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What Gospel Pesher reveals about the Crucifixion!

Those who Eat the BODY of CHRIST and drink his

 BLOOD -- CRUCIFY the Son of God AFRESH!

The Seventh SIGN

(Full Version)

Rev. 1:7 “Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him:

And they also who pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.  Even so. Amen.”

Eating Christ’s Body – and

Drinking Christ’s Blood – Unworthily!

1 Cor. 11:27 “whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Crucifying the Son of God AFRESH

Putting Him to an OPEN SHAME!

Hebrews 6:6 “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentence; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

 We have in these three texts, Revelation 1:7, 1 Corinthians 11:26-32, and Heb. 6:4-6

Three of the most puzzling texts in the Bible, but once we  consider them all together, and relate them to the delusion perpetrated at the Council of Nicea, the triple puzzle is solved!

 Seventh-day Adventists once had the answer to these three puzzles, a long time ago, given them by Jesus and His Holy Spirit through their Pentecostal Prophetess Ellen G. White, but they let this ANSWER slip away from them, and became as clue-less as their Catholic brothers and sisters, who eat the “body of Christ” and “drink his blood”  UNWORTHILY every Sunday in the MASS.

 Having effectively SHUT OFF all further communication with the HOLY SPIRIT after Ellen White died, the Church she led is quite blind to anything new that requires more than lock-step corporate thinking of a rather predictable sort, but I was shocked into recognition of a deeper and related meaning for these three texts at a “real” Pentecostal Church, the Agape Church of God in Christ in Hendersonville, North Carolina on Sunday, October 5, 2014.

Pastor John Gary was preparing his congregation for the Ordinance of the Last Supper and after long and very enthusiastic audience participation prior to the actual presentation and eating of the wafers and drinking of the grape juice, he made the remark that we all who were about to partake in this symbolism were clearly aware that it was indeed only symbolic, done in remembrance of a real event that took place several thousands of years ago, and because we were not doing this believing that this was really Christ’s body and blood, that we would not be guilty of “crucifying the Son of God afresh”.

 Well now, I, like Pastor Gary have long had my inner ear tuned to the Holy Ghost, so I immediately called to mind an unusual quotation I had found and used that Ellen G. White had spoken or written in regards to children who would make startling prophecies in the future (after 1890) based on the Book of Revelation. You’ll note that the first of these strange quotations I’ve listed here is indeed from the Book of Revelation, and is indeed presented in a remarkable way, like a curse of sorts (all kindreds wailing or crying) with its own “Amen.” In Ellen White’s prediction, child “prophets” would be “eating the flesh of Christ” and “drinking his blood”.   I had clearly seen these children as being Catholic, and the prophecy referred to as the Fatima Prophecies of 1917 and later, and used this example in a Prophecy Seminar I put on at the Unity Center in March of 2012.

 I went up after the service on October 5, and told my Pentecostal Preacher that I wanted to make sure that I was hearing and understanding correctly what he had said prior to the Lord’s Supper ordinance, and that he really believed that Roman Catholics were “crucifying Jesus afresh” by partaking of these symbols they were forced into believing were the real body and blood of Christ.   He said, “Dr. Bob, it’s not my idea, it’s Biblical.   I can’t give you the texts without looking them up, but I’ll find them for you and give them to you.”  I said, “Thanks, but No, I can find them for myself.”  He did not know, of course, that Ellen White had set me up to hear this and see the importance of this connection in March of 2012, more than two years prior to Pastor Gary’s October 5 sermon.

  Actually, it is possible to add another text to this list from one of the most prophetic chapters in the Old Testament, once understanding of the three texts I’ve listed creeps into the consciousness of those who allow the Holy Ghost to show it to them, as Pastor Gary and I have already done.   Ellen White, of course, never understood her prediction of 1890, and may have assumed she was talking about Seventh-day Adventist children, not Roman Catholic children.  She was dead and buried by the time the three Shepherd Children at Fatima, Portugal made their prediction, the Third Prediction being suppressed now for almost 100 years because it allegedly predicts ultimate disaster for the Roman Catholic Church. That concept, although distasteful to Catholic Theologians and popes, was very familiar to Ellen G. White, and she wrote a very large book, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan  with the main subject, story line, or plot being the same as that in the suppressed Third Vision of Fatima.

 The Fourth Text – Isaiah 66:17,18

     Isa. 66:17 “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. 18 For I know their works, and their thoughts; it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.”   Not quite as obvious as the Catholic Mass is in those first three texts, but once the Catholic Church is identified to those who accept what the Holy Ghost shows them to be true, then the “tree in the midst” becomes crucifixes large and small and the image of Christ either present or implied becomes an idol, breaking the second commandment – which Protestants retain in the Ten Commandments but which Catholics have caused to disappear, while expanding the last commandment on covetousness to become two commandments, not one.  But adding this fourth text to our list is helpful in that “works” and “thoughts” are clearly mentioned in verse 18, and “delusions” are discussed earlier in Isaiah 66, in verses 3 and 4.

 Also, the “eating swine’s flesh” of Isaiah 66:17 possibly refers us to a reason why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:30, writes – “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (the sleep of an early death).”   Now, meat was more scarce in ordinary poor people’s diet in Paul’s day than in ours, but refrigeration was unavailable and Gentiles did not pay much attention to the Kosher rules of the Laws of Moses, so by expecting the Christian ritual of the Mass to “keep them healthy” by Christ’s magical power was probably not working any better in Paul’s day among his Gentile followers than it is today in Fast Food America.

 Ellen White’s 1890 Vision of the Child Prophets

   Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers page 116  Under the Heading (no doubt added later by Adventist editors) “Unconquerable Forces Waiting” Ellen White wrote in 1890:  “Those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God will bring from the books of Daniel and Revelation truth that is inspired by the Holy Spirit.   They will start into action forces that cannot be repressed.  The lips of children will be opened to proclaim the mysteries that have been hidden from the minds of men.”

Once we plug in to Ellen White’s 1890 Seventh-day Adventist prophecy Pentecostal Preacher John Gary’s  October 5, 2014 clear Holy Spirit- revealed declaration that “those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God” are Roman Catholics, we are half-way to the ultimate truth.  He was able to discover the rest of the truth because he’s a Bible scholar able to read and think for himself and not rely on some “General Conference” populated with robots to tell him what is truth and what is error.   From a Church Corporate viewpoint.  Looking for other references in the Bible concordance to “crucifying Christ afresh” and what may be the disadvantages to doing this, he found the other two texts and decided his church was better off calling symbolism symbolism and relying on the Holy Ghost not on what the Catholic Church councils decided at Nicea, Constantinople, and other places and on other dates over 20 centuries of time.  He as well as I see the possibility that all these decisions which might be more clearly labeled delusions may indeed lead their followers to a place they might rather not be at the end of the allotted time for such delusions to have any validity whatsoever.

 In my short discussion with Pastor Gary on October 5, 2014, we both saw clearly and agreed that people who are taught to believe that they are eating Christ’s literal fleshly body when they eat a Catholic Mass wafer, and drinking his actual blood when they share the wine with a Catholic priest are indeed cannibals  and vampires in their minds, if not in reality.   They are indeed guilty of the most depraved of human practices.  That they are willing to sacrifice the life of another human being and eat that human being’s flesh to keep themselves alive is bad enough, but to call back “God” from living in heaven and enjoying the benefits of life there, with all its peace and glory, weekly, on Sunday, to become a degraded sacrifice to be killed, eaten, and his blood drunk by priests and possibly parishioners, -- on and on, world without end- for the foreseeable future does seem to both Pastor Gary and myself to be sort of the ultimate measure of human depravity.   Pastor Gary and I agreed that it’s very much like we, instead of a Roman soldier, had a grasp on that spear that was thrust in Jesus’ side, and every week stabbed him with it one more time so that we could catch some of his blood, take a drink, and keep ourselves alive for yet another week.   But, because he’s “God”, and we now have enough of God’s blood in us – LIVE FOREVER, like God does.  Powerful witch-craft, this practice by all Catholics!

 Reading on in Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers page 116  Ellen White, no doubt unwittingly and without comprehending anything that she was correctly predicting, summarizes the subject matter of the Fatima Prophecies.  “We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. (World War II, the Atomic Bomb, the Age of Missiles, walking on the moon, and the “Cold War”)  Many of the prophecies are about to be fulfilled in quick succession.  Every element of (Atomic and missile) power is about to be set to work.  Past history will be repeated; old controversies (Christians vs Islam) will arouse to new life, and peril will beset God’s people (the Jews, not Adventists) on every side.  Intensity is taking hold of the human family.  It is permeating everything upon the earth.”

     “Study Revelation in connection with Daniel (The Astrology of Daniel “the Astrologer” is needed to unlock the Astrology in Revelation). For history will be repeated (Charles Wheeling in a nutshell)…We, with all our religious advantages, ought to know far more today than we do know.”

      Looking around today, as I’m writing this on 10-10-2014, hoping to discover something I missed in March of 2012, I turned back to page 114, and there it was, a veiled by perceptible reference to the necessity of understanding at least some Astrology to solve some of these Biblical mysteries.   Adventists, like most Evangelical Christians have treated Astrology as totally the Devil’s territory, following the lead of those scriptural Jewish teachers of the Torah who forbid their readers to pay any attention to the “host of heaven.”   But the Bible also makes it clear that Abraham, Joseph, Job, and Daniel had an ongoing relationship with what they saw in the night sky, and Matthew in his Nativity Story gives us the story of the Wise Men and the “Star of Bethlehem”.

     Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers page114  under the heading “Result of True Study” (I think that means “Holy Spirit – directed study” not “General Conference – directed Study”).  “One thing will certainly be understood from the study of Revelation – that the connection between God and His people is close and decided.   A wonderful connection is seen between the universe of heaven and this world.”   (THIS IS A EUPHEMISM FOR “ASTROLOGY”!)   Look up “Astrology” in a comprehensive dictionary or encyclopedia and see if Ellen White’s carefully stated sentence here is not a disguised definition of “Astrology”.   Astrology always has been in the past and still today an attempt to find some relationship between what various imaginary figures we are seeing in the Zodiac may have to do with our personal activities from day to day, and more important in Ellen White’s use here, of the political and religious fates of nations and empires.  (The subject matter of Daniel and Revelation).   Page 114 last paragraph.  The things revealed to Daniel (the “Astrologer”) were afterward complemented by the revelation made to John on the Isle of Patmos.  These two books should be carefully studied.  Twice Daniel inquired, How long shall it be to the end of time?”

 Following Ellen White’s 1890 advice to “more carefully study” both Daniel and Revelation in the 1980s and 1990s, a century after Ellen wrote this, I, Dr. Bob Holt discovered that her counting was defective, there are 7 endings for Daniel!

7 “Ends” not 2 in Daniel 12

 Daniel 12:4 “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even till the time of the end (First mention of the end): many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

 Daniel 12:6 “And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river (symbolically Noah), How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? (Second mention of the end).

 Daniel 12:7 “And I heard ----a time, times, and an half; --- all these things shall be finished.” (Third mention of the end, but substituting the word “finished” which has a similar meaning).

 Daniel 12:8 “And I heard, but I understood not (Amen, brother!): then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” (Fourth mention of the end).

 Daniel 12:9 “And he said, Go thy way Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Fifth mention of the end).

 Daniel 12:13 “But go thou thy way till the end be: -- (Sixth mention of the end).

 Daniel 12:13b “—for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”(Seventh mention of the end and sufficient labeling (“rest” – “days”) to identify this “last day” as the Sabbath). 

In 1989, a century lacking one year after Ellen White’s advice to “look clearly at Daniel” I clearly saw the Essene Millennial Week Prophecy that the WORLD would last for 7000 years, each “day of the Lord” being 1000 years in duration. (Psalms 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8)

 And also in 1989, as the direct result of a hint by a Holy Ghost inspired Pentecostal layman at a Pentecostal prayer meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, I fully understood that the same Millennial Week Prophecy was much more fully presented both in 8 Parables found in Matthew chapter 13 and in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.   This too was a fulfillment of Ellen’s advice to let knowledge from studying Daniel help me to properly interpret Revelation.  (Plus the identification of Daniel as an Astrologer). 

 The first church letter (to Ephesus) stands for the first Bible MILLENNIUM (4000 BC to 3000 BC) “First love” Rev. 2:4 – “First works” Rev. 2:5 “Tree of Life” (in Eden with Adam  and Eve”) Rev. 2:7 “Paradise of God.” Astrologically, the “seven stars” of Rev. 2:1 are the Pliades (“Seven sisters”) the ring in the nose of the heavenly bull Taurus which the Essene Astrologer Jesus Christ is leading with his right hand to begin the Age of Taurus (4000 BC to 2000 BC).

 The second church letter (to Smyrna) stands for the second Bible MILLENNIUM (3000 BC to 2000 BC) To Essenes, the era of Noah’s Flood –“was dead and is alive” Rev. 2:8 “synagogue of Satan” the evil antidiluvians Rev. 2:9 “the devil shall cast some of you in prison” (from Book of Enoch – the “angels that sinned by mating with human females” –see Genesis 6:1-4 and 1 Peter 3:19, 2 Peter 2:4,5).

 The third church letter (to Pergamos) stands for the third Bible MILLENNIUM (2000 BC to 1000 BC) To Essenes, Abraham to David – During which 1000 years Israel was in the wilderness eating “manna” and piling up “stones” in such places as the Jordan River and Joshua’s altar. Rev. 2:17.  Also they were subjected to the “doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” Astrologically, the Essene Jesus “hath the sharp sword with two edges” held by Aries the “God of War” who is also the Ram of the Age of Aries (2000 BC to 0).   Jesus was born in the middle of March, so by conventional Astrology, was born under the Sign of Aries, the Ram.

 The fourth church letter (to Thyatira) stands for the fourth Bible MILLENNIUM (1000 BC to 0) To Essenes the Era of King David to the Birth of Jesus Christ, their Messiah.  This letter starts enthusiastically, lauding Jesus. “These things saith the Son of God, who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire (Daniel’s fiery furnace), and his feet are like fine brass (Daniel’s image misquoted); I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first.” (Here “works” appears twice, and is again emphasized because the 1000 years ends with the Essenes, whose major emphasis was on Good Works).  The major evil person of this era was Jezebel  Rev. 2:20  The children of Jezebel (later identified as the Catholic Church) will ultimately die (verse 22) – Why? Because Jezebel seduces my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols” verse 20. Note that sacrificed to idols has now appeared twice in this series!

 This is an interesting combination of the three scriptures which Pastor John Gary and I see as identifying the Catholic Church as celebrating the Lord’s Supper unworthily (1 Corinthians 11:26-32) and crucifying the Son of God afresh (Hebrews 6:6) and those also that pierced him watching Him return (Rev. 1:7) with Isaiah 66:3,4,17, in which Isaiah prophesies the death “consumed together” of verse 17, of those who worship in front of crucifixes (and other idols) by eating what they must believe is the body of Christ and drinking what they must believe is Christ’s blood.  Interestingly and appropriately those who consume the MASS in order to acquire “eternal life” are themselves consumed in eternal death (Isaiah 66:17 and Rev. 2:23 combined)

 The point made here is that ultimately everyone is judged by their intentions and their works, not by their faith in the church’s decrees and practices.

 Revelation 2:23 (last part) “—and all the churches shall know that I (Jesus Christ) am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”

 To those other churches who expect to actually live holy lives, not depend on ritual to save them, and who expect the Holy Ghost to help them achieve whatever degree of righteousness they are capable of, real righteousness that is not a mirage, Jesus promises in Rev. 2:24, 25: “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as hold not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put on you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”

 The Advent of Jesus Christ in Revelation 2:26

     Rev. 2:26 “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:  27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron (not with a mirage, or an unworthy sacrifice, nor with crucifying the Son of God afresh), as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father (the Ten Commandments).”

    Rev. 2:28 “And I will give him the morning star (Star of Bethlehem, then later, Dawn of a New Age).”

    Rev. 2:29 “He that hath an ear (Pastor Gary and myself), let him hear what the Spirit (Holy Ghost) saith unto the churches (which are deaf, and do not hear!).”

 The fifth church letter (to Sardis) stands for the fifth Bible MILLENNIUM ( 1 AD to 1000 AD) To Essenes the first 1000 years of the “Church Age.”  Jesus still has the Pliades in his right hand, still in control of the Zodiacal progression of the Ages. “These things saith he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars –“  Has the standard changed to one of “Faith” not “Works”? – In Paul’s letters to Gentiles, perhaps, but not in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him—“ (Rev. 1:1) “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Rev. 3:1  “Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found they works perfect before God.”  Looking forward to the works he sees prophetically the Church which bears his name performing in the so-called “Dark Ages” he sees these “Works”, including of course, the Nicene Creed and transferring the Holiness of the Jewish Sabbath day transferred allegedly to Sunday sacredness as being just what we have named them, “dark” acts or works in those “Dark Ages.” But the age begins with the Essenes -- “thou hast a few names, even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.”  Rev. 3:4 There are no Astrology clues in this letter other than the seven stars of the Pliades.  But we are nevertheless in the Age of Pisces ( 1 AD to 2000 AD) People are waiting for the “Second Coming” but have no idea when it will occur. “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”  Rev. 3:3b.

 The sixth letter (to Philadelphia) stands for the sixth Biblical MILLENNIUM (1000 AD to 2000 AD) To Essenes the second and last 1000 years of the “Church Age.”

Here Jesus has the “key of David” Rev. 3:7 “he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; ---“ The “Church of the Middle Ages” had no way of knowing, although it was clearly indicated symbolically in the Scriptures, that Jesus would allow, or at least knew it would happen, that Israel would, after the worst religious persecution in all history, the Jewish “Holocaust” be permitted to return to Palestine, and declare on May 14, 1948, that Israel was again a nation.   It was there in Isaiah 66 all the time, but Christians, seduced by the writings of Paul, and their success after Constantine in the 4^th century, could neither interpret properly Isaiah 66 or Matthew chapter 24.   Isaiah 66:6 (Interesting text number, Yes?) “A voice of noise from the city” (the Atomic Bomb Aug. 8, 1945 at 8:15 AM), a voice from the temple (in Jerusalem), a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies.”  Not the Jews, as we had thought, but those eating his flesh and drinking his blood!  And Israel became a nation once again on May 14, 1948.

 Ellen G. White in Early Writings  page 15 (written in 1844, 100 years before these events) “Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day (August 8, 1845) and the hour (8:15 AM) of Jesus’ coming.  The living saints, (the Jews), 144,000 in number (all Jews – read Revelation chapter 6) knew and understood the voice, while the wicked (Gentiles) thought it was thunder and an earthquake.”

 As the sixth letter to the sixth age continues, Jesus states to the Jews and the Pentecostals who will help them –“I know they works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” Rev. 3:8 He then again mentions the “Synagogue of Satan” who as Pagan Romans crucified him literally, and as Roman Catholics, continued crucifying him afresh to preserve their sinful lives eternally (verse 9) Before they die forever, this group must acknowledge their error.  And in verse 10 the entire world is judged.  In verse 12 “him that overcometh” by doing “Good Works” not by “Blind Faith” is made a “pillar in the temple of my God” and he shall “go no more out”. – he or she is now a permanent part of the “New Jerusalem” which cometh down out of heaven from my God.  Note here that Jesus is not a God, but has a God (that’s NOT the same thing!).  The Christ of Revelation is a High Priest, not part of a Divine Trinity.

 The  seventh letter (to Laodicea) was supposed to be sent at the beginning of the seventh Biblical MILLENNIUM (2000 AD to 3000 AD) but for reasons explained outside of Revelation in Matthew 24:22 “And except those days should be shortened, there shall no (Jewish) flesh be saved; but for the Elect’s sake (the Elect now being the Jews once again after the Aug. 8, 1945 “voice of God”)  those days shall be short-ened.”  So now the 7^th MILLENIUM is 1945 AD to ?.

 The message to Laodicea is also the message to the Age of Aquarious, and appropriately it is a message about water – lukewarm water!  A new world is being created Rev. 3:14.  It’s still about “works” not “faith”.  Rev. 3:15 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot, 16 So then because thou art lukewarm (like the mineral springs next to Laodicea in Turkey) I will spue (vomit) thee out of my mouth (the water from these springs acts as an emetic, causing vomiuting).  What’s the problem?  Verse 17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich—and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked: --“  And the cure?

Verse 18 “I counsel  thee to buy of me (the Essene Jesus, not the Catholic counterfeit Jesus) gold tried in the fire (Daniel again), that thou mayest be rich; and (Essene) white raiment (Good Works), that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve (the Holy Ghost), that thou mayest see (and hear that still small voice). Verse 20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man (including Catholics and Adventists who have turned their backs on Trinitarian delusions) hear my voice, and open the door; I will come in to him, and will sup with him—(And this time, my body and my blood will not be the supper, your last supper!).

 --They also who pierced Him—Rev. 1:7b

      By now, those of you who have followed me through this sermon that started with my following Pentecostal Preacher John Gary’s recognition and identification of the unworthy celebration of the Lord’s Supper Ordinance as the Catholic Delusion that their wafers and wine are truly and literally the Lord’s body and blood will be ready to also see the phrase in Revelation 1:7 “—they also who pierced him—“ as being not just one Roman soldier at Christ’s crucifixion who pierced his side to make sure that he really was dead, but all Catholics, whose “eternal life” depends on Christ’s death, and indeed al Trinitarian Christians who see their acceptance by God as being entirely dependent on what Christ (as God) has done, not on how they themselves have spent their lives heretofore, and how they most likely will spend their lives until senility or death overtakes them. 

 Sooner or later they will cross that line that Christ drew in the sand of time in Revelation 22:11 “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.  12 And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work (not his faith) shall be.”

 The Seventh Sign

This was the name of a Hollywood movie shown in many movie theatres around the world in 1988, at the very time when a vast number of people, many of them Evangelicals and Pentecostals were expecting Christ to return in a Secret Rapture.    Although in the movie Jesus never returned in the sky and no one met him on a cloud with new spiritual bodies as teach those who believe in a “Secret Rapture”, still Jesus did return in the film “in secret” and as an anonymous Jewish man named “David” wanders around the world opening 7 seals as he is pictured as doing in Revelation 5:1 through 7:17.   David, as the secretly returned Jesus Christ, played by Jurgen Prochnow, breaks another of the seals in each appropriate location, and another major disaster occurs in that location.   He’s living in a room over Demi Moore’s garage, and Demi Moore (the actress playing Abby Quinn in this film, is a reincarnation of Seraphia, a woman who offered Jesus a drink of water on his terrible walk through the streets of ancient Jerusalem on the way to his crucifixion.   Libby is full term pregnant in this film, and her baby will be born without a soul and the world will end as Christ breaks the seventh seal.  That is, unless Libby agrees to give up her own life so that her baby will have a soul.  This plot adds the film to the horror film genre, but that’s true of most of the Revelation-based Hollywood film plots after “The Seventh Sign”.

 Why should I include this horror film in my sermon?  Because it includes the Hollywood version of the premise posed by Jesus in Revelation 1:7b, that the soldier that pierced Jesus side will watch his return.  And creatively, in line with Pastor John Gary’s and my recognition that all Catholics are indeed doing this, knowingly or unwittingly, the soldier, kept miraculously alive for 2000 years, is stalking Jesus in the film as Father Lucci, a Catholic Priest.  Father Lucci has lived many lifetimes, perhaps 30, but was originally a Roman soldier named Cartaphilus, the servant of Pontius Pilate who struck Jesus in his face at the crucifixion.  As Father Lucci he has been sent by the Vatican to investigate these strange miraculous events that occur as each of the Seals of Revelation 5:1 through 7:17 are broken.  Tired of watching 2000 years of sin and horror happening, and wanting to die to end his personal torment, Father Lucci finally commits murder in the film to bring upon himself his own desired death.  While Demi Moore as Abby finds the courage to solve her own personal dilemma about her unborn baby.

 The Catholic Legends of the Spear of Longinus

In the Gospel stories of the Crucifixion of Jesus, which in all four Gospels take up a large proportion of each Gospel, two Roman soldiers have prominent roles, the centurion who declares Jesus to be “truly a just man” (Luke 23:47) Or “truly the son of God” (Mark 15:39, Matt. 27:54).  And another soldier, not identified as a centurion, who poked a spear in Jesus side when he appeared to be dead, “and forthwith came out blood and water,” (John 19:34)  Catholic authors later named this soldier Longinus, and he suffers two different fates, depending on whether the authors of these two traditions decide this is also the centurion that believed in Jesus’ divinity (or righteousness).  To make sure the best scenario is honored, the soldier becomes Saint Longinus and is duly represented on the Catholic Online Website.

“St. Longinus is the centurion who pierced the side of Our Lord while He was hanging on the Cross. St. Longinus, who was nearly blind, was healed when some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes. It was then he exclaimed "Indeed, this was the Son of God!" [Mark 15:39]. St. Longinus then converted, Left the army, took instruction from the apostles and became a monk in Cappadocia. There he was arrested for his faith, his teeth forced out and tongue cut off. However, St. Longinus miraculously continued to speak clearly and managed to destroy several idols in the presence of the governor. The governor, who was made blind by the demons that came from the idols, had his sight restored when St. Longinus was being beheaded, because his blood came in contact with the governors' eyes. St. Longinus' relics are now in the church of St Augustine, in Rome. His Lance is contained in one of the four pillars over the altar in the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome.”

Here, the blood of Christ has miraculous power independent of Christ himself, which even Pastor Gary and myself cannot imagine Christ rewarding the governor for cutting of “Saint Longinus”’ head by restoring his sight.  Similar “magic” is a characteristic of most of these old Catholic traditions.  But the other tradition about this soldier is the one with a more direct relationship to Revelation 1:7b.

Hours of research confirmed the importance of the “good” Saint Longinus, who rates a lot of art work by famed Catholic painters and even several really ornate and beautiful sculptures, usually with a prominent spear.  But the “bad” Longinus, more accurate Biblically, is not allowed to die until Jesus returns.  To me this is obviously to fulfill the implied prophecy of Revelation 1:7b.  The first reference I found was in a Theses by ROSE JEFFRIES PEEBLES in 1910.  But I later found in WIKIPEDIA the same reference to a fragment of the Pseudoepigraphical Gospel of Barnabas that was attached to some copies of the Epistles of Pilate.    Here’s that portion of WIKIPEDIA:

 “No name for this soldier is given in the Gospels; the name Longinus is found in the pseudepigraphal Gospel of Nicodemus that was appended to the apocryphal Acts of Pilate. Longinus did not start out as a saint. An early tradition, found in the 4th-century pseudepigraphal "Letter of Herod to Pilate”, claims that Longinus suffered for having pierced Jesus, and that he was condemned to a cave where every night a lion came and mauled him until dawn, after which his body healed back to normal, in a pattern that would repeat till the end of time. Later traditions turned him into a Christian convert, but as Sabine Baring-Gould observed: "The name of Longinus was not known to the Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus, in 715. It was introduced amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint." However, an old tradition does link the birthplace of Longinus with the small village of Lanciano, Samnite territory, in today's Abruzzo region of Central Italy.

Ellen White’s 40 Year Struggle with Rev. 1:7

Neither Pastor John Gary nor I are allowed to sit in the “Chair of Saint Peter” where the Catholic Popes sit since the middle of the 19^th century where they make their infalliable decisions, such as that made when the Virgin Mary was declared to have had an Immaculate Conception.  So there is the slight possibility that both of us are seeing this problem of Catholics being forced to believe that they are indeed eating the real flesh of Jesus Christ and drinking his literal blood all wrong, and that the Catholic popes and theologians are right after all and Pastor Gary and I are wrong.  But we’re only listening to that inner voice we believe to be the Holy Ghost, and tomorrow, or next week, or 10 years from now the same inner voice may tell us something new and more appropriate.  My dear Adventist Sister, Ellen G. White, had similar problems with people who expected her to be infalliable and being, like we are, at the mercy of the whims of the Holy Ghost, fell far short of some people’s expectations in the matter of the ultimate meaning of Revelation 1:7.

 Originally, in her 1844 vision, there were two resurrections, the first for the righteous, then, 1000 years later, a resurrection for all the wicked.  Later another resurrection for those who died expecting to see Jesus coming was added to these two.  By 1884, however, it became obvious to Sister White that to accommodate Revelation 1:7 there must indeed be three resurrections,  with one for those who had pierced Christ at his crucifixion (there must be more than one since “they also which pierced him” is plural),  There must be a distinct separate resurrection to accomplish this.  Ellen White closed her eyes in death in 1915 having solved this problem for the time being.   Pastor Gary and I see no problem in substituting all living Catholics for the “they” of Revelation 1:7.  Indeed, we have done the Lord and the Universe a great favor – God no longer needs to go through the work and problems involved in having a special resurrection to take care of the punishment “needs” of probably less than a hundred people.