These thoughts were brought to mind due to my recent studies while preparing my sermons about the 4 horses in Revelation 6, and a sermon I recently heard that was given by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. It leaves me with a real feeling of sadness to know the fullness of the sufferings due to starvation, destruction, death, and slavery, Israel will very soon be experiencing.

Though these things have seemed to be slow in coming they appear to be almost on top of us, and could be here very soon!

At the same time I would hope that none of us would be all that much surprised and disappointed if there should be a little more time than we now think. Conceivably we could have as much as another 8 to 10 years, or so.

Disappointment and Disillusioned -

Many of you may recall we were disappointed in earlier times, 1972, 1975, when we thought one of those years was the all-important year the Church would flee to the place of safety. Some were so disappointed and disillusioned that neither of those two years was the right one they left the Church.

Perhaps few realize it but the time element of itself can very well be another trial for us if we have to wait a few more years before we reach that time.

I well remember when those years were given as to when the Church would flee. Also the years were numbered from there all the way to the coming of Christ, and the beginning of the millennium. This paperwork was handed out in the Friday night Bible Study in 1953 or 1954 by an evangelist who had put it altogether.

1972 was conjectured as the year and was supported by the year of creation, the chronological years of the kings of Judah, and the year of the fall of the Babylonian Empire (Autumn, 537 B.C.) was used as a necessary supporting date. With all of this in print it seemed so right. I believed it and supported it in my own personal life as well as in sermons after I was ordained in 1958.

When the year 1972 came and went and we were still here, there was some re-figuring and the revised projected time came to be 1975 as the right year. I well remember the blackboard and figures written on it in a sermon in the Shakespeare Auditorium in Pasadena by the leading evangelist with the intention of proving this would be the right year.

This also seemed to be very factual and correct, but, once again, proved to be wrong as well when 1975 came and went; we did not go anywhere.

I want to emphasize that both of those years were easy to believe! Why? Because we wanted to believe it would be 1972, and later, 1975.

(Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong remained apart from all of this.)

Once again, it seems necessary to make known these were honest errors of miscalculation. Even so there were those who began leaving the Church.

How To Survive ---

With all of this in mind it would be well at this point to make known a real key to enable us to keep our eyes open for real understanding and make possible our survival regarding erroneous predictions and errors in judgment regarding prophecy or anything else. God reveals the key to the stability all of us will need:

"Wisdom and knowledge will be THE STABILITY of your times [during the times of great and terrible difficulties} and THE STRENGTH of salvation; the FEAR of the LORD is His treasure" (Isaiah 33:6).

Wisdom and knowledge both come from our God. We pray for both while intently studying His holy Scriptures regarding prophecy or anything else (James 1:5-6). Reviewing the writings of Mr. Armstrong alongside our Bibles can make the real difference.

God's wisdom is essential for all of us in these trying times for it will only be the few who have it that will see through the deceptive leaders and their teachings along with the reason for the hard tests we are all undergoing. God makes this very plain in the writings of His prophet:

"... the WISE will understand" (Daniel 12:10).

Disagreement Voiced With The Projected Years -

During that time of the projected years of 1972 and 1975, there was one evangelist, who is equally well known as are the other two (one now deceased), would not completely accept either of those two years as the right one.

He stated his reasons were based on the end-time prophetic events that were yet to occur.

His disagreement was not received very well by any of us for we wanted to believe he was wrong and the primary two evangelists who had put together the figures were right.

As it turned out, we came to see he was right and the other two were wrong.

What About Now -

Times have dramatically changed since those early predicted years. We have seen end-time prophecies having come on the world's stage and are now very close to being fully in appearance to all of us. Not only have we witnessed these very end-time prophecies emerging, but some of us have been living and surviving the end-time prophecy of the scattering of the Church, not because of our own efforts altogether, but by the grace and mercy of our wonderful and caring God who has been here for us through all the trials we have endured thus far (Daniel 12:7; II Thessalonians 2:1-3).

At the same time we have been blessed by God to survive the terrible deception that has followed and still exists among us. And with the fall-out from the scattering and deception, we are being sorely tested, sifted, and purified just as another prophecy makes known, and is being fulfilled (Daniel 12:10).

The Time Is Now Almost Here -

While reflecting on all of these things, I am once again persuaded that we are getting very, very, close to that time as already explained. To add to my conviction, I was particularly struck by what I heard Mr. Armstrong say in a sermon tape (7/7/84) we played this past Sabbath (1/24/04), in which he said it could happen in one to five or six years.

Now you and I have heard him speak before about his thoughts as to how much time we might have left and from that point of view we came to know those figures did not fit with the times. However what he said in this taped sermon in 1984 seemed to really fit based on the problem he was then talking about that we now see unfolding before our very eyes.

An Economic Crash -

In this sermon, Mr. Armstrong spoke of the banking business and the economic crash he could foresee as soon taking place that would impact the whole world. He further stated this could very well bring about the revitalized Roman Empire in Europe. After saying this, and to understand how the demise of Israel as nations will take place, he asked that we go back and re-read the last chapter of the book he had written: "The United States and Britain in Prophecy."

In earlier years, one well known evangelist in our former parent Church predicted an economic crash taking place by 1995 (that is the year I remember). It did not happen for this did not fit in with God's time-table.

Again, there were the end-time prophecies that had to first occur. And even though our economy looked bad at the time, God who reigns supreme and rules over all nations from heaven above, caused circumstances to take place that made it possible for the economy to remain strong enough to survive. And He will continue to do so to fit His time-table whatever time that may be.

God's Time-Table -

To enable anyone who questions God has a time-table I will try to aid such people with the understanding that He indeed does have.

God is not a God of confusion but of order (I Corinthians 14:33). This is very apparent when we look at His physical creation. The Father and our Savior Jesus Christ had everything planned out in finite detail long before the creation of mankind. This included a time-order for it all to come to a conclusion at a particular point in time:

"... I am God, and there is none like Me DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING" (Isaiah 46:9).

The apostle Peter spoke of God's plan as being based on the 7-day week when responding to the scoffing of the prophetic events not materializing in their time and things continuing just as they had been from creation:

"But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (II Peter 3:8).

NOTE: The pattern of God's little understood plan is given in Genesis 1 and 2; God gave man six work days followed by a Day of Rest (Hebrews 4:4, 11). The 7th Day is also a type of the peaceful rest (1000 years - millennium) that will follow the present age of human labor and futile struggle to master the earth. Christ terms the peaceful rest UNDER His rule 1000 years (Revelation 20:4). Many Bibles are complete enough to contain chronological charts showing man began about 6,000 years ago.

God has had the end in mind from the beginning of creation and continually watches over the leadership of all nations and the major events He has prophesied to take place to come into place exactly on time as stated by Him (Daniel 4:17, 26, 32; Psalm 66:7). No one can thwart His will and purpose however hard they may try; which includes Satan and his evil world.

The supreme ruling God in heaven above asks the following question of any and all:

"And who can PROCLAIM as I do? Then let him declare it IN ORDER before Me, since I APPOINTED the ancient people [to fulfill His will and purpose] and that things THAT ARE COMING SHALL COME. Do NOT fear, nor be afraid; have I not told you FROM THAT TIME, I DECLARED IT" (Isaiah 44:7).

There are any number of Scriptural accounts that can be given to support what is said here about God's time-table of human events. I will only mention a couple more from them.

The Archangel Gabriel Sent To Daniel -

Through the writings of the prophet Daniel, God revealed through His archangel Gabriel the very necessary knowledge of end-time events for us to know and how we can recognize them when they begin to come to pass:

"Look, I am making known to you WHAT SHALL HAPPEN IN THE LATTER TIME of the indignation; FOR AT THE APPOINTED TIME THE END SHALL BE" (Daniel 8:19).

Gabriel follows up by giving the overall detail of the ominous and dreadful things we will soon witness:

"And in the LATTER TIME of their kingdom, WHEN the transgressions have reached THEIR FULNESS [we are almost completely there, if not fully) A KING SHALL ARISE [the Beast, Revelation 19:19-20], HAVING FIERCE FEATURES, who understands sinister schemes [the occult]. His POWER shall be mighty, but NOT by his own power [the Pope will have the 10 kings to give him his power through establishing his leadership over them]. He shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; he shall destroy THE MIGHTY [the House of Joseph and other tribes of Israel] and also the holy people [Revelation 6:9-11,the 5th seal]. Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand [Euro Mart - the trading power of the 10 nations]; and he shall magnify himself IN his heart [like Lucifer did, Ezekiel 28:] he shall destroy [without warning, Daniel 11:12] many in THEIR prosperity. He shall EVEN RISE AGAINST THE PRINCE of Princes [at Armageddon]; BUT he shall be broken without human hand" [by Christ] (Daniel 8:23-25).

The 70 Weeks Prophecy -

Another example is when the archangel Gabriel gave the explanation of the 70 weeks prophecy to Daniel in chapter 9 in very probably the year of 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:1, 3).

In this prophecy we read of the major events that were to take place. One major event was the year of the anointing of Jesus Christ and the beginning year of His ministry when He was 30 years of age (Luke 3:21-23). It speaks of Jerusalem that was to be rebuilt and the coming of the Messiah the Prince and then even speaks of His death. It also speaks of the Roman army who would come and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple; it also speaks of the cessation of the sacrificial offerings in the middle of a prophetic week.

All of these major prophesied events took place just as Gabriel told Daniel they would and each one in the very exact year as one can read in this 70 weeks prophecy (Remember: a day is a year in Biblical prophecy, Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6).

The American Economy In Very Serious Trouble -

From the news reports I read, while thinking about God's time-table, with the events that have to occur in prophecy in mind, leads me to think we are almost there - teetering on the edge! The economy in America is in very serious trouble. Recent news reports and writings of others speak of the dollar as being very weak and failing. We could be very close to the time of a great crash that will shake the world!

To compound our problem we are the greatest debtor nation on earth. A leading article in the local Newspaper (The Stockton, CA Record: 1-27-04) envisioned our deficit heading skyward with $2.4 trillion projected in red ink for the United States over 10 years.

The Impact Of The Crash -

When the crash does take place, people all over this country will find their money, how ever much they may have, will be worthless! It will be a far greater problem than what happened in 1929 when the Stock Market crashed and led to the Great Depression. This was followed by a few years that made it real hard and brought about very trying times for people to be able to feed themselves for there were few jobs to be had. Many leading figures in industry along with others committed suicide.  People made it then because they had a different spirit than what we see today. They helped one another.  I remember two strapping young men in their twenties drove up to our home in the country and asked if they could do some work for a meal. They were welcomed and ate supper and went their way without being asked to do any work. This is an example of how people made it then. It will not be totally different in the coming time as we all should know. 

We should well realize when the dollar does collapse, and it seems to be inevitable that it will, there will be a terrible and staggering impact not only for the Americans, but the British, the Canadians, Australians and those in New Zealand for they face similar problems.

One writer wrote: "Without money the economy and industry will collapse. There will be no money for anything. The collapse of the dollar will also remove America as a global power and the Euro will become the world's reserve currency."

Mr. Armstrong said in that sermon in 1984, this will undoubtedly bring about the Revitalized Roman Empire, or as they may term it, the United States of Europe. We have been seeing these nations in their early formative stage for a few years struggling to unite but never quite able to do it. Why? This I will explain shortly.

The handwriting appears to be on the wall for us as it came to be for the Babylonian Empire. It had been weighed in the balances of God and found wanting (Daniel 5:27)! This is exactly where all the nations of Israel have come to and our sins have increased almost to overflowing!

The Failing Dollar -

Over the past few weeks the U.S. Dollar has fallen in value against the European Euro at an ever increasing rate. Meanwhile the Euro is making strong strides in strength and will undoubtedly replace the dollar, especially so, after our financial crash.

To add to the problem, two of the largest creditor nations in the world today are Japan and Germany who will undoubtedly place demands upon whatever is left of our economies for debt reparations. This will lead to the economic barricade spoken of in Deuteronomy 28. This barricade will undoubtedly include a food embargo due to the famine setting in on us as Scripture makes known:

"They shall besiege you at all your gates UNTIL your high and fortified walls in which you trust, come down throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. You shall EAT the fruit of your body (Margin: offspring) the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, IN THE SIEGE AND DESPERATE STRAITS in which your enemy shall distress you ..." (Deuteronomy 28:52-57).

Famine And Anarchy -

These Scriptures imply the economic crash will coincide with the famine as prophesied by the prophet Joel. As such this will be both an economic and food barricade that will lead to a virtual state of anarchy.

The reason being there will be no money to pay the security forces of the nation or those in the cities and country. Everything will break down. At the same time terrorists will continue to create real problems for us, but will not destroy this nation for God says it will be the resurrected Roman Empire who will do it and flatten ALL of our cites, not just some here and there (Ezekiel 6:3-6; 12:20).

This kind of a barricade was tried shortly after WWII when Russia blocked off all supplies coming into West Berlin. The United States dealt with it by daily flying in large cargos of food supplies in our largest planes to the Germans living there to make possible their survival. One plane followed another day after day to supply all their needs. Russia had to concede defeat and then ceased blocking off the normal means of transportation of the essential needs of food and other things.

In our plight, no nation will come to help us.

One man (apparently a very knowledgeable member) who wrote about this economic crash, stated: "We are now on the count-down towards the greatest economic melt-down in history. Yet few appear to be aware of what lies ahead. We are about to witness the end of the good-life that we have been blessed with, and enter a dark-age of tribulation and suffering that no one has experienced in human history.

"Very few appear to be aware of what is ahead of us - sleep-walking."

For Now on Hold -

At the present the time table for the Common Market is not meeting their deadline of 2010 to have their economy to become very strong and a real force in the world's economies because of the planned power of the Euro.

A quote from Brussels, Belgium, 1/22/04, UPI: "... The European Commission confessed Wednesday the 15-member club had no chance of overtaking the United States to become the world's No. 1 economy. ... the Commission conceded, "The Union cannot catch up on the United States as our per capita GDP is 72 percent of our American partner's.' The news is a bitter blow to EU leaders who set themselves the ambitious goal of becoming the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. ... EU leaders hoped that by 2005, productivity would be rising, unemployment falling, growth surging and structural reforms picking up pace. Instead the opposite trends appear to be occurring. ... The major reason for the per capita GDP gulf between the EU and the US is the ever-widening productivity growth rates between the two-largest economic powers..."

The American Economy Still In Place, For Now -

Though the dollar is in a very precarious situation the American economy is doing well enough to slow down the goal of the European Club Members. We should realize at the same time that news like this can be very deceptive and misleading for this could very well change over a very short period of time. This is no time to relax and think this crash is a long way from us!

A mere drastic change in the weather patterns and the famine spoken of by the prophet Joel can very well begin at almost any time! When it does this will bring about real changes with our productivity and lead to the crash of the dollar!

For now God is letting the age-old problems continue to exist among these European nations that will keep them from coming together in complete unity until it is time for other end-time prophecies to come into view. They must work together! Once again, God rules and timing is essential for the fulfillment of His plan. Once the timing is right regarding all of the end-time prophecies we will enter into most serious and critical times that will also be very hard on all of us until God's timing is right for the elect to flee.

Before that takes place we will begin to see people beginning to die from starvation due to the fallout of the prophesied famine and the diseases that will accompany the famine

There are numerous prophetic Scriptures that make known to us this terrible period of time and the cause of it. Scriptures such as Matthew 24, Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, etc.

It is also important to connect with some of these prophecies with -- DUALITY!

History To Repeat Itself -

History has a most definite way of repeating itself. What is going to take place very soon has already taken place in type in Jerusalem in 70 A. D. Scripture reveals in detail that what will take place with the House of Joseph and it follows the exact pattern of what took place then! It is a miniature type of what will take place with us.

When we read the history of the severity of the famine, cannibalism, horrible sufferings and deaths before they were fully conquered by the Roman Army, God's Church was already gone.

With this in mind it would appear that there will be no great plagues or the death of two-thirds of our people (Ezekiel 5:12), UNTIL after the elect are driven out and on their way to the place God has chosen for His faithful people.

The timing for the European nations to unite is yet to come! But please realize unity could take place very soon now and when it does it will take place virtually overnight as did the falling of the wall that separated East and West Germany a few years ago.

The Power Of The Pope -

If you remember, it was the present Pope in Rome who brought down that wall just as a new Pope will remove the walls of differences in the relatively near future and bring about the uniting of the 10 nations in Europe. This present Pope has worked very hard in seeking to unite these nations and has made a lot of progress for it to take place, but has been unable to achieve it. Why? Once again, due to the timetable not being quite right.

This present Pope has been hindered from this accomplishment because he was not given the power to perform miracles. However before much longer a new one will perform them and bring them together just as Scripture makes known to us. This current Pope is old and sick; the end of his life is close at hand! Whether the next one will be the one, only time will tell! There could one or two Popes elected in between this one and the final one that is prophesied to be used by Satan.

If you look at the history of the popes the tenure of some were very short - real short! When a new one replaces this present one, other end-time prophecies will shed some light as to whether he will be the one before he is given those special powers.

One thing that might shed some light as to whether he will be the one is the name he will choose for himself: Could it be Peter? No Pope has ever chosen that name since Simon Magus. Or, could he choose the name of Sixtus the Sixth? Perhaps neither. However it will be of interest to learn the name he will want to be known by and could be revealing.

The very important thing for all of to remember is what Jesus said we should be doing: WATCH AND PRAY ALWAYS (Luke 21:36). By following Christ's warning to us will keep our relationship alive with our God. Watching means more than just watching the world scene! It also has to do with knowing and watching the world scene with the knowledge and understanding of the end-time prophecies!

There are any number of people who have already followed very persuasive ministers to believe they were going to be taken as a group to one place or another before the time and to the wrong place. One such minister led his group to believe they would be taken to some distant planet some few years age during the Feast of Tabernacles! As I have been led to believe another minister believes safety will be found in the state of Utah, Another feels it will be in the Temple the Jews are trying very hard to build!

In recent times I have already met at least two who claim they are the promised Elijah. Though I hope not, it is very probable that some will believe and follow them.

I am touching on these things with the hope that no leader or member will be overzealous without seeing the whole picture and come to believe something that is not true, and upon finding they were wrong be so disillusioned as to leave the Church.

This is what happened to us after 1972 and 1975 came and went and no one went anywhere either time.

On the other hand some of the overly zealous may see certain things taking place without seeing the whole picture and leave for Petra as a few did three or four years ago after seeing the Pope make a trip to Jerusalem. They connected his trip there with Matthew 24:15 and felt this was the time to flee.

A father and his mother sold all they had and with the money purchased camping gear and whatever else they felt they needed and left the States for Petra with his three daughters and his son. Needless to say they undoubtedly have come to see their timing was off.

Knowing people as they are there will probably be others who will also leave in the relatively near future upon seeing certain things but without seeing the whole picture of end-time prophetic events. I want to stress, as did Mr. Armstrong, do NOT believe me or anyone else UNLESS all that we say and do harmonizes with the holy Scriptures.

All of us had better pay close attention to what Scripture tells us rather than placing our trust in a human leader. At the same time I well realize the time is coming when there will be the right human leader(s) who will make known the time has come! But when that time does come all of the right prophesied events yet to occur will then be in place and his actions and fruits will make that leader(s) believable.

To leave before that time could lead to some terrible consequences. A very valuable lesson can be learned from the early Christians who were in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Had they fled to Pella before the exact and precise time they would have been wiped out by Titus and his Roman army who came through that area on their return to lay siege against and totally conquer Jerusalem!

It would seem there was almost split-second timing involved! Pushed to the very brink by the persecution of the Jews and the beginning ravages of the famine along with the news of Titus and his approaching army would have been enough tp unnerve anyone.

However there were the soothing and encouraging words from God's chosen minister to keep them settled down and wait until he said it was time to leave. And they did and reached the place of refuge provided for them by God, safely. They were there until all of the danger to them was past.

When that time comes to flee - the wise will understand for they will be looking at the right leader or leader(s) for the word to leave and leave quickly!

The Prophesied False Prophet -

                                                                               ---- To Be Continued ----

I am planning on picking up next time where I am now leaving off. In addition, I am seriously thinking about developing a booklet on these writings.

Until next time, please stay close to our wonderful and caring God and His beloved Son Jesus Christ.

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Don Billingsley

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