All Power to the Lamb

Martin Armstrong has released an article in which he expands upon his theory of cycles. He believes the cycle-time of the public ascendency has now given way to a time of the private ascendency. He sees a time of stuggle and chaos as the governments strive to maintain their power.

Armstrong does not believe there is any conspiracy, but if the public gives rise to the private, by necessity there is a conspiracy to overcome the power of the states. They will not give it up of their own volition. The history he presents from the 1300s till the present is rife with conspiracies of all sorts, yet he denies there is one today. Either Martin is a co-conspirator fallen into disfavor, or he is as blinded by the web of deceit of the elites as those he seeks to enlighten. His denial of a conspiracy does not make any sense.

I believe in cycles. The Bible says, “To every thing there is a season” (Ecc 1:3-8), and then describes various cycles. In another place Ezekiel shows that God operates with wheels within wheels (Ezk 1:16-21), that is, He uses cycles of various sorts and lengths. So, cycles are to be expected in a world He created, and Armstrong’s presentation of the 309.6 year cycle that alternates between public and private dominating forces makes sense from the aspect of the way things work.

IMO, what we are seeing is the emergence of a 7th world empire. Armstrong says it will be private rather than public. How does that work? In the times when the private dominated, the power was focused in private enterprise rather than the kings. During the Middle Ages it was the barons and their baronies that were the centers of power. Central government was rather weak. During the great period of exploration in the time of private ascendency from 1400-1600 there were great companies that arose and wielded great power throughout this era. During the last 300 years we have seen the rise of great nation-states and they have now consolidated power to the point that they threaten the very economies on which they depend.

The empire that is emerging is one controlled by private corporations rather than the state, and that fits well with Armstrong’s cycle . An important point that I think he missed is that the rise of the private force does not equate to personal liberty and good for the people. The corporate tyrant can be as ruthless as any monarch, and the fact that these corporations are the beneficiaries of the cycle of history does nothing to lessen the malevolent motivation behind them. The corporations may well return to sound economic policies, but they seek to have the freedom for themselves with the people as their serfs. The good of the people is not their agenda.

This is not to say that capitalism is evil; it is not. Capitalism is the freedom of individuals to make their own choices and to live with the consequences. Each individual making the choices in accordance with law results in the most efficient utilization of resources and the best results for society as a whole. It is the unlawful abuse of capitalism that is evil, and this evil destroys the personal freedom of the individual and his ability to choose economically and thereby damages society as a whole.

I say there is a conspiracy, or the time of government ascendency would not end, but the private power that arises will not be to the benefit of the people. My hope is that the US of A by virture of its residual faith will escape some of the ravages of this hostle private force that is being unleashed against the world.

A correspondant wrote:
Perhaps I have too much faith in the Hope of humanity. I guess I believe that Goodness will prevail over Evil. I do believe there are good people all over the world. I think that goodness cannot be enslaved forever. I do believe in Justice. Perhaps the good people of the World may surprise us.

James replies:
People from the beginning of the world have been pretty good as long as they were left alone. The problem is that there is an evil power that was not willing to let them alone. That power is still working today. It is working harm on men to bring about the last of 7 world empires, as has been advertised. This power subverts or attempts to subvert every good institution of man.

IMO, the seven world empires that will exist on earth before the end of time were designed to show that no form of government will work in a world where man is left to himself. You know; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. When it becomes obvious that all attempts of man to govern himself in whatever form bring disaster, then God will step in and provide good government forever, but that will not happen until all forms of self-government have been shown to be abject failures. The abject failure of all forms of government of the present age will serve as a lasting object lesson for all future generations to show that government from man alone is runaway locomotive on a mountain railway. God will fix it, but not until it descends into a bloodbath of total oppression and moral destitution.

Alexander Hislop has written a book called “Two Bablyons”
that has become a classic. It shows the extremely similar worship of the
Catholic and heathen religions. Catholicism has embraced every
major feature of heathenism and repackaged it under the guise
of Christianity, including the worship of images. Since
idolatry is spiritual adultery, then the church that is supposed to be
married to Christ but gives her affections to others is fittingly
represented by a drunken harlot.

In Rev 17:18 John spoke of the city “that reigneth over the kings of the
earth”. John’s description served to identify what city he was talking
about. He did not claim that the church ruled the world in his day. In
John’s day, Rome was the enemy of Christianity, but was already a harlot in
the sense that Rome was overrun with idolatry and the Gentiles had long
since departed from serving God to worship idols (Rom 1:21). However, the
government that ruled in John’s day was eventually overcome by Christianity
and Christianity then ruled the world. After the church came to power in
the fourth century, it very rapidly departed from the faith and early on
adopted many of the pagan practices. Because Christianity became so closely
linked with the Roman government that in later days it became known as the
Holy Roman Empire, Rome then became synonymous with both the secular and
ecclesiastical seats of power. The church ruled from Rome over the
governments of men for 1000 years. Rome to this day is the seat of power
for the Roman Catholic Church. Now the Roman church has great power over
the kings of the earth, even our own government. Since Rome continues in
its worship of idolatry, it is still a harlot, and apparently will continue
to be so until she is destroyed by the Man of Sin at the end of the world.

John Bray wrote an article entitled, “Were Enoch and Elijah Raptured to Heaven” (http://www.purelybiblical.com/ftp/E/Elijah_and_Enoch.pdf) where he questions the truthfulness of Enoch’s account that the prophet Enoch was kept alive when he was translated.  Bray objects to Enoch based on John 3:13’s requirement that at the time of Christ no man had ever bodily ascended up to heaven.

There are some things that John Bray apparently does not know about heaven and those things affect the results of reasoning about Enoch and Elijah. If he had ever read the the non-canonical works like the Ascension of Isaiah and the book of Enoch, he would understand that some of the things he says are wrong. For one thing, the Ascension of Isaiah says there are seven heavens (Asc Isa 3:13), and God rules in the highest, the 7th. Enoch says he went to be with the Watchers, which is the lowest heaven. So, Jn 3:13 is not violated by Enoch being caught up to the lowest heaven. Another thing is that the Bible tells us that Enoch and Elijah will be killed during the reign of the Antichrist. They will be killed in Jerusalem (Rev 11:8), and they will be resurrected there (Rev 11:11). If Enoch was killed when “he was not, for God took him” (Gen 5:24), then he dies again in Rev 11:8, and that is double jepordy. God promised that it is appoint unto men ONCE to die, and after that the Judgment. The book of Enoch clearly shows Enoch alive and well in the realm of the Watchers after he was taken (Enoch 12:1-5), even as the Bible says (Heb 11:5). My presumption is that the three ancient men that have never died (Enoch, Elijah and John) went to the same place. There they receive food and care that will keep them alive until the end times when they will all return. There is no reason to presume they are dead when the Bible does not say that they are. Mal 4 says God will send Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the day of Christ’s return (II Thes 1:7-9). I believe him, and I believe Enoch when he says they will return.

Enoch 90:51-53
51 And again I saw those sheep that they again erred and went many ways [in the days of King Ahab], and forsook that their house, and the Lord of the sheep called some from amongst the sheep and sent them to the sheep [prophets], 52 but the sheep began to slay them. And one of them was saved and was not slain [Elijah], and it sped away and cried aloud over the sheep; and they sought to slay it, but the Lord of the sheep saved it from 53 the sheep, and brought it up to me [Enoch], and caused it to dwell there.

Enoch 90:31-32
And thereafter those three [archangels] who were clothed in white and had seized me by my hand who had taken me up before, and the hand of that ram [Enoch and Elijah!! the two witnesses and two candlesticks Rev 11:3] also seizing hold of me, they 32 took me up and set me down in the midst of those sheep before the judgment took place.

Enoch 90:38-39
and the first among them became a lamb [Jesus Rev 5:6], and that lamb became a great animal and had great black horns on its head [Jesus comes as conqueror of the earth Rev 19:16]; and the Lord of the sheep 39 rejoiced over it and over all the oxen [the Jews have finally accepted their Messiah]. And I slept in their midst: [Enoch is to be killed Rev 11:7] and I awoke and saw everything.

Critics raise at least two objections to the above position. They claim that Hebrews says ALL of the folks mentioned in Hebrews 11:13 died. That would include Enoch. Critics claim it also is not vaild to use God’s pronouncement of man only being apointed to die ONCE (Heb 9:27) as an argument to show that because Rev 11:7 says he will die in Jerusalem at the end of the age, then Enoch must still be alive. There are several resurrections recorded in the Bible and the presumption is that these all died again. The widow of Nain’s son died twice. Jairus’s daughter died twice. Eutychus died twice. We can’t prove they all died again but we certainly don’t read about their being taken alive, and it seems we would.

In answer to the objections we note that Hebrews says “these” all died in faith. “These” who? The ones that Hebrews talked about that died. All these that died, died in faith. Enoch is specifically excluded (“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death”–Heb 11:5 NIV). Also, the non-canonical works agree with the inspired writer of Hebrews and say Enoch is not dead, and Revelation implies he is one of the two witnesses coming back at the end of the age.

Those people mentioned that were raised from the dead had all been dead less than one week. The non-canonical works say that a departed soul is left free for one week following his death in order that he might know what is going on. Jesus called this transition condition “sleep” (LK 8:53–she is not dead, but sleepeth; Jn 11:11–Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep). Apparently, people recalled during the transition state are not considered fully dead. It is more like an out of body experience or a near death experience, so they don’t count as getting double jepordy.