Attention: although we advocate for freedom of conscience in matters of receiving the experimental COVID-19 vaccine, we do NOT condone violent protests or violence of any kind. We address this topic in the video entitled God’s Instruction for Protesters Today. We advise being peaceful, maintaining a low profile, and complying with the general health rules that are in effect in your area (such as wearing a mask, washing hands, and maintaining prescribed distances) as long as they do not go against God’s laws, while avoiding situations that would require one to get vaccinated. “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (from Matthew 10:16).

Jesus told us that He has sheep in different folds that He must bring into a single fold.

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

This is a difficult thing to believe could even be possible, when the sheep are divided on points of belief that each one finds to be grounded in the Bible, their rule of faith. A key example of that is on the point of when the rapture takes place with respect to the tribulation. Is the rapture pre-trib, post-trib, or mid-trib?

Many argue their point from the Bible with convincing arguments supporting their view. “Philadelphia is saved from that hour!”, the pre-tribbers exclaim, “and it comes over the whole earth, so the church must not be on the earth.”

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

Then the post-tribber counters, reminding us that Daniel’s three friends were also kept from harm in their “hour of temptation” that came over the whole Babylonian empire—but they remained there through it. The Greek word for keep can also mean to “guard” or “protect”.

Meanwhile, the mid-tribber posits that there is a difference between “tribulation” which Jesus said we would experience on earth, and God’s wrath, which we are not appointed to.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

So, who is right? The question is further complicated by the fact that some on each aisle in the church have had dreams ostensibly from God that support their seemingly incompatible views. Are we going to denounce our brethren as false prophets, because they have a dream that doesn’t conform to our established belief on a controversial issue? If we take an honest and humble approach as an inquirer, we should at least concede that there are sound arguments in favor of all three views, but God’s goal for His church is much higher than answering a question of “who is right”—because believing one view is right immediately alienates those who believe according to the other two camps, though they are also God’s sincere children seeking to understand His word.

Healing the Wounded Body

It is not God’s will that His people be divided on this point (or any point), and in the following pages, we will show how the Lord Himself is bringing His sheep together into one fold as they hear His voice despite the Gordian knot that this divisive issue in particular presents. Will you hear the call of the divine Shepherd as He enters through the door^[1] of your own dreams, or those of the church body? He is offering healing balm that comes from His own throne. Will you take it?

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? (Jeremiah 8:21-22)

We believe that God gives dreams to His children to guide and comfort them in their way.^[2] It is a manifestation of His Spirit in them.^[3] If we humble ourselves to hear what God may be saying through a dream, even if it teaches us something we didn’t already know, then He can lead His people as a body into one fold, so that His body, wounded with division, may be healed. Hear the prophetic answer of God to Solomon’s prayer^[4] in a dream:

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence [e.g., Covid-19 or monkeypox] among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

God makes a specific, conditional promise for forgiveness and healing. He lists three specific things that He is looking for before He will fulfill it:

His people, who are called by His name, should…

• humble themselves and pray,

• seek His face, and

• turn from their wicked ways.

Let’s look at these from the bottom up. To turn from one’s wicked ways means to repent and walk in God’s ways of righteousness, demonstrated by Christ. We are to keep His law of love in our hearts.

To seek God’s face is a loaded expression. One’s face is where their senses and expressions are concentrated. It is what reveals who the person is—their identity, their character. The face is also dynamic. From the face comes the voice and the treasures of the heart. It changes according to the present experience and feeling of the person. For the present time, we see God’s face in the Horologium constellation, as described in The Rod of Iron.

The first item in the list seems to be the least interesting and most ordinary part of the Christian life, but it is this point that is the focus of this article, because you will see how there is a specific application of it that serves as a prophetic culmination of the daily humility and prayer of the Christian life.

The trait of humility is important, because there is no single person on earth who can find out the whole mystery of God.

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. (Ecclesiastes 8:17)

God’s work of salvation is a mystery that will be our study for eternity, ever unearthing precious gems the more we search. Humility before God leads us to recognize that He uses many people in many different walks of life to accomplish His grand work. He is no respecter of persons but has servants among all classes, who each have a piece of the puzzle that is the mystery of God. The servant of God should always exercise humility in looking beyond what the Lord gives directly to themselves, but also consider how He is leading others. By pointing out our dependence on one another, He seeks to integrate the body into one healthy, united, and interdependent whole.

Near-Rapture Experiences

Because we are interested in what the Lord is communicating through His people, we regularly listen to various members of the body of Christ as they report their dreams, visions, or prophecies, seeking to discern a united message that God is giving to them. He speaks in various ways to direct His people to “look up,”^[5] though sadly, most do not understand that He refers to His active, heavenly storyboard that is tailored to the time. As Christians, we need to be open-minded and without prejudice, just as Jesus was no respecter of persons. Sometimes, there are elements of a dream or message that we don’t understand or that don’t seem to fit with our understanding at a given time, but we continue to listen, lest perhaps it is we who are in error (we are just human, after all) and we unwittingly dismiss a word from God that may help us to better understand Him.

It is important that we take this humble approach, because how can God unite His people if everyone locks themselves into their own limited and mutually exclusive frames of reference? We must be ever willing to accept a different teaching if it is supported by the Bible. Otherwise, we are no different from the Pharisees who put their tradition above God’s word. God promised we would have dreams and visions—and they serve the Spirit’s purpose of guiding us and confirming His truth.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (Acts 2:17)

We’re going to take a look at one representative example from the body of Christ with a dream shared by a sister on YouTube in recent months, which particularly opened our eyes lately as we compared it with our understanding of Revelation. Many out there have similar dreams, especially in more recent years. Some dream of being raptured and then coming back. Some see that unprecedented times are here and struggle to explain why such trouble has come before the rapture. Some dream of preparation for a work God is giving them even as they expect to depart any moment. The dream we are going to look at was chosen because it not only includes the tensions concerning the rapture that are felt by Christians everywhere, but it also gives timing information that shows how our Lord is bringing His sheep into one fold, and because this dream opened our eyes to how the Lord wants to do that. Just remember, dreams are symbolic! Here is a transcript of the dream:

A Dream of the Rapture

Bride of Christ channel April 18/19, 2022

I was speaking to two women that I already knew. I was given a message to give to them. (This was only in the dream.) As I was telling them about a little girl who was going to give birth to a baby outside of her womb in a little box that was put outside of her womb, then I heard the trumpet blast, and I was going up. And then I saw some people coming back down, and I came back down. I cried out to the Lord, “Why did I come back!? Why did I come down, Lord?” and I did not get an answer. I was ushered into a building with many people who thought they were going with God. A woman I knew, not saying her real name, but her and I were close friends a few years ago. She was left behind, and many others. One of my granddaughters was also left behind to receive the mark of the beast. Then I told her, whatever you do, do not receive the mark on your forehead or your right arm. You will belong to Satan.

So, we were put into separate rooms, and a man was talking to me, telling me that if I do not take the mark now, I am going to have to take it in five years, for it will be mandatory. And I told him, “No! I will not! I will die before I get that mark!” I left that room and went looking for my granddaughter and found her with the mark on her forehead. I cried and then I woke up. Then I went back to sleep and finished the dream by telling all who were left behind, to let no one take thy crown, and I went up in the second rapture. Then I woke up.

It is significant that this sister received this dream in answer to a question she had asked of the Lord. She had received two messages earlier in the day (of April 18) and had asked if they were really from Him. Therefore, those messages are also related to the dream. These are the messages she shared, including the verses God gave her to go with them:

For I Keep My Promises

For ye are not in danger yet. When ye are in danger, then I shall appear in the heavens, and I will snatch you up to Me, as I promised thee. Only when ye are in danger, My beloved, shall I, your heavenly Father and Bridegroom, call you home. I will catch ye up hither to be with Me. I— Yeshua, the King of kings and the Lord of lords for eternity—I am the Alpha and the Omega. I know from the beginning to the end, and I am He who has come in the flesh, and I am coming again. So be ready and waiting, My Love!

Love,

Yeshua Hamashiach, your beloved Bridegroom.

Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:7)

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:12-13)

And remember, I am not slack in My promises. I will keep them and bring them to pass.

Second message:

Do not let anyone steal your crown, saith the Lord. When you start having negative thoughts, you are allowing Satan, your archenemy to remove your crown by buying his lies he is giving you in your mind and letting him knock you down by believing his lies. I am the great I AM, and I am He that has come in the flesh, and I am telling you all, don’t let the enemy steal your crown from you. Put your faith and trust and hope in Me, My beloved ones, now and forever. Keep your eyes on Me.

Love,

Jesus the Christ and your Savior.

God has a reason for all He does, and the date that Bride of Christ received these messages is telling. It was April 18, 2022. On the Hebrew calendar, that was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was a holy convocation for Israel.^[6] When Israel was to be gathered together for their holy convocations and for their journeyings, two silver trumpets would be blown.^[7] Therefore, in the dream, she hears a trumpet and starts her journey upward in the rapture.

In the original type of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, which began on Passover day,^[8] they came to the Red Sea by the end of the feast, and on the seventh day of the feast the waters parted for them to cross over. The whole sequence represents man’s journey from the bondage of sin to freedom and salvation in heaven. Jesus was our Passover Lamb, and He sanctifies His people throughout our lives (represented by the week of the feast of unleavened bread) until, in the end, we are finally ready for the rapture. Thus, the holy convocation on the seventh day of the feast represents the rapture. The timing of the messages and dream quoted above (in alignment with the feast of unleavened bread) has great significance, and soon you will understand how it points to the unification of all those who are waiting for the rapture, without doing violence to the different beliefs regarding the tribulation!

However, when she had the dream (April 19, 2022), it was the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, otherwise known as the day of the first fruits offering. That is when Jesus was raised from the dead and made a short trip up to His Father and then back down, much like the woman did in the dream above!^[9] 

We will soon clearly understand why she heard the trumpet blast of the seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread even though she didn’t have the dream on that day. On the day of the first fruits offering, April 19, 2022, the sun entered Aries, the lamb. (The sun symbolizes the Bridegroom^[10] like the first message given to Bride of Christ was signed.) To know if this is significant, however, we need to compare with scripture. Are there applicable verses that speak of this lamb? Indeed, there are two verses in Revelation that emphasize the word “Lamb” by repetition, and both are relevant:

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)

God especially highlights the first appearance in this verse because it is the chiastic center of the occurrences of all instances of the word lamb in the entire book, where it is found 29 times in total. And this is what Bride of Christ’s dream is all about, as we will see: following the Lamb wherever He goes!

These [the ten horns or kings, representing the nations] shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they [the 144,000] that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)

Now we can see how the heavens corroborate the Word, showing that the good Shepherd is gathering the first fruits of His sheep (symbolized by Mercury in Aries) together into one fold, for they follow Him, are redeemed by Him, and are called, chosen, and faithful, together “with Him”.

You will also understand how the nations make war with the Lamb and the faithful. The Lord has much to share with you, so as Bride of Christ’s video title instructs, give Heed to these Two messages and dream!!!!, which is why we are explaining them to you in this article.

The burning question that the dream leaves us with is what was the cause of the turn of events that caused those who were already rising to come back down from the rapture-in-progress? Could it be that we have all been “left behind” for some unknown reason? In the dream, the Lord didn’t answer this in words, but in the scene that followed, more of the explanation can be discerned. She saw many who thought they were going with God, but they were left behind. These ones didn’t go up and come back down at all; they stayed down the whole time because they weren’t ready.

Another sister (Tina Golik) had a dream of a similar “near-rapture experience” where she rose up from the ground and got as far as the high treetops before also coming back down. And she was concerned about her grown family members who were left behind:

And I looked down and I saw my kids… Now, none of my kids live at home; they’re all grown and moved out, but for some reason, they were all right there, and I could see them. And I remember looking at their faces and feeling worried for them, because they weren’t rising off the ground. And as soon as I started focusing on that, I started going back down, and that’s when I woke up.

Do you see the common thread? There were people who were not ready, and concern for them made the ready ones come back down. They did not fall to the ground, which would show a lack of faith or a spiritual failure, but there was a gentle lowering back down to the earth to focus on a different work—the work of ministering to those who would have been left behind.

This same theme is recurring in dreams of many of God’s people! In the dream from Bride of Christ, she was ushered to a room full of the left behind. It does not necessarily mean they will be left behind in the end (what she calls the second rapture), but that they weren’t ready in time for the “first” rapture.

It might be worth pausing for a moment to contemplate what has happened in the church over the last several years. Has there been any excitement about a possible rapture? Has there been any time of heightened spiritual expectation—as if Christians by and large were already starting to lift off the ground—but which excitement gently settled back down?

In fact, there was an intense rapture expectation in the church from about 2015 to 2017, until the sign of the woman of Revelation 12 that left many disappointed without a rapture. From the height of that expectation, many were left behind because they didn’t “go up” (or believe) when the faithful ones were beginning to rise. Not everyone was ready at that time.

Think for a moment and imagine what it would be like for Jesus to begin to come down and lift up His people for whom He and His Father made such a tremendous and heart-rending sacrifice, only to find them a sparse company of witnesses—few and scattered far between. He would have died for one soul, but were there really so few who would reciprocate His unparalleled love? When we see the earth from His perspective, recognizing every human being as though they were our own precious children, should our hearts not be moved with compassion like David’s was for his son Absalom, though he sought to dethrone him? Many are simply deceived and just need the light of truth to turn them to righteousness. Is it possible for man to intervene on behalf of his fellows, and thus demonstrate the love of Christ in himself?

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)

If the rapture would be now, would your heart yearn for the lost souls who are not ready, or would you be content to leave behind those who might be saved if more time were given. The question is not necessarily a hypothetical one. One brother was even given this very question directly in 2019, testing the heart on the same point:

Would you rather Me come now and purge the earth or wait until a few more are saved? I will leave the choice for you to decide.

Letters to the Overcoming

The answer to why believers have come down from their near-rapture experiences lies with the condition of God’s church. Not all were reciprocating Christ’s love to their fellow man. For this reason, Jesus wrote concise letters to seven representatives of His church body, His bride, with words of reproach and instruction.^[11]

Two of those letters, however, contained no reproach, but only encouragement to continue in their faithfulness and not lose that which they had. The dream of Bride of Christ begins as she is speaking with the two women. Women are symbolic of churches, and she knows them, because they represent the biblical churches with which she is familiar. In the Scripture she said the Lord gave her to go with the messages, Jesus describes Himself using three similar word pairs:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)

Jesus uses all three word pairs together here, and the first two of these pairs (Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End) are included in Bride of Christ’s first message. In complementary form, Jesus introduced Himself to the church of Smyrna in the Bible using the third pair, the First and the Last. Thus, He indicates that the first message to Bride of Christ, written as a letter, is a counterpart to the biblical letter to Smyrna (the first of the two churches that are without reproach), and thus it pertains to the end-times church of Smyrna (one of the two women in the dream).

I am the Alpha and the Omega. I know from the beginning to the end, and I am He who has come in the flesh, and I am coming again. [From the first message.]

And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; (Revelation 2:8)

The second message, also written as a letter, includes a reference to Philadelphia (Revelation’s second church without reproach), indicating that it applies to that church’s modern counterpart:

I am the great I AM, and I am He that has come in the flesh, and I am telling you all, don’t let the enemy steal your crown from you. [From the second message.]

[To Philadelphia:] Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. (Revelation 3:11)

Furthermore, one can see a relation between the other verse that God gave her and Philadelphia, who “keeps the word” of Christ’s patience:

Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:7)

There is an important distinction between these two churches, which are the two churches to whom Jesus gave no rebuke in the Bible (and which are therefore still giving their light today). These two churches represent different classes among His end-time body of overcomers.

Philadelphia already has their crown of life,^[12] which Jesus warns them not to let anyone take, and so they are spared from the first death, as Jesus promises to keep them from the hour of temptation.^[13] Smyrna, however, is given the crown of life after death, receiving the promise of being spared from the second death:

…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:10-11)

Do you see the contrast between the two? Smyrna is tried for their willingness to endure a time of physical tribulation, but is spared from the spiritual death, while Philadelphia is kept from the hour of physical trial. What is the logical conclusion, based on the pattern? Philadelphia must endure a time of spiritual tribulation! Is that the meaning of keeping the word of Christ’s patience? We will learn exactly what it is shortly, but understand that Jesus is looking for self-sacrifice:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)

Jesus calls His bride to sacrifice everything for one another, like He sacrificed for us. Let’s contemplate that for a moment. Did Jesus give the first death for us? Yes! Of course. Did He give the second death for us? Again yes! He eternally surrendered His divine form that He had before His incarnation, and was raised from the dead as a human, forever bearing the scars of humanity. Oh, what love! And this is the love that He commands us to exhibit toward one another! Yet we see from His two shining churches, that those who are willing to give their physical lives for their brethren are spared a spiritual tribulation, while those who go through to the end without tasting death must lay their eternal lives on the altar. This is the cross that Philadelphia must bear.

The dream was given as a confirmation that the messages were from God, and in the dream, she is giving a single message to two women—two churches. That singular message in the dream, therefore, must apply to both of the other churches together. Jesus is speaking to two groups of His people at once: those who die here and are given the crown of life afterward, and those who have the crown of life now and should keep it until they are raptured alive.

The Wonder of the Wise

This is a power-packed dream and message from God about the rapture and the tribulation. However, please avoid the temptation to jump ahead without first understanding the dream, because this will lead to wrong conclusions. First, we need to understand the context. The messages to the two churches (women) are connected in the dream with a girl who would give birth, yet the messages she received in reality say nothing of any such girl. So, what is it talking about?

Little girls do not normally give birth, which is a clue that the dream is symbolically describing a virgin who was to have a baby. Now we can narrow our focus considerably—this is not just any woman. Could it be the virgin Mary? She had already given birth to the Savior before the church even existed—and not in a box! What other “virgin” could give birth? When we look up to God’s storybook, we find the answer:

Do you remember when there was a message given to the church about Virgo “giving birth”? It was based on the great wonder in heaven of Revelation 12:1:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: (Revelation 12:1)

Virgo was “giving birth” to Jupiter—within the “box” of the constellation lines, outside the womb as illustrated.

As Bride of Christ is relating this message about Virgo, she hears a trumpet blast, and the rapture begins. It is worthy to note that this sign took place in the time of the trumpets, although the sound of the trumpet is another hint to the message she was giving, as we will see shortly. The fact that the dream references this great wonder in heaven from 2017 suggests that this dream begins at a much earlier time than the present (dreamed on April 19, 2022). In fact, in the dream, she says that the girl is “going to” give birth—in the future tense—so the dream points to a first rapture even before the sign in September of 2017!

It was especially in the two or three years before that sign, that there was a palpable spiritual knowing, given the pace of momentous prophetic events, that the rapture was in the air—pun intended. In this dream, we see what was then happening from God’s perspective. Not only was the rapture imminent, but it was even underway. In God’s sight, the few rapture-ready ones are depicted as rising up. They were ready and eagerly awaiting His loving grasp as He would draw them to Himself. Nevertheless, this rapture-in-progress was reversed, and we all know from experience that that time of imminence passed, and people came down from the excitement then prevalent. Something changed, and many felt it, but virtually no one understood it. The cry of their heart was like what was expressed in the dream: “Why did I come down, Lord!?” “Why didn’t the rapture happen, which we all felt was so imminent?”

Isn’t it interesting that God chose to give this dream to a sister whose channel is named “Bride of Christ”, who regularly addresses her audience as “the body of Christ, bride of Christ”? God is giving a message to His whole body, but who understands it? Even in the dream, this sister didn’t know why she was coming down and the Lord didn’t give the answer in words. It requires those who have experienced the cause behind what the dream portrays to explain it completely and accurately. Are there any who literally ascended on their way to the rapture, then turned around and came back down? If so, they must be a few who serve as an example for many, just like the literal church of Philadelphia in first-century Asia Minor served as an example for His people throughout the Christian era to this day, who showed similar characteristics.

What you are about to discover is dynamite. If one sees how the message to a particular church relates to him or her, and heeds the warnings given (becoming overcomers), then he or she may claim the promise given to that church. Likewise, if you in your own experience identify with the example of the ones who turned around and came back from the rapture, and heed the warnings of their message, then you, too, may receive the promise given to them as Philadelphia.

Therefore, as we share our personal experience in the following pages, which is the explanation for Bride of Christ’s dream and the dreams and insights of many others, know that the Lord wants His bride, His body of faithful believers, to relate to it. Our experience on the White Cloud Farm in October of 2016 is described in the article series The Sacrifice of Philadelphia and is to serve as a vivid, literal example for His body, His bride, to show them what happened—how and why selfless brotherly love was demonstrated. Nevertheless, as time has passed and we encounter dreams of coming down from the rapture, we ourselves—the original participants in the sacrifice of Philadelphia—now understand the depth of its significance in a way that we never did before. What we personally lived and experienced was for you! It is a message to you, His body and bride!

We also had a sense of anticipation for the rapture in 2016, similarly to the rest of the body, but with a specific knowledge of the time, which made the rapture even more palpable. The Orion clock gave us waymarks on the way to the rapture, and the day was marked on His calendar with multiple biblical timelines leading up to it. We wrote about those things extensively on our LastCountdown.org website, where the entire eschatology had been worked out. It was a seven-year journey of understanding that is documented there in well over a thousand pages, and in the end, we could say with confidence that the prophecies of the word of God had fulfilled, and the rapture was arriving. God was faithful, as was reiterated in His message given to Bride of Christ:

And remember, I am not slack in My promises. I will keep them and bring them to pass.

For our last days on earth, which coincided with the 2016 feast of unleavened bread,^[14] we had planned a campout on the hilltop at our farm. We brought up everything we needed for the week, including our cows, which we kept nearby the camp, and we left behind all the rest of our belongings, expecting never to go back to them again. As it was in the dream from Bride of Christ, when she ascended a short distance, so we ascended the little way to the top of the hill, above the treetops in the valley, in full faith that we would continue to ascend from there at the end of the feast, when the appointed time arrived that we had recognized through the years of studying the Bible prophecies.

We had seen how the prophecies were all fulfilling—symbolically, as prophetic writing is symbolic, but consistently and accurately in a way that was sufficient for our faith—and we were waiting with evidence in hand, with a knowledge of the time, looking for how the Lord would fulfill His promise and take us home. At the time, we couldn’t have known the true significance of the experience God was bringing us through, but in retrospect, it is not only key to the dream we are considering, but it is the key to understanding the experience of every rapture-expectant Christian in the world today.

The Tribulation Cross

While we do not keep the feasts as a matter of religious observance, they do still impart to the time a biblical significance, as we already saw for Bride of Christ’s dream and related messages that were received at the beginning of the spring feast of unleavened bread. Exactly six months away is the autumn feast of tabernacles. Thus, when the time comes for one feast in the northern hemisphere, it comes for the other feast in the southern hemisphere. However, because Israel is no longer to be understood literally, but spiritually, the geographical restrictions of the feasts are lifted, and the significance of both feasts is combined regardless of location. The feast of tabernacles is a commemoration of the Lord’s provision through Israel’s wilderness wandering, a joyous feast of thanksgiving that culminated in a prayer for the final rains, upon which they were dependent to bring their crops to maturity. You will see how both feasts had a significant, combined role in our camping experience.

As we settled into our camp the first evening, it was the beginning of Passover. My brother and I played some hymns on our violin and cello as a little background music to provide a pleasant atmosphere, mindful of the significance of the Passover. Yet little did we realize the true gravity of it when we played the popular favorite, The Old Rugged Cross.

We had to plan our campsite to mitigate the effects of the intense heat in the forecast, so we stretched large, secondary tarps over the unshaded tents.

In the case of Brother John’s tent (pictured here), there was no tree nearby to tie the tarp to, so a durable, rough-cut fence post (right photo, center) was set up to support it (left photo). We strung extension cords overhead from a distance into the main camping area, and this post provided a convenient drop point to hang the cable for our electrical needs at the tables below. Whether we used it for communicating the light we received with the brethren in our study forum or just for fans to obtain a little relief from the intense Paraguayan heat, humidity, and mosquitos; all our equipment was connected to that rugged post.

None of us could have imagined that years later, magnifying that small symbol of our connection to our Source of Power on high, a much larger power pole—a sturdy cross—would be installed on the farm. At a time when it was beautifully backlit by a Passover moon, the Lord associated that cross with the magnificent promise of His coming, as described in Time for the Impossible.

Who would have thought that the simple post we erected to meet the needs of our campsite was really representative of a cross!? Now, when we look at the scene with the white tables where we ate our meals, studied the Bible, sang praises, and fed our “sheep”, we can’t help but recognize that it was indirectly the cross of Christ that furnished our table. His sacrifice was what empowered us and refreshed our souls from the otherwise muggy and irritating conditions. It is in the support of His cross that we find refuge. And yet, the symbolism doesn’t end there.

Each day, we gathered for worship, meals, and study at those tables that were set up in front of our little power post: three distinct family lines with three disparate cultures were coming together to the cross for fellowship, sharing not only the same physical food, but also the same spiritual food by participating in the same studies of God’s word together. It is not unlike what the Lord desires of the three “families” of those who are looking for the rapture—the pre-trib, post-trib, and mid-trib believers. He wants all families among His people to come together at this cross of promise to receive spiritual power and strength, becoming united in one sheepfold.

The momentous event that brought about the reversal of the church’s rapture experience began on the morning of the third day of the feast: October 19, 2016. In relaxed conversation before our morning worship when we would read about the patriarch Jacob, Brother John had already been impressed by the Holy Spirit with an understanding upon arising. Like Jacob who received the less-desirable wife, Leah, for whom he had served seven years, our small group had served seven years and God had given us a small church family, but not the one we had asked for in faith, based on prophecy.^[15] Then Brother John presented the idea that he was impressed with: what if we asked for seven more years to find and seal the 144,000, just as Jacob served another seven years for Rachel? Had he not made us kings and priests, with the power to make governing decisions for His body and present our counsel to the King of heaven in the fear of the Lord?

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

Could we as mere mortals move the hand of the Almighty God to change His plans regarding an event even as momentous as the rapture? On the one hand, we were already exhausted from seven years of hard, spiritual labor, and we couldn’t imagine going another seven years. But on the other hand, our hearts longed for the salvation of the many sheep, both in our care and in other folds, whom we knew would be lost if the rapture proceeded, because they were not ready for it, yet they seemed to be sincere people who just needed the right circumstances to learn the time of their visitation. Like Jesus, our hearts wept for His people, reflecting His own lamentation:

Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace [i.e., the Orion message]! But now they are hid from thine eyes [there comes a time when the precious gems of God are no longer revealed for the unclean to trample under foot].^[16] For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:42-44)

The Jews were reproved by the Lord for not knowing the time when the promised Seed would come to them for deliverance. Instead, they sought to kill Him and when they accomplished their purpose, they divided His garments among themselves. Many imitated their unbelieving leaders as sheep following a false shepherd, but Jesus sought their wellbeing and prayed for their forgiveness:

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)

How closely did those words reflect the prayer of our heart! His people were as sheep without a good Shepherd. When they hurled their chants that “No one knows the day or the hour” at those who sought to know the time of our collective visitation, they did not know that they were throwing darts of misunderstanding that pierced the hearts of their brethren who loved them. Not all in this class were closed to being instructed, however. I, myself was once personally one who threw such a dart before conceding that there were sound answers that I didn’t know at the time.

Some of our enemies were even physically tracking our steps. One day, we heard voices of people from below—from the direction of our houses that were left vacant. Thereafter, a local elder threateningly called Brother John’s wife on the phone, saying that he was watching us, and even said to have listened to our prayers (for the sole purpose of finding something by which to ensnare us, of course). We continued under the protection of God without giving heed to those stalkers.

And so, gathered before the power post in our camp on that third day of the feast of tabernacles, Wednesday, October 19, 2016, at around nine o’clock in the morning, we formally prayed in agreement, saying in effect, “Father, forgive them for their ignorance, and instead of rapturing us now, grant us seven years to lead Your people to the knowledge of time.” We knew what that meant, just like every believer in the second chance. It would not be seven years of peace, but of a time of trouble that would increase until it became the great tribulation. Perhaps the tribulation would be the needed change of circumstances that would cause God’s indifferent children to turn to Him, to “look up, and lift up their heads.”

We also knew that it would mean certain death to our ministry. Who would believe our report? Who would believe that this little camping escapade of a relatively unknown ministry would have such far-reaching prophetic significance? With this act, we were making ourselves the laughingstock of the Christian world (which already looks with disdain at the preaching of any time message).

This was our tribulation cross, and its shame we would gladly bear for the promise of hope for others. That central post of our camp still stands to this day—intentionally preserved as a memorial of our prayer. Now, it is no longer fresh, but old and rugged; a lone reminder of the sacrifice that was made at that spot.

To turn back the coming of the Lord and bring the ascent of the rapture to a halt are the “greater works” than the miracles of Jesus that He promised we would do.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)

The Lord left the decision with us! He put the rapture into our hands! And what was the outcome? The rapture had been reversed because we had requested of the Lord to allow us to go through the tribulation with His protection in order to help reach and teach others who could still be saved. The question is now extended to others to participate by faith according to their answer.

Such an act is worthy of mention in Bible prophecy, and indeed, the story of this delay is written in Revelation 7, describing the angel with the rapture seal, crying for pause because the servants of God were not sealed with the time!

And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. (Revelation 7:2-3)

It was from the east that Ezekiel saw the glory of the God of Israel like his vision of the Orion clock in Chapter 1, and whose voice was like the sound of many waters—a reference to the Iguazu Falls of Paraguay, the nation where our farm is located. (These relationships are thoroughly explained in The Voice of God.)

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)

Therefore, after the 144,000 are finally sealed, the prophecy continues, describing a multitude of white-clad saints praising God, who come out of great tribulation:

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. (Revelation 7:13-14)

These are the many that were given opportunity to be turned to righteousness^[17] in this time of tribulation as a result of the sacrifice. Just like the participants in the sacrifice of Philadelphia came back down that mountain at the end of the feast, likewise many who were waiting for the rapture also had to come down from the height of their expectations. Now, by showing the self-sacrificial brotherly love that Jesus showed at the cross of Calvary, the second party to the covenant had fulfilled his duty!

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

Once the church made her sacrifice, the Lord began to lead His people very distinctly to “look up”, giving renown to the heavenly wonder of the woman of Revelation 12 to draw the attention of His people upward to the stars. Those who followed His leading in faith, kept looking until He would later bring them to understand the Spirit’s voice of Time in certain comets of biblical significance.^[18]

Sadly, God’s people did not understand that the pre-tribulation rapture had been canceled, so they wrongly believed it would occur on the date of the visible sign of Revelation 12:1 on September 23, 2017. This failed expectation led many who had begun to look up, to later more solidly resist lifting their eyes to God’s first book that declares His glory, whose sparkling pages faithfully show His knowledge, night unto night.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (Psalms 19:1-2)

The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth by looking up, where we see the wonder of the woman standing opposite in the sky to that of the two fishes that represent her, while her crown is complemented by Aquarius—the Father’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.

Tribulation Such as Never Was

Now the answers to the perplexities of Christians today can be given. It is because “Rapture Flight 2016” was canceled that we already see tribulation in the world. Sister Rhonda Empson, who believes in a pre-tribulation rapture, recently had a dream where she was surprised when there was an attack after which total pandemonium ensued as people were running to find a place to hide. (That sounds a lot like what happened to those seeking to avoid vaccination during the Covid-19 vaccination mandates, doesn’t it?) The surprise was that this was something she expected after the rapture. But by understanding that the rapture has been sacrificed, all such tribulation-time attacks make sense! For this reason, Jesus warned Philadelphia not to let anyone take their crown (of life)—because it is a real danger that one can do so!

Since 2016, the world has undergone innumerable changes. The coronavirus pandemic kicked off a time of woes of biblical proportion for the world.

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (Revelation 8:13)

These woes are the culmination of the time of tribulation that God’s people must endure because the rapture was sacrificed. The bad news is that most, having failed to discern the time of their visitation, were unprepared to resist the enemy and enlisted themselves in the number of the beast; the good news is that you may still turn many to righteousness. How you experience the remaining time depends on your character. Do you have the new sacrificial name of Jesus written in your heart, by which you overcome selfishness and perfect your love for God by showing love for your fellow man? If so, then you are counted with those who already started to ascend in 2016, as the many dreams have indicated, and have come back down to exercise your brotherly love in leading many to righteousness in these perilous times, warning them not to take the mark of the beast. Through sacrifice, you may wear the crown of the glorious latter rain, by which many fish may be caught during the tribulation!

Suddenly, we see that the pre-tribpost-trib line that has long divided Christians over the rapture simply disappears. Through the power of prayer, sincere division turns to unity. The arguments for the pre-trib rapture as well as the arguments for the post-trib rapture are all valid, because of some who would humble themselves and pray for others at their own expense and shame. They prayed away the pre-trib rapture and in so doing brought both groups into unison. The mid-tribbers can likewise partake of the same unleavened sacrificial bread with their brethren, knowing the time when the tribulation period began.

With our 2016 rapture date falling on the holy convocation of the seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread, October 23 that year, you can understand why Bride of Christ heard the trumpet blast for the assembly of the people when she ascended! That day of gathering, which pointed to the pre-tribulation rapture when we would cross the final frontier into heaven, now points to a complement of Jesus’ sacrifice at the opposite end of the feast of unleavened bread—the measure of the stature of the example of Christ. By praying for the Lord to cancel the church’s rapture flight for the good of the left behind, we planted our cross in its place.

Perhaps one could acknowledge that even “time-setters” have been given gifts…

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12-13)

That the body of Christ is now comprised of the tribulation saints is made clear in the dream of Bride of Christ, because she warns about receiving the mark after coming down from the first rapture.

One of my granddaughters was also left behind [like everyone was—from the canceled 2016 rapture] to receive the mark of the beast. Then I told her, whatever you do, do not receive the mark on your forehead or your right arm. You will belong to Satan.

Receiving it makes you belong to Satan. The Bible makes a clear distinction between those who receive the mark and are lost, and those who avoid it, even at the expense of their physical lives, but are saved. We see no crossover, as though some who have received the mark could later rid themselves of it. Rather, it is an irreversible deed to be marked by Satan.

Regarding the tribulation time, the dream gives an interesting detail, which we can now put in its proper place: the five years until the mark of the beast would become mandatory. Thankfully, those five years do not begin now! They already began after 2016 because she was told that count starting from the reversal of the rapture! That means according to the dream, the mark of the beast should become mandatory in 2016 + 5 years, or 2021. Does this match reality? Did Covid-19 vaccination become a widespread, mandatory requirement throughout society in that year—whether for entertainment or employment? Yes! This dream is in the setting of the whole “body of Christ, bride of Christ” and is not just about the dreamer herself.

Do not allow Satan to claim you as his own by receiving a genetic trademark into your body through genetically engineered vaccines! Make it clear that you (peacefully!) protest this violation of your identity, because if you are indifferent on this point or believe it is an inconsequential personal choice, you entertain the “negative thoughts” and “buy the lie” by which you give Satan the opportunity to steal your crown. This is how you get his mark of vaccination on your forehead, which is the decision center of your mind (even if you never get vaccinated yourself). You must be firmly decided in your mind like the sister was in the dream: “I will die before I get that” vaccine—and warn others with equal passion!

Even if they claim it doesn’t affect your DNA, they can’t refute that the new vaccine technology works by manipulating your body’s genetic machinery to transcribe their own engineered genetic sequence, which is effectively the same result as if your DNA had been altered. By bypassing your God-given cellular defenses against this manipulation, they force their way into the holy place of the temple of the Holy Spirit (your body^[19]) and defile it with the “blood” of an unclean offering. This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is the unpardonable sin, because the Spirit is the last One ministering in the temple!^[20] If the Spirit is now rejected, eternal life is rejected. Take heed to the warning! Let no man take your crown but rather be faithful unto death!

Before this technology, man could destroy the body, but he could not access your soul. Now, we can see a dual application of the Lord’s words:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him [God, in the sense of reverence, or, in the sense of heeding danger, the vaccinator] which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth [is reckless], and is confident. (Proverbs 14:16)

This is what the great tribulation “such as never was” is about. God’s people are spiritually minded and discern the spiritual warfare and tribulation of His people. Never in the history of humanity has man been able to physically quench the Spirit of life from his fellow man, robbing him of his eternal life! How much worse can it get, when your enemies hold such a weapon of mass spiritual destruction!? This is how Satan wars against those who are with the Lamb!

The Horologium clock shows the time of these woes that are troubling the earth, each progressively worse than the previous.^[21] These are the final years that were requested in the sacrifice of Philadelphia, with the tribulation cross, through an act of prayer. The pretribulation rapture has been sacrificed, and now God’s people are being shown where we are in prophecy. We are already in the last months of the seven-year tribulation period that began following the sacrificed rapture in 2016!

When pastors encourage their members to be “rapture ready”, it is often in the hope and expectation of escaping this terrible time of danger and tribulation, but is this focus really in line with the love of God? This is emphasized in a dream from Rhonda Empson, where she knew that there would be two raptures, and everyone wanted to go in the first one, but not everyone was ready. The desire to escape the tribulation is basically selfish, so everyone naturally wants that, but to escape death and still be self-sacrificial and have brotherly love like Christ, one must be willing to lay their own salvation on the altar—their own rapture—for the sake of their brethren. Would the Lord find a people who would be willing to risk their eternal lives, possibly having it taken away through forced vaccination against their will, for the sake of their brethren who were not yet ready before that danger became a reality? If so, then these would comprise Philadelphia by demonstrating brotherly love, and because of their faithfulness in keeping His word, God promises to protect them from a physical death.

For these reasons, long before there was any danger of losing eternal life to a needle, God led us in 2013, to make it a part of our baptismal vows to pledge our willingness to put the gift of eternal life that Christ secured for us into the hands of God on the altar of service for Him, if that would be necessary for others to be saved. Now we can understand that losing one’s eternal life is exactly the risk of living in this time of great tribulation. Thus, our vow is a confession that we want others to experience the joy of Paradise more than we fear the very real danger of losing it ourselves.

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: (Romans 9:3)

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:17-18)

To Philadelphia, Jesus promises to write upon the overcomer as part of His seal, His new name,^[22] which is the name that signifies this willingness to receive a self-sacrificial wound, even permanently, for one’s brethren. It is the name Alnitak—the name of Orion’s belt star at Jesus’ position on the throne that means, “The Wounded One”. The scars of the cross serve as an eternal physical reminder of His sacrifice. And should we not be willing to accept a wound to ourselves for the sake of others, according to the example of our Lord? Following the Lamb wherever He goes necessarily means that we follow Him to the cross, because He went to the cross. He bore the real burden, making ours light:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:29-30)

Indeed, the burden of seven years of tribulation is already almost over! The promise to Philadelphia still stands, that they will be kept from harm in this hour of tribulation, as Bride of Christ’s first message underscored:

When ye are in danger, then I shall appear in the heavens, and I will snatch you up to Me, as I promised thee. Only when ye are in danger, My beloved, shall I, your heavenly Father and Bridegroom, call you home. I will catch ye up hither to be with Me.

Two Beams of One Cross

The language used in the messages that Bride of Christ received for Smyrna and Philadelphia bears allusions to the two witnesses of Revelation 11, which are a representation of those two faithful churches, as explained in The Second Woe Has Passed…. To Smyrna, the Lord says through her,

I will catch ye up hither to be with Me.

Compare this with His call to the two witnesses:

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. (Revelation 11:12)

And in her message to Philadelphia, she remarks how Satan can take your crown when you believe his lies:

When you start having negative thoughts, you are allowing Satan, your archenemy to remove your crown by buying his lies he is giving you in your mind and letting him knock you down by believing his lies.

This is also comparable to the story of the two witnesses, for it is sadly recorded that Satan was successful in his effort to overcome them:

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. (Revelation 11:7)

Has Satan overcome some who belong to Philadelphia, knocking them down and removing their crown? What lies are people believing that lead to his victory over them, giving reason for their enemies to gloat? Is it not the lie that no sacrifice is needed on our part, because Jesus did it all at the cross? Is it not also the lie that we need only ask “what must I do to be saved?”^[23] as though our personal salvation were more important than that of our brethren? These distortions of the truth (lies) are the antithesis of the spirit of self-sacrifice and brotherly love that the Lord enjoins upon us.

The two witnesses are two, but they are always described in inseparable terms. They go together, they preach together, they fall together, and they rise together. They are two facets of one Christlike sacrifice, like the two beams of His cross—one willing to sacrifice the present life, the other the afterlife.

The pole at our campsite was a single beam—half of a cross. We saw similar symbolism before in the half-drawn cross in the stars of the Horologium, pointing to a two-party sacrifice. Only there, both beams are incomplete and need a counterpart to complete the cross. The single beam of our cross can only complete one beam of the Horologium cross. We became Philadelphia through our one-beamed cross, but there is another beam that is borne by Smyrna. Do you remember how the midnight thunder will roll through the Horologium as comet K2^[24] marks the two missing beams of its cross, exactly three days and twelve hours apart, from March 4, 2023 at nine o’clock in the evening until March 8 at nine o’clock in the morning?

It is when the clock strikes the Hunga-Tonga midnight that the sleeping witnesses of Smyrna’s blood under the altar stand on their feet. The two witnesses together will give their last unified testimony of a complete sacrifice that mirrors the one and only individually complete sacrifice in Jesus Alnitak, the Wounded One.

Thus, the redemption of man will be complete. The covenant will be established (or ratified), because time for the impossible was requested in the faith of Jesus by those who should be kept from the witness of the martyr’s death. Then, after the three and a half days, the Spirit of Life, represented by comet K2, will have entered fully into the unified two witnesses.

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. (Revelation 11:11)

Were this sacrifice missing, the covenant would be broken and the salvation it confers forfeited. Therefore, it is only those of Smyrna and Philadelphia whose light still burns,^[25] because they give a sacrifice that, together with Christ’s supreme sacrifice, reflects their participation in the covenant.

Therefore, the Lord addresses them together in the messages given to Bride of Christ, and for the same reason, they are depicted together as two fish, but one constellation, beside the lamb.

Indeed, these two witnesses have the same spirit of self-sacrificial brotherly love but give their testimony in different ways. One gives it through their willingness to die for their brethren, since the blood of the faithful is as seed for God’s harvest. The other gives their testimony through their willingness to yield their eternal life for their brethren, not counting their eternal bliss with Jesus on His throne a thing to be grasped while their brethren perish in darkness.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [something to be grasped] to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto [the first] death, even the death of the cross [both first and second death]. (Philippians 2:5-8)

Drink from the Rock

These two witnesses come from the woman of Revelation 12, and she had one Seed whose sacrificial blood made salvation possible: Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The remnant of her Seed, however, are a people who being in the same spiritual bloodline as Christ, keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus’ self-sacrificial brotherly love that He displayed on the cross.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

The dreams of Bride of Christ and others show that we were not alone the ones who would have been raptured in 2016. Others also had a sacrificial spirit at that time, and after the fact, still more would be impressed to join us in that spirit of sacrificial love—once they understood it. Are you among them? Have you learned to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb?

With the covenant in His heart, Jesus paid the price of His blood for our salvation. But a covenant is an agreement between two parties, and while our blood cannot atone for sin, we can still sacrifice for others to give them an opportunity to receive Christ, that they would not have had otherwise. That sacrifice was accomplished through prayer. We surrendered our hopes of being part of Philadelphia who would live to see Jesus return,^[26] and we believed that we had joined the church of Smyrna who dies in tribulation.^[27] Thus, the Lord led us to formalize The Legacy of Smyrna.

This was prophetically illustrated in Moses’ experiences with Israel. Near the beginning of their wanderings when they were thirsty, God told Moses to take his stick and smite the rock to make water come out.

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17:6)

This is like the outpouring of the early rain at Pentecost, after Jesus, the Rock, was smitten on the cross. When the congregation lacked water again near the end of their wanderings, God gave Moses different instructions, which would correspond to the outpouring of the latter rain:

Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. (Numbers 20:8)

This instruction precisely illustrates the act of praying sacrificially to our Rock! And notice that while he was not to smite the Rock, he nevertheless was to take the stick with him as a symbol of sacrifice, just as we have the post of The Sacrifice of Philadelphia still standing on our mountaintop on the farm. The stick with which Moses smote the rock at the beginning of Israel’s wandering stands for the cross of martyrdom that Jesus led the church of Smyrna to faithfully bare from the time of Christ until the earth’s last seedtime would be over.

Moses’ disobedience is applicable to those who wish to escape personal sacrifice. Against God’s command, Moses struck the rock twice—once for Smyrna’s sacrifice, and once for Philadelphia’s. Instead of humbly following our Lord to His cross, those who disdain to submit to God’s commandments of love would rather see Him wounded again. As Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land for this offense, neither will those who refuse to humble themselves and sacrifice for others.

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

As we descended down the rapture mountain at the end of the week of the feast of tabernacles in 2016, one of our number, as the camp guardian, remained through the night on Shemini Atzeret—the day of prayer for the latter rain. He described the storm that passed through among the closing words of The Hour of Decision:

…a ferocious lightning storm rushed through the campsite. Lightning cracked and thunder rolled, while relentless winds blew the rain violently in every direction.

Perhaps it was a foreshadowing of the stormy and troublous times that are coming in these next years, and perhaps it was a token of the answer to our prayer for an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon...well upon you, dear reader!

We are here [left behind] with all of you who are on the Lord’s side in this tribulation, and our arms are open to you.

In hindsight, it is self-evident that the rain was indeed a foreshadowing of what was to come in answer to our prayer. As the heavens were opened to our understanding within months of that prayer, the floods of light that have been given have only increased until this day. Now it is your turn to pray for the rain. It has already been given, but you must look up to receive it. One Jewish educator aptly expressed this in relation to the sparse water supply in Israel:^[28] 

Unlike Egypt, where the water comes up from one’s feet, Israel is a land where people must look to the heavens for rain.

If you pray for the latter rain, then look up and receive it! As Jesus fulfilled His part of the covenant on the cross of Calvary, Philadelphia’s sacrificial prayer was the fulfillment of their part of the same covenant. The same article about Israel explains the relationship fittingly:

God’s responsibility for dispensing rain in the land of Israel is a central aspect of our covenantal identity [also for us as the spiritual seed of Abraham]. Not only do we live in a land that depends upon God for rain, but God’s gift of rain will be conditioned upon the fulfillment of our covenantal duties.

You believe that our Rock was smitten and died for your sins and mine, and you do well. Now it is time to believe that the same Rock was petitioned on the third day of the feast of tabernacles, October 19, 2016, and He gave water in abundance as foreshadowed in the sign of the storm on Shemini Atzeret that followed. Thus, you may take up your Philadelphian cross and follow Jesus.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself [of the first rapture], and take up his [tribulation] cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life [seeking to escape sacrifice] shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life [surrender their physical or eternal life] for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 16:24-25)

Do you see many who are thirsty for the Spirit? Let them quench their thirst with the water that flows from the throne of the Lamb. On either side of that river is the united tree of life, represented by heavenly timekeepers.

Let the joyful praises of the heirs who are to be saved as a result, inspire you to endure your own cross!

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. (Revelation 7:9-10)

Together, we may take joy in the knowledge that this manifestation of sacrificial brotherly love served a prophetic role in service to God! Our Lord also rejoiced in the knowledge of what His sacrifice would bring:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising [i.e., despite] the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

All who thus partake may feel a special bond with our Lord. We saw in Looking Up to All Truth how comet K2 represents the work of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and gives the Spirit of sacrifice to His two witnesses. The fact that it meets the line of the galactic equator on the third day of the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month, the precise Hebrew anniversary of our sacrificial prayer in front of the rugged post of our campsite, suggests that the galactic equator represents the Philadelphian crossbeam. As the comet (in 2022) revolves around the place where the full moon at Gethsemane was in AD 31, it also crosses the ecliptic—precisely in the claw of the same scorpion-beast of the serpent-inspired Ophiuchus that is depicted as inflicting the sting of death at our Lord’s heel.

This symbolism represents the blood of Jesus and the martyrs of all ages, whom the beast, led by Satan, has spilled. Thus, we see that this comet points to the sacrifice of God’s two witnesses, Smyrna and Philadelphia! The comet orbits around the cross of Jesus at a short distance, indicating that it is not Jesus’ cross, but of another that it highlights, namely, His two witnesses who give two separate testimonies, each like one aspect (beam) of Jesus’ complete sacrifice.

When Jesus died on May 25, AD 31, the greater light of the sun was in the hand of Orion, pointing to Jesus as the great High Priest, who was giving Himself as a twofold sacrifice for the world, paying both the first and second death. At the same moment, the sun was fully illuminating the moon, which shone brightly on the opposite side of our planet. This lesser light was but a nighttime reflection of His own glorious sacrifice across the world. O, the wonder of it all!

Do you understand, now, why we recognize ourselves in the prophecy of “the fourth angel”—the one of Revelation 18:1?

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power [to move the hand of God]; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (Revelation 18:1)

The sun lightened one half of the earth, and the full moon the other half. At the cross, the Lord made His offering that enabled His body, His bride to make a sacrifice reflecting His glory.

And the glory [from the cross] which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)

Jesus’ blood alone atones for sin, but if we have grown up to the stature of the fullness of Christ, then we, too, have a cross to bear, and that is in the time of greatest tribulation in the blood leaf of the Horologium. What an honor God gives to His children to partake in a small measure of His sufferings and to be yoked with our Lord on His cross!

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.