This four-part series of articles represents the Holy Grail of the Christian faith. As such, it challenges the uniting of all religions that Pope Francis, the representative of the entire Catholic world (not to say the entire world), is seeking to bring to pass. His teaching reduces the belief in Jesus Christ to a mere belief in so-called “love,”^[1] but what he misses is that not all religions offer the same caliber of love.

Does your belief in Jesus Christ put a kind of love in your heart that is no different than that of any other religion? I assure you that after ingesting this first article in this series, you will not view the Christian faith in such a trivial light. Our aim, aside from writing out of a sense of the sheer love of truth for the glory of God, is to inspire sincere Christians (including Protestants and Catholics) to practice the kind of love that Jesus taught, and we will present it to you in such a clear way that you will not be able to mistake it for anything less. The undiluted truth is in the cup that Jesus drank, and that is what this article is about.

Staying with the metaphor of the Holy Grail, we could say that Part 1 of this series is about the cup, what it contains, and what it means to drink it. Part 2 is about the certainty of the reward for those who accept it. Part 3 is about the rightful heirs who discarded that priceless relic, thus making it available to you. Part 4 unpacks it for you to see, but not yet touch. That will come soon enough if you are faithful. Is it tantalizing? It is!

The End of the World

At its very heart, the Christian faith is about the end of the world. Jesus promised that He would come back, and that is the expectation that is at the heart of the faith. That has been the case ever since the time of the church fathers all the way down to the present. The beloved apostle, John, quoted Christ in one of the most famous, most memorized passages of Scripture as follows:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1-3)

Thus, we should already know that Christian belief is not just a belief in a nebulous concept of love like the pope and the popular world say, but in a tangible promise of a literal reunion with the Lord at the end of the world. Notice that He didn’t say “I will take you to me when you die.” He said “I will come again.” Jesus promised to return to this world to receive the faithful.

In the course of this article series, we will sometimes talk about timelines, and dates and events that fulfill prophecy, but even if some of the technical details escape you because you don’t have the full background yet, the substance of our message should still reach deep into your heart.

Even the pope talks about the end of the world, and similar terms are used in his propaganda nowadays.^[2] There is no question that Pope Francis has been a one-of-a-kind pope, but whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is in fact a very big question, even among Catholics.^[3] You can see why, when he reduces belief in Jesus—including His promised return as the basic hope of Christianity—to nothing more special than the religion of the Jews who deny that He ever came the first time, the Muslims who reject His identity as the Son of God, or the other religions that have nothing to do with Him at all. Is he just trying to further his political goals that way, or does he have an even more sinister motivation? What you learn about the pope in this article series could peel your eyes wide open. We are talking about the end of the world, and the most eminent religious leader in the world must have no small role!

It is natural to imagine the seven last plagues^[4] as being so sudden, horrible and obvious (not to mention short in duration) that nobody could mistake them, but the Day of the Lord spans a full year, and within this year the prophetic events are unfolding in ways that are not entirely literal. It takes a little bit of discernment to recognize them right now, but big things are happening right on schedule according to the Orion Clock, and the fact that we are living in the time of the seven last plagues will be obvious enough very soon.

By the end of this entire four-part series, the faithful will discover some of the most sublime truths that have ever penetrated the human mind. Jesus Christ is coming again! And not just “soon,” or “someday.” We are privileged to be living in the closing months of the generation of which Jesus said:

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:34-35)

The very next verse at once confounds the wicked and inspires the honest in heart, for his pursuit of godliness:

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:36)

In so saying, Jesus was not discouraging man from understanding the time of His coming—no, no! He was setting forth a promise to the believers and a goal for their spiritual development. The goal is to draw near to the Father, to understand Him, to love Him, to know Him, and to be like Him, as the Savior said:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

Again, the Word of Life confounds the wicked and confirms the righteous. The wicked say that perfection in Christ is impossible while we live in mortal flesh, thus voiding Christ’s command and denying that He came, and overcame, in the flesh—not only as our substitute, but as our example. They love the world too much to contemplate that completion in Christ is wholly attainable and within the grasp of everyone. In this article, you will learn what it means to grow to the full stature of Jesus Christ. If you want to grow into spiritual maturity, then stay with us.

Divine Mercy: The Door Is Closed

The end of the world is the time of God’s wrath. It is not a time of “divine mercy,” despite the open doors at basilicas everywhere. Jesus was officiating in the heavenly temple as the mediator between God and man for a long time,^[5] and those who confessed their sins to Him received His merciful forgiveness, but that time is over. In the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus has finished His mediation and put the sins of His people upon the head of Satan, the scapegoat. That having been done, He has left the sanctuary for the duration of the seven last plagues, which have already begun. I hope you sent your sins beforehand to judgment, during the time of mercy!

Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. (1 Timothy 5:24)

People have been writing us, asking for help to make sense of the events that have been happening since the plagues began, so that their hope will remain strong and their faith will not falter. While we can continue to encourage and educate those who have found grace in the time of mercy, the fact is, every case has been decided and nobody will be convinced to change sides any more. We write this last series of articles out of a sense of love for the truth, and to encourage and strengthen those whose sins have already been forgiven, in the hope that they will be able to endure till the very end.

Some people have written to ask us—either sincerely or mockingly—whether they are eternally lost now, because mercy has ended. When you wake up and hear the birds singing or the cars going back and forth as always, and everything seems apparently the same, how could it be the end of the world? How could mercy have ended when things still seem the same? That is exactly how it was prophesied:

...when the irrevocable decision of the sanctuary has been pronounced and the destiny of the world has been forever fixed, the inhabitants of the earth will know it not. The forms of religion will be continued by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn; and the satanic zeal with which the prince of evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malignant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God. {GC 615.1}

So don’t think it strange that mercy has ended without an angel personally knocking on your door to inform you of the fact. And later in this series of articles, it will become clear who that people is, “from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn.” The world considers unity of all religions under the banner of tolerance to be the work of the Holy Spirit (“the semblance of zeal for God”), but that is a different doctrine than what the apostle John recorded from the Savior’s lips:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Is Pope Francis speaking the gospel according to John by equating all religions under the banner of love, or is it an altogether different gospel? Even if you would like to defend the message of Pope Francis, which says that God is love and therefore belief in God is belief in love, there is still a practical conflict of understanding regarding how one loves. The gospel says that Jesus Christ is the way, and we can come to God (or love if you will) only by going the way He went. The definition of true love and godliness is in Jesus Christ, and in no other religion.

We will unpack that definition shortly, but to the question of whether a person is lost or not because the time of mercy has ended, our answer is: It depends on what the inclination of your heart was as the door of mercy closed. Sanctification, the process of becoming holy, continues. We will even continue to grow spiritually in heaven. The issue here is just a matter of which path you have been on since you passed the fork in the road. It is a question of whether you have prepared yourself to follow the narrow Way that leads to life, or the broad way that leads to perdition.

As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. (Proverbs 11:19)

Probably the vast majority of people determined their course long before the final moment when probation closed on October 17, 2015 at sunset. It is not as if the door of mercy was slammed shut against a tide of potentially worthy souls. You might not realize it, but the cultivated thoughts and decisions of a lifetime have made you who you are. Now, in the final test, it will become evident who prepared their heart to follow God, and who set their affections on the passing world.

This article series can strengthen you for your great test if you are already on the right path and your sins were confessed and forgiven while mercy lingered, but it is not to convince or convert anyone who is on the wrong path. The time for that is past.

There is a seven-day gap between the end of the trumpet cycle of the Orion clock and the beginning of the plague cycle, and that period of seven days started on October 17/18, 2015 (Hebrew day boundaries^[6]) when the real “door of divine mercy” was closed in the temple in heaven. During that week, Jesus placed the sins of His people on the scapegoat, Satan. Those who did not acknowledge and confess their sins before that are still having to bear them, and will have to die—physically and eternally. At the end of those seven days on October 24/25, 2015, Jesus removed His priestly attire and put on His royal robes and crown. In the articles of this series, rich lodes of truth will be mined out of the book of Revelation, and you will have an opportunity to see how significant the crowning of Jesus is to understanding the wrath of God and the end of the world.

The Secret of the Father

Those who have prized Jesus, and have set their heart to follow His example in this final year on earth are on a journey that leads to life. And Jesus’ promise to such is that the Father will make known to them the time of Christ’s coming and the end of the world.

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

As Jesus said in the presence of His followers:

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you... (Acts 1:7-8)

Those words were not only for the disciples of AD 31, but also for us, upon whom the end of the world has come. Jesus explained that the knowledge of the time of the end was reserved by the Father, and would be given with power by the Holy Spirit. We are here! The Holy Spirit came and left already, and the power of the Father accompanies His message.

The seven last plagues span one full year from October 24/25, 2015 all the way to the Second Coming on October 23/24, 2016. Soon you will see just how accurately the Clock of God is ticking, and that even the time of the saints’ arrival on the sea of glass is indicated there! The clock has already pointed out two of the seven major waymarks (plagues) in the time of the end as history races toward its climax, and the last two articles of this series will show you the speedily-coming waymarks that remain—and more.

Understanding the end of the world has always been the Holy Grail of the Christian faith, and by the end of this article, you will gain a deeper appreciation for what it means to drink from that sacred cup. Recognizing the time of the end is part of the highest calling to fallen humanity, just as Jesus Himself recognized His own calling through an understanding of the Hebrew prophecies that pointed to the time of His own birth, ministry, and sacrifice.

The apostle Peter expressed it beautifully as the end-goal of the Christian faith:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. . . . Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (1 Peter 1:3-13)

The Holy Spirit has come down from heaven again in these last days, from Orion as it has been preached and reported unto you, testifying of the sufferings and glory of Christ. It is the chalice of His blood, as symbolized by the wine of the Lord’s Supper, and it is the miracle (translated power in Acts 1:8) which certifies the authenticity of this message, as you will see in Brother Ray’s article (Part 2). The miracle is that the clock points to the events, and the events happen right on time.

Note how the apostle Peter refers to this revelation as containing “things the angels desire to look into,” namely the time of the Second Coming, which was reserved by the Father until the “revelation of Jesus Christ” like Matthew 24:36 (quoted earlier) speaks about. The book of Revelation begins with those same words as its self-description—The Revelation of Jesus Christ—so in other words, when the end of the world as described in the book of Revelation has come (and it has), then we will know (and we do know) the date when Jesus will return to take His people to heaven.

Before the Crown, The Cross

The overview chart at right (click to expand) is taken from the Tears of God article, where we showed that the second plague on the Orion clock is positioned exactly 1335 days^[7] from the 2012 Passover day. There is a lot of significance to that which we will explore shortly, but in that article we only went as far as to point to it as an indication that big things should not be expected at the start of the first plague, but at the second plague.

Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Daniel 12:12)

In the chart, the 1335 days appear three times:

1. Relating to the heavenly events,
2. Relating to the earthly events,
3. In connection with the heavenly events, but delayed.

By the way, if you take a close look at the events on the chart, you will see that our ministry predates the pope, and our experiences even unwittingly foretold what he is doing. Now, the pope is starting to warn about present world events leading to the end of the world, but we have been warning since 2010 about specific future dates and events that have come to pass! The point is, while many people call him the false prophet of Revelation (though indeed he is something even more sinister) he might try to shake that off by making prophecies that will come true, just to make himself look like a true prophet instead of the false prophet. Just remember, we warned you first with precise dates—and the evidence is mounting. Satan is the great copycat, but there are some things he just cannot copy.

After the end of the first 1335 days on October 24/25, 2015, we did not appear to be “blessed” enough to fulfill the promise of Daniel 12:12 above. Therefore, we correctly inferred that the invisible blessing which we believed we should have received on that day must not become visible to us until after the delay that would bring us to the second plague. One reason we mentioned for that was to bring the final test of faith to our group, but it is deeper than that.

A well-known principle of Bible prophecy is illustrated in this 40-day delay. The principle is that the great prophetic periods often begin and end in complementary ways. That means we have an opportunity to explore the relationship between the beginning and end of the 1335 timeline to find the deeper meaning that God has tucked away in the diary of those days.

Back in 2012, our small study group, which was scattered across several continents, recognized that the 1335 days would begin on February 27 of that year. We made the physical preparations that we could in accordance with our understanding at that time, and warned our friends and family. We acted in faith, and waited for the time of the end to begin with balls of fire from the skies in accordance with our understanding of the prophecies at that time. Obviously fire did not rain down on that day, but our group experience in the end times had verily begun—complete with mocking, shunning, and the rest of it. Although we did not fully understand what we were doing at that time, we had taken the first step in our journey to find the Holy Grail, which was simply to believe that time prophecy could be understood by those who know God, and to try to do so by studying God’s Word in the faith that He would guide us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the wake of that first disappointment of our movement, we discovered that a 40-day period was nestled from February 27 to the April 6, 2012 Passover day, and we saw by faith that momentous events were taking place in the heavenly sanctuary at the beginning, middle, and end of those 40 days. We understood that God was going on trial, leaving Jesus in charge of the judgment of the living, which was soon to begin. The Father Himself was going on trial to be subject to investigation and judgment. What humiliation for the God of the universe to endure! In His own way—by subjecting Himself to a trial involving human witnesses—He was retracing the steps that His Son had taken in the Garden of Gethsemane nearly two millennia earlier.

That is why the 40 days ended on Passover, and why Passover in 2012 fell on the same weekdays as in the year of Christ’s crucifixion! We on Earth who were to participate as witnesses had to understand the Father’s case, and Passover—the death of Christ—was to be our lesson book.

Jesus saith...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father... (John 14:9)

To be witnesses for the Father, we had to learn from Christ.

It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross. {DA 83.4}

We had to go with Jesus in spirit, to hold the memorial of the Lord’s Supper and drink the Passover cup that He drank. At first, it tastes of the rich, sweet juice of the grape, but the dregs are bitter.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:27-30)

Like they sang a hymn, the 144,000 have a special song to sing^[8] after drinking from the communion cup of the Lord, too. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb,^[9] hinted at many times in our previous articles and now presented clearly in this series. Only the 144,000 could learn that song, because it is the song of their experience in drinking the cup with Jesus.

As was the case in 2012, the 2016 Passover also falls on the same weekdays as in the year of the crucifixion. Furthermore, it coincides with the fourth plague, which you will learn more about later in this series. Those are indicators that show how significant this Passover will be, but the time to paint the doorposts of the heart with the blood of Christ is past. Now it is the time of retribution upon those who spurned a sacrifice which was so great that to rightly appreciate it, you have to follow the advice given above (to contemplate the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice).

The Sacrificial Love of Christ

When we look at the sacrifice that Jesus made, we begin to see what sets Christian love apart from the love of any other religion or ideology in the world. Jesus—being the Son of God—sacrificed His divine attributes at the Incarnation to become human forever. Time out! This is deep stuff, and should be read slowly and thoughtfully to grasp every word. Put yourself in His shoes. Yes, put yourself in Jesus’ shoes—because the holy nation^[10] is a nation of priests, after all, and He is our example for no other reason than that we would follow in His footsteps. Jesus wanted to identify with fallen humanity so that He could redeem us by His sacrifice.

To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. {DA 25.3}

Contemplate that, and let it sink into your mind. Imagine what omnipresence means—the ability to be anywhere and everywhere independent of time—and what a limitation He subjected Himself to, in becoming human! Jesus could no longer do that as a human. Imagine what omniscience means—the ability to know all things—the end from the beginning irrespective of time—and how much Jesus sacrificed to be born as a baby, and learn and grow like you and me. Imagine what omnipotence means—the ability to do anything—and how helpless He made Himself for our sakes. What a sacrifice it was just to be born human! It is beyond our ability to fully comprehend what Jesus gave up, and yet we are counselled to dwell with our imagination on precisely those points. Jesus grew up and matured as a human being, with no advantage that we do not have.

At some point, it dawned on Him that He was the Son of God by identity, and that it was His calling to be the Savior of the world. He gave up carpentry and lived His conviction, going about doing good. Then in Gethsemane, He took upon His human shoulders the weight of the guilt of the world’s sin, from Adam to the end of time. He had taken it upon Himself to redeem the world; He understood that its destiny was on His shoulders. As the sins of the world were imputed to Him and the Father hid Himself from His Son, Jesus felt the eternal weight of loss. He realized that sin was so offensive to God the Father, that by taking our sins upon Himself, He might be blotted out for eternity.

The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God. {DA 753.2}

Jesus wrestled with it:

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39)

After pleading in prayer three times, Jesus decided to yield His eternal life for you and me. He chose to be absent from heaven forever, if that’s what it would take for sinners to be present. What selflessness Jesus demonstrated!

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32)

That is the song of Moses and the Lamb! That is the song of the 144,000! It is selfless, and Christlike. No wonder a person of such character would glow with holy radiance! It puts to shame the pathetic question of “Can I be saved, even now that the time of mercy has ended?” Ask yourself if such a one has grown up to the full stature (spiritual maturity) of Jesus Christ! Ask yourself if this kind of love is represented in any other religion of this world!

Having made His decision to follow through with the sacrifice, the angel Gabriel appeared in Gethsemane to strengthen our Lord. He showed Him the many who would be saved as a result, in order to encourage Him to be faithful to His decision, because the trial was not over.

On the cross, darkness engulfed Him. Jesus felt forsaken by God. The sense of separation caused Him to feel that He had failed, that He was no longer accepted by God, that humanity would be lost, and that the full guilt of the lost race rested on Him because it was His calling to intercede for them.

At the ninth hour the darkness lifted from the people, but still enveloped the Saviour. It was a symbol of the agony and horror that weighed upon His heart. No eye could pierce the gloom that surrounded the cross, and none could penetrate the deeper gloom that enshrouded the suffering soul of Christ. The angry lightnings seemed to be hurled at Him as He hung upon the cross. Then “Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” As the outer gloom settled about the Saviour, many voices exclaimed: The vengeance of heaven is upon Him. The bolts of God’s wrath are hurled at Him, because He claimed to be the Son of God. Many who believed on Him heard His despairing cry. Hope left them. If God had forsaken Jesus, in what could His followers trust? {DA 754.3}

He, the Sin Bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes sin itself. {DA 755.1}

Separated from and apparently forsaken by God, Jesus felt that He had failed to redeem humanity—that the sin imputed to Him was too great.

Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. {DA 753.2}

That is why His first and foremost concern after His resurrection was to know from the Father whether His sacrifice had been sufficient.^[11] But Jesus did not fail—He did not lose faith till the moment He died. He drank the bitter dregs of the cup of the wrath of God.

Have you ever experienced such a Passover? In 2012, we vowed to testify for the Father in His trial, and we were willing to give our lives for others if necessary.^[12] That was the first date for which we gave public warnings of the fireball event, which we expected would usher in the end of time. Today we know when the fireballs will actually fall—and you will too before you finish reading Brother Gerhard’s article (Part 3) in this series. We had embarked on a journey of faith, but little did we conceive of where it would lead! We had only begun to drink the cup.

Sometimes people tell us that they want to be among the 144,000 so they can stay alive to see Jesus come. To them, it sounds like a good club to belong to, with nice benefits. It is reminiscent of the request of the apostles James and John to be next to Jesus in the kingdom.

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:20-23)

Those who have such a rose-tinted view of what it means to be among the 144,000 will be bitterly disappointed. They know not what they ask! They had to first drink of the cup—all of it. Can a person dare to desire to be a priest of God without learning what it means to intercede with his own life, as Jesus interceded for him? After all, that is what priests do! The priests were commanded over twenty times in the Levitical law to make an atonement for others. That was their job!

Note, we are not speaking about cheap Catholic-style intercession. God alone can forgive sins, but if we comprehend how bad our sin is, and we are confident that our own sins have been forgiven by God, then we will also understand something of God’s love. We will recognize that we are no more worthy than others, yet God was willing to forgive us for Christ’s sake.

When we understand how much God loves us, then we are in a position to bargain with Him, like Moses, saying “Look, I was in sin too, and I know how much you love me—”

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32)

Did you know that was what it meant to be like Christ, and to be among the 144,000? Offering your own eternal life for the benefit of others! Maybe now you are content to settle for martyrdom, or even just to be a street cleaner in heaven. There is only one problem: you also have to drink your cup even if it is not as bitter as that of the 144,000.

If, after knowing the depths of God’s love for you, you willingly decline to drink your cup, it is as if you are saying to Jesus, “If I were you, I wouldn’t have made that sacrifice.” You would be saying that the souls He came to save (such as yourself) are not worth that high of a price. But you really are worth that much!

In the light of the cross alone can the true value of the human soul be estimated. {AA 273.1}

When you understand the high calling of the 144,000 and that they are the antidote to sin, and that the future wellbeing of heaven itself is dependent on them, then you begin to realize the true value of the human soul. In other words, a soul is worth all that Jesus gave up—all heaven—because it would all be lost without the 144,000 to protect the universe from sin ever rising up a second time.

Friend, you really are that valuable, but only if you offer yourself. If you bury your treasure, it is worthless for all practical purposes. Ask yourself if you have reached the full stature of Jesus Christ, and if you would intercede for other unworthy souls by foregoing your own place in heaven for them, as Christ did for you, if it were possible.

The Victory of the Cross

Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”^[13] “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”^[14]

As in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor. {DA 756.3}

Jesus bowed His head and died in victory! Pope Francis was not correct in saying that “His life, humanly speaking, ended in failure, the failure of the cross.”^[15] The sacrifice was total; Jesus succeeded in redeeming the human race. When a human heart breaks at the cross and melts in the warmth of true sacrificial love, then “humanly speaking” it is a testimony that Jesus was victorious through the cross.

Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted and He did come forth from the grave a conqueror! Likewise, Moses was raised and his offer to be blotted out was not collected upon. Omniscient God knows best.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 16:25)

Appearances deceive, however, and so do the thoughts and intents of the heart. God’s Word alone has the final say regarding who is fit for heaven and who is not. It is not safe to judge even your own heart by any other standard, much less someone else’s heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Mercy has ended, and we are in the time of the final test. How do you score, on the scale of the cross? Do you appreciate the sacrifice that was made for you? When your options dwindle to betraying Christ (or your Christlike brethren) or facing death, which will you choose? Omniscient God will soon tell you whether you made an acceptable sacrifice like Christ or not, like Moses or not. In the last article of this series (Part 4), Brother John will reveal to you the exact date when God will hold a special meeting with only the 144,000 to tell them whether their sacrifice was complete and acceptable, and whether or not their eternal life will actually be required of them.

Part of what it means to love others is to do everything in your power to help them stay free from sin. That is what the washing of the feet at the Last Supper symbolized. In the church that I came from, it was called the “ordinance of humility,” which is actually a very accurate name because it was commanded as the way to remember the humility of Christ and to practice it among ourselves as believers.

The funny thing is, aside from the possible slight embarrassment of exposing your bare feet to someone whom you might not otherwise, the foot washing service is not especially humbling in and of itself as it was in the days of the disciples. In their day, there was a stigma associated with washing feet because that was the job of the servant class. To wash someone else’s feet was to put yourself lower than them in rank. Have you ever wondered what the ordinance of humility should mean on a deeper level today? How can it be a reminder of the humility of Christ, if there is nothing especially humble about it?

Washing the feet is symbolic of washing away the dirt that leads to sin. We are not talking about the sinful life of the past, which was washed away by baptism into the blood of Christ, but the everyday accumulation of dust that sticks to our feet just because we walk on dusty roads. Christ told Peter that his whole body was clean in reference to conversion and baptism, but only his feet needed to be washed. In other words, it is about the offenses between brethren that “stick to us” and the hard feelings that result from our daily interactions in our journey through this imperfect world.

These words mean more than bodily cleanliness. Christ is still speaking of the higher cleansing as illustrated by the lower. He who came from the bath was clean, but the sandaled feet soon became dusty, and again needed to be washed. So Peter and his brethren had been washed in the great fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Christ acknowledged them as His. But temptation had led them into evil, and they still needed His cleansing grace. When Jesus girded Himself with a towel to wash the dust from their feet, He desired by that very act to wash the alienation, jealousy, and pride from their hearts. This was of far more consequence than the washing of their dusty feet. With the spirit they then had, not one of them was prepared for communion with Christ. Until brought into a state of humility and love, they were not prepared to partake of the paschal supper, or to share in the memorial service which Christ was about to institute. Their hearts must be cleansed. Pride and self-seeking create dissension and hatred, but all this Jesus washed away in washing their feet. A change of feeling was brought about. Looking upon them, Jesus could say, “Ye are clean.” Now there was union of heart, love for one another. They had become humble and teachable. Except Judas, each was ready to concede to another the highest place. Now with subdued and grateful hearts they could receive Christ’s words. {DA 646.3}

It is pride that causes us to take offense and harbor bad feelings. We have an internal concept of the hierarchy of who is better, and when someone says or does something to upset that hierarchy, we naturally get offended.

One of the most humiliating things to do is to accept criticism from someone whom you consider to be inferior. Yet, Jesus commanded us to wash one another’s feet, or in other words, to help each other get rid of accumulated offenses. It is a general principle that we are blind to our own faults but can easily spot the faults of others. It is like the allegory of the long spoons^[16]—that is why we have to allow others to tell us what our faults are. That is no easy task, especially while we are concentrating on them and seeing their own faults!

It is said that a person should be willing to give their life for someone before rebuking them of wrong. In fact, that is very near the truth. Do you understand now why it is necessary to drink the cup of the Lord’s Supper, and be willing to sacrifice as He did as we covered in the previous section? In so doing, you willingly make yourself lower in rank than the other person, and that is the key to being able to reach their heart when washing them of their offenses. When your brother understands that you would truly give up your place in heaven for him to be there, then his heart melts, and he can trust that above all, you have his highest interest in mind. That is what it means to rebuke with love! That is when the ordinance (law) of humility becomes the ordnance (weapon) of humility that conquers hearts: it is the weapon of the cross. That is how the servants of God will be able to prevent sin from rising up a second time.

When your brother needs his feet washed—before the dirt hardens into sin—and you want to help him, first you have to be like Christ. You have to mature up to His stature, and that means drinking the cup that He drank. That means humbling yourself and offering your spot in heaven for him.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. . . . Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1,5)

To judge your brother of wrongdoing, you first have to allow yourself to be judged. Removing the beam from your own eye means being willing to risk worse condemnation of yourself for your brother’s sake. When you are willing to sacrifice for him, then you are fit to address his shortcomings. Then you can intercede for your erring brother. That is how you wash one another’s feet. This is especially important now that Jesus has ceased His intercession in heaven for the time of plagues. The servants of God must show that they can keep sin at bay among their brethren here on Earth before they can be trusted to do that work throughout the unfallen universe.

Last but not least, Passover is about breaking bread with your brothers and sisters. That symbolizes sharing and eating spiritual food, so they can be nourished and strengthened too. Need I tell you to share this message with others?

The Blessing at the End

Remember, at the end of the 1335 days of invisible events in the heavenly sanctuary, we were expecting a blessing according to the promise recorded by Daniel.

Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (Daniel 12:12)

On that very day, October 23/24, 2015, we received a sign that confirmed us, as explained in the Tears of God article. It was the strongest storm ever to make landfall on the Pacific coast. It grew to category 5 over a period of less than 24 hours from the time it reached hurricane status. Then, even more suddenly, the storm winds burst into tears of rain as it came ashore—a heartfelt picture of the sadness of God for those who had spurned His mercy. The time had really come for the plagues to begin. Presently, we can see that the rains keep on coming as a result of the current El Niño effect, to the point that NASA even warns that it could become the worst El Niño ever, threatening tens of millions of people with hunger, water shortages and disease.^[17]

At the beginning of the first plague, however, we didn’t yet recognize the role El Niño would play. We were expecting the plagues to begin with something a little more awakening to the general population. It was a test for us to see whether our faith and love would continue—not a lot different from the very first disappointment of our movement. We were expecting a blessing, but we only got a sign.

One must have tenacity when claiming the promises of God. We did not give up; we quickly recognized the 40-day period till the second plague, and then we understood that the blessing of the 1335 days must come at the end of the 40 days. The 40 days at the beginning of the 1335 led to Passover, but the 40 days at the end led to the second plague. Remember, the prophetic principle is that there is a special relationship between the way a period begins and the way it ends.

At both times, the 40 days began with our expectation for a great and troubling world event. Both times, we quickly recognized a 40-day period.

In the first case, we recognized that the midpoint of the 40 days landed on a Sabbath. We understood that the 40 days represented the Father’s figurative exit through the Holy Place at the same time as our figurative entrance, which meant that we would figuratively cross paths with the Father at the midpoint on that special Sabbath day, and that we would figuratively receive the candlestick from the Father. That was our understanding as early as 2012. What if we apply those concepts to the second case of 40 days here at the end? Where would the midpoint fall?

Right after the 1335 days, we count the 40 days inclusively from Saturday, October 24, 2015, to Wednesday, December 2, 2015. The middle day, the 20^th day from the end, was Friday, November 13—the day of the Paris terror attacks. Some 130 people died in the middle of the first plague...and I expect you know how pivotal that event was for the uniting of Europe and the world against ISIS. Despite the obvious reality that the migrant crisis had brought an army of terrorists into Europe, the nations still did everything in their power to keep the migration channels open. Terror was the topic of the news for days, until Russia and the U.S. finally came on board as well, and the great 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference took the world stage, there again in Paris.

It’s much deeper than that, however, because the Paris Agreement was only adopted in that conference, but it has not yet entered into force. It is scheduled to be signed into force on April 22, 2016, the exact date of the fourth plague by the nations of the world. Oh, that means a lot! The nations are getting ready to give their power to the acting moral leader of this world—Pope Francis—in an effort to “save the planet” from utter destruction. Brother John will talk more about it, but what is already clear at this point is that the plagues are consequences of human choice, not arbitrary divine judgments. God has withdrawn His mercy, and that means humanity is about to suffer the natural consequences of their own depraved choices.

Back to our comparison, however, we should ask at this point: What does crossing paths with the Father on Sabbath and receiving a candlestick in the first case have to do with the terror attacks in Paris in the second case? According to God’s calendar, the first crescent of the new moon became visible at sunset on that very Friday, November 13. That means the terror attacks took place during the Sabbath hours on the first day of the Hebrew month. Biblically speaking, the first day of the month is called the new moon (technically the first visible crescent), and as we explained in Babel Rising, that qualifies it as a High Sabbath when it lands on the weekly Sabbath. We also explained in that same news article that God marks world events by High Sabbaths, including such days when the new month begins on a Sabbath.

Thus, God pointed at the terror attacks on November 13 through the High Sabbath on His calendar, showing more fully the role of the Sabbath in prophecy and confirming us as High Sabbath Adventists. That is how our Sabbath midpoint in the first case is reflected in the second case. Our principle of interpretation was validated. The High Sabbaths are a lamp unto our feet, highlighting the key world events that are tracing the course of the apocalypse.

Now, if the beginning and midpoint of the 40 days correspond, what about the end? We held a beautiful Lord’s Supper at the end of the 40 days in the first case, where we literally broke bread and drank grape juice in memory of our Lord. We drank of the cup. 1335 days later, what should we expect but the full blessing of Daniel 12:12! The reward of the righteous!

Not yet literally—because we are still talking about the invisible events of the heavenly sanctuary, which we grasp by faith—but please understand how great this is! This article series is the expression of the blessing we received, and what we received, we share with you. If you are faithful, this blessing which we received in spirit will become a tangible reality to you when Jesus returns on October 24, 2016—which is the end of the 1335 days of visible events!^[18]

Stewards of the Riches of His Glory

Have you ever wondered: How could God the Father resurrect Jesus without undoing the sacrifice that He had made? Jesus had laid aside His divinity, and took on the form of humanity forever. It was a permanent sacrifice, but since Jesus was completely faithful and righteous as a human being, glorifying God perfectly, God was fully justified in resurrecting Him like any other righteous human. God raised Jesus up as a human being, and glorified Him as we will be glorified:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

O friend, do you understand how close God is bringing man to Himself!? Do you understand what it means that our Brother—our flesh and blood (human) Brother—has risen to the throne of Almighty God?

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21)

It would be blasphemy to speak of sitting in the throne of God if Jesus Himself didn’t promise it! Can you imagine what that would be like? What would it be like to sit with Jesus in the throne room of the Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent God!? What does it mean that Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit!?

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Do you see it? God has written us a blank check! The ALMIGHTY has written a BLANK CHECK!!! You just have to name your price, and cash it!

Do you have a good imagination? What do you imagine heaven to be like? It exceeds it. What do your brethren imagine heaven to be like? It exceeds their imagination too. What have the prophets seen of heaven with their own eyes in visions and dreams? It exceeds it! “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him!”

I’m sure you still don’t understand the magnitude of this. May I try to get your imagination flowing, just a little bit? God knows the end from the beginning, so His knowledge is not restricted by time, right? And God is not limited to being in a single location at a single point in time, so His presence and actions are not restricted by time either, right? Would it be fair to say from our limited perspective that God’s throne is a time machine of some sort? Will you give me that liberty of imagination? Orion certainly is a clock after all, and it is definitely not lacking in features. Why couldn’t it also be a time machine? Awaken your heart to ponder anew what the Almighty can do!

Have you ever wondered how God will wipe away all tears from your eyes?^[19] How would you like to have a session in the Time Machine to go back to when Satan hurt you, to re-write your life according to what it would have been like if he had never existed?^[20] Would that wipe away your tears? What if God spent a thousand years with us doing just that: bringing justice for all the redeemed while reviewing and judging the cases of the unrepentant? Who cares how long it takes!—it’s wonderful!—just use the Time Machine! God will erase the memory of Satan and destroy his works,^[21] to re-make the world as though he had never existed! After the millennium, Satan’s final destruction will just be the last ceremonial act to discard his empty shell.

O Friend, this is precisely what God promised to do from His throne, and from the Holy City!

And in this mountain [the Holy City] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 25:6-8)

See, it is from “this mountain” as a figure for the Holy City, where God will hold this wonderful feast, and do this wonderful work of destroying the shadow of sin that covers all people and veils all nations. Brother John will tell you the date for that wonderful feast—but wait! Do you really understand it? Do you understand that Jesus will personally serve and crown each one of the saints? How? Normally, for one man to serve that many would take an eternity just for one meal! But with the Time Machine, no problem! All He has to do is dial in the same moment over and over again, and each time He can go to a different person individually and personally—all apparently in the same moment! Imagine it!!!

As a steward of the riches of God’s glory, you could do that too. If you are a faithful steward, then you will be able to serve the unfallen beings who inhabit whatever vast realms of God’s creation are put under your dominion. As Jesus serves, so the stewards of His house also serve.

The privilege that God has given to humanity through Jesus Christ is promised to a special group. All of the righteous of all the ages will be kings and priests in heaven, reigning with Christ for a thousand years:

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

But a special place is reserved in the Holy City for the servants of God who will reign forever and ever.

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:3-5)

Those who will dwell in the Holy City must have the name of God in their foreheads. They must be members of the church of Philadelphia, and sealed with the special seal that contains the special promise of never having to leave the temple of God:

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. (Revelation 3:12)

They have a permanent place in the temple, because their reign is never to end.

They do not go in and out as those who beg a place. {AA 590.4}

They do not beg a place in the temple of God! They will not even have to schedule an appointment to visit the command center of the universe! Others will beg for an audience, but they will have permanent places and permanent residences like Ezekiel described:

The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary. (Ezekiel 45:4)

In the last article (Part 4) of this series, you will discover the exact dates when the priests of God will be consecrated for service, how long it will take, and when the millennial reign with Christ will begin. Imagine it! God’s agenda for those days is already in our hands!

So far, very few people have been sealed with the seal of the church of Philadelphia. We can infer that they must already have the correct inclination of character because probation (the time of mercy) has already closed, but they still have to be gathered into Philadelphia. Yes, in this series you will find out when the gathering will take place, and by when it must be complete.

But the blessing is not for everyone. The Bible speaks of a class of people who will weep and gnash their teeth because they were weighed and found wanting. That topic will be expounded in Part 3, where you will learn about the wheat and the tares, and the grapes of the winepress of God’s wrath.

The Omniscient God knows the heart. Those who do not drink the cup of the Lord willingly or worthily will be compelled to drink of it in the form of the seven last plagues.

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread [read these articles], and drink this cup of the Lord [offer his life for others], unworthily [without a willingness to sacrifice], shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

The cup of the Lord is the cup of God’s wrath; it is the same cup:

Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God. {DA 753.2}

Are you seeking to avoid the cup? It is a matter of the heart, for:

Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [selfless (agape) love], it profiteth me nothing. (From 1 Corinthians 13:3)

If you do not drink it willingly, you will have to drink it by default!

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

To the wicked and unregenerate heart, it is the cup of God’s indignation which Jesus already emptied the bitter dregs of on man’s behalf! Oh, that men would appreciate the sacrifice! Those who spurn the Savior’s blood must still drink the wrath of an offended God, who made such liberal and costly provision for their salvation! The last article in this series will reveal from Scripture exactly when the wicked will drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty God.

Filling the Cup, Plague by Plague

Time and time again, we have received signs that confirm our studies, yet the worldly onlookers cannot see them. They think it is just coincidence, or simply our attempt to fit the random events of the day to preset dates. Jesus explained this problem, saying:

A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. (Matthew 16:4)

Interestingly, they desired a sign from a man who had healed the sick, cast out demons, multiplied food, and performed other miracles. Were those not signs enough? The point is, the signs are given to confirm the righteous, not to convince the wicked. Even though a person is obliged to prove all things, there should come a point when faith is established, and those who have faith are blessed in a way that no others can be. Jesus encouraged His disciples to contemplate the power of faith, and promised them that they would move mountains if they would have faith.

And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:19-22)

Jesus did not say that they needed a mountain of faith, but that faith—even a mustard seed of faith—would make all things possible, including the moving of a mountain:

...If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (Matthew 17:20)

The fig tree has already withered. What you are about to see next is a mountain of evidence rising up in support of the Clock of God, and as the mountain of evidence grows, it will either confirm the faith you already have, or crush you in your disbelief.

Remember the plagues of Egypt. Except for the apparent “magic trick” of turning the rod into a snake, the other plagues were things that could be plausibly denied and attributed to mere weather conditions and other natural phenomena. Waters turned to blood,^[22] frogs, lice, flies, a murrain, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and finally the death of the firstborn. Until the very end, the Egyptians denied mere natural conditions as evidence, and denied that the timing of the events was anything supernatural.

In the end, skepticism will finally be crushed by the mountain of evidence, but nobody will be benefited by it. Every case has been decided. The evidence will rise up for a testimony against the enemies of God. Only those who have already been walking by faith will be blessed by it. Those who did not show faith will not receive the blessing that God has promised.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The cup of God’s wrath, the plagues, is filling up fast. There are several principles that will help you to understand the plagues. Above all, the plagues parallel and build upon the trumpets. What we have written about the trumpets in various articles, and even how they were interpreted during the Christian era, is relevant to the plagues.

The fact that the plagues parallel the trumpets indicates a few specific things:

1. Something prophetically significant should happen on the first day of each plague to confirm the date that is already indicated on the plague cycle of the Orion clock.
2. Something prophetically significant should happen on the High Sabbaths (if any) that occur during the course of a plague.
3. The plagues begin small and increase in severity, like the trumpets.
4. The plagues are cumulative, like the trumpets.
5. The three woes have a counterpart in the fifth, sixth, and seventh plagues, which are exceptionally severe.

The trumpets were warnings, saying “if you do this (trumpet), then that (plague) will follow.” God’s warnings are not arbitrary; there is a clear cause-and-effect relationship at work. The consequences of the actions taken by the world during the trumpet cycle were held back and deferred until the time of plagues, but they come surely.

We already mentioned Hurricane Patricia and the Paris terror attacks as the fulfillment of the first plague. Spiritually speaking, the volcanic eruptions of the first trumpet symbolize the “boil” or sore of the first plague. In the most general sense, it stands for all sin. The appearance of the boils in the first plague meant that sins would become manifest, and we saw that very clearly in the religious world. People and whole churches began taking their stand and showing their true colors. At the time of this writing, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has come out openly with a transgender (LGBT) elder.^[23] The sores of the first plague are rearing their ugly heads.

To illustrate the cause and effect relationship, we could look at when the first trumpet sounded. We received the wonderful and extensive light about the trumpet and plague cycles of the Orion clock on that day (January 31/February 1, 2014), which gave us the exact date of every trumpet and plague of Revelation. Receiving new light is not a warning per se, however. To understand what the warning of the first trumpet was, you have to realize that the light bearer should have been the Adventist Church, but because they refused to accept new light, we received it instead. The warning is: If you do not accept the light that comes to you, you will fall into complete and total darkness. Now with transgenders serving as elders in good standing, we see how great that darkness is. Have you read the Adventist Review lately? It has been chock-full of ecumenical rhetoric, which shows that the Church is squarely against the truth and on the side of Satan. Their sins have become publicly visible.

Where the first trumpet was a warning for refusing light, the first plague is the punishment. It began with the pope’s closing speech at the Ordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome on October 25, 2015. That synod represented the great end-goal of the Second Vatican Council and the whole synod system. And where did the SDA Church end up after rejecting the light that God bestowed upon them? ...smack into the whole dark ecumenical mess.

Pope Francis ended his unprecedented synod of the first plague, saying “Today is a time of mercy.”^[24] With that false statement, he has plunged the world into darkness, and everyone who rejected the light of truth will end up caught in that dragnet sooner or later, for one reason or another. He has set himself directly against the message from heaven, which says that the plagues began that very day. You are taking your final test without any possibility for a make-up exam, so give it all you’ve got!

The Black Mountain

On the political front, we interpreted the green grass of the first trumpet as a symbol for Crimea, and we saw back in late February, 2014 at the end of the first trumpet that Crimea was annexed by Russia. The burning mountain of the second trumpet was a symbol for Russia’s involvement in the East Ukraine as the Crimea crisis escalated. Those things are written in the article titled Trumpets with a Certain Sound. Thus, the second trumpet was warning of a large-scale European war, but that looming war was held back by God because of His mercy. Now we are in the time of the plagues, and the four angels which are holding the four winds of strife are letting loose. You can see that very clearly by the events that happened on the date of the second plague, which was December 2, 2015.

One of the big events that day was that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) invited the country of Montenegro to join it, which was a big provocation to Russia. Vladimir Putin gave a speech warning that Russia would retaliate against NATO and that Turkey (a NATO member) would regret shooting down the Russian aircraft. God marked those events as key events that will lead up to the last great battle. What is especially interesting about that happening is that Putin said in his speech that it is connected to the Crimea crisis!

In his speech Mr Putin made a direct connection between Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year and the current fight against terrorism, saying Russia was showing its “confidence” as a “strong, independent state, with a 1,000-year-old history”.^[25]

The news itself is connecting the plagues back to the trumpets! However, the delay has only intensified the severity; what threatened to be a European war in the second trumpet is now threatening to be a full-blown world war in the second plague.

Don’t expect it yet, though. Ellen G. White said something that gives us even further insight into why, even now in the time of the plagues, the conflicts in the world are not erupting into terrible wars just yet.

Four mighty angels hold back the powers of this earth till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The nations of the world are eager for conflict, but they are held in check by the angels. [A] When this restraining power is removed there will come a time of trouble and anguish. Deadly instruments of warfare will be invented. Vessels with their living cargo will be entombed in the great deep. All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of Satanic agencies, but they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of Armageddon.—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:967 (1900). {LDE 238.3}

To understand this paragraph, first we need to understand that she speaks of two different time periods. In the first two sentences, before the point [A] in the paragraph, she speaks of the time of mercy when the sealing is taking place and the four winds of world strife are held back. That time period ended at sunset on October 17, 2015, and since she was living in the time of mercy, she wrote those sentences in the present tense.

Then at point [A] she changes, and begins to talk of another time period that would come after that. From her point of view, it was still future, so she wrote in the future tense, saying what “will” come. She said that the time of trouble and anguish “will come,” but for us today it has already come as of October 25, 2015 when the plagues began. From point [A] through the rest of the paragraph, she wrote of the time of plagues, mentioning some of the troubles and giving us an overview of the whole time.

She stated that in the time of plagues, “All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of satanic agencies.” Satan is getting his people in position, marshalling his army. He is gathering his army similarly to how we are gathering into Philadelphia God’s people, whose sins were sent beforehand to be forgiven before mercy ended.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

In the first plague, we saw the first visible sign of Satan gathering his forces. We saw the migrant crisis explode, because the Paris attacks showed that ISIS did indeed enter Europe through the refugee migration. It was proof that the Trojan Horse operation was successful. The four winds are loosening, but they are not completely loosed yet.

Ellen G. White said something very important in the statement above that is not natural or intuitive for us to think of. She said “they are to be kept under control” till a certain time. That means that even during the plagues, Satan does not have full control until a certain time! He is allowed to get ready, but his army is kept under control till a certain time.

Satan is marshalling his forces. To marshal means to “arrange or assemble (a group of people, especially soldiers) in order.”^[26] That is what Satan is doing now, but the battle itself has not yet begun. One would naturally ask: When will it begin? When will the restraint be completely removed for Satan to wreak his havoc?

That will be answered in a later article, but in the second plague we already saw the first important milestone in the marshalling of Satan’s army—but not out-of-control. Like the BBC News article quoted earlier, NBC News also connected the affront to Russia (NATO’s invitation to Montenegro) with the conflict that flared up with the first deaths in the Ukraine at the sound of the second trumpet:

NATO foreign ministers broke off formal contact with Russia in April last year after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and sparked the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 8,000 people.^[27]

That shows how this event at the outpouring of the second plague is indeed the answer to Russia’s attack against Ukraine in the second trumpet last year. Cause and effect are at work, but despite the tensions between Russian and Turkey that ensued, the forces have been “kept under control.”

The Beautiful Mountain

While Europe was still in shock from the terrorist attacks in Paris, the United States got its own taste of terrorism. Also exactly on the first day of the second plague, terrorists attacked a holiday party in San Bernardino, California.

Although the news reports were reluctant to state any motives for the shooting near the mostly-Adventist village of Loma Linda on the same day, December 2, it was clear from the initial story that the attackers were Arab Islamists and were apparently offended by the holiday celebration. Several of the injured were taken to Loma Linda (the flagship Adventist hospital). The woman who organized the holiday party was also an Adventist.

It is interesting that Ben Carson’s falling out of favor in the presidential election polls^[28] came just at that time. Carson is a professed Adventist and a doctor, and the terrorism that struck so “close to home” seems to have made him look unsuitable as the strong man “for such a time as this.” Unfortunately, he is a day late and a dollar short of being the Esther that many deluded Adventists thought of him as.

We can see the connection between the second trumpet and the second plague again if we look at what happened. Back in the second trumpet, there was the “day of four popes,” which involved the canonization of two popes. Canonizing someone requires that they have (supposedly) performed miracles. Most miracles are of healing, and on the date of the second plague the pope reiterated that fundamentalism is a sickness. In other words, the pope was identifying a particular so-called sickness which he would like to eradicate: fundamentalism. Of course you know that the definition of fundamentalism includes people whose only wrong is to believe the Bible, so his statement is a frontal attack against God. The warning was, if you bow to the miracle-working popes (of the second trumpet), then the pope will “heal” you of fundamentalism (in the second plague). Do you see how it works?

Going back to the events in San Bernardino, however, it must be noted that the event brought the second beast of Revelation 13—the US—directly into France’s world war against terrorism (ISIS) which began in the first plague, just like how the bombing of the Russian passenger jet brought Russia into the war. In that sense, it is easy to see how it was a further milestone in the marshalling of Satan’s army for the last great conflict, which is why God marked it in His clock.

Great Britain also voted to enter the war in Syria on December 2, and conducted bombing raids just hours later on the morning of December 3. Thus, another very important player entered the fray on exactly the first day of the second plague. Clearly, Satan is marshalling his forces for the final conflict! Do you see the mounting evidence?

It also came out in an official report on the same day that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons up to 2009 at least. Much of the report is inconclusive, but since Iran is an Islamic country, it is obviously a big deal if they have nuclear weapons (or even just plans for such) because it is likely that they would side with their fellow Islamists against Western decadence at some point as conflicts increase.

The Sugar Mountain

The news of Zuckerberg’s gift of 99% of $45 billion for his daughter’s future hit the news on December 2 as well, the date of the second plague. (The money is going to his wife’s foundation, so the “gift” is not actually leaving the control of his family.) In his letter to his daughter, he says that the money will go to promote “equality,” among other things. The fact that they named their daughter “Max” (a boy’s name) shows what kind of equality they are really talking about: not just gender equality but also gender equivalence, or in other words, the LGBT agenda.

As the armies are being martialed for the last great conflict, this announcement shows once again that the LGBT issue is paramount. Those who side with equality as the world defines it will find themselves on the wrong side of the conflict. Satan’s criticism against God’s government has always been on the point of authority. He wanted equality with the Son of God in heaven. He wanted equal say, or equal rights.

What he couldn’t do in heaven, he is doing here on earth. He is upsetting the hierarchy of marriage and replacing it with complete equivalence—to the point that it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman or anything in between. Name your daughter Max, because “Who cares! There’s no difference!”

Women’s equality is a major agenda item for the UN (United Nations). As we are in the 70^th anniversary year of the UN, Zuckerberg is joining in the world’s celebration of its accomplishments. He’s not the only one, however. What do the rich elite do with their money to celebrate their accomplishments and spread their philosophies? They make movies...and reap the box office profits in exchange for the masses allowing themselves to be indoctrinated through entertainment!

The big film that was in the news regularly within the second plague was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Commentators noted that the film’s “balletic” dogfight scenes were a commemoration of World War II. The film’s release this year is just one more part of the 70^th anniversary celebration of the UN, which arose from the ashes of World War II.

What the masses don’t realize when they go to watch films for entertainment’s sake is that it’s all about education. They are teaching you. Star Wars is another case of Zuckerberg’s daughter Max, except this time it is the heroine named Rey. She is the star of the universe—and her name is Rey, which is “king” in Spanish. Mind you, they could have called her Reina (which means “queen”) but they didn’t. They made a girl the king of the universe! Do you understand what a mockery that is?^[29]

The chalice of God’s wrath is being filled up, and when the seventh plague begins, it will be completely full. Then all restraint will be removed, and His fury will be poured out in full strength upon the unrepentant. Woe to those who have no shelter in the day of wrath!

There is another development worthy of mention before I give the floor to Brother Ray. Did you hear about the financial crash in China that caused markets to close after a mere 29 minutes of trading?^[30] It triggered the Royal Bank of Scotland to warn investors to “sell everything.” The effects of the Chinese market crash have been felt around the world, and analysts everywhere are painting a grim picture of this year’s economy—for many other reasons too,^[31] not just the crash in China.

This is, once again, the second trumpet coming back to haunt the world now in the second plague. The last section of Trumpets with a Certain Sound explained how ships are a symbol for economy and world trade, and showed how Europe was especially being affected at that time. This time, the consequences will not be mercifully held back as they were during the time of the trumpet warnings. And this time, not just Europe but the whole world is being affected. What is beginning now will continue to worsen, and it will exacerbate the problems of the world as the remaining plagues come.

We’ve covered at least three mountains of evidence that began to appear when the second plague was poured out, and that evidence will continue to grow. However, there was a fourth mountain of evidence that featured in the news on December 2, 2015 to mark the second plague, and more importantly the end of the 1335 days. It was the sign of the blessing we were expecting, which has unfolded into this entire article series, and Brother Ray will share that mountain of evidence with you in the next article...

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