New American dream is to leave the USA? For Philadelphian Christians that would not be a new one.
Treasury building in Petra
Saw the following several hours ago:
‘The new American dream is to leave’: Most in the US don’t believe hard work will get you ahead. Here’s what some are striving for instead
January 3, 2024
The American dream has morphed into a pipe dream for many people living in the U.S.
At the heart of the national ethos is the belief that anyone can rise from rags to riches through hard work and perseverance. In the past, that was symbolized by owning a large house with a white-picket fence, driving a nice car and having a happy, healthy and well-educated family.
But 45% of people think the American dream no longer holds true, …
So, what is the new American dream?
For some — like TikTok influencer and full-time traveler Bryn Elise — “the new American dream is to leave.”
As many Americans experience economic disenfranchisement at home, a few may be looking beyond U.S. borders to locate life’s sparkle.
New American dream
The Association of American Residents Overseas (AARO) estimates that at least 5.4 million Americans lived abroad in 2023. The biggest share of expats (40%) are thought to live in the Western hemisphere — Canada, Central and South America — or Europe (26%), while 14% headed to East Asia and the Pacific.
Elise described in a video posted June 23 that for some the new dream was to “pack up and head to a quiet European town or a beachside village in Asia; somewhere where we aren’t being poisoned by our food, we don’t need 2-3 jobs to survive and where health care isn’t the luxury but the norm. …
Elise extols the virtues of being a digital nomad.
“Hands down, the best part about being a U.S. citizen is our ability to leave the U.S. and travel abroad to seek out a better life,” Elise said. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-dream-leave-most-us-123000387.html
Yes, many retirees have found the USA too expensive and have moved out of there. Others have also left for other reasons.
From a biblical perspective, those of us in the Continuing Church of God realize that one day the USA will be conquered and taken over, per scriptures such as Daniel 11:39, Habakkuk 2:6-8, and Isaiah 10:5-11.
Once that happens, the USA dollar will be worth no more than its scrap or collector value. Hence, although those who leave the USA will be more likely to survive the initial attack that will destroy that nation, they, if they are depending on US Social Security or other US dollar sources, will find that they will be in a bad way.
That said, the idea of Philadelphian Christians leaving America, America in this case meaning the USA and Canada, has long been the position of the Philadelphian portion of the Church of God.
One speculated location has been Petra in the nation of Jordan.
Back in April 1962, the old Radio Church of God published the following from the late Dr. Herman Hoeh:
Let’s open our Bibles to see why Petra has puzzled scholars and Bible students for centuries.
The true Church of God is pictured in Revelation 12. It is symbolized by a woman-the bride of Christ. But it is a persecuted woman-a Church hated by the world. According to verse 6 the Church fled the first time from her persecutors for 1260 years – during the Middle Ages. But verse 14 unveils another flight of the Church-in the very last days. This time the duration is only 3 1/2 years! “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle”-supernatural deliverance-“that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time”–3 1/2 years.
This prophecy has never been understood by the world because the world cannot understand to whom this prophecy refers. It does not recognize who are the true Church. It sees only the false churches, described in Revelation 17.
But consider now the special time of this prophecy about protection in a mysterious wilderness. Notice exactly which period in the history of God’s Church the escape shall occur. Turn to Revelation 3:7-13. This is addressed to the Philadelphia Era of God’s Church –the Church before whom Christ opens the door to preach His gospel around the world (verse 8). Because this Church has kept Gods word, Jesus promises: “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation”-the time of trial–“which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth’ (verse 10). Here is a world-wide terror to come upon all nations. This is not for the slow-moving past. It is a prophecy for the pulsating present the last days of human history–just before God intervenes to set up His Kingdom to bring peace at last.
Here is a prophecy for this generation- at the very time God’s Church is preaching and publishing the Gospel of the Kingdom of God world-wide. This prophecy is about us!
But how will Jesus keep us from the coming trial and persecution? We just read the answer from Revelation 12! There is a place of safety, in a wilderness, for the people of God.
But where is that wilderness?
That is the mystery that has puzzled so many for so long! God has kept it a mystery so the world would not know. He has even kept it hidden from God’s Church in the past so His people would have their minds on their work! It is only those who are having a part in the work of God-who have their minds on the Kingdom of God, not some physical place of protection–who will escape. That escape cannot be planned for in advance. It is a supernatural escape!
Remember, if the Christians in Jerusalem in apostolic days had quit their work and prematurely escaped to Pella before A.D. 69, they would have been destroyed by the Roman armies who devastated the city. It was only those who completed the work of God who reached safety in A.D. 69 after the Romans destroyed Pella!
That is why God has veiled the exact place of escape from human eyes all these years. But as the days draw closer to the time of the end, the light of prophecy shines ever more clearly! When the moment comes that we need to know where that place of safety is, Christ will make it known. Meanwhile we need to keep our eyes open and our minds yielded-drinking in the implications of prophecy for this Church today! But where does Petra fit in all this?
An Old Testament Prophecy
Turn to Isaiah 42:l0-13. Here is a prophecy for today-a time of divine intervention, verse 14. Now read verse 11 from the Jewish Publication Society translation according to the original inspired Hebrew:
“Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit”–the descendants of Kedar are the Bedouin Arabs who dwell throughout the Middle East in black tents. Here we have a wilderness located in the Arab world! But continue reading: “Let the inhabitants of Sela exult. Let them shout from the top of the mountains.” The inhabitants of Sela? Who are they? And where is Sela? (In the King James Version the word for Sela is translated “rock.”)
Any Bible student knows that Sela is the Hebrew name of Petra! Sela means Rock–in Hebrew; Petra means Rock in Greek! But Sela or Petra is fundamentally uninhabited today, save for a few dozen wandering Bedouin. These are not the inhabitants in this verse, for notice verse 12: “Let them’’–the inhabitants of Petra or Sela–“give glory unto the Lord”–the Bedouin do not know God, they are Mohammedan–“and declare His praise in the islands.”
Which islands? The islands which Israel inhabits–Isaiah 41:1 and 8. God is certainly not going to use a few uneducated, ignorant Mohammedan Bedouin to declare His glory in the islands and coastlands of Northwestern Europe -where Israel is today! This prophecy resurrection and the return of Christ in power and glory. Christ is going to use His servants–now immortal in the Kingdom of God–to proclaim His intervention and the establishment of His Kingdom over all the earth. He is going to use the very ones whom He is now using to proclaim His message. Then they will finally heed!
Isn’t this prophecy a clear indication that the place of safety for the people of God who are now doing the work of God–and broadcasting to the islands and coastlands of Northwestern Europe–is in an Arabian wilderness, where the Bedouin dwell and is probably at Sela, or Petra?
Supernatural Protection
Turn now to another parallel passage, this time Isaiah 33. Read especially verses 13-17. Notice the time setting. It is when the worlds ambassadors, who seek to make peace, suddenly find the world caught up in frightful destruction (verses 7-8).
Beginning with verse 13 God warns the House of Israel-the “sinners in Zion”-of their sins (verse 14). “Who will be able to live through the endtime fiery atomic and hydrogen warfare?” God asks (verse 14). Those who obey Him, declares verse 15. But where will they go?
Verses 16 and 17 answer! “He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks.. .” This verse is poorly translated in most versions because the translators did not understand the prophecy. The true meaning has been hidden. The place of protection shall be, not munitions of rocks, but the “strongholds of Sela!” The original, inspired Hebrew, mistranslated “munitions,” is metsad, and means a stronghold or a castle or a fort. And the word for “rock” in this verse is Sela, the name of Petra in the Hebrew language!
Petra is a dry, barren area. It hardly provides a few dozen Bedouin sufficient sustenance. How are all of the faithful people of God to be provided for? Continue with the end of verse 16: “…his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” Here also is supernatural provision! Remember what happened to the children of Israel in the Sinai wilderness? God supernaturally provided them food and water nearly 40 long years! God can do the same today! It is not those who heap up provisions that shall escape! It is those who obey God, who do His work, and who trust Him to provide the necessities and the divine protection when that time arrives!
Verse 17 completes the picture: “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off’-or “they shall behold a land stretching afar,” according to the Jewish translation. We shall see Him as He is (I John 3:2). Notice also that those in safety see “the land”-Palestine, the promised land stretching into the distance. Surely here is another indication of the high rocky crags of Petra from which one may look northwest to the promised land.
Place of Safety
Perhaps the most commonly quoted verses about Petra are found in Isaiah 16. The prophecy is found in verses 1 to 5. It is a message to Moab-modern Jordan, in whose territory Petra or Sela is presently located. Verse 1 should read: “Send ye the lambs for the Ruler of the land from Sela that is toward the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion” (compare the KJV with the JPS translation).
The time setting of this prophecy is the return of Christ to rule the nations. He is the King of the land. The Moabites are commanded to seek Him, to send Him an offering as a token of their submission. The offering comes from Sela. But why are the Moabites found in Sela, when only Bedouin dwell there today? The succeeding verses answer: “For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters”– and‘ descendants–“of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.” Other prophecies picture hordes from the east capturing the land east of the Jordan. (See Ezekiel 25:l0.) As these Communist hordes plunge toward Palestine, slaughtering as they go, a pitiful remnant–described in Jeremiah 48:1-25–escapes at the Arnon (a stream running into the Dead Sea). The Moabite refugees flee southward for protection. Why? Is it perhaps because they have known of others already there in a place of safety? Now look at verse 4. God is addressing Moab: “Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler.”
So there are others there already. “Mine outcasts,” God calls them. God’s people, who flee from the world, refugees or outcasts! … The Moabites are commanded to “Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as night in the midst of the noon day; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive” (JPS trans.). …
Now compare this prophecy with Jeremiah 48:28, “O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock”–Sela, in Hebrew–“and be like the dove that makes her nest in the sides of the holes mouth”! A perfecr description of Petra, with its caves!
Isaiah 16:5 then reveals the very next prophetic event to occur: “And a throne is established through mercy, and there sitteth thereon in truth, in the tent of David, One that judgeth, and seeketh justice, and is ready in righteousness” (JPS trans.). Christ is now pictured as seated on the throne of David! Surely this indicates that God‘s outcasts in Isaiah 16 are the same as those mentioned in Revelation 12 who escape to the wilderness-shortly before the return of Christ!
Let me add that some Protestants, probably because they do not keep the Ten Commandments, feel that Petra is a place of protection for Jews who will convert to Christianity, partially based on scriptures such as Revelation 12:14-17.
In the New Testament, while not all Christians are promised physical protection, the Philadelphian Christians are promised to be protected from the Great Tribulation and this place of protection is in the wilderness according to the Book of Revelation:
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie — indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:7-10)
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 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 12:13-17)
Notice that Revelation 12:17 shows that there are two groups of Christians, and only one group is protected in the wilderness.
Being a wilderness, this is not heaven. Nor, based on other prophecies, will this be the USA or Canada (see 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?).
While Petra may not be the place, it is in an area to be considered.
I should probably mention that some have alleged that the idea of Petra and the ‘place of safety’ were non-biblical inventions of Loma and/or Herbert W. Armstrong. This is not the case. The idea of the biblical, cave-containing area of Sela (which could be Sela or the area currently known as Petra) being a place of protection for God’s people predates the Armstrongs mentioning it by over one-half of a century (and likely even before then).
Although the F.W. Farrar (author of the following had timing issues), notice what he wrote related to Revelation 12:14:
But the Woman, the Mother-Church … flies to the Wilderness–to Petra … and is safe there for 1,260 days. … The Dragon is overcome by Michael, and the Woman, aided by eagle-wings of divine protection, escapes in safety. (Farrar FW. The Messages of the Books: Being Discourses and Notes on the Books of the New Testament. E.P. Dutton and Co., 1885, pp. 523-524)
So, F.W. Farrar pointed to Petra being a place of safety for 3 1/2 years.
Other 19th century Protestant commentators, such as from the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges refer to the outcasts of Isaiah 16:4 as “protected guests,” whereas Barnes’ Notes on the Bible states related to parts of Isaiah 16:
From Sela in the wilderness – The word ‘Sela’ (סלע sela’) means “a rock;” and by it here there can be no doubt that there is intended the city of that name which was the capital of “Arabia Petrea.”… Vitringa says that that desert around Petra was regarded as a vast common, on which the Moabites and Arabians promiscuously fed their flocks. The situation of the city of Sela, or (Ï€ÎÏ„Ïα petra) Petra, meaning the same as Sela, a rock, was for a long time unknown, but it has lately been discovered. …
Let mine outcasts – This may be understood as the language of Judea, or of God. ‘Mine outcasts’ may mean the exiles of Judea, or God may call them “his.” … and God claims for them protection.
Dwell with thee – Not dwell permanently, but sojourn (יגוּרוּ yÄgûrû), let them remain with you as exiles; or let them find a refuge in your land.
Be thou a covert to them – A refuge; a hiding-place; a place of “secrecy” (סתר sêther).
From the face of the spoiler – That is, the conqueror …
The spoiler would be the Beast, and two-horned beast (the final Antichrist), who is associated with that conqueror (cf. Revelation 13).
Notice the following regarding the Hebrew word translated as covert:
OT:5643
OT:5643 cether (say’-ther); or (feminine) cithrah (Deuteronomy 32:38), (sith-raw’); from OT:5641; a cover (in a good or a bad, a literal or a figurative sense) … covering, covert, disguise [-th], hiding place, privily, protection, secret (-ly, place). (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006, 2010 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Hence, scripture refers to a place of protection, which could also be considered to be a place of safety.
Therefore, we see that various ones other than the Armstrongs, wrote and/or saw ties in with the cave-filled area of Petra and protection for God’s people.
It should also be understood that Greco-Roman Catholic writers such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus also believed that there was a physical place to flee to (see Is There A Secret Rapture for the Church? When and Where is the Church Protected?). Also, later Roman Catholic writers have confirmed this. Notice the following from a 20th century priest commenting on Revelation 12:14:
Verse 14…
She is given “two wings” of a Great Eagle. This intimates a rescue by airplane. …
The “Great Eagle” may send or have present a powerful airplane to bring its citizens home … God promises that those who trust in Him shall take “wings as eagles”. The “wings” of the great eagle will enable the woman to fly into the wilderness. This wilderness is a heathen nation …
The great eagle therefore, as a nation, has never been Catholic. The word “eagle” suggests that the nation may have become great by conquest. This eagle will protect and shelter the Church during the reign of the Beast. The place of safety for the woman … will refuse to join Antichrist and will protect the Church during his domination of the world…
The time is stated in three different ways, in years, months and days to make the literal meaning unmistakably certain. Evidently it is three and a half years actual time. The time given in verse 14 is indefinite, similar to that of Daniel (XII. 7); But since in Daniel (XII. 11) it seems to mean 1290 days, so here it evidently synchronizes with the 1260 days of verse 6 and the same period in chapter eleven. (Kramer H.B. L. The Book of Destiny. Nihil Obstat: J.S. Considine, O.P., Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur: +Joseph M. Mueller, Bishop of Sioux City, Iowa, January 26, 1956. Reprint TAN Books, Rockford (IL),pp. 296-297)
Thus, we also see from Roman Catholic writings that the idea of a physical place of safety was not a new invention of one of the Armstrongs. Additionally, even the Rheims New Testament commentary admits that the Bible teaches that there is a place in the desert for the true church to flee:
The Church shall flee as to a desert in Antichrist’s time, but not decay or be unknown, no not for so short a time. (p. 556).
Furthermore, it is my opinion that the demons themselves know about this place (recall that even Satan quoted scripture to Christ, see Matthew 4).
Notice that the power behind the “secret society” is expected to be hidden in a cave:
Anne Catherine Emmerich (October 1820): I saw the secret society undermining the great church and near them a horrible beast … concealing itself in a cave (Emmerich AC. The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Volume 2, p.290).
That said, yes, scripture points to Philadelphian Christians fleeing to a wilderness location.
Regarding the letter to the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, Revelation 3:10-11 states:
10 Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold I come quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
The Philadelphians are the only ones that God promises to keep “from the hour of trial that comes upon the whole world.”
Regarding the letter to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, it shows they walk a different path: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (v.19).
What are the differences between those groups? To the Philadelphians, Jesus said,
8 I know your works. See I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have have a little strength, kept My word, and have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:8)
The message starts out the same for the Laodiceans, “I know your works…” but it certainly does not end the same–
15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (Revelation 3:15-18).
The Philadelphians are promised to be kept from the hour of trial because they kept God’s “command to persevere” or as the AV says “kept the word of my patience” (v. 10). If the Philadelphia era of the Church existed while Herbert W. Armstrong was alive (as he believed it did), could this possibly mean that the remaining remnant of the Philadelphia era are the ones who still believe, teach, and practice what Jude referred to as “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3)? (Click here for the article What is a True Philadelphian?) Would this not include the 18 truths that HWA restored to the Church of God without adding extrabiblical requirements?
Would not this Church also have the same priority of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (in the Continuing Church of God, we have a book on this translated into over 1000 languages–see Preaching the Gospel in Over 1000 Languages) to the world? Remember Jesus said, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Luke 12:43).
Where could the place be?
David wrote:
5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5).
This may have a dual meaning. It may be referring to the tribulation and may also be referring to an interesting event in David’s life. David was hiding in the woods from Saul (1 Samuel 23:19), and
25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon … 26 … So David made haste to get away from Saul … 28 … so they called that place the Rock of Escape. (1 Samuel 23:25,26,28)
The word translated ‘Rock’ is Sela and the word translated as ‘rock’ are derivatives of the same word. Thus there was a Sela of Escape for David. Let me add that although Petra and Sela basically mean the same thing, currently there is a rocky place in Jordan, north of Petra, that is called Sela. Petra, itself, is at coordinates: 30.3285° N, 35.4444° E, while Sela is at 30°46′17″N 35°34′59″E.
Now Jesus taught, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20) which is consistent with Revelation 12:14 which clearly states that it is a place to go to, it is in the wilderness, and it is away from the presence of the serpent. The word translated as wilderness, is translated as desert in the NIV. This word is eremos, which Strong’s Concordance defines as lonesome, waste, desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness. Thus, it is not protection in our own houses (as some have erroneously suggested) nor is it protection in a large city nor is it in heaven (which is not a wilderness). It is somewhere in the wilderness.
There is another passage of scripture that may be alluding to a Jordanian location for the place, which states,
5 If you have run with footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they have wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of Jordan? 6 For even you brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; Yes they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you” (Jeremiah 12:5-6).
Yes, persecution will be worse than the name calling, insults, censoring, economic persecution, and other things many have had to endure in the 21st century. Those who cannot handle what is coming are NOT expected to be protected in the place in the wilderness during the Great Tribulation. The implication of Jeremiah’s writing to God’s people is if you are having a difficult time living in a relatively peaceful land, what will happen to you when you are being pursued by ‘a multitude’ in the ‘floodplain of Jordan’? Remember, the serpent spews out a flood to try to destroy those who flee to the wilderness (Revelation 12:14-15). Thus it is possible that this is at least part of why Jeremiah is warning God’s people about how they will do in the ‘floodplain of Jordan’ (many maps suggest this floodplain looks like it is east of Jerusalem, God’s people would probably need to cross it if they arrive in Jerusalem and head towards towards caves in Jordan).
It is possible there could be a city near the location, or eventually as the location:
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, That they might go to a city for a dwelling place (Psalm 107:2-7 ).
These verses may be saying that after being in the wilderness, that possibly God’s redeemed may end up dwelling in a city. There is a town near Petra, called Wadi-Musa. Wadi-Musa still is in the wilderness. In biblical times, a town of that size would have been considered a city. Thus it may possibly be a place that Philadelpians will dwell for a short time, as for a while they will apparently need to be in caves in Moab (Jeremiah 48:28).
While my wife Joyce and I would prefer it to be a place like Kauai, it is most likely a place in a country like Jordan.
While going there may not be considered as “the American dream,” it has been the hope for Philadelphian Christians for at least many decades.
UPDATE 01/0724: We just uploaded the following related video:
Leaving the American Dream for Safety
Many Americans are struggling financially and one survey pointed to 45% saying that they do not believe the American dream of prosperity is valid any more. Furthermore, it has been claimed by Bryn Elise that “the new American dream is to leave” and “pack up and head to … somewhere where we aren’t being poisoned by our food, we don’t need 2-3 jobs to survive and where health care isn’t the luxury but the norm.” What will happen to their USA dollars after the USA is conquered? Are all people around the world about to have nowhere to hide, according to Michael Snyder, once more and more Artificial Intelligence is used? Philadelphian Christians have long felt that Americans (and others) will flee and escape to a place of safety in the wilderness, consistent with prophecies in Revelation 3:7-13 and 12:13-17. If so, how can they eat if the coming Beast and Antichrist power control buying and selling as Revelation 13:15-18 prophecies? Does the Bible give clues as to where a place of protection and escape could be? What about Moab in Isaiah 16 and references to Jordan in Jeremiah? What about Petra or some other rocky and cave-filled place in Jordan? Will only a minority of end-time Christians go there? How will they know when to go, as well as where not to go, according to Zephaniah 2? What did Jesus say to do? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these questions.
Here is a link to our video: Leaving the American Dream for Safety.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Near Petra This article discusses a biblical ‘place of safety,’ Zephaniah 2 to ‘gather together,’ and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on fleeing to a place–thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory. Two sermon-length videos of related interest are available Physical Protection During the Great Tribulation and Might Petra be the Place of Safety? Here is something related in the Spanish language: Hay un lugar de seguridad para los Filadelfinos. ¿Puede ser Petra?
Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism? Was the millennium (sometimes called chiliasm) taught by early Christians? Who condemned it? Will Jesus literally reign for 1000 years on the earth? Is this time near? Three related sermons are available Let’s Talk About the Earthly Millennium, Millennial Utopia, and The Millennium.
Could 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? 2031 or 2025 or? There is also a video titled: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone in 2028? Could the USA be gone by the end of 2028 or earlier? 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?
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots. They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 50+ Laodicean Prophetic Errors. See also Do You Hold to Any of These Laodicean Prophetic Errors?
 |
Tweet |
|