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A Servant's Role
Last issue I explored the role of a prophet, with reference to incidents in my own life.
But it might surprise you that I do
not consider myself a prophet in the traditional sense of that word. In
other words, someone who hears the direct prophetic words of his/her
Creator and then speaks or publishes prophetic warnings in advance of
actual events.
What I have always thought of myself,
as reflected in most of my published materials, such as every issue of
the APT Updates email newsletter for the past decade nearly, is a
servant.
And the particular role of servant it
has fallen my lot to perform, even though there have been fulfilled
prophecies over the years, I have always felt was that of a teacher,
the last or "lowest" of the talents of the three main roles indicated
by the acronym A.P.T. (Apostles, Prophets and Teachers; see:
I Corinthians 12:28-29 and compare Ephesians 4:11).
In fact, according to Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 20, the Apostles and prophets were, and are, the
foundation of Creator Yahveh's spiritual work on earth, just as the
Messiah, Savior Yahvsave is the chief cornerstone.
Of course, I am aware of the
prophecies of a prophet like EliYahv and Yahvhanan the Baptist, who
would come before the Savior's return to "restore all things,"
according to the Savior's prophecy as recorded in Matthew 17 verse 11
and Mark 9 verse 12, reflecting the prophecy of Malachi 4, verses 5 and
6.
But the message of this prophet is one of restoration, or looking back
to the Law given through Moses, as much as looking ahead to the
soon-coming Kingdom of the true Messiah here on earth, in advance of
these future events, according to verse 4 of Malachi 4, and Acts 3,
verse 21, just as the Savior Himself will be the true and ultimate
restorer of all things.
That certainly fits my purpose, the
role of teacher, more than the role of a prophet, over the years since
my calling.
Granted, my ministry began with
several dream visions, in which I was shown in advance the collapse of
a major religion -- the Pasadena, California-based Worldwide Church of
Herbert W. Armstrong, and its Ambassador College -- now nearly unknown
and forgotten by the present generation, which in its heyday was a
truly worldwide and generally popular religious movement.
This was revealed to me in a vision
of the night, in which the collapse and destruction of Ambassador
College's opulent and renowned Auditorium -- dedicated to the glory of
a major false mighty one of the Christian religion -- symbolized the
future breakup and destruction of the religion responsible for building
it.
After my attempts to warn the ersatz
and arrogant, unheeding ministers of that religion beginning in early
1979, in fact the very ones who seven years, to the month, later would
take over the reigns of control upon the death of HWA, and actually
fulfilled the very prophecy they spurned, ridiculed and rejected --
along with the messenger sent to deliver it -- I spent many years
(several decades, in fact) attempting to teach the recalcitrant and
egotistical, often imperious, and even openly hostile and threatening
ex-ministers of that once proud and supercilious religion.
All to apparently no avail, other
than to serve as a witness against them in advance of Judgment Day, it
seems.
Other events in my life have often had
prophetic significance, I have usually learned after the fact, while a
few times my words were indeed very prophetic, such as the events
surrounding the Oklahoma federal building bombing, the Challenger Space
Shuttle disaster, and the second great flood to hit Kansas City in
forty-two years, since the first big flood hit there the year of my
birth in that same city, respectively, to name but a few.
Unlike the prophets of old, however,
these were almost never direct messages that I heard from the mouth of Creator
Yahveh.
Even events in my family, long before
I was born, seem to reflect, prophetically, on my life purpose of
restoring from the five books of Moses, mainly, such things as the true
sacred calendar, which of course includes the restoration of the
correct days and times to observe the commanded sabbaths, Feasts and
fast of Atonement, among other things, such as the New Cycle
Celebration sabbaths.
My mother, about whose death and its
prophetic significance in my life I spoke last issue, for example, was
born on March 26, 1928 (as you can see from her death certificate, a
scan of which I included in last issue's audio message, which you can
find under the link for past issues on the main page for this issue, or
you can Click Here to View).
On the sacred calendar, restored
through me first in 1979, this was six days following the first day of
spring, the spring equinox, of the first new-cycle "month" of that
calendar (on the 7th day of that "month" and exactly seven days before
the Passover; in other words, midway between the New-Cycle Celebration
Sabbath, the first day of the new year in Creator Yahveh's inspired
calendar, and the preparation day for the Passover and the first Feast
Sabbath of Unleavened Bread).
If the date of my mother's birth on
the pagan Gregorian calendar, which is usually denoted by the numbers
for the month, day and year as 3-26-1928 is reduced by added together
the numbers, the month and day add down to 11, and so does the year,
and everyone who was once associated with Herbert Armstrong's familiar
post office box address in Pasadena, California recalls it was 111.
Eleven, according to E.W. Bullinger's Number in Scripture, denotes adding to the perfection of righteous government and order, being "subversive of and undoing that order."
And this "disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration"
truthfully embodied the final result of Herbert Armstrong's flawed
attempt to fulfill the role of either the EliYahv who was to come,
or one of the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11, depending on his
mood and vain assumption of the moment.
When all the numbers are added
together the final result is 4, a number which in scripture, again
according to Bullinger's Number in Scripture, represents either "emphatically the number of Creation; of man in his relation to the world as created," or "division," or "material completeness."
In other words, the end of the
material creation's rule by carnal man is coming to its end, and the
completeness of creation will soon be fulfilled under the rule of the
only perfect man who has ever lived, the returning Savior.
According to the Yavbels (50th year of release), restored
through me in 1999 (the year 1969 A.R., or After Resurrection), in
issue 7 of The Ephesian Messenger
newsletter, my mother was born in the year 1898 A.R., just 7 days shy
of exactly 11 years prior to the 69th Yavbel since the exodus, which
was in 1909 A.R. (or 1939-40, spring to spring, by the carnal Gregorian
calendar).
This Yavbel also adds down to 6, just as its start in
1939 by man's calendar also adds down to 13 and 4, finally, while the
year since the Messiah's resurrection adds down to 8, thirteen being
representative of "rebellion, apostasy, corruption, disintegration, revolution, or some kindred idea," according to Number in Scripture, and eight being representative of "Resurrection and Regeneration, and the beginning of a new era or order," according to the same source.
In other words, the time of the restoration of all
things, during this age of rebellion, apostasy, corruption,
disintegration, and revolution, between the ages of carnal man's rule
and Creator Yahveh's soon-coming Kingdom.
Also, according to Bullinger, the numbers 8 and 13 occur
quite frequently together in scripture, and this always indicates
Atonement, according to Number in Scripture.
Perhaps my mother's death was also
indicative of this present time, between these two different worlds, so
to speak.
Again the numbers seven and four are
present, but this time in relation to the number of man, and the number
indicating the soon coming beast of Revelation chapter 13.
Mom died September 6, 1996 (or 9-6-96),
which adds down to 6 and 6, respectively (while 1996 adds down to 7, so
all the numbers add down to 13, or 4 once again).
In the restored sacred calendar, that
was the year 1966 A.R. (or 66, again), which also adds down to 13, or 4.
This date, on the true sacred calendar,
was the 24th day of the 6th cycle "month," which once again reduces
down to 6 and 6, while 24 is 4 times 6, plus 6 and 24 adds down to 12,
and finally 3.
Also this was 16 days before the Feast of
Reva, on the fall equinox, the New-Cycle Celebration sabbath and first
day of the seventh sacred calendar "month," which again reduces down to
the number 7.
To me, this all indicates the beast's
(666) rule under carnal man (6) comes to an end with the Trumpet of
Reva sounding the immediate return of the perfect man, Messiah
Yahvsave, to rule this earth through the restoration of Creator
Yahveh's Kingdom to this world, according to His perfect plan
since before the creation of man.
That government will include the 12
patriarchs and 12 Apostles as the 12 gates and foundations of the New
Yaravsalem (see Revelation 21 verses 12 through 14), each of which also
adds down to the number 3. Or as Bullinger expressed it, in Number in Scripture, the number 3 "stands for what is solid, real, substantial, complete and entire," just as 12 "denotes governmental perfection."
By contrast, the birth of Herbert Armstrong, July 30,
1892 (the same date our youngest daughter Raveth was born, according to
the sacred calendar, who turns 10 this year), adds down to 10, or 1 and
11, or 111, while this date was the 14th day of the 5th cycle "month"
of the year 1862 A.R. in the true sacred calendar (HWA's attempts to
restore the calendar were utterly flawed and caused much division,
which eventually led to one of the seeds of the final breakup of his
former religious empire).
This adds down to 10 and 8, respectively, which totals 18
(the sum of 666), or 9 altogether, a number which denotes the
adversary, as just one short of the perfection summarized by the Ten
Commandments (according to the Savior's teaching, known as the
Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, verse 19, as echoed in James 2,
verses 10 and 11), a number Bullinger recognized as "the number of judgment," "and the conclusion of the whole matter so far as man is concerned," according to Number in Scripture.
So even though I am not a prophet in the traditional sense of that
word, I do have prophetic insight into the Creator's glorious purpose
and plan for this world, and our prophesied role in it in the days and
years ahead, founded and based in the Law of Moses (given through
Moses), as recorded in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis
through Deuteronomy).
My original calling was to witness against a corrupt, sinful and rapidly decaying
religion, which its leaders and members falsely thought was the
fulfillment of a ministry whose true messenger they utterly and
completely rejected and spurned, in their egotistical attempts to "do
the work" that was never entrusted to their careless and flawed
leadership.
And my role ever since, and still today,
is to teach those of this age who are capable of learning, few though
they may be, the riches of Creator Yahveh's wisdom -- as revealed
within that Law, and those books of scripture -- of the coming
restoration of all things.
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