“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” ~ Revelation 6:5-6

 One term that we would utilize 21^st-century terms for the above situation is inflation.  So what is inflation?

Introduction
Inflation is a term that is used when the purchasing power of a country’s currency falls; and it takes more money to purchase the same amount of items than previously.

Inflation does not incur when you are utilizing intrinsic commodities such as gold or silver as direct currency to purchase other items.

Inflation is when the government creates a Fiat currency (Fiat currency has been defined variously as: any money declared by a government to be legal tender), meaning that they produce a paper product that guarantees that it represents something of intrinsic value.

Once a government disconnects the Fiat currency (in our case the American dollar) from that which it is to represent (in our case gold); then the dollar is unstable, and the more false dollars that are printed by the Mint, the less that our current dollars that we now hold are worth.

We were taken off the gold standard in the 70s wherein the dollar was disconnected from the thing that it was meant to represent, gold.

Now inflation is more complicated than just explained, but this would be a rudimentary explanation.

You will notice in the graph above  that currently inflation appears to be pretty low at 2% or 3%.  Yet to show how evil our government is, is that the current administration has redefined inflation by stating that definition does not apply to food and fuel, the two most important ingredients to sustaining life, the most important ingredients of sustaining life are NOT figured into the inflation rate.

This is not only wrong, it is evil and a way to make it look like the current administration is not responsible for a highly inflated economy, which is a lie.

We all know that our money holds less and less value as it did not long ago, and we are buying less and less commodities for a higher price, no matter how much the manufacturer shrinks the weight or volume of their merchandise for the same price, or only raise it a few sense of the time; we live in a very inflated society wherein our government hides the truth from us. The following example may shed a little bit more light on understanding the evil of inflation.

An Example
Inflation is essentially a massive, hidden tax imposed on citizens without their understanding or consent.

Please allow me to use the following illustration to explain (unfortunately I forgot where I obtained the below example)

“Suppose you earn $10 for something you sold or a service you performed.

You receive a $10 bill in exchange for your work. It represents the value of your hard work. It also means that at current market prices, your $10 will buy x amount of goods.

Along comes government, which prints another $10 bill.

 It looks just like yours and spends just like yours.

The only difference is that government did nothing to create its $10. Remember, you had to work for yours.

At first, both $10 bills buy the same amount of goods.

But after a while, merchants notice there is more money “out there” and with it, more demand for their products. So they raise their prices.

Suddenly, your $10 is worth $5 less than it was before.

It is not the products and services which have become worth more; the currency is worth less than it was before.

Some economists say that inflation is a normal part of a healthy economy.

This is false.

Inflation only exists when a monetary system has no sound base.

We are also told that the boom and bust cycle is a normal part of all economic activity.

It isn’t.

It’s only part of an inflating money supply, and today that inflation is worldwide.

Economists say inflation between 3% and 5% is normal to moderate – a sign of a healthy, expanding economy.

But let’s assume 5% inflation over the lifetime of an individual.

That 5% devaluation applies not only to the money earned this year, but to all money saved from previous years.

At the end of year one, a dollar is worth 95 cents.

At the end of year two, 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, being worth 90 cents and so on.

By the time a person has worked 20 years, government will have confiscated by inflation 64% of every dollar the person saved over those years – not by taxes but by inflation.

By the time the person has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%.

The government will take virtually everything a person saves over their entire lifetime, not counting what they will pay in income taxes!”

History
During World War II, president FDR; who historians have rewritten into some kind of saint (HE WAS NOT – IN FACT OPPOSITE), among other things, made gold; which was backed our currency (meaning that every one dollar bill represented one dollar of gold that the government held for us) illegal to possess.

Everyone sold their gold to the government at a rate that the government set of $20.67 an ounce, which had been the price for almost 100 years.

Then after the confiscation the dollar was devalued by 40%, and the price of gold was re-valued up to $35 an ounce.

FDR had manipulated the markets and made 75% profit in the deal – yet where did that money that he had accumulated come from – “we the people.”

It was theft on a grand scale.

Yet even this that could not help bring us out of the Great Depression because of all the ludicrous and evil policies this man had enacted.

Yet if you ask your grandparents, they will say he was a great man because he gave us the “New Deal,” and the “Social Security” act.

These acts put people to work in gave people free money, so is it any wonder that people think he was a great man.

Can we think of another man that gave people money and has been reelected the second time, yet untold millions do not see the evil that runs him as well.

Then we have Richard Nixon who are links the gold standard to the American dollar.

Now there is not physical gold to represent the paper currency we call a dollar.

People don’t realize the dollar is a piece of paper which is why it is NO longer called a “Silver Certificate,” referring to the intrinsic metal that the paper money represented.

I am not an economist, yet even I understand if you take something of value then take something of no value and say that it represents the thing of value, watch out – the thing of no value can be represented by any number because it is a representation only.

$1000 worth of gold, is worth $1000 of gold.

However, money that is said to be worth $1 million has only the value of the paper it’s printed on, it is arbitrary and there is no connection between reality and perception.

This is what occurs during the great tribulation as recorded in Revelation 6:5-6.

However, the inflation of that time will be much greater than anything we have ever known before.

Conclusion
Yet, we should take comfort in Paul’s words concerning the believer not experiencing THE Tribulation (See Endnote #1), The Great Tribulation of those days when he states:

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:9)

However, this exact Greek word for “wrath,” is used by the Holy Spirit concerning the Great Tribulation, as a synonym for the Great Tribulation as seen in the following Scriptures:

“And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev 6:16)

“For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand.”  (Rev 6:17)

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” (Rev 11:18)

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Rev 12:12)

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”  (Rev 14:8)

“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb“  (Rev 14:10)

“And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”  (Rev 14:19)

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”  (Rev 15:1)

“And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.”  (Rev 15:7)

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”  (Rev 16:1)

“And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”  (Rev 16:19)

“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”  (Rev 18:3)

“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”  (Rev 19:15)

Endnotes
1.  For those who do not hold to the teaching of the Rapture (As I was Post-Tribulation myself), please consider the following:

Regarding the Second Coming, the inconsistencies concerning a single event are staggering, therefore, by necessity there must be two separate events, with the only answer being the Rapture as one, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as the other.  

One of the arguments of the opponents to the idea of the Rapture is that Jesus Christ comes to earth twice, not 3 times.

However, this ignores the fact, that according to the Rapture point of view, Christ only comes to earth twice, once for His First Coming, in which He died for the sins of mankind, and the Second Coming to take possession of that which he died for the first time He came to earth as Jesus Christ.

Not 3 Visits, Only 2
Yet, between these two events, Jesus comes NOT to the earth – but to the clouds where we are caught up (Greek: harpazo, in the Latin is rapturo, as found in 1st Thess. 4:17, which states: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”), “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,” in order that the Lord may receive those that are His own, the church as stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, in full text states:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

There is no mention here of Jesus coming to the earth. Only of those that are still alive being caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and be with Him forever more (which is to say that they will be with Him wherever He is at). This says nothing about Jesus coming to the earth.

Jesus was ordained to come to the earth two times, referred to as the First and Second Coming. The Rapture is where Christ comes in the clouds and does not touch the earth [1 Thess. 4:17], in His Second coming is where His feet touches upon the mount of Olives where the Valley splits [Zec. 14:1-4].

In fact, it will be seven years after this that He returns to fulfill His role as the captain (a term unlike our American understanding. The Hebrew word here, sar means the highest leader. Which is the same term Jesus used when He met with Joshua and demanded worship [Joshua 5:14-15], again using the same term that He used with Moses concerning how the ground being holy because of his presence at the burning bush [Exodus 3:5]. No angel of the Lord accepts worship except for one, though he sacrificed his place and became the prince of the power of the air until the day he shall be destroyed) of the Lord’s host to destroy the enemies of Israel, saving them; and starting His millennial reign on earth from Jerusalem.

Israel’s Blindness brings Salvation to the Gentiles
It is in considering the whole plan of God that salvation came from the Jew (John 4:22), yet the Jews refused their Messiah, and according to Romans 11:25 were temporarily placed in the penalty box, while God (who in His foreknowledge, God knew Israel would reject Christ) took the gospel to the whole world – the Gentiles, which is known as the church.

Romans 11:25 says:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.“

The Greek word used here “fullness,” is a mathematical term meaning that when the last one, in this case when the last Gentile arrives – the member of the Church, then the blindness of Israel will depart.

What this is saying is that when the last Gentile which makes up the church is saved,  then the church is complete; then the church will be caught up / raptured; and the eyes of Israel will be opened; with the fourth chapter of Revelation recording the events after this.

This explains why from the fourth chapter of Revelation on all the idioms are Jewish, the terminology and the typology is Jewish as well.

It has been wisely said that in order to understand the book of Revelation you must know all of the Old Testament, because there are 800 allusions (allusions are indirect references, such as partial word combinations of a Scriptural passage which are known to the hearers.  An example would be if I were speaking to a Christian and said: “In the beginning God,” or “we are saved by grace,” they would know I was referring to Genesis 1:1 and Ephesians 2:8) to Old Testament passages found within the hundreds of verses of the book of Revelation.

As recorded in the book of Daniel, the church (which is a mystery that Paul speaks about in Eph. 3:2-10; 5;32; Col. 1:18-26 ), is a parentheses in time of God’s dealings with Israel, and when Israel’s blindness stops (Romans 11:25), with them regaining their sight concerning Jesus as their Savior and God, the clock starts up again.

Regarding Israel Seeking Jesus’ Return, Let’s consider the following Scriptures:

Zechariah 12:8-10 says:

“In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Isaiah 52:6 says:

“Therefore my people shall know my name: [it is Jesus!] therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.”

Hosea 6:1 says:

“Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”

Matthew 23:37-39, which states:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”   (Who do you think it is “that cometh in the name of the Lord” is – it is Jesus)

And Hosea 5:15, which says:

“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.“

The Book of Daniel
Romans 11:25 is the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the 70 weeks of time dealing with Israel, wherein there is a week (7 years) pause between the 69th and 70th week which has lasted now 2000 years between the time of Jesus presenting Himself as the Messiah (the triumphal entry), and our current time.

This parenthesis has no prophecies concerning its length, yet we know that when the blindness of Israel stops, it is referred to as the “fullness of the Gentiles.”

This is not to be confused with the “time of the Gentiles,” which will last until the gentiles no longer control Jerusalem as found in Luke 21:24.

But you may say that since the 7 day war of 1967, Israel has been in control of Jerusalem.  If this is totally true then where is the temple then?  It does not exist because the Islamist control the temple mount where the mosque, the doom of the rock is located (Also Israel does not have full control of Israel – the Palestinians have the Gaza Strip and West bank).  Isreal does not have total control of Jerusalem, yet!

“Time of the Gentiles,” is from the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s occupation until the Second coming.

The “fullness of the gentiles” is when the clock of God’s timepiece concerning Israel starts up again, the 70th week starting at this point, also referred as the Great Tribulation.

This 70th week, is the 70th seven-year period which is commonly referred to as the Tribulation which Jesus referred to in Matthew chapter 24: and is a reference to Daniel’s prophecy is recorded in Daniel 9:24-27.

We must always remember that the church was a mystery hidden from the Old Testament believers according to Ephesians 1:9-13, and Ephesians 3:1-6.

The following are examples of inconsistencies concerning the Second Coming of Christ only, and therefore by contrast support the view of a Rapture of the church, which would mandate two separate events, as seen below:

Rapture                                            Second Coming
Translation of believers                  No translation
Translated saints go to heaven   Translated Saints return to earth
Earth is not judged                          Earth judged
Eminent – any moment                 Follows defined predicted signs
Sign-less                                               Signs
Not in the Old Testament              Predicted in the Old Testament
Affects believers only                       Affects all men
Before the day of wrath                  Concludes the day of wrath
No reference to Satan                     Satan bound
Jesus comes for his own                 Jesus comes with his own
Jesus comes in the air (Clouds)    Jesus comes to earth (Mount of Olives)
Jesus comes to claim his bride     Jesus comes with his bride
Only His own see him*                   Every eye shall see him
Great tribulation begins                 Millennium begins
Church believers only                     Old Testament saved raised later

The following Scriptures display the differences between the Rapture & the Second Coming:

Rapture                                                     The Second Coming
John 14:1-3                                                Daniel 2:44-45
Romans 8:19                                            Daniel 7:9-14
1 Cor. 1:7-8                                                Daniel 12:1-3
1 Cor. 15:1-53                                           Zech. 14:1-15
1 Cor. 16:22                                               Matt 13:41
Phil. 3:20-21                                              Matt 24:15-31
Col. 3:4                                                       Matt 26:64
1 Thess. 1:10                                            Mark 13:14-27
1 Thess. 2:19                                            Mark 14:62
1 Thess. 4:13-18                                      Luke 21:25-28
1 Thess. 5:9                                              Acts 1:9-11
1 Thess. 5:23                                            Acts 3:19-21
2 Thess. 2:1, (3?)                                     1 Thess. 3:13
1 Tim 6:14                                                 2 Thess. 1:6-10
2 Tim 4:1                                                   2 Thess. 2:8
Titus 2:13                                                  2 Peter 3:1-14
Heb. 9:28                                                   Jude 14-15
James 5:7-9                                              Rev 1:7
1 Peter 1:7, 13                                         Rev 19:11-20:6
1 John 2:28-3:2                                        Rev 22:7, 12, 20
Jude 21
Rev. 2:25
Rev 3:10

*After Jesus’ resurrection He is only seen by loving eyes, and touched by the loving hands. 

The next time that Jesus is seen by un-saved men, He is a man of war, bringing judgment upon the earth against those that seek to destroy Israel (Chuck Missler).

The following Scriptures reference support of the Rapture
John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:13-15; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 5:1-5-9; 2 Thess. 2:3-5; 2 Thess. 2:1-2; 2 Thess. 2:6-8; 2 Thess. 2:9-11; Jude 1:14 (the only explanation for Christ coming with His Saints at His Second Coming, is that the Saints were are already caught up with Him prior to this event).

Eschatological Timeline
1.         The Rapture (1 Thess. 4:17)
2.         The Judgment Seat (“Bema Seat”) of Christ (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10)
3.         The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7)
4.         The Second Coming of Christ (Luke 17:30)
5.         The Judgment of the Nations – Sheep & Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
6.         Satan Bound for 1000 Years (Rev. 20:3)
7.         The Final Judgment – White Throne (Rev. 20:11)
8.         The New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2)

Unbelievers are children of the night – Believers are children of the day.

Unbelievers will be taken during the night, when they are saying peace and safety, having no idea of the pending destruction.

Prior to this, during the day, the believers are raptured.

Abraham’s words in Gen. 18:23 – will God destroy the righteous with the wicked & Jesus’ words in Luke 17:28-30 – drawing upon the law as a point of reference concerning God’s wrath / the Tribulation, leads us to the conclusion that as God would not destroy Lot along with the wicked, so the wrath of God will not be placed upon believers.

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