says that the club “is going through a very serious crisis with the death of David Rockefeller” and “is seeing a shortage of leaders.” “For 13 years I have been investigating the Bilderberg club, I think this is the most critical meeting they have held,” he concludes. 8 June 2017 https://actualidad.rt.com/programas/detras_de_la_noticia/240840-trump-amenaza-grupo-bilderberg

CHANTILLY, Va.—On the morning of Saturday, June 3, the Bilderberg group’s 65th meeting since 1954—though vitally important, given the identity of this year’s attendees, the key topics they secretly discuss, and the relevance of those topics to major political and economic developments—had evidently been ignored by the national mainstream and regional media. …

This current press indifference is especially odd given that Trump’s national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, is attending Bilderberg 2017, as is Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, strategic advisor Christopher Liddell, and, as it turns out, Deputy National Security Council Assistant Nadia Schadlow. This is perhaps the largest White House contingent to ever attend Bilderberg.

Combine that with the hot topics inside and outside the Bilderberg meeting at the Westfields Marriot in Chantilly, Va. and the press silence becomes even harder to comprehend:

• Trump’s “Prexit” decision to exit the Paris climate accord (which the press is obsessing with) while multiple corporate interests within Bilderberg are affected by that decision, including Bilderberg’s longtime partner, Royal Dutch Shell;
• And, among other things, the larger question, missed by the mainstream press, of whether Trump’s Prexit decision means NAFTA is the next thing in line to “walk the plank.” Trump already exited the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after all.

Indeed, the big picture is this: The Bilderberg Group’s overall credo, with only minor exceptions, is to uphold the Paris Agreement over a professedly unshakeable belief in manmade global warming and the need to combat it no matter the cost to everyday people; plus, the Bilderberg worldview is also attuned to undying support for far-reaching free-trade agreements. 06/05/17 http://americanfreepress.net/bilderberg-2017-meeting-underway-dispatch-1/

Notice also:

Here is the official agenda of the Bilderberg meeting:

1. The Trump Administration: A progress report
2. Trans-Atlantic relations: options and scenarios
3. The Trans-Atlantic defence alliance: bullets, bytes and bucks
4. The direction of the EU
5. Can globalisation be slowed down?
6. Jobs, income and unrealised expectations
7. The war on information
8. Why is populism growing?
9. Russia in the international order
10. The Near East
11. Nuclear proliferation
12. China
13. Current events (https://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/bilderberg-2017-the-agenda-and-the-full-attendees-list/)

The Bilderberg group apparently wondered about Donald Trump last year as well (see Bilderberg Conference 2016: One world government is consistent with its agenda).

The Bilderberg meeting has had critics. Basically, the belief is that there is a conspiracy to try to implement a ‘one-world government.’

That being said, one of the reasons I posted about it today was a reader tipped me off about CERN today. And as it turns out, the CERN director attended the Bilderberg Conference:

Why Is The Director of CERN At The Bilderberg Conference?

For those of you who don’t know, CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is essentially the European equivalent of the US Atomic Energy Commission. Its scientists study the nature of our reality and the structure of the universe. …

The annual Bilderberg meeting, the secretive three-day summit of political, economic, and financial elite, which gathers the heads of various industries, private military contractors, members of military and intelligence agencies, IMF, pharmaceutical, World Bank, big companies, and more, is currently taking place.

This year, Fabiola Gianotti, the Director General of CERN, is an unusual participant this year.

The meeting is synonymous with names like Rockefeller and Rothschild, along with various royal families from around the world, and appears to be a time for them to decide in what direction they want to take the world. …

CERN’s presence at such a conference is so interesting. Their research significantly influences academia around the world.

Given the intelligence agency presence at Bilderberg, which started with former director Walter Bedell Smith, and the many declassified documents that show intelligence agencies’ close relationship with mainstream media outlets — whose heads also have a strong presence at Bilderberg — it becomes abundantly clear that real science is in the hands of the global elite.

It’s also weird given the fact that the Bilderberg conference is heavily associated with weird occult type rituals in the form of sacrifice and more, especially given the fact that a fake human sacrifice was actually filmed at CERN not long ago.

Perhaps it’s simply just an update, or a brief to the global elite regarding a new discovery or something? That being said, definitely interesting to contemplate and discuss. 06/05/17  http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/06/05/why-is-the-director-of-cern-at-the-bilderberg-conference/

As regular readers know, I have long covered CERN and some of the potential of its Large Hadron Collider. I remain convinced that some technology it spins off will have military potential for the Europeans–see The Large Hadron Collider has Military Potential.

Many in Europe must see a lot of potential of some type in this collider as they are also looking at a much larger one. A reader sent me a link to the following:

June 2, 2017

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) still has plenty of good work left to do in the field of particle acceleration, but scientists are already starting work on its replacement, set to be three times as big as the (already huge) original.

Development on the LHC’s replacement is expected to take decades, which is why experts are keen to get started now. The aim is to put together a machine that’s some seven times more powerful than the hardware we have today.

More than 500 scientists from across the world have been putting their heads together in Berlin, Germany this week to figure out what LHC 2.0 – or the Future Circular Collider (FCC) – might look like.

Where the LHC’s looping tunnel stretches for 27 kilometres (nearly 17 miles), the FCC’s circuit would measure between 80-100 kilometres (50-62 miles), and it’ll be located just down the road from its predecessor on the France-Switzerland border. …

The team looking into plans for the FCC is hoping to have a proposal on the table by next year, but it could be 20 years after that before it boots up for the first time. The LHC took nearly 30 years to put together, from planning to launch.

Ultimately the aim is to peer even deeper into the laws of the Universe.

“When you look into things like the movement of galaxies, we see that we can only understand and explain about five percent of what we observe,” Michael Benedikt, who is leading the FCC research, told Joe Dodgshun at Horizon.

“But with questions like the so-called problem of dark matter, which is linked to the fact that galaxies and stars are not moving as you would expect them to, the only explanation we have is that there must be matter we do not see which distorts the movement accordingly.”

Let’s not write off the Large Hadron Collider yet, though. The revolutionary particle smasher, which causes particle beam collisions strong enough to break matter into its constituent parts, is expected to keep the scientific discoveries coming until 2035 or so.

Earlier this year the LHC identified five new subatomic particles from just one analysis.

The LHC is due for a substantial upgrade in the mid-2020s too, which will enable it to boost the rate of its particle collisions and improve its accuracy even further. It will also get a name upgrade too, to the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). https://www.sciencealert.com/work-is-already-beginning-on-the-large-hadron-collider-s-replacement

The timing of this just before the Bilderberg meeting and the CERN directors attendance could be more than coincidental. And perhaps this acceleration is related to Donald Trump.

A reader also sent me a link to a questionable (often wrong) source related to CERN and Bilderberg:

17 June 2017

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

A paradigm shifting report presented today to the Security Council (SC) by the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FM-BA) states that a “Message from God” was recently relayed to the most powerful group of Western elites ever assembled (termed the Bilderberg Meetings)—the importance of which was so “terrifying ” to those who heard it, they instantly pledged their nations “total resources” in order to stop what they know will be the “end of their rule” over Earth.  [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.] …

In the aftermath of World War II, this report details, Prince Bernhard financed a private investigative force of over 200 former British and German intelligence operatives to scour Germany for all documents and scientific literature related to the Heidelberg Cyclotron—and upon the completion of this “task/mission” in 1954, he founded the Bilderberg Group, on 29 May, and whose Western elite attendees, seven months later on 9 December, agreed to form and finance the European Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN), and adopt as its logo the “666” brand known as the “Number of the Beast”. …

With CERN having built under Prince Bernhard and his Bilderberg Group leadership the world’s largest and most powerful cyclotron particle collider (Large Hadron Collider-LHC)—that is the most complex experimental facility ever built, and the largest single machine ever built in human history—this report explains, its “true/real” purpose was shockingly revealed in 2009 by CERN’s Director for Research and Scientific Computing, Sergio Bertolucci, who proclaimed: “Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it”. …

Barely a fortnight ago, on 1 June …, CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti addressed the entire assemblage of the Bilderberg Group where she delivered the “Message of God” that had been “received/deciphered” by the Large Hadron Collider-LHC—and that so “horrified and terrified” those hearing it, they immediately pledged their Western nations to funding a cyclotron particle collider three times as big, and seven times more powerful, than the Large Hadron Collider-LHC—and whose cost can only be measured in the trillions-of-dollars.

Critical to the Federal Medical-Biological Agency being able to “fully ascertain” CERN’s attempting to establish contact with other dimensional entities, this report astonishingly reveals, is Scientist-Doctor Anatoli Bugorski—who on 13 July 1978, became the only human being in history to have ever stuck his head inside a cyclotron particle accelerator while it was in operation, and has left him with the ability to mentally transverse dimensions. …

In fact, this report notes, Einstein was conclusively proved wrong that particles not only exceed the speed of light, but can communicate instantly though separated by any distance (or dimension) in 2015 by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology—and whose astonishing findings were further confirmed this past week by Chinese scientists too.

As to what this all means in its most simple rendering, this report explains, is that the entire basis for all matter and human existence has been proven to be 100% false and built upon nothing more than falsehoods and deliberate deceptions—with the “real/true” truth being that at the instant life is created in the womb, an inseparable and instantaneous communication link between human beings and God is created. …

And to the “Message of God” delivered to the Bilderberg Group barely a fortnight ago by CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti that caused such terror among these Western elite master rulers, this report concludes, was an image produced by the Large Hadron Collider-LHC that formed a single word in the ancient Hebrew language תקל—that’s pronounced as “TEKEL” and, basically, means, “you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient”. http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2317.htm

I would label certain aspects of the above mainly as conspiracy theories. If there are any “other dimension entities” contacting CERN, I would suggest they are demonic.

But here is the CERN logo that some see a 666 type of appearance:

I do believe that CERN’s research has military potential. What the CERN director really said at Bilderberg and what it means is not clear. But I do NOT believe it was a “message from God”–at least not the God of the Bible.

As far as conspiracies go, notice what the Bible teaches:

12 “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.(Isaiah 8:12)

While I do not believe that conspiracy would be the best way to describe the Bilderberg meeting (nor do I fear Bilderberg), I do believe that many who attend it are interested in a one-world government and would like to see it. Satan has a plan (see Satan’s Plan) and it involves a type of one-world government–and he influences people around the world. Various ones associated with the United Nations want such a government–or at least more international control of national governments.

Though Sorchal Faal tends to push conspiracy theories and odd ideas at times, the idea that many who attend Bilderberg want some type of one-world government is not simply a ‘conspiracy theory,’ it is a reality.

The Bible tells of a coming time of international cooperation and a highly monitored economy:

1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:1-8)

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:11-18)

A type of world government, that will come out of war, will temporarily (42 months according to Revelation 13:5) have a lot of power and influence. It will try to have various economic plans, but according to the Bible, it will not be good nor end well (Revelation 18).

So what might the Bilderberg meeting have to do with this?

Bilderberg is one of many meetings and groups that have people who want to form more of an international, one-world, government that is somewhat consistent with biblical prophecies.

What might CERN have to do with this?

Its projects have military potential. A potential that one day would seem to be something that the Beast of Revelation 13 will employ against nations like the USA, as the USA will one day be destroyed by a European power according to Daniel 11:39 (see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses).

Those who attend Bilderberg should consider and believe what the Bible teaches will happen.

Hopefully, you do.

Several items of possibly related interest may include:

Can the Bilderberg Group Affect 2017 and Beyond? The infamous Bilderberg Group met in Dresden, Germany from June 9-12 in 2016. This super-secretive group has been meeting since 1954 and has admitted to some subjects it would cover, but blocked out cell phone reception and forbid coverage of the discussions by the media. This is considered THE meeting to be part of for the elites who are working for a global-type of government. It is by invitation only. They are working towards their version of the New World Order as opposed to the good news of the Kingdom of God. At least one top leader apparently attended to try to get the Bilderberg Group’s support for a bid to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations to replace Ban ki-Moon, whose term ends 31 December 2016. Dr. Thiel explains some of what is going on in the light of end-time biblical prophecies.
Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 Who is 666? This article explains how the COG views this, and compares this to Ellen White. Here is a link to a prophetic video Six Financial Steps Leading to 666?
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
United Nations: Humankind’s Last Hope or New World Order? Is the UN the last hope for humanity? Or might its goals end up with sinister results? A related video would be United Nations and Vatican Are Planning the New World Order.
Satan’s Plan Does Satan have a plan? What is it? Has it already been successful? Will it be successful in the future? Here are links to a two-part sermon series: What are Some of the Parts of Satan’s Plan? and Satan’s Plan is More Dramatic than Many Realize.
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
The Large Hadron Collider has Military Potential Some say this European project is only peaceful. So why is it working on capturing antimatter? Here is a link to a related video: Could the Large Hadron Collider lead to destruction?
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. A related sermon is titled Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Serán divididas las naciones anglosajonas?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2022 or 20xx? There is also a video titled The 6000 Year Plan: Is the end of humanity’s reign almost up? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2017, 2018, or 2019? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Will the Great Tribulation Start in 2017?
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill? Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill? Could a Donald Trump presidency be apocalyptic? A related video is titled: Donald: ‘Trump of God’ or Apocalyptic?
Trump Presidency Magic 8 Ball or Bible Prophecy? BBC reported that one might as well use a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’ to try to predict what will happen in the remaining time of Donald Trump’s presidency. What is a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’? Dr. Thiel not only explains that, but also briefly goes over 10 biblically-based warnings he wrote would happen if Donald Trump were elected that have already began to come to pass. He also goes over something he wrote back in 2008 that the Trump presidency is also helping lead to fulfillment. Should you trust Bible prophecy or not? Dr. Thiel says that Bible prophecy can be trusted, despite the view of skeptics and others that either overlook or despise the Bible. This is a video.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.

Artist depiction of Catholic saint Dominic presiding over burning two at the stake

COGwriter

Is persecution for Christians over?

Well, obviously not.

In addition to persecution for those who profess Christ in various Islamic lands, losing religious rights and freedoms in certain Western lands, and the promotion of immoral behavior by nations around the world, persecution will specifically be coming to true Christians.

Jesus foretold persecution:

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:10-12, NKJV throughout unless otherwise specified).

43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44).

23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes (Matthew 10:23).

35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)

29… Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time–houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions–and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, 4 Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”

5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 6 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. 7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. 9 But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all men for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved…” (Mark 13:3-13).

12… they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake (Luke 21:12).

20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).

2… yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (John 16:2-4).

Many are aware of some of the early persecutions, but few understand what teachings true Christians were persecuted for in the fourth century and beyond–some may seem shocking. At least two major persecutions are prophesied to come. Which doctrines are expected to be causes for the coming persecutions? Are the Greco-Roman churches planning on persecuting Sabbath-keepers, those who do not accept a non-biblical Mary, and those who do not wear crosses?

All the faithful will be subject to persecution and being betrayed by professing believers (Matthew 24:9-13, Mark 13:12-13; Luke 21:16-18; Daniel 11:32-35).

In the past (for details see Persecutions by Church and State), Christians in the Church of God were persecuted because they:

• Kept Passover on the 14th
• Refused to eat unclean meat
• Would work on Sunday
• Had false accusations railed against them
• Were binitarian
• Kept the Sabbath
• Kept the Fall Holy Days
• Were not trinitarian
• Taught that the pope was an Antichrist and precursor of the final Antichrist
• Having and teaching from the Bible
• Rejected papal authority
• Did not accept idols
• Had different teachings than the Church of Rome
• Had writings Rome did not like
• Rejected Roman sacraments
• Objected to the dress of the Roman ministry
• Considered Rome to be the prophesied Babylon
• Taught that in the time of the final Antichrist that some would fall away
• Had practices that Rome considered Jewish
• Refused to baptize infants
• Did not participate in carnal warfare
• Teaching the millennium
• Taught the Kingdom of God
• Baptized adults

Almost all the above were beliefs of original first century Christians. Some of the others did not come on the scene until they were adopted by the Greco-Romans and then later denounced by the faithful.

In the future, according to Catholic teachings, they ALSO will be persecuted for:

• Not accepting non-biblical teachings about Mary
• Not accepting the Great Monarch (Beast, King of the North)
• Teaching that the Kingdom of God will come soon
• Not wearing crosses
• Keeping the biblical Sabbath in accordance with the commandments
• Possessing/advocating writings that disagree with the Church of Rome
• Teaching after the Great Tribulation begins that Jesus will return within a few years

Christians have been persecuted for holding doctrines that we in the Continuing Church of God hold and are clearly expected to be persecuted in the future for holding Continuing Church of God doctrines.

The Book of Daniel shows a two-part persecution coming (I added the a and b below for emphasis):

25 a He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand b For a time and times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25)

First of all (a), he shall persecute certain of the saints, which is consistent with what Jesus said was coming:

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14)

Much of the above will affect the Philadelphian Christians (cf. Revelation 12:13), but they will later be protected (Revelation 3:8-10) in the wilderness for a time, times, and half a time (Revelation 12:14-16; see also There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra). Part of why they will be persecuted is for proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and probably also for identifying the coming King of the North, who will not wish to be identified that way. This will likely result in internet and other restrictions on getting the truth of God out to the world (cf. Amos 8:11-12).

Second of all (b), the remaining saints will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. This is the portion of the COG, the non-Philadelphians, who are NOT protested in the wilderness as Revelation 12:17 shows this separation:

17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

While many in the Church of God have experienced economic and social persecution in their walk with Christ, future severe persecution, beginning first with the Philadelphia remnant of Christians, is expected.

Persecution is a fact of history. It has happened before and we should be prepared for the fact that it will happen again. And during the time of the final persecutions, the Bible records:

12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

Thus, though the Philadelphian Christians will be subject to intense persecution first before this, even the Laodiceans (The Laodicean Church Era) and other Christians will receive some praise if they endure the persecutions that will then come during the time of “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world” (Revelation 3:10).

While many seem to not wish to pay attention to this subject, the reality is that persecution has existed throughout history against those with Church of God doctrines. Jesus predicted that as well as more persecution to come. Some may be shocked by certain doctrines that Christians have been persecuted for (and often by those who profess to be Christian).

Those in the true Church of God have always been on the side being persecuted and has never been on the side of the persecutors. And this will be true again in the future.

COGwriter

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

16:32

In mid-2017, BBC ran an article under the headline of “End of the Anglo-American order?” Is that really a question or the biblical reality? After the Brexit vote, the election of US President Donald Trump, and US rejection of the Paris accords on climate change, is the world really going to put in a different order? Some are claiming that Europe or Germany will head up this new world order–an order that sounds eerily similar to one essentially proposed and approved by the United Nation in 2015. Is the UN’s “Agenda 2030” a false gospel? How will this end for the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand? Will there later be something better to replace it? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

COGwriter

Amazon.com has the following about the alleged Book of Jasher:

There are 13 ancient history books that are mentioned and recommended by the Bible. The Ancient Book of Jasher is the only one of the 13 that still exists. It is referenced in Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18; and 2 Timothy 3:8. This volume contains the entire 91 chapters plus a detailed analysis of the supposed discrepancies, cross-referenced historical accounts, and detailed charts for ease of use. As with any history book there are typographical errors in the text but with three consecutive timelines running though the histories it is very easy to arrive at the exact dates of recorded events. It is not surprising that this ancient document confirms the Scripture and the chronology given in the Hebrew version of the Old Testament, once and for all settling the chronology differences between the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek Septuagint. The Ancient book of Jasher is brought to you by Biblefacts Ministries, Biblefacts.org

 
Helmut Kohl in 1989 (CDU)

COGwriter

Former West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl died and world leaders have made various comments:

17 June 2017

The news of Helmut Kohl’s death, which broke on Friday, triggered a wave of responses from politicians around the world, expressing sadness at the passing of the leader credited with reunifying Germany.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Kohl “was a great European and a great friend.” …

Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR, said Kohl was an “outstanding person” whose impact on world history would stand the test of time.

According to Gorbachev, the former German chancellor “would be noted in the chronicles of our time not only because of his personal qualities, but also because he found himself at the helm of his country during a time of unprecedented turmoil” including the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“In such cases, a lot depends on the people taking decisions. It was very fortunate that the leading countries, at the time, had statesmen with a sense of responsibility […] capable of reaching through the barrier of suspicion towards partnership and trust.”

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also praised Kohl as a “great statesman,” and lauded his legacy of helping Europe grow closer.  …

President Steinmeier said Kohl was an “exceptional politician” with a “strong character.”

“He was deeply convinced that Europe was our destiny,” Steinmeier said. …

http://www.dw.com/en/world-leaders-mourn-loss-of-helmut-kohl/a-39284535

Helmut Kohl, Germany’s ex-chancellor and architect of reunification in 1990, has died at 87.

Kohl led Germany for 16 years (from 1982 to 1998). He is credited with bringing East and West Germany together after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Together with his French ally President Francois Mitterrand, he was responsible for the introduction of the euro.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has ordered flags at EU institutions to be flown at half-mast. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40307918

For decades, the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God taught that East and West Germany would one day unite and later lead Europe. It also taught that Europe, despite problems (Daniel 2:41-43), would one day develop its own currency, which it did.

Furthermore, it (as well as the Continuing Church of God) has taught that Germany would rise and the USA would one day lose its leadership.

On that last point, notice a news item that a reader told me about:

As US influence wanes, Germany has the chance to step into the spotlight

13 June 2017

Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the United States has been performing what seems to be a partial withdrawal from the international stage.

This retreat is sometimes purposeful, as when the administration realised its campaign promise to exit the Paris climate agreement. But is is also sometimes uncertain, as when Vice President Mike Pence offered a conciliatory endorsement of NATO’s Article 5 in early June, just days after Trump failed to do so during his speech in Brussels. …

On May 28, German Chancellor Angela Merkel plainly expressed her view that America is no longer a reliable international partner. In a noteworthy speech in Munich, she recast Trump’s “America first” doctrine in a European light, saying that “we Europeans really must take our fate into our own hands”.

Germany in the lead?

Though it’s likely a temporary vacuum, American withdrawal from the international stage may present an opportunity for countries to play a larger global role, defending the liberal world order while the United States is on a break. Merkel’s pointed response to Trump’s wavering signals on NATO and the Paris accord suggests that Germany may be among them.

But it seems unlikely that even a large and economically strong European country will be able to wield international influence across the many areas the US has traditionally dominated. To become a truly global player, Germany would likely need to leverage the power of a supra-national platform such as the European Union. …

This has traditionally been Germany’s favoured approach. Rather than unilaterally pursuing their own goals, its officials have preferred to collaborate with European allies, defending their interests through negotiation. This was so even back when those partners, in post-Cold War Europe, were leary of potential German leadership (as demonstrated in the Kohl administration’s resolute negotiation stance in preparing the Maastricht agreement). …

A recent project with the potential for large impact is Germany’s proposal of the NATO Framework Nation Concept, which is now in progress. The plan allows smaller European countries to integrate parts of their army into the chain of command of a larger country – namely, Germany, which has already integrated two Dutch brigades into the Bundeswehr armed forces and will incorporate one brigade each from the Czech Republic and Romania in 2017.

This ground-breaking project, a response to criticism of Germany’s lack of leadership, serves both to increase European military capacity within NATO and to create a European defense force that could eventually stand on its own. http://theconversation.com/as-us-influence-wanes-germany-has-the-chance-to-step-into-the-spotlight-79302

Yes, Germany is expected to work with Europe to lead the West. And notice that is something that Helmut Kohl’s administration pushed.

Now, we are also seeing Germany attempting to develop a European army.

This is also consistent with bible prophecy (Daniel 11:25) and what the Radio/Worldwide/Global/Continuing Church of God has taught.

Some items of related interest may include:

Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: Alemania en la profecía bíblic. Here are links to two English language sermon videos Germany in Bible Prophecy and The Rise of the Germanic Beast Power of Prophecy.
Forbes’ Brexit Monster is the Beast of Revelation Various ones have been properly convinced that there is a plan for a European superstate. Forbes’ writer Tom Worstall wrote that the Brexit vote was about the United Kingdom “not joining the monster of the European Union to come.” The Bible tells of a Beast monster that will arise in the end times in Europe. Dr. Thiel cites news reports, as well as the Old and New Testaments, to show that the monster many fear will arise in Europe, despite the vote by the British to exit the European Union. This is a video.
Collapse of the Euro and Dollar? War in 2020? Larry Edelson of Money and Markets described aspects of current economic difficulties and explained why he felt matters would get a lot worse. He said war, like World War III, could break out as early as 2020. What did he call the ‘granddaddy of all cycles”? Will matters go as he said? What does the Bible teach? Dr. Thiel provides biblical insights that secular sources often miss. This is a video.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2017, 2018, or 2019? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Will the Great Tribulation Start in 2017?
British are the Covenant People What do ‘British’ and ‘Britain’ mean in Hebrew? Are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons people of the covenant? Does the British royal family connect to the throne of David? What does the Bible teach? What does history show us? Is there any DNA evidence related to British-Israelism? When did Christianity make it to the British Isles? Could Jeremiah have made it to the British Isles? What type of Christians made it to the British Isles? Did the last King of England believe in British Israelism?
Will the UK Lose Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands? Spain wants Gibraltar and Argentina wants the Falklands (also known as the Malvinas). Does the Bible give clues as to what will happen with these ‘sea gates’? A related video would be Will the UK Lose Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands? A version in Spanish ¿Perderá el Reino Unido a Gibraltar y las Islas Falkland (Malvinas)? Here is a version in Mandarin Chinese 英国将失去直布罗陀和福克兰群岛.
Post Brexit Prophecy On June 23, 2016, the voters of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) chose to leave the European Union. Now with this BRitish EXIT (Brexit) vote, what is prophesied to happen to the UK? Will the UK do well or be taken over and made slaves? Dr. Thiel explains from biblical prophecies what is ahead for the UK, Europe, and even the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This is a video.
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
WTO/TTIP and the Babylonian Beast Will international trade agreements like WTO/TTIP/CETA lead to the fulfillment of end time prophecies concerning the Babylonian Beast power that the Book of Revelation warns against? What does the Bible teach? A related video would be WTO Trade Deal and the Rise of the European Beast Power.
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. A related sermon is titled Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. A video of possible interest may be Will Will USA Spying Help the Beast Power?.
Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Serán divididas las naciones anglosajonas?
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill? Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill? Could a Donald Trump presidency be apocalyptic? A related video is titled: Donald: ‘Trump of God’ or Apocalyptic?

Amphitheater of Ancient Ephesus

COGwriter

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:17:13

Ephesus Church Era

Ephesus is the first of seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. It was considered the most prosperous city outside of ancient Rome. It was a city on the Aegean Sea. Where the Ephesians Gentiles? What beliefs did they hold. What was the period of time that the Ephesian church era dominated? What happened towards the end of its era? What did Marcus do in 135 A.D.? What did the Apostles Paul and John write related to Ephesus? What were the “two groups” on Ephesus? What are some of the lessons it has for us today? Was Ephesus considered to be an Apostolic See? What happened to Ephesus that fulfilled prophecy? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the video sermon: Ephesus Church Era.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 from 31 A.D. to present: information on all of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3. There is also a YouTube video: The Seven Church Eras of Revelation. There is also a version in the Spanish language: Las Siete Iglesias de Apocalipsis 2 & 3.
1. The Ephesus Church Era was predominant from 31 A.D. to circa 135 A.D. The Church of James, Peter, Paul, and John, etc. Here is a link to a related video sermon: Ephesus Church Era.
2. The Smyrna Church Era was predominant circa 135 A.D. to circa 450 A.D. The Church led by Polycarp, Melito, Polycrates, etc.
3. The Pergamos Church Era was predominant circa 450 A.D. to circa 1050 A.D. An especially persecuted Church.
4. The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D. The Church during the Inquisition.
5. The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots.  They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 17 Laodicean Errors in Prophecy.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
CCOG.ORG Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God. To see how CCOG has done so far, here are links to two sermons Continuing Church of God (CCOG) first year anniversary: What has been accomplished? and The Continuing Church of God: Two Years of Proclamation. Here is a written link to a version of that sermon in the Spanish language: Aniversario del primer año de la Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios: ¿Qué se ha cumplido?
Congregations of the Continuing Church of God This is a listing of congregations and groups of the Continuing Church of God around the world.
CCOG.ASIA We in the Continuing Church of God also have the url www.ccog.asia which has a focus on Asia and has various articles in Mandarin Chinese as well as some in English, plus some items in other Asian languages. 我们在继续神的教会也提供此网址 www.ccog.asia, 关注于亚洲并且有各种各样的中英文文章，其中一些用菲律宾语翻译的文章也正在进行中，准备添加到这个网站中。 Here is a link to our Statement of Beliefs in Mandarin Chinese 继续神的教会的信仰声明.
CCOG.IN This is a website targeted towards those of Indian heritage. It has a link to an edited Hindi translation of The Mystery of the Ages and is expected to have more non-English language materials in the future.
CCOG.EU This is a website targeted toward Europe. It has materials in more than one language (currently it has English, Dutch, and Serbian, with links also to Spanish) and it is intended to have additional language materials added.
CCOG.NZ This is a website targeted towards New Zealand and others with a British-descended background.
CCOGAFRICA.ORG This is a website targeted towards those in Africa.
CCOGCANADA.CA This is a website targeted towards those in Canada.
CDLIDD.ES La Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios. This is the Spanish language website for the Continuing Church of God.
PNIND.PH Patuloy na Iglesya ng Diyos. This is the Philippines website Continuing Church of God. It has information in English and Tagalog.
CCOGAfrica channel. This has messages from African pastors in African languages such as Kalenjin, Kiswahili, Embu, and Dholuo.
Bible News Prophecy online radio. This is an audio version of the Bible News Prophecy videos as well as some ContinuingCOG channel sermons. It is also available as a mobile app.
Bible News Prophecy channel. Dr. Thiel has produced many YouTube video sermonettes for the BibleNewsProphecy channel. And you can find them there.
ContinuingCOG channel. Dr. Thiel has produced scores of YouTube video sermons for this channel. Note: Since these are sermon-length, they can take a little longer to load than other YouTube videos.

Stockholm, Sweden (Joyce Thiel, 2017)

COGwriter

Where did the Swedes come from?

One-time WCG member Bert Otten sent me the following which contain his speculations and conclusion (note that his submission included photographs that did not load into WordPress):

Ten Prophetic Clues Concerning Naphtali – Sweden

There is no direct history connecting the tribe of Naphtali to the Swedish people. We are talking about one of the lost tribes. Even the Caucasian population of Sweden comes from various backgrounds. One can compare this to Jewry. The Jewish people have known many proselytes, yet, there has been a core of the tribe of Judah (and some of Levi & Benjamin) over the past 2500 years. The core passes on characteristics and genes to the periphery. Looking at the ‘prophetic clues’ one has to conclude that a core of the tribe of Naphtali once found its way to Sweden. This core passed its characteristics and genes on to the influx of others. The more fulfilled prophetic clues we find, the stronger our case. What follows is not historic proof, but proof by revelation.

1^st Clue: Naphtali: my wrestling

And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, With great WRESTLINGS [naphtulei]  have I WRESTLED [niphtalti] with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali (Gen 30:7-8, AV throughout, unless noted otherwise).

Rachel had Jacob’s love. Leah did not, but she had offspring, very important in antiquity. There was an ongoing struggle between the two sisters for Jacob’s love. Rachel was the favourite, but Leah got four sons. Rachel was barren. In their ‘wrestling-contest’ Rachel gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob, just like Saraï gave Hagar to Abram in the past.

Bilhah got a son and Rachel named him Dan (judge). But it was not enough. She gave Bilhah to Jacob again. Rachel named Bilhah’s second son Naphtali, ‘my wrestling’, referring to the wrestling with her sister.

Sweden’s wrestle

Like Rachel wrestled with her sister, so the Swedes (Naphtali) wrestled with their brother-tribe Denmark-Norway (Benjamin). After the time of the Vikings the Swedes got into political connections with Denmark and Norway. In 1523 the Swedes were able to gain independence.

Wikipedia: A large number of children inherited the Swedish crown over the course of the kingdom’s existence; consequently real power was held for long periods by regents (notably those of the Sture family) chosen by the Swedish parliament. King Christian II of Denmark, who asserted his claim to Sweden by force of arms, ordered a massacre in 1520 of Swedish nobles in Stockholm. This came to be known as the “Stockholm blood bath” and stirred the Swedish nobility to new resistance and, on 6 June (now Sweden’s national holiday) in 1523, they made Gustav Vasa their king. This is sometimes considered as the foundation of modern Sweden. Shortly afterwards he rejected Catholicism and led Sweden into the Protestant Reformation.

2^nd Clue: Naphtali, a hind let loose

Naphtali is a hind LET LOOSE … (Gen 49:21a).

Nephthali est une biche EN LIBERTÉ … (Gen 49:21a, LSG).

The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you CITIES of REFUGE, … And they appointed KEDESH in Galilee in mount Naphtali … (Joshua 20:1-2, 7).

Genesis 49 is about prophecies concerning the tribes in the end time (acharit hayamim, verse 1). Jacob compared the tribe of Naphtali with a female deer, a hind set free.

Something of that freedom can also be seen in the fact that Kedesh in Naphtali was a city of refuge. Sweden has been a ‘city of refuge’ for many over the past decades. Swedes are very fond of their freedom, of their liberty, both nationally and individually.

Swedes, freedom and liberty

Swedes are known for their liberty and their love of personal freedom. Professor Åke Daun is considered to be the godfather of the Swedish soul. Åke Daun:

“Swedes are often serious when they get together,” Daun begins. “There’s little skill in conversation and we don’t raise our voice, we don’t interrupt. We just want to exchange the same ideas and tastes.”

Daun explains why neighbours may well avoid sharing an elevator. “With people they do not know, few Swedes feel moved to talk,” he writes. “Solitude offers ease and liberation. The satisfaction so many Swedes feel when they walk on their own in the woods … derives partly from an absence of social pressure to talk and adapt to others.”

Pipi Longstocking

Another Swedish champion of utter freedom is of course Pipi Longstocking:

Wikipedia: Pippi is portrayed as being a friendly and kind girl, but one with no “proper” manners and having no training or experience in how to behave in normal society, that is, any society other than the very freewheeling and non-regimented one aboard her father’s ship … Her behavior is highly exasperating to many adults … Otherwise she seems trustworthy and loyal to her friends.

Du gamla, du fria

Du gamla, du fria is Sweden’s national anthem, mentioned after its first lines: Thou ancient, Thou free, Thou mountainous north …

Freedom of the press since 1766

https://www.facebook.com/swedense/posts/10155211511969720 :

In 1766 the first freedom of the press act was born in Sweden, and today we’ve climbed to second place in the global press freedom ranking (May 3rd, 2017).

3^rd Clue: Naphtali, goodly words

Naphtali is a hind let loose: HE GIVETH GOODLY WORDS (Gen 49:21).

Genesis 49:21 HA_NOTEN OMREI SHAFER 

נפתלי אילה שׁלחה הנתן אמרי־שׁפר

Nephthali est une biche en liberté;

IL PROFÈRE DE BELLES PAROLES (Genèse 49:21).

Swedish language

It is good to emphasize again that according to Genesis 49:1, these prophecies are for the endtime, acharit hayamim. ‘Goodly words’, ‘omrei shafèr’, ‘de belles paroles’, should be applied in the first place to the Swedish language. Swedish is very musical. It sometimes sounds as if they are singing their language.

About Swedish tonality: https://everything2.com/title/Swedish+pronunciation : Tonality

It is the tonality of the language that gives Swedish its characteristic, easily recognizable melody. “The Swedish chef” of TV comedy [The Muppets] doesn’t speak Swedish at all, but is immediately recognised by the audience as Swedish, only because of his (rather badly) imitated Swedish tonality.

Standard Swedish is one of the few European languages — together with Norwegian — which exhibit tone within words as well as sentences. The functional “questioning tone” – when the tone in an interrogative sentence goes up at the end – is commonplace in most European languages, but in Swedish the tone is applied to all sentences, irrespective of function, and to most words.

Like Chinese, but mostly meaningless.

The predominant Swedish tone is similar to the 3rd tone in Chinese Mandarin (high-low-high, i.e. the tone starts from a certain level, goes deeper down, and then rises up again). Mandarin tones only apply to vowels (and diphthongs) in the monosyllabic Chinese words, but the Swedish tone is also applied to consonants and to polysyllabic words.

Another difference is that the Chinese tones have semantic functions, while the semantic function of Swedish tones is limited to just a few instances – its main role is to give Swedish its characteristic “singing” language melody. If you misplace Chinese tones, then your sentence can easily become unintelligible, while misplaced Swedish tones merely expose you as a foreigner.

Nobel Prizes

Speaking of goodly words, we also think of the Swedish Nobel prizes.

Wikipedia: Alfred Bernhard Nobel (21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments. … After reading a premature obituary which condemned him for profiting from the sales of arms, he bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes.

Wikipedia: Nobel Prizes: The prize ceremonies take place annually in Stockholm, Sweden (with the exception of the peace prize, which is held in Oslo, Norway). Each recipient, or laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money that has been decided by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, as is the Prize in Economic Sciences.

More goodly words: Nobel lecture

Wikipedia: According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, each laureate is required to give a public lecture on a subject related to the topic of their prize. The Nobel lecture as a rhetorical genre took decades to reach its current format. These lectures normally occur during Nobel Week (the week leading up to the award ceremony and banquet, which begins with the laureates arriving in Stockholm and normally ends with the Nobel banquet), but this is not mandatory. The laureate is only obliged to give the lecture within six months of receiving the prize.

Swedish literature

Swedish literature has produced seven winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. One of them is Selma Lagerlöf (1909).

4^th Clue: Naphtali, favour & blessing

And of Naphtali [Moses] said, O Naphtali, SATISFIED with FAVOUR, and FULL with the BLESSING of the LORD … (Deut 33:23).

And of Naphtali [Moses] said:  — O Naphtali, SATISFIED with PLEASURE, And FULL of the BLESSING of Jehovah, (Deut 33:23, YLT).

Even in antiquity Naphtali was satisfied, full of the favour and of the blessing of the LORD. The tribal area of Naphtali was the most fertile of Canaan (eastern Galilee). Josephus called the tribal area of Naphtali ‘a paradise on earth’.

Swedish prosperity

Wikipedia: Sweden is a competitive mixed economy featuring a generous universal welfare state financed through relatively high income taxes that ensures that income is distributed across the entire society, a model sometimes called the Nordic model.  Approximately 90% of all resources and companies are privately owned, with a minority of 5% owned by the state and another 5% operating as either consumer or producer cooperatives.

Because Sweden as a neutral country did not actively participate in World War II, it did not have to rebuild its economic base, banking system, and country as a whole, as did many other European countries. Sweden has achieved a high standard of living under a mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. Sweden has the second highest total tax revenue behind Denmark, as a share of the country’s income. As of 2012, total tax revenue was 44.2% of GDP, down from 48.3% in 2006.

Social Security in Sweden

Wikipedia: Social security in Sweden is one of the parts of the Swedish welfare system and consists of various social insurances handled by the National Agency for Social Insurance, and also welfare given out on a need basis by local municipalities. … Contents:

1 Child allowance and parental benefit

2 Housing allowance

3 Benefits for ill and disabled

4 Support for the elderly

5 Welfare

Sweden’s blessings

http://theweek.com/articles/528789/trouble-swedish-paradise :

Sweden is blessed with tremendous natural wealth—timber, iron ore, hydropower—and a population with a flair for technology and business creativity. Swedes invented the steam turbine, ball bearings, and the safety match, launching businesses that brought in profits from around the world. Swedish companies, such as the automakers Volvo and Saab, the retailer Ikea, and the telecommunications giant Ericsson, shrugged off the heavy burden of taxes and pensions, and competed ably in global markets. But trouble began to enter the Swedish paradise in the late 1970s.

The term ‘the Swedish Paradise’ is used quite often, both in positive and negative ways. Sweden is full with favour and blessing of the LORD. Their last war was in 1814.

5^th Clue: Naphtali, … take the sea / lake

You Naftali, satisfied with favor and full of blessing from ADONAI, TAKE POSSESSION of the SEA and the south (D’varim 33:23, Complete Jewish Bible).

And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, … the SEA (Hebr. – yam) and its fishes will be his (Deut 33:23b, BBE).

En van Naftali zei hij [Mozes]: Naftali … NEEM HET MEER [POSSESS the LAKE!] IN BEZIT en het ZUIDEN (Deut 33:23b, Dutch).

Swedish lakes and canals

Lake of Galilee / Sea of Tiberias

The second part of Moses’ blessing was that Naphtali would take possession of the lake/sea and the south. In Hebrew it says ‘yam’, which can mean lake (of Galilee), inland sea (Dead Sea) or sea (Mediterranean Sea). The Dutch Groot Nieuws Bijbel translates this as ‘take the lake of Kinneret, the lake and its surroundings’.

Sweden and lakes

According to http://www.thelocal.se/20080612/12382  there are at least 100.000 lakes in Sweden. The original Swedes (Svear) lived in the middle of Sweden. They conquered the south and the lakes of the south in the Middle Ages.

The biggest lakes are: Vänern (5519 km²) , Vättern (1886 km²) , Mälaren, Hjälmaren, Storsjön, Torneträsk, Siljan, Hornavan, Akkajaure, en Uddjaure.

Lakes in Finland

For five centuries (ca. 1300 – 1800 AD) Finland was part of Sweden. (There are still 5% Swedish speaking Finns in Finland). Finland has of course even more lakes. According to Wikipedia there are 187,888 lakes in Finland, which are bigger than 500 m².

When the Swedes took possession of Finland, they also took possession of its lakes.

Swedish Vikings & the South

It is less known that the Swedish Vikings went south, far into what is modernday Russia.

Wikipedia: The Varangians or Varyags … sometimes referred to as Variagians were Scandinavians, often Swedes, who migrated eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries. Engaging in trade, piracy and mercenary activities, they roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki, reaching the Caspian Sea and Constantinople. Contemporary English publications also use the name “Viking” for early Varangians in some contexts.

The Swedish Vikings also took possession of the sea and the south.

Swedish Golden Age

Naphtali taking possession of the sea (Hebr. yam) and the south is also applicable to Sweden’s Golden Age. The Baltic Sea became more or less a Swedish lake in the 17th and 18th century.

Wikipedia: The Swedish Empire (Swedish: stormaktstiden, “the era of great power”) refers to the Kingdom of Sweden’s territorial control of much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries, a time when Sweden was one of the great European powers. The beginning of the Empire is usually taken as the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, who ascended the throne in 1611, and the end as the loss of territories in 1721 following the Great Northern War. In Swedish history, the period is referred to as stormaktstiden, literally meaning “the Great Power era”.

The Swedish Empire turned the Baltic into a Swedish lake in the 17th century

6^th Clue: Naphtali … in the north …

The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the NORTH side … Then the tribe of Naphtali … (Num 2:25, 29).

Now these are the names of the tribes. From the NORTH end to the coast of the way of Hethlon … And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher. And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side,  a  portion  for NAPHTALI (Ezekiel 48:1-3).

Naphtali – North

The tribe of Naphtali is strongly connected with the north. The twelve tribes were placed around the tabernacle in groups of three. Naphtali belonged to the three tribes north of the tabernacle.

Land of Naphtali

The land of Naphtali is not just the tribal area of Naphtali, but can mean all of Galilee, the north of Israel (2Ki 15:29; Isa 9:1).

Naphtali in the north

When Joshua gave the tribes their territories, Naphtali became the most northern tribe. The Danites did not arrive up north until the time of the judges.

Naphtali in the 7th Millennium, third tribe from the north

Millennial Reign

Ezekiel 40-46 describes the Temple of the 7th Millennium. Ezekiel 47-48 gives the new tribal areas for the returning remnants of the tribes.

There are many changes in this new tribal order. Zebulun and Issachar no longer live up north, and Judah lives north of Jerusalem instead of south. However, Naphtali stays up north and belongs to the three most northern tribes.

Sweden & the North

The 9 million Swedes are the most northern population of that size. Sweden is situated between the 55th and 70th parallel. Most Canadians and Russians live further south on the globe. Finland (5,5 million), Norway (5 million) and Alaska (735,000) have fewer inhabitants. Sweden is the biggest country of northern Europe.

Swedish national anthem

‘The North’ has a prominent place in the Swedish national anthem. Wikipedia:

Literal translation:

Thou ancient, Thou free, Thou mountainous north,

Thou quiet, Thou joyful beautiful! I greet thee, loveliest land upon earth,

Thy sun, Thy sky, Thy climes green.

Thy sun, Thy sky, Thy climes green.

 Thou thronest on memories of great olden days, When honoured Thy name flew across the earth, I know that Thou art and wilt remain what thou werest,

Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the North.

Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the North.

 With God I shall fight for home and for hearth, for Sweden, the beloved native soil.

I trade thee not, for anything in a world

No, I want to live, I want to die in the North!

No, I want to live, I want to die in the North!

The north is a common feature in Naphtali and Sweden. That is clear.

7^th Clue: Naphtali, man-woman equality

4  And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

5  And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6  And she sent and called BARAK the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh NAPHTALI, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

7  And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

8  And Barak said unto her, IF THOU WILT GO WITH ME, THEN I WILL GO: BUT IF THOU WILT NOT GO WITH ME, THEN I WILL NOT GO.

9  And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera INTO THE HAND OF A WOMAN. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh (Judges 4:4-9).

M/F equality

The story of Barak and Deborah is the one with the greatest male/female equality in the Bible. You have to go and fight Sisera, said Deborah. Only if you come along, said Barak. Barak was a Naphtalite from Kedesh.

Sweden & gender equality

Wikipedia: Women in Sweden: During the Viking Age, women had a relatively free status in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway … The paternal aunt, paternal niece and paternal granddaughter, referred to as ‘odalkvinna’, all had the right to inherit property from a deceased man. In the absence of male relatives, an unmarried woman with no son could further more inherit the position as head of the family from a deceased father or brother: a woman with such status was referred to as ‘ringkvinna’, and she exercised all the rights afforded to the head of a family clan, such as the right to demand and receive fines for the slaughter of a family member, until she married, by which her rights were transferred to her husband.

Wikipedia: Feminism in Sweden: Women policy makers. Women in Sweden are 45% of the political representatives in the Swedish Parliament. Women make up 43% of representatives in local legislatures. Women are 52% of the Ministers in the Swedish Government (November 2015). While there are no legal quotas for female candidates in Sweden, most parties have internal policies to promote the participation of women … Gender mainstreaming. The Swedish government assesses all policy according to the tenets of gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming is used in government offices, central government agencies, regional governments, municipalities and local government. This has been the case since 1994, with gender mainstreaming meaning that gender, in a stakeholder sense as members of society, is taken into account when government considers new policies … Gender and policy. Sweden has a Minister for Gender Equality. The Swedish government allocates money specifically to gender equality in the annual budget. In 2014 the Swedish government allocated 252 million Krona for gender equality. Swedish political parties across the political spectrum commit to gender-based policies in their public political manifestos.

8^th Clue: Naphtali, … copper …

And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow’s son of the TRIBE of NAPHTALI, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in BRASS: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in BRASS. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of BRASS … And he made two chapiters of molten BRASS, to set upon the tops of the pillars … And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz … And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about … It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward … And he made ten bases of BRASS … And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of BRASS … Then made he ten lavers of BRASS … And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD … and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright BRASS (1Ki 7:13-45).

Great Copper Mountain

Wikipedia: Falun Mine (Swedish: Falu Gruva) was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two thirds of Europe’s copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden’s wars in the 17th century. Technological developments at the mine had a profound influence on mining globally for two centuries …

No significant activities had begun before 850, but the mine was definitely operating by 1080. Objects from the 10th century have been found containing copper from the mine. …

            By the mid 14th century, the mine had grown into a vital national resource, and a large part of the revenues for the Swedish state in the coming centuries would be from the mine …

Coppermine in Falun

            Golden era. In the 17th century, production capacity peaked. During this time, the output from the mine was used to fund various wars of Sweden during its great power era. The Privy Council of Sweden referred to the mine as the nation’s treasury and stronghold. The point of maximum production occurred in 1650, with over 3,000 tonnes of copper produced.

            Sweden had a virtual monopoly on copper which it retained throughout the 17th century. The only other country with a comparable copper output was Japan, but European imports from Japan were insignificant. In 1690, Erik Odhelius, a prominent metallurgist, was dispatched by the King to survey the European metal market. Although copper production had already begun to decline by the time he made his report, something Odhelius made no secret of, he stated, “For the production of copper Sweden has always been like a mother, and although in many places within and without Europe some copper is extracted it counts for nothing next to the abundance of Swedish copper”.

Falu Red

Wikipedia: Falu red or falun red … is a dye that is used in a deep red paint, well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns. The paint historically originated from various copper mines in Sweden. Most well known is the mine at Falun, in the province of Dalarna … The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil and tailings from the copper mines of Falun …

9^th Clue: Naphtali, … darkness … licht …

Nevertheless THE DIMNESS shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked IN DARKNESS have seen A GREAT LIGHT: they that dwell in the land of THE SHADOW OF DEATH, upon them hath THE LIGHT SHINED (Isa 9:1-2).

            And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast in the regions of Zebulun and NAPHTALI, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The land of Zebulun and THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat IN DARKNESS saw A GREAT LIGHT; and to them that sat in the region and SHADOW OF DEATH, LIGHT has SPRUNG UP.” (Matthew 4:13-16, KJ21).

The Jews lived in the land of Naphtali (Capernaum) in darkness, at the time of the New Testament. They saw a great light, Jesus Christ. That is what the prophecy is about in the first place. However, prophecies often have more than one fulfilment. So this prophecy can also be seen as a clue connecting Naphtali with Sweden.

Polar or Arctic Circle

The north of Sweden is north of the arctic circle. Wikipedia: The Arctic Circle … marks the northernmost point at which the noon sun is just visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun is just visible on the northern summer solstice … North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore visible at midnight) and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore not visible at noon) …

Northern Lights

In northern Sweden the sun does not rise around the 21st December. There is darkness, but from time to time the northern lights can be observed. Wikipedia: An aurora, sometimes referred to as a polar lights or northern lights, is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions.

Northern Lights

Walpurgisnight

Walpurgisnight is also celebrated in Sweden. Wikipedia: On the last day of April Walpurgis Night (Valborg) is celebrated throughout Sweden to greet spring. This is done by igniting large bonfires and singing songs celebrating the coming of springtime.

Swedish Light Festivals

Wikipedia on Swedish festivals: The second most important festivity in the Swedish calendar, or perhaps for many the most important, is Midsummer, ‘midsommar’. Midsummer’s Eve is celebrated on the eve of the Friday between the 20 and 26 June.

Wikipedia: Part of the Swedish tradition is the celebration of Lucia (Saint Lucia Day). She is the only saint to be celebrated in Lutheran Sweden (as well as those parts of Norway and Finland, where Swedish influence has historically been prominent). The celebration, which, however, is not a public holiday, always takes place on 13 December and retains many pre-Christian traditions. The same is also true for many holidays in Sweden … It is said that to vividly celebrate Saint Lucy’s Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light.

Lucia / Lucy means light (lux).

Sweden – Safety Matches

Wikipedia: The idea of creating a specially designed striking surface was developed in 1844 by the Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch. Pasch patented the use of red phosphorus in the striking surface. He found that this could ignite heads that did not need to contain white phosphorus. Johan Edvard and his younger brother Carl Frans Lundström (1823–1917) started a large-scale match industry in Jönköping, Sweden around 1847 …

Darkness and light are very prominent in Swedish life and culture. Naphtali sitting in darkness, but seeing many lights. Sweden has also been a great defender (Gustav II Adolph) of the Reformation: a great light. The Bible (light!) was translated into Swedish in 1541.

10^th Clue: Naphtali, Naphtali & Joseph

And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid (Gen 29:29). And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her … And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali (Genesis 30:4, 7-8).

And he began then to say: Hear, my children, ye sons of Naphtali, hear the words of your father. I was born from Bilhah, and because Rachel dealt craftily, and gave Bilhah in place of herself to Jacob, and she conceived and bare me upon Rachel’s knees, therefore she called my name Naphtali. For Rachel loved me very much because I was born upon her lap; and when I was still young she was wont to kiss me, and say: May I have a brother of thine from mine own womb, like unto thee. Whence also Joseph was like unto me in all things, according to the prayers of Rachel (Testament of Naphtali, Ch.1:5-8).

Rachel Tribes

There are five ‘Rachel Tribes’: Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan (by Bilhah) and Naphtali (by Bilhah). The Anglo-Saxon peoples are descended from Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob prophesied:

And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great [USA]: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a Multitude of Nations [British Common Wealth] (Gen 48:19).

In the Testament of Naphtali, the Patriarch Naphtali claimed a special bond with Joseph, through his mother Bilhah, who gave birth to him on Rachel´s knees. After Rachel´s death Bilhah looked after Joseph and Benjamin.

There is also a special bond among the Rachel Tribes in the endtime. The Leah Tribes are mainly located on the continent of Europe: Issachar (Northern Benelux); Zebulun (Central Benelux); Asher (Southern Benelux); Reuben (France, except for the south) and Gad (parts of Switzerland and eastern France).

The Rachel Tribes are situated in Scandinavia and the British Isles: Dan (Ireland); Joseph (England), Benjamin (Denmark, Norway and Iceland) and Naphtali (Sweden). The Bilhah Tribes Dan (Ireland) and Naphtali (Sweden) are at the flanks of Joseph and Benjamin.

There is a special bond between the peoples of the British Isles and Scandinavia.

Sweden – USA

Naphtali (Sweden) has a special tie with Manasseh (USA). Many Swedes have emigrated to America.

Dutch Wikipedia: Swedes live mainly in Sweden (9 million) and in the United States (4.4 million people of Swedish origin). There are also smaller groups in Canada (330,000) and Finland (300,000). Between 1830 and 1930 about 1.3 million Swedes emigrated to North America, a third of the Swedish population. Especially to Minnesota

There is more, but the above ten clues are the stongest indications for me that the Swedes are from the Tribe of Naphtali.

Guni, Gunites

Of the sons of Naphtali after their families … of Guni, the family of the Gunites (Num 26:48).

Naphtali had a son named Guni. It is from a different etymological origin, but it is remarkable that many Swedish names start with Gun- : Gunborg, Gunnar, Gunbjörn, Gund, Gundel, Gundhard, Gunfrid,

Wikipedia: The development of Sweden and its empire from 1560 to 1815

While I believe that history helps demonstrate that the tribe of Napthali dominates the nation known as Sweden, Bert Otten has added a variety of observations that many have not considered.

Dr. Hoeh of the old Radio Church of God wrote the following:

Nepthali represents Sweden “satisfied with favor, full with the blessings of the Lord.” She is compared to a prancing hind or deer and “giveth goodly words” (Gen. 49:21). From Sweden, with a well-balanced economy, come the Nobel prizes in token to great world accomplishments. Sweden, during two world wars and the recent trouble in Palestine, sent her emissaries to speak words of conciliation and peace. The promise by Moses to possess “the sea and the south” is applicable both to ancient Nepthali and modern Sweden: notice the position of the Sea of Galilee and Baltic relative to the position of this tribe. (LOCATION OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL by Herman L Hoeh (ca. 1950s) http://www.giveshare.org/israel/locationtribes.html)

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were is Sweden for the first time. We saw many canals, wealth, and even visited the Nobel Museum, while we also noticed that Sweden was moving towards becoming a cashless society.

My wife Joyce took a picture of signs in two shops:

The vision of a cashless society, from a biblical perspective resembles something that those in Sweden will not really want:

Beast of the Sea (Revelation 13:1)

cf. Revelation 13:16-18. See also Sweden going to ‘666’ cashlessness?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Serán divididas las naciones anglosajonas?
Sweden going to ‘666’ cashlessness? Sweden continues to reduce the amount of currency notes and coins in circulation as more and more Swedes turn to digital forms of payments. Even ‘farmers’ markets’ take debit and credit cards. Will this eliminate crime or lead to the rise of the Beast and Antichrist power? Could what is happening in Sweden a prelude to the control of buying and selling that Revelation 13:16-18 associates with 666? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues from Stockholm, Sweden.

‘Caliph’ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

COGwriter

A major Islamic terrorist may be dead:

June 16, 2017

he Russian military said Friday it is investigating whether an airstrike in the Syrian desert has killed Abu Bakr Baghdadi, Islamic State’s self-described “caliph.”

The death of one of the world’s most-wanted jihadist leaders would be a military victory for Russia and a setback for the militants, who are battling for control of strongholds in Iraq and Syria, including their de facto capital in Raqqah.

“If confirmed, Baghdadi’s death will be a powerful blow to the IS. It has been retreating on all fronts, and the death of its leader will accelerate its demise,” tweeted Alexei Pushkov, the head of the upper house of the Russian parliament’s committee for information policies.

Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Public Council, an advisory board, said the death of the Islamic State leader would dramatically change Russia’s operation in Syria, speeding their war on terror.

“It fundamentally changes the course of the military operation, because the command center, the ‘brains of the organization’ is destroyed, and the remaining terrorists will be less effective,” he told the Russian newspaper, Evening Moscow.

Presuming he is dead, that is consistent with my longstanding belief that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would not succeed to become the leader of the biblically prophesied King of the South. On August 10, 2014, I posted the following:

The Islamic State … I do not believe its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will become the biblical King of the South. (Thiel B. Islamic State kills 500 Yazidis who would not convert; 20,000 hidden escape; USA drops more bombs. COGwriter.com, August 10, 2014)

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been a brutal terrorist. Much of the following applies to him and his followers:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-6)

As far as the Islamic State itself goes, more and more are getting outraged by actions it and its followers are part of. It has been attacked by the USA, France, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and others. A coalition is building, and the time will come when a coalition of states in the Middle East and North Africa will form, likely with Western encouragement, partially to deal with Islamic terrorists.

Even if he is not dead let me add that there is no way I believe that the ‘caliph’ of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, will lead the coalition that the Bible refers to as led by the King of the South (Daniel 11:40-43).

Several items of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. A related sermon is titled Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future What does the Bible say about Jerusalem and its future? Is Jerusalem going to be divided and eliminated? Is Jesus returning to the area of Jerusalem? There is also a related YouTube video you can watch titled Jerusalem To be divided and eliminated.
The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What about the Imam Mahdi? What lies ahead for Turkey, Iran, and the other non-Arabic Muslims? An item of possibly related interest in the Spanish language would be: Líderes iraníes condenan la hipocresía de Occidente y declaran que ahora es tiempo para prepararse para el Armagedón, la guerra, y el Imán Mahdi.
Is the Future King of the South Rising Up? Some no longer believe there needs to be a future King of the South. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? Might this King be called the Mahdi or Caliph? What does the Bible say? A YouTube video of related interest may be: The Future King of the South is Rising.
The Prophesied ‘Islamic’ Confederation Where is an Islamic caliphate prophesied? Will one happen? Should you be concerned about it? A related video is Will an Arabic Calphiphate Destroy the West?
Obama Administration Pushing for an Islamic Empire? Because of the rise of groups such as the Islamic State, the Obama Administration and others are pushing for a coalition of Arab nations along with Turkey. Does this resemble the final King of the South of Bible prophecy? Is there an Islamic antichrist? Does the Bible teach that terrorism and the sword will affect the USA and some of its allies? What does the Bible teach in Ezekiel about a confederation involving Egypt? Will an Arabic confederation end in destruction for those who strongly support it? Are the 10 nations in the Arab coalition the ten kings of Revelation 17:12-13? Are the 10 nations including the USA and Turkey the ten nations of Revelation 17:12-13? Who is? Was the pushing of the Obama Administration to do this predicted by in 2009 in a writing by Dr. Thiel? What does the Bible show?
Iraq, the King of the South, Armageddon, and Prophecy What will happen to Iraq? Is it the prophesied Mystery Babylon? What is Armageddon and how does that have to do with Iraq? Here is a related video Iraq, Armageddon, & Prophecy.
How Will Middle East Peace be Brought About? Can humans bring peace to the Middle East? Here is a link to a related video: Middle East Peace? When?
The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27 This prophecy could give up to 3 1/2 years advance notice of the coming Great Tribulation. Will most ignore or misunderstand its fulfillment? Here is a link to a related sermon video Daniel 9:27 and the Start of the Great Tribulation.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
The ‘Lost Tribe’ of Reuben: France in Prophecy? What is the origin of this in France? What is prophesied to happen to them? A two-part sermon related to history and prophecy is available online: The ‘Lost Tribe’ of Reuben and France and Prophecy.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2015, 2016, or 2017? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2014 o 2015? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon video: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was the Emphasis of Jesus and the Early Church Did you know that? Do you even know what the gospel of the kingdom is all about? You can also see a YouTube video sermon The Gospel of the Kingdom.

COGwriter

Could the USA, UK, and Canada actually be hit by nuclear weapons from Europe?

Decades ago, the late Herbert W. Armstrong claimed that the Great Tribulation would begin with a nuclear attack against the UK and/or USA and then Canada. Notice:

That will be a time when the UNITED Europe shall appear–the revival of the medieval “Holy Roman Empire.” We shall then be warned, and readied to be taken to a place of refuge and safety from the Great Tribulation. Forty-five days later “the beasts armies” will surround Jerusalem. Thirty days later the Great Tribulation will probably start with a nuclear attack on London and Britain–and possibly the same day or immediately after, on the United States and Canadian cities. The GREAT TRIBULATION, we shall fully then realize, is the time of “Jacob’s Trouble,” spoken of in Jeremiah 30:7. And Jacob’s name was named on Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:16). At that time a third of the people in our nations will die, or shall have died, by famine and disease epidemics; another third will dies of the war–our cities being destroyed (Ezek. 6:6), and the remaining third will be carried to the land of our enemies as slaves (Ezek. 5:12). Armstrong HW. The Time We Are In, Now. Pastor General’s Report-Vol 1, No. 15, November 20, 1979, Page 2).

While we are starting to see a united Europe, does Europe really have a lot of nuclear weapons that it could use to do this or something similar?

Yes.

When my wife and I first visited the Netherlands in 1983, we learned that some there were upset that American nuclear weapons were expected to end up being stored there. And this nuclear weapons storage did happen.

Notice something reported by Time:

Is Italy capable of delivering a thermonuclear strike? Could the Belgians and the Dutch drop hydrogen bombs on enemy targets? And what about Germany — a country where fear of atomkraft is so great that the last government opposed all civilian nuclear power? Germany’s air force couldn’t possibly be training to deliver bombs 13 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, could it?

It is Europe’s dirty secret that the list of nuclear-capable countries extends beyond those that have built their own weapons — Britain, France and Russia. The truth is that Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands store nuclear bombs on their air-force bases and have planes capable of delivering them. There are an estimated 200 B-61 thermonuclear-gravity bombs scattered across these four countries. Under a NATO agreement struck during the Cold War, the bombs, which are owned by the U.S., can be transferred to the control of a host nation’s air force in time of conflict. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dutch, Belgian, Italian and German pilots remain ready to engage in nuclear war. (Harrall E. What to Do About Europe’s Secret Nukes . Time, January 4, 2010. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943799,00.html

viewed 05/09/14)

The amount of nuclear weapons seems to be higher than the Time article indicated:

The US has supplied some 480 B61 thermonuclear bombs to five so-called “non-nuclear states”, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Casually disregarded by the Vienna based UN Nuclear Watchdog (IAEA), the US has actively contributed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Western Europe…

Among the five “undeclared nuclear states”, “Germany remains the most heavily nuclearized country with three nuclear bases (two of which are fully operational) and may store as many as 150 [B61 bunker buster ] bombs” (Ibid). In accordance with “NATO strike plans” (mentioned above) these tactical nuclear weapons are also targeted at the Middle East.

While Germany is not categorized officially as a nuclear power, it produces nuclear warheads for the French Navy. It stockpiles nuclear warheads (made in America) and it has the capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons. Moreover, The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company – EADS , a Franco-German-Spanish joint venture, controlled by Deutsche Aerospace and the powerful Daimler Group is Europe’s second largest military producer, supplying .France’s M51 nuclear missile.

Germany imports and deploys nuclear weapons from the US. It also produces nuclear warheads which are exported to France. Yet it is classified as a non-nuclear state. (Chassudovsky M. Belgium or Iran, Where’s The Nuclear Threat? Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States” Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy Nuclear Powers? Global Research, February 12, 2010, updated March 21, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/europe-s-five-undeclared-nuclear-weapons-states/17550 viewed 5/11/14)

Here is some information about France:

France

Most of its nuclear warheads are deployed on submarines equipped with M45 and M51 missiles. One boat is on patrol at all times. Some warheads are also deliverable by aircraft.

300 warheads http://www.icanw.org/the-facts/nuclear-arsenals/

The reality is that if Europe chooses to turn against the USA, it has the nuclear ability to do so pretty much any time. Europe is also, at least partially in reaction to Donald Trump and his Administration, increasing military spending.

Consider also the following:

Europe should build its own army and not rely on security guarantees from Washington, the European Commission president said following the election of Donald Trump. At the same time, Jean-Claude Juncker called for the preservation of the transatlantic partnership. …

“We need more security in Europe, and I do not mean just the anti-terror fight,” Juncker said.

“Talking about security we need a different way of organizing a European defense … the French National Assembly in 1954 prevented the European community of defense.”

“We need it now. The idea that the Americans will eternally see to … European security is not true. Independent of the outcome of the US election, the Americans will not see to Europe’s security forever. We have to do it ourselves. And this is why we need a new approach to the European community of defense, including a European army,” Juncker said. …

The EU ministers are expected to meet in Brussels … to discuss plans to strengthen the EU military cooperation and capabilities. https://www.rt.com/news/366177-european-army-security-juncker/

Europe also is looking at adding more nuclear weapons of its own:

June 13, 2017

Just days after Trump’s election, Roderich Kiesewetter, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said that if the United States no longer wanted to provide a nuclear shield, France and the United Kingdom should combine their nuclear arsenals into an EU deterrent, financed through a joint EU military budget. Then, in February, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, spoke out in favor of the idea of the eu as a “nuclear superpower,” as long as any EU deterrent matched Russian capabilities.

Some German commentators even suggested that those proposing a British-French deterrent under the auspices of the EU didn’t go far enough. Berthold Kohler, one of the publishers of the influential conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, argued that the British and French arsenals were too weak to take on Russia. He suggested that Germany consider “an indigenous nuclear deterrent which could ward off doubts about America’s guarantees.” Other German analysts, such as Thorsten Benner, head of the Global Public Policy Institute, in Berlin, and Maximilian Terhalle, a scholar of international relations, have come to the same conclusion. “Germany needs nuclear weapons,” Terhalle wrote in Foreign Policy in April. http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/06/13/keine-atombombe-bitte-why-germany-should-not-go-nuclear-pub-71234

Various ones in Europe are advocating more nuclear weapons for Europe.

Of course, some believe that despite WWI, WWII, and previous massive wars, that Europe would never start WWIII. Yet, this overlooks a biblical prophecy:

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? (Isaiah 10:5-11, KJV)

The USA is sometimes prophetically referred to as Samaria in biblical prophecy. So, even though Europe (referred to as Assyria above) does not seem to wish to do this (Isaiah 10:7), according to biblical prophecy it will come to pass.

While now is not the time (see also When Will the Great Tribulation Begin?), Europe has the access to nuclear weaponry, and other technology, to make this come to pass.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
World War III: Steps in Progress Are there surprising actions going on now that are leading to WWIII? Might a nuclear attack be expected? Does the Bible promise protection to all or only some Christians? How can you be part of those that will be protected? A related video would be Is World War III About to Begin? Can You Escape?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2026 or 20xx? There is also a video titled The 6000 Year Plan: Is the end of humanity’s reign almost up? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2017, 2018, or 2019? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Will the Great Tribulation Start in 2017?
Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? The Book of Revelation tells of a beast power that will rise up. Some think that this must be Russia or could be Islamic, while others say that this power is European. The Book of Daniel tells of the rise of an end time King of the North that some think must be referring to a Russian leader, while others say that this power is European. How can you be sure? This YouTube video has all the scriptural proofs that you should need to prove that this power must be a European one.
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy and a video sermonette available: Ukraine in Prophecy?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Serán divididas las naciones anglosajonas?
British are the Covenant People What do ‘British’ and ‘Britain’ mean in Hebrew? Are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons people of the covenant? Does the British royal family connect to the throne of David? What does the Bible teach? What does history show us? Is there any DNA evidence related to British-Israelism? When did Christianity make it to the British Isles? Could Jeremiah have made it to the British Isles? What type of Christians made it to the British Isles? Did the last King of England believe in British Israelism?
Canada in Prophecy: What Does Bible Prophecy, Catholic Prophecy, and other Predictions Suggest About the Future of Canada? There are prophecies that suggest involvement with Canada. And many are not positive about its future.
WTO/TTIP and the Babylonian Beast Will international trade agreements like WTO/TTIP/CETA lead to the fulfillment of end time prophecies concerning the Babylonian Beast power that the Book of Revelation warns against? What does the Bible teach? A related video would be WTO Trade Deal and the Rise of the European Beast Power.
Can those in the USA/UK see the Handwriting on the Wall? Is everything fine in the USA/UK or is it like the days of Noah? Can we learn from the handwriting that appeared on a wall thousands of years ago? Here is a link to a related YouTube video Can you see the ‘Handwriting on the Wall’?
The Snowden Leaks are Leading to the Destruction of the USA Can what happened with the leaks of what the NSA has done help the USA to be taken over? What does the Bible teach that seems to be related to this? Here is a related YouTube video titled Are the Snowden NSA leaks leading to the destruction of the USA?
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill?  Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill?  Could a Donald Trump presidency be apocalyptic?  A related video is titled: Donald: ‘Trump of God’ or Apocalyptic?
Trump Presidency Magic 8 Ball or Bible Prophecy? BBC reported that one might as well use a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’ to try to predict what will happen in the remaining time of Donald Trump’s presidency. What is a ‘Magic Eight-Ball’? Dr. Thiel not only explains that, but also briefly goes over 10 biblically-based warnings he wrote would happen if Donald Trump were elected that have already began to come to pass. He also goes over something he wrote back in 2008 that the Trump presidency is also helping lead to fulfillment. Should you trust Bible prophecy or not? Dr. Thiel says that Bible prophecy can be trusted, despite the view of skeptics and others that either overlook or despise the Bible. This is a video.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.