eBible Fellowship

1^st Question: You might already know this question, because I got this from your Facebook wall. Is the earthquake in Revelation 16 spiritual or are we still expecting an earthquake in October?

Chris: Let us look at Revelation 16. It says in Revelation 16:17-21:

And the seventh angel [messenger] poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

So we see that this earthquake is mentioned as “so mighty an earthquake, and so great,” and then it does not sound like things ended there. The city is “divided into three parts,” and we saw what happened to the third part. This leaves the other two parts. The great earthquake has to do with May 21 in opening the prison spiritually and also in bringing Judgment Day upon man.

What is going to happen on October 21 and how is God going to open the ground? He may use an earthquake. As far as what hour in which He is going to do this, I do not really want to get into this. We just know that October 21 is it, but we do not have to know all of the details about that day.

 

2^nd Question: In relation to the 200 million, is this number only from the great tribulation until today? Are we saying that there are more than 200 million or that there are just these 200 million?

Chris: There are 200 million. This is the great multitude that came out of great tribulation. They were bound in Babylon in the river Euphrates and they are loosed, and the great day of loosing was May 21. Everything points to this day. As far as the end of the 70 years, the captives go free out of Babylon. When Israel left Egypt ties into May 21. The second Jubilee period ended when Judgment Day came on May 21, and the Jubilee is the proclamation to let the captives go free. We see all of this, and so the 200 million are identified with May 21.

Mr. Camping had been thinking that this was the sum total of all of God’s elect all throughout history. This was because on May 21 we had thought that those in the ground would come up to join those alive at that time. Then all would be raptured.

As a result of this, those left behind would experience the plagues and the judgment and everything that we were talking about. It did not happen this way, but judgment did begin; and so we have to modify this a little bit.

Those who were in the ground did not receive resurrection, and so the 200 million now more identify with all of those saved during the 6100 days of the “latter rain,” especially on that last day.

Some people are having a hard time because they were thinking that they were saved maybe even before 1988. So am I saying that they were bound and that they were one of the locusts who came out of the bottomless pit, which was a holding place, or that they were bound in the great river Euphrates?

Well, this is pointing to those who were loosed from spiritual bondage, but this is also pointing to the loosing of the judgment; and God is using His people because the saints would judge the world and would bring this judgment to the 200 million; and so we are all identified as being loosed in that sense.

Also, remember that Paul and Silas went into the prison and were prisoners themselves. Their door was opened, just like all of the other prison doors were opened, and so God could be looking at true believes.

This is like what we read in Hebrews 13:3:

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them…

Paul and Silas were thrown into prison and they had no choice about this; but when we brought the Gospel, the act of doing that, was pictured by what God is saying here. When believers bring the Gospel, we do it humbly and we acknowledge that we sill have bodies that sin, that we are sinners. In this sense, we minister as though we are bound; and so it fits this way, too, in that we are all loosed at the same time.

 

3^rd Question: Could you look at Revelation 15:7-8? In relation to the “seven angels” who are pouring out the vials in Revelation 16, is it possible that we could not yet go to Heaven because we are the ones pouring out these vials for God if we are these messengers? This means that we could not leave yet, because we are the ones who are to be doing the tormenting.

Chris: We read in Revelation 15:7:

And one of the four beasts [or living creatures]…

This is God. We want to make this distinction because the devil is called “the beast.”

Revelation 15:7-8:

And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels [messengers] seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels [messengers] were fulfilled [finished].

God is using us, and this is a good point. In 1 Corinthians 6, we read that “the saints shall judge the world.”

How is God using these 200 million? For instance, we do not know who these 200 million are. We may know acquaintances or brethren whom we have met over the last few years. Maybe we know of hundreds or maybe even thousands, but God speaks of the 200 million like an army that march in unison. If we look at Joel 2, it says that “they shall not break their ranks”; and so we wonder how God is going to use us as one huge army to judge with Him as He is judging the world.

I think the answer is what we read in John 1 in relation to Nathanael. Jesus is saying this to him, because Nathanael believed in Christ after Jesus had done a really simple thing, as He said, “When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Then Nathanael said, “Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” Nathanael knew that He was the Messiah as a result of this. Then Jesus told him, “Thou shalt see greater things than these.” Then it says in John 1:51:

And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels [messengers] of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

First of all, this word “hereafter” is found in Matthew 26:64. Jesus is speaking to the high priest of Israel:

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Did the high priest see this with his eyes? The high priest of Israel at that time was Caiaphas and he never physically or literally saw this, but this is indicating that they were going to know that Christ was the Messiah. They were going to know from that point on that, yes, God was in their presence.

So when we see this word “see,” this does not mean that we physically see. Jesus is saying here in John 1:51:

…Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels [messengers] of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Again, this word “angels” is better translated “messengers.”

So Christ is basically saying that He is going to save people. Immediately, they will be lifted up and seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We have known this because Ephesians tells us this.

Whenever anyone becomes saved, they are still here on earth; and so God dispatches them and they descend. They never really went to Heaven, but God is looking at them in Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, who sends them for a purpose back to earth, even though they never left, to carry the Gospel. As they heard the Gospel from someone, it is now their responsibility to carry the same message of the Bible to others.

What happened on May 21 is that 200 million – we will just use this number – 200 million ascended into the heavenlies to be seated at the right hand of God; and so they ascended “upon the Son of man.” Yet when they came back to earth, in this figure of speech, they were not sent out with the Gospel, because Christ has cut this off.

All throughout history, the saved would ascend and descend and were commanded to go forth. But Judgment Day came and no more are being saved. What would be the point of sending out messengers of the Gospel? And so Jesus stopped it there.

But can you imagine what a tremendous blessing it would be if He moved in all of these people “to will and to do of his good pleasure” to bring that message to the world? And yet He stopped it.

Does any true believer feel that they should now be out there and that they should be getting the Gospel out? No; and we almost knew this right away. Mr. Camping had the same feeling. We are not going to be warning about October 21, Judgment Day.

Family Radio, the most evangelistic tool that I think the world has ever seen has sent forth how many millions of tracts? How many people in this room used to receive boxes of tracts from Family Radio? Over the course of many years, anyone in the world could have asked and they would have received about 5,000 tracts. They sent tract teams to so many countries. They advertised and were broadcasting all over the world that time was short.

This has all stopped and it is not because we are afraid. It is also not because Satan has stopped us. This is because Christ, who dispatches those who descend upon Him, is not doing this.

So all 200 million now are in unison. Typically, they should be marching forth; but now Christ has stopped this. This is because He is viewing the whole earth as though fire and brimstone is falling, and we do not sow seed in ground that has had fire and brimstone fall upon it.

 

4^th Question: Could you look at Revelation 16:12-14?

Chris: We read in Revelation 16:12:

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

The river Euphrates is Babylon’s river. It is the boundary of the kingdom of Israel or the Kingdom of God, but the river itself identifies with Babylon; and this river dries up.

What does this make us think of? It makes us think of the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the river Jordan.

Here, the river of Babylon dries and prepares the way for the kings of the east. The gospel water of Babylon is identified with the churches and congregations, and this is completely dried up. This is what has actually happened all over the earth, as Babylon is also the world. As far as sending this forth unto salvation, the Gospel water is dried up. This prepares the way for God’s people to make that final crossing; but this is not literal. This is talking about going into the Promised Land of Heaven.

Then it says in Revelation 16:13:

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

The number 3 is in view, which is God’s purpose that this happen.

I do not fully understand this verse, but we do find in Revelation 19 that the Bride “hath made herself ready.” This is all of the elect who are “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.”

We know that there is this good tradition that people have of being married in white, because this is a picture of the body of believers. Christ is the Husband and the believers are the Bride; and so the Bride is ready, but there is still a war.

In Revelation 19, it speaks of Christ on a white horse. Then look at verse 14, Revelation 19:14:

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

This is referring to an army of horsemen and the 200 million are also called horsemen. It is said of the locusts in Revelation 9 that they are “like unto horses.” Joel 2 also speaks of horsemen, as they are destroying the Garden of Eden behind them and leaving a “desolate wilderness.”

So here comes Christ with an army of horsemen clothed in fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. They are all saved and these are going to the battle. Then we read in Revelation 19:17-20:

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

We have already learned that Satan was taken and that God looks at him as though he were killed even though he still exists. We also know now that the church, the third part, was killed at the same time. Satan, the beast, was killed and the church was killed.

We know that this all happened at that transition. On May 20^th or 21^st, Satan lost all official power and the churches lost all hope.

We know Satan’s role as “the beast.” “False prophet” is a name of Satan that identifies particularly with the church, because the false prophet “wrought miracles before him”; and so it looks like these two “were cast alive into a lake of fire.”

We have to get away from a literal understanding. The 200 million are bringing fire and brimstone, and we read here of a “lake of fire” that is “burning with brimstone.”

So God is looking at the official rule of Satan or “the beast” as being over. He is killed and the church is slain. This means that they are already in the “lake of fire.”

This explains Revelation 20:10:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are…

This is either “are” or “were.” I am not sure which tense to use here; but either way, this is strange. Is this not strange that “the beast” and “the false prophet” are already there? They are either there presently or they have been there. Then here God is speaking of “the devil” and He is going to cast the “small and great” into the “lake of fire,” which is “the second death.”

If we go back to Revelation 19:20 where it says:

…These both were cast alive…

This word means “alive.” God is “the living God” and this is the same word. Actually, if you look this word up, this is dealing with the Gospel, with salvation, with life, with existence.

So they are consciously aware. They are living because they are still walking around. One-third of the world has been killed, but they are not physically dead. They are alive when this takes place. Satan is not ultimately destroyed or annihilated. He is still out there; it is just that he has lost all power.

Then we read in Revelation 19:21:

And the remnant [loipoy:G3062] were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Again, God is separating out Satan and the church, and the church identifies with “the false prophet.”

Is it not ironic that it is the church that is pointing the finger at Mr. Camping and all of God’s people and claiming that he is a false prophet, when God actually identifies them completely with “the false prophet”?

They are the ones, because they were not bringing the truth, who came under the wrath of God and the judgment of God immediately. Then there is the remnant, the rest of mankind who will be slain, also. They are going to die, but there is that small hope that perhaps they might be saved as they live through this five-month period. At the end, this remnant is also killed and they are also cast into “the lake of fire,” which is complete annihilation.

 

5^th Question: It is amazing to realize these things that are happening. We cannot see this, but there are these tremendous things happening. So it looks like there are two-thirds that have been annihilated or vanquished. It looks like the one-third is being gathered to the great day. I know that this is very difficult spiritual language.

Chris: The third part is dead. The third part represents those in the churches.

 

6^th Question: The beast and the false prophet, which were cast into the “lake of fire,” has this happened yet? Where is Satan right now? What is happening with the devil?

Chris: He is out there and he is still roaming the earth, but we have to remember that he was bound at the cross. Then in 1988, he was loosed, and he was loosed in a major way, because look at the world and the church since then. We can definitely see a comparison between an evil world when Satan was bound and an evil world when Satan was loosed. It is just far more evil, and yet he was loosed to accomplish God’s purpose, which he did, bringing judgment on the churches and the congregations officially. This is why God says of Nebuchadrezzar, who was a type of Satan, that he was “my servant.”

So, officially, he had this. He was given power to continue 42 months, the length of the great tribulation. Now, though, his power has been stripped.

Let us look at Ezekiel 32, which talks about Egypt and Pharaoh. Just like Nebuchadrezzar, Pharaoh typifies Satan. But let us first go back to Ezekiel 29:2-5:

Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

Here is Satan, typified by Pharaoh, as a “the great dragon” or a sea monster or a serpent. God brings him out of the river, and it is his river because it is not God’s Gospel water. He brings him out onto the land and all of the fish of the river are clinging to him. This would be Satan and those in the churches and the congregations. Notice that this is similar language to Revelation 19 because the fowls are feasting.

Now go to Ezekiel 32. This is still speaking of Pharaoh. We read in Ezekiel 32:2:

Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale…

“Whale” is the same word for “dragon” that we read in Ezekiel 29. Ezekiel 32:2 continues:

…thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

What this is really saying is that the Gospel is “trodden under foot.”

Then we read in Ezekiel 32:3-7:

Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

This ties in with May 21; because immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun is darkened, the moon does not give its light, and the stars fall.

So here God is telling us what He is going to do to “the dragon.” He is going to take him out of his rivers, and remember that the Euphrates dries up. He is going to take him out and put him on the land with the fish; and the fish are men. These are all those in the churches and congregations who worship “the beast.” These are clinging to him and they are all exposed to the fouls for them to come and feed on them. And so God identifies this with May 21.

Then we read in Ezekiel 32:9-10:

I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

Again and again, God keeps emphasizing this. The king of Babylon fell. The king of Egypt also has a fall, and Satan, too.

 

7^th Question: Could you explain Hosea 1?

Chris: I do not know if I could explain the whole chapter. We know that Hosea was a prophet. God commanded him to marry Gomer, who was a harlot. God does this in order to paint a picture between Himself and Israel or the church and the spiritual harlotry that they were involved with. Then Gomer has children. Through the names of these children, like Loruhamah, God is indicating that He will not have mercy.

Maybe this is why you are interested in this because God is saying that He will not have mercy, and we know that He does not have mercy in judgment. There was no mercy on the churches for anyone being saved within the churches, and there is no mercy on the world now.

But I do not know how to relate this to what is going on today. Maybe we could look at this later.

 

8^th Question: I am still a little puzzled about the five months. You touched all around this today in regards to the scorpions and the fire and brimstone. Their “power is in their mouth.” You just talked about “the dragon” and how all of the fish were thrown on the land. Could this be during the five months? I know that a lot of stuff happened before the five months, but these five months are very, very important. The scorpions come out and they do not kill anybody; they just torment them. The torment would not be before May 21^st. There is supposed to be torment going on and it is from the mouth. Is the Lord going to let them see something that we have said?

Chris: I do not think that we have to look for this. We have to look at this from God’s perspective.

The judgment on the church helps us, because that was a real judgment. Actually, God is reinforcing that it was a far greater and more awful judgment than we had ever thought by the judgment that He is bringing now. We are seeing how awful it is when this expands.

God brought the judgment on the churches. Did the churches know? They heard, but did they know? Did they think that as they were gathering together that they were worshipping Satan? No; they denied this and they continued on. To them, this judgment was not even a judgment. They did not acknowledge this or recognize this, and it could be the same today, which it is.

Did God give the churches a terrible judgment? Yes. There was no salvation. Is it an awful judgment now? Yes. From God’s perspective, torment means mostly sorrow, a troubling of mind.

 

9^th Question (continued from Question 8): What I found is that nothing in Revelation points out the sorrow. It points out pain and suffering, and I went over all of the verses. Nothing in these five months is like the sorrow that we thought of or like Mr. Camping was pointing out.

Chris: We do not limit this word just to the book of Revelation. We see how this word is used wherever. Where they were “toiling in rowing,” it is the same word. In toiling, they are not being tortured. It is just that it was laborious. They toiled in rowing.

This word is used in a way that is very surprising in the New Testament. When we look at it, we see that this word does not carry the awful weight that we thought it did.

 

10^th Question (continued from Question 9): As I saw it when I went over it all in Strong’s, I was surprised that it coming up with the same exact number. But how do the many lashes come in, as well as the fewer lashes? This cannot be before May 21^st, and yet this stuff is supposed to be coming out of their mouths.

Chris: Let me try to explain this again quickly. God shut the door on the whole world. As a result of this action that only God could take, this brings torment to two-thirds of the population who are unsaved, whether they know this or not. From God’s perspective, this is what God is doing.

These two-thirds, though, have the slightest bit of hope that if they were to hear about this from believers or from Family Radio that maybe, even though they might have mocked about this, maybe though, God could still have saved them.

So they are not killed immediately from this movement into Judgment Day, but the third part, which typifies the third-part of the world in the churches, are killed immediately from this transition of judgment on the church to judgment on the world with no one being saved. This is more stripes because they have no hope. They knew the Master’s will, but they did not hearken.

Maybe you could just consider this idea. As a friend said to me, “Going from no hope to the tiniest bit of hope is a huge difference.” Their punishment is that the door of Heaven is shut. They could not be saved before May 21 because they were in the church. They cannot be saved now anywhere in the world.

This is far greater than for an individual, let us say, like a Buddhist. Maybe a Buddhist saw a billboard, but he rejected it and did not pay any attention to it. He also transitions to this period; but perhaps, for himself or for others who might know him, they could continue to pray, “O Lord, could You have mercy, having had mercy? Could it be that You had done a work in his heart before Judgment Day came?”

There is actually a huge difference. This is why the rest of the men are not slain and this is why the third part are slain. This is all from God’s perspective.

 

11^th Question: Is it possible that young Christians might realize in the middle of this that righteousness has come to their lives?

Chris: We do not know how God works in every case. If we all were to get together and ask how God entered into our lives, there are going to be a lot of differences. We do not even know when God saved us. We may start getting into our minds that we want to serve God, but He could have saved us three months earlier.

This is the little bit of hope that anyone outside of the church could have. Possibly, potentially, God did a work of salvation.

 

12^th Question: Could you explain Daniel 7:11-12?

Chris: I will begin reading in verse 9. We read in Daniel 7:9-12:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

I do not know. I have not looked at this. This sounds interesting and it seems to relate.

We do know that this has to do with Judgment Day. Verses 9 and 10 fit with Revelation 20 very well when God is opening the books there to judge mankind.

But as far as the reference to “the beast,” “the beast was slain” and “the rest of the beasts,” I do not know.

Let us stop here and we will close with a word of prayer.

Dear Father, thank You once again for the Bible. We pray that You would bless our reading of it. It is always a blessing to read the Bible, even if someone is not saved, as Isaac blessed his sons concerning things to come. We pray that we would realize that the reading or that the listening of the Bible is a great blessing. Father, we pray for our families and we ask that perhaps You might have done a work in them. We do pray for each one of them that they might come forth as Lazarus to life, even though they have grave clothes bound about them. Over this period, may those grave clothes be taken off and may they realize that they have been given the gift of eternal life. Father, we thank You once again and we pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.