and the day of the lord - church of the eternal god | a

THE GREAT TRIBULATION

AND THE DAY OF THE LORD

62 The Great Tribulation and The Day of The Lord

ContentsPart 1 Jerusalem and the Jewish People in Prophecy 1

Part 2 The Modern House of Israel in Prophecy 15

Part 3 Ancient and Modern “Tyre” in Prophecy 36

Part 4 The Day of the Lord 47

This booklet is a free educational service, provided by the “Global Church of God” in the UnitedKingdom, in collaboration with the “Church of the Eternal God” in the United States of America.Printed in the United Kingdom in 2002. This booklet is not to be sold.

Scriptures in this booklet are quoted from the New King James version ((c)1998 Thomas Nelson,Inc. Publishers) unless otherwise noted.

Author: Norbert LinkThe Great Tribulation and The Day of The Lord 61

The following booklets are available, upon request:Europe in Prophecy: The Unfolding of End-Time Events

The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

Don’t Keep ChristmasIs God a Trinity?

Do We Have an Immortal Soul?The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families

And Lawlessness Will Abound...

United StatesChurch of the Eternal God

PO Box 270519San Diego, CA 92198

CanadaChurch of God, ACF

Box 1480Summerland B.C. V0H 1Z0

United KingdomGlobal Church of God

PO Box 2111Derby DE1 1ZR

BelgiumLe Siecle A Venir

Allee du Grand Cheniat, 30B-6280 Loverval

The Great Tribulation and The Day of The Lord 1

We hear more and moreabout earthquakes,famines, droughts, wild

fires, disease and sickness, wars andrumors of wars, floods, hailstormsand tornadoes. We hear of anundetected asteroid that almostcollided with our planet.

We watch as new politicalalliances develop on the world scene,and ancient empires rise withrenewed influence to form newalliances and power blocs. Unex-pected economic developmentscause uncertainty among investorsand erosion of confidence amongconsumers. Terrorist attacks becomemore commonplace—and closer tohome. We look for peace, but thereis no peace.

Why such unrest in a world thatsupposedly is making giant strides tohelp us live longer and make ourlives easier? It is because mankind,as a whole, has chosen to turn hisback on his Creator. Thousands ofyears ago a book was written thatpredicted these very events wouldoccur in our time—right now—inour day and age. God clearly warns

us through this ancient book—theBible—that even more devastatingevents will come upon this earthvery soon, unless we repent and turnto Him.

In this booklet, we’ll take a close-up view of the frightening propheciesthat describe the terrible events thatwill take place during the timeperiod of the “Great Tribulation” andthe “day of the LORD.” We arecompelled by God Himself to speakHis words as written in His book,and to openly warn people that thereis a way of escape, whether peoplechoose to listen or not. We pray thatGod will give YOU ears to hear anda heart to heed His warning, and toact accordingly.

PART 1 JERUSALEM AND THEJEWISH PEOPLE IN PROPHECY

The Middle East, especially thecity of Jerusalem, has been in thenews for quite some time, and weexpect that this will continue. Ourfocus must be directed to the City ofJerusalem and the surrounding areasbecause that is where history-makingevents will unfold—events that will


people, And the strength of thechildren of Israel.”

Yes, God has promised shelterand protection to those whom Hecounts as worthy to escape thehorrible times to come. But in orderto be worthy of God and His king-dom (2 Thessalonians 1:5), we mustcontinue to be God’s witnesses byactively supporting His work ofproclaiming His message (Luke24:46–48; Acts 1:8), and we must bewilling to suffer for it in the process(Acts 5:40–42). If we shrink backfrom this God-appointed duty andresponsibility, God will have nopleasure in us. In effect, we will beshowing Him that we do not reallycare for others and that we are onlyconcerned about how WE canescape tribulation. God promisesprotection only to those who “sighand cry” over all the abominationswhich are being done (Ezekiel 9:3–6), showing a genuine concern forothers and praying that they alsowould repent of their ways and turnto God.

God wants us to become likeHim, a God of LOVE. He hasoutgoing concern for the welfare ofothers. He wants us to have thatsame kind of love. He, in fact,GAVE His only begotten Son for

this world, so that those who believein Him could have everlasting life.Christ was willing to DIE for us—togive up His life for us—while wewere still sinners and His enemies!Do we LOVE the world in the sameway? Do we PROVE our love bySHARING the knowledge wereceived from God (compareColossians 1:9–12)? Do we labor inthe Work of God (Luke 10:7),preaching the gospel as we areinstructed to do (Acts 13:2; 14:26;15:38; 1 Corinthians 16:10;Philippians 2:29–30)? Are weeffective coworkers with God (2Corinthians 6:1) for the kingdom ofGod (Colossians 4:11)?

If we are, in fact, fully declaringthe Work of God (Jeremiah 51:10),as we should be doing, we areChrist’s disciples, indeed, and weWILL BE counted worthy to escapethe Great Tribulation and the Day ofthe Lord and to ENTER into theKingdom of God. For more informa-tion about the great master plan Godreveals in His Word, the Bible, andhow you can understand thepotential of mankind’s ultimatedestiny, please request our freebooklets, And Lawlessness WillAbound… along with The Gospel ofthe Kingdom of God.


soon engulf the region with indescrib-able human suffering, pain, andmisery, to be followed by unimagin-able prosperity and peace!

Yes, the Bible predicts that withina few short years explosive eventswill take place in Jerusalem, eventsthat will lead directly to the return ofJesus Christ. You need to understandwhat these things mean as theyhappen!

In His famous Olivet ProphecyJesus explained very clearly whatwould happen to Jerusalem at thevery end of this age of man.Reading in Luke 21:20, 22–24,“But when you see Jerusalemsurrounded by armies, then knowthat its desolation is near… Forthese are the days of vengeance[the Great Tribulation], that allthings which are written may befulfilled. But woe to those who arepregnant and to those who arenursing babies in those days! Forthere will be great distress in theland and wrath upon this people.And they will fall by the edge ofthe sword, and be led away captiveinto all nations. And Jerusalem willbe trampled by Gentiles until thetimes of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

Matthew 24:21 adds this warning:“For then there will be great tribula-tion, such as has not been since thebeginning of the world until this time,no, nor ever shall be.”

Daniel 12:1 also prophesies thatthis will be the worst time ever in thehistory of mankind: “And there shallbe a time of trouble, Such as neverwas since there was a nation, Evento that time.” When, exactly, will allof this happen and what will it leadto? Luke 21:27, 31 points out:“Then they will see the Son of Mancoming [the Second Coming of JesusChrist] in a cloud with power andgreat glory… So you also, when yousee these things happening, knowthat the kingdom of God is near.”

Jesus had just explained that,before He returns to this earth, themodern city of Jerusalem will besurrounded by armies. When thishappens, its desolation will be nearand there will be great distressbecause of the wrath to come uponthe people of Jerusalem. Many of itsinhabitants will be taken captive orkilled in war. Gentiles will occupythe city—trample the city underfoot—until the times of the Gentilesare fulfilled. How long will that be?Revelation 11:2 reveals: “…[Jerusa-lem, the holy city] has been grantedto the Gentiles. And they will treadthe holy city underfoot for forty-twomonths [three-and-a-half years].”

Does the Bible reveal who theGentiles are that will attack andoccupy Jerusalem? Indeed, it does,and we will discuss their identity inmuch more detail later in this


upheld His justice. Seek righteous-ness, seek humility. It may be thatyou will be hidden In the day of theLORD’S anger.”

King David, himself a prophet,also understood that God wouldhide and protect those who faithfullytrust in Him. Listen to these encour-aging words: “Keep me as the appleof Your eye; Hide me under theshadow of your wings…” (Psalm 17:8).

“For in the time of trouble Heshall hide me in his pavilion; Inthe secret place of His tabernacleHe shall hide me; He shall set mehigh upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

“Oh, how great is Your goodness,Which You have laid up for thosewho fear You, Which you haveprepared for those who trust in YouIn the presence of the sons of men!You shall hide them in the secretplace of your presence From theplots of man; You shall keep themsecretly in a pavilion From the strifeof tongues” (Psalm 31:19–20).

King Solomon confirms, inProverbs 14:26, that God’s peoplewill be protected in the coming timesof trial: “In the fear of the LORDthere is strong confidence, And Hischildren will have a place of refuge.”

This place of refuge is moreclearly described in Revelation12:14, promising the end-timeChurch of God her place in thewilderness—on this earth—prepared

by God, a place where she will benourished for 3 ½ years and pro-tected from Satan the devil. Com-pare this with Isaiah 33:16, describ-ing the righteous person (verse 15)as dwelling “on high; His place ofdefense will be the fortress of rocks;Bread will be given him, His waterwill be sure.”

God gives us the same promise inIsaiah 26:20–21: “Come, My people,enter your chambers, And shut yourdoors behind you; Hide yourself, as itwere, for a little moment, Until theindignation is past. For behold, theLORD comes out of His place Topunish the inhabitants of the earthfor their iniquity; The earth will alsodisclose her blood, And will no morecover her slain.”

Through all this, we can takegreat comfort from God’s promise forHis people, as recorded by theprophet, Joel. We can be protected, ifGod looks at us as His people andcounts us worthy to escape theterrible times ahead of us. Joel 3:14–16 reads: “Multitudes, multitudes inthe valley of decision! For the day ofthe LORD is near in the valley ofdecision. The sun and moon willgrow dark, And the stars willdiminish their brightness. TheLORD also will roar from Zion, Andutter his voice from Jerusalem; Theheavens and earth will shake; Butthe LORD will be a shelter for His


booklet. At this point, we’ll focusjust on the sequence of events.

Jerusalem will be occupied byGentiles, led by a political andmilitary personage–a powerful leaderof a United Europe. This humanmilitary leader is identified inScripture as the “Beast,” (compareRevelation 16:10); the “king of theNorth” (compare Daniel 11:40–41);or “King Jareb” of Assyria (compareHosea 5:13; 10:6). “Jareb” means“fighter” or one who is quarrelsome.History does not reveal the existenceof any Assyrian leader with thename or title of “Jareb.” This biblicalreference is not to a historical leaderof the past, but rather to a futureleader of a modern Assyria. It couldbe the translation of an actual name,or more likely, the description of hischaracter. You can read more about“King Jareb” of Assyria in the freebooklet, Europe in Prophecy: TheUnfolding of End-Time Events.

Historical records reveal thatmodern Assyrians can be found inthe countries of Germany andAustria. And, as we will see in moredetail, it will be this modern “KingJareb” of Assyria who will lead theGentile armies to occupy the city ofJerusalem, trampling it underfoot forthree-and-a-half years.

Initially, a somewhat peacefulrelationship will exist between KingJareb and the Jewish people. But this

peaceful relationship will change intime. We read in Hosea 5:13 thatJudah will see his wound. Thiswound could be a reference to aserious military defeat in battle. KingJareb will, at that time, become anally with Arab nations in a plan todestroy the Jews. He will enter into aconfederacy—an alliance—withcertain nations against the modernstate of Israel.

Notice what is prophesied tohappen in Psalm 83:2–8 and noticethe identity of these modernpeoples—revealed by modernarcheology, by history and by biblicalresearch: “For behold, Your enemiesmake a tumult; And those who hateyou lifted up their head. They havetaken crafty counsel against Yourpeople, and consulted togetheragainst Your sheltered ones. Theyhave said, Come, and let us cutthem off from being a nation, thatthe name of Israel may be remem-bered no more. For they haveconsulted together with one con-sent; they form a confederacyagainst You: the tents of Edom[Turkey] and the Ishmaelites [Saudi-Arabia]; Moab [part of Jordan andthe western part of Iraq] and theHagrites [mainly Syria]; Gebal[Lebanon], Ammon [Jordan and thePLO], and Amalek [the PLO];Philistia [Palestinians from the GazaStrip] with the inhabitants of Tyre


time just prior to Christ’s return(Revelation 11:17–18; 14:9–10, 19;15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 19:15).

The reason WHY God will be soangry becomes clear when weconsider the attitude of people atthat time and the kind of societythey are involved in. They will have“shed the blood of saints andprophets” (Revelation 16:6). Theywill “blaspheme the name of God”and refuse to “repent” (Revelation16:9, 11, 21). Due to the influenceof this modern Babylonian system,the sins of all of the nations will have“reached to heaven” (Revelation18:3–5). This very Babyloniansystem that people will follow isresponsible for “the blood of proph-ets and saints, and of all who wereslain on the earth” (Revelation18:24), and God Himself will“avenge…the blood of His servantsshed by her [the great false system ofBabylon]” (Revelation 19:2).

When God begins to intervene inhuman affairs, mankind will notwant him to do so. In fact, peoplewill be so deceived that they willactually try to fight against thereturning Jesus Christ (Revelation19:19). So then, God must speak ina language that man will understand.

Considering these terrible timesahead of us, we might wonder, “Isthere a way of escape, or will every-one experience the wrath of God?

Do we all have to go through thetimes of the Great Tribulation and theday of the LORD? What can we do?”

The answer is, God has promisedus protection from the terrible timesto come, if we are faithful to Him.Christ tells us in Revelation 3:10:“Because you have kept My com-mand to persevere (to have pa-tience), I also will keep you fromthe hour of trial [tribulation] whichshall come upon the whole world, totest those who dwell on the earth.”

Notice Christ’s additionaladmonition and promise in Luke21:34–36: “But take heed to your-selves, lest your hearts be weigheddown with carousing, drunkenness,and cares of this life, and that Daycome on you unexpectedly. For itwill come as a snare on all those whodwell on the face of the whole earth.Watch therefore, and pray alwaysthat you may be counted worthy toescape all these things that willcome to pass, and to stand beforethe Son of Man.”

Recall that the name ofZephaniah means, “Whom theLORD has hidden.” We are told inZephaniah’s message, as well, thatWE can be hidden, or protected, inthe day of the LORD’S anger. Yes,there is a way! Notice this remark-able promise in Zephaniah 2:3:“Seek the LORD, all you meek[humble] of the earth, Who have


[the city of Tyre is more fully dis-cussed later in this booklet]; Assyriaalso has joined with them; Theyhave helped the children of Lot[Jordan].”

However, this confederacy willnot last long. A powerful UnitedEurope, under King Jareb of Assyria,will soon find itself involved in a warwith many of the Arab nations.Europe will invade the Middle East,the Holy Land, and the city ofJerusalem.

We read in Daniel 11:40–41: “Atthe time of the end the king of theSouth [an Arabic religious andmilitary leader] shall attack him[“push at him;” i.e., the “king of theNorth,” also identified as the “Beast”and “King Jareb,” a military leader ofa United Europe]; and the king ofthe North shall come against himlike a whirlwind, with chariots,horsemen, and with many ships; andhe shall enter the countries, over-whelm them, and pass through. Heshall also enter the Glorious Landand many countries shall be over-thrown; but these shall escape fromhis hand: Edom, Moab and theprominent people of Ammon.”

Notice that Edom [Turkey],Moab [part of Jordan and thewestern part of Iraq], and theprominent people or leaders ofAmmon [Jordan and the PLO], willnot be conquered by the king of the

North. Notice, on the other hand inDaniel 11:42–43, which countrieswill be conquered by the king orleader of modern Assyria, or whichcountries will form an alliance withEurope: “He shall stretch out hishand against the countries, and theland of Egypt [where the Arabs dwelltoday] shall not escape. He shallhave power over the treasures ofgold and silver, and over all theprecious things of Egypt; also theLibyans and Ethiopians shall followat his heels.”

That the Libyans and Ethiopi-ans will “follow” the king of theNorth does not necessarily meanthat they will be at war with him orthat they will be beaten by him inwar. Depending on what transla-tion we use, we find the meaningconveyed as, they “will follow insubjection to him,” or they “shallbe his servants,” or “ the Libyansand Nubians [will be] in submis-sion” to the king of the North.Also, note, that the king of theNorth will have power over thegold and silver in the region, aswell as all the precious things ofEgypt.

Continuing in Daniel 11:44, weare introduced to a third power blocwhich will play a devastating role inend-time events. “But news from theeast and the north shall trouble him[the king of the North]; therefore he


was educated in the cradle ofGnosticism, Alexandria. He was adisciple of Dositheus, who had beena follower of John the Baptist andcontended with Jesus Christ for thetitle of Messiah. Simon traveledwidely in Persia, Arabia [and] Egyptto learn all he could about magicallore. He was accompanied by asorceress called Helena, whomSimon claimed was a reincarnationof Helen of Troy. In Samaria, evenChristians spoke of Simon as ‘thegreat power of God’… Simon Magusperformed many miracles, includinghealing the sick, raising the dead,walking through fire, flying throughthe air, turning stones into bread,creating phantom banquets, makinghimself invisible, animating stonestatues, changing his own shape and,of course, reputedly commandingelemental spirits or possibly demonsto do his bidding.”

Simon Magus was not the onlyleader within the Babylonian systemwho practiced sorcery. MillenniumProphecies tells of another famoussorcerer, Pope Silvester II, who livedat the end of the first century.Quoting from pp. 68 and 69:“Tradition has it that he was anadvanced student of the black arts…It was said that he regularly con-versed with the Devil… he wascredited with possessing a ‘brazenhead’ that spoke to him and could

prophecy future events… [He]learned… to summon ghostly figuresfrom the lower world… [The]demons obeyed him in all that herequired of them day and night,because of the great sacrifices whichhe offered, and his prayers andfastings and magic books and greatdiversity of rings and candles.”

The false prophet—the lastleader of the religious system called“Babylon the Great” in the Bible—will appear soon on the world scene.He will be able to perform mightymiracles because Satan will give himthe power to do so. Many will bedeceived by those signs and willfollow the wrong teachings of thisman. May God protect YOU fromdoing so.

A series of remarkable propheciesthat deal with the time of the day ofthe LORD can be found in the bookof Revelation. In fact, the wholeprophecy covers events pertaining toor leading up to the day of the Lord(Revelation 1:10).

Revelation 6:12–17 describescosmic disturbances—culminatingin the day of the LORD—referred toin that passage as “the great day ofHis [the Lamb’s, that is, JesusChrist’s] wrath” (verses 16–17).

The book of Revelation empha-sizes time and time again that Godthe Father and Jesus Christ will bevery angry, or filled with wrath, at the


shall go out with great fury to destroyand annihilate many.”

The king of the North will reactto rumors from the east and thenorth. This is the location of a strongmilitary Asiatic power bloc with anarmy of two hundred million people,referred to in the book of Revelationas the “kings from the east” (Revela-tion 16:12), or the “army of thehorsemen” (Revelation 9:16). It will,in all likelihood, be a confrontationbetween a United Europe undermodern Assyria and a confederacy ofAsian nations, such as Russia,China, Japan, and India. Themodern Medes are identified inScripture as one of the mortalenemies of modern Babylon, orEurope (compare Isaiah 13:1, 17).The identity of the modern Medeswill be explained later in this booklet.

Daniel 11:45 continues: “And he[the king of the North] shall plantthe tents of his palace between theseas and the glorious holy mountain[Jerusalem]; yet he shall come to hisend, and no one will help him.”

The king of the North willoccupy Jerusalem and rule fromthere, during which time the HolyCity will be trampled underfoot bythe Gentiles. Then Christ willreturn. He will throw the king of theNorth into the lake of fire, which, atthat time will be a place outsideJerusalem where criminals and

sinners will be burned up (compareRevelation 19:20).

Let’s note in more detail what isrevealed about the fate of the king ofthe North–King Jareb of Assyria. Weread in Isaiah 10:12: “Therefore itshall come to pass, when the LORDhas performed all His work on MountZion and on Jerusalem, that He willsay, I will punish the fruit of thearrogant heart of the king of Assyria,and the glory of his haughty looks.”

Isaiah 14:25 adds this thought:“… I will break the Assyrian in Myland, And on My mountains treadhim underfoot. Then his yoke [ofslavery, or captivity] shall be re-moved from them, And his burdenremoved from their shoulder.”

Isaiah 30:30–33 continues: “TheLORD will cause His glorious voiceto be heard, And show His descentof His arm, With the indignation ofHis anger And the flame of adevouring fire, With scattering,tempest, and hailstones. For throughthe voice of the LORD Assyria willbe beaten down, As He strikes withthe rod. And in every place wherethe staff of punishment passes,Which the LORD lays on him, Itwill be with tambourines and harps;And in battles of brandishing He willfight with it. For Tophet was estab-lished of old, Yes, for the king it isprepared. He has made it deep andlarge; Its pyre is fire with much wood;


safety in the future if we are, in fact,counted worthy to escape all thesethings that will surely come to pass.

There is another frighteningprophecy given in the pages of theNew Testament that reveals eventsto occur just prior to the coming ofthe day of the LORD.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3, 8–9 tellsus: “Now, brethren, concerning thecoming of our Lord Jesus Christ andour gathering together to Him, weask you, not to be soon shaken inmind or troubled, either by spirit orby word or by letter, as if from us, asthough the day of Christ [NU: theLord] had come. Let no one deceiveyou by any means: for that Day willnot come unless the falling away[apostasy—a falling away from thetruth of God] comes first, and theman of sin [NU: lawlessness] isrevealed, the son of perdition [thefalse prophet discussed earlier in thisbooklet] … And then the lawlessone will be revealed [or becomemanifest] whom the Lord willconsume with the breath of Hismouth and destroy with the bright-ness of His coming [by throwinghim, together with the Beast, intothe lake of fire]. The coming of thelawless one is according to theworking of Satan, with all power,signs and lying wonders.”

This religious leader—the falseprophet—will receive power to do

miracles from Satan himself (com-pare Revelation 19:20). He, and thesystem that he represents, is de-scribed in Revelation 13:11 as abeast with “two horns like a lamband spoke like a dragon.” He“performs great signs, so that heeven makes fire come down fromheaven on the earth in the sight ofmen. And he deceives those whodwell on the earth by those signs”(verses 13–14). This system is alsodescribed as engaging in “sorcery”(Revelation 18:23). We are warnedin Matthew 24:24 that some of those“signs” will be so convincing that, ifit were possible, even the elect ofGod would be deceived.

Historical records establish thefact that Simon Magus, who hadbeen baptized but had never trulyrepented (Acts 8:13–24), became aleader in the early Babyloniansystem. He had been a sorcerer,regarded as “the great power of God”(Acts 8:9–10).

Quoting from Millennium Prophe-cies, p. 59, let’s learn more aboutSimon Magus and the Satanicpowers which he allegedly possessed.This should make us a bit moreprepared for what is going to happenin the future and why the falseprophet will be able to deceive somany people with his sorcery: “TheSamarian-born Simon Magus (15BC–AD 53), son of a Jewish sorcerer,


the breath of the LORD, like astream of brimstone, Kindles it.”

This passage describes the fate ofthe king of Assyria—he will beburned up in a place likened to astream of brimstone, also referred toas “Tophet,” which literally means a“burning place,” or “a lake of fire.”We know from Revelation 19:20that the military leader of the UnitedStates of Europe, called the “Beast,”will be thrown into a lake of fire andbrimstone as well. Therefore, the“king of the North,” “king Jareb ofAssyria,” and the “Beast” are oneand the same.

Notice Isaiah 31:8–9: “ThenAssyria shall fall by a sword not of aman [Jesus Christ will personallydestroy him and his army], and asword not of mankind shall devourhim… He shall cross over to hisstronghold for fear, And his princesshall be afraid of the banner, Says theLORD, Whose fire is in Zion Andwhose furnace is in Jerusalem.”

God will deal in this way with theking of Assyria because of his evilintent (cp. Zechariah 1:15). Whenhe attacks and overthrows Jerusa-lem, a terrible time will begin for itsinhabitants.

Isaiah 3:1, 24–26 tells us: “Forbehold, the LORD, the LORD ofhosts, Takes away from Jerusalemand from Judah The stock and thestore, The whole supply of bread and

the whole supply of water… And soit shall be: Instead of a sweet smellthere will be a stench; Instead of asash, a robe; Instead of well-set hair,baldness; And branding instead ofbeauty. Your men shall fall by thesword, And your mighty in the war.Her gates shall lament and mourn,and she being desolate shall sit onthe ground.”

God Himself will remove theprotection of Judah, as Isaiah 22:8tells us. Without God’s protection,Jerusalem will fall into the hands ofher enemy. We read in Isaiah 29:1–7:“Woe to Ariel [an expression forJerusalem, lit. Lion of God], to Ariel,the city where David dwelt... I willdistress Ariel; there shall be heavi-ness and sorrow… You shall bebrought down… Moreover themultitude of your foes Shall be likefine dust, And the multitude of theterrible ones Like chaff that passesaway; Yes, it shall be in an instant,suddenly. You will be punished bythe LORD of hosts With thunderand earthquake and great noise,With storm and tempest And theflame of devouring fire. The multitudeof all the nations who fight againstAriel, Even all who fight against herand her fortress, And distress her, Shallbe as a dream of a night vision.”

The prophet Jeremiah alsodescribes in poetic terms the comingassault by the Assyrians on the city


come to prepare this world for thesecond coming of Christ.

God has given this role of an end-time Elijah to His end-time Church.There should be no doubt that Mr.Herbert W. Armstrong, who isconsidered by many as an apostleand who served as Pastor General ofthe Church of God until his death in1986, began to fulfill this role. ButGod’s commission to His Church isongoing. God expects His Church tocontinue to “turn the hearts of thefathers to the children, and thehearts of the children to theirfathers,” so that the day of theLORD’s return can come, and sothat this earth will not have to facetotal and complete destruction.

(If you want to learn more aboutthis part of the Church’s commissionand how these aspects of Malachi’sprophecy are being fulfilled today,request our free booklet, The Keys toHappy Marriages and Families.)

In most of the Old Testamentprophecies the events taking placeduring the day of the LORD aredescribed as dealing with all of thenations of this world. In the NewTestament though, additionalemphasis is placed on the spiritualnation of God—the body of believ-ers—and what the day of the LORDshould mean to them. In John 6: 39Jesus Christ applies the term “the lastday” to the 24-hour day of His return.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:1–4–9 theapostle Paul states that for us-thetrue follows of Christ-the day ofthe LORD should not be one ofwrath as it is for the nations of thisearth, but rather a day of joy, as weare going to attain salvation—eternal life—at that time. Thesame thought is conveyed in 2Thessalonians 1:3–10 and in 2Timothy 4:8, referring to the dayof the LORD as “that Day.”

Paul was convinced that hewould meet Christ at His return(Philippians 2:14–16), referring tothe day of the LORD as the “day ofChrist.” It was his earnest hope andexpectation that those whom he hadtaught would be there with him andmeet Christ as well (Philippians 1:6,10). He expresses the same desire in1 Corinthians 1:4–8, where he refersto the day of the LORD as “the dayof our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Nothing was more important toPaul than to know that the brethrenwould be counted worthy to standbefore the returning Son of Man,even if it meant drastic correction forthe present in order to bring a sinner torepentance (1 Corinthians 5:1, 4–5).

We see, then, that we each havea responsibility to live up to thestandards given to us by God, andshown to us by Jesus Christ. We willdiscuss a little later in this bookletthat God promises us shelter and


of Jerusalem. He tells us in Jeremiah6:1, 22–23: “O you children ofBenjamin, Gather yourselves to fleefrom the midst of Jerusalem… Thussays the LORD: Behold, a peoplecomes from the north country,[remember that the military leader ofthe conquering nations is called,“the king of the North.”] And a greatnation will be raised from thefarthest parts of the earth. They willlay hold on bow and spear; they arecruel and have no mercy; Theirvoice roars like the sea; and they rideon horses, As men of war set in arrayagainst you, O daughter of Zion.”

Jeremiah describes the terriblefuture of the city of Jerusalemfollowing the attack by the Gentileswith very vivid terms in the pro-phetic book of Lamentations. As willbe discussed more fully later in thisbooklet, phrases like “in that day”, “inthe latter days,” “in the day of theLORD,” or “in the day of the LORD’Sanger” identify the time setting of theparticular prophecy as relating to theperiod just prior to Christ’s return.Especially the phrase, “the day of theLORD’S anger” describes the timewhen God is very angry with thepeoples at the end of this age(compare Revelation 11:18):

“Young and old lie on the groundin the streets; My virgins and myyoung men Have fallen by thesword; You have slain them in the day

of Your anger, You have slaughteredand not pitied. You have invited asto a feast day The terrors thatsurround me. In the day of theLORD’S anger There was no refugeeor survivor. Those whom I haveborne and brought up My enemieshave destroyed… The kings of theearth, And all inhabitants of theworld, Would not have believedThat the adversary and the enemyCould enter the gates of Jerusalem”(Lamentations 2:21–22; 4:12).

We are told in Zechariah 14:1–2that “all nations” will fight againstJerusalem, and that “half of the city”will go into captivity:

“Behold, the day of the LORD iscoming, And your spoil will bedivided in your midst. For I willgather all the nations to battleagainst Jerusalem; the city shall betaken, The houses rifled, And thewomen ravished. Half of the cityshall go into captivity, But theremnant of the people shall not becut off from the city.”

This describes a literal captivity ofthe Jewish people just prior toChrist’s return. This is not a refer-ence to a “spiritual captivity of sin,”nor to a figurative “exile,” nor is thisa description of something that hasalready happened to ancient Judah.

WHERE will half of the residentsof the city of Jerusalem go? Gener-ally, they will be transported as


escaping nuclear fallout in under-ground shelters. [It could also referto] some ecological disaster.”

In the book of Joel, we read moreabout the events immediatelypreceding, and continuing duringthe day of the LORD. Joel 2:11, 30–31 points out: “For the day of theLORD is great and very terrible;Who can endure it?… And I willshow wonders in the heavens and inthe earth: Blood and fire and pillarsof smoke. The sun shall be turnedinto darkness, And the moon intoblood, Before the coming of the greatand awesome day of the LORD.”

The heavenly signs on the sun,moon and stars could very well bethe result of volcanic eruption.Notice these interesting thoughts,again from Millennium Prophecies, pp.154–155: “The Apocalypse…doesnot use the word volcano [andneither does the above-quotedpassage in the book of Joel], butnevertheless has some prettyaccurate descriptions of phenomenathat we would recognize as volca-noes… It may take months [afterextensive volcanic activity] for thedust and rock particles to finallysettle out of the atmosphere, but thesulphuric acid droplets can ride thewinds for years. The resultant ‘dust-veils’ cause beautiful sunsets andstrange optical effects [like theturning of the moon into blood].”

For more information on themeaning of Biblical passages, dealingwith the “heavenly signs,” pleaserequest our free booklet, The Theoryof Evolution—A Fairy Tale for Adults?

We should also take note ofanother important prophecy thatmust be fulfilled before the day ofthe LORD—culminating in Christ’sreturn—can come. And amazingly,you and I have an important role inregard to that prophecy.

Malachi 4:5–6 tells us: “Behold, Iwill send you Elijah the prophetBefore the coming of the great anddreadful day of the LORD. And hewill turn The hearts of the fathers tothe children, And the hearts of thechildren to their fathers, Lest I comeand strike the earth with a curse [or,with utter destruction].”

We also read in Matthew 24:22that if it weren’t for God’s elect, thisworld would be totally destroyed. NOHUMAN BEING—NO FLESH ATALL—would survive the comingdreadful day of the LORD.

We read in Luke 1:14–17 aboutthe first fulfillment of Malachi’sprophecy, where John the Baptistcame in the spirit of Elijah to preparethe people of his time for the firstcoming of Jesus Christ. However,Malachi speaks primarily about thetime just prior to the day of theLORD, which is still in the future.Therefore, another “Elijah” must


captives into many nations, some ofwhich are specifically identified inScripture. For instance, Micah 4:10tells us, “Be in pain, and labor tobring forth, O daughter of Zion, Likea woman in birth pangs. For now youshall go forth from the city, You shalldwell in the field, and to Babylon youshall go, There you shall be delivered;there the LORD will redeem youFrom the hand of your enemies.”

The reference here to the“daughter of Zion” is the moderngeneration of Jews, not ancientJudah. They—modern Judah—willbe brought as captives to modernBabylon. As we will see in theremainder of this booklet, modernBabylon is identified as the powerbloc of continental Europe, led bymodern Assyria. This modernBabylonian system will, in turn,transport its captives into othercountries as well.

Joel 3:1–3, 6 confirms this: “Forbehold, in those days and at thattime, When I bring back the captives ofJudah and Jerusalem, I will also gatherall nations, And bring them down tothe Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I willenter into judgment with them thereOn account of My people, Myheritage Israel, Whom they havescattered among the nations; theyhave also divided up My land. Theyhave cast lots for My people, Havegiven a boy as payment for a harlot,

and sold a girl for wine, that theymay drink… Also the people of Judahand the people of Jerusalem You havesold to the Greeks, that you mayremove them far from their borders.”The Bible clearly indicates thatmany of the Jews will be sold asslaves to modern Greece, whothemselves will be aligned with afuture United States of Europe.

Zechariah 10:6, 10 identifiesother countries or regions whereJews will be held captive at the timeof the return of Jesus Christ: “I willstrengthen the house of Judah… Iwill bring them back, Because I havemercy on them. They shall be asthough I had not cast them aside;For I am the LORD their God, AndI will hear them… I will also bringthem back from the land of Egypt[where the Arabs live today], Andgather them from Assyria [modernGermany and German-speakingnations]. I will bring them into theland of Gilead and Lebanon, Untilno more room is found for them.”

Yes, terrible times are in store forthe city of Jerusalem and the Jewishpeople. But why is God going toallow this to happen? Isaiah 3:8–9explains: “For Jerusalem stumbled,And Judah is fallen, Because theirtongue and their doings Are againstthe LORD, To provoke the eyes ofHis glory. The look on their counte-nance witnesses against them, And


describing Christ’s return. Andfinally, 2 Peter 3:7–13 applies theterm “day of the LORD” to the1000-year reign of Christ on thisearth, as well as the time after that,showing that it refers to the timewhen God begins to actively inter-vene in human affairs on a world-wide scale. Once He does so, Hisrule over man will never end.

As stated repeatedly, God’s angeris against all nations. And Godwants all nations to hear and heedHis end-time warning (which youare reading right now in this book-let). As Isaiah 34:1–4 states: “Comenear, you nations, to hear; Andheed, you people! Let the earth hear,and all that is in it, The world andall things that come forth from it. Forthe indignation of the LORD isagainst all nations, And His furyagainst all their armies [showingthat true Christians should not beserving in the armies of this world];He has utterly destroyed them, Hehas given them over to the slaugh-ter… All the host of heaven shall bedissolved, And the heavens shall berolled up like a scroll; All their host shallfall down As the leaf falls from the vine,And as fruit falling from a fig tree.”

Let’s also notice the followinginteresting comments in the book,Millennium Prophecies, on pp. 50 and150, discussing how those heavenlydisasters described in the book of

Isaiah and in other places couldpossibly come about: “The Apoca-lypse [Book of Revelation] describesearthquakes, the removal of theozone layer (‘the heaven wasremoved as a scroll when it is rolledup’), meteorites (‘the stars of heavenfell upon the earth’) and many othernatural disasters… One event ofparticular interest is the fall of ameteorite called ‘Wormwood’[Revelation 8:10–11], which willpoison all the rivers and manypeople; it is also possible that‘Wormwood’ will turn out to be aman-made bomb... Possibly a fall ofgreat comets or meteors is indicatedin ‘the stars of heaven fell unto theearth, even as a fig tree casteth heruntimely figs, when she is shaken ofa mighty wind” ([Revelation] 6:13).The shaking might refer to a wob-bling of the Earth’s axis, which islikely to accompany the arrival ofthese destructive heavenly bodies.With the destruction of the ozonelayer which ‘departed as a scrollwhen it is rolled together’ human-kind will be forced to seek shelterwherever it can find it. The nextverse [Revelation] (6:15) tells howat that awful time everyone, fromkings and rich men down to ordinaryfree men, will hide ‘themselves inthe dens and in the rocks of themountains’. In the recent past thisverse was interpreted as the population


they declare their sin as Sodom; theydo not hide it. Woe to their soul! Forthey have brought evil upon them-selves.” Notice in verse 7 that thetime setting is “in that day.” This is areference to the “day of the LORD”just prior to Christ’s return.

Amos 2:4–5 elaborates: “Thussays the LORD: For three transgres-sions of Judah, and for four, I will notturn away its punishment, Becausethey have despised the law of theLORD, And have not kept Hiscommandments. Their lies leadthem astray, Lies which their fathersfollowed. But I will send a fire uponJudah, And it shall devour thepalaces of Jerusalem.”

Let us state here, that although itdoes not give us any pleasure to saythat these things are going tohappen, we must be true to God’sWord and cite those scriptures thatclearly show the reality of theseevents. We cannot shrink from ourresponsibility to proclaim what GodHimself says is going to happen. It isour hope that at least some of youreading this booklet will heed thewarning, repent of your ways, andturn to God so that you can bespared.

God does not pull any punches!He voices very forcefully and directlythat Jerusalem and the Jewish peoplewill face disaster and calamitybecause they have sinned against

Him and have refused to repent.Jesus Christ would later weep overJerusalem, thinking of the evil thatwould come upon it because of theirrefusal to repent and to accept Himas their personal Savior. In fact, thetemple at Jerusalem was destroyed in70 A.D., a forerunner of even worsetragedies that will strike Jerusalem injust a few years from now (compareLuke 13:34–35).

Do these prophecies conflict withHosea 11:12 where we read, “…Judah still walks with God, Evenwith the Holy One who is faithful”?If modern Judah still walks withGod, then why would God punish it?And why do other passages read thatmodern Judah has sinned against Godand refuses to repent? Does the Biblecontradict itself?

Actually, in this verse, there is avariance among translations. Wequoted Hosea 11:12 from the NewKing James Bible, a translation that isreliable in the vast majority of cases.However, this particular scripture isnot accurately translated in sayingthat Judah still walks with Godbecause, according to many com-mentaries, the translators added aletter in the Hebrew that is NOT inthe original. To clarify this, let’s readhow other translations render thispassage:

The New International Version:“…and Judah is unruly against God,


death in the form of plague bacteriacan survive in the soil for centuries.”

As already mentioned, God’spunishment on the day of theLORD will be directed against allnations (compare Obadiah 15; Joel3:12–14). Additional scripturesreveal specifically that God willpunish Egypt and other MiddleEastern nations during the time ofthe “day of the LORD.”

Ezekiel 30:3–5 explains: “For theday of the LORD is near; It will be aday of clouds, the time of theGentiles. The sword shall comeupon Egypt, And great anguish shallbe in Ethiopia, When the slain fall inEgypt, And they take away herwealth, And her foundations arebroken down. Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia,all the mingled people, Chub, andthe men of the lands who are allied,shall fall with them by the sword.”

Also, modern Babylon is expresslyidentified as one of the nations, orpower blocs, that will be dealt withby God during the “day of theLORD.” We read in Isaiah 13:1, 6–9:“The burden against Babylon…Wail,for the day of the LORD is at hand!It will come as destruction from theAlmighty…Behold, the day of theLORD comes, Cruel, with bothwrath and fierce anger, To lay theland desolate; And He will destroyits sinners from it.”

But, again, God’s punishment will

not be limited to the Babyloniansystem of modern Europe. God’sanger will be poured out over allflesh during the time of the “day ofthe LORD.” Notice verses 11–13: “Iwill punish the world for its evil,And the wicked for their iniquity… Iwill make a mortal more rare thanfine gold… I will shake the heavens,and the earth will move out of herplace, In the wrath of the LORD ofhosts And in the day of His fierce anger.”

Let’s also note God’s comingpunishment of Edom, or modernTurkey, as prophesied in Isaiah 34:5–8: “For My sword shall be bathed inheaven; Indeed it shall come downon Edom… For the LORD has asacrifice in Bozrah, And a greatslaughter in the land of Edom… Forit is the day of the LORD’S vengeance,The year of recompense for the causeof Zion.”

We might mention here that thispassage is one of the scripturesindicating that “the day of theLORD” will commence immediatelyfollowing the Great Tribulation, oneyear prior to, and culminating withChrist’s return (cp. also Isaiah 63:3–4 and 61:1–2, equating the “day ofvengeance” with “the year of theLORD.”). In addition, as Zechariah14:6–7 and many New Testamentscriptures point out (discussedbelow), the day of the LORD canrefer to a literal day of 24 hours in


even against the faithful Holy One.”The New American Bible: “Judah

is still rebellious against God, againstthe Holy One who is faithful.”

The Revised English Bible: “Judahis still restive under God, still loyal tothe idols he counts holy.”

So we see that Judah will bepunished because of rebellion againstGod, and that His punishment onthem is intended to bring aboutrepentance and a return to Him.Even though terrible times await theJewish people, Jesus Christ Himselfproclaimed the good news of theKingdom of God and what it entails,including a marvelous future forJudah and for all mankind. JesusChrist WILL return, and when Hedoes, HE will rescue Jerusalem fromthe Gentiles and call Judah torepentance.

Notice the prophecy in Isaiah31:4–5: “For thus the LORD hasspoken to me: As a lion roars, And ayoung lion over his prey… so theLORD of hosts will come down tofight for Mount Zion and for its hill.Like birds flying about, So will theLORD of hosts defend Jerusalem.Defending, He will also deliver it;Passing over He will preserve it.”

The prophet Zechariah foresawChrist’s fight against the Gentiles ina vision given to us in Zechariah14:3–4: “Then the LORD will goforth and fight against those nations,

As He fights in the day of battle.And in that day His feet will stand onthe Mount of Olives.”

When Jesus Christ was taken upto heaven from the Mount of Olives,two angels assured the disciples thatChrist would come back “in likemanner as you saw Him go intoheaven” (Acts 1:11). He will,indeed, return to the Mount ofOlives and He will then strike outagainst the Gentiles who foughtagainst the city of Jerusalem andoccupied it. Zechariah 14:12–13, 15gives a very graphic description oftheir fate: “And this shall be theplague with which the LORD willstrike all the people who foughtagainst Jerusalem: Their flesh shalldissolve while they stand on theirfeet, Their eyes shall dissolve in theirsockets, And their tongues shalldissolve in their mouths. It shallcome to pass in that day That a greatpanic from the LORD will be amongthem. Everyone will seize the handof his neighbor, And raise his handagainst his neighbor’s hand… suchalso shall be the plague On the horseand the mule; On the camel and thedonkey, and on all the cattle that willbe in those camps. So shall thisplague be.”

Additionally, Zechariah 14:11, 21tells us in no uncertain terms: “Thepeople shall dwell in it; And nolonger shall there be utter destruc-


And the pestilence and faminewithin. Whoever is in the fieldWill die by the sword; And who-ever is in the city, Famine andpestilence will devour him… (verse19) They will throw their silverinto the streets, And their gold willbe like refuse; Their silver andtheir gold will not be able todeliver them In the day of thewrath of the LORD.”

In verse 15, God indicates thatpestilence will make an ugly come-back, while new disease epidemicswill emerge (Deuteronomy 28:27–28, 35, 58–61), and their terribleclutches will not only embrace themodern Israelites and Jews. Christwarns in His Olivet prophecy that“pestilences” will occur “in variousplaces” (Matthew 24:7).

Let’s take note of the followingquotes from Millennium Prophecies,pp. 148–149, discussing the suddenrise of ancient plagues, as well asnew ones: “It is slowly dawning thatthe triumph of medical science overdisease is no longer as inevitable as itseemed back in the 1950s… Tuber-culosis, which kills 3 million people ayear worldwide, is beginning toacquire antibiotic resistance. In theUSA a dangerous alliance has beenformed between AIDS and tubercu-losis. Another former scourge,malaria, is now making a comeback,claiming 2 million deaths per year

worldwide… But drugs are notwinning the race, and even inindustrialized countries thousands ofpeople are dying every year fromantibiotic-resistant infections whichthey pick up in hospital whilereceiving treatment for less seriousconditions… The food industry’spractice of using every last piece ofslaughtered animal has meant thatunwholesome remains now re-enterthe food chain as food for anotheranimal. Recent outbreaks of ‘madcow disease’ have been caused bythis practice, the brains of infectedanimals being recycled and fed tocattle. This would never normallyoccur in nature; left to their owndevices, cows would not eat meat.”

The quoted article also relates, ina separate box, a frightening case ofthe comeback of “the black death” inthe 1920s in England: “Workmenengaged upon building a railwaycutting near Lewes, in Sussex,unwittingly dug into an old plaguepit, undisturbed for centuries. Beforelong the men began to succumb toan illness which was initially diag-nosed as pneumonia. Several of theworkmen died before the authoritiesrealized that they were dealing withsomething a great deal more sinisterand hastily quarantined everyone indanger. Eventually the crisis wasbrought under control, but it issobering to realize that the seeds of


tion, But Jerusalem shall be safelyinhabited… Yes, every pot inJerusalem and Judah shall beholiness to the LORD of hosts… Inthat day there shall no longer be aCanaanite in the house of theLORD of hosts.”

The Jewish people will come torepentance—they will mourn whenthey see the returning Christ andwhen they come to realize the truthabout Him and about themselves, asforetold in Zechariah 12:10–11:“And I will pour out on the house ofDavid and on the inhabitants ofJerusalem the spirit of grace andsupplication; then they will look onMe whom they have pierced. Yes,they will mourn for Him as onemourns for his only son, and grievefor Him as one grieves for a firstborn.In that day there shall be a greatmourning in Jerusalem…”

Returning to the book of Isaiah,let’s note additional propheciesdescribing a glorious future for thenation of Judah, once they haverepented of their sins and acceptedJesus Christ as their personal Saviorand King. We read in Isaiah 4:3–6:“And it shall come to pass that hewho is left in Zion and remains inJerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among theliving in Jerusalem. When theLORD has washed away the filth ofthe daughters of Zion, and purged

the blood of Jerusalem from her midst,by the spirit of judgment and by thespirit of burning, then the LORD willcreate above every dwelling place ofMount Zion, and above her assem-blies, a cloud and smoke by day andthe shining of a flaming fire by night.For over all the glory there will be acovering. And there will be a taber-nacle for shade in the daytime fromthe heat, for a place of refuge, and for ashelter from storm and rain.”

God’s Word reveals that theJewish people will be taken captiveby a United Europe under theleadership of modern Assyria, andwhile in captivity, they will come totheir senses and turn to their Savior.Notice what happens next: “Awake,awake! Put on your strength, OZion; Put on your beautiful gar-ments, O Jerusalem, the holy city!For the uncircumcised and theunclean Shall no longer come toyou. Shake yourself from the dust,arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Looseyourself from the bonds of yourneck, O captive daughter ofZion… For thus says the LordGOD: My people went down at firstInto Egypt to dwell there; Then theAssyrian oppressed them withoutcause. Now therefore, what have Ihere, says the LORD, That Mypeople are taken away for nothing?Those who rule over them Makethem wail, says the LORD, And My


that it is not only directed at themodern house of Israel. It alsodescribes a terrible punishment thatwill come over ALL nations. Noticethe following statements: “(Verse 12)For the day of the LORD of hostsShall come upon everything proudand lofty, Upon everything liftedup… (verse 14) Upon all the highmountains, And upon all the hillsthat are lifted up; Upon every hightower, And upon every fortifiedwall… (verse 17) The loftiness ofman shall be bowed down, And thehaughtiness of men shall be broughtlow; The LORD alone will beexalted in that day… (verse 20) Inthat day a man will cast away hisidols of silver And his idols of gold,Which they made, each of himself toworship, to the moles and bats, To gointo the clefts of the rocks, And intothe crags of the rugged rocks, Fromthe terror of the LORD, And theglory of His majesty, When He arisesto shake the earth mightily.”

So, we see that at the time ofGod’s intervention, mighty earth-quakes will shake the earth. Recallthat in Jesus’ famous Olivet proph-ecy, He warned of the increase ofearthquake activities prior to Hisreturn (Matthew 24:7). Notice thefollowing interesting commentstaken from a book authored byStephen Skinner entitled, Millen-nium Prophecies, published in 1997.

Quoting from pages 142–143:“Earthquakes, famines and troubleshave always been with us, but therehas certainly been an increase inearthquake activity over the lastdecade… Earthquake belts are soextensive that a concerted upheavalcould destroy most of the Pacific rim,southern Europe, the Near East andsoutheast Asia. Even Britain is notimmune, having had an earthquakeregistering 5.2 on the Richter scaleas recently as 1990. In recent yearsearthquakes have been occurring inpreviously stable areas… Someobservers are convinced that thenumber of earthquakes has roughlydoubled in each of the decades since1950. The side effects of futureearthquakes might include nuclearspillage, as some Eastern Europeanreactors have been built along faultlines.”

Let’s also note a frightening andsobering prophecy in the seventhchapter of the book of Ezekiel,primarily addressing the modernhouses of Israel and Judah (verse 2),and describing events that will takeplace during the time of the day ofthe LORD: “(Verse 10) Behold,the day! Behold, it has come!Doom has gone out… (verse 11)Violence has risen up into a rod ofwickedness… (verse 12) The timehas come, The day draws near…(verse 15) The sword is outside,


name is blasphemed continuallyevery day. Therefore My people shallknow my name; therefore they shallknow in that day That I am He whospeaks: Behold, it is I.” (Isaiah 52:1–2, 4–6).

The Jewish people, as well asmost professing Christians, do notrealize that it is Jesus Christ Himselfwho is speaking these words. Theydo not understand that the God ofthe Old Testament was not God theFather, but was actually the Onewho later became a human being—Jesus Christ—born in the flesh ofthe virgin Mary. Christ came toreveal the Father (Matthew 11:27).The Jews of His time did not knowthe Father. Christ said that the Jewshad never seen the Father’s form,nor did they hear His voice (John5:37; 6:46). But some DID hearGod’s voice and saw His form(Numbers 12:8); however, it was thevoice of Jesus Christ, the Son ofGod—predominantly referred to inthe Old Testament as “the Lord,”meaning, “the Eternal.” The timewill come when Jews and Christians,as well as those who follow otherreligions, will come to understandwho and what God really is.

Along with acceptance of JesusChrist as our personal Savior comesblessings, prosperity, and peace. NoteHOW blessed Jerusalem will be,once she accepts her God and begins

to live in accordance with His words:“Thus says the LORD: I will returnto Zion, And dwell in the midst ofJerusalem. Jerusalem shall be calledthe City of Truth, The Mountain ofthe LORD of hosts, The HolyMountain” (Zechariah 8:3).

When reading this passage, weare reminded of the famous proph-ecy in Isaiah 2:2–4: “Now it shallcome to pass in the latter days, Thatthe mountain of the LORD’S houseShall be established on the top of themountains [other major nations],And shall be exalted above the hills[smaller nations]; And all nationsshall flow to it. Many people shallcome and say, Come, and let us goup to the mountain of the LORD, Tothe house of the God of Jacob; Hewill teach us His ways, And we shallwalk in His paths. For out of Zionshall go forth the law; And the wordof the LORD from Jerusalem. Heshall judge between the nations,And rebuke many people; they shallbeat their swords into plowshares,And their spears into pruning hooks;Nation shall not lift up sword againstnation, Neither shall they learn waranymore.”

Imagine that! No more wars! TheENTIRE WORLD will live in REALPEACE! Jesus Christ will return tothis earth and will rule from Jerusa-lem, and ALL nations will want tolearn from Christ how to live


fortified cities And against the hightowers. I will bring distress uponmen, And they shall walk like blindmen, Because they have sinnedagainst the LORD; Their blood shallbe poured out like dust, And theirflesh like refuse. Neither their silvernor their gold Shall be able to deliverthem In the day of the LORD’Swrath; But the whole land [or,earth] shall be devoured By the fireof His jealousy, For He will makespeedy riddance Of all those whodwell in the land [on the earth].”

Notice in this passage that theday of the LORD is called a “day ofwrath,” a “day of trouble anddistress,” and a “day of darkness.”This certainly does not describe apleasant time. We had better takeGod’s warnings seriously, becausewhat God has purposed to do, Hewill do.

Zephaniah is addressing, inparticular, the punishment ofmodern Judah. We read inZephaniah 1:12: “And it shall cometo pass at that time That I willsearch Jerusalem with lamps, Andpunish the men who are settled incomplacency, Who say in theirheart, The LORD will not do good,Nor will He do evil.”

The book of Lamentations alsodescribes the time of God’s punish-ment of Jerusalem with frighteningdetails in chapter 2, verses 21–22.

All of this will happen during thetime of the “day of the LORD,” or, asLamentations puts it, “the day of theLORD’S anger.”

But, the day of the LORD is notconfined to the punishment of themodern house of Judah. It alsoincludes punishment of othernations, such as the nations of themodern house of Israel, whosename was originally Jacob. Recallfrom Jeremiah 30:5–7 that the day ofthe LORD “is the time of Jacob’strouble.”

The second chapter of the bookof Isaiah sheds additional light onGod’s punishment of the modernhouse of Israel during the time of the“day of the LORD.” Verse 3 specifi-cally addresses “the house of Jacob”and verse 12 specifies the time asbeing “the day of the LORD.” Thewarning is to the modern descendantsof the house of Israel, in no uncer-tain terms: “(Verse 6) For You haveforsaken Your people, the house ofJacob, Because they are filled witheastern ways… (verse 7) Their landis also full of silver and gold, Andthere is no end to their treasures;Their land is also full of horses, Andthere is no end of their chariots.Their land is also full of idols; Theyworship the work of their ownhands.”

In reading the entire secondchapter of Isaiah, however, we notice


righteously. What a different worldthat will be! Wouldn’t YOU like tobe there?

Continuing with Zechariah 8:4:“Thus says the LORD of hosts:Old men and old women shallagain sit In the streets of Jerusalem,Each one with his staff in his handBecause of great age. The streets ofthe city Shall be full of boys andgirls Playing in its streets. Thussays the LORD of hosts: If it ismarvelous in the eyes of theremnant of this people in thesedays, Will it also be marvelous inMy eyes? Says the LORD of hosts.Thus says the LORD of hosts:Behold, I will save My people fromthe land of the east And from theland of the west [a reference toareas to which modern Babylontransported their captives]; I willbring them back, And they shalldwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Theyshall be My people And I will betheir God, In truth and righteous-ness” (Zechariah8:4–8).

Once they are in captivity, theywill turn to God and begin to acceptChrist as their personal Savior. Theywill become God’s people in the truesense of the word, and God willbecome their God. We will see in amoment why they will turn to God,and how they will even know towhom they should turn.

Zechariah 8:13–15, 23 continues:“And it shall come to pass That justas you were a curse among thenations, O house of Judah... So I willsave you, and you shall be a blessing.Do not fear, Let your hands bestrong. For thus says the LORD ofhosts: Just as I determined to punishyou When your fathers provoked Meto wrath, Says the LORD of hosts,And I would not relent, So again inthese days I am determined to dogood to Jerusalem and to the houseof Judah. Do not fear… Thus saysthe LORD of hosts: In those days tenmen from every language of the nationsshall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man,saying, Let us go with you, for we haveheard that God is with you.”

Again, what will bring about thischange in the people of Judah?What will convince them that JesusChrist is, in fact, their promisedSavior, just as He is for all mankind?

The Bible prophesies that themessage of captivity and conversion ofthe Jewish people will be preachedpowerfully to them just prior to thereturn of Christ. Today most of theJews—actually, most of the people inthe world—do not want to hear thisvery critical, life-saving message. Butwhen the events that were an-nounced to them actually do takeplace, they will finally come to theirsenses and realize that the propheticword of God had been in their midst.


and gone. His prophetic word hassurvived. It is to be announcedtoday, prior to the disaster that willstrike this earth soon. We would dowell to prayerfully review these sternwarnings of Almighty God as recordedin the book of Zephaniah, where Godreveals to humankind what will shortlycome to pass, and why.

Zephaniah 1:2–3, 7 describes, inno uncertain terms, the future of thisend-time generation of man: “I willutterly consume everything From theface of the land, Says the LORD; Iwill consume man and beast; I willconsume the birds of the heavens,The fish of the sea, And the stum-bling blocks [idols] along with thewicked. I will cut off man from theface of the land [or, ground], Saysthe LORD… Be silent in thepresence of the Lord GOD; For theday of the LORD is at hand, For theLORD has prepared a sacrifice; Hehas invited His guests.”

As we can see from this passage,the book of Zephaniah describesevents that will take place at thetime of the DAY OF THE LORD,referring to the future. Notice howsome commentaries understand themeaning of this phrase.

“The International Standard BibleEncyclopedia,” Vol. 2, p. 799, summa-rizes the term, “the day of theLORD” as a very common OldTestament concept that describes

the establishment of the kingdom ofGod. In the New Testament it isreferred to as the Day of Wrath orsimply as “the day” or “that day,”without any further qualifications, asif this day is the only day that reallycounts in the entirety of the historyof the world. The commentary goeson to explain that this day focuses onJesus Christ and the establishment ofthe everlasting kingdom of heavens.

“Unger’s Bible Lexicon,” p. 249,describes the “Day of the Lord” asthe prophesied period that beginswith the second coming of Christand ends with the purification ofheavens and earth by fire, and thecreation of new heavens and a newearth that will last forever. Thecommentary points out that the dayof the LORD includes the timeperiod from the end of the GreatTribulation until the end of theMillennium.

Notice the frightening descriptionof the events during the “day of theLORD,” as found in Zephaniah1:14–18: “The great day of theLORD is near; It is near and hastensquickly. The noise of the day of theLORD is bitter; There the mightymen shall cry out. That day is a dayof wrath, A day of trouble and distress,A day of devastation and desolation, Aday of darkness and gloominess, A dayof clouds and thick darkness, A day oftrumpet and alarm Against the


What this means then, for thetrue Church of God, is that it needsto obey God by proclaiming what willtruly and certainly come to pass. Thismessage is to be boldly proclaimed byGod’s Church, and indeed, IS beingproclaimed in this very booklet. Wepray that those of you reading thiswill heed the warning and actaccordingly.

Read and meditate on thefollowing selected passages fromGod’s Word that reveal this part ofHis commission for His end-timeChurch:

“Declare in Judah and proclaim inJerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpetin the land; Cry, Gather together,And say, Assemble yourselves, andlet us go into the fortified cities…Take refuge! Do not delay! For I willbring disaster from the north[brought about by the king of theNorth], And great destruction. Thelion has come up from his thicket,And the destroyer of nations is onhis way. He has gone forth from hisplace To make your land desolate. Yourcities will be laid waste, withoutinhabitant…And it shall come topass in that day, says the LORD, Thatthe heart of the king shall perish,And the heart of the princes; Thepriests shall be astonished, And theprophets shall wonder… O Jerusa-lem, wash your heart from wicked-ness, That you may be saved. How

long shall your evil thoughts lodgewithin you?… Make mention tothe nations, Yes, proclaim againstJerusalem, That watchers come froma far country And raise their voiceagainst the cities of Judah… Becauseshe has been rebellious against Me,says the LORD. Your ways andyour doings have procured thesethings for you. This is your wicked-ness, Because it is bitter, Because itreaches to your heart” (Jeremiah4:5–18)

In addition to this warning, theChurch is also to proclaim Judah’speaceful and glorious future follow-ing her repentance and conversion:“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!Says your God. Speak comfort toJerusalem, and cry out to her, Thather warfare is ended, That heriniquity is pardoned; for she hasreceived from the LORD’S handDouble for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1–2).

“How beautiful upon the moun-tains Are the feet of him who bringsgood news [the gospel], Who pro-claims peace, Who brings glad tidings ofgood things, Who proclaims salvation,Who says to Zion, Your God reigns!Your watchman shall lift up their voices,With their voices they shall singtogether; for they shall see eye to eyeWhen the LORD brings back Zion”(Isaiah 52:7–8).

“O Zion [Zion can refer to theactual city of Jerusalem but it can


hands—describing his fate again inverses 17–19. Verse 18 tells us thatthis man will be “turned… to ashesupon the earth,” and, indeed, he willbe—in the lake of fire.

We read in verse 19 that thisman—“the prince of Tyre”—“shallbe no more forever.” This does notnecessarily mean “for all eternity.”The word “forever” can refer to thetime of an age; for instance, the ageof the Millennium. The falseprophet, being thrown into the lakeof fire at the beginning of theMillennium, might very well bebrought back to life at a future time,at the time of the second or thirdresurrection, depending on whatfate awaits him (Revelation 20:4–6,11–15).

God warns His people not to getentangled with this military andreligious system soon to arise againwith great power. Both in the Oldand New Testaments, He admon-ishes us to “Come out of her, mypeople, lest you share in her sins,and lest you receive of her plagues”(Revelation 18:4; Isaiah 48:20;Zechariah 2:7).

If you want to understand moreabout modern “Tyre” or “Babylon,”and how you can obey God’scommand to “come out of her,”please request a free copy of thebooklet, Europe in Prophecy: TheUnfolding of End-Time Events.

PART 4 THE DAY OF THE LORDThroughout this booklet we have

been reading prophecies that refer tothe “day of the LORD.” We haveseen that this term describes thetime of Christ’s intervention inhuman affairs. This is not necessarilyreferring to just one particular 24-hour day, although this is onemeaning of the phrase—the actualday of Christ’s return (Zechariah14:1,6–7). It also refers to a particu-lar time span longer than one day.

One prophetic book in particularfocuses a great deal on the “day ofthe LORD.” This little known andalmost totally misunderstood OldTestament book is Zephaniah, one ofthe so-called “minor prophets.”Zephaniah’s name means, “Whomthe LORD has hidden.” He receivedthe Word of God at the time of KingJosiah of Judah (Zephaniah 1:1),whose reign is described in II Kings22 and 23, and in II Chronicles 34and 35.

Zephaniah prophesied at the timeof King Josiah, and although heannounced calamity to ancientJudah, which did occur, the book ofZephaniah mainly describes a futurecalamity to befall this entire world.The destruction of ancient Jerusalemwas a forerunner of the terrible timesprophesied to happen on a worldwidescale just prior to Christ’s return.

The prophet Zephaniah is dead


also refer to the Church of God],You who bring good tidings, Get upinto the high mountain; O Jerusalem[a reference here to spiritual Jerusa-lem—the Church of God; it canalso be a reference to the fact thatthe word of God will go out fromJerusalem once Jesus Christ livesand rules from there (Isaiah 2:2–4)], You who bring good tidings,Lift up your voice with strength, Liftit up, be not afraid; Say to the citiesof Judah, Behold your God” (Isaiah40:9).

“I have set watchmen on yourwalls, O Jerusalem; They shall neverhold their peace day or night. Youwho make mention of the LORD, donot keep silent, And give Him no resttill He establishes And till He makesJerusalem a praise in the earth”(Isaiah 62:6–7).

YOU could be among thosewatchmen with us. YOU could havea part with those who are called byGod to proclaim His message—theGOOD NEWS—to the Jewishpeople and to the world, warningthem of their grim future andshowing them that peace andprosperity await them after theyrepent of their sins and turn to JesusChrist. The Bible predicts that thismessage WILL go out. It is yourchoice as to whether or not youwant to have a part in proclaimingit with us.

PART 2 THE MODERN HOUSEOF ISRAEL IN PROPHECY

Many falsely believe that thehouse of Israel and the Jewish peopleare one and the same. Nothingcould be further from the truth.Judah, from whom the Jewish peopledescended, was just one tribe of thedescendants of Jacob, whose nameGod changed to Israel long ago(Genesis 35:10). In due time theyseparated from their Israelitebrothers and, along with the tribes ofLevi and Benjamin, formed the“house of Judah.” The other tribesthen became known as the “house ofIsrael.” The “house of Israel” wentinto captivity first, never to return tothe “Promised Land.” Today, theyare known as the “lost ten tribes.”The “house of Judah” also went intocaptivity but did eventually return toPalestine. Many descendants of thehouse of Judah are living today inthe state of Israel. In due time, ashistory and archeology reveal, thelost ten tribes of the house of Israelmigrated to and settled in Europeand the British Isles. One tribe inparticular, the descendants ofManasseh—the older son ofJoseph—migrated from there to theUnited States of America, wherethey still are today. The descendantsof Ephraim—the younger son ofJoseph—can still be found in GreatBritain and the Commonwealth


In the hand of him [better, “Him”]who slays you.”

Back up to verse 8 and let’snotice what God prophesied throughEzekiel about the end-time religiousleader: “They shall throw you downinto the Pit, And you shall die thedeath of the slain In the midst of theseas.” Verse 8 explains that the “falseprophet” will be thrown into thepit—the abyss—and his influenceon the nations will cease and he willdie the deaths of those that are slainin the midst of the sea. In other words,as they die, so will he.

Verse 10 continues, reading fromthe Authorized Version: “Thou shalldie the deaths of the uncircumcisedby the hands of strangers.” In otherwords, this religious leader will die indisgrace. Christ will throw him intothe lake of fire.

We find an interesting distinc-tion of personages in Ezekiel 28:11.Until this verse, the prophetEzekiel spoke about “the prince ofTyre” (verse 2). Now, we areintroduced to the “king of Tyre”(verse 12). In studying this pas-sage, we can see that God is notdescribing a human being. Rather,this king of Tyre is none other thanSatan the devil. He is the powerBEHIND the prince of Tyre—theend-time religious leader—as wellas the religious system itself. Infact, he is behind all aspects of the

system, including its economic andmilitary forces. Satan wanted to BEGod—the Most High (Isaiah14:12–14). When he failed, hebegan to use human instruments,influencing them with the sameevil desires, to take prerogativesfrom God, which only God can giveus.

It becomes clear that God isdescribing Satan the devil in Ezekiel28:11–17. Before his fall, Satan was“the seal of perfection, full of wisdomand perfect in beauty” (verse 12).He was “in Eden, the garden of God”(verse 13). He was “created” on aparticular special day (the end ofverse 13). He was “the anointedcherub who covers” (verse 14). Hewas “on the holy mountain of God”(verse 14). He was “perfect” in hisways “from the day” he was “created,till iniquity was found” in him (verse15). When he “sinned,” Godremoved him, “the coveringcherub,” from the midst of the fierystones” and cast him out “of themountain of God” (verse 16).Clearly, all of these passages do notdescribe a human being—the princeof Tyre—but an angelic being—acherub—who sinned and fell fromheaven—Satan the devil.

The second half of verse 17reverts back to the prince of Tyre—the religious end-time leader, thehuman instrument in Satan’s


Nations, including Canada, SouthAfrica, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Bible contains many predic-tions about the future of the modernhouse of Israel (not to be confusedwith the Jews or the house of Judah).Israel refers to the modern house ofIsrael—especially the leading tribesof Ephraim and Manasseh—in manydifferent ways, including “theremnant of Jacob.” As we will see,the coming great and mightyeconomic power bloc in Europe,under the leadership of modernAssyria, will have a devastatinginfluence, not only on the modernhouse of Judah, but also on themodern house of Israel.

We know that when this powerbloc establishes itself on the worldscene, the time will be short. Do werealize that this gigantic power blocis already forming in front of our veryeyes? During a recent ceremony inAachen, celebrating the arrival ofthe new European currency, ItalianPresident Carlo Azeglio Ciampistated that the Euro is the beginningpoint for further European develop-ments. He stressed that the need forEurope to react in a unified fashiontoward crisis situations outside theEuropean Union becomes moreobvious day by day. It was also statedduring the celebration that the Eurohas become the symbol for theEuropean vision, having done more

to give stability to and confidence inthe political unification of Europe thanall of the previous European treatiescombined.

At the beginning, the modernhouse of Israel will have a friendlyrelationship with this Europeanpower bloc. And, as we will see moreclosely in Part 3 of this booklet, theywill even trade with them, includingagricultural products and technologi-cal developments. Hosea 12:1 talksabout an economic covenant thatthose two power blocs will enter into.

But will this friendly relationshiplast? No! Incredible as it may seem,the United States and Great Britain,as well as other Commonwealthnations, will be overthrown andenslaved by their former ally andfriend—the United States of Europe,led by the modern Assyrians. Notonly will Assyria be instrumental infighting against and enslaving themodern house of Judah, they will—apparently at the same time—fightvictoriously against and enslave themodern house of Israel. We willcover this in detail later in thisbooklet.

But first, let’s take note of aremarkable prophecy in Micah 5:5–6(Micah 5:7 shows that the peoplereferred to here are identified as “theremnant of Jacob,” and are, in fact,the modern house of Israel, particu-larly the United States and Great


according to the days of one king. Atthe end of seventy years it willhappen to Tyre as in the song of aharlot: Take a harp, go about thecity, You forgotten harlot; Makesweet melody, sing many songs, Thatyou may be remembered. And itshall be, at the end of seventy years,that the LORD will deal with Tyre.She will return to her hire, andcommit fornication with all thekingdoms of the world in the face ofthe earth. Her gain and her pay willbe set apart for the LORD; it will notbe treasured nor laid up, for her gainwill be for those who dwell beforethe LORD, to eat sufficiently, andfor fine clothing.”

Historically, the ancient city ofTyre was forgotten and lost allinfluence over other nations for 70years, from the attack byNebuchadnezzar in 609 B.C. untilthe fall of ancient Babylon in 539B.C. Then Tyre began to becomeknown and influential once again.But this prophecy in Isaiah is also anend-time prophecy for the modernreligious system of Tyre, as under-stood by the phrase, “in that day,”referring to the “day of theLORD”—the time of Christ’sintervention in human affairs—stillahead of us.

Note how this prophecy appliesto our time. In 1859, Garibaldiunited the Italian states and, by all

standards, destroyed the power ofthe Catholic Church (referred to inIsaiah 23 as “Tyre.”). But in 1929,exactly 70 years later, Mussolinisigned a concordat with the almostbankrupt Catholic Church, enablingit to again become very prosperousand powerful. Verse 18 of Isaiah 23also tells us that the wealth of thatreligious power will be used in theMillennium for good purposes.

Note how the end-time activitiesof this prosperous religious power—called “Tyre” in the Old Testa-ment—are described in Revelation17:4, 5, 9, 18, and 18:3, 7, and 8. Inthese New Testament passages thereligious power is referred to inseveral ways—“a woman,” “Babylonthe Great,” and “the great city,”among others.

Returning to Ezekiel 28, recallthat the focus of verses 1–10 is onthe end-time religious leader of thatreligious system. He is called in otherpassages “the false prophet” or “theman of sin.” He will be slain byChrist Himself. Christ will throw himalive, together with the militaryleader—the “Beast”—into the lakeof fire (Revelation 19:20).

God asks this religious leader inEzekiel 28:9, “Will you still saybefore him [better, “Him,” JesusChrist] who slays you, I am a god?[better, “I am God?”]. But you shallbe a man, and not a god [or, “God”],


Britain.): “…When the Assyriancomes into our land, And when hetreads in our palaces, Then we willraise against him Seven shepherdsand eight princely men. They shallwaste with the sword the land ofAssyria, And the land of Nimrod atits entrances; Thus He shall deliverus from the Assyrian, When he comesinto our land And when he treadswithin our borders.”

Let’s see how this compares tohistory. In 1940, modern Assyria,under the leadership of AdolphHitler, did attack Great Britain inWorld War II, but God gave victoryto the British. Hitler was veryreluctant to fight against GreatBritain, as he considered the Britishpeople to be part of the master race.Nevertheless, he did assault Englandby air—known as the Blitz—fromSeptember 7 to November 13, 1940.Germany, however, was devastated,and most of its cities were destroyedby the end of the war.

God also protected the UnitedStates from the Assyrians at leasttwice more in modern history.

First, let’s look at a remarkablerevelation that has recently come tolight. German Kaiser Wilhelm II hada plan to attack the United Statesabout 100 years ago. He was going toattack New York and Boston with100 ships and 100,000 soldiers. Atthat time, the United States only

had 54 military ships. His ultimategoal was to establish and possesscolonies in South America and inthe Pacific, and to gain control overthe Panama Canal. The plan,though 10 years in the making, wasnot carried out. Instead, KaiserWilhelm II led Germany into WorldWar I in 1914.

In addition to Adolph Hitler’sattack on Great Britain, he alsodeclared war on the United Stateson December 11, 1941. This wasjust two days after PresidentRoosevelt announced that Germanywas as guilty for attacking Pearl Harboras was Japan. Hitler then ordered thedestruction of all American ships,wherever they could be found.

Hitler lost this war, as he foughttoo many battles at the same time—Europe, Africa, the Middle East,Russia, and the United States. Butwe can realize how the plan of theEuropeans—especially the modernAssyrians—to attack the UnitedStates had entered their minds. Thissame plan will be pursued again, andnext time, it will be successful.

At the end of his life, Hitler madethis remarkable prophetic observa-tion: “With the defeat of the Reichand pending the emergence of theAsiatic, the African, and perhaps theSouth American nationalisms, therewill remain in the world only twoGreat Powers capable of confronting


23rd chapter of the book of Isaiahthat also describes the religiousaspect of the modern Europeansystem referred to as “Tyre.” Isaiah23, verses 1 and 4 tell us: “Theburden against Tyre… [T]he sea hasspoken, The strength of the sea,saying, I do not labor, nor bring forthchildren; Neither do I rear youngmen, Nor bring up virgins.”

Here, Isaiah describes in pro-phetic and poetic words the time—still ahead of us—when “thestrength of the sea,” the great andinfluential religious power situatedin continental Europe, is no longerconsidered to be the mother churchcapable of bringing forth children.

Isaiah 23:7 continues: “Is thisyour joyous city, Whose antiquity isfrom ancient days, Whose feetcarried her afar off to dwell?” This isa reference to the historical fact thatmany of the inhabitants of theancient city of Tyre migrated toanother city and settled there—thefamous city of Rome.

Isaiah 23:13 elaborates on thishistorical development: “Behold, theland of the Chaldeans, This peoplewhich was not; Assyria founded itfor wild beasts of the desert. They setup its towers, They raised up itspalaces, And brought it to ruin.”

Isaiah has in mind here that thepeople from the land of theChaldeans would settle in Italy after

they were no longer a people in theirancient land. Recall that the peoplewho fled from ancient Tyre settled innumerous places, includingCarthage, Tarshish, Venice andRome. They gave the name“Tyrrhenian Sea” to one of the seassurrounding Italy. Many of thosewho lived in Tyre were Phoenicians.The Phoenicians founded Carthageand they later founded Venice whenthey settled in Italy. They are stillliving in Italy today, along with theChaldeans. They will play aninstrumental part in the modernUnited States of Europe. ModernEurope was founded in Rome. Themodern Europeans have beenaccurately described many times inthe press as “modern Romans.”Historians understand that theheritage of modern Europe is theancient Roman Empire. Assyriahad originally founded Chaldea,but God says, looking at the end ofthe matter, that Assyria had reallyfounded it for wild beasts to dwellthere. The same fate awaitsmodern Tyre or Babel (Revelation18:2).

Isaiah contains another interest-ing prophecy—dual in nature—applying to both ancient Tyre and itsmodern religious counterpart. Weread in Isaiah 23:15–18: “Now itshall come to pass in that day thatTyre will be forgotten seventy years,


each other—the United States andSoviet Russia. The laws of bothhistory and geography will compelthese two powers to a trial ofstrength, either military or in thefields of economics and ideology.These same laws make it inevitablethat both powers should becomeenemies of Europe.” (Klaus P.Fischer, Nazi Germany–A NewHistory, 1995, pp. 563–564).

Micah 5:7–9 continues todescribe the modern nations of thehouse of Israel, referred to as the“remnant of Jacob.” They arepictured as being powerful, like a lionamong other nations. They arewealthy and prosperous; and theyare victorious in battle.

But as we read in verses 10–15 ofMicah 5, things will start to change.Note how and why they will change:“And it shall be in that day [recallthat this phrase is always a referenceto the very last days, or the day ofthe LORD when God begins toactively intervene in human andpolitical affairs], says the LORD,That I will cut off your horses fromyour midst And destroy yourchariots. I will cut off the cities of yourland and throw down all yourstrongholds. I will cut off sorceriesfrom your hand, And you shall haveno soothsayers. Your carved images Iwill also cut off, And your sacredpillars from your midst; you shall no

more worship the work of yourhands; I will pluck your woodenimages from your midst; Thus I willdestroy your cities. And I will executevengeance in anger and fury On thenations that have not heard [or,“obeyed”].”

The term, “in anger and fury” is areference to the wrath of God,described in vivid terms in the bookof Revelation as a time when God’swrath is poured out on the lastgeneration of man. God will beginHis punishment with the modernhouse of Israel, “the nations thathave not obeyed,” such as theUnited States, Great Britain,Canada, Australia and New Zealand.And this time, these nations will bedestroyed. God has prophesied it,and it WILL happen.

Jeremiah 30:3 sheds additionallight on what is soon to happen. “Forbehold, the days are coming, says theLORD, that I will bring back fromcaptivity My people Israel and Judah,says the LORD. And I will cause themto return to the land that I gave totheir fathers, and they shall possess it.”

We already know from Part 1 ofthis booklet that the modern houseof Judah will go into captivity. Nowwe learn that the modern house ofIsrael will also be taken captive by aforeign power. We will see in amoment that it is, in fact, the samepower that will enslave both the Jews


Is there additional biblical supportfor the conclusion that the modernBabylonians—the European army—will attack the European religioussystem? Indeed, there is. Revelation17:16–17 reveals: “And the tenhorns [ten final political leaders incontinental Europe] which you sawon the beast [the resurrected ancientRoman system], these will hate theharlot [a religious power called“Babylon the Great” (verse 5), butalso a city (verse 18) sitting on sevenmountains or hills (verse 9)], makeher desolate and naked, eat her fleshand burn her with fire. For God hasput it into their hearts to fulfill Hispurpose, to be of one mind, and togive their kingdom to the beast[both a system, as well as a politicalleader over the system], until thewords of God are fulfilled.”

We are told in this passage thatthe military power will ultimatelydestroy the religious power andconfiscate her riches and burn herup, that is, extinguish her existence.

How and why could it happenthat the political and military systemof Europe will turn on and actuallydestroy the religious system ofEurope? Does this not contradict thethought that Jesus Christ Himselfwill throw both the religious leaderof that system and the military leaderalive into the lake of fire that willburn outside of Jerusalem?

Remember from Revelation 17:16that the ten horns, or militaryleaders of the political system underthe “Beast,” will hate the woman—the religious system, as well as thecity of Rome—and make her nakedand desolate and eat her flesh. Onepossibility for their conduct is thatthey might feel betrayed by thewoman, as she had been promisingthem peace on earth and invulner-ability. When they see, instead, thatthey themselves are going to beoverrun by Asiatic hordes, theymight change their minds about thewoman. In any event, we are toldthat it is God who will move theirhearts to fulfill His purpose (Revela-tion 17:17).

One reason why the ten hornswill not destroy or kill the falseprophet is that the false prophet—together with the beast—will beliving in Jerusalem. So, it may bethat the ten European militaryleaders may find enough courage togo after the city of Rome, whilelacking courage—or even opportu-nity—to go directly after the falseprophet (although they will mostcertainly attack him with words). Wemay recall that Adolph Hitler wasgoing after the Catholic Church inGermany, as well as in occupiedcountries, but he did not fightdirectly against the Pope himself.

We find another prophecy in the


and the modern house of Israel. Butthe prophet Jeremiah is inspired totell us that it is God who willeventually free Israel and Judah outof captivity and they will return tothe land that God gave to Abraham,Isaac and Jacob. Historically, thehouse of Israel never returned to thePromised Land—only some of theJews did. This, then, is still a proph-ecy for the future.

Jeremiah 30:6–7 goes on to makevery clear exactly when thoseevents—the modern warfare andcaptivity, and ultimate deliverancefrom slavery—will take place: “Asknow, and see, Whether a man is everin labor with child? So why do I seeevery man with his hands on hisloins Like a woman in labor, And allfaces turned pale? Alas! For that dayis great, So that none is like it; and it isthe time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shallbe saved out of it.”

As we already know, the phrase“that day is great” is a reference to theGREAT DAY OF THE LORD, atime that is still in the future. This“day” will be unique—no time willbe like it. We are reminded that thesame has been said about the greattribulation at the very end of thisage. We see, then, that the GreatTribulation and the day of the Lordboth refer to the same general timeperiod. Technically, the GreatTribulation lasts two-and-a-half

years, followed by the day of theLord that lasts for one year. The totaltime then is three-and-a-half yearsthat the modern house of Israel willbe punished and the Gentiles willtread Jerusalem underfoot.

This time is especially identifiedas the time of Jacob’s trouble—referring to the modern house ofIsrael. We are told that God will savethem OUT OF that terrible time—showing that they will have to firstgo through it!

Jeremiah 30:8 continues: “For itshall come to pass in that day [thetime of God’s intervention], Says theLORD of hosts, That I will break hisyoke from your neck, And will burstyour bonds; Foreigners shall no moreenslave them.”

At the time of God’s interven-tion, “his yoke” will be broken fromtheir neck, indicating that they wereunder a yoke of slavery at that time.We already know that the Jews willbe under a yoke of slavery, enforcedby modern Assyria, and that theywill be freed by God at Christ’sreturn. The terminology, “his yoke,”strongly suggests that Assyria willhave placed his yoke of slavery, notonly on the house of Judah, but onthe house of Israel as well.

God will free them from that yokeof slavery. Notice the next sentence:“FOREIGNERS shall NO MOREENSLAVE them.” So then, foreign-


Jerusalem. By that time, it seems, theJews will have built a third temple—maybe on the Temple Mount—where they will bring sacrifices, butthe European system will take awaythose daily sacrifices (Daniel 8:11–14; 11:31; Matthew 24:15–22),perhaps in order to pacify the Arabnations.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 also stronglysuggests that the false prophet will sitin that very temple, claiming to beGod Himself. The Greek word for“temple” is “naos” and means “innersanctuary.” Although this word canapply to a spiritual temple (Christspoke of the temple, “naos,” of Hisbody in John 2:21), this word canalso apply to a literal temple. Revela-tion 11:1–2 shows that the “templeof God” is to be measured. Yet thecourt outside the “temple” was notbe be measured because it had beengiven to the Gentiles, who will treadthe holy city underfoot for 3½ years(compare Luke 21:24). So it appearsthat the false prophet will be sittingin a literal temple in Jerusalem atthat time.

Ezekiel 28:4 describes thisreligious power as being very rich,prosperous and wealthy. Verse 7predicts that strangers will comeagainst it and against the religiousleader himself: “And they shall drawtheir swords against the beauty ofyour wisdom, And defile your

splendor.” Those foes are identifiedas “the most terrible of the nations” or“the most violent nations.” Verse 7describes the fate of the religiousleader, as well as the religious systemhe represents and rules over. Butwho are those strangers—the “mostterrible of the nations”?

Notice this interesting passage inEzekiel 7:24: “Therefore I will bringthe worst of the Gentiles [against theland of Israel, verse 2], And they willpossess their houses.”

Who are the “worst of theGentiles” to attack Israel? We knowthat the European army will attackand enslave the modern nations ofIsrael and Judah. We must, there-fore, conclude that the “worst of theGentiles” will, indeed, be theEuropean army that destroys theEuropean religious system.

Confirmation that the term“worst of the Gentiles” or “most terribleof the nations” does, in fact, refer tothe armies of Europe under theleadership of modern Assyria, can befound in Ezekiel 30:10–11. There,the term “the most terrible of thenations” applies to the ancientBabylonians in their fight againstEgypt. Both Ezekiel 31:12 and 32:12use the same term, also applyingthem to the ancient Babylonians. Inthe same way, the Bible applies thisterm to the modern Babylonians—the modern European system.


ers, or a foreign power, did enslavethem, and they are still enslavedwhen God intervenes. Jeremiah 30:9reveals when all of this will takeplace: “But they shall serve theLORD their God, And David theirking, Whom I will raise up for them.”These events will take place at thetime of the resurrection of the just,which will occur at the time of thereturn of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Jeremiah 30:10 concludes:“Therefore do not fear, O Myservant Jacob, says the LORD, Norbe dismayed, O Israel; For behold, Iwill save you from afar, And yourseed from the land of their captivity.”

At the time of Christ’s return andthe resurrection of the just, Christwill save the SEED of Jacob, theend-time descendants of Jacob—themodern American and Britishpeoples—from the land of theircaptivity. What land is that?

The answer is in Jeremiah 23:7–8: “Therefore, behold, the days arecoming, says the LORD, that theyshall no longer say, As the LORDlives who brought up the children ofIsrael from the land of Egypt, but, Asthe LORD lives who brought up andled the descendants of the house ofIsrael from the north country andfrom all the countries where I haddriven them…”

God will bring back the descen-dants of the house of Israel from the

north country [where the king of theNorth came from], and from all thecountries where He drove them—where God permitted the foreignpower to take them. They will beenslaved in a country north ofJerusalem—a particular countrysomewhere in Europe. They will alsobe driven, or taken, into othercountries who will hold themcaptive. Note that the Assyriansespecially, both in ancient andmodern times, transported theircaptives from their own country toother countries.

Those who claim that suchterrible things as captivity andslavery of entire nations could notpossibly happen in our sophisticated21st century, forget that these kindsof actions did happen less than ageneration ago.

Listen to these remarkable quotesfrom Fisher’s book on Nazi Germany,pp. 498, 486, 487, 488: “(p.498)Most of these grandiose plans [toconquer and enslave occupiedpeoples] reflect the Assyrian natureof German policy toward con-quered peoples… (p. 486) HeinrichHimmler … declared that ‘whethernations live in prosperity or starve todeath interests me only insofar as weneed them for slaves for ourKultur…’ (p.487) By the end of 1941almost four million foreigners workedin Germany, most of them Poles…


would fall twice—in ancient times,and, as the book of Revelationpredicts, at the time of Christ’sreturn] (Isaiah 13:1, 17; 21:2, 9).

Who were the ancient Medesand who are they today? In ancienttimes, the Medes lived in present-day Iran. Originally, under Assyrianrule, they revolted against andexpelled the Assyrians and imposedtheir rule over the Persians. Theythen attacked Niniveh and over-threw the Assyrian Empire. UnderCyrus the Great, the Medes and thePersians were considered as onepeople. The Encyclopedia Britannica(ed.1959) points out that at leastsome of the Medes were not Iraniansor Indo-Europeans, but perhapsconnected with the numerous tribesof the Caucasus. The modernMedes, then, are to be found inmodern Russia and surroundingareas.

Ultimately, God Himself willdestroy modern Babel, or Tyre, at thetime of Christ’s return. And at thattime, He will also directly destroy themodest remains of the ancient city ofTyre.

In the 28th chapter of Ezekiel, wefind a description of a leader ofTyre, primarily a modern leader ofthe modern European system—notthe ancient leader of the ancient cityof Tyre. This modern leader isreferred to as the “PRINCE of Tyre.”

Ezekiel 28:2 identifies thismodern leader—someone who willbecome known on the world scenevery soon—as follows: “Son of man,say to the prince of Tyre, Thus saysthe Lord GOD: Because your heartis lifted up, And you say, I am a god[or, I am God], I sit in the seat ofgods, In the midst of the seas, Yetyou are a man, and not a god [or, notGod], Though you set your heart asthe heart of a god [or, Though youmake your heart as the heart of God]…”

This man speaks like the man ofsin in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4. Thispersonage, also referred to as the“false prophet” in other passages,claims that he is sitting “as God in thetemple of God, showing himself that heis God.” Ezekiel 28:2 describes, then,the religious leadership over theEuropean system of modern “Tyre.”[Compare with Revelation 17:3,picturing the religious system as a“woman” sitting on the “beast.”]The religious leader originally sits “inthe midst of the seas.” Italy, with itscapital of Rome, is located between,and surrounded by numerous seas oroceans—the Ligurian Sea, theTyrrhenian Sea, the MediterraneanSea, the Ionian Sea, and theAdriatic Sea.

But, as other Scriptures reveal,this religious leader—together withthe military leader or the “Beast”—will move its capital to the city of


[F]oreigners [were rounded up] intown squares, churches, cinemas, orother places where people congre-gated in great numbers andship[ped]… back to Germany infreight cars…. As to workers fromeastern Europe, the German con-querors treated them essentially likeslaves… (p. 488) The rest wereeither incarcerated in concentrationcamps, sent to the Reich as slavelaborers, or simply allowed to starveto death. Of at least five and halfmillion Soviet prisoners of war, halfdied.”

Jeremiah 23:8 concludes theirultimate return: “…And they shalldwell in their own land.” After thehouse of Israel was taken captive bythe ancient Assyrians, they neverreturned to the Promised Land. Soagain, this is still to take place in thefuture.

Some argue that the Bible doesnot really mean to convey thatmodern Israel and Judah will literallybe enslaved. Is that true? We saw thata “yoke” will be placed on themodern house of Israel, as well as onthe modern Jews (cp. Isaiah 14:25and 52:2).

What exactly is meant by theword, “yoke,” and who enforces it onthe modern house of Israel? Let’slook at the biblical definition of theword “yoke.”

We’ll begin by noting a prophecy

in Isaiah 47:1: “Come down and sitin the dust, O virgin daughter ofBabylon; Sit on the ground without athrone, O daughter of theChaldeans! For you shall no more becalled Tender and delicate.”

The prophecy is directed at the“virgin daughter of Babylon,” notancient Babylon, but a daughter—adescendant. “Babylon” here refers toa modern European system—aneconomic, political, military, andreligious power soon to arise on theworld scene.

Note Isaiah 47:6: “I was angrywith My people: I have profaned Myinheritance, And given them intoyour hand. You showed them nomercy; On the elderly you laid youryoke very heavily.”

The “yoke” here describes literalslavery. Modern Babylon will put heryoke of slavery VERY HEAVILY onthe houses of Israel and Judah—much more so than had beenintended by God.

And so, we read in Isaiah 47:9,11: “But these two things shall cometo you [modern Babylon] In amoment, in one day: The loss ofchildren, and widowhood. Theyshall come upon you in their fullnessBecause of the multitude of yoursorceries, For the great abundance ofyour enchantments… Therefore evilshall come upon you; You shall notknow from where it arises. And


21. Verse 23 mentions “Assur andChilmad.” Some translations havehere “Assur and all the Medes.”

Notice that verses 25 and 26 referto the fact that the modern Euro-pean system is somehow situated “inthe midst of the seas.”

But something is going to happento this system. It will be destroyed inone day, through the “east wind,” aswe read in verses 26 and 27: “…Butthe east wind broke you in the midstof the seas… Your mariners andpilots… All your men of war who arein you, And the entire companywhich is in your midst, Will fall intothe midst of the seas on the day ofyour ruin.”

Read the entire prophecy ofmodern Tyre’s downfall anddestruction in Ezekiel 27:28–36,and see the correlation to analmost identical description of thefall of this military/economicsystem—referred to as modern“Babylon”—in Revelation 18:9–21. In Scripture this system issometimes called the “daughter ofBabylon,” which identifies both itsorigins and the future time of itsultimate destruction (Jeremiah50:42; 51:33).

In order to bring about thedestruction of this modern militaryand economic system, God will usepowers of the East and the North(Daniel 11:44), mainly the “Medes,”

to attack modern Babylon or Tyre—the European power bloc.

Notice the following passages bythe prophet Jeremiah that identifymodern Europe’s foe with greatclarity: “Make the arrows bright!Gather the shields! The LORD hasraised up the spirit of the kings of theMedes. For His plan is against[modern] Babylon to destroy it,Because it is the vengeance of theLORD, the vengeance for Histemple… Prepare against her thenations, with the kings of the Medes,Its governors and all its rulers, Allthe land of his dominion. And theland will tremble and sorrow; Forevery purpose of the LORD shall beperformed against Babylon, To makethe land of Babylon a desolationwithout inhabitant” (Jeremiah51:11; 51:28–29).

Notice, too, the followingprophecies in the book of Isaiah:“The burden against Babylon…Behold, I will stir up the Medesagainst them, Who will not regardsilver; And as for gold, they will notdelight in it… A distressing vision isdeclared to me; The treacherousdealer deals treacherously, And theplunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam!Besiege, O Media! All its sighing Ihave made to cease… And look, herecomes a chariot of men with a pair ofhorsemen. Then he… said, Babylonis fallen, is fallen!” [showing that it


trouble shall fall upon you; You willnot be able to put it off. And desola-tion shall come upon you suddenly,Which you shall not know.”

This passage tells us that modernBabylon’s destruction will happenvery suddenly—“in a moment, inone day.” The book of Revelationdescribes the downfall of modernBabylon in great detail, which wewill discuss in Part 3 of this booklet.Suffice it to say here that Revelation18:8 & 10 also explains that “herplagues will come in one day” andthat “in one hour your judgment hascome.” Since Babylon did not showmercy when placing the yoke ofslavery on the neck of the peoplesof Israel and Judah, neither will shereceive mercy from God, and she willbe destroyed very quickly.

We find another reference to thehouse of Israel’s yoke of end-timeslavery in Deuteronomy 28:47–51:“Because you did not serve theLORD your God with joy andgladness of heart, for the abundanceof everything, therefore you shallserve your enemies, whom theLORD will send against you, inhunger, in thirst, in nakedness, andin need of everything; and He willput a yoke of iron on your neckuntil He has destroyed you [Again,we see that the term “yoke” refers toliteral slavery.]. The LORD willbring a nation against you from afar,

from the end of the earth, as swift asthe eagle flies, a nation whoselanguage you will not understand, anation of fierce countenance, whichdoes not respect the elderly norshow favor to the young. And theyshall eat the increase of your live-stock and the produce of your land,until you are destroyed; they shallnot leave you grain or new wine oroil, or the increase of your cattle orthe offspring of your flocks, untilthey have destroyed you.”

“The Assyrian nature of theGerman peoples,” as Klaus Fischerput it, revealed itself during WorldWar II as well, when consideringhow conquered nations were treatedby their conquerors. Note this quotefrom Hermann Göring (quoted byKlaus Fischer, Nazi Germany, p.486): “‘In the old days, the rule wasplunder. Now, outward forms havebecome more humane. Nevertheless Iintend to plunder, and plunder copi-ously.’”

Hitler himself declared: “‘Ourguiding principle must be that thesepeople have but one justification forexistence—to be of use to useconomically. We must concentrate onextracting from these territories every-thing that is possible to extract.’”(Fischer, ibid.)

Deuteronomy 28:68 predicts:“And the LORD will take you back toEgypt in ships, by the way of which


returns to his description of thesystem of modern Tyre as a wealthyeconomic power. This switch from aneconomic to a military power, andthen back to an economic power,MIGHT suggest that the realeconomic wealth and prosperity thatoriginally existed to an extent, isgoing to be heavily increased bymilitary actions and not by peacefulmeans.

Notice how this Europeaneconomic system is described inEzekiel 27:12–13, and note also, theareas and countries—as identified byarcheology and history—with whomthis system will trade. “Tarshish [cityin Spain—symbolic of the economicpower of Spain] was your merchantbecause of your many luxury goods.They gave you silver, iron, tin, andlead for your goods. Javan [Greece,perhaps Japan], Tubal and Meshesh[nations or peoples originallybetween the Black and the CaspianSea, which could be a reference tothe Russian cities of Tobolsk andMoskow] were your traders. Theybartered human lives and vessels ofbronze for your merchandise.” Yes,even human lives—slaves—will betraded within this system.

Continuing with verses 14–16:“Those from the house of Togarmah[Siberia, some have felt, this mightbe a reference to Armenia] tradedfor your wares with horses, steeds,

and mules. The men of Dedan wereyour traders; many isles were themarket of your hand. They broughtyou ivory tusks and ebony as pay-ment [or “forced tribute,” suggestingoccupation and enslavement]. Syriawas your merchant because of theabundance of goods you made. Theygave you for your wares emeralds,purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals,and rubies.”

Now notice in verse 17 who elsewill have—to an extent—aneconomic relationship and tradearrangements with this Europeansystem, at least at the beginning:“Judah and the land of Israel[wherever the house of Israel istoday—including the British Isles,the United States of America,Canada, New Zealand, Australia]were your traders. They traded foryour merchandise wheat of Minnith,millet, honey, oil, and balm.” Themodern houses of Israel and Judahwill export wheat, millet and othergrains and goods, as well as medicalsupplies—symbolized by the word“balm”—to the European economicsystem.

Ezekiel 27:18–23 reveals theother nations that will be tradingwith this European system. The tribeof Dan [modern Ireland] is specifi-cally mentioned in verse 19, with itsmain trade of cane or sugar. TheArabs are identified in verses 20 and


I said to you, You shall never see itagain. And there you shall be offeredfor sale to your enemies as male andfemale slaves, but no one will buy you.”

The modern nations of the housesof Israel and Judah will go back byships to “Egypt”—a symbol forslavery. It does not say here that allwill go back to the land of Egypt. Wewill see the reason for the omission ofthe word “land” very soon.

We note, as a forerunner of whatwill happen on a much greater scale,the following example of whatalready occurred in World War II inHungary (Klaus Fischer, NaziGermany, p. 511): “The Nazis alsohalfheartedly experimented with anew technique—selling Jews to theWestern world, a plan, unfortu-nately, that, as a result of Naziduplicity and the indifference andbureaucratic obstructionism ofWestern governments, never reallyworked.”

As predicted in Deuteronomy28:68, captives from the houses ofIsrael and Judah will be offered forsale, but “no one will buy” them.

The prophet Ezekiel clearlypredicts, as well, that the modernhouse of Israel—the United Statesand Great Britain, Canada, Austra-lia, and other Commonwealthnations—will be defeated in acoming war with a modern enemy—continental Europe. This will be a

unique time in the history of man—a time of calamities and terribleatrocities that have never happenedbefore, and which will never happenagain (cp. Ezekiel 5:9). It will be atime of GREAT TRIBULATION!

In Ezekiel 6:1–2 God tellsEzekiel to speak to “the mountainsof Israel.” Then in verse 6 Godsays: “In all your dwelling placesthe cities shall be laid waste, andthe high places shall be desolate...”This has not happened yet! Never,in the history of ancient Israel,were their cities laid waste in alltheir dwelling places. In fact, whenthe Assyrians conquered Samaria,they saw to it that the cities werenot laid waste, but inhabited.

Continuing with Ezekiel 6:7:“The slain shall fall in your midst,and you shall know that I am theLORD.” Modern America, Britain,Canada and Australia don’t reallyknow God, nor do they know thatGod is against them. But they willcome to realize that God forsakesus when we forsake Him. They willONLY learn this lesson, however,when God leads them into theGreat Tribulation and the day ofthe LORD, ultimately saving themout of it when Jesus Christ returnsto this earth. If Jesus were not toreturn as He said He would, noteven one person would survive(Matthew 24:21–22).


become a thriving port by the timeJesus was here on the earth (Mark7:24–31). It was here where Christhealed the young woman whosemother said that even the dogs eatcrumbs from the table of theirmasters (Matthew 15:21–28). Also,Tyre is mentioned in Acts 12:20–21,where king Herod died, being eatenup by worms because he did not giveGod glory.

In time, other nations came toattack and plunder Tyre, includingthe Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs,the Crusaders, and the Mamelukes.(The Mamelukes were originallypurchased slaves who converted toIslam. They advanced to highmilitary posts in Egypt. From themcame the Turks, the Mongols andthe Circassians. Today, they can befound in Nubia, in North EastAfrica). Some of the inhabitants ofTyre migrated to Italy, where theysettled in Rome. The name“Tyrrhenian Sea”—one of the seas oroceans surrounding Italy—hasderived its name from the inhabit-ants of Tyre who settled in Italy.

Today, Tyre is still a minor portand inhabited by Islamic Arabs whofled Palestine when the state of Israelwas formed, and who settled insouthern Lebanon.

In Ezekiel 26:13–14 God states,“I will put an end to the sound ofyour songs, and the sound of your

harps shall be heard no more. I willmake you like the top of a rock; youshall be a place for spreading nets,and you shall never be rebuilt, for Ithe LORD have spoken, says theLord GOD.”

This prophecy is still to befulfilled, even for the ancient city ofTyre. Notice what God Himself says,“I will put an end to the sound of yoursongs…I will make you like the top of arock…” Verses 19–21 give furtherdetails as to what exactly God did tothe ancient city of Tyre and what Hewill do to the modern city of Tyre.

The focus then changes in the27th chapter of the book of Ezekiel.Notice that it no longer describesthe ancient city of Tyre. Rather, itspeaks about a powerful, moderneconomic system that is comparableto the wealth and prosperity ofancient Tyre. Just as the Bible uses“Babylon” to refer to an ancient city,as well as to a modern city, the Biblealso uses “Tyre” in similar ways.Modern “Tyre” in Ezekiel 27:1–9 isdescribed as a great merchant ship—a symbol of its importance as aneconomic power. This refers to themodern European system—still inthe future—and is, in fact, the lastresurrection of the ancient RomanEmpire.

This system is also described as amilitary power in Ezekiel 27:10–11.Beginning with verse 12, Ezekiel


God has not left the modernhouse of Israel without warning. Hetold them in His own words thou-sands of years ago that He wouldfirst bring natural disasters on theirlands—disasters such as extendedperiods of drought and resultingfamines. We are already experiencingunprecedented droughts and insectplagues in Canada and large parts ofthe United States. These droughtsare warnings to wake the nations up,and to announce to them at thesame time, that worse things willhappen if they don’t repent of theirsins.

God tells the modern house ofIsrael in Amos 4:7–9: “I also with-held rain from you, When therewere still three months to theharvest. I made it rain on one city, Iwithheld rain from another city. Onepart was rained upon, And where itdid not rain the part withered. Sotwo or three cities wandered toanother city to drink water, But theywere not satisfied; Yet you have notreturned to Me, Says the LORD. Iblasted you with blight and mildew.When your gardens increased, Yourvineyards, Your fig trees, And yourolive trees, The locust devouredthem; Yet you have not returned toMe, Says the LORD.” Read the nexttwo verses and you will see that Godnext pronounces WAR and TOTALDEVASTATION.

A similar warning can be found inDeuteronomy 28:23–24, 38–39 &42: “And your heavens which areover your head shall be bronze, andthe earth which is under you shall beiron. The LORD will change therain of your land to powder and dust;from the heaven it shall come downon you until you are destroyed…You shall carry much seed out to thefield but gather little in, for thelocust shall consume it. You shallplant vineyards and tend them, butyou shall neither drink of the winenor gather the grapes; for the wormsshall eat them… Locusts shallconsume all your trees and theproduce of your land.”

Droughts are not to be takenlightly. God has used droughts beforeto try to awaken sinning people andto teach them lessons (compareHaggai 1:11), and He will do soagain (compare Zechariah 14:17;Revelation 11:6). He is doing it rightnow. Can we see it?

Ezekiel 6:8–10 makes it very clearwhat will happen next to the modernhouse of Israel if they don’t wake up:“Yet I will leave a remnant, so thatyou may have some who escape thesword among the nations, when youare scattered through the countries.Then those of you who escape willremember Me among the nationswhere they are carried captive, becauseI was crushed by their adulterous


that include the entire system, aswell as the end-time leadership ofthat system—both on a human anda spiritual level—can be found inchapters 27 and 28 of the book ofEzekiel. We’ll take a look at Chapter26 of Ezekiel first to set the stage inregard to the ancient city of Tyre—the historical forerunner of the end-time system.

God says in Ezekiel 26:2–3, “Sonof man, because Tyre has said againstJerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken whowas the gateway of the peoples; nowshe is turned over to me; I shall befilled; she is laid waste.’ Thereforethus says the Lord GOD: Behold, Iam against you, O Tyre, and willcause many nations to come upagainst you, as the sea causes itswaves to come up.”

The ancient city of Tyre was afamous port city of the Phoenicians.It is called “Sor” in Hebrew, and“Sur” in the Arabic language; itmeans “rock” in both languages. Itwas already an important Phoeniciancity in the 15th century B.C; Joshua19:29 refers to it as “the fortified cityof Tyre.” It is mentioned againduring the time of David as “thestronghold [or fortress] of Tyre” (2Samuel 24:7).

Tyre was a dual city—part of thecity lay on the coast and part wassituated offshore on islands of rock.We read in verse 3 that many nations

would come up against Tyre, just asthe sea causes its waves to comeup—one after the other. In verses 4and 5, notice that many nations, notjust one, would destroy the walls ofTyre. Verse 4 emphasizes specificallythat “they” shall destroy the walls.

Verses 7–11 explain in detail howthe first conqueror of Tyre to bringabout its desolation would beNebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.Verse 12, however, uses the plural,stating that “they [more than onenation or emperor] will plunder yourriches… and lay your… soil in themidst of the water.” Historically,Nebuchadnezzar did not destroy thepart of Tyre that was offshore. Heonly destroyed “Old Tyre,” the parton the coast, about 609B.C. ThePersians allowed that destroyed partof Tyre to be rebuilt exactly 70 yearsafter its partial destruction.

Later, Alexander destroyed bothOld Tyre and New Tyre (on theisland). At that time, many peoplefrom Tyre fled over the sea toCarthage in North Africa. That cityhad been established by thePhoenicians as a trading post in the 9th

century B.C. Later, many people fromancient Tyre fled to Tarshish in Spain.Others settled in Italy—especially theChaldeans and the Phoenicians—where they founded Venice.

But parts of Tyre were subse-quently resettled. Tyre had again


heart which has departed from Me,and by their eyes which play theharlot after their idols; they willloathe themselves for the evils whichthey committed in all their abomina-tions. And they shall know that I amthe LORD; I have not said in vainthat I would bring this calamity uponthem.” These are warnings from GodHimself! Are we listening?

Ezekiel 39:21–29 confirms thatGod will ultimately free Israel fromtheir captivity—once they repent—and that He will bring them backinto the land that was promised totheir fathers: “I will set My gloryamong the nations; all the nationsshall see My judgment which I haveexecuted, and My hand which Ihave laid on them. So the house ofIsrael shall know that I am theLORD their God from that dayforward. The Gentiles shall know thatthe house of Israel went into captivityfor their iniquity; because they wereunfaithful to Me, therefore I hid Myface from them. I gave them into thehand of their enemies, and they allfell by the sword…. Therefore thussays the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bringback the captivity of Jacob, and havemercy on the whole house of Israel;and I will be jealous for My holyname—after they have borne theirshame, and all their unfaithfulness inwhich they were unfaithful to Me,when they dwelt safely in their own

land and no one made them afraid.When I have brought them backfrom the peoples and gathered themout of their enemies’ lands, and I amhallowed in them in the sight ofmany nations, then they shall knowthat I am the LORD their God, whosent them into captivity among thenations, but also brought them back totheir land, and left none of them captiveany longer. And I will not hide Myface from them anymore; for I shallhave poured out my Spirit on thehouse of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”

God drove them into slavery, andGod will bring them back out ofslavery at the time He pours out HisSpirit over them. This has nothappened yet—this is still in thefuture.

Like Ezekiel, the prophetJeremiah also has much to sayregarding the destiny of the modernhouse of Israel. Let’s turn to a fewpassages, proving without a doubt,that disaster is decreed for themodern nations of the house ofIsrael, as well as a glorious future,unparalleled in the history of anynation.

Jeremiah 30:18–24 states: “Thussays the LORD: Behold, I will bringback the captivity of Jacob’s tents,And have mercy on his dwellingplaces; The city shall be built uponits own mound [or, ruins], And thepalace shall remain according to its


Christ’s words to His disciples inMatthew 28:19–20: “Go thereforeand make disciples of all the na-tions… and lo, I am with you always,even to the end of the age.”

Most people who hear themessage will not accept it. Theirreaction will be one of hate andrejection, and even persecution.Christ told us very clearly: “And youwill be hated by all for My name’ssake [all will hate you when thegospel is preached in all the world, toall nations]. But he who endures tothe end will be saved. When theypersecute you in this city, flee toanother. For assuredly, I say to you,you will not have gone through thecities of Israel before the Son of Mancomes” (Matthew 10:22–23).

Even when we are being perse-cuted, we must not stop preachingGod’s word and warning the people.Luke 21:12–13 prophecies: “Butbefore all these things [the increaseof great earthquakes in variousplaces, famines and pestilences, andfrightful sights and great signs fromheaven, verse 11], they will lay theirhands on you and persecute you,delivering you up to the synagoguesand prisons. You will be broughtbefore kings and rulers for Myname’s sake. But it will turn out foryou as an occasion for testimony.”

Remember that Paul was broughtbefore kings after preaching the

gospel. Why? Simply BECAUSE OFPREACHING THE GOSPEL! Hewas accused of having turned thewhole world upside down because ofhis preaching. He was HATED bymany because of his preaching. Soalso will be God’s Church and thosewho follow the commission, as theapostle Paul did, to proclaim God’sword in all the world as a witness, ortestimony.

Again, we have a choice. Godwants us to BOLDLY PROCLAIMHis warning message to the modernhouse of Israel, as well as to the restof the world, in the hope that somewill listen and change their ways.How about you?

PART 3 ANCIENT AND MODERN“TYRE” IN PROPHECY

The Bible contains a series ofremarkable prophecies regarding theend-time religious, economic, andmilitary system we have beendiscussing throughout this booklet,and which is forming right now incontinental Europe. This system, aswe already know, is referred to in thebook of Revelation as “Babylon” andis also sometimes called “the Beast.”[Note that the term “Beast” canrefer to the entire system, as well asto the end-time political leaderruling over this system.] The Biblealso symbolically refers to this systemas “Tyre.” Some of the prophecies


own plan. Then out of them shallproceed thanksgiving And the voiceof those who make merry; I willmultiply them, and they shall notdiminish; I will also glorify them, andthey shall not be small. Theirchildren also shall be as before, Andtheir congregation shall be estab-lished before Me; And I will punishall who oppress them… You shall beMy people, And I will be yourGod… In the latter days you willconsider it.”

This is a prophecy for the fu-ture—for the latter days—when themodern house of Israel repents oftheir sins and are freed from slaveryby God Almighty Himself.

Now notice the continuation inJeremiah 31:1–9: “At the same time[that is, in the latter days], says theLORD, I will be the God of all thefamilies of Israel [including the Jews,as they are also descendants ofJacob], and they shall be My people.Thus says the LORD: The peoplewho survived the sword Found gracein the wilderness—Israel, when Iwent to give him rest…For thus saysthe LORD: Sing with gladness forJacob, And shout among the chief ofthe nations; Proclaim, give praise,and say, O LORD, save Your people,The remnant of Israel [this is nottalking about ancient Israel, but aremnant in modern times after theirdefeat in war]! Behold, I will bring

them from the north country [wherethey had been held captive], Andgather them from the ends of theearth, Among them the blind andthe lame, The woman with childAnd the one who labors with child,together; A great throng shall returnthere. They shall come with weep-ing… For I am a Father to Israel,And Ephraim [Great Britain,Canada, and the other Common-wealth nations] is My firstborn.”

Jeremiah 32:37–40 continues:“Behold, I will gather them out of allcountries where I have driven themin My anger, in My fury, and in greatwrath [speaking about the wrath ofGod at the very end of this age]; Iwill bring them back to this place,and I will cause them to dwell safely.They shall be My people, and I willbe their God; then I will give themone heart and one way, that theymay fear Me forever, for the good ofthem and their children after them.And I will make an everlastingcovenant [the New Covenant] withthem, that I will not turn away fromdoing them good; but I will put Myfear in their hearts so that they willnot depart from Me.”

What this passage clearly tells us isthat God will free the enslavedmodern Israelites out of captivity andthat He will, at the same time, givethem His Holy Spirit—a prerequisitefor entering into the New Covenant.


Ezekiel 38, it was not Satan whoinfluenced Gog and his army. Satanwill be in prison at that time. Rather,we read in Ezekiel 38:10 thatthoughts will arise in Gog’s mind andthat he will make an evil plan. Mancan do wrong things without Satan’sinfluence.

We saw that the Church of Godhas been given a commission fromGod to proclaim in advance to themodern house of Judah, what theBible predicts is going to happen tothem. Likewise, the Church of Godhas also received a commission totell the modern nations of the houseof Israel what awaits them—in thehope that at least some will listenand repent before it is too late.

Notice God’s word to His end-time Church in Amos 3:13–14:“Hear and testify against the house ofJacob, Says the Lord GOD, the Godof hosts, that in the day I punishIsrael for their transgressions, I willalso visit destruction on the altars ofBethel… [modern Israel’s falsereligious worship ceremonies].”

The Bible tells us that theChurch will, indeed, accomplish itscommission. Notice in Hosea 5:9:“Ephraim shall be desolate in the dayof rebuke; Among the tribes of IsraelI make known what is sure.”

Hosea 7:11–12 adds: “Ephraimalso is like a silly dove, withoutsense—They call to Egypt, They go

to Assyria. Wherever they go, I willspread My net on them [to capturethem, to make them captives]; I willbring them down like birds of the air;I will chastise them According to whattheir congregation has heard.”

In Hosea 8:1–4, God again givesHis Church a very specific commis-sion as to what to include in itspreaching to the house of Israel: “Setthe trumpet to your mouth! [Whatfollows is the warning message, to beproclaimed like a trumpet to thehouse of Israel (compare Ezekiel33:1–20)]. He shall come like aneagle [remember that the symbol ofAssyria—ancient and modern—isthe eagle] against the house of theLORD, Because they have trans-gressed My covenant And rebelledagainst My law. Israel will cry to Me,My God, we know You! Israel hasrejected the good; The enemy willpursue him. They set up kings, butnot by Me; They made princes, but Idid not acknowledge them.”

God’s commission to His Churchto warn modern Israel and Judah,along with the rest of the world,while, at the same time, proclaimingthe wonderful news of the comingKingdom of God and how we canenter into it, is an on-going commis-sion. We don’t read anywhere thatthe assigned task of the Church endsprior to the return of Christ.

Quite to the contrary! Note


Again, we see that literal captivityand slavery are prophesied for themodern house of Israel. And notonly for the house of Israel, but thehouse of Judah (the Jews, theBenjaminites and the Levites) willalso go into captivity—apparently atthe same time—and both houses willbe freed by God when Christreturns.

Notice this again in Jeremiah33:7–9: “And I will cause the captivesof Judah and the captives of Israel toreturn [note that the house of Israel,when they were enslaved in ancienttimes by the Assyrians, neverreturned to the Promised Land], andwill rebuild those places as at thefirst. I will cleanse them from alltheir iniquity by which they havesinned against Me, and I will pardonall their iniquities by which theyhave sinned and by which they havetransgressed against Me. Then…they shall fear and tremble for all thegoodness and all the prosperity that Iprovide for it.”

The captives of Israel and thecaptives of Judah will return togetherand God will forgive their sins. Thishas NEVER happened before in thehistory of these two houses.

Again, Jeremiah 46:27–28confirms that God will free themodern house of Israel from captiv-ity: “But do not fear, O My servantJacob, And do not be dismayed, O

Israel! For behold, I will save youfrom afar, And your offspring fromthe land of their captivity; Jacob shallreturn, have rest and be at ease; Noone shall make him afraid. Do notfear, O Jacob My servant, says theLORD, For I am with you; For I willmake a complete end of all the nationsTo which I have driven you, But I willnot make a complete end of you. I willrightly correct you, For I will not leaveyou wholly unpunished.”

God promises to save Jacob’soffspring, that is, the modern descen-dants of Jacob—the house ofIsrael—from the land of theircaptivity. Is all this talk aboutcaptivity and enslavement for real?

Some argue that God does notpredict a literal captivity of the houseof Israel, but that He is only pointingout that the house of Israel will live“in exile” prior to the return ofChrist—in other words, that theywill not have possessed the PromisedLand. However, the Bible veryclearly predicts a literal captivity. Forexample, in the above-quotedpassage in Jeremiah 46:27, the wordfor “captivity” is “shebi” and can onlymean, “captivity” or “captive.” [Thewords that can also mean “exile,”depending on the circumstances, are“golah,” or “galuth.”]

Some have raised the objectionthat the Bible only predicts a“spiritual” captivity for the house of


the destruction of the Beast power.Verse 21 continues: “I will call for

a sword against Gog throughout allMy mountains, says the LORD God.Every man’s sword will be against hisbrother.” Note that modern Israel willnot fight. Rather, the armies of Gogand Magog will fight each other.

Verse 22 tells us: “And I will bringhim to judgment with pestilence andbloodshed; I will rain down on him,on his troops, and on the manypeoples who are with him, floodingrain, great hailstones, fire, andbrimstone.”

It is God who will supernaturallyintervene and destroy this army.Another picture of fire and brim-stone is painted, reminding us of thelake of fire and brimstone into whichthe beast—the military leader ofEurope—will be thrown at thebeginning of the Millennium. Asimilar fate awaits Gog and hiscohorts because they operate with thesame evil mindset.

Ezekiel 39:3 continues: “Then Iwill knock the bow out of your lefthand [the hand of prince Gog], andcause the arrows to fall out of yourright hand.”

Notice the kinds of weaponsdescribed here: These are bows andarrows—weapons of wood. Thesecan be easily made after Goddestroys the sophisticated weaponsof war at the time of Christ’s return.

It is true that sometimes terms like“bows” or “arrows” can be a figura-tive reference to sophisticatedmodern weapons such as guns ornuclear missiles, but this is not thecase here.

Verses 9–10 tell us: “Then thosewho dwell in the cities of Israel willgo out and set on fire and burn theweapons, both the shields and thebucklers, the bows and arrows, thejavelins and spears; and they willmake fires with them for seven years.They will not take wood from the fieldnor cut down any from the forests,because they will make fires with theweapons; and they will plunder thosewho plundered them, and pillagethose who pillaged them, says theLORD God.”

These weapons are not missiles oratomic bombs. Rather, they can beeasily burned and used for firewood.One would certainly not try to burnnuclear missiles to use them forfirewood. But these weapons ofwood will be burned for firewood, itsays, for seven years.

A similar event will happen againat the end of the Millennium, asdescribed in Revelation 20:7–10,when Satan is released from prisonand deceives “Gog” and “Magog.”God will destroy these attackingarmies by throwing down fire fromheaven and devouring them. Notice,though, that in the episode in


Israel, since all of mankind is heldspiritually captive by sin and bySatan the devil, the “god” of thisworld and the prince of the power ofthe air. Although it is true that weare presently “captives” of Satan andsin, unless God frees us through HisHoly Spirit, the Scriptures speakingabout captivity of the modern housesof Israel and Judah do not refer tosuch a “spiritual captivity.” Let’s lookat the biblical perspective of this issue.

First of all, we have alreadyestablished from many scripturesthat modern Judah will clearly gointo a literal captivity. Note that inmany cases, God names the housesof Israel and Judah together whendescribing their captivity, not makingany distinction between a literalcaptivity of the house of Judah and aspiritual captivity of the house ofIsrael. In addition, the Scripturesdifferentiate between the “captivity”of the houses of Israel and Judah andthe “freedom” of other unconvertedGentile nations—an odd distinction,indeed, if the captivity of Israel andJudah were to describe only aspiritual captivity of Satan and sin.Clearly, such captivity would applyto every modern nation.

Jeremiah 50:4–5 repeats andconfirms what we just read: “Inthose days and in that time, says theLORD, the children of Israel shallcome, they and the children of

Judah together; With continualweeping [showing their heart-rending repentance] they shall comeand seek the LORD their God. Theyshall ask the way to Zion, with theirfaces toward it, saying, Come and letus join ourselves to the LORD in aperpetual covenant [i.e., the NewCovenant] That will not be forgotten.”

Both the modern house of Israeland the modern house of Judah willcome together in a repentant atti-tude, to enter into the New Covenantwith God. Obviously, this is a futureprophecy, as this has not happened yet.

From what region will they come?Jeremiah 50:8 explains: “Move fromthe midst of Babylon, Go out of theland of the Chaldeans; and be likethe rams before the flocks.” This isnot talking about ancient Babylonand the ancient Chaldeans, but amodern political and military systemthat is arising in Europe right now, aswill be explained in much moredetail in Part 3 of this booklet. Thecaptives of Israel and Judah will befreed from the slavery of modernBabylon at the return of Christ.Jeremiah 3:18 also clearly shows thatthe prophecy is still awaiting futurefulfillment: “In those days the houseof Judah shall walk with the house ofIsrael, and they shall come togetherout of the land of the north to theland that I have given as an inherit-ance to your fathers.” Both houses


the Promised Land and live in safety,powers from the east will lunge asurprise attack on them. This attackis described in detail in Ezekiel 38and 39, and, as we will see, thisattack takes place AFTER Christ’sreturn. Rightly understood, theseprophecies also prove that the modernhouses of Israel and Judah will go into aliteral captivity prior to Christ’s return,and that Christ will free them at thetime of His return.

Notice Ezekiel 38:8: “After manydays you [a Eurasian prince, called“Gog of the land of Magog,” who iscommanding a vast army of easternpeoples] will be visited. In the latteryears you will come into the land ofthose brought back from the sword andgathered from many people on themountains of Israel, which had longbeen desolate; they were brought outof the nations, and now all of themdwell safely.”

This Eurasian army will comeagainst Israel in the latter years.Verse 16 says in the latter days. Thephrase “latter days” CAN refer tothe time after Christ’s return, as itdoes here, but it is always a pro-phetic term for the future—beginningwith the time just prior to Christ’sreturn—it does not refer to events inthe ancient past.

At this time, then, the Israeliteswill have been gathered from manypeoples—they will have been

brought out of slavery. They will bedwelling safely, implying that theydid not dwell safely before. At notime prior to Christ’s return-at leastnot since the terrorist attacks on theTwin Towers in New York onSeptember 11, 2001—could this betrue for the United States ofAmerica.

Verse 11 of Ezekial 38 continues:“You [the prince of Gog] will say, Iwill go up against a land of unwalledvillages; I will go to a peacefulpeople, who dwell safely, all of themdwelling without walls, and havingneither bars nor gates…”

The nations of Israel will be livingpeacefully at that time without walls,having neither bars nor gates. Thiscannot possibly be a description ofthe U.S.A. today, where crimes andmurders run rampant—at least in bigcities such as New York, Los Ange-les, Chicago, Boston, and SanFrancisco. Our cities may be withoutwalls, but we certainly do not livesafely, nor in peace.

Then verse 12 says: “…to takeplunder and to take booty, to stretchout your hand against the wasteplaces that are again inhabited, andagainst a people gathered from thenations, who have acquired livestockand goods, who dwell in the midst ofthe land.” The places where Israelwill dwell had formerly become aswasteland and uninhabited due to


will return together out of their landof captivity “in the north.”

Jeremiah 50:33–34 summarizesthese future events this way: “Thussays the LORD of hosts: Thechildren of Israel were oppressed,Along with the children of Judah;All who took them captive haveheld them fast; They have refusedto let them go. [This cannotpossibly be talking about a spiritualcaptivity of sin.] Their Redeemer isstrong; The LORD of hosts is Hisname. He will thoroughly plead theircase, that He may give rest to theland, And disquiet the inhabitants ofBabylon.”

The captors—the modernBabylonian system—will haveenslaved both Israel and Judah andwill not want to let them go. Inancient times, the Babylonians tookonly the house of Judah captive; thehouse of Israel had already beentaken captive some time earlier bythe Assyrians. It is God Himself whowill free both the house of Israel andthe house of Judah from their literalcaptivity when He returns to thisearth.

As if this were not proof enoughthat God predicts a literal captivityof the modern house of Israel in afuture war prior to the return ofJesus Christ, we’ll look at what Godspoke through another Old Testa-ment prophet, Amos.

Amos addresses the actual time ofthe “day of the LORD” in Amos5:18–20. In verse 25 it shows that heis talking to the “house of Israel.”And in verse 27 he makes it veryclear what will happen to themodern Israelites during the soon-coming time of the “day of theLORD”: “Therefore I will send youinto captivity beyond Damascus, Saysthe LORD, whose name is the Godof hosts.”

God repeats His warning to themodern house of Israel—especiallythe descendants of Ephraim andManasseh—in Amos 6:3–7: “Woe toyou who put far off the day of doom,Who cause the seat of violence tocome near; Who lie on beds of ivory,Stretch out on your couches, Eatlambs from the flock And calvesfrom the midst of the stall; Who singidly to the sound of stringed instru-ments, And invent for yourselvesmusical instruments like David [Asan aside, is it mere coincidence thatour “modern music” played withelectric guitars was invented in, andthen popularized from Ephraim andManasseh—Great Britain and theUnited States?]; Who drink winefrom bowls, And anoint yourselveswith the best ointments, But are notgrieved for the affliction of Joseph.Therefore they shall now go captive asthe first of the captives, And those whorecline at banquets shall be removed.”


did not let it happen. Many times,God intervened by sending badweather to prevent German attackson British or American troops. OnceGod withdraws His protection, thesethings WILL occur as prophesied.

In the last Great War, Hitler didnot succeed in his attacks againstBritain and the United Statesbecause he was entangled in warfarein Europe and Africa, and alsoagainst Russia. The next time,Europe will be united and will nothave to worry about fighting againstRussia, China, and the otherpowerful nations in the Far East.THAT war will come later, AFTERmodern Europe—with their Araballies—successfully overtakes theUnited States and Britain. It is mostimportant to understand, though,that in this overthrow God will ceasefrom protecting the house of Israeland He will allow Satan to carry outhis plan of destruction.

Additionally, the Bible predictsthat the peoples will be astonishedwhen they see the ancient RomanEmpire forming again as a veryinfluential European power bloc.When Hitler’s Third Reich disap-peared from the world scene, mostthought that Germany would neverrise again. Klaus Fischer writes inNazi Germany on page 560: “Yet,having entrusted their future to acriminal leadership, they had no

choice, certainly not after July 20,1944, except to follow their leadersinto the abyss.”

Europe will not stay in the“abyss.” It will awaken one moretime. The European system, referredto as the “Beast” in the book ofRevelation, will come out of theabyss for a tenth and final resurrec-tion of the ancient Roman Empire tocreate havoc on this earth. Allnations will be astonished when itshows its ugly head one more time.

God says that He will use Asiatichordes, or armies, to punish anddestroy the United States of Eu-rope—modern Babylon. We find areference to the eastern powers inDaniel 11:44; in Revelation 9:13 (atthe time of the sixth trumpet); and inRevelation 16:12. We will describethese battles in more detail in Part 3of this booklet, but for now, noticecarefully that these battles will takeplace between the kings of the Eastand the Beast of Europe. Thesebattles do not involve the UnitedStates of America, Great Britain,Canada, Australia, or New Zealand,because by that time, those nationswill have been enslaved by Europe.

When Christ returns He will freeboth Israel and Judah from captivityand bring them back—for the firsttime since the fall of ancient Samariaand Jerusalem—to the PromisedLand. Once they have returned to


In the ninth chapter of AmosGod again confirms that HE willsend the modern house of Israel intocaptivity, and that HE will ultimatelyfree them when Christ returns andthey repent of their sins. Listen tothese encouraging words: “Behold,the days are coming, says the LORD,When the plowman shall overtakethe reaper, And the treader of grapeshim who sows seed; The mountainsshall drip with sweet wine, And allthe hills shall flow with it. I will bringback the captives of My people Israel;They shall build the waste cities andinhabit them; They shall plantvineyards and drink wine from them;they shall also make gardens and eatfruit from them. I will plant them intheir land, And no longer shall theybe pulled up From the land I havegiven them, Says the LORD yourGod” (Amos 9:13–15).

This is another clear prophecy forthe future. Up until now the houseof Israel has NOT returned to theland that was promised to theirfathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.But they will return out of a literalslavery when Christ comes back tothis earth.

There is yet another witness inthe pages of the Old Testament whopredicts the end-time fate of modernEphraim and Manasseh—theprophet Hosea. He proclaims inHosea 9:3, “They [the tribes of

Israel, cp. verse 1] shall not dwell inthe LORD’s land, but Ephraim shallreturn to Egypt, And shall eatunclean things in Assyria.”

As we know from what we’veread so far, both of the modernnations of Israel and Judah will gointo captivity. The land of slavery forthe house of Israel, especiallyEphraim, is mainly modern Assyria.There, they will eat unclean things.The house of Israel will also go backto “Egypt,” as we read here, but notto the land of Egypt. Notice Hosea11:3, 5: “I taught Ephraim to walk…He shall not return to the land ofEgypt; But the Assyrian shall be hisking, Because they refused torepent.”

Egypt, then, is a symbol forslavery. The captives will return toEgypt, that is, into slavery, but noticethat it doesn’t say they will return tothe “land” of Egypt. Rather, they willbe enslaved by Assyria, under “KingJareb.”

When Christ returns to freethem, notice where they will comefrom. “They [the reference is still tothe people of Ephraim] shall walkafter the LORD. He will roar like alion. When He roars, Then His sonsshall come trembling from the west[In the Hebrew, there is no term for“northwest.” Therefore, somepassages talk about the land ofcaptivity as being west of Jerusalem,


while most other passages designateit as being north of Jerusalem. Takingall of these passages together, thereference is to a country “northwest”of Jerusalem. Germany is situatednorthwest of Jerusalem.]; They shallcome trembling like a bird fromEgypt [again note, it does not say theland of Egypt], Like a dove from theland of Assyria. And I will let themdwell in their houses, Says theLORD” (Hosea 11:10–11).

Now let’s return to the book ofIsaiah and read a few more prophe-cies about the future of the houses ofIsrael and Judah. Isaiah predicts atime of trial, followed by a time ofgreat prosperity and peace.

Isaiah 11:11–12 points out, “Itshall come to pass in that day [thetime of Christ’s intervention] Thatthe LORD shall set His hand againthe second time To recover theremnant of His people who are left,From Assyria and Egypt, FromPathros and Cush, From Elam andShinar [Babylon], From Hamath andthe islands of the sea. He will set upa banner for the nations, And willassemble the outcasts of Israel, Andgather together the dispersed ofJudah From the four corners of theearth.”

We are all familiar with how Godfreed the Jews from Babylon andallowed them to return to thePromised Land. The house of Israel,

though, never returned. WhenChrist comes back to this earth, Hewill set His hand not only to freeJudah the second time, but alsomodern Israel, as well, from captivity.This has not yet happened.

Notice how Isaiah 11:16 empha-sizes where most of the captives willbe held: “There will be a highway forthe remnant of His people Who willbe left from Assyria, As it was forIsrael In the day that he came upfrom the land of Egypt.”

Isaiah 27:13 says that, at the timeof Christ’s return, the house of Israelwill be enslaved in the land ofAssyria, while the Jews will beenslaved in the land of Egypt: “So itshall be in that day [the day ofChrist’s return and His interven-tion]: The great trumpet will beblown; They will come, who areabout to perish in the land of Assyria[the house of Israel], And they whoare outcasts in the land of Egypt [thehouse of Judah], And shall worshipthe LORD in the holy mount atJerusalem.”

Could it REALLY happen?Looking at the present day, some

may say that Europe could NEVERattack and successfully conquerGreat Britain and the United States.They forget, however, that therehave already been plans to do so,and the ONLY reason that it did nothappen at the time was because God

and the day of the lord - church of the eternal god | a

Documents