2012 and the
“END
OF DAYS”
The Final
Countdown to
the Messiah?
How much longer till the coming of the true
Messiah? What
lies ahead for this tottering old world in
the next few years
or decade?
Why did the Mayan Indians believe the end of
the present calendar and system of things
would terminate
in the year 2012? Does this tie in with Biblical prophecy for
the “time of the end”? In this article, we explore the latest
revelations concerning the frightful period
just ahead of us,
and what
the Word of God says.
William F.
Dankenbring
In the book of the prophet Jeremiah is a
frightening prophecy for the end-times.
Jeremiah says: “These are the
words the LORD spoke concerning
What is this “time of Jacob’s trouble”? When will it begin?
Daniel speaks of this same time. The angel Gabriel says to him: “At that time Michael the great prince who
protects your people will arise. There
will be a TIME OF DISTRESS such as has not happened from the beginning of time
until then. But at that time your people
– everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered”
(Dan.12:1).
The Moffatt Translation renders this verse, “There shall
be a time of TROUBLE such as never has been since there was a nation.” He describes this awful period of the future
as “the crisis at the end” (Dan.12:4), and, “the crisis at the close”
(v.9).
Jesus Christ – Yeshua Ha-Moshiach – also spoke of these
final, frenetic, tormenting, tremulous times.
Looking into the future which will occur just before His Second Coming,
He declared: “So when you see standing
in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through
the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains. . . How dreadful it will be in those days for
pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray
that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be GREAT DISTRESS,
unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled
again. If those days had not been cut
short [by the intervention and coming of the Messiah], no one would survive [or
be left alive on the planet earth], but for the sake of the elect those days
will be shortened” (Matt.24:15-22).
Jeremiah, Daniel and Jesus Christ were all talking about
the same final end-time disaster and time of trouble which will ENGULF
the entire planet earth. There could not
be three different “times of distress” all of them “unequaled in the history of
the world.” Since each one of these is
the “greatest” time ever of distress, they must all be referring to the same
period of time – the same great distress.
How much time do we have left, before “all hell” breaks
loose? There is a vital key that unlocks
this secret door – it is the key of the “seven day week.”
God
Himself is the author and creator of time.
We read in the book of Genesis, “And God said, Let there be lights in
the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them
be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Gen.1:14).
In Psalm
90:4, we read: “For a thousand years in
thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the
night.” Notice that one thousand years,
here, are compared to “yesterday” – a single “day.”
The
apostle Peter seems to have this Scripture in mind when he writes, in the New
Testament, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is
with the Lord as a THOUSAND YEARS, and a thousand years as ONE DAY. The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night . . .” (II Peter
3:8-10).
When the Messiah returns, He will inaugurate a millennial
kingdom lasting one thousand years. As
John wrote, when the Anointed One, the Christ, comes, the Adversary – Satan the
devil – will be bound for one thousand years (Rev.20:1-3). John relates, “And I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and REIGNED WITH CHRIST A
THOUSAND YEARS. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished”(Rev.20:4-5).
This
“millennial rest” of 1,000 years is termed a “Sabbath rest” by Paul in the book
of Hebrews. Paul speaks of this mystery
in the 4th chapter of Hebrews, saying: “Let us therefore fear, lest, a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come
short of it. . . For he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the
seventh day from all his works. . . . There remains therefore a REST to the
people of God” (Heb.4:1-9).
The Moffatt translation is even plainer. It says: “There is a Sabbath-Rest,
then, reserved for the people of God” (Heb.4:9). Clearly, then, the millennial reign of the
Messiah is pictured in Scripture as lasting one thousand years, and is called a
“Sabbath Rest.”
The
Sabbath day, according to the Word of God, is the seventh day of the week. Almighty God commanded: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and
do all thy work. But the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work . .
.” (Exo.20:8-10).
The
pattern of the seven day week, concluded by a Sabbath day of rest from work,
labor, and toil, is a picture of the Plan of God. If the Sabbath of rest from “man’s works,”
lasts 1000 years (Rev.20:4), then the previous six “days” would equal
SIX THOUSAND years in fulfillment!
Literally a “day” in God’s plan is a thousand years, and therefore a
“week” in God's plan is seven thousand years!
This implies that seven days of the week would equal seven
thousand years. And when we learn from
prophecy that the Millennial day of “rest” or Millennial SABBATH is “one
thousand years,” literally (Rev.20:4), then this tells us that the preceding
six days must equal six thousand years.
The knowledge of God’s 7000-year Plan is not a new
revelation from God to His Church during this End-Time age. In fact, this prophetic knowledge was known
and understood by the early
Says the New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge:
“The early
fathers most commonly looked for the second advent at
the end of 6000 years of
the world’s history” (vol.VII, p.376).
The Epistle of Barnabas, written about 200 A.D., actually
expounded on the concept of the 7000-year plan of God, stating that the “end”
would occur at the point of 6000 years from the creation of mankind. States this ancient document of the early
church period:
“Of the Sabbath
He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; ‘And God
made the works of his hands
in six days, and He ended on the seventh
day, and rested on it, and
He hallowed it.’ Give heed, children,
what
this meaneth, ‘He ended in
six days.’ He meaneth this, that IN SIX
THOUSAND YEARS THE LORD
SHALL BRING ALL THINGS
TO AN END; for the day with
Him signifieth a thousand years; and
this He himself beareth me
witness, saying, ‘Behold, the day of the
Lord
shall be as a THOUSAND YEARS.’
Therefore, children, in six
days, that is in six
thousand years, everything shall come to an end.
‘And He rested
on the seventh day.’ This he meaneth;
when His Son
shall come, and shall
abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall
judge the ungodly, and
shall change the sun and the moon and the stars,
then shall He truly rest on
the seventh day” (Epistle of Barnabus, chap.
15, The Apostolic
Fathers, pp.151-152).
Early
Christians expected the age of mankind’s self rule to come to an end, to be
replaced by the Messianic Kingdom, after a period of 6,000 years. The “Epistle of Barnabus” bears eloquent
testimony to this historical fact.
Irenaeus,
who lived from A.D. 120 to 202, was a disciple of Polycarp, one of God’s true
servants in Asia Minor, who himself was a disciple of the apostle John. Polycarp sent Pothus into Celtic Gaul at an
early date to establish the region, and he settled in Lyons, when Irenaeus
joined him, having been his fellow-pupil under Polycarp. In his battle against raging heresies which
were inundating the church at that time, Irenaeus wrote his Against
Heresies. In book 1, chapter xxviii,
3, we read:
“For in as many
days as this world was made, in so many thousand
years shall it be
concluded. And for this reason the
Scripture says:
‘Thus the heaven
and the earth were finished, and all their adornment.
And God brought to a
conclusion upon the sixth day the works that
He had made; and God rested
upon the seventh day from all His works.’
This is an account of the
things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy
of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand
years; and
in six days
created things were completed: it is
evident, therefore, that
they will come to and
END at the sixth thousand year” (Ante-Nicene
Fathers, vol.1,
p.557).
Before the time of Christ,
the Jews also understood that the Messiah would come after 6000 years of human
history.
The Encyclopedia
Britannica, eleventh edition, concerning the Talmud, states:
“The view most
frequently expressed there . . . is that the Messianic
kingdom will last for
one thousand (some said two thousand) years.
‘In six days God created
the world, on the seventh He rested. But
a
day of God is equal to a
thousand years (Ps.90:4). Hence the
WORLD
WILL LAST FOR SIX
THOUSAND YEARS of toil and labor; then
will come one thousand
years of Sabbath rest for the people of God in
the kingdom of the
Messiah.’ This idea must have already
been very
common in the first
century before Christ” (“Millennium,” p.459).
The Jewish Encyclopedia goes into greater detail:
“The
Perso-Babylonian world-year of twelve millenniums, however,
was transformed in Jewish
eschatology into a world-week of seven
millenniums corresponding
with the week of Creation. The
verse,
‘A thousand
years in thy sight are but as yesterday’ (Ps.90:4) having
suggested the idea that the
present world of toil is to be followed by
a Sabbatical millennium, ‘the world to
come.’ Of these the six
millenniums were
again divided, as in Parsism, into three periods: the
first 2000 years devoid of
the law; the next 2000 years under the rule of
the law; and the last 2000
years preparing amid struggles and through
catastrophes for the rule
of the Messiah” (“Eschatology,” The Jewish
Encyclopedia, V, p.211).
The
“Messianic Era,” then, is the last 2,000 years of the cycle.
David
Stern, in the Jewish New Testament Commentary, explains the deep roots
of the six thousand year plan of God in ancient Judaism. In his commentary on II Peter, chapter
3:8-10, and the “day is a thousand year” principle, Stern writes:
“This idea,
taken from Psalm 90:4 . . . has deep roots in Judaism, specifically in connection
with dating the Messianic Era. A famous
example is found in the
Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin:
‘Rav Kattina said, “The
world will exist for six thousand years, then for one
thousand it will be
desolate, as it is said, ‘The Lord alone will be exalted in
that day’” (Isaiah
2:11). . . .
‘It has been taught in
accordance with Rav Kattina, “Just as every seventh
year is a year of sh’mittah
[letting the land lie fallow], so it is with the world:
one thousand years out
of seven are to be fallow – as proved by the following
three texts taken
together [in which the key word is “day”]:
‘The Lord alone
will be exalted in that
day’ (Isa.2:11); ‘A psalm and song for the day of Shabbat’ (Psalm 91:1), meaning the day that is entirely Shabbat;
and, ‘For a thousand
years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past’” (Psalm 90:4).
‘The school of Eliyahu
[Elijah] teaches: “The world exists for
six thousand
years – two thousand of
them tohu [“void”]; two thousand, Torah; and two
thousand, the era of the
Messiah. But because of our numerous
iniquities
many of these years have
been lost”’ (Sanhedrin 97a-97b).
Says
Stern, “According to Jewish tradition, there were 2,000 years without Torah
– spiritual tohu – between the creation of Adam and the time when
Abraham, aged 52, began convincing people to worship the one true God.
“The
second 2,000 years supposedly lasted from then until 172 years after the
construction of the second Temple, that is, until 244 C.E. That was the year 4000 by the Jewish
calendar, but no significant event in Jewish history took place then. However, biblical chronology has a number of
uncertainties, so that not all agree that the Jewish calendar accurately dates
the biblical beginning of creation.
James Ussher, archbishop of Armagh, Ireland, writing in the 17th
century, placed the creation according to Genesis at 4004 B.C.E., exactly 4000
years before Yeshua’s supposed birthdate.”
Stern
goes on:
“Concerning the
third 2,000 years, a footnote to this passage in the Soncino
English edition of the
Talmud says, ‘Messiah will come within that period.
He should have come at
the beginning of [it]; the delay is due to our sins.’
It should be obvious
that the Messiah who ‘should have come at the beginning’
of the last 2,000-year
period is in fact Yeshua, who did come then.
The delay
is not of his coming but
of our recognizing him, and this delay is indeed ‘due
to our sins’ . . .
“Yet, as Kefa [Peter]
points out, there is a delay in his second coming; and
this is, in a different
sense, ‘due to our sins’: The Lord is
not slow in keeping
his promise . . . ; on
the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is . . . his
purpose that everyone
should turn back from his sins, literally, ‘that every-
one should come to
repentance’ . . . .” (Jewish New Testament Commentary,
page 763-764).
David Stern said the Jews believe the second 2,000 year period supposedly lasted from Abraham, age 52, until 172 years after the destruction of the second Temple, that is, the year 244 A.D. (or C.E. as scholars put it, for “Common Era”). This, he says, was their year 4,000 from creation. This Jewish belief, however, is mistaken on many points. Supposedly, their calendar begins in 3760 B.C. Four thousand years from then would be:
4000
-3760
B.C.
240
+l
(no year zero)
241 A.D.
Thus even
from their own creation date, 4000 years would end in 241 A.D. – not 244
A.D. Secondly, the second Temple was
destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Add
172 years after the destruction of the second temple would bring us to 242 A.D.
– still off by two years from 244 A.D.
Truly,
however, nothing significant in Jewish history happened in any of those
years! Either the prophecy was wrong – or
they were wrong! The truth is, their
calendar, which dates creation in 3760 B.C., begins 244 years after the true
date of creation – 4004 B.C.
Calculating
4,000 years from the Biblical date of Creation, as shown in the Bible and by
archbishop Ussher, the terminus would be 4 B.C. – the very year of the birth of
Jesus Christ! (See our article, “When
Was Jesus Born?”).
This also
ties in with Abraham’s birth. The book
of Jasher shows that he was born in 2056 B.C., so he would have been 52 years
of age in precisely 2004 B.C. Dating the
second period of 2,000 years from that time, when Torah began to be taught by
Abraham, brings us to exactly 4 B.C. – the year of Messiah’s birth!
Archbishop Ussher was a great
Biblical historian and theologian. He
was born in Nicholas Street, Dublin, in 1581 A.D., and was one of the first
scholars admitted to Trinity College, at the tender young age of 13. Ussher believed the Bible was literally true,
like other scholars of his day, and attempted to work out the precise day and
time of Creation, and when we could expect Christ’s second coming. He was an expert in Hebrew, Latin and Greek,
and was assisted by one of the largest libraries in all of Western Europe.
Ussher concluded Creation occurred
on noon, October 23rd, 4004 B.C. His
reasoning was simple: Since history
showed Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C., and Biblical chronology showed his
death was 3,442 years after Creation, then Creation had to be 4004 B.C. 3442 plus 562 equals 4004.
Ussher’s scholarship was published
in 1650 as The Annals of the World. Ussher
also deduced that the Temple of Solomon was finished in 1004 B.C., 3000 years
after Creation, and Christ was born 4 B.C., 4000 years from Creation.
Ussher
believed, as many did in his time, that the end of the world or age would occur
6000 years from Creation. His
calculations were widely accepted at the time and were inserted into the
margins of many published Bibles of the Authorized King James Version.
Creation
of mankind, then, was in 4004 B.C.
However, the actual time cycle begins with the “sin” of Adam and Eve,
and does not include their time spent in the Garden of Eden, when they were “at
one” with God. Man’s sordid human
history begins with the seduction of Eve and disobedience of Adam, due to the
treachery of the serpent.
Although we cannot state with
absolute certainty, the indication from Biblical prophecy and Biblical evidence
is that the 6,000 years from Adam and Eve should be counted from the time they
sinned, and were expelled from the Garden of Eden. That’s when the countdown began.
The book of Jubilees tells us: “And during the first week of the first
jubilee Adam and his wife had been in the garden of Eden for SEVEN YEARS
tilling and guarding it. And we gave him
work and we were teaching him to do everything which was appropriate for
tilling. And he was tilling. And he was naked, but he neither knew it nor
was he ashamed. And he was guarding the
garden from the birds and beasts and cattle and gathering its fruits and
eating. And he used to set aside the
rest for himself and his wife. And what
was being guarded he set aside.
“At the END OF SEVEN YEARS which he
completed there, SEVEN YEARS EXACTLY, in the second month on the
seventeenth day, the serpent came and drew near to the woman” (Jubilees
3:15-17).
As we know, Eve and Adam both
sinned, were enticed into transgression, and banished from the Garden. This occurred most likely, therefore, seven
years after their original creation, in the fall of 4004 B.C. – or in the fall
of the year 3997 B.C. The seven years of
idyllic paradise should not be counted in the 6,000 years during which mankind
has been subject to the “god of this world,” Satan the Adversary (see II
Cor.4:4, Eph.2:2).
If
we count 6000 years from fall 3997 B.C. to fall 3996 B.C., we come to 2004-05
A.D. That is this very year!
Because of
the sins of the people, the prophecy states, the Messianic Era itself would be
“delayed.” When Christ came in 4 B.C.,
and began His ministry in 27 A.D., He – the Messiah – was rejected by His
people, and scorned, and crucified – killed!
That was the beginning of the Messianic Era, when Christ came, and
offered Salvation to His people. But
since they rejected Him, He returned to heaven where He sits today, waiting for
His people to repent of their sins, and cry out for Him – at which point He
will return to save them from utter destruction!
Notice that the Jewish Calendar says the year 2000 began
the Jewish year 5760 from Creation. The creation date set by the Jewish
calendar is 244 years later than the carefully reconstructed date discovered by
Archbishop James Ussher, of 4004 B.C.
5760 could not have been the date of Creation. However, it may have another meaning as the
beginning date of the first true Calendar devised during the days of Seth, son
of Adam.
How could
this error have occurred, since the Jews are a very talented, mathematically
gifted people? Seth was born 130 years
after Adam; Enos was born 105 years later, in 3769 B.C. The Jewish calendar actually begins with a
date nine years after the birth of Enos, son of Seth, the grandson of Adam and
Eve (Gen.5:3-6). This fact suggests that
Adam and his son Seth, whose Hebrew name means “setting,” discovered the
secrets of the calendar, and began making conclusions concerning
astronomical timetables, the orbits of planets, and comets, and the revolution
of the earth about the sun, and thereby “setting” the calendar, nine years
after the birth of Enos – thus beginning the calendar from that point. This, apparently, the Jews confused with the
date of creation.
The year 6,000 since creation, then,
came and went in the year 1997-98. The
6,000 years from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden arrives in the
autumn/fall of 2004 A.D. – this very year!
This
year, 2004 A.D., interestingly enough, is also 70 years from the beginning of
the ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934, when God led him to begin
preaching on the “end times” and Bible prophecy. The number “70” is significant to God. 70 souls went down to Egypt, descended from
Jacob (Exo.1:5). Seventy elders saw God at Mount Sinai (Exo.24:1, 9). Ancient
Judah was punished 70 years, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah
(Jer.25:11-12; Dan.9:2) – from 607 B.C. until 537 B.C.
Ancient
Tyre was “forgotten” seventy years – then was to “sing as an harlot”
(Isa.23:15). At the end of the 70 years,
Tyre was to “commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the
face of the earth” (Isa.23:17). Ancient
Tyre was a “type” of modern “Babylon the Great” (Rev.18). Does this not picture that modern Babylon,
including the United States, after 70 years of warning, is about to come
together, into her own, as a final “New World Order,” and commit harlotry with
the nations via the United Nations?
Notice that the accumulated wealth and merchandise of this evil system
will be given to those who “dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for
durable clothing” (Isa.23:18). Or, as
the NRSV has it, “Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the LORD;
her profits will not be stored up or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply
abundant food and fine clothing for
those who live in the presence of the LORD.”
Jesus
Christ sent out “70” to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God (Luke
10:1-17). The word of God speaks of
“seventy nations” on earth. Seventy was
also a number specially connected with Jerusalem (Dan.9:24).
“Seventy” is a combination of two
perfect numbers – 10 and 7. Ten is
ordinal perfection; seven represents divine perfection or completion. When 10 is multiplied by 7, the result is
very significant, intensifying the meaning of each in the product of the
two. Bullinger writes that “7 X 10
signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power
and significance. Both spirit and
order are greatly emphasized.”
Therefore, from 1934 till 2004, the world has had 70 years of warning – and now we enter a “new phase” as we approach the real “gun lap” – the “final inning” – the final warning God is giving to mankind! God’s end-time Work enters a NEW PHASE!
Another Biblical sign post points to our day as being the
“Time of the End.” We read in
Deuteronomy 32:7, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many
generations . . .”
Jewish rabbis believe that the “days of old” are a
reference to the “days of creation.” If
so, then there were six days of creation, each day with 24 hours – or a total
of 144 hours. A generation in Scripture
is revealed to be 40 years (Num.14:34; also Hebrews 3:9-10). So, if we multiply 144 hours x 40 years we
get 5,760 years.
What is so significant about 5760? Just this:
According to the Jewish calendar, the year 5760 began September 11,
1999 and lasted till September 30, 2000!
Also, we discover something very exciting when we count
the verses in the Hebrew text of the Torah – the first five books of the
Bible. According to a simple count, beginning
in Genesis 1:1, we find out that Deuteronomy 32:7 – the very verse just
mentioned – is the 5,760th verse in the Bible!
Is this mere “coincidence”? In May of the year 2000, or 5760 in the
Jewish calendar, there was an amazing alignment of all five visible planets
– Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – in the sign of Taurus. That year seems to be a transition year,
introducing the beginning of the “end of days.”
Let’s look at the number 5760. The numbers 5 and 7 in Hebrew numbers are
represented by the letters Tau [,] and Shin [a]. Together, these letters signify “in the days
of,” or, “as it was in the days of.” The
number 60 in Hebrew is represented by the letter Samech [x]. This letter represents an endless cycle,
beginning and recycling. The “end” is connected to the “beginning,” and the
beginning to the end. Thus this letter
signifies the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new cycle – or, in other
words, a year of TRANSITION!
The Scriptures tell us that just before Jacob died, he gave
Joseph an extra piece of the land of Israel – the city of Shechem
(Gen.48:22). It was Shechem who raped
Dinah, Jacob’s daughter (Gen.34:1-5).
This led to the sons of Jacob plotting against the Shechemites, and
killing their males in retribution (vs.13-31), and seizing their property. Shechem had a violent beginning, as it
relates to Israel – and also comes to a violent ending.
It was in Shechem that Joseph’s
brothers sold him into slavery, and it was to Shechem that Joseph’s bones were
carried from Egypt, to be buried, when Israel left Egypt and returned to the
holy land.
Shechem is called Nablus by the
Arabs. It was here that the
Arab-Palestinian mob ravaged, burned, and desecrated the tombs of Joseph and
Rachel, during the intifada, the “Rosh Hashana War” beginning in the year 2000.
In the Zohar, the chief study guide
of the Jewish Kabbala, a highly respected ancient reference among Orthodox
Jews, there is a very interesting passage:
“In the time of
the resurrection of the dead, many camps will
arise
in Land of the Galil [Galilee], because that is where the Messiah
is
going to be first revealed, since it is part of Joseph’s territory.
It
will be the first place to be destroyed.
It will begin there
ahead
of all other places, and then spread to the nations”
(Zohar, Vayakhel
220a).
Notice that Messiah was first to
appear in “Galilee.” How
interesting. Upon his return from Egypt,
Joseph brought his family, including the Christ child, to Galilee, to Nazareth,
where He was brought up (Matt.2:22-23).
Also, after His resurrection, His disciples were told, “He has been
raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you
will see him” (Matt.28:7). The eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed
them. When they saw him, they worshiped
him” (verses 16-17). Indeed, as the
Zohar stated, He was seen first in Galilee!
Shechem, according to the Talmud, is notorious for being
the place where bad things happen (Sotah 11a).
It is a place “set aside for punishment.” The Palestinian intifada began with the
desecration of the tomb of Joseph at Shechem.
The Israelis largely withdrew from the Shechem tomb site, leaving it in
the hands of the Palestinians. Later that same year, in 2000, late September,
after Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount with Israeli soldiers and guards,
for protection, the full intifada burst upon the world scene. Notice the year – it was the “year of
transition.”
With violence beginning at Shechem,
does this symbolize that the modern-day “House of Joseph” – the Anglo-Saxon
nations of the United States and British Commonwealth – have now entered a time
of punishment, destruction, instability, and debilitating weakness?
It was also in the year 2000 that history was made in the United States – the closest (and perhaps most fraudulent) presidential election in American history, revealed a nation DIVIDED such as it has not been divided since the days of the American Civil War! (1860-1865). Millions today still believe that the “hanging chads” and irregularities at the polling places in Florida threw the election to George Bush. True or