by Summer Lee
“The Jews were scattered to the winds in 70 A.D. Isn’t that true?” I asked.
“It is.” Amanda walked into the kitchen and I followed. “Fulfilled prophecy indicates the authority of God in his Word, and his power to do as he wishes.”
“You are given a picture of serious destruction in the Word,” said Walker. “In Matthew 24, Jesus gives accurate details as to how the world will end. Much has been fulfilled already. More will come later.”
I closed my eyes. “I can see a picture of wickedness being punished in darkness.” For a few minutes, I felt electrical power flowing through my body. “What is happening to me?”
“The power of the Holy Spirit is on you,” said Amanda.
Walker grinned. “God is giving you a supernatural Word of Knowledge. Just speak it out.”
It was true. I felt the presence of God and then these words came to me: “Don’t be afraid. Let your mind be clear of fear. Haven’t I announced events and revealed what is to come? From the earliest days, I have done so. You know it—you have seen and you know. Those who trust in God will live with him. Those who do not believe will be cast out into utter darkness.”
The words flowed out of my mouth like water. Once they stopped, I sat, trembling. Amanda put her arm around my shoulder. “You will become a prophetess as well.”
“Walker,” I said. “I think God just gave me a prophecy.”
“I think you are right.” He laughed.
“That is not all,” I said. “I think the Lord just took away my fears.”
“You don’t need to fear, no matter how much destruction comes on earth,” Walker said.
“Is it going to be real bad?” I just knew it.
“Yes,” he said, “Jesus said that immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
“It is because the nations decide to run governments without God,” said Amanda. “Both evil and good methods have been used throughout the centuries. Only the ones who trust God will prosper.”
Their covcersation reminds me of the four blood moons, but that is not my assignment. I only said, “I learned something new to help me interpret the prophecy of the Four Horsemen?”
“Good.” Walker looked pleased. “What was it?”
“Billy Graham said that he saw a striking resemblance between the teaching in Revelation to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24. I’m going to look into that and share his testimony.”
“You are right to do so,” said Amanda. “The opening of the fifth and sixth seals in Revelation reveals the persecution of the saints that can be considered as an expansion of the 24th chapter in Matthew.”
“The apostle Matthew shows a history of the world from heavens viewpoint,” said Walker.
Amanda was excited. “Everyone interested in future fulfillment of Bible prophecy should learn what Jesus said about it.”
My thoughts were on the apocalyptic horsemen. “It appears that the four riders on the vivid horses prepare themselves to attack and punish evil humans with major destruction. I see it as the Holy Spirit stepping aside when the horsemen come to earth.”
Amanda said, “Purification soon follows.”
Once again, Walker prepared to leave. He said, “Judgment Day is coming. It is coming soon. First, you will hear the trumpet blast.”
Judgment will be preceded by the sound of horses’ hooves clicking on the gravel below. They’ll come. . .
Galloping, galloping, galloping.
Chapter Thirty-three
Night and day passed. My project was getting closer to the end.
Amanda wanted to go home and check on her “cat” again. “I’ll be back later today. I have enjoyed writing together in your home.”
“You know I enjoy having you here, and will miss you when we’re done with our projects.” My heart felt squeezed with pain when I came to realize that the “cat” that Amanda was visiting was the Lion of Judah. I believed that she was really going to Jerusalem all of these times to check on things there, and if I was correct in my assumption, I knew that the hours were very short for all of us to be together.
“My blog needs to be posted on my website soon,” I said.
“So does mine,” she said. “Will you help me with that?”
“Of course.”
Amanda left and I got my laptop ready to write again. Sitting at my kitchen table, I wrote: “There are some historians who believe the Four Horsemen were contemporary events with the Apostle John. They say he would have been familiar with them. It probably was just the beginning of sorrow. Yet, we can’t take a prophet seriously unless the prophet had given some kind of fulfilled prophecy in his own day. That is what I think happened. The date some Christians point to as the most important fulfillment of Matthew 24 was the temple being flattened in A.D. 70. It is a starting point, but that was twenty years before Revelation was written. So, from a Biblical perspective, Revelation is still in the future.”
My article was almost finished, yet, I had no idea just what I should give as a precursor for my readers. I looked at the life of John the Apostle. What had he been through? I thought about John the Baptist, whose message was, “Repent and be baptized.”
Repentance was Amanda’s message. Not mine. Mine was the horses. I needed to know the first signs of destruction when Heaven’s horses ride onto the scene.
I wrote: “Here is a list of events, from Wikipedia, that happened in the lifetime of the Apostle John:
AD 60: Earthquakes.
AD 62: Defeat of Roman army on eastern frontier.
AD 64: Persecution of Christians following the fire of Rome.
AD 70: Four-year war of Jews and Romans ending with Jerusalem in ruins.
AD 68: Suicide of Nero, followed by political chaos.
AD 79: Eruption of Vesuvius, which obliterated Pompeii and created a pall of darkness so widespread that men feared that the end of the world had come. When volcanic dust covered the sky, the moon may have appeared red.
AD 92: Serious grain famine.
AD 81-92: Reign of Domitian, institutes emperor worship and persecution of believers.
AD 95: Writing of Revelation.”
I was actually writing when the doorbell rang, and I went to the door. It was Walker, the angel. I laughed when I saw him. “Since when do angels ring doorbells?”
“Since now.” He laughed. “I like the sound of bells.”
I clasped his hands. “Well, I’m grateful to have you here. I need your help.”
We went to the main computer in the office and sat on two chairs. I showed him my document in progress. He read through it carefully, nodding his approval the entire time. “Good,” he said. “What is next?”
“I need your help on that.” I looked seriously at Walker. “You mentioned trumpets the last time I saw you. I wonder if you can help me analyze the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. I think there is a spiritual aspect that ties into what I am writing.”
“How do you figure?”
“The first four trials affect the world, the last three have a more spiritual significance. They affect man directly in his spirit, as well as his body.”
Walker looked down. He did not answer for a few minutes. Finally, he said, “Rethink that. Most people do not understand the separation of the body and spirit.”
“What about during the first century?” I asked. “They certainly did. Would they interpret it based on their knowledge during their time?”
“Yes.” Walker frowned. “That is not your present concern, though. You must speak the modern dialogue of the day. Tell something new about the horses that grabs the attention of sinners.”
“Let me tell you this. Zechariah saw white horses going west,” I said. “So, I choose to assume the white horse in Revelation represents things in the West as well.”
Nodding, he smiled and then boldly quoted Revelation 6:1-2: “‘I watched
as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, Come! I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow. . .and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.’”
“That horseman would like to take control, but he will not have enough power to get respect of the entire world,” I said. “That is why it is not Jesus. Nor do I think he is the final prophet.”
“Nor the Antichrist,” Walker said. “Nor your president.”
“Some presidents have a lot of power,” I said.
Walker added, “Early in September 1990, President Bush discussed the Persian Gulf crisis at his summit meeting with Soviet President Gorbachev. The foundation for the New World Order was to be laid out on his trip to Helsinki. It was to be established under the United Nations.”
I said, “When Bill Clinton was president, he wanted to advance the more hedonistic society that would derive pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use. This is what Huxley called soma—a powerful psychotropic rationed by the government that is taken to escape pain and bad memories through hallucinatory fantasies, referred to as holidays.”
He agreed. “Clinton had a lot of power.”
I told Walker that my investigation took me to some scary places. I said, “I started with the phrase New World Order. I know it is a term used to describe the uniting of the world’s superpowers to secure and maintain global peace, safety, and security. That kind of thing gives the white horseman power.”
“Synonymous with the term New World Order are the terms: One World Government, Global Governance, and Globalization. All these terms are used interchangeably and at different times to communicate to different audiences. You may want to look them all up,” said Walker.
“Okay.” I thanked him and looked them all up. It did not take long to see they all basically meant the same thing. Yet, it was impossible to really solve the present Middle East conflict without facing up to this overall problem of global governance.
Walker was standing by the dining room window. He looked as if he was about to leave. I called to him to come back in the office. “What is it?” he asked.
“Listen to this,” I said, reading, “Islam believes that the final revelation of Allah will supersede all previous ones. It has a high built-in characteristic of intolerance. They believe that warfare and poverty are to be eliminated in their village and everyone is to become permanently happy due to the government providing conditioning and drugs.”
“Of course, those things will be achieved by eliminating many things that you consider to be central to your identity,” said Walker.
“Such as. . .”
“Such as family, culture, art, literature, science, religion, and philosophy.”
“A lot of lies are believed in such cultures.” I did not want to put that in my blog. It was all so mind-boggling. I did not want to get off track of my original topic—horses. I still needed to know what the Bible said about the tribulation horses and the seals being broken.
Jesus spoke of a day when the entire universe will be in disarray. He said that immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. That matched what I had read in Revelation. But the destruction in 70 A.D. fulfilled much of what Jesus said in Matthew 24. It seemed to be an introduction to the Great Tribulation.
Amanda quietly returned and sat on the couch. Just listening. She said, “Just the fact that there was a major destruction in 70 A.D. Proves there will be a final battle of greater magnitude.”
I asked Walker to explain why Jesus had talked about the fig tree. He said that it represented Israel. “The nation of Israel is a miracle.”
I was curious as to why Jesus had said to learn a lesson from the fig tree.
“We spoke of this earlier,” he reminded me. “As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
I looked at Walker and said that since I was around when Israel became a nation in 1948, did that mean I could be alive when the end is near, right at the door?
“Jesus opened the seals on the scroll to permit humans to see the future course of history,” said Walker. “He did not want to hide information from last-days saints like you. God entrusted Jesus to reveal the future course of history to His Church. It delights our heavenly father to have someone study it.”
“Is it because the nation of Israel did not understand what God wanted from them?” I asked. “Is that why they became so religious without knowing God’s Word?”
“The Jews are compared to a fig tree in the Bible. They are now back in their land. Jesus said you should learn a lesson from the fig tree. When tender twigs and leaves come out, you will know the end is near. The new nation of Israel are but tender twigs and leaves right now.”
“Summer is near,” I said. “That is how end time events will be.”
“You can’t know. Leaves are tender. In his vision, John watched with anticipation as the Lamb opened the seals.” Walker said. “That is how some things are now.”
Amanda was often quiet when Walker and I talked, but she would have something to say at just the right moment. “You’re right, Walker,” she said. “Jesus opened the seals one at a time for a reason.”
“Not the entire book at the same time,” I said. “Thank you both.” I determined that I would work on my piece as if Jesus were coming back tomorrow. “That is how I will write.”
“You are doing fine. I will be going now.” As Walker turned to leave, he said, “Don’t stay up too late.”
“I will not let her,” said Amanda.
“But before going to bed, I want to Google Israel, the fig tree on the search engine,” I said. I wanted to learn just what was going on in the Middle East in the twenty-first century and how it tied to prophecy.
I saw that events surrounding Israel were symbolized by the fig tree.
The horses are right at the door, chafing at the bit to run. We will soon hear them coming!
Galloping, galloping, galloping.
Chapter Thirty-four
The next day, with my laptop open in the garden, I wrote the words of Jesus: “When you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Right now, there was only one phrase important to me. I would concentrate on, “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
Amanda walked out in the new robe and slippers that I had laid out on her bed the night before, as she did not seem to know that sleeping in one’s clothing was unusual. Now she was outdoors in her nightclothes, a gift from me to her, which amused me further. She held a cup of tea in her hands to keep them warm. “You certainly take your assignment to heart.”
“I have to.” I opened my hands, palms up. “Give me your opinion of this. In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John called the coming Evil One a Beast, not the Antichrist. John did not even mention the word Antichrist in the Book of Revelation, although he did mention it in the letters that he wrote.”
“John of Patmos quoted a lot of Bible prophecy concerning the End Times.”
“In regard to Satan, the False Prophet and the Beast, John and the Apostle Paul said about the same things. Paul asked the Thessalonian church if they remembered when he was with them that he told them about an apostasy coming and a man of lawlessness being revealed.”
“Did they remember?”
“Yes. He told them that they already knew what was restraining him. The mystery of lawlessness was already at work in his day. Only he who restrained would do so until he would be taken out of the way.”
“I believe that is the Holy Spirit.�
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“The Holy Spirit indwells believers. So, that would have to be the rapture,” I said. “When he is gone, that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.”
Amanda opened her Bible and then proclaimed, “It says the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth and be saved.”
She inhaled and continued, “Paul said in II Thessalonians 2:3, that will be the reason God will allow a deluding influence to come upon them, so they believe what is false, rather than the truth. They who take pleasure in wickedness will be judged for it.”
“I am beginning to think that there are people who just don’t want to go to heaven. So, they made up a third option. But God only offers two—heaven or hell.”
“What kind of third option?” Amanda asked
“Oh, floating in the atmosphere or following a light. Stuff like that.”
She shook her head. “I decided a long time ago that I would only believe whatever the Bible teaches about judgment and the coming tribulation.”
“So did I. That is the only way I can understand the difference between good and evil,” I said. “The Antichrist is wicked.”
“Paul called the wicked one the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”
“Isn’t it true that Apostle Paul told the Church those things when he told them about the coming of the Lord and our being gathered to him?”
“Yes, it is so,” Amanda said.
