Overcomers

Ever since writing about the beast system - and then teaching it at our Erev Shabbat fellowship - I've been pondering what it will mean for us to overcome in that time. There are many places in Scripture where Master Yeshua tells us what is promised to those who overcome in this life. Here are a few of them:

"He who overcomes will...be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels." (Rev. 3:5)

"He who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." (Rev. 3:12)

"To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." (Rev. 2:17)

1.Overcomers will be dressed in white. This, of course, refers to the "fine linen" we are given to wear when we meet our Bridegroom; and the linen is defined for us in Rev. 19:18 as "righteousness" We are clothed in Yeshua. "I delight greatly in YHVH; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation (Yeshua) and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns herself with her jewels."

2. Overcomers will have their names written in the Book of Life. (If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire - Rev. 20:15). And not only will overcomers' names be recorded in the Book of Life, but the name of God (YHVH) and the name of His City (Yerushalayim) will be written on them as well! They are marked as His own, and they have a new residence - the City Abraham was looking for, whose maker and builder is God!

3. Overcomers are given some of the "hidden manna." In John 6:49-50 we are told, "Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. " This hidden manna is Yeshua! He will keep us in our wilderness trials because of our trust in Him; and though we die, yet shall we live. And He will give us a white stone. In ancient times a white stone was used during trials to pronounce a person "not guilty." To receive a white stone is to be absolved of all guilt and set free! But what of the "new name?" I believe it must correspond also to Isaiah 56:5-6 where YHVH says, "...to those who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my Covenant, to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off."

These are precious promises! These are images of our belonging to the family of YHVH, loved and protected by Him, washed clean by His blood and clothed in His righteousness, holding fast to His Covenant and keeping His Sabbaths in the way that pleases HIM, and even receiving new names that signify our inheritance in His Kingdom!

How ever shall we do it? When persecution and violence overtake the land and things become so much harder than we can now imagine, how will we overcome? I like Oswald Chambers' take on it best. In fact, I've tried to live by his explanation for some years now. He writes, “God does not give us overcoming life. He gives us life as we overcome. "

Who is the beast?

Though everyone is asking that question these days, I tend to think we are asking the wrong question. I think it would be more aptly put this way: What is the beast?

In Daniel Chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has a dream about an immense statue, whose body is made of various metals. Clearly these various metal parts represent ancient powerful kingdoms such as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Ottoman/Islamic Empire. Then in Daniel 7 the prophet himself has a dream of four beasts coming out of the sea that look like a lion, a bear, and a leopard, the fourth an undefined beast with large iron teeth that crushes and devours. This vision is completely consistent with Revelation 13:1-2 where John the Revelator had a vision identical to Daniel's: "And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority."

First we must understand that in Scripture the word sea is very often used as Hebraic understanding of "nations or Gentile groups of peoples." I have come to understand and believe that the beast spoken of in the prophecies of Revelation is actually a system that is a combination of all the wicked ancient empires out of the Gentile nations/peoples of the past. In other words, this beast system (commonly known today as the New World Order) is fueled by the same evil that powered the Babylonian Empire, the Greco/Roman empires, the Medo-Persian empires, the false religion of Islam, the Third Reich of Germany, the Spanish Inquisitions, and the modern-day European Union and United Nations. This evil power is, of course, none other than the dragon, Satan, "that ancient serpent who leads the whole world astray." (Revelation 12:9). And remember we are told in Revelation 13:2 that "the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority." The New World Order is being given its power and authority from none other than Satan himself.

Am I saying there is not one single individual who will fulfill the role of "Antichrist?" No, I am not saying that. According to Daniel's vision, "while I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them." Came up among whom? I believe this becomes more clear when we understand that one individual emerges and rises to great power from within the beast system (New World Order). And again, this individual will be entirely consistent in his goal and motivation with those who preceded him. Let me name just a few and the footprints of Satan should become easily discernible to you: Pharoah, Haman, Antiochus Epiphanes, King Herod, Suleiman I, Adolf Hitler, Yasser Arafat, Bashar Assad, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This line of evil rulers all had (have) one thing in common, didn't they? Their goal was/is to destroy the Jewish race, through whom the seed of the Messiah came and will come again. The rulers of the past all failed. But just because these failed do you think the enemy has given up? Some of the rulers I have listed here have yet to carry out their wicked plans.

I tell you the enemy is even now orchestrating this beast system, fulfilling these prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, all designed to annihilate the Jewish race and those who believe in the Messiah and keep His commands. Together, you see, we form the family of Jacob, the children of Yahweh. Thus together we will endure the time of Jacob's trouble - the last onslaught of Satan before he is bound in chains for 1000 years - and together as two sticks in the Father's hand, our robes washed in the Blood of the Lamb we will see the Promise come to pass!

Yeshua - the Rock of Jerusalem

In my last blog I wrote about Maj. Nidal Hasan, who murdered and wounded many on the Ft. Hood Army Base. You may recall that the Spirit spoke to me about his name (Nidal), which means struggle, and about the sign I kept seeing that said Temple, Texas. Father was showing me the bigger prophetic picture, of course - the end-time struggle over the Temple Mount, the place where YHVH put His name, and where Yeshua our Messiah will one day return to take up HIS throne.

But if I zoom back in from the bigger picture and look at what is actually being fulfilled right now, in this very day, I can clearly see the stone that the builders rejected becoming a stumbling stone. There is a lot of new information coming out now about Maj. Nidal Hasan. It has been verified that he had close ties and contact with members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, and that he clearly had a Muslim agenda, which calls its members to kill the infidel and conquer the "Great Satan" (the U.S.A.) with the sword of Islam. How many in this nation still do not get it? How many are really surprised that our government had knowledge of this and did nothing? How many of us finally have our heads out of the sand and are seeing biblical prophecy being fulfilled in our nation by an enemy of YHVH known today as Islam?

The Ruach (Holy Spirit) is sounding the alarm on His Holy Mountain; are you listening? Zechariah prophesied (Zech 12:1-3): "This is the Word of YHVH concerning Israel. YHVH, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 'I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves."

On the early morning of November 8th I arose to check e-mail and noticed an article from the Ha'eretz Newspaper in Israel, reporting that the U.N. Security Council is getting ready to endorse a Declaration of Independence for a Palestinian State with pre-1967 borders (which includes the Temple Mount). It said Syria may be involved in brokering this agreement. Then yesterday Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu flew to Washington D.C. and engaged in a secret meeting with President Obama. No details were released by the press.

What in the world is going on? I am telling you what is going on, beloved in Messiah! Jerusalem is quickly becoming an "immovable rock for all the nations, and all who try to move it [change its ownership/move its borders] will injure themselves." On the Temple Mount today sits the Muslim Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, which has a large inscription on its walls declaring, GOD HAS NO SON!

You see, the Stone that causes the Muslims and many other peoples of the earth to stumble has a name. His name is Yeshua. He is the One the prophet Isaiah wrote about (and Peter quoted) in 1 Peter 2:6-8: "...it says in Scripture, 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame'. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and 'a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for."

Maj. Nidal Hasan was in a struggle all right. He and his fellow Muslims (as well as many other nations and religions of the world ) are stumbling over the capstone, and they are killing to prove their point. They are trying to move the Rock of Jerusalem, and in the end they will fall. It is Satan at war with Yahweh, doing his best to eradicate the seed of the Woman, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world to redeem Israel (those who would believe in Him and keep His commandments).

They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for. Pray for the eyes of the blind to be opened, and the ears of the deaf to hear! Then keep your own eyes and ears open, that you may see the Truth and not be deceived.

Your Name is in This Temple

When something terrible like the Fort Hood massacre happens, I get quite a few e-mails asking, "What do you think it means?" It is good that we are an AWAKE people, asking questions about what these things mean, instead of going blindly on about our days, with our heads in the sand. We are a people who know that YHVH speaks through the things that He allows to happen, and if we are paying attention and seeking the mind of Messiah, He will at least give us some clues along the way. Sometimes the clues are blatantly obvious - such as the days in 2005 when I was in Jerusalem weeping over the thousands of Jews being expelled from their homes in the Gaza, and knowing in my heart that as we pushed for the dividing of the Land of Israel and forced Jews into homelessness in the streets, there would be a response from the Holy One of Israel. Sure enough, three days later, Hurricane Katrina roared into New Orleans rendering thousands of Americans homeless in the streets.

But sometimes the clues are NOT so obvious. And so when I went to the Holy Spirit last night asking for any message we could glean from the tragedy at Fort Hood, this is what I received: the killer's first name is Nidal. It is an Arabic name that means struggle. Then I kept seeing the name Temple, Texas on the Fox News screen where the correspondents were relaying the story.

Nidal is in Temple...Struggle on the Temple, Struggle over the Temple Mount...

Those words continued reverberating in my mind as I drifted off to sleep last night, and when I awoke this morning I felt assured that this is an underlying warning message from YHVH of what is just ahead. PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM. Pray for many Jewish and Arabic eyes to be opened to Yeshua the Messiah. Pray for YHVH to defend His people, as He has promised, and for HIS NAME'S SAKE.
By faith pray Jehoshaphat's prayer in 2 Chronicles 20:
O YHVH, Elohim of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand so that none is able to withstand You. Did not You, O our Elohim, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwelt therein, and have built You a sanctuary for Your Name, saying: "If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple, and before You - for Your Name is in this temple - and cry unto You in our affliction, and You will hear and save!"

Struggle over the Temple...