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TWO WITNESSES
CHRISTIANITY
OASIS HAS PROVIDED YOU WITH THIS TWO WITNESSES STUDY. MOST
HAVE HEARD OF THE TWO WITNESSES BUT ARE NOT AWARE OF WHAT THESE
TWO WITNESSES DO OR THAT THE TWO WITNESSES PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE END TIMES. LET US SEEK
AND FIND THE TRUTH OF THE TWO WITNESSES TOGETHER, SHALL WE?
Good to see
you made it back for our End Times study. It is a good idea to
read
along in the Bible with the End Times study so you will KNOW what you
are reading is the TRUTH.
Immediately
after the 6th Trumpet, we come to another strange event,
just like the "Rapture" that occurred
in
between the 6th and 7th Seal.
We have just learned of the events that occur up to and including the
6th Trumpet. We are now at
Revelation, chapter 10.
This
chapter talks of an Angel, with a book in his hand, that came from
Heaven. His message is that there is no longer any time left. He says that
in the days of the 7th Trumpet
when it shall begin to sound,
this
"mystery"
of God shall be
finished.
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Revelation 10:6-7
And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created Heaven, and the things that
therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and
the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be
time no longer: But in the
days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to
sound, the "mystery" of God should be finished,
as He hath declared to His servants the Prophets. |
Obviously ... The trick is to find out what the
"mystery"
is.
Here is Wisdom ...
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1 Corinthians 15:51-54
Behold, I shew you a
mystery;
We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump:
for the Trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. |
Sooooooo ... The
mystery is that
we shall not all die, but shall be changed at the
sounding of the last Trumpet.
Many of those that choose to believe
in Jesus will change from mortal to immortal.
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1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not
prevent
them which are asleep
(Those who have died). For the Lord Himself shall descend
from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the ArchAngel, and
with the Trump of God:
and
the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together
with them
in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. |
Remember that souls that passed on
to next realm (Died in Christ) will meet those Raptured in the
air. This happens at the LAST TRUMPET as it is written ... (7th
Trumpet)
The Lord shall descend from Heaven with the
Trumpet
of God. Those who are
alive, will be "caught up" and
meet the Lord "in the air" with those who had died in Christ
and be with the Lord forever.
WOW ...
THIS IS
ANOTHER RAPTURE AT THE SEVENTH (LAST) TRUMPET !!!
So we
have people going up to Heaven in between the 6th and 7th
Seal
AND in between the
6th and 7th Trumpet.
There are many scholars that debate whether the "Rapture" will
happen before, during or after the "End Times"
... They each provide evidence in scripture that suggests that THEIR
belief is correct ... This results in a division in the Church.
The
answer is very simple ... We just discovered it.
There is MORE than ONE Rapture.
This same type of confusion
existed in the past ... The Jewish people believed that the Messiah
(Jesus) would come and bring in a new Kingdom Of Peace. When Jesus died,
the Apostles were confused. But after Jesus was resurrected, they began
pondering on the scriptures, and they found that there were to be TWO visits from
Jesus. One which occurred
2000 years ago, where Jesus was to die for our sins.
And one after the End Times, where He will bring in a Kingdom Of Peace
...
Here is the
scripture they had all along revealing that Jesus was to die for our
sins first.
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Isaiah 53:2-12
For He shall grow up
before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry
ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and
rejected of men; a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were
our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him
not. Surely He hath
borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But
He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was
bruised for our
iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him;
and with His stripes we are
healed. All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and
He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth. He was
taken from prison and from judgment:
and who shall declare His generation? for
He was cut off out of the
land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was He stricken. And
He made His grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in His death;
because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in
His mouth. Yet it
pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He hath put Him to grief:
when thou shalt make His soul
an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the
pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His Hand. He shall see
of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for
He shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore
will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because
He hath poured out His soul
unto death: and He was
numbered with the transgressors; and
He bare the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors. |
The same confusion
exists over the "RAPTURES"
That is because
...
THERE ARE TWO
RAPTURES
This is not as strange as it sounds
...
There are TWO comings of Jesus. (Before
and His return)
There are TWO Covenants - Old and New (New
Covenant)
There are even TWO Resurrections ...
There are even TWO deaths for non-believers ...
Check this
out ...
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Revelation 20:5-6
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in the first
resurrection:
on such the second death hath no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with him a thousand years. |
THEN AFTER THE 1000 YEARS OF
PEACE (MILLENNIUM)
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Revelation 20:7-10
And
when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to
deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth,
Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of
whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of
the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the
beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
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THEN comes the GREAT WHITE
THRONE JUDGMENT where the rest of the DEAD are Resurrected (SECOND
RESURRECTION) and those not found written in the Book of Life experience
a SECOND DEATH ... ETERNAL.
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Revelation 20:11-15
And I saw
a GREAT white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and
the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up
the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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As you can see ... God is a God of
second chances.
THERE ARE TWO RAPTURES ...
I want to take you on one more field trip
if I may ...
The 7th Trumpet pretty much ends
the End Times as far as Christians go, except for Vials which are only punishment for
Antichrist and his followers, which according to the Word and
discernment lasts 30 days.
Read this in CONTEXT ...
During the End Times ...
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Daniel 12:10-12
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried;
but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but
the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be
taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days. (1260 days is how long Antichrist reigns
terror) Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred
and five and thirty days. |
There is an extra 30 days AFTER
Antichrist reigns terror that the abomination of desolation
still stands but Antichrist is no longer reigning as the
Kingdoms of the world became the Lord's at the end of the 7th
Trumpet as it is written ...
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Revelation 11:15
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in
heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever. |
Therefore
... The next thing after the 7th Trumpet is the 7 Vials
so they last 30 days.
Then comes
Armageddon.
Armageddon will
cause MUCH damage and disease so the people in hiding are told not to
come out for an additional 45 days after the 30 days after the 1260 days
= 1335 days
Blessed is he that
waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days.
SOOOOOOO ... By the 7th Trumpet ...
All Christians are Raptured or hidden (If
they are to replenish the Earth)
Now in between the 6th and 7th Trumpet
... Check out what is happening in Heaven to those who were just Raptured ...
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Revelation
15:1-3
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having
the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. (VIALS) And
I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and
them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over
his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having
the harps of God.
And they
sing the song of Moses
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true
are thy ways, thou King of saints. |
These
are Christians singing
the song of MOSES ...
In other words ...
They are JEWISH Christians.
That means the
people taken up in the second Rapture were Jewish, which makes perfect
sense.
See in the first
rapture, they were GENTILES ...
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Revelation
7:9-15
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,
of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their
faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and
ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these
which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. |
There are
two Raptures ... One for Gentile Christians and One for Jewish
Christians.
These two Raptures
are 3.5 years apart.
The End Times is
seven years and Antichrist is only in last 3.5 years.
The Jewish people
had TWICE the time to follow God AND/OR accept Jesus. (Both old and New
Covenants)
The time of the
Gentiles was only during NEW COVENANT.
The Gentiles did not
make the choice to deny Jesus at His death, as the Old Covenant was only
applicable to Jewish people. The Jewish people did deny and kill the
Messiah so THEY will have to endure the Antichrist. NOT believing
Gentile Christians.
WANT TO LEARN MORE
OF THE RAPTURES?
LET'S RETURN TO OUR
SEARCH FOR TRUTH ... SHALL WE?
As I said before ...
The last Trumpet pretty much ends the End
Times, except for Vials which are only punishment for Antichrist and his
followers, which according to the Word and discernment lasts 30 days.
BUT THE BOOK OF REVELATION HAS MUCH MORE TO
SHARE ABOUT EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE DURING
THE SAME THREE AND A HALF YEAR TIME PERIOD WE HAVE BEEN READING ABOUT.
Let's continue into the book of Revelation ...
As we proceed, we learn of several entities ..
The first two are ...
TWO WITNESSES
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Revelation 11:3-13
And
I will give power
unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a
thousand two hundred and threescore days
(3 and 1/2 years)
clothed in sackcloth. These are the
two olive trees, and the
two candlesticks standing before the God
of the earth. And if any man
will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth,
and devoureth their enemies:
and if any man will hurt them, he
must in this manner be killed.
These have power to shut Heaven,
that it rain not in the days of
their prophecy: and have
power over waters to turn
them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues,
as often as they will. And when they shall
have finished their testimony,
the beast that ascendeth out
of the bottomless pit (Antichrist) shall make war against them,
and shall overcome them, and
kill them. And
their dead bodies shall lie in the
street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also our Lord was crucified.
And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and
nations shall see their dead bodies
three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead
bodies to be put in graves.
And they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them, and make merry,
and shall send gifts one to another;
because these two Prophets
tormented them that dwelt on
the earth. And after three
days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them,
and they stood upon their
feet; and great fear fell
upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from Heaven
saying unto them, Come up hither.
And they ascended up to Heaven in a
cloud; and their enemies
beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and
the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain
of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave
glory to the God of Heaven. |
These Two Witnesses shall preach
to mankind during the great tribulation for 3 and 1/2 years. The Two
Witnesses cannot be hurt and if anyone tries, they will be killed in the
manner in which they try to harm these two Prophets. They have power to
keep it from raining for 3 and 1/2 years, turn water to blood and to
smite the Earth with plagues. An evil ruler known as
Antichrist (which is someone we will discuss in more detail a little
later in this study) will make war with the Two Witnesses and be allowed, by God, to
kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in the streets for 3 and 1/2 days, in the same place that Jesus was crucified. The people will
celebrate their death, because these Two Witnesses "torment" the people,
by preaching to those on Earth to repent and teaching them TRUTH, which
the people will not want to hear. After the 3 and 1/2 days are over,
the Two Witnesses will rise to their feet, to the surprise of those
watching, and a great voice will say ... "Come Home." The Two Witnesses
will rise into Heaven as their enemies watch. A great Earthquake will occur at this time and
1/10th of the city will fall and 7000 men will die, and the others will
be afraid and give glory to God.
An INTERESTING thing is ... These Two Witnesses have two spirits INSIDE
OF THEM them that are two spirits that stand before God. These two
Spirits that stand before God were also placed in two others in the
Bible ... Joshua and Zerubbabel.
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Zechariah:
4:11-14
Then answered I, and said
unto him, What are these two
olive trees upon the right
side of the candlestick
and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said
unto him, What be these two
olive branches which through
the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And
he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I
said, No, my lord. Then said he,
These are the two anointed ones,
that stand by the LORD of
the whole earth. |
LET US RETURN TO OUR STUDY OF THE TRUMPETS
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Revelation 11:14
The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe
cometh quickly. |
THE SECOND WOE IS
PAST HERE COMES THE THIRD
Now remember these words
...
This is a CLUE that the events being spoken of are in order as the
author has said each time how many woes had passed.
7th TRUMPET
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Revelation 11:15
And the
seventh Angel sounded;
and there were great voices in Heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are
become the Kingdoms of our Lord,
and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. |
The kingdoms of this world are now the kingdoms of the Lord. There is a
celebration in Heaven. It is time for the bad to be judged and the good
to be rewarded.
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Revelation 11:18
And the nations were angry, and
thy wrath is come, and the
time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the Prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear
thy name, small and great; and
shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth. |
The Temple of God is opened and there is lightning, thunder,
great hail and an Earthquake.
I WANT TO BE VERY
CLEAR ON THIS ...
THE TIMING IN THE END TIMES OF THE TWO
WITNESSES
Many get confused about
this because of the way John wrote the book of Revelation ... You see, like many
books you read, one must oft times do "flashbacks" as to be able to reveal
specific acts of specific people, during the same time period.
Revelation Chapters 11, 12 and 13 are
all the same time period.
The last three and one half
years of the End Times which is forty two months which is one thousand two
hundred and sixty days (Jewish months are only 30 days).
You will be learning of these
entities in the next few chapters and all that you read about occurred during
the three and a half years.
TWO WITNESSES
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Revelation 11:3
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy
one thousand two hundred and threescore days,
(1260 days) clothed in sackcloth. |
WOMAN IN THE WILDERNESS HIDDEN
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Revelation 12:6
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she
hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there
a thousand two hundred and threescore days. |
ANTICHRIST REIGN OF TERROR
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Revelation 13:5
And there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to
continue forty and two months.
(1260 days) |
All three occur during the same time period.
H ow
else would John have
told us about them all, at the same time?
It was impossible ...
So he wrote it as he did.
These events must occur during the Trumpets as one of the Trumpet lasts
5 months ...
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Revelation 9:5
And to them it was given that they should
not kill them, but that they should be tormented
five months:
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
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And the great tribulation only
lasts three and a half years ...
So the Two witnesses Ministry was during the Trumpets.
Further proof of this is just after the Two witnesses rise to Heaven, the
seventh Trumpet blows ...
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Revelation
11:15
And the seventh angel sounded;
and there were great voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. |
This Seventh Trumpet reveals
that the The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever ... This means it is DONE.
Antichrist does not start his
3.5 year reign of terror after this if the
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever ...
Two chapters earlier ...
So chapter twelve and thirteen are a flashback to other events that happens
during that SAME 3.5 years.
This is proven again because antichrist kills the two witnesses ...
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Revelation 11:7
And when they shall have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them, and shall overcome them,
and kill them. |
If antichrist is introduced in
chapter 13, how did he kill two witnesses in chapter 11 ...
Unless it is a
flashback.
Sooooooo ... The Two witnesses
are killed by Antichrist just before the seventh Trumpet which means their 3.5
year Ministry was during the Trumpets.
So we will now be flashing back
to see what other events occurred during the three and a half years.
Let us proceed and
see what happens next, in the ...
End Times
If you have any questions, comments or just want
to share thoughts, just E-mail us at:
EndTimes@ChristianityOasis.com
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