There Is Yet Time

There Is Yet Time

War in Heaven, War on Earth

Cris A. Cannon
 Copyright © 2007 by Cris A. Cannon.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007900272

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4257-4993-4
Softcover 978-1-4257-4992-7

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Wilsonville, Alabama 35186

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 CONTENTS
I. Acknowledgments .......................................................................... 11
II. Prologue ......................................................................................... 13
III. Introduction ................................................................................... 17
IV. Be Careful of False Signs ............................................................... 21
V. A Spiritual War .............................................................................. 24
VI. The Keys ........................................................................................ 39
VII. The Study....................................................................................... 51
VIII. The Four Ages ............................................................................... 55
IX. The 3rd Age and its Eras ............................................................... 57
X. “Loosed” ......................................................................................... 67
XI. Schism ............................................................................................ 70
XII. Middle Ages ................................................................................... 73
XIII. The Shroud Again.......................................................................... 77
XIV. Mary ............................................................................................... 83
XV. Where Did It Go? .......................................................................... 87
XVI. More Fires and More Clements ..................................................... 88
XVII. The Heat is On .............................................................................. 90
XVIII. The Clement Connection .............................................................. 93
XIX. John Paul the Great ........................................................................ 96
XX. Signs in Heaven and Earth ............................................................ 98
XXI. The Age to Come ........................................................................ 111
XXII. Appendix ...................................................................................... 117
XXIII. Illustrations .................................................................................. 125
XXIV. Bibliography ................................................................................. 127
XXV. About The Author ....................................................................... 131
DEDICATION
To My Wife
Linda
for her encouragement
support and assistance
 Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

O glorious Prince of the heavenly host, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend
us in the battle and in the fearful warfare that we are waging against the
principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against
the evil spirits. Come thou to the assistance of men, whom Almighty God
created immortal, making them in His own image and likeness and redeeming
them at a great price from the tyranny of Satan. Fight this day the battle
of the Lord with the legions of holy Angels, even as of old thou didst fight
against Lucifer, the leader of the proud spirits and all his rebel angels, who
were powerless to stand against thee, neither was their place found any more
in heaven. And that apostate angel, transformed into an angel of darkness who
still creeps about the earth to encompass our ruin, was cast headlong into the
abyss together with his followers. But behold, that first enemy of mankind, and
a murderer from the beginning, has regained his confidence. Changing himself
into an angel of light, he goes about with the whole multitude of the wicked
spirits to invade the earth and blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to
plunder, to slay and to consign to eternal damnation the souls that have been
destined for a crown of everlasting life. This wicked serpent, like an unclean
torrent, pours into men of depraved minds and corrupt hearts the poison of
his malice, the spirit of lying, impiety and blasphemy, and the deadly breath of
impurity and every form of vice and iniquity. These crafty enemies of mankind
have filled to overflowing with gall and wormwood the Church, which is the
Bride of the Lamb without spot; they have laid profane hands upon her most
sacred treasures. Make haste, therefore, O invincible Prince, to help the people
of God against the inroads of the lost spirits and grant us the victory. Amen.
(indulg. By Leo XIII, 25 Sep. 1888]
 Acknowledgments

A s Bishop Fulton J. Sheen used to write on his blackboard JMJ for Jesus,
Mary, Joseph, I too would like to give recognition of this project to Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph. First of all to Jesus Christ who without, this project along with
everything else in the universe would not even exist. After all He is the central
subject and theme. To His mother, and ours, Mary. She first gave to Jesus, our
Lord and our God, His physical body and human nature. She then, through
Him, adopted us as her children and prays for us who have recourse to her. And
to Joseph, the earthly and human father and guardian of the young Jesus. He is
second only to Mary as the most important Saint. His prayers and intercession
for us is also of great value. After all, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph all three together
are known as the Holy Family.
When I first began making notes and outlines on this subject it occurred to me
that a book was trying to come out of it. When the book began I gave the project
over to Christ. I told him I don’t know how to write a book and I don’t know
what to do with it after it’s finished. I’m not writing for any attempt at fame or
attention nor for profit. This belongs to you Jesus and I am only your instrument.
However it turns out and whatever becomes of it, your will be done.
On Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2005, I attended the morning rosary and
then Mass at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. Afterward I went directly
to my parent’s house to visit with them and give my father a new Bible that
included the Apocrypha. A gift for his 70th birthday. It was a good day and the
visit lasted several hours. Palm Sunday followed only a few days later and Holy
Week started. I became totally immersed in that week, attending every Mass
and event I possibly could. It was a wonderful week. My wife Linda, sons Craig
and Brad, and I attended Easter Sunday Mass together. Two days after Easter
Sunday, which would actually be Easter Tuesday, March 29th, I received a letter
from my mother that was basically a continuation of our St. Patrick’s Day visit
as it pertains to theology.

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 CRIS A. CANNON

On the Solemnity of Easter Friday, April 1st, 2005, I responded to that

letter with a lengthy letter that was actually the seed of 2017, a work that would
eventually become this book, There Is Yet Time. It would seem the synchronicity
that is a main theme in 2017 has continued to a lesser degree in the making of
2017 itself.
The letter I wrote in response was dropped into a mailbox very early on April
2nd, the same day that Pope John Paul II would pass away. Six days later was
his funeral and my desk, table, and head were full of outlines and notes waiting
to take shape as 2017. Coincidentally, 3 days later, I began writing the text of
the book.
This was April 11, which is also mentioned in the book but not connected
to this. Or at least I didn’t think it was connected when I was writing. On Saint
Catherine of Siena’s day, April 29th, I mailed the original manuscript of 2017,
which after reworking and some revision would become this work, to the publisher.
Saint Catherine is one of only 33 Doctors of the Church and is one of the three
Saints said to have spoken to and offered guidance to Saint Joan of Arc during
her earthly struggles against evil.
Only two days later, May 1st, the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, the manuscript was in the hands of the publisher. Thirty-five
days later on June 4th, the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, the book was published, available to the public for the first time
that day online.
Similar to a news report by Pat Sherman published April 30, 2005 in the San
Diego Union-Tribune about a Croatian-American poet named Ivan Marjanovic,
I too sent a copy of my text to our new Pope Benedict XVI. My cover letter
to him was dated May 14th. I received a letter signed by Monsignor Gabriele
Caccia, Assessor from the Vatican dated May 28th, only 14 days after my letter
and book was mailed, stating His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has directed me to
thank you for your kind letter and gift. He appreciates your thoughtful gesture. His
Holiness will remember you in his prayers and he invokes upon you God’s blessings of
joy and peace.
I gave Christ control over the project when it started. The publisher received
it on Joseph’s Day and it was made available to the public on Mary’s Day. Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph had as much to do with this project, if not more, than I did,
so it’s only proper that I recognize and acknowledge them here for their help,
today and everyday.

May God Bless You and Ibi Etiam Tempus,

Cris A. Cannon
November 2006

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 Prologue

T here Is Yet Time was originally a short piece written by Dr. W.M. Taylor.
It was published in a book titled Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver in
the 1890’s. Being only a few lines long I would like to share it with you.

When Napoleon went on the field of Marengo, it was late in the afternoon,
and he saw that the battle was really lost; but looking at the western sun, he
said: “There is just time to recover the day!” and giving out his orders with
rapid and characteristic energy, he turned defeat into victory. So, although
your sun is near setting, there is time to recover the day. Avail yourself of
the eventide, lest your life end in eternal failure.

The sun is setting for each and every one of us whether we know it or not.
Whether we like it or not. If this world as we know it ends tomorrow with the
return of Christ or it continues another thousand years and we die our natural
deaths really makes little difference. One way or another our natural lives here
in this world will see their sunset. To slightly paraphrase Dr. Taylor, there is still
time to recover the destiny of your soul. Avail yourself of the little time left so
that your life will not end in eternal failure. I sincerely hope that Dr. Taylor’s all
but lost words inspire you to reflect on eternity.
The subtitle, War in Heaven, War on Earth, is also a device to cause us to
stop and think. Not only of the ‘here-and-now’ but also especially of the spiritual
battles we face each and every day as they play out in the bigger picture of the
spiritual war.
Later in the text we will see a short segment that connects the plague of
hunger with starvation and the lack of the word of God. A physical reality in
this material world that is also a sign of a bigger unseen reality. While still on the
subject of war, as is part of the title, let’s take a quick look at a few things.

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 CRIS A. CANNON

During all of known recorded human history a new war has erupted every
2.6 years. Throughout the preceding 185 generations of mankind on earth only
10 have lived during days without war. During the last 500 years Great Britain
has gone to war 76 times, France 61 and Russia 63. In the 20th Century between
World War I and World War II 4,568 peace treaties were signed. There were
211 in just the year before World War II started. As we know, these treaties had
little or no value. We also must know there is no bargaining with Satan for a
prosperous or peaceful existence. If it seems that there is, it is false, just as the
treaties between men were a false security.
At the time of Napoleon the monetary cost to kill a man in warfare averaged
the equivalent of $700. By World War I it was $21,000. In World War II the cost
had risen to $200,000 and in 1968 the United States’ budget for Vietnam was 77
Billion dollars. In contrast, the money allocated for domestic improvements for
the same year was only 5 Billion. Believe it or not, these figures on warfare come
from none other than Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. What really begins to disturb me
is to think, what have we done to improve matters in the generation since Bishop
Sheen told us these numbers?
War has been with us since the very beginning of time. It has plagued us in
our material world and in the spiritual realm concurrently. If we need a physical
reality to help us visualize the unseen reality just look at our track record of killing
each other. It has been reported that during the 20th Century alone, on average one
person was killed every 20 seconds due to warfare. Even General Omar Bradley
once said, “Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying
with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance
without wisdom, power without conscience. We know more about war than we do
peace, more about killing than we know about living.” Satan and his unseen army
have been just as busy at killing souls as mankind has been at killing each other.
Just imagine for a moment how good things could be if there were no wars, no
killing and the money that would be available to do good with, such as housing,
medicine, food. If you’re able to envision such a ‘paradise’, it is but a very dim
intimation of what is ahead for those of us who win the spiritual war.
Although this is primarily a serious project of studying Holy Scripture,
secular history and current events in an effort to ‘see the signs’ showing us the
return of Jesus Christ, it is my hope that not only does this cause us to stop and
reflect on our lives but also does so in an educational and especially entertaining
way. Entertaining in the way all the events, dates and so forth entertain us by the
unusual way it all connects together. Also by being on the unique and entertaining
side, the information tends to stay with us longer. One thing that is of most
importance to know is that this is not a book that seeks to set dates for the coming
of Christ. Jesus himself tells us in Holy Scripture that no one knows the day or
hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.

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Only the Father knows. (Mark 13:32) NLT. To put it simply, if Jesus has told us
no one will know when he returns, I accept that and go on. On the other hand
we need to be watchful of signs and of how we conduct ourselves. Read through
Matthew chapter 25 telling the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Make sure you
are one of the five that have oil for their lamps. Don’t wait around too long and
be left behind and in the dark when He unexpectantly shows up and it’s time to
take off with Him. Keep your wicks trimmed and lamps filled. Get ready and stay
ready. We can no longer afford to ignore or be indifferent to these issues.
Pope Gregory XVI said it very well in his 1832 encyclical Mirari Vos, part
14: This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous
proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for
everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and
over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion
from it. “But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,” as Augustine
was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the
narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to
ruin. Then truly “the bottomless pit is open from which John saw smoke ascending
which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth.
Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred
things and holy laws—in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than
any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, cities renowned for wealth,
dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate
freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
Can it be said any better or any clearer? Shameful indifferentism giving rise
to erroneous liberty. We have free will but there are consequences that go with
our actions. And as he told us, these consequences include the spread of ruin.
“When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth,
their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin.” Since this is an
absolute truth he may also be right when he said ‘the bottomless pit is open from
which John saw smoke . . .’ or in other words, the plague of locusts in Revelation
9:3 has arrived.
Another interesting Papal prediction came from Pope Clement VII in 1514.
There just happens to be more about Clement VII a little later that is a key element
of the synchronicity of events, but that’s for later. For now it’s enough to know
that he stated, “I will not see the end of the world, nor will you my brethren, for its
time is long in the future, 500 years hence.” Now remember, he said this in 1514.
During this time the Protestant Reformation is building serious steam and in
1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the church door at Wittenberg. Does
500 added to 1514 or 1517 look familiar?
On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had just completed a celebration of
Mass in one of the Vatican’s private chapels. Standing at the foot of the altar, he

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suddenly turned ashen and collapsed to the floor. After a few minutes spent in
what seemed like a coma, he revived and remarked to those around him, “Oh,
what a horrible picture I was permitted to see!” What Leo had apparently seen,
as described later by those who talked to him at the time of his vision, was a
period of about one hundred years when the power of Satan would reach its
zenith. That period was to be the twentieth century. Leo was so shaken by the
specter of the destruction of moral and spiritual values, both inside and outside
the Church, that he composed a prayer which was to be said at the end of each
Mass celebrated anywhere in the Catholic Church. This prayer to Michael the
Archangel was said continuously until the Mass was restructured in the Second
Vatican council. During an audience for the general chapter of the Franciscan
order in 1909, Pope Pius X appeared to enter a trance. Those present remained
motionless and silent. After a few moments, Pius opened his eyes, rose from
his seat, and cried, “What I have seen is terrifying! Will I be the one, or will it
be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving
the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!” He then
cautioned the witnesses, “Do not tell anyone this while I am alive. “Just before
his death, Pius had another vision. “I have seen one of my successors, of the same
name, who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some
hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death. Respect for God
has disappeared from human hearts. They wish to efface even God’s memory.
This perversity is nothing less than the beginning of the last days of the world.”
There were occasional rumors of visions and “angelic” phenomena associated
with Pius XII during the entire duration of his papacy (1939-58). After one of
these mystical visions he reportedly told one of his assistants, “Mankind must
prepare itself for sufferings such as it has never before experienced.” He expressed
dismay at what he saw facing humanity in the not so distant future, describing
those times as “the darkest since the deluge.”

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 Introduction

A nd upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued
his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7 KJV) We all know ‘the first day of the week’
is Sunday. Sunday, the first day of the week, is our Sabbath, our church day, the
Lord’s Day. Not the seventh day, or Saturday. And most of us know why.
The Jewish Sabbath is still Saturday as it is for a few others as well, such
as the Seventh Day Adventists. But for those that are Christians and recognize
that Jesus Christ rose from the tomb on the ‘8th Day’, a new beginning, which
happens also to be the ‘1st Day’ of the week and He is also the One that said to
us, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5 NKJV) knows our Sabbath
day is Sunday. From the verse above out of Acts 20:7, the Apostles knew the day
had been changed from Saturday to Sunday as well.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say regarding the Sabbath.
CCC 2190: ‘The Sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation,
has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the
Resurrection of Christ.’ CCC 2191: ‘The Church celebrates the day of Christ’s
Resurrection on the “eighth day”, Sunday, which is rightly called the Lord’s Day.’
And again I would remind anyone just read Acts 20:7 and you will see when ‘the
Church’ made the change. It was the original apostles during the first century,
based on the day Christ resurrected. Anyone who truly recognizes that Christ
is God the Son and the Messiah also recognize that Sunday is the Lord’s Day.
Anyone who knows that Sunday is the Lord’s Day knows it is because Jesus
Christ made it so. The two are tied together.
We Christians also know that the Holy Bible, and especially the entire New
Testament is all about Jesus Christ. In fact the very first verse mentions Him by
name. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
(Matthew 1:1 NIV) Interestingly enough, so does the very last. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen (Revelation 22:21 NKJV)

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 CRIS A. CANNON

Just as our lives as Christians should be; it starts and ends with Jesus Christ.
He said He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Now that we know the New Testament literally starts and ends with Jesus
Christ and that He and Sunday are directly tied together by virtue of His act of
resurrection, have you seen a calendar for the year 2017? I know, that sounds nuts.
But guess what? The first day of the year falls on a Sunday. So does the last. The
12th Anniversary of the death of John Paul II, April 2, 2017 falls on a Sunday.
April 16th, the birthday of our new Pope Benedict XVI falls on a Sunday.
Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. Easter always falls on a Sunday. Just as the
New Testament literally starts and ends with the name of Jesus Christ; January
1st and December 31st of 2017 literally starts and ends on a Sunday. As days on a
calendar go the Lord’s Day, Sunday, is also the Alpha and Omega of 2017. And
if you think this coincidence is odd you haven’t seen anything yet. A little later
you will actually see where 2017 even came from in the first place. Get ready to
start putting together a 500-piece puzzle in your head.

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 Be Careful of False Signs

J esus has warned us to “Be careful of false signs that could mislead you.” He
was talking about false signs and prophecies concerning his return, or second
coming. In Mark 13:5-6 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
Many will come in my name, claiming ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. (NIV) It is
easy for us to be led off this way and that, pointing to “certain signs” and become
one of those falling for false signs and information. In Luke 21:8 we see, And He
said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I
am He’, and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them. (NKJV) It
has happened, and continues to happen to many, many people. There is an old
Arabian Proverb that goes: He who knows not and knows not that he knows not,
He is a fool—shun him; He who knows not and knows he knows not,
He is simple—teach him; He who knows and knows not he knows, He is
asleep—wake him; He who knows and knows he knows, He is wise; follow him. My
personal addition to the end of this is that Jesus Christ is the one who knows
and is wise. Follow Him.
One of the most incredible, if not the premier example of a false teacher
would be the insane Adolf Hitler. Almost twenty years before he came to real
power in Europe and started the Second World War he was serving time in prison
and there he wrote his manifesto. The year was 1924 and the book that resulted
from his efforts would come to be called Mein Kampf. In 1933 he somehow
romanced enough Germans to elevate himself from prison inmate to Chancellor
and supreme leader of the German nation.
Once there, he made his book required reading in Germany. It would have
been considered ‘blasphemous’ to not own a copy and know its contents. Among
many frightful things he put to paper he actual said, If the Jew, with the help of
his Marxian Creed, conquers the nations of this world, his crown will be the funeral
wreath of the human race, and the planet will drive through the ether once again empty
of mankind as it did millions of years ago. He followed that statement with, Thus

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did I now believe that I must act in the sense of the Almighty Creator; by defending
myself against Jews I am fighting for the Lord’s work. We all know that his “divine”
mission all but destroyed his country, much of Europe, and cost millions of lives.
How on earth was he able to convince so many people to follow him and do the
things that were done?
If it were possible to do all this and be as open as he was, how much more
damage can be done to the human race if the cancer of immorality is delivered in
a much slower and subtle manner? People are living up to their necks in the muck
and mire of sin and most don’t even realize it because society has conditioned
us to believe that what is wrong is actual right. Soon it will be over their heads
and then it will be too late. This time it won’t be a nation or continent with the
casualties in the millions. It will be the entire planet and all of mankind.
The things about Christ’s second coming that are certain are, He will return
to Earth again, no one knows when this will occur; it will be when no one really
expects him, and we should be ready at all times for his return as if it were about
to happen any time. I would like to stress before going any farther that it is far
more important to be ready for his return than to try to determine when he will
come again. Now with this said I would like to try to set out before you and
present some things that are, at the very least interesting and hopefully will at
least get some to think about where they are and where they need to be. Christ
is coming back. Are you ready?
Could the Holy Shroud of Turin, the list of previous Catholic Church Popes,
history, mathematics, natural scientific phenomena, and our most recent Pope to
pass away, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, be tied together to show us a roadmap
and landscape of a raging spiritual warfare and possibly the conclusion of this
war with the return of the victorious Jesus Christ? They just might.
One thing I have come to learn in my studies and reading of the scriptures is
that very little if anything is left to chance. There are no “accidents” or coincidence
to what is going on there. Everything means something. Numerical values, colors,
and analogies are symbolic of certain things. There is a great deal of visual and
numerical symbolism and the place you find this to be the most pronounced is
in the Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse.
The Book of Revelation is not really a very long book, consisting of 22
chapters, but it is a very difficult book to read and understand. Perhaps there is
no one that has fully understood it and is able to precisely interpret it. I do believe
though that it has in recent times been augmented by very fertile imaginations
and a lot of Protestant interpretations and versions of what it says has drifted
way off of its true course. The only way to get even a ballpark idea of what is
going on here is to read it in its complete context and in context with the writer,
the times during which it was written, and so on. There is no possible way to
simply read the Book and take what is written there standing on its own and

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tell someone what it is saying. It is so filled and rich with symbolism that one
could make it say almost anything they wanted it to. Some people have done just
that when describing certain animals or creatures to be in reality military flying
machines and so on.
Brother Giles, an original Franciscan who joined the order in 1208 once said,
“All of Holy Scripture speaks to us the way a mother speaks to her baby in that
lisping baby talk. Otherwise we could not understand the words.” And finally,
before every reading of Holy Scripture a prayer should be said asking the Holy
Spirit to guide you and give you understanding. I think a lot of us skips that part
and guide ourselves to our own understanding.

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 A Spiritual War

W e have to remember that the true war here is a spiritual war. It’s really
not important if a single bullet is fired or one person is physically killed.
If that person is a true Christian when he dies what has Satan gained? Nothing.
He loses if that soul escapes him. The real battles are in the spirit realm and it’s
a war to win or lose souls. Scripture even tells us that our battles are not of flesh
and blood but of the spirit. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 tells us, “For though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not
of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” (NASB)
Our enemy is none other than Satan. He declared war on us because of his
pride and hatred. His name has been recorded as Sataniel, apparently shortened
to Satan at some later time. He was created Lucifer, a shining star of an angel
in heaven. Described by Ezekiel as a model of perfection. His angelic beauty
was perfect as well as full of wisdom. The problem arose a bit later when Satan
could see these qualities and became full of himself as well. In fact he became so
puffed up with himself he wanted to un-seat God and take his place. Well, we
know that’s not going to happen. He was cast out of heaven and hurled down
onto the earth and became “ruler of the power of the air”. Because we are made
in the image of God, and God loves mankind as he does, Satan hates us and as
a way of striking at God he tries to destroy us. His ultimate goal is to destroy
God’s plan and take his position if this was possible.
Satan’s strongest effort to usurp God after being cast from heaven was the
temptation of Christ. When that failed he later redirected his main efforts at His
followers, Christians and the Christian Church. However, when Jesus ‘permitted’
himself, in accordance with God’s will and plan, to be crucified He took full control
over Satan’s power over humanity. He offered to us deliverance from Satan if we
want it. We humans do have intellect and free will as well. We too can choose to
follow Christ or make the mistake Satan and his fallen angels did by rejecting God
and the salvation He offers us through his only son Jesus Christ. This ‘re-directed’

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hatred and persecution of Christians and the Church . . . this Spiritual War Satan
has declared and is prosecuting against us, rages in full swing to this day.
Be aware and be prepared.Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that
Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience. Disobedience to God has been and still is the first and foremost of all sin.
If we all actually practiced what Deuteronomy Chapter 5, verses 7, 9 and 10 . . . parts
of the First Commandment that says, You shall not have other gods besides me . . . you
shall not bow down before them or worship them . . . but bestowing mercy down to the
thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments . . .
we would have no problems and wouldn’t need the other nine. If we truly in our hearts
loved God and obeyed God, everything else would take care of itself.
Satan was first while still in heaven to rebel; to disobey God’s will, and later
here on earth when Eve took fruit she knew was forbidden. If and when we are
able, by grace given to us by God, to stop thinking of ourselves first and put Christ
ahead of everything, all other issues will fall into their proper places. We are not
the center of the universe or the most important thing. Remember JOY? Jesus,
Others, and then Yourself. It really does work better that way.
In his commentary regarding Matthew, Saint Jerome also mentions several
of the Apocryphal Gospels. Among these is the Gospel of Bartholomew. As I
have said before and undoubtedly will say again, it is true these apocryphal books
were excluded by the early church as being canonical, or inspired by God, and
are not actual books of the Holy Bible, but they are interesting reading and can
be insightful. In the manuscripts of Bartholomew the writing is actually called
the Questions of Bartholomew.
Bartholomew’s book may be fanciful but it can still teach us some things.
Regarding Satan he tells us, ‘And Satan said: If I were able to go forth by myself,
I would have destroyed the whole world in three days: but neither I nor any of the
six hundred go forth. For we have other swift ministers whom we command, and we
furnish them with an hook of many points and send them forth to hunt, and they
catch for us souls of men, enticing them with sweetness of divers (diverse—different
kinds) baits, that is by drunkenness and laughter, by backbiting, hypocrisy, pleasures,
fornication, and the rest of the trifles that come out of their treasures. Bartholomew
also tells us what Satan himself said regarding how he feels about mankind and
himself. And when I came from the ends of the earth Michael said: Worship thou the
image of God, which he hath made according to his likeness. But I said: I am fire of
fire, I was the first angel formed, and shall worship clay and matter? And Michael
said to me: Worship, lest God be wroth with thee. But I said to him: God will not be
wroth with me; but I will set my throne over against his throne, and I will be as he
is. It’s about here where we read about the war in heaven described in the Book
of Revelation when Satan and his followers, the other fallen angels who become
demons, are cast out of heaven and down to earth.

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John Milton (1608-1674) described a vivid depiction of the war in Heaven in

his masterpiece Paradise Lost, written in 1665 and published in 1667. The battle
lines are drawn between the faithful angels and the evil fallen angels. God’s wrath
manifests first with darkness, fire, flame, and smoke. The evil angels resort to
insults and name calling. Michael and Gabriel have been given the task to lead
the army of heavenly angels and as they assemble and organize, Satan’s legions
begin open hostilities, launching an attack to capture the Mount of God. The
faithful angel Abdiel stands his ground when facing Satan and calls him a “fool”
for thinking he could fight against the omnipotence of God. Satan has become
so deluded he does not admit to believing God is omnipotent. Satan throws more
insults directly at Abdiel calling him and the other angels of God weak slaves
and declares himself and his demons to be free. Abdiel takes issue with Satan’s
comments declaring that service to God is not slavery but proper and fills the
natural order. He then demonstrates Satan is not all knowing and all powerful
by striking a blow with his sword knocking Satan backwards and nearly down
on his knees. Satan leans on his spear to keep from falling. The war in Heaven
continues for a time and after much fighting Satan has not quite met his true
match nor equal in strength and power. Then the Archangel Michael enters the
picture wading into the fray. Michael tells Satan that it will end because God will
not allow His peace in Heaven to be disturbed by this war and violence. Michael
then strikes Satan with his sword with such force and power all the other warring
angels stop fighting and move back to give them room. The blow from Michael’s
sword was so powerful that it nearly splits Satan in two and he feels extreme pain.
Being an angel however, Satan cannot be killed and his massive and horrible
wound quickly heals. The blow and the pain however are not forgotten.
Since no angels, good or bad, can be killed, the war only escalates until The
Son himself finally puts an end to it. Evil is cast out of Heaven. Raphael then
warns Adam to be alert and guard against Satan plotting his destruction. We
now go from the Book of Revelation, chapter 12 verse 7, Then war broke out in
Heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon . . . . Revelation 12:9,
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived
the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with
it. (NAB) full circle back to the front of the Bible with Genesis Chapter 3. The
serpent approaches Eve and she fell for his lies. Satan tempted Eve and then got
to Adam through her. They ate the fruit. They disobeyed God. Sin entered the
world. The history of the fallen sinful nature of humankind started. If you follow
the entire chain of events in a logical uninterrupted sequence it’s easy to see that
from the very first instance of Satan rebelling against God and the start of open
warfare in Heaven that the same war continues to this day here on earth.
The steady decline of our morals and standards, fed by society’s evolving
norms and our media, young people growing up watching nudity on any channel

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of TV at anytime of the day, hearing “adult” matter discussed on radio, and being
able to access and view hardcore pornography on the Internet by people of any
age and at anytime of the day can only lead to growing numbers of human souls
falling victim to our own fallen nature at the increasing urging of Satan and his
fallen angels. A major issue of our day that pops in my head is the matter of ‘Gay
Rights’ and ‘Same-Sex Marriage’.
To give you some idea how far from right to left we have swung in this
country, let’s go back to the founding days for a moment. The first code of
laws established in the ‘New World’ was compiled by a Nathaniel Ward in the
Massachusetts colony in 1641. This document was called The Body of Liberties.
Now I’m not advocating a return to these types of laws to govern civil society,
but notice how the founding settlers of this nation basically used the bible for
their law book. Section 94 of ‘Liberties’ listed twelve ‘Capitall Laws’. The first one
actually said, ‘If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other god,
but the lord god, he shall be put to death.’ After this they go on to list things such
as witchcraft, blasphemy, bestiality, homosexuality, and adultery and the wording
comes almost directly from the Old Testament. The following section, Section
95 is comprised of eleven parts and is titled, A Declaration of the Liberties the
Lord Jesus hath given to the Churches. Even the Mayflower Compact of 1620 uses
phrases such as, In the name of God, Amen, and goes on with, for the glory of God,
and advancement of the Christian faith. When the United States finally became
the United States, James Madison said, “We have staked the whole future of the
American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have
staked the future . . . upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves,
to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of
God.” And finally our own contemporary, President Ronald Reagan remarked, “I
have long believed there was a divine plan that placed this land here to be found
by people of a special kind, that we have a rendezvous with destiny. Yes, there is a
spirit moving in this land and a hunger in the people for a spiritual revival. If the
task I seek should be given to me, I would pray only that I could perform it in a
way that would serve God.” We may well have seen the last political candidate,
at least at the national level, openly declare they hope to perform their job in
a way to serve God. Now there’s no denying that actually putting someone to
death for idol worship, or even following another religion, or no religion is quite
extreme . . . even Constantine allowed freedom to worship in any religion and
in any way the individual chose to, with the issuance of the Edict of Milan. But
with that said about how unreasonably extreme that way of life was, let’s now
look at ourselves today. We have much to reflect on. I know with the next few
words on this page I will create a lot of enemies. That is not my intention and I
wish it were not so, but, the truth is the truth and I cannot change it. God does
love the sinner, but he does not love the sin.

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Leviticus 18:22 says, You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an
abomination. (NRSV) Same sex relationships are an abomination. My 4-inch
thick tabletop Webster’s New Encyclopedic Dictionary defines abomination as, n
1: something abominable 2: extreme disgust and hatred : loathing. A man lying with
another man is against the natural order and God finds it disgusting. These are
not my words or my opinion. They are His. But to those who would say that God
is a loving God and will love you and not condemn you anyway, you are right.
Conditionally . . . look at John chapter 8 where the adulterous woman was brought
to Jesus. Not homosexuality but a sexual sin nonetheless that was punishable by
death in those days. John 8:7 says in part, . . . “He who is without sin among you, let
him throw a stone at her first.” (NKJV) We all know how this ended. They all dropped
their stones and wandered away until they were all gone. And Jesus said to her, “Neither
do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:11 NKJV) Jesus loves the sinner but
not the sin. He will forgive and forget but you must go and sin no more.
As it deals with civil criminal codes I can only comment on code 13A in
the State of Alabama. I’m sure there were similar laws throughout the United
States. The Sodomy laws in the criminal code included the term Deviate sexual
intercourse and a footnote in a commentary section stated Both genders are to
be included under sodomy sections (13A-6-63 and 13A-6-64), as sodomy
includes sexual relations between persons of the same sex . . . etc . . . etc . . .
etc . . . I will not include here the formal and legal definition the State has given
to the term Deviate sexual intercourse. It is not pleasant to read and it is graphic
in its description so there is no confusion as to what it is.
An article titled Homosexuality and Medicine appeared in the Journal of
the American Medical Association (JAMA) Vol 212, No 7, May 18, 1970. It was
written by a Charles W. Socarides, MD and credit is given as coming from
the Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva
University, Bronx, New York. The very first thing said in its introductory is
Homosexuality is a medical disorder which has reached epidemiologic proportions; its
frequency of incidence surpasses that of the recognized major illnesses in the nation.
Although this 1970 article addresses homosexuality as a problem, Dr.
Socarides takes the scholarly high road, being as ‘Politically Correct’ as the era will
allow, in stating since the obligatory homosexual is suffering from an illness it is obvious
that he should not be penalized for the consequent activities carried out in private,
not offensive to public decency, and in partnership with a consenting adult. He even
skirts around religious and moral tones when he says, As obligatory homosexuality
cannot be considered to be a legal issue, so it cannot be viewed as a problem of morality.
As with psychosis and neurosis, it cannot be regarded as a consequence of immorality
or a manifestation of evil spirits occupying the body . . . .
Although Dr. Socarides manages to give homosexuality a tacit approval by
publishing his position that it should not have any legal penalty nor should it

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be considered immoral, he does say elsewhere in the same article that certain
community level emotional issues compound the difficulties in dealing with this
major health problem. He also says homosexuality is considered more harmful to society
than adultery and even than abortion with its actual threat to life. His footnote on
that comment references a work titled Homosexuality and the Law by R. Slovenko
published in 1967. He also goes on to say things such as, homosexuality (which)
is reparative in nature and occurs as a result of intolerable anxiety. The claim that
homosexuality is simply a variant of normal sexual behavior and exists alongside
heterosexuality as an equivalent expression of adult sexual maturation is utterly false.
True obligatory homosexuality is a form of psychiatric or emotional illness.
It is quite clear that although there was an attempt to lessen legal penalties
and moral accountability for homosexuals, it was still considered disordered,
un-natural, and a medical illness that could be treated and reversed. Dr. Socarides
makes it very clear in his article that homosexuality is a perversion and mental
illness and not a normal and acceptable alternative lifestyle. Move ahead now
from 1970 to present day 21st century and imagine such an article appearing in
the Journal of the American Medical Association or any publication for that matter,
other than possibly a religious or Christian periodical. Today such an article
would never be published anywhere and any physician or psychologist known to
his colleagues to hold such views would be looking for other work.
A stark exception to this is the publication of a 10-page document issued on July
31, 2003 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled Considerations
Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons.
This document was signed by the Prefect and Secretary Archbishop Angelo Amoto
after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who we all know now as Pope Benedict XVI.
This document declares that all laws seeking the legal recognition of homosexual
unions are “gravely immoral” and must not be supported by Catholic politicians.
Anyone who is interested in what the Catholic Church truly believes and teaches
on this issue should read this document in its entirety. It does say, Every sign of
unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. However, it also says, The
Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval
of homosexual behavior or to the legal recognition of homosexual unions.
Finally on this subject is the most recent debate information. During Holy
Week of 2006 on Tuesday, April 11, Mr. Karl Keating published the following
in his ‘E-Letter’ that goes out to subscribers:

KNOW-NOTHINGISM IN SAN FRANCISCO

Three years ago the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed
by Joseph Ratzinger, held that homosexual couples should not be permitted to
adopt children.

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This year, on March 9, the new head of the congregation (and former
Archbishop of San Francisco), William Levada, affirmed that adoption agencies
run by Catholics should not place children with homosexual couples.
On March 17 the new Archbishop of San Francisco, George Niederauer,
announced that Catholic Charities in San Francisco would cease placing children
with homosexuals.
The San Francisco City Council (which doubles as the Board of Supervisors
of the County of San Francisco, the City and County being coterminous) didn’t
like this at all. In a March 21 resolution the Council said:
“It is an insult to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican,
meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great City’s existing and
established customs and traditions such as the right of same-sex couples to adopt
and care for children in need.” This is a “tradition”? How many weeks does a practice
have to be around before it counts as a tradition? I wish there were a rule that nothing
can count as a tradition until its instigators are dead for at least a century.
Ah, but I did like the part about “a foreign country, like the Vatican”—it
reminded me of the good old days of nineteenth-century Know-Nothingism and
those Thomas Nast cartoons that showed bishops drawn as mitered crocodiles.
Let’s continue with the Council’s resolution:
“The statements of Cardinal Levada and the Vatican” against adoptions by
homosexuals “are absolutely unacceptable to the citizenry of San Francisco.”
Just as in Sodom there were a few good people, so in San Francisco there must
be a few people, at least among the Catholics, who actually accept the Church’s
position. Given this untidy outburst by the City Council, I can understand how
such people would hesitate to acknowledge that they think the Church is right.
Who wants an angry mob at his door? Anyway, the Council surely exaggerates
when it claims to speak for all the citizens of the city.
The resolution continues:
“Same-sex couples are just as qualified to be parents as are heterosexual
couples.”
No, they are not. Heterosexual couples have a distinct advantage: One of them
is a man, and the other is a woman; one of them is the father, and the other is the
mother. Besides, the issue is not so much about which couples are “qualified” as
about which arrangement is better for the children. To say the arrangements are
equally good for the children is to betray such a lack of common sense that one
should be disqualified from further participation in the discussion.
The resolution then says:
“Cardinal Levada is a decidedly unqualified representative of his former home
city and of the people of San Francisco and the values they hold dear.”
If so, then this is the highest commendation yet given to the new Prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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The next line of the resolution:

“The Board of Supervisors urges Archbishop Niederauer and the Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco to defy all discriminatory directives
of Cardinal Levada.”
Hey, why don’t you Supervisors follow the principle you otherwise so ardently
admire, the separation of church and state? In other words, butt out. If you
don’t like the way the Catholic Church handles adoptions, make some other
arrangement. Maybe the Metropolitan Community Church would be willing
to take over . . .
The content of this E-Letter is copyright 2006 by Karl Keating.

KARL KEATING’S E-LETTER

April 11, 2006

During the span of time of most of us alive today we have seen the Holy
Bible, man-made criminal law, and the medical profession all agree that same-sex
relations are wrong. We have also watched over the past few decades the human
side of it decay. It is now a violation of rights to prosecute it as a crime and the
medical community has reversed itself that it is no longer a defect or a perversion
but is now merely an ‘alternative lifestyle’. It is rapidly gaining such popularity and
support that homosexuals now get married to one another and adopt children.
We should really sit up and take notice that God has not changed His stance
due to changing trends or a popularity poll. It’s not brain surgery to see what is
going on here. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise
of God.’ (Revelation 2:7 NASB)
Some may not agree with the comparison but it is reminiscent of the
era mentioned in an article entitled Catholics, Protestants, and the Meaning of
Freedom appearing in Father Richard John Neuhaus’ The Public Square in the
August/September 2003, Number 135 First Things magazine. On page 67 we
find that during the American Civil War, “. . . the Vatican’s insistence on the validity
of interracial marriage and its opposition to rigid segregation laws made Roman
authorities relatively tolerant of racial mixing and opposed to biological notions
of racial inferiority.” When in 1861 a Louisiana bishop wrote a pastoral letter
adopting the slaveholders’ view on race, he was sharply censured by Rome. Why
do I mention this about slavery and the Civil War? Simply to make the point
that for a very long time the Catholic Church has taken the stance supporting
what is right and proper even though it may be very unpopular. In fact, this very
issue caused Father James E. Coyle to be counted among the ranks of Martyrs
for the Faith, sadly in my own home town of Birmingham, Alabama. An excerpt
from The Catholic Church in the Deep South by Rose Gibbons Lovett tells us, On

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August 11, 1921, while sitting on his front porch reading his breviary at 6:30 P.M.,
Father Coyle was shot by Rev. Edwin R. Stephenson, a Methodist minister. He died
at 7:43 P.M. that evening in Saint Vincent’s Hospital.
Rev. Stephenson killed Father Coyle because he had performed the marriage
ceremony between his daughter, Ruth, a Catholic convert and member of another
parish, and Pedro Gussman, a member of Saint Paul’s parish. Rev. Stephenson was
said to have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and was openly, bitterly opposed to
his daughter joining the Catholic church, and also of her marrying a Catholic man.
Mr. Gussman’s parents were born in Spain and he in Puerto Rico. Since his
skin was a bit darker than most people Rev. Stephenson spent any time around,
he had called him a “nigger”. This is what truly pushed Rev. Stephenson to
commit murder. His hatred of the dark skinned man who married his daughter
and especially the priest who dared to perform the marriage. It’s hard to imagine
today, but the prohibition against a mixed, white-black marriage was even against
written codified state law in those days. In the Code of Alabama 1940, Title 14,
Chapter 60 in the listed Crimes and Offenses we find an old offense known as
Miscegenation. Basically subsection 360 made it illegal for a white person and
negro to marry and subsection 361 made it crime to officiate such a marriage.
The penalty for the couple getting married was two to seven years in prison and
the probate judge issuing a license or person performing the marriage ceremony
could be fined from one hundred to one thousand dollars and get six months in
the county jail. Now is it any wonder with the Ku Klux Klan at its most powerful
and influential peak in the 1920s and laws such as this actually on the books and in
effect that the good Rev. Stephenson was acquitted? Remember too that in those
days juries were made up of all white men. No women and no minorities.
As we see in the following, it has not been until relatively recently these types
of laws throughout several different states have been ruled unconstitutional and
reversed. The Supreme Court case, which directly speaks to this topic, is Loving
v. Virginia. In 1958 Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter married in Washington,
D.C. and returned to Virginia together as husband and wife. Richard was White
and Mildred was Black. The problem arose in that since 1961 Virginia banned
interracial marriages. The Lovings were prosecuted under a statute enacted in 1924
entitled “An Act to Preserve Racial Integrity.”The statute said that in Virginia no
White person could marry anyone other than a white person. The law made it a
crime not only to enter into an interracial marriage in the State of Virginia, but it
also criminalized interracial marriages outside the state with the intent of evading
Virginia’s prohibition. Furthermore the law stated that children born out of such
a union were deemed in the eyes of the State to be illegitimate and without the
protections and privileges accorded to the children of lawfully wedded parents.
The Lovings pleaded guilty to violating the Act and were sentenced to one
year in jail, though the trial judge gave them the option of avoiding incarceration

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on the condition they leave the State and not return for twenty-five years.
During the course of the proceeding the trial judge asserted that: “Almighty God
created the races of White, Black, Yellow, Malay, and Red, and He placed them
on separate continents.” “And but for the interference with His arrangement
there would be no cause for such marriages.” “The fact that He separated
the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. “After Virginia’s
Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction the Supreme Court of the
nited States reversed the decision on the grounds that the Constitution of the
United States prohibits states from barring interracial marriages. In so doing,
the Supreme Court invalidated similar laws in fifteen States. Thus, as of June
12, 1967, interracial marriages were no loner illegal in any State. Now if we
quickly look back we’ll see it was back in 1861 when the Church in Rome
censured the Bishop in Louisiana over these issues. A very unpopular position
for the Catholic Church to have taken, but nonetheless did. In fact, we can
even go back to the Middle Ages when Saint Peter Nolasco, a priest born in
Languedoc, France around 1189, received approval from Pope Gregory IX in
1235 to start a religious order known as the Mercedarians. This order, which
would later become the Order of Our Lady of Ransom and is today called the
Order of Our Lady of Mercy, had a primary mission of ransoming Christian
slaves being held by the Moors. They were so serious about freeing slaves that
in addition to the three usual vows taken by religious, they took a fourth: to
give themselves up, if necessary, in exchange for a slave. The primary issue
being the recognition of the dignity of the human person. Christianity requires
this. The Church also thought enough of Saint Nolasco and what he stood
for and accomplished that it assigned The Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas
Day, December 25th, to also be his feast day on the liturgical calendar, to run
concurrent with the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
Another ‘attack’ that sticks starkly in my head was an article appearing in the
Summer 2003, Issue 10 of The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report.
With a cover photo of an Adolph Hitler doll to spice things up, we turn to page
25 to see an article titled Gibson Family Values? written by a Nia Hightower.
Ordinarily I give this magazine and its organization high marks. They monitor
and report on hate groups. We need such an organization and we need to expose
and do away with hate groups. With that said though, I must also say I was very
disappointed they put their weight behind slandering the making of the Passion of
the Christ. Mel Gibson is first attacked personally by saying of his roles in previous
movies such as Braveheart, The Patriot, Conspiracy Theory, and on that ‘Gibson did
nothing in these movies to win the admiration of the neo-Nazis, Klansmen, militiamen
and survivalists who make up the extreme right. It was enough he was white . . .
After this offensive babbling there is the indirect attack on Mel by attacking his
father. But the part that truly amazed me was when it said, Now, Mel Gibson is

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at the center of a storm that may be of his own making. As he was completing a film
on the last 12 hours of the life of Christ, The New York Times Magazine published
a March 9 cover story reporting that “The Passion” may reflect the radical Catholic
view that Jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. ‘May’ be of his own
making? ‘May’ reflect certain views? Why in the world would anyone write or
publish an article that is full of ‘maybe’ instead of confirmed fact unless it’s simply
a slanted attack on the main message? That main message being the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ for us. And remember, this attack on the movie and on Mel Gibson
was even before the movie was finished and released. Bottom line . . . Satan did
not want it made, released, or seen by anyone. This was another battle in the
Spiritual Warfare.
Isn’t it obvious there is a blow by blow battle going on when we see after the
huge commercial success of the Passion of the Christ that a movie advertised as
a blockbuster has been made based on Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Take a look
at the Open Letter to Ron Howard from William A. Donohue, President of the
Catholic League for Religious And Civil Rights.

When “The Da Vinci Code” opens on May 19, most of the controversy
will end provided the audience learns the truth: the movie, like the
book, is a fable. As the director, you have a moral obligation not to
mislead the public the way the book’s author, Dan Brown, has. Putting
a disclaimer at the beginning of the film noting that this is a fictional
account would resolve the issue.

Brown has been trying to have it both ways for years: at times he says
his book “is a work of fiction” and at other times he says it is based on
“historical fact.” Indeed, his novel opens with three “facts” all of which
are demonstrably false.

He says that an age-old secret society, the Priory of Sion, kept alive the
untold story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, when the fact is this tale
has been exposed as a hoax concocted in the 1950s by an anti-Semitic
Frenchman who was sent to prison for fraud.

He calls Opus Dei a “religious sect”, and portrays it as an evil force,

when the truth is it is a Catholic organization founded to help lay
people (not monks) seek holiness in their daily lives.
Most disturbing of all, he says his book is based on documents that are
factual. Really? The truth is there is not a scintilla of historical evidence
to support his malicious claim that the divinity of Jesus was made up
in the 4th century.

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You are in a position to correct the record. If, as one survey discloses,
a third of Canadians think the book is authentic, then more than
mischief has been done. When credence is given to hoaxes, whether
it be the notoriously anti-Semitic “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
or the invidiously anti-Catholic “Da Vinci Code”, the consequences
are real.

It is too late, Mr. Howard, to say that the movie is not anti-Catholic:
John Calley, the film’s co-producer, has been quoted in this newspaper
admitting that it is “conservatively anti-Catholic.” But it is not too late
for you to make it unmistakably clear that the movie is a fable. After all,
if the film is remembered for the vicious lies it tells about Catholicism,
it will not be John Calley’s reputation that will be sullied.

And CatechismClass.com had this commentary on The Da Vinci Code:

‘The Da Vinci Code is an ostensibly fictional work. But then again, so are Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, the Jungle, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and that does
not change the fact that all of these books convey a non-fiction message that the
respective authors intended their audience to take very seriously (as indeed they
did). This is the case with The Da Vinci Code as well, as Dan Brown has made
clear in numerous interviews. ‘And what exactly is the message that Brown is
propagating under the guise of fiction? Everything that Christians, especially
Catholics, hold dear is a lie. Jesus was a mere man, a peace loving hippie who
worshiped the sacred feminine and had a baby with Mary Magdalene. The mean
old, bad old, nasty old Catholic Church set up its own falsified gospel, turned Jesus
into a celibate God, then violently persecuted the truth for centuries. Basically,
what Dan Brown is saying to Catholics is “your mother is a whore,” and he really
believes, or at least says he believes, this message. However, it is demonstrably
false. He has his history professor character claim that no one believed Jesus was
God prior to the Council of Nicaea, which voted him into godhood by a narrow
margin. Perhaps he should have read John 1:1; 5:18; 20:28; Phil 2:6; Rev 1:8,
among other biblical passages, or the works of Ignatius, Aristides, Tatian, Irenaeus,
Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and Cyprian, all of whom testified to
the divinity of Christ in the centuries preceding Nicaea. And as for the vote at
Nicaea being narrow, it was about 300 to 2. Clearly, Dan Brown is either a liar,
or a dupe of liars, and his lies slander the deeply held religious beliefs of millions
of Americans. He is attacking our family. If Dan Brown had treated Islam or the
Holocaust with such contempt people would be screaming for his head. Please
do not support his blasphemous and slanderous distortions of our history.’
And if that’s not enough, it has just been released in the media that a newly
discovered, Gospel of Judas codex has been discovered and scholars are trying to call

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into question if Jesus sent Judas to bring on his arrest rather than Judas just outright
betraying him. In short, that Judas wasn’t really the bad guy we’ve all believed him
to be all these years. And like Mel Gibson choosing February 25th as the opening
date of his movie, which was Ash Wednesday, this documentary is scheduled to
first air on April 9th, 2006, which will be Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week.
This is what the National Geographic website says about the new Judas movie:

• Discovered by chance in the 1970s, a document that lay hidden

for some 1,700 years, emerges today as The Gospel of Judas.
Trace the story of what has happened to the document since it
was found, explore the recent authentication process and analysis,
and discover key insight gleaned from its laborious translation
and interpretation. Dramatic recreations portray and clarify
the complex story of intrigue and politics of the earliest days of
Christianity, and reveal the contents of the Gospel itself
• The Gospel of Judas presents a newly discovered account of the life
of Jesus Christ. but how can its authenticity be verified? When was
this gospel written and by whom? The research and documentary
will uncover fascinating details contained within the document
as well as key sections translated from its ancient Coptic script.
It will also examine the modern history of the document since it
was found, including the exhaustive restoration and conservation
process.

The online encyclopedia called Wikipedia carries these entries on the subject:

• The portion of the manuscript that could be translated by

later scholars tells of Judas being the favorite disciple of Jesus,
claiming to be: “The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke
in conversation with Judas Iscariot.” The Gospel states that Jesus
requested that Judas turn Jesus over to the Romans. In the Gospel,
Jesus tells Judas, “You will be cursed by the other generations—and you
will come to rule over them,” and that, “You will exceed all of them.
For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”
• No trace of the fabled manuscript had been known, until a Coptic
Gospel of Judas turned up on the antiquities “gray market”, first
seen under shady circumstances in a hotel room in Geneva in
May 1983, when it was found among a mixed group of Greek
and Coptic manuscripts offered to Stephen Emmel, a Yale Ph.D.
candidate commissioned by Southern Methodist codex, near El
Minya, Egypt and sold it to a Cairo antiquities dealer.

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 THERE IS YET TIME

It seems in the end, like these other issues, we’re left to make up our own
mind what is right and what is not. These are the things that require us to have
our Christian faith and to allow ourselves to listen to and follow the Holy Spirit.
Satan is working feverishly to feed us false information and mislead us. Father
Benedict Groeschel, CFR has commented, “We are seeing the most violent attack
on the Catholic (Christian) Church in the media and public life since the days of the
Ku Klux Klan . . .” Temptation to sin has never been greater. This is the war and
Satan is fighting it with a fury. And he is making strides. William Shakespeare
told us to, “commit the oldest sins the newest kind of ways.” But the author of the
Old Testament book Ecclesiastes, known as Qoheleth . . . probably King Solomon,
said in Chapter 1 verse 9, What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will
be done. Nothing is new under the sun. When it comes to the subject of spiritual
warfare, the weakness of man, and sin, both of those statements apply. Each new
generation thinks they’re trying new things and pushing new boundaries when all
along Satan is using his same old tricks to bring us down. There is nothing new
in his attacks on us, and we keep falling for them generation after generation. It’s
the repetition of year after year that causes the real erosion that becomes visible
over time giving the appearance that society as a whole is getting worse.
We must be able to recognize what is happening and see it for what it really is
in order to fight him off. The good news is that we can, and we will win this war.
Ephesians 6:11-12 tells us to, Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against
the devil’s evil tricks. Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and
authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil
in the heavenly world. (NCV) Understand here too that when it mentions the evil
spirits in the heavens, what it means is that demons, fallen angels, and Satan are
in the “heaven” circulating around us here and now . . . better known simply as
the air. We must get educated on the matter and we must know our enemy. The
military calls this “Intel”, gathering intelligence on the enemy so we know how
he operates and what his real objectives are. He operates by dangling temptations
in front of you that look very attractive. These are different things for different
people, but he knows what your weakness is and will use it on you. The objective
or goal is to send your human soul, which he hates, to an eternal burning torture.
Satan rarely attacks out in the open so as to recognize him. He is a predator. To
become acutely aware of this gives you an overwhelming advantage.

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 The Keys

T he symbolic and allegorical language found in the Book of Revelation

is extensively borrowed from the Old Testament. This may be a surprise
to some, but the Old and New Testaments do actually fit together almost like
interlocking puzzle pieces. Saint Augustine said the New Testament is hidden in
the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New. And we can’t forget that
Pope Benedict XV said, “Every single page of either Testament seems to center
round Christ”, in an encyclical on the Bible.
As I said before, even numbers are symbolic and carry meanings. Four signifies
the world, six imperfection, seven is totality or perfection, twelve pertains to
Israel’s tribes or the Apostles, one thousand immensity and so on. The Book of
Revelation is essentially written in code.
Not claiming to be a prophet or to have some inside track or connection,
I have stumbled across some amazing information simply by utilizing existing
information. I guess I’m a “chronologer”, a word or term used by William Whiston
in 1737 when he published his English translation of the works of Josephus. Each
item alone means very little by itself but when these things started to connect
and create a bigger picture, things started to get real interesting. Connect the
dots, so to speak.
To start with we need to go back to the beginning of the Christian era. In
fact to the time of Christ and into the Gospels. Jesus Christ himself prophesied
about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and in the Gospel of St.
Luke he does so with amazing detail and accuracy. In Luke 19:41-44 you will
see, As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had
only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden
from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up
ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will
crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave
within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your

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visitation from God.” (NRSV) And again in Luke 21:20 Jesus tells his disciples,
“When you see armies all around Jerusalem, you will know it will soon be destroyed.”
(NCV) Verse 23 even says, “It will be an awful time for women who are expecting
babies or nursing young children! Everywhere in the land people will suffer horribly
and be punished.” (CEV)
Secular history tells us how the Roman army encircled and destroyed the
city over a three and one half-year long siege ending with its actual destruction
in the year 70 A.D. The prophecies of Jesus describing the destruction of the
temple and city a generation after his crucifixion match up very well to what
actually happened. Now after having read the actual scriptural passages of the
Holy Bible it’s very interesting to compare the historical accounts of Josephus.
Born Josephus Ben Matthias he eventually changed his name adopting the family
name of the Roman Emperor, Flavius. Josephus Flavius even became a Roman
citizen later in his life.
He lived during the first century and witnessed first hand a great deal of what
is in the scriptures, or things foretold in them. Almost anyone who has taken
Bible courses or attended some type of Bible College or seminary is familiar with
the works of Josephus.
Josephus was about 38 years old when he wrote his The Wars of The Jews
or The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. The work was actually published
around the year 75 A.D. This historical documentation of the Jewish rebellion
and war against the Roman Empire is very well written and extremely detailed.
Compare this to the scriptural account, . . . but the entire nation was now shut up
by fate as in a prison, and the Roman army encompassed the city when it was crowded
with inhabitants. Accordingly the multitude of those therein perished exceeded all the
destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world. Chapter 12 is titled
Titus Thought Fit To Encompass The City Round With A Wall; After Which The
Famine Consumed The People By Whole Houses And Families Together.
In Book 6 in Chapter 3.4 Josephus goes into a fairly detailed story of a woman
named Mary, of the village Bethezub who fled with her family to Jerusalem when
the advance of the Romans was imminent, thinking this was the safe thing to do.
Josephus tells us a little later, describing the famine situation inside the cutoff
city, She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, who was
a child sucking at her breast, she said, “O, thou miserable infant! For whom shall I
preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? . . . Come on; be thou my
food . . . she slew her son; and then roasted him, and ate one half of him, and kept the
other half by her concealed. Remember back in Luke 21:23? Jesus even says during
his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, “But woe to those who are pregnant
and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in
the land and wrath upon this people.” (NKJV) It would seem that Jesus’ prophecy
and what Josephus recorded as history some 40 years later match perfectly.

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According to William Whiston’s footnotes, the Romans were not only

willing, but also very desirous, to grant those Jews in Jerusalem both their lives
and their liberties, and to save both their city and their temple. The Zealots and
the seditious would hearken to no terms of submission. They voluntarily chose
to reduce the citizens to that extremity. This reminds me of the part of scripture,
Luke 19:44, . . . they will not leave one stone upon another within you because
you did not recognize the time of your visitation. The Zealots were still waiting
for the Messiah to arrive and lead them to a military victory over the Romans,
up to the last minute, and the city’s destruction. He had already come and gone
and they missed it.
The followers of Christ recognized what was happening when the Roman
Army advanced into Judea and onto Jerusalem. They knew the city would fall
so they fled Israel and later settled in cities throughout the rest of the Roman
Empire. Jesus had warned them well in advance. In Mark 13:14-19 he told
them, “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let
the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on
the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away; the one
in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and
to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not be in winter.
For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of
the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be.” (NRSV) Sounds
a little like the warning given to Lot for him and his family to leave Sodom,
doesn’t it? Leave, don’t hesitate in doing so, and don’t even look back. Just go,
and do it quickly.
Even after Jerusalem died its horrible death there were still those Zealot Jews
who would not cease, or recognize the fact that a messiah was not coming to save
them. In 73 A.D. the Masada disaster came where everyone inside that fortress
committed suicide before the Roman Army smashed its walls and entered. Still,
the Jews failed to see that Jesus, the Messiah, had come and gone.
The revolt against Rome, now all but crushed out, still found pockets of
resistance closing their ranks around the Jamnia rabbis, west of Jerusalem. A
slightly evolved Phariseeism influenced mainly by a Rabbi Hillel became the
new, and stricter form, for Jews to embrace. The Essene sects, Christians, and any
other kind of Jews were excommunicated from the Orthodox Jewish community.
By virtue of these events it marked the decisive point in history that Judaism and
Christianity clearly split.
Although the Jews continued to suffer defeat after defeat they mistakenly
believed that at some point God would repeat Israel’s restoration as had been
done after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. In 132 A.D. Judea once again rose up
against Rome in open rebellion led by Rabbi Aqiba Eleazar and military leader
Simon ben Kosibah. With these final few years of fighting the biblical history

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period effectively ended. By the year 135 A.D. the final Zealot rebels were subdued
or killed and the Jewish people would be scattered about the world without a
homeland until after World War II, in 1948.
Now if this persecution wasn’t enough, Rome also had its own official religion
that worshiped pagan gods and even the emperor himself. This didn’t leave room
for any other religions, Jew or Christian. When Christians would not participate in
emperor worship they would be accused of being disloyal. Chapter 13 of the Book
of Revelation deals primarily with the Beast. Revelation 13:3 says in part, . . . Then
the whole world was amazed and followed the beast.(NCV) 13:4, Men worshiped the
dragon . . . (NIV)13:8 says, All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone
whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life
of the Lamb who has been slain. (NASB).
Revelation 13:15-16 basically says anyone who would not worship it could be
put to death and those who did not take its mark, or in other translations—character,
in short if you did not accept it and act accordingly, you could not buy or sell.
Buying and selling is synonymous to living. Revelation 13:18 gives us the number
of the Beast as 666.
We need very much to read and re-read the 21st chapter of Luke’s Gospel
to understand the pre-tribulation rapture simply does not exist. The Christian
church never believed or taught this secret pre-tribulation rapture theory until
about the mid 19th century.
John Nelson Darby originated the “secret rapture” theory wherein Christ will
snatch away His true believers from this world without warning. He first openly
taught the rapture at the Powerscourt Conference in 1832 when he also announced
his official separation from the Church of Ireland. It should also be noted that
there is no evidence whatever that Darby studied theology. He formulated this
rapture theology from his own flawed interpretation of scripture. Above all, you
must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves
(2 Peter 1:20 NLT) To further clarify it, the footnote for this verse tell us “It was
the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God” means that Scripture
did not come from the creative work of the prophets own invention or interpretation.
Holy Scripture is not for personal interpretation. As also in all his (Paul’s) epistles,
speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood,
which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own
destruction. (2 Peter 3:16 DRV). Saint Peter tells us people were even interpreting
scripture on their own and messing it up back in the first century.
Look at Acts 8:26-39 where Phillip is talking to the Ethiopian while traveling
the road from Gaza to Jerusalem. Phillip asks him, “Do you really understand
what you are reading?” and the Ethiopian responds, “How can I, unless someone
guides me?” This is not recorded in the Book of Acts simply for our reading
pleasure. It’s a message telling us something. We need someone with the authority

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of an Apostle to help us understand scripture. Christ gave his authority to the

Apostles and Apostolic Succession has been ongoing since those days through the
Church. When we fail to be guided by the Holy Spirit and the Church we come
up with all kinds of strange ideas on our own.Fundamentalism is how biblical
literalist described their position opposing the up and coming teachings from
Charles Darwin’s 1859 book, On The Origin of Species.Since “Fundamentalists”
emphasized the inerrancy of Scripture, and hold to the tenet of “sola scriptura” or
“the Bible alone” belief, texts from different parts of scripture were pieced together
into various schemes that outlined and explained God’s purposes and actions
throughout history. Through this development of evangelical fundamentalism new
interpretations of the Bible actually evolved. The most popular of these schemes
was developed by Cyrus Scofield, who was heavily influenced by Darby, and he
incorporated his “dispensations” and interpretations into the Scofield Bible, first
published in 1909.
To the fundamentalists as a whole, education, fashion, and status were viewed
as worldly evils. Even Biblical scholarship was viewed with distrust. They simply
favored a belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible as the ultimate authority.
This unfortunately set up the next couple of generations, especially in the
South, to blindly accept teachings of Darby and Scofield without questioning it
or independently studying to verify it.After all, if you can’t trust your preacher
to teach the truth on Sunday morning, who can you trust? Many who believe
in the rapture will defend it by arguing it is not seen as a “secret” in that: If the
Statue of Liberty suddenly vanished from New York Harbor, ABC, NBC, CBS,
and CNN would break from regular programming to cover this marvel. To have
millions of people disappear without a trace, the media storm cannot be imagined.
If one car or airplane crashed without a driver or pilot, it would be a major news
item. After the rapture, the media will have thousands of examples to choose
from. Think of the vital positions that Christians hold in the workplace. Many
businesses will be paralyzed by the loss of key personnel; the economy will suffer
a devastating blow; and millions of people, who had friends and family members
raptured, will be terrified. The rapture will create a media event that will rival
any breaking news event from the past. If you turned on your television, you
would find 24-hour-coverage on every channel. The President would be calling
emergency meeting after emergency meeting, and churches would be filled to
overflowing. This defense however is flawed in that this is not what is meant by
“secret rapture”. It is understood directly from scripture, For the Lord himself will
come down from heaven with a commanding shout, and with the call of the archangel,
and with the trumpet call of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16 NLT) Should the rapture
take place according to their teaching no one is going to have to slowly figure out
what happened. Everyone will know, both those raptured and those left behind,
because with the commanding shout, call of the archangel, and trumpet call of God

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how could anyone miss it? In short, as said above, To have millions of people to
disappear without a trace, the media storm cannot be imagined, is so out of touch. If
God and Christ and the angels are making such a bold and grand entrance how
can anyone say without a trace? Part of the rapture belief is however that only
the “saved” believers will see and hear Christ when they are raptured and the rest
left behind are shocked when they realize so many people have vanished without
a trace. That is the “secret rapture”. If you believe what the Bible says though,
how can you believe this? The scriptures tell us it will be a grand and noisy affair.
All will know what’s happening.And finally on this point, in Matthew 26:61
through 65 we see the scene of Jesus brought before the Sanhedrin were he tells
the Jewish priest at the start of his “trial”, “I can pull down this temple of God
and rebuild it in three days.” At this the High Priest rose and said to him, “Have
you no answer to the charge that these witnesses bring against you?” But Jesus
kept silence. The High Priest then said, “By the Living God I charge you to tell
us: Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?” Jesus replied, “The words are yours.
But I tell you this: from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand
of God and coming on the clouds of heaven.” At these words the High Priest tore
his robes and exclaimed, “Blasphemy . . .”
If only the ‘saved’ will see the return of Christ at the ‘rapture’ why did Jesus
say this to those that held him in contempt and were judging him? Because when
He does return, it will be for the harvest. All will witness his glorious return but
not all will be happy about it. The time will have arrived to separate the wheat
from the chaff. His sheep will be placed to one side and the goats will be separated
out and placed to the other. It will be time for Jesus to become our judge as well
as savior. No “pre-tribulation” rapture to escape hardship and trials. Jesus said
to let the weeds grow with the crop. The rain will fall on all together. At the
end He will separate them. At that time he will fill His barn with the good crop
and throw out and burn the chaff. This chapter clearly describes what to look
for as signs of the end. There is nothing remotely resembling the teachings of
the rapture as some protestant evangelicals believe and understand it. Starting
with verse 7 the apostles ask Jesus, “Teacher, when will this happen?” Jesus warns
of false teachers and false messiahs. He tells them, “Do not follow them.” When
you hear of wars and insurrections do not be afraid because these things must
happen first, but it will not be the end yet. Then He said to them, “Nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes,
famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will
come from the sky. (Luke 21:10-11 NAB)
Then make careful note . . . the very next verse, Luke 21:12, clearly says,
“Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand
you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and
governors because of my name. Verse 17 tells us, You will be hated by all because of

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my name. Verses 20 through 24 describe the Great Tribulation and then verses
25 through 28 tell us of Christ’s coming again and for us to raise our heads
because our redemption is coming. And that is all it says. The term “rapture” is
usually applied specifically to the belief that Christians will be taken into heaven
prior to the second coming of Christ, and there will be a period of time where
non-Christians will be still left on earth before Christ arrives to set up his earthly
kingdom. If one actually reads the Holy Bible, nowhere will the rapture be found.
Not just the word rapture, neither a narrative of how it is to take place. There have
been some blank spaces filled in to complete it. It also bears noting again how
certain people have tried to interpret the mark as a literal physical mark much like
a tattoo that you will be able to actually have placed on your hand or forehead,
and will probably be visible. We must realize that Satan is a much smoother and
intelligent operator than that. As I said before, in some English translations we
see the word mark but in the much older Douay, and others, the word character is
used. Now what is really interesting is that both words can mean two completely
different things and still remain synonymous. For example, a mark can be made
on paper with a pencil and if that mark is a symbol from the Chinese alphabet
it would be called a character. If we were talking about tattoos, a character could
be pretty much any symbol or design and that character would indeed also be a
mark. However . . . it can also be said that if an influential person left his mark
on someone, it would quite possibly shape that person’s character, especially a
young person looking up to someone. To take the Mark of the Beast is to take the
Character of the Beast. The mark or character on the hand simply signifies one’s
actions or deeds and the mark or character taken on (or in) the forehead signifies
one’s thoughts, which in turn will dictate what one would do or how one would
act. To further simplify it, if you’re marked by Satan your thoughts and actions are
dictated by evil not righteousness. You will also notice that the Book of Revelation
mentions the mark of God. Is this a tattoo too? I’ve never heard anyone speak
about this mark.
Other scholars have determined that the most likely candidate to fill the
666 shoes was Emperor Nero. This was also deduced by symbolism of numerical
values and letters. Lucius Domitius Nero was by anyone’s standards, of any
period of time, a lunatic. In his first speech to the Roman Senate he promised
a new age had arrived and for the first five years of his reign he was moderate,
generous, and almost kind to his subjects. He was mounting a record of notable
improvements to the life of Rome, including ending capital punishment and
abolishing the blood circuses at the coliseum. Then around the year 59 A.D.
he snapped. Ran right off into the deep end. He kicked off a complete reign
of terror that killed as many Christians as he could find, including Peter and
Paul. He also set up the assassination of his insane mother, Agrippina. I guess
it ran in the family. The ‘Burning of Rome’ in the year 64 lasted for 9 days and

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destroyed most of the city. Nero was blamed and he in turn redirected the heat
toward the Christians. Nero then started down that slope he could not recover
from. He started drifting off into his own fantasy and dream worlds oblivious
to the realities around him. He would wander barefoot through gardens reciting
poetry and playing musical instruments ignoring important political and military
matters, especially the Jewish revolt situation. He did continue having garden
parties and would have Christians tarred and fastened to posts so that they may
be lit for torchlight at these parties. He finally lost it completely and laughed
off threats of discontent from the people and empire. The Senate finally had
enough and condemned Nero to die. Even Nero’s own Praetorian Guard turned
on him and he fled the city, all on his own now. He made it to one of his villas
outside Rome and seeing no way out he stabbed himself to death. Nero was truly
what you could call a homicidal-suicidal maniac. He also thought he was God,
demanding to be worshiped. Needless to say, he had some serious problems. If
you lived in the Roman Empire during the first three centuries after Christ and
refused to give up Christianity, or any other religion, and worship Nero and the
Caesars to follow him, you would probably be arrested and killed. Nero was the
first of the Roman Emperors to actually conduct a campaign to persecute the
Christians. However, this was the start of it and it remained localized to Rome
for the most part. It would be Emperor Domitian who reigned from 81-96 who
launched the first full scale general persecution. Christians throughout the entire
Roman Empire were now subject to arrest, confiscation of their property, slavery,
torture, and death, simply by virtue of being a Christian. These persecutions of
the Christians continued in earnest throughout the reigns of Emperor Trajan
(98-117), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Decius (249-251), and especially hard on
the Christians was Diocletian (284-305). It has been said that the Christians
who were martyred ran into the tens of thousands. Given the demographics of
the era that was extremely significant.

This era, for our purposes here, the 1st Era seems to come to a close when
Roman Emperor Constantine comes to power and issues his order, or the Edict
of Milan, in 313 and Christianity is granted tolerance. Christians were now free
to worship and spread the word openly. Revelation 20:1-2 tells us, Then I saw
an angel coming down from heaven, having the keys to the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil
and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; (NKJV)
For those misled souls who believe Constantine started the corrupt Catholic
Church in the year 313, the Edict of Milan merely established a policy of religious
freedom for all people and all religions. And a reminder too, that this Edict of
Toleration was drafted and published in 313 and the Council of Nicea was not
called and held until 325. For a man to be the one to start the church why did

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it take a dozen years to issue an order to cease the persecution of Christians and
then call a council to define what the church is and believes? This simply makes
no sense. The following is an English translation of the decree itself so you may
better understand just exactly what it says and what it accomplished:
‘When I, Constantine Augustus, as well as I, Licinius Augustus, fortunately
met near Mediolanurn (Milan), and were considering everything that pertained
to the public welfare and security, we thought, among other things which we
saw would be for the good of many, those regulations pertaining to the reverence
of the Divinity ought certainly to be made first, so that we might grant to the
Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred;
whence any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious
and kindly disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule. And thus by
this wholesome counsel and most upright provision we thought to arrange that
no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the
observance of the Christian religion, of that religion which he should think best
for himself, so that the Supreme Deity, to whose worship we freely yield our
hearts may show in all things His usual favor and benevolence. Therefore, your
Worship should know that it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever,
which were in the rescripts formerly given to you officially, concerning the
Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion
may do so freely and openly, without molestation. We thought it fit to commend
these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to
those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship.’ ‘When
you see that this has been granted to them by us, your Worship will know that
we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance
of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have
the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made we that
we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.’ ‘Moreover, in the
case of the Christians especially we esteemed it best to order that if it happens
anyone heretofore has bought from our treasury from anyone whatsoever, those
places where they were previously accustomed to assemble, concerning which a
certain decree had been made and a letter sent to you officially, the same shall
be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and
without any kind of fraud or deception, Those, moreover, who have obtained
the same by gift, are likewise to return them at once to the Christians. Besides,
both those who have purchased and those who have secured them by gift, are to
appeal to the vicar if they seek any recompense from our bounty, that they may
be cared for through our clemency. All this property ought to be delivered at once
to the community of the Christians through your intercession, and without delay.
And since these Christians are known to have possessed not only those places
in which they were accustomed to assemble, but also other property, namely

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the churches, belonging to them as a corporation and not as individuals, all

these things which we have included under the above law, you will order to be
restored, without any hesitation or controversy at all, to these Christians, that
is to say to the corporations and their conventicles: providing, of course, that
the above arrangements be followed so that those who return the same without
payment, as we have said, may hope for an indemnity from our bounty. In all
these circumstances you ought to tender your most efficacious intervention to
the community of the Christians, that our command may be carried into effect
as quickly as possible, whereby, moreover, through our clemency, public order
may be secured. Let this be done so that, as we have said above, Divine favor
towards us, which, under the most important circumstances we have already
experienced, may, for all time, preserve and prosper our successes together with
the good of the state. Moreover, in order that the statement of this decree of
our good will may come to the notice of all, this rescript, published by your
decree, shall be announced everywhere and brought to the knowledge of all, so
that the decree of this, our benevolence, cannot be concealed.’
Many believe erroneously that Constantine mandated that Christianity
become the official religion of the Roman Empire, even by force. The truth is,
not until the reign of Theodosius, from 379 to 395, did Christianity become the
single official religion of Rome. And even at this, while Christianity did flourish,
the Empire was still by no means uniformly Christian. Paganism was still very
powerful. The true thrust forward in the Church building its power came when
Theodosius basically massacred Thessalonica for rebelling against his new
Christian policies condemning homosexuality. This was a common practice in
Greece under Roman rule. When he returned to Rome the Bishop refused to
let him enter the church until he made a public repentance. Theodosius did so
and from that point forward the church’s power grew.It would not be for another
459 years that Charles the Great, better known to some as Charlemagne, would
conquer and Christianize Europe. In 772 he launched a 30-year campaign that
conquered and Christianized the powerful pagan Saxons in the north. He subdued
the Avars, a huge Tatar tribe on the Danube. He compelled the rebellious Bavarian
dukes to submit to him. When possible he preferred to settle matters peacefully,
however. For example, Charlemagne offered to pay the Lombard king Desiderius
for return of lands to the pope, but, when Desiderius refused, Charlemagne seized
his kingdom in 773 to 774 and restored the Papal States.
On Christmas Day in 800, while Charlemagne knelt in prayer in Saint Peter’s
in Rome, Pope Leo III seized a golden crown from the altar and placed it on
the bowed head of the king. The throng in the church shouted, “To Charles the
August, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, long life and victory!”
Charlemagne is said to have been surprised by the coronation, declaring that
he would not have come into the church had he known the pope’s plan. However,

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some historians say the pope would not have dared to act without Charlemagne’s
knowledge.
This coronation was the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire. Though
Charlemagne did not use the title, history considers him the first Holy Roman
emperor. After the actual Roman Empire fell and died out, the ‘new’ Holy Roman
Empire flourished from the time of Charlemagne (c.800 A.D.) until after the
Protestant Reformation exploded and the Catholic Church responded with its
own reformation purging abuses of power within its own structure. The fighting
here was also on the spiritual level and in the material world simultaneously lasting
about a century. This struggle culminated with the Thirty Years’ War that wrecked
Germany and much of Europe. The treaty of 1648 eroded the boundaries of the
Holy Roman Empire, which at this time extended over much of the European
continent, and would be the beginning of the end for her. At last the dust was
beginning to settle and the Catholic Church and Protestant groups would
concede that both would continue to exist. Nearly 900 years of an exclusive and
very powerful Catholic Church and Holy Roman Empire reign was ending due
to a corrupt leadership. It must be remembered though, this was not the Church
but the few men who had reached upper levels and then fell into corruption and
sin. The Church was never corrupt and never will be, not because of any men
but because it is of Christ. If we don’t clean our own house and police ourselves
God will do it for us.
One thing that is most intriguing about the Catholic/Protestant split is that
the day Martin Luther ‘published’ his 95 Theses, nailing it to the Castle Church
door, has become the day Protestants have marked as Reformation Day. This was
October 31st, 1517 and is observed every October 31st. As we all know, this same
date is considered the highest day of the year for Satanic and occult groups. I’m
not making any comments regarding Protestants, only making an observation of
a coincidence. You draw your own conclusions as to what happened and why.
If anyone truly “Christianized” the Roman Empire by force of arms it would
have been Charlemagne rather than Constantine. Constantine didn’t even
get baptized until at the end of his life on his deathbed. Again, Constantine
is sometimes given way too much credit for ‘founding’ the Catholic Church.
And Charlemagne certainly didn’t start it in the year 800. Once and for all, The
Church was founded by Jesus Christ himself. By the time of Constantine and of
Charlemagne both, it had existed for hundreds of years. It is true that Constantine
called for a Church Council. However, the truth is, he did not really understand
the theological issues but he did not like the reports he was getting of the Arian
schism. He called a council of bishops to settle these issues in order to maintain
peace in his empire. This gathering would come to be known as the Council of Nicea
and it’s from this Ecumenical Council held in 325 that we get the Nicene Creed
that is still said today in the Catholic Church and a lot of Protestant churches.

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Here I would like to clear up a little issue with my Jehovah Witness friends.
Jesus Christ was not Michael the Archangel. And the Council of Nicea is not
the foundation for the belief in the divinity of Jesus. At this Council the bishops
did reject Arianism as a heresy. To counter the Arian theology they drafted the
Nicene Creed. This ‘codified’ formulation of belief made it clear that the Son was
fully divine and coeternal with, not subordinate to, the Father. The Son is of the
same substance as the Father, homoousios. The council of bishops did not declare
Jesus is divine, they merely affirmed what Christians had believed since there were
Christians. Some may see this as a subtle difference, but a very big difference.

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 The Study

T he Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse, is probably the

most read, talked about, and misunderstood book of the entire Holy
Bible. Apocalyptic literature was most popular and most widely circulated between
about 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. and borrowed heavily from the Old Testament,
which in fact was the only scripture existing in those days. John wrote the
Apocalypse around the end of the first century. It was written mainly in such a
way as to communicate with Christians without those persecuting them being
able to understand it, should it fall into their hands. Some of the information
concerned what was happening in those days, some events had already happened
and were of historical significance and some was prophetic of events yet to come.
Some things talked about and predicted are described in such a way that we often
only learn the true meaning after it has happened.
It would seem from the first 3 chapters that the Apocalypse was originally
intended as an epistle, or letter, to the seven churches in Asia at that time; Ephesus,
Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Each church
was told of their good points and were praised somewhat but were then warned
of their faults and shortcomings and told to straighten out. The last thing said
at the very end of each of the church’s individual messages was, if you have ears,
listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say to you. It was after these 3 chapters and
admonitions to improve that the rest of the story was laid out to them. A key
warning was the warning of the danger from forces inside the church.
Problems from within their own ranks more so than outsider non-Christians.
The Apostle Paul had to deal with this problem constantly with other so-called
teachers coming behind him teaching things such as, if you become Christian
you also must observe Jewish laws and customs, such as circumcision. Paul was
about as busy with damage control as he was with starting new churches. This
is a very important point to remember for later. Remember this point and then

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remember that the true war against Christians and Christianity is a spiritual war.
We as Christians are actually at war against Satan and his forces.
In the following chapters, 4 and 5, we see John taken up to heaven and here
he is more or less observing a Mass, or worship service. Following the observance
of the worship in heaven comes 3 cycles of seven judgments, starting in chapter 6
and running through 16. The middle of this, chapters 12, 13, and 14, contain the
really mysterious prophecies of the woman who flees into the wilderness, the Beast
and his power and authority, and the 144,000. The final chapters, 17 on through
to the 22nd and final chapter, winds things down and wraps it up for eternity to
start. These details are the hardest to figure out what is really happening.
Not intending to offend any Protestant Christians, or anyone for that matter,
I believe if you were to simply pick up and read the Book of Revelation without
taking it fully into its proper context and also read it parallel to other writings such
as other critical commentary studies, apocryphal writings of the early church, the
writings of the early church fathers, and historical accounts of the era such as the
writings of Josephus along with a proper grounding of the Old Testament to see
the language parallels you will be completely lost to its meanings. It’s also helpful
to read a number of different versions, or translations. So often the meaning of
something is completely changed by a single word being used where it probably
should not have been. An example would be where the word “forehead” was used
in a King James passage and in the very same place in a Douay version used the
word “eyes”. Go figure. Now if you know that “Sola Scriptura”, or the “Bible
Alone” doctrine, doesn’t work and you read many sources together you can begin
to get a little clearer picture of things. It’s still not absolutely clear, but it’s getting
better. By knowing your history it makes things a lot easier. A little reading and
a little study will carry you a long way.
Now what I’m going to piece together in a while is my own personal opinion
and from my own personal study and deductions of things. I do not claim to have
a crystal ball nor do I profess that this is an absolute. For all I know I could be
as far off as to completely miss it . . . . But I don’t think so. What I do know, and
what all should know and remember, is that only God knows the day and hour
and the method of how this present world will end and eternity will start.

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 The Four Ages

W henever there’s an end to something it can be assumed there was a

beginning, and vise versa. So where I wanted to start was the
beginning. The real beginning, creation. A lot of the older Bibles have tables
that have calculated the time of the creation back to about the year 4004 B.C.
If I were to assume this figure is true, you can figure that the Great Flood, or
Deluge as it was called in older days, occurred about 1,656 years after creation
at about the year 2344 B.C. This period is what I call the 1st Age—Creation to
Flood, an age being a period of time marked by extremely significant events. The
2nd Age—Flood to Christ, is just that. The period of time from about 2344 until
the birth of Christ, which is generally held to be about the year 4 B.C. Simple
math shows this period last a bit more than 2000 years. The 3rd Age—Christ to
Present is actually the Present Church Age we currently live in and started some
2000 years ago when Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. Author Paul Thigpen,
in the Introduction to his book The Rapture Trap, writes, The meaning of Christ’s
second coming cannot be adequately understood apart from the meaning of His first
coming. Nor can it be understood apart from the meaning of the present age—the time
between his two comings. I would like to take a little side trip here that I thought
was very interesting. If you notice of the above 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Ages, they each
consist of a period of time that is approximately 2000 years each. One a little
less, the others a little more, but rounded out and approximated you get pretty
close.
Barnabas was a companion and fellow preacher of the Apostle Paul. He is
mentioned quite often in the Book of Acts. He also left behind some writings of
his own but they didn’t make it into the canonical list of Holy Inspired writings,
determined by the Church. In fact, The Epistle of Barnabas is believed to be
as old as other scripture and is older than the Book of Jude. Barnabas’ writings
were read in the early church before being excluded officially by the Church.
Although the Epistle of Barnabas is not actually a Book of the Holy Bible, it

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can be interesting reading. Just remember that it is not of the Holy Bible and it
may contain errors. Interesting reading nonetheless.
Now with that said about Barnabas, this is what he had to say in The Epistle
of Barnabas. Chapter 13. Verse 3 says in part, ‘And God made in six days the
works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested on
the seventh day, and sanctified it.’ Verse 4 continues, ‘Consider, my children what
that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this; that in six
thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end.’ Verse 5 wraps it
up with, ‘For with him one day is a thousand years; as himself testifieth, saying,
Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that
is, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished.’ If Barnabas’ prophecy
is genuine we are just about due to see some amazing events unfold. Each of
the previously described Ages, approximately 2000 years each, puts us in that
6000-year neighborhood about now.

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 The 3rd Age and Its 3 Eras

H aving divided the previous known 6000 years into three distinct Ages
we can also further divide our own present Age into three Eras. In my
own estimation these three Eras of the Present Church Age correspond to the
Book of Revelation. This makes a little more sense when you read the account
in Acts of Pentecost and the Upper Room and realize the “Last Days” started
then. We have been in the “Last Days” since Pentecost; it is not some future time.
Read in the Book of Acts 2:15-17 where Peter is telling the people outside that,
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last
days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh:” (KJV)
The Book of Joel is found in the Old Testament and is believed to have been
written about 400 B.C. Chapter 3 of Joel is what Peter was making reference to
in this passage of the Book of Acts. So its clear to see that the last days would be
a future event as far as Joel was concerned, but Peter made it known that these
last days mentioned by Joel had now come to be the present time. The reality is
that the belief by many Christians that the last days mentioned in scripture is a
period of time in the future is false. They have been mislead or misunderstood.
The last days were prophesied 400 years before Christ and when Jesus resurrected,
ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit descended, the last days began. When
will the end times arrive? We are in them now, and have been in them for quite
a long time . . . at least by human standards. Even in Hebrews 1:1-2 it tells us,
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets many times and in many
different ways. But now in these last days God has spoken to us through his Son . . .”
(NCV)

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Tribulation

We can call the First Era the period that includes the Time of Christ until
about the year 313 A.D., the year Constantine comes to power as the Roman
Emperor. There is little doubt that there really is not a smooth chronology of
events in Revelation. It seems to jump back and forth in certain places. For
example, In Chapter 12 speaking of the woman clothed with the sun, etc. when
you get to verse 7 and see that, war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels
battled against the dragon . . . . verse 9, The Huge dragon . . . . was thrown down
to earth . . . . This cannot possibly be talking about a future event, but actually
an event that occurred near the beginning of time, as we know it. This war in
heaven happened right after creation when Satan did not think that humans
should be given such a high position in the scheme of things. Satan had a big
ego and became jealous of humans.
He eventually let his ego and jealousy turn him defiant against God. This in
turn got him thrown out of heaven, created a state of separation from God and
this is what sin and condemnation is . . . separation from God.
David B. Currie in his book Rapture The End-Times Error That Leaves the
Bible Behind even tells us chronological order is not always observed in apocalyptic
visions. The order in which these visions occur should not be assumed to be chronological.
They are more like an envelope of snapshots than a film.
The first 300 years of the Present Church Era was a period of unparalleled
tribulation and persecution for Christians and the Christian Church. Matthew
24:21 mentions ‘a great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of
the world until now, or ever will be.’ This first period of time could easily qualify
to match this description. Again, go back to Jesus himself in the Gospel of Luke,
at Luke 21:20 saying ‘when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that
its destruction is at hand.’ Approximately a generation later, just about 40 years
after his crucifixion, on July 17, 70 A.D. the Roman Army breached the city
walls of Jerusalem after a three and one half year siege, and on August 10, just
about three and one half weeks after entering the city, burned and destroyed
the temple. Interesting to note here that Josephus also tells us the first temple,
Solomon’s Temple, is said to have been destroyed by burning 656 years earlier, to
the day, August 10th, 586 B.C. Is it just coincidence that the number three and
one half keeps repeating?
As we all know, three and one half is prominently referred to in the Book of
Revelation. I also wondered at the Protestant belief in a seven year tribulation
period where the first half, or first three and one half years would be a peaceful
period and the second half, or second three and one half year period, would

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be the great tribulation and horrors. The real question that popped into my
head was if these two three and one half year periods actually run concurrent,
or is there some period of time that runs between them? It may mean nothing
but I have noticed concerning the great temple, that the great King Solomon
was King for a period of three and one half years prior to construction of the
temple started. And we know this period of time saw great prosperity and
peace. Conversely, the last period of time of the great temple in Jerusalem,
the period that the Roman Army had it encircled during the great siege, was
a period of three and one half years, from about 66 A.D. until its complete
and utter destruction in 70 A.D. The great temple on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem has never been rebuilt to this day. I don’t believe that human hands
will ever build another temple to replace it, although there are those who not
only believe there will be a third, but are going to great lengths to help it come
into being.
Although the ban on visiting the Temple Mount is in effect it has not
stopped those in Israel from thinking about the realization of a long lost dream,
the rebuilding of the Temple. Once the city of Jerusalem was retaken this was
no longer a pipe dream. Time magazine reported:

Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70,

Conservative and Orthodox Jews have beseeched God four times a
week to ‘renew our days’ as they once were—a plea for the restoration
of the Temple. Although Zionism was largely a secular movement,
one of its sources was the prayers of the Jews for a return to Palestine
so that they could build a temple . . . Learned Jewish opinion has long
debated when and how the temple can be rebuilt. The great medieval
philosopher Maimonides, in his Code of Jewish Law, argued that every
generation of Jews was obliged to rebuild the temple if its site was ever
retaken, if a leader descended from David could be found, and if the
enemies of Jerusalem were destroyed.

Not only has the issue of a third temple been a matter between Jews and
Muslims but evangelical protestant Christians have made it their business too.
Since 1967 the Israeli government made it a policy that the temple mount, now
the site of the golden Dome of the Rock mosque, is off limits to anyone and
everyone other than the Muslim worshippers.
Many Jews and evangelical Christians believe it’s their duty to have another
temple built and without another temple Christ cannot return to earth. An example
of their absolute dedication to this project follows in this “open letter”:

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OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND PEOPLE OF

ISRAEL THE IMPRISONMENT OF RELIGIOUS ISRAELIS

Thursday, March 10, witnessed a great setback to religious freedom in

Israel—and throughout the world. We refer to the jailing of earnest,
faithful sons of Israel—whose only crime was to try and pray upon the
most sacred site of Judaism, The Temple Mount:

Our Father which art in heaven: Guard the children of all nations who
perform thy will and fear they (sic) great name.

We, as evangelical Christians, find the imprisonment of these sons of

Israel with the gates of Jerusalem, biblically unconscionable.

This comes as an international shock to vast segments of the Evangelical

world. For the Jewish people to be restricted and imprisoned for such
a noble design staggers the moral imagination.

Exclusive and erroneous Islamic claims to this most holy site, militate
against historical and biblical injunction. The People of Israel, through
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai,
Zechariah, and the early church (Stephen, Paul, James and Jesus
Himself ) with many others, paid the most holy price for this sanctified
space. The Almighty desires it to be a House of Prayer for all peoples.
(Isaiah 56:7) If the sons and daughters of Zion are restricted access to
Zion’s holy hill, then the return of His chosen people to their land of
promise is in vain—for the heart of Jerusalem awaits the foot of the
Jew, not the trodding down by the gentiles.

Mr. Prime Minister, your brethren have considered their ways and gone
up to the Mountain of the Lord. Therefore, we ask you to intervene on
behalf of Israel’s faithful who demonstrate their divine privilege. Your
people, who gave to the gentiles the knowledge of the one true God,
must be allowed full freedom of worship within the holy boundaries
of the Mount.

May the Almighty strengthen the resolve of your government to do

that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

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. . . and the gentiles shall come to Thy light

and kings to the brightness of Thy rising . . .
the forces of the gentiles shall come upon Thee
. . . they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar,
and I will glorify the house of my glory.
(Isaiah 60)

Be strong, Mr. Prime Minister, and “all ye people of Eretz Israel, saith
the Lord, “and work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
(Haggai 2:4)

YOUR EVANGELICAL FRIENDS IN AMERICA

Committee of Concerned Evangelicals

for Freedom of Worship on the Temple Mount
P.O. Box 6081; Norman, Oklahoma 73070
Terry Risenhoover, Doug Krieger, Dr. James DeLoach; Co-
Chairmen
The Feast of Freedom—Pessah, 1983

A World Council of Churches periodical entitled “The Link” (a journal

funded by Arab oil interests) commented:

Two violent attempts to “liberate” the Temple Mount recently have

taken place . . . According to Middle East correspondent Grace Halsell,
“Increasingly Zionist fanatics—Israelis and Americans—are plotting
to destroy Islam’s sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock
in Jerusalem. It is said that many of Israel’s highest officials sanction
Zionist plans to destroy the mosque, the site from whence Muhammad
ascended into heaven, and to build a Jewish temple there. Christian
Zionists, uncritical of any action undertaken by the Israeli government,
apparently have the same rationale for supporting such actions.

This issue continues in earnest but for what reason is unknown. There are
those that view the spiritual and the church as apart and separate from this material
world and the politics of nations. The Jews believe another temple must be built
or the messiah they’re still waiting for will not come. Evangelical Protestant
Christians believe it must be built before Jesus Christ can come again. Those

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that believe this and that a literal New Jerusalem 1500 miles cubed in size will
descend from the sky, because it is described in the Bible as to what it looks like,
seem to have forgotten a verse. Verse 22 of Revelation Chapter 21 says, I saw no
temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.
Anyone doubting just how much of a period of tribulation it was during
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. and the remaining 230
some odd years until Constantine, should read a little history. The time of trials
and tribulation against Christians was so severe that by all accounts Christianity
should have been completely wiped out. Peter was martyred about the same time
as the last of the Jewish rebel uprisings and siege on Jerusalem started. All of
the original apostles were killed except John. The survivors had to flee and hide,
and so on. It held together by a thread. At one time Christians were attached to
crosses or posts and were set afire to function as torches to light the city streets
of Rome.
According to John Foxe (1517-1587), author of the famous Foxe’s Book of
Martyrs, St. Stephen was stoned to death, which we also know from scripture
and the Apostle James who was the brother of John was beheaded around the
year 44 A.D. Next in line was Philip who was scourged and crucified, as was
Jesus, in 54 A.D. He tells us that St. Matthew was slain with a halberd in the
city of Nadabah in 60 A.D. A Halberd is a long handled weapon used as either
a spear or battle-ax. The next James, writer of the Epistle, was beaten, clubbed,
and stoned to death by the Jews at the age of 94. Matthias was stoned and then
beheaded. St. Andrew, the brother of Peter, was crucified on the “St. Andrews’”
“X” shaped cross at Edessa. The people at Alexandria dragged St. Mark to pieces
during their celebration of their idol, Serapis. St. Peter was crucified at Rome,
inverted at his request, saying he was not worthy to die as his savior Jesus Christ
had. St. Paul was beheaded at Rome. St. Jude was crucified in 72 A.D., as was
St. Bartholomew after being beaten as well. Thomas, the one who would not
believe Christ had risen until he could touch the wounds, and did place his hand
in the wound of the Lord’s side, was martyred by being thrust through with
a spear. Not of absolute fact, it has been believed by some that St. Luke was
hanged on an olive tree. It is also believed that Simon was crucified in Britain in
74 A.D. Writer John Foxe reports that St. John founded all the seven churches
named in the Book of Revelation. He also says after he was ordered to Rome
authorities took him, and it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil.
‘He escaped by miracle, without injury.’ After this Emperor Domitian banished
him to the island prison of Patmos where he wrote the Apocalypse. John is the
only Apostle to have escaped a violent death. If you’ll remember too that John
was the only Apostle of the twelve that followed Christ to the Praetorium, into
the court, and stood with Mary and the other women at the foot of the cross.
He was completely dedicated and unwavering toward Christ no matter what

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was going on or what the cost may be. The fact that Christianity survived at all
is proof that it is of God.
Another small coincidence found is that the day the Babylonians burned
the Temple in 586 B.C and when Vespasian led the troops to the burning of
the Temple in 70 A.D., both on August 10th, is that the Church has set aside
that same day as the Feast Day of Saint Lawrence, made a deacon in Rome in
257 A.D., a time when being a Christian could easily get you killed there, and
in fact, was martyred the following year, 258 A.D., by none other than being
roasted on a grate. By the way, Saint Lawrence also converted a Roman Soldier
to Christianity while in his prison cell just before his execution. This soldier he
converted is now known as Saint Romanus. Romanus was seized by other soldiers
and was martyred the day before Lawrence. Romanus would be a namesake of
the future final Pope prophesied by Saint Malachy.
For our purposes here it could be said this 1st Era effectively ended when
Constantine came to power as Emperor of the Roman Empire. Under his reign
Christianity was at the least, legalized and became tolerated. Other pagan religions
remained but Christianity was tolerated and existed side by side with these other
religions. A main reason for this was that Constantine’s mother was a closet
Christian who had been reading and studying scripture in secret for some time
prior to his coming to power. Now she was not only free to worship openly, but
with the full might of the Roman Empire behind her, she explored the Holy Land
and is a very large reason we have a lot of the places of pilgrimage there today.
St. Helena is credited with being the first Christian pilgrim to the Holy Land,
traveling there in 326 A.D. She is said to have discovered the ‘True Cross’, the
place in the Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the burial tomb
or sepulcher of Jesus, which is the site of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, and
the place of Jesus’ birth which is the site of the Church of the Nativity.
As of now, the year 313, the Christian church can start to grow and gather
steam. Yes, there are still some problems and pockets of persecution but by and
large it begins to grow and gain power. Another coincidence found here is that the
first leader of the Church elected to power after the year 313 when Constantine
has legalized Christianity and relieved a lot of pressure off of the Church, is the
33rd Pope, Pope Sylvester who reigns as Peter’s successor from 314 to 335 A.D.
I found it interesting to note that it is commonly held that Jesus Christ was 33
years old when he was crucified and the first Pope of the “free” Christianity was
the 33rd of Church history.
Do you suppose it’s possible now that this period of Tribulation described in
the Book of Revelation could coincide with this first 300 years of the Christian
Church? There are a lot of interesting parallels here. Chapter 13:5 . . . The Beast
was given a mouth uttering proud boasts and blasphemies and it was given authority
to act for forty-two months. This is the same period of time the siege of Jerusalem

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lasted in the first century. Also of note is a comment found in The Antichrist, a book
by Arthur W. Pink, written in 1923 and is now in the public domain. As I had
reckoned before finding Mr. Pink’s work, his reference in Chapter 16, Antichrist
and Babylon, to “the great Whore” and “Babylon the Great” in Revelation 17 says,
‘As the truth becomes more clearly discerned, we believe it will also be apparent that the
great Whore is not the apostate church but apostate Israel.’ This would tend to lean to
the idea of the destruction of Jerusalem being the tribulation of Revelation and
it occurred for the reason given by Jesus when he said it was because they did not
recognize the time of their visitation from God. They did not recognize or accept
that Jesus was the Messiah. In Ezekiel 22:19-21 God seems to be warning the Jews
long before Christ comes; Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have all
become dross, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As one gathers silver, bronze,
iron, lead, and tin into a smelter, to blow the fire upon them in order to melt them; so
I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. I
will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted
within it (NRSV) Just for those of you who may not know, dross is the scummy
impurities that float to the top of melted molten metals that has to be skimmed off
and discarded. Not a very flattering comparison. Also notice that He says He will
gather them ‘into the midst of Jerusalem’. Look back at how the Jews were ‘gathered
into the midst of Jerusalem’ during the last great siege and destruction of that city
and its people in 70 A.D. In Isaiah 28:18 we see, Then your covenant with death will
be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming
scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. (NRSV) And finally read Daniel
9:27, He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week
he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination
that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator. (NRSV) We must
continue to remind ourselves that the real war is spiritual. Satan’s goal is to break
down Christians and crush the Christian Church. When Jerusalem was destroyed,
sacrifice and offering for the Jews did cease. In its place came desolation. It remains
that way to this day . . . Jesus has not returned yet to pour out the decreed end on the
desolator. Jesus himself even refers to Daniel 9:27 in Matthew 24:15 when he said,
“So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by
the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand)(NRSV) It’s in the following verses in
Matthew, Jesus is warning them to flee to mountains and not return to their homes
to get anything. In John 4:20-21 when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman
at the well he also leaves us a subtle hint of what’s to be. In verse 20 she says, “Our
ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must
worship is in Jerusalem.” In verse 21, Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
(NRSV) What do you suppose he meant by that? Hum, I wonder.

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 “Loosed”

I n Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation it tells us of the Thousand-Year

reign of Christ commencing after this period of tribulation. We also have
to remember that these numbers listed in scripture may not be exact numbers
but are representative. It is possible, with a little understanding of significant but
obscure historical events to show a period of time that lasted from 313 A.D.,
the time of Constantine coming to power, until the year 1349 A.D., a period
of some 1036 years, to be seen as this 1000 year reign of Christ, or his Church.
This “1000 Year” period was a period of growth for the Church that history has
never seen previously nor have we seen since. The Church’s golden years, so to
speak.
Saint Augustine held that the thousand-year reign of Christ in Revelation
20:4-10 is the period of time between the two comings of Christ. I hardly claim
to know more than Saint Augustine, but it made more sense to me that it should
start at 313 A.D. after all that tribulation in the first three centuries. Something
significant said by Saint Augustine while talking about this is he describes the
1000-year period as, during this interval, which goes by the name of a thousand
years, he shall not seduce the Church. Satan is bound from hurting the Church. It
is allowed to flourish. It is worth noting that even during the first centuries and
the tremendous persecution of its members, the Church did grow anyway.
To fully understand and see that this 1,036 year period coincides with the
Biblical 1000 Year reign we need to jump forward a bit and then come back to
it. Revelation 20:7-9 says, When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released
from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth,
Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands
of the sea. They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of
the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
(NRSV) Now we have to be careful not to fall in that trap of reading this as a
literal event. Gog and Magog are used figuratively from Old Testament scripture.

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King Nebuchadnezer of Babylon destroying Jerusalem the first time in 586 B.C.
from Ezekiel 38 is a prefigurement of this.
We get a great deal of wonderful insight on these passages from Saint
Augustine again. Saint Augustine, also known as Augustine of Hippo, is probably
my personal favorite of the early church fathers. His own personal life story of
how he was a “wild child” in his youth and his conversion later in life is extremely
inspirational. His Confessions is a wonderful read. Born in Tagaste, Algeria in 354
he becomes ordained in 391. After becoming Bishop of Hippo in 394 he does
his best work writing Confessions about 400 and City of God around 412. He is
generally regarded as the most prolific and influential Doctor of the Church.
From Saint Augustine’s City of God, Book 20, Chapter 11 we see, And
the words “he shall go out” mean, he shall burst forth from lurking hatred into open
persecution. For these nations which he names Gog and Magog are not to be understood
of some barbarous nations in some part of the world . . . or some other foreign nations
not under the Roman government. For John marks that they are spread over the whole
earth, when he says, “The nations which are in the four corners of the earth . . . The
meaning of these names we find to be, Gog, “a roof ”, Magog, “from a roof ”—a house, as
it were, and he who comes out of the house. They are therefore the nations in which we
found that the devil was shut up as in an abyss, and the devil himself coming out . . .
they shall be from the roof when they break forth from concealed to open hatred. The
words, “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of
the saints and the beloved city”, do not mean that they have come, or shall come, to one
place, as if the camp of the saints and the beloved city should be in some one place; for
this camp is nothing else than the Church of Christ extending over the whole world.
And consequently wherever the Church shall be,—and it shall be in all nations, as is
signified by “the breadth of the earth”—there also shall be the camp of the saints and
the beloved city. We have to remember now that this insight and interpretation
was written some 1600 years ago. This is not new stuff.
There’s a story of a novice Ankorite many centuries ago struggling with the
issue of chastity. These particular men were part of an order of holy men living as
hermits in the Egyptian desert. When the younger novice sought advice from an
older and wiser monk, he asked him if future generations will be able to maintain
holy and righteous ways as well as they do. The answer was that although people
in the future will be weaker than us, they will also be greater than us; because we
fight Satan while he is chained but the future generations will fight Satan unchained.
That would be us today . . . fighting against an unchained Satan.
Yes, Satan goes on a rampage causing great tribulation to God’s people during
the first 300 years of the Church . . . Tribulation. Then in Revelation 20:1-3 an
angel comes down from heaven and chains Satan up for a thousand years so he
could no longer lead the nations astray until these thousand years are completed.
During this period that Satan is bound from hurting or damaging the Church, it

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grows, expands, and becomes powerful. Revelation 20:7, the thousand years are
over and Satan is released . . . loosed again. When he is “loosed” he starts attacking
Christ’s Church and does so with a vengeance. This war continues to this day.
When Satan is “loosed” again it is the 14th Century, the early 1300’s. By
this period of history, the Medieval and Renaissance eras, the Catholic Church,
the only Christian church in existence at this time, has grown exponentially to
enormous numbers and extreme power. The long and the short of it is that the
European nations answer to the Vatican and to the Pope. This “1000 Year” period
of 1036 years, between 313 and 1349 has been extremely good to the Church.
Now let’s look back to the warnings to the seven churches in the first 3 Chapters
of the Book of Revelation. The key element, found here as well as warnings from
Paul in other New Testament Books to churches, is to be aware and watch for
evil to creep up inside the church. Remember the warnings that there is more
danger from forces inside the churches than from the outside?
In Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 16:17-18, he told them and
us, I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and
offenses, in opposition to the teachings that you have learned; avoid them. For such
people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and
flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. (NRSV) It would seem that
over this large period of time these warnings were forgotten

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 Schism

B y the time the Renaissance period arrived the Church was fully in power
of not only itself but of nearly everything else too. Using the Apocalypse
as a measuring rod, it would seem that somewhere in the early to mid 1300’s, the
chains were removed from Satan, and he was “loosed” back onto the world. For
starters, we humans were reminded with a vengeance that our mortal lives are
short. The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, was released which eventually would
claim 25 million people in a very short time. Some even say this plague was the
worst disaster to strike mankind, ever. Never before, nor since, to this day, has
anything claimed so much human life or caused as much suffering in such a short
period of time. Estimates from a quarter to half of Europe’s population killed in a
very painful death in only three years time. The Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio
lived through the plague as it ravaged the city of Florence in 1348. The experience
inspired him to write The Decameron, a story of seven men and three women
who escape the disease by fleeing to a villa outside the city. In his introduction
to the fictional portion of his book, Boccaccio gives a graphic description of the
effects of the epidemic on his city. “The symptoms were not the same as in the
East, where a gush of blood from the nose was the plain sign of inevitable death;
but it began both in men and women with certain swellings in the groin or under
the armpit. They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and
were vulgarly called tumours. In a short space of time these tumours spread from
the two parts named all over the body. Soon after this the symptoms changed
and black or purple spots appeared on the arms or thighs or any other part of the
body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones. These spots were a
certain sign of death, just as the original tumour had been and still remained. No
doctor’s advice, no medicine could overcome or alleviate this disease, An enormous
number of ignorant men and women set up as doctors in addition to those who
were trained. Either the disease was such that no treatment was possible or the
doctors were so ignorant that they did not know what caused it, and consequently

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could not administer the proper remedy. In any case very few recovered; most
people died within about three days of the appearance of the tumours described
above, most of them without any fever or other symptoms. The violence of this
disease was such that the sick communicated it to the healthy who came near
them, just as a fire catches anything dry or oily near it. And it even went further.
To speak to or go near the sick brought infection and a common death to the
living; and moreover, to touch the clothes or anything else the sick had touched
or worn gave the disease to the person touching.” In addition to this horrible
disease, nearly every month of the year 1349 saw massacres and mass suicides of
Jews in Central Europe and Germany because the Christians and non-Jewish
Europeans, in their Middle-Ages ignorance, blamed the Jewish citizenry for the
mass death caused by the Black Death. In one day, March 21, 1349, 3000 Jews were
killed in Efurt, Germany. It would be many years later that Martin Luther would
study law at the University of Efurt (aka Erfurt—english) in Germany and later
become an Augustinian monk. This was so-called Christianity in action against
Jews. Coincidentally, in March of this same year, 1349 a little church in France
known as the Cathedral of St. Etienne in Besancon caught fire. The fire did major
damage to the church but what is of more significance is that the Holy Shroud of
Turin, not called that yet, but nevertheless, the shroud believed to be the burial
shroud of Jesus Christ was being stored in this church. It was even brought out
for public viewing and veneration every Easter Sunday up until this fire.
The Church’s 198th Pope, Pope Clement VI who reigned from 1342-52,
seems to be the Pope that saw Satan “loosed”. Now, all of the sudden in 1349,
everything seems to “bust” loose with the Black Death epidemic, the riots and
murders, and the first of the fires that very nearly destroys the Holy Shroud. Not
to mention there are now rumblings within the Church about to try to rip it apart
as well. In only a few years friction inside the Church had reached a boiling point.
By 1378 the newly elected Pope Urban VI had extreme opposition in France. It
was in France the Holy Shroud was nearly burned too. The French opposition
was so great in fact that they elected their own Pope, or more properly known,
Anti-Pope. This was Anti-Pope Clement VII, elected September 20, 1378. This
Anti-Pope Clement VII was also the first of the line of Anti-Popes and the Great
Schism of the Church was officially started. Now ask yourself this. If you were
Satan and you had just been released from a “1000 Year” detention, and now
you were free to wreak havoc on earth, would your main source of hatred and
your primary target not be the Church? Doesn’t Revelation 12:17 say, Then the
dragon was very angry at the woman, and he went off to make war against all her
other children—those who obey God’s commandments and who have the message Jesus
taught. (NCV) If Satan can damage the church, individual souls are a lot easier to
get. Take out the Shepard and the flock will scatter. Remember 1 Peter 5:8? He
says, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring

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lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV)It can safely be said in the Revelation
12:17 verse that ‘the woman’ can refer to Mary or the Church, or simultaneously
to both. In either case we Christians would all belong to the group called ‘her
other children’. Galatians 4:4-5 says, But when the fullness of the time came, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem
those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (NASB)
In John 15:5 you see, I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (NIV)
Also it clears up the matter of adoption as a son or daughter of God in Romans
9:6-8 when it says, It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are
descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all
Abraham’s children. On the contrary. “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be
reckoned. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it
is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. (NIV) And
finally a note to show that the natural blood descendants aren’t the key. We who
have accepted Christ and taken God’s mark are members of God’s household,
adopted children who will inherit his promises. Romans 9:27 says, Concerning
Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as
the sand on the seashore, only a small number will be saved. (NLT) Although only
a remnant, or small number, of the people of Israel will be saved, the number of
saved and redeemed people of God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ,
will be such a great multitude that no one can count them. Revelation 7:9 tells
us, After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could
count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their
hands. (NASB) Revelation 7:14 picks up, I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And
he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (NASB) I
continue to ask myself if we are not living through a time of intense persecution
and tribulation as Christians and on a global scale now. Even still in 2005 I hear
reports of Christians being nailed to crosses in hardcore Muslim countries. It has
been said that more Christians were killed for being Christian . . . martyred for
Christ . . . during the 20th century than in all the preceding centuries combined.
And the decline of morals and accepted moral standards seems on the brink of
completely wiping out mankind in the spiritual war.

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 Middle Ages

T here now begins a period of Church history that would be better

forgotten if we could. But it is history and we cannot forget it. On the
other hand it is beneficial to not forget so those horrible things are never repeated.
Ultimately there was a huge schism created that damaged the Church by causing
a separation of the Church known as the Great Western Schism. From this era of
Pope Clement VI, around 1349, through the next three popes until the election
of Pope Urban VI in 1378, some 29-30 years, a number of issues arose within
the Church that continually drove a wedge into the leadership. There have been
various stories about individuals and the deeds or misdeeds attributed to them. I
personally do not know how much of these things have been inflated and who was
really the bad guy or the good guy. As is the usual, the truth is probably somewhere
in the middle. I will simply say there were problems that were allowed to creep
into the Church that should not have and leave it at that. To repeat the details
would serve no purpose. Suffice it to say there was an internal reformation and
the problems were purged.
As far as schism and division in the Church goes, after almost 40 years of it,
it had been decided enough was enough and something needed to be seriously
done to put an end to it. During this period of division there were a number
of Anti-Popes that were elected, appointed, or simply assumed the position. It
must be remembered when talking of these Anti-Popes . . . these people and their
supporters never did really represent the true Church. Things they did or were a
party to was not of the Church. They were renegades pursuing their own interest
under the guise of the church and at her expense. Again, the warning of trouble
from within the ranks of the Church was a valid one. Satan had worked his way
in and through these men he did considerable damage in this spiritual war.
Official Church listings of the Popes throughout history will not show the
names of these Anti-popes. There is no need to; they were never properly and
canonically elected. Although some writings, some that I have seen, will simply

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refer to one of them as ‘Pope so-and-so’, it is misleading, because he actually never

was “Pope”. For starters let’s look at the very first Anti-Pope. He was “elected”
by opposition to the real Pope in 1378. He assumed the name Clement VII. The
real Clement VII was not elected until 1523, about 145 years later. Everyone has
heard of Pope John XXIII. He reigned as Pope from 1958-63 and instituted the
Vatican II Council that everyone has heard so much about. Did you know there
had already been a man to claim to be the Pope and he used the name John XXIII?
He was a Cardinal by the name of Baltazzar Cossa and upon the death of another
Anti-pope, Alexander V, who had only been installed in 1409 and was poisoned
the following year, was chosen his successor. This was done despite him having
had a suspicious connection to Alexander’s untimely death. It is important to note
that during these unsavory events, they were not of the Church. The recognized
Pope of this time was Pope Gregory XII who reigned from 1406-15.
In a turn of events that would finally put an end to this insanity of divided
leadership and who knows what else, the Council of Constance was called and
convened in November of 1414. It would last for the following four years. By now
the Church had three Popes at the same time . . . or some would have believed.
There was the Pope and two other Anti-Popes challenging his authority. This
council was of such importance that even the major heads of state attended. The
governments of Germany, France, Italy, and even England were fully represented.
Russia and Greece, although a little less influential in the early 1400’s, also
attended.
The first suggestion was that all three withdraw and the process start over.
This was not well accepted and the arguing continued between the camps for
months. Needless to say, the outside world watching all of this discord and
corruption inside the Church did nothing but plant the seeds for the soon to
come Protestant Reformation. Finally this “Pope” John was simply deposed and
subsequently spent several years in a prison. The other Anti-Pope in this power
struggle, calling himself Benedict, was also deposed by the Council. And the
recognized Pope Gregory XII chose to resign and step aside in order to permit
a completely new and proper election of a pope. This all came to a head, and
conclusion in 1417. It would be the newly elected Pope Martin V to preside over
and conclude the Council of Constance in 1418.
From the election of the first Anti-Pope in 1378 until the close of the
Council of Constance and the end of the Anti-Popes in 1418, a period of 40
years past. God’s people had once again been disobedient and paid the price of
wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Unfortunately though, major irreparable
damage had been done. Satan was not finished because the Church appeared to
be recovering. He was just gearing up for the next phase of ripping the Church
apart. The Protestant Reformation. I also found it interesting to see that from
the first shroud fire in 1349, an event that seems to me to mark the “loosing” of

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Satan, until this Anti-Pope schism mess ending, at least inside the Church, in
1418, 69 years passed. One could call this seven decades. These seven decades
belonged to Satan, and being the counterfeiter that he is, he took a little breather
here in 1418 giving the Church a false sense of safety. The storm had passed
and things were well again. After he “rested”, he would begin his “8th Day” of
making things new. Only his idea of making things new is to destroy the Church.
It would seem that over the past 500 years, give or take a few, we humans have
swallowed his lines; hook, line, and sinker. That would explain why Catholicism
is so misunderstood and hated by non-Catholics and non-Catholic Protestant
Christian denominations now number somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000.
The division and in-fighting between people and groups, all claiming to be
Christian, is nothing short of mind boggling.
Another little coincidental detail noted is that during the year 1349, when
the troubles really came to the surface; the plague, church fire nearly destroying
the Holy Shroud, the European riots that killed thousands of Jews in the name
of preserving Christianity; there was also a partial solar eclipse that registered a
coverage, or magnitude, of .656, in January, at the start of the year’s troubles. If
you recall, there just happened to be an interval of 656 years between the two
temple fires, to the day. Another coincidence?

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 The Shroud Again

A nother problem that has caused the Church to seem a little unstable at
times involves the Holy Shroud again. There was little doubt or question
in the early days as to its origin or authenticity. But after the 1349 fire it was
removed to another location for safekeeping and a duplicate was commissioned
to be displayed in its place. Parishioners had come to expect it there and see it
displayed on high holy days. Not only there being a duplicate in existence creating
doubt about the authenticity of the original, the Avignon Anti-Pope Clement VII
even went so far as to ordain it to be venerated in the stead of the original. The
attack on the Church by Satan was now in full swing. He was viciously attacking
with a fury and was not about to let up now.
Amazingly, modern science, which is usually at odds with Christianity, has in
recent years all but confirmed the Holy Shroud as being the burial cloth of Jesus
Christ. What the leading scientific experts who have examined and tested it say
is; we don’t know how the image got on it. That’s the best modern science has to
offer us . . . ‘we don’t know’. Albert Einstein even said, “There are only two ways
to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything
is.” There is little doubt Einstein was extremely intelligent but more importantly
he was also gifted with wisdom.
In June of 1980 National Geographic magazine, Vol. 157, No. 6 ran an
article by Kenneth F. Weaver, senior assistant editor for the magazine, titled The
Mystery of the Shroud. Even here in a caption he says, The shroud has provoked
controversy since its first recorded display in France in the 14th Century. As I said
earlier, this controversy is the result of, 1. the fire that nearly destroyed it in 1349,
2. resulting in a duplicate being made, 3. and especially the Anti-Pope Clement
VII permitting it to be venerated even knowing it was a fake. The article seems
to gloss right over the first fire in 1349 at Saint Etienne but it does give a great
deal of insight to the second fire of 1532 at the sacristy of Saint Chapelle. It was

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here that it received more significant damage, but none to the image on the cloth,
only surrounding areas.
The main focus of this particular article seems to be the Shroud of Turin
Research Project, also known by the acronym STURP, and the highly technical
and scientific work they performed conducting their analysis of the shroud. Out
of everything presented, I found it interesting that the damage that was done to
the shroud in 1532 actually served a useful purpose in giving a definite ‘anchor
point’ in time for the scientist to work from. In short, the damaged portions of
the cloth were actually beneficial. There is a ton of other scientific information
connected with this as well but I won’t bore you with that. For my purposes, it
just shows another example of, ‘why does God let bad things happen?’. He allows
bad things to happen because a greater good will come from it.
In a greatly paraphrased and condensed version it would seem there is a
pre-Fourteenth Century story to the Holy Shroud. The highly educated secular
historians and scientist like to stick to the version that the story of the shroud
prior to the 1300’s is unknown. It would seem that on the day Mary Magdalene
discovered the tomb of Christ to be empty and then the apostles came to see,
they found the burial shroud lying inside, obviously empty. The Gospel of John,
Chapter 20, verses 1 through 10 tell us, Now on the first day of the week Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone
had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and
to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away
the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” Peter
therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they
both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did
not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and
he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around
His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and
he believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again
from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. To help
us let this sink in lets look at Luke 18:31-34. Gathering the twelve disciples around
him, Jesus told them, “As you know, we are going to Jerusalem. And when we get there,
all the predictions of the ancient prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true.
He will be handed over to the Romans to be mocked, treated shamefully and spit upon.
They will whip him and kill him, but on third day he will rise again.”But they didn’t
understand a thing he said. Its significance was hidden from them, and they failed to
grasp what he was talking about. (NLT) Not until John entered the tomb and saw
the empty shroud did anyone understand what had actually happened.

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Let’s tighten our focus on the Gospel of John 20:8. This is the breakdown of
John 20:8 in the New Testament Greek—tote oun eisêlthen kai ho allos mathêtês
ho elthôn prôtos eis to mnêmeion, kai eiden kai episteusen.

• tote—adverb; <tote> then—then

• oun—particle; <oun> indeed—. . .
• eisêlthen—verb; 3rd person singular aorist of <eiserchomai> enter—he
entered
• kai—conjunction; <kai> and—and
• ho—article; nominative singular masculine of <ho> the—the
• allos—adjective; nominative singular masculine of <allos> other—
other
• mathêtês—noun; nominative singular masculine of <mathêtês>
disciple—disciple
• ho—article; nominative singular masculine of <ho> the—the
• elthôn—deponent verb; nominative singular masculine of aorist participle
of <erchomai> come, go—(one) having come
• prôtos—adjective; nominative singular masculine of <prôtos>
first—first
• eis—preposition; <eis> towards—to
• to—article; accusative singular neuter of <ho> the—the
• mnêmeion—noun; accusative singular neuter of <mnêmeion>
tomb—tomb
• kai—conjunction; <kai> and—and
• eiden—verb; 3rd person singular aorist of <horaô> see—he saw
• kai—conjunction; <kai> and—and
• episteusen—verb; 3rd person singular aorist of <pisteuô> believe—
believed

The key word here is the last word. Episteusen which translates to Believed.
This is a very simple translation that has only one meaning. It cannot be twisted,
torn and turned to mean anything else. It means Believed. When John entered
the tomb, after Peter went in, he saw the burial cloths lying there and he believed.
The question can be posed . . . what did John see and what exactly was it that he
believed because he saw it? Remember in the following verse is where we see, For
as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. It is only speculation but
seems quite likely John saw the shroud lying just as it had been left, only empty of
a body. This alone would have been quite an unusual sight but then add to that an
image on the material. At this moment, knowing who Christ truly is and that He

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has truly resurrected, he gathers these burial linens to take to Mary. Remember too
that two days earlier Jesus entrusted Mary to John’s care from the cross. A major
issue of the day would have been the image left on the cloth. Jewish law strictly
forbade any images of any kind so had it been learned there was an image of Jesus
on a cloth, and it was venerated, it would have been confiscated and destroyed.
This element would explain the mystery of it for several centuries. What can be
deduced from scripture is that when John entered the tomb he saw the empty
burial shroud with the image of Christ on it. It also stands to reason that upon
seeing this, and as scripture tells us later they did not know the scripture that he
must rise again from the dead, that he then believed Jesus had risen from the dead
and would return. When John saw the empty shroud he became the first person
to understand . . . to put it all together, so to speak. That would make the Holy
Shroud the first sign of the coming of the Son of Man. It would also seem that the
Holy Shroud has never ceased being a sign of the return of Jesus. It was a sign to
John that day and has continued as a signpost to the rest of us over the centuries
through all of the other noteworthy events taking place around it. It’s a sign but
we have to learn how to read it.
Jesus’ mother, and the mother of his church, Mary would have been the one
this was given to. Scripture tells us in Luke 2:19 at the birth of Christ and in the
manger, But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. (NASB),
referring to her, contemplating and reflecting on the life of her son, Jesus Christ,
who is God the Son.
Later when Mary and Joseph lost the child Jesus and went back to the
temple and found him, Luke 2:51 tells us, Then he went down with them and
came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things
in her heart. (NRSV) Mary ‘treasured’ in her heart everything about Jesus. She
continually ‘pondered’ or as we say, contemplated, on Him and His life. This is
what the Rosary is to us.

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 Mary

P ope Benedict XVI issued his first encyclical letter entitled On Christian
Love (Deus Caritas Est) on Christmas Day 2005. In it he writes:
Outstanding among the saints is Mary, Mother of the Lord and mirror of all holiness.
In the Gospel of Luke we find her engaged in a service of charity to her cousin Elizabeth,
with whom she remained for “about three months”(1:56) so as to assist her in the final
phase of her pregnancy.
“Magnificat anima mea Dominum”, she says on the occasion of that visit, “My
Soul magnifies the Lord”(Lk 1:46) In these words she expresses her whole program
of life: not setting herself at the center, but leaving space for God, who is encountered
both in prayer and in service of neighbor—only then does goodness enter the world.
Mary’s greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself. She is
lowly: her only desire is to be the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38,48). She knows that
she will only contribute to the salvation of the world if, rather than carrying out her
own projects, she places herself completely at the disposal of God’s initiatives.
Mary’s primary central focus throughout her life was her son, Jesus Christ.
She never stopped thinking about Him, contemplating on who He really is and
what He has done. She has always reflected Christ and directed people to Him.
This is what the Church has always believed and still teaches today. This is what
the Rosary is as well as a powerful spiritual weapon for us, much like the heraldic
symbol given to Saint Paul with the inscription SPIRITUS GLADIUS, meaning
‘The Sword of the Spirit’. A contemplation of the life of Christ. Finding Christ,
contemplating on His life, and going to Christ through his mother. Much the
same way the people at the wedding feast at Cana had the problem of running
out of wine presented to Christ, through his mother Mary. She will intercede to
the Son and then she says to us, as in John 2:5, His mother said to the servants,
“Do whatever he tells you.” (NRSV) If you put on the armor of God and wield
the Sword of the Spirit, you cannot be defeated in this war.

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Another connection between Saint Paul and Mother Mary, albeit indirectly,
can be deduced in his First letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15 verse 45. Some
people have heard it said that Jesus Christ is the second ‘Adam’. If there is any
doubt or bristling over such a comment, Paul said it too, and very clearly I might
add. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit. (1 Cor 15:45 KJV) This is from the Authorized or
King James Version and the traditional Catholic Rheims reads almost word for
word exactly the same. 1 Corinthians 15:47 really clears it up by telling us The
first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (KJV) If the
second man, described in the King James Bible as the Lord from heaven, is not
Jesus Christ, then who is he? Now follow this logic. Sin entered time and space
in this world through Adam and it is through the second Adam, Jesus Christ our
Lord from Heaven, that sin is conquered.
I believe most everyone, at least Christians, will agree with that simple
statement. Now let’s add one more little detail paralleled in each. Sin entered
time and space in this world through Adam, after Eve was tempted to take the
forbidden fruit first. She sinned by disobeying God first and then urged Adam to
follow suit. Sin was, is, and will be evermore conquered and salvation brought to
man through the second Adam, Jesus Christ after Mary took the blessed fruit of
her womb by obeying the call of God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus (NASB Luke 1:31) And Mary said:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the
angel departed from her. (Rheims Luke 1:38) Eve was thinking of herself first and
disobeyed God thinking it would better serve her. Mary had always put God
first. Completely obedient to God’s word and will she told Gabriel be it done to
me according to thy word, not thinking for a second about her own will or wishes.
And finally Eve urged sin on by urging Adam to disobey God. Mary likewise
played a significant role in bringing salvation into the world. It was through
her urging to her son Jesus that he performed his first miracle at a wedding.
This was witnessed by many people and his public ministry, the will and plan of
God, was begun. The first Adam and Eve both brought sin to the human race
together and the second Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ and his mother Mary, bring
us salvation from it. Mary is the daughter of God the Father. She consented to
become the spouse of God the Spirit and conceived a child in her womb from
that union. She then became, and is, the Mother of God the Son. With such a
singularly elevated role it is astounding how much she is attacked and dragged
down into the dirt, even by those claiming to be Christian. All the believers were
one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but
shared everything they had. (NIV Acts 4:32) If all the new Christians filled with
the Holy Spirit and believers in Christ were of one heart and mind in purpose,
how much more is Mary than the rest of us? Having been filled with the Holy

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Spirit when she conceived Christ in her womb she must have been one in heart
and mind with him and his mission from the very beginning.
Another passing observation of mine concerning Mary is that a symbol of
hers happens to be the Crescent Moon. A Crescent Moon is one that is observed
at night as a crescent shaped sliver. Its bright silvery radiance does not come
from itself but is the reflected light from the sun. I think we all get the analogy.
Mary’s purity and radiance; all that she is and all the good that comes from her,
is the true light of salvation and from heaven, reflected through her and off of
her from The Son. I bring this up to compare it to a partial solar eclipse. As we
know this is when the moon aligns itself between earth and the sun and partially
covers the disk of the sun. Essentially what we get is a crescent moon in reverse,
as if a photographic negative. You see the crescent shape but it is a blackened
out crescent.
Not until the invention of practical photography was a photograph taken
of the Holy Shroud in 1898. Photographer Secondo Pia developed the first
photographic glass plate negative of the Shroud image and was so startled at what
he saw he almost dropped it. Science has since confirmed that the actual image
on the cloth is essentially a photographic ‘negative’ and the image processed as
a photograph reverses into a ‘positive’. The photographic negative shows more
detail and looks like a more natural image than the original image on cloth. If
the actual image on the cloth appears to us as a photographic ‘negative’, and these
partial solar eclipses occurring on key dates, such as Pope John Paul II’s date of
birth and date of burial are ‘negative’ crescent moons symbolizing Mary, could
this mean we here on this earth are on the ‘negative’ or wrong side of ‘the veil’?
When we pass from this world into the next do we pass from the ‘negative’ to
the ‘positive’?
After Jesus resurrected and then ascended into heaven the apostles set out to
different parts of the world to carry out Jesus’ mandate of starting His Church.
At the end of Christ’s Passion hanging nailed to the cross, he looked down. John
19:26-27 tells us, When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said
to his mother, “This man is now your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your
mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home. (CEV) Whenever
I read that, a number of rebuttals pop into my head concerning “anti-Marian”
arguments. How can anyone say Mary is of no real importance when Jesus is
concerned enough for her well-being after he is gone, while in extreme agony and
in his last moments? The other is, if she had other natural children, why did she
go to live the remainder of her life with the Apostle John? Why didn’t one of her
other children take her in? The answer is because she had no other children. She
was perpetually virgin. Her entire life, being, and purpose was to raise, support,
and care for her son, Jesus Christ. Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible
edited by J.I. Packer and M.C. Tenney, published by Thomas Nelson, tells us that

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the death of a husband had far-reaching consequences for a family. Remember

that at the time of the crucifixion Mary was a widow. She remained with her only
son Jesus after the death of Joseph. According to Manners and Customs a widow
may have a choice of a few available options. If she had no children she was to
remain with the husband’s family and according to Levitical law would marry
her deceased husband’s brother, if a brother or close kinsman were available. If
there were none she was free to remarry anyone. If the widow had children she
moved back in with her father or with a brother. And finally, an elderly widow,
one with grown adult children, moved in with a son. If Mary actually gave birth
to four other sons and it was customary, even expected, in that culture and time
for the elder widow to be taken in by a son, how could any of them even show
their face in public after an outsider, John, took on their responsibility of caring
for their mother?
John ends up settling at Ephesus after having founded the churches in Asia
Minor and becomes Bishop there. Mary travels there with him and they live
there for a few years. According to the Venerable Mary of Agreda in her work,
The Mystical City of God, written sometime in the early to mid 1600’s, John takes
Mary with him to Ephesus, leaving on January 5th, of the year 40. In fact, she lives
in the care and protection of John until her days on earth are over. It stands to
reason that when they left Jerusalem and moved west around the Mediterranean,
traveling mostly by ship, that she had this burial shroud with her. It would also
make sense that this was kept very quiet for a time because of fear of persecution
or worse yet, confiscation and possible destruction.
In Book Eight, Chapter 1, of The Mystical City of God, we’re told, In Ephesus
lived some Christians, who had come from Jerusalem. There were not many, but on
learning of the arrival of the Mother of Christ the Redeemer, they hastened to pay
Her a visit and offer their dwellings and their possessions for her use. But the great
Queen of virtues, who sought neither ostentation nor temporal commodities, chose
for her dwelling the house of a few retired and poor women, who were living by
themselves . . . It may be circumstantial, but I believe very probable, that before
Mary left Ephesus, knowing her days on earth were ending, she entrusted to
another Christian woman the care of her Son’s burial shroud knowing it would
be safer left in Ephesus than returning with her to Jerusalem. In Werner Keller’s
The Bible as History there is a reference that the shroud stayed in Jerusalem until
the 5th or 6th century. It’s only my opinion, but I really don’t think so.

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 Where Did It Go?

A 14th Century historian by the name of Nicephorus Callista

documented that Pulcheria, the Empress of the East, built a Basilica at
Blachernes which is located near Constantinople. In 436 A.D. she is said to have
‘piously’ deposited there the burial linens ‘of the Blessed Virgin’ and the linens ‘of
Our Savior’. Of note is that the ‘Empress of the East’ received the shroud from
‘Empress Eudoxia’. I just personally found it interesting that for the first three
or four hundred years it existed it seems to have been entrusted to and cared for
by women. I guess women are better at being secretive. Men have to brag and
show what they have. Only after Christianity was no longer being persecuted did
it surface; being placed in the church near Constantinople. One also has to see
how much sense this makes when Ephesus and Constantinople are physically and
geographically in the same neighborhood. It’s not a stretch at all that it moved
through a few hands over the centuries from one to the other.
The shroud remains at Constantinople for several hundred more years.
There is even evidence it was displayed by the Emperors to distinguished guests
from about 1171 to 1203. In 1204 an Otho de la Roche, the Duke of Athens
and Sparta, who was commander of forces at Blachernes during the 4th Crusade,
received the shroud as partial payment for his liberating services and he in turn
sent it home to his father. De la Roche’s father gave it to the Bishop of Besancon.
If you recall, Besancon is the location of Saint Etienne and the 1349 fire that
threatened the shroud’s destruction. From this point on, the documented history
of the shroud becomes a little easier to follow. I personally have no doubt at all
that the Holy Shroud of Turin is in fact the burial cloth of Jesus Christ and it is
of extreme importance and significance in its representation to us as a symbol of
Christ but it also serves a “practical” purpose in using it to mark historical events
and calculate. Again, it can be said to be a sign of the coming of the Son of Man.
Nothing is coincidental and there are no accidents.

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 More Fires and More Clements

A t this point we can now go back and review the small part about the
“1000 Year Reign” and you can now see where I came up with the year
1349. And the actual amount of time that has passed is very close to the sum of
Christ’s age at his crucifixion added to the prophesied “1000 Year” reign of the
Church, 1,036 years. A study of history seems to bear out that the year 1349 was a
pivotal point in the revealing of Evil. The Church seems to embody a fortress that
suddenly comes under the fire of heavy guns and is being battered to pieces.
As the following years come and go not only has the Church suffered the
division of the Schism but also now around the year 1500 the stage is set for the
Protestant Reformation, which we all know has caused Christianity to splinter like
paper in a shredder. Christianity has to have, by far, more divisions and factions
than any other religion. There are now some 40,000+ Protestant Denominations
worldwide. These divisions and differences often run very deep and are very
diverse. This has caused severe division among Christians and has even resulted
in Christian killing Christian. Is one person claiming to be a Christian gunning
down another Christian, of Christ, or would this be the work of Satan? Anyone
would have to agree that the Christian Church being chopped into smaller and
smaller pieces along with the differences and fighting among them has to be the
product of Satan having a field day fighting against the mission of the Church.
This is precisely what the New Testament writers warned us about.
183 years after the St Etienne fire that nearly claimed the Holy Shroud in
1349, there was a second church fire in 1532 that was far more serious and very
nearly destroyed the Shroud. Some things that make this incident particularly
interesting are the facts that Pope Clement VI (1342-52) was the reigning Pope
during the 1st fire in 1349, it was Anti-Pope Clement VII who authorized the
copy to be venerated, who by the way was the first Anti-Pope, and now in 1532
when the next fire threatens the Shroud it is the properly and canonically elected
Pope Clement VII who is the reigning Pope. Pope Clement VII reigned as

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Pontiff from 1523-34 as the 219th Pope. And for what its worth, the number of
years between fires, 183, equals 12 when the individual digits are added together.
For those of us into the symbolic interpretation of numbers in the Bible should
appreciate the significance of the number 12. Pope Clement VII is also listed as
pope number 219. These digits added together also equal 12.

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 The Heat is On

T he history of the Holy Shroud of Turin could, and has, filled an entire
book on its own. It is a fascinating story. Something I recall somewhere
about the second fire was that the fire in 1532 was so intense there was major
damage done to the church and the shroud itself was damaged somewhat when
the silver box it was stored in melted a bit and some melted, or more accurately,
molten, silver dripped onto the folded linen. I began to think of how hot it must
have gotten in there on that December 3rd of 1532 to cause some of that silver
box to melt.
I have worked with molten lead in the past casting for reloading and I know
it takes a temperature of some 700 degrees Fahrenheit. A little research and I
learned the melting point of silver is 961.93 degrees Celsius. For the rest of us, that
translates to the extreme temperature of 1,763.474 degrees Fahrenheit. Knowing
just enough about fires and the extreme temperatures that can be reached inside
of structure fires I went to an expert to confirm my suspicions. Now comes my
observation and question. How does a folded piece of woven linen or muslin type
material not flash and burn completely up inside a silver box that is approaching
1800 to 2000 degrees F in a raging structure fire, hot enough to even melt the
silver box, unless that piece of material truly is the burial shroud of Jesus Christ
and has some divine protection? When I asked a couple of actual firefighters, one
being a Chief, about ‘flash points’ of materials I was told that any natural cellulose
based materials, such as a piece of cotton material, would spontaneously ignite
in the 600 to 800 degree F range. There is no known way or reason that such a
piece of linen material could withstand the extreme temperature it would take
to melt silver even without being exposed to an open flame. There may be some
other explanation that some scientist may try to give, but my personal opinion
is that the second Shroud Fire gave us proof it is genuine simply by virtue of its
survival. Like the early church itself during those first 300 years of tribulation and

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severe persecution. It should have been destroyed and wiped out by conventional
thinking therefore because it even survived at all must indicate it is of God.
Another strange coincidence I stumbled onto was the other similarity between
the 1349 fire and the 1532 fire. Do you recall that the year of the first fire there
was that solar eclipse? Oddly enough in 1532, the year the fire was even worse
and the shroud received some actual damage, there was a total solar eclipse. In
fact, this total solar eclipse is on record as being of the longest duration since
records have been calculated and recorded. On August 30, 1532, three months
prior to the fire on December 3rd, a total solar eclipse lasting a record 5minutes,
40 seconds occurred. Is this another coincidence? Isn’t it also interesting to note
that 3 months was the interval of time between the record solar eclipse and the
most damaging shroud fire? Remember that David waited those 3 months to
bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem . . . that Mary stayed with Elizabeth
those 3 months in Luke’s Gospel? Those 3 months between the eclipse and the
fire may mean nothing . . . who knows?

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 Clement VI

Clement VII
 The Clement Connection

T he original Clement, also known in the roster of Popes as Clement I,

is listed as the Church’s 4th Pope and was the leader of the Church
from 88-97 A.D. He is even mentioned in the Holy Bible scriptures by name in
Philippians 4:3. His term as Pope ended in the year 97 when, under the persecution
of Emperor Trajan, he was tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea.
Everybody knows what the word Clement means. Maybe not right off, but
they do. It’s the opposite of inclement . . . as in, inclement weather. Webster’s
Revised Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 defines Clement as, Mild in temper
and disposition; merciful, compassionate. Clement is more of a descriptive word
than simply a name. It is used to describe the Virgin Mary in the Hail, Holy
Queen prayer. Remember the last part where it says, ‘O Clement, O loving, O
sweet Virgin Mary . . . . ?’ Merciful and Compassionate Mother Mary. A footnote
here on names regarding our newly elected Pope Benedict XVI. It seems that
Benedict is derived from the Latin Benedictus or benedicere meaning more or
less ‘to bless’, ‘blessed’, or simply ‘to speak well of ’.
Throughout the Church’s history since the time of Christ until today there
have been 265, including the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI as of April 19,
2005, recognized heads of the Church starting with St. Peter when Jesus told
him he would be the rock He would build His Church on. It is true, Peter
never called himself Pope, nor did anyone else during his time, but the Church
subsequently did. It is simply a variation of “Papa” or “Father” anyway. Of these
265 Holy men, there have been but 14 to assume the name “Clement”. It is very
interesting to note that in this maze of turn of events the name Clement seems
to continually resurface. It’s almost like a reaffirmation of its meaning of being
mild, merciful, and compassionate, or on the other hand with Satan trying to
twist and corrupt its meaning.
As we have already seen, it was Pope Clement VI reigning at the time
of the 1st fire that threatened the Holy Shroud in 1349 and 183 years later it

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happened to be the next Clement, Pope Clement VII reigning when the second
fire threatened the Holy Shroud in 1532. Now what I then proceeded to do was
play the chronologer and statistician and work out some calculations.
From Pope Clement number seven, there are seven more to follow. We also
know that the number seven as it pertains to Biblical matters signifies totality
or perfection. Pope Clement XIV, the final Pope Clement to date, reigned
from 1769-74. Now I took the number 70, which is the year that the Romans
destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple and subtracted it from 313, the
year Constantine came to power and “legalized” Christianity. The sum is 243.
Taking into consideration all of the previous information on the Popes named
Clement, I took the number 1774, the year the final Pope Clement ends his reign
and added it to the sum of 243. The final number I arrived at was 2017.
Now it’s a bit premature for me to tout the end of the world is coming in the
year 2017. Therefore, I have quite a few more things to bring up. Have you ever
heard of Saint Malachy? Saint Malachy is the first native-born Irish Catholic
Saint to be canonized. He was born at the end of the 11th Century in 1094 A.D.
He went on to become Ireland’s leading reformer of Christianity during the 12th
Century. Saint Malachy was also a prophet.
Maelmhaedhoc O’Morgair (Latin form: Malachy) was born in Armagh,
Ireland in 1094. In 1148, he died in the arms of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, his
biographer. St. Malachy was reported to have possessed the powers of levitation,
healing, and clairvoyance. While on his way to the Vatican to assume the post of
papal legate for Ireland, he fell into trance and saw a line of papal reigns stretching
from the successor to Innocent II and extending through centuries to the last of the
line, identified as Peter of Rome. Malachy assigned short descriptions in Latin to
each pope when he committed his vision to paper. These mottoes usually refer to a
family name, birthplace, coat-of-arms, or office held before election to the papacy.
Some of the phrases are multiple prophecies, written with ingenious word play.
For example, Pius II, who reigned for only 26 days in 1503, was aptly described
as “De Parvo Homine” (from a little man). His family name was Piccolomini,
Italian for “little man.” Sometimes the personal history of the pope plays a part
in the motto given by Malachy. Clement XIII (1758-69), who had connections
with the government of the Italian state of Umbria and whose emblem was a rose,
was called by Malachy Rosa Umbriae, the “Rose of Umbria.” The passage of time
has proved doubters of St. Malachy wrong, for his prophecies have turned out to
be amazingly accurate. He even prophesied the precise date of his own death, and
got it right. The prophecies concern the papacy, starting with Pope Celestine II in
1143. In all, 112 popes and their characteristics are listed from 1143 to the “end of
the world.” Here are descriptions of the final popes according to Malachy: Pastor
et Nauta/Shepherd and Navigator: John XXIII (1958—1963), patriarch of Venice
(a city full of sailors) led his flock to a modernization of the Church through the

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Ecumenical Council. John chose two symbols for this Council—a cross and a
ship. Flors Florum/Flower of Flowers: Paul VI (1963-1978) had a coat-of-arms
depicting three fleurs-de-lis. De Medietate Lunae/From the Half Moon: John
Paul I (1978-1978) had the given name of Albino Luciani or “white light.”
Half-way into his short reign, a lunar eclipse occurred. De Labore Solis/From
the Toil of the Sun [Labore could also be Effort, Distress, Suffering, Trouble,
leading to quite a few variations. The preceding is the usual translation.]: John
Paul II was born during the solar eclipse of May 18, 1920. De Gloria Olivae/From
the Glory of the Olives: The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope
will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the
end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead
the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. As we all now know, this pope has
come and he chose the name, Benedict XVI. Petrus Romanus/Peter of Rome:
The Final Pope? “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will
reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations, after
which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge
the people.” In 1138 St Malachy predicted the remaining succession of Catholic
Popes from Pope Celestine II of his day until the final Pope at the end of time,
as we know it. Pope Celestine II was Pontiff from 1143-44.
According to Saint Malachy, there will only be two more Popes to reign after
John Paul II. We now have Pope Benedict XVI so according to Saint Malachy
we have one more after Benedict before Christ returns. When you read deeper
into the last prophecies things begin to get real interesting.

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 John Paul the Great

S t. Malachy describes Pope John Paul II by the name of De labore Solis. This
translates into; of the eclipse of the sun, or from the labor of the sun.
These predictions of Saint Malachy are some 867 years old and they have
been very accurate. Until recently it has come to be that the descriptors for John
Paul II are dead on the money. Saint Malachy does not call John Paul II by name
but in the numerical sequence he is identified by De labore Solis. Now for the
fun stuff. Pope John Paul II was born on May 18, 1920. Records indicate that on
this day there was a partial solar eclipse. On the day Pope John Paul II had his
funeral and burial, April 8, 2005 there was also a partial solar eclipse classified
as a Hybrid eclipse. The Hybrid variety is not very common.
This 2005 eclipse also happens to be the first solar eclipse in this year. And
coincidentally there will not be another partial eclipse, at least visible in North
America, until May 20, 2012, which coincidentally will fall on a Sunday. Almost
on his birthday and seven years away. There’s that number 7 again. Also of note,
according to the ancient Mayan calendar, the end of time is supposed to be the
equivalent to December 21, 2012. There is also an old Aztec legend surrounding
some pyramid carvings of four suns revolving around a fifth. Each sun represents
a period of earthly history, or an era, and each ends by destruction. The fifth and
final sun is the end of time and the final destruction comes by earthquake. By the
way, this eclipse that occurred the day of his funeral and burial was witnessed first
hand by my wife Linda and me. It was visible in Central Alabama between 4:34
and 5:59 P.M. Not only did Saint Malachy refer to John Paul II as ‘of the eclipse
of the sun’, and he was born and buried both during solar eclipses, John Paul
II was very dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary. Read Revelation 12:1, A great
sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Is there a subtle connection?
Mary has also been metaphorically referred to as the moon because she ‘reflects’
the light of the ‘Son’. Do you suppose if Mary manifests herself as the moon,

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these eclipses occurring on the day of his birth and the day of his burial, was her
making herself visible to those who have eyes to see? Mystical, isn’t it?
Its also interesting to note that if you take that magic number 12, which
biblically signifies Israel’s 12 tribes or the 12 apostles, not to mention the 12
starred crown described on the head of the woman clothed with the sun in
Revelation 12, and add it to the year John Paul II is called home, 2005, you
get the same number I deduced earlier of 2017. Saint Malachy prophesied the
Apocalypse will come in the year 2020. Are we actually in the neighborhood of
when Christ will return?

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F or nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and
in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:7
NASB) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will
be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
(Mark 13:8 NIV) There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On earth, nations
will be afraid and confused because of the roar and fury of the sea. (Luke 21:25 NCV)
When I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, I looked and saw a great earthquake.
(Revelation 6:12 CEV) Then the angel filled the incense pan with fire from the alter
and threw it on the earth, and there were flashes of lightening, thunder and loud noises,
and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5 NCV)
To begin this area of Signs in Heaven and Earth I would like to share a letter
from a Lyuben Piperov of Sofia, Bulgaria submitted to The Testimony and printed
in their June, 2001 issue. The observations and deductions are very interesting
and the narrative that follows seem to dovetail with it cleanly. There is simply
too much going on in our world today to ignore.
The Lord Jesus said that in the time of the end there will be a sign
in the sky, “the sign of the Son of man in heaven” (Mt. 24:30), the Greek
word translated ‘heaven’ here being used both for the abode of God and the
celestial firmament. There are two ways of interpreting such prophecies,
the figurative/metaphorical way and the literal/physical way. In the last few
centuries, more attention has been paid to the former method than to the
latter, but I would like to share with readers a recent discovery I have made of
a literal fulfillment of the prophecy. The link between the Lord Jesus and the
fish is well known. In the Gospels we read that some of the disciples of Jesus
were fishermen, that Jesus fed thousands of hungry people with bread and
fish miraculously multiplied, and that he caused large numbers of fish to be
caught by miraculous means. Later the fish became a symbol of Christianity,
because in Greek the initial letters of the statement ‘Jesus Christ, God’s Son,

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Saviour’ make the Greek word for fish. There is a remarkable astronomical
link with this fact, which we will now explore.
The constellations are arbitrarily divided areas of the sky in which are stars
that may be quite different from each other in brightness, spectral class and
distance from the earth. There are eighty-eight of them today. Some were named
by Europeans less than 500 years ago during expeditions into the southern
hemisphere. The twelve constellations of the Zodiac, through which the sun
makes its annual course (as it appears to us), have long been identified as such,
the identification of some constellations being traceable back to the Babylonians
or even to more ancient Near East civilizations. The constellation known as
Pisces has been known as such since the first century A.D., and, together with
Venus as the Bright Morning Star, played a major role in East Mediterranean
astrology. During the era of the great geographical discoveries, when the oceans
were widely explored, there arose a need for a unified method of naming stars,
the only navigational aids in the open seas. The German astronomer Johannes
Bayer (1572-1625) introduced, in his 1603 stellar atlas Uranometria Nova, the
practice of designating the brightest stars in the constellations by the letters of
the Greek alphabet. Today it is not the only method of denoting stars, but, apart
from the individual names given to the brightest stars, it is the most convenient
one. Usually the brightest star in a constellation is designated alpha (α), the first
letter in the Greek alphabet, but this is not so in the case of the constellation
Pisces. Here the star designated omega (ω), the last letter of the Greek alphabet,
is slightly brighter than alpha and much brighter than the star beta (β), the second
letter. It is in fact the third brightest star, after eta (η) and gamma (γ), among the
approximately seventy-five stars in Pisces visible to the naked eye. The reason
for this change from the normal way of designating stars in a constellation
remains a puzzle. At this point, let me remind you of what the Lord Jesus says
of himself in the book of Revelation: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last” (22:13; cf. 1:8,17; 2:8; 21:6). In the same
chapter he refers to himself as “the bright and morning star” (v.16). At present
the sun is in Pisces at the time of the vernal (spring) equinox.2 However, due
to a slight wobbling of the earth on its axis, the position of the sun within the
twelve constellations of the Zodiac gradually moves backwards over the years, the
whole process being calculated as taking 26,000 years before it is back in the same
position again.3 As there are twelve Zodiac constellations, this means that the
sun remains in a particular constellation of the Zodiac at the time of the spring
equinox for just over 2,000 years. The sun moved into the constellation of Pisces,
the Fishes—representative, as shown above, of the Lord Jesus Christ—shortly
before his birth, and is calculated to leave Pisces and enter Aquarius, the Water
Carrier, in the next 100 years. The present age is therefore sometimes referred
to as the Age of Pisces.

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We now need to consider the concept of the meridian. This is an imaginary

line running from the horizon due north of an observer through the heavens to
the horizon due south of an observer. The meridian at the vernal equinox is called
the zero meridian, and it runs through the constellation of Pisces in which the
sun is situated. At the time of the birth of Jesus Christ the nearest visible star in
Pisces to the zero meridian would have been that designated alpha (α). However,
due to the slow movement of the sun through the Zodiac, mentioned above (the
precession of the equinoxes), the nearest star in Pisces to the zero meridian, in
fact the nearest of all the 1,800 brightest stars as listed in a star catalogue, is
now that designated omega (ω). It is calculated that it will be exactly on the zero
meridian early in 2012. It is surely significant that, in the constellation with a
name that is particularly identified with the Lord Jesus, a star designated alpha
by astronomers was closest to the zero meridian at the time of his birth, and a
star designated omega is the closest to the zero meridian at the time when we
expect him to return. This is especially so when, as explained above, astronomers
have departed from their normal convention and designated one of the brightest
stars in the constellation omega.
But there is more. I mentioned above the fact that the planet Venus was
referred to as the Bright Morning Star by the ancients, a title used of the Lord
Jesus in Revelation 22, in close proximity to the reference to him as “Alpha and
Omega”. On 30 March Venus became the ‘Morning Star’ and will remain so till
the end of 2001. Moreover, for the period 24 January to 10 June (137 days) it
was situated in the constellation of Pisces, a rare astronomical event. Such a long
sojourn in one constellation was only possible because, instead of moving straight
on through the heavens, the path of Venus in our skies performed a loop within
the constellation of Pisces. Also, on 11 and 12 April Venus passed very close to
the star omega (ω) in Pisces, probably the closest for millennia. Whatever might
be the figurative application of Matthew 24:30, these remarkable astronomical
phenomena surely provide a literal fulfillment of “the sign of the Son of man in
heaven”, and warn us that the day of his return is near.
Another concept is astrological age, which is the approximately 2,160 years
it takes the vernal equinox to move from one constellation to the next. An
astrological change signifies enormous changes for the world. A few examples
will illustrate this. Judaism was born at the dawn of the astrological Age of Aries,
and the birth of Christ marked the dawn of the Age of Pisces. No one knows
exactly when the next astrological age, the Age of Aquarius, will start. However,
we do know that the 2,000 plus-year cycle, which began with the birth of Christ,
is now drawing to a close. I don’t believe these “signs” are too far fetched to
pay attention to. Remember the wise men that visited the infant Jesus? They
followed the “Star”. A sign in the sky. Not many people may be aware of this but
on December 27, 2004, 3 months before Pope John Paul II died, also the Feast

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day for St. John the Apostle, the brightest and most powerful galactic flash ever
detected on earth, originating 50,000 light years away, collided with our planet
and was so powerful it even briefly altered the Earth’s upper atmosphere. One
scientist, a Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
was quoted as saying, “Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have
severely damaged our atmosphere and possibly have triggered a mass extinction.”
Revelation 8:13 says, Then I looked and saw a lone Eagle flying across the sky. It was
shouting, “Trouble, trouble, trouble to everyone who lives on earth! The other three
angels are now going to blow their trumpets.” (CEV) I put this verse of Revelation
8:13 in here because it seemed at least plausible to me that this ‘eagle’ could be the
Apostle John. The eagle is after all a symbol for him. And it was the official day
the Church remembers Saint John when that massive energy pulse was detected
hitting us. Or is this just one more mind-boggling coincidence?
We are all very aware of the record-breaking earthquake/ tsunami, roar and
fury of the sea, which also occurred in December of 2004. This registered well
over a 9 on the scale, more powerful than any previously recorded and it was also
said to briefly alter the Earth’s rotation. It was actually Christmas Day when the
seismic event occurred and news of it came out. Now get this . . . three months
later, on March 28th, 2005 stressed segments of this same fault gave way and
another earthquake of 8.7 magnitude occurred. It was a bit smaller than the first
but is still one of the 10 biggest on record. Why is the second one so significant?
Look again at the interval between the two. Three months. And most unusual
is the first one happened on Christmas and the second one was cranking up on
Easter. Easter Sunday was on March 27th. Kerry Sieh, a Caltech earthquake
geologist, has indicated the pattern of these fault and plate movements indicate
strain is building and “If another great earthquake happens in the next year, my guess
is that there’ll be another couple hundred thousand dead.”
Now comes a little information that should at least cause some reflection
if nothing else here does. Saint Matthew tells us that when Christ died on the
cross the sky was dark and the earth ‘quaked’. From noon onward, darkness came
over the whole land until three in the afternoon. (Matt 27:45 NAB) And behold,
the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks
were split, (Matt 27:51 NAB). Interestingly enough Matthew also tells us back
in Chapter 24 the same natural phenomena and disasters will happen when He
returns. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers
of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man
coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matt 24:29-30 NAB)
Now the rabbit in the hat . . . there is solid scientific documentation showing
that it is a very real possibility for a major earthquake to occur during a complete

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and total solar eclipse in the middle of the day near the middle of the United
States . . . in the year 2017.
The United States Department of the Interior and United States Geological
Survey, or USGS, have published information on earthquakes in the United
States, past, present and what may occur in the future. Most everyone with no
effort at all knows about the earthquake prone region of the west coast, primarily
California. But there have been other earthquakes in other unlikely parts of the
country such as Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Ohio to name a few.
There are USGS studies producing maps of the U.S. showing areas of minor
concern and areas that are prone to experience an earthquake. What they cannot
tell is when. The science of accurate prediction of earthquakes does not exist yet
and it is not likely to be developed for quite a long time.
In the eastern half of the United States there is also a substantial area of
concern centered in the Mississippi River Valley including parts of Arkansas,
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This is also known as the
New Madrid Fault. It can also impact Mississippi, Alabama, and beyond Indiana
into Ohio. There is another fault area in the eastern end of Tennessee which can
also impact Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia and West Virginia.
And finally a prominent area centered on Charleston, South Carolina that basically
makes the entire state an earthquake zone.
Science has also been able to predict for us that a spectacular total solar eclipse
is scheduled to darken the North American continent on August 21, 2017. August
is also the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The path of total darkness
will be about 70 miles across and will make landfall first at Salem, Oregon as
it comes in from the Pacific Ocean. It will bi-sect the United States, crossing
from the west coast to the east coast from mid-morning to early afternoon. The
main path will cover Mt. Jefferson in the Cascade Mountains and Grand Teton
in the Rockies. Casper, Wyoming and Lincoln, Nebraska are next. It will then
skirt Kansas City, Missouri and then St. Louis. Maximum eclipse will occur near
Princeton, Kentucky lasting 2minutes 40 seconds. This will be roughly midday.
The path of totality then arcs into Tennessee and comes very near Chattanooga
as it also clips part of North Carolina and Georgia. It enters South Carolina at
the point it borders North Carolina and Georgia. The path cuts South Carolina
almost perfectly in two and passes directly over Charleston as it finally moves
off shore out into the Atlantic.
Now putting all this together, if you took a map of the projected path of the
August 21, 2017 total eclipse and overlaid or superimposed it over a USGS map
of earthquake prone areas and faults, the path of totality crosses through all three
major fault areas in the eastern United States and this is scheduled to happen
at midday through early afternoon. New Madrid, eastern Tennessee and South

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Carolina. This information is pure secular science, not conjecture or speculation

from some theological doctrine or interpretation.
An element of all this that is quite mystical is that some have compared our
modern United States to the old Roman Empire, in that we are the supreme
superpower of our time, we live a privileged life that the rest of the world hates
us for, we maintain a military presence around the entire ‘known world’ and we
often flex our military might to impose our political will. Sound familiar? Also
the date of August 21st is very interesting. It falls between August 15th and
August 22nd. On the liturgical calendar August 15th is the Assumption of the
Virgin Mary, which is a high day being a Holy Day of Obligation and one week
later on the 22nd is the Queen ship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is one
more small detail here . . . anyone who knows their rosary will notice that the
Assumption and Coronation are also the last two mysteries of the last part, the
Glorious Mysteries. It is quite interesting to see those two events that close and
in that order on a calendar and matching the end of the Rosary prayers, in that
exact order. Could all of this simply be coincidental? Maybe.
Now armed with this new information about earthquakes and solar eclipses,
let’s revisit Matthew, Chapter 24. Immediately after the tribulation of those days,
the sun will be darkened . . . Now it seems rather easy to understand how this can
be accomplished. and the moon will not give its light . . . This makes enormous
sense too if you picture a total solar eclipse. If the moon is in direct line between
the sun and earth there is no way anyone can see any reflected sunlight from the
moon. The moon’s light is the light from the sun. and the stars will fall from the
sky . . . Could this reference to ‘stars’ mean the same as in Revelation? Then a fifth
angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. It
was given the key for the passage to the abyss. It opened the passage to the abyss, and
smoke came up out of the passage like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and air were
darkened by the smoke . . . (Revelation 9:1-3 NAB). Could these stars falling to
earth from the sky actually be an army of Heavenly Angels preceding Jesus? and
the powers of the heavens will be shaken . . . Who are the powers of the heavens?
Saint Paul told us in Ephesians that Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
Here the word heaven, spelled with a little ‘H’, is probably synonymous with air
and indicates Satan and his fallen angels, the demons. This too makes perfect
sense that if the stars falling to earth are Angels preceding Christ’s return that
Satan and the demons would be shaking in their boots. And then the sign of the
Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. (Matt 24:29-30 NAB) I once again stop short of making a prediction of
when Christ will return. The Bible is very clear that no one will know the hour
or the day. But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor

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the Son, but the Father alone. (Matt 24:36 NAB) But isn’t it interesting that the
deck is all stacked that could open the way to fulfill all these prophecies?
Even the time of day matches between the 2017 eclipse and the day of Christ’s
crucifixion. The eclipse will reach maximum in western Kentucky at 1825 UT.
Universal Time has, in name, replaced Greenwich Mean Time. Whichever you
call it, GMT or UTC, it is still at the same location as the primary time zone
running through Greenwich, England at 0 degrees longitude.
With the Central Time Zone of the United States being six hours behind
UT, this will make maximum coverage and maximum duration occur sometime
between noon and 12:30 P.M. local time. From noon onward, darkness came over
the whole land until three in the afternoon (Matt 27:45 NAB). A couple of time
zones over will be when it clears land at Charleston and start out to sea. . . . Jesus
cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the
sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split . . .
The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly
when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly,
this was the Son of God!”(Matt 27:50, 51;54 NAB). The good thing is when we
look back at the part that says all the tribes of the earth will mourn; that’s not
Christians. We live in the world but are not of the world. We will belong to the
tribe that is the body of Christ. Then I saw another angel come up from the East,
holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who
were given power to damage the land and the sea. Do not damage the land or the
sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God. (Rev
7:2-3 NAB). Locusts came out of the smoke onto the land, and they were given the
same power as scorpions on earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or
any plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their
foreheads. (Revelation 9:3-4 NAB). It will be like another Passover.
Isn’t it interesting about all these three month intervals between major events.
All those mentioned earlier from the Bible itself, the three month interval between
the December ‘04 tsunami on Christmas to its follow-up at Easter, and guess what?
If the August 21, 2017 total eclipse over the United States marks a significant
or cataclysmic event, three months later just happens to be November 21st, the
feast day for the Presentation of the Virgin Mary. And August 21st is the feast
day for celebrating Saint Pius X. Pope Pius X waged an unwavering war against
the heresy and evils of Modernism, gave the study of the Bible great esteem and
brought about the codification of Canon Law. This war he was engaged in is part
of the same one we’re in and we would be well advised to follow his example.
Another item of note too is the strange coincidence of this most unusual
event is to take place in the month of August. It was also August in the year
586 B.C. that the Jewish Temple was destroyed and 656 years later in 70 A.D.
it was burned again, in the month of August. Also note that since most of this

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information; since the passing of John Paul II in 2005, 656 years had passed since
the first fire that threatened the Holy Shroud in 1349, not to mention that the
partial solar eclipse on record for the year 1349 is listed as having a magnitude
of .656 and as mentioned elsewhere, the unusual hybrid eclipse occurring during
John Paul II’s funeral was a magnitude .656 over lower Mexico where Our Lady
of Guadalupe made her appearance in 1531 which was followed in 1532 by a
significant fire that damaged the Holy Shroud. To bring all of these events and
numbers into focus in the mind’s eye becomes mind-boggling.
One possibility to the continued repetition of the number 656 is there has
been some discussion among the scholars that when the early scribes copied texts
by hand they mistakenly wrote 666 when the original may have actually read 656
or even maybe 616. At this point it’s really nothing more than speculation, but a
number for Satan could well be 656 also. Why does this number keep showing
up over and over in this study?
Even more interesting is that not only is August the month of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, but September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows, October is
the month of the Holy Rosary and November is the month of Holy Souls. There
seems to be a subtle connection with The Immaculate Heart of Mary participating
in Christ’s return similar in how she participated in his ministry becoming public
at the wedding feast, even if by a slight urging. Then September comes in and
Our Lady of Sorrows would be appropriate because Mary still grieves for those
souls that reject her Son and go to eternal damnation. October, the month of the
Holy Rosary comes and not a minute too soon either. Everyone should be on their
knees somewhere praying the Gospels and thanking Jesus for our salvation. Then
comes November when we remember the Holy Souls. The Church Suffering
waiting to join the Church Triumphant in Heaven. It could be quite possibly
there is no Church Militant at this point. All the members of the Church Militant
on earth have now gone to one of the other two. Heaven or being purified in
Purgatory in order to enter Heaven. I’m not saying this is what will happen but
isn’t it interesting to see how it could . . . why those months just happened to get
those designations in just that order? And what about the hurricane season of
2005? The most active on record. There were so many hurricanes they ran out
of names for them. Is anyone paying attention to these things?
It would seem there is no end to the signs in heaven and earth. A most
interesting item to note again involves the unusual hybrid eclipse occurring the
day of John Paul II’s funeral on April 8th, 2005. Looking over a map that charted
its path over North America it appears that when it reached lower Mexico in
just about the area that Our Lady of Guadalupe first made herself known on
December 9th, 1531 to Juan Diego, the eclipse magnitude was .656. I have to ask
why does this number 656 keep coming up again and again? It’s also interesting
to note in connection to Guadalupe that this Marian apparition in 1531 caused

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the largest conversion to Christianity at any single place or time, some six million
native Mexicans were baptized, and it was the following year, 1532 that saw the
most damaging fire involving the Holy Shroud. More food for thought.
I would like to quickly touch on the very first thing mentioned at the
beginning of this Signs in Heaven and Earth section. For nation will rise up
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be
famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:7 NAB) We’ve pretty well touched on the
tsunami and earthquake, as well as eclipse situation. We know there have been,
are now, and will be wars; between nations and even including the spiritual war.
What about famine? Sure there are hungry people in the world and there is even
a significant number that die from starvation. But this too is a physical sign of
this world’s spiritual starvation . . . almost a sort of sacramental. A physical sign
of an unseen reality. Read what the Old Testament Minor Prophet Amos tells
us regarding famine. In the book of Amos, Chapter 8 verse 11 we see, Behold the
days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land; not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. (Douay-Rheims)
Can anyone deny that now in the 21st Century there is a horrible famine of
hearing the word of God that threatens all of humanity? Jesus Christ himself
said to Satan, It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that
proceedeth from the mouth of God. (Douay-Rheims) This is why this world today
is like it is. We have taken God and the Bible out of everything in our lives so
now we begin dying a slow death of starvation. Spiritual and moral decay and
starvation. Is it any wonder? God has told us in His book this would happen.
We were told 2000 years ago by Christ and almost 800 years before that through
Amos. How did we manage to do this with this much advance warning? Now
you’re probably asking yourself how does all this tie in together? The temple fires,
the Middle Ages, these fires that threatened the Holy Shroud, these old Popes
named Clement, and now Pope John Paul II and our modern days of today. Here
is the final connect-the-dot. There was a third fire that tried to eat the Holy
Shroud. This fire occurred April 11-12, 1997.
For what its worth, there were 21 Popes between Clement VI and the first fire,
and Clement VII and the second fire. From the second fire and Clement VII to
the third fire in 1997 and Pope John Paul II there were 45 Popes. Excluding the
3 Popes reigning at the time of the fires that is 66. Isn’t there something slightly
ominous about the number 66? On the other hand you can add the digits of 6
and 6 and you once again come up with 12. A subtle inference of Good and Evil?
66 is also the year the Jewish rebellion was in full stride and the Roman army set
its three and one-half year campaign against Jerusalem into action. The ‘Great
Revolt’ as it is known by some lasted officially from 66-135 A.D.
There still seems to be something amiss with these three fires being connected.
Two Popes named Clement, and now John Paul II. Well, here we go. As we have

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said many times, this war is a spiritual war Satan is waging against the Church
and us Christians. If you look a little closer you will see that the new Catechism
of the Catholic Church, one of the best gifts John Paul II could have ever given to
the Church and the World, is accompanied by his Apostolic Letter promulgating
and approving it. This letter is dated August 15, 1997. As Pope John Paul II
was preparing this Apostolic Letter and preparing to authorize this Catechism
for publication, Satan became absolutely furious. Why wouldn’t he? With the
publication and distribution of this text the teaching of the faith will be so much
more accessible to people. So what happens next but another try at burning up
the Holy Shroud of Turin. And what better time to attack the Church and its
Polish Pope than April 11? April 11 is also the Church’s Feast Day for Saint
Stanislaus . . . the Patron Saint of Poland. Coincidence?
I also found it interesting to note that with the recent passing of Pope John
Paul II on Easter Saturday, April 2, 2005 the Church commenced the Church’s
official 9-Day mourning period on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, April 3rd, 2005.
This put the final and 9th day on April 11, the feast day of St. Stanislaus and
the anniversary of the 3rd Shroud fire. The 8th Anniversary of the 3rd and final
shroud fire. As in 8th Day? A time of renewal and things made new, perhaps? Is
this just more coincidence? Oh yea, and Pope John Paul II is listed as the 264th
Pope. Add the digits together and you get 12.
Of all the resources available to brush up on your knowledge of Pope John
Paul II the single best thing out there is probably Witness to Hope. This is the
biography of Pope John Paul II written by George Weigel. There are many,
many things out there in print and online. This is the best. Read it. There’s even
an accompanying documentary film to it. It took me only the first few pages to
realize that Karol Wojtyla (pronounced Voy-tee-wah) was handpicked, probably
even before birth, for his mission of leading the Church. For starters, John Paul
II . . . Karol, was born May 18, 1920 in the little town of Wadowice in Poland. In
fact, there were only nine Popes throughout the 20th Century and only two were
born in the century, Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) October 17, 1912 and
Pope John Paul II in 1920. He was born to Karol Sr. and Emilia in an apartment
on the second floor of a house that bore the address of Rynek 2 at the time. This
house just happened to be located directly across the street from the Church of
the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Mary’s church, as it was simply
called by the townspeople was also the physical and cultural center of this town.
And it had been for some 650 years.
For those not aware, the ‘Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ is the event
where Mary’s parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, present the 3-year old child
Mary to the temple, having consecrated the young virgin to God. According to
the apocryphal account of The Gospel of the Birth of Mary, Joachim and Anna, it
is Anna in this writing, have advanced somewhat in years and are still childless. A

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very similar story to Abraham and Sara. In Chapter 2:9-10 an angel speaking to
Joachim tells him, therefore Anna your wife shall bring you a daughter, and you shall
call her name Mary; She shall, according to your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her
infancy, and be filled with the Holy Ghost from her mother’s womb. Later in Chapter
3 the angel appears to Anna and tells her, I may inform you, that a daughter will be
born unto you, who shall be called blessed above all women. She shall be, immediately
upon her birth, full of grace of the Lord, and shall continue during the three years of
her weaning in her father’s house, and afterwards, being devoted to the service of the
Lord, shall not depart from the temple, till she arrives to years of discretion. We next
see them ‘Presenting’ the child Mary to the temple. It seems that infant Karol
was also consecrated to the service of God from before birth.
Karol only 3 months old in August of 1920, the Soviet Red Army enters
Poland threatening to put the country under its Communist domination. Almost
everyone in Poland saw defeat coming about the 12th of August. Diplomatic
and government officials had fled the country. A Polish delegation was enroute
to Minsk to negotiate surrender terms. The Red Army commenced its attack
on Warsaw on the 14th. August 15th comes and Polish intelligence in the field
makes an unbelievable discovery. The Red Army has left a ‘hole’ open between
two entire corps. August 15th coincidentally is the Catholic Church’s Feast Day of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You have to be ‘bat blind’ to not see
the power at work here. The following day, August 16th, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski
leading the all but beaten Polish forces goes for broke and pull a daring move. He
quietly redeploys some of his divisions into this breach. By the following night
the Red Army is beaten and reduced to a ragtag band of fleeing refugees. This
was not a short-term victory either. The Soviets would not re-enter Poland again
until the 2nd World War, still several years away. This was a major embarrassment
to the Soviets and to Lenin. This military victory over the Soviets would insure
that little Karol would grow up in a free society and would be free to attend the
church across the street. His mother, and ours, was watching over his well-being.
He had a mission to fulfill with his life and nothing would be able to stop it.
A great deal of young Karol’s formation came directly from his own father.
This should be an example to us all now. Everyday they would rise together,
pray, and have breakfast to start their day. On April 13, 1929 his mother Emilia
would die at the young age of only 45 from kidney failure and congenital heart
disease. Karol was the tender age of 8 and in the 3rd grade at school. His father
raised him alone. Lessons of suffering came early to Karol too. Karol would soon
become an alter boy and very often he and his father would attend 7 A.M. daily
morning Mass at St. Mary’s. At a very early age he found himself deeply involved
with the church on a daily basis. Sometimes twice a day.
Another of many close calls throughout his life was when he was still a
boy of about 15. It seems that while he and another boy were clowning around,

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the friend, Boguslaw Banas, took out a revolver that was stored away in a box.
He playfully pointed the firearm at Karol, standing only a couple of yards from
him, and said to him, ‘Hands up or I’ll shoot’, and at which time the weapon
discharged firing a shot toward Karol. The bullet narrowly misses Karol and blows
out a window behind him. You are free to believe or not believe but I know he
was being protected. His devotion to the Church and to Mary was tremendous.
It did nothing but grow and increase with each passing year. It would seem
that Mary was fond of him too. It also seems that Satan may have figured some
things out about Karol in that first year of his life. Nine months after he came
into the world and six months after the Polish defeat of the Soviets a fire started
at a chapel in Loreto, Italy that destroyed a very old statue of the Virgin Mary.
This coincidentally happened on February 22, 1921 which is also the day the
Church observes the Chair of Peter the Apostle; the first head of Christ’s Church.
Satan seems to pick key dates to strike at things as a way of mockery. One thing
he seems to not have learned is that the gates of hell shall not prevail over the
Church. He’s wasting his time.

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 The Age to Come

O ne more coincidental thing is the 4th Age—The Age to Come, that

we haven’t said anything about yet, happens to be the time after Christ
returns to earth and all things are made new. This is also the 4th Kingdom in
Daniel Chapter 2:44, In the lifetime of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a
kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather it shall
break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.
The entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, tell us about Jesus Christ and about
the coming Kingdom of God.
We should recap how we’ve gotten here. We first took a tour through the
Book of Revelation. What we’ve done here is not so much put our own spin on
its meanings with futuristic science fiction scary stuff so much as do a normal
analytical study of what is being said in Revelations, verse by verse and chapter by
chapter, along with verifiable documented facts of events. Side by side with this
we have gone through the centuries studying significant historical events. Many of
these events are obscure or seem unimportant. Subtle but very significant details
are found when you start to turn some rocks over and piece together this puzzle.
This study and analysis has been put together like an investigation. Conclusions
to all of this have been that there seems to be four distinct periods of time that
can be referred to as “Ages” that take us from the dawning of mankind with the
Creation. God becomes displeased with how humankind has gone awry and
destroys the earth with the Great Flood, save Noah and his family. This remnant
of mankind is where Abraham comes from and Bible history really starts to take
shape. We eventually come to the time of Christ after some 4004 years.
This 3rd Age, the period of the Present Church Age we live in now, the period
of Jesus Christ to present time, can be for the most part followed in the Book
of Revelation. Remember that the New Testament was all written by the end of
the first century. No later writings made it into the canonical list of holy inspired
writings or scripture. All the other books of the New Testament expressly deal

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with events of their day. That’s not to say they’re irrelevant. Quite the contrary,
they are extremely valuable and relevant today. But the Book of Revelation covers
in its text events that will involve us all. Some events that have not occurred yet.
As I sit here and write this our newest Pope, Benedict XVI has been elected in
Rome. History is being made as I work my keyboard. Cardinal Josef Ratzinger
looks by all accounts to be the wisest choice. As mentioned before, Saint Malachy
made many predictions concerning future popes, from 1138 until the last pope
and the return of Christ. If you’re not ready to meet your maker and face eternity
some things prophesied, and events unfolding now, could be quite disconcerting.
However, if you’re living the life you should be, or at least trying as hard as you
can to, this is an exciting time.
Saint Malachy predicted hundreds of years ago this pope elected today would
be the next to last. The name or descriptor given for him is “Gloria Olivae”,
meaning ‘The Glory of the Olive’. The curious thing is that Cardinal Ratzinger
chose the name of Benedict XVI as his pontifical name. The Order of Saint
Benedict has claimed that this pope would come from their ranks. Saint Benedict,
the father of Western Monasticism, himself prophesied that before the end of
the world his Order, known as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic
Church in its fight against evil. Saint Malachy has also predicted of this pope that
he will be an active peace-making member of the religious hierarchy. Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was just that as he worked as Pope
John Paul II’s right hand man for years. In the 6th Century Saint Benedict was
also given a heraldic coat-of-arms symbol bearing the inscription, CRVX SANCTI
PATRIS BENEDICITI, meaning ‘The Cross of the holy father’. It’s important
to note that ‘holy father’ is with small case letters. This would not refer to God,
but to the Holy Father, the Pope. It would seem that even Saint Benedict’s 6th
century symbol was prophetic.
Pope Benedict XVI has worked side by side with John Paul II for many years
and holds the values and beliefs as he did. These Saint Malachy prophecies have
been eerily accurate. The sad prediction he has for our new pope is that he is to
die in 2008 with his work unfinished. The Birmingham News of Wednesday, April
20, 2005, bearing the headline Hard-liner picked to lead Catholics had an interesting
editorial on page 11A by E.J. Dionne Jr, a columnist for the Washington Post.
It would seem that enough has already been said there. Anyway, he writes in
part, Thus the question: Why did the College of Cardinals make such a controversial
choice, and with such dispatch? The simple answer is that the 78-year old pope is a
transitional figure. Barring a medical miracle, it is likely that a new pontiff will be
elected in a few years.
Although Pope Benedict himself said, “I, too, hope in this short reign to
be a man of peace.” while referring to the last Benedict at the time of the First
World War, I find this article a bit disturbing but interesting all at the same time.

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First, it appears that some media already have the new pope dying and it’s only
his first full day as pope. On the other hand it also seems to align with prophecy
made over 800 years ago. A final observation on Mr. Dionne’s article is that after
he describes Pope Benedict XVI as a ‘controversial choice’ he finishes his article,
saying in the final paragraph, Pope Benedict XVI was elected because he had a clear
sense of where the Church needs to go.
A remarkable aspect to the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as our 265th
Pope . . . Pope Benedict XVI . . . is that it could as well be a sign of mankind
recovering from a darker side and a darker time. It seems that Benedict XVI
has already begun to unite his fellow Germans behind him, especially in his
southern home state of Bavaria. Although as a young boy during World War II
he was a member of the Hitler Youth and later was drafted into the Nazi German
Army . . . it’s of paramount importance to remember, he never believed in nor
embraced any of the Nazi doctrines or practices. He deserted the Nazi Army
and did not bear arms against the Allies. As a youth he was merely a victim of
circumstances. The first German Pope in a thousand years, he also assumes the
post only 60 years since Hitler left the scene. This is a huge step in the right
direction for mankind.
There seems to be a remarkable series of coincidence after coincidence that
paints a picture showing us the return of Christ. As I said before, I know and you
should too, that none of us know, or will know, when Christ will return. Only
the Father knows the hour or the day. And we should already be ready and stay
ready for his return at all times as if it will be today. His return will be when we
don’t expect it. It will be a surprise. It will be as a thief in the night. Be prepared.
I also believe He has given us enough information encoded in scripture and
worldly events that we may get reasonably close. His return could be tonight,
tomorrow or a thousand years from now. Just always be prepared. But anyone
would have to agree that it’s most interesting that the time frame that includes
2012, 2014, 2017, and 2020 from various sources such as ancient Indian cultures,
Pope Gregory XVI from 1832, Pope Clement VII from 1514, Saint Malachy,
and the calculated probabilities looked at, is at a minimum enough to cause us
to sit up and take notice.
After having spent some time studying the popes and shroud fires and so
forth, working out the mathematical probabilities of the intertwining events and
so forth, I stumbled on one last thing. Remember back when we were covering all
that Anti-pope schism mess in the late 1300’s and early 1400’s? That all finally got
resolved when the three men, all claiming to be Pope at the same time, were run off
or quit. Finally during the third year of the Council of Constance, 1417, one man
was properly and canonically elected Pope. That man became Pope Martin V.
Now I figured that the election of Pope Martin V in 1417 also had to be a
key historical event since it marked the end of the schism and Anti-pope ‘era’.

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As it turns out, it just may not only be ‘key’, but pivotal. If you take the year
2017, as deduced from all the previous bogged down mess of events and numbers
and calculations, you will see it is exactly 600 years since Pope Martin V’s 1417
election and start of a new Church era. Also factor that our newest Pope, Pope
Benedict XVI, is officially the Church’s 265th Pope. It follows that if the Saint
Malachy prophecies continue to be accurate the next, which is to be the final,
Pope will be number 266 on this list.
Pope Martin V, elected in 1417, is number 206 on the Church’s roster of
Popes throughout her history. From 206 to 266 is a span of 60 Popes. Should
the next and final Pope assume the name Martin, he will be Martin VI. There
has been no Pope Martin since Martin V in the early 1400’s. This could mean,
come the year 2017, that from the first effort to combat the ‘loosing’ of Satan
by resolving the multiple popes problem in 1417, that 600 years, 60 Popes, and
6 Martins had passed. Six Hundred, Sixty, and Six. Saint Malachy’s prophecy
concerning the final future pope says, “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman
Church there will reign Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman), who will feed his flock
amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the
dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.” Who knows what will happen? What
I would say about the 666 and Pope Martin connection is that I don’t believe that
666 derived from the passage of time or his name indicates that he, the Pope,
is identified as 666 or the Anti-Christ or Beast, but that he as the leader of the
Church, and the Church herself are marked as Satan’s main target. But what’s
really new here? The Church and Christians have always been Satan’s most hated
main target, other than God Himself. We should remember though, the words
of Isaac Watts in his poem Recessional.

O’ God, our help in ages past,

Our Hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our Eternal Home!

Saint John told us in his first epistle that the Son of God appeared for this purpose, that
he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8 NASB) When Satan attacks Christians,
also known as ‘the church’, it’s as though he were attacking Christ himself. Remember
when Saint Paul was blinded and knocked from his horse while going to Damascus to
persecute more Christians? Christ appeared to Paul and asked him, why do you
persecute me ? If we are in Him and He is in us, how can Satan have victory over us? It
simply is not possible.
If you remember only one thing from this book let it be, “Bear in mind that our
Lord’s patience with us is our salvation, as Paul, our friend and brother, said when he
wrote to you with his inspired wisdom. And so he does in all his other letters, wherever

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he speaks of this subject, though they contain some obscure passages, which the ignorant
and unstable misinterpret to their own ruin, as they do the other scriptures.”
“But to you, my friends, are forewarned. Take care, then, not to let these
unprincipled men seduce you with their errors; do not lose your own safe foothold. But
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him
be glory now and for all eternity!” (2 Peter 3:15-18) NEB
We absolutely must learn our true history and culture as Christians. The
history of Christianity and history of the church. The church, from our time all
the way back to the time Christ walked the earth. Not just back two hundred or
five hundred years. While not speaking about God or Christianity, Karl Marx
left us some words of wisdom back in 1863 that we can apply to this error of
humanity. He told us, “People separated from their history are easily persuaded.”
I would like to close this narrative with a final commentary on Jesus Christ.
Since I opened the Dedication to Him I feel it appropriate to close to Him. It
was mentioned that the New Testament literally starts and ends with Jesus, even
using his name in the opening and final verses. The truth is the entire Holy Bible,
Old and New Testaments, focus on our Lord Jesus Christ, if not by name, by
foreshadowing. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us and His resurrection is the source
and summit of our Christian faith and salvation.
Saint Augustine said the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old
Testament is revealed in the New. In Genesis Christ is the Seed of the Woman;
Exodus, the Passover Lamb; Leviticus, our High Priest; in Numbers Christ is the
Pillar of Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night; Deuteronomy, the Prophet like
unto Moses; Joshua, the Captain of our salvation; Ruth, our Kinsman-Redeemer;
Samuel, our Trusted Prophet; in Kings and Chronicles Christ is our Reigning
King; in Ezra and Nehemiah He is the Rebuilder of the broken-down walls
of humanity; in Esther, Christ is our Mordecai; in Job He is our Ever-Living
Redeemer; in Psalms He is our Shepherd; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, our
Wisdom; Song of Solomon, our Bridegroom; in Isaiah Christ is the Prince of
Peace; Jeremiah, the Righteous Branch; Lamentations, our Weeping Prophet;
in Ezekiel Christ is the wonderful Four-Faced Man; in Daniel He is the Fourth
Man in life’s fiery furnace; Hosea, the Faithful Husband; Joel, the Baptizer with
the Holy Ghost and Fire; in Amos Christ is our Burden-Bearer; Obadiah, the
Mighty to Save; Jonah, our great Foreign Missionary; Micah, the Messenger of
Beautiful Feet; Nahum, the Avenger of God’s Elect; in Habakkuk Christ is God’s
Evangelist; in Zephaniah Christ is our Saviour; Haggai, the Restorer of God’s
lost heritage; Zechariah, the Fountain opened to the house of David for sin and
uncleanness and in Malachi Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. Praise be
to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

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 Appendix

Ten Commandments:

I I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

II Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

III Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

IV Honour thy father and thy mother.

V Thou shalt not kill.

VI Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VII Thou shalt not steal.

VIII Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

IX Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.

X Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods.

How To Pray The Rosary

The Rosary is a vocal and mental prayer having 20 Mysteries, grouped

into the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries. Each group of
Mysteries has 5 decades.

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1) Many blessings and graces flow on to those who pray the Rosary, especially
if it’s prayed daily. The Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Blessed
Mother, has made 15 promises about the Rosary.
2) In 2002, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, added 5 new Mysteries to
the Rosary, being the “Luminous Mysteries” or “Mysteries of Light.” This
was a dramatic change to a traditional prayer which had stood unchanged
for centuries.
3) The Rosary is prayed as follows, utilizing the Rosary beads as a guide:
Make the Sign of the Cross

4) Pray 1 Apostles’ Creed

5) Pray 1 Our Father
6) Pray 3 Hail Marys
7) Pray 1 Glory be to the Father
8) Pray either the Joyful (on Mondays and Saturdays), Luminous
(on Thursdays), Sorrowful (on Tuesdays and Fridays), or Glorious
(Wednesdays and Sundays) Mysteries, as follows:

• Announce . . . the Joyful Mysteries

• In respect of each Mystery below, pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail
Marys, 1 Glory be to the Father, and 1 Our Lady of Fatima
prayer, meditating on each Mystery
• The five Joyful Mysteries are as follows:
Announce . . . First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation
Announce . . . Second Joyful Mystery: The Visitation
Announce . . . Third Joyful Mystery: The Birth of Jesus
Announce . . . Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation of
Jesus
Announce . . . Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding of the
Child Jesus in the Temple

• Announce . . . the Luminous Mysteries

• In respect of each Mystery below, pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail
Marys, 1 Glory be to the Father, and 1 Our Lady of Fatima
prayer, meditating on each Mystery
• The five Luminous Mysteries are as follows:
Announce . . . First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism of
Jesus
Announce . . . Second Luminous Mystery: The Wedding at
Cana

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Announce . . . Third Luminous Mystery: Proclaiming the

Kingdom of God
Announce . . . Fourth Luminous Mystery:
The Transfiguration
Announce . . . Fifth Luminous Mystery: The Institution of
the Eucharist

• Announce . . . the Sorrowful Mysteries

• In respect of each Mystery below, pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys,
1 Glory be to the Father, and 1 Our Lady of Fatima prayer,
meditating on each Mystery
• The five Sorrowful Mysteries are as follows:
Announce . . . First Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony in the
Garden
Announce . . . Second Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the
Pillar
Announce . . . Third Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning with
Thorns
Announce . . . Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: The Carrying of the
Cross
Announce . . . Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion

• Announce . . . the Glorious Mysteries

• In respect of each Mystery below, pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys,
1 Glory be to the Father, and 1 Our Lady of Fatima prayer, meditating
on each Mystery
• The Glorious Mysteries are as follows:
Announce . . . First Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection
Announce . . . Second Glorious Mystery: The Ascension
Announce . . . Third Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the
Holy Spirit
Announce . . . Fourth Glorious Mystery: The Assumption
Announce . . . Fifth Glorious Mystery: The Coronation

Pray 1 Hail Holy Queen

Say: Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Say: LET US PRAY: O God, whose only begotten Son, by his life, death, and
resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech
the, that meditating upon these mysteries in the most Holy Rosary of the

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Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and obtain what
they promise: through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Make the Sign of the Cross

The Our Lady of Fatima prayer is that as requested by our Blessed Mother at
Fatima, Portugal, and is as follows:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all
souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of Thy Mercy.

As mentioned above, the Rosary entails praying either the Joyful, Luminous,
Sorrowful, or Glorious Mysteries. Praying the Rosary is much better accomplished
having a Rosary prayer leaflet to do so. This can normally be acquired at any
Catholic Church or Marian Center. The prayer leaflet usually has an illustration
of each Mystery, as well as an indication of which group of Mysteries is to be
prayed on which particular day. And a final note regarding the Holy Rosary
prayers. These prayers are repetitious but it is not vain repetition as some would
believe. This is extremely valuable and powerful contemplative prayer. It will lead
you, as Mary does, to focus on and contemplate on the Gospel accounts of the
Christian Holy Bible of the life of her son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Better
known simply as the prayer of the Gospels.

Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

O glorious Prince of the heavenly host, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend
us in the battle and in the fearful warfare that we are waging against the
principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against
the evil spirits. Come thou to the assistance of men, whom Almighty God
created immortal, making them in His own image and likeness and redeeming
them at a great price from the tyranny of Satan. Fight this day the battle
of the Lord with the legions of holy Angels, even as of old thou didst fight
against Lucifer, the leader of the proud spirits and all his rebel angels, who
were powerless to stand against thee, neither was their place found any more
in heaven. And that apostate angel, transformed into an angel of darkness who
still creeps about the earth to encompass our ruin, was cast headlong into the
abyss together with his followers. But behold, that first enemy of mankind, and
a murderer from the beginning, has regained his confidence. Changing himself
into an angel of light, he goes about with the whole multitude of the wicked

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spirits to invade the earth and blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to
plunder, to slay and to consign to eternal damnation the souls that have been
destined for a crown of everlasting life. This wicked serpent, like an unclean
torrent, pours into men of depraved minds and corrupt hearts the poison of
his malice, the spirit of lying, impiety and blasphemy, and the deadly breath of
impurity and every form of vice and iniquity. These crafty enemies of mankind
have filled to overflowing with gall and wormwood the Church, which is the
Bride of the Lamb without spot; they have laid profane hands upon her most
sacred treasures. Make haste, therefore, O invincible Prince, to help the people
of God against the inroads of the lost spirits and grant us the victory. Amen.
(indulg. By Leo XIII, 25 Sep. 1888]

Chaplet
of
St. Michael
Opening Prayer to Our Lady

Oh, Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so

easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable
effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths
towards the future!
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war,
deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God,
deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international,
deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual
human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.
Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world your infinite
power of merciful Love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope.

Taken from L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English 24 May 1982

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Saint Michael the Archangel—Act of Consecration

Saint Michael the Archangel, invincible prince of the angelic hosts and glorious
protector of the universal Church, I greet you and praise you for that splendor with
which God has adorned you so richly. I thank God for the great graces he has bestowed
upon you, especially to remain faithful when Lucifer and his followers rebelled, and
to battle victoriously for the honor of God and the divinity of the Son of Man.
Saint Michael, I consecrate to you my soul and body. I choose you as my
patron and protector and entrust the salvation of my soul to your care. Be the
guardian of my obligation as a child of God and of the Catholic Church as again
I renounce Satan, his works and pomps. Assist me by your powerful intercession
in the fulfillment of these sacred promises, so that imitating your courage and
loyalty to God, and trusting in your kind help and protection, I may be victorious
over the enemies of my soul and be united with God in heaven forever. Amen.

The Chaplet of St. Michael

A sincere Act of Contrition
V. O God, come to my assistance
R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim, may
the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim,

may the Lord vouchsafe to grant us grace to leave the ways of wickedness
to run in the paths of Christian perfection. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary ‘s

3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones, may
the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominions,

may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and subdue our unruly
passions. Amen
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1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers,

may the Lord vouchchsafe to protect our souls against the snares and
temptations of the devil. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues, may the
Lord preserve us from evil and suffer us not to fall into temptation. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities,

may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels,

may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works, in order
that we gain the glory of Paradise. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels,

may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and
conducted hereafter to eternal glory. Amen.

1 Our Father, 3 Hail Mary’s

1 Our Father In honor of St. Michael.
1 Our Father In honor of St. Gabriel.
1 Our Father In honor of St. Raphael.
1 Our Father In honor of our Guardian Angel.

O glorious Prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts,
guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine
King, and our admirable conductor, thou who cost shine with excellence and
superhuman virtue, vouchsafe to deliver us from all evil, who turn to thee with
confidence, and enable us by thy gracious protection to serve God more and more
faithfully every day.
V. Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ
R. That we may be made worthy of His promises.
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 CRIS A. CANNON

Almighty and Everlasting God, who by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful

desire for the salvation of all men, hast appointed the most glorious Archangel, St.
Michael, Prince of Thy Church, make us worthy, we beseech Thee, to be delivered
from all our enemies that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but
that we may be conducted by him into the august presence of Thy Divine Majesty.
This we beg through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

124
 Illustrations

On the Cover: St. Michael’s fight against the dragon. 1498; woodcut, 15 x 11
1/8 in Dürer, Albrecht (b. May 21, 1471, Imperial Free City of
Nürnberg [Germany]—d. April 6, 1528, Nürnberg), German
painter, printmaker, draughtsman and art theorist, generally
regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist.
Page 20: Unknown title or artist. English circa 1255-1260. Depiction of false
prophet (center) with beaked nose, simian body, and cloven hooves.
From the Apocalypse where St. John says, “And I saw [come out]
from the mouth of the dragon, and the mouth of the beast, and
from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.”
St. John is shown at the left assuming a defensive posture.
Page 38: The Keys of St. Peter. The inverted cross along with the crossed
keys are symbols for St. Peter and his subsequent successors, the
Bishop of Rome, or the Pope. The inverted cross in this case is not
disrespectful or an indication of antichrist but rather reminds us
of the legend of St. Peter requesting to be crucified up-side down
because he did not feel he was worthy enough to be executed in
the same manner as his lord, Jesus Christ.
Page 54: The Four Ages of Man. circa 1513 Venice. Raphael Regius
(died 1520)
Page 66: Angel with the Key to the Bottomless Pit. 1498. Dürer, Albrecht
(d. 1528)
Page 76: Piazza del Castello, Turin, during the ostentation of the Holy Shroud.
Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630), 1613.
Page 82: The Virgin in Glory. Dürer, Albrecht (d. 1528), Nuremberg, 1511.
Page 92: Papal Coats-of-Arms of Pope Clement VI and of Pope Clement VII
Page 110: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Dürer, Albrecht (d. 1528),
woodcut, 1498.

125
 Bibliography

1. Arnold, T.W. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis—Newly Translated Out of the
Italian. London, England: J.M. Dent & Sons, LTD, 1926.First Edition, 1898
2. Augustine of Hippo, Saint The City of God. The 25th Anniversary Limited
Edition of The Great Books of the Western World. Franklin Center,
Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, 1985
3. Beach, Maxine Clarke The Bible The Book that Bridges the Millennia Part 2
Interpretation & Authority. New York, New York: General Board of Global
Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 1999
4. Bunson, Matthew 2005 Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Almanac. Huntington,
Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2004
5. Chilton, Bruce Rabbi Paul. New York, New York: Doubleday, 2004
6. Conybeare, W.J. and Howson, J.S. The Life And Epistles of Saint Paul.
Hartford, Conn: S.S. Scranton and Company, 1869
7. Currie, David B. RAPTURE The End-Time Error That Leaves The Bible
Behind. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2003
8. Every Catholic’s Guide To The Sacred Scriptures. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas
Nelson, Inc, 1990
9. Eliot, Charles W. American Historical Documents. New York, New York:
Registered Deluxe Edition of The Harvard Classics, P.F. Collier & Sons
Corporation, 1938, 1910
10. Feeney, Robert The Rosary: “The Little Summa”. Aquinas Press, 2001
11. Finley, Mitch Your One-Stop Guide to Mary. Cincinnati, Ohio: Charis / St.
Anthony Messenger Press, 2000
12. Flannery, Austin, O.P. The Basic Sixteen Documents of Vatican Council II.
Northport, New York: Costello Publishing Co, 1996
13. Foxe, John Foxe’s Book Of Martyrs. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson
Publishers, 2004

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14. Fuentes, Antonio A Guide To THE BIBLE. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts
Press, 2002
15. Gambero, Luigi Mary And The Fathers Of The Church. San Francisco,
California: Ignatius Press, 1999
16. Graham, Billy Billy Graham: Angels; How To Be Born Again; The Holy Spirit:
The Collected Works. Edison, New Jersey: Inspirational Press, 2004
17. Grant, Michael Constantine The Great—The Man And His Times. New
York, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1998
18. Groeschel, Benedict J, Father The Rosary—Chain of Hope. San Francisco,
California: Ignatius Press, 2003
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Anthony Messenger Press, 1998
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(division of Random House, Inc), 1999
21. Hahn, Scott, Ph.D. Hail, Holy Queen. New York, New York: Doubleday
(division of Random House, Inc), 2001
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English Edition with the consent of Verlag Frz. Eher Nachf. G.M.B.H.
Munchen, Germany. Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, 1933
23. Hoever, Hugo, Rev. Lives of The Saints. New Jersey: Catholic Book
Publishing Company, 1999, 1993,1955
24. Hone, William The Lost Books Of The Bible. New York, New York: Testament
Books (Random House), 1979
25. Josephus, Flavius The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus / Translated by
William Whiston, A.M. (originally published 1737) Nashville, Tennessee:
Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998
26. Keating, Karl Catholicism And Fundamentalism. San Francisco, California:
Ignatius Press, 1988
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1995
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Alabama: The Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama at Birmingham
Publishing Company, 1981
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Shine Forth. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday
Publishers, 2005

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32. Olson, Carl E. Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? San Francisco, California:
Ignatius Press, 2003
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California: Ignatius Press, 2004
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Of The Church. Washington, D.C: USCCB Publishing, 2005 / Libreria
Editrice Vaticana, 2004
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House, Inc, 1995
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Westminster John Knox Press, 2002
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West Publishing Co, 1941
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West Group, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000
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Blackburn and Burt Printers, circa 1900
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Incorporated, 1942

129
 About The Author

C ris A. Cannon has been a full-time law enforcement officer since

1984 when he graduated from the Dayton Police Academy in
Dayton, Ohio. Prior to that he spent four years in the regular Air Force
assigned to the United States Air Force 2nd Security Police Squadron at
Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana. In total his career spans
through parts of four decades beginning in 1978. During this time he has
worked almost every type of assignment found in police work. He has held
various positions at different agencies including supervisory positions up to
and including Chief. In 1995 he became a certified Police Firearms Instructor
and later an instructor in tactics for patrol stops that include high-risk
elements of Use of Force, Firearms and Vehicle Pursuit.

After several years of continuing education on a part-time basis he

received his BS in Criminal Justice from Canterbury University. In 2003
work began in theological studies and he wrote and published 2017 in
conjunction with receiving his Master of Theology in Religious Studies,
also from Canterbury University. Cris has also received a Doctor of
Divinity from WCM, honoris causa.

Cris continues to work as a police officer, study theology and the Church, and
write. He is married and lives happily and quietly with his wife Linda and
their three dogs in central Alabama.

131
 Critiques

“There Is Yet Time: War in Heaven, War on Earth,” written by Cris Cannon, is an
intriguing submission which provides the reader with the author’s perspectives and
views pertaining to the fate of mankind relative to the basic teachings of Christianity.
In alternately instructive and passionate prose, Mr. Cannon conveys with enormous
conviction his staunch belief that each day ‘the sun is setting for each and every one
of us’ while stressing the vital nature of embracing and adhering to the word of
God by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. Effectively supporting his theories by
citing myriad biblical scriptures, the author demonstrates an ability to connect with
those who may share his devout faith regarding the issues discussed. For readers
who accept the notion of the actual existence of Satan and the evil engendered
by this being, the author’s views should strongly resonate. For those who possess
a more skeptical or pragmatic philosophy towards Christianity, the work could
prove thought provoking and may inspire spirited discussion. Often submissions
of this nature portend the imminent end of the world on a specific date through
an epic return of Jesus Christ. This work instead takes a much more intellectual
approach in terms of reviewing the history and behavior of mankind and what
the consequences of the paths most choose for their lives will ultimately deliver in
eternity. Presented strictly as a narrative, the text flows at a brisk tempo that should
maintain the reader’s interest throughout. Although works of this genre generally
are not effective in converting those of a different religious view, this work could be
regarded as intellectually stimulating, well organized and passionate in content.

Cris Cannon’s ability to present his beliefs in a cogent and civil manner combined
with his extraordinary knowledge of scripture could further enhance the appeal
of this faith-based offering.

Kristen Burns, Editorial Coordinator

Dorrance Publishing Co. Inc.
August 16, 2006

This is an intriguing title. The dialogue is easy to understand and follow. The
text provides a clear image of characters, settings, and events. Nice work. This
is insightful, interesting, and well written. The target market will love it. Well
done.

Cynthia Sherman, critic

The Writers Literary & Publishing Services
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Date: 15-Feb-07