The Rapture of The Church!

Gods’ revelation to the early Church concerning the rapture was revealing especially to the early Christians. To them, it was a mystery that has been hidden from the foundation of the earth but revealed in their time. The Old Testament was completely silent concerning the rapture of the Church: may be because the rapture concerns the Church age which was also a mystery that was only revealed by Christ and the Apostles. The first mention of the rapture was by Jesus in John 14 v 1-3. In these verses, Christ talks about His return to take the saints both living and dead to Heaven. More so, Apostle Paul gave a chilling insight and description of the rapture in I Corinthians 15 v 51-52 and I Thessalonians 4 v 15-17. These verses describe the rapture as a mystery kept for the purpose of comforting the saints and the believers in their service to God. More importantly, the rapture is the end of the Church age and it will usher the world into deception, lies, wickedness, cruelty and lawlessness which will be engineered by the devil himself and put into work by the man of sin (Antichrist). Be prepared because the rapture can take place at any moment!

Restoration of Israel: 1948!

The children of Israel have passed through afflictions and troubles in time past. These afflictions were a result of their sins and disobedience to God. Some of their captors include Egypt, Assyria and Roman Empire. However, the Roman occupation and captivity and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was remarkable. It was remarkable because it will lead to the rebirth of the new Jewish nation and the resumption of Gods timetable plan for Israel. More so, it was remarkable because Moses, Jeremiah and Jesus Christ spoke about it in Deuteronomy 4 v 27-30, Jeremiah 16 v 14-16; 30 v 3-4, and Luke 21 v 24. These verses gave an insight of Israel’s captivity to foreign land and her eventual return on May 14, 1948.

Christ Coming Foretold!

The first coming of the Messiah remains one of the most anticipated events in Jewish history. In fact, the Jews for a long time have waited for Christ coming. To the Jews, they expect a King full of grandeur- the one who will deliver them from their enemies and set up a kingdom that shall never be changed or end. Unfortunately, when He was born, the Jews were never prepared and only had a manger for Him. Why were the Jews not prepared to receive someone they had waited for almost three thousand years? Or was signs not given in scriptures that provided a clue for his first coming? Absolutely No! The scriptures provided clues that were overlooked by the Jews consequently making His birth unknown to them. Ironically, the Jews are still expecting His first coming. For record sake and in line with scriptural truth, the following basic signs were provided in scriptures. That the Messiah will be a product of a woman alone- Genesis 3 v 5; that the Messiah shall rise out of Judah- Numbers 24 v 17; that He shall be born of a virgin- Isaiah 7 v 14; that the Messiah shall be anointed in 27AD according to Daniel 9 v 25 and that the Messiah shall be born in Bethlehem of Judah- Micah 5 v 2. In summary, Christ eventually came as the seed of a woman; He was the star that the three wise men saw in Bethlehem, a town in Judah; He was born of a virgin; He was anointed in 27AD and He was born in a remote town in Bethlehem. This shows that the scripture was actually fulfilled in each of these cases.

Is September 11, 3BC Christ Actual Birthday?

There is no doubt in our mind that September 11, 3BC is the actual birthday of Jesus Christ taking into consideration the gospel according to Luke. This date came to be after historians and theologians embark on an insight study into the scriptures and also considered historical facts and records. More so, scientific base angle was brought upon to support this date. Though, these theologians and historians got most of their facts from the Bible especially the gospel according to Saint Luke. Yet, we cannot deny the fact that this date cannot be disapproved because great men of God such as Balaam, Daniel and Micah have predicted the sign, the year and place of his birth. It was the records they gave that led the three wise men to Jesus in Bethlehem.

The Actual Birth Date of Jesus Christ (5)

There is no doubt in our mind that the world has accepted the December 25th date as the birth date of Jesus. Come to think of it, if Christ first coming was to determine His second coming, what would have become of Christians who are careless in their service to God? Inadvertently, it would have been simple to say that the world would have falling into the greatest deception ever. Meanwhile, the true feast that really acknowledges the birth of Jesus has been overturned for another recognized celebration in the Roman Catholic calendar- Mary birth date which is celebrated on September 8 according to the catholic teaching. Though, this date was initially meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary. Nevertheless, there is still widespread belief among non-Catholics that this is the day Jesus was conceived- a possible lingering remembrance of the original meaning of this date. We can also tell from Luke's Gospel that Jesus had been born in early evening, for Luke says the shepherds were keeping watch by night, but still had time to go into town and tell the people what they had seen earlier that evening. People rose early with the sun in those days, and would have been asleep by 9 or 10 pm. Therefore, the birth had taken place no later than 8 pm, and probably before 7 pm. Yet Luke says it happened at night, which means after sunset- surely after 6 pm on September. Hence, it follows that Jesus was born within a few minutes of 6:30-7:30 pm on the evening of September 11th, 3 BC. A confirmation of this time is in the book of Revelation. Historian Ernest L. Martin consulted NASA lunar-phase tables and found the image of the heavens in Revelation 12 showed where the sun and the moon were, relative to Virgo, at the time Jesus was born, pin-pointing sunset of September 11th of 3 BC. It seems the moon moves so quickly, it is "beneath the feet" of Virgo only a few hours every month. Moreover, the moon comes within two lunar diameters of Virgo's feet at the time of a new moon but once in 30 years. The only such occurrence any time near the birth of Jesus was on September 11th, 3 BC. Most previous attempts at determining the birth time was based upon astrology and dating the Star of Bethlehem. No one considered 3 BC because that year had erroneously been assumed to follow Herod's death. However, Dr. Martin has proven that Herod did not die in 4 BC, but in 1 BC. Scholars are now generally accepting the new chronology for Herod, and this in turn has allowed the confirmation of the New Testament date for the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately, many churches continue to promote the critics' errors and paganized traditions about the Nativity of Christ.

The Actual Birth Day of Jesus Christ (4): The Roman Conspiracy!

It is no more news that no one seems to know how Rome came to honor September 8th as the birthday of Mary. There is no Biblical, historical, or church tradition to explain it. It just emerges out of nowhere. Rome keeps the 8th of December as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (i.e. conceived without original sin). It is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics to attend Mass. This feast is clearly based upon September 8th also, and mortal sin is attached to the failure of a Catholic to observe it, yet the origins of these dates are unknown. On the other hand, we can now see that if Jesus was born on September 11th as Luke indicates, then Jesus would have been conceived around December 8th in 4 BC. The now mysterious Mary dates fit Jesus quite well. How might this have happened? In the late 4th century, in early 380 AD, Pope Damasus I was endeavoring to force all Christians in the Roman Empire to yield to his authority. He got the Emperor to issue an edict requiring them to practice the religion of Rome. We know that it is about this time the Christmas midnight Mass was first celebrated and December 25th first identified as a Catholic holy day. It is said Damasus was seeking to lure the people away from pagan rites honoring the birth of the sun god at midnight by compelling Catholic attendance at a memorial in honor of Christ's death, i.e. the Mass. The people confused this Mass with the pagan solar birth rituals conducted at that same time. Gradually, the Christ-Mass became associated with the Nativity and has made people worldwide to believe that Christ was actually born December 25.

The Actual Birth Date of Jesus Christ (3)

Biblical records and history shows that Luke includes three statements identifying the period of the nativity. So what period and day was this, Yom Kippur known as the Day of Atonement and also the 10th day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. In Luke's time, Yom Kippur was called three things: The day of the "Fast," “the day of the Purification”, “and the day of Redemption”. Luke uses all three to identify the day Jesus was brought to the Temple. And he even quotes the Torah rule that mandates the 40-days period for the mother to wait after the child's birth [Luke 2:22-38]. And if there were any doubt that it was Yom Kippur, Luke tells of a woman named Anna who had been in the Temple for a "night and day" without leaving. There was ONLY ONE DAY A YEAR when a person could pray overnight in the Temple: Yom Kippur. All other days, the Temple was locked at sundown. This shows the 40th day of Mary's Purification had begun at the end of Yom Kippur, the end of the 10th day of the 7th month, because we know the Purification was done at the earliest opportunity- at the beginning of the 40th day after birth. And since the 6th month normally had only 29 days, simple arithmetic shows Mary's 39 days of Purification had to have begun around sundown on the 1st day of the 6th month, called Elul. This was the night of the first sighting of the new moon of Elul. The Magi in Babylon were recording this sunset sliver of the new moon on a clay tablet. The cuneiform tablet the Magi made at that hour 2000 years ago, along with thousands of others from Babylon, resides in the British Museum. It is possible that this clay tablet was inscribed by one of the famous Magi who later brought a strange set of gifts to Bethlehem. So the new moon seen by the Magi in Babylon at the very moment of Jesus being born is recorded on one of the tablets now in London. Cuneiform scholars have identified the date on this tablet as equivalent to September, 11, 3 BC. The Hebrew lunar calendar dates vary with respect to our solar calendar. So the 1st of Elul was September 11th in 3 BC, but began on August 22 in 1998. The same was true in the days of the early church, of course in a given year; the 1st of Elul could have fallen on September 8th. This discovery may have helped to solve another ancient mystery that is unknown to man.

The Actual Birth Date of Jesus Christ (2)

The research that lead Christian scholars and Theologians to arrive at the actual birth date of Jesus Christ started in the 19th century when critical scholars made a crucial decision to reject a total lunar eclipse in January 1 BC and to accept instead, one in March 4 BC, as the chronological cornerstone for dating the death of Herod the Great, and thereby the possible birth years for Jesus. By so doing, the critics could argue Jesus had to be born before 4 BC, contradicting Luke, who tied Jesus' 30th year to the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, 27-28 AD. Luke effectively placed the birth in 3 BC, as did many of the early church fathers. Ironically, even the date used by the Pope during the Christmas Eve midnight mass ritual is itself consistent with the last half of 3 BC. The dirty little secret is that virtually all the available evidence has always pointed at the harvest period of 3 BC as the focal point of the nativity including the possibility of a late summer birth. By rejecting Luke, scholars also threw out the date of birth Luke gives in his Gospel. In his second chapter, Luke tells what happened the day Mary came to the Temple for purification 40 days after the birth of Jesus. All one has to know is what day this was. And Luke plainly name the day. Therefore, does Luke record really ascertained the fact that Jesus was actually born the day his writing claimed, or was there a mistake on his account of the gospel according to Luke.

The Actually Birth Date of Jesus Christ!

The world was transfixed by the year 2000; but only few actually realized that the true 2000th lunar anniversary of the birth of Jesus was August 22, 1998, or on September 11, 1998 by the solar calendar date we now use. Many may live to see the consequences of the anniversary, if it foreshadowed a coming false Christ. Or at the least, there were dozens of lunatics eager to take advantage of the year 2000 hysteria to get the attention of the gullible. Yet, the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity actually came 475 days before year 2000 began. The correct anniversary date was about sundown, Jerusalem time, the end of the Sabbath, Saturday August 22, 1998. How can we know the exact day and nearly the hour of the birth of Jesus? A simple arithmetic a child could have done, if only the basic assumptions given in the bible had been followed.

Christ Is born!

"A virgin shall conceive and give birth to a child and you shall call him Emmanuel, meaning God is with us" This was the prophecy given by Isaiah the prophet about 700 years before Christ was born. This statement was again re-echoed to Joseph, the step father of Jesus Christ by Angel Gabriel. Though, the bible teaches that Jesus birth was celebrated by the Angels in heaven and that He came to die for the sins of the whole world in order to bring redemption to mankind: And that his birth was prophesied by all the old testament prophets, and the most fascinating prophecy of Jesus first coming was given by Daniel the Prophet; this prophesy was significant because Jesus birth date was actually given to the Jews who had earnestly asked for their coming Messiah. Unfortunate, when Jesus eventually came, the Jews were not prepared for it and they were actually ignorant of it. Despite their ignorance, three men (three wise-men) stood out and were able to study the scriptures and came all the way to Bethlehem to see their KING!

Israel: The Barren Land!

In the fulness of time, God gave his Son to die for the sins of mankind. Jesus has been born in Bethlehem, in the royal family of King David according to scriptures. But the birth of Christ has been anticipated for about 4000 years, and all Israelite had lost hope about their coming Messiah. However, before the birth of Christ, the land of Israel was without a prophet for many years according to the word of the lord. The Almighty God had a controversy with the people of Israel because of their neglect of his words and the killing of his prophets. Also, the Lord was angry because the Israelite were disobedient to Him. They had sold themselves to lies, deceit and idolatry; and their punishment and judgement was the absence of Gods words to them for many years. This period lasted for about 400 years until John the baptist showed up in the desert: creating the part way for Jesus Christ to appear on the scene few months later.

Daniel 70th Week Prophecy Explained!

The 70th week is the last week of the 70 weeks prophecy God gave to Daniel. This week has a 7 years timeline and begins immediately after the rapture of the church. It is a period of terror of the man of sin as He terrorise the entire human race using craft and deception. Daniel state "He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice to cease and for the overspreading He shall make it desolate" This scripture gave just a little insight into the activities of the Antichrist. The Antichrist will surface immediately after the rapture. The rapture throws the world into chaos and confusion, and the Antichrist assume the thrown as the world leader, a peace maker and a problem solver. He deceives the people in believing that the Christians are the trouble makers who never want the world to unite under one world government and religion. In fact, revelation describes this as the "big lie". The Antichrist initially will gain Israel's trust by helping them from the troubles of the Arab nations and the Russians and Chinese (Gog and Magog) by defeating their pact of confederacy. In doing this, there is a 7 years period of peace treaty signed by Israel and the Arab nations and the Antichrist as the mediator. After three and a half years of this signing, during the tribulation, He decides to come over to Jerusalem and set his capital because He believes He is from Kind David lineage. The Antichrist because of his royalty status decides to make the temple his palace therefore desecrating the altar that is meant only for the high priest, consequently leading to the rebellion from the Jews. This desecration is what the Bible describes as the "abomination that makes desolate." The remaining three and a half years sees the Jews and the Christians been terrorised and killed. In fact, the Jews and the Christians will be called TERRORIST. After the three and a half years of the great tribulation, the Jews become tired because sixty-six (66.6) percent of them would have been killed already as spoken by Zachariah the prophet. The remaining thirty-three (33.33) percent are forced to call for their Messiah. Jesus himself described this as "They shall look upon whom they have pierced". "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the moon and the sun shall not give its light and the power of the heavens shall be shaken and the son of man shall appear in the sky," "and the LORD shall destroy the Antichrist with the brightness of his coming" this were the words of Jesus Christ describing his coming and the subsequent defeat of the Antichrist. The Bible also state that His feet shall stand on mount Olives. Jesus then takes a short walk through the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem. This gate has been closed awaiting the arrival of the Prince of Peace, the Jewish Messiah!

Daniel 70-weeks Prophecy Explained!

Daniel 70 weeks prophecy remains one of the most fascinating prophecy in scriptures. Many theologians and historians have tried in their effort to reconcile the date given by Daniel and the year Christ was actually born. Some in their effort have misinterpreted the whole chapter out of context. But the question is, can mere human effort be used to interpret these verses? The answer is indeed No! The only way to really interpret is to consider what the scriptures says- because the scriptures cannot be broken. According to scriptures, 70 weeks was given by Daniel for the entire prophecy to be fulfilled. This prophecy starts counting when the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem was given by Antaxerxes to Ezra in 457 BC and ends when Christ the anointed becomes King. Though previous decree was given by Cyrus (536 BC) and Darius (519 BC), these two decrees saw the movement of the Jews back to Jerusalem. During this period, the Jews were not fully independent considering the hostility of the nations that occupied Jerusalem then and the absence of temple worship. Therefore, the counting starts when Jerusalem became an independent state; the streets and walls built again and temple worship restored, all this was possible in 457 BC. The 69 weeks starts counting from 457 BC to the anointing of the Messiah by John the baptist in 27 AD making it a period of 483 years according to scriptures. It should be noted that a week in Jewish calendar is 7 years period; Which means that 69 weeks equals to (69 x 7 years) 483 years. The second part of the 70 weeks is 62 weeks which happens to be the end of the 69 weeks. During this period, the Messiah was crucified on the cross for the sins of the world. Presently, the world is in the period between the 69 and 70 weeks normally called the "church age" "the Gentiles period" or "grace period". The last one week begins immediately after the rapture of the Church. This one week is divided into two parts of three and a half years each of tribulation and great tribulation respectively.

Assurance of Daniel 70-weeks Prophecy!

The bible has been tried 7 times in fire and has been confirmed as Gods word- it is the infallible word of God that cannot lie and change. In fact, the Lord states 'I am God and I change not' .Scriptural truth has shown that God words are unchanging as Himself. God has described the events of the last days in the book of Daniel: Therefore, it leaves no doubts in our minds according to history that 90 percent of these words was fulfilled some 3000 years ago. However, the basis of this study is based on Daniel chapter 9 v 25-26a because of its significance to the Israeli nation and the church age. For emphasis sake, lets look at these chapters: 'Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end to sins and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks (69 weeks): the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks (end of 69 weeks) shall the Messiah be cut off but not for himself' These few verses will form the basis of our discussions in our next study.

Daniel 70-weeks Prophecy (2)

The 70-weeks prophecy God gave Daniel remains the most intriguing of all biblical chapters in the entire scriptures. Theologians and historians are still amazed at the accuracy of this scripture especially as 90 percent of it has already been fulfilled to the letter, therefore leaving no room for doubts. The purpose of this scripture was to inform the people of their coming King because they have asked for a sign. This scripture was also given to prepare the Jewish nation for the coming Messiah and the great event that was to take place hitherto. To the Jews, the prophecy was freedom from captivity and a defeat to their enemies, though, the prophets had predicted this period as freedom and an end to their captivity in Babylon. On the other hand, God was revealing His plan for their coming Messiah, his death on the cross and his second coming. A time lag of 70-weeks is encapsulated in this prophecy, each of the week means 7 years according to Jewish calendar. This 70-weeks is explained under 69 weeks, 62 weeks and 1 week. It should be noted also that, these weeks are inclusive in the original 70 weeks and marks a significant event and history in the entire church age and mankind history.

Daniel 70-weeks Prophecy!

The 70 weeks prophecy God gave Daniel came at a time the Jews were in distress. The prophecy revealed God's mind towards them now and in the future. The prophecy was a combination of great events which will begin with the commandment to return to their land, and the enthronement of the Messiah as the King of the earth. Encapsulated in this prophecy is the birth of Christ and his death on the cross; the coming Antichrist and the second coming of Jesus Christ.