But take a look at this verse and ask yourself why Claudius is mentioned and why are there SO many books on Rome?
Do you think Claudius is mentioned as a clue for us to dig deeper into this historical puzzle???
Acts 18:2
King James Version
2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.
The persecution that arose over Stephen lasted three and a half years, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days (A.D. 34-38) (Rev.12:6, 14); it collapsed with the removal of Caiaphas from the high priesthood; Pilate’s leaving Judaea, and the conversion of St. Paul. This is represented by the earth opening its mouth to swallow the flood of persecution pouring out of the dragon’s mouth. (Rev. 12:16) It is also symbolized by the beast receiving a mortal wound to one of its heads. (Rev. 13:3)
In receiving the mortal wound to its head, the beast lost the power to persecute and symbolically went down in death to the bottomless pit . (Rev. 11:7; 17:8) The dragon, which gave the beast power, also went down to the bottomless pit. (Rev. 20:1, 2) Both the dragon and beast remained in the bottomless pit for a period symbolized by a thousand years. (Rev. 11:7; 17:8; 20:7)
Claudius was the “angel” that bound the dragon. (Rev. 20:1) All during Claudius’ reign the church enjoyed the protection of law; even banishing Jews from Rome for rioting against the church. (Acts 18:2) St. Paul alludes to Claudius in his second epistle to the Thessalonians as “he who lets” (restrains). (II Thess. 2:6, 7) The persecution of the last day would not come so long as Claudius was upon the throne, repressing the mystery of iniquity and powers of persecution. When Claudius was taken out of the way, Nero would be revealed as the man of sin and son of perdition, and the church would be gathered in martyrdom unto Christ. John portrays this by the dragon and beast being loosed from the bottomless pit and the mortal wound to the beast’s head having healed. John described the beast in Rev. 17:8 as the beast that “was and is not and is about to ascend out of the bottomless pit.” That is, the persecuting power of the empire that suffered defeat by the collapse of the persecution over St. Stephen was about to manifest itself again, this time under Nero, whose name the beast bore. This is the point at which the battle of Gog and Magog begins:
the adversary in this case was world civil power embodied in Rome, Nero, and the Jews. In Rome, the beast was identified with Nero, who was its driving power (Rev. 13:1-10); in Asia and other parts of the empire, the Jews, at the behest of their leaders in Jerusalem, were the driving force. John portrays this by a harlot, riding the beast in a surfeit of blood and gore. (Rev. 17:3-6) In Palestine, the persecution was driven by the “false prophet,” the religious leaders of the Jews who bade them to make an inquisition against the church like unto the beast’s. (Rev. 13:11-18) The dragon and beast make war against the church by surrounding the “camp of the saints” (the church). But fire comes down from God out of heaven and consumes Gog and his host, and the dragon, beast, and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 19:20, 21; 20:9, 10) The harlot is also consumed. (Rev. 18) An angel calls to the birds of heaven to come and devour the carcasses of the slain. (Rev. 19:17, 18; cf. Ezek. 39:17) Following the world-wide devastations of the last days, God renews the earth, in which the church reigns supreme with Christ. (Rev. 21, 22)
.The name Nero is proverbial for murder, rape, sodomy, incest, cruelty, and every kind of crime imaginable.
The persecution that arose over Stephen lasted three and a half years, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days (A.D. 34-38) (Rev.12:6, 14); it collapsed with the removal of Caiaphas from the high priesthood; Pilate’s leaving Judaea, and the conversion of St. Paul. This is represented by the earth opening its mouth to swallow the flood of persecution pouring out of the dragon’s mouth. (Rev. 12:16) It is also symbolized by the beast receiving a mortal wound to one of its heads. (Rev. 13:3)
In receiving the mortal wound to its head, the beast lost the power to persecute and symbolically went down in death to the bottomless pit . (Rev. 11:7; 17:8) The dragon, which gave the beast power, also went down to the bottomless pit. (Rev. 20:1, 2) Both the dragon and beast remained in the bottomless pit for a period symbolized by a thousand years. (Rev. 11:7; 17:8; 20:7)
Claudius was the “angel” that bound the dragon. (Rev. 20:1) All during Claudius’ reign the church enjoyed the protection of law; even banishing Jews from Rome for rioting against the church. (Acts 18:2) St. Paul alludes to Claudius in his second epistle to the Thessalonians as “he who lets” (restrains). (II Thess. 2:6, 7) The persecution of the last day would not come so long as Claudius was upon the throne, repressing the mystery of iniquity and powers of persecution. When Claudius was taken out of the way, Nero would be revealed as the man of sin and son of perdition, and the church would be gathered in martyrdom unto Christ. John portrays this by the dragon and beast being loosed from the bottomless pit and the mortal wound to the beast’s head having healed. John described the beast in Rev. 17:8 as the beast that “was and is not and is about to ascend out of the bottomless pit.” That is, the persecuting power of the empire that suffered defeat by the collapse of the persecution over St. Stephen was about to manifest itself again, this time under Nero, whose name the beast bore. This is the point at which the battle of Gog and Magog begins:
the adversary in this case was world civil power embodied in Rome, Nero, and the Jews. In Rome, the beast was identified with Nero, who was its driving power (Rev. 13:1-10); in Asia and other parts of the empire, the Jews, at the behest of their leaders in Jerusalem, were the driving force. John portrays this by a harlot, riding the beast in a surfeit of blood and gore. (Rev. 17:3-6) In Palestine, the persecution was driven by the “false prophet,” the religious leaders of the Jews who bade them to make an inquisition against the church like unto the beast’s. (Rev. 13:11-18) The dragon and beast make war against the church by surrounding the “camp of the saints” (the church). But fire comes down from God out of heaven and consumes Gog and his host, and the dragon, beast, and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 19:20, 21; 20:9, 10) The harlot is also consumed. (Rev. 18) An angel calls to the birds of heaven to come and devour the carcasses of the slain. (Rev. 19:17, 18; cf. Ezek. 39:17) Following the world-wide devastations of the last days, God renews the earth, in which the church reigns supreme with Christ. (Rev. 21, 22)
The name Nero is proverbial for murder, rape, sodomy, incest, cruelty, and every kind of crime imaginable.
The emperor Nero was blamed by the Roman populace for the great fire that broke out in Rome in 64 A.D., and in turn blamed the Christians. The Roman historian Tacitus explains what happened in his narrative.
The execution of Christian was a comic relief to Nero and
the c l i m a x of these cruel shows was the mockery of the crucifixion of Christ: according to a second-century tradition, the Christian leader Peter was crucified upside down.
Stop calling people satanic just because they associate with a certain denomination. Are you trying to run more people off?? I thought you was under Christ's Law?
I was born and raised in the Church of Christ (non instrumental) . I am no longer in it but that didn't make me satanic.
I do copy out of my email because it is a bigger screen and less chance of it getting posted in CDFF before I am done editing as there have been time that for whatever reason the send message gets hit before I am done. Even if I hit cancel it sends it anyways. Sometimes I post in Notepad first before copying in here but I hate it because it goes to infinity on the sides.. (Smiles)
Some thoughts of my own along with scripture and an historical pic.
We are crucified with Christ -Galatians 2:20
Seated with Christ and made alive together with him and seated in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus -Ephesians 2
There is your "rapture"
Not physical IMHO.
Thessalonians 4:13-18 is in the context of Christ's coming
All throughout the NT the verses speak of ONE second coming .Read Hosea 13 for starters (it speaks of Jerusalem destroyed which lines up with Matthew 24 from Jesus own lips ) Joel 2, Zechariah 14 (Day of the Lord - destruction of Jerusalem) ***** A very , VERY good verse is in Malachi 4 "Behold I send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord"Elijah was John the Baptist as Jesus stated although John said he wasn't.
Zechariah lines up with Revelation when the saints are crying out under the alter for the Lord to take vengeance . He gives them white robes and says to wait a little while.
Then in Zechariah the saints are with him .
I remember Jesus telling the Pharisses that they had stoned the prophets from righteous Abel to Zechariah.
Jesus says to them THIS generation will be held accountable for it all. Luke 11:51
Zechariah 8 speaks of living waters ..
Revelation 22 River of life. There it also speaks of New Jerusalem that has the light of God in it. (Jesus is the light of man- Paul says we are the temple of God 1 Corinthians 3:16)
Interesting that the Mount of Olives was a place of ascension and decension. It was a place to complete his work of the restoration of the Kingdom. When his feet touched down on the Mount at the end of the age/second coming it was consummated. Later in the 1st century there was a road splitting the Mount of Olives in two from North to South.
See pic: https://hischarisisenough.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/img_4424.jpg
I think it was a reminder like the feast days are a memorial which testifies to Christ fulfilling them all.
Maybe this is why I had a strange "top to bottom" text show up on my phone . The curtain torn in two. A split right down the middle like the mount of Olives.
The following Scripture from God's Word can not be found in the Preterist or KJVonly Bibles who believe that the Second Coming of Jesus took place in AD 70???
**WILL THE CHURCH SAINTS AND THE LOST BE RESURRECTED ON THE SAME **LAST DAY** WHICH IS ALSO THE **DAY OF THE LORD** IS THE WORD RAPTURE IN GOD'S WORD**??
**WHAT DOES GOD'S WORD SAY**??
John 12:48: Jesus says, "There is a Judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words, that very word which I spoke will condemn him on the **LAST DAY**!" {See Matthew 25:31-46; Daniel 12:1,2 and John 5:28}
John 6:40: Jesus says, ""For My Father's will is that **EVERYONE** who looks to the Son and believes in Him {**CHURCH SAINTS**} shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the {**SAME**} **LAST DAY**!"
**WILL THE **7TH AND LAST TRUMP** SOUND ON THE **DAY OF THE LORD** WHICH IS ALSO THE **LAST DAY**??
**THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES ARE RELATED TO THE **7TH AND LAST TRUMP** MENTIONED IN I CORINTHIANS 15:51**!
The only 2 resurrections mentioned in Revelation are **POST-TRIB** and are found in Revelation 14:14-16 and Revelation 11:15-18 when the **7TH AND LAST ANGEL** will sound the **7TH AND LAST TRUMP**!!
Revelation 8:2: I saw the 7 angels who **STAND BEFORE GOD** and **7 TRUMPETS** were given to them.
**NOTE**: The first 6 trumpets will be sounded **DURING** and not **BEFORE** the Great Tribulation in Revelation 8:7 to Revelation 9:21!!!
And then on the Last Day of the Great Tribulation just before the 2nd Coming of Jesus for **HIS CHURCH SAINTS** we read in:
Revelation 11:15,18: The 7th {*AND LAST} angel sounded his {**LAST**} **TRUMPET**, and there were loud voices in heaven which said: "The Kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever... The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name (**CHURCH SAINTS**}, both small and great and for destroying those who destroy the earth!"
I Corinthians 15:50-52: I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Listen, I tell you a **MYSTERY** {See Rev 10:7 above}, we will not all sleep, but we **ALL** will be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, **AT THE LAST TRUMPET**. For the {7th & Last} **TRUMPET** will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and **WE** {**CHURCH SAINTS**} will be changed!!
Now the pre-tribbers make the ridiculous claim that this {**7TH**AND} **LAST TRUMP** in I Corinthians 15:51; when all the **CHURCH SAINTS** receive their new heavenly bodies; will take place at a pre-trib rapture just **BEFORE** the Great Tribulation and the coming of 666 even though the first 6 trumpets take place **DURING** the Great Tribulation???
**IS THE PRE-TRIB TRANSLATION OF THE GREEK WORD **HARPAZO** IN REVELATION 4:17 AS **RAPTURE** AN **EVIL SIN**??
According to Webster's dictionary the **RAPTURE** means "An expression or manifestation of **ECSTASY** or **PASSION**" The pre-tribbers claim that the Greek word **HARPAZO** in I Thessalonians 4:17 can be translated **RAPTURE** while the NIV, RSV and KJV versions translate **HARPAZO** to be **CAUGHT UP** and the Todays English version translates it to be **GATHERED UP**!
However, the word **ECSTASY** is never mention in God's Word and means a "State of being beyond reason and self control, swoon or trance"! The words **PASSION**, passions and passionate are mentioned 7 times in God's Word and **EACH TIME** it is an **EVIL SIN** as per Romans 7:5, Galatians 5:24, I Corinthians 7:9, I Thessalonians 4:5, Titus 2:12, Titus 3:3 and Hosea 7:6.
I Thessalonians 4:16,17: For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a **LOUD COMMAND**, with the voice of the Archangel and with the {7TH & LAST}**TRUMPET CALL OF GOD**, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be **CAUGHT UP** {*RAPTURED*??} together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air!
And so the pre-trib translation of the Greek word Harpazo as **RAPTURE** which means "An expression or manifestation of **ECSTASY** or **PASSION**", is an **EVIL SIN**!! And when all of God's saints are **CAUGHT UP** to heaven and receive their eternal heavenly bodies they will no longer sin and will have **EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS** on the **LAST DAY** of the 70 7's which is also the **LAST DAY** of the 42-month Great Tribulation!!
Daniel 9:24: 70 7's {Or 490 years} are decreed {From the decree of Cyrus} to Anoint the Most Holy {After 69 7's or 483 years}, To Atone for Wickedness {After 69 1/2 7's or 486 1/2 years} to finish transgession, put and end to sin and to bring in **EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS** on the **LAST DAY** of the 70 7's or 490 years which is also the **LAST DAY** of the 42- month Great Tribulation!
Titus 2:13: **WE**{**CHURCH SAINTS**} wait for the **BLESSED HOPE**--the **GLORIOUS APPEARING** of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!!
Cupcakeme: My Bible study showed that Nero Caesar will be 666 and that Pope Francis qualifies to be the False Prophet of 666. But apparently you never bothered to read my Bible studies. And apparently you are not aware that 666 and the False Prophet of 666 are 2 different people.
Is this the precursor to the Lords feet touching down on the Mount of Olives before the destruction of Jerusalem when he came back with His Saints to avenge them??
The Shekinah glory now moves from the east gate (Eze 10:4, 19) to the Mount of Olives, altogether abandoning the temple. The mount was chosen as being the height whence the missiles of the foe were about to descend on the city. So it was from it that Jesus ascended to heaven when about to send His judgments on the Jews; and from it He predicted its overthrow before His crucifixion (Mt 24:3). It is also to be the scene of His return in person to deliver His people (Zec 14:4), when He shall come by the same way as He went, "the way of the east" (Eze 43:2).
Interesting verse on the TWO WITNESSES:
Why is it that in Revelation 11:4, the two witnesses are called “the two olive trees . . . that stand before the Lord of the earth.” According to Zechariah 4:11-14, the two olive trees that stand before the Lord are the king and high priest.
Well..lets take a look-see...
There was once a man who prophesied for three and a half years, was hated by the Jewish elite, was flogged by a Roman procurator “yet he did not open his mouth,” and was killed on Passover. Based on this description, who is the first person to come to mind?
After Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to Mary looking like a farmer or gardener (John 20:15).
Additional evidence that Jesus is the two witnesses is found in the Gospels. In John 12:49-50 Jesus says, “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. . . . So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” In John 8:13-18 Jesus echoes John 12:49-50 while calling attention to the fact that because He speaks the words of the Father His testimony is that of two witnesses. John 8:13-18 reads,
“The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. . . . But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; >>>>my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”<<<<
