Picking up a golden thread in the Lord’s tapestry

Posted on Thursday, 4 June, 2015 by Richard Barker

In weighing words that prophesy heavenly waves, tides, tsunami and tornado coming to earth, let’s pick up a golden thread that’s also been brought by many – that of God’s glory!

We continue weighing those words with a couple of scriptures:

Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For 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. (Isaiah 60:1-2 NKVJ)

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11 NKJV)

And how do we ‘weigh’ His glory. According to my New Spirit-filled Life Study Bible’s notes for those verses, the Hebrew provides an excellent clue. On Isaiah 60:1 it reads:

‘Glory, chabod (Strong’s#3519): Weightiness; that which is substantial or heavy; glory, honor, splendor, power, wealth, authority…etc. The root chabad, “to be heavy, glorious, notable” or “to be renowned”. In the OT, “heaviness” represented honor and substance, whereas “lightness” was equated with vanity, instability, temporariness, emptiness.’

On John 2:11 the ‘Word Wealth’ note reads:

‘Glory, doxa (Strong’s #1391) Compare “doxology”, “paradox”, “orthodoxy”. Originally an opinion or estimation in which one is held. Then the word came to denote the reputation, good standing and esteem given to a person. The NT doxa becomes splendor, radiance and majesty centered in Jesus. Here (2:1) doxa is the majestic, absolute perfection residing in Christ and evidenced in the miracles He performed.’

The latter concept is the one that probably springs into mind whenever we read or hear of ‘glory’. Yet when the Lord’s holy presence comes into a meeting, a sudden sensation of a weighty atmosphere can be tangibly felt. Very often, those gathered can no longer remain standing but sway or bend, even fall to the floor and remain there for a long time – some refer to it as “being ‘slain’ in the Spirit”.

Recap

In finding yesterday (Wed), then arranging in a seemingly right sequence, three prophetic words for the UK > four waves > tsunami and tornado > the nation will turn, a few things popped into mind as I wrote.

One of them related to having seen in a night vision the brilliance and awesome powerful effect of God’s glory upon heaven opening, rather than referring to the very few occasions it’s fallen on me in meetings.

Simon Braker speaks of a third wave that “swept across the nation and washed the nation clean to the point that it shone!”

Graham Brown reports, “I saw a window opening in heaven and it was gradually going back further and further and further. And then I could hear voices from glory, with the glory of God shining down, upon the tornado and the tsunami.”

The third person, Amanda Wells from Queensland, refers to England “coming into a time of amazing wonders, or supernatural phenomena, and miracles. This is going to manifest in an amazing release of glory breaking out all around you, everywhere you go.”

I’d searched for some information on each person and the words attributed to them. At the last of the three, I went to her website and learned about Amanda’s experience in the Glory during her recent visit to Europe. Her account on 12th March reads as follows (emphases mine):

“YOU’VE DECLARED IT; AND I’VE ESTABLISHED IT!”

‘I have just returned from a ministry trip to the UK and Germany and while I was there had an amazing encounter with God that has totally changed my life. The words ‘You’ve Declared It; and I’ve Established It,’ resounded in my spirit for the 3 weeks I was there!

‘This generation is at a pivotal time. Things are shifting. The heavens are leaning in and angels are watching and showing up…. God is moving and shifting things in ways we’ve never anticipated or expected. Are we ready?

‘Hope for tomorrow and strength for today is found in Jesus. It is entirely, completely and always found in Him. His love is unending and faithful. His grace and mercy always true. Through the years He’s always been there and He will always be. The single greatest tragedy in the people of this generation is a lack of encounter with Him. [Nathan Morris often stresses this point. RB] We are continually trying to push forward, without stopping to connect with heaven so as to download what we see and hear onto the earth. For the past four years when I pray before I preach, I have sensed to say the same thing, ‘ Your kingdom come today, let Heaven be on earth today and signs and wonders follow the Word’.

‘After declaring this in the first meeting in the UK, just 4 hours after a long 28-hour flight, I heard the Lord say, “You’ve declared it, and I have now established it”. Suddenly God broke out in amazing healings, but also ‘wonders’, that had everyone astounded. Pastors struck dumb, young teens struck dumb, some frozen in the one position for hours, older people in their late 70’s – 80’s seeing and hearing the angelic realm, to name a few occurrences that happened.

‘God gave me a word that has laid heavily on me for the few weeks, for the United Kingdom and for Australia. It came out of Isaiah 8 v 18 (a) ‘Behold, I and the children, whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders… This is the time of wonders, outstanding signs and wonders. England is coming into a time of amazing wonders, supernatural phenomena in an unprecedented outpouring, where the River is being poured out like we have never seen before.

‘During this trip God gave me a message that I have never preached or looked at before, about the Glory. I saw a picture of myself in darkness yet ascending up a mountain and as I was on top I saw God’s glory in a cloud descending upon me. The Lord then showed me how the Glory, isn’t for us to just enjoy but it is His invitation to marriage, and the bedchamber. The cloud or as the Hebrews call it ‘a huppah’ is where the bridegroom sends out an incredible invitation, He calls, ‘will you marry Me.’ Is it any wonder the Israelites were in mortal fear as they heard not just One voice but a voice that thundered from the Heavens, ‘will you marry Me?’

‘The Hebrew for thunder and lightenings is ‘glorified voices of fire’. Can you imagine back in that day, hearing God cry ‘”Will you marry Me?”. Only one responded, Moses! (You can purchase the MP3 ‘the cloud of Glory, please contact me) ‘Christ in us, the Hope of Glory’.

‘Our link to heaven and our intimacy with the King is the hope for the world. How we connect with Jesus, and how through that connection we live THROUGH Him and not just for Him will result in revival. Great is His faithfulness. We can’t perform on Sunday our way forward; we can’t make the things of heaven happen here on earth, apart from Him. We declare it and He establishes it, but as He establishes, we have to believe and receive His signs and wonders! The signs and the wonders are released, when we lean in.

‘When we press in. When we lay aside our best plans and rise up in all that He is through us. He’s always been here, and He is leaning toward us today. I made a fresh commitment in the UK to lean in more, to encounter more, to ‘wait on the Lord’ longer, and to live in the presence of heaven. In all I do: in life, ministry and business, I want to live in heaven and see it manifest on earth. I want to partner with heaven.

‘I want to live in a prophetic realm where angels dance and sing and all the answers I could ever need and they are poured out like a waterfall, ever flowing, from His River, always available.

‘Champions, who are brave enough to stand and live in freedom, need to live in prayer, presence and worship leading to a constant encounter!

‘The world needs a revival. They need refreshing. They’re struggling, groping and seeking for something to change…for something to shift. We are their shifting point, we are the alignment they need, and we are the conduits that heaven uses to download into the earth.

‘This is a pivotal time and all of heaven stands waiting. Will you join me? Will you lean into an encounter with Him and be the manifestation that all creation is crying out for?’

Amanda Wells

Thank you Lord – and Amanda, as well as Kingdom Vision for posting her on their site. Oh Lord, let this be time for your Glory, as seen on Norman James’ face 20 years ago when he was blessed with the same vision of Britain his prayer-partner Wigglesworth had (as here). Amen, and again amen.

To conclude, we have very encouraging words from the Lord to our prophetically gifted brethren and which we’re obliged to weigh carefully. Also, I think we’ve come across yet more pieces to the ‘Invisible Jigsaw’!

Note: Mentoring Day part 2 outlines principles of prophetic decrees and declarations.

[Featured image credit: St Takla Haymanout Coptic Orthodox church, Alexandria]

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 – 2

Posted on Tuesday, 21 April, 2015 by Richard Barker

A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

To continue from part 1 on the significance of 40 and 55 years periods and how the latter had cropped up in a video on a Wednesday, followed by an insight into it on the Thursday…

Next came an astounding surprise on the Friday – making a triplet of consecutive ‘coincidences’, again!

An extraordinary confirmation

I was completely unaware on Thursday 26th March that a Richard Barker – my namesake – had emailed me. However, in the busy-ness of getting a blog published that afternoon I’d not checked incoming mail. Unusually for our regular long weekends off-line, I was ‘nudged’ to check my email on the Friday.

I was amazed to find one not only from someone with my name, but also because what he wrote covered the very subject matter I’d heard on the Wednesday evening – ie., Dr O’s brief remark about the early Church’s rejection of its Jewish roots. This was on the evening before Richard emailed me!

We’re both writers, retired Civil Servants and our journeys in Jesus have a common factor which has taken us along different paths, which have now crossed. Taking the decisive step in 1970 to follow Jesus, Richard joined the evangelical Reformed Church. After studying the early Church Fathers, however, he became convinced the Reformers were mistaken and was received into the Catholic Church 15 years ago.

My journey went from Catholicism of my childhood to the ‘New Age’ when a young man and engaged in occultism until Jesus rescued and ‘saved’ me in 1989. Then, to provide a solid Biblical grounding, He put me in a ‘Free’ Baptist church and a few years later I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. Subsequently, I received training and practised prayer counselling and deliverance ministry, and after moving and marrying entered ‘the River’ that honours the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements, as well as the prophetic.

So, I appreciate the other Richard’s Catholic, ex-Calvinist perspective as being highly informative as well as interesting.

Moreover, Richard’s profound encounter with Holy Spirit in July 2013 introduced him to the prophetic and revelatory realm, about which he has been led to write. This brought about a deep interest in Apostle Paul and he ‘stumbled upon’ my blog in doing a search on his own name and his e-book centred on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – and which he’d published that very day!

[It’s noteworthy that another writer blogged that same month about an exciting trend of the Spirit drawing Christians together. Also, a New Era for the church was dawning, as prophesied by many; eg. Keith Powell spoke of “2011 being pivotal” and Bill Johnson upon 1st September being a turning point in the UK – see ‘2011’ in Library.]

So it’s good that Richard can think outside the institutional box, and especially in being blessed by Holy Spirit’s direct revelation – and is being faithful to what he’s received.

My namesake has kindly allowed me to quote his email about a prophecy he believes the Holy Spirit gave him,

“…the main thrust (of which) concerns the re-unification of the churches and also the reconciliation of our Jewish Fathers of the Faith with their Gentile children (us) whom according to Paul have been incorporated into the Kingdom ahead of them to “provoke them to jealousy” (Rom 11:11). That reconciliation I believe will be achieved when the churches (not least Rome) acknowledge misunderstandings concerning the promises to the Jews in the Old Testament (pertaining to “the fellowship of the secret” (Eph 3:9-11 Greek) which I am clear nobody has really understood including myself until my encounter with the Spirit.”

On the last point and in view of his background, Richard has probably realised that the Replacement Theology taught since the early Church is widely recognised as an error. Nevertheless, as he states, a higher revelation beyond most theological understanding could be emerging.

The concept of inter-denomination reconciliation/re-unification to which Holy Spirit has led Richard reminds me of the words Heidi Baker brought last October on a new move of God within the UK, for which this brief extract cannot do justice:

“There’s going to be a movement of unity in the UK that’s going to shake the world, says the Lord. I hear the prophetic word of the Lord. It’s going to flow through the universities and the colleges of the universities. It’s going to flow through denomination and the non-denominations. There’s going to be a move of unity within the Body of Christ.

“… There’s going to be something that the people of other faiths are going to see in this nation, as believers come together in radical love.

“… There’s going to be another historical move of God…

“…And there’s something specific happening as you start just lining up in this unity. There’s going to be a unity beyond anything the UK’s ever seen. It’s like there’s something, I feel like you’re going to become like these radical lovers of God that’s going to cross all denominations, all the barriers.” (Emphases reflect emphasis in Heidi’s voice.)

The ‘Mysteries’

Richard and I share an appreciation of the Kingdom ‘mysteries’, or secrets, as in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. About the time of blogging An insight into the supra-natural I searched out all NT references on ‘mysteries’ in my study Bible, highlighted and mulled over them – including Jesus’ comment to His disciples,

“To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside all things come in parables….” (Mark 4:11 NKJV)

I particularly note Apostle Paul’s quiet sojourn in Arabia where he must have deepened his relationship with the living Lord thereby beginning a life of revelations on “The Way” of Christ. There’s frequent reference throughout his letters to his personal insights.

I look forward to reading Richard’s prophetical-cum-theological ‘take’ in his e-book The Fellowship of The Secret. He describes it as identifying, “the key that unlocks an age-enduring mystery surrounding the apparent disconnection between OT prophecy and the out-working of the Church/Gospel age.”

This claim, however, is not so new or surprising to those who study prophetic scripture outside the confines of the Catholic or Reformed churches, especially in view of the latter’s wide consensus on the cessation of Holy Spirit’s activity after the 1st Century.

In the overview of his e-book (as above link), Richard focuses upon Paul’s statement in Ephesians 3:8-11 about his personal revelations. I especially appreciate this conclusion regarding the mutual failure in Jews and early Christians to understand one another:

“…Christendom’s part pertains to a failure to grasp the “the fellowship of the secret” – its implications to broader providence and God’s as yet unfulfilled terrestrial promises to the nation He first chose for Himself.”

Dipping into the extracts Richard makes available online, I like his hammering home on what the Church has lost and missed, and especially note the following from the first chapter ‘The Hidden Dispensation’ of ‘The Fellowship of the Secret’:

“The New Testament “elephant in the room”: the biblically unexplained and largely undebated non-fulfilment (or subversion) of scriptural prophecy regarding the terrestrial and political aspects of the Jewish apocalypse pertains to a secret disclosure, revealed to and through Paul of which I was previously unaware but now realise is the key to understanding Old Testament prophecy…”

Preceding that section Richard’s remarks are of direct relevance to recent posts on this blog about keys to and unsealing of the Book of Daniel, with emphasis added:

“In the religious sphere an on-going learning curve has been guaranteed through the intentionally cryptic profundity of Holy Scripture that was never intended to be entirely unravelled until the end of the age, for it contains at least one significant mystery (or secret) that was not to be disclosed until such a time (Dan 12:1-4 & 7; Rev 10:4,7)…”

I suspect that those who love to sink their teeth into a theological treatise topped by a prophetic icing will gain by reading my namesake’s e-book – especially in broadening our own understanding of End-times. I certainly will.

For details on Richard’s blog click > The Fellowship of the Secret. (updated 20.4.16)

Summary

Reflecting on all this I notice the trio of ‘coincidental’ and thereby significant events, took place over 3 successive days, making an excellent example of ‘God-incidence’. That is, one that confirms and validates what I’d heard and recalled, as shared above.

All this suggests the Lord’s invisible hand is distributing keys to a complex network that connects Biblical and private prophecies and events to interweave them with historical cycles, as well as with personal destinies – wheels within wheels.

Next, we consider a 70-years period and how it points to 2017, as well as confirmatory teachings Charlie Shamp brought at the Passover-Easter conference; eg., on Daniel, the Age to Come, Blood Moons, the Temple and the Old Testament power behind Islam; taking us full circle and up another level – what else!

To be continued

Images credit:

Freedigitaliphotos.net kindly supplied the following courtesy of

Digitalart, ‘Burning Heart’.

‘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’.

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]

An insight into global satanic strategy – part 2

Posted on Saturday, 21 February, 2015 by Richard Barker

Timing in publishing this follow-on, 700th post is exceptionally fascinating not only for its confirmation in directly related news from Washington but also in other details. I will explain in next post; meanwhile, may you too be blessed with insights as you read:

Continuing from Part 1 let’s consider further the revelatory ‘jigsaw piece’ found whilst musing upon satan’s strategy to avoid the Lake of Fire. It came whilst reading specialist historian Paul Crawford’s Four Myths About The Crusades. His solid, illuminating essay on president Bill Clinton’s unsound premise to his remarks on the 9/11 attack also apply to Barack Obama’s recently equating Christianity to Islamist butchery of Christians. Paul’s paper exposes falsehoods behind and adroitly disposes of the following:

Myth #1: The Crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world.
Myth #2: Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich.
Myth #3: Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives.
Myth #4: The Crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians.

Part 1 of this post briefly summarised Myth #3 and I concluded:

“The period of the Enlightenment with its liberal intellectual and philosophical attitudes nourished a growing rejection of religion, agnosticism and atheism. So a jaundiced view of Christian scripture and history developed. Thus, the Western intelligentsia began to put a twist upon the Crusades.”

His paper deserves to be studied in full and in view of its importance in this part I shall quote more extensively, adding emphases where appropriate:

The Muslim Attitude to the Crusades

Dr Crawford begins answering Myth #4 by stating part of the answer lies in that for Myth #1 – ie. Muslims had attacked Christians for centuries ever since the inception of Islam. His answer to the first myth succinctly summarises what was happening, as itemised on 7 pages by Dr Bill Warner on Political Islam, and which show that ‘jihadic’ attacks and strategic advances occurred on average every 5 years for 460 years!

Paul continues by stating Muslims “needed no further incentive to continue (jihad). But there’s a more complicated answer here…”.

“…until quite recently, Muslims remembered the crusades as an instance in which they had beaten back a puny western Christian attack…(One) of Lawrence of Arabia’s letters (describes) a confrontation during post-World War I negotiations (over) a case for French interest in Syria going back to the crusades, which Faisal (later Faisal I of Iraq). dismissed with a cutting remark: “But, pardon me, which of us won the crusades?”

He goes on to state that before WW1 most Muslims had a similar, if any, attitude to the Crusades,

“…that is, when Muslims bothered to remember them at all, which was not often. Most of the Arabic-language historical writing on the crusades before the mid-19th century was produced by Arab Christians, not Muslims, and most of that was positive…There was no Arabic word for “crusades” until that period, either…It had not seemed important to Muslims to distinguish the crusades from other conflicts between Christianity and Islam…As Carole Hillenbrand has noted, “The Muslim response to the coming of the Crusades was initially one of apathy, compromise and preoccupation with internal problems”.

“The first Muslim crusade history did not appear until 1899. By that time, the Muslim world was rediscovering the crusades — but it was rediscovering them with a twist learned from Westerners.”

At this point our author has introduced a new angle: the influence of modern European schools of thought. This was covered in Part 1 of this post for the purpose of leading into an appreciation of how Muslims’ attitudes towards the Crusades changed radically in the early decades of the 20th Century. As Crawford explains:

“At the same time, nationalism began to take root in the Muslim world. Arab nationalists borrowed the idea of a long-standing European campaign against them from the former European school of thought – missing the fact this was a serious mischaracterization of the crusades and using this distorted understanding as a way to generate support for their own agendas.

“This remained the case until the mid-20th century, when, in Riley-Smith’s words, “a renewed and militant Pan-Islamism” applied the more narrow goals of the Arab nationalists to a worldwide revival of what was then called Islamic fundamentalism and is now sometimes referred to, a bit clumsily, as jihadism.

“This led rather seamlessly to the rise of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, offering a view of the crusades so bizarre as to allow bin Laden to consider all Jews to be crusaders and the crusades to be a permanent and continuous feature of the West’s response to Islam.

“Bin Laden…is no more accurate in his view about the crusades than he is about the supposed perfect Islamic unity which he thinks Islam enjoyed before the baleful influence of Christianity intruded. But the irony is that he, and those millions of Muslims who accept his message, received that message originally from their perceived enemies: the West.

“So it was not the crusades that taught Islam to attack and hate Christians. Far from it. Those activities had preceded the crusades by a very long time, and stretch back to the inception of Islam. Rather, it was the West which taught Islam to hate the crusades. The irony is rich.”

Conclusion

The last leads Paul Crawford ‘back to the present’ in asking how much of president Bill Clinton’s Georgetown speech of 2001 was accurate, especially his emphatic assertion that the story of the Crusades was “still being told today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it!”.

“This is the most serious misstatement of the whole passage. What we are paying for is not the First Crusade, but western distortions of the crusades in the nineteenth century which were taught to, and taken up by, an insufficiently critical Muslim world.

In drawing everything together, this specialist in the history of the Crusades offers his opinion:

“The problems with Mr Clinton’s remarks indicate the pitfalls that await those who would attempt to explicate ancient or medieval texts without adequate historical awareness, and they illustrate very well what happens when one sets out to pick through the historical record for bits—distorted or merely selectively presented—which support one’s current political agenda. This sort of abuse of history has been distressingly familiar where the crusades are concerned.

Thank you Paul Crawford for such an excellent examination and clarification of a crucial current issue. (Paul is an Associate Professor at California University of Pennsylvania – also see his bio at Queen Mary University of London, and The Intercollegiate Review.)

The Diabolical Spin

Clearly, as shown above, the “Father of Lies” has been spinning his worldwide web of deceit, to which a surprising confirmation has been given this week and will be revealed in the next post.

Out of the post-Reformation intellectual freedom that eventually led to the rejection of most Judeo-Christian values, was born an anti-Christian mind-set that deliberately warps any spiritual understanding. It eventually affected not only traditional Christian beliefs but also associated historical facts.

Into his engineered ungodliness Satan could sow seeds of disbelief to twist and poison intellectual integrity. This serves his strategy to disunite and weaken Christianity further by falsified history harnessed to intellectual dishonesty and arrogance to belittle, blame and persecute the church of Jesus Christ.

“But Jesus…”

UPDATE: current security concerns led to a relevant development upon this thesis, as revealed in Anti-terrorism summit confirms this week’s insight.

MORE: this theme develops further in 1 of 3: the ‘End-game’ gets ramped up a level.

[‘Hand Holding Puzzle Piece’ by Ponsulak, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

An insight into a global satanic strategy – part 1

Posted on Thursday, 19 February, 2015 by Richard Barker

A nuance new to me of our enemy’s tactics has come to light which seriously affects politicians’ and public’s perceptions. As in the caveat to Paws 4 thought, it’s a topic I’d much rather not blog about, but current events require this information to be shared. It should help you to understand the huge, beguiling deception blinding national leaders.

An “aha!” moment instigated continuation of those musings. Long-standing readers may recall, like my friend and fellow End-times teacher-author ‘Neil Mac’, that ‘jigsaw pieces’ occasionally bring revelation ‘out-of-the-blue’.

After popping a small ‘piece’, the last link, into my brief comment to the re-blog of Joel Rosenberg’s post on the war against Christianity, it struck me that link is part of an ‘invisible’ jigsaw. Not exactly as depicted in this photo by Ponsulak, it seemed like I’d inserted a ‘piece’ into a large puzzle, part of which covers Islamist actions.

To the first ‘puzzle pieces’, or links to comments on US National Prayer Breakfast, I added two more on the Crusades. It was upon later reading the last of these four at leisure that I was struck by it’s being like a piece connecting one area to another (rather like Salvatore Vuono’s picture here).

That ‘piece’ connects the modern revival of Islam in all its original barbarity that overflowed from Arabia 1,500 years ago with my musings on the Devil’s plot to avoid the Lake of Fire. Now, it’s not the fact that this phenomena is part (5) of my historical evidence, but more the facts emerging from further analysis that brought a better perspective.

Historical Evidence cont’d

In those musings we considered just a few events to support my thesis that satan is the source of anti-Semitism and Christian disunity. There’s a ‘rationale’ to such a strategy. Nowadays,we’re brainwashed into ignoring the historical facts behind Christianity’s massive reaction 920 years ago to 460 years of jihad – widespread strategic attacks and invasions. That is, it all started 1,380 years ago – and ISIS/ISIL want the whole world to regress not improve! (Hence, my re-blog’s link to Dr Warner’s itemised listing.)

Also, militant Muslims, backed by mendacious academics in Western universities, use that twisting of historical facts to pretend they’re victims of the Crusades: but in actual fact, Muslims came out as the winners!!

What is deeply disturbing is the fact that presidents Clinton and Obama were duped, or else wallowed in self-imposed ignorance, about the Crusades – and displayed this in public! My readers in the States will be aware of the outcry following Remarks by the President at National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on 5th February when Mr Obama said, and I underscore the cause of the issue:

“…we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it. We see ISIL, a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism…and claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions…[examples of sectarian wars] a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of religion

“So how do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities…operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends?

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ…”

To his credit the President didn’t refer to deep anti-Semitism that had riddled European churches since the ‘early Church fathers’ and led up to the Holocaust. (Reformer Martin Luther was renowned for his strident, ungodly dislike of Jews!)

Even so, cluelessness masks deep disingenuity over the recent anti-Semitic murders of French and Danish Jews, as Elliot Abrams (Senior Fellow at the CFR and just one among myriad experts) pointedly questions and explains, Why can’t the White House see Terrorism and anti-Semitism? (see his linked lead-in post too).

Franklin Graham, outspoken son of Billy Graham, took issue with Obama’s comments, as emphasised above. On his Facebook page the evangelist sought to correct them:

“Today at the National Prayer Breakfast, the President implied that what ISIS is doing is equivalent to what happened over 1000 years ago during the Crusades and the Inquisition. Mr. President–Many people in history have used the name of Jesus Christ to accomplish evil things for their own desires. But Jesus taught peace, love and forgiveness. He came to give His life for the sins of mankind, not to take life. Mohammad on the contrary was a warrior and killed many innocent people. True followers of Christ emulate Christ—true followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed.”

A fortnight later Franklin asks about the butchery in Libya,

“…In a statement the White House even called the 21 Christians who were beheaded “Egyptian citizens,” refusing to identify them as Christians. The truth is–their barbaric murderers openly said they killed them because they were “people of the cross.” Why is the President seemingly continuing to protect Islam and refusing to open his eyes to the truth?” (emphasis added)

The essential point, as in several earlier posts, is to compare the founders of both faiths – that of Islam just doesn’t, and cannot, bare comparison with Jesus.

William Koenig’s perspective on this as an accredited journalist at the White House and editor-in-chief of World Watch Daily is worth noting too:

“An important point to remember is that President Obama’s speeches have a specific audience or audiences in mind. At the National Prayer Breakfast…he equated the Christian (ie. Catholic) Crusades with radical Islam’s brutality. Moreover, he neglected to contrast the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, who came as the Savior to the world, with the brutality of Mohammed, who attempted to dominate and terrorize the world…

“What did Muslims hear? A Muslim apologist who happens to be the President of the United States, and who calls himself a Christian, lectured Christians not to be on a “high horse”. He equated horrific Muslim violence with Christians who resorted to violence in two specific periods in history.”

This furore comes as no surprise. I questioned the President’s claims to be “a student of history” in his 2009 Cairo speech, which benefitted the Muslim Brotherhood. To the very deep disquiet and legitimate suspicion of many Americans, the MB since infiltrated and became too influential within the US administration, as lawyer and author Joseph Klein recently maintained in Obama Bolsters the Brotherhood.

Also refer to Tuesday’s article by Ephraim Karsh, professor emeritus of Kings College London, on White House Delusions, Islamist Realities, wherein he tells what happened after Cairo. UK readers will find relevant material by searching on ‘Cordoba foundation’ and ‘UK islam and democracy conference’ by Global MB Watch.

‘Four Myths About The Crusades’

Historian Paul Crawford’s above-titled article is the revelatory ‘jigsaw piece’ referred to above. It was first published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2011, but I found it through the Catholic News Agency. It gave me a new perspective into another tactic used by the Devil against Christianity. This scholarly paper should be recommended reading for every serious student of history; click to read in full.

The author, a specialist teacher of medieval history, opens by referring to Bill Clinton’s speech in 2001 where he, like Obama, excused the perpetrators of 9/11 by comparing them to medieval crusaders!

Crawford’s well-reasoned and illuminating essay exposes the falsehoods behind and adroitly disposes of:

Myth #1: The crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world.
Myth #2: Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich.
Myth #3: Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives.
Myth #4: The crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians.

What opened my eyes to a nuance in the devilish scheme to avoid the fiery lake was a scenario cloaked within the facts underlying Myths #3 and #4, for which the scholar’s opening gambit to the first (#3) reads:

“This has been a very popular argument, at least from Voltaire on. It seems credible and even compelling to modern people, steeped as they are in materialist worldviews. And certainly there were cynics and hypocrites in the Middle Ages…

“In the modern period, there were two main European schools of thought about the crusades. One school, epitomized by people like Voltaire, Gibbon, and Sir Walter Scott, and in the twentieth century Sir Steven Runciman, saw the crusaders as crude, greedy, aggressive barbarians who attacked civilized, peace-loving Muslims to improve their own lot. The other school, more romantic…saw the crusades as a glorious episode in a long-standing struggle in which Christian chivalry had driven back Muslim hordes. In addition, Western imperialists began to view the crusaders as predecessors, adapting their activities in a secularized way that the original crusaders would not have recognized or found very congenial…”

Free from church controls, the Enlightenment’s intellectual and philosophical liberality nourished a growing rejection of religion, agnosticism and atheism. So a jaundiced view of Christian scripture and history developed. Consequently, Western intelligentsia put their own twist upon the Crusades.

Part 2 will look at how this diabolical spin generated Myth #4; that the Crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians – and the implicit activity of the “Father of Lies” in avoiding his ultimate demise.

[‘Hand Holding Puzzle Piece’ and ‘Puzzle’ courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

Incredible timing of ‘unsealing’ and ‘keys’ re. Daniel’s visions

Posted on Monday, 2 February, 2015 by Richard Barker

Extraordinary!

“By the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established”. (Deut 19:15 NKJV)

This must rank as one of the most amazing examples of ‘God-incidence’ I’ve ever come across. And it’s Invisible Jigsaw and Bridge over the ‘Pond’ tags all rolled into one! (Not to mention anything to do with ‘Time’, as blogged a year ago.)

Just in case readers didn’t notice a brief but significant contribution to the last post, On unsealing Daniel’s prophetic visions, I’m repeating it below. Also, a huge “Thank you” to all who liked that post. My post was published on Saturday morning (31 Jan 2015). Tony Puccio commented later in the day: “It’s amazing you post this Richard. Look at the vision the Lord showed me.”…. Continue reading →

Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain?

Posted on Tuesday, 11 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

Are subtle changes in the British and American political scene afoot, and is there a spiritual link between them?

Could a positive trend relating to revival come from the ‘mother’ nation to its ‘adult child’? A trend that includes a rebellious, corrective ‘fight-back’ from Christians!

Reading a few remarks on the US mid-term election results, comments upon our fuel prices and on the Labour party leader’s about-face, a provocative notion popped into mind. Just like one of my loaves it began to rise, and my premise is submitted for what it may be worth. Now it’s out of the ‘oven’ and not half-baked, I’d value your tasting and opinion, so kindly bear with me.

Let’s bite and chew upon these facts as they emerged over weekend 7-9th November:

1. Rick Joyner’s prophetic bulletin arrived whilst I was drafting POTUS’ party pummelled and, although I’d only skimmed it, his careful consideration of the results was evident. He’s of the opinion the GOP now has a mandate from the people – but not necessarily so, because turn-out was low with Democrat supporters staying away in droves. One could, however, argue they couldn’t care less, or that their own president’s policies are so chronic his voters are against him. Moreover, the mandate comes from many who are sufficiently concerned about state of the Union to express this by their vote.

Rick suggests two main questions need answering very quickly with the new Congress:

Will Republican leaders lead with the resolution needed to fulfill their mandate?
Will President Obama now work with Congress to make the mandated changes or will he become an obstructionist President? (Do leopards change spots? RB)

He refers to Bill Clinton’s wise course of action after a mid-term rebuke as shown in his working with Republicans and their ‘Contract with America’. Incumbent Obama has the same choice but, “If he doesn’t get the message and act accordingly, it will get very ugly, and impeachment will not be off the table for the abundance of crimes committed by his Administration”. (Now where did I blog about that? – ah yes, on 4th June 2013.)

Rick comments upon voters’ main concerns as revealed in exit polls and I noted nearly half (45%) saw the American economy as an issue. In recommending how GOP should proceed, he refers to Joshua’s defeat at the battle of Ai and how he learned to prevail and concludes:

To effectively deal with the threats to our existence that are still gathering against us, it is imperative that we throw off the extreme devotion to political correctness that has blinded us from seeing or confronting some of the biggest threats…

After elections that seemed to go in our favor, Christians and conservatives have often relaxed. Some would just go back to sleep. If that happens now, it can prove fatal…

“This election was a great victory, but it is just the beginning of getting America back on course. This is no time to let up, and this is no time to become arrogant.

[FYI: Rick Joyner is a founder of ‘a grassroots movement to unite, mobilize, equip, and activate Christians to be the salt and light they are called to be by engaging in the great issues of our time from a sound biblical worldview’ known as The Oak Initiative. Its rise was rapid across all 50 states and over 50 nations worldwide, as well as attracting over 300 Christian leaders.]

2. Friday’s Eye View From The White House from William Koenig connected right into Rick’s remarks about Clinton. He opens from his personal, frontline coverage with header; Defiant Obama Completely Misses the Point of His Political Party’s Shellacking (transl: ‘thrashing’)

I was at President Obama’s White House press conference Wednesday afternoon. As I listened to him explain what happened in the 2014 mid-term election, I thought, “Does he really not understand that this election was a shellacking about him and his failed agenda? Is he that far removed from reality or in total denial?” This was one of the largest political defeats in modern election history at all levels of government, both national and state.

But Obama refuses to take responsibility despite the fact that his political party did not invite him to do any national or local political campaigning, which he said he loves to do…

As Obama’s yet to learn from the 2010 fiasco, as in this from BBC on ‘shellacking’, the chances of his now changing attitude seem negligible!

Bill’s review continues with quotations from leading left- and right-wing journalists who hammer Obama’s denial and defiance of sweeping GOP gains in the Senate, House and governorships. He also quotes National Review’s article on the Democrats in States Legislature sinking to levels only known prior to the Great Depression!!

3. The most surprising element of Bill Koenig’s ‘Eye View’ is on Christians’ decisive role in the Democrats’ demise! Political involvement by churches in the US is regarded by Brits as an American peculiarity, probably because of our centuries of politico-religious conflicts and state-established Anglican church presided over by the monarch. Yet we need to be aware and appreciate what’s happened…

The Faith & Foundation Coalition report upon a post-election survey showing, ‘Self-Identified Conservative Christians Comprised Record Share of the Electorate, Backed GOP Candidates by 8 to 1 Margin’. Bill quotes FFC founder Ralph Reed,

Their share of the electorate exceeded that of the African-American vote, Hispanic vote, and union vote combined. Religious conservative voters and the issues they care about are here to stay. They will be equally vital in 2016. Politicians of both parties ignore this constituency at their peril.

It’s instructive to note the Christian share of the vote was almost 1 in 3 and that those who identified themselves as believers voted as follows:

conservative – 82%:12% GOP:Dem (approx 52.4% GOP vote-share)
evangelical – 82%:18% GOP:Dem (constitute 23% electorate)
Catholic – 70%:30% GOP:Dem (constitute 9% electorate)

4. On Saturday I read about the reasons UK motorists are being ripped off and this cast doubt on claims about the state of the US economy being a major factor in the election results.

In his Business Comment, Allister Heath explains horrendous tax rates are the real reason why petrol is still so expensive and that international oil prices are directly connected to the petro-dollar. This is only one reason why falling prices are not quickly reflected in pump prices. A drop in price can be cancelled out by weak value of sterling against US dollar, as is happening today. “The value of the pound has slumped to a 14-month low against the dollar, partly as a result of strong employment figures from the US.”

Costs at the pump are hiked up by fuel duty and value-added tax totalling 63.4% of retail price. [At 1.60 £/$, petrol at just under £1.25/litre = $2.00. So 1 gallon here costs £5.68 = $9.10 : that is, $7.60/gallon (US).]

So, I thought this commentator’s remark ran contrary to US exit-poll reasons. Of course what really counts is voters’ personal perception and experience of economic realities. It is another thing for economists to look at leading indicators showing the US economy is now strengthening (eg. Guardian’s Trevor Williams, Calm down financial markets; the message on UK and US growth is good).

5. Then in the same paper I espied an op-ed’s strap-line ‘Sooner or later a line has to be drawn – and anti-Semitism is surely a good place to start’. Dan Hodges’ Politics has become detached from morality opens on Tory strategists’ ideas to counter UKIP’s poaching conservative voters. Apparently, UKIP Leader Farage did a deal with a notorious extremist leader of a far-right Polish party who admires Hitler and denies his involvement in the Holocaust. But the author changes tack, as follows…

After the week’s reports of challenges to Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour party, it is noteworthy that Dan writes, “This week a voice was raised against anti-Semitism. It was that of Ed Milibrand…on his Facebook page (he said) ‘We need a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism in the UK and reaffirm our revulsion to it in all its forms’…”

Not so laudable as it seems, because its belies his 3-line whip preventing Labour MPs’ free vote in the motion favouring a Palestinian state (see MPs ignore Koranic scholar’s warning). Miliband’s ardent support for Palestinian goals seems mutually exclusive to any concerns over anti-Semitism and, by inference over anti-Israel sentiment.

Dan exposes the hypocrisy of Milband’s insistence upon a ‘zero-approach’:

A clear and principled statement. Except, it wasn’t a clear and principled statement, but a statement born of political calculation.

A week earlier, Miliband had received a high-profile rebuke from Labour supporter Maureen Lipman. “Just when the anti-Semitism in France, Denmark, Norway, Hungary is mounting savagely, just when our cemeteries and synagogues and shops are once again under threat”, she wrote in Standpoint magazine, “in steps Mr Miliband to demand that the government recognise the state of Palestine”.

Lipman’s comments, in particular her concern about the Labour leader’s silence over anti-Semitic attacks, were quickly echoed by other senior members of the Jewish community.

So 24 hours later that silence was suddenly broken. Reporters at the Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News were phoned with quotes condemning a recent attack on Luciana Berger, the Jewish Labour MP. And a couple of days later, Miliband’s Facebook article appeared.

H O L D O N – wot woz zat?

Suddenly, I sense an invisible jigsaw again taking shape…

A corrective trend?

I’d closed my previous post by quoting Apostle Paul on the futility of our mocking God’s ways and precepts, as in the earliest document of the New Testament. Also, I related it to the acceleration in applying that law as recently taught by Neville Johnson.

So now I’m suddenly struck, not by the Labour’s leader’s expedient about-turn, but by the fact of his leadership being challenged that week – see How Labour rebels turned on their leader. This isn’t at all surprising as a consequence of the party’s deep decline in Scotland.

But there may be another dimension to all this…a provocative notion springs to mind: I’m struck by the possibility he may be reaping what he’s sown against Israel.

Now, where did I note a similar party political upheaval before? Answer: Alex Salmond and his failed personal ambition to persuade Scotland to vote for leaving the UK! As a result, he stood down from leadership of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

Moreover, in blogging on Salmond’s possible Islamist stance, I noted he’s vociferously anti-Israel. Perhaps the Lord ensured he reaped his reward for what he’d sown against His people? And perhaps the most appropriate time was an election/referendum?

After the ground was shaken from under the Scottish First Minister, the notion popped into mind that this may the reason it’s starting to shake under Ed Miliband’s feet too?

And it’s happened in the very same week for POTUS and the Democrats! Obama mocked the Lord God throughout his tenure, has been against Israel and displays personal animosity towards its Prime Minister (click image to read why). As the renowned investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield now blogs at ‘Sultan Knish’, The Democratic Party’s Civil War is Here.

Also, lest we forget, two Christian leaders prophesied about Benjamin Netanyahu being elected into office for more than a single term, one as far back as 1980 (as told here). Therefore, he is the Lord’s man for this time in Israel’s history.

To summarise:

the above political leaders have made declarations and decisions in varying measure inimical to the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and have then come a cropper. It’s quite possible the Lord is now taking them to task for that.

That this Galatians 6:7-8 action has started in the UK before the USA, where the sowing of defective seed has been extensive, may be related to the fulfilment of prophecies for the British Isles and what the Lord is already doing here.

That is, it’s necessary to correct UK’s ungodly situation first – or because the spiritual atmosphere is opening – in order for the harvest to ripen as people awaken to the Lord.

Whereas in the States, an enormous spiritual schism had opened up across the nation (as seen by Chuck Pierce in 2008) which will need extensive repair with repentance, or face an increase of the judgement that’s already come upon it. Comparatively, the USA may therefore be further down the line for revival than the UK yet be blessed by what he Lord will do here.

Hence, the mid-term elections and the possible consequential actions could be a vital corrective action for the sake of America’s spiritual well-being. Perhaps that trend has already started here in the UK and will come to affect the USA too?

That concept was voiced in March by Charles Shamp about the British Isles,

“Whether we are discussing the First and Second Great Awakenings…God has always seemed to release the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit on these Islands that has gone on to affect the entire earth.

“My love for Church history and the moves of the Spirit caused me to recognize that what took place within these nations directly affected America and the move of the Spirit in my nation.

“Although we are an ocean away, we are connected in the realm of the Spirit, and as the song of Heaven would arise over the UK, it would carry all the way to the shores of America and revival would begin to come forth in these United States….” (read full word here)

[Hand Pressing News Icon by Watcharakun and Puzzle in Sky by Idea Go are courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

What have Paul Keith’s video and Mary Magdalene got in common?

Posted on Tuesday, 4 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

To God alone be the glory for this true story…

Join me as I meander along my musings and, as we wend our way, watch out for.:

a modern movie and its location
a medieval English abbey
a lost Renaissance painting
a legendary epic voyage
the earliest Christian letter
a new appreciation of prayer.

Except for the first, the rest took me by surprise the weekend before last. As pieces of an ‘invisible jigsaw’ they’d fallen into view like fresh snow.

Our long weekends off from weekday busy-ness start on Fridays, and a couple of Fridays ago we enjoyed strolling around Chichester city centre in warm sunshine. Eventide, we relaxed by catching up on an iPlayer movie recommended by our eldest daughter…

‘THE WAY’

This movie written and directed by Emilio Estevez is most engrossing and stars Martin Sheen (aka ‘West Wing’s US President Bartlett) as an irascible American doctor, Tom. He goes to southern France after losing his son (Emilio Estevez) who had an accidental death after having set out on “The Way of St. James” (see map).

Rather than returning to the States, Tom wants to honour his son by completing the journey on his behalf. But he doesn’t expect the profound impact this trip has on him. The Way tells the story of his near-500 miles hike to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain.

The route is one of many to one of the oldest of pilgrimages sites in Europe. I recalled learning about its connection with Reading Abbey upon researching the abbey’s history Founded in 1121 by king Henry I, this English abbey was also one starting place for the Camino de Santiago, and is reputed to have the remains of St James’ hand as a relic. (My researches began in my office overlooking the ruins of the abbey’s mill, and are as copied here.)

So this movie had a personal, albeit indirect, relevance – but more was to come on the ‘morrow…

LOST PAINTING FOUND

The very next morning I found buried inside Saturday’s paper some interesting facts about a ‘centuries-old art history mystery’ –

Caravaggio’s original ‘Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy’ has been discovered in a private European collection, the world’s leading expert on the Renaissance master has claimed.

The Telegraph: photo credit La Repubblica

Although the 1606 painting has been copied several times, historian Mina Gregori says the original has finally been found. The Telegraph’s Andrea Vogt says this expert won’t reveal which country it is in but can confirm that when she first saw the 100 by 90cm oil on canvas in the owners’ home, she had no doubt. Andrea reports, Gregori called the find a “marvellous addition” to the art world. The 80-year-old scholar and authenticator said seeing the original with her own eyes was a career highlight: “I think after all these years, I deserved it”.

This article rang a bell deep in long-forgotten memories of my pre-Christian interests because:

The painting refers to the legend in which Mary, living as a hermit in a cave in southern France near Aix-en-Provence after Christ’s death, was overcome seven times a day by “the delightful harmonies of the celestial choirs”.

That reference, especially about an ecstatic trance, would connect with remarks I was yet to hear on the third day, and thus start seeing a part of this ‘invisible puzzle’. But we should first consider the importance of this biblical person.

Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus alive after his burial in the garden tomb and so many, including Pope Benedict, regard her as an “Apostle to the Apostles”. She was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus brought back from the dead and was to later become Bishop of Cyprus. This family are reputed to have been of royal blood and owned estates in and around Jerusalem as well as at Magdala near the Sea of Galilee, where the younger sister Mary lived and is said to have fallen into a sinful life. Jesus is thought to have frequented one or other of their premises whilst travelling with dozens of disciples.

This blessed woman became deeply devoted to Jesus after deliverance – no wonder she later sat wrapt in His teaching instead of helping her sister. On that need Jesus remarked, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42 emphasis added).

Hence, Mary Magdalene is patron of contemplatives and Caravaggio’s painting reflects an outcome of her desire and her Master’s promise.

(Thank you to ‘Joe Catholic’ for also pointing out Mary is a model for penitent sinners. Also see this informative rebuttal of modern Catholic biblical scholarship.)

Next, I dived into my library and dug out a book bought in 1971 during my investigations into early Church history.:

THE COMING OF THE SAINTS

This book by John Taylor, first published in 1906, is replete with source references and combines history and legend to portray the earliest Christian missions into western Europe (Spain, France and Britain). It helped me – a non-believer – learn about the early church’s transmission of Jesus’ original teachings. In my story, I explained my desire to find out why churches were not doing what Jesus had done, as promised in John 14:12, as well as how much of His teaching had been lost.

The editor of this book’s 1967 reprint answers complaints about mixing written records and local legend, saying the book shows they substantiate one another and dovetail together. “Of particular interest are the references culled from churches founded by the saints who were companions of our Lord during His ministry”, maintains Gladys Taylor.

She writes her namesake gathered evidence from a pilgrimage made to the French churches, and other countries, and thus produced impressive proof of their antiquity.

From top: grotto cave of St Mary Magdalene; church of Les Saintes Maries; crypt of St Martha at Tarascon (J Taylor 1901)

One chapter summarises the Life of St Mary Magdalene complied by Rabanus Maurus (776-856 AD) – a manuscript copy of which is lodged in Magdalen College Library, Oxford. In his closing years he was Archbishop of Mayence (Mainz, Germany).

First however, I needed to re-remind myself of the book’s main thesis. Its first chapters examine the known historical events, and those behind the scenes, at the close of and after Jesus’ life. Taylor thus adds detail to scripture’s narrative and he posits a list of disciples additional to the apostles, deacons and the family of Jesus. In addition to considering the ‘home-base’ of Capernaum, he lists names of followers from the house on Mont Zion and the city of Jerusalem, and towns of Bethany, Emmaus and Jericho.

Then Taylor covers some early missionary journeys not covered in Acts of the Apostles, noting Dr Luke’s historic account does not refer to the evangelical mission in Sardinia and Spain of John’s brother James. The only reference to James after Pentecost is his death at the hands of Herod in Jerusalem in 44 AD (Acts 12:2). His remains are said to have ended up centuries later back in Santiago de Compostela. Hence, pilgrimages to his shrine, as mentioned above.

Persecution following Apostle James’ martyrdom led to the dispersal of many disciples from Jerusalem. (This was about 10 years after that led by Saul of Tarsus.) Tradition of Provence, southern France, has a number of them being bundled into a boat without oars or sails somewhere near Mount Carmel and set adrift. They’re reputed to have been Lazarus, Joseph of Aramathea, Maximin (leader of disciples after the apostles, and friend committed to the care of the Magdalene) as well as a favoured four: Martha and Mary, Mary wife of Cleopas and a third Mary (Salome) and others.

However, I was interested in checking John Taylor’s reference to the correct James at Jerusalem. Was it John’s brother, or Jesus’ brother James who later led the Jerusalem church and wrote a brief epistle. It is James’ historic ruling at the first Church council that enabled non-Jews to associate with the Church without having to comply with the Mosaic laws their Jewish brethren had before coming to Christ.

So to clarify, I wasn’t so interested in Mary Magdalene as wanting to check out what Paul wrote to the Galatian churches about his post-conversion history. I recalled mention of church leaders he met when in Jerusalem, as well as Luke’s account of those meetings (Acts 15)

Written circa 50 AD Paul’s letter is the first and therefore the oldest, canonical Christian document and earlier than the Gospels. Therein Paul tells what he did, where he went and how he learned the Gospel of Jesus by direct, personal revelation; that is, not from any original disciple or apostle:

¹³For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it….¹⁵But when it pleased God…¹⁶to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) ²¹Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God in me.

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. ²And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. (Emphases added)

SUNDAY VIDEO SESSION

The next day, Sunday, we wanted more teaching and chose to watch the Paul Keith Davis and James Levesque video discussion I’d blogged about.

In arguing for the supra-natural abilities and dimension required to bring in the harvest that meets the heart of God, “as it is defined in scripture”, Paul Keith maintains this is for those who walk with God in realms of glory and demonstrate the supra-natural. He defines and explains this relating it to Jesus’ own ability (from 27:00 on video).

Then he tells of his mis-perception of Jesus’ prayer life (at 30:35) and surmising what it had been like after a long day ministering and teaching and travelling on foot – and then go pray and spend hours in prayer…thinking,

“…what a disciplined life!” says Paul Keith.

“No, you totally misunderstood My prayer life!” the Lord said.

“He said, “My prayer life was My reward!”

“The Lord’s been showing me how, at the end of the day, after He did everything He was supposed to do, He went out into the wilderness and He was released into the Presence of the Father!

“Just think about that for a minute…after a hard day could you go pray 5 hours…? No? Think of it as this:

“James, go spend 5 hours standing before the throne of God, go spend 5 hours in the Presence of your Father – let Him download on you, let Him refresh you, restore you.

“That’s why Jesus could pray all night! He lived under an open heaven and when He went to pray – as soon as He quieted His flesh – He was standing in the Presence of His Father, standing before the throne of God, getting refreshed and learning what the Father wanted to reveal.”

An exceptionally instructional and fascinating teaching. At 41:30 he considers this was how apostle Paul spent lengthy periods with the Lord before he ever met any disciples and apostles and moved into any ministry.

Consequently, having considered that the day before I was ready for what he said!

CONCLUSION

This insight on Jesus’ prayer life is the common denominator between the discussion on video and Mary Magdalene, who spent lengthy periods immersed in God, as had Jesus.

Paul Keith’s insight doesn’t detract from but enhances the model prayer Jesus gave his disciples, as recorded in Matthew 6:5-15. And it magnifies Jesus’ personal prayer to our Father in John 17. It’s no wonder this Mary went so deep yet so high in contemplative ecstasy – will we?

(Remember to, “First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” – Matt 6:33).

Furthermore, from apostle Paul’s explanation this kind of intimacy was the norm in the earliest years of “The Way”, as the fellowship was known before the term “Christian” was coined at Antioch. (See Acts chapters 18-24, especially vv 24:18 and 22.)

Also, Paul Keith later refers to the event on the road to Emmaus, about which and without any prior intention I’d inserted a remark just before publishing the latest blog before that weekend!

Therefore, that weekend is yet another example of ‘God-incidence’ (footnote refers).

By the way!

A couple of days later upon opening up my Bible to find where I’d got to, I found at the second turn the beginning of Luke chapter 8 staring up at me. There from the left-hand column just beside the volume’s spine I just couldn’t miss these words:

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, ²and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities — Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, ³and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

Later, upon reviewing and adjusting the draft of this piece, I decided to refer to the first name for the group of believers as followers of the way of Jesus Christ; the way of life He taught and demonstrated as “The Way, The Truth and The Life”.

Then when I’d done and re-read the draft I realised I’d gone FULL circle – starting with the movie ‘The Way’ I’d ended up by including scriptures on ‘The Way of Jesus’ !!

Furthermore, an email arrived about that time which opens as follows.:

Truth, we find, is stranger than fiction. Some things that happen to us when in relationship with Christ no writer could make up. And I am amazed continually at what our God does in my life and in this world…(continue here)

Could the Lord be getting our attention to pray the way He does?

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Footnotes:

Image: Flying puzzles by Nokhoog Buchachon, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.com

Jesus & Mary fable:

My pre-Christian activities made me well aware of stories around Le Tresor Maudit, the cursed treasure of the Knights Templars, said to have been hidden for centuries but discovered by a parish priest. He spent a fortune on re-decorating a church in Rennes-le-Chateau and building a tower, both of which were dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.

Readers may know of it through bestselling The Da Vinci Code, which is based on serious research published in 1980s as The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. This source’s authors referred to fables about Jesus and Mary’s relationship, which I’m reliably told were then used as a deliberate advertising ploy for marketing purposes.

Consequently, that earlier book became a bestseller. The businessman who gave me The Invisible Hand (see Welcome) sold mail-order books and he told me his own copywriter had worked with HBHG authors and so he knew about its publisher’s sales slant.

Years later, I learned of another reference work by an expert on royal genealogy who claimed the fables were correct. But his analysis of scripture was unreliable, as I could demonstrate in his misquoting The Secret Gospel of Mark. Therefore, how could his claims hold water? (Details on this blog at The Magdalene Legacy – a Critique.)

God-incidence:

I refer to coincidences that are more than serendipity (happy, fortuitous chance events) as ‘God-incidences’, for they seem to have been arranged with a clear purpose in mind. We may not always know the reason but there’s a distinct thread connecting two or more events that are closely related in time: an “aha” moment

Frequently I’m amazed by those which involve scripture and occur one day after another and sometimes even 3 or 4 consecutive days, and always from different sources. I liken God-incidence to completing a jigsaw puzzle and it seems the Lord is stressing the importance or relevance of something. So they get my full attention, as happened in the above account. (See main menu for fuller exposition.)

Paws-4-thought: on revival and ‘down under’

Posted on Monday, 8 September, 2014 by Richard Barker

A country at the far side of the world has quietly made its presence known whilst I blogged about our regenerating trip to Wales.

In Prophecy of a roller-coaster ride… I included remarks by Justin Abraham,

“Just back from a ballistic incredible time in OZ and NZ. Things are heating up! We are seeing early signs of the great turning of the tide everywhere.”

Events organised by Justin in Cardiff and by our church outside Guildford both featured New Zealander Ian Clayton.

Then, after finishing my last post on Wales by hinting at a connection between FFald-y-Brenin and ‘Days of Wonder’, a highly pertinent item pops into my mail – The Return of The King! Why pertinent? It refers in-depth to the Lion of Judah!

And where’s that come from? New Zealand.

Are these facts and their timing just coincidental? Has my talent for noticing possible connections made an unwarranted supposition? Or maybe, just maybe, there may be some truth in my surmising:

could New Zealand be the Land of ‘New Zeal‘ ?

It so happens that the above was drafted before going offline for long weekend. Now this morning, the lady who blogged about the roller-coaster writes these fascinating thoughts:

I think the ‘close at hand’ is even closer at hand now. This last month things have been shifting and being set up for an outpouring in several areas. It’s not just one. I see a field planted with several different vegetables. They may not all be harvested at the exact same time but I see growth in various stages. Many areas coming to fruition in succession.

Thank you my brothers and sisters, may you be mightily blessed.

[Image of New Zealand map on flag by Taesmileland, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

Library updated – Resurrection coming to Anglican Church

Posted on Friday, 23 May, 2014 by Richard Barker

This blog’s Prophecies and Visions hub is updated with all recent material now listed on the Library and A New Era for The Church pages.

A week ago today, two uplifting prophetic indications of what the Lord’s doing in the Church of England were received by two of my friends, who don’t know one another and were many miles apart – it’s exciting, most important news!

‘A’ shared on Sunday that the previous Friday’s prayer time at the Fflad-y-Brenin retreat centre in Wales didn’t go quite as planned! The morning prayer time got overshadowed by the Lord, who reminded them of the raising of Lazarus. They were told He’s going to call the Anglican Church out of its grave and bring it back to life!

[Note: for further consideration of the preceding and of comments below read here.]

That same day was the start of a residential weekend for training in the ministry for 100 or more, including ‘B’ who works in a London church. That first evening he received the following vision whilst in prayer.:

I saw the nation like a city on fire, and pastors throwing buckets of water on the fire to put it out but unsuccessfully. Then a floor of water springs up, dampens and defeats the fire. This water is the Gospel.

“Let the gospel be the gospel. Join in with what I’m doing.

“I am about to show you where I’ve been at work unseen for years. All over the land where I have been brooding over the expanse and the chaos. The time is coming. Stand with the rising waters and make a splash; declare against dismay that the water is from me for the healing of your lives in the land I have called to my own.”

The water rises.

“Proclaim to the water, ‘’Rise”

and to the city, “Repent” (turn around, redemption is here)

and to the people, “Live”!

“I will bring life.

“My life is not even threatened by the fire. I have been holding off to see my church faithful, but (is) confused and distorted, I now show grace. I AM faithful.

“The waters will rise.”

Observations

This is exceptionally encouraging in view of the prophetic slant of my recent posts, as though more pieces of the ‘invisible jigsaw’ are falling into place!

‘B’ confirmed the fire across the nation is one from hell, and thus of a different nature to the holy fires mentioned in my recent blogs.

The reference to water welling up has similarities to the 1937 vision noted by Arthur Burt, as in this blog’s On wild winds, floodings and earthquake and next post about Bob Jones on the timing of that vision’s fulfilment.

It also connects into what Charlie Shamp prophesied in February about fresh springs and streams of water arising and the Lord displaying His glory in England this Spring.

The Lord’s remarks about brooding over the expanse of land and chaos and wanting His waters to arise so that He can heal the land, are close to Charlie’s teaching on how the Lord created and how His glory is going to manifest in signs and wonders.

‘B’ shared his thoughts on the vision:

“It’s all deeply entwined with the work of the Spirit. The pastors are no longer to use the Holy Spirit only as a resource in their reacting to particular situations, but to see the work of the Spirit all around them and to join in. One thing I believe the Lord said to me about it (amongst others) is that if we are asking for ‘more’ of the Holy Spirit (which much of the church is), then that ‘more’ is to be found by joining in with his saving work outside the walls of the church. He has not given us the Spirit to keep us safe whilst we sit still but to move us into mission. If we want to meet with more of him then we must go to where he is leading us and meet with those he is wanting us to meet with – those living and dying without him. The ‘more’ that we seek is to be experienced as we step into the great commission. The Spirit does not belong to us for our services; we belong to him for His service.” (Amen – Emphases added, RB)

All this confirms what Bob Jones, Charlie Shamp and Doug Addison have heard this year from the Lord as pointing to ‘Now’s the Time – May 2014’.

For more, please see comments below followed by The Accuser attacks politically-related prophecies…

[Image Puzzle in Sky by Idea Go: credit Freedigitalphotos.net]

Yep, the time’s now – May 2014

Posted on Monday, 19 May, 2014 by Richard Barker

Hand Holding Puzzle Piece by Ponsulak credit Freedigitalphotos

Did you spot the gem buried in the middle of the previous post? It was as if the Lord had plonked down another piece of the ‘invisible jigsaw‘! What have several retired folk who are better described as ‘re-fired’ got to do with it? And then came another piece too! I’ll tell you about that one, but to put you in the picture first.:

For some time I’ve wanted time to transcribe a couple of very brief reports but other stuff got in the way. Followers of my meanderings may have noted my frustration on this at times, but I hope they’ll have noted several times when material has just ‘turned up’, or I’m nudged to look at something else, something more important than my intentions. And last week was just like that…

Instead of doing the transcriptions I’d fully planned on doing first, I had to do the piece on Julie Meyer’s prophetic song. And then something else got in the way of that too! So much time can be wasted online trawling around but this new thing just ‘popped up’. Try getting there on the link I gave and I bet you’ll say it’s ‘looking for a needle in a haystack’ – but that didn’t happen for me! Maybe an angelic hand was scrolling it onto my screen 🙂

Upon reading the reference to the Lord having referred in 2010 to “The month of May” I just sensed it’s ‘NOW’ – a bit of a play on words with the author’s other reference to the Lord’s having said, “Now!”. So I amended that post’s title to ask, “Is the time now?”

Now it’s not proper prophetical protocol to assign any timing to prophecies. I was simply hazarding a guess in line with hinting, “Keep your eyes on Britain”, but a few prophets are starting to give dates, thereby putting themselves to the biblical test of a prophet: whether or not their prophecy is fulfilled.

Confirmation

The young adults at our church would love to be in the ‘oldies’ afternoon house group and yesterday they were given a taste of what happened for us last week. Pastor Lindi had tasked each of us with reporting upon the prophecies discussed at the group (as in previous post) and asked how they fit in with where this church should be heading. The one person not contributing was Nina, my wife. But when she asked the Lord early one morning she received His reply and prepared it for delivery in church.

This material would cover the anniversary of Bobby Conner’s ‘Firestorm’ word but not Julie’s, “Keep Your Eyes On Britain”. However, this changed because Lindi referred early in our meeting to a new word about this month, which confirmed what I’d sensed about the 2010 word perhaps targeting “May 2014”.

Our pastor read the main paragraph from a paper by Doug Addison published on 16 May as Sudden Changes Are About to Occur Without Warning in Month of May, which opens:

May is a time when new things will spring forth and begin to come together. Watch for doors and opportunities to open suddenly. We are entering into a new time of things happening suddenly. Webster’s dictionary defines the word suddenly as “happening quickly without warning”. It is time to be prepared for sudden change.

This is poignant in confirming in-depth teaching by Suzanne Ferret at Dr Sharon Stone’s mentoring day on 3rd May upon changes, which had started happening and developing in our local situation.

Upon reading the full piece, I notice it’s linked into an earlier word about this month Wind of Change Starts in Mid-May. This is last week, when I found the 2010 reference to a May. Yet there’s a more important part of Doug’s word stating that,

Unity Is The Key

In view of the fact that wrangling between churches made me a disillusioned teenager as regards Christianity, what Doug writes on unity and relating it to the curse of Cain is vitally important. The closing paragraphs cover both topics and is apposite to an on-line debate I’ve followed on God & Politics in UK. Here’s Doug’s closing points on those topics:

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (1 Cor 12:20-21)

In order to go into the new season and era God is calling us to, we must heal our divisions. We are “one” no matter what our doctrinal differences may be.

……….

It’s the same today, spiritually. When we speak against other Christians, when we wound them or try to kill them spiritually, we can come under this same curse.

We have the theology that the Body is one, but we don’t live out the reality of it. Our sin of judging each other affects us all.

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

Get ready for sudden changes. Get ready to love people who are different than you, and get ready for God to move in your life and divinely realign us all to become more effective! (Emphasis added)

Please now read his message in its entirety by clicking here.

“Keep your eyes on Britain” – is the time now?

Posted on Thursday, 15 May, 2014 by Richard Barker

The Spirit has been stirring deeply in me since our spectacular Resurrection Sunday.

Its more than a reminder to blog a couple of transcripts of prophetic words from visitors – it involves a timing sequence, a process of unfolding as though with a revelatory purpose. As previously, pieces are falling into place!

For the past week this prompting has become pronounced. A large picture displayed somewhere, maybe hanging on a wall at one of Dr Stone’s meetings, persists in my mind as though hanging right in front of me. How I wish I could find it and insert here for you to see…but try using your mind’s eye as you read on..:

This picture is a map of mainland Britain but, most unusually, all land is coloured sky blue. No doubt its designer is symbolising spiritual or heavenly things. It’s the exact colour I see through the window behind my monitor – this fresh, sunny morning’s wall-to-wall blue sky. That is, the picture’s blue Britain may mean the heavens are now open.

And all over this map, at locations of cities, towns and elsewhere are symbols of fire. Each fire is depicted by three flames coloured bright crimson red.

This image has been coming to me from about a week last Tuesday when I prepared to republish my transcript of Bobby Conner’s ‘firestorm’ word and scheduled it to appear automatically. It’s most unusual for me to work in advance, especially as I was catching up on the remarkable events on Charlie Shamp’s visit. And on his website I’d spotted his wife’s personal testimony, Baptism Of Fire, which I knew was important to re-post.

Then along came his recommended video about fire angels, or ‘burning ones’, being photographed after a time of worship.

Both blog posts led straight into the 6th anniversary of the prophetic word for the UK of a “Holy, unstoppable firestorm”.

Also connected is the unscheduled consideration at yesterday’s house group of older, well-known prophetic visions for the UK given to Smith-Wigglesworth and Jean Darnall. Our elders and another had met her and I’d been with SW’s prayer partner Norman James when he received the same awesome vision about our time of visitation. Our pastor then asked us to bring these before the church to consider our role in this.

So, this morning I intend featuring the prophetic song Julie Meyer brought in October 2012 about “Keep your eyes on Britain”. Also, I tried searching the net for that picture and was ‘led’ to check out a site, Prophetic Anointing UK, and quickly espied this on ‘Britain, England, London‘ as part of a longer word for Europe dated April 2010 :

…The nation was Great Britain, and the portal was over England, and the light was targeted at London, then spreading through the nations of Great Britain and the Isles (Habakkuk 2:14). I then heard the voice of the Lord say; “Now!” This time the Lord was answering to a question that had not as yet formed in my heart. He knew I would ask that question before I knew, and to save on time He answered me (Isaiah 65:24). Again the Lord answered to the angel saying; “Now!” and finally, with a smile as of One who knew the end of a matter from its beginning, the Lord answered; “Month of May”.

That dating caught my eye and so I’ve emphasised it. Maybe it’s this May 2014? This would line up with the later word about God’s glory being on display this Spring?

So, let’s carefully consider the words Julie brought and listen to her song:

“Even today…I can see the Bridegroom Jesus –

And He’s got His eyes on Europe – He’s got His eyes on Europe, Europe, Europe.

Even this morning – I can see the Bridegroom – dancing, dancing –

He’s making His plans, He’s making His plans, He’s making His plans –

His eyes are on Europe – His eyes are on Europe –

He’s going to dance all over the land –

He’s going to set the captives free – He’s going to set the captives free – He’s going to set the captives free…free.

And it’s going to start in Britain –

The Lord says, “Keep your eyes on Britain –

Keep your eyes on Britain – Britain – Britain – Britain.”

There’s something greater – there’s something greater coming to Great Britain,

There’s something greater…than John Wesley – there’s something greater.

God, God, God’s the bridegroom – He’s going to dance all over the land –

He’s going to start in Britain – and that’s where John Wesley started.

Oh, you’re part of the great, great storyline – Britain –

And it’s not over – it’s getting bigger – it’s bigger, it’s bigger, it’s bigger.”

“You’re NOT left out Europe – you’re not left out Europe –

I’ll make you a sign – and a wonder – a wonder – and a sign

For the nations are Mine – for Europe is Mine – for the nations are Mine, are Mine –

But keep your eyes on Britain – keep your eyes on Britain –

It’s going to start…in Britain – like a wildfire! –

like a wildfire! – like a wildfire! – like a wildfire! –

It’s unstoppable! – it’s unstoppable! –

because I’m God – and I choose you!”

Hallelujah.”

A short piccolo solo follows and we return to Julie, “We just declare that over you this morning, Britain and Europe, we prophesy…” and vocalists also pick up the refrain:

“BEHOLD! The Bridegroom COMETH”

We prophesy over you Europe, we prophesy:

“Behold – The Bridegroom cometh!”

We prophesy over Europe:

“Behold – The Bridegroom cometh!

I’m arising – I’m arising – I’m arising!

Behold – The Bridegroom cometh!”

It’s not just a song – it’s a prophecy – it’s going out, it’s going out this morning:

“Behold – The Bridegroom cometh!

Britain, I’m coming!

Europe, I’m coming!

Behold – The Bridegroom cometh!…”

[Image of Flying Puzzles by Nokhoog Buchachons: credit Freedigitalphotos.net]

500th post: brief review and ‘blood moons’ cont’d

Posted on Thursday, 17 April, 2014 by Richard Barker

A very special ‘Thank you’ to all my several friends who kindly put up with my first reports and thoughts in early 2009 along with subsequent emails, and then subscribed to my blog after its launch in November 2011.

As those who’ve read Why I’m Writing will know, a book was inside me – it wanted out! And I found that blogging was like watching a book develop and grow. So email updates on Biblically related events in the Middle East got translated from the domain of a few dozen friends and contacts into the realm of cyber-space and a larger circle of public readers.

Also, blogging has the advantage over a book in being able to target topics at liberty rather than being constrained by a books’ title and themes. And blogs are published and ready for worldwide reading right away!

So, my thanks also go to every single visitor as well as to regular subscribers.

Brief Personal Review

In the 2nd anniversary post I recalled the reason for being driven to write regularly. In February 2009 I checked the parable of the wheat and tares but, upon opening my Bible, an excitement exploded within as I heard, “This is ALL about to be fulfilled!”

So I circulated a two-part email The End-Game is now in play, and followed up with occasional brief reports on current events seemingly connected to Biblical prophecies.

Some unusual dreams in Autumn 2011 proved to be ‘game-changers’. The first plugged directly into what I was later to learn of Bill Johnson’s prophetical sensing, on the same date, of a Kingdom change in the UK. So I circulated an email about the Acceleration in Kingdom activity. It was becoming clear such news and related developments needed to be circulated more widely, and that I was being directed towards blogging.

By then, contemporary prophecies were being regularly included. Although the Biblical kind is canonical and sacrosanct, and words brought by today’s prophets secondary to and to be weighed with Holy Writ, both forms of prophecy do seem related – as though they are ‘two witnesses’ to what the Lord is doing today.

The increasing coverage of current prophetic words generated a larger readership and was complied into a Library. This resource now holds over 100 prophetic words and is regularly viewed by visitors.

The blog was launched with brief reasons for watching events and with my personal testimony, the timing of which was soon confirmed. Thus, I was assured that moving from private to public writing was right. In considering those changes from old into new year I introduced readers to the predictive aspect of time cycles, as outlined by William Koenig.

Very soon, and unexpectedly, I challenged politically motivated action against praying in public, as undertaken by Healing On The Streets. Thus another collection was created as a hub of healing testimonials and augmented by regular posts on The Bay Revival. Also in 2012, a long trail of ‘God-incidences’ brought me to focus upon the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as well as many prophetic words about a ‘New Season’, or new era for the Church, all enhanced the blog’s content.

Also over these past 5 years we’ve seen significant development proving the relevance of the Bible today in the establishment of the Middle-Eastern coalition, as foreseen by Ezekiel. The term I first used for this was ‘Ezekiel 38 Alliance’ but it’s now taken its Biblical description of ‘Gog-Magog’. Events on this are now proceeding so rapidly there’s no time for me to keep up with them! Readers who are particularly interested, however, can keep up to date with the sources quoted in most articles or by using links listed down the Home Page, which has expanded upon their introduction in Not on The 10 o’clock News.

My focus so far this year has been on prophecy and time, as may be evident in timings of inspiration and the immense vista beyond the ‘Open Door’ – can we see the invisible becoming tangible?

It’s fascinating that, 5 years later, the original name for the blog of Invisible Jigsaw is coming into play and how, along with this 500th post, it’s coinciding with the back-to-back sequence of blood moons.

Blood Moons and Israel

‘Blood moon’ is a recently coined term for a prophetic description made over 2,800 years ago. Only when the moon is totally eclipsed by the cone of the earth’s shadow (umbra) does it become red. This is because any light arriving has been refracted through the earth’s atmosphere, rather like why sunsets are red.

[EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd provides a graphic explanation here and reports upon the new terminology of ‘tetrad’ and ‘blood moon’ here. Image credit Joshua Valcarcel, Wikimedia Commons.]

In Passover and blood-red moons I considered a couple of objections to citing previous tetrads of blood moons on Jewish major feast days. We need to be clear about what we’re talking about, the facts and their statistical implications. In view of the huge frequency of lunar eclipses as shown on NASA’s data their occurrence on festivals specifically set on dates of, or close to, full moons is not surprising. Therefore, we should expect them on several Passovers.

But the importance of a tetrad is upon this happening upon two consecutive Passovers and the associated Sukkot (Tabernacles); ie, on one year’s first and last feast and then the same in the next year – and not occurring on any in-between dates. Total eclipses on four sequential occasions have been termed ‘a tetrad’. Bill Koenig let his friend Mark Biltz see his investigations done in 2007 and reported as follows (my emphases):

‘Mark said he had found my blood-red moon work and website postings in 2007 interesting and began looking into possible connection to past and future Jewish Feasts at which time he found very significant connections. I provided blood-red moon information, and information on the coming total solar eclipses of 2008, 2009 and 2010—which all fall on the 1st of Av.

‘Seven back-to-back, blood-red moons have fallen on the first day of Passover and Sukkot, with the eighth time coming in 2014 and 2015

‘Mark found that we have had blood-red moons on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkot on back-to-back years seven times since 1 A.D. Three of these occurrences were connected to 1492 (the final year of the Spanish Inquisition), 1948 (statehood for Israel and the War of Independence), and 1967 (the Six-Day War) — some of the most significant days in Jewish history.

‘The others were in 162/163 A.D., 795/796 A.D., 842/843 A.D. and 860/861 A.D. We don’t have any historical connections for these years at this time, but we do know of significant Jewish persecution during the eighth and ninth centuries.

‘In all eight examples, the eclipses have fallen or will fall on the first day of Passover and Sukkot. The eighth occurrence of back-to-back, blood-red moons will be in 2014–2015. So what does the period of time from 2013 to 2015 portend for Israel and the world?’

Oh that a mathematician would calculate the odds for such events happening. But do we need one to comprehend that, although eclipses may happen variably, this ‘tetrad’ sequence cannot possibly be by chance? For two eclipses to fall on consecutive feast dates, if astro-dynamically possible, there would be reasonable odds – but for dates at each end of a 5-6 month period, and not on any other feast date between them, there’d be a very much smaller chance. Yet for that to happen again in the next year then the odds are astronomical – no/yes?

It’s as though the Maker of heaven and earth is pointing His finger and saying, “LOOK!”

Do the Tetrads Point to Jerusalem?

In Passover and blood-red moons I questioned a critic’s assumption that tetrads did not relate to the Spanish Inquisition or to the birth of the state of Israel and its immediate War of Independence. His claim was that the ominous warning attributed to the blood moons came after those facts – I answered with other facts, “It ain’t necessarily so”.

Also, Koenig and Biltz were not contriving to twist the facts but simply stating there were events that seem directly related to the Talmudic teaching about blood moons. Yet one could argue that all pre-20th Century blood moon tetrads may actually be irrelevant!

That is, any meaning attributable to earlier tetrads may not be applicable because the Jewish state of Israel had not been created. And when it was, the Jews were fighting for their survival against all surrounding nations. Hence the notion of these tetrads applying only after 1948. We can check this out with three lots of tetrads:

1. The first point of the 1949-50 tetrad (Passover 13 April 1949) occurred during the 15 month War of Independence, AND its was only 10 days after the signing of the Israel-Jordan Armistice affecting Jerusalem. Thus, that tetrad may indicate a warning that the Lord is specifically watching out for Jerusalem, on the grounds of Zecharia 2:8.:

‘…he who touches you (Zion) touches the apple of His eye.’

2. Also why does that critic ignore the existence of the tetrad covering the Six-Day War of June 1967! (Click for Background & Overview.) Then, Jerusalem was liberated and came fully into Israeli hands, supporting my contention about the city being relevant to the theory of blood moon prophecy.

3. The present tetrad is well-timed about Jerusalem. Months of useless, protracted US-led ‘peace talks’ between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last week. One of the last days’ issues was over dividing Jerusalem, as though both future states could share the same city as capital. Also, preparations continue for setting up the Third Temple in Jerusalem. So a great deal continues to happen of significance in Israel…

Therefore, perhaps the four lunar eclipses schedule for Passover and Sukkot 15 April and 8 October 2014, and next year’s Passover and Sukkot on 4 April and 28 September 2015 will cover some extremely critical developments on Jerusalem?

After all, the principal unfulfilled Biblical prophecies are about ‘the apple of G-d’s eye’!

UPDATES:

Click images to parts 1 (L) and 2 (R) of John Kilpatrick’s teaching on Blood Moons (ignoring brief introductory blurb).

A recap of this year thus far

Posted on Thursday, 3 April, 2014 by Richard Barker

I wish to thank each new reader personally, especially those who’ve decided to follow my reports and musings. Usually, I dip into blogs of fellow WordPress users but don’t always have time to say “Hi and thank you”, so please accept that now.

To help you catch up with background material, I’m providing a ‘synoptic’ overview by title of relevant posts linked to content, should you have time and inclination to peruse. This should prepare you, and regular readers/visitors too, for what’s about to follow.

In 2014 Preview I announced a slight change in my blogging emphasis towards current prophetic words for the church and away from those on the Middle East, as well as how to tell the time prophetically. Little did I suspect we’d be considering how to prophesy to Time!

A Parallel Year – 5774 and 2014

At first the recap was to be from January, but I got prompted that the better starting point would be last September’s Hebraic New Year 5774 – year of the ‘open door’. (Prophetic words are excluded as they are available in the Library of Prophecies and Visions.)

The following titles provide a background to what is to follow soon (click for content):

Footnote

For readers who are not Christians I’d suggest reading first, Do you know Jesus? This is because an appreciation beyond the cursory, cultural norm of designating Him as just a historical, religious personage will be of help.

Jesus is ‘The Beginning’ and ‘The End’, and whose other time-related description I personally ponder is, ‘Always’. Please don’t think this implies Jesus is all ‘ways’, because He alone is ‘The Way, the Truth and The Life’, as the one and only way to a personal revelation and relationship with our heavenly Father.

[Whitedoor in Sky by Nattavut courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.com]

Confirmations of latest prophetic words on the UK

Posted on Thursday, 27 March, 2014 by Richard Barker

This piece wasn’t around when I tried completing that ‘invisible jigsaw’. It’s as though the Lord has added a fresh piece to enable us to start seeing the bigger picture.

And what’s just happened is extraordinary! (This may try you, but it’s true and I called Nina to witness what happened.) I wanted a fresh ‘puzzle picture’ for this post, one to convey my sense of what’s happened. So I searched Freedigitalphotos.com database and soon spotted the above by Ponsulak. They have reasonable terms and conditions for using images freely and the application form requires an auto-generated security question to be completed to get the download. Most sites want a mix of letters and numbers to be copied but this one uses a short phrase, such as title of a rhyme, song or book.

What was this image’s security code? It was “Greatest Story Ever Told” – AMAZING! (It’s the 1965 film on Jesus’ life.) How highly appropriate. An Almighty L.O.L.!

Can we take that as confirmation? – even validation? – of the observations I’m about to make on Charles Shamp’s God’s glory will be on display this Spring (click to read):

1. “Shifting”

At the close of the introduction, my remark “…notice that, once again, a ‘major shift’ is spoken of” referred to what I’d already written about “a sifting and a sHifting”, as here, and an almost concurrent confirmation from John Kilpatrick.

At the close of teaching upon the Lord redefining His people, John brought a powerful word that concluded, “There is a SHIFTING going on RIGHT NOW. There is a TRUE SHIFTING going on right now, where God is going to…” (A Season of ‘Suddenlies’).

Charlie opens,

Almost every major shift of reformation or revival started on these Island nations. [Later stating that…]

The Lord spoke to me that a major shift in the Spirit would come in the Spring and wells that were capped over would be opened once again.

2. Bridge Over ‘The Pond’

Although last October I’d heard him refer to a connection existing in spirit between Britain and the States, I’d was already aware of this operating between Sunday morning services locally and online in Alabama, as I’d blogged early in the New Year (see Bridge over ‘The Pond’).

So it’s good to read Charlie on this:

My love for Church history and the moves of the Spirit caused me to recognize that what took place within these nations directly affected America and the move of the Spirit in my nation. Although we are an ocean away, we are connected in the realm of the Spirit, and as the song of Heaven would arise over the UK, it would carry all the way to the shores of America and revival would begin to come forth in these United States. (My emphasis)

3. Axe to the Church

In commenting upon my ideas about The Babylonian aspect to the Church’s ‘New Era’, Mark Maddock refers to what he believes came from Jesus: ‘The Axe Prayer’. Mark’s valuable reply dated 23rd March explains, “It deals with the spiritual curses which can affect most of the church and enables individuals or churches en-masse to be cut free from all Babylonian (= mystery religion etc) influences from the past. The lack of cutting these off the church is part of the reason for every revival eventually dying off and yet another deadly denomination being created…”.

Therefore, it’s interesting to note Charlie’s reference to an axe,

God is changing the waters from bitter to drinkable. New prophetic voices will come forth this year that will cause the axe head to float. There will be signs and wonders and prophets that will move with the government of God. They will decree a thing and it will be established!

He seems to refer to a different context, yet the significance lies not only as above but also upon John the Baptist’s declaration, as he goes on to say,

Men and woman, that up until this point no one had even known their names, will come with the word of the Lord and an axe will be in their hand to lay at the root of the religious tree. They will cut off the old system.

4. Earthquake – this is astonishing!

Four weeks ago today I mused upon Wild winds, flooding and an earthquake, especially whether or not they had a demonic origin. Now, I just happened upon a news item of an earthquake on 20th Feb, which I’d not heard about. As my spiritual antennae were up I wrote:

I’ve wondered what’s Lord’s view of, or influence upon, the severe storms and extensive deep flooding across England, with the west taking the brunt of the violence. Is it climate change? Are these events at all prophetic? There was even an earth-quake between Wales and Devon! Is it a sign of a Hebrews 12 ‘shaking’?

Not having caught up with my item about Charlie and thus totally unknown to him, Mark forwarded me yesterday an email from a lady in the ‘far north west’ who leads a prayer team in the North England, which reads in part (my emphases shown),

2014 word – Britain

I am sure many of you have already seen the prophetic word given to Charles Stamp in February that was published recently on the Elijah List. If you have not already read it then a copy is attached. What many of you may not realise is the significant prophetic timing of the release of this word.

It seems the Lord is speaking through a loud-hailer to His people this spring about streams flowing from the desert. When God says things more than once we must sit up and take note; we must also weigh and test the word and consider it in the wider context into which the message was spoken. We must do this in order to tease out the whole of its significance. So I would bring the reading of Charles Stamp’s word to
your attention in the following context. Please weigh and test what I have to say for yourselves.

On 8th Feb 2012 we were in a group retreat on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. During this time the Lord gave a vision to two team members (one was an elder in a ‘modern’ church; the other was a retired Anglican vicar). They were in the dilapidated church on the island at the time when they saw the floor under the altar open up and then the whole of the altar and ‘stuff’ behind it, choir pews, reredos etc.
disappeared into the hole. The Lord then spoke to us through a part of the island on the western side called ‘earthquake’ that what had been seen in the spirit was a forthcoming ‘earthquake’ that would send a shock wave through the institutionalised church that would eventually see a total collapse of all religious activities not founded on the Word and the Spirit and the original Hebraic foundations of the early church (N.B. by referring to Hebraic roots I am not advocating laying s grace and becoming Jews, merely to the original formation of the early church on its Hebraic foundation inherited from its forefathers).

On Feb 21st this year there was a literal earthquake in the Bristol Channel just east of Lundy which some of those who had been on Lundy two years earlier saw as a prophetic sign that what we had seen in the spirit was about to be released on the earth. On that very same day Charles Stamp received his prophecy in Lowestoft. In it God refers to both the fall of the religious system and the release of the streams in
the desert.

…(much more) Signed S_W_

There’s a slight mix up as the BBC reported the quake on 20th Feb as having occurred at lunchtime, the day before the word came to Charles. Nevertheless, what he received is a fantastic confirmation of what the group on Lundy Island had received.

Conclusion

Stay awake! Excitingly awesome times are ahead…at long last, thank you Lord! And thanks go to Mark for these important contributions.

Also, couldn’t we consider that at least one unknown piece has now turned up for the gaps in my tentative jigsaw?

[Image credit: Endless Bridge by Evgeni Denev, Freedigitalphotos.net]

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]

Parts of an ‘invisible jigsaw’ point to a bigger picture

Posted on Thursday, 20 March, 2014 by Richard Barker

In Enjoy puzzles?… I challenged readers to discover an eighth theme hidden within recent postings on this blog. The aim was to imagine these main themes as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and to try to fit them together.

It was intellectual rather than a physical puzzle. Also, there was no design by which pieces could be matched and fitted together. Furthermore, they wouldn’t form into a complete mental picture because there’d probably be some gaps.

The idea was to develop discernment in considering the data within each piece’s ‘design’ as well as to appreciate the timing of their appearance – like perceiving and mentally handling chunks of information within an invisible matrix.

So, it was a trifle tricky but my intention was to convey a sensing of invisible links between those several blogs in order to get insights into the much bigger picture.

Anyway, here’s my own interpretation of how the puzzle could be started:

For information, jigsaw pieces as individual blogs are listed below with shorter titles and main themes underlined. Numbering assists seeing which is which (especially if the title isn’t obvious) and the connecting ‘lugs’ of each piece.:

PK Davis remembers Bob Jones – 1 & 2
Jesus‘ word to the Church (Bride) – 3 & 4
Winds, floods and earthquake – 5
Floods, Jones and Burt’s prophecy – 2, 5 & 6
5 years ago “The End-game…” – 1
Jesus jealous for His Bride – 3 & 4
My King is coming – 3
Can you hear the Lion roar? – 3
Floods and threshing floor – 5 & 7
P4T: rains and threshing floor – 5, 7 & 8?
The Lion roars! – 3 (& 9?)
Arthur Burt’s daughter – 6
Season of suddenlies and shifting – 1, 7 & 8?

My question is; to what could numbers 8 and 9 refer? The answer to the first follows in the next post.

Prophecy can involve teamwork

Now and again I’ve mused upon fulfillment of Biblical prophecy being similar to completing an immense ‘invisible jigsaw’, as may be read on the Jigsaw tag.

The Holy Bible is the design’s template and global events form the pieces which can be ‘seen’ falling into place. This concept in its finality is ably conveyed in Thanunkhorn’s image ‘Puzzle Globe and Book’, copied by courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.com

A knowledge of scripture and personal revelation from the Holy Spirit helps born-again believers gain insights into how, when and where the pieces fall into place.

We also have the advantage of being able to have insights weighed, tested and confirmed by leaders who are not only blessed by Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy but also have access to those recognised as authentic prophetical voices.

In view of the scriptural fact that even accurate prophets prophesy only in part (1 Cor13:9), their words are augmented by prophetic fellowship under the headship of Jesus Christ, whose ‘testimony is the spirit of prophecy’ (Rev 19:10).

So, prophetic data shared and insights gained through the above postings have all come through sanctified yet separate teamwork; in this instance they are William Smith, Paul Keith Davis, John Kilpatrick, Bob Jones, Arthur Burt, Jane Hamon, Sharon Stone and Emma Stark (as with the 8 pieces below! God-incidence?).

Teamwork Solving a Puzzle by Franky242; courtesy Freedigitalphotos.com

Thank you Lord and praise your holy name.

ANOTHER PIECE ADDED: see Confirmations of latest prophetic words on the UK

	Richard Barker on Petition against police arrest…
	MARY K. DULLFORCE on Petition against police arrest…
	Richard Barker on On the AI image of Donald Trum…
	Jean Brits on On the AI image of Donald Trum…
	Iggy Price on PS: Salvation hidden in the Bi…
	Tony on Another exposure of traitors…
	Tony on Another exposure of traitors…
	Richard Barker on Bible Update: Gog-Magog allian…
	janeeayers@aol.com on Bible Update: Gog-Magog allian…
	MARY K. DULLFORCE on Jesus’ Burial Face-cloth…

Richard's Watch

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Tag Archives: #Jigsaw

Picking up a golden thread in the Lord’s tapestry

Surprising endorsement of ‘The Fellowship of the Secret’

‘God-incidents’ validate cycles and point to the near future – 2

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

Amazing ‘coincidences’ – cycles and Shemitah-Jubilee years

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

An insight into global satanic strategy – part 2

An insight into a global satanic strategy – part 1

Incredible timing of ‘unsealing’ and ‘keys’ re. Daniel’s visions

Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain?

What have Paul Keith’s video and Mary Magdalene got in common?

Footnotes:

Jesus & Mary fable:

God-incidence:

Paws-4-thought: on revival and ‘down under’

Library updated – Resurrection coming to Anglican Church

Yep, the time’s now – May 2014

“Keep your eyes on Britain” – is the time now?

500th post: brief review and ‘blood moons’ cont’d

A recap of this year thus far

Confirmations of latest prophetic words on the UK

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

Parts of an ‘invisible jigsaw’ point to a bigger picture

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Footnotes:

Jesus & Mary fable:

God-incidence:

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