Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Updated)

Truth is a marvelous thing, because truth, in fact, is not a thing but a person. It comes as a shock when one realizes that man in himself can neither define nor recognize truth. In a prelude to GodSaidManSaid, I told of an event that took place over 30 years ago at a Bible-teaching Mission House that I had the privilege of directing. On one particular day, I had to run an errand and left two young Christians to watch over things. As I returned and walked down the hallway that ran adjacent to the meeting room, I overheard two strange voices gleefully and arrogantly challenging the faith of the young saints. They were on college break and were attempting to destroy the faith of these young believers with their "great wisdom." When I walked into the room, their animated chant was "We want proof! We want proof! Prove the God of the Bible is!"

I interrupted and asked them for a definition of proof. There was a long silence. I asked them what they would accept as proof. Again, there was a long silence. I asked them, "If God split the ceiling and came down and spoke to one of you individually, would you accept that as proof?"

They responded, "Yes!" I answered that insane asylums are full of people who have seen things.

I asked, "If you were walking down the street and God spoke in your ear, would you accept that as proof?"

They said, "Yes, that might work." I told them that insane asylums are full of people who have heard things. I went on to define God’s proof standard. But, what they really wanted to know was the truth which, in their condition, they were not able to perceive.

Men superficially desire to know the source, the purpose, end result, and the truth of life. "Tell me the truth," they say, but the very vast majority cannot recognize truth even when it’s staring them in the face. Pontius Pilate presided over the gentile world’s judgment of Christ when the following discourse occurred, John 18:37:

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" He stood before the walking definition of truth and couldn’t recognize truth.

The King of Glory defines truth as he speaks of his Father in John 17:17:

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 1:1 reads:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

God and His Word are synonymous. God’s Word is not printer’s ink and paper. When one begins to read the Word of God in a spirit of humility and Godly fear, it becomes living spirit and truth.

Unregenerated man cannot recognize truth. In the realm of the spirit of life and truth, carnal man does not exist. The Word of God speaks of man prior to salvation in Ephesians 2:1:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:

In order to recognize truth, one must be able to see the invisible God. This intimate knowledge is only accomplished by being born into God’s house as a son or daughter—an event Jesus Christ properly dubs as "born-again." This means “born into the invisible kingdom.” John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

At this place, through Christ, we are made to sit in invisible, heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5) where we can know the invisible God who is truth. Otherwise you will travel through life asking, "Where did I come from; Who am I; Why am I here; Where am I going?"

If you have yet to meet the God of truth, you can meet Him today. Click on to "Further With Jesus," on this website for a proper introduction. Now for today’s subject.

GOD SAID, Matthew 13:36-43:

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

MAN SAID: These foolish doomsday prophets make me laugh. There is no end to this world, and certainly no judgment day!

Now THE RECORD: On this website exists a four-part series, "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday." The recap at the end of the first in the four-part series is as follows:

In review, the first five signs of doomsday are as follows:

1. Israel, the fig tree, is budding and the generation that sees it shall not pass till all is fulfilled.

2. The son of perdition, the return of Jesus for his church, and rebuilding of the temple.

3. The red heifer.

4. Cohen and Levi.

5. The world awaits someone.

The rebuilding of the third temple of God on the temple mount in Jerusalem is pivotal to doomsday. The focus on this small part of the earth’s geography is intense. A TIME magazine reporter is quoted as saying, "Jerusalem’s Temple Mount is potentially the most volatile 35 acres on earth..." [End of quote] It’s certainly true.

Breaking events add to the mountain of information that predicts a soon-coming rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. In January of 2004, a letter was drafted by Gershon Salomon, Chairman of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. The letter was sent to the late Pope John Paul II. Part of this letter follows:

Sir,

A call from the G-d and people of Israel:

Immediately return the Temple menorah, vessels and treasures to Yerushalaim!

In the Name of the G-d of Israel, you are requested to immediately return the Jewish Temple Menorah and other Temple vessels and treasures to Jerusalem, to the soon-to-be-rebuilt Temple.

As you well know, in 70 CE the Romans occupied the City of G-d, Yerushalaim, and the Land of Israel and destroyed the Holy Temple of the G-d of Israel in Yerushalaim. They took away with them to Rome the holy Seven-Branch Menorah from the Temple and many other holy Temple vessels and treasures used by the Jews in the worship in the Temple. The evil emperor, Titus, who destroyed the Temple and burned it, built his Triumphal Arch in Rome on which is depicted the Menorah and other vessels carried by Jewish captives. Since this terrible event in the history of Israel and mankind, we know very well that the Menorah, the vessels and the treasures that were taken to Rome have remained in the vaults of the Vatican. Travellers and visitors to the Vatican throughout history have reported seeing them.

This is the time to return these articles to Israel. Today, Israel is the most exciting fulfilment of G-d’s endtime prophecies and promises. The climax of this prophetic time will be the soon rebuilding of the Temple exactly as the prophets of Israel prophesied. [End of quote]

The temple menorah, which was the seven-branch golden candlestick in the Solomonic temple, and the temple’s holy vessels are historically believed to be in the possession of the Vatican. In 1996, Israel’s Minister of Affairs, Shimon Shetreet met with Pope John Paul II. The Jerusalem Post reported that, "he had asked for Vatican cooperation in locating the gold menorah from the Second Temple that was brought to Rome by Titus in 70 C.E. (A.D.)." [End of quote] Israel’s faithful want the menorah and the temple’s holy vessels back. They are preparing to rebuild the temple.

The publication Biblical Archaeology Review published a feature story on the subject of the looted temple vessels in its July/August 2005 issue under the title "The Temple Menorah — Where Is It?" The following excerpts are from that article beginning with this picture caption:

The Triumphal Arch of Titus on Rome’s Via Sacra memorializes the Roman Legion’s sacking of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Titus stormed the Temple, slaughtered captives, defiled the Temple court with a ritual Roman sacrifice and then burned the city to the ground. The arch was erected posthumously by "the Roman Senate and People to Deified Titus Vespasian Augustus, son of Deified Vespasian" to celebrate this conquest.

Inside the archway, on the north side (not shown), a bas relief shows the Emperor Titus at the head of the victorious procession through the city of Rome in 71 C.E. He sits in a quadriga (a chariot drawn by four horses), accompanied by the goddesses Roma and Victoria and followed representations of the Senate and the people. The south side bas relief depicts the celebrants of the procession carrying the spoils of the Temple on their shoulders: the Menorah, the Showbread table and the trumpets. [End of quote]

Some may doubt the Jews’ allegations, but not Flavius Josephus, one of the world’s most renowned historians. Again from Biblical Archaeology Review:

In the Jewish War Josephus describes how a certain Jewish priest named Phineas handed over to the Romans "some of the sacred treasures":

Two menorot similar to those deposited in the sanctuary, along with tables, bowls, and platters, all of solid gold and very massive. He further delivered up veils, the high- priests’ vestments, including the precious stones, and many other articles for public worship and a mass of cinnamon and cassia and a multitude of other spices, which they mixed and burned daily as incense to God.

Josephus concludes his description by noting that "Those services procure[ed] for him [Phineas], although a prisoner of war, the pardon accorded to the refugees."

Josephus also describes the Temple trophies in his account of the triumphal procession on Titus’s return to Rome from his successful campaign in Judea:

The spoils in general were borne in promiscuous heaps; but conspicuous above all stood those captured in the Temple at Jerusalem. These consisted of a golden table, many talents in weight, and a Menorah, likewise made of gold ... After these, and last of all the spoils, was carried a copy of the Jewish Law. They followed a large party carrying images of victory, all made of ivory and gold. Behind them drove Vespasian [who initially led the Roman forces before he was proclaimed emperor in 69 C.E.], followed by Titus [who finally suppressed the rebellion]; while Domitian [his brother and future emperor] rode beside them, in magnificent apparel and mounted on a steed that was in itself a sight.

There is no reason to doubt the historicity of these descriptions and images, which are so close in content to the official visual portrayal of these events on the Arch of Titus. [End of quote]

The Jewish faithful are preparing to build the temple of the world’s doom and they want the menorah and the temple’s holy vessels back.

Monumental things are afoot in Jerusalem that will bring to pass God’s prophecies of Armageddon and the world’s ultimate doom.

The March 16, 2005 story posted on www.foxnews.com has the headline "Report: Jewish Extremists Plan to Seize Temple Mount." The following excerpts are from that feature:

JERUSALEM — Jewish extremists plan to take over a hotly disputed holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem in an attempt to sabotage Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer, an Israeli TV station reported Wednesday.

Channel Two TV showed video of a meeting of extremists, including rabbis, where they discussed flooding the site — known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary—with Jews, drawing the army and police, apparently to prevent them from evacuating settlers from Gaza and the northern West Bank.

The report said such a move might ignite violence throughout the Middle East. The site is the most hotly contested in the region—where the Al Aqsa Mosque, marking the site where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, is built atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples.

"We must bring 100,000 people to the Temple Mount," said a rabbi identified as Chen Eliahu in a video of the meeting, which Channel Two said took place in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Then, he said, the army and police would be forced to abandon plans to remove settlers from Gaza and the West Bank in order to send soldiers and police to the holy site.

The report did not say when the meeting took place. The TV reporter said 30 Jewish groups are cooperating in the takeover plan and intend a "dry run" in three weeks, at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Nissan, when they will try to get as many Jews onto the site as possible.

Police have warned of attempts to attack the Jerusalem site as a way of sabotaging the pullout, including the possibility of extremists firing a rocket at the mosque, which is clearly visible from the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. [End of quote]

The information concerning the coming third temple continues to surface. In October of 2004, the Sanhedrin, the newly reestablished group of 71 Jewish sages, met for the first time in 1,600 years at Tiberias, the site of the Sanhedrin’s last meeting centuries ago. The Sanhedrin presided over the Jewish judgment of Jesus Christ.

In a December 8, 2004 news release at www.israelnationalnews.com under the headline, "Members of Reestablished Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount," the following paragraphs were found:

In a dramatic but unpublicized move, members of the newly established Sanhedrin ascended the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, this past Monday.

Close to 50 recently ordained s’muchim, members of the Sanhedrin, lined up at the foot of the Temple Mount Monday morning. [The word s’muchim comes from the same root as s’michah, rabbinic ordination.] The men, many ascending the Temple Mount for the first time, had immersed in mikvaot (ritual baths) that morning, and planned to ascend as a group. Despite prior approval from the Israeli police who oversee entry to the Mount, the officers barred the group from entering the Mount all together, and allowed them to visit only in groups of ten.

Given the newly-mandated restrictive conditions, many of the s’muchim refused to ascend at all, especially as a group of over 100 non-Jewish tourists filed past the waiting rabbis and up towards the holy site. "It is unconscionable that on the eve of Chanukah, which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple, we should once again be barred from worshipping — by our own people," Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem’s Temple Institute told IsraelNN’s Ezra aLevi.

The Sanhedrin, a religious-legal assembly of 71 sages that convened during the Holy Temple period and for several centuries afterwards, was the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. The great court used to convene in one of the Temple’s chambers in Jerusalem.

A tradition is recorded in the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 17b, Rashi) that the Sanhedrin will be restored after a partial ingathering of the Jewish exiles, but before Jerusalem is completely rebuilt and restored. Another Talmudic tradition (Eruvin 43b; Maharatz Chajas ad loc; Rashash to Sanhedrin 13b) states that Elijah the Prophet will present himself before a duly-ordained Sanhedrin when he announces the coming of the Messiah. This indicates that despite common misconceptions, a Sanhedrin is a pre-, not post-messianic institution.

The headline on www.solomonstemple.com reads, "Sanhedrin Discuss Restoring Temple Mount Passover Sacrifice." Another headline reads, "Sanhedrin Will Debate: Will Animal Sacrifice Be Allowed In the Next Temple?"

The following partial preprint is from a June 6, 2005 article in The Jerusalem Post under the heading, "Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz New Head of ’Sanhedrin.’" It reads:

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was elected the temporary president of a rabbinical body Monday that aspires to renew the Sanhedrin, Judaism’s highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal.

The group of rabbis involved with reestablishing the Sanhedrin, a 71-man assembly of rabbis that convened adjacent to the Holy Temple before its destruction in 70 CE and outside Jerusalem until about 400 CE, also decided to take steps toward the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.

Historically, the Sanhedrin was the final arbiter on all halachic matters. Reestablishing the tribunal is aimed at ending religious in-fighting and facilitating unity. [End of quote]

Concerning the Sanhedrin, the following paragraphs are from a June 6, 2005 article by Arutz Sheva:

As parades filled the streets of Jerusalem Monday—Jerusalem Day—the reestablished Sanhedrin convened in the city to elect a Nassi and representatives to lead it.

The Sanhedrin was reestablished last October in Tiberias, the place of its last meeting 1,600 years ago. Since then, it has met in Jerusalem on a monthly basis, various committees meeting more often to discuss issues ranging from the areas of the Temple Mount permitted to Jewish worshipper by Jewish law, to the establishment of courts of non-Jews who accept the Seven Laws of Noah and to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to uproot the Jewish communities of Gaza and northern Samaria.

Semicha—original rabbinic ordination—was successfully reintroduced when hundreds of Israel’s rabbis agreed on the worthiness of a certain rabbi to serve on the Sanhedrin. [End of quote]

The Jewish people are preparing to build the final temple—the temple of the world’s doom. Exactly when this final judgment of God comes, we can’t be sure. Just know that doomsday is approaching. It may or may not come in our lifetime, but be assured, doomsday is coming. This concept often seems elusive until we consider that the end of our personal worlds can happen so abruptly. It could be an auto accident, a violent crime, an untimely sickness, or just old age. That soon-coming day will be the end of our world. Nearly 360,000 of the world’s people will meet their end this very day. The word of God says, "prepare to meet thy God." If you have not made preparations, click on to "Further With Jesus." Doomsday is on the way. For more information on this subject, click on to the “Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday Series.”

GOD SAID, Matthew 13:36-43:

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

MAN SAID: These foolish doomsday prophets make me laugh. There is no end to this world, and certainly no judgment day!


Now you have THE RECORD.


Continue Reading

References:

King James Bible

Fine, S., "The Temple Menorah — Where Is It?" Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2005

www.israelnationalnews.com, "Members of Reestablished Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount," 12/08/04

www.solomo nstemple.com, 10/27/04

www.templemountfaithful.org

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