Greetings… Friends and lurkers, Deep State spooks, [laughs] welcome.
It’s been quite a while since my last podcast. I’ve been doing pretty regular videos and YouTube shorts, but I’ve left off on the podcasts. I guess sometimes the well runs dry.
Well, anyway, with this program, I am making a renewed commitment to regular weekly podcast programs, Jehovah willing and all. And I believe He is.
Things are moving, uh, rather rapidly to a culmination of some sort. And I’m not the only one who sees it that way. A lot of people do. People who are not necessarily connected to the Bible or have a Bible viewpoint. Uh, but people realize something is going to happen, and people are not sure. People don’t know.
But God knows, of course, and He has revealed the things to come in His word through the prophets. Now, the, the challenge is to understand what God has written. And if it’s not understood, then it’s not revealed. Ultimately, of course, we’re waiting for the revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Well, I’ve been at this for quite a few years. Almost 30 years. Of course, I’ve been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for nearly 50 years.
But some 30 years ago, I picked up the Bible and just started reading in the middle of, uh, Ezekiel and, uh, I couldn’t stop for some reason. [laughs] And it went on for days and weeks, and I read the prophets over and over again and I seemed to understand immediately what I was reading, and, but kept reading to verify, to turn things over in my mind. But, of course, it’s almost impossible to get your mind around everything.
I have been, you know, indoctrinated as all of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
You can be indoctrinated with the truth, and the Watchtower of course teaches the correct basic doctrines. We’re privileged to know the truth about Jehovah and his special relationship with Jesus. We know the truth about life and death, that we don’t have an immortal soul.
We know that not everyone is going to heaven, only a select few. And we know that God’s intention is to make this earth a paradise, to rid this world of Satan and his kingdom, and all wicked people, and allow the righteous and meek to inherit the earth. That’s God’s purpose, and Jehovah’s Witnesses at, at least understand that. We’ve been indoctrinated. But we’ve also been indoctrinated with a delusion, a falsehood, a fiction. An artfully contrived false story that Jesus returned in 1914, that he has begun ruling as king, that an invisible presence began then, and that Satan and all of his demons were hurled down to the earth in 1914 and they’ve been on the rampage ever since, warring against the people of God.
Well, I’ve spent the last 20 years probably overturning, or at least trying to overturn, that delusion and to reset expectations for the coming of Christ in the near future. Yes, for the casting down of Satan in the future. And that would change everything, of course.
Now, I have speculated recently, turning over in my mind, wondering, if due to recent events and the turmoil that seems to be engulfing the world, if Satan and his demons have not been cast down quite recently. Well, I don’t think it’s true. I think my indoctrination by the Watch Tower had led me to believe that Satan and the demons will be thrown down, and it will be evidenced by nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom. That’s what the Watch Tower teaches, and my only perspective is to reset that to the future. But now [laughs] I don’t think that Satan is thrown down at that point. I don’t think his eviction from Heaven will be evidenced by nation rising against nation, by peace being taken from the Earth.
At the beginning of the summer I, I started a thread on my forum, e-Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, um, I had mentioned that I was going to fast over the summer. I went on a couple of five-day fasts, and I sort of hit the wall, uh, but last week I, I embarked on another… There’s a little bit of summer left and you… I really have to have warm weather to go without food. And I, um, I went on a nine-day fast. I just had a bit of salad yesterday, so technically I broke my fast, but I got a little weak and wobbly, but, you know, fasting is supposed to clear your mind, and, you know, Daniel went on a 21-day fast. It says he didn’t eat any of the king’s tasty dishes. There was no wine, and, um, at the end of that 21-day period [laughs] an angel came to him and said that his prayer had been heard, and then he revealed to him the things to come.
Well, I was taking a little walk yesterday and sat down on a park bench, and wasn’t really intent on, you know, m- [laughs] trying to solve any big mystery, but the thought just surfaced that, um, Satan… well, of course, we know Satan will be thrown down when God’s kingdom comes to power. So it occurs to me that, well, we have to ask the question, of course, what is God’s kingdom? And of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses will respond God’s kingdom is a government. Correct. And who is the king of God’s kingdom? That’s easy. Jesus Christ. Anybody else? Oh yeah. The holy ones. The chosen ones, and they will number 144,000.
The 20th chapter of Revelation says, “Happy are those who receive the first resurrection over these, the second death has no authority, and they will be kings and priests with Christ for the thousand years.” Okay, so we know all of that. Here is the question. When does the kingdom come to power? Well, we know in Revelation, the 12th chapter, when war breaks out in Heaven and Michael and his angels battle the dragon and his angels, and they’re thrown down, a place is found for them no longer in Heaven. It says, “Then has come to pass the power and the salvation and the authority and the kingdom of our Christ.”
So Satan is thrown down when the kingdom of God comes to power. So we’re still left with a question. When does the kingdom come to power? Forget the seven times and all of that. That doesn’t tell us when the kingdom comes to power. You have to undoctrinate [laughs] yourself from that delusion.
The kingdom… This is what I realized yesterday. The kingdom comes to power when all of the 144,000 have been chosen and are with Christ. Now, how do I know that? How do we know that? Well, let’s consult the prophecies and Revelation. The sixth chapter of Revelation depicts Christ coming to initiate war against Satan, and we have a vision of the white horse and the one seated on it had a bow and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering and to complete his conquest. So a crown is given. This is obviously Christ on the white horse, and he’s given a crown. Does that mean the kingdom has fully come to power? No. He has to complete his conquest. Now, we know that the first four seals are opened, Christ is coming, then the scarlet horseman brings war, and then…… food shortage. But the fifth seal is opened and John saw the souls of those who had been executed, and they shout out with a loud voice, “Until when, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
And the response was, a white robe was given to each of them and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they had been. So, the fifth seal indicates that the resurrection, the first resurrection, has begun. And many first-century Christians were killed. They were executed for speaking about Christ. Stephen was, the Apostle James was, Paul was, Peter was, and hundreds and thousands of others were executed by the Jews and by the Romans. So, the first resurrection begins at that point, but has the kingdom fully come to power? The kingdom is all 144,000. So no, those slaves who had been resurrected are told to wait a little while longer.
So, the opening of the sixth seal represents the Great Tribulation. Now, the Watchtower has indoctrinated Jehovah’s Witnesses to believe that the Great Tribulation is when Babylon the Great is destroyed, and that’s it. Well, if you read what happens in that sixth… with the opening of the sixth seal, a great earthquake occurred, the sun became black as sackcloth of air. The entire moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth. And the heaven departed as a scroll that is being rolled up. And every mountain and every island was removed from its place. And so the people respond, clamoring, begging, uh, for the mountains to fall over them, and they were hidden in the caves and rocks. [laughs]
So, the Watchtower says the sixth seal was opened sometime back after 1914. And that they are correct in saying that it’s reasonable that the seven seals are opened in rapid sequence. And so they say the first seal was opened in 1914, and so they have to say this sixth seal was opened then, too. But then they admit, “Well, we haven’t seen these earth-shaking, apocalyptic events, but [laughs] we’ve felt the preliminary temblors.”
Uh, well, no, no, no, and no. We haven’t seen anything yet, and we can prove that by what Jesus said in the 24th chapter of Matthew. Referring to all of these things, the war, food shortages and so forth, and then a Great Tribulation that would come upon the entire inhabited Earth. And unless God intervened, it would be an extermination event. No flesh would survive. But on account of the chosen, God will cut it short. But notice what Jesus says after the tribulation. Matthew 24:23, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.”
Okay? So, drop on down to verse 29. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” So, not even the Watchtower will go so far as to say we’ve experienced the Great Tribulation. Although at one point, they did say that. They said the tribulation began during World War I and that God cut it short. And they continued to teach that up until 1970, and then they received new light and realized that that was a little bit nonsensical.
So but, uh, the things we read in Revelation with the opening of the sixth seal is what Jesus was describing here that occur immediately after the tribulation. Or we could say as an immediate result of the tribulation. And of course, these symbols represent the collapse of the system. The heavens represent the ruling powers, uh… So, these things have not occurred.
Okay, so if we go back to Revelation, after John sees this horrific calamity, what does the angel say? Chapter 7, he says, “After this, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth-“.. so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrise, having a seal of the living God, and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads.’
And then John heard the number of those sealed, 144,000.” So Jesus elsewhere is referred to as the King from the rising of the sun, and He is, um, depicted as having a face shining like the sun. So this angel ascending from the sunrise, from the East, is Jesus Christ, and He is the one who will seal those whom His Father, His God, has anointed to be in union with Jesus. So this sealing occurs after the tribulation. Now, part of the 144,000 are already in heaven. We’ve read that. So those remaining on the earth are sealed because the tribulation is cut short. Isn’t that what Jesus said? “On account of the chosen ones, the tribulation will be cut short.” So here we have this cutting short of the tribulation depicted as four angels holding back the four winds of destruction and of judgment. Okay, well, let’s go back to Jesus’ comments here in the 24th chapter of Matthew.
And after describing the sun being darkened and the moon not giving its light, He said, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” And listen to this, “And He will send out His angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather His chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to the other extremity.”
So there’s that expression again, the chosen ones.
Where will these chosen ones be gathered to? That’s a good question, isn’t it? Does it mean they’ll… they’re taken to heaven? No. Go back to Jesus’ illustration of the wheat and the weeds. The weeds are uprooted and bundled up and thrown into the fire. And what about the wheat? They are gathered into the storehouse. What is the storehouse? The Kingdom of God. How do we know? Because it says that the weeds are uprooted out from His kingdom. That’s what it says, that “The angels go forth and uproot all of those doing lawlessness and all causes for stumbling.” So that means that the wheat, the chosen ones, are allowed to remain in the kingdom and they’re sealed. But it says then that “The chosen ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” So that’s the sealing, and this shining as brightly as the sun occurs while they’re on the earth in that sealed state. So that is the kingdom having come into existence. Prior to that, the kingdom was Christ’s congregation. You recall that in, uh, the first chapter of Colossians, Paul referred to those who had been called. He said that you’d “been rescued from the authority of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
So the congregation itself can be called the Kingdom, but when Christ finally seals all those who are to be part of that kingdom, then that congregation becomes the ruling authority, the Kingdom of God. Well, now, let’s go back again to the 24th chapter. And after Jesus spoke about the gathering of the chosen ones, verse 32, He says, “Now learn this illustration from the fig tree. Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. Likewise also you, when you see all these things, know that He is near at the doors.”
Well, of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that all these things began in 1914, but Jesus emphasized, “When you see… When you see all these things…” You, you, the observer, have you seen all of these things? Have you seen any of these things? Have you seen a war? Did you live through the Spanish Influenza pandemic that killed 20, 30 million people, they say?
No one alive now saw those things. But Jesus said, “When you see all of these things,” and all of these things include-… the Great Tribulation. So what does it mean then that Jesus will be at the doors?
Well, Jehovah’s Witnesses should have an appreciation for that, shouldn’t they? They go out knocking on doors. You never know who’s gonna open, do you? But in this instance, the householder had better know who’s knocking, and he better be ready to open the door. Let’s go back to Revelation and the third chapter. And this is where Jesus is concluding His advice, His counsel, His reproof to the seven congregations, the seven congregations of anointed ones. Speaking to everyone and not just the Sardis congregation, He says, “All those for whom I have affection, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Look, I’m standing at the door and knocking. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and take the evening meal with him, and he with Me. To the one who conquers, I will grant to sit down with Me on My throne, just as I conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne. Let the one who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the congregations.” Well, you know, it’s interesting that when Jesus spoke the illustration of the wheat and the weeds, He concluded it with that same expression. “Let the one who has an ear hear.”
So [laughs] what does it mean that Jesus knocks, and if you open, He’ll come in and share the evening meal with you? Well, we know that the evening meal is a sign of the covenant for those in the new covenant with Jehovah, with Christ as the mediator. So his knocking and coming in represents the conclusion of that covenant, and the covenant was intended to produce a kingdom of kings and priests who will rule with Christ. That’s what Jesus said. “If you conquer, you will sit down with Me on My throne.” So that’s what Jesus instituted on that last Passover, the first evening meal. He says, “I make a covenant with you for a kingdom.” Well, when does Jesus come a-knocking?
Well, let’s go to the 12th chapter of Luke. That’s where Jesus told His little flock to have no fear because their Father had approved of giving them the kingdom.
But then Jesus went on to say in verse 35, “‘Be dressed and ready, and have your lamps burning. And you should be like men waiting for their master to return from the marriage, so that when he comes and knocks, they may at once open to him.’
And what happens if they open to Him? ‘Happy are those slaves whom the master, on coming, finds watching. Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them.'” Well, that’s what Jesus did on that first evening meal, didn’t He? After they had eaten the bread and drank the wine, He girded Himself as a house servant and washed the feet of His apostles. He ministered to them.
Well, that’s what he will do on His coming. We’ve read there in Matthew, “They will see the sign of the coming of the Son of Man. He will be coming on the clouds of heaven.” That is a reference to the seventh chapter of Daniel, where someone like a son of man was seen coming on the clouds of heaven, and he gained access to the Ancient of Days. So that is Christ being given the kingdom, and it comes after the tribulation. You see where I’m going with this? [laughs] I’m trying to get my mind around it, too. But, uh, so Jesus dressing Himself for service and having them recline at the table, that’s the Passover table, only this is when Christ comes the second time. So it’s the conclusion of what was instituted back then. Uh, I know I’m repeating myself, but… And I’m also gonna repeat myself by pointing out that His coming alongside is the parousia. We’re gonna start pronouncing that correctly. It’s not par-o-see-a, parousia. And that’s what parousia means, isn’t it? To come alongside.
So his coming alongside, concluding the new covenant, makes them kings on the earth. Remember, in Ephesians, Paul wrote to those who were non-Jewish and said that they had been, uh, brought together in union with Christ and seated in the heavenly places with Jesus. So imagine that. A person on the earth who has been sealed is as if they are seated in heaven, seated on a throne, I might add. Isn’t that what Jesus said in the third chapter? “That you may sit on thrones with Me”?
So……now, if we go back to Revelation again, war breaks out in Heaven, and as now has come to pass, the salvation… Salvation comes to those chosen ones when they’re sealed. They’re saved for the Kingdom. They’re bought and released by Christ’s ransom, even while they’re in the flesh. So, now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, and that is when Satan is thrown down, during or sometime after the Great Tribulation.
Now, why do I say that? Because going back to the 12th chapter of Revelation, Satan is thrown down. He goes off in great anger to do what? To make war against those who keep the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus. Are Jehovah’s Witnesses bearing witness to Jesus right now? Only in a superficial way.
We’re talking about the Kingdom, but the Watchtower says, of course, “The Kingdom has come, but it’s coming again. Jesus is coming again. It hasn’t fully come to power, so we still have to pray, ‘Let your Kingdom come,’ even though it’s already come.” Kinda confusing, isn’t it? But what about when Jesus comes alongside those, when He knocks and they open and He comes in, He comes alongside? What does that mean? If he shares the evening meal with them?
In his first letter, John said, “Right now, we do not know what He will be, but when He is manifest, we shall see Him as He is and we shall be like Him.”
When He is manifest. Jesus is always manifest in Heaven. No one has seen Him on the Earth.
Paul had a glimpse. He was blind for three days [laughs], having seen this great flash of light.
So, when Jesus is manifest, that’s the coming alongside. He comes into your house. You’ll be able to speak with Him, like Moses did with Jehovah in the Tent of Meeting. Jehovah went to Moses’ tent pretty much on a daily basis, and they spoke face-to-face. It says no other man has spoken with God the way Moses did, as one man would speak to another. They would converse.
And you know, Peter, James, and John were on the Mountain of Transfiguration, and they saw Moses and Elijah. What were they doing? Conversing with Jesus. And Jesus was arrayed as the sun and His clothes were white as lightning.And later, Peter wrote, “It was not by following artfully-contrived false stories that we acquainted you with the power and the presence,” parousia, huh? So, 1914 is an artfully-contrived false story.
Jesus is not go- [laughs] there’s no such thing as an invisible parousia. Well, that’s true. The world will not behold Him. Jesus said, “The world will see me no more, but you will see me.” Is that in Heaven? While He was speaking to his disciples while they were in the flesh, so they had reason to believe that they were going to see Him while they were in the flesh. But Jesus was really speaking to those down the line, who will be in the flesh when he comes and knocks, and they will see him, and they will give witness to the world that they have seen Him.
Jesus said, “You will stand before the assembly, you will stand before governors and kings, and give them a witness.” We won’t be conducting a Bible study with them. We’ll, we’ll be telling them that the Kingdom has come. Uh,submit or die. [laughs] I mean, you know, that’s the ultimatum. So, the Kingdom comes into the world, and then that is when Satan is let loose.
He goes after those who bear witness to Jesus, that they’ve seen Jesus. That’s what the two witnesses do. What are they witnesses of? That they’ve seen Jesus. It says they’re standing alongside the Lord of the whole Earth. There’s that word again, standing alongside, coming alongside. If they’re alongside the Lord of the whole Earth, the Lord of the whole Earth is standing alongside them.
And of course, they’re killed. The two witnesses are killed, just as we read with the opening of the fifth seal. Wait until your brothers who are about to be killed.
So, this is after the Great Tribulation, after they’re sealed, and then Jehovah presents these sealed ones on Earth, 7,000 if you wanna do, uh, the numbers, and that’s when, well, like in Ezekiel, that’s when Gog and Magog attacks what he appears to be this, uh, defenseless organization, the Israel of God. And of course, the 144,000 make up the spiritual Israel of God, and they’re standing on Mount Zion with Christ. And even those who are on the Earth who’ve been sealed will be standing on Mount Zion with Jesus Christ. How do we know that?… well, in that 14th chapter of Revelation, John saw the 144,000 standing with Christ on Mount Zion. And then he relates those who’ve received the mark of the Beast are doomed. And in verse 12, Revelation 14:12, he says, “Here is where it calls for endurance on the part of the holy ones, those who keep the commandments of God and hold faith,” uh, excuse me, “hold fast to the faith of Jesus.” So there are holy ones on Earth, even after the 144,000 are gathered in heaven. So they have a place reserved for them in heaven, but they’re on the Earth.
Well, let’s go back. The 12th chapter, Satan goes off to war against those who bear witness to Jesus, and he wars against them for 1,260 days. That’s the same time period that the two witnesses are on the Earth, only it’s expressed as 42 months. And then in the 13th chapter, after the Beast is slaughtered and comes back to life and it demands to have an image of the Beast and the two-horned beast is seen coming out of the Earth, out of the abyss, out of the grave, but it’s speaking as a dragon. And that’s because that’s after the dragon is thrown down. So, no more Mr. Nice Guy, right? And the government bec- [laughs] channels the very voice of Satan, the devil, and it demands, requires the worship of this Beast, or else, we will kill you. [laughs] Right? Well, um, go down to verse four. It says, “They,” the people of the world, “worshiped the dragon,” the devil, “because it gave the authority to the wild beast: and they worshiped the wild beast with the words, ‘Who is like the wild beast? And who can do battle with it?’ And it was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it had authority to act for 42 months.” 1,260 days, right? Time, time and a half a time. And then on down, verse seven, “It was permitted to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them.” So Satan’s wild beast will conquer God’s kingdom.
In the eighth chapter of Daniel, it says that this fierce king, uh, wars against the prince of princes and drags some of the stars down from heaven. Well, remember in Ephesians, Paul said, “You are seated in the heavenly places.” Now, when Satan is thrown down, he can’t touch Jesus or the angels in heaven, but he can go after those who are sealed, whose seats, or thrones if you will, are reserved in heaven for them. Huh? So that’s how he drags the stars down. But here it says he conquers the holy ones, the chosen ones, after they are sealed. That’s what brings about the War of Armageddon, because Jehovah will allow Satan to go so far as to try to break the sealed ones.
Because after the sealing is accomplished, Jehovah’s done with Christianity basically. The new covenant has come to an end. There’s no more preaching, no more teaching, no more disciple-making, no more anointing, no more replacing unfaithful anointed ones. It’s over. Jehovah puts his full trust and confidence in those who have been sealed.
Break ’em if you can, Satan. That’s how he puts hooks [laughs] in his jaws and leads him. Here you go. Break one of ’em and, and you win the whole shebang. Uh, you make Jehovah out to be a liar, you win, Satan. Come on. Here they are.
Not one of them will break. [laughs] Spoiler alert, right? Not one of them will break. So Jehovah allows Satan to attack his kingdom, and there can only be one result. War like you’ve never seen at the place called Armageddon.
Well, thank you for listening. I got a little wound up there, right? My heart is astir with a goodly matter.
Hope to talk to you next week. Until then, may Jehovah bless your search for the truth.