Developments in EU’s 40-year cycle – Euro crisis

Posted on Monday, 27 April, 2015 by Richard Barker

The reason ‘Note on Cycles’ was inserted into God-incidents validate cycles…(part)1 was for contemporary rather than only biblical evidence for 40-year periodical cycles. I quoted financial analyst Eric Hadik’s expectations for 2015 of ‘acceleration’ and of the crisis in European financial markets coming to a head.

And sure enough, on the day of that blog the crisis over Greece took a nosedive! As usual for my full Thursday writing, I wanted to put the intermittent work over several days to bed with publication.

Over a leisurely morning coffee and crossword in Alton the next day my paper’s business section bore this headline from international business editor for the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Greek Crisis deepens as IMF dismisses payment relief. He reported the Fund’s MD as stating, “We have never had an advanced economy asking for (debt) payment delay”.

The next day in covering the International Monetary Fund’s meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Washington, Ambrose reported UK Chancellor George Osborne as saying the escalating crisis in Greece is now the biggest threat to the world economy.

Today’s news, ‘Europe’s creditor powers have ruled out another “big” bail-out programme for Greece as the country edges ever-closer to an unprecedented default on its international lenders…Failure to agree a new bail-out package would further call into question Greece’s long-term future in the currency union…’

Anyone wanting a detailed overview should read Dr Steve Ewart’s Breakup of the EU from Dr Chuck Misler’s Koinonia House.

In closing, let’s refer to Eric Hadik’s January report again and note his remarks about the Swiss (as underlined RB):

‘Has the Euro Crisis accelerated in January 2015? Have events begun to reach fruition??
Today’s move by the Swiss Bank – without notifying anyone at the IMF (Horrors! They should have told them so that someone could have capitalized on it, then leaked it and also had time to precede it with a nice, tidy ‘spin cycle’) – was their version of ‘exiting’ the current Euro process.
’You can spin it however you like… but IT’S ALL ABOUT PERCEPTION. The Swiss might be neutral, but they’re not nuts. And, we know they are savvy bankers – so you do the math. They are ‘getting out’ (figuratively speaking) while the getting’s good…
’…Before Greece could exit and before the UK could ‘exit’ it. And before additional problems come out of hiding across Europe. Why wait around for the inevitable when the handwriting is on the wall???
’The Euro has entered a DANGEROUS period and a DANGEROUS price zone. And, tomorrow is a decisive day (described weeks ago)…’

We need to stay alert and keep watching…this financial topic continues in the next post on Iran and in Update to Eurozone crisis.

Image credits:

Euro symbol: courtesy Koinonia House eNews
Caffe Nero goodies: courtesy Richard Barker
Swiss flags: courtesy Swiss News, The Local

Surprising endorsement of ‘The Fellowship of the Secret’

Posted on Thursday, 23 April, 2015 by Richard Barker

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV)

The recent post about my namesake’s e-book ‘The Fellowship of The Secret’ produced yet another amazing ‘God-incidence’! Thank you to Karolyn in southern California for being so sensitive and obedient to the prompting to act.

First, however, for newer readers and visitors let me clarify what may have given rise to some misunderstanding or difficulty:

The Word of God, the Holy Bible, gives the ‘Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth’ as revealed through the ancient seers and prophets, as well as apostles who personally knew the anointed Son, whom God sent to save us from our sins and reconcile us to Himself. It’s fantastic that we can be in a relationship with Him personally and blessed by the presence and gifts of His Holy Spirit.

Yet it’s far from easy to grasp the enormity of His work and plans throughout history, from creation to the new earth and heavens, as outlined in holy scripture.

Have you ever looked behind a tapestry? Have you done so without seeing any design? If so, did you try guessing what’s on the other side? Could you trace the threads and notice they disappear and reappear elsewhere. Could you figure out which threads make up a feature of the design? A variety of colours and directions of travel, yet all the threads work together to produce a clearly recognisable picture on the front of the material.

Metaphorically, our lives are on the underside of the canvas the Lord is crafting but we know the general design of what he’s sewing, or painting as a large picture, or even as a jigsaw He’s putting together.

I get excited when His needle pieces through and know His hand is in our lives and events, or when pieces of a jigsaw suddenly appear and fit together as though they relate to His plans and purposes for the world as stated in His Word.

Invisible Jigsaw

And it’s terrific when He works though others to bring those pieces together. Knowing our lives are in the Lord’s hands is good assurance for our inability to see things from His perspective. Can you, therefore, comprehend my difficulty in conveying what’s happening? One way I’ve found is to take note of coincidences relating to scripture or prophecy and especially when two or more follow in close sequence.

Also, there are times when I’ve observed actions and decisions taken by myself and others produce a chain and network of coincidences, as happened during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (here). I described it like an orchestra, where the conductor directs various instruments and singers to make wonderful music. Only weeks later I heard Ian Clayton use the same description for coincidences. He’s of the opinion it’s a way the Spirit of Wisdom helps and tutors us, as Mike Parsons writes in the in previous post.

Bridge Over ‘The Pond’

“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform”, so begins the old hymn by William Cowper. One of those ways could be ‘God-incidences’. I name one kind of these “Bridge Over The Pond”, and use it for identical prophetical words or teaching delivered on opposite sides of the Atlantic on the same day or weekend. (Eg., over Friday 10th to Sunday 12th April, as noted for The Battle For Inheritance.)

One such instance yesterday caused both parties to marvel…

Here’s what happened.:

Before arising on Wednesday I was mulling over that personal 40-year period covered in last Thursday’s blog. So, in a brief quiet-time I wanted to re-read about Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and specifically about Joshua and Caleb’s return from spying out the land of Canaan. But for some reason I started to read about Moses selecting and sending out the spies, as in Numbers 13:1-20.

Moreover, I was specifically prompted to read and note where these men were from. In particular I noted Joshua and Caleb led the tribes of Ephraim and Judah respectively, which facts weren’t in my memory bank.

Now we had to be prompt in getting on with gardening and Spring cleaning before the sun got too strong – unusually for an English April. As soon as Nina finished in the bathroom I got up, booted up the pc in the office between there and our room and got washed/shaved. Afterwards I logged in and got dressed whilst emails downloaded. All this would save time and be done with as there’d be no time later.

Upon scanning unread mail I spotted one from my namesake and one from Karolyn Polo, in which she introduces herself as living south of Los Angeles, California. She has a good sense of humour and kindly permitted me to publish her news:

“I can’t quite remember how I came to follow your blog several months ago, but I enjoy reading about your journey and hearing about what God is saying and doing in the UK. I suppose I too am a watcher as the events of our time have my attention and the ways they are lining up with Scripture and prophecy.

“I believe we are at a pivotal time when the Body of Christ is finally waking up to the truth that we are to be One – unified, sanctified and becoming the whole House of Israel/the Kingdom of God.

“I have a brilliant acquaintance that writes an incredibly insightful blog about the coming together of Ephraim and Judah in the hand of God as in Ezekiel 37:15-28, Ephesians 2, and Romans 9-11 among others. I feel compelled to send you the link for this in light of the posting you have made from your namesake Richard Barker.

“Let me just add, I believe you are all “barking” up the right(eous) tree!!! 🙂

“Here’s the link: http://thebarkingfox.com/commonwealth-of-israel/

“Please read through the various articles. I think you will be blessed!”

OH WOT! – WOW!! What had I read about a few minutes ago?

Ephraim and Judah! I certainly am blessed – so too was Karolyn on learning about this.

So after jobs were out of the way, I replied to her explaining why she was ‘compelled’ to send me the link. Doubtless that’s why it dropped into my mind to check out Numbers 13 and especially note the tribes – “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform”.

And what Karolyn certainly didn’t know was that link has another to an article about the Shemitah and Yovel (day after Jubilee), about which I’d already noted in researching for my blog about rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s work. I recalled the latter’s importance when writing about 50/55 years, but didn’t explain as I didn’t want to further complicate my blog.

I can only conclude this is very important and the Lord wants me to note it AND got a lady on the other side of the world to email me about it HOURS BEFORE I WOULD READ AND LEARN ABOUT THE SAME THING!

That’s why I notice ‘God-incidences’ and refer to ‘Bridge over the Pond’.

ALSO, all this not only brings divine emphasis to but also endorsement of my namesake’s book, does it not?

Image Credits:

Illustrations are kindly supplied by Freedigitalphotos.net by courtesy of

Victor Habbick for ‘Hand Reaching for the Stars’
Thanunkorn for ‘Puzzle Globe and Book’
Jannoon028 for ‘Puzzle’
Evgeni Denev for ‘Endless Bridge’.

‘God-incidents’ validate cycles and point to the near future – 1

Posted on Thursday, 16 April, 2015 by Richard Barker

THE ‘INVISIBLE JIGSAW’ RE-APPEARS! It never vanishes. It rolls around and releases fresh, visible pieces for us to fit into place. The emerging picture ‘connects the dots’ of not only Kingdom influences but also a new chain of ‘coincidences’.

Including early and modern, ‘cutting-edge’ Church issues, these pieces could be more noticeable to those of mature years. Younger folk don’t yet have the advantage of seeing history unfold before their eyes. But they’ll doubtless grasp the following:

What’s the best way to depict what we sense supra-naturally through our spirit?

Pictures try capturing a 3-dimensional (3-D) world – no, it’s a 4-D one because they’re also a snapshot in time. Thus, to draw or paint something we’re taking from the tangible, or the imagination, our perception of whatever it is, but we only succeed in imprisoning it in a 2-D area on paper or canvas. The same applies also to photo or video, because they confine an instant or sequence in time into a slice of captured, confined time.

So, the illustrations used to refer to an ‘invisible jigsaw’ hamper communicating its supra-natural existence!

In fact, concepts and mechanisms of the digital world and of cyber space convey much better our sensing and processing, as well as receiving and communication of knowledge and revelations, because they portray the linkage between seemingly disparate things or minds – or dimensions!

(Readers unfamiliar with the concept of synchronous events, a.k.a. ‘God-incidence’, may wish to read Rev Dr Sharon Stone on serendipity as one of ‘four biblical laws for advancing the Kingdom’, as outlined under that sub-head in this post. A brief overview of ‘invisible jigsaw’ and cycles is given in this post.)

In sharing these personal ‘pieces’, one of which is highly unusual, and a few fascinating snippets of what Charlie Shamp brought, you may like to check if Biblically relevant time periods appear in your own life. I’m certain the Lord recently told me to take notice of them. For example:

40-Years Period

In telling about an open vision last Autumn of “a river running through this nation”, Dale Mast interrupted unwrapping its meaning to relay a related prophetic word direct to me. It referred to Joshua and Caleb’s faith outlasting 40 years of doubt whilst wandering in the wilderness to see what they’d believed come to pass. Dale said this relates to a dream that God’s delayed but which will come to pass for me. (Interesting that Mike Parsons refers to them too in his latest post.)

I was puzzled yet intrigued because, back in ’74, another 15 years were to pass before I became a believer – 40 years ago my ‘dream’ was to find the Truth. Yet much older was a childhood fancy of how marvelous it must have been to see and hear Jesus teach, heal and perform miracles.

I’d concluded this word may refer to my sincerely searching for a supreme being, as recounted here. Although I’d done this through Eastern religions and esoteric teachings arising out of Gnosticism, the Lord personally confronted and rescued me from Satan’s camp. So this prophetic word may mean I was about to go ‘full circle’ but in a sanctified life rather than an ungodly, unsaved life this time around – like going around and up a spiral staircase to the next level, as mused herein.

Note on Cycles

williamkoenig-web[1] In one of my earliest blogs I introduced readers to cycles of time by referring to White House correspondent William Koenig’s investigation of the work of Eric Hadik, a leading financial markets technical analyst. A great deal of Hadik’s knowledge comes from W.D. Gann’s work on market cycle theories based upon his discoveries in the Bible, and which could be applied to mathematical and geometrical principles! (Read Who is Eric Hadik?)

After four years of closely following Hadik’s application of theories of cycles to natural and human events, Bill attested to having “found his calculations extremely accurate”.

Anyone wishing to check out this fascinating topic should read Inside Track for a host of informative articles on many types of cycles. In his bulletin of financial analysis Eric predicts and checks ‘cycle predictions’, eg. geological (earthquakes and volcanoes), scientific (including nuclear), financial markets, political, diplomatic or military matters!

Occasionally I’m sent a copy of Inside Track and have only now got around to reading January’s. Entitled 40-Year Cycle: Euro 2015, it reprints a 40-year cycle analysis and checks the accuracy of predictions made mid-2011. He reminds subscribers it’s about an expected crisis in the Euro, with this year being one of ‘Acceleration’!!

At the beginning of this year he wrote (emphases added):

If I was pressed to use one word to describe expectations for 2015, it might be acceleration. 2013-2014 was projected to provide or reveal the initial phases on an expected ‘Shift’ of epic proportion.

2018-2021 is expected to see many (initial) results or consequences of this ‘Shift’ reach fruition (including ‘Cycles of Unification’ in both the Middle East and Europe…)

Eric also refers to 60-year European Unity Cycle and a 70-year cycle and its effects in the next few years, which I’ll refer to later in connection with Charlie Shamp’s visit.

55-Years Period

Occasionally, our minister refers to teachings by a Nigerian “Dr O”. So, three weeks ago I asked for a link and was given one to YouTube. As there’s a listing I dipped into the top one but found it was 3 hours long. So I scrolled to where ‘Dr O’ was standing at the front of the meeting and played from there – what he said at that point exactly hit the ‘bull’s eye’ for me!

He announced he wanted to teach on something, but then said something that took me back 50-55 years. He repeated what had dropped into my mind about church during a Catholic Mass when I was about 12 years old, or mid-teens: “They’ve lost what Jesus taught!” Now, ‘Dr O’ conveyed the same notion almost word for word – no-one else has ever said that!

‘Dr O’ explained the early Church is like a tree with lots of branches but no roots. When he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the early 4th Century, Constantine discouraged all contact with Jews and the Church severed itself from its Jewish roots – from even the descendants of Jesus’ kith and kin, or Desposyni. In doing so, the Church lost a fuller and deeper understanding of the Old Testament.

As a teenager that brief idea startled yet motivated me a few years later to set me off on a quest – one which took me into enemy territory of Gnostic and New Age doctrine. Had I heard ‘Dr O’ in those days I’d have had a far better response to that uninvited remark and sought elsewhere for the truth – possibly becoming a believer much sooner.

Before going on to teach about how Jewish fathers recognised their sons upon reaching maturity and thus giving an insight upon ‘Sons of God’, he said the Biblical meaning of number 5 is “multiplication”. Again, this plugs into those early years of searching! That is, 10 or 11 times 5 (50 or 55 years) – and echoes my initial reaction.

The next morning I wanted to replay it to check exactly what he’d said BUT could not find the video! I’d seen it only just in time before it was deleted or archived!

That was Thursday 26th March, when I was completing the 2nd part of a trilogy on the possibility of Satan pre-empting the Lord’s End-time schedule. Also, that day had been fraught with technical glitches! (Respective posts here and here refer.)

BUT, I didn’t know about another way in which that Thursday’s events connected into the Wednesday. It would be revealed the next day, Friday. That is, on three consecutive days the very same theme cropped up for my personal attention – it was like being hit between the eyes. I just couldn’t miss it! This trio of instructive ‘coincidences’ couldn’t simply be serendipity (ie. fortuitous happen-chance) but what I call ‘God-incidence’; or as Einstein described coincidence: “God’s way of remaining anonymous” (see here).

So, someone must have urged and directed my actions in discovering not only a direct relevance between what I’d been doing that day and 16 months ago, and 55 months ago, and 40 years ago, and 55 years ago. AND have directed what else was about to come within 24 hours…

Click to continue reading…

Images credit

Freedigitaliphotos.net kindly supplied the following courtesy of

Nokhoog Buchachon for ‘Flying Puzzles’
Cooldesign for ‘Digital Globe’
Franky242 for ‘Spiral Stairs’.

The Signpost Message and The Shemitah: Mid-Year Progress

Posted on Friday, 27 March, 2015 by Richard Barker

Another ‘watcher’ also has his eye on time and Iran! (Recent posts refer.)

THE FOUR SIGNPOSTS

The topic of this post has been on my mind for a while. I thought it would be good to let brothers and sisters know what is happening. And then several days ago Nelson wrote a comment that hit at some truth in the situation.

September 13, 2015

It seems that the Levitical seven-year cycle with that seventh year of rest known as the Shemitah is being used by God as a timepiece for everything prophetic these days. Saddam began his conquests on the last day of a Shemitah. 9-11 happened on the last day of a Shemitah, as did the worst day of the financial crisis of 2008. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Tribulation itself spanned over one of these cycles.

I had speculated that the Second Signpost would begin on or before the next Shemitah’s end on September 13, 2015; my speculation turned more towards anticipation after my…

View original post 975 more words

What’s weird about writing about Iran

Posted on Thursday, 26 March, 2015 by Richard Barker

Subscribers quick off the mark to read the previous post (2 of 3) upon publication may recall having read its second paragraph, which is now relocated here:

“Note it’s taken all morning to polish this in minor ways because of online problems! (Internet Explorer kept failing to connect and load tabs, and when it did I couldn’t get into WordPress. So I used Google, which is faster but has its limitations and, on both, a WP formatting issue needed sorting.) I wonder, could aggravation indicate this post may be of some significance?”

There was a distinct sense of having been in that same scenario before – ‘deja vu’.

And it’s not a coincidence – probably not of the Godly variety, or God-incidence, either.

And previously, a lot of synchronous stuff on today’s topic was happening around the blog’s second anniversary – as in A Weird Mix-up! (Likewise, in recent weeks!)

007 author Ian Fleming’s comment on such repetitive events fits the bill. He’s quoted as saying,

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action!” (Courtesy of Brainyquote.com)

How highly appropriate for this blog – Iran is the common denominator on FOUR such synchronous occasions!!!!

The last time, November 2013, was also one of unusual, annoying technical connection problems, and today it involved my PC’s operation as well as internet drop-outs.

Then, it was the third time! So I blogged, Did my triple warning about Iran affect my WordPress connections? which begins,

“Publishing this and the previous post proved arduous. In telling why, it may cross your mind I could be getting a tad paranoid – but actually it’s funny; yet perhaps there’s a grain of truth buried away here…

“Was what I was trying to write about so revelatory that another ‘invisible hand’ came in causing chaos to connections?? Perhaps it’s not such a daft idea, you know.

“Guess what I was writing about the previous time this happened! The very same topic – Iran, and its leaders’ policy to bring about their notion of End-Times!! Oh, that’s just a coincidence. Well, what are the odds of such a cross-connection between two lots of technical trouble; in addition to the other oddities that occurred recently?”

Then I gave details of the components of the synchronous events:

“For the record these are the previous posts: Joel Rosenberg’s Iran leader: We must prepare for the ‘End-Times’, my Iranian leader’s End-Times declaration which appeared after Sharanelle Clark’s Getting ready for His return. (For anyone wishing to check my claims see my original support request and covering mammoth one of 373 posts.)”

Technically savvy folk may like to check out the detail – if so, continue reading here.

Now it gets even more interesting in what I didn’t dwell on above, for it involves that previous post’s report “on something so weird it’s beyond coincidental”. The upcoming post ‘3 of 3’ will plug right into that previous post – The Invisible Hand re-appears!

So why not take a peek? And hold onto your seats…

2 of 3: devilish plot to pre-empt the Bible’s ‘endgame’

Posted on Thursday, 26 March, 2015 by Richard Barker

Thank you to this week’s visitors and subscribers in helping me with this post, which has been in preparation as and when possible throughout this month. Your interest in one of last year’s posts enabled me to a draw it to a specific conclusion, as you’ll read below.

UPDATE 5/5/15: Tony Puccio has reminded me of a dream in July 2013 of a spinning top in connection with the Devil speeding up events – Vision of a Spinning Top.

Continued from 1 of 3: the ‘End-game’ gets ramped up another level

In that post’s History cycles around I covered events in 2009 directly relating to today’s ‘hot potatoes’: US appeasement of Iran on nuclear energy and president Obama making Israeli PM Netanyahu the ‘bogeyman’ against discussions, as well as other nations dismay with USA. (See previous post for latest developments.)

That part summarised a reason for the increase in worldwide troubles lying in tactics to delay, or better still, to prevent the return of Jesus Christ to reign and rule on earth. This way, maybe Satan avoids his fate of not only being defeated but also being thrown into the lake of fire, as prophesied in The Book of Revelation. I gave evidence for this strategy by way of events; or ‘pieces’ that had popped to mind as though being placed into the Lord’s invisible jigsaw

In fact, the week of 16 -21 February was unusual. It was as though a physical cycle of events intertwined with the non-physical, or spiritual, one I was sensing. ‘Bells were ringing’ and I was ‘buzzing’ and aspects of the cycle are still bubbling away, as will be explained in Part 3.

My attention had been re-directed and thoughts unfurled to point to a possible counter-strategy to the Bible’s End-times scenario! Menacing events are not only escalating but also accelerating rapidly! (And I’m now reminded of the urgent word Neville Johnson brought last year about Yom Kippur 2014 being ‘a cut-off in God’s timeline’.)

In mulling over all that I was ‘prompted’ to dig into my first emails on End-time events and found items relevant to what’s happening these days, as well as to what another blogger posted that same week. (It’s related to what kick-started my interest in End-times! And last week I noticed another relevance!)

The first draft of this post had become too bulky so it got split into two parts. In closing part 1 of 3 on history repeating itself, I said a forgotten idea kicked around in an old email had just popped up in the previous fortnight.

That idea is the subject of this second part.:

Pre-empting End-times prophecies

Snippets of detail and other’s disclosures about today’s Sunni vs Shiite (ISIL vs Iran) war in Iraq reminded me of an aspect of Biblical events that’s been unfolding for years.

August 2010

Asking Could This Weekend Change The World? I referred to Iranian leaders’ plans to hasten the appearance of their ‘Hidden Imam’ (aka ‘Mahdi’) by bringing nuclear conflict to the Middle-East. I quoted security analyst Ryan Mauro and Israeli PM Netanyahu on “an apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs”.

At that time Russia was about to get Iran’s first nuclear reactor at Bushehr operational ahead of the internationally agreed schedule. In the above email I commented,

Once that happens the balance of power in the region tilts completely as all Sunni Muslim States in Persian Gulf will have to turn away from a weak USA and kowtow to an extremist Shiite regime – ONE THAT HAS THREATENED TO ANNIHILATE ISRAEL and will have the ability to carry out its intentions and achieve Hitler’s goal far more efficiently and effectively. Both Iran’s President and supreme spiritual leader anticipate an apocalyptic war heralding the appearance of their crescent-moon god’s Mahdi (accompanied by Jesus!) and bringing peace to a world that’s come into the ‘house of submission’ [ie Islam].

The good thing about this is that all the rational Sunni Arab leaders are wanting America and/or Israel to take out the facilities (as they did with Iraq’s and Syria’s reactors). But Israel would have to go it alone as Obama wouldn’t commit to action. Debka’s sources report an Iranian phantom fighter and unidentified drones crashing nearby and into the reactor buildings.

[Since assuming office president Obama forced US Middle-Eastern policy into a U-turn. And so strategic US influence in the region has all but vanished: see last footer below and latest on Egyptian navy defending Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. Also apropos the email, early this month a rumour surfaced about him having ordered the shooting down of Israeli jets over-flying Iraq to attack Iran’s reactor, as here.

The Middle-East nuclear race is now under way. Last week BBC interviewed Saudi Prince al-Faisal on their deep unease (since Obama took office) over Iran being allowed to have nuclear energy and develop weaponry. Consequently, Saudi Arabia is planning to build its own nuclear power plants. Also, this week Reuters reports Jordan has signed a contract for Russia to build them a nuclear power plant.]

In view of my preceding remarks I wanted to ‘bounce’ the following off my contacts,

I recall a speaker saying satan is attempting to bring forward End-Time events in order to nullify God’s schedule and thereby wrong-foot God. His logic, perhaps, is to avoid his demise in the Lake of Fire? The revelation Jesus received from God and which He gave to John states that will happen after He returns and defeats Satan. Prophecy points to this being centred on Jerusalem and the Jews will at last recognise Jesus as their true messiah.

The latter part served as a scriptural reminder and, I shared my thoughts on how such a pre-emptive aim could be achieved. Only lately have I since revisited this notion:

The obvious way out of this [scriptural] scenario is to ensure there are no Jews whatsoever left alive for Jesus to come back for and, if Jerusalem is still standing, then its population should be followers of a false god. Indeed, Hasan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah (Party of God!), wants all Jews to come to Israel because that makes it so much easier to despatch them in one fell swoop!!

[As al-Qaeda activity had died down and was mainly active in central Asia, persecution and removal of Christians from the Middle-East didn’t figure in my conjectures.]

The world is now faced with precisely the above scenario – many others recognise it and are now warning in-depth about it!

Reluctantly, I mused upon those possible tactics in the latest Paws 4 thought. Within days the appalling martyrdom of Egyptian Copts in Libya supported my ideas. As said before, had it not been for that week being half-term, thus delaying Nina’s surgery, I would have overlooked all these things. Their cyclical relevance would have gone unnoticed too.

My covering note to Joel Rosenberg’s re-blog about this butchery led into a two-part outline of historical evidence for our enemy’s tactics. However, the heart of the matter is directly relevant to this theme and had to be addressed later – as herein.

Kindly forgive and bear with me in the following vile quotations, which are included only as an informative necessity. Also, the Lord loves these people and weeps over their wicked actions. They need our prayers – read Canon J.John on how. Also, remember apostle Paul had been the first to hunt down Christians. Let’s pray these murderers will have just as thorough and an awesome conversion experience as did Paul.

Revelation 13

Courtesy Victor Books, The Bible Reader’s Companion by Lawrence O. Richards (1991)

1st Account

Joel’s report of the Libyan atrocity refers to one murderer’s videoed remarks, as reported by AP in Cairo. It reminded me of Revelation chapter 13’s prophecy of a demonic beast rising out of the sea, and the above modern illustration, because the villain declared:

“All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together,” he says. “The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”

It’s another example of Islamists brainwashed by ‘the myth’. Moreover, we see Satanic control of their irrational beliefs. The reference to ‘sea’ and a dead leader’s body and believers’ blood is redolent of Rev 13:1-10 (credit BibleGateway).:

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. ²Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. ³And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. ⁴So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

⁵And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. ⁶Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. ⁷It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ⁸All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear. ¹⁰He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

I submit this is strongly suggestive of today’s re-emergence of Islam’s original spirit that directed its founder and followers to attack, conquer and subjugate neighbouring territory and peoples. (He personally led 27 battles and planned 39 others. No wonder his disciples squabbled madly over succession! Compare this with Jesus and his disciples!)

The beast from the sea has a direct similitude to the third of the four beasts in prophet Daniel’s dream-vision (Dan 7:6). On page 658 of Unlocking the Bible David Pawson speculates this ‘leopard’ represents the Arab world – not in Daniel’s days but today.

In Daniel Revisited also, Mark Davidson considers the description links the beast from the sea to those of Daniel 7, which has a four-winged leopard. He makes a most pertinent observation about the symbolism of leopard on page 215:

“The lion will give chase to its prey but the leopard will stealthily wait and watch until it finally pounces…the prey is totally surprised”.

This describes exactly how Islamic terrorists operate.

2nd Account

Raymond Ibrahim’s background and qualifications in writing The Al-Qaeda Reader give him a unique advantage in discussing Islamist terrorism. In Libya’s War on Christians he reveals another eschatological implication, as reported in Coptic Solidarity’s account of the lead executioner boasting of savagery and hatred of the cross of Christ:

“Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham and Dabiq’s plain [Syrian regions], chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time. And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.”

Their other account quotes: “We will fight you until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig” (all eschatological actions ascribed to the Muslim “Christ,” Isa).

As the instruments through which his authority over mankind was broken, Satan hates the Cross and Blood of Jesus Christ. Recent events nearer to home gives an example of this, as in my covering note about Wales in re-blogging Justin Abraham’s tribute to John Paul Jackson.

The area of the Preseli Mountains has a reputation for witchcraft and the occult. Such practitioners have objected to the presence of a large cross and requested its removal. The objection is that it nullifies their powers. The cross’ location in solid rock astride the shoulder of ‘The Hill of Angels’ displays the Lord’s direction in furnishing and installing it in the consecrated grounds of the prayer and retreat centre at Ffald-y-Brenin.

Therefore, the absolute hatred of the Cross of Christ and Christians is entirely spiritual and demonstrates their god definitely is not the same as the Lord Almighty, Father of Jesus Christ – and ours too! As apostle John warns in his first letter:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-3 NKJV, per BibleGateway)

Analysis

Joel Rosenberg summarises this apocalyptic pre-emptive plot in his abridged version of What does ISIS want? To usher in the End of Days by Graeme Wood (click here for his in-depth article). Some of Joel’s points are as follows:

ISIS and its supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is consumed by a Radical Sunni Islamic version of eschatology, or End-Times theology.
US president and senior team do not see this, and this is one of the most serious mistakes they are making. We cannot defeat an enemy we refuse to define. I realize eschatology is a topic foreign — even bizarre — to most political, military and intelligence officials.
But to truly understand what ISIS wants, and how far they are willing to go to get it, our leaders absolutely must study and understand it.
One of the most intriguing and disturbing developments of our times is that we now have two nation states — the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic State — driven by adherents to apocalyptic, genocidal forms of End-Times theology.
The Iranian leaders hold to a Shia brand. ISIS leaders hold to a Sunni brand. But both are driven by a belief that their messiah is coming and judgment with him.
The Iranians believe they must lay the groundwork for the messiah (Mahdi) to come and build his caliphate or kingdom. ISIS isn’t waiting. They have launched a jihadist rampage to build the caliphate now, so that the Mahdi will come soon.

A Vision

About 2007-8, two friends living on opposite sides of the globe – Paul Keith Davis and Neville Johnson – had the same vision on the same weekend as the other did of all hell being let loose. (Teaching series In the Days of Noah, disc 1.)

Happily, the vision did not end with darkness for, according to Paul Keith, the Lord said,

“I am sending messengers of My Face” and He told me there are angels that have stood in the Presence of Almighty God from the beginning of time that have waited for this generation. There is a holy heavenly host that has been waiting for this generation for this hour for this confrontation. They have been especially prepared… I looked up and I saw a door being opened in Heaven and I saw a flood of angels from heaven who had stood in the Presence of God since the beginning of time. I saw them coming and teaching people in their bedrooms. We have to respond to the level of darkness and evil coming to this generation ‘in like fashion’.” (Courtesy Justin Abraham)

A Prophecy

In the middle of preaching, English evangelist Nathan Morris prophesied from the Lord for 2012: Setting the stage for the End-Times. He opens very notably with,

“For lawlessness will abound as nations and their leaders meet together to try and make alliances and make allegiances seeking peace. They shall seek peace, but shall not find it – they shall seek peace, but shall not find it! This will cause many to cry out for resolution but it shall still elude them for a time for further unrest will be their reward.

“For even in 2012 there shall be great events that will change the course of this world, as you know it! For as many pour out their resources to find solutions of peace, another crisis will drain them of knowledge and resolution.

“For I would know that My people would hear My voice, that I am setting the stage for that which I have foretold in My Word and it will quickly and swiftly come to pass. For the days are coming when the lawless one shall be revealed and the son of perdition shall take his stand.

Conclusion

There’s indisputable evidence for the Islamist impetus to bring worldwide calamity and to eradicate Christianity, thereby preventing fulfillment of the prophetic timetable, as outlined in the Bible.

Those above accounts show the falsehood of Islam’s belief in recognising Jesus, but as the Muslim Mahdi’s underling! Pew Research Centre stated in 2012 that well over half, and over 2/3 in some countries, the Muslim world expects the return of Jesus within their own lifetime. Their 2010 results for the number of American Christians expecting Jesus’ return was much lower and very mixed!

Now, as for the would-be usurper of the Almighty’s throne trying to pre-empt His plan and timetable for the End-times, it’s worth noting something that happened whilst polishing off this post’s latest draft. AND, it’s thanks to you my readers and visitors for pointing me towards the conclusion the Lord may want me to draw…

Some old posts keep showing up in the Popular Posts listing. One was ‘top of the pops’ over Mon-Wed and I thought of reminding myself of its content. It’s Neville Johnson’s urgent word brought last August about a cut-off date in God’s timeline. The Lord told him,

“Neville, it is over – there is no more extension of time!”

This prophetic declaration and decree, as well as holy scripture, supersedes anything the father of lies is scheming and doing. In no way could he possibly pre-empt the Lord’s end-game! The Almighty – not the creature – calls the shots!

This timing is completely the Father’s prerogative. Neither Jesus (when He was on earth) or the angels know the schedule for His return. (Mathew 24:36 and Acts 1:7 refer.)

Although this may not be the definitive or final word on this issue, most importantly, we know we’re on the winning side – thank and praise you Jesus!

You may be interested to read about the difficulties in publishing this post, as reported in What’s weird about writing about Iran.

In Part 3 we will look at the Lord’s use of American leaders for his End-times purposes.

Amazing ‘coincidences’ – cycles and Shemitah-Jubilee years

Posted on Thursday, 12 March, 2015 by Richard Barker

You possibly won’t believe this! Carry on reading only if you have an open mind for, as I’ve blogged before, “truth is stranger than fiction”. The above title could easily read:

‘God-smacked’ by TWO sets of ‘God-incidents’!

Blogging time is currently at a premium. For the past fortnight I’ve wanted to explain why re-scheduling my wife’s spinal surgery was significant. Last week began with a couple of ‘quick’ items, and I settled into blogging on this as and when possible. Re-gathering my thoughts the first draft was too long, but I was inspired afresh mid-week.

I was ‘nudged’ to tackle it differently – overkill, so it seemed! Was I going overboard on a personal matter? Nudged yet again, “An introduction would help”. But hadn’t I done enough with musing further upon Paws 4 thought ?? I don’t want to bore readers!

But there was something in the air! Something deep was stirring. I couldn’t put a handle on it – maybe it was the mix of controversial headlines and others’ incisive blogs? However, I tried putting into words a strong sense of history repeating itself. To bring some sort of clarity into this – and I am not one for blowing my own trumpet – it’s necessary to refer to my early email. (Have entered 7th year of writing.)

That is, I began taking a different tack which should help you grasp what I was ‘sensing’. Thus, the first of a trilogy referred to a cyclic nature of historical events.

So Wed-Thurs last week I was busy getting this ‘off my chest’ before our usual long-weekend – and a week ago today I got up early to input editorial changes…but…

Little did I suspect this would ignite a series of coincidences on this subject!

Here’s what happened, like pieces of an invisible jigsaw falling ‘out of the blue’:

1. Thursday: on waking I heard, “Jonathan Cahn!”, and knew to refer to him to give those familiar with his book a hook and time-frame for my posts. [See ‘A’ below]

2. Moved original post’s mention of ‘Bells’ to new post’s opening paragraph; thought it may relate to blog’s long-standing contributor TP [B].

3. After updating draft, checked emails only to find one of TP’s friends had just emailed me direct about “timing…just right” and that “something is changing spiritually”!

4. Completed/published ‘1of 3’, logged out and noticed number of followers is ‘360’ [C].

5. Friday: on waking heard “360 degrees in a circle!” – precisely what I’m blogging about but as cycles! Therefore, writing about these specific cycles is confirmed!

6. Saturday: caught up with a dvd of Cahn’s session ‘The Shemitah Year’ at January’s Prophecy Summit in Alabama. Fascinating teaching and it refers to 2014-15.

7. Sunday: phoned D&SB in Devon (who’d recommended Cahn’s The Harbinger), only to be told that C&RP of their home group will be leading review of his book this week!!

8. Monday: at church prayer group told host MC about 1 & 7, but we were both amazed because that morning, without any pre-decision, she’d picked out that teaching to listen to next from her collection of recordings!!!

Notes:

A. In the UK it was months before Messianic rabbi Cahn’s book came to my attention. It received poor reviews here as a sensationalist Christian novel. But I now find it was, in fact, published on 3rd January 2012 – when I was drafting a brief overview (as here) of financial analyst Eric Hadik’s work on economic cycles! Very interesting synchronicity, or ‘God-incidence!!

But for our friends’ insistent recommendation I wouldn’t have read The Harbinger. I got around to reading it as a birthday present last September! Until then I hadn’t known it was based upon the Levitical instruction to let land lie fallow every seventh year, which was practised for centuries in England until modern times.

I’m now sure there’s far more, a great deal more, to Cahn’s thesis than meets the eye!

B. Musing upon what I’d blogged since mid-February got me buzzing. Late afternoon a week ago yesterday, Wednesday 4th March, I split the original post and found myself writing about Middle-East news saying bells had started to ring! My mind was racing and I found some moments before bed to work on a hardcopy to reshape it. First thing in the morning ‘the bells’ got moved to the new first part’s opening paragraph.

There was a distinct feeling like when a series of almost two dozen coincidences struck me in 2012 in respect of Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee bells. (The ‘God-incidents’ could be drawn like a series of logic-trees.) Now, I recalled Tony Puccio, a new reader at that time, had got in touch to refer to a dream about his doorbell being rung – see GET READY… (He’s now re-visited it, as here.)

C. Although TP’s friend decided to follow this blog on Thursday I didn’t know the total number of followers because that data’s not shown in WordPress’ admin screen. I could check on a linked screen but the figure’s based upon fellow WordPress bloggers’ only and excludes email-only readers. Therefore, I don’t note these different totals.

Logging-off for the day, however, I decided for once to check total number of ‘follows’ on the browser screen. There, the pop-up invitation window is easily read and includes all subscribers.

It said, “Join 360 other followers” – I thought no more about it; that is, until waking up the next day!

I can’t escape the conclusion that the Lord is stressing these cycles are important.

The Shemitah and Jubilee

In his book’s chapter 17, ‘The Mystery of the Shemitah’, and before explaining how it’s timing is directly connected to major international financial crashes, Cahn writes:

The Shemitah revolves around the number seven – it’s the seventh year. It begins and ends in the seventh month of the biblical year.

It originates in the opening verses of Leviticus 25, which describes it as a sabbatical rest for not only the land but also for labour and debts and associated matters. Seven such Sabbath years, that is 49 years, are especially significant and the 50th is a consecrated holy year – a Jubilee. (Visit BibleGateway to read chapter 25 in full and consider this interesting rabbinical post, The Fiftieth Year.)

Rabbi Cahn’s in-depth teaching explores how he found these 7 and 49/50 year periods are demonstrated in dramatic historic events since the founding of the USA, as well as those of modern Israel. His exposition deserves careful attention:

Some take issue with his relating the Lord’s instruction for Jewish observance to any modern gentile nation. For his thesis Jonathan goes back to events at the founding of the United States as a nation specifically based upon Judeo-Christian principles. Some would also comment with good reason about the large freemasonic influence in those days, which leads into speculative conspiracy theories of which I’m well aware.

Let me add my ‘tuppenny worth’ in pointing to grounds for Jonathan’s historical claims:

Jewish immigrants played an important part in British colonial and independent states of New England, none more so than Haym Salomon from Poland. Fluent in several languages and expert international financier he arrived in 1772, joining the Sons of Liberty in New York City. It was one of the colony’s most radical revolutionary groups.

Five years after rebellion against Britain’s king George the colonials were bankrupt. The American currency collapsed in 1781 with its treasury empty and no means of paying for the war or its debts. Saloman’s skill, knowledge, honesty and generosity kept America solvent during its first economic crisis with his personal credit backing the US finances. He died penniless in 1785 from a sickness contracted whilst imprisoned (twice for spying against the British).

According to John McTernan, he never received recognition during his lifetime but an official commemorative stamp was issued in 1975 in his honour. Its reverse stated:

Financial hero-businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American revolution and later saved the nation from collapse.

Therefore, had it not been for a self-sacrificing Jewish financier, America wouldn’t exist as we know it today.

For details of John McTernan’s As America Has Done To Israel, click on image.

Conclusion

Scripture suggests the above ‘God-incidental’ events may be explained as follows:

‘The steps of a [good] man are directed and established by the Lord when He delights in his way [and He busies Himself with his every step]’. Psalm 37:23, Amplified Bible

Therefore, it certainly appears that the Lord is unequivocally telling us to take heed and learn about this Shemitah-Jubilee Year – and why!

May He bless you on your voyage of discovery…

More on cycles

Images

‘Hand Holding Puzzle Pieces’ by Anusorn P Nachol
‘Teamwork’ by Franky242
both appear courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

1 of 3: The ‘Endgame’ gets ramped up another level

Posted on Thursday, 5 March, 2015 by Richard Barker

A fast fortnight ploughed a deep furrow along a cycle of time – ‘a wheel within the greater wheel’ of End-time events…

Bells start ringing that we’ve been here before – and at this time of year too! – like fresh, bright-yellow daffodil bells I see springing up outside! Let me to add to what others are doing as ‘prep’ for 2015…

Time is non-linear. Our analytical mindsets think time’s a straight line. Often we see time-lines listing events in history – or use one for our own life.

The passage of time and events is seasonal; ie. cyclical. I regard time like a spiral for, when considered dynamically under the interaction of various influences, it’s just like a corkscrew being turned. Nature provides an excellent example that carries information – the DNA spiral.

Another example: on a spiral staircase we pass by different walls. If it’s in a castle turret there’d be a doorway on each floor and in the same vertical wall of the well. Regard this wall as a certain kind of event and note how it connects with us, or is relevant to us, at different times and levels.

Hence, various types of event can crop up in a cyclical pattern of repetitions at different levels and show some development has taken place. So it is in history and with God’s plans too, could we but be aware, or receive revelation.

Before I heard about Jonathan Cahn’s US best-seller The Harbinger, I’d outlined the Biblical analysis of historical and financial cycles in one of my first months’ blogs, Points to Ponder 2011-2012. (For more see below.)

Quick recap

Last week I promised to reveal how a possible option between either one of two weeks for surgery affected, or even enabled(!), further insights into something we’d recently mulled over on this blog – Satan’s strategy to avoid the Lake of Fire.

Please accept my apologies for not having done so in ‘the next post’. So much was still surfacing – from both the past and the present – that I had to take stock. To my great surprise a cycle of events was laid bare.

Once again, more of the ‘Invisible Jigsaw’ is appearing, as blogged extensively in 2014 (click image to read about its themes).

So, I’ll explain this year’s view of ‘the grand design’ for you to follow my logic. Let’s look at the jigsaw pieces we’ve placed down thus far.

I mused upon how Satan could have adopted tactics to avoid his destined demise in the Lake of Fire and a progression of ‘pieces’ was revealed as follows:

Paws 4 thought: devilish plot to avoid the Lake of Fire – the removal of conditions necessary for Jesus’ prophesied return: no Jews alive in Jerusalem and Mid-East and disunity among Christians, plus not living in Holy Spirit’s power and a deep rejection of Jews and Israel on supposedly ‘scriptural’ grounds!
An insight into global Satanic strategy: Part 1 – misinformation from many political leaders. ‘Coincidently’, Archbishop Welby denounced anti-Semitism and had its most vociferous vicar silenced.
An insight into global Satanic strategy: Part 2 – history of Islam from start up to the Crusades and exposure of the myth they taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians. It originated in Western intellectuals, whose fallacies within academia continue unabated!
Anti-terrorism summit confirms this week’s insight – Within a day of blogging as above, international news on security confirmed my conclusions. But technical hitches hindered my publishing this, which revealed I faced ungodly opposition!

History cycles around

On top of those concepts, accelerating developments in the Middle-East only add to the mix. Therefore, an appreciation of my background in this will be of some help.

Pertinent to today’s issues is a personal event that hooked me into Eschatology, as well as subsequent developments, viz:

Mid-1980s

As stated in this blog’s Welcome, the Iran-Iraq war opened my eyes as an unbeliever because I’d been given an unusual ‘secular’ book on OT prophecies of modern events. Whilst watching a TV documentary about that war I flicked through the brand-new book and noted references to the significance of Jerusalem. THEN I heard the TV narrator speak about, and showed, elite units from both sides rehearsing together an attack upon Jerusalem! – despite being at war with one another!! So I’ve since kept an eye on international affairs.

Once again, conflict in Iraq involving Iran is in the news because of ISIS’ invasion of Iraq in 2014.

2009

Six years ago last weekend, on 28th February 2009, I started what would become a series of private emails to Christian friends and church leaders drawing attention to the plain fact that events are fitting more clearly into Biblical prophecy.

We’d already debated the Lakeland, Florida, outpouring as I’d known of Todd Bentley before-hand. However, the new direction had become abundantly obvious and so I emailed them, The ‘Endgame’ is now in play.

It was only much later, in Autumn 2011, that the Lord prodded me into going public with this blog. (If you’re interested in numbers; the 700th post is one the above ‘insights’.)

As said, significant End-time events began to escalate. To appreciate how they’ve again become ‘hot potatoes’ you may like to dip into later emails of May and July 2009 noting especially as below:

Today’s Importance In History – reference to Obama’s ‘back channels’ (secret diplomacy) contact with and appeasement of Iran, and consequential dismay in Egypt and Saudi Arabia – and their cooperation with Israel.
Middle-East Update July 2009 – Obama’s making Netanyahu the bogeyman in preventing nuclear-arms discussions with Iran. Obama’s character.

2010

An entirely forgotten idea privately posited with those friends popped up again unbidden in the last fortnight. Part 2 will show how the shuffled surgical schedule reported in The Shepherd, the Shadow and the ‘Spread’ fits into our ‘jigsaw’.

I hope you’ll have time to dip into those archived papers whenever possible.

Continued in Part 2 >>

More on cycles

[‘Spiral Stairway To Clouds’ by Victor Habbick and ‘Spiral Stairs’ by Franky242, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

On becoming like Jesus Christ

Posted on Wednesday, 26 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

This profoundly important message comes from Mike Parsons. It’s reposted in full rather than re-blogged in order to emphasise its associated prophetic word and append a book cover and make some observations on four consecutive days of God-incidences. Regular readers know my opinion of such events. For Mike’s original posted in August, click on his following title:

THE IMAGE OF JESUS

Mike Parsons with Jeremy Westcott

Transformation: embrace the season

We are entering into a season preparing us for holiness; a season of removing stumbling blocks; a season of preparation to cross the threshold into the glory realm; a season for transformation. Not just a minor adjustment of surface appearance, but fundamental, radical change, affecting body, soul and spirit.

Let’s not resist it, but embrace it. Let’s cooperate in being changed from glory to ever-increasing glory. Entering into the process of refining and purifying is entirely voluntary. That said, we know that sometimes God will engineer circumstances around our lives to give us further opportunities to volunteer. We can fall on the Rock, or the Rock can fall on us.

Like you have never known

Here is part of a prophetic word which God gave me before I first taught this series at Freedom in 2012:

“It is time to pray that the lid comes off and to call forth my angels who are waiting to start gathering and removing stumbling blocks both within and without. Holiness fire is coming, the highway of holiness has been prepared. It is time to walk in the river of fire. You have walked over it and felt its heat but now it is time to be baptised in fire. The heat will turn idols back into the dust they came from: to be under your feet, not in your hearts.

“Call forth the gathering angels. The lids are coming off the sewers, the secret and hidden things of the heart are about to be exposed. All I ask is for the willingness to submit to the fire that will refine, purify and prepare you for true holiness.

“I am about to restore your souls like you have never known, and lead you on paths of righteousness like you have never known.

“I am going to prune the church. I am going to cut off the branches that are producing no fruit. I am going to remove the stumbling blocks to true kingdom government. I am going to close the access doors that the enemy has had. Some have already been removed.

“I am looking for those who are willing to be pruned in the unproductive areas of their lives and in their desires and their priorities…”

Metamorphosed, transfigured

We have seen that happen at Freedom Church (kingdom government has been established here, but in the process, lids have certainly come off some sewers and we have experienced some painful pruning, both corporate and personal). What is true for us locally is true for you, wherever you are reading this. God wants His whole church transformed, metamorphosed, transfigured, changed, conformed into the image of Jesus; not patterned, moulded, conformed to the world.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:1-2).

Transformation is a process of change, a renewal, a restoration to original condition; not to what Adam was like before his sin but to what he would have become. How would things be today if Man had not fallen, but had spent the intervening centuries pursuing God’s plan for him and for creation? How would we be?

Our goal in transformation is to become wholly like Jesus; to live like Him; to do as He did, and greater things (John 14:12); to be conformed to His image.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

One degree to another

In our day, the prophetic books (portals) have been opened and we are receiving deeper levels of revelation and understanding. But these also call for deeper levels of transformation. It is like going from pre-school mathematics (recognise a number), through primary school (counting, simple sums, addition, multiplication), to secondary school (algebra, equations, calculus), undergraduate, postgraduate and so on. I suspect many of us are not much beyond pre-school as yet.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

There are progressive levels of transformation to maturity, progressive levels of responsibility and authority. God wants to take us from servant to bondservant to steward to friend; lord to king to son.

By the mercies of God

Freedom from sin (Rom 6:16-18); the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23); peace with God (Rom 5:1); the grace of God (Rom 5:2); salvation from wrath (Rom 5:9); the gift of repentance (Rom 2:4-5); the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14-15): the mercies of God are new every morning, and they motivate us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, ready for transformation.

It is indeed a process, and it may take some time. But we can begin today (and every day) by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice. We can invite Him to do what He needs to do in us.

He will challenge our conscience, imagination, reason, mind, emotions, will, and choice; our motives, desires, attitudes, mind-sets, belief systems, familiar spirits, patterns of sin, trading systems, idols, stumbling blocks, entanglements; hurts, pains, rejections, fears, inadequacies, inferiorities, disappointments and more besides. He will deal with our sin, transgression and iniquity. He will restore our supernatural abilities.

Are we up for that?
If so, let’s pray:

God I thank you for your presence in my life.
I open the gate of first love and invite you into my spirit
I invite you to activate my spiritual senses and flow through me
Jesus I surrender control of my life to your lordship.
You are Lord of my life.

I choose to be a bond servant.
Train me as a good steward
So that I can be your friend.

Renew my mind
Heal my emotions
Restore my conscience
Cleanse my imagination
Direct my will.

Train my senses to hear your voice
To know your heart
See your vision
And be directed by your peace.

Cleanse my bloodline and seed-line
Transform my DNA.

Father I choose to follow my eternal destiny
Into lordship, kingship and sonship.
I choose, as an ambassador of heaven,
To administer the rule of the kingdom of God
On earth as it is in heaven.

Display me as a son of light on the earth.
Manifest your kingdom rule through me to the world around me.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation audio series (much of the content of this post is taken from session 1).
Ambassadors of Heaven audio series.
DNA Transformation (YouTube playlist of Mike’s ‘Supernatural Mentoring’ videos which touch on this subject).

OBSERVATIONS

The year of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, 2012, saw an abundance of prophecies about a new era for the Church (click for a selection). For me it brought a conviction of seeing things falling into place, especially after an awesome gathering in August at Birmingham, as described in An invisible jigsaw falls into place. It greatly reminded me of having prepared annually for the new school year but going up to a higher class, and Spirit-filled believers have an exceptional schooling (see Back to School-College-Uni).

So I’m most encouraged that Mike refers to 2012, and spells out what was on my mind about increasing in Godly wisdom like when we went through various schools – but I omitted my intention of saying most churchgoers are in, or unwilling to progress beyond, nursery school!

More remarkable are references to ‘stumbling blocks’ and the ‘mercies of God’, because they featured prominently last week, as follows:

Tues 18th: the closing verses to the draft of my last post on Jerusalem (re. faith of traditional church leaders) got augmented. I added what had cropped up in that morning’s quiet time but used the literal wording rather than the standard NKJV text, “It is impossible that no offenses should come…”; ie. I wrote ‘stumbling blocks’, not ‘offenses’.
My study bible notes to Luke 17:1 state ‘offenses’ means ‘stumbling blocks’, and is literally the trigger of a trap or snare. In the verse it designates something that causes one to sin, and Jesus issues a strong warning against apostasy.
Within minutes of publishing that post an Elder called about having an insight into our unexpected month-long recurrence of a major health issue and said he’d seen a ‘stumbling block’! When my wife waited upon the Lord nothing came, she went to watch a TV programme but it suddenly changed to show a long-forgotten but traumatic episode of when she was 9 years old playing out on the TV Screen!!
Wed 19th: our Elder ministered as directed into that ‘video’ stumbling block’.
Thur 20th: Nina awoke to find there were no signs of this daily manifestation! Praise and thank the Lord greatly.
Thur 20th: that morning’s prophetic Lion Bites was exactly on target, as implied in my covering comment to New mercies every morning! Mike refers above to “the mercies of God are new every morning’!
Fri 21st: not normally on-line, but went to adjust that draft only to see email note of Mike’s post being re-blogged on Ecclesia of Burning Ones – thank you so much for bringing this excellent post to my attention.

I can only conclude: NOW’s the time to action Mike’s post!

Note: Paul Keith Davis writes in-depth on ‘angels that gather’ in this book published in 2007. For details click on the book’s cover >>>

Sundown today Rosh Hashana – start of a new year

Posted on Wednesday, 24 September, 2014 by Richard Barker

‘Tomorrow’ or rather at sundown today 24th September is the ‘head’ of the Jewish New Year 5775, and which is regarded as starting The Year of Advance.

Yesterday and tonight, our church has Randy DeMain, after having been the guest at our Isle of Skye associates’ Glory 2 Glory conference, bringing his fascinating Ephesian’s 1:3 perspective upon scripture. See the video on the last link for a flavour of his teaching – it opens with two scriptures I’ve been contemplating lately!!

Randy taught about a revelation that, when considered collectively, Psalms 111 to 117 may relate to the Lord’s seven spirits (Isaiah 11), thereby bringing insights into His plans for 2011-2017 and the means by which He will bring them about.

So it’s appropriate that, in referring to the Jewish New Year, I herewith quote Randy’s newsletter for this month and close by noting some relevant prophetic words. He writes:

“It is the first of 3 connected feasts and celebrations unto the Lord followed by the Day of Atonement, then the feast of Tabernacles. The New Year begins the celebration of the end the previous year’s harvest cycle, and the beginning of a new harvest cycle. Many westerners have thought that the Jewish New Year is like our new year that commences January 1st.

“That is somewhat true in that the New Year for Israel is followed by the Day of Atonement, a time of personal reflection and purification to prepare oneself for Tabernacles and a blessed new harvest season.

“However, the New Year begins in the 7th month, not the 1st month, which occurred at the day of Passover, so it has a deeper meaning and purpose.

“On the 7th and 49th year, the land is given rest, debts retired and lands restored. I can’t help but wonder if this is what the Lord is doing in this nation that has a long and deep spiritual heritage. Restoring their identity, their land and retiring their debt?

“I am going to be in Scotland for several days in the middle of this month to speak about revival and the more glorious church that is arising. Please pray the will of the Lord will prevail through the times of ministering and the messages I bring.

“For the rest of us. This month has already seen a harvest moon. Next month will be the second blood moon on October 8th, the beginning of Tabernacles.

“Therefore, this is the month to set your sights on the new harvest season ahead, prepare our plows and harvest equipment, for the harvest shall surely be great. One day the Lord Jesus will fulfill the last fall feast, just as he has the spring and summer feasts of Passover and Pentecost!

“Therefore, we must be diligent to bring in the full harvest between Pentecost and Rosh Hashanah so the ingathering will be the fullness of the intended harvest.

“Happy and prosperous New Year! Randy” (Kingdomrevelation.org)

Notes:

An Invitation to the Threshing Floor by Dr Sharon Stone and Bob Jones’, “It’s about the Harvest – look at your hands!”, as well as this blog’s Harvest tag.
Israeli’s prepare to celebrate their holiday, and farmers for a sabbatical year.

Wall St considers Biblical basis of economic crashes

Posted on Saturday, 6 September, 2014 by Richard Barker

Soon after launching this blog I referred to the Biblical basis of economic cycles, as examined by accredited White House journalist William Koenig (see Points to ponder: 2011-2012).

Now, according to Discerning the Times, it’s reported in Washington that Wall Street analysts have pondered the mystery of what appears to be seven-year economic cycles. They’ve also wondered why crashes seem to come in September.

Jonathan Cahn, author of the mega-bestselling book “The Harbinger,” thinks he has figured it out.

For full story read Holy Shemitah Bible Cycle Unlocks US Future.

Passover and blood-red moons

Posted on Tuesday, 15 April, 2014 by Richard Barker

Credit Fred Espenak; click image for Mr Eclipse website

Today is Passover 5774, which commenced at sundown yesterday. This is a rare occasion when Hebrew and Gregorian calendars coincide for this feast on 15th day of Nissan and 15th April. Their general lack of synchronisation arises from being based upon lunar and solar cycles respectively, as well as their different ways of accounting for cyclic gaps, or leap years in our solar calendar.

I want to give an overview to this topic in view of many references to the ‘tetrad’ of four consecutive lunar eclipses happening on the major Jewish feast days. I’ll also close with some personal observations. Also, out of respect for this holy week I will abbreviate references to G-d in the Hebrew fashion.

Not unlike the secular world, Jews use two kinds of calendars. The civil New Year is counted from Rosh Hashanah in Sept-Oct. The sacred year, from which festivals are computed, starts this month with the slim sliver of a new moon. Their seasonal festivals were started when the Hebrew slaves were set free to leave Egypt and were celebrated annually according to the Lord’s detailed instructions given to Moses. This is given in part below with emphases added to show these are not to be regarded as being Jewish alone but were ordained because they belong to the Lord Himself.:

“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts…which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD ; seven days you must eat unleavened bread…” (Leviticus 23:2 & 5,6 NKJV per BibleGateway)

The Hebrew of ‘appointed time’ is mo ‘ed, the root of which ya’ad, means to ‘set’ or ‘fix’. The first occurrence is in Genesis 1:14 where the stars and heavenly bodies are created to serve as ‘seasons’ (mo’adim) and as ‘signs’ – hence the significance to a consideration of Passover and last night’s lunar eclipse, and upcoming ones.

Passover commemorates the freedom gained by the ancient Israelites when they were saved from death by having daubed lamb’s blood upon the door-posts of their homes. As a result of Pharaoh’s steadfast refusal to release them to go with Moses to worship G-d, the ‘angel of death’ visited all Egypt’s first-born of man and beast but ‘passed over’ homes where the blood appeared. It was the culminating plague that befell the major power in the Middle East as a result of a clash between its god, Pharoah, and the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 1-11 refers).

The book of Exodus continues with very specific instructions Moses and his brother Aaron were given as to what to do that dreadful night, and that the people were to commemorate it as a feast of observation throughout all generations. Thus, it’s an everlasting occasion instituted and recognised by G-d and is the first of several annual festivals.

The Lord’s Feasts (Leviticus 23)

Feast of Passover
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Feast of First Fruits
Feast of Weeks (Shavu’ot or Pentecost)
Feast of Trumpets (at Rosh Hashanah)
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

In the 1970s Rev John Kilpatrick, pastor of Church of His Presence, recognised the importance and value of these festivals for Christians. The first three occur over eight consecutive days and, with the fourth, occur in the Spring. Their main focus is upon entering G-d’s rest. The others occur in the Autumn/Fall and focus upon entering G-d’s protection.

The first four feasts were also foundational in establishing the Church, or Ecclesia, the body of believers in Messiah Jesus. The next three will relate to the resurrection of the dead ‘at the last trump’ and return of Christ in person to reign and rule.

Despite the flexibility of the Hebrew calendar in adjusting for ‘leap years’, the period between first and last major annual festivals, Passover and Tabernacles, remains constant.

Jesus and the first and a future Passover

Jesus’ ‘last supper’ was a private celebration with His apostles within hours of Him giving up His own life. The bread and wine they shared were those of the Passover Seder, or meal, as recorded by that diligent commentator Luke:

“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15-16 NKJV)

And similarly for an associated cup of wine which, with the bread, Jesus said are to be regarded as His body and blood: thus specifically identifying Him as the Passover Lamb.

Jesus was not only keen to celebrate Passover – He will do so once again! This will presumably be upon His return – or am I misreading that straightforward text?

Luke also recorded that, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus taught the disciples in depth about the kingdom and promised their baptism in the Holy Spirit. So they logically asked Him how soon it will be before the kingdom is set up and restored to Israel.

However, He told them (not upbraided them, as some think!) it’s not for them to know because that’s all in the Father’s hands but there’s a far more important mission for them – being empowered as witnesses of His Good News in taking it to the ends of the earth. Anyway, Jesus already knew His prophecy about Jerusalem being surrounded, the holy Temple demolished and the city trampled upon by Gentile armies was less than four decades away. Therefore, His Kingdom wouldn’t be based in Jerusalem.

Blood-red lunar eclipses

First, it’s important to note that the fact the first Jewish month of the agricultural and sacred calendar starts at new moon and the Passover follows 14 days later, means a full moon always features at Passover. Yet lunar eclipses are infrequent because the moon’s orbit is slightly tilted to the plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun – the ecliptic.

Only total eclipses are red because the only light has been refracted through the earth’s atmosphere, rather like why sunsets are red. (See images at link 3 below.)

As noted in Why I’m Watching, Jesus instructed all believers to watch for signs that would indicate His return is getting very close. Luke noted Jesus’ words, (shown in part only):

“…For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken…” (Luke 21 NKJV)

This reiterated and thereby endorsed what OT prophet Joel had written 9 centuries earlier about the Day of the Lord. And it was repeated to astonished witnesses of the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s following feast of Pentecost, as stated by Apostle Peter,

…The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord… (Joel 2:31)

Therefore, we can understand why many are excited about such signs not only happening on a dedicated Jewish feast day but also when a tetrad of lunar eclipses, together with a solar eclipse, occur in sequence one after the other – it’s astonishing!

FURTHERMORE, somehow the oscillating plane of the moon’s orbit around us just so happens to wobble into the same plane as the earth and the sun (the ecliptic), thereby enabling the moon to enter the earth’s shadow on a few selected and special days. That implies an intelligent designer has synchronised those movements to occur on specific and exceptionally rare days only!

But if the hand of G-d is involved then we do need to take serious note. William Koenig comments and provides a timeline of events:

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about this phenomenon by Pastor Mark Biltz (and others)…The fact that these events have occurred on the first day of Passover and Sukkoth in back-to-back years only seven previous times combined with the challenges the Jewish people were facing during those times is noteworthy and significant.

April 15, 2014 – Blood-red moon – First day of Passover (visible: Australia, Pacific, Americas).

Sept. 25, 2014 — The sabbatical year in the seven-year cycle (2008 to 2015) begins on Rosh Hashanah, and ends on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 13-14, 2015 — the day of a partial solar eclipse.

Oct. 8, 2014 – Blood-red moon – First day of Sukkot (visible: Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas).

April 4, 2015 – Blood-red moon – First day of Passover (visible: Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas)

Sept. 13-14, 2015 — A seven-year cycle that began on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 30, 2008, ends on Rosh Hashanah. The sabbatical year from 2014 ends here, too.

Sept. 13, 2015 (Elul 29, 5776) – Rosh Hashanah starts with partial solar eclipse.

Sept. 23, 2015 (Tishrei 10, 5777) – Year of Jubilee proclaimed on Yom Kippur.

Sept. 28, 2015 – Blood-red moon – First Day of Sukkot (visible: Eastern Pacific, Americas, Europe, Africa, Western Asia). This moon will be a super “blood-red” moon. It will look enormous and will shine over Jerusalem. My wife and I were driving into Jerusalem last June during a similar super-moon. It was enormous, breathtaking and appeared over half of Jerusalem. I can only imagine what an enormous super blood-red moon will look like over the city.

[In that newsletter William also refers to the historically significant ‘days of infamy’ for the USA of 19-20 April, as well as globally. See Further Reading #7 below. Jewish dates updated 6 Aug 2015 per Aish.com]

For a good, concise summary of John Kilpatrick’s and John Hagee’s claims check out Aimee Herd’s summary Watching God’s Heavens – what is He saying through blood moon tetrads and solar eclipses? As a regular listener to the first, I noted that pastor Kilpatrick doesn’t claim any prophetical mandate for teaching upon this matter but stresses, “I’m just a watcher, which is what Jesus told us to do” – like me!

Objections

One may easily object that only one of these eclipses will be visible from Israel and so the notion of a tetrad of influentially significant ‘blood moons’ is nonsense.

But that fact may mean only the last eclipse is applicable to Israel, and the others may be relevant to whichever countries will see them. Remember, these feasts aren’t just for Israel but for everyone because they are G-d’s own feast days.

As regards the past tetrads, some suppose there’s ‘confirmation bias’ in picking them. Or else, were ‘prophecies after the fact’ and not warnings because of a time lapse between lunar eclipse and supposedly associated calamitous event in Jewish history. Let’s look, for example, at what William Koenig wrote after discussion with his friend Mark Biltz:

‘Three previous back-to-back “blood-red” total lunar eclipses occurred on the first day of Passover and Sukkot right after the 1492 Spanish Inquisition (ie. in 1493-1494), the 1948 War of independence (ie. in 1949-1950), and the 1967 Six-Day War (in 1967-1968). This pattern points to a very challenging time for Israel and possible war.

‘The Jewish Talmud says, “When the moon is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel … If its face is as red as blood, [it is a sign that] the sword is coming to the world …” The sages in the Talmud understood that a red lunar eclipse means that God will be bringing judgment to His people, Israel.’

Observations

1. The Spanish Expulsion was the most infamous in Jewish history. Catholic Inquisitor Torquemada’s anti-Semitic project became official policy in July 1492 after the defeat of Muslims at Grenada and thus enabling Spain to return to Catholicism. It would have taken many months to arrest and forcibly convert tens of thousands of Jews. So blood moons of 1493’s first and last feasts were truly ominous in attesting to what was happening and not just retrospective as ‘prophecies after the fact’.

2. It is incorrect to consider the 1949-50 tetrad as applying only to the previous year’s War of Independence. It could indicate decades of strife and wars were to follow. In fact that 15 month War lasted until August 1949 and in my opinion it could be applied specifically to Jerusalem. On 3rd April 1949 the Israel-Jordan Armistice was signed which affected Jews’ access to Jerusalem and their holy places such as the Wailing Wall, which was the only proximity permitted to the Temple Mount.

3. Today’s blood moon on Passover may apply to those Jews who are not in Israel but where it was actually seen – the USA. Let me quote perspicacious Caroline Glick’s analysis of her fellow Jews:

In Israel, where our freedom is physically threatened, most Jews understand and live by the lessons of Passover. But something is happening to the Jews in America. More and more, every day we see American Jews embracing intellectual bondage…

When the leaders of the Jewish American community – like their fellow leftists – side with forces of intolerance and discrimination and against Israel’s stalwart defenders and opponents of the oppression endemic in Islamic societies, it does not bode well for the future.

The red planet

The 76-m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Credit: M. Peel, University of Manchester

Last Tuesday provided a ‘rare cosmic event’ when Mars formed a straight line with earth and the sun (ie. ‘in opposition’). But last night, the same night as the total lunar eclipse, the red planet was at its closest since Jan 2008.

In the UK we couldn’t observe the eclipse but I did notice Mars a few degrees above the bright moon but, as it was so bright, thought it was the brightest star, Sirius. Yet upon checking link 12 below I confirmed it was indeed Mars.

So, in effect we could be having a ‘double-red’ alarm being given from our satellite and nearby planet – exciting times, in a week holy to both Jews and Christians!

Carry on reading in 500th post: blood moons cont’d >>

The Babylonian aspect of the Church’s ‘New Era’

Posted on Friday, 21 March, 2014 by Richard Barker

This title is ‘puzzle’ theme number ‘8’, which I challenged readers to ascertain from an ‘invisible jigsaw’.

It refers to the dichotomy between the old and new elements within the full spectrum of the Church’s traditional, evangelical and charismatic styles. This ‘Babylonian aspect’ also means many churches and believers may not desire to move into the new era, or new season, prophesied in recent years – which is already happening. Note that ‘new’ is not what many secularists may surmise!

I trust all will become plain as I explain.

Also, we’ll find that a weekday conjecture was to become weekend confirmation!

‘Theme 8’ is inherent in the data, or stylised ‘jigsaw pieces’, of detailed prophetic words that were separately brought on opposite ‘sides of the pond’ by Dr Sharon Stone and Revd John Kilpatrick. Although I’d sensed it whilst musing upon An Invitation to the Threshing Floor it’s fitting for this theme to be logged with Paws 4 Thought because that’s when it opened up. Also, as stated, those were very brief first thoughts for I was getting a sense of timing, a ‘kairos’ moment, from what Sharon brought. And that’s only to be expected with the gift of prophecy.

The ‘pause for thought’ gave some background about the priest Ezra because Sharon had opened by referring to the 4th chapter of his Old Testament book. On that Tuesday I’d read about Ezra in a primer on Hebrew and decided to share some information. In fact, upon reflecting upon the Threshing Floor Invitation, I had a sense of how what had happened in those days, over 2,500 years ago, is also applicable today!

It’s as though a gigantic cycle has gone around, not in a repetitive way but like a spiral. This allows for advancement through lessons learned and what’s to be achieved as well as the differences between the ancient Hebrews and modern Christians. I’m of the opinion time proceeds not in a linear fashion but like a slowly turning corkscrew that opens and closes events.

It all needed mulling over with the Lord. So I wrote a brief bit, intending to write more fully later. I nearly did so a couple of days later, the Thursday, but instead drafted thoughts on the perceived threads linking several topics I’d just blogged about.

Double Aspect to Ezra

Writing about Ezra’s major contribution in producing the early Bible, I was struck by his double relevance to today’s ‘new era’ for the Church. It seems directly related to the historic return of the people of God from captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem. Here’s Sharon’s opening words:

“In Ezra 4 we see a resistance to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. We have been in that “season of hindrance”. Thank God we are now coming out!

“There is a New Generation that is now leaving captivity into ruling with the manifestation of the power of God (signs and wonders). Abraham, Issac and Jacob are the generations leaving captivity. This is not just one age group…”

These words cover both aspects of ‘hindrance’ connected with the Exile. That of being deported and held in captivity, and that of being prevented from building when released home. Let’s take a brief historical detour.:

Towards the close of the Jews’ 70 years exile the Persian king Cyrus, conqueror of the Babylonian empire, was directly inspired by God to issue an edict. This permitted the exiles to return in 538 BC and rebuild the destroyed city and temple of Jerusalem.

The first returning group under Zerubbabel began work but, although started, rebuilding the Temple was delayed because of local opposition. It got under way when God raised up the prophetic ministries of Zecharia and Haggai to inspire and direct the work. NB: Ezra 5 clearly indicates the importance the Lord attaches to the prophetic office, and thus implies its fundamental necessity in this new era of the Church.

Almost 60 years after the first group, Ezra himself returned with the next lot to bring more funds and valuables from King Artaxerxes to enhance the Temple worship. Commissioned by the king, Ezra appointed leaders and he began a reforming spiritual leadership to re-establish the place of the Books and the Law, now written in a new alphabet.

So, Sharon opens our Invitation to the Threshing Floor for the anticipated harvest of souls by referring to believers having come out of a ‘season of hindrance’. This is corroborated by John Kilpatrick’s ‘video word’ on Redefinement, the first part of which is about believers being released from bondage! [This word came to him upon waking in mid-February and was published the Friday after my own musings.]

The Invitation continues, not with reference to the rebuilt Temple, but to its foundation over 400 years earlier! This is to connect spiritually with the original site of the location of the altar for the first Temple built by David and Solomon.

Therefore, I submit there are two significant and gigantic spiritual ‘opposites’ in our invitation, both of which relate to Ezra’s foundational activity.

JERUSALEM: Ezra’s compiling existing books and writing them in a new alphabet signifies today’s necessity of a better appreciation of and deeper revelations into the canon of both Testaments (and perhaps even the Apocrypha?).

That is, we may expect a revelatory empowerment of Spirit and Word to manifest and not only re-invigorate the Church but also empower us to do what Jesus did, especially the ‘greater works’ He promised (John 14:12). This will be obvious to the ‘New Generation’ of believers, and necessarily so,

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12]

This is clearly implicit to The Invitation because it doesn’t just dwell upon the rebuilding and renewing our belief at a much higher level. It brings our focus right back to when the Lord instructed where the ‘Holy of Holies’ should be located – the threshing floor of the Jebusite Ornan on Mount Moriah, reputed to be where Abraham offered up Isaac. This is where king David was required to establish a house for His Presence.

Therefore, as the Jews went back to the centre of their belief and life, so too are Christians now required to go back to the very centre of ours – to Jesus and His Words. But more than that, in re-turning to Him in person it needs be devoid of Churchianity! It also means we will have access to heavenly realms and see our Father as Jesus did.

It is a getting back to base: scripture and Saviour. Also, to preparing for when the Bride will be full of the Holy Spirit so the New Jerusalem will manifest on earth (Rev 21 and 22).

BABYLON: Many Jews remained in Babylonian territory because of their accustomed prosperity and the uncertain prospects in a poorer land, of which they probably had only dim memories. They weren’t slaves but had favour with the king and influence in the land. Is that not like too many modern church institutions and ministries?

They’re not fully focused upon the author and perfector of our faith, much less open to Holy Spirit’s presence. Some are even in bed with false doctrine and reprobate worldly values!

Consequently, I disagree with Bible scholars who interpret ‘Babylon the Great’ as meaning the Roman Catholic Church alone.

‘Babylon’ is synonymous with ‘confusion’ especially of a spiritual nature. Jane Hamon in The Cyrus Decree writes,

Every idolatrous system of this earth, every spirit of false religion, every occult form of power had its beginnings in Babylon. The city of Babylon was built upon the foundations of rebellion against God: pride, independence and humanism (the belief that man is God).

Therefore, the Babylonian aspect of the ‘new era’ in the Church’s history represents the world’s influence upon those parts of the wider church that have deserted their ‘first love’, Jesus Christ, and taken on board the non-values of a decadent and immoral society.

Consequently, the prophetic invitation to God’s Threshing Floor indicates a distinct winnowing, a sifting, a separating out of the ‘Babylonian’ church married as a spiritual adulteress to the world, and the Bridal ‘remnant’ who’s focussed upon Jesus.

Previous Prophecies

As recounted in 5 years Ago Today: the End-game is Now in Play, my first writing upon End-times referred to,

“my previous remarks about a sifting of the Church – in preparation for a rapid ‘sHifting’?”

So I had that in mind during my first reflections upon the Threshing Floor Invitation, as well as chapters 18 and 19 of The Apocalypse of John (Book of Revelation) foretelling the downfall of ‘Babylon the Great’, which is described as a ‘harlot’.

Also, I recalled that after launching the Prophecies hub of this blog I found a prophetic word from 1992 about that entity’s existence within the Church, as recounted by Colin Winfield in The Separation of the Bride and the Harlot.

Concluding Confirmation

The above musings were confirmed within days on the Sunday with what John Kilpatrick brought under a strong anointing. Teaching upon ‘Season of suddenlies’, he prophesied that God’s redefining of churches involves “a shifting“. This will result in a radical difference between the two kinds of believers and churches – in my terms, those in worldly ‘Babylon’ and the ‘New Era’ Spirit-led ‘remnant’.

That separation and shifting is happening NOW!

Theme 9

Details of this theme will follow soon. The blog listing shows it in parenthesis because it’s a very personal connection. Together with its proceeding blogs, I was amazed that it’s even more astonishing than the weird mix-up over the blog’s second anniversary.

Reading that Nov ’13 post and it’s follow up will prepare you for theme 9, but let me tease you to just wait a while…

There’s much to ponder deeply my friends.

Postscript:

Revisiting Colin Winfield’s website I noticed the latest; 2014 Consecration with an accompanying file Thoughts at the Beginning of 2014. The last is supportive of my contention above, as in the following which bear my emphases, but please read the whole piece for yourself:

‘As we look at that which goes by the name of ʻChurchʼ we cannot see many who are hearing the Lord, or if they are, they so often wrongly interpret what is being said, or apply to others what really is Godʼs word to themselves. Most are still following their traditions and what they have known in the past. Men still consider men to be their leaders when Jesus said that only Christ was to be their Leader. Man is following ʻmanʼ and not the Lord. The true sons, those who are led by the Spirit, are hard to ﬁnd….

‘What is necessary is to move to higher ground and gain the life of Christ. It is not only that direct relationship with Jesus we need but also that close fellowship with our Heavenly Father….

‘The call is to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ and be separated unto Him, and Him alone. Let us flee to the mountain, that secure place of being hid in the very life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The time has come for judgement to begin with the household of God. We are the temple of God (1Cor.3:16 and 2Cor. 6:16) and the Lord is already cleansing His temple…

‘The warnings have been sounding for many years as Pentecost was coming to its end. But let us recognise the door has closed on that period of church history and let us look towards the soon coming Feast of Tabernacles, that place of fulness the whole Church must enter…’

PPS: If references to Jewish Feasts surprise you then I recommend learning about their relevance to the Church on Colin’s website or in John Kilpatrick’s four in-depth sessions on The Feasts of The Lord – Recognising God’s Appointed Times.

[Puzzle in Sky by Idea Go is by courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

Number 7 and My Journey into Freedom

Posted on Saturday, 28 September, 2013 by Richard Barker

This blog post is more like ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ The above title may be back to front because it began as My Journey To Freedom and Number 7. I trust you too will be encouraged by my explanation of that conundrum.

Here’s what happened.:

A friend who organises social breakfasts asked me to tell my story about becoming a Christian. I guess she’d dipped into it on this blog – yet that’s only a brief bit. But how can I deliver the whole lot in speech and not as script? On top of that, when editing my original account I found nostalgia took me down a ‘rabbit hole’ and wasted time.

Only then did I do what I should have done at the outset – ask myself what I wanted to say. I’d put the cart before the horse! I now jotted the main points and was surprised to find there’s 7. Now that’s encouraging for it suggests everything’s ok. Nina thought so too when I did a test run with her. Now please note, we’re not the sort of folk who look for meaning, symbolism and significance in things, although we appreciate the possibility.

[Readers of long standing may note my interest in coincidences arises after events, not in expectant anticipation or forecasting future connections. My discernment of links in ‘God-incidents’ possibly arises from my training in scientific observation and analysis as a disinterested participant. It’s claimed ‘fact is stranger than fiction’, which is why I’ve always tended to steer away from novels. Furthermore, after laying down my ‘old self’ after rebirth in Christ I’ve also avoided my past interests.]

HAH! Upon finalising my Tuesday’s talk I now find its crib-notes done as l a r g e print total 7 pages! What else! What other quantity should I have expected?

In the Bible number 7 is symbolic of divine perfection, and I believe this is understood in other cultures too. Time is measured in units of 7 days – the calendar week. Genesis, the Book of Creation, states everything was created in 7 days with the last being when God was satisfied and rested upon completing His work of creation.

If the concept of a weekly cycle is applied to that of the year then 1/7th equates to 52 days and a ‘design purpose’ for the year’s seventh 1/7th could be that of resting before another cycle starts. That had been in mind in Pause 4 thought when musing about having unexpectedly arrived at the close of a personal cycle. So, it made sense to take a more relaxed pace over August and September and await any changes.

PRINCIPLE OF 7 AND MY JOURNEY

Now, a few weeks later, ‘7’ has got my attention once again and so I take notice and new notions drop into mind like inspired potions infused from ‘above’. As my task is to talk about my past, it is as though a door has opened for me to see and walk through in my spirit. Whilst writing, I recollect the Hebrew date for this ‘new year’ not only signifies an open door but is also shaped like a 7; although as the 4th letter of Hebrew alphabet it denotes No. 4. (Not mentioned in The door to a ‘new season’.)

My first thoughts were:

7 years are said to complete a growth cycle, as in ‘Seven ages of man/woman’.
so it’s appropriate to consider seven’s multiples, 14, 21, 28, etc, as cyclic too.
major changes or significant events happened on or around the 7th, 14th & 21st anniversaries of my Christian walk.
my personal life took hugely significant changes of direction at each 3 x 7 years, ie. every 21 years and around my birthdays. Number 3 denotes completion and unity.

These notions were confirmed last night when I learned the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Zayin (pronounced ZAH-yeen) and then read John Parson’s comment,

Since Zayin represents both the number 7 and a sword, it is not surprising that it is used to divide or ‘cut up’ time into units of sevens (The Letter Zayin, emphasis added)

Perhaps you’d like to check all this yourself and see if it may apply to you too? Only a couple of days after realising the significance of those aspects I heard a contact-lady at our online US-church mention a couple of major traumas in her family life. I noticed they were seven years apart. (She’s since confirmed having had personal insights on this – thank you W.)

In addition to the above link, more information may be found on Biblical Numerology at Christianity.About.com. and on the Biblical Meaning of the Number Seven at The Bible Wheel.

So which came first, my journey or several number 7s? Of course, objectively I noticed all the events before, during and since gaining my freedom. Recognising they’re linked inextricably with number 7, then I must conclude the spiritual principle was the active and persistent power orchestrating those events, as in the scale of 7 musical notes.

Thus, 7 came, and comes, first.

Should you wish to continue reading about my journey into freedom, please click here for its first ‘leg’ or installment.

INFO – installments of original (2013):

No 7 and my journey into freedom
“You shouldn’t be at our school!”
Searching for truth leads me into captivity
The last day of my life came ‘like a thief in the night’
Rescued from Satan by The Lord of Hosts
The real Truth delivers me from captivity
Confirmations of the reality of my visionary encounter

[Images courtesy of Stoon at Freedigitalphotos.net and Melissa at Definingwords.com]

Update on Iranian earthquakes

Posted on Friday, 7 June, 2013 by Richard Barker

This updates the information about earth disturbance cycles affecting Iran as posted on 22 April in my article on America’s ‘Date Of Infamy’. On Tuesday The Times of Israel reported:

Diplomats say countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have picked up information that the country’s only power-producing nuclear reactor was damaged by one or more recent earthquakes. Two diplomats say long cracks have appeared in at least one section of the structure. They demanded anonymity Tuesday, because they are not authorized to divulge confidential information….continue reading.

A New Season: A New Message…

Posted on Thursday, 25 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

When Rev Dr Clifford and Monica Hill visited Israel in 1986 he was drawn to what God had spoken to the prophet Haggai,

“In a little while I will once shake more shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory…” [Hagg 2:6-7]

Since then, “I’ve just had to go on warning and warning of the coming ‘great shaking’.”. Also, Clifford began to understand something of prophet Jeremiah’s complaint about his mission bringing insult and reproach.

Author of over 30 wide-ranging books, journals, studies and audio resources, including some written jointly with his wife, Rev Dr Clifford Hill MA BD PhD is a sociologist and theologian. His pastoral ministry has been in inner-city areas of London, a long ministry in the East End, Senior Lectureship in Sociology of Religion in London University as well as founding one of the largest urban mission organisations in Britain, and Prophetic Word Ministries. This had an extensive international ministry from 1982 to 2005 with its flagship magazine Prophecy Today.

The ‘action arm’ of their ministry is Issachar Ministries UK, which ‘seeks to be a people who understand the times, listen to the Lord and know what should be done’. It is now recognised as a national ministry having influence throughout the nation, as well as in Parliament, and with Christians who want to explore their faith more deeply. Clifford was closely involved with ‘Listening to Jesus in the Palace of Westminster’ (click for report), as announced here. The latest news and reports of their work may be read here.

In Issachar Comments Paper for Winter 2012, Clifford announced.:

The Lord has been speaking to me for some time about a ‘new season’ and a ‘new message’. I’ve been growing in excitement but I’ve not dared to say anything to anyone (apart from Monica) in case it’s just been my imagination, because for 25 years I’ve carried the same message and I have longed for a new message. In fact I have quite literally cried before the Lord time after time to relieve me of the burden of this message and give me a fresh mandate. But every time the Lord has said “My grace is sufficient for you”.

The full text of this exciting and encouraging message about the new work that God is doing amidst on-going national and international ‘shaking’ deserves very careful study(continue reading here). Also, I’d encourage interested readers to visit their website for more about the Hill’s activities, and even support them or subscribe to regular updates.

It is interesting to realise that Clifford was not alone in hearing the Lord speaking about bringing a new season. Many other prophetical voices have confirmed this; for example, Rev John Kilpatrick’s message A season change, Dr Sharon Stone’s on new season of the increasing glory of God, as well as over a dozen others since 2011, as reported in ‘Prophecies for a ‘new era for the Church’.

The promise and excitement keep mounting….

America’s ‘Date of Infamy’ repeated – once again!

Posted on Monday, 22 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Dates around 19th April have been noted as having a high probability of historically significant, ominous events, as in last week’s terrible tragedies in the USA.

The period immediately following the vernal equinox, starting the northern hemisphere’s Spring season, is when a lot of nature comes back to life. It generates a cycle of growth and harvesting, followed by decay and sowing as a transitional period. Cycles of agricultural, economic and social activities are, therefore, closely related to the natural and solar cycles, which are not only annual but also may show ‘harmonics’ of longer time periods.

William Koenig, ‘watcher’ in the White House, has previously reported about the new Spring season.:

…Paradoxically, it is when man often incites war (and the end of many lives). Nowhere has this remained more constant than in the histories of America and Israel. In short, I have termed the date of April 19 (sometimes extending to the days surrounding it) as the ‘date of infamy’ for America…(E. Hadik)

Background

For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with my previous posts on cycles and possibly not sure why such a topic is covered herein, let me explain:

About 12 years ago I was introduced to the work of William Koenig and understood how it connected into theories of ancient and modern Middle-Eastern history I’d noted before becoming a Christian. In this blog’s Welcome I refer to The Invisible Hand, the author of which attempted to foretell what would happen by 1992 through Russia’s activities – but along came the fall of Communism! Thus, its conclusions were faulty but I recognised the validity of a substantial part of that author’s argument. [Something more relevant happened anyway – the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference leading to 1993 Oslo Accords, all under American presidential direction and involvement – synopsis here.]

Years later, after receiving better tuition, I resumed my investigations and kept friends updated of trends by email. During the same period Bill Koenig was checking out the theories of financial trading analyst Erik Hadik. (These are based upon economist W.D. Gann’s understanding of Biblical principles.)

The first month after launch, this blog was devoted to explaining why I’m ‘watching’ as a result my encounter with Jesus Christ. This was followed by reading Bill’s findings and I covered those uncanny predictions in Points to Ponder: 2011-2012. In September, Bill ‘hit the nail on the head’ by asking if the 11th anniversary of 9/11 would be yet ‘another historical day’? – it was! (See here)

April 2013

On 5th April, Koenigs’ Eye View From The White House gave another overview from Hadik and listed nine events in American history that happened on or around 19-20 April.

Beginning with the date the revolutionary war against Britain started (19 April 1775, as here) April 19-20, and a few days on either side, has pinpointed many events in the US of great ‘civil unrest’ and/or domestic terrorism, including:

April 19-21, 1985 — ATF raid on Covenant of the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) (linked to the Oklahoma City bombing a decade later)
April 19, 1989 — Explosion on the USS Iowa (possibly sabotage/suicide)
April 19, 1993 — Waco/Branch Davidian raid by FBI/ATF
April 19, 1995 — Oklahoma City Bombing (RB: also re. 17 April ’13 explosion)
April 20, 1999 — Columbine High School massacre
April 20, 2010 — Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil leak in Gulf of Mexico (RB added)

We can now add 15th April for the bomb outrage at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

The latest Update and Commentary covers the accumulation of events throughout last week. I recommend, therefore, taking time to study Bill Koenig’s account, and to read of the ‘coincidental’ birth date of two historical persons – what a surprise!

Should you wish to catch up on events, see Joel Rosenberg’s How It Went Down…

Boston-Saudi Connection?

A lot of focus has been upon the suspected bombers being of Chechen origin but in the middle of the mayhem an injured Saudi ‘person of interest’ was held for questioning. Yet after an unscheduled private meeting between President Obama and Saudi Foreign Minister this student was deported back to S Arabia. WND reported on the Wednesday morning ‘that the ‘Saudi student Alharbi shares the same last name as a major Saudi clan that includes scores of al-Qaida operatives…’.

The previous day, Debka reported their sources indicated links with a Saudi/Al Qaeda terror cell. With more information, Debka later reported the two brothers as the latest in a sequence of double-agents who turned against USA. As usual, Debka reports provide a high measure of rare facts with well-informed speculation.

Iranian Issues

This is added as a footnote. No direct connection is to be inferred with last week’s events. Bill Koenig links his reports to Hadik’s Earth in Transition – A.B.C. (Iran) paper dated November 2011. These cover non-solar related cycles of tectonic activity and forecast increasing disturbances across the mountainous ‘Alpide belt’ stretching from Europe to Indonesia. The Inside Track Report: Earth Disturbance Cycles paper states,

“…an accelerating sequence and an evolving ‘creep’ of earthquakes that point to one conclusion: Iran is due for multiple, massive earthquakes in the next 1-3 years …”

In this regard, his email received last week refers to news of 7.8 and 3.6 magnitude quakes.:

“The nation of Iran has suffered two MAJOR quakes in a single week… and many other smaller quakes surrounding these two. As explained in October & November 2011, Iran has been experiencing an accelerating frequency of earthquakes for over 80 years!

“As also explained 18 months ago, three distinct series of earthquakes were ‘creeping’ across Turkey, Pakistan & Afghanistan – all targeting Iran for ‘massive earthquakes’ in the 2012–2014 time period. As detailed for the last few years, I feel strongly that one of these quakes could trigger a ‘nuclear incident’, similar to what took place in Japan in March 2011. The April 9, 2013 quake hit the same town (Bushehr) as their nuclear reactor!!” [See The Times of Israel 6th June 2013 for details of leaked reports.]

In the West we will not know the full effects of these quakes. But when we recall the goal of Iranian leaders to wipe Israel from the map and we understand that the Living Lord God can act sovereignly to protect His people without human assistance, then just perhaps He’s intervening to change the deadlock in nuclear arms discussions?

“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform” (William Cowper).

What do you think, my reader?

Revd John Kilpatrick: a season change

Posted on Thursday, 11 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ²until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Thus opens Luke’s account of Holy Spirit’s activity through the Apostles: Acts 1)

I wonder, could ‘God-incidence’ be one way of learning about the Kingdom? After all, we’re now in the church calendar’s post-Resurrection period.

Cynics and atheist’s would claim there’s no such thing as God-incidence – it’s fanciful imagination or, at best, only the coincidence of chance. Or it’s simply serendipity: the happy, beneficial occurrence of random, chance events. To believers in Jesus Christ, however, ‘God-incidence’ is just one of many blessings of being in a relationship with Him – especially when it’s instructive about Him and His ways. For example,

The day immediately after my hearing about God bringing a new season, as related by Dr Sharon Stone and associates here in UK, we heard pastor John Kilpatrick over the ‘pond’ in Alabama tell his congregation what he’d heard the Lord say. John introduced his message as follows.:

I got a message I couldn’t wait to preach this morning because every-thing that I’ve talked about so far is relevant. Man! Are y’all ready for this?….I studied all of Friday night at home…I went to bed…I woke about two in the morning and was awake ’til about six…as I lay there awake on the bed, Holy Spirit was just talking to me….

Man, I saw something…I should have seen it…I didn’t even think about it…I’d been busy with other things…but Holy Spirit brought it to my memory right there in the stillness of my bedroom…and the Lord said,

“Tell My people I have brought about a season change.”

John then considered the stresses of life and difficult issues where folk wonder why prayer isn’t doing anything to help and question the lack of response from God. Sound pastoral teaching edifies and encourages everyone. So we unreservedly recommend this for readers who need a strong uplift in their spirit.

It’s interesting that John taught from the prophet Daniel’s vision of the war against the saints by the ‘little horn’ – it prevails until the Ancient of Days comes and pronounces judgement in favour of the people of the Most High:

²¹As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, ²²until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7 NIV)

To learn more, click to watch a briefer, edited version or better still, the full session. If you choose the latter then scroll to 45 minutes for the introduction. At the end John delivers several prophetical words followed by brief, closing worship. At 1hr 46m pastor briefly teaches everyone how to best receive his message and those words. Now this is astounding because what he instructs matches precisely what had been given to me only 6 hours earlier!!! Surely, this serendipity can only have been of God!

(At that morning’s service here, our minister taught about the prophetic gifting and we then practised prophesying over one another. One person had a picture for me that connects directly into and enhances an important one from 1996! Then, 6 hours later, the pastor over in the States used the same concept for everyone…WOW.)

So, dear reader, should you be in need of encouragement for whatever reason then do take time to watch, take in the teaching and wait on Holy Spirit’s words of wisdom. Be interactive! And He’s going to bring more next Sunday…

May you be mightily blessed by our Lord Jesus.

Note for new readers:

A string of over a dozen ‘coincidences’ last year connected to Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Bells was crowned by a God-incident validating that trail’s blessed origin. I learned serendipity is one of four Biblical laws for advancing the Kingdom of God. Next, upon first hearing New Zealander Ian Clayton I noted his describing serendipity in my own terms as being like an orchestra – I doubt he’d read my blog! He considers serendipity to be an activity of God’s Spirit of Wisdom (as in Isaiah 11:2).]

“A season unlike anything I’ve lived in” – Dr Sharon Stone

Posted on Tuesday, 9 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
³The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV)

Note that verse two begins in the imperative mood, ‘Behold!’, or ‘See’ (as in the New International Version of the Holy Bible) – ie. notice and look at how dark the earth has become with a gross/thick (KJV/NIV) darkness upon everyone – rather like today, is it not? Without itemising everything evil that’s afflicting unbelievers and secular leaders most rational folk can tell that a form of unnatural darkness is overtaking mankind.

Transformational and Increasing Glory of God

Now however, there is far more than hope, there’s the supra-natural light that originates in and comes from the Living God. In last Saturday’s mentoring day, Dr Sharon Stone developed upon the opening theme of her prophetic words for 2013. As before, she stresses that busy-ness prevents encountering the glory of God.:

“Right now”, says Sharon, “We’re in a time when we need to cultivate the glory of God in our lives and you need time to be able to do that. And to be glory carriers that attract the glory of God you need to be ‘set apart’. So if you’re so busy you don’t have that time you end up with a theology of God’s glory rather than the intimacy and the relationship, and the presence and the power that the glory of God has the ability to bring.

“I love the scripture that says we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God because…(it can also) mean we were intended to live in the glory of God. And so we have to get to a place where God is restoring that back to us. When Jesus brought us into restoration, glory is one of the things He’s restoring us to.

“Glory can come when we spend time in the manifest presence of Jesus. But we are in a season unlike anything I’ve ever lived in before, one where His glory is more readily available to us than at any time I’ve ever seen. And we’re seeing more of His glory being poured out, we’re hearing of more encounters with the Presence of the Lord – it’s no longer being a wonderful testimony of one out of a thousand people any more, but you’re hearing 99 out of a 100 talking about encounters with the Lord…

“And here’s the reason why we’re talking more about this: we believe the prophetic consensus of the season we’re in is as in Isaiah 60 [see above and full text here].

A definition of God’s glory

“Let me give you a definition: the glory of God is the fullness of ALL that God is and ALL that He has…it is part of His provision, His miracles, His blessings upon you…there is nothing that you desire that is not in the glory of God…

“In that scripture we have contradiction: great glory and great darkness upon the earth. That’s always been a contradiction, but what is different about it right now, there is an extreme in this area now…No longer is it just darkness and glory, now it is great, gross, darkness – but it is not only the glory of Jesus but now it’s also His Presence and His glory rising up on you – and it’s going to bring an attraction of others to you…”

Sharon considers the contrasts in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and reads verses 7-9, which the NIV heads as The Greater Glory of the New Covenant. The NKJV has:

⁷But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, ⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. ¹⁰For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. ¹¹For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

¹²Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— ¹³unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

“There have been those who have been able to put up with your words and overlook you, but they’re not going to be able to ignore the glory that God is going to put on you! (As explained in those latter verses) there is something about the glory of God that is now going to separate you out from others around about you (and those verses) mean the glory is going to be visible to one or more of the five (natural) senses…

“So that means people around you are going to be able to see something, hear some-thing, taste something, feel something or smell something. The glory that’s going to manifest upon us in this day is going to be a mighty, a mighty, witnessing tool and I believe that once we learn to cultivate the glory of God, once we learn how to carry the glory of God, once we know how to attract the glory of God, we’re going to see that it affects relationships around about us….”

So, my reader, it was a privilege to receive such teaching of which this brings a glimpse of a tremendously blessed day. Sharon spoke of her first encounter of the glory when a young pastor and of later learning how to endure its weightier power – verse 16 is key.

At the close, fellow prophets brought words from the Lord, one of which reminded me of what the Lord had once brought to my attention regarding the Wedding of the Bride and Lamb-Lion of God of Rev 21:9). (That insight is recounted in Revival:1 – glory stories.) But what happened in these precious moments cannot be conveyed…

I have learned to be no longer surprised by our God of Surprises because those words and ensuing worship brought time forward and took us deeply in our spirits to…

Our a copy of this prophetic painting was received on Easter Saturday, and about which I wrote in the last two posts. So it’s no wonder I was also hit hard by and had to re-blog “Come, and do not delay, for the hour is near and I would have you for my Bride”!

Of particular interest are James Nesbit’s notes about the origin and connection of this painting to its inspirational predecessor:

May these images speak to you and bring you revelation, light and prophetic insight into the eternal purposes of the King and His Kingdom.

“Having an enemy is a fundamental requirement” – Dr Sharon Stone

Posted on Tuesday, 5 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Lionheart – Richard Coeur de Lion! The above image spoke about my boyhood hero as soon as I espied it. Alone, it lay amidst paintings by James Nesbit at Dr Sharon Stone’s Mentoring Day last weekend. Whilst sipping a quick coffee after arrival, I saw the vendor getting her goods ready. “It’s mine!” I exclaimed and explained why. The meeting was just about to start and so the lady kindly put it aside for me.

This painting complemented several personal impressions and words over the last few years, as well as more recent words brought by prophetical folk (eg. my remarks about HMS Warrior here). But little did I know how it would plug straight into what Sharon was going to say, and into a few things recently happening as well as some destined for the following week! (See previous two postings and comments.)

Below are my notes, hastily scribbled in keeping up with Sharon as she delivered her message entitled.:

Having an enemy is a fundamental requirement!

This season suits God’s prophetic people better than any I’ve known, because we were made for seasons of conflict when people need to hear us and what God is saying. That is, it’s not so much a time for the ministries of apostle, pastor, teacher, evangelist as it is for the prophet.

More than at any other period, we now need to be on time with prophetic words.

Critics say spiritual warfare is no longer required as we can function from a position of ‘rest’. That’s deceptive because our use of weapons needs to be updated from ‘hand-to-hand’ to our enforcing Jesus’ victory by means of decrees from the ‘heavenly courts’. Our enemy – ‘that worm’ – is to be kept underfoot!

We’re at a new level of time. One where we become warriors and overcomers. So having an enemy is a fundamental requirement to achieving that goal !!

We can’t find and move into our destiny without having and overcoming an enemy. King David’s enemy Goliath defined him.
God changed his life as a result of killing that giant. Shepherd boy David moved from obscurity into notoriety as a national hero.
God’s ‘suddenlies’ do occur but we need to deal with our personal giant and not live under its shadow.
God promotes us when we deal with giants.
We never go back to the same defeated giant!

The spiritual enemy signals the part of our life (eg family/generational issues) in which he’s afraid of us because, were we single-minded in it, he would be overcome. That is, issues are not our weakness but our unrecognised strength – we just need to keep up the m o m e n t u m!

The present season is going to show who are heroes and who are cowards!

THIS SEASON IS WHEN THE WORLD AND CHURCH WILL SEE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN AS OUR FAITH GOES ON TRIAL – AND GOD IS WATCHING HOW WE RESPOND AND STAND.

He wants us to be vulnerable to Him and to being inspected by Him.
It’s our faith that refines us by fire and aligns us to our destiny.
All we have to do in this season is to be strong and courageous and to learn as we progress –

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” [Josh 1:9]

[I’d already referred to the early verses in Joshua, which are highlighted in my Bible because they led into the personal prophetic words received in 1996 – as here]

THIS IS THE SEASON FOR THE CHURCH TO BE DEMONSTRATED IN THE WORLD LIKE IT’S NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!

In what we’re not, in all aspects of being a warrior, then we are to be fearless because Jesus Christ is in us and fulfills all that we need; as in 1John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Also, ‘for a great effective door has been opened but there are many adversaries’ (1Cor 16:9).

Whenever an enemy pops up this signals that we’re moving from one season to another through a ‘new door’. [Note: the ‘open door’ again!]

Footnotes:

Waiting upon the Lord a few weeks ago I had a vision of the huge dark green side of a mountain bursting up through the ground in front of me and close to my feet. I believe this may indicate the time has arrived for the manifestation of an open vision I had for the UK. That first vision meant that, as society fell apart, the solid rock that is Jesus Christ would appear (see Comments upon collapse of society). Hence, the imperative need for believers to take a stand upon The Rock.

Readers may wish to read > In case anyone’s puzzled or got questions…

	Yellowyarrow on Veronika West: Urgent Prayer A…
	Richard Barker on Prophecy news ‘Noticeboa…
	Richard Barker on Veronika West: Urgent Prayer A…
	Yellowyarrow on Veronika West: Urgent Prayer A…
	ezraenterprizes@hotm… on Prophecy news ‘Noticeboa…
	Sid Cordle on Reprise 9 years ago – Ch…
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Tag Archives: #Cycles

Developments in EU’s 40-year cycle – Euro crisis

Surprising endorsement of ‘The Fellowship of the Secret’

‘God-incidents’ validate cycles and point to the near future – 1

The Signpost Message and The Shemitah: Mid-Year Progress

What’s weird about writing about Iran

2 of 3: devilish plot to pre-empt the Bible’s ‘endgame’

Amazing ‘coincidences’ – cycles and Shemitah-Jubilee years

1 of 3: The ‘Endgame’ gets ramped up another level

On becoming like Jesus Christ

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Wall St considers Biblical basis of economic crashes

Passover and blood-red moons

The Babylonian aspect of the Church’s ‘New Era’

Number 7 and My Journey into Freedom

PRINCIPLE OF 7 AND MY JOURNEY

INFO – installments of original (2013):

Update on Iranian earthquakes

A New Season: A New Message…

America’s ‘Date of Infamy’ repeated – once again!

Revd John Kilpatrick: a season change

Note for new readers:

“A season unlike anything I’ve lived in” – Dr Sharon Stone

“Having an enemy is a fundamental requirement” – Dr Sharon Stone

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PRINCIPLE OF 7 AND MY JOURNEY

INFO – installments of original (2013):

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