WHAT IF?--PARTS 1 & 2!--When the Tribulation Could Begin!
DO 2211-1,2
5/86
"BEFORE THE END OF DESOLATIONS!"
1. THE FOLLOWING PROPHECY WAS GIVEN BY MY MOTHER IN 1966 & was quoted in "Saul & Michael", "David-Daniel" & the "70 Years Prophecy." (See MLs #115, 156 & 1501): "To the one called David by divine anointing, it has been given thee to perceive the number of years which according to the Prophet Jeremiah will pass before the end of desolations." What number of years did Jeremiah predict? There was only one number of years that Jeremiah predicted & that was 70 years! (Jer.25:11; 29:10) Will pass when?--"Before the end of desolations."
2. ON JUNE 30, 1970, WHEN I WAS SICK, I ASKED THE LORD, "WHAT SHALL BE THE DAYS OF MY YEARS?" And in answer to my question He tapped out a certain number of years: First He tapped out seven sevens with a significant pause, followed by three sevens, indicating, in other words, that a period of 49 years would be followed by a period of 21 years, making a total of 70 years.--Which shows that, apparently, the total "days of my years" were to be a total of 70, divided into two periods.
3. THESE NUMBERS OF YEARS THAT THE LORD TAPPED OUT indicated that the first 49 years of my life were for the preparation of my present ministry--& that I would then spend the next 21 years in this ministry. I was 49 in February of '68, & that's just about the time I began my present ministry & started the Family at the Light Club in Huntington Beach! So if February 18, '68 began the last 21 years of my life, that means that the 21 years would therefore end on February 18, 1989!
4. I'VE ALWAYS INTERPRETED THAT THE "END OF DESOLATIONS" WAS REFERRING TO THE ENTIRE 3-1/2 YEARS OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION, & that "the number of years" which were to pass before the "End of Desolations" (the Tribulation) were the 70 years of my own life. As my 70 years end in 1989, this then seemed to indicate that the Tribulation would begin in 1989 after my death. But Hart suggested, "Maybe your dying 'before the End of Desolations' means not just before the Tribulation period, but before the whole Last Seven Years." He was trying to postpone the Tribulation so that the Antichrist wouldn't begin his Seven-Year rule until 1989, & then the Tribulation would start 3-1/2 years later in 1993!--Ha! He thought maybe he could give us another 3-1/2 years!
5. WELL, I HAD TO WRITE HIM A LETTER TO EXPLAIN THAT THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, the whole Seven Years is not the end of desolations. Because in the Bible the period of desolations is always related to the 3-1/2-year period of the Tribulation. It speaks of it so many times: "The abomination that maketh desolate," "desolations unto the end thereof," etc., & you couldn't possibly misunderstand that the Tribulation is not the period of desolations. (Dan.8:13; 9:26; Mat.24:15; Mk.13:14.)
6. BUT THE THING THAT SHOCKED ME WHEN I RE-READ GRANDMOTHER'S PROPHECY was that it doesn't say that "the number of years" will pass before the desolations (or the Tribulation), but that they will end or pass before the end of desolations. It says specifically "before the end"--which I interpreted to mean I'd die before the end. But I've interpreted it all these years as "before the beginning," that the Lord wasn't going to let me go through the Tribulation! I think the only reason that I interpreted it that way was because that's the way I wanted it!
7. IF YOU READ IT LITERALLY, JUST THE WAY IT SOUNDS, IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE I'M GOING TO DIE SOMEWHERE NEAR THE END OF THE TRIBULATION. It could be just before the end! Before the "End of Desolations" (the end of the Tribulation) sounds to me like not too long before the end of the last 3-1/2-year-period of the Great Tribulation!
8. IF '89, THEREFORE, (MY 70TH YEAR & THE PREDICTED YEAR OF MY DEATH) IS SOMEWHERE NEAR THE END OF THE TRIBULATION, or it's at least in the last half of the Tribulation, then we're already living in the Last Seven Years & we're almost to the beginning of the Tribulation! That would mean that the Pact, the Covenant, would have been already secretly signed! I've suggested in past Letters that the Antichrist could already be in control behind the scenes.--In fact, he is, obviously! His forces are, so he must be!
THE TEMPLE!
9. THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY SEEMS TO CONTRADICT THE IDEA OF THE TRIBULATION BEGINNING IMMEDIATELY IS OUR THEORY THAT THE TEMPLE HAS TO BE REBUILT in order to start sacrificing, so that he can stop the sacrifices. But what if that is wrong? We've always theorised that they had to rebuild the Temple & the altar & re-institute sacrificial worship in order for the Antichrist to stop it. Well, that's not necessarily true! We can't find that in the Bible. All it says is that the beginning of the Tribulation occurs when he breaks the Covenant & stops the sacrifices, which seems to imply that the Jews have already begun sacrificing somewhere around the Holy Place by that time!
10. WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THEY'RE ALREADY SACRIFICING SECRETLY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS! Just look at all those Masonic temples, for example, they've got all kinds of secret rites going on inside. Maybe in Israel some place they've already started animal sacrifice! However, there's nothing they'd like better than to move it to Abraham's rock, the former altar of their original ancient Temple! But the Bible doesn't actually say they're going to rebuild their Temple. It just speaks of the Holy Place, & it does speak of the Antichrist sitting in the Temple as God, claiming that he is God. (Mat.24:15; 2Thes.2:4.)
11. BUT WHAT TEMPLE? THERE'S ALREADY A TEMPLE OF GOD ON MOUNT MORIAH COVERING THE VERY STONE ON WHICH THEY WANT TO SACRIFICE, which used to be the actual altar of the original Jewish Temple. What if it turns out that the Mosque of Omar is the Temple they're talking about? It's already built, & to truly sacrifice where Abraham did & upon the altar which was the altar of the Temple they would have to sacrifice on that rock in the Mosque of Omar! That is established fact!--That's history, that was the altar of the Temple, the place where they slaughtered the animals. It's got a place for the fire for the sacrificial offering & channels for blood to drain off. (See BIPs, pg.380, par.19)
12. I DON'T THINK IT TAKES TOO MUCH STRETCH OF YOUR IMAGINATION TO SAY THAT, "WELL, THE MOSQUE OF OMAR IS A TEMPLE OF GOD!" It's as much a temple of God as any church I know of! It's as much a temple of God as the Jewish Temple! It doesn't say it has to be a Jewish Temple, that's our interpretation. So why should they have to rebuild the Temple? What if they don't have time to rebuild the Temple? What if they just grab that Mosque of Omar from the Arabs & say, "We'll confiscate it, & we have a right to it because it covers our rock" & blah blah! I'm just showing what is a possibility! They could seize that temple & begin sacrifices tomorrow!
13. OR WHAT IF THE COVENANT HAD BEEN MADE THAT ALL OF THEM WOULD SHARE THE DOME OF THE ROCK? Since it's already there & the Muslims had been claiming exclusive rights to it, what if some kind of an agreement was made where the Jews could share it part-time, & somehow or another they force this agreement down the throats of the Arabs!--And they internationalise it & make it an international World shrine where all three faiths (including Christianity) can worship & take turns & have different hours & the Jews could even do their sacrificial offerings!
14. HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE JUST LIKE THE JEWS TO GRAB IT ALL FOR THEMSELVES, & MAYBE THEREBY VIOLATE THE COVENANT, the secret Covenant, which riles the Antichrist & makes him angry enough to storm down & invade Israel! I'm just trying to say how it's possible! By the wildest stretch of your imagination maybe that's going to be the Temple, & it would almost have to be if they're about to start sacrificing!
15. IF THE TRIBULATION ENDS SHORTLY AFTER 1989, IT WOULD HAVE TO BEGIN AS EARLY AS SOMETIME IN 1986, & that means the sacrifices would have to be stopped in 1986! If this is the case, then the Temple they're sacrificing in would almost have to be the Mosque of Omar, as there's no time now for the Jews to build their own Temple. However, if the Tribulation begins as late as the middle of 1988 instead, then there would still be time for the Jews to rebuild their Temple.--As they say they could rebuild it in only nine months. So if they started building it in 1986 they could complete it & resume animal sacrifices sometime in 1987. So it's possible that everything may still work according to that plan. At the very latest, the Temple would have to be rebuilt before the middle of '88 & the sacrifices reinstituted before the middle of '88 in order for it to be stopped by the middle of '88.
THE REVELATION OF THE ANTICHRIST!
16. IT'S BEEN A CONTROVERSIAL POINT WITH INTERPRETERS OF BIBLE PROPHECY FOR A LONG TIME, whether or not the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, is revealed at the beginning of his 7-year reign, or 3-1/2 years later when he breaks the Covenant & the Abomination of Desolation is set up! Paul says, "Then shall that Man of Sin be revealed." (2Th.2:3,8)--When? Who? The one who "sitteth in the Temple of God saying that he is God." Well, that sounds like he's not revealed until he does that. It seems to indicate, as some Bible prophecy students have advocated for a long time, that the World won't know who he is & what he is until he reveals himself when he sits in the Temple, declares that he's God & demands the World's worship!
17. 2ND THESSALONIANS 2:3,8 SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT HE IS CONCEALED FOR THE FIRST 3-1/2 YEARS BEFORE THE TRIBULATION, & he is only revealed by his breaking of the Covenant, seizing power, setting himself up as God & setting up his Image, the Abomination of Desolation, in the middle of the Seven Years. It seems to imply that therefore he, & possibly even the Covenant, are concealed for that first 3-&-1/2 years, but then he takes over suddenly. "So sudden shall be the Great Confusion that it will cause a mighty widening of the eyes of those who have not discerned the signs of the times!" I wonder if this Warning Prophecy might apply here?
18. NOW WHAT IS THE GREAT CONFUSION? We've been theorising that it's going to be the economic collapse, the Crash! That's our theory, we don't know. It's just what we've felt it is going to be, that the economic Crash would bring on Great Confusion. But what if it's the seizing of power by the Antichrist? Wouldn't that bring on Great Confusion? So maybe that is the Great Confusion that the prophecy is talking about.
19. WHAT IF THE GREAT CRASH DOESN'T REALLY COME UNTIL JUST BEFORE HE SEIZES POWER, & he takes advantage of the great Crash, seizing power with the Great Confusion that has come so suddenly! What if he & the Covenant are concealed until the Great Confusion occurs & he grabs power right there? Wouldn't that be the [ACs'] own way of doing things?
20. WHY COULDN'T THEY KEEP THE COVENANT A SECRET? They obviously are keeping the Antichrist hidden, because he is bound to be alive right now! You know he is back there somewhere, you know they've got him somewhere & he is already demon-possessed & a superman with super wisdom who is no doubt telling them how to run things & how to seize power! And he's still concealed until the time is right for him to seize power--as a result of the Great Confusion!--Or perhaps his taking over precipitates the Great Confusion!
THE LAST HALF OF THE TRIBULATION!
21. THE WHOLE QUESTION HINGES ON JUST WHAT DOES THE LORD MEAN BY, "BEFORE THE END OF DESOLATIONS," before the end of the Tribulation! How long before the end of the Tribulation? It sounds to me like somewhere near the end, or not too far from the end. I'd say the first half of the Tribulation would be termed the beginning of the Tribulation.
22. THE TRIBULATION IS 3-1/2 YEARS LONG, SO HALF OF IT WOULD BE 1-3/4 YEARS, ONE YEAR & NINE MONTHS. So "the end of desolations" would probably be the last half of the Tribulation, the last one-&-three-quarter years. The 70 years "before the end" would therefore probably end some place past the middle, in the last half of the Tribulation.
23. BUT THE LORD DIDN'T SAY THAT I HAVE TO DIE EXACTLY ON MY 70TH BIRTHDAY. The "Days of My Years Prophecy" says that I will live 70 years.--I could die in my 70th year, which could mean any time in 1989. In fact, I'll still be 70 even in the first two months of 1990! I'd still be 70 years of age & will technically still not be 71 until February 18, 1990. So the latest I could possibly die & still be 70 would be just before my 71st birthday. (Fam: Then the End of the Tribulation couldn't be more than, say, a year & nine months after that.)
24. SO EVEN IF YOU SAY THAT I DIE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST HALF OF THE TRIBULATION, just past the middle of the Tribulation, it sounds like the last half of the Tribulation couldn't possibly last more than a year & 9 months, from February, 1990, till somewhere near the end of '91, at the most. To postpone the Tribulation as long as you possibly can, by stretching some of those figures & numbers & interpretations, the Tribulation could not possibly begin later than somewhere around the middle of '88 in order to leave another year & 9 months till my death in February 1990, which seems like the very furthest we can put off my death. That means that if you count back 3-1/2 years before the Tribulation begins, to the point where the Antichrist makes the Covenant, it couldn't be made later than '85!
25. SO THIS GIVES US AN ALMOST TWO-YEAR-PERIOD DURING WHICH THE TRIBULATION IS GOING TO HAVE TO START, somewhere between the middle of this year, '86, to the middle of '88. The Tribulation is 3-1/2 years long, so if it ends in February 1990, then it has to begin in the middle of 1986, but if it ends in the last months of 1991 then it wouldn't begin until mid-1988. But you can't be dogmatic about these dates, they're guesstimates, theories! Anything's possible! Where you haven't got the exact Scriptures you can theorise all you want!
IN CONCLUSION:
26. SO REMEMBER, THIS IS STILL INTERPRETATION because the Lord hasn't told us exactly what He means by "before the end," but that certainly doesn't sound like before the beginning! Although if you really wanted to draw it out to the extreme, a wild interpretation, you could say, "Well, the beginning of the 3-1/2 years of Tribulation is before the end of the Tribulation!" Well, of course, the beginning is before the end!--But why would He say, "Before the end of the Tribulation"? It sounds more like He is trying to say that it is going to be somewhere just before the end of the Tribulation, or maybe at the most, at least in the last half of the Tribulation.
27. THE PROPHECY COULD STILL BE LITERALLY FULFILLED EVEN IF I DIED ON FEBRUARY 18, 1989, & THE TRIBULATION ENDED THE NEXT DAY. I could die on February 18, 1989 & be resurrected on February 19, 1989 in the Rapture! But that would mean that the 3-1/2 years of Tribulation would have already had to begin, & as far as we can see, the Tribulation hasn't begun yet! The Tribulation cannot begin earlier than this because it hasn't begun. To end in February '89, it would have had to begin somewhere around the middle of '85, last year, & apparently it didn't, so it can't be that. But it could begin anywhere from now on!
28. (MARIA: THAT'S ONE THING WE KNOW, WE'RE GOING TO KNOW WHEN IT BEGINS, RIGHT?) We're certainly going to know when the Tribulation begins! It begins when the Antichrist is revealed & he sits in the Temple of God saying he is God, telling everybody to worship him & setting up his idol, etc. We're told in a number of places that that definitely begins the Tribulation. Then we will know we're exactly 3-1/2 years into the Last Seven Years & that there are 3-1/2 years until the end of it!
29. SO THERE YOU ARE, A NEW THEORY! The Tribulation could begin any time from now on in order for it to end sometime after my death! So prepare ye! Be ye therefore ready, amen? PTL! It's later than you think & may be earlier than you think! The Antichrist, if he's already made the Covenant & is already in power behind the scenes, could seize full power & be revealed at any moment from now on! The Tribulation, Beloved, could begin any day now!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family