Church of God News

(Unsplash photo)

COGwriter

Is persecution for Christians over?

Well, obviously not.

Even claiming Christianity is causing problems around the world.

Fox News reported the following related to China:

China ramping up persecution of Christians as it demands ‘worship and allegiance’ of Xi Jinping: watchdog

February 24, 2023

The Chinese Communist Party escalated its persecution of Christians throughout 2022 as the country clamped down on churches and online religious content while demanding allegiance to Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a watchdog group.

A report released last week by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization ChinaAid warned that the Chinese government is using charges of “fraud” to financially suffocate the house church movement, which consists of Christian congregations that have not registered with China’s official Protestant church.

Authorities are using the traditional Christian practice of giving tithes and offerings to trump up charges against house churches under the “Measures for the Financial Management of Religious Activity Venues,” which were updated last June, according to the report. The report noted that multiple house church pastors and elders have been jailed and potentially face years in prison. …

The Chinese government is also cracking down on Christian websites and apps in an attempt to “remove Christianity from cyberspace,” according to ChinaAid. https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-ramping-up-persecution-christians-it-demands-worship-allegiance-xi-jinping-watchdog

And, of course, it is not just those who claim to be Christians that are being persecuted. Various other people in China and around the world are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

China will not end up as a nation that worships Xi Jingping. Notice what is prophesied:

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 13:3-8)

The prophesied beast is NOT xi Jingping.

There are Chinese prophecies dating from the Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907) that seems to support the concept that those in China will worship the Beast:

Beautiful people come from the West. (Pui-Hua R. Ancient Chinese Prophecies Till the End of the World. AuthorHouse, Bloomington (IN), 2008, p. 85)

All negative forces are subservient … China now has a saint. Even if he is not that great a hero (ibid, p. 89).

The beautiful people from the West look to be men from Europe. One could be the Beast and another his false prophet. They will impress peoples around the world and in places including China. The “saint” will likely be “the false prophet,” the final Antichrist (see also Some Doctrines of Antichrist). Since there may have been an actual Christian witness to China during the time these prophecies were penned (see China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: The Sabbath and Some of God’s Witness in China), it is possible that this witness was the basis of parts of the prophecies, even though distorted somewhat (true Christians would have warned about a false religious leader coming from the West accompanied by a military leader).

As far as 21st century persecution goes, in Western cultures, persecution is more subtle than in China and is more directed to those who espouse biblical ideas related to aspects of morality.

Big Tech and various governments have taken steps to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18) as the Apostle Paul warned. Many have plotted to make getting biblically-moral teachings harder and harder to find.

But the West, wrongly, acts like that is not persecution. But it is.

A while back, we put out the following sermon on our ContinuingCOG channel:

1;14:59

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 (cf. Revelation 12:14-16,17).

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).

The Book of Daniel shows a two-part persecution coming from a European leader (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 protected 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.

Murderous persecution is prophesied (cf. Daniel 11:33; Revelation 13:15).

Persecution is a fact of history. It has happened before and we should be prepared for the fact that much more of 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 persecuted by others who profess to be Christian).

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

As it turns out, our most recent sermon has to do with coming persecution of true Christians:

Artist depiction of the Apostle Paul writing his epistles

COGwriter

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

Replica of Ark of the Covenant
(photo from Pixabay)

COGwriter

In its newsletter today, the Temple Institute had the following:

“Make for Me a sanctuary!”

(Exodus 25:8)

Adar 3, 5783/February 24, 2023 …

Terumah. “Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take My offering.” (Exodus 25:2) … “And they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.” (ibid 25:8) … Moshe receives the instructions for making the Ark of the Covenant..

The above then linked a Facebook page with the following

The Temple Institute has faithfully recreated all of the sacred Temple vessels, according to the very same instructions that Moshe received directly from G-d, fit and ready for use in the rebuilt Holy Temple, with the exception of one, single vessel: The Ark of the Covenant!

The Ark of the Covenant that you see in the photos is a model of the true Ark. It is not the Ark itself. Why has the Temple Institute refrained from recreating the actual Ark of the Covenant?

According to Jewish tradition the original Ark was hidden away thousands of years ago, some time before the Babylonian invasion, by order of King Josiah. The hiding place had been prepared by King Solomon himself, who knew, by virtue of prophetic vision, that the Temple would ultimately be destroyed. It was hidden away in a subterranean chamber beneath the Holy Temple. Some sages believe it was hidden directly beneath the Holy of Holies, and other sages believe it was hidden away beneath the Women’s Court.

It is important to note that in the lists of Temple vessels taken by the Babylonians from the first Holy Temple, the Ark does not appear, suggesting that it was, indeed, hidden away to protect it and keep if for the future rebuilding of the Holy Temple. The Ark, however, was never recovered and did not appear in the second Holy Temple.

Over the millennia different legends and traditions have emerged claiming to know the real location of the Ark. The most famous of these legends site a church in Ethiopia the current resting place of the Ark, and, alternatively, in a cave near Mount Nevo, in contemporary Jordan.

The Temple Institute remains faithful to the Jewish tradition that the Ark of the Covenant is no farther away from the future Temple, than the Temple Mount, itself. May we soon merit to recover the Ark and place it in its rightful place – the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Holy Temple! https://www.facebook.com/templeinstitute/posts/10151796941424969

So, the Temple Institute believes that the Ark is somewhere under the area called the Temple Mount and seems to suspect it will be found for it to be able to construct a Jewish temple.

In its newsletter of Elul 5, 5781/August 13, 2021, the Temple Institute had the following photo and a link to the following:

(Photo in Temple Mount newsletter)

DOES THIS MARK THE SPOT OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT?

The square structure seen in the middle of the photo from the Temple Mount is a cap closing off an open passage which leads to a large underground chamber, which was excavated in Temple times. It was forty years today (Elul 4) that Rabbi Yehudah Getz, who for 27 years was the Rabbi of the Western Wall, attempted with the assistance of a number of his students and others, to break through an underground wall which sealed off the chamber in the hope of finding there the Ark of the Covenant. Ancient Jewish tradition maintains that the Ark was hidden away in a specially prepared subterranean chamber by King Josiah in order to keep it safe from the approaching Babylonian army.08/12/21 https://www.facebook.com/templeinstitute/photos/a.86889944968/10151591160214969

Previously, the Temple Institute asked if Vendyl Jones found it in April 1992 (see ‘DID VENDYL JONES DISCOVER THE TEMPLE KETORET INCENSE COMPOUND?’ What about ‘Indiana Jones’ and the Ark of the Covenant?).

Since Vendyl Jones’ death, some are still looking for it:

Archaeologists shed new light on Biblical site linked to the Ark of the Covenant

Archaeologists believe they have shed new light on Biblical site linked to the Ark of the Covenant in the heart of Israel.

Excavations in Israel are shedding new light on the history of a Biblical site linked to the Ark of the Covenant.

Specifically, archaeologists are focusing their attention on the ancient site of Kiriath-Jearim, which is mentioned in the Bible as one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant stood.

According to Israeli news site Haaretz, experts are convinced that the site of Kiriath-Jearim is a hill on the outskirts of Abu Ghosh, a village near Jerusalem. Excavations in 2017 offered a fascinating glimpse into the history of the hill, where the church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant now stands. …

The Ark of the Covenant continues to be a source of fascination. The Ark was eventually brought from Kiriath-Jearim to Jerusalem by King David but disappeared when the city was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587BC, prompting multiple theories about its fate. While some people believe that the Ark’s gold was melted down, there have also been claims that it was taken to cave on Mount Nebo, Jordan, or to Ethiopia. 12/20/18 https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/archaeology/archaeologists-shed-new-light-on-biblical-site-linked-to-the-ark-of-the-covenant/news-story/54d6e1199f6805869ef21ea9da968e32

There have been several places speculated as the final earthly resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.

As far Kiriath-Jearim/Kirjath-jearim goes, the Ark was there for a time, and then it went to Jerusalem.

Notice something from The Bible Story, Volume IV from the old Worldwide Church of God related to that:

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

With the Philistines again defeated through God’s help, David was for a time free to apply himself to matters other than war. For one thing, he wanted to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem from the hill town of Kirjath-jearim. There it had been left many years before, after the Philistines had fearfully sent it back following their miserable experiences with it. (I Samuel 6.)

Traveling with many Israelite leaders and musicians, and with a magnificent procession of thousands of soldiers to put down any possible trouble from the Philistines, David went to the home of a man named Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim, about eight miles west of Jerusalem. (II Samuel 6:1-2.) The ark had been in that home for several decades, where it was watched over by a priest named Eleazar, one of Abinadab’s sons. (I Samuel 7:1-2).

The ark was loaded on a cart that had been built especially for the purpose of transporting it, although that was not the means by which God meant it to be carried. (Exodus 25:10-16; Exodus 37:1-5.) Uzzah and Ahio, two of Abinadab’s sons, drove the ox team that pulled the cart. (II Samuel 6:3.) To give an air of celebration to the bringing of the ark to Jerusalem, David’s musicians walked before the cart and played their harps, tambourines, cymbals, drums and psalteries. David marched behind the cart, and behind him came the thousands who had accompanied him to obtain the ark.

As the colorful procession neared Jerusalem, one of the oxen stumbled in a rut. The cart was jerked so severely that it appeared that the ark might tumble over. Without giving a thought to what the result would be, Uzzah reached out to steady the ark with one hand. That was the last act of his life. (II Samuel 6:4-7.)

The ark was to be handled only by the poles that were extended through its rings, and touching it was strictly forbidden. (Numbers 4:15.) God made no exception with Uzzah, even though that man’s intentions may not have been consciously wrong. Uzzah should have known the consequences, for the Levites had copies of God’s Word. They were required to know what they were doing and to keep the Scriptures always before them. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20.)

When David saw that Uzzah was dead, he was very grieved. The happy temperament of the whole procession sank. Thinking that God may have been displeased because of the moving of the ark, David decided not to try to take it any farther. He directed that it should be left at the nearby home of an acquaintance named Obed-edom, who lived on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. (II Samuel 6:8-10.)

As the weeks went by, David became more concerned about the ark. He feared he might be responsible for bringing some kind of curse on Obed-edom by leaving the ark with him. Three months after Uzzah’s death, upon inquiring about Obed-edom, David was pleasantly relieved to learn that the man had recently come into a state of prosperity and that everything was going well for all his family. Some members of his family who had been ill were enjoying the best of health because they had been suddenly and miraculously healed. David could only conclude that God had blessed the people in Obed-edom’s home because of the presence of the ark there. (II Samuel 6:11.) This caused him to decide to go at once to bring it to Jerusalem.

The Right Way to Rejoice

Having planned and prepared more carefully this time, David and the high priest instructed Levites in how to handle the ark. (I Chronicles 15:2.) They carried it on foot as they should, holding the poles on their shoulders. Musicians and singers went ahead of the ark, and there was constant music and happy shouting. As before, a great throng followed. Occasionally the ark bearers would stop with their load and burnt offerings would be made nearby on temporary altars that had been built along the route into Jerusalem.

As the procession entered the city, David felt constrained to express his gay and thankful emotions by dancing. Tossing aside his royal tunic, he broke into a very strenuous series of surprisingly graceful leaps and gyrations to the accompaniment of the musicians. The crowd was pleased. (II Samuel 6:12-15.) Probably God was pleased, too, because the Bible says that we should praise the Creator by song, instrumental music and proper dancing. (Psalm 33:1-3).

Since the Ark of the Covenant was removed from Kirjath-jearim, it would seem that it would not have been taken back there for safe-keeping, but perhaps that was a possibility.

As far as a possible Ethiopian location goes, the main story that the Ethiopians have tended to believe, contradicts scripture.

Nevertheless, each year there are parades in Ethiopia were a replica of the Ark is carried (and some of these ‘replicas’ are only a few inches thick and tend to be covered up). Notice a photo from Pixabay of such an event:

Here is something I read from an account about the Ark and Ethiopia in 1710 (and yes, the English is hard to read as the source is difficult and some words clearly are spelled incorrectly as far as we in the 21st century are concerned as it has an “f” often where we would have an “s”):

Then the aforesaid Book proceeds to give an Account how the first begotten, at the Initi’gation of Azariah the Son of Sadoc the fable about Prieft, took an Oath to one another to carry away with them the Ark. Ark of the Covenant, which they call’d the Heavenly Sion and that going by Night to the Temple, Providence fo ordering it, they found the Gates open, and put the Ark upon a Cart, and being attended by abundance of People, with much Wealth, and great Acclamations, they travell’d to fwiftly, that Solomon, who went to recover the Ark, could not overtake them, and with the fame Expedition they crofs’d the ‘Red Sea as joyfully as the Children of Ifrael had done, with only this Difference, that the Ifraelites pafs’d it on Foot without being wet, and they flying in their Chariots ; fo that the Sea obey’d the “former, and the Air was fubfervient to the latter.

This Book farther tells us, that when Queen Maqueda underfood that her Son already made King was coming, and brought along with him all the firft begotten, as alfo the Ark of the Heavemly God of Sion, (he went out with great Solemnity to meet them, and plac’d the Ark in the Temp!e of the Laud of Maqueda, all the People of Ethiopia receiving the Knowledge of the true God (Balthazar Telles, John Stevens. The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia. J Knapton, 1710, University of Lausanne, p. 69).

The above would not seem biblically possible, but the Ethiopians have long believed that the Ark is in their country and that a son of Solomon, who is not mentioned in the Bible, brought it there.

However, the Bible shows that well after Solomon’s sons would have died, that the Ark was still in Jerusalem:

35:1 Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD. 3 Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD: “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel (2 Chronicles 35:1-3).

Josiah was the sixteenth king of Judah and reportedly reigned from c. 640–609 BCE. Thus, if the Ark of the Covenant possibly made it to Ethiopia it was not until well AFTER the Ethiopians normally claim it first came there. Although some claim that the claimed son of Solomon replaced the real ark with a fake and took the real ark, that contradicts the above which refers to the ark as “the holy ark”–a fake ark would not be described as holy.

And if it was, maybe it first was in Egypt and moved by Jewish leaders, like Robert Cornuke seems to believe. That may be at least biblically plausible. But, I and others are not convinced.

Some have claimed that the Ark of the Covenant is in Ireland. In May of 2022, my wife Joyce and I visited two locations some have thought it may be at. It did not seem to be for different reasons:

1. The spot on the Hill of Tara had been sufficiently excavated that one who presume that it would have been found if it were there.
2. The other spot we visited, known as Cairn T, had so many pagan symbols it seemed very unlikely it would have been there.

PCG points to the location on the hill of Tara. Here is something it published back in 2013:

The ark of the covenant … a fascinating verse in the Bible says that in this modern era, many people will be talking about it. The implication is that very soon, the ark of the covenant is going to be found!

That verse is found in Jeremiah, a book of prophecy that was written for this end time (Jeremiah 30:1-9). So this prophecy about the ark is for us today.

If the ark were found, it would electrify many people around the world!

People don’t know where the ark is, but I believe that the Bible—and a certain nation’s history—tell us in which country it is located today. …

Where Is the Ark?

Irish annals show that when Jeremiah migrated to Ireland, he brought with him more than just the princess of Judah who carried on David’s throne. “Besides the royal family, Jeremiah brought with them some remarkable things,” Mr. Armstrong continued, “including a harp, an ark, and a wonderful stone called ‘lia-fail,’ or ‘stone of destiny’” (op. cit., emphasis mine). …

F. R. A. Glover, who ascertained that the British monarchy was aware of its linkage to King David, wrote extensively about these objects having made their way to Ireland with Jeremiah. His book England the Remnant of Judah and the Israel of Ephraim records this history.

Glover stated that the grave of Queen Tea-Tephi lies in the Hill of Tara, the origin of Irish history. In his research, he found that she had been buried with the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, along with the ark of the covenant. (Flurry G. Finding the Ark of the covenant. The Philadelphia Trumpet, December 2013)

Of course the Ark still has not been found. Here is something from PCG’s Gerald Flurry in 2023:

British historians have written that Ireland’s famous Hill of Tara is where the ark of the covenant was placed, and that it is still there, buried with Tea-Tephi. …

Jeremiah arriving with the ark of God on an island populated by Israelites made quite an impression on them. They were from the tribe of Dan, and God had somehow prepared them somewhat for the coming of Jeremiah, Tea-Tephi and her husband, who became king. These people knew from their Hebrew Bibles that God spoke to Israel from that ark. (Flurry G. Jeremiah Builds a Kingdom. The Philadelphia Trumpet, March 2023)

However, while an Ireland location is not necessarily impossible, if the Ark of the Covenant exists on the earth, a location in the land of Israel seems to make the most sense.

One concern that I have had is that if the Ark of the Covenant is found, this could possibly get more of the Jews to support the ecumenical end-time religion that will call itself ‘Catholic.’ This would be consistent with biblical (Revelation 13:4,8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) and Greco-Roman Catholic prophecies (see further below).

The first direct reference to the ark of the covenant in the Bible is in the Book of Exodus:

10 “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. (Exodus 25:10-16)

The Bible is clear that the Ark of the Covenant is or will be in heaven:

19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19)

It has been suggested that the physical ark of the covenant that the children of Israel had was patterned on one in heaven, thus it could still be on earth.

Notice also the following Islamic view of the Ark:

The Book of Revelation says the Ark is in the temple of God in heaven (Rev. 11:19). Muslim scholars say it will be found near the end of times by the Mahdi – a messianic figure in Islam. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102119

It is interesting, however, that many of the Muslims believe that their Mahdi will rise up after the finding of the Ark (the Mahdi of Islamic prophecy seems to be the same one that the Bible indicates will be the final King of the South). Events seem to be happening in the Arab nations that align with the rising up of such a leader. Perhaps, if the Ark is publicly shown, he could point to it as proof that his timing for rising up was prophesied. We will see.

I perhaps should add that certain Roman Catholic prophecies indicate that the two witnesses (which they often consider will be Enoch and Elijah) will rise up after the Ark is found:

Bl. Dionysus of Luetzenberg…prophecies:

“After the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, Enoch and Elias will restore the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; Because of the fact that the Ark of the Covenant will be in the possession of the two holy prophets and not in Antichrist’s hands, the Jews will recognize that Jesus is the true Messias…”

( Luetzenberg, Antichristus Chapter 29 as cited in Birch D.A. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph. Queenship Publishing, Goleta (CA), 1996, p. 509)

Now the Bible is clear that the Ark of the Covenant will be in heaven:

Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19)

And it may only be there now.

But since both Islamic and Roman Catholic prophecies suggest that it will be found, it is possible that some of them will point to the Ark in Ethiopia (some believe Ethiopia has the original Ark, while others believe that it has an early copy) or one in Jerusalem (or elsewhere) as proof that their prophecies are to be fulfilled. Or perhaps to a different location in the future, like Ireland or in Israel. Or Roman Catholics may claim that if the Ark of the Covenant has not been found, that some will claim that this is additional proof that the real two witnesses are not God’s two witnesses. Notice that the Roman Catholics want to place their practices on it (by Holy Sacrament, they seem to mean their Eucharistic practices; here is an article about their origins: Marcus, the Marcosians, & Mithraism: Developers of the Eucharist?), these are the same Roman Catholics that also keep trying to gain control of the Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill.

Others say that Zion was really on the eastern side side of Jerusalem, and thus, that may be where the Ark could be or end up.

Back in October 2013, while attempting to take some photos and to video some of the remains of the Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill, I was approached by a Jewish rabbi named Avraham Goldstein of the Diaspora Yeshiva. He asked why I was there, so I explained it. He then asked me if the Continuing Church of God would like to be involved in an archaeological project related to that general area. He mentioned doing excavations related to what some believe is David’s tomb, located below. Many consider that only a legend and not the real location–though the actual location of David’s tomb has not been verified in many centuries. However a Jewish rabbi who claimed to visit it in 1163 A.D. stated it was below this particular Mt. Zion.

Avraham Goldstein also believes that the ark of the covenant may be directly below or near it via tunnels. He offered to take me below in the tunnels on my next visit to Jerusalem. I told him that I was interested, but I have not been to Israel since. Yet, I expect to go again within the next several years.

The following is an interview from a narrator named Joseph (J below) and the Jewish rabbi Gerald Goldstein of the Mount Zion Foundation (RG below).

RG: We are standing on the roof of King David’s Tomb. Look around you at the view. You can understand why David wanted to take out this fortress before attacking Jerusalem itself…Samuel 2…Scripture is also very clear about where Kind David brought the Holy Ark of the Covenant. It says here in chapter 6 that he brought the Ark of the Covenant up to the City of David, that is the fortress of Zion…here to this very place… MOUNT ZION, dancing all in a very ecstatic and wonderful way…

J: So this place really is Mt Zion!

RG: Well there is a real established tradition, first recorded in writing by a student of the Ramban over 800 years ago, which says exactly this. Prior to the building of the Temple, Mt Zion… this very Mt Zion where we are standing…is where the Ark of the Covenant and the Divine presence resided. (Glick N. The Authenticity of Mt Zion and King David’s Tomb. 2010 יום שני, 2 באוגוסט. http://rabbinathanglick.blogspot.com/2010/08/authenticity-of-mt-zion-and-king-davids.html viewed 11/17/13)

If the ark of the covenant is now below the Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill, known as Mt. Zion, that would have ramifications for the world as well as the Continuing Church of God (see Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill). It possibly could be related to a dream by a lady named Fesilafai Fiso Leaana of New Zealand. She had a dream after going to bed on December 8, 2012 that included a comment about the Ark which will be cited later in this post (see also  Temple Institute claims about the ‘Foundation Stone’ not truly scriptural and differ from Continuing Church of God beliefs and Dreams, the Bible, and the Continuing Church of God).

Now, I should add that I have read other materials that say this Mt. Zion location cannot be, but again no one seems to really know for sure.

The Bible shows at one time the ark was in Mt. Zion:

15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. 17 So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 19 Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. (2 Samuel 6:15-19)

But it also shows that the ark moved from Mt. Zion:

1 Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. 2 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 So all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 Then they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. 5 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. 6 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8 The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. 9 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. 12 Then Solomon spoke: “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. 13 I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever.” (1 Kings 8:1-13)

So, the ark was moved and did not stay there forever, as King Josiah had to have it moved it back (2 Chronicles 35:1-3). Also, since the temple that Solomon built was destroyed, the ark did not stay in it forever.

Furthermore, notice:

8 Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. 9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,And let Your saints shout for joy. 10 For Your servant David’s sake, Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed. 11 The Lord has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. 12 If your sons will keep My covenant And My testimony which I shall teach them, Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.” 13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: 14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. 15 I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 17 There I will make the horn of David grow;I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. 18 His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.” (Psalm 132:8-18)

While Solomon wanted it to be in the temple he built to house the ark forever, God had David write Zion was the chosen location. If the ark of the covenant is found and now is below the Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill, known as Mt. Zion or perhaps another area called Zion, that would have ramifications for the world as well as the Continuing Church of God.

Fesilafai Fiso Leaana of New Zealand had a dream after going to bed on December 8, 2012. Here is a report that Fesilafai Fiso Leaana wrote about her dream:

A few months before my dream, my husband and I noticed a contradiction in practice, regarding the sabbath commandment in LCG, from there we started to pray continuously for God to lead us to where the truth is. It seems God has answered our prayers through the dream.

The dream began with myself and approximately 70 New Zealand Living Church of God brethren, then suddenly LCG vanished (I was wondering where is LCG?) and I was left standing with approximately 10 people excluding myself, on a very high building. We were standing on the very top of the building, where I couldn’t see the bottom, there were no other buildings, just this building. I could not see the bottom of the building but just clouds below the building and clouds surrounding the building which led to a beautiful white mountain – a mountain that had no ends on either side. The building was pretty close to the mountain, I could see the top of the mountain. The mountain was all white and so beautiful. I remember that I began to be filled with joy and peace. But also wondering how we got up on this building and confused why there were no other buildings but the clouds seemed like it was hiding the building and I felt protected or it felt like a safe place. I looked around there were still only about ten people there, the only person I could clearly recognize was Shirley constantly working, the approximate ten others were just sitting and standing around. So I walked around the building looking for the large crowd from LCG, but all I kept returning to was that Shirley was working and doing different types of work alone while the others were still sitting and standing around the building with me. I wondered why she was working a lot. I could not find LCG.

Then suddenly a message came to my mind: “There is a secret in the mountain”. And I was so happy to know that, I was still feeling elated and could still see the beautiful white mountain and wondered about the secret. Then I asked: “What is the secret?” Then the message said, nobody knows the secret in the mountain but only you have received this message that there is a secret in the mountain. Then I asked ‘what is the secret in the mountain?’ I received a message to my mind that told me that “the secret in the mountain is the Ark of the Covenant”. Then the dream abruptly ended because I woke up. And immediately, I woke up my husband and recounted the dream to him, and I told my husband that it reminded me of when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on the mountain and that the mountain was also covered with clouds.

Within several weeks of the dream, ten people in New Zealand, including Shirley Gestro (the Shirley above) began to attend the newly formed Continuing Church of God.

Biblically, mountains can symbolize government (Psalm 30:7; Isaiah 11:9; Daniel 2:35; Zechariah 4:7) and white purity or cleanness (Isaiah 1:18; Revelation 7:14, 19:14). Clouds around a mountain (or at least the top of it) could show a separation—maybe a separation that keeps many from seeing all of the truth (cf. Job 22:14; Lamentations 3:44) or recognizing top leadership?

The dream seemed to be a signal to confirm that the Philadelphia mantle was not with the Living Church of God, but instead was associated with someone that that had something to do with the ark of the covenant (see also Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God).

In the Spring and Fall of 2013 (which is before I learned of Fesilafai Fiso Leaana’s dream), a couple of different people emailed me and asked if the Continuing Church of God might possibly be involved in actually finding the Ark–and those two people knew nothing about the dream that Fesilafai Fiso Leaana of New Zealand had related to the Continuing Church of God when they originally asked me about it as it was not reported publicly until November 2013. We may have future involvement on this ark matter.

Anyway, it remains my view that there is a chance that we will see the Ark or we will see a strong claim that someone has located the Ark within the next decade or so.

Related to the Ark of the Covenant, the Continuing Church of God put out this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:19:18

Exodus 25: Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat

Exodus 25 introduces instructions for the Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat. What do they represent? What about the tabernacle and showbread? Might the Ark of the Covenant exist? Could the Ark be in Ethiopia? What about Hitler’s SS troops? Could Jeremiah the prophet have brought it to Ireland? Was there a fulfilled dream related to the Ark of the Covenant? Do Jews, Catholics, or Musims have traditions about finding the Ark? What might Josiah have done with it? Could the Ark of the Covenant be in Israel? Might the Ark be below Mount Moriah or Mount Zion? What about Ron Wyatt’s claims from 1982? What are some spiritual ramifications of the Ark of the Covenant? Is mercy only for Christians? Will mercy be offered to others? This is the ninth sermon in a multi-part series intended to cover the entire Book of Exodus. In this part, Dr. Thiel covers every verse in Exodus 25 and addresses many questions and concerns.

Here is a link to the sermon: Exodus 25: Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.

Whether or not the Temple Institute photo is near the location of the the Ark, developments related to the Ark of the Covenant may well have prophetic ramifications.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill Could this building, often referred to as the Cenacle, which is located on a Mount Zion, possibly have been the oldest actual Christian church building? There is also a video titled Might the oldest church building have prophetic ramifications?
Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required? Although people like Timothy LaHaye teach a third Jewish temple is required, who is ‘the temple of God” in the New Testament? Does the Bible require a rebuilt Jewish Temple? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Por qué no se requiere un templo judío en Jerusalén? Here is a link to a sermon titled The Temple, Prophecy, and the Work.
Nascent Sanhedrin and Prophecy The reconstituted Sanhedrin wants the reimplementation of animal sacrifices. A related video is titled Sanhedrin pushing animal sacrifices. And a newer one is: Sanhedrin makes burnt offering to dedicate altar!
The Red Heifer, Jewish Beliefs, and the End of the World The Temple Institute is watching a ‘red heifer.’ Why might this be important in the sequence of end time events? Here is a related link in the Spanish language Novilla roja descubierta en EE.UU. e Instituto del Templo está interesado en ella. Here are links to three related videos in English: Red Heifers and the Fate of the World and The Red Heifer and the End of the World and 5 Red Heifers and Year 5783?
Location of the Prophesied Physical Temple Leroy Neff gives his rationalse for the location of the coming temple.
Solomon’s Temple This is a a 5 minute animated film that shows one artist’s understanding of the details about Solomon’s temple.
Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God How has God used dreams in the past? Does God still use dreams? Did He use any involving those in the Continuing Church of God? Here is a link in Spanish: Sueños, la Biblia, la Iglesia de Dios de la Radio, y la Continuación de la Iglesia de Dios. A related sermon is also available: Dreams, COGs, and One Man Rule.
Gr3eco-Roman Catholic Prophecies: Do They Mirror, Highlight, or Contradict Biblical Prophecies? People of all faiths may be surprised to see what various Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophets have been predicting as many of their predictions will be looked to in the 21st century.
Who Are The Two Witnesses? What is their job? What does the Bible reveal? What has the Church of God taught on this subject? Might even Roman Catholic prophecies give some clues here? A related sermon is available: Prophecy and the Two Witnesses. Here is a related link in Spanish/español:¿Quiénes son los dos testigos? Here is a sermon in Spanish: ¿Quienes son los Dos Testigos?

COGwriter

A reader sent me a link to the following:

It’s the right time for the EU to step in and bring peace to the Middle East

February 23, 2023

Let’s face it: for all efforts and money spent, the European Union has been a junior partner in the now nearly non-existent Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Two circumstances might force the EU to go beyond playing solely a supportive role: first, the ultranationalist makeup — and the policy that goes with it — of the new Netanyahu government.

Secondly, there is the limited capacity of the United States to offset a descent into chaos of Israeli-Palestinian relations — a prospect that New York Times columnist and Middle East veteran Thomas Friedman has dubbed “the One Big Mess Solution.” …

Can the EU pick up the slack? …

Only Israelis and Palestinians can bring peace between themselves. But they can do it with some help. …

In the Middle East, as elsewhere, Washington needs to rely more on European support. …

The time has come for the EU to give it a try by partnering not only with the US but also with regional players. https://www.euronews.com/2023/02/23/its-the-right-time-for-the-eu-to-step-in-and-bring-peace-to-the-middle-east

A deal in the Middle East must involve the Palestinians and Israel, amongst other nations.

The Palestinians do not trust the USA–and they do prefer the Europeans.

Will Europe really get involved one day?

Yes! A temporary deal will be made in the Middle East:

26 And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate (Daniel 9:26-27).

The above is referring to a deal or covenant that has a time element attached to it. It was the Roman Empire that destroyed the city and stopped the sacrifices in 70 A.D. This, therefore, is a European leader (watch also the video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?)–but apparently not the top one when he confirms as he is called a “prince” above, but is later called the King of the North when he stops the sacrifices.

As far as how long the deal will be, notice the following from the 2nd and 3rd centuries–the first is from Irenaeus of Lyon, who claimed to have met Polycarp of Smyrna, who had been appointed by the Apostle John himself:

And the angel Gabriel, when explaining his vision, states with regard to this person: “And towards the end of their kingdom a king of a most fierce countenance shall arise, one understanding [dark] questions, and exceedingly powerful, full of wonders; and he shall corrupt, direct, influence (faciet), and put strong men down, the holy people likewise; and his yoke shall be directed as a wreath [round their neck]; deceit shall be in his hand, and he shall be lifted up in his heart: he shall also ruin many by deceit, and lead many to perdition, bruising them in his hand like eggs.” Daniel 8:23, etc. And then he points out the time that his tyranny shall last, during which the saints shall be put to flight, they who offer a pure sacrifice unto God: “And in the midst of the week,” he says, “the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation [shall be brought] into the temple: even unto the consummation of the time shall the desolation be complete.” Now three years and six months constitute the half-week. (Irenaeus. Against Heresies, Book V, Chapter 25, verse 4)

With respect, then, to the particular judgment in the torments that are to come upon it in the last times by the hand of the tyrants who shall arise then, the clearest statement has been given in these passages. But it becomes us further diligently to examine and set forth the period at which these things shall come to pass, and how the little horn shall spring up in their midst. For when the legs of iron have issued in the feet and toes, according to the similitude of the image and that of the terrible beast, as has been shown in the above, (then shall be the time) when the iron and the clay shall be mingled together. Now Daniel will set forth this subject to us. For he says, “And one week will make a covenant with many, and it shall be that in the midst (half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation shall cease.” By one week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to be at the end of the whole world of which week the two prophets… will take up the half. For they will preach 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations…(Hippolytus. On Christ and Antichrist, Chapter 43.

COGwriter

The world’s longest-term study related to happiness suggests that caring for others and staying married is better than the emptiness associated with self-focus careerism:

‘The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness’

February 5, 2023

“We may be capable of extraordinary feats of intellect and creativity … but when it comes to making decisions about our lives, we humans are often bad at knowing what is good for us.” This observation from The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness may seem obvious to most readers—too many short-term indulgences often lead to long-term misery—but there are less obvious reasons that Americans today are confused about how to achieve a certain level of personal satisfaction and well-being. There are cultural and political messages pushing them into what are often less fulfilling and more destructive directions. …

There is much conventional wisdom in The Good Life. The authors, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, describe how often people think that more money will make them happier, but in fact there is little evidence that this is true, at least past a certain point. “We are resilient, industrious, creative creatures who can survive incredible hardship, laugh our way through tough times, and come out stronger on the other end.” But “we also get used to better circumstances. Our emotional well-being cannot improve to infinity. We settle in. We tend to take things for granted.” …

So while it is easy for people to acknowledge that money can’t buy happiness, it is harder for people to believe that great careers can’t guarantee personal fulfillment. …

It is a paradox of modern liberal attitudes that on the one hand careers are supposed to provide fulfillment—all the fulfillment that maybe families and friends used to provide—but at the same time, menial jobs or jobs that are done by less educated people are considered a burden and to be avoided at all costs. Public policy seems shaped by this idea—debt forgiveness for college graduates so they can go into low-paying white-collar jobs while eliminating work requirements for the lower classes. The idea that having a set of responsibilities for supporting other people—whether it is coal-mining or caring for one’s children—and giving life meaning and purpose, does not seem to occur to these thinkers. Instead, careers are simply about freedom, autonomy, and self-fulfillment. …

Making money and landing your dream job are not predictors of happiness, the authors write, but the relationships you have are. …

There seems to be little curiosity about the difference in outcomes for people who grew up in homes with single parents compared with those who had fathers in the home. They don’t seem to make much distinction between marriage and cohabitation either in terms of the long-term happiness and security of the spouses. “The essential point is that close, nurturing units of people that have a formative effect on our lives can come from a variety of places, include a variety of people, and be called any number of things. What matters is not just who we consider to be family, but what our closest relationships mean to us over the course of our lives.”

This is no doubt true on some level, but the research on the impact of marriage, not just “nurturing units of people,” is quite clear, and it would be surprising if the study did not show some correlation between two-parent households and children’s happiness and success or the difference in happiness between people in cohabiting relationships versus marriages. https://freebeacon.com/culture/study-shows-youre-nobody-until-somebody-loves-you/

Yes, many of societies’ “experts” have it all wrong about life and happiness. And while not everything that the authors of The Good Life have concluded is accurate, at least they have called out some of the myths of modern Western societies.

And in the past, some other researchers have seen at least parts of the truth. For example, The Atlantic posted about being happy and who is happier:

February 17, 2022

Imagine yourself 10 years from now. Will you be happier or less happy than you are today? I ask my graduate students—average age, late 20s—this question every year. The majority think they will be happier. But when I ask about their prediction for 50 years from now, it seems a lot less rosy. Being in their late 70s doesn’t sound so great to most of them.

They are shocked when I show them the data on what happens to most people: Happiness tends to decline throughout young adulthood and middle age, bottoming out at about age 50. After that, it heads back up again into one’s mid-60s. Then something strange happens. Older people split into two groups as they get old: those getting much happier, and those getting much unhappier.

Right around this same time of life, many people realize the importance of having made good financial decisions in their earlier decades. Those who planned ahead and saved up are more likely to be able to support themselves in comfort; many of those who didn’t, can’t. … Each of us has something like a “Happiness 401(k)” that we invest in when we are young, and that we get to enjoy when we are old.  …

Using data from the Harvard study, two researchers showed in 2001 that we can control seven big investment decisions pretty directly: smoking, drinking, body weight, exercise, emotional resilience, education, and relationships. Here’s what you can do about each of them today to make sure your accounts are as full as possible when you reach your later years:

1. Don’t smoke—or if you already smoke, quit now. …
2. Watch your drinking. …
3. Maintain a healthy body weight. Eat a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and moderate serving sizes, …
4. Prioritize movement in your life by scheduling time for it every day and sticking to it. …
5. Practice your coping mechanisms now. The earlier you can find healthy ways to deal with life’s inevitable distresses, the more prepared you’ll be if ill luck strikes in your 80s. This means working consciously—perhaps with assistance from spiritual practices …
6. Keep learning. …
7. Do the work to cultivate stable, long-term relationships now. For most people, this includes a steady marriage, …

The best way to maximize your chances of happiness in your 70s is to pursue all seven of these goals with fervor, sort of like balancing your 401(k). https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/02/happiness-age-investment/622818/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

As far as each of those seven goes, we have information related to each:

1. Smoking: Here is a link to an article: Should Christians Smoke (or Chew) Tobacco or Marijuana?  and here is a link to our video: Should You Smoke? Would You Like Help to Quit?
2. Drinking: Here is a link to an article: Alcohol: Blessing or Curse? and here is a link to our video: Binge Drinking and the Bible.
3. Weight and healthy eating: Here is a link to an article: Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible and here are links to two videos: Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy and  COVID-19: Eat what is good!
4. Movement/Exercise. Here is a link to an article: Should Christians Exercise? and here is a link to our video: The Plain Truth About Exercise.
5. Coping: Here is a link to two free online booklets: Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? and The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? and here is a link to an article: What Should I Pray About? and here are links to one of our videos: ‘How to Change Your Life in 5 Seconds’.
6. Learning: See 2 Peter 3:18; also, here is a link to our video: Preparing to Instruct Many.
7. Relationships and Marriage: Here is a link to a free online booklet: Dating: A Key to Success in Marriage, a practical dating guide for Christians and here is a link to an article: Making Your Marriage Work and here is a link to two videos: You Can Make YOUR Marriage Work and Honor Your Parents and Rule Honorably.

Related to happiness, last year Inc. posted the following:

Want to Be Happier? …

The key is to know what you already want: to know your goals, your dreams, your ambitions, to know what provides you with the greatest sense of fulfillment and happiness.

Do that, and you won’t be as tempted to compare what you have with what other people have. Do that, and you won’t be as tempted to compare what you do with what other people do.

If you want to be happy, embrace the fact that only two comparisons matter.

First, compare who you are today with who you were in the past. That will remind you … just how far you’ve come.

Then compare who you are today with who you hope to someday become.

Because that will keep you focused on having, and doing, what truly matters to you. 08/04/21 https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/want-to-be-happier-science-says-avoid-effect-of-relative-deprivation-on-fulfillment-satisfaction.html

The Apostle John wrote:

2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)

Misery is not what God wants to have.

The happiness that God has, that which He offers to us, was meant to be with us constantly. It was meant to become a permanent part of us — of our personality and character.

As far as happiness goes, the old Worldwide Church of God had an article about happiness by Charles F. Vinson in the January 1973 edition of old the Plain Truth magazine:

How MANY times have you thought, I’d be happy , if only . … “? The daydream usually continues with ” If only I had more money,” or, “if only I had married someone else,” or, “if only I could change jobs,” or, “if only I had better health.”

Always “if only.”

Is happiness the impossible dream? Why does it always seem to be somewhere around the corner, off in the vague future, but never really right now?

Certainly there are reasons enough for the world’s all-too-common victims of war, disease, hunger and poverty to be less than satisfied with living. But what makes most Americans, Britons, Japanese, Germans – peoples who, in the main, enjoy a higher degree of human comfort than most of the other peoples of the world – so often dissatisfied, unfulfilled, empty and discouraged? Why can’t these people be happy?

The answer is deceptively simple. No one has ever told them how to achieve happiness.

What’s Your Concept?

Most human beings have little difficulty conjuring up their own purple-hued vision of the ultimate in human existence – very often a pleasing combination of wealth, status and power, with freedom from frustration, both mentally and sexually. If this vaguely fits your concept of happiness, you really ought to consider whether or not this “vision of Valhalla ” is a truly worthwhile goal.

One way to find out is to examine the lives of men who have actually lived under such conditions – and to see where it got them. One of the best examples historically is King Solomon, a real-life figure widely noted throughout the ancient world for his fantastic wealth and wisdom.

Solomon had everything going for him. His father, King David, had at great effort and cost subdued the worst of the neighboring war-hungry tribes and had established a measure of peace in the Kingdom of Israel. After David’s death, Solomon stepped into a situation few men have ever had the opportunity to experience – limitless wealth at his personal disposal, a conditional promise of blessings from God and the gift of unparalleled wisdom, also given by God. Gossip undoubtedly circulated far and wide in that ancient world about Solomon’s fantastic kingdom.

Foreign royalty paid him state visits to see if what they heard was really true.

It was. What they found in the City of David only served to reinforce the Solomonic legend, even though the truth needed no embellishment. According to the Biblical record published in Second Chronicles , chapters six through nine, Solomon possessed enough wealth and power to luxuriate in a life-style making notorious penthouse-dwellers of today seem poverty-stricken by comparison.

A Catalog of Wealth

On a yearly basis, Solomon received 666 talents of gold, or about 960,000 ounces. That amounts to something like $33,600,000 in gold per year at the old rate of $35 per ounce {$1,248,000,000 per year presuming a gold value of $1300 per ounce which it has been in the 21st century}.

There are … individuals today whose yearly assets … exceed that figure on paper, but this was the real thing – solid gold. It was reputedly so common, in fact, that Solomon didn’t bother to buy certain items for himself. He had them made from his gold. His throne was made of imported ivory overlaid with gold. None of his drinking vessels were made of silver. It was simply too common, assertedly as common as ordinary rock (I Kings 10:27).

Solomon imported finery from all parts of the world. His navy reported to him each year, bringing him more gold, silver, ivory and rare animals. In a triumph of understatement, I Kings 10:23 says that Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. State visits involved extravagant exchanges of gifts. When the famous Queen of Sheba for instance, came to investigate the fabulous rumors she had heard about Solomon, she brought along 120 talents of gold, a “very great store” of spices and precious stones to boot. Nearby friendly King Hiram, who lived on the Mediterranean coast, used his ships to bring Solomon gold from Ophir, as well as large amounts of rare wood and precious stones.

However, money really wasn’t everything. The Bible says that Solomon loved “many strange women” (I Kings 11:1). That is another magnificent understatement. Solomon kept seven hundred bona-fide wives plus three hundred concubines. To impress these wives, he commanded a personal army of charioteers – 1,400 chariots, to be exact, and twelve thousand horsemen. He even built special cities for these men, and imported their horses from Egypt. To keep his wives happy, he also ordered the best of imported fabrics (I Kings 10:28- 29).

But Was He Happy?

In addition, Solomon, being king and all-powerful, could of course do anything he desired – which is precisely what he set about to do. Later on, he wrote a book about his exploits called Ecclesiastes.

In this book, Solomon relates how he experimented with nearly every- thing under the sun to see what might make him happy. Nonstop entertainment soon grew tiresome. “But I found that this, too, was futile. For it is silly to be laughing all the time; what good does it do?” (Eccl. 2:2, The Living Bible.) He mentions taking up drinking to see if happiness could be found in a bottle. Happiness wasn’t, but morning-after headaches probably were. He constructed monuments to himself in the form of immense and beautiful public works. They were impressive and undoubtedly provided a great ego-trip, but they seem to have made him no happier. He built elaborate houses for himself and constructed temples for the gods of his favorite pagan wives. He raised vineyards and conducted experiments in his botanical gardens on all kinds of rare trees and plants. He constructed waterworks to irrigate the nearby arid land. Most of this is described in Ecclesiastes, chapter two.

He stated matter of factly, “I became greater than any of the kings in Jerusalem before me, and with it all I remained clear-eyed, so that I could evaluate all these things.” This, admittedly, sounds like shades of Muhammad Ali, the boastful American heavyweight boxer, but it was the literal truth. He also confessed that “anything I wanted, I took, and did not restrain myself from any joy” (Eccl. 2:9-10, The Living Bible).

In short, Solomon had fame, money, and wisdom – every physical blessing there was to have. He tried everything there was to try – at least, all he could think of – and he had whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it. It was all paid for. He lacked absolutely nothing in the way of human comfort.

Unfortunately, Solomon was miserable. He admitted it himself . “So now I hate life because it is all so irrational; all is foolishness, chasing the wind” (Eccl. 2:17, The Living Bible).

Why on earth would a man who had everything, including an unrestricted and enormously varied sex life, be so fed up with living that he felt like committing suicide?

The truth is that Solomon knew what would have made him happy – but he ignored it. Had he paid more attention to it, he could have lived a life more like the happier, fulfilled and rewarding existence of another man who lived almost a thousand years later.

From Persecutor to Persecuted

This man seemed to have every right to be miserable. He was Jewish and a member of the sect of the Pharisees. He hated the new sect which was called “Christian” after a certain Jesus Christ who had been publicly executed, but who the Christians claimed was still alive. He considered them an annoying threat to the Jewish religious establishment in which he held a high position. He persecuted the Christians with a vigor that astounded the liberal Romans in charge of that part of the Empire.

This man was forced to undergo conversion to the very “sect” which he had been so avidly persecuting. His former compatriots probably considered him slightly insane to take such a flip-flop in his thinking. The man’s name, of course, was Paul. He later became an apostle and one of the chief figures in the development of the New Testament church.

Far from having the magnificent wealth which Solomon had enjoyed, Paul was forced by circumstance to fall back on his childhood training of tentmaking in order to support himself as he ministered to the Churches of God located around the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, he had to do much of his traveling on foot, or by ship. Devastating storms were common occurrences. Then, too, he was under constant danger from those intent upon persecuting the Church as he had once done himself. He didn’t always escape their wrath.

He catalogued his “misadventures” in the ministry in one of his published letters to the church located in the Greek city of Corinth:

“Five different times the Jews gave me their terrible thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I was in the open sea all night and the whole next day. I have traveled many weary miles and have been often in great danger from flooded rivers, and from robbers, and from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the hands of the Gentiles. I have faced grave dangers from mobs in the cities and from death in the deserts and in the stormy seas and from men who claim to be brothers in Christ but are not. I have lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights. Often I have been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food; often I have shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

“Then, besides all this, I have the to pay attention to his disastrous life constant worry of how the churches and to avoid the same mistake he are getting along” (The Living Bible, II Cor. 11:24-28).

That is quite a list of adventures, enough to make men of lesser fortitude to opt for a safe, comfortable office job. But external problems were not all Paul endured. He also had what he a “thorn in the flesh,” possibly a health problem, although he doesn’t refer to it specifically by name (II Cor. 12:7). He does imply, that his eyes gave him problems (Gal. 4:15).

In addition, he just wasn’t very impressive in person. He says little about this fact, but does mention that others had tried to denigrate him in the sight of his congregation by rather nastily alluding to the fact that he was powerful enough in his letters, but that his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible (II Cor. 10:10).

Yet Paul Was Happy

By now you can probably sense the obvious lesson about to hit you be- tween the eyes: Happiness doesn’t necessarily come from wealth, position, sexual freedom, or unlimited power and status. A man enduring the worst of living conditions, like Paul, can be happy in spite of the way things look or feel. ” . . . For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” said Paul in Philippians 4: 11. “I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of facing either plenty or poverty” (Philippians 4:12, Phillips translation).

What was his secret? What did Paul know that Solomon didn’t?

The answer is: NOTHING.

Solomon knew the same basic formula for happy living that Paul preached, but the fact that he ignored with- it literally ruined his life. As a bitter old man looking backward on years, Solomon advised younger men, made: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the, evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them … . Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: refers to as · for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl . 12:1,13).

“Fear God and keep his commandments.” That was the one thing though, which could have made Solomon happy – which would have made his fabulous wealth, not at all wrong in itself, a blessing rather than a frustration. And, obedience to the laws of God was the one ingredient in Paul’s life which enabled him to keep going – even to be happy – in spite of all obstacles in his path.

And these same principles, if you obey them, can make you happy–no matter what your situation in life if YOU choose not to ignore them.

But Are They Relevant Today?

“All right,” you say, “but we are all living in the twentieth century, not two thousand years ago in a Middle Eastern kingdom noted for its mystical adherents and richly embellished history. How would following an ancient code like the Ten Commandments help anyone living in the city ghetto, or playing the freeway game each day, or struggling with unpaid bills, striving to patch up marital spats, worrying over visits to the hospital, breathing the polluted air?” Isn’t telling everyone to do so more than just a little absurd, a gross over- simplification as a solution to complicated human problems?

Not really. The Ten Commandments are timeless and apply no matter which century you happen to have been born into. For instance, the seventh commandment says, in what sounds to many like foreboding tones, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” In other words, “Don’t cheat on your wife or husband. It’ll make you both unhappy.”

It goes without saying that all of mankind is not now obeying God – and probably won’t unless forced to. But think, for a moment, of the fantastic results which would occur if everyone on earth were to obey just that one commandment. No more broken homes. No more agonizing heartbreak which cannot be measured statistically. No more wretched childhoods spent first with one parent, then with the other, always with the tension and insecurity which accompanies such a childhood situation, and which very often produces deep problems in the adult years. If everyone were striving to obey JUST this ONE commandment, the very marriage covenant would not be entered into so blithely. Young couples would take marriage much more seriously if they realized they were marrying for life, and not simply until the next attractive body comes around. In short, obedience to that one commandment could save mankind from a whole host of premarital and marital problems, heartaches and tragedies.

But that is only one commandment out of ten, only one example of why Solomon’s advice to “fear God and keep his commandments” is an open invitation to a happier, fuller, more satisfying life – the kind of life God wants every human being to experience.

If you would like to have more information about the Ten Commandments, explaining how all of them are applicable to life in today’s world, check out our free online book, The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast.

We all want to enjoy life. Our Creator is concerned about how we do it.

Notice the following instruction from God to young men:

9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity. (Ecclesiastes 11:9-10)

Girls and boys and men and women should strive to live God’s way:

1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”: (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

Besides acknowledging that God exists, remembering Him also means being thankful to Him for your existence, for your parents, for His plan, and for the material things you enjoy.

Do you know who the Bible says is happy?

God’s people:

5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. (Psalm 146:5-7)

15 Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord! (Psalm 144:15)

Do you have the God of Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel in Genesis 32:28) for your help? Is the God of the Bible your Lord?

If you really do, you should be happy.

13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her. (Proverbs 3:13-18)

Yes, wisdom can bring happiness to all: males and females.

If people everywhere obeyed God’s laws, there would be no war, no unhappy families, no divorce, crime, violence or stealing. People would be honest and concerned for one another’s welfare and property.

Consider also that the Apostle Paul wrote, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12).

We are to delight in God’s ways:

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:3-5)

11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:11-14)

DELIGHT IN THE LORD and He will give you the proper desires of your heart.

The Continuing Church of God put together the following sermon related to happiness on its ContinuingCOG channel:

Here is a link to the video sermon: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.

Now, in this time of COVID-19, many have been fearful and concerned. Here is something from the Letter to the Brethren: March 19, 2020 of the Continuing Church of God:

The restrictions on movement and the discouragement of physical cash because of COVID-19 are paving the way for the acceptance of the 666 Beast and total government financial control. Now, however, as Jesus said, “do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet” (Mark 13:7). Jesus also said:

33 … In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33b)

32 Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

While you should take reasonable precautions, you do not need to fear. …

With all the reality and hype about COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus) going around, the following came to mind:

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23)

Brethren, trust God, for we are destined to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

At risk of repeat, remember that Jesus said “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

Despite COVID, Delta and other variants, corrupt governments, proponents of anti-biblical morality, yes, you can be happier.

Here is a link to a video sermon: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.

Consider:

6 … Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:6, NKJV)

17 “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17, KJV)!

Focus on God’s Kingdom and you being part of it. This will bring true happiness for those who really do it.

We also have a short, sermonette video on being happier:

8:55

Want to Be Happier?

Do you want to be happier? Almost everybody does. Inc. magazine posted something online recommending what to focus on to be happy. Although Inc. did not refer to spiritual matters, a couple of its points are applicable to Christians. In this video, Dr. Thiel goes over some key points from Inc. as well as words from Jesus on what our focus should be. He also quotes scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments related to being happy. Wisdom and growing are mentioned. He mentions the Kingdom of God as well as that biblical principles for happiness are applicable to men and women, boys and girls.

Here is a link to our video: Want to Be Happier?

Yes, you can be happier. Happier now and happier as you age.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Biblical Keys to Happiness This is an article for those interested in biblical teachings about being happy. A related sermon is available and is titled: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Ten Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear This is a vastly expanded version of a shorter article by the late Dr. Herman Hoeh on getting past fear. Here is a link to a related sermon: Ten Plus Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear.
Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen What is faith? Can faith be increased? Are you saved by faith? What about works? Do Christians need to keep the Ten Commandments? What is the ‘faith chapter’? How do the just live by faith? Is faith one of the weightier matters of the law? How does faith come? Marque aquí para ver el pdf folleto: Fe para aquellos que Dios ha llamado y escogido. In German: Glaube für die von Gott Berufenen und Auserwählten. In French: La Foi pour ceux que Dieu a Appelés et Choisis. Here is a link to a related sermon titled: Faith for the Called and Chosen.and here is a link to another sermon Faith and Courage. Here is a link to shorter version of the written article in Mandarin Chinese N{ÇQsNŽOáNðv„\e‡zà. Here are links to the sermons Christian Faith and Increasing Faith.
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 four related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

COGwriter

Iraq is now taking a step which helps push aside the US dollar as the world’s primary reserve and trading currency:

Iraq To Drop Dollar For Yuan In Trade With China

February 23, 2023

The Iraqi central bank announced Wednesday that, for the first time, it plans to allow trade from China to be settled directly in yuan instead of the US dollar to improve access to foreign currency.

“It is the first time imports would be financed from China in yuan, as Iraqi imports from China have been financed in (US) dollars only,” the government’s economic adviser, Mudhir Salih, told Reuters. …

Last year, the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York began enforcing stricter controls on international transactions by Iraqi commercial banks, forcing them to comply with specific SWIFT global transfer system criteria to access their foreign reserves.

The move was allegedly meant to “curtail money laundering and the illegal siphoning of dollars to Iran and other heavily sanctioned [West Asian] countries.”

However, the sudden rules change for Iraqi banks sent the economy reeling as 80 percent, or more of Iraq’s daily US dollar wire transfers could no longer be completed. https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/iraq-drop-dollar-yuan-trade-china

There is a cost to USA sanctions and its weaponization of the dollar.

Last month Iran and Russia made a deal to bypass the USA dollar and Saudi Arabia also indicated that it was open to selling oil for other than USA dollars (see Iran and Russia looking to bypass the ‘petrodollar’ with gold-backed crypto-currency; China, Saudi Arabia and the ‘petroyuan’).

The oil exporting nations, which includes Russia, are moving away from the USA dollar.

Why could that be important?

Essentially, the fact that although the US dollar is no longer backed by gold (like it was over 50 years ago), since most oil is priced in US dollars, that gives the US dollar a type of backing in a broadly needed commodity. This has insured, internationally, that the US dollar will have value. The USA dollar has sometimes been called a petrodollar.

Here is more about that:

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods gold standard in the early 1970s, the U.S. struck a deal with Saudi Arabia to standardize oil prices in dollar terms. Through this deal, the petrodollar system was born, along with a paradigm shift away from pegged exchanged rates and gold-backed currencies to non-backed, floating rate regimes.

The petrodollar system elevated the U.S. dollar to the world’s reserve currency and through this status, the U.S. is able to enjoy persistent trade deficits, and become a global economic hegemony. The petrodollar system also provides the United States’ financial markets with a source of liquidity and foreign capital inflows through petrodollar “recycling.” However, before the effects of the petrodollars on the U.S. dollar can be examined, a brief history lesson is in order. …

Since the most sought after commodity in the world–oil–is priced in U.S. dollars, the petrodollar helped elevated the greenback as the world’s dominant currency. In fact, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) triennial survey, 87 percent of all foreign exchanges deals initiated in April 2013, involved the USD on one side. With this status, the U.S. dollar was able to enjoy, what some have asserted to be an “exorbitant privilege” of perpetually financing its current account deficit by issuing dollar denominated assets at very low rates of interest, as well as, becoming a global economic hegemony.

For instance, countries like China, who hold vast quantities of U.S. debt have voiced their concerns in the past about the possible dilutive effects to their asset holdings should the dollar depreciate. However, the privileges associated with being able to run persistent current account deficits come at a price. As the reserve currency, the U.S. is obligated to run these deficits to fulfill reserve requirements in an ever in an ever-expanding global economy. If the United States were to stop running these deficits, the resulting shortage of liquidity can pull the world into an economic contraction. However, if the persistent deficits continued ad infinitum, eventually foreign countries will begin to doubt the valuation of the dollar and the greenback may lose its role as the reserve currency; this is known as the Triffin Dilemma. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/072915/how-petrodollars-affect-us-dollar.asp#ixzz4iqqtZ9CU accessed 06/02/17

If enough oil producing nations stop pricing oil in US dollars, the theory is that the US dollar will drop, or even collapse.

We continue to see steps in that direction.

Notice something that Vladimir Putin essentially predicted on Tuesday:

US dollar to lose global dominance – Putin

February 22, 2023

The US and other Western currencies will inevitably lose their leading position in global cross-border transactions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

Delivering his annual address to the Federal Assembly, the head of state said that Moscow would cooperate with its allies to build a secure system of international settlements that are not dependent on the dollar or the euro.

According to Putin, the current policies of Western states are causing the US dollar and the euro to lose their universality in international payments.

He explained that Russia’s former Western partners are forcing Moscow to cut settlements in dollars and other Western currencies. https://www.globalvillagespace.com/us-dollar-to-lose-global-dominance-putin/

Iraq’s willingness to accept Chinese yuan is a step towards fulfilling Vladimir Putin’s prediction.

By increasing its debt and weaponizing its dollar via sanctions, etc. the USA has been increasing the motivation of many nations to bypass its dollar. Notice some comments published by Newsweek:

Will the U.S. Dollar Lose Its Place as the World’s No. 1 Reserve Currency?

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, French Finance Minister, in the 1960s, said the dollar’s standing as the world’s reserve currency gives the U.S. an “exorbitant privilege.” …

Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank, said the dollar faces four long-term threats to its standing as the world’s key reserve currency.

The first is “profligate U.S. fiscal deficits,” he said in comments sent to Newsweek.

Hufbauer called the second threat “the widespread use of dollar-based financial sanctions to punish China, Iran and other ‘bad boys’ which in turn call into question the sanctity of dollar assets.”

His last two threats come from overseas, with the third originating in the largest global rival to the U.S., with the “probability that China will take necessary steps to make the yuan a true rival to the dollar: free convertibility, free capital flows, free floating, bank secrecy, cyber money.”

Hufbauer’s fourth threat is that the European Central Bank will take steps to make the euro an “attractive reserve currency” challenging the dollar’s dominance. …

Usha Haley, the W. Frank Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business and Director of the Center for International Business Advancement at Wichita State University said … “Currently, no alternative safe havens exist for foreign investors,” 02/05/21 https://www.newsweek.com/will-us-dollar-lose-its-place-worlds-no-1-reserve-currency-1567224

Well, the Europeans are hoping their currency will be the replacement, despite current Russian concerns.

Europe has NOT produced as many trillions of Euros of debt, at least not yet, that the USA has with its dollar. Plus, several of the nations there have been accumulating and/or repatriating gold.

Understand that the Bible shows that the time will come when Europe will prosper mightily and be involved with gold (cf. Revelation 18; see also The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold?).

While the Bible shows that gold and silver will one day be considered worse than useless (cf. Ezekiel 7: 19), it also shows that it will have value after the USA is defeated (cf. Daniel 11:39-43).

That being said, yes the USA dollar will collapse one day–and some type of European back currency, possibly the Euro or perhaps some type of international basket of currencies, will replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

The USA will face incredible problems and losses once its dollar is no longer the world’s true reserve currency. Notice the following perspective:

When The Dollar Is No Longer A Reserve Currency

The government has been borrowing so much money, that soon, we will not be able to afford even the interest on the loans.

Income tax receipts are roughly $900 billion a year.
Corporate taxes are roughly $200 billion annually.
Our current annual deficits are nearly $1.3 trillion, meaning we’re spending $900 billion + $200 billion + $1.3 trillion = $2.4 trillion.

Even if you doubled tax revenue, we would still be running a deficit!

Even if all U.S. citizens were taxed 100% of their income, it would still not be enough to balance the Federal budget! Tax increases will not even make the smallest dent on the true size of our debt.

There is not a single credible plan, by any political party, to merely end our annual deficits, never mind actually paying back our debts.

Here’s the kicker… the costs of maintaining our debts are about to skyrocket.

For years, the Federal Reserve has been keeping interest rates very low, to almost zero, and as a result, the interest rate at which the U.S. government borrows money from the Federal Reserve is an incredibly low level. This won’t last forever.

How much interest? Right now we’re paying about 15% of federal tax receipts (about $200 billion a year). If the government had to spend a ‘real’ market-based rate of interest, say 6%, it would cost $840 billion a year on interest (76% of tax receipts), just for what we owe right now, today.

We are trapped. The main-stream-media does not want you to know how precarious our government’s finances really are. …

The U.S. is the only country in the world that doesn’t have to pay for its imports or its debts in a foreign currency.
Example: A German wants to buy oil from Saudi Arabia – the German cannot pay for the oil in German marks (or Euro’s) because the oil is priced in dollars. You have to buy dollars first, then buy your oil.

The U.S. has been able to consume as much as we want without worrying about acquiring the money to pay for it, because U.S. dollars are accepted everywhere around the world.

As our creditors continue to figure out what’s happening (printing more and more dollars), we’re going to have very BIG problems. The creditors will either begin to refuse payment in dollars, or they will greatly discount the value of these new dollars. It’s already happening.

Most Americans have no clue what the repercussions are of losing the status of world currency. …

As the U.S. dollar continues to lose it’s position as the world’s currency, gas, oil, and other commodities will continue to skyrocket. Almost everything we consume will immediately get more expensive. It’s happening right now. Everything is getting more expensive. …

It’s only going to get worse, because we can NOT stop printing because we can’t actually afford our existing debts. …

The Chinese are getting out of the dollar as fast as they can via strategic commodities.

With less demand for the dollar around the globe, interest rates will skyrocket. …

When the U.S. dollar loses its spot as the world’s reserve currency, the brutal downturn will be about 10-times worse than the mortgage crisis of 2008. …

The U.S. dollar has remained the world’s reserve currency for more than 50 years. It seems as though its days are numbered. Don’t remain in denial.  01/31/21 https://modernsurvivalblog.com/money/when-the-dollar-is-no-longer-a-reserve-currency/

In several ways, the above is actually optimistic.  What will happen will be MORE than “10-times worse than the mortgage crisis of 2008.”

What most Americans do not realize is that the largest export from the USA is actually its currency–which is basically debt notes.

Here is something from my free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?:

The Bible warns about silver becoming “dross” (Isaiah 1:22; Ezekiel 22:18-22) and says to reverse it once it happens (Proverbs 25:4a; Isaiah 1:25). But the Anglo-American nations have not done that, their old silver coins are now dross (made/filled with cheaper materials) and their massive debts have made dross out of their fiat currencies (currencies that are not tied to gold or some other hard asset).

Furthermore, the “U.S. is highly vulnerable to loss of confidence by foreign creditors.”[i] U.S. government debt is “extremely vulnerable to foreign attack because of the high percentage of foreign ownership — almost 40% of the market.”[ii]

Interestingly, in the past, one foreign creditor, China, has raised concerns about the U.S. debt that are so serious, that its potential dumping of that debt has been called China’s “nuclear option”[iii] against the U.S.A.—an option that involves no military intervention, but that could greatly harm the U.S.A.

Many have complained about the U.S.A. “weaponizing” its dollar through sanctions, bank restrictions, and other means.[iv] By doing so, the U.S.A. has inadvertently been  building up a coalition to push aside the dollar—and this will happen when the timing is considered to be better. European leaders have been working for years to establish a new reserve currency for the world, partially with the intent to remove the U.S. dollar from its position as the world’s primary reserve currency. The fact that Europe would develop its own currency, as well as for that purpose, was predicted by Church of God writers no later than 1971[v] –which is over two decades before the euro was officially agreed to.

Those in Iran and some of the Arab lands, along with nations such as Brazil, China, and India have discussed plans for the removal of the dominance of the U.S.A. in global trade as well. The former (again current) President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, even claimed that eliminating the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status was one of the reasons that the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was formed in the first place. [vi] Others have noted that bypassing the USA dollar is still an object of BRICS—and officially BRICS nations “are currently working on setting up a new global reserve currency,”[vii] which may have gold-backing.[viii] The expansion of BRICS (which is in progress) may ultimately even hurt Australian trade as well as “severely weaken primacy of the US Dollar as an international currency.”[ix]

[i] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Gertz B,  China Debt Threat.  Washington Times, March 2, 2011

[iv]  Jayakumar V. The weaponization of finance threatens the future of the dollar standard. The Hill, March 1, 2022

[v] Hogberg G. Rising World Colossus. Plain Truth magazine, May 1971

[vi] Escobar P. BRICS was created as a tool of attack: Lula. Asia Times, August 28, 2019

[vii] BRICS developing new global reserve currency – Putin. RT, June 22, 2022

[viii] Helms K. Economists Discuss Russia, China Potentially Developing Gold-Backed Currency. BRICS Information Portal, November 11, 2022

[ix] Hunter M. BRICS Is Becoming The Big Kid On The Block: Implications For Australia – Analysis. Eurasia Review, November 1, 2022

As far as the BRICS nations go, Brazil and Russia are major oil exporters and China and India are major oil importers. Hence, their efforts, combined with some from the Arabs and Iranians look to help topple away the USA dollars “petrodollar” status.

Here is something related to debt and the US dollar being the primary reserve currency from my book Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction:

Joe Biden and many other American politicians have not run away from increasing U.S.A. debt—that will be to the nation’s peril.

The Bible warns about something that will happen to a heavily indebted nation. Notice what the Hebrew seer Habakkuk wrote over 2,600 years ago:

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry … ⁵ Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man … ⁶ “Will not all these take up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases What is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? ⁷ Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. ⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you… (Habakkuk 2:2-3,6–8).

Notice that what is to happen is so bad, that people who read the prophecy should run, when it is time for it to be fulfilled. Since that prophecy is to be fulfilled at the appointed time of the end, it is still for the future, but perhaps not too far distant in the future. No nation has ever been in as much total debt as the U.S.A.

The “U.S. is highly vulnerable to loss of confidence by foreign creditors.”[i] U.S. government debt is “extremely vulnerable to foreign attack because of the high percentage of foreign ownership — almost 40% of the market.”[ii]

Interestingly, in the past, one foreign creditor, China, has raised concerns about the U.S. debt that are so serious, that its potential dumping of that debt has been called China’s “nuclear option”[iii] against the U.S.A.—an option that involves no military intervention, but that could greatly harm the U.S.A.

Others have been concerned that Russia will perhaps encourage something like this when the timing is right. European leaders have been working for years to establish a new reserve currency for the world, partially with the intent to remove the U.S. dollar from its position as the world’s primary reserve currency.

Those in Iran and some of the Arab lands, along with nations such as Brazil and India have discussed plans for the removal of the dominance of the U.S.A. in global trade as well. The former President of Brazil, Lula, even claimed that eliminating the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status was one of the reasons that the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was formed. [iv]

The Bible clearly warns against cheapening the money supply and encourages having money hold its value (Proverbs 25:4 Isaiah 1:25, Ezekiel 22:18-22). Yet policies enacted under the Obama and Trump Administrations, following certain other administrations, have ignored these warnings.

No nation in the history of humankind has ever accumulated as much debt as the United States of America (because the U.K. may have close to the highest amount of per capita debt,[v] its fate would be similar). Destruction is coming.

However, the relationship between debt accumulation and prophesied destruction remains unapparent to many. Because there is a time lag, many ignore that there will be real consequences (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11; Habakkuk 2:3,6-8). Yet, these increases of debt are utterly dangerous.

When the time comes when the Federal Reserve is no longer able to keep interest rates artificially low, the U.S.A. will continue past the point of no return. That will become one of the final factors that will cause creditors to rise up and destroy the U.S.A.

The Economy

While pushing biblically immoral ideas is bad for the economy, it should be noted that economies vary. A modern reality is that being the world’s de facto reserve currency has helped prolong the U.S.A.’s dominance.

When the U.S. dollar is no longer the world’s reserve currency, this will hurt the U.S.A. financially. Increasing debt, including “quantitative easing,” is a form of dishonest profits that is not something that God approves of and will punish the U.S.A. for (cf. Ezekiel 22:13-16).

Inflation will eventually hit the U.S.A. extremely hard. As the world becomes less attached to the American dollar, many financial jobs and opportunities will be in places other than the U.S.A. Eventually, but not yet, the U.S.A. dollar will become worthless (worth no more than the scrap or sentimental value of the cotton-paper it is printed on).

Will it always be straight downhill for the economy of the U.S.A.?

No.

There are some reasons to have some temporary optimism. The longer there is some economic stagnation in parts of the economy that governmental COVID-19 policies contributed to, the more demand tends to build up, and an increase in demand may prolong the economy. In addition, technological and other developments may temporarily support the U.S. economy—as can reductions of regulatory burdens.

Some policies of the Biden-Harris Administration may help. Others see problems. The Biden-Harris team looks to increase various regulations and impact some industries negatively (such as the fossil fuel industry). Various ones see their proposed policies and cabinet selections as a refreshing change that they hope will fuel economic growth and shared prosperity.

Notice what was told to a king whose was prophesied to lose his kingdom:

²⁷ Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. (cf. Daniel 4:27)

Repentance can prolong prosperity, but promotion of sin leads to destruction. But, it is not expected that Joe Biden or Kamala Harris will push for scriptural national repentance.

[i] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Gertz B, China Debt Threat. Washington Times, March 2, 2011

[iv] Escobar P. BRICS was created as a tool of attack: Lula. Asia Times, August 28, 2019

[v] Conway E. Britain showing signs of heading towards 1930s-style depression, says Bank. Telegraph, March 16, 2009

A dominant world reserve currency loses its position if enough nations do not want it to be.

Historically, world reserve currencies have come and gone–remember that the British pound held that role for over a century.

The end of US dollar dominance is coming.

There will be a new world order coming and it will not be one dominated by the Anglo-Americans.

If you think that the USA will continue to be number 1 and claim to believe the Bible, please consider biblical prophecies such as Daniel 11:39; Habakkuk 2:6-8; Isaiah 10:5-11 (see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses and/or watch Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold? What do economists and the Bible teach about gold? Gold and silver may drop in value. Inflation/deflation? What do Christians need to know about gold and silver? Two videos of related interest may be: Germany, Gold, and the US Dollar and Silver, Science, and Scripture.
Europa, the Beast, and the Book of Revelation discusses the largest church since the second/third century, which in a real sense is the eighth church mentioned in the Book of Revelation (it also endorses “eighth day” worship). What church would support the Beast? Here is a link to a video titled: Europe and the ‘Holy Roman Empire’.
The End of US Dollar Dominance Is the USA losing its economic status? What about the petro-gold-yuan? A related video is also available: US Dollar being challenged by Gold-Petro-Yuan.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
The New World Order Is Leaving the US Behind Bloomberg reported that the New World Order is leaving the USA behind. Other secular news sources are also reporting the rise of a new world order and decline of the influence of the USA. What about NAFTA, the Paris Accords, TPP, TWO, and NATO? Russia, China, and Europe are all working towards reducing dominance of the USA. Is this consistent with biblical prophecy? When did the time of Anglo-American dominance begin? Will the coming world order be dominated by a European Babylonian power? What will happen to the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand after military actions by the coming order and the Great Tribulation? Are there any ties to Armageddon? Dr. Thiel addresses and more from the Bible. 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. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
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? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
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? 2029 or or 2031 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Are there prophetic reasons to believe that the USA will not last two complete presidential terms? Yes. There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? 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 la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details. A Kindle version is also available 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 your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle), you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.

1887 depiction of the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’

COGwriter

Russia and China look to be getting even closer together:

February 23, 2023

From the moment he stepped off a plane in Moscow this week, Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi lauded China’s friendship with Russia. The bilateral relationship was “mature” and “as stable as Mount Tai”, he told Russian president Vladimir Putin, invoking a sacred mountain in China’s eastern Shandong province. https://www.ft.com/content/5dc0a47c-78d0-4381-9da0-577adc8520ae

Gordon Chang, a prominent author and lawyer, believes the Chinese government’s burgeoning partnership with Russia will influence the battle in Ukraine and divide the entire world.

“We have seen China go all-in on Russia,” Chang told Newsmax …

“Beijing is doing all that it can to make sure that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does well in Ukraine; and that’s really an indication the world is divided into two,” said Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China” and “The Great U.S-China Tech War.”

Chang says the new world order pits Russia, North Korea, and China on one side … and the United States and its Western allies and Asian partners on the other. https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/china-russia-ukraine/2023/02/22/id/1109730/

Protestant Michael Snyder posted the following:

The U.S. And Europe vs. Russia And China – The “Alliances Of The Apocalypse” Have Formed

Russia and China have been pushed into each other’s arms, and now they seem determined to confront the western powers together.  For those of you that have not been paying attention, the apocalyptic alliances that we have been anticipating for years have now formed.  It is going to be the U.S. and Europe on one side, and Russia and China will be on the other.  All of the marbles are at stake, and both sides have plenty of nuclear weapons.

On Tuesday, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi publicly declared that his nation is “ready to join forces with the Russian side”…

The People’s Republic of China is ready to join forces with Russia to decisively stand up for national interests and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, said on Tuesday as he met with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev.

“During a virtual meeting at the end of last year our leaders (Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin – TASS) came up with a plan for further development of bilateral relations. We are ready to join forces with the Russian side, in accordance with the high-level agreements, to decisively stand up for national interests and virtues, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,” he said. …

And the Chinese are now calling for the UN to investigate the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines…

China has called on the United Nations to investigate the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, describing the blasts as a “deliberate act” by state actors.

At a UN Security Council briefing on Tuesday, Chinese ambassador Zhang Jun said China shared the position of many countries in calling for an investigation “to uncover the truth and identify those responsible”.

So why would China request such an investigation?

Because they know that we did it.

And we know that they know that we did it. …

In my entire lifetime, the United States has never been closer to an apocalyptic war than it is right now.

It appears that we could end up fighting Russia and China at the same time, and that sort of a nightmare scenario will not be good for any of us.

Let me add that Russia also has called for an international investigation of the Nord Stream sabotage–and the USA does not seem to want that to happen (see https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/us-stonewalls-un-investigation-russia-we-know-they-know-everybody-knows-usa-is-lying/).

That said, are Gordon Chang and Michael Snyder right about the world being divided into two camps?

Not quite. While the USA and Europe do oppose Russia being in Ukraine, Europe, itself, is not intending to be tied with the USA.

Is Michael Snyder right that the alliances for the Apocalypse have formed?

No.

The Bible tells of a time when the European King of the North will destroy the strongest military power:

39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain. (Daniel 11:39)

The “he” above is the European King of the North. The King of the North is European, not Russian. The Bible is clear that the “Great Sea,” where the Beasts of Daniel 7 come from, is the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Joshua 9:1, 23:4; Ezekiel 47:15). The Beast power is not a nation like Russia, which does not border the Mediterranean Sea, but Europe which does.

In the 21st century, the “strongest fortresses” belong to the USA and its British-descended allies (cf. Daniel 8:24-25; Isaiah 17:3)–and notice that the Bible says that the power with the strongest fortresses will be defeated.

Now, while it is true that Russia and China are in an alliance (e.g. watch BRICS and the Woes of Revelation), the Europeans will NOT remain allied with the USA according to biblical prophecies (read also the free online book: Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?).

There are many errors in Protestant teachings on prophecy, and this is simply one of them.

That said, during the first two woes of Revelation, there will be a split between Europe and an alliance led by Russia that will include China (watch also the sermon Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God), but that will not happen until a couple of years AFTER the USA and its British-descended allies are conquered according to scripture.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

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 are links to three related videos: The King of the North is Alive: What to Look Out For. The Future King of the North, and Rise of the Prophesied King of the North.
The Great Monarch: Biblical and Greco-Roman Catholic Prophecies Is the ‘Great Monarch’ of Greco-Roman Catholic prophecies endorsed or condemned by the Bible? Two sermons of related interest are also available: Great Monarch: Messiah or False Christ? and Great Monarch in 50+ Beast Prophecies.
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?
Protestant and Church of God views of the United States in Bible Prophecy Is the USA mentioned in Bible prophecy? Some Protestants say yes, while others say no. What does the Bible really teach? Learn the truth about this. There is also a video available: Is The United States Mentioned In Bible Prophecy?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon? Here is a link to a related sermon: Asia in Prophecy. Two YouTube video are Is China THE Threat to the United States of America? and China: A King of the East.
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? What about the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
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 as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
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?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? Are we close to the battle with Gog and Magog? Four related videos are available: Ezekiel 38 Gog and Magog War: Is it Soon?, Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now?, Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code), and Gog, Magog, Vladimir Putin, and Ezekiel 38?
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. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
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? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? 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 la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Orthodox Church in ‘Lenten Vestments,’ Czech Republic (Frettie)

COGwriter

The Roman Catholic observance of Lent began earlier this month and is still ongoing.

Furthermore, notice that Roman Catholics are not the only ones who keep Lent:

3 in 10 Americans with evangelical beliefs (28%) say they observe Lent; of these, 42 percent typically fast from a favorite food or beverage while 71 percent typically attend church services.

Catholics remain the most likely to observe Lent (61%), with 2 out of 3 fasting from a favorite food or beverage (64%).

Overall, 1 in 4 Americans observes Lent (24%), according to LifeWay. Most American observers fast from a favorite food or beverage (57%) vs. a bad habit (35%) or a favorite activity (23%).

Hispanics were the most likely ethnic group to observe Lent (36%), and were more likely than whites to abstain from a favorite activity (34% vs. 17%) or a bad habit (50% vs. 30%). https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/what-to-give-up-for-lent-2018-top-ideas-twitter-100.html

In the past, Pope Francis said related to Lent:

I wish you a blessed Lent.

May Our Lady of Pompeii accompany you and, please, pray for me

[Original text: Italian] [Translation provided by Vatican Radio] https://zenit.org/articles/in-lenten-audio-message-pope-urges-young-people-to-remember-god-gives-joy-more-than-world-ever-can/

Here is something related to the ‘Lady of Pompeii’:

A young girl from Naples, Fortuna Agrelli, was suffering from a painful, incurable disease. She had been given up by the most celebrated physicians. On February 16, 1884, the afflicted girl and her relatives commenced a novena of Rosaries. The Queen of the Holy Rosary favoured her with an apparition on March 3rd. Mary, sitting upon a high throne, surrounded by luminous figures, held the Divine child on her lap, and in her hand a Rosary. The Virgin Mother and the holy Infant were clad in gold-embroidered garments. They were accompanied by St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. Fortuna marveled at the beauty of Mary and asked her as “Queen of the Rosary,” for her cure. Mary replied that, since she had called her by a title that was so pleasing to her, she could not refuse her request; she then told her to make three novenas of the rosary to obtain all she asked for. The child was indeed cured, and soon after Mary appeared to her again saying: “Whosoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition and three novenas in thanksgiving.” This is how the Rosary Novena devotion to Mary originated.

In 1883, a sanctuary was built for the image and consecrated in 1891. Many miracles are attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Pompeii. The image of Our Lady of Pompeii represents Our Lady of the Rosary as Queen of Heaven. http://www.marypages.com/OurLadyofPompeii.htm

So idolatry and the ‘queen of heaven,’ two subjects the Bible teaches against, are associated with the the Lady of Pompeii (see also Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions)—yet Pope Francis endorses that and asks for protection from that ‘Lady’ for Lent.

This year, Pope Francis stated:

February 17, 2023

The Gospel of the Transfiguration is proclaimed every year on the Second Sunday of Lent. During this liturgical season, the Lord takes us with Him to a place apart. While our ordinary commitments compel us to remain in our usual places and our often repetitive and sometimes boring routines, during Lent we are invited to ascend “a high mountain” in the company of Jesus and to live a particular experience of spiritual discipline — ascesis — as God’s holy people.

Lenten penance is a commitment, sustained by grace, to overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the Cross. This is precisely what Peter and the other disciples needed to do. https://zenit.org/2023/02/17/lenten-penance-and-the-synodal-journey-popes-message-for-lent-2023/

Francis is implying that Lent was an original practice–though he knows it was not–but he is trying to somewhat push that idea.

Pope Francis also taught the following about Lent:

February 22, 2015

Dear brothers and sisters,

Last Wednesday, Lent began with the Rite of Ashes, and today is the first Sunday of this liturgical time that makes reference to the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, after his baptism in the Jordan River. …

And in the end of the Lenten itinerary, in the Easter Vigil, we can renew with greater awareness the Baptismal covenant and the commitments that flow from it. May the Blessed Virgin, model of docility to the Spirit, help us to let ourselves be led by Him, who wishes to make each of us a “new creature.” http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/angelus-address-on-crossing-the-lenten-desert

To many Roman Catholics all of that probably seemed fine. Many probably considered it to be inspirational. But this is not inspired by God, nor was Pope Francis teaching the original faith.

Notice what Saint Jude wrote from a Catholic-approved translation of the Bible:

3 I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. (Jude 3, Douay-Rheims)

So let’s see if he was contending for the faith once delivered to the saints when he promoted Lent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and the Blessed Virgin.

Notice that he mentioned Lent and tried to tie it in with Jesus spending 40 days in the desert. While it is true that Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert, scriptural indications are that this would have been in the Fall and not the Spring. How can that be determined?

Eusebius, the Greco-Roman “father of church history,” taught that Jesus’ ministry lasted 3 1/2 years. Since Jesus was killed in the Spring, going back 3 1/2 years puts the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Fall.

Notice also the following from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

The chronology of the public life offers a number of problems to the interpreter…

But a comparison of St. John’s Gospel with the Synoptic Evangelists seems to introduce another pasch, indicated in the Fourth Gospel, into Christ’s public life. John 4:45, relates the return of Jesus into Galilee after the first pasch of His public life in Jerusalem, and the same event is told by Mark 1:14, and Luke 4:14. Again the pasch mentioned in John 6:4 has its parallel in the “green grass” of Mark 6:39, and in the multiplication of loaves as told in Luke 9:12 sqq. But the plucking of ears mentioned in Mark 2:23, and Luke 6:1, implies another paschal season intervening between those expressly mentioned in John 2:13 and 6:4. This shows that the public life of Jesus must have extended over four paschs, so that it must have lasted three years and a few months. Though the Fourth Gospel does not indicate this fourth pasch as clearly as the other three, it is not wholly silent on the question. The “festival day of the Jews” mentioned in John 5:1, has been identified with the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Expiation, the Feast of the New Moon, the Feast of Purim, the Feast of Dedication, by various commentators; others openly confess that they cannot determine to which of the Jewish feasts this festival day refers. Nearly all difficulties will disappear if the festival day be regarded as the pasch, as both the text (heorte) and John 4:35 seem to demand (cf. Dublin Review, XXIII, 351 sqq.). (Maas, Anthony. “Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 22 Feb. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08377a.htm>)

So, between 3 years and a few months to less than four years, is consistent with the belief that Jesus’ ministry lasted about 3 1/2 years.

Presuming that Jesus began His ministry on the Feast of Trumpets, the beginning of the Jewish civil ‘new year,’ and ended on Passover, it would have lasted about 3 1/2 years.

Here is how The Catholic Encyclopedia defines Lent:

The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season (Thurston H. Transcribed by Anthony A. Killeen. A.M.D.G. Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York).

In other words, Lent means the Spring season (it may be of interest to note that Easter is a Teutonic word as well).

But since Lent means Spring and Lent now begins and is primarily in the Winter, where did it really come from?

Certainly not from the Bible!

Notice that The Catholic Encyclopedia teaches that the claim by some that this was observed by the Apostles is unfounded:

Some of the Fathers as early as the fifth century supported the view that this forty days’ fast was of Apostolic institution…But the best modern scholars are almost unanimous in rejecting this view…Formerly some difference of opinion existed as to the proper reading, but modern criticism (e.g., in the edition of Schwartz commissioned by the Berlin Academy) pronounces strongly in favor of the text translated above. We may then fairly conclude that Irenaeus about the year 190 knew nothing of any Easter fast of forty days…And there is the same silence observable in all the pre-Nicene Fathers, though many had occasion to mention such an Apostolic institution if it had existed. We may note for example that there is no mention of Lent in St. Dionysius of Alexandria (ed. Feltoe, 94 sqq.) or in the “Didascalia”, which Funk attributes to about the year 250 (Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia).

Notice what the Greco-Roman Catholic Socrates Scholasticus admitted around the beginning of the fifth century:

The fasts before Easter will be found to be differently observed among different people. Those at Rome fast three successive weeks before Easter, excepting Saturdays and Sundays. Those in Illyrica and all over Greece and Alexandria observe a fast of six weeks, which they term ‘The forty days’ fast.’ Others commencing their fast from the seventh week before Easter, and fasting three five days only, and that at intervals, yet call that time ‘The forty days’ fast.’ It is indeed surprising to me that thus differing in the number of days, they should both give it one common appellation; but some assign one reason for it, and others another, according to their several fancies. One can see also a disagreement about the manner of abstinence from food, as well as about the number of days. Some wholly abstain from things that have life: others feed on fish only of all living creatures: many together with fish, eat fowl also, saying that according to Moses, Genesis 1:20 these were likewise made out of the waters. Some abstain from eggs, and all kinds of fruits: others partake of dry bread only; still others eat not even this: while others having fasted till the ninth hour, afterwards take any sort of food without distinction. And among various nations there are other usages, for which innumerable reasons are assigned. Since however no one can produce a written command as an authority, it is evident that the apostles left each one to his own free will in the matter, to the end that each might perform what is good not by constraint or necessity. Such is the difference in the churches on the subject of fasts (Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History, Volume V, Chapter 22).

Since the Babylonians took over the Greeks and the Egyptians, that may have been when they started this practice.

Notice:

But the original length of the fast, traced back to Babylon was a “forty-days” fast in the spring of the year (Laynard’s Nineveh and Babylon, chapter 4, page 93). That is why it bore its name of “40 days”! (Hoeh, H. Did Jesus Observe Lent? Plain Truth. February 1982, p. 30).

It is likely that the idea of a forty-day fast came from Alexandria in Egypt or from Greece.

The historian Alexander Hislop apparently felt so as he wrote:

The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, “in the spring of the year,” is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives account of Mexican observances: “Three days after the vernal equinox…began a solemn fast of forty days in honour of the sun.” Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt, as may be seen on consulting Wilkinson’s Egyptians. This Egyptian Lent of forty days, we are informed by Landseer, in his Sabean Researches, was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god. At the same time, the rape of Proserpine seems to have been commemorated, and in a similar manner; for Julius Firmicus informs us that, for “forty nights” the “wailing for Proserpine” continued; and from Arnobius we learn that the fast which the Pagans observed, called “Castus” or the “sacred” fast, was, by the Christians in his time, believed to have been primarily in imitation of the long fast of Ceres, when for many days she determinedly refused to eat on account of her “excess of sorrow,” that is, on account of the loss of her daughter Proserpine, when carried away by Pluto…

Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the “month of Tammuz”; in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, some time in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity–now far sunk in idolatry–in this as in so many other things, to shake hands…

Let any one only read the atrocities that were commemorated during the “sacred fast” or Pagan Lent, as described by Arnobius and Clemens Alexandrinus, and surely he must blush for the Christianity of those who, with the full knowledge of all these abominations, “went down to Egypt for help” to stir up the languid devotion of the degenerate Church, and who could find no more excellent way to “revive” it, than by borrowing from so polluted a source; the absurdities and abominations connected with which the early Christian writers had held up to scorn. That Christians should ever think of introducing the Pagan abstinence of Lent was a sign of evil; it showed how low they had sunk, and it was also a cause of evil; it inevitably led to deeper degradation. Originally, even in Rome, Lent, with the preceding revelries of the Carnival, was entirely unknown; and even when fasting before the Christian Pasch was held to be necessary, it was by slow steps that, in this respect, it came to conform with the ritual of Paganism. What may have been the period of fasting in the Roman Church before sitting of the Nicene Council does not very clearly appear, but for a considerable period after that Council, we have distinct evidence that it did not exceed three weeks (Hislop A. Two Babylons. pp. 104-106).

Hence we see that the so-called Christian observance of Lent is apparently a continuation of widespread ancient pagan practices that were subtly incorporated into mainstream Christianity over the centuries.

It should be noted that the Bible condemns practices associated with pagan worship, such as those that involved Tammuz:

And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:13-14).

Essentially, mourning for Tammuz could include fasting of some type for some time.

The Orthodox Catholic apologist Arnobius (died 330) warned against the type of fasts that pagans had and even seemed to warn about a Mardi Gras banquet followed by a fast:

What say you, O wise sons of Erectheus? what, you citizens of Minerva? The mind is eager to know with what words you will defend what it is so dangerous to maintain, or what arts you have by which to give safety to personages and causes wounded so mortally. This is no false mistrust, nor are you assailed with lying accusations: the infamy of your Eleusinia is declared both by their base beginnings and by the records of ancient literature, by the very signs, in fine, which you use when questioned in receiving the sacred things,—” I have fasted, and drunk the draught; I have taken out of the mystic cist, and put into the wicker-basket; I have received again, and transferred to the little chest” (Arnobius. Against the Heathen, Book V, Chapter 26).

The feast of Jupiter is tomorrow. Jupiter, I suppose, dines, and must be satiated with great banquets, and long filled with eager cravings for food by fasting, and hungry after the usual interval (Against the Heathen, Book VII, Chapter 32).

Hislop believed that Arnobius was teaching against what became known as Lent (Two Babylons, p. 106). Perhaps it should be noted that in the late 2nd century, Tertullian also warned against “Christians” participating in events that also honored Minerva (please see the article Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate?).

The Roman Catholic Saint Abbot John Cassian (also known as Cassianus, monk of Marseilles) in the fifth century admitted:

Howbeit you should know that as long as the primitive church retained its perfection unbroken, this observance of Lent did not exist (Cassian John. Conference 21, THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS. ON THE RELAXATION DURING THE FIFTY DAYS. Chapter 30).

Notice that he admits that “the primitive church” did not keep Lent!

What about Easter?

Easter itself is not a Christian term but comes from paganism:

The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity…Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh. (Holweck F. G. Transcribed by John Wagner and Michael T. Barrett. Easter. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Copyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York)

ISHTAR was one of the most prominent of the deities of the Accadian and Assyrian Pantheon. Se was the Assyrian goddess of Love. She was the…Ashtoreth of the Jews or Hebrews. She is the planetary Venus, and in general features corresponds with the classical goddess of Love. Her name Ishtar is that by which she was known in Assyria, and the same name prevailed, with slight modifications, among the Semite nations generally. In Babylonia the goddess was known as Nana…

She may be identified with Eostre of the Germans, or Easter. To this goddess our Saxon or German ancestors sacrificed in April, which was therefore by them styled…Eostur-monath, and from thence arose our word Easter, which the Saxons retained after their conversion to Christianity, so that our Easter-day is nothing more nor less than Ishtar’s day … The name became attached by association of ideas to the Christian festival of the Resurrection (of Christ), which happened at the time of the passover … The English name Easter, and the German Ostern, are derived from the name of the Teutonic goddess Ostera (Anglo-Saxon Eostre), whose festival was celebrated by the ancient Saxons with peculiar solemnities in the month of April; and for which, as in many other instances, the first Romish missionaries substituted the paschal feast.” The Council of Nice “ordained (A.D. 325) that it should be kept always on a Sunday.” Thus we find that it was originally the festival of Ishtar, and occurred on the Sabatu of Elul, or the festival Sabbath of the Assyrians, which occurred in August or harvest time; and that it afterwards became united with the passover or paschal feast of the Jews, and finally adopted by the Christian Church as the Easter Sabbath, changing the date to the spring or seed time, or in April from the harvest month or August. Among the Assyrians it was the feast day of Ishtar and Nergal…

The Phoenician name of Ishtar was Astarte, the later Mendaean form of which was Ashtar. She was called Jeremiah, “the queen of heaven,” Jer. vii, 18, and xliv. 17-25 … she was sometimes called “the goddess of the chase,” corresponding to Diana as well as Venus, the goddess of love. Mr. George Rawlinson says: “The worship of Ishtar was widespread, and her shrines were numerous. She is often called the “queen of Babylon”…It may be suspected that her symbol was the naked female form…(Hamilton LLC note. Ishtar and Izdubar, the epic of Babylon; or, The Babylonian goddess of love and the hero and warrior king, restored in mod. verse by L.L.C. Hamilton. 1884 Original from Oxford University Digitized Jun 19, 2007, pp. 207-208)

Paganism…it was precisely in these cults that the worst perversions existed. Ishtar, Astarte, and Cybele had their male and female prostitutes, their Galli: Josiah had to cleanse the temple of Yahweh of their booths (cf. the Qedishim and Kelabim, Deuteronomy 23:17; 2 Samuel 23:7; cf. 1 Samuel 14:24; 15:12), and even in the Greek world, where prostitution was not else regarded as religious, Eryx and Corinth at least were contaminated by Semitic influence, which Greece could not correct. (Martindale, Cyril Charles. “Paganism.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 17 Feb. 2014 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11388a.htm>)

Ishtar is pronounced about the same as the English term Easter.

Early Christians did NOT celebrate Easter. They observed Passover as a memorial of Jesus’ death.

Perhaps I should also mention that although the Eastern Orthodox Church shown above has ‘lenten vestments,’ these vestments do not come from the Bible, nor did early Christians use these type of vestments. They did not come into use until after the compromises with that famous follower of Mithras, Roman Emperor Constantine, in the fourth century.

What about appealing to the blessed Mary? Was that a practice of early Christians?

No.

The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms that:

Devotion to Our Blessed Lady in its ultimate analysis must be regarded as a practical application of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Seeing that this doctrine is not contained, at least explicitly in the earlier forms of the Apostles’ Creed, there is perhaps no ground for surprise if we do not meet with any clear traces of the cultus of the Blessed Virgin in the first Christian centuries. The earliest unmistakable examples of the “worship” — we use the word of course in the relative sense — of the saints is connected with the veneration paid to the martyrs who gave their lives for the Faith…Further, it is quite likely that the mention of the Blessed Virgin in the intercessions of the diptychs of the liturgy goes back to the days before the Council of Nicaea, but we have no definite evidence upon the point, and the same must be said of any form of direct invocation, even for purposes of private devotion (Herbert Thurston. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Should Christians appeal to Mary as a mediator?

No.

Notice what a Catholic-approved translation of the Bible teaches:

5 For there is one God, one also mediator of God and men, man Christ JESUS (1 Timothy 2:5, RNT).

Thus any others who claim there is another mediator clearly contradict the Bible and CANNOT BE SERVING THE CHRISTIAN GOD.

Those who truly wish to observe the practices of the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) will not observe Lent, celebrate Ash Wednesday, pray to Mary, or observe Easter. They would keep the same days and practices of the original church.

Pope Francis, and those who believe certain portions of his message today, need to study the Bible and the lessons of history and change.

Some items of possible interest may include:

Is Lent a Christian Holiday? When did it originate? What about Ash Wednesday? If you observe them, do you know why? Here is an old, by somewhat related, article in the Spanish language by Dr. Hoeh: ¿Por Qué Se Observa la Cuaresma? Here is a link to a related sermon: Lent, Ash Wednesday, Carnaval, and Christianity?
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
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.
What is the Origin of the Cross as a ‘Christian’ Symbol? Was the cross used as a venerated symbol by the early Church? A related YouTube video would be Origin of the Cross.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What happened at Fatima? What might they mean for the rise of the ecumenical religion of Antichrist? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How do the Eastern/Greek Orthodox view Mary? How might Mary view her adorers? Here is a link to a YouTube video Marian Apparitions May Fulfill Prophecy. Here is a link to a sermon video: Why Learn About Fatima?
Mardi Gras: The Devil’s Carnival? Do you know that in Bolivia the carnival/Mardi Gras time is part of a celebration known as the Devil’s Carnival? Did Jesus celebrate Carnaval? Where did it come from? There is also a related YouTube video Mardi Gras & Carnaval: Are they for Christians?
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? Where did Easter come from? What do scholars and the Bible reveal? Here is a link to a video titled Why Easter?
What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’? How long are three days and three nights? Was Palm Sunday on a Saturday? Did Jesus die on “Good Friday”? Was the resurrection on Sunday? Do you really know? Who determined the date of Easter? (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Murió Jesús un día miércoles o un viernes?)
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? Where did Easter come from? What do scholars and the Bible reveal? Here is a link to a video titled Why Easter?
Marcus, the Marcosians, & Mithraism: Developers of the Eucharist? Marcus was a second century heretic condemned for having a ceremony similar to one still practiced by many who profess Christ. Might he also be in the apostolic succession list of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria? Where did the eucharistic host and IHS come from?
Do You Practice Mithraism? Many practices and doctrines that mainstream so-called Christian groups have are the same or similar to those of the sun-god Mithras. December 25th was celebrated as his birthday. Do you follow Mithraism combined with the Bible or original Christianity? A sermon video from Vatican City is titled Church of Rome, Mithras, and Isis?
Pope Francis: Could this Marian Focused Pontiff be Fulfilling Prophecy? Pope Francis has taken many steps to turn people more towards his version of ‘Mary.’ Could this be consistent with biblical and Catholic prophecies? This article documents what has been happening. There is also a video version titled Pope Francis: Could this Marian Focused Pontiff be Fulfilling Prophecy?
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What happened at Fatima? What might they mean for the rise of the ecumenical religion of Antichrist? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How do the Eastern/Greek Orthodox view Mary? How might Mary view her adorers? Here is a link to a YouTube video Marian Apparitions May Fulfill Prophecy. Here is a link to a sermon video: Why Learn About Fatima?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2033, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
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, French: L’Histoire Continue de l’Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egenderere

Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby (Wikipedia)

COGwriter

Readers may recall that last month, the Associated Press reported the following:

January 18, 2023

LONDON (AP) — The Church of England said Wednesday it will allow blessings for same-sex, civil marriages for the first time but same-sex couples still will not be allowed to marry in its churches.

The decision followed five years of debate and consultation on the church’s position on sexuality. It is expected to be outlined in a report to the church’s national assembly, the General Synod, which meets in London next month.

Under the proposals, the Church of England’s stance that the sacrament of matrimony is restricted to unions between one man and one woman will not change.

However, same-sex couples would be able to have a church service with prayers of dedication, thanksgiving or for God’s blessing after they have a civil wedding or register a civil partnership. …

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, acknowledged that the proposals “will appear to go too far for some and not nearly far enough for others.”

“This response reflects the diversity of views in the Church of England on questions of sexuality, relationships and marriage. I rejoice in that diversity and I welcome this way of reflecting it in the life of our church,” Welby said.

“I hope it can offer a way for the Church of England, publicly and unequivocally, to say to all Christians and especially LGBTQI+ people, that you are welcome and a valued and precious part of the body of Christ,” he added.

The church said bishops plan to issue a formal apology to LGBTQ people on Friday for the “rejection, exclusion and hostility” they have felt from within the church. https://apnews.com/article/anglicanism-england-wales-marriage-religion-5086b3376929156e5f41461193a67aa5?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_07

This decision is the result of a five year debate and consultation and basically choosing to be politically correct over scripture.

However, not all Anglican leaders have gone along with this.

A reader sent me a link to the following:

February 20, 2023

A dozen conservative Anglican archbishops from various global churches announced that they no longer recognized the Archbishop of Canterbury as the leader of the Anglican Communion Monday, weeks after the Church of England approved the blessing of same-sex unions. https://www.wnd.com/2023/02/major-christian-church-brink-split-one-hot-button-issue/?utm_source=izooto&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=Major_Christian_church_on_brink_

Here is what the official press statement from those archbishops states:

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches

PRESS STATEMENT

February 20, 2023

STATEMENT OF GSFA PRIMATES ON THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND’S DECISION REGARDING THE BLESSING OF SAME SEX UNIONS

With great sorrow at the recent decision of the Church of England’s General Synod to legitimise and incorporate into the Church’s liturgy the blessing of same sex unions, ten Primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA)[i] met virtually on 13 Feb 2023 under the chairmanship of Archbishop Justin Badi (Chairman of GSFA & Primate of South Sudan) to discuss our response.

The panel of Primates agreed on the following resolutions which it now commends to the orthodox[ii] provinces and dioceses who are part of her Fellowship for the respective Primate & Province to consider and deliberate on.

1. As the Church of England has departed from the historic faith passed down from the Apostles by this innovation[iii] in the liturgies of the Church and her pastoral practice (contravening her own Canon A5[iv]), she has disqualified herself from leading the Communion as the historic “Mother” Church. Indeed, the Church of England has chosen to break communion with those provinces who remain faithful to the historic biblical faith expressed in the Anglican formularies (the 39 Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and the Book of Homilies) and applied to the matter of marriage and sexuality in Lambeth Resolution 1.10[v] of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
2. As much as the GSFA Primates also want to keep the unity of the visible Church and the fabric of the Anglican Communion, our calling to be ‘a holy remnant’[vi] does not allow us be “in communion” with those provinces that have departed from the historic faith and taken the path of false teaching. This breaks our hearts and we pray for the revisionist provinces to return to ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) and to us.
3. The GSFA is no longer able to recognise the present Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Hon & Most Revd Justin Welby, as the “first among equals” Leader of the global Communion. He has sadly led his House of Bishops to make the recommendations that undergirded the General Synod Motion on ‘Living in Love & Faith,’ knowing that they run contrary to the faith & order of the orthodox provinces in the Communion whose people constitute the majority in the global flock. We pray that our withdrawal of support for him to lead the whole Communion is received by him as an admonishment in love.
4. With the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury forfeiting their leadership role of the global Communion, GSFA Primates will expeditiously meet, consult and work with other orthodox Primates in the Anglican Church across the nations to re-set the Communion on its biblical foundation. We look forward to collaborating with Primates and bishops in the GAFCON movement and other orthodox Anglican groupings to work out the shape and nature of our common life together and how we are to keep the priority of proclaiming and witnessing to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world foremost in our life as God’s people. Together with other orthodox Primates, we will seek to address the leadership crisis that has arisen because for us, and perhaps by his own reported self-exclusion, the present Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer the ‘leader’ of the Communion and no longer the Chair of the Primates’ Meeting by virtue of his position.
5. GSFA Primates will carefully work with other orthodox Primates to provide Primatial and episcopal oversight to orthodox dioceses and networks of Anglican churches who indicate their need and who consult with us. This is to ensure that the faithful all across the worldwide Anglican Church but who find themselves in revisionist[vii] Provinces receive the pastoral oversight, guidance and care of a global, connectional Church which the Anglican Communion is meant to be.
6. Given this action by the Church of England’s General Synod, we believe it is no longer possible to continue in the way the Communion is. We do not accept the view that we can still “walk together” with the revisionist provinces as prescribed by the Anglican Communion Office and in the exploratory way proposed by IASCUFO (Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith & Order) at the recent Anglican Consultative Council (ACC)-18 meeting.
7. GSFA Primates are joint-stewards together with other orthodox Primates of the Anglican Communion, defined by its Formularies and that has been birthed and sustained by God through the centuries. We are accountable to the whole and to each other for the historic Christian faith and its practice in our autonomous Churches. The Church of England is the “historic first” province, but now that it has departed from the historic faith the responsibility falls to the remaining orthodox Primates. We will not walk away from the Communion that has so richly blessed us and for whose faithfulness to God and His word our forebears have paid a costly price. What has happened in the Church of England has only served to strengthen our resolve to work together to re-set the Communion, and to ensure that the re-set Communion is marked by reform and renewal. Only then will the Anglican Church as a whole be able to be God’s channel of light and transformation in a dark and broken world. Only then will we be able to live out our witness as part of God’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

To this end, GSFA will work humbly, boldly and charitably with other orthodox parts of the global Anglican Church. In our own Provinces, we will repent of the ways in which we ourselves fail to keep the covenant God has given us in Christ Jesus. We will ask God to purify and build up our churches so that we can authentically and passionately take the Gospel out to our respective nations and assigned fields.

[i] The GSFA is currently composed of 14 Provinces from a larger grouping of 25 Global South provinces. These 14 provinces plus one diocese have either signed on to be members of GSFA via assent to its Covenantal Structure (Cairo, 2019) or given written indication that a process to pursue GSFA membership has begun in their province. (See www.thegsfa.org)

[ii] ‘Orthodox’ provinces are those which hold to the plain and authoritative teaching of holy Scripture as historically understood, and correspondingly their ‘Faith & Order’ is consistent with what the Scriptures as a whole teach.

[iii]  ‘The Church of England’s General Synod has welcomed proposals which would enable same-sex couples to come to church after a civil marriage or civil partnership to give thanks, dedicate their relationship to God and receive God’s blessing.’ (https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/prayers-gods-blessing-same-sex-couples-take-step-forward-after-synod)

[iv] Canon A5 : ‘The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.’

[v] Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution 1.10 on Human Sexuality states that “while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation …” The Resolution also states that the Lambeth Conference “cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions.”

[vi] The ‘holy remnant’ in Scripture refers to that segment among God’s people who remain faithful to God’s covenant against wind and tide by trusting and obeying God’s word and  keeping to God’s standard of right and wrong. They do so in spite of sections of the wider community they belong to  conforming to the world around them and disobeying the revealed word of God.

[vii] ‘Revisionist’ provinces are those who take a liberal view on the interpretation of holy Scripture and introduce

new and innovative doctrines that do not agree with the plain teaching of Scripture as historically understood by the Church. In their ‘faith & order,’ revisionist provinces and dioceses move increasingly away from the bounds of Scripture .

ENDS

For further information:

Bishop Rennis Ponniah                                                                       rennis@anglican.org.sg

Hon Director, GSFA Executive Secretariat              rennisponniah@gmail.com

Sasha Michael

Senior Administrator (Hon), GSFA Secretariat      secretariat@thegsfa.org

Website: www.thegsfa.org

Now, we will presume that those involved in this with the Church of England can actually read English. As that is the case, this matter should have gone a different way– Justin Welby should have resolved it, the right way in hours, not the wrong way after five years.

Here is something that should have been clear enough to Justin Welby and all the others in the Church of England:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)

While it is good that the Anglican Church of England will not perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples, the Bible clearly teaches that approving of sexual immorality, including homosexuality and lesbianism, is wrong.

Anglican and other Protestant scholars must realize that their churches do NOT hold to sola Scriptura, that the there was no faithful early church that resembled modern Protestantism, and that they have adopted many of the changes and traditions of the Church of Rome. This is detailed in the following free online book and sermons for those wishing more information:

Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.

Although the UK is officially supposed to be Anglican, and supposedly that faith is based on the Bible, notice something someone just forwarded me a link to last Fall:

November 25, 2022

The Corwn {sic} Prosecution Service (CPS) argued that parts of the Bible are “abusive” and “no longer approproriate {sic} for modern society” in … a prsecution {sic} against a street preacher.https://www.theepochtimes.com/crown-prosecution-service-claimed-some-of-the-bible-is-no-longer-appropriate-to-modern-society-in-lawsuit_4883967.html

Of course, this attitude is not restricted to the UK–we have seen this in Canada and other nations as well.

Notice, also, the following scriptures:

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them, 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. 14 And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern.” (Isaiah 30:8-14)

So while what happened is not yet the famine of the word in the UK, it is consistent with what is prophesied to happen in Amos 8:11-12 (see also Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word). Many want ‘smooth things.’

The farther one gets from the truths of the Bible, the more society is damaged.

While the USA does not have the equivalent of Justin Welby, its Roman Catholic president has been actively promoting sexual immorality and many aspects of the sinful LGBTQ+ agenda (e.g. Joe Biden signs anti-real marriage Act).

Repentance could delay the disasters coming to the USA, its British-descended allies, and others (cf. Daniel 4:27).

In speaking of God’s people Ephraim (the UK and its British-descended allies)–whom He’s going to punish for their lack of repentance, God says:

“And they have not cried unto me WITH THEIR HEART, when they howled upon their beds: … they rebel against me. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, BUT NOT TO THE MOST HIGH” (Hosea 7:14-16).

Without national repentance, the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are doomed.

The Anglo-American nations need national repentance. God would listen:

13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. (2 Chronicles 7:13-15)

But because they will not, they will have problems. God’s anger is aroused against the USA (Samaria, below; see also Spiritual Samaritans: Old and New) because it rebels against God and will not turn towards innocence:

5 O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them —
How long until they attain to innocence? (Hosea 8:5)

16 Samaria is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child ripped open. (Hosea 13:16)

Notice that lack of repentance is listed as a reason that the King of Assyria (the final King of the North) will become Ephraim’s king:

3 I taught Ephraim to walk…5…But the Assyrian shall be his king, Because they refused to repent. 6 And the sword shall slash in his cities, Devour his districts, And consume them, Because of their own counsels. 7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. (Hosea 11:3a, 5b-7)

The prophesied shame is starting to come upon the Anglo-American powers. The Assyrian king is also prophesied to eliminate the USA per Isaiah 10:5-12–which is also consistent with the destruction of the USA by the King of the North prophesied in Daniel 11:39 (see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses).

Without repentance, increased pride is occurring, and this will be followed by the prophesied destruction of the Anglo-American nations. And yes, other nations have their sins, but they will be punished later–But you personally can and SHOULD repent.

Individually, and nationally, repentance is needed:

20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:20-23)

30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32)

Your Bible says many people have made an OUTWARD show of returning to Him or repenting, but they haven’t done it WITH THEIR HEARTS! Most of the world only shows an outward, superficial, WORLDLY REPENTANCE with no real sincerity or DEEP feeling.

But, even an outward repentance is not seen by Justin Welby.

Without national repentance, the USA and its British-descended allies will, relatively soon, be destroyed (cf. Daniel 11:39; Hosea 11:3a, 5b-7; Daniel 8:24-25; Isaiah 17:3; watch also Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?).

But even if your nation will not repent, you can.

Instead of being unrepentant or lukewarm (Laodicean), you can become an ambassador for the Kingdom of God (see also the free online books Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian and Is God Calling You?).

Those who believe that the USA and its British-descended allies will survive and not be punished for their immorality are in error.

Some items of related interest may include the following:

Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
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: Are Chinese threats against Australia for real?
Will the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic 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?
The King’s Pedigree This is an article published by the Otago Witness in 1902 related to connections of the British Throne to the throne of King David of Israel. This also has some modern commentary inserted in italics.
THE QUEEN’S ROYAL DESCENT FROM KING DAVID THE PSALMIST This is a listing from Adam to the Kings of Judah through Queen Victoria put together in the 19th century. A list from 19th century to present is also included.
Canada in Prophecy: What Does Bible Prophecy,Roman 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. A sermon of related interest is also available: Canada in Prophecy.
Australia and New Zealand in Prophecy Do biblical prophecies help explain the wealth blessings for Australia and New Zealand? Might cursings from disobedience come in the 21st century? Here is a link to a related sermon: Australia and New Zealand: Origins and Prophecy.
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. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
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? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
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 are links to three related videos: The King of the North is Alive: What to Look Out For. The Future King of the North, and Rise of the Prophesied King of the North.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children.  What should you do? Is there an agenda to turn your children and/or grandchildren away from biblical morality and towards practices promoted by homosexuals? What does the Bible teach about cross-dressing? What should parents do? If there is an agenda, what has been going on?  There are also three YouTube videos related to this, titled Transgender ‘Woe to those who call evil good’ and Cross dressing and Other Assaults Against Your Children and USA pushing gender confusion.
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda?  Can homosexuals change? A related video sermon is titled: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? A short video is available titled: Gay Gene? Born That Way?
Pornography: A scourge on society Is pornography harmless fun? Does the Bible teach anything about it? What are the views of some involved with it? A related sermons is titled: Pornography, False Comfort, and False Religion. Here a shorter YouTube video Pornography: Harmless Fun or a Scourge on Society?
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Real Conversion Many think that they are converted Christians. But are they? Would you like to know more about conversion?
False Conversion! Have you really been converted? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote an article on this important subject–but more scriptures have been added to it. How can you tell false conversion? A related video is also available: False Conversion. A Spanish language version is also available: Falsa Conversión.
About Baptism Should you be baptized? Could baptism be necessary for salvation? Who should baptize and how should it be done?
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details.  A Kindle version is also available 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 your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle),  you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.

Holy Roman Empire in the year 1250 (Alphathon)

COGwriter

A reader in Italy sent me a link to an article in Italian (https://www.maurizioblondet.it/veneziani-per-salvarci-dallue-ce-solo-il-sacro-romano-impero/) by Maurice Blondett which I machine-translated into English:

Venetians: to save us from the EU there is only the Holy Roman Empire

February 22, 2023

What if to save ourselves from the European Union, from globalization, from Chinese and American power, we had to rethink the Holy Roman Empire? I’m not crazy, I’m referring with some complicity, a thesis of the best known living Italian philosopher. …

The philosopher in question is  Giorgio Agamben, which many have known for his critical positions at the time of the pandemic and vacciniacracy. He won’t resume his thoughts on the liberticidal use of the pandemic but on something that is in heaven and not on earth. So the philosopher, once placed on the left even a radical, proposed the establishment of a “Latin empire” promoted by the three great Latin nations (France, Spain and Italy), in agreement with the Catholic Church and open to the Mediterranean countries. His dream, he writes explicitly on the Quodlibet website, is even the creation of a European Empire similar to the Austro-Hungarian one or to the Imperium longed for by Dante in De monarchia. Agamben draws his inspiration from the philosopher Alexandre Kojève, but his idea of ​​empire unites him to other living thinkers such as Remi Brague, Massimo Cacciari, and even Alain de Benoist.

Agamben argues that in the extreme situation in which we find ourselves, such an ancient political model can find an unexpected relevance. The necessary premise for this rediscovery, explains the philosopher, is that the citizens of the European nation states rediscover a link with their own places and with their own cultural traditions and project themselves into the idea of ​​a European citizenship, embodied not in a parliament or in obscure errands, but in symbolic power similar to the Holy Roman Empire. The problem of whether or not such a European empire is possible, says Agamben, does not interest us or correspond to our ideals: nevertheless it assumes a particular significance if we become aware that the current European community today has no real political consistency and has indeed transformed, like all the states that are part of it, in a sick organism that runs more or less consciously towards its own self-destruction. Thus spoke Agamben last February 6th. …

Curious that this vision does not come from a Pope, a Father of the Church, a Prophet, a Thinker of Tradition but from a philosopher who writes on the manifesto. From Karl Marx to Charlemagne.

Actually, various Roman Catholic leaders and ‘prophets’ have basically called for a new ‘Holy Roman Empire’ over the centuries. But the fact that some secularists are calling for it now is interesting.

Here is something from a Roman Catholic seer in the 5th century;

St. Remigius (494): “Take notice, my child,” St. Remigius said to King Clovis, “that the kingdom of France is predestined by God for the defense of the Roman Church, which is the only true Church of Christ. This kingdom shall one day be great among the kingdoms of the Earth, and shall embrace all the limits of the Roman Empire, and shall submit all other kingdoms to its own scepter. “It shall last until the end of time. “It shall be victorious and prosperous as long as it will remain faithful to the Holy Roman See, and will not be guilty of any of those crimes which ruin nations; but it shall be rudely punished every time that it will become unfaithful to its vocation.” (Rossi, p. 20)

Notice also:

Brother Louis Rocco (died 1840): A Catholic descendant of a German imperial house (Hapsburg?) will rule a united Germany with peace, prosperity and great power, for God will be with this sovereign (Great Monarch?)…A Great Monarch will arise after a period of terrible wars and persecutions in Europe. He will be a Catholic, he will not be a German (by birth?). (Culleton RG. The Prophets and Our Times. Nihil Obstat: L. Arvin. Imprimatur: Philip G. Scher, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno, November 15, 1941. Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL),).

Note: the parenthetical comments with question marks were inserted in the prediction by the Roman Catholic priest Culleton. His comments (which were written about 70 years ago) would point to someone such as the Baron, who is a descendant of the Habsburg/Hapsburg line. As far as not being German, perhaps it does not mean “by birth,” but perhaps could be interpreted to mean that he has a mixed heritage (as do most of the Habsburg line).  The Hapsburgs, for a time, ruled over the ‘Holy Roman Empire.’

Here is something from a Roman Catholic writer:

Ronald Conte, Jr. (21st century): The great Catholic monarch is said in various private revelations to be a descendant of the holy Roman emperors and the legitimate heir to the empire. (Conte Jr., Ronald L. The First Part of the Tribulation. Catholic Planet, 2015)

Regarding Roman Catholic private prophecies, Desmond A. Birch, a Roman Catholic writer, has made the following observations:

Several private prophecies of canonized Saints specifically state that there will be a latter restoration of the Holy Roman Empire and that there will be at least one last Holy Roman Emperor. The authenticity of the authorship of such prophecies of canonized Saints (e.g., St. Hildegard, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis of Paula, and St. John Vianney) at least over the last eight hundred years is scholastically unquestionable.

We are left with the options that:

(1) the prophecies are genuine,

(2) all of the Fathers and Saints, throughout the centuries who attested to some form of this tradition were deluded or mistaken in exactly the same way, or

(3) that they were all liars and part of a massive Catholic conspiracy which has spanned seventeen centuries, within which they are managed to tell exactly the same lies. (Birch DA. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph: Before During and After Antichrist. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta (CA), 1996,, p.281)

I would tend to suggest that there are other options to consider.  I believe that various Greco-Roman Catholic “prophets” have sometimes been deluded by demons and some have made statements from “the desires of their heart” (cf. Romans 1:2 Rheims NT) or “their imaginations” (KJV). It seems that certain of these prophecies are part of a Satanic conspiracy, sometimes with “Catholic” complicity, that has spanned more than seventeen centuries.

I would like to also emphasize that fact that not all the “prophecies” are written exactly the same way, which is consistent with demonic influence–as some “private prophecies” are in blatant contradiction to others.  Furthermore, related to the final “Holy Roman Emperor”, there are many Greco-Roman  Catholic and biblical prophecies that warn that the one who will raise up an ecumenical, changed church (apparently calling itself “Catholic”) and that this is NOT a good thing. It seems that some “Catholic” writers have unintentionally advocated the rise of one that sounds the same as the Beast of Revelation 13 (see also The Great Monarch: Biblical and Greco-Roman Catholic Prophecies).

Notice something from the old Worldwide Church of God:

Throughout the Middle Ages, leaders considered the Church at Rome to be God’s chosen instrument in spiritual matters. The Holy Roman Empire was regarded as God’s chosen political organization over Western Christendom. Pope and Emperor were regarded as God’s vice-regents on earth. This intimate alliance of Church and State served the needs of both institutions. The Empire exercised its political and military powers to defend religion and enforce internal submission through religious uniformity. The Church, in turn, acted as a glue for Europe, holding together the differing nationalities by the tie of common religion.

This ideal in Church-State relations was never completely realized, as we have seen in the frequent conflicts between Emperors and Popes … numerous revivals of the Roman Empire have arisen in Europe in the centuries since the fall of ancient Rome.

In Revelation 17, these revivals are represented by the seven heads of a wild animal. Six have already occurred, from Justinian to Mussolini. One last restoration of this great political system is yet to arise. This confederated Europe will be an immense political, military and economic power — a great Third Force in world affairs, a superpower in its own right. Prophecy further reveals that this powerful church-state union will be composed of “ten horns” — meaning 10 nations or groups of nations (Rev. l7:3) — under the overall leadership of a single political figure (verse 13). Europe will again have a single political head of state!

Moreover, prophecy foretells that a religious figure of unprecedented power and authority will sit astride the “empire,” directing it as a rider guides a horse (Rev. 17:3). To counter the ongoing spread of atheism, secularism and consumerism, the Vatican — as in centuries past — will be forced to become a major power in the international arena. The political muscle of the Papacy will be reinvigorated. (Stump K. The History of Europe and the Church. Ambassador College Publications, 1984)

As far as popes go, Pope Francis does have a plan for a Roman Empire and it includes Europe.

Pope Francis was given the 2016 ‘Charlemagne Prize’ (Pope Francis wins the ‘Charlemagne Prize’)–a prize given to the one who is recognized for promoting the most European unity.

The idea of a revived ‘Holy Roman Empire’ is not just some ‘pipe dream.’

When Europe was still recovering from being devastated in World War II, after attending a conference related to the start of the UN, in the December 1948 issue of The Plain Truth Herbert W. Armstrong predicted a coming “United States of Europe” when he wrote:

It was the SERMON that shot forth that spark, impregnating the minds of world leaders in attendance. This amazing sermon was delivered by a foremost radio speaker of the Catholic Church, Bishop Duane G. Hunt of Salt Lake City … Without the guidance, supervision, authority of the Catholic Church, he told these men, they were laboring in vain …

This was the Roman Catholic bid to resurrect the so-called “HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE” ! And PROPHECY says they will succeed! … At the psychological time, the pope will step in … Thru this political movement, he will UNIFY … nations in Europe. It will be a “The UNITED STATES OF EUROPE,” but that probably will never become its official name. (Armstrong HW. Now It Can Be Told…The Plain Truth, December 1948, pp. 2,5).

Notice the that Roman Catholic church expected to be involved and that Herbert W. Armstrong agreed with that.

Herbert W. Armstrong also warned:

 In the 17th chapter of Revelation we find a beast, and a woman — a great, wealthy woman called “a whore” — who was riding the beast.

The Bible describes the symbol “woman” to mean a CHURCH. See II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7; Eph. 5:23-27. On the other hand, “beast” is a symbol of a KINGDOM, or EMPIRE. The woman of the 17th chapter is described beyond possibility of doubt as the church which did reign over the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire. …

Prior to 554, Justinian had written a letter to the pope, acknowledging his supremacy in the West. And when he restored the empire in the West in 554, the popes dominated the Western Empire from Rome. The Roman Empire, thus restored to continue until 1814 (1260 years), became known later as “The HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.” We read in history that the popes were accepted as the “Vicars of Christ,” which means “IN PLACE OF Christ.” The teaching was that the Second Coming of Christ had occurred — Christ had returned to earth, as KING of kings and as LORD of lords, in the person of the popes. The millennium had begun.

For the entire 1260 years, the emperors accepted the popes as such, ruling the nations with a “rod of iron” as Christ is to do WHEN He really comes. Consequently they acknowledged the supreme religious power of the popes. The Church was organized as a GOVERNMENT — as a dual, two-fold government (symbolized by its TWO horns or kingdoms — for “horns” symbolize kingdoms also — see Dan. 7:24). It embodied CHURCH government, and it also was a STATE, or civil government, always occupying a certain amount of territory over which it, alone, ruled as an independent sovereign state — in addition to actually ruling over the vast civil kingdom called the Holy Roman Empire. Even today, it is a separate, independent, sovereign STATE. …

ALL who understand Bible prophecy that this 17th chapter of Revelation pictures the Roman Catholic Church ruling over the so-called Holy Roman Empire. …

Notice {Revelation 13} verse 14: “And DECEIVETH them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” Verse 13 says “he doeth great wonders.”

All Nations Deceived

   So notice these three points:
(1) This beast performs miracles.
(2) He performed them “in the sight of” the Holy Roman Empire, or the first beast.
(3) With them he DECEIVED all nations. (Armstrong HW. Who is the Beast? Radio Church of God, 1960)

The Bible points to a religion with deceptive signs being a factor in the coming European Babylonian beast power.

Will the European Union last as it is or will it reorganize into something like a revived ‘Holy Roman Empire’?

Well, the Bible clearly shows that Europe will reorganize under a ruler called the King of the North in Daniel 11:31-40 and he is called the Beast in Revelation 17:12-13:

12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.  (Revelation 17:12-13)

(More on the reorganization is discussed in the article: Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations?)

Notice also the following additional call to essentially reorganize Europe:

Europe Doesn’t Need the United States Anymore

Until EU leaders accept that the continent can stand on its own feet and Americans give up the role of global police, dependency on Washington will continue.

January 30, 2023

Russia is still regarded by many as a formidable military power and a dire threat, not only to Ukraine itself but also to Europe as a whole. This continues to be the predominant lesson drawn from the Russian military’s decision to invade what is—the European part of Russia aside—Europe’s largest country in land area and one of its most populous.

Driving this widespread assumption is the misguided notion that Europe is simply incapable of defending itself without the help of the United States and that in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine the U.S. military presence has to be beefed up—which it has. This belief is pervasive in the corridors of power in Washington and Europe and was reiterated most recently by Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in December.

This assessment—of a Europe rich and technologically advanced but in effect defenseless—was compelling for much of the Cold War. …

Given Europe’s massive advantage in resources, there is no reason why it cannot organize an effective defense against Russia. What, then, is stopping Europe from doing so? …

As a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution noted aptly, “Europe has wanted autonomy without providing adequate defense resources, while the United States has wanted greater European defense contributions without diminishing NATO and U.S. political influence.”

The U.S. government isn’t being disingenuous when it says it favors a strong Europe; it just fails to add that it also wants Europeans to remain dependent on U.S. protection and even compliant when it comes to U.S. preferences on matters of security.

The idea of Europe developing a self-sufficient military capability outside U.S.-dominated NATO has long been disliked in Washington. …

sustained increases in European defense spending; and substantially greater pan-European cooperation in armaments production to avoid duplication and leverage comparative advantages.

These changes will take time—but they can begin now. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/30/nato-europe-eu-defense-united-states/

Europe is in the process of changing.

The ‘Holy Roman Empire’ was mainly a Roman Catholic Empire.

Europe will bring in religion and use it for a time as it rises up.

Consider that its flag is a symbol of Roman Catholic Maryology. That influence, plus signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 13:11-18) will help bring Europe closer together after going it goes through several crises.

EU Flag

A while back, a the same reader who sent me the ‘Hoy Roman Empire’ article today, sent me a link to an another article in Italian, that I machine-translated into English. Here is some of what it said:

WHY NOW FOR THE ALLOY THE BLUE WILL REPLACE THE GREEN IN PONTIDA?

AND WHERE IS THE AZURE SYMBOL OF ITALY AND THAT (WITH THE TWELVE STARS) OF THE EUROPEAN FLAG?
Antonio Socci

A complaint arose yesterday from the front page of the “Giornale” : “Salvini even smashes blue at Forza Italia” . That “even” implied: in addition to the votes and the leadership of the center. …It all began on 21 June 1366 when Amedeo VI of Savoy set sail from Venice to the Holy Land, for the crusade wanted by Pope Urban V. On his flagship he waved the Savoy banner along with a blue banner with a crown of stars around it to the image of the Madonna. Which brings an invocation: “Mary Most Holy, help of Christians” .This is why the historian Luigi Cibrario – to whom we owe all this reconstruction – states: “ That color of heaven consecrated to Mary is, so far as I believe, the origin of our national color”. In fact, that Marian banner, after its first appearance on the ship of Amadeus VI, was taken over by some Savoy knights who began to gird themselves with blue scarves in honor of Our Lady.

It became the tradition of the officers and January 10, 1572 , by the will of Emanuele Filiberto , the blue scarf became solemnly part of the uniform of the Savoy and later the ‘ heraldry of the Kingdom of Italy .

The blue then marked the United Italy in military uniforms , then also in sports competitions from January 6, 1911 when it was worn by our national team in the game with Hungary in Milan.

So, if you consider the origin of that blue from the banner of the Madonna, you could also grasp a significant reference to Matteo Salvini who ended the last election campaign in Milan, in Piazza del Duomo, under “La Madunina”, showing from stage the crown of the Rosary and the Gospel .

THE EUROPEAN FLAG

Curiously, the iconography of the Marian banner of Amadeus VI of Savoy, which saw the Virgin surrounded by twelve stars, is exactly the same that in 1955 inspired the painter Arsène Heitz in creating the European flag: twelve golden stars in the blue field .

Arsène, a Catholic, wore around his neck the famous “Miraculous Medal” of Saint Catherine Labouré where there is precisely that image of the Madonna referring to the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse : “Then a great sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed in sun with the moon under his feet and on his head a crown of twelve stars “ .

Later, after the adoption of his flag by the Council of Europe (among more than a hundred proposals), the painter revealed what his design and the Marian reference meant.<

But that symbolism should not really be unknown to the leadership of Europe at that time, which was not that secular and technocratic today , but it was the deeply Christian Europe of De Gasperi, Adenauer and Schumann (not by chance the Treaties of Rome, birth of a united Europe, were signed in Rome on March 25, 1957, the feast of the Annunciation and the Incarnation ).

To understand the spiritual horizon of men who made Europe, it must be said that Paul Michel Gabriel Lévy, born on November 27th, the day of the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal , was an important Jewish intellectual who was deported by the Nazis to the concentration camp Braendonk, from where he fled in 1942. When he arrived in England he played a fundamental role in the liberation of prisoners from the Nazi death camps.

Lévy – second father Caillon – who became Catholic also presided over the commission for the “stained glass” of Europe, in the cathedral of Strasbourg .

There is the Virgin who takes her hands away to separate the European peoples who have waged war. At the top of the window is the twelve stars of the miraculous medal and the Apocalypse .

On December 13, 1955 , the Irish minister who presided over the Council of Europe, pronounced these solemn words to inaugurate the banner of Europe: “gentlemen, I have the honor to present this flag … waving for a long time, freely and in peace with the blessing of God “ .

In short, the blue of the Lega di Salvini, which incorporates Italian blue, has the same origin as the blue of the European flag, but of a Europe with solid Christian roots, not of Europe of Maastricht that has refused the reference to ” Christian roots “ . …

Blue is the color of Mary. I wonder if Calamandrei, who was a patriot, knew that Italian blue was coming from there. 30/06/18

Antonio Socci has long written on religious matters, and I even read a book he wrote on the ‘Lady of Fatima’ years ago.

As far as the EU flag goes, notice something that was in Vatican News back in 2012:

Symbolism of EU flag is Marian

22 October 2012

The symbol of Europe was conceived by a Catholic and tomorrow, for the first time, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be carried past the EU Parliament building…

Lorenzo Fontana and Mario Borghesio said the arrival of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in Strasbourg is “a unique event.” “Few people know that the symbol of unified Europe has exquisitely Marian origins, as the European Union’s official flag proves with its twelve stars and the Virgin Mary’s blue and white colours.”…

A competition was held in order to choose the flag and French Catholic designer Arsène Heitz won. The meaning of the flag’s symbolism can be found in an image of Marian devotion…

Heitz was inspired by the “Miraculous Medal” he wore around his neck: a medal named after apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Catherine Laboure in 1830. It was the Virgin Mary who told the nun to have twelve stars struck on the medal, in representation of the the stars on the crown worn by the woman in the Book of Revelation. Saint Bernadette Soubirous also had a necklace made of tin and string around her neck when the Virgin Mary appeared to her on 11 February 1858, dressed in white and blue.

Arsène Heitz did not reveal the symbol’s biblical origin (he only did so later on), but claimed the number twelve was meant to symbolise ancient wisdom, a “symbol of completeness”. This interpretation stuck and the number was confirmed in the constitutional treaty. So the European flag has a powerful Christian and Marian significance. Tomorrow Mary will “take back” the EU. http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/europa-europe-19118/

(It may be of interest to note that the statue claimed to be the Lady of Fatima going to the EU does not look anything like how the three children who saw the apparition described it. For details, including pictures of the Fatima statue and what was really seen, please check out the book Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions or not you believe anything happened at Fatima, if you live long enough, you will be affected by its ramifications (cf. Isaiah 47; Revelation 17). Fatima Shock! provides concerned Christians with enough Roman Catholic-documented facts to effectively counter every false Marian argument. In addition to the print version, there is a Kindle version of Fatima Shock! which you can acquire in seconds.)

As far as the Vatican’s version of Mary goes, Pope Francis has announced two Marian holidays during his pontificate.

Pushing his version of ‘Mary’ is something Pope Francis has been doing for years. It is part of his ecumenical, interfaith, and European agendas.

European agenda?

Yes.

In addition to Pope Francis getting the Charlemagne Prize for his promoting of European unity, the Church of Rome has other ties from ‘Mary’ to Europe.

Bible prophecy show that there will be something resembling a United States of Europe, with a dictatorial head (cf. Revelation 17:12-13). Biblical, as well as Greco-Roman Catholic prophecy, suggest that signs and enchantments from one called a “virgin” and “Lady” will happen at the time of the end (cf. Isaiah 47).

As far as the comment in the Vatican News that Mary will “take back” the EU, notice the following:

R. Gerald Culleton (20th century): During the reign of the Great Monarch and the Angelic Pastor the Catholic Church will spread throughout the world, conversions will be innumerable…The Blessed Virgin will be the chief one in gaining victory over all heresy…

Blessed Hieronymus Agathaghelos (1279): The Angel, Mary and John, along with the great and first among martyrs…will intercede.

Anna-Katrina Emmerick (July 12, 1820): When the Mass had ended, Mary came up to Henry (the Emperor), and she extended her right hand towards him, saying that it was in recognition of his purity. Then, she urged him not to falter…

Catholic writer Yves Dupont (20th century): Henry is the Great Monarch…The Blessed Virgin urges him not to falter.

Saint Louis de Montfort (18th century): These great souls…shall be singularly devouted to our Blessed Lady, illuminated by her nourishment, led by her spirit, supported by her arm, and sheltered under her protection, so that they shall fight in one hand and build with the other. With the one hand they shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms…

The Ecstatic of Tours: …the French people will… implore the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary Immaculate…The French people will ask for the good King…this King…will ascend to the throne; he will free the church and reassert the Pope’s rights…

Sister Marie Lataste (died 1847): Peace shall return to the world because of Blessed Virgin Mary will breathe over the storms and quell them.

Pope Pius IX (died 1878): We expect that the Immaculate Virgin…will gain in influence from day to day among all nations and in all places, prosper and rule from ocean to ocean…to the ends of the earth…there will be one fold and one shepherd. (Thiel B. Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions, 2nd edition. 2012, pp. 204-205)

The “Great Monarch” according to Greco-Roman Catholic mystics will be the final emperor of Europe, and according to various mystics, “Mary” will assist him in his objectives–including helping get Europeans (and others) to accept a more ecumenical form of Greco-Roman Catholicism. The heretics that the Marian apparitions are prophesied to crush include, in my view, true Christians–none of whom will want to be involved in praising false apparitions.

And Pope Francis is trying to push more Marianism.

There will be much more involving what is and will be claimed to be “Mary” than most, especially in Europe, realize.  Notice the following:

The Father wants the world to recognize His handmaid…My sign is about to appear. God wills it…I cannot reveal my power to the world as yet… Then I will be able to reveal myself…Pray and sacrifice through me!…I will impose crosses on my children that will be as heavy and as deep as the sea.

Notice that this apparition is claiming that in a future time, she will become known to the world (and that she wants sacrifices through herself, apparently for her glory). (Thiel B. Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions, 2nd edition. 2012, pp. 208-209)

Presuming that apparitions claiming to be Mary will become publicly seen (as opposed to by a few individuals), this will likely deceive many (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12; Matthew 24:24), and may lead to stronger temporary unity in Europe.

Pope Francis and the Vatican continue to promote ‘Mary.’ The European Union is also doing it, though many do not realize that.

Remember that the Beast is to rise up and begin persecution (cf. Daniel 11:28-35) after the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6:1-8) begin their rides (cf. Revelation 6:9-11).

Despite complaints, problems, and disunity in Europe, Europe will fulfill its biblically-prophesied role (cf. Daniel 2:41-43) and the involvement of a claimed “virgin” (Isaiah 47) that really is a harlot (Revelation 17 & 18) is expected. And that will not bode well for the UK, USA, or their Anglo-allies (Daniel 11:39), nor ultimately the Europeans.

Even some secular writers seem to be calling for Europe to reorganize as some version of the ‘Holy Roman Empire.’

Steps towards that are actually being taken.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and the Book of Revelation discusses the largest church since the second/third century, which in a real sense is the eighth church mentioned in the Book of Revelation (it also endorses “eighth day” worship). What church would support the Beast? Here is a link to a video titled: Europe and the ‘Holy Roman Empire’.
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? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
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 are links to three related videos: The King of the North is Alive: What to Look Out For. The Future King of the North, and Rise of the Prophesied King of the North.
The Great Monarch: Biblical and Greco-Roman Catholic Prophecies Is the ‘Great Monarch’ of Greco-Roman Catholic prophecies endorsed or condemned by the Bible? Two sermons of related interest are also available: Great Monarch: Messiah or False Christ? and Great Monarch in 50+ Beast Prophecies.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What happened at Fatima? What might they mean for the rise of the ecumenical religion of Antichrist? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How do the Eastern/Greek Orthodox view Mary? How might Mary view her adorers? Here is a link to a YouTube video Marian Apparitions May Fulfill Prophecy. Here is a link to a sermon video: Why Learn About Fatima?
Fatima and the ‘Miracle’ of the Sun On October 13, 1917, tens of thousands of people witnessed what they considered to be a miracle in the sky in Fatima, Portugal. Was this a miracle from God? Can you be certain? A video of some related interest is Fatima and Pope Francis. Here is a link to the sermon: Fatima and the ‘Miracle of the Sun’.
The ‘Lady’ of Guadalupe: Any Future Ramifications? It is claimed that a female apparition appeared near Mexico City on December 12, 1531. How has it affected the world? What might it suggest about the future? A video of related interest is titled: The ‘Lady of Guadalupe’ and Prophecy.
Pope Francis: Could this Marian Focused Pontiff be Fulfilling Prophecy? Pope Francis has taken many steps to turn people more towards his version of ‘Mary.’ Could this be consistent with biblical and Catholic prophecies? This article documents what has been happening. There is also a video version titled Pope Francis: Could this Marian Focused Pontiff be Fulfilling Prophecy?
Feast of the Immaculate Conception? Did early Christians teach Mary had an immaculate conception and led a sinless life?
Origin of the Marian Dogmas: Where Do Catholic Scholars Say The Four Dogmas of Mary Came From?
Assumption of Mary Did Mary die? Was she taken to heaven on August 15th? What is known? What does the Bible show?
Fatima Shock! What the Vatican Does Not Want You to Know About Fatima, Dogmas of Mary, and Future Apparitions. Whether or not you believe anything happened at Fatima, if you live long enough, you will be affected by its ramifications (cf. Isaiah 47; Revelation 17). Fatima Shock! provides concerned Christians with enough Roman Catholic-documented facts to effectively counter every false Marian argument. In addition to the print version, there is a Kindle version of Fatima Shock! which you can acquire in seconds.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.