The book of revelation - the final leg .

27 June 2006, London. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, proposed a plan yesterday a covenant based multi tier church structure that could force the Episcopal Church in the United States either to renounce same-sex unions or to give up full membership in the Communion.The archbishop's statement is the most solid official step yet in a long march toward schism. Twenty-two of the 38 provinces had already declared their ties with the American church to be "broken" or "impaired". The idea of a covenant was first proposed in the "Windsor Report," issued in 2004 which called for the U.S. church to apologize for appointing a gay bishop without fully consulting other Anglican bodies..

The proposal came shortly after the contraversial appointment of Katharine Jefferts Schori on June 18, 2006, as the head of the U.S. Episcopal. Episcopalians began ordaining women in 1976 and the first female bishop, Barbara Harris, was selected in 1988. In Canada and New Zealand, woman can also now become Anglican bishops. In Africa, South America and Asia, the denomination's fastest-growing regions, women largely can't lead services at all. On June 21, Episcopal delegates approved a last-ditch attempt by the newly appointed Rev. Schori to salvage worldwide Anglican unity, voting to adopt a resolution that calls on U.S. church leaders to ''exercise restraint'' when considering gay candidates for bishop. It asks Episcopal leaders to ''exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration'' of candidates for bishop ''whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church.'' The nonbinding measure stops far short of the moratorium on gay bishops that Anglican leaders demanded to calm conservative outrage over the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who lives with his longtime male partner. But it may leave open the chance for discussion between leaders of the Episcopal Church and other members of the Anglican Communion, who are badly at odds over gay clergy.

In a similar sentiment, on 28 June 2006, at the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), voted Tuesday to create some leeway for gay clergy and lay officers to serve local congregations, despite a denominational ban on partnered gay ministers. A measure approved 298-221 by a Presbyterian national assembly keeps in place a church law that says clergy and lay elders and deacons must limit sexual relations to man-woman marriage. But the new legislation says local congregations and regional presbyteries can exercise some flexibility when choosing clergy and lay officers of local congregations if sexual orientation or other issues arise.

On 11 June 2006, Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, claiming that the Anglican communion, has fallen apart since he was succeeded by Rowan Williams. Lord Carey was visiting Virginia to urge the American Church to repent of its decision to consecrate Canon Robinson. He told the audience of his fear that the General Convention, would "fudge" its response to the homosexuality crisis. "On that basis the communion will split and our mission, our integrity and our ministry to the poor of Africa will suffer," he said. The coronation of the Prince of Wales must be an "interfaith" event, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has also controversially claimed so that it is "inclusive" of other religions that have spread across Britain.Dr Williams has emphasised the need for Prince Charles to defend the Church of England when he becomes king. Lord Carey has obviously forgotten that the central role of Christianity is Christ, his death, resurrection, and message of salvation. It is to be inclusive of all peoples as God created them of colour, race, age, gender, and sexual orientation. But there is only one way to God that is through Jesus Christ. Lord Carey is willing to be inclusive of other religions contradicting the very foundation of Christianity, yet unwilling to be inclusive of the outcasts of society that Jesus chosed to specfically minister to.

June 2006, will undoubtedly be remembered as a momentus month for the start of a wider acceptance of Gays in the mainstream Christian churches in America. Archbishops Rowan Williams and Lord Carey, and the Global South consider themselves as main playes. However, they are just but pawns in a gigantic soccer match between Jesus and Satan where gays are colateral damage to be used to entice the church to commit sin and to divert the message of the Gospel. The work of the church is to proclaim the Gospel and not necesarrily the bible and all the laws contained within. The bible demands that we proclaim the good news, and not the bad news that they still need to follow the 10 commandments or the thousand of laws under the talmud. We have proclaimed a dead Christ but not the risen Lord.

Today's sermon is on the gigantic soccer game of the ages between Jesus and Satan as foretold in the book of Revelations, a book written on the revelation of Christ to come. The Apostle John wrote the book in AD90, 20 years after the fall of Jerusalem in AD70. The Jews were dispersed throughout Asia Minor and Europe. The bible or the collection of sermons and letters of eyewtiness to Jesus birth, death, resurrection, and message were written and widely distributed to sustain the faith of the believers. But heresy was coming in and look likely to succeed. The Gospel of John written earlier was an attempt to counter the spread of Gnostism which denies the physical birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as though it was metaphoric. This was a predecessor to modern day liberal theology. The book of revelation is a shot by shot symbolic representation of the great battle with the ultimate victory to Jesus Christ. It was a book that God showed John when the situation was desperate and all look lost. The church did not fall after Rowan Williams came to offiicce as implied by Lord carey, it fell 1900 years earlier when the last Apostle was locked up in a prison. It looked like the Anti-Christ has succeeded by AD90. Jesus was declaring then and declared today that at the end He will overcome.

(Rev 12:1 NKJV) Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.

(Rev 12:2 NKJV) Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. (Rev 12:5 NKJV) She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

In the sipritual realm the existence of Israel was created in advance. She was the WOMAN mentioned and will include the 12 tribes. She will bore a son, i.e., out of Israel will come Jesus Christ, the son of God who will rule all nations. This Child will be resurrected to the heavens.

(Rev 12:3 NKJV) And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. (Rev 12:4 NKJV) His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

In the heavenly realm, long before Israel came into existence, Satan, existed consisting of 10 nations or horns, with his throne resisting in a city of seven hills, i.e., Rome. The Anti-Christ was from the heaven and had with him 1/3 of all the angels. He was purposed to kill Jesus as soon as He was born. When the nation of Israel became a reality and Jesus was born much to the suprised of Satan even though he was waiting, through Herod, he killed all the baby boys in Bethelehem.

(Rev 12:6 NKJV) Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.(Rev 12:7 NKJV) And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, (Rev 12:8 NKJV) but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.(Rev 12:17 NKJV) And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

In the heavens, a war broke out, between the angels of light and the angels of darkness, and at the end, Satan was expelled from heaven along with all the angels that supported him to planet earth. Satan was extremely angered by the defeat, and went on to persecute Israel, and Christians.

(Rev 13:1 NKJV) Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.(Rev 13:4 NKJV) So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Rev 13:5 NKJV) And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. (Rev 13:7 NKJV) It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Satan pursued and destroyed the nation of Israel in AD70 with over 2 million inhabitants killed and the temple of worship blasphemed and desecrated. Israel was dispersed to the surrounding nations. Caeser, an earthly ruler was used by Satan to make war against the Jews and Christians. He was given power and authority by Satan. His domain resides in Rome, the city of seven hills, and on he hold control over 10 nations or regions. Caeser, the Roman emperor was worshipped as God and given the title Pontifex Maximus - the great bridge-builder to God. . The authority was given for him to prevail against the Jews in Jerusalem and aslo Christians within the Roman Empire but his power only lasted for a period of time.

(Rev 13:16-18 NKJV) He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

The beast refered to Nero Nero (54-68 A.D.) and all of its kind. His face is stamped on all the coins, hence one cannot buy or sell without having money. He had full control of society, and wealth. The value of “Neron Caesar”, written as “נרון קסר”, “Nrwn Qsr”, using Hebrew letters with numerical values under the form of numerology called Gematria, is:

The letter 666 is symbolic of those who persecute Christians, and in many ways most cruely as a public spectacle at the Roman Collosium where there were torn apart by Lions. They literally shed and drank the blood of the saints. In response to the persecution by Nero and others who came against believers of Christ death and resurrection as their salvation, God sent seven plaques in wrath (Rev 16:2-17).

(Rev 17:2-6 NKJV) "with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

(Rev 17:9-12 NKJV) "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. "There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. "And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

The beast were the main Roman Emperors who persecuted Christians when it started to expand to Asia Minor and Rome from AD40 onwards - 37-41AD Carigula, 41-54 AD Claudius, 54-68 AD Nero, 69-79 AD Vespasian, 79-81 AD Titus, 81-96 AD Domition. By the time the book of Revelation was written, Domition became the Roman Emperor. The 10 horns were powerful kings of the future who supported the beast. After the Roman Emperors or outright persecution of the Christian Community, came a religious attack when Christianity was adulterated by elements of the world religions. The woman is the religious mother with pervertion of Christianity with other religions as if committing sexual adultery. It is the mother of all harlots, a master deception where there will be elements of other religions which will divert the pure centrality of Christ. This religious system will persecute those who tried to stay righteous and loyal to Jesus with many being martyed. Christians have gone through incredible tribulations throughout the centuries. When the Pope gained controlled of the church in 325 AD from the Emperor, the church fell and over the next 1500 years lived in darkness with several inquisitions to decimate those who are remained true to the faith and not bow down to the Pope.

• Episcopal Inquisition and was established in the year 1184 by a papal bull,
  
• The Papal Inquisition in the 1230s was in response to the failures of the Episcopal Inquisition and was staffed by professionals meeting out death at the stakes, burning of heretic
  
• The Spanish Inquisition was decreed by the Catholic Church in 1478 in Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile. The Spanish Inquisition seems unique for its excessive brutality with thousands being executed.
  
• Roman Inquisition, Pope Paul III established, in 1542, a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials, whose task it was to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines. This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office, now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions.
  
• The Portuguese Inquisition was established in Portugal in 1536 by the King of Portugal, João III. Established in 1560, it was aimed primarily at Hindus and wayward new converts and by the time it was suppressed in 1774, the inquisition had had thousands of people executed and tortured.

The result of the persecution by the "church" and the Roman Emperors against Christians resulted in terrible pandemics as prophesised:-

• Antonine Plague, 165–180. Possibly smallpox brought back from the Near East; killed a quarter of those infected and up to five million in all. At the height of a second outbreak (251–266) 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in Rome.
  
• Plague of Justinian, started 541. The first recorded outbreak of the bubonic plague. It started in Egypt and reached Constantinople the following spring, killing 10,000 a day at its height and perhaps 40 percent of the city's inhabitants. It went on to eliminate up to a quarter of the human population of the eastern Mediterranean.
  
• The Black Death was a devastating pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-late-14th century (1347–51), killing up to between a third and two thirds of Europe's population. or twenty million Europeans in six years

(Rev 18:2 NKJV) And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!

Popes in their secular role gradually came to govern neighbouring regions and, through the Papal States, ruled a large portion of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century, when most of the territory of the Papal States was seized by the newly created Kingdom of Italy. Modern Italy became a nation-state belatedly — on March 17, 1861, when most of the states of the peninsula were united under king Victor Emmanuel II of the Savoy dynasty, which ruled over Sardinia and Piedmont. The bible have prophesised that Rome and its religious authority perverting Christ will fall. Napoleon III's defeat brought an end to the French military protection for Pius IX and on September 20, 1870, Italian troops breached Rome's walls at Porta Pia and entered the city. The Italian occupation forced Pope Pius IX to his palace where he declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican until the Lateran Pacts of 1929. The pontificate of Pius IX (1846-78) was the longest in history and was a last grasp at power including the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the First Vatican Council's (1869-1870) doctrine of papal infallibility. Pius IX hated the Jews. He became notorious for introducing race laws which have been described by Jewish historians as the forerunners of those of Hitler and Mussolini; they forced Jews back into the old ghettos where they had been confined for hundreds of years, banned them from public hospitals, and excluded them from attending secondary schools. Hence, his final demise was ushered in by his hatred of Jews.

On December 11th, 1917, the British Army led by General Sir Edmund Allenby captured the city Under the League of Nations Mandate, Britain was entrusted with establishing a Jewish National Home. On May 15, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed. Following the State of Israel's establishment, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the fighting and began the second phase of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From the north, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, were all but stopped relatively close to the borders. Jordanian forces, invading from the east, captured East Jerusalem and laid siege on the city's west. However, forces of the Haganah successfully stopped most invading forces, and Irgun forces halted Egyptian encroachment from the south. . After the 1967 Six-Day War (June 5, 1967 – June 10, 1967) where Israel's territory grew by a factor of 3, Israel has administered and has asserted sovereignty over the entire city. After 1900 years, from AD70 to AD 1967, Jerusalem at last has been returned to the Jews, and the religious power of Vatican, Rome which persecuted the Jews for centuries fell 100 years earlier in 1870. Hence, ushering in the period of peace allowing the Jews to return to their homeland after suffering for 1900 years cultimating in the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews killed in 1939-1945 by the Germans with tacit understanding from the Vatican.

(Rev 20:1-3 NKJV) Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

(Rev 20:7-10 NKJV) Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Since 1967, we entered into the last generation before the "1000 years" dispensation where the political and military power of Satan is being managed. The millennium is used commonly to describe as the period of rest and peace for the people of God to return from exile.This last post 67 generation has been a period of generally unhindered Gospel revival which really has happened since the 1800s. When this period expired which will be when the Gospel reaches the whole world, the end will be nigh and we will see the nations coming against Jerusalem. There will be a final batel cultimating in the final defeat of satan. Gog is described as "the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal," from the north "the land of Magog" (Ezekiel 38:2-3). The prophet Ezekiel prophetically describes Gog attacking Israel with a powerful force (Ezekiel chapters 38-39). According to this prophesy of Ezekiel, Gog will be defeated by God Himself on the mountains of Israel. Magog was a grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:2). The descendants of Magog settled to the far north of Israel, likely in Europe and northern Asia (Ezekiel 38:2). Magog seems to be used to refer to "northern barbarians" in general.

When we read the book of Revelation, we often failed to see the big picture, to see that it was written in AD90, more than 1900 years ago. For a while, Satan or the Dragon roamed without restrain. The Roman Emperors or the beasts came and killed many Christians. Plaques have resulted killing millions. The power and deception of Babylon the Great or the Roman Catholic church is now well documented, the powers it once had during the Inquisitions to kill Christians unilaterally are no more. It is now but a small state in Italy but still holding 1 billion in relative captive/religious influence based on historic influence.

We are where we are today, a period of relative calm and peace to preach the Gospel, because the saints of God who have died defending the truths of the gospel against both religious and political powers. Millions died so that they can pass on this baton for us to run the final leg to usher in the coming of Christ. The question is what is our calling and destiny, what is our role in the whole scheme of things. We need to seek God and become counted in this great race of faith, a race that have been passed on from generations to generations, and passed on today to us. We have learnt about faith, righteousness, grace, power gifts, from the previous generations. A generation is coming, when nobody will be left out from the love of God. Gays once so despised will be reached for the gospel of Christ. This is the final hurdle perhaps the most diffcult. Who will take up this final baton when it comes? We have ran this race for 2000 years, and hopefully we shall not fall at the last hurdle. How ironic, that the coming of Christ to Jerusalem and the final victory over Satan is awaiting the gospel to be reached to a group that the church has never admit existed because of their self rigtheousness and prejudice. It will change the church, it has too for it to minister to the Gay community and be finally the inclusive church that Jesus is returning for.