Notes by Noel Rude from his presentation on the Virtual Church (7-4-16):
The Modern Source of Evil
& Thoughts on the 5th and 6th Seals
in the Book of Revelation
By Noel Rude
The Formal End to Judeo-Christian America
– Dennis Prager
· The ruling class. The common people welcomed Jesus in the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He came openly as the messianic king (Luke 19:14), “But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.” Repentance must come to the ruling class. We can pray and work to that end, but change will not come except the ruling class repents.
· Christendom is to blame for the triumph of the materialist Left. Charles Hodge alone warned of Darwin. Cornelius Hunter sees evolution as the creation of Christian theologians. Christian theologians also abolished belief in free will which let determinism triumph in physics. Paul Johnson (1984) dates “modern times” from the triumph of Einstein’s theory of relativity. In the 19th century (the preceding century) the mainline churches forsook God and belief survived mainly in the hinterlands often with an anti-intellectual stance. Then once upon a time we came along and countered the Christian obsession with doing away with the law—the message was rejected.
· Evil has intensified. Before the early Seventies ordinary sinners knew they were sinners … evil was not celebrated … and before intelligent design the elites really believed Darwin had explained how we got here. All that has changed. Evil has intensified. Marxism lost the military race but won the Culture War. It’s called cultural Marxism—“the issue is not the issue,” Saul Alinsky (1971). Every issue is coopted, words are redefined. Cultural Marxism now calls the shots on everything.
· Fiddling while Rome burns.[1] Utter insanity in the culture, men posing as women, Obama lighting up White House with sodomy symbol, symbol of South must go. Meanwhile the world order is collapsing; blatant anti-Semitism is everywhere, the martyrdom of Christians in their most ancient communities continues, and the Pope is for Castro and against “Climate Change”.
· Not everyone has gone over the cliff! There is more truth out there today than ever before—intelligent design, Hebrew roots, conservative thought. Many—though likely not a majority—have been spurred by the metastasizing of the evil and insanity of the Left.
· Amalek—Deuteronomy 25:17 “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way…” The Left is our spiritual Amalek (it’s the deception, the evil—people can repent). Either Israel vanquishes Amalek or Amalek vanquishes Israel. There is no negotiation, for the Left has disavowed logic entirely and embraced feelings.
· Two sides to the Enlightenment. In 1789 all three branches of the American government came into existence. Also that year la Révolution française began, with the resulting Reign of Terror or la Terreur (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794). Nazism, Fascism and Communism all issued from the dark side of the Enlightenment.
· The First Seal—the man on the white horse—the secular Intellectuals—the people follow their leaders. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778); Voltaire (1694-1778); Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); Percy Shelley (1792-1822); Charles Darwin (1809-1882); Karl Marx (1818-1883); Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900); Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937); Sigmund Freud (1856-1939); Martin Heidegger (1889-1976); John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946); Saul Alinsky (1909-1972); Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956); Paul Tillich (1886-1965); Margaret Sanger (1879-1966); György Lukács (1885-1971); Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980); Paul de Man (1919-1983); Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986); B. F. Skinner (1904-1990); “Abbie” Hoffman (1936-1989); Madalyn Murray O’Hair (1919-1995); Timothy Leary (1920-1996); Kenneth Kesey (1935-2001); Edward Said (1935-2003); Susan Sontag (1933-2004); Hugh Hefner (1926-); Noam Chomsky (1928-); Peter Singer (1946-); etc. “But there are good reasons why most intellectuals share common ground with socialists. Keynes gets to the heart of the matter, for avarice is far less dangerous than the will to power, especially power over people. It is not the formulation of ideas, however misguided, but the desire to impose them on others that is the deadly sin of the intellectual. That is why they so incline by temperament to the left. For capitalism merely occurs, if no one does anything to stop it. It is socialism that has to be constructed, and as a rule, forcibly imposed, thus providing a far bigger role for intellectuals in its genesis.” – Paul Johnson, “The Heartless Lovers of Humankind”, The Wall Street Journal, 5 January 1987. http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/view/the-heartless-lovers-of-mankind & http://www.fortfreedom.org/h11.htm
The Great Tribulation in Two Stages
The four horsemen and then the fifth seal (Rev 6):
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Now skip to Revelation 12:
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half
θλῖψις μεγάλη
versus
ἡ ὥρα τοῦ πειρασμοῦ
ἡ θλῖψις
‘oppression, affliction, tribulation’
(45 occurrences)
Jeremiah 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
LXX: 16 The Lord called thy name a fair olive tree, of a goodly shade in appearance, at the noise of its being lopped, fire was kindled against it; great is the affliction coming upon thee [μεγάλη ἡ θλῖψις ἐπὶ σέ]: her branches are become good for nothing.
1Maccabees 9:27 So was there a great affliction in Israel [καὶ ἐγένετο θλῖψις μεγάλη ἐν τῷ ᾿Ισραήλ], the like whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them.
ὁ πειρασμός
‘trial, proving, testing, temptation’
(21 occurrences)
κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ
ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ
Hebrews 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
מַסָּה וּמְרִיבָה
Πειρασμὸς καὶ Λοιδόρησις
Exodus 17:7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD [καὶ διὰ τὸ πειράζειν Κύριον], saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
A Place of Safety?
Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation [θλῖψις μεγάλη], such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Acts 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction [θλῖψις μεγάλη]: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Revelation 2:22 Behold, I will cast her [Thyatira] into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation [εἰς θλῖψιν μεγάλην], except they repent of their deeds.
Revelation 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil [πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου].
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation [εἰς πειρασμόν], but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Genesis 35:2 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress [בְּי֣וֹם צָֽרָתִ֔י / ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεως], and was with me in the way which I went.
Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble [בְּי֣וֹם צַר־לִֽי׃ / ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς μου].
Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation [בַּצַּ֣ר לְךָ֔ / ἐν τῇ θλίψει σου], and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
Setting dates and delaying his coming
Γρηγορεῖτε
‘Watch! Be alert!’
10 times in NT
[γρηγoρεῖν 23 times]
Compare the name
Γρηγόριος (Gregory) ‘watchful, alert’
Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The Sixth Seal
Revelation 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Psalm 89:36-37—
His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
Matthew 24:29 —
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Compare Allan Bloom (1987), words according to my memory: Even as the death camps were being liberated, American academics were embracing Nietzsche and Heidegger and the death of God.
Today’s Torah reading (July 4, 2015)—פָּרָשַׁת בָּלָק Parashat Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9):
Numbers 31:8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
Numbers 31:15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam [בִּדְבַ֣ר בִּלְעָ֔ם], to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 23:4 Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. 5 Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.
Joshua 13:22 Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.
Micah 6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.
Nehemiah 13:2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.
Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
The Beat Generation: Jack Kérouac (1922 – 1969); William Burroughs II (1914 – 1997); Allen Ginsberg (1926 – 1997).
Beatlemania (1963 –). See chapter on music in Bloom (1987). Samuele Bacchiocchi sited Daniel 3:4, “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up…”
The Summer of Love in the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.
Woodstock—“An Aquarian Exposition: Three Days of Peace & Music” held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the Catskills from August 15 to 18, 1969.
The Supreme Court follows the trend:
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
The reason that so much insanity is upon us is because people think the Left is a legitimate political position and not from the dark side of the Enlightenment. Everything, however, that the Left touches it besmirches, corrupts, perverts.
The totalitarian impulse. Spread hate—exploit the aggrieved—divide and conquer. “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Co-opt all concerns: “The issue is not the issue—the issue is power.”
The end justifies the means. Lies are told, people betrayed, corpses pile up by the tens of millions—all can be overlooked on the basis of, On ne saurait faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs (‘you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs’) – Maximilien de Robespierre, Epigram (c. 1790).
Hatred. The prime motivation is hatred—hatred of the God of the Bible, hatred of the Bible, and hatred of anyone who respects the Bible. Through projection the Left perceives hatred in all others. The Left hates those who hate evil.
Rights. Life, liberty and property are not inalienable rights from God. Rights come from government—a right to food, housing, and medical care.
Truth. There are no timeless truths. Logic, esthetics, and morality are passé—only feelings and power matter. The left celebrates illogic, ugliness, and immorality.
Human nature. Human nature is malleable and in no way fixed. People are basically good and need not exercise self-control. Terms like boy and girl, man and woman, husband and wife, father and mother are to be abolished.
Free will. Consciousness is an illusion and free will doesn’t exist. Thus crime is caused by social conditions—poverty, etc.—and not by wrong choices.
The arts. The arts are not for enjoyment but for furthering the revolution. Other than that art and music must be meaningless and mindless and ugly.
Law. Positive law (which specifies what you must do) is better than negative law (which proscribes what you must not do). Law therefore is labyrinthine. The whim of experts is preferred to the rule of law.
Education. Education is for indoctrination. A stupid public is safer than a wise electorate.
Arms. The public must unarmed in order to safeguard the tyranny.
Language. Language does not communicate truth—it is a tool for power. Speech must be controlled and moderated. Words must be redefined.
Science. There is no god but materialism, and Darwin is the apostle of materialism. Science is not for the pursuit of truth but to enhance state power (the giving of grants), and its prestige must be marshalled for indoctrination and thought control.
History. History is to be ignored, reinterpreted, rewritten and otherwise altered to fit the current fashion.
Diversity. Diversity means race and sexual perversion—never differing opinions, ideas, viewpoints.
Acceptance. This comes from verbal expressions of allegiance to the politically correct—the right code words—and not from right actions.
Some Thoughts regarding Revelation 12
The woman in Revelation 12 is married—she is God’s wife and the son she brings forth is Christ. The birth pangs (“travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered”) include the suffering leading up to the resurrection of Christ—there his birth is his resurrection from the dead. Verse 5 speaks of his resurrection and ascension: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
The birth was legitimate because the woman was married at Sinai—the Sinai covenant is likened to a marriage—God was the husband and Israel was the wife—this is based on many references (Is 54:1-8; Jer 3:14; Hos 2:14-23; etc.). The symbolism (sun, moon, stars) surrounding the woman in Revelation 12 is that of the 4th day of creation and thus the 4th millennium—Jesus was resurrected 7 years before the end of that millennium (this according to the chronology of Yves Péloquin).
What about the war in heaven (verse 7) and then verse 9, “…he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”? I’ll speculate but I’m sure there much more to this. Anyway “heaven” in prophecy symbolizes high authority and being cast down to earth means losing authority. When Jesus was resurrected as the firstborn from the dead—the first human to achieve immortality—the devil at that time lost his place “in heaven”—the loss of his high status was then assured. The real rulers behind the scenes are angels—God’s plan is for man to replace them (Heb 2:5), “For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” There is a plan laid out in Genesis—six millennia are allotted to demonic influence, even as the demons themselves recognized when they cried out to Jesus (Mat 8:29), “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”
The great red dragon (verse 3) would be Rome (cf. Rev 13:1) with the devil the behind the scenes influence (verse 4), “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…” In context the stars would be from the crown of the woman. A third of them would be four stars—and indeed four scepters of Israel (Judah, Benjamin, Levi, Simeon) had come under the rule of Rome. In Joseph’s dream the patriarchs of Israel were symbolized by stars (Gen 37:9-11). The other tribes of Israel, according to Josephus, were beyond the Tigris and outside the rule of Rome.
And so the woman brought forth God’s firstborn via a resurrection of the dead (verse 5), and though his destiny is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, he was caught up to heaven (the high authority of the right hand of God)—meanwhile the woman, God’s wife via the Sinai covenant, meaning the Jewish nation (remember: God had divorced the other house of Israel – Jer 3:8), was nourished in the wilderness of exile for 1260 years. The exile, of course, has been much longer than that, but if you count from the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, which is the exile that continues to this day, it was 1260 years to the First Zionist Congress, which is when the house of Judah for the first time began to act politically to make happen their oft repeated, “Next year in Jerusalem!”
Thus it says (verse 6), “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” This is the wilderness of exile and the place prepared of God was mostly in the lands of Israel’s brothers, Esau (Europe) and Ishmael (the Middle East). There they were fed—allowed to live as Augustine counselled—and fed spiritually by the sages, all of which kept them true to the covenant (circumcision, Sabbath and Holy Days, copying and reading the Torah scrolls, etc.)—this even if everyone was not completely righteous (who is?)—as it is said, “The Sabbath kept the Jews more than the Jews kept the Sabbath.”
But then when the devil and his angels are cast out, I would suggest this is approaching the end of the six millennia, and it also must involve the lost sheep of the house of Israel—as it says (verses 10-11), “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
The Jews, we know, did not accept Christ, even also as Christ himself knew (Mat 15:24), “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The house of Israel, let me also suggest, is drawn back to the covenant from within Christendom (cf. Jeremiah 31:3 and John 6:44 – the verb is the same in the Septuagint as in John, i.e., ἑλκύω). And so Hosea prophesies (Hos 1:10), “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” As it says (Rev 18:4), “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
There has been a latter day opening of the seals that sealed the book of Revelation. In the larger picture I believe them to picture the negative side of seven millennia (with Genesis 1 presenting the positive side), but also there began an opening of the seals in the 20th century with the secular philosophers of our post-Christian world—see Paul Johnson (1988), “Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky.” Darwin, Marx, Freud and others rode the white horse proclaiming, in effect, “I am anointed (I am Christ) to tell the world how it all really is.” This led to the men of war on the red horse who unleashed the Great War or World War I—the greatest war in history up to that point. All of civilization began to unravel. The other two horsemen rode subsequently, the horse of famine and the horse of death, and indeed following the Great War came the Great Depression, and terror in Russia and the death of perhaps 22 million in the Ukraine, a worldwide influenza outbreak, etc. The first half of the 20th century was the bloodiest period in history.
Then comes the fifth seal (Rev 6:9-11), “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
And what followed the four horsemen of the early 20th century? The Holocaust. A third of the house of Judah was put to death in the Holocaust. And notice, they “were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held”—they were not slain for of the testimony of Jesus. But those dead are to “rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren … should be killed as they…” The devil seeks to persecute the woman—the house of Judah still in the covenant (Rev 12:14), “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” This appears to be a 3 ½ year period anticipated by the already transpired 1260 years.
The devil has inspired many military attempts to destroy the state of Israel but Israel has prevailed. The growing attempts to delegitimize Israel are also obviously inspired by the devil. But when that 3 ½ year period ensues, as it says (verse 16), “And the earth helped the woman,” which means that restoration in the land of Israel secures the survival of the woman. Perhaps Netanyahu was inspired to counsel Jews that it is now time to “make Aliyah”. Therefore, as it says (verse 17), “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This, let me suggest, is not the house of Judah but rather the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The house of Judah does not have the testimony of Jesus Christ—the remnant of the house of Israel has been drawn thereby.
In the 1930s anti-Semitism was virulent and lethal. Darwin was the primary influence on the Nazis. Whereas for the Marxists everything is economic, for the Nazis everything was biological. The Marxists would create a new socialist man and the Nazis would breed a super race. In the inquisitions of preceding centuries Jews might avoid death by converting to Christianity—in the Holocaust there was no conversion. Your biology—Jewish biology—determined your fate.
Anti-Semitism is returning with a vengeance, but also for the past half century a virulent and potentially lethal anti-right-wing-Christian mentality has been metastasizing. The hatred is directed against anyone who won’t conform to the new morality and who still stands with the Bible. I have seen friends in academe, ordinarily quite rational folks, vent their rage, body and hands trembling, saying how they want all right-wing Christians killed. The hate is, let me tell you, reminiscent of the anti-Semitism of the 1930s.
Now if the opening of the 5th seal of Revelation 6 initiated the Holocaust, what does the 6th seal do? Well, opening it leads to the second coming (verses 16-17), “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” And what brings the return of God with Christ is the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars—the very symbols that adorn the woman in Revelation 12. Do a study and you’ll see that these are the lights of Judeo-Christian civilization, and as Allan Bloom in “The Closing of the American Mind” (1987) observed, American intellectuals and the West in general embraced Nietzsche, Heidegger and the death of God and nihilism precisely as the death camps were being liberated. Also—let me say—this just as was prophesied (Mat 24:29): “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken…”
References
Alinsky, Saul. 1971. Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Random House.
de Beauvoir, Simone. 1949. Le Deuxième Sexe. (The Second Sex) Paris: Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier.
Bloom, Allan David. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind: How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Bork, Robert Heron. 1989. The Tempting Of America: The Political Seduction of the Law. New York: Free Press.
Bork, Robert Heron. 1997. Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline. New York: Regan Books.
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[1] Wikipedia footnote 6: “Nero was not a fiddle player, but a lyre player (the fiddle was not invented for at least another 1,500 years). Suetonius states Nero played the lyre while Rome burned, see Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Nero 38; For a detailed explanation of this transition see M. F. Gyles ‘Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned’, The Classical Journal 42, no. 4 (January 1947), pp. 211–17 – nevertheless, the idea that Nero played any kind of musical instrument is an urban legend, since he was away from Rome at the time of the fire.”