SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 242BSeptember 28, 2005
Armageddon – Not in the Far Distant Future – Part 9
An Exposition of Revelation 16:13 to 18:24
Ezekiel 33:3-6 – If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; [4] Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. [5] He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. [6] But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
The primary Scripture, among those on which I will be expositing in this series, specifically warns those setting under false teachings to break away from the religious “her” that is teaching them today.
Revelation 18:4 – And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
This Scripture lets me know there are saved men and women who are in the “her” of this verse, because it calls them “my people.” The primary purpose of this series is to specifically identify the “her” and to implore those “in her” to come “out of her,” and to warn those not in “her” to stay “out of her.”
Now, I shall continue expositing from where we left off in Part 8.
Revelation 18:21 – And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
The penalty for teaching false doctrine and causing God’s little born again children to stumble is described using the same illustration.
Matthew 18:3-6 – And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. [5] And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. [6] But whoso shall OFFEND one of these little ones WHICH BELIEVE in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
The word OFFEND means “to cause to stumble” and, in the context of verse six, it means to cause the born again babe in Christ “to stumble” in his walk of faith as a child of God. In the case of Matthew 18:6 it is used as a metaphor. However, in Revelation 18:21, it is literally going to happen to the city of Rome and its Vatican as a punishment for causing billions of God’s children to stumble in their walk by faith. The city, encompassed by the seven hills, is literally going to sink under the Sea as the land subsides below sea level, causing the great Mediterranean Sea to flow up the Tiber River to engulf Rome.
The actual word translated as “offend” is “skandaliz,” which means “to entrap, to trip, to cause to stumble, to entice to apostasy.” This has been the role of the whore of Babylon, the Catholic Church, for some 1700 years.
SINKING OF THE CITY OF ROME IN ONE DAY!
It might be a good idea to look at a map of the entire Mediterranean Sea area as far east as Turkey, and as far south as Israel, while reading this Prophecy Update.
This is something I have taught since 1982. Please allow me to seemingly “beat around the bush” before directly addressing how, and why, Rome will literally sink below the upper waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The basaltic Pacific Ocean sea floor is pushing against the western coast of the United States. The rock strata of the dry land there is lighter than the basaltic sea floor. Consequently, it lifts over the sea floor basaltic strata. As the weight of the coastal rock strata rises over the basaltic sea floor strata, its overlying weight causes the sea floor strata to dive downward under the western United States. As it slides downward under the western U.S. at about a 30 degree angle, ever increasing pressure is incurred on the rock strata due to overlying weight that constantly increases as it goes deeper, and this causes numerous subterranean chambers to form in lines along the layer’s perpendicular intersection with the coastline. When further movement causes a sudden release of pressure by vertical cracking, the solid rock layer instantly liquefies, fills the subterranean chamber with magma, and starts toward the surface, sometimes erupting as a volcano. It is this generalized effect that has created the lengthy chain of volcanoes from British Columbia southward across Washington, Oregon, and California.
Please forgive this long discourse on the creation of the western U.S. volcanic chain. I gave it because you may have seen an animated illustration of it on one of the TV Discovery programs, and I wanted you to go from the familiar to the unfamiliar, because the same phenomena exists along the western coast of Italy, where a volcanic chain stretches the length of the Italian boot from near the tip of its toe to well north of Rome.
I am particularly interested in the very ancient crater designated on geological maps simply as “004.” It is located on the southwestern suburbs of the famous seven hills on which Rome is situated, and is clearly visible as a lake filled caldera when one flies over the area to land at Rome. Like the infamous Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines, from a volcano that had laid dormant for more that 400 years, the same is true of the Italian “004” volcano. When “004” erupts it, along with its accompanying earthquake, will fulfill the prophecy of Revelation 18:21.
Revelation 18:21 – And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
The great earthquake of Revelation 6:12, in the Jordan River Valley, will create a seismic energy release that will travel north to strike the east-west fault that runs across northern Turkey, then west along it to the long sea floor submergence zone off Italy’s western coast, a portion of which dips under Rome. The last fantastic earthquake of Revelation 16:18 will send the final surge of energy along the same route, and it will trigger the “004” eruption with its associated earthquake activity.
Revelation 6:12 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Revelation 16:18 – And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
The results of this eruption and earthquake will cause Rome to slowly sink beneath the upper waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which will flow inland a few miles up the Tiber River to submerge Rome. This is the same scenario that happened to the great Roman Port Julius due to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in Italy’s turbulent history.
Believe it or not, the gigantic African continent is slowly floating on great underground masses of magma, and turning clockwise in a circle. This is the driving force that is pushing the Mediterranean seafloor against the western half of the European continent’s long Italian peninsula. The African and European continents meet head-on along the western Italian coast. The earth’s African Plate slowly grinds under the Italian peninsula, melting deep rock into magma that then rises through cracks to the surface. This process has formed a string of volcanoes from Sicily to far north of Rome, and a system of geological faults that release stress through earthquakes, often catastrophically. The great Gulf of Pozzuoli lies just to southwest of Rome. Pozzuoli lies in an enormous ancient volcanic caldera, named for the Campi Fiegrei (Fiery Fields) region, which has begun to reawake as the magma below it becomes more active. It is the movement of this magma that forces the earth up and down in an earthquake triggering action. Today’s fear comes from a speed up of this activity.
The Campi Flegrei is a zone of fiery fields and sunken cities. Magma beneath the Gulf of Pozzuoli heats the groundwater to activate fumaroles. And in the silence of doom the Roman Port Julius lies mired beneath the surface of the sea. The city of Rome to its northeast will be a companion underwater city during the millennial reign of Christ. The thousands of years that Rome has known great joy, which has caused her to be called the “eternal city,” will end on one day in one hour, and her underwater streets will experience the silence described in the verses following Revelation 18:21.
Revelaion 18:21-23 – And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. [22] And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; [23] And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.