Bible Believers' Newsletter 616
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We welcome your questions and suggestions, and if you have not received our PowerPoint presentation, "The Second Coming of Christ," we will send the CD upon receipt of your postal address.
"The people will be crushed under the burden of taxes, loan after loan will be floated; after having drained the present, the State will devour the future" (Fredric Bastiat).
This week we received the following email:
"Hello, I'm the webmaster of senate.gov
We Change our webadress and want to request your help, if you could change your link from: nl577.htm to our new website. Our new webadress is http://www.govsenate.com/ you would help us very much to make the change sucsesfull.
Kind Regards Webmaster of senate.gov"
The grammar (sic) and spelling (sic) mark the letter as authentic. So we wrote asking why the sole Superpower has changed its Senate website from the orthodox .gov to a .com domain. Could this somehow be connected to the lien over the United States by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and the People's Republic of China?
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just that His justice cannot sleep forever" (Thomas Jefferson 1781: 3rd US President quoted on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC).
2010 promises to be a year of much trembling.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
Executive Order Establishment of the Council of Governors
January 11, 2010 — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1822 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-181), and in order to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State governments to protect our Nation and its people and property, it is hereby ordered as follows: . . . Full story: whitehouse.gov
Comment: Will the 10 Governors correspond to the 10 FEMA regions that override States' boundaries and laws and be responsible to the Secretary of Defense and the President as Commander in Chief? All States would then be administered militarily. Carefully read Section 2 Functions, and you will clearly see how inclusive these functions can be.
This Executive Order along with all those previously signed, Presidential Decision Directive 51 and others will be used to destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights and render each American into no more than a member of a work gang subject to control of a Regional Military Governor under the Secretary of Defense under the President. Posse Comitatus, Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights are then void, and only the whims and subjective decisions of the Regional Military Governor, as directed by the President via the Secretary of Defense and executed by Northcom troopers who now include US, Canadian, Mexican, and other foreign troops as well as mercenaries and the States' National Guards, Militias, and Police agencies will be the Iron Fist that rules the Land.
7.2 Solomon's Quake; 6.5 Quake off California; 7.0 Quake in Haiti
Honiara, January 7, 2010 — Landslides and a tsunami have destroyed the homes of about one-third of the population... no injuries were reported some 30 hours after the biggest in a series of quakes churned a tsunami that was up to 3m high as it ploughed into the coast. But more than 1,000 people have been affected after about 200 houses were destroyed on Rendova, an island 300km from the capital, Honiara. . . Photographs . . . showed debris lining the foreshore and damaged houses on the coasts . . . as well as deep scars on hills and cliffs caused by landslides. . .
Full story: theaustralian.com.au
Fresno, January 9, 2010 — A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California, shaking buildings south of the Oregon border and knocking out power in several coastal communities. Full story: online.wsj.com
Haiti, January 12, 2010 — The Haiti earthquake occurred in the boundary region separating the Caribbean plate and the North America plate. . . The location and focal mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with the event having occurred as left-lateral strike slip faulting on the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system. . . Full story: usgs.gov
Yemen: Behind Al-Qaeda Scenarios, a Geopolitical Oil Chokepoint to Eurasia
January 4, 2010 — On December 25 US authorities arrested a Nigerian named Abdulmutallab aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on charges of having tried to blow up the plane with smuggled explosives.
Days later an online video from al-Wahayshi appeared under the alarming title, "We Start from Here and We Will Meet at al-Aqsa". . . the site of the destroyed Temple of Solomon, which Muslims call Al Haram Al Sharif. The video threatens Muslim leaders—including Yemeni's President Saleh, the [Jewish] Saudi royal family, and Egyptian President Mubarak—and promises to take the jihad from Yemen to Israel to "liberate" Muslim holy sites and Gaza, something that would likely detonate World War III if anyone were mad enough to do it.
Also in that video, in addition to former Guantanamo inmate al-Shihri, is a statement from Abu-al-Harith Muhammad al-Awfi, identified as a field commander in the video and allegedly former Guantanamo detainee 333. As it is well-established that torture methods are worthless to obtain truthful confessions, some have speculated that the real goal of CIA and Pentagon interrogators at Guantanamo prison since September 2001, has been to use brutal techniques to train or recruit sleeper terrorists who can be activated on command by US intelligence . . .
The curious emergence of a tiny but well-publicized al Qaeda in southern Yemen amid what observers call a broad-based popular-based Southern Movement front that eschews the radical global agenda of al Qaeda, serves to give the Pentagon a kind of casus belli to escalate US military operations in the strategic region. . .
An excuse for a US or NATO militarization of the waters around Bab el-Mandab would give Washington another major link in its pursuit of control of the seven most critical oil chokepoints around the world, a major part of any future US strategy aimed at denying oil flows to China, the EU or any region or country that opposes US policy. Given that significant flows of Saudi oil pass through Bab el-Mandab, a US military control there would serve to deter the Saudi Kingdom from becoming serious about transacting future oil sales with China or others no longer in dollars . . .
It would also be in a position to threaten China's oil transport from Port Sudan on the Red Sea just north of Bab el-Mandab, a major lifeline in China's national energy needs. . . Yemen is reported to hold . . . "enough undeveloped oil to fill the oil demand of the entire world for the next fifty years." Perhaps there is more to Washington's recent Yemen concern than a rag-tag al Qaeda whose very existence as a global terror organization has been doubted by seasoned Islamic experts. Full story: voltairenet.org
Comment: Another Washington "false flag" black op HOAX in collusion with the crime syndicate running ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and Homeland Security as you will have discerned if you followed the links in the main story in 615 regarding the well-dressed "Indian" who made sure Abdulmutallab joined the flight with no passport and paying cash for his ticket. Semitic Israelites dwell in Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and other countries targeted by Jews (Genesis 27:39-41).
Mossad, Israel and the US appear to be behind the "terrorist" incident in which Abdulmutallab was their patsy
Full story: veteranstoday.com infowars.com
"[Canada's Transport Minister John] Baird told CTV's Canada AM that Canada chose to pursue the high-tech scanner technology months ago, putting an order in to manufacturers "before the United States were in the queue. . . and before some of the countries in Europe" Full story: toronto.ctv.ca
The International Monetary/Banking Cartel's . . . silent, soft-kill weapons of mass DNA destruction are all around us. Depleting uranium, chemtrails, street and pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines, genetically modified foods, aspartames, fluorides, psychotropics, and now naked body scanners are used against us for a very basic reason: to keep us from waking up to their crimes by damaging our DNAs.
The Cartel's latest cloaked attack against mankind are their so-called Backscatter X-ray Machines, that expose the naked bodies of children, women and men at busy airport security portals; all based on the flimsy ploy of simply one 'crotch bomber' at Christmas time of ?09 in Detroit. Now suddenly, these Backscatter machines will be showing up at over 125 US airports. These virtual strip searches, in addition to damaging our DNAs, will be setting the stage for the expansion of our world-wide cancer epidemic. Any amount of radiation is dangerous, as it is cumulative . . .
Full story: infowars.com
The 'False' Pandemic: Drug Firms cashed in on Scare over Swine Flu
January 11 — The swine flu outbreak was a 'false pandemic' driven by drug companies that stood to make billions of pounds from a worldwide scare . . . Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organization's decision to declare a pandemic. This led to the pharmaceutical firms ensuring 'enormous gains,' while countries, including the UK, 'squandered' their meagre health budgets, with millions being vaccinated against a relatively mild disease. . . Full story: dailymail.co.uk
Swine flu—just like the bird flu which we were told by a senior WHO official in 2005 was going to kill 150 million people worldwide (the true death toll turned out to be barely 200)—(compared with the 36,000 Americans who die each year from more conventional strains of flu)—has predictably turned out to be yet another example of that all-too-familiar and very dangerous disease of our time, the 'scare phenomenon'. . . Based on years of research, we traced the history of a whole sequence of such panics, ranging from those over salmonella in eggs and BSE in beef to the Millennium Bug that was supposedly going to bring civilisation to a halt at midnight on December 31, 1999. . .
That particular panic cost an estimated $300billion before it was discovered that the countries which hadn't spent fortunes on sorting out their computers fared no worse than those that had. . . Again and again we have seen this pattern repeating itself, from SARS and dioxins to the confusion between different types of asbestos, costing more than ?100billion in lawsuits alone. . . Full story: dailymail.co.uk
Comment: All of these HOAXES, like global warming/climate change, are for a purpose. The insiders know the planned monetary crash is imminent and are gathering in ticket money in order to exchange it for hard assets before it becomes worthless, and extorting governments, whose 'insiders' are accessories before the fact, to fund their scams by borrowing their nations into unrepayable debt to the Banksters. Through these psy ops the 'hidden hand' is training the Goyim to obedience, taking mastery over the nations through usury, and of the people through fear.
The Internet exposed the HOAX and scam of "Swine 'flu" and "climate change." But since 2007 the nations have been meeting to curtail expansion of the internet, violate people's rights to privacy and freedom of expression, and undermine multilateral accords on intellectual property. The negotiators are scheduled to meet in New Zealand in April, and aim to finalize the treaty document this year.
John Coleman, Founder of the Weather Channel
John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel exposes the lying propaganda of "anthropogenic climate change" and fears of atmospheric CO2, which is a boon to all nature, contrary to propagandists Al Gore, Ross Garnaut, Sir Nicholas Stern, your wailing sycophant president or prime minister and a chorus of media whores pimping this bankster conspiracy whose objective is global governance, financial fraud, depopulation and the return to serfdom. Full story: kusi.com
Comment: China is enduring the coldest weather and heaviest snow in decades, -16?C! Northern Michigan (left) has received 44 inches of snow and 90MPH winds. Snow flurries are now as far south as Florida. Miami is -2?C, the coldest in 80 years. The Creator has exposed our global warming/climate change scientists and politicians to be LIARS.
Israel summons Envoys from all over the World
December 26, 2009 — Israel's ambassadors and consuls general from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel. . . "The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country's leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat".
This is while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a report by the UN Human Rights Council's Gaza commission a real threat to Israel. The UN special rappoteur for the occupied Palestinian Territories has also urged western powers to push Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately. Richard Falk also called for economic sanctions against Israel.
This is the first time a conference for all of Israel's heads of missions has been held. Full story: presstv.ir mfa.gov.il
January 7, 2010 — One killed, 2 injured as Israeli jets pound Gaza. Israeli planes dropped thousands of leaflets, over northern Gaza and Gaza City on Thursday. The leaflets bore telephone numbers and email addresses, urging people to inform the Israeli army of any activities by the Palestinians in the border area. They also warned residents to stay at least 300 meters away from the border with Israel.
January 7, 2010 — Israeli war game eyes GazaIsraeli war game eyes Gaza 'occupation'. Tel Aviv is conducting war games in the Negev desert, in what appears to be preparation for a new offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. . . Tel Aviv plans to occupy the entire coastal enclave this time to compensate for the failure to overthrow Hamas, the democratically elected ruler of the Gaza .
More Israeli Mossad Connections to 9/11
January 5, 2010 — I would like to call your attention to a detail that the research team may have overlooked, namely the proprietorship of Hangar 17, where the only known 9/11 evidence still in existence is locked away from public scrutiny. . . Hangar 17 in JFK airport has a prominent, unfaded billboard that says "Tower Air." Tower Airlines was an Israeli airline that went bankrupt in 2000 . . . Hangar 17 housed Tower Air's then brand-new corporate headquarters.
Why does 9/11 evidentiary material that would provide clues such as the absence or presence of Super Thermite or other explosive material in the dust from the blasts sit for "safekeeping" in the former Executive Headquarters of a ten-year-defunct Israeli front organization that contracted heavily for the US Defense Department . . . ? Full story: infowars.com
An Introspective Look at the Future of America
December 27, 2009 — As we exit the year, we are told the US is a laissez-faire free market economy yet government is now the largest owner of housing in the US as well as the owner of last resort for some of the largest and completely insolvent US corporations. The Federal Reserve, a privately and anonymously owned and controlled corporation chartered with issuing the nation's currency, was given the green light by themselves to transfer to themselves and their shareholders the people's wealth in the form of their future labor. The FED balance sheet has ballooned to become a junk bond warehouse as they overtly and covertly buy their own debt, immune from any sort of oversight, regulation or auditing and operating above the law. . . a "free market US economy" now seems like a distant memory and it all feels like systemic fraud, corruption, malfeasance and organized crime at the very highest levels. . .
The cause of the near total collapse of the financial system was too much debt and the "solution" has been even more debt piled on to the original debt. . . Totaled together the US has in the neighborhood of 120 trillion dollars of current and future obligations on an annual revenue of around 2 trillion dollars which is falling, due to high unemployment, higher state and local taxes and fees and lower wages. Cutting that down to size, imagine earning 200,000 a year and having a debt of 12 million dollars. In short, the US dollar has become a token of an unpayable debt and thus the anchor of the entire global financial system is a ponzi fraud. It becomes impossible to compute the value of anything as measured in a fraudulent currency that represents an unpayable debt. . .
I have been and remain of the opinion that the ultimate "solution" to this crisis will be for the entities who now control the wealth and power to accumulate even more wealth and power via a global central bank and global currency which now for the first time in public has been discussed . . . as the New World Order. . . beyond 2010, I see a new global reserve currency emerging and a global central bank which will effectively also be a global governing authority where the heads of state effectively report to the group of central bankers and their anonymous shareholders who effectively control the money, power and politicians on a global scale. . . US citizens will experience a continued decay as the US becomes to resemble more and more, a third world country. Detroit is already there. . . I expect China to emerge as the dominant economic power in the world and to purchase a large amount of US assets. Somewhere along the line I also expect the Nobel Peace Prize recipient to bomb Iran because he will be ordered to do so by the people who control the money. Full story: 321.gold.com
Comment: In a word, to sum up our system of keeping the governments of the goyim in Europe in check, we shall show our strength to one of them by terrorist attempts and to all, if we allow the possibility of a general rising against us, we shall respond with the guns of America or China or Japan (Protocol 7:6).
American Swastika
Airplanes of the type Boeing P-12 seen here were activated with the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) from 1929 to 1932. Some Boeing P-12 were used in the year 1941 and were thereby the last biplane fighters of American air forces. Note the swastika.
The US Pledge of allegiance, written in 1892 by socialist Baptist minister Francis Bellamy was also the origin of the stiff arm salute adopted later by the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazis). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Peoples' Republic of China were influenced by the USA in their flag fanaticism, civilian salutes and military socialism. As America's stiff-arm salute spread from its 1892 origin, it began to be used in generic ways in addition to the robotic group-chanting imposed by law in government (socialist) schools. To this day, laws continue to insist children hypnotically chant the Pledge of Allegiance ritual each morning in many schools in the USA, only the gesture has changed. By 1915, US National Socialism had inspired propagandistic presentations (left) of the American flag posed favorably with a swastika (double "S" for socialism) and the phrase "May our glorious flag and this lucky star guide you and keep you wherever you are".
In 1917 Edward Bernays and Walter Lippman helped Woodrow Wilson break his campaign promise and send Americans into WWI. To that end they used the Committee on Public Information (CPI) or Creel Committee, which helped Wilson foment anti-German hate during WWI. Bernays also created the war slogan "Make the World Safe for Democracy"—a patriotic mantra many stupid Americans embraced as they had earlier embraced Bellamy's "Pledge of Allegiance," America's straight-arm gesture, and mechanical chanting to flags en masse and on cue. Bernays' books "Crystallizing Public Opinion" (1923) and "Propaganda" (1928) impressed Josef Goebbels, the [Jewish] propaganda minister for the National Socialist German Workers Party. Germany mimicked American behavior which Goebbels had learned from Bernays, President Wilson and the US government during World War I. . .
Full story: rexcurry.net
Comment: It is time to recognize reality, eschew self-righteous Hollywood propaganda and cease following "false flags" like Pavlov's dogs to kill innocent Muslims as the aliens over Obama send the world into the Sloth of Socialist Despond.
Signs of the Times
January 3, 2010 — Mr. Lincoln's war against the Southern people did not bring about an end to slavery, despite what public school textbooks and Lincoln apologists tell us. Fewer than 15 percent of Southerners owned any slaves, and yet these professional liars have succeeded in propagating a 150-year lie that Southerners were fighting to defend slavery...
The man who eloquently spoke of malice toward none, fought a vicious, undeclared war without consent of Congress, sending an invading army into Southern states that waged war, not simply with Confederate soldiers and sailors but against innocent civilians. On his orders, his demonic forces burned Southern cities, homes, businesses and even churches. To silence his opposition in the North, he jailed dissenters without charge, shut down newspapers critical of his despotic policies, rigged state and local elections, deported his most outspoken critic in Congress and even ordered the arrest of the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. In true Orwellian fashion, Lincoln felt the need to destroy the Constitution in order to save it. [And] filled his army with socialist refugees from Europe's failed socialist revolutions of the 1840s and whose centralist government became the model for all other 19th century socialists is the same man Americans call Honest Abe. Were it not for the death toll Lincoln caused, including the nation our forefathers founded. . . By the way, most of the former slaves were not freed. . . Full story: newswithviews.com
Comment: Brother Randy Murray is a contributor to this Newsletter. This article and its links compliment many such articles we have published on Lincoln, who tore up the Constitution, planned to enshrine slavery in the US Constitution and destroyed the Republic, doubtless in behalf of banksters of 'the City of London' who planned and funded both sides.
As Henry Ford said, "History in Bunk"! We must "receive the word with all readiness of mind, then search the Scriptures [and historic facts] whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11).
Question
Question: Paul states, "Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonours her head, for that is the same as if she were shaved" (I Corinthians 11:4-7, 10, 14-15). If uncut hair is her head covering surely she is covered at all times, so why does Paul specify her head must be covered when she is "praying" or "prophesying"?
Answer: Verse 5 applies to a woman who is leading public worship in inspired prophesying or prayer in the local language, unknown tongues or interpretation of tongues. At all other times she is to be silent in Church or respond in harmony with the congregation (I Corinthians 14:34-40). A Christian woman does not cut her hair as uncut hair signifies she is under submission to the authority of her husband (or father), who is her covering and responsible for her actions. This has been commanded since the fall in the Garden of Eden.
As Genesis 3:16 and Ephesians 5:24 explain, a woman serves God as she obeys her husband. Whereby she is under the "covering" of his authority as set forth in I Corinthians 11:5-14, not under the artificial covering of a head scarf, veil or hijab, and he is answerable for her conduct (Numbers 30). A rebellious woman not subject to the (righteous) authority of her husband has dishonoured him by rejecting the headship of he who's Head is the Lord, and can be put away whereby she is answerable to God without excuse.
Isaiah 9:6, "And the government shall be upon His shoulder" is a phrase that comes from the wedding ceremony of the East. When the bride has been committed to the groom she takes off her veil and places it over the groom's shoulders, signifying that not only is she under his dominion—that she has transferred her rights to him—that he is the head—but also that he bears the responsibility and the care and that HE AND HE ALONE—NO ONE ELSE—NO OTHER MAN—NO OTHER POWER—HAS ANY RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY.
I Corinthians 11:7, 15, "Man is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. . . Uncut hair is a glory to her . . ." as it is a public declaration she is under the government of her husband and obedient to God.
A woman leading worship in prayer or prophesy must be under submission to her husband's authority, otherwise she is not speaking for God, is in conflict with I Timothy 2:8-15, and her headstrong disobedience has dishonoured her head who is her husband (or father if unwed). Though her tresses fall to her feet, she is uncovered, having rejected his authority and God the Word, who is his Head. This is confirmed by I Corinthians 11:10, "Because the woman was created for the man she ought to have power [the covering authority of his headship] over her because of the angels [or ministers and messengers of the Lord who will bring reproof]".
A woman who cuts her hair signifies she has rejected the authority of God and man. Under the Law a woman suspected of dishonouring her head through unfaithfulness was shaved by the priest and made to submit to the ordeal of jealousy (Numbers 5), which types the Seven Vials of Revelation 16 poured out upon non-elect brethren in each Age to separate the harlot from the foolish virgin.
The Whole Creation Groans in Travail — Part II
The three Woes of Revelation 8:13, 9:12, 11:14-15 and 12:12 are earth's birth pains as she travails to deliver herself from the burden of man's sin to renewal. The First Woe, which Jesus called "the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:8), struck under the Fifth Trumpet of World War I. The Second Woe struck under the Sixth Trumpet of World War II, and the Third Woe will follow the Seventh Trumpet when Satan is cast down to earth to incarnate the pope, and earthquakes sink Los Angeles marking the end of the Gentile dispensation, and cleave the Mount of Olives, destroying the abomination that desolates the temple site, marking the Lord's return to Israel and precipitating the "hot" stage of World War III.
There will be no peace before the consummation and earth's sanctification for the Millennium.
A study of these verses reveals that the Woes introduced a growing incursion of demons tormenting unbelievers and men of little faith, with cancer, diseases and insanity in the physical realm; and in the religious realm, false prophecy, dreams, visions and doctrines of enticing spirits with a form of godliness lead multitudes into strong delusions devoid of faith. This psychological, physical and religious oppression continues to increase in spite of, or because of, developments in medical science and theology, which, like socialism, substitute human intelligence for faith and Biblical obedience and deceptively suppress symptoms rather than healing their cause. The avarice and global depopulation agenda behind Big Pharma in connection with Rockefeller's franchise over global education and professional associations has transformed medicine and ministry from vocations to controlled rackets, and his intrusion into the world of religion has wrought apostasy.
As Satan's false prophecy caused the Israelites to apostatize at the close of their dispensation whereby he entered into Judas, their high priests and elders (Luke 22:2-3; Revelation 12:1-4), the Third Woe will see Satan and his fallen angels cast down to earth where Satan will incarnate Rome's Pope—"that man of sin, the son of perdition"—and persecute the foolish virgin, the 144,000 elect Israelites and other groups with salvation to martyrdom. But have you noticed, Satan cannot spiritually harm those who are sealed to the day of their redemption, and in this last day the Lord will "gather His elect wheat Bride into the heavenly garner" before the persecution we experience can harm one hair of our bodies, although for some they are few in number.
Today we will be working in Zechariah 9 – 11; please follow in your own Bibles as we review the period between the fall of the Persian empire and Messiah's first or 'erchomai' Coming to Israel to describe the historical background leading up to the Third Woe and His second or 'parousia' Coming to Israel in chapters 12 to 14.
Zechariah 9:1-8 declares this prophecy of God's wrath will rest upon Syria, here identified with "Hadrach," which like Hamath is near Damascus. This burden or judgment will come in the form of Alexander the Great who overpowered Syria, then Tyre and Sidon on his march to Egypt. When Alexander expressed his wish to sacrifice in Hercules' temple on the island of New Tyre, Tyre showed her wisdom in sending a golden crown, and replying that the true and ancient temple of Hercules was at Old Tyre on the mainland, but for all her wisdom she could not avert her doom. Her apparently invincible insular position and prodigious power and wealth were utterly overthrown under the hand of Jehovah's servant Alexander (verse 4). Zechariah prophesied against New Tyre which was made seemingly impregnable by a double wall a hundred and fifty feet high, as well as the sea on all sides, while the prophecies of Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 27 and 28:1-8, directed against Old Tyre on the mainland had been fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar.
"For the Lord is closely watching all mankind, as well as Israel" (Zechariah 9:1), to punish the ungodly and to protect His people. His providence extends over the whole of Adam's race, therefore He cannot allow the existing imbalance between Israel and the heathen under "the times of the Gentiles" to continue permanently. Though without a navy, Alexander by incredible labor constructed a causeway of the ruins of Old Tyre by "scraping her dust from her, [and] laying her stones, timber, and dust in the midst of the water" (fulfilling Ezekiel 26), and after a seven months' siege took the city by storm, slew some eight thousand with the sword, enslaved thirteen thousand, crucified two thousand, and set the city on "fire" as prophesied, and sank her fleet before her very walls—"How you have vanished that was mighty on the sea!"
Alexander next turned to the Philistines who had expected Tyre would withstand and halt his march to Egypt through Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron. After a two month's siege Alexander took Gaza, slew ten thousand of its inhabitants and sold the rest as slaves. Her satrap, Betis, was bound to a chariot by thongs thrust through the soles of his feet, and dragged round the city.
The Philistines, like the Serpent's seed Jebusites and Girgashites (and under John Hyrcanus, the Canaanites and Hittites of Edom), on forsaking their idolatry will become incorporated with the Israelites in a subordinate position. In agreement with verse 8, the Judeans were uninjured by Alexander, though he punished the Samaritans. When advancing against Jerusalem he was arrested by a dream, so that neither in "passing by [to Egypt, nor in] returning," did he harm them. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, XI.8.4-7) accounts for this remarkable fact, by the high priest in his ritual robes, followed by a train of priests and citizens arrayed in white going forth to meet him; Alexander was so impressed by the spectacle that he did reverence to the holy Name on the high priest's mitre; and when Parmenio expressed surprise at the act, he replied that he had seen in a vision at Dios in Macedonia, the God whom Jaddua the high priest represented, who encouraged him to cross over into Asia and promised him success. Afterwards he entered into the city, offered sacrifice, and heard a recital of the prophecies of Daniel (7:6; 8:3-8, 20-22; 11:1-4) which foretold his victory, in consequence of which he bestowed important privileges on the Judeans.
Bloodshed and carnage prepare the way for the King of Peace. Alexander's conquests had aims and results far beyond his imagining. They spread a common tongue and culture through the "known" world in preparation for the spread of the Gospel as Rome would build the roads. The humiliation of the Syrian powers and provinces was preliminary to their conversion to Christian faith. "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). Also bear in mind that persecuted Syrians, unlike Israelis, are a Semitic people.
In verses 9 and 10, Zechariah turns from the Grecian conqueror and shows Israel a brief glimpse of another mighty yet peaceful Monarch who without an army or weapons will establish everlasting peace and a worldwide kingdom. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion [elect Israelites who will be first-born of Christ's Bride, Spiritual Israel]; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem [the 144,000 elect Israelites who will recognize Jesus Messiah in the Great Tribulation]: behold, your long-promised King-Messiah shall come for you: owning that righteousness which was indispensable for the justification of the unrighteous, He has salvation within Himself for others; humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the untrained foal of a donkey" (indicating this King was far from possessing any worldly splendour. He rose through lowliness and suffering unto death by means of which He would conquer the world, and He unites within Himself the extremes of majesty and humiliation.
His only weapon will be faith, the truth of the revealed Word of God. Not only will this King extend His reign by peaceful means, but all instruments of war will be removed from His people. "I will cut off [or exterminate] the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off" (Micah 5:10-11; Isaiah 9:6). "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (II Corinthians 10:4). Thus the ten tribes, and Judah and Benjamin alike will be restored by faith. "He shall speak peace [not only to the Covenant people but] to the nations: so His dominion shall be [universal] from sea even to sea and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth." John's narrative records how immediately after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem "Certain Greeks wished to see Jesus," signaling the imminent extension of the Kingdom to us Gentiles, these Greeks perhaps being its firstfruits.
Turning now from the parenthesis of verses 10 and 11, Zechariah speaks of deliverance for the whole nation, Ephraim and Jerusalem, by the blood of the Siniatic Covenant that was ratified by the blood of sacrifices (Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:18-20). It is to be accomplished by the Lord raising up mighty men in Judah and Ephraim against Greece. The contest is to be carried on in the Land of the Covenant against the successors of Alexander, principally the Selucidae of Syria. Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 8:9, 23-25) attempted to exterminate the faith of the Judeans: this began the determined resistance and struggle for independence led by the Maccabees. Neither Antiochus nor any of his successors on the Syrian throne was able to subdue their zeal. As recorded in Hebrews 11:36-39, "The good report through faith" [was obtained by many who] were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword".
Again and again the armies of the alien ruler were put to rout in pitched battles, and veterans of many a well-fought field were no match for those who fought with the sword of the Lord for the Land of the Covenant. The struggle lasted from 168 – 143BC, and notwithstanding the unequal resources of the parties, the Lord made feeble Israelites valiant heroes.
Zechariah 10 is an expansion of the prophecy of the foregoing chapter. Israel is called to prayer with the promise of rain and fruitful seasons to everyone who asks. Zechariah shows that by their own idolatry and following after soothsayers rather than the true Shepherd, Israel and Judah wandered into captivity as sheep wander and are a prey to every injury when without a shepherd, so now they are scattered and know not Messiah their Shepherd of the House of David. Their idolatry had stayed the grace of God, which would otherwise have given them all those temporal and spiritual blessings which they are now urged to ask.
Having lost her native rulers, Israel fell under heathen governors which are to be punished because concerning election and adoption, those they have oppressed are Jehovah's flock, whom He visits and protects, preparing the House of Judah as His war-horse. The he-goats that mislead the flock, being first in crime will be first in punishment.
Judah will no longer be subject to foreigners, but from itself will come every one of its rulers (signified by the corner-stone). The reference is primarily to the Maccabees, Judah's governors and deliverers from Antiochus the oppressor, and a type of Messiah. On them will hang all the glory and hope of Israel as on the large ornamental nail built into the wall of oriental tents hung most of its valuable furniture. Judah shall not need foreign soldiery as Messiah shall be her battle-bow. Though the Judeans were forbidden by the Law to multiply horses in battle (Deuteronomy 17:16), they are made Jehovah's war horse (Zechariah 10:3; Psalms 20:7), and so treading down the foe with all his cavalry into the mire (Ezekiel 38:4; Daniel 11:40), which was the chief strength of the Syro-Grecian army (I Maccabees 3:39; 4:1).
In verse 6 Judah and Joseph comprehend the whole House of Israel to be completely restored in the Promised Land: NOT in 1948 but in Daniel's Seventieth Week, hastening the glorious final consummation under Messiah. Jehovah will hear them and they shall rejoice in the Lord who has given them victory over the foe. As beekeepers swarm bees by a whistle, so by the mere Word of His call Jehovah will gather His scattered people back to Palestine (Zechariah 10:10; Isaiah 5:26; Ezekiel 36:11). The utter downfall of the Northern kingdom, so long before that of Judah, will have removed nearly every political reason for maintaining the old disruption, and all the circumstances of this coming time will incline the various tribes to coalesce again as one people as foretold in Ezekiel 36:11.
Zechariah 10:9-12, "Though I have sown them among the nations in far countries they will remember Me, and return to Israel with their children" (Ezekiel 37:14). The wide dispersion just before Christ's first Coming prepared the way for the apostles' preaching in synagogues throughout the world; everywhere some of the Old Testament seed previously sown was ready to germinate when New Testament Light and heat were brought to bear on it by Gospel preachers. Thus the way was opened for entrance among the Gentiles.
"I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, and gather from Assyria to the land of Gilead and Lebanon, till there is no room for them," because of their increase. This accords with Isaiah 11:11 and refers to the imminent future restoration of the Israelites to the Land of the Covenant. As of old, God gloriously vindicated His people in the passage through the Red Sea, so now He will He make a way through every obstacle that opposes Israel's restoration (Isaiah 11:11-16). "And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in His Name [Jesus Messiah, the Son of God]".
These last four verses describe a far greater blessing than the victories of the Maccabees: Spiritual blessings couched in terms borrowed from the old experience of the people. The drying up of the Red Sea, the humiliation of Assyria, and the overthrow of Egypt set forth the removal of all obstacles impeding a Spiritual return to God. But before this event takes place Israel will reject her Messiah and be rejected herself while Christ calls His Gentile Bride; then our dispensation will cease and the first resurrection and the manifestation of the living Sons of God and their translation will take place.
Chapter 11 presents a marked contrast to the previous two chapters, which were full of encouragement for the Judeans who were reconstructing the temple, for although they speak much of conflict, the Covenant people were victorious. After foretelling Judea's protection from Alexander, and also (with a passing glance at Zion's future King, Messiah), the triumphs of the Maccabees and the recovery of their former national strength and prestige, Zechariah proceeds to lift the veil from the final outcome of Jewish obduracy, and it's terrible results, in order that the faithful should take alarm in time, and earnestly draw near to God that they not be overtaken by the substance of the divine judgment upon the unfaithful prophesies in the long chapters of Moses (Deuteronomy 28-32).
In a metaphor, the first three verses symbolize a whirlwind of flame sweeping through the entire land, laying waste to mountain and plain, forests and meadows, and drying up even rivers and streams. Men and beasts overtaken together raise a cry of despair. Natural Israel had enjoyed peculiar privileges under the Covenant, but neglected the accompanying responsibilities. Amos 3:2-3, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
This puts us in mind of the United States of America, the now apostate vanguard of Christendom, and the terminal fate prophesied for that terrorist rogue state for subordinating herself to the 'City of London,' Israel and Vatican City State. "Can two walk together, except they are agreed?" Israel types the United States. Repeatedly in the course of their previous history had God visited Israel with His rod, but there had always been a recovery. War, pestilence or famine had executed His wrath; or they were sold into the hand of their enemies for shorter or longer periods. But in the end the rod was lifted and they resumed their former condition. Now, however, there was to be a final act of judgment, summing up all that had gone before, filling the wrath of God upon obdurate impenitence.
Israel is a flock doomed to perish in the divine judgment, their natural inheritance, and "the kingdom of God taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits. And whosoever shall fall on this Caagsone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Matthew 21:43-44). As Judge the Stone falls only upon unbelievers who, running against and falling over the Word, making Him a Spiritual offence and stumbling block (Isaiah 8:14; I Peter 2:8) will be spiritually dismembered as in the demolition of Israel or individual reprobation. But on whomsoever Christ the Stone falls in judgment will be ground to powder, reduced to his elements and annihilated (Daniel 2:34-35).
Before the consummation of this great act of judgment upon Judea, the Lord determined to make one final effort to save the wretched people and commands Zechariah to act out the ministry of Jesus Messiah in the office of a shepherd with two staves, to guide, defend, rule and lead Israel and Judah to green pastures and still waters. He seeks to rid them of false leaders and win them to ways of truth and right. But the attempt is vain because of their obdurate wickedness, and results in mutual recoil. He loathes them, and they abhor Him (11:8). Compelled by their ingratitude, He breaks His two staves in token that all is over. The sheep will go to the slaughter.
Their buyers who slaughter them are "not guilty" since they are executing what is the righteous punishment of God, as against Jeremiah 2:3 where it appears that Israel was holy and none could injure them without incurring guilt. Their sellers making merchandise of the people and regarding their profits perfectly honest, say, "Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich," These buyers and sellers are their heathen oppressors. And finally, "their own shepherds, [the civil authorities, priests and scribes], have no compassion and spare them not"
As Christ, Zechariah "fed the flock" or set to guide, feed and defend a people so wicked and hardened that they are already 'cherem' or devoted to slaughter in just retribution for their sinful ways. The passage is analogous to the parable of the wicked husbandman (Matthew 21:33-46) wherein the Jews, when asked by our Lord what should be the fate of those wicked husbandmen sealed their own fate and pronounced their own sentence, saying, "They will be miserably destroyed, and the vineyard let out to others, who shall render the fruits in their seasons."
"In one month [at the terminus of His ministry] Messiah cut off three shepherds," the aforementioned orders (subsumed in Himself as Prophet, Priest and King) by which Israel was ruled (Matthew 16:21), mentioned in Jeremiah 2:8, 18 as perverters of the nation and the cause of its destruction like their counterparts in Christendom. "In each instance Jesus came to His own but His own received Him not." When the furious mob, incensed by the "three shepherds" to unthinking hatred against Christ (as today they are incensed against God's revealed Word, and innocent Islam by false flag terrorism plotted and planned by the same "three shepherds"), gathered before Pilate's tribunal, shouting, "Away with Him, crucify Him. The Roman governor asked, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar" of whom Zechariah, personating Jesus, had said, "I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of this land: I will deliver every man into the hand of his neighbour, and into the hand of his king [Caesar]: and they will transform the land into desert, and I will not deliver them from their hand" (John 19:15; Zechariah 11:6).
These decisive words "cut off the three shepherds" and filled up Israel's iniquity: "Had I not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty: but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. Had I not accomplished the works among them which no other man accomplished, they would not be guilty: but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. They have done this so the Words of their Law might be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause" (Psalm 69:4; John 15:22-25).
Do you see the parallel with Brother Branham's ministry that revealed the Son of Man—discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart, restoring sight, hearing, casting out demons, making cripples whole, and raising the dead (Luke 17:28-30)? Do see the reality of "preaching to the total lost"? "For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Brother Branham said, "The mere association of kindhearted people with the true believer might well bring death in return for their kindness" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 116:1).
The Good Shepherd renounces his flock to receive the consequences of its fatal rejection of the means of deliverance. Accordingly He broke the staff He named "Beauty," annulling the Covenant He had hitherto laid upon the enmity of foreign nations (Job 5:23; Hosea 2:18; Ezekiel 34:25). In the day it was broken, the "little flock" who gave heed to the Lord recognized the fulfillment of Scripture (John 10:4-5, 14-15; Jeremiah 32:8). After breaking one, and before breaking the other He asked the Jews for his wages, but only if they were willing to acknowledge and appreciate His pastoral care. That He left the matter to their pleasure—if it seems good"—indicates He served them not for money but in obedience to the divine will. The wages, however, were due: they were heartfelt penitence and faith. But they offered thirty pieces of silver, the compensation for a slave who had been killed or the price for which one could purchase a female slave (Exodus 21:32; Hosea 3:21). Such a contemptuously undervalued offer by the flock was more offensive that a direct refusal, and was indignantly rebuked by the Lord (Matthew 27:9-10 which surely refers to Zechariah rather than Jeremiah).
Do you see the parallel in Brother Branham's ministry whereby he indicted the Great harlot of Rome and her once Protestant daughters, commanding the wise and foolish virgin, "Come out of Babylon that you do not partake of her sins, and receive of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4)?
The Good Shepherd then broke the second staff named "Bands," signifying the loss of fraternal unity, represented under the disruption of the nation into two hostile entities in the days of Jeroboam. Now the scene changes, and instead of personating the wise and kind Good Shepherd, Zechariah is told to play the part of a worthless shepherd, or ruling power, and the gentle crooks, Beauty and Bands, are replaced by knives and battle axes. The flock, so far from being fed, guided and guarded, is torn and devoured, and then at last its misguided rulers are smitten and palsied.
Zechariah 11:15-17, "The Lord said unto me, Take again the implements of a worthless shepherd. For I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, nor seek the scattered, or heal the wounded: even the healthy he will not sustain: but the flesh of the fat he will eat, even their hoofs he will tear off. (Indicating the ferocious greed of the shepherds who will rend the extremities to extract their "pound of flesh"). Woe to the worthless shepherd who forsakes the flock! the sword shall be upon [the strength of] his arm and [the vigilance of] his right eye: his arm shall be totally withered, and his right eye utterly blinded".
Luke 19:41-44, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, "Saying, If only you knew that eternal peace was within your reach! But now it is hidden from your eyes. For the time is coming when your enemies will throw up ramparts, and build a trench, and encircle you, and besiege you on every side, and lay you and your children even with the ground; and will not leave one stone upon another; because you knew not the time of your divine visitation".
In response to the pleas of the Judeans, "The Blood of Messiah be on us and upon our children" the ruin of Jerusalem and Judea was overwhelming (Matthew 26:25). To this day they are ruled by worthless shepherds, impersonators, sworn to kill the Covenant people (Genesis 27:39-41), and any who disagree with them. God often uses instruments which he afterwards destroys, and He will destroy the children of Cain whom He set at enmity with Adam's race.
What Rome did to Israel she will do to the world. Israeli Professor Martin Levi van Creveld declared, "We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother." We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that this will happen before Israel goes under." Golda Meir stated, "If ever Israel was in danger of being defeated on the battlefield, it would be prepared to take the region and even the whole world down with it".
Wicked rulers are a curse of God upon a wicked nation, and not only the United States, but every nation is being chastised by God, because in placing materialism above Christ we have sold principle, soul and nation to the sons of Cain. Politics ought not to be separated from the one true faith, for faith tends to prevent the election of such rulers.
"The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, waiting in earnest expectation for the manifestation of the Sons of God" (Romans 8:19, 22). nl616.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
PowerPoint presentation The Second Coming of Christ
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