November 17, 2006
As mentioned in the last two letters we, as the redeemed remnant of the Houses of Israel and Judah, are destined, according to the prophets, to become a united and mighty weapon in the hand of YHVH. The spiritual battle that we face is not a new one; it goes back to the time when Adam and Eve partook of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. From that point in time man became the epitome of a nature that he had not been created for. He was therefore sent out from Elohim’s presence (kingdom) and thrust into a spiritual desert, there to begin to participate in building another kingdom. This kingdom of darkness is characterized by the nature of “Sin”, which is the very opposite of YHVH’s and His kingdom of righteousness. Satan, or Lucifer, was the designated prince of this realm (ref John 12:21; Ephesians 2:2). Interestingly, he is not called “king”, as YHVH is sovereign over every aspect of His creation, including the realm of spiritual darkness.
“ I am YHVH, and there is none else, there is no Elohim beside me: I am YHVH, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I YHVH do all these things” (Isaiah 45:5-7).
When man began to partake of this nature, through the knowledge of good and evil, he became a slave to the power of Sin, establishing Sin’s kingdom here on earth. In the book of Daniel there is a description of four beasts that are symbolic of this spiritual force, as it manifests itself through humanity.
The first expression of Sin, as recorded in Scripture, was through a serpent (Gen 3:1). Later, when Cain became angry with his brother Abel, it says that Sin was crouching at his (Cain’s) door. The word for crouching - “ravats” - is what a cat or other animals of prey do while waiting to pounce on their victims. Perhaps this is why Daniel’s vision of the four beasts, which represent respective empires, was of animals with this particular characteristic. For example, the third beast, which represented Greece, was that of a leopard (with four heads and four wings). Interestingly, leopards are notorious for their ability to go undetected. They are graceful and stealthy and amongst the big cats the most accomplished stalkers. They also are mainly nocturnal and hunt from trees. They are very opportunistic hunters and they will eat just about anything. That is why, of all the big cats, they are the most wide spread in the world. As we progress at looking at the Greek beast and its influences, keep in mind the characteristics of this animal.
Before mentioning the leopard, Daniel describes two other animals (empires); the lion which symbolized Babylon (ref. Daniel 7:4), and the bear - the Mede-Persian empire (ref Daniel 7:5). There was one more that came after the leopard, a fourth beast that is only described as having iron teeth and 10 horns (ref Daniel 7:7). However, I believe that this was the same one that John saw and described in the book of Revelation, as he was alive at the time of this fourth empire (ref Revelation 13:1-2). In next week’s letter we’ll begin to look at aspects of the manifested nature of Sin through humanity, that is, “fallen man”, comparing his image (ref Daniel 2:31) to the four animals.
I was sent the following, and thought to pass it on, as it may be a warning concerning the “Greek beast”.
Shabbat Shalom
Ephraim
HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government." "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." "From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years." "During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. from bondage to spiritual faith; 2. from spiritual faith to great courage; 3. from courage to liberty; 4. from liberty to abundance; 5. from abundance to complacency; 6. from complacency to apathy; 7. from apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage" Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election: Number of States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29 Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000 Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush: 2.1 Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty-million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say good-bye to the USA in fewer than five years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
As mentioned in the last two letters we, as the redeemed remnant of the Houses of Israel and Judah, are destined, according to the prophets, to become a united and mighty weapon in the hand of YHVH. The spiritual battle that we face is not a new one; it goes back to the time when Adam and Eve partook of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. From that point in time man became the epitome of a nature that he had not been created for. He was therefore sent out from Elohim’s presence (kingdom) and thrust into a spiritual desert, there to begin to participate in building another kingdom. This kingdom of darkness is characterized by the nature of “Sin”, which is the very opposite of YHVH’s and His kingdom of righteousness. Satan, or Lucifer, was the designated prince of this realm (ref John 12:21; Ephesians 2:2). Interestingly, he is not called “king”, as YHVH is sovereign over every aspect of His creation, including the realm of spiritual darkness.
“ I am YHVH, and there is none else, there is no Elohim beside me: I am YHVH, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I YHVH do all these things” (Isaiah 45:5-7).
When man began to partake of this nature, through the knowledge of good and evil, he became a slave to the power of Sin, establishing Sin’s kingdom here on earth. In the book of Daniel there is a description of four beasts that are symbolic of this spiritual force, as it manifests itself through humanity.
The first expression of Sin, as recorded in Scripture, was through a serpent (Gen 3:1). Later, when Cain became angry with his brother Abel, it says that Sin was crouching at his (Cain’s) door. The word for crouching - “ravats” - is what a cat or other animals of prey do while waiting to pounce on their victims. Perhaps this is why Daniel’s vision of the four beasts, which represent respective empires, was of animals with this particular characteristic. For example, the third beast, which represented Greece, was that of a leopard (with four heads and four wings). Interestingly, leopards are notorious for their ability to go undetected. They are graceful and stealthy and amongst the big cats the most accomplished stalkers. They also are mainly nocturnal and hunt from trees. They are very opportunistic hunters and they will eat just about anything. That is why, of all the big cats, they are the most wide spread in the world. As we progress at looking at the Greek beast and its influences, keep in mind the characteristics of this animal.
Before mentioning the leopard, Daniel describes two other animals (empires); the lion which symbolized Babylon (ref. Daniel 7:4), and the bear - the Mede-Persian empire (ref Daniel 7:5). There was one more that came after the leopard, a fourth beast that is only described as having iron teeth and 10 horns (ref Daniel 7:7). However, I believe that this was the same one that John saw and described in the book of Revelation, as he was alive at the time of this fourth empire (ref Revelation 13:1-2). In next week’s letter we’ll begin to look at aspects of the manifested nature of Sin through humanity, that is, “fallen man”, comparing his image (ref Daniel 2:31) to the four animals.
I was sent the following, and thought to pass it on, as it may be a warning concerning the “Greek beast”.
Shabbat Shalom
Ephraim
HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government." "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." "From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years." "During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. from bondage to spiritual faith; 2. from spiritual faith to great courage; 3. from courage to liberty; 4. from liberty to abundance; 5. from abundance to complacency; 6. from complacency to apathy; 7. from apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage" Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election: Number of States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29 Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000 Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush: 2.1 Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty-million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say good-bye to the USA in fewer than five years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
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