10: Jesus Showed Sign

10: Jesus Showed Sign

Read this urgent Biblically generated information

By Everett Triplett

“THEY ASKED JESUS TO SHOW THEM A SIGN”

The last night of my trip to Washington, D.C., I awakened in my hotel room at two o’clock in the morning. There was an eerie stillness about the room. I thought it strange and suspected that the Lord had awakened me. So, I picked up the Bible and opened it to see if the Lord might show me something significant. Where I began to read was Matthew 16:2-4: They asked Jesus to show them a sign. He said, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy because the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. Jesus then left them and went away.”

I thought about this present day and age, and today it is a wicked and adulterous generation. People I’ve talked to have said to me, “I have to see a sign.”

Jesus is saying that although they are looking for a sign at the time of the end, “no sign will be given to them, except the sign of Jonah. We need to focus on that exception, because it is the only sign that they will be given. ” They are the generation who this end time destruction comes on. So there is going to be a sign given to them after all. And it is the sign of Jonah. I began to think about what that could possibly mean, because it has got to be out there for all to see.

Well, in construction, building codes also have exceptions, and I have learned to pay careful attention to them. Also many county ordinances like planning and zoning laws have numerous exceptions. It is always a good idea to pay careful attention to all those exceptions as well.

AM I THE SIGN OF JONAH?

So, I thought a great deal about Jonah. He was an ordinary man whom the Lord told to go preach repentance to the capitol city of Nineveh because of its wickedness. Bear in mind that while I am reading this, I am in our capitol city of Washington , D.C. trying to
warn all the high ranking elected officials there as well.

But Jonah tried to run away, and he got aboard a ship–and a violent storm arose. The ship was threatened, and the sailors were afraid. They found out that Jonah was responsible. So, he told them to throw him into the sea, and that it would become calm.

And when they threw him overboard, the raging sea became calm. Then all the sailors greatly feared the Lord. But then the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and he was inside the fish for three days and three nights. When he began to pray from inside
the belly of a whale, the Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. It was then that Jonah decided to obey the word of the Lord, and he went to the very large city of Nineveh and preached to them for three days–like he was supposed to from the beginning.

No doubt, Jonah’s three days in the belly of the whale altered his physical appearance. Some say his skin would have been bleached completely white by the stomach acid of the whale. At any rate, if a man comes to you and tells you that he just spent three days in the belly of a whale, and the only reason he’s standing before you is because God delivered him out of the belly of the whale so he could tell you to repent –well, that’s a whale of a fish story.

      COMPARE MY STORY TO JONAH’S

But the story I tell about all that has happened to me is no less strange than what happened to Jonah. And I bear scars that physically reflect the reality of my story.

Like telling people how I slipped and fell and suffered a badly broken left wrist and left ankle, and then came home and opened a bible to “As for you lie down on your left side.”   plus I roll up the sleeve of my shirt and show them the scar where a sharp bone fragment
came out and then one day as I was rereadingEzekiel Chapter 4 “…with bared arm prophecy to them.” Once again a feeling of awe swept over me. Who am I?

When you recount the series of strange things that have happened to me and all the stories in this book, I’m convinced that Jonah’s story is no stranger than mine.

SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE. Failure to pay attention to these signs can cost you your life.

Can it be that no sign will be given to them except me? How else can I explain all these things that have happened to me?

I returned to my hometown and summer passed by without the biblical disaster called the Day of the Lord. Again I’m at a loss for an explanation to why we seem to have escaped the sudden end-time disaster in 2001.

              A HARD LOOK AT TOBACCO

So I began to re-read the history of Jamestown. And I discovered that it was really in 1612 that they actually learned how to grow and cure tobacco. And tobacco is totally credited with having saved the colony from becoming a wretched failure.

Tobacco transformed the colony into a raging boomtown. Immediately I recognized tobacco as sin, for the Bible tells us, “The wages of sin is death.” And we know tobacco kills people. But sin is also described in another place, that “whatever you yield yourself to, that you will become enslaved by.”   Whoever yields to smoking becomes enslaved by one of the most powerful addictions known to man. It is said that heroin addiction is more easily broken than an addiction to tobacco.

              EZEKIEL WITNESSED MEN SMOKING TOBACCO PIPES

So, I began to add 390 years to 1612, and I became convinced that it would happen the next year in 2002.   My conviction was re-enforced when I was re-reading in the Book of Ezekiel, and I discovered scriptures that actually fit the description of smoking tobacco. Ezekiel is told to go see the wicked, detestable things they are doing.

So, he went and looked, and he saw in this room seventy elders of the House of Israel. We’ve already been told they’ll be punished 390 days, a day for each year of their sins. Each one of them is holding in his hand a censer.

How do you describe a censer? It’s a small fire resistant container, designed for holding a smoldering substance. Out of it, rises a wisp of smoke.   Ezekiel also sees a cloud of incense in the room rising above them. Tobacco smoking began with pipes, and they are commonly held in the hand. But today a censer that has incense in it is more likely to be set down somewhere and the small amount of smoke from it dissipates rather than forming a cloud. The evolution of cigars and cigarettes came later.

A roomful of men smoking pipes will create a cloud of smoke in the air. I began to recognize the beginning of their sin, and it is tobacco.

Add 390 to 1612 and you get 2002. Isaiah 29:1 says add year to year, so now I am convinced of the need to continue to prepare for the next year and rejoice in fact that God has apparently given us an extension of more time.

                 THE BIBLICAL PUZZLE

I see each Bible verse like a piece of a puzzle. And I see one fitting into another one in the same way that if you have the wrong piece of the puzzle, it may appear that it fits into an adjoining piece. But as the other puzzle pieces begin to fill in around it, it’ll become obvious
that piece doesn’t belong there.

The Bible says we know in part, and I know the Lord has given me a large part of what I see coming. It’s a cleansing of our land. I tell people that I know what is going to happen. I’m not a rocket scientist. I just read about it in God’s Word.

In 2 Peter 2, it says, “The Lord condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and he made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.” At first, I had trouble with this verse. How can a city suffer nuclear devastation but only the
ungodly suffer exclusively?

Right after Jeremiah 6 reiterates terrible destruction from the north (linking this to Ezekiel 7:5’s unique end-time coming disaster; and that being in Ezekiel 1:4 the immense fire cloud enfolding itself and coming from the north.) He tells us that they plan to attack at noon. But alas, the daylight fades, and the shadows grow long, indicating possibly that they will have trouble logistically getting everything into place on time. If so, they are forced to make a last-minute change of plans and then decide to make it an attack at night.

But it’s God’s mercy on the righteous that their intended plans are delayed. For the city is a crowded place at noon, and the population is near peak levels when they planned to attack.. The devastation and human casualties would be much greater then, but because it happens in the middle of the night, when the typical city experiences the lowest levels of population in a twenty-four hour cycle during the wee hours of the morning. There is a lingering element of society that continues to mill about, looking for drugs, sex, and other criminal activity. And it is upon their heads this disaster will suddenly fall.

9/11 ATTACK ON AMERICA

On September 11, 2001, I got up and went to work, and I was unaware of what was taking place till I stopped at a convenience store to get a drink. The man I met coming out of the door of the store said, “I bow down before you.”   He was a friend who I had
discussed at great length how convinced I was that we were facing the end-time disaster. I told him, “I don’t want anyone to bow down before me. What are you talking about?”

He said, “You were right. Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?” I asked. “I haven’t heard anything.”

He then informed me.

I told him that this was not the Day of the Lord disaster that is coming. But I did recognize it to be like a contraction in the birth pain process. The Day of the Lord is coming, and it’ll be like the breaking of the water. When the water breaks the pains greatly increase. That
will be the actual beginning of the baby passing through the birth canal. It is then that the pain becomes exceedingly great.

 “BIRTH PAINS” SIGNAL THE END OF THIS AGE

When Jesus sat on Mount Olive in Matthew Chapter 24, the disciples asked him when the end of age would come.

The Lord replied that when we see wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, kingdoms rising against kingdoms, famines, and earthquakes this will be the beginning of birth pains.

The Earth is groaning in travail. The contractions have begun. There is no reverse. The process has no timeouts. Painful events shall continue and become even more severe.

Recent key events in this process included the Bush-Gore election, the attacks of 9-11 in New York City, the war on terror, our attack on Iraq, the horrific tsunami in Southeast Asia, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Hurricane Rita, and the whole Gulf Coast–called the worst disaster in the history of the United States. These are followed by the worst tornado season; wild fires fifty times more severe than the average, and floods and severe droughts.

These birth pains are the necessary process that results in the birthing of the “NEW AGE.” There is coming incredible period of economic and technological expansion far exceeding what followed World War II. We will emerge as the champions of this final conflict, and there will be peace on earth for a thousand years to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says that while people speak of peace and safety, destruction will come upon them suddenly as if labor pains suffered by a woman. In fact, anywhere labor pains are mentioned throughout the Bible,  all such references refer to this transition-time.

Birth pain, although an unpleasant process, is the way that new life is produced. And the new age is being slowly birthed as war intensifies until all the evil enemies of freedom are completely destroyed..WITH THE LORD’S HELP WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS.

Thus, for brief intermittent periods, life throughout American society will appear to return to normal while in fact the end-time birth pain contraction process continues to escalate.

THE BEST TIME FOR AN ATTACK

But the Lord confirmed my understanding about this later as I watched a couple of retired generals being interviewed on a talk show. They were asked, “When do you think the Bush administration will attack Iraq?”

By this time, officials had announced their plans to do so in advance. That didn’t seem particularly prudent, from my point of view, to make an announcement that you’re coming to attack your enemy. But nevertheless, one general responded to the question by saying,
“With today’s technology and equipment, the optimum time for an attack is in the middle of the night, because the darkness helps maintain the element of surprise. With our night vision goggles, we have an advantage.

“The cover of darkness keeps our enemies from seeing us coming,” the general said. “The darker it is the better, and the darkest nights are during the phase of the new moon.”

Again I am amazed at how the Lord confirms to me that the understanding I have is supported by scripture and present day logic of military experts..

This is what the Bible is talking about. Another scripture that verifies what the Lord has shown me is in Genesis, Chapter 1. It says, “The Lord made the lights in the sky to separate the night from the day. God said, ‘Let there be light in the sky to separate the night from the day, and let them serve as SIGNS, and to mark seasons, and days, and years.’”

It’s easy to understand that the sun marks the day. And the seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth. We revolve around the sun once each year. But when it says, they serve as a signs it’s telling us that the sun and the moon both serve as indicators of timing references to when this climactic end-time disaster of all disasters will come.

ONE FOURTH OF THE EARTH— NORTH AMERICA

The scriptures are clear that this coming disaster doesn’t refer to the entire earth. The primary reasons:

1    SEASONS: Since the disaster is at the door as summer approaches, it can only happen only in one hemisphere–either the north half or the south half. When it’s summer in the United States, it’s winter in South America.

2    NIGHTTIME ATTACKS: As the earth turns on its axis, no more than half of it is experiencing the darkness of night time at the same time; but nighttime is continuously moving.

One-half times one-half equals one-fourth, and that explains why the four horsemen of Revelations Chapter Six are given power to kill by sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts over ONE FOURTH OF THE EARTH.

By continuing to seek out the specific descriptions pertaining to the “day of the Lord” you will become convinced exactly which ONE FOURTH OF THE EARTH is awaiting this destruction.

 “WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN (TO THE UNGODLY)”

2 Peter 2 says what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah is an example of what’s going to happen to the ungodly.

So, anyone who wants to know what is going to happen should take a very close look at how that story unfolded.   I have encountered many who tell me that they are happy and don’t even really want to know what is going to happen.

First, the city was wicked, and Lot was told by the angel to, “ Get out because God is going to destroy this city.” And the Lord sent an angel to get Lot to obey this, he narrowly escaped and survived, but his wife perished.

Today, the Lord is warning people to get out of the cities. Major cities are the target for the coming attack. People need to understand this for what it is: an example of the coming Day of the Lord; cities will be burned; in the middle of the night. Do not remain in the metropolitan areas after the sun goes down. If they obey, they will increase their chances of survival. Now, the angel told Lot to go up into the mountains, just like in Ezekiel Chapter 7, which says, “All who survive and escape will be in the mountains.”

But Lot protested, “Why do I need to go there? There’s nothing there.” He pleaded with the angel, and said, “Why can’t I just go to this nearby small town instead?” The angel conceded, and said to him, “Okay, go ahead and go into the nearby small town.” But very soon, because of the violence in the nearby small town, Lot began to fear for his life. This is just like what Ezekiel 7 informs us: that those in the country–which is like a nearby small town–will die by the sword. Those who remain in the city will perish by famine and plague.

Next, we read about Lot doing what he was told to do to start with. He left that small town full of violence and went up into the mountains, and stayed in a cave where he was safe. This also serves as a good example to follow as the need arises at the appropriate time. Caves make excellent fallout shelters and even inIsaiah 2 we read about the men fleeing to the caves and holes in the ground from the fear and dread of the Lord. Lot is providing us with another example of what to do on the Day of the Lord.

       NUCLEAR ATTACKS HIT BIG CITIES

Major U.S. cities will be the direct target on the Day of the Lord. America’s enemies want to kill as many people as possible. Isaiah 1 says cities will be burned and Ezekiel 5 says, “…the fire will burn in the center of the city.”

Isaiah 28 tells us, “The Lord will be a spirit of justice, to him who sits in judgments, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.”

The word “gate” here applies to the entrances of the country—specifically the United States. Our nation’s founders made use of this word.

For instance, New York City on the East Coast is called “The Gateway to Freedom,” and San Francisco on the West Coast is the gateway to the ” Golden State” and has the famed Golden Gate Bridge.

Such port cities are major entrances to our nation, like New Orleans, which just suffered the worst natural disaster our nation’s history. New Orleans also serves as an example of what is coming. Prudent men see how quickly disaster can strike. I like to be optimistic and
hope for the best, but preparing for worst-case scenario is wise. Isaiah 32 says the noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands. Will you be able to stand on the day of the Lord’s wrath? Yes you will, if you get busy and make your own noble plans.

A “ Sodom and Gomorrah” mentality is prevalent in today’s major cities. But people who prefer to avoid the oppressive congestion there live in the country or the mountains and enjoy the tranquility from being closer to God’s creation. Those who desire the nightlife and party action seek out the city lights will risk suffering the coming destruction.

   THE CITIES HAVE BECOME OUR FALSE GODS

Jeremiah 11:13 says, “The number of your cities are the number of your gods.” Architectural masterpieces form the city skyline competing for recognition. City planners pride themselves with elaborate designed transit systems, flood control and utility networks. Our society places prestige from money and materialism above all else, worshipping them. The Old Testament terminology refers to this as idolatry.

Indeed, real estate prices within our largest cities and the areas surrounding them have reached staggering levels. The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil.

The greed mentality has stricken many of those areas, but that same mentality is spreading.

        PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE EXAMPLES

Many other stories in the scriptures also serve us as examples to us. They confirm that all the stories in Israel’s history are written down for us upon whom the end will come just like we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:11.

I discovered everywhere I found passages referring to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah that it was consistently foretelling of the same unique end-time disaster.

One such verse is in Deuteronomy 29:23, and another one is in Isaiah 1:9.

Isaiah Chapter 1 talks about a sinful nation, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the holy one, and turned their backs on him.

“Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured.” Think of 9-11.

As the miles and miles of destruction by Hurricane Katrina of the Mississippi coast were shown on television from the air as cameramen flew over, the Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, made the comment that they took a blow on the jaw.   He added that they would recover. How’s that for fulfillment of the scripture “Why should you be beaten anymore?” It is because America will not listen or wake up to the fact that God is doing everything He can to get us to turn around and repent.

“Your whole heart is afflicted,” which we can think of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. The port of New Orleans was the heart of the shipping into the interior of our land. The Mississippi River is like the aorta distributing needed supplies into the heartland.

It says in Amos 3:6, if a disaster comes upon a city, “. . . has not the Lord caused it?” Without a doubt it is the Lord who has caused the United States to suffer this worst hurricane season ever. Even insurance companies refer to such disasters as “acts of God”.

Isaiah 1:9 says that “Unless the Lord left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom , and we would have been like Gomorrah .”

Because this verse is talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, we know that this entire context is talking about what is going to happen to the ungodly. And it is all end time prophetic information. It’s preceded by:

“ Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire.”

Isaiah 2 continues with the Day of the Lord, saying “ men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground.”

Now, that’s a typical response to a radiation-contaminated environment. Isaiah 3says, “ The Lord is about to take supply and support, all supplies of food and all supplies of water.”

This is just like at the end of Ezekiel 4, where we learn that “food and water will be scarce.”

This refers to the Day of the Lord, and Joel 1 says, “Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. And the cattle moan because they have no pasture.”

Why is that? The environment is experiencing a nuclear winter. Hope lies in the fact that spring will come again. Can you make it through the winter?

And then we get to the part in Isaiah 3:9 where they parade their sin like Sodom. We do have gay pride parades in these times as I have already told about seeing them on the news on the first day I had read this verse for the first time. But please don’t forget the next verse that promises it will be well for the righteous, they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds or doings or actions, depending upon which version you have. Just so you get the point that this is a time that calls for the righteous to be busy doing deeds and taking action. What they are to be doing is preparing to deal with what we are told is coming.

      THE PHARAOH SERVES AS ONE EXAMPLE

In October 2000 I went down to Guatemala. While on the way there, I was thinking about the story of the Pharaoh, and how he had dreamt of seven fat cows that were consumed by seven skinny cows. And he awakened from that dream, and he paced the floor troubled by how unusual the dream was. He knew it must mean something significant, but he didn’t understand it.

So, he lay down again, and went back to sleep and dreamt again. He dreamt about seven abundant stocks of grain that were consumed by seven drought-stricken, sickly looking stocks of grain.

The Pharaoh awakened from the dream and recognized the significance of the similarity of these dreams. When he sought far and wide for someone to interpret them, along came Joseph who explained to the Pharaoh that the dreams meant that seven years of famine was coming.

But they would be preceded by seven abundant years. The Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of stockpiling grain in preparation of seven years of famine to come. I thought about the future seven years of tribulation coming, described as seven years of famine–where it’ll be a day’s wages for a quart of wheat, according toRevelation 6:5.

Late at night as I lay in the strange bed trying to go to sleep, I thought aboutEzekiel’s instructions in Chapter 4, that say to store up for yourself wheat, barley, and beans. Because of the seven
years of coming tribulation, I began to suspect that the story of Pharaoh’s Egypt was another example for those of us upon whom the end will come.

This is an important discovery. The Lord often reveals an important message by using similar, but different stories. Like in the Pharaoh’s two different dreams, they were both about the same message. This is consistent with what I am saying about many Old Testament stories. They are different but similar examples about that same future event, the “Day of the Lord”. The Pharaoh lies down a second time after the first dream similar to Ezekiel who also lies down a second time on his right side. The parallels in both stories serve as evidence that these and other stories are in fact examples given to us to help us understand what is going to happen.

At six o’clock the next morning, I was in a men’s shower room shampooing my head with my eyes closed. And my thoughts were about the Pharaoh and the seven fat cows and seven skinny cows and wondering whether it also was an example to us. When I stepped out of the shower with a towel around my waist, one of three men at the other end of the shower room saw me step out of the shower and said to his friends, “Hey, look at him. He has one fat leg, and one skinny leg.”

It was true. My broken leg had shriveled up and shrunken from muscle atrophy. The good leg had been carrying the full load of my weight, and the muscle had gotten bigger from the continuous
workout. I told them right then what I had been thinking and that the Lord was speaking to me through what they had just said.

And I told them, “Just like in the time of the Egyptian Pharaoh who enslaved the Israelites and God saw the heavy burden of His people, He was moved with compassion and delivered them, so it is the same today, God’s people struggle under the heavy oppression of this corrupt and wicked system of diminished Liberty and Justice. This is supposed to be “THE LAND OF THE FREE; THE HOME OF THE BRAVE” but I fear it has become more like “THE LAND OF THE FEE; HOME OF THE SLAVE.”

So another sign of the time of the end drawing near will be seven years of unprecedented economic expansion, then the year that the sudden destruction comes and that begins the seven years of
tribulation.”

I had watched an economic news program saying that during the Clinton administration the country had experienced a continuous, unprecedented economic expansion for the last seven years.

So, I added that to my logical basis for being convinced that we were now at the end of seven abundant years, and that the seven years of tribulation were due to begin. With these compelling facts supporting what I already knew, I continued to tell everyone to get ready for the coming Day of Disaster.

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