Analysis of the Chairman’s Prayer for the 2013 US National Day of Prayer

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

On Wednesday May 1st, 2013, I received Christian Political Activist Gary Bauer’s Daily Newsletter in my E-Mail Box and found that it focused on a prayer written by the Honorary Chairman for the US National Day of Prayer. Here is what Gary wrote about it:

“This year’s theme is “Pray For America.” With ongoing economic anxiety at home, chaos and uncertainty overseas, unprecedented assaults on faith (even the meaning of marriage on trial at the Supreme Court), our country is in great need of prayer. Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, is this year’s Honorary Chairman.” - Gary Bauer 

Before I share and analyze that prayer, let me tell you my reaction to it. More than anything, I was troubled by Gary Bauer’s and Pastor Greg’s cluelessness of where we are at in the End Times. The wording of the pastor’s prayer tells me that Greg is totally oblivious to the fact that the world is at the brink of World War III, and that America and Israel are surrounded by shared enemies that seek their mutual destruction. He also seems unaware of the fact the Yahshua’s prophecies revealed in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, and His Parable of the Sheep and the Goats have been coming to fulfillment through major political and social developments around the world over the past few decades. 

The world has never been more polarized or divided, but Pastor Greg didn’t address this stark spiritual division that has taken place in America and the world at all! In fact, he seems clueless that God has brought this dire spiritual state about so that the wicked could be made fully distinguishable from the righteous. He also seems unaware that this has been done so that the wicked can be set aside for judgment, even while the righteous are being secretly marked on their foreheads as the protected and beloved children of the Most High God!

I’ve reproduced the opening portion of the prayer that Pastor Greg wrote for America below in italics, and will comment on it afterward:

Father, we come to You to pray for our nation, the United States of America. 

How You have blessed us through the years, Lord! We rightly sing, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee.” Yet we see trouble in our culture today. We see the breakdown of the family, crippling addictions, and random acts of horrific violence. 

While what Pastor Greg wrote above in the opening of his prayer is true, it is horribly understated! Here is what I think it should say:

“Heavenly Father, while we thank You for all the blessings that You have poured out on America in the past, and we thank You for shedding Your grace upon our nation, we see a tremendous spiritual and moral breakdown taking place in our culture, and in our churches today, that is so intense that it is overwhelming! Our government has been overrun with traitors, just as our churches have been, and we are a people now under demonic siege from within, even as we are being threatened on every side by America’s outside enemies. We are surrounded by wickedness, and huge miscarriages of justice and horrific acts of violence have become commonplace in our nation, and the world! God help us, for our situation is dire!”

As you can see, the major difference between Pastor Greg’s opening words and mine is the keen knowledge that I have of where we are on the End Time timetable based on God’s Prophetic Word. Pastor Greg’s lack of knowledge in this area, and his inability to connect it to current events is a massive problem that has made his prayer and the prayers of countless other believers completely ineffective! 

In his prayer, Pastor Greg went on to ask for revival in America, even while the moral division in America is clearly telling those of us with our spiritual eyes open that no such revival is possible right now, but will only take place AFTER the Rapture. This is when many among the masses of apostate Churchgoers that are left behind will repent on their knees to God, and cry out for mercy as they face the terror that will be coming upon the whole world. Keep this in mind as you read the remainder of Pastor Greg’s spiritually tepid prayer:

“Lord, we need Your help in America. In recent days, we have done our best to remove Your Word and Your counsel from our courtrooms, classrooms and culture. It seems, as President Lincoln once said, that we have “forgotten God.” But Lord, You have not forgotten us! You can bless and help and revive our country again. 

Scripture tells us that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). Lord, in Your mercy, we ask that You would exalt our country again. We have had a number of great awakenings in America. We have experienced times of refreshing, and revivals that changed not only the spiritual but also the moral landscape. As the psalmist said, “Will You not revive us again, so that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6) 

That is our prayer for America today, Lord. Send a mighty spiritual awakening that will turn the hearts of men and women, boys and girls back to you. You have told us if we will humble ourselves and pray, and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, that You will forgive our sins and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Forgive us today, Lord, and heal this troubled land that we love so much.

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Now, though it is true that America has “forgotten God” as Pastor Greg put it, and that God can also forgive and restore a nation that collectively repents and begs for His renewed favor just as God did for ancient Nineveh and for the Kingdom of Judah for a time, I firmly believe that there is no way that this kind of revival is possible in America, or the world today, and any kind of major revival will not occur until after the Rapture. 

At the present, God has divided the Undesirable Tares from the Choice Wheat for Judgment, not for Revival! Furthermore, after the Rapture, those who are left behind that have the good spiritual sense to realize what happened, and who repent of their sins and ask God for forgiveness, will soon be heavily persecuted. In fact, they will be left without a civilized home in this world as the Mark of the Beast system is implemented, and they will have to flee to the wilderness areas of the world to find what refuge they can on their own. In fact, for those who are not wise enough to flee, or fortunate enough to find a secure hiding place, the Bible tells us that they will be rounded up and put to death by beheading.

However, though the wicked “One World” government and religious leaders in charge setting up and governing the New World Order will be hell-bent on killing every new and revived believer, the horrific plagues that Yahweh God will soon pour out on the world will thwart their efforts. In fact, I believe that God will supernaturally protect the Tribulation Saints through all of these plagues, and that there will be designated places of refuge. I also believe that the 144,000 Witnesses chosen by God in Revelation Chapter 7 will shepherd the lost during the Tribulation, and will be charged with leading those who repent to these places of refuge, which will be found all over the world.

Though some say that all the Tribulation Saints will run to Israel to find refuge, I doubt that anyone will be able to travel freely anywhere after the Rapture, which will plunge the world into chaos, and create a massive world crisis that will lock most countries down under Martial law. Furthermore, the tiny nation of Israel is physically too small to hold the millions upon millions of people who will know why they were left behind, and will repent. But I thank God that He will appoint the 144,000 to guide those left behind to find refuge, wherever it may be!

In closing, if I were to be in charge of writing a nationally syndicated prayer for America, mine would read as follows:

“Heavenly Father, while we thank You for all the blessings that You have poured out on the United States of America in the past, and we thank You for shedding Your grace upon our nation, we see a tremendous spiritual and moral breakdown taking place in our culture, and in our churches today, that is so intense that it is overwhelming! Our government has been overrun with traitors, just as our churches have been, and we are a people now under demonic siege from within, even as we are being threatened on every side by America’s outside enemies. We are surrounded by wickedness, and huge miscarriages of justice and horrific acts of violence have become commonplace in our nation, and the world! God help us, for our situation is dire!

Heavenly Father, I cry out to You now on behalf of this nation, and ask You to open the eyes of the lost, and bind and neutralize the demonic principalities and powers that are over America! I ask that every demonic stronghold in our government and within our churches would be exposed and cast down, in Yahshua’s Name, and by His Blood! I pray that every deceived American and illegal and landed immigrant who is capable of accepting the truth would have a spiritual epiphany through a vision or dream of our Messiah Yahshua, and that they will repent and be baptized with the Holy Spirit before it is too late, for Yahshua is coming soon!

I also pray that the Americans and immigrants who are left behind in the soon coming Rapture will repent and find salvation, and that they will find the places of refuge in the wilderness that You have designated upon the Earth for the Tribulation Saints. Please continue to watch over the righteous in America today, and in the future, Heavenly Father, and do not let this nation’s greatest achievements in the past come to naught!

In Yahshua’s Name I pray, Amen!”

Yahshua is coming SOON! Maranatha!

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A FASCINATING CONNECTION BETWEEN CHANUKAH AND PASSOVER

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

Click Here To See Larger Image In New Window
The Holy Spirit showed me something important on Palm Sunday of 2013 as I contemplated the importance of this day, which commemorates Yahshua’s entry into Jerusalem just before He was arrested, tried, and murdered at the hands of the Romans and the Jews. The palms given out by many churches on Palm Sunday are representative of the palm branches that the Jews who recognized Yahshua as their Messiah waved in the air as He rode by on the back of a donkey. The Bible states that Yahshua entered Jerusalem five days before He died, and was greeted by the multitudes - many of whom laid their cloaks on the ground before Him (John 12:1-13). This meant that Yahshua’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem was eight days before He rose from the dead.

Fascinatingly, the Fifth or Center Lamp on a Chanukah Menorah or Chanukiah is the Servant Lamp. This lamp represents Yahshua since it lights all the other lamps on the Menorah, and Yahshua is the Light of the World that allows His servants to shine with His light (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14). If we see this Fifth Lamp as connected to the day that Yahshua died on the Cross for our sins, the Ninth Lamp can be seen as commemorating His resurrection from the dead. This is because Yahshua rose after three days and three nights, so as to give “The Sign of Jonah” (Matthew 28:1; Mat.12:39, Mat.16:4). 

Please look at the accompanying Chanukiah illustration above, which I made to commemorate what God has shown me here. Click on it so you can read the words written there, and pray about its significance as we prepare to keep the Passover by honoring Yahshua's memory as the Bread of Life, the perfect Passover Lamb, and the Resurrection and the Life!  As it says in John 11:25-26, Yahshua said:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die!” 

Amen! Hallelu-Yah! Thank You, Yahshua, my King and Bridegroom!

Now, when Yahshua said that He would rise from the dead on the third day, He meant at the close of that day, which was the regular Sabbath in the year that He died. So Yahshua rose just before the beginning of the first day of the week, although He rose up to Heaven to be presented before His Father as the Firstfruits of the Resurrection on that first day, which is called Sunday today. The fact that Yahshua rose from the dead at the close of the third day and before the dawn of the fourth day or Sunday after He died is hinted at in the Gospel of John, where we are told that it was just before dawn on the first day of the week when Mary Magdalene saw the risen Christ in the garden surrounding the tomb where He had been laid (John 20:1-18).

Since the risen Yahshua rose up to Heaven as the Firstfruits of the Resurrection on Sunday, which was the ninth day after He rode into Jerusalem (John 20:17), then the Ninth or Final Lamp of the Chanukah Menorah may be meant to commemorate the coming Rapture followed by the Wedding of the Lamb to His Bride in Heaven after the Rapture. Fascinatingly, Yahshua rose from the dead just before the fourth day of Passover Week, which was on the first day of the regular seven day week, or on Sunday. Since this was the fourth day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it can be seen as corresponding to the Fourth Lamp or Center Lamp of a seven-branch Menorah, which is its Servant Lamp! So, per the Chanukiah, Yahshua died on the day corresponding to the Center or Servant Lamp, and through the seven-branch Menorah linked to Passover Week or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Yahshua ascended to Heaven on the day tied to the Center or Servant Lamp as well! 

This connection between Passover and Chanukah ties into a fascinating study I did, which explores Yahshua’s Fetal Development from His conception during Chanukah Week or the Feast of Dedication, to His birth around the time of the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles. In the same article, I show how the time period between Passover Week and Chanukah is also the exact length of human gestation. This is also the exact time between Chanukah and Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. To check out this interesting study, here is the title of my Blog article and a link to it:

The Prophetic Ties Between Yahshua’s Fetal

Development And The Jewish Feasts

http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-prophetic-ties-between-yahshuas.html

Through my previous study and this new one, Yahshua’s Birth, Death and Resurrection all appear to be tied to Chanukah in a special way. I therefore have a strong desire to use my Chanukiah this Passover Week rather than the traditional seven-branched Menorah. Perhaps this is something that you can consider as well if you like using Jewish symbols of faith during your private religious celebrations. For your further edification, I also invite you to read the following article, which connects Chanukah and Christmas in a very godly and biblical way:

Yahshua’s First Advent Ties to 
Chanukah and Christmas

http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2010/12/yahshuas-first-advent-ties-to-chanukah.html

In the meantime, may our Father God Yahweh bless you all this Passover Week and Easter Week! I pray that we all will be ready when Yahshua comes for us in the Rapture, which could be very soon!

Hallelu-Yah, CHRIST IS RISEN, and

He is coming SOON! Maranatha!

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Date-Setting, Earmark of the Bride of Christ

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

I think skepticism is a virtue when it is backed by curiosity and a true desire to know. That’s what got me started on my quest to read the Bible. It wanted to find all the glaring errors in it, and to expose them. But instead, I found layer upon layer of richness, beauty and truthfulness, and I came to the conclusion that only God could have inspired it.

Once we arrive at this conclusion, believe in Christ, and fall head over heels in love with God, we can become a little overzealous in our love of and desire for God and His Son and Spirit because of the disgusting sinfulness of this world, and the incredibly ugly wickedness of mankind. It can get those of us who love God more than the world so down that, in order to keep our sanity, we tend to focus on the hereafter rather than the here and now. These are the ones who fall into the infamous camp of “date setters”.

Some of these date setters, such as myself, eventually develop the good sense to not view any date with absolute certainty, and we learn to declare that only God truly knows the day and hour so that no one could possibly get their hopes up so high that they crash and burn when the dates pass with no Rapture. But even when we don’t, it should be abundantly clear to anyone who studies our work that we are not trying to “hurt the Body of Christ”. In fact, in my opinion, the only believers we could possibly hurt are the fence-sitters who are so lukewarm and shallow in their love for God that they shouldn’t even be associated with the Body of Christ!

The truth is that we “date setters” are a great asset to the many believers who are like us - the ones who have had enough of this world, and who long for the purity, perfection, health, beauty and love of our Bridegroom. We are the beloved Watchmen (and women!) on the walls and towers of our Spirit-led vantage points above this world. For those who long for Christ, our wistful look at possible future dates for the Rapture is not viewed as a grievous sin, but a sign of devotion to, love for, and fealty to God in a future wife who loves her Betrothed and greatly desires to attend the Wedding of the Lamb.

So woe to those who witness all this love and desire for God, but see only “date setting”! These skeptics are walking on dangerous ground, because their derision and dislike of Christ’s Bride is tantamount to hatred rather than agape love. For this reason, their derision is one of the biggest affronts to our Father God Yahweh, who sees the love and zealousness of the Bride of Christ and her Five Wise Virgin attendants as beautiful and desirable, and a light-filled treasure above all others.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’”

~*~ Rev. 22:17 ~*~

Yahshua is coming SOON! Maranatha!

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Christ’s Last Passover Marks A Promise Of The Rapture!

Click Image To Enlarge

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry (POEM)

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

Although it is not very well-publicized, our Messiah, King and Bridegroom Yahshua Ha Mashiach (i.e. Jesus the Christ) stated that the Passover the Jews celebrated, which marked their deliverance from bondage to the Egyptians, and their election as the Chosen People of God, would NOT be fulfilled until the Kingdom of God comes. Yahshua said this as He was offering up the Third Cup of the traditional Jewish Passover meal. This meal is commonly called the “Last Supper” by Christians. There are four communal cups of wine served during the traditional Passover meal, and each one has a special meaning. The Jews call the cup that Yahshua used “The Cup of Redemption”, so it is appropriate that Yahshua commemorated His Redemption of mankind from sin and death with this cup:

Luke 22:14-18 - “When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’”

In this Scripture, Yahshua said “I will no longer eat of it until it (i.e. the Passover) is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” This strongly suggests that Yahshua was saying that the Passover will have a second fulfillment that will mark the full establishment of the Kingdom of God as a physical, as well as spiritual reality. Complimenting this idea is the fact that the Kingdom of God is within born-again believers due to the presence of the Holy Spirit within them. In addition, the Holy Spirit is also a seal on believers’ hearts that guarantees their inclusion in the Body of Christ at the time of the Rapture, or final stage of the First Resurrection (See 2 Corinthians 1:21-22). This means that the Kingdom of God won’t truly be fulfilled until the time that Yahshua is united with His Bride at the Rapture, and then takes His rightful Throne over all the Earth with her at His side when He returns to rule over the whole world.

Interestingly, this passage appears in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, and 22 is a biblical number of completion that is tied to Yahshua as the First and the Last, and the Beginning and End of all things. This reference to the first and last letters in the Alphabet are tied to the fact that there are 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet, and Yahshua is referred to as the Alpha and Omega in Greek, or the Aleph and the Tav in Hebrew, as a sign of His preeminence in all things pertaining to our Redemption, Salvation, and Restoration.

On the first Passover before the Exodus, Yahshua redeemed Israel from slavery to Egypt and sin. On the Passover when He died, Yahshua procured Israel’s salvation. Perhaps at some future Passover then, He will procure our restoration as a royal priesthood with Christ in His Kingdom. This is suggested at another place in Chapter 22 of the Gospel of Luke, when Yahshua refers to the Kingdom of God as a future reality on the Earth that will include His resurrected saints in positions of authority: 

Luke 22:28-30 - “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Note here that Yahshua strongly suggested that only those who have continued with Him in His trials until the end of their mortal lives will be honored as royalty when He sets up His earthly Kingdom. Now, since Yahshua promised that there would be a re-occurrence of Yahweh God’s miraculous deliverance of His people on Passover - and Yahshua said the Passover would not be fulfilled until His Second Coming - there should be some expectation in all born-again believers that Yahshua could deliver His saints from their enemies in the Rapture on some future Passover - maybe even this upcoming one.

Click Image To Enlarge

Though the Rapture may not be on the exact date of Passover - especially since no one knows the day or hour - it could happen around this time. In fact, the entire 48-day time period between the Firstfruits offering during Passover Week to the 50th day after, which is called Shavuot or Pentecost, is strongly connected to the Rapture via the Barley harvest that goes on in Israel every spring. Interestingly, this is the time in which all the days of the Barley harvest are counted in a ritual called the counting of the Omer. As the first harvest of the year that officially begins during Passover Week, the Barley harvest is both thematically and symbolically connected to the First Resurrection. Interestingly, the Jews assign 48 “Middot” or Virtues that are used to acquire a deeper understanding of the Torah to the first 48 days of counting the Omer.

This number 48 also ties into God’s command for the Israelites to set up 48 cities for the priestly Tribe of Levi to live in throughout the land of Israel that were considered to be cities of refuge. These were places where people who were falsely accused could seek political and religious asylum. As shown in my book “The Language of God in the Universe”, these cities of refuge are tied to the 48 constellations in the ancient “Mazzaroth”or Zodiac.

The 48 days between the Firstfruits Offering and Shavuot or Pentecost may therefore be symbolic of the Torah or Gospel written into the heavens by the finger of the Preincarnate Christ, who was given the honor of creating the Universe for His Father. If you click on the two links embedded into the text in the two paragraphs above this one, you can read a summary of the 48 Virtues in the first one, and my own separate summary of the spiritual and prophetic meaning behind all 48 Mazzaroth constellations via the second link. If meditated on, each of these virtues and constellations can be seen as a chapter in a book filled with spiritual wisdom, and studying them can lead to a deeper understanding of God’s Will and Eternal Plan. The constellations are also a visual reminder that Yahweh told Abraham to look to the stars in the sky as a symbol of the number of his physical and spiritual, grafted-in descendants - those people of faith in Yahshua who will one day not only reflect, but shine God’s holy light! :-)

Just as the counting of the Omer was commanded by God, Yahshua’s talk about the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in reference to Passover could be a hint pointing to the Rapture as possible anytime between Passover Week and Pentecost. In this regard, it’s interesting to note that Yahshua was visibly taken up to Heaven ten days before Pentecost or Shavuot, and this may be how the Rapture will take place - as a visible, worldwide event. This also suggests that we should look to the time period between Passover and Pentecost as a strong Rapture Watch period. For those who may not be familiar with it, the Rapture is the catching up of the saints to Heaven that the Apostle Paul spoke about in two of his epistles:

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 - “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 - “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Yahshua our beloved Messiah comes for us sometime during or near to this Passover Week? Though it may not happen then, it certainly could. In fact, our Bridegroom Yahshua might even decide to come for us on the day of Firstfruits, which is also called Easter or Resurrection Sunday. Although we who hope in the Rapture are called fools for believing in our coming deliverance from the Great Tribulation, wouldn’t it be appropriate if the only fools this year are the ones left behind to face the Wrath of God, and the reign of the Antichrist? If so, the Foolish Virgins or lukewarm believers that Yahshua spoke about in “The Parable of the Ten Virgins” will be among them.

Before I close this article, I wanted to let you know that my friend and sister in Christ named Gina inspired me to create it with her own article on the subject, and I encourage you to read it. Here is the title and link to it:

THE PASSOVER MEAL WAS NOT COMPLETED

AND IS STILL WAITING TO BE FINISHED!

http://theworldisshaking.blogspot.com/2012/04/passover-meal-was-not-completed-and-is.html

In honor of Passover and Resurrection Sunday this year, I also wanted to let you know that I did a revision of a POEM Blog Article that I originally published in April of 2009, which is linked to below. It contains a short excerpt from my 675-page book “The Language of God in Humanity”, which shows the symbolic meaning of the Passover Meal in reference to Christ. I’ve also provided a link to a Christian version of a traditional Passover Meal Seder or Service that was originally created in 1993, and has been revised recently. I hope that you will take the time to read through these article presentations concerning Passover and Easter, and that they will abundantly bless you with spiritual riches as we await the return of our Messiah Yahshua.

However, before you read these articles, please keep in mind that I have NEVER advocated that grafted-in believers should keep Jewish Feasts as the Jews do. In the Book of Acts, it was made abundantly clear to the Apostles that grafted in believers were under NO OBLIGATION to keep the requirements of the Law, or the vain traditions of men. In my home, I keep the feasts with Bible study, prayer, singing in worship, and dancing. I have a menorah I light occasionally too just because I enjoy its beautiful symbolism. I also use a prayer shawl occasionally. I do some spring cleaning in honor of the Passover tradition, and throw away any foods that may no longer be healthy to eat. But I have been known to keep and use dried foods well past their supposed expiration date without ill effects, and I do not see them as leaven! Please use your common sense, and don’t follow the vain traditions of men when they make no sense. 

I also want you to know that am not against the Christian celebrations of Easter or Christmas as they are kept among educated and biblically well-versed Protestants. I also do not have a problem with Easter eggs or bunnies. I am a teacher of the Language of God, or the meaning of God’s language as hidden in symbolism. Though I primarily decipher symbols within the Bible, I have also shown how all originally non-satanic symbols can and should be re-interpreted with God’s original intention in mind. For example, eggs, chicks, and bunnies were originally created good. God also gave mankind permission to eat eggs and chickens as food. The fact that chickens and bunnies are prolific breeders was also not lost on God. He created them that way. So seeing them as a symbol of God’s gift of life isn’t evil at all. We do not bow down and worship chickens, eggs or bunnies, so they are not idols, and are not intrinsically evil. We should not see evil in what God made good. In the meantime, here are the descriptions and links to my articles concerning Passover. I hope you enjoy them:

POEM Blog Article: Easter Not Pagan, But A Celebration of Firstfruits! - Excerpt: The Christian Celebration of Easter, which usually falls during Passover Week, is a particularly good time to revisit the story of Christ’s arrest, trial, scourging, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. After much research, I’ve concluded that the Master of the Universe and Author of our Salvation probably died to pay for our sins on a Wednesday in April of 31 AD, and rose from the dead before dawn on the following Sunday after being dead three full days. Serendipitously, on the day that Christ rose, the Firstfruits wave sheaf offering was made in the Temple in Jerusalem. The ritual of waving a sheaf of new barley before the curtain in the Temple’s Most Holy Place marked the first day of counting the Omer, or the days leading up to Shavuot or Pentecost.

Easter Not Pagan, But A Celebration of Firstfruits!

http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-not-pagan-but-celebration-of.html

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A Christian View of the Meaning of Passover - Description: This Christian version of the Order of Service for a Passover Meal was made in 1991, long before I became involved in the Messianic Movement. It was created in an effort to educate the people in my Evangelical Congregation of the importance of Easter, Passover, and Firstfruits as the central rituals identifying and defining the Christian faith. Since this essay is meant to serve as a “Haggadah” or “storyline” for a Christian Passover Seder or “order of service,” it is not identical to a Jewish Haggadah. Instead, with the exception of the use of “Yahshua” for Christ’s name, it is a Christian reinterpretation of a traditional Passover Seder. Recipes are included in this Haggadah to aid those who wish to prepare a special dinner, and follow this guide for their own Passover Seder. Please feel free to download, print and use this Christian Passover Haggadah at your own Christian Passover celebrations, and to add your own favorite recipes and religious songs, if desired. The link below will take you to an online and PDF version of the article at my POEM web site:

A Christian View of the Meaning of Passover

http://pillar-of-enoch.com/essays/index.html#Lamb

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I pray that these articles will bless you, and help you to grow in spiritual understanding as we await the Rapture. In the meantime, remember that...

Yahshua is coming SOON! Maranatha!

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The Key of David as the Cross of Christ - The Messianic Meaning of Isaiah 22:22-24

By Helena Lehman of the

Pillar of Enoch Ministry (POEM)

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

In the Book of Isaiah and Book of Revelation, there are some curious passages about something called the Key of David that are rarely discussed, but are important to understand. This is what the Prophet Isaiah cryptically had to say about this key:

Isaiah 22:22-24 - “The key of the house of David, I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.’”

Though these passages were originally applied to a servant of God called Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was chosen by God to replace the wicked man named Shebna as the Governor of the Palace in Jerusalem (See Isaiah 22:15-21), it is a veiled reference to the Ministry and Cross of Christ. Let me explain how this can be deduced. Interestingly, the number 22 is connected to the 22nd and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is the Tav or T. 

The letter Tav signifies the Cross of Christ and His finished work upon it as the Key to Salvation and Resurrection. Only Yahshua can open and shut the doorway to Heaven and everlasting life, and the need for His Cross is the Key that we need to believe in to enter Heaven. Since this is so, the peg being referred to in Isaiah Ch. 22, verses 23 through 25 is the Cross of Christ, while the cups and pitchers hanging from the peg signify all those who are to be saved by Yahshua's blood sacrifice on the Cross. 

Yahshua was fastened securely to the Cross until His death, after which it was removed, as was its burden, which consists of all of the sins of those who accept Yahshua's blood sacrifice on that Cross. In addition, Yahshua's Cross is symbolic of the Throne mentioned in Isaiah 22:23, which is both a heavenly and an earthly seat of power. This is the Throne that our Father Yahweh will give to Yahshua during His Millennial Reign on the Earth.

To support this idea, Isaiah 22:22 is quoted in Revelation Chapter 3, verse 7, with the verse number seven signifying completion, just as the number 22 does. In Revelation, the Key of David is applied exclusively to Yahshua as the Opener of the Way of Yahweh, or Path to Salvation:

Revelation 3:6-8 - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:[a] 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

Footnotes: [a] Revelation 3:7 - Isaiah 22:22

Fascinatingly, the only other place outside of Isaiah where the Key of David is mentioned is in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 3, in reference to the Church of Philadelphia or Brotherly Love. This church is identified as the poor, beleaguered, but faithful Church full of all of the believers that will collectively become Yahshua’s Bride at the Wedding of the Lamb in Heaven after the Rapture:

Revelation 3:10-12 - “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.”

Since these believers remain faithful to Christ to the end of their mortal lives, they are the only church group of the Seven Churches listed in the Book of Revelation that are to be kept “from the hour of trial”, which is a reference to the Great Tribulation. This passage is also a clear allusion to the First Rapture. Interestingly, the Church of Philadelphia is the only church of the seven that is given the honor of being associated with the New Jerusalem, which is to come down from Heaven to Earth “as a bride adorned for her husband”:

Revelation 21:2, 9-12 - “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”...  “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” 

These two passages from the Book of Revelation conclusively show that only the Church of Philadelphia is to be identified with the Bride of Christ, and only Yahshua is to be identified with the Key of David, which is a reference to Christ as the Word of God and Path to Salvation. In a veiled way, it may also be referring to the End Time prophetic nature of the Book of Psalms, which King David of Israel and his son Solomon collectively wrote. The Key of David is also likely tied to the “keys of the kingdom” mentioned by Yahshua in the following verse:

Matthew 16:19 ~ “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Although Yahshua said this to the Apostle Peter after a play on his name “Peter”, which means, “stone”, it is a reference to the stones or rocks that form the Temple of Yahweh that is the True Church formed by the most faithful among the Two Houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim. This means that the “keys of the kingdom” belong to those who are born again members of the True Church, which is the Bride of Christ. Since the Bride of Christ is in possession of the “keys of the kingdom” - a phrase which likely refers to Yahshua and the Holy Spirit as keys - only the True Church will be able to perform God’s Will on the Earth with the aid of God’s holy angels until Yahshua comes. 

The rest of those who are to be saved from the other six churches described in the Book of Revelation can be associated with the Five Wise Virgin Attendants of the Bride of Christ, as mentioned in the the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins found in Matthew, Chapter 25. To understand this amazing prophetic End Time parable better, please read my article about it, which is described and linked to below:

POEM Blog Article: Deciphering the Parable of the Ten Virgins - Excerpt: The Parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13 is deceptively simple in its subject matter, but surprisingly hard for many to understand because it must be viewed both literally and allegorically to derive the full meaning of the text. Yet, in regard to making correct deductions in the study of End Times Bible Prophecy or Eschatology, it is crucial to understand this Parable from both points of view. 

POEM Blog Article: Deciphering the Parable of the Ten Virgins

http://pillarofenoch.blogspot.com/2012/04/deciphering-parable-of-ten-virgins.html

God bless you! Love you all in Yahshua! Maranatha! 

Yahshua is coming very soon!