How Did The Previous Few Years Reflect Prophecy?

Tags

End Times Today, Pepperoni, Prophecy

There are a lot of opinions out there regarding how it relates to The Bible, prophecy and God. The nineteen dreaded pepperonis were in fact alluded to in Scripture, but what most people say or think the Word says about it is in fact wrong. In this article you will learn the real truth, which may be inconvenient at first but none-the-less true, about what the Word has to say about how the nineteen dreaded pepperonis related to end times. Let’s learn together.

For most to understand this article we have to start a bit far off, in left field if you will, and get that ball to make a b-line for home plate. Our Father teaches us that if a man steals your shirt, to give him your coat as well (Luke 6:29 reference). He is a good God who is teaching us His ways: which is another way of saying that He practices what He preaches. This lesson of how to handle thieves is proximate to Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. When Adam sinned, it was not on Adam’s own volition, but because Adam failed to overcome the attack of that old serpent. Because Satan successfully stole Adam and Eve, (God’s proverbial shirt) He gave Satan the whole world (His proverbial coat). We know that Satan is the god of the world (2 Corinthians 4:4 reference). Did God give Satan His authority over the world and turn His back on us?

No, He did not. Adam’s unfortunate contretemps referred to in Genesis was to begin a temporary age. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 it says “But even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded…”. God is not taking His sweet time to take back what was stolen from Him. “This age”, cosmically, is referencing a very short period of time: the life of an iceberg floating towards the tropics. Not billions, millions, or even tens of thousands of years. God’s plan to save us, to have His lovely children back, is swifter than that.

When God gave Satan control over all the earth it was on purpose, with purpose, and for a brief moment: 6,000 years to be exact. The genealogical data found in Genesis and Matthew line up with this hypothesis. Further, God works in cycles. One of those cycles is the cycle of sevens, with eight being the new beginning from the previously completed cycle of seven. You see this in The Passover, a Feast of seven days that is kicked off with The Day of Pesach: a half day that starts instead of ends the cycle (but that is for another discussion). Another cycle of seven is the Feast of Tabernacles which is another Feast of seven days with “That Last Great Day” being the eighth day. Lastly our years are made of several dozen cycles of seven: weeks.

If one looks into The Bible narrative they will find that the theme of each of the seven days of creation reflect the theme of each one-thousand year period. This means that day one, when He separated light from darkness, is reflected in the year zero to the year one-thousand, and-so-on. Right now, we are in the year 5784, the 6^th one-thousand year period and we are about to enter the 7^th “day” or the 7^th millennium. When God rested on the seventh day He hallowed and sanctified that seventh day as a day of rest (Genesis 2:3 reference). As it tells us in Revelation: there will be one-thousand years of rest for us when Satan is bound for that amount of time. “Then I saw an Angel coming down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in His Hand. He laid hold of the Dragon, that Serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:1 quote).

When it comes to prophecy, or the telling of the times, a solid foundation of time itself is quite necessary. You now have a tip of the iceberg understanding of the timeline of creation: from start to finish, based on the Biblical data provided to us from on high. In Matthew, the ladder days are spoken of. The ladder days are the days that lead up to what is called “the birth pangs”, or a woman’s “time of sorrow”. The birth pangs lead up to the awesome friggin Angel stultifying Satan with His supernaturally strong chain of mighty awesomeness. It is these birth pangs that are the key to the answer to the question of this article: what was the dreaded pepperoni all about Scripturally? Consider what Matthew wrote concerning Yeshua’s warning about the end times.

“And Yeshua answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am The Messiah,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:4-8 quote).

When a woman is about to begin her “time of sorrow”, or the time of child birth, she will go through birth pangs. Birth pangs are like the heart beating, eyes blinking, or eyes seeing. They are not something we have to try to do. In fact, you can try not to do those things, but eventually you will lose that battle. A woman is not in control of the birth pangs. They come in progressively stronger waves, coming and going until a new person breaks the matrix of life and is born.

Famines, pestilences (not pepperonis), and earthquakes (Matthew 24:8 reference) are all like birth pangs. Our world has experienced some of these things from the beginning, but the ones in store for the future are going to make all of the previous ones, even the stronger ones of today, look like sneezes. This is the fulcrum for the truth of what happened. The pestilence of the last days will wipe out one-third of the population. The famine and the earthquakes likewise. “By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.” (Revelation 9:18 quote). Somehow fire will be involved, either physically or metaphorically. So when the time just before the end comes, and is as catastrophic as described in The Book of The Revelation of Yeshua Messiah, what was the dreaded pepperoni? Because the evidence of catastrophe to human life of that proportion just is not associated with pepperoni. Either The Bible is a false narrative, or we have to change our minds about what we think we experienced. Let’s humbly lean towards the ladder.

It was the time of conception. We still have about 226 years to go. Like a whale being pregnant for nearly 3 years, our world is at the beginning of a long pregnancy. Look at how similar the pepperoni was to conception compared to birth pangs: The pepperoni was full of drama, fabricated and manipulated by man, and was and still is understood across party lines to have been mostly lies and deception. Whether or not a person has sex, is completely up to man like the pepperoni was up to man. Further, often times sex has lots of drama involved: whether married or unmarried sex is generally a topic of leverage for woman and that leverage tends to purport a great deal of drama for any man who does not have a respectable amount of authority over his household. The similarities are congruent, vast and difficult to avoid if looked at with an open mind for any amount of time.

The regulations, drama, and plans surrounding what happened to us were all under man’s control. Like the birth pangs, when they come, man will not, I repeat, will have not even close to any control over it. The wicked leaders of our world will be throwing their hands up and panicking, because they do not know how to handle not being in control. Every knee will bow. The good leaders will be relieved.

Before I close I would like to give you a small bite of a large delicious steak. The white horse spoken of in Revelation had a rider that was given something: a crown. He was given this for conquering and to conquer. (Revelation 6:2 reference) This also was related to what happened to us and you are encouraged to open your Bible and study it with The Holy Spirit’s help. Truly, I say to you: if you turn to God, and away from your sin, trusting that He is Almighty and strong to save, you will not be conquered. His intention is to both save and strengthen you. You must both share this desire with Him and give up your life in order for Him to accomplish what He desires for you. Thanks for growing with us today. Be diligent.

By: T.Griffin

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Jonah – The Recalcitrant Prophet

Tags

Bible, Jonah, scripture

There have been some recent developments in my Biblical Studies that this article will be sharing. The book of Jonah, in particular, has been brought to my attention and there are some plainly written facts that I had previously not only overlooked, but misunderstood. In studying Jonah recently I have found these misunderstandings to have been straightened out, bringing the more accurate knowledge I need to fully understand God’s true character. I pray this article does the same for you. Let’s learn together.

The air was crisp and the ocean breeze clean smelling. The sun was rising, sending it’s light frolicking over the sea’s waters, playing against it’s surface as it does with diamonds and gems. He was gruff looking, tan, but the smile in his eyes revealed a man who occupied himself with innocent tomfoolery. The hardened sailor’s beard danced under his chin as he asked Jonah, “What brings you to our ship, lad?” Jonah was straight and to the point. “My name is Jonah, son of Ammattai. I fear The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Have you heard of Nineveh?” Jonah asked, raising a knowing eyebrow. “Of course” the sailor said, “unless you are looking for trouble you stay out of Nineveh, lad. Besides, we are heading in the opposite direction: Tarshish”, the sailor said, pointing towards the horizon. The sailor would have continued on, to tell Jonah when the next ship leaving for Nineveh was but Jonah quickly replied “Exactly. I am headed to Tarshish. The Lord God of my ancestors spoke to me just recently and told me to go to Nineveh to tell the animals there to repent. I am running from Him.” The sailor cut in,“God? You are running from God?” looking at the young Jonah inquisitively. Jonah continued “I can’t go to Nineveh. Those people are barbaric. I wouldn’t last two minutes. I don’t have the faith to complete that kind of task. I just don’t.” Jonah said while brushing the dirt with his feet, looking disappointed in himself and scared.

“I see,” the sailor replied thoughtfully. A few moments passed to allow the sailor to turn it over in his mind before a hand found it’s way to Jonah’s back, giving it hardy slap while a laugh escaped the sailor’s throat and that look of playful rues passed across the sailor’s face again. “Why dont you head down that way and my young friend Reuben will show you to your hammock down in the recesses of our ship.” Jonah walked over to the other, younger sailor who was paying close attention to the conversation his older shipmate was having with Jonah. As the two young men began to take a step towards the deck the older sailor called out “Joner!” Jonah turned to find a 5oz silver round flying through the air towards his chest. If he had turned a moment later, Jonah would not have had time to catch it. The old gag had picked Jonah’s satchel during the conversation. “I do that for fun, Jonah, but you must have your witts about you, lad. A lot of the men on this ship are not as light-hearted and will take all the money your family has given you if the opportunity arises. Be careful. Welcome aboard.”

Jonah looked angrily at the man, then turned to walk with the younger sailor. Jonah gave the young Reuben an untrusting, hateful look as his fist clenched the silver round. His other hand instinctively went to his satchel to search for the rest of his things, making sure he didnt pick something to keep for himself. The young sailor saw Jonah’s anger and quickly tried to quell it: Lokk is right, Jonah. Many of the men on this ship are mean spirited, angry and if it werent for a few good men like Lokk and the captain of our ship having a passion to see men hard at work, as a team, trusting one another through thick and thin to stifle their proclivity to cheat, steal and kill, this ship would not be a bearable place to spend much time. Keep your witts about you. Let’s show you to your hammock.”

This Biblical Fan-Fiction short depicts a likely scene as Jonah entered the ship on the way to Tarshish. In Jonah 1:10, at some point before the storm, the casting of lots, and the throwing of Jonah off of the ship, we learn that Jonah previously told the shipmates of his plans, that he was running from God.

It is interesting that Jonah, during a deadly storm, was sleeping in the bowels of the boat (reference Jonah 1:5). At a point in Yeshua’s ministry, he also was in a deadly storm, sleeping. This parallel is a tangential, yet very important clue in the lessons learned from deep and consistent study in God’s word.

Another interesting note concerning Jonah’s story that is commonly misunderstood is the character of the mariners. They were good men, maybe not holy to begin with, but good. This evidence can be found in the way they dealt with Jonah when it was made clear that the reason they were being killed in the storm was because of Jonah’s recalcitrance. When the lot fell on Jonah: “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew and I fear LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” And the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of LORD, because he had told them.” (Jonah 1:8-10)

Although these mariners were afraid for their lives, and knew with the little or no doubt that it was Jonah who had brought these troubles on them,their cargo had already been thrown overboard, they asked him what they ought to do. His response was “pick me up, and throw me into the sea.” (Jonah 1:11). Wouldn’t the obvious response be to throw Jonah overboard as opposed to yielding control to him, asking him what they should do? Furthermore, when Jonah responded with “throw me into the sea”, their immediate response was not to throw Jonah into the sea, but it was to go to the oars and row vigorously towards the shore. Unfortunately for them, but not for Nineveh, the weather grew only worse and the men failed at their attempt. They yielded, they picked up Jonah, they threw Jonah into the sea.

I

know that these little tid-bits might not seem like much at first glance, but when holy, sacred Scripture, is understood properly, even in it’s finer details, big differences can be made for the better. Penultimately, God’s character is quite clearly shown in this story. Not the butterfly and rainbows portion of His character, but the unyielding portion of His character. Before the life-threatening trouble that Jonah experienced, God calls to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Then, Jonah fled. As a result Jonah danced with death for days and days, only saved by The Almghty’s mercy and grace. Once on the shores of Nineveh, that city of barbarians, God called to Jonah again “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” God is, indeed unyielding at times.

Lastly, let’s look at the circumstances of the saving of the city of Nineveh. Jonah was afraid to go to Nineveh, but the Scriptures show that Nineveh is where He was safe and anywhere else is where Jonah should have feared. The Scriptures teach us that Jonah’s mission, during the first day, was successful (Jonah 3:5 reference). You see Nineveh was a three day journey across. Yet, in Jonah’s first day of preaching, word spread like a wildfire even to the ears of the king of Nineveh. The king proclaimed the need for his people to repent, fast and call on God (Jonah 2:5-7 reference). Now how interesting is this? “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly”(Jonah 4:1). God is certainly Almighty. In spite of Jonah, the preaching of Jonah was used by God to quickly save that city.

Be encouraged my friend, in your sin, as you work out your salvation in fear and trembling God will continue to use you, even in spite of you, so long as you fear Him, even if what He is doing makes you exceedingly displeased. Thank you for growing with us today. Shalom bach.

More Grain

Tags

Gleaning, gleaning sin, matthew 10, Matthew 12, Torah, Was Yeshua Gleaning Against The Law

In a previous article titled Just A Bit Of Grain you read a story line that helped to “put you in the shoes” of some of the Biblical Characters. That article further demonstrated the social foundation of the people of that time, and the particular event that was happening in respect to the social structure that those of Messiah operated within. This article is a part two to Just A Bit Of Grain. Let’s learn together.

Before the Disciples found themselves in the grain field, on a Sabbath, plucking heads of grain, they had been through a bit of a trial by fire. Yeshua had chosen His twelve, gained a bit of a following, then sent them out two-by-two to preach the Gospel to the surrounding cities. This was a very important step in achieving the goal. If a person is not rightly prepared for God to enter their lives, the shackles, lies, and tricks of the enemy will cause the person to turn God away. Most of us have experienced people not accepting our true love for them. God is no different: He carries absolutely no character but His own and many are not willing to accept Him for who He truly is, leaving them to settle for a cheap ersatz of His beautiful, strong and courageous Fatherly character.

The question here is this: why did the Author, Matthew, pen this in such a way that the event of sending them out two-by-two is followed directly by the event of the grain field? As mentioned in the previous article, we are looking past the drama of the Pharisees’ condemnation of Yeshua’s choices that day. We are asking ourselves why a grain field? Why gleaning after being apart from one another for so long? The setting could have just as easily been them enjoying a Synagogue Service. After all, it was Shabbat. It could have been at a river, or the Sea of Galillee, but it wasn’t. It was them picking heads of grain in a grain field on a Sabbath afternoon and likely exchanging excited stories and woes about the things they experienced while exploring their local towns and what it meant to spread the true Word of God to people who were about to meet Him.

In order to have a deeper understanding of why Yeshua chose a grain field on the Sabbath day, we must understand what gleaning means. In The Torah’s (Hebrew For Law, God’s Law as it is understood) Leviticus we find the definition of gleaning.

“Now, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am יְהוָֹה your God.”(Leviticus 19:9-10)

Let’s pick through that some. Who, in Yeshua’s time, was understood to be responsible for keeping God’s law of gleaning? The answer is landowners who had food growing on that land. Okay, who benefited when farmers were obedient to God’s gleaning law? Verse ten says it is the needy and the stranger who benefited. How? How did the needy and the stranger benefit? They received their daily bread without having to beg for it. And what exactly are the responsibilities of the landowner? Verse nine taught landowners that the responsible way to reap their harvests was to do so while purposefully leaving the corners of the field unharvested, purposefully leaving fallen fruit on the ground, and purposefully not gleaning those things themselves, but leaving them for the stranger and the needy. Lastly, how does one glean? A stranger or needy person who needs food would go to a field, looking to the corners of the field first and venturing towards the interior looking for fallen fruit if the corners do not stultify their need for bread that day.

Now that we have a better understanding of what gleaning meant as a social undercurrent, let’s look at Yeshua’s resolve to take His Disciples gleaning on that Sabbath Day. What might He have been saying to His Disciples? Their act of plucking the grain heads as they walked through the field showed humility, although they were directly under the tutelage of The Almighty. It all belongs to Him, yet there they were together, lowering themselves to the lowly position of strangers in the land. “For you are strangers and sojourners with Me”(Leviticus 25:23) is the Scripture that comes to mind with all its warmth and love and gratitude. Yeshua was thanking them for the work they had done and assuring them that they were part of His fold.

Yeshua, when sending them out previous to the grain field event, charged them to take nothing with them:

-no bread

-no bag

-no money in their belts

-to wear sandals and not bring two tunics

-to have relied on the lodging provided by the respectable houses found in the city they entered and to stay there until they left

Yeshua, giving them those instructions is reminiscent of the manna from years past. They had their daily bread, and that was it. No leftovers in a bag for later. Just like in the desert. Except this bread from heaven came through Godly households before being received by the Disciples. This resulted in a holy cycle of blessing for God to work with while the Disciples, as His ambassadors, were preparing the cities for His arrival. There may have been times where no worthy household was found and the pair were forced to sleep outside and glean the fields for food until they found the proper soil to plant the seeds they were planting, the proper plants to protect and water with the living water they were offering, or the proper plants to prune with the wise eye of the Master Gardener who was overseeing their work. The structure and rules laid on the Disciples were not easy rules to follow and took great faith to do so. While gleaning in the fields that day, subtly, Yeshua was saying to them I was with you the whole way, we suffered together. The Father will not make you do something He would not go through Himself. He said this by showing them that He picked grain heads too, by taking them to pick grain heads with Him on a Sabbath Day.

Lastly, Yeshua leveraged the drama of the Religious Rulers’ tort against them as an opportunity to really drive home His gratitude and love for His Disciples. He indicated that the Disciples were on the same level as David! Above, in the eyes of God, those who serve the Temple! What a feel good, warm fuzzy that must have been!

Another article could be written focusing on the season: picking grain heads means it was Spring. A lot of information concerning the connections from their mission together and the times of Pesach, Firstfruits, Unleavened Bread and Shavuot is wrapped into that fact alone. Those studies are left for you study yourself with God. I may write an article on that in the future. Time will tell.

The few points above are a small glimpse into the veritable treasure trove that is the mind of Messiah: available to anyone who is willing to study themselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15 reference) with the goal of being of the same mind with Messiah (Philippians 2:20 reference) in order that we might move beyond the elementary principles of repentance and faith in God, toward wholeness (Hebrews 6:1 reference). It is by meditating on these things that true soundness of mind, healing of the spirit, and graduating towards the fulfillment of your calling is achieved. This article is meant as a starting line complete with gel packs and hydration to get you running the race with everything you need. Open up your Bible and get a move on. Messiah does not give rest to those who dilly dally on His opportunities. Shalom and thank you for reading my article, I pray it’s blessings multiply within you. Let’s grow together.

By: T.Griffin ben Yeshua Messiah

There is more where that came from! Here are links to Gleaning The Scriptures on YouTube, TorahTube, Rumble, and if you would like to point some of your generosity our way, you can show your support via Patreon. One Time Donations available through the web-site below. Donations are far from necessary: freely we have received and freely we give, with joy, integrity, and honor.

FREE STUFF: Find free Bible Meditations, Biblical Calendars, and more at www.GleaningTheScriptures.com

Or check out This Post’s Accompanying Video