THE PROMISE AND ACTUAL MANIFESTATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (III)
B. What were the consequences of the withdrawal of the downpouring of the Holy Spirit?
B.1) The Holy Temple became the habitation of birds and beasts.
Jer. 12:7-9 7I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it. 9Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
Isa. 34:13-15 13And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. 14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
Isa. 32:14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Rev. 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Isa. 13:21-22 21But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
O blind men who build magnificent palaces of churches of this generation! The beasts of the field and hateful birds, who are these? Hosea said:
Hos. 14:9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
B.2) The People were carried away to captivity.
Jer. 13:18 Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
Eze. 39:23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
Hab. 1:6-9 6For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. 7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. 9They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
This is a reference to those who were sent throughout the world, preaching heresies; trying to control all the believers under them. Because they had the authority and the devilish power of mammon, they expanded and gathered believers as many as the sand. But the believers who thought of keeping the pure gospel of Christ had become helpless.
Lam. 2:9-10 9Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD. 10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
Since they were now in captivity and in bondage (become slaves) and could not rejoice anymore; they had to weep sorrowfully like a widow “mourning of an only son”. These were the foreboding signs of what was bound to happen when the Holy Spirit was withdrawn.
Lam. 1:1-2 1How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! 2She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
Amos 8:10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
B.3) Drought and Famine cut off the Supply of Water and Bread.
Jer. 14:2-6 2Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. 4Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. 6And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
Joel 1:17-20 17The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. 18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. 20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Joel 1:4-5 4That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. 5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
Isa. 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Joel 1:10-11 10The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. 11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
Amos 8:11-12 11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
At this juncture, they would wander from one church to another, hoping to receive the Holy Spirit but without avail.
The consequence of the cessation of the down pouring of the Holy Spirit is sorrowful beyond words. Let us not proceed further on this. However, we will study: for how long would the Holy Spirit cease to pour, before we could see the light again?
C. The period of cessation of the Holy Spirit’s down pouring (in years)
Dan. 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Rev. 13:5-7 5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev. 11:2-3 2But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. 3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
All this is fulfilled in the person of the Pope, whom we are mostly aware of. The Pope has great powers, calls himself god, and walk according to his own will. He blasphemes against God, ex-communicates saints, changes laws and treads upon the holy city. Let us first touch on “speaking great things and blasphemies”. According to the Roman Catholic’s catechism, the Pope is called ‘Vicegerent Son of God’, ‘King of the earth’, ‘king of kings and Lord of lords’. The Pope also claims he dwells with the Almighty God; and his words are equal to God’s words. Thus according to the Catholic Church’s dogma, the Pope is “the supreme tribunal”. Disobeying the Pope’s words or decisions is equivalent to sinning against God.
Such boasting, in exalting himself, is blasphemy against God, and there will never ever be anyone who is like the Pope, so bold and audacious to do it. The Bible records against “that Wicked” one :-
2Thess. 2:3-4 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Let us again take up the question of ex-communication of the saints. This is recorded in the history of the church. We shall just use one event as a testimony:
Twenty over years after the establishment of the sect of followers of Jesus (Society of Jesuits), about 900,000 Christians were killed. One, a Spanish leader, boasted that during his years in Holland, he had punished and put to death 360,000 Christians. The Catholic Church’s own punishment courts carried out tyrannical punishments for a period of 30 years, and killed 150,000 people.
What was stated regarding the evil committed towards the saints of the most high fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible:
Rev. 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
It is obvious that the Catholic Church has changed times and laws under the Pope.
The Ten Commandments of God were amended (refer Exo. 20:1-17):-
TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD |
TEN COMMANDMENTS (as amended by Catholics) |
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. |
1. Worship the heavenly Father as above all others. |
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. |
2. Thou shalt not use the name of the Holy Father in making false (vain) vows.
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3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. |
3. Remember that thou observe the day of worship. (The day of worship may not be standard but the most prominent one is Sunday.) |
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. |
4. Honour thy father and thy mother. |
5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. |
5. Thou shalt not kill. |
6. Thou shalt not kill. |
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery. |
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. |
7. Thou shalt not steal. |
8. Thou shalt not steal. |
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness. |
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. |
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. |
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. |
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wealth. |
The Pope’s success in changing times and laws, so that the whole world forsook the Sabbath day, and observed Sunday instead as the day of worship, all fell in appropriately with these words,
Rev. 13:7 …and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 11:2 …for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Forty two months is equal to “time” and “times” and “half a time” (three and a half years) which is 1,260 days. Their iniquity had to be borne each day for a year (Eze. 4:4,6) thus 1,260 years. From the time God gave them power (the Pope came into power around A.D. 258) he could do everything according to his own will for 1,260 years (Rev. 13:5) until about A.D. 1517. this is when the two witnesses prophesied, wearing sackcloth (the “two witnesses” refer to the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible and “sackcloth” means deception signifying that for the period of 1,260 years people had been deceived by the words preached without the guidance of the Holy Spirit).
When they had finished their testimony, the Holy Spirit would be poured down to carry out the work of redemption, but there was another beast which came out of the bottomless pit (In A.D. 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 edicts on the door of the Vatican condemning the sins of the Pope. It sparked off the Christian Reformation Movement, which dealt a great blow to the Pope’s power and the decline of his power). There was war amongst them, and they overcame them, and killed them.
So from 1517 there was a period of 400 years (1917) where the church was still under captivity as slaves (slaves of sin) and was undelivered and still in bondage. During this 400 year-period, although it was stated that they were delivered out of the yoke of the Pope, the Protestant Churches reformed: but in actual fact, they were still keeping some of the laws of the Catholic Church as they only reformed laws, and did not completely come out of her. As Ezekiel said:
Eze. 16:4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
Jer. 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Thus truth and the spirit of Christianity which is the pattern of the doctrines of the Apostolic Church, were not found in them at all, in fact, hardly a trace of it could be found in them. They were divided into hundreds of denominations, each worshipping his own beast; committing adultery with the world, perverted the truth and were worse than the Catholic Church. This fulfilled Ezekiel’s words:
Eze. 23:11 And when her sister (the Protestant Churches who came out from the Catholic Church, thus called her sister) Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she (Catholic Church), and in her whoredoms (complying and compromising Christianity with social and worldly whims) more than her sister in her whoredoms.
Those who have understanding can perceive who the beast is; that it refers to those who form a sect established by men’s will.
Rev. 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
And it refers to the existing churches of that period. Meaning, although they said they were Christians, in actual fact they were not, but merely dead (corpses) without the Spirit. These corpses without the Spirit refer to the existing Protestant Churches, confused by sin for three and a half days. This three and a half day period is “in the midst of the week” when the sacrifice and the oblation “shall cease” (Dan. 9:27) and “her mirth, feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts” shall cease (Hos. 2:11; Lam. 2:6) because the Israelites were without a king, without a leader, it was a period when no offering of sacrifices were carried out -- for 400 years -- (Hosea chapter 4).
Dan. 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Hos. 2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
Because of “the overspreading of abominations”, the “Lord God hath cast off His altar, he hath abhorred His sanctuary”.
Lam 2:6-7 6And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. 7The LORD hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
Below is a chart to illustrate the cessation of the down pouring of the Holy Spirit in periods and in years.
~ to be continued ~(Extracts from Holy Spirit Times - 1936 Volume:11 No:1,2)