Greetings and blessings in the wonderful name of
Jesus. By the time you receive this issue the result of the election
will be known, and the course of this nation determined for the next
four years. We pray that the Lord’s hand of mercy will continue
over this country, and that the judgement that we deserve will be
withheld. We include in this edition a review of a book on "Eurabia"
which Frank referred to in a recent edition (TS70).
Articles
Earthquake in the City
Reflections on Ezekiel 38-39
The Wonderful Number
The Conquest of Eurabia by Bat Ye’or
The trans-gender bill
Earthquake in the City (PW)
Clifford Denton and Paul Slennett published their book with the above
title in 1997. It warned of a coming financial collapse that will be
caused in part by an earthquake affecting London. The financial
collapse will be a judgement from God on a nation that has turned away
from Him. As background to the coming judgement, the book gives an
overview of our Christian heritage, the many blessing which we have
enjoyed as a nation, and the many ways in which we have rejected God
over the last few decades.
With any word, which you believe to be prophetic, it is good to come
back to it a few years later and assess if it still rings true. Since
the book was published this country has enjoyed a relatively long
period of economic stability and prosperity. Financial collapse seems
much less likely now than it did in the turbulent days of the early
1990’s. The Labour Government prides itself on the strength of
the economy, crediting the success of its financial policies for this
prosperity. Does this mean that God is no longer angry with us as a
nation?
‘Earthquake in the City’ was a call to the nation to repent
and turn back to God. Sadly over the last few years the rejection of
God has accelerated. If God condemned us then, we stand under much
greater judgement today. I believe Clifford Denton and Paul
Slennett’s message to have been a word from the Lord. The on
going rejection of God has made the judgement that will fall on this
nation more certain.
In the book the authors state that the earthquake and financial
collapse will be the first of three possible woes to fall on this
nation. The Lord had not revealed to them what the other woes would be.
The focus of the message being that if the nation repents after the
first woe the other two will not come.
The Second Woe
From what the Lord has shown me over the years, I believe that the second woe will be Islam.
The economic collapse will be due to a number of factors coming
together. The fall of the USA will bring down the economies of Europe.
The Arabs will use their oil power to further their political ends.
Terrorism may play its part. But events such the earthquake foreseen by
Clifford Denton and Paul Slennett will underline that this is a
judgement which is ultimately from God.
When the collapse comes, our nation will face a choice. Repentance and
turning back to God will be one option. The other option will be to
keep matters in our own hands and seek our own solutions to the crisis.
Repentance requires the humbling of ourselves by confessing to God that
we have got things wrong. It will require the reinstating of godly
laws, putting the Bible back at the heart of government and
re-establishing a framework in which God can bless this nation. If we
take that route the blessings of God are promised and secure.
There will be another option that will appear to offer a way out and
allow our leaders to keep control. It will involve forming strong
alliances with the nations of the Middle East in order to keep the oil
flowing. This will be seen as a basis on which the shattered economy
can be rebuilt.
For several decades the political leaders of Britain have defined their
role as protectors of the economic prosperity of the people. National
sovereignty and freedom have been treated as of little value and traded
for supposed economic benefits. Our leaders have already proved that
they will blind themselves to the end result of the alliances with
other nations. The alliance with the nations of the Middle East will
soon lead to subservience to Islam.
In this edition of ‘Trumpet Sounds’ we carry a review of a
book by Bat Ye’or. She shows how Europe has already come under
the influence of Islam. From her studies she predicts that over the
next few decades Europe will fall under the control of the Islamic
world. I would not wish to disagree with the reasoning but I believe
that God is soon to act. What she envisages in the future will come
about much sooner through the crisis that God is bringing on this
world.
When the economic collapse comes it will offer a brief period of
opportunity for evangelism. Stripped of the prop of prosperity and
facing an uncertain future many will seek hope wherever it can be
found. Will we be ready to offer that hope when the time comes?
Rome and Islam
There are many objections, which could be raised to the idea of the
rapid Islamisation of Europe. One question is whether the Roman
Catholic Church, which still holds considerable influence, will
acquiesce to Islam. This question leads to a reflection on the late
Pope. Soon after John Paul II was appointed, I was interested to find
out more about this man whom many were saying wanted to build bridges
between Christians from other traditions, including Protestants, and
the Roman Catholic church. I read a book he had written while still an
Archbishop in Poland. The book, ‘Sources of Renewal’, was
his commentary on the Second Vatican Council.
From the book it was clear that the Pope’s hope of salvation lay
in the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church and the intercessions of
the Virgin Mary. When it came to Christians of other persuasions he
considered that they had received some light from God but full truth
was only to be found within the Roman Catholic Church. Reading on I
discovered that he also believed the other major religions possessed
some enlightenment from God.
Once the major step of accepting that other religions also contain
truth has been taken, it is a smaller step to accept that they also
offer a way of salvation. If another religion can offer salvation then
it should be accepted as a valid alternative to Christianity. One
legacy of the late Pope has been the preparation of the ground for the
Roman Catholic Church to accept the validity of other religions. On
many occasions he met and prayed with the leaders of other faiths.
Therefore it is not far fetched to envisage a time when Islam is
accepted by the Roman Catholic Church as a co-religion with
Christianity in service of God.
Reflections on Ezekiel 38-39 (KK)
The Gog-Magog chapters in Ezekiel are among the comparatively few
prophecies in scripture yet to be fulfilled. It is profitless to
speculate about the time to which this undated prophecy refers, but
there are a few clues give an idea of what will happen. The chief
protagonists are lands to the "far north" of Israel (39:2), called
Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; it is tempting to identify these with the
Soviet Union, directly north of Israel. They will attack Israel tempted
by the prospect of plunder and booty (38:14).
The Lord will defend Israel sovereignly by sending fire on the
attackers (39:6) and "on those who live in security in the coastlands":
the nature of this fire is hinted at in 39:12-14. In 39:12 we read that
seven months "will be required to cleanse the land." This is the time
taken for the most radioactive products of a nuclear explosion to decay
and the area to be investigated in comparative safely. Does this point
to a limited nuclear war in Israel?
At the end of chapter 39, we have a prophecy about the restoration of
Israel "when I have brought them out of their enemies’ land": it
concludes with the reference to bringing them back to their land,
leaving "none of them captive any longer", for "I shall have poured out
My Spirit on the house of Israel". Could this refer to a time when all
Jews return to Israel?
The Wonderful Number (PW)
Some years ago my father wrote in ‘Trumpet Sounds’ about
Ivan Panin’s studies on numbers in the Bible. Panin spent many
years studying numbers in the Bible (particularly the number 7). His
conclusions provide irrefutable mathematical proof that the Bible is
God breathed and could not have been written by man alone.
He discovered that every complete passage of scripture in the Old
Testament, Hebrew or Aramaic, is built upon a design of sevens. Panin,
a Jew, later examined the New Testament and found to his amazement that
the same mathematical structure in the Greek and Aramaic text.
I am very grateful to Rod Boggia for sending me a copy of his own notes
on this subject. Drawing from a number of publications by Panin,
R.T.Naish and others, he has prepared a very useful introduction to the
study of numbers in the Bible. In an age when many, even in the
evangelical church, doubt the inspiration of scripture, it will
strengthen the confidence that; "All Scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in
righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every
good work". 2 Timothy 3:16
Number in the Qu’ran
A Muslim may tell you that the Qu’ran has a mathematical
structure. This statement is probably based on the work of Dr. Rashad
Khalifa, a Muslim scholar who wrote several books on the subject.
According to his testimony he was taken up by a verse in the Quran
(Sura 74:30) which reads: "Over it are nineteen." Using computer
analysis of the text he claimed to have found numerous instances of the
number 19 in the structure of the Qu’ran. For instance; the Quran
consists of 114 chapters (19x6). The first chapter revealed that sura
96 consists of 19 verses. The last Quranic revelation, sura 110,
consists of exactly 19 words.
His work is very controversial among Muslims as many claim that to fit
the Qu’ran to his theory he adjusted the text. For instance: The
word `God' he calculates as appearing 2698 times (19 x 142). This is
despite the fact that he has counted it as appearing only once in sura
9.15, when it actually should be twice. This is shown in the computer
printout in his two books, `The Computer Speaks' and `Quran: Visual
Presentation of the Miracle'. Dr. Khalifa stated that there is no other
book extant with any similar numerical system and therefore it proved
that the Qu’ran was inspired by God. He was wrong. What he
claimed to have found in the Qu’ran pales in comparison with the
true ‘Word of God’.
I am not aware if it has been tested but I believe that a mathematical
structure of sorts could be found in many texts. Any piece of
literature will have combinations of letters perhaps in relation to the
title, that will allow a computer, properly fed and programmed to find
a system of combinations that will prove equally surprising.
The Uniqueness of Scripture
When others try and fail to find a real mathematical structure in other
texts it emphasises the truly unique character of Scripture. The first
verse of Genesis illustrates what we mean:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
The verse consists of 7 Hebrew words and 28 letters (7 x 4). There are
three nouns: `God, heavens, earth.' Their total numeric value (Hebrew
uses letters to represent numbers: the sum of the number letters being
the numeric value) is 777 (7 x 111). The verb 'created' has the value
203 (7 x 29). The object is contained in the first three words - with
14 letters (7 x 2). The other four words contain the subject - also
with 14 letters (7 x 2). The Hebrew words for the two objects - "the
heavens and the earth" - each have seven letters.
The fourth and fifth words have 7 letters. The value of the first,
middle and last letters in the verb 'created' is 133 (7 x 19). The
numeric value of the first and last letters of all the words is 1393 (7
x 199) and the value of the first and last letters of the verse is 497
(7 x 71). The Hebrew particle 'eth' with the article 'the', used twice,
has the value 407 (7 x 58) and the last letters of the first and last
words equal 490 (7 x 70). In his notes Rod adds a few more instances of
sevens in this one verse. In all, there are over 30 different numeric
features related to 7 in this verse.
Is the human mind intelligent enough to deliberately create a
mathematical structure of this nature? Those who have tried have found
it impossible to create even short pieces of text built on a structure
of sevens. And yet this mathematical structure runs throughout the
Bible. The Scriptures were written by a number of authors over several
centuries in a variety of languages. They came from diverse
backgrounds. Some were prophets, priests and kings others farm
labourers and fishermen. Could they all have worked towards the common
end of producing a piece of literature with a mathematical basis that
defeats even the ablest of modern minds? The answer is clearly no. The
structure exists because it comes from the mind of the One who inspired
the whole. "All Scripture is inspired by God".
‘The Wonderful Number’, by Rod Boggia is available from:
Rod Boggia, Carrholme, 81 High Street, Tattershall, Lincoln LN4 4NN
The cost is £2.50 incl p+p. Please make cheques out to Rod Boggia.
The Conquest of Eurabia by Bat Ye’or [review by Jonathan S Tobin]
Her ground-breaking book Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam,
shined a spotlight on the plight of those who found themselves under
Muslim rule. But after several other works that also focused on the
concept of the dhimmi – the word used by Muslims to describe
those who lived as their legal inferiors – the author has
expanded her focus. For Bat Ye’or (a pen name) the question is no
longer one of correcting the historical record about supposed golden
ages of interfaith relations. Writing at a time of resurgent Islamic
fundamentalism that embraces the concept of jihad, she sees the dhimmis
as no longer the marginalized non-Muslims living in Arab countries. Her
main concern today is how contemporary Europe is itself being
transformed into a dhimmi nation.
The Future of Old Europe
The result of her work on this question is a new book, Eurabia: The
Euro-Arab Axis, and those who wonder about the future of what Secretary
of Defence Donald Rumsfeld is fond of calling 'old Europe' would do
well to consult this dense, scholarly work.
A Jew who was born in Egypt and a subsequent immigrant to Britain, the
author ultimately settled in Switzerland. From that vantage point, she
has observed a sea change in European culture and politics, where
anti-Semitism has gone mainstream and acquiescence to Islamic extremism
is a given in foreign policy. Spend an hour talking about the situation
with her, as I did this week, and you walk away with a grim vision of
the future.
How did an Islamic world that was prostrate only a generation ago come to threaten the citadels of European culture?
Bat Ye'or starts her answer by pointing to the massive immigration from
Asia and Africa that has created new demographic facts on the ground in
Europe where, outside the rapidly growing Muslim population, birth
rates have declined precipitately. But the crisis for Europe isn't just
about the number of Muslim babies born there. For the historian, the
trouble also lies in the way the European élites have acquiesced
to their nations' adaoption of anti-American and anti-Israel foreign
policies.
'The intensity of Judeophobia in Europe reflects Islamic influence' she
says, an accusation that is backed up by evidence she compiles about
the massive influx of anti-Jewish hate literature into the West along
with the immigrants. In her view this has led to a process that is
bringing about the creation of a 'new civilization' she calls Eurabia,
a new entity built upon a platform of advocacy for the Palestinians,
anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism, where values of
democracy and individual rights are under threat. The creation of
Eurabia is the common together of a number of diverse factors. Combine
the persistence of hatred for Jews on the far right, the animus of the
left for Israel and America, and a general refusal to see the rise of
Islamism as a threat - and what you get is a political and cultural
snowball that is overwhelming the ability of the West to defend itself.
Not an accident
The key point is that anti-Israel and anti-American strategies are not
an accidental by-product of the coming together of European and Arab
élites. Since the 1960's the sacrifice of Israel has been a key
to understanding the European Union's attitude towards the Arab world.
Add to the mix the traditional European resentment of the United
States, and you have a recipe for appeasement of Arab demands not only
on Israel but on the fight against Islamic fundamentalism.
'The Arab-Israeli conflict itself has been kept alive by a European
strategy as a tool against America and to advance their influence in
the Arab world' assets the author. Wrongly viewing Israel as a product
of Europe's original sin of colonialism, rather than as the national
liberation movement of the long-oppressed Jewish people, the
continent's élites have 'projected onto Israel all the evils of
Europe'. Digging even deeper into the European psyche, Bat Ye'or sees a
growing willingness to view European Christianity as more compatible
with Islam than Judaism.
'This post-Judeo-Christian Europe' she explains, is practicing an
intellectual version of unilateral disarmament, pointing out that this
has been promoted by official E U dialogue forums with Islamic
thinkers. As is the case here, academic institutions in Europe devoted
to the study of Islam who are soft-pedalling the threat. European
intellectuals are unwilling to stand up for Western values - and who
sneer at America's mission of bringing democracy to the Arab world -
are 'abandoning resistance to jihad and dhimmitude', according to the
author. The inevitable result is a Europe that will, over the course of
the next few decades, gradually fall more and more under the control of
the Islamic world.
The trans-gender bill (KK)
"The Gender Recognition Bill allows a transsexual person to apply for a
'gender recognition certificate'. This changes their legal gender for
all purposes, and a replacement birth certificate will be issued in the
true gender. Gender recognition includes the right to marry in true
gender, so that a trans woman will be able to marry a man, and a trans
man will be able to marry a woman."
The bill sets out what evidence must be provided to the Gender
Recognition Panel. A doctor or psychologist practising in gender
dysphoria must confirm that the person has or has had gender dysphoria,
and there must be a second report from a non-specialist doctor. One of
these reports must list any gender reassignment treatment the applicant
has undergone. In addition, the applicant must make a statutory
declaration that they have lived in their true gender for at least two
years and intend to carry on doing so for the rest of their life.
It is not necessary for the applicant to have had any gender
reassignment surgery or other treatment in order to get gender
recognition so long as they have had the diagnosis of gender dysphoria
and have lived for two years in their true gender, that is enough."
This recent bill that passed through Parliament has caused little
comment. This provides for anyone who thinks they have been assigned
the wrong gender at birth, and who have taken medical steps to
"correct" this wrong assignment can now legally have a new birth
certificate. The bible tells us that "God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them"
(Gen 1:27). Yet the BBC broadcast a programme in which this bill was
held up as a good example of our "coming into line" with current
thinking in other countries.
There is a good scientific reason to believe that gender is established
at conception. Every cell in your body has 23 pairs of chromasomes, of
which one pair determines the gender of the individual. Either the pair
is XX (female) or XY (male). To the simple mind this leaves no scope
for ambiguity. There are also the familiar "secondary sexual
characteristics" that discriminate between the sexes.
I once was confronted with the sad case of a student, obviously
masculine of feature, who told me that he was undergoing treatment to
reverse his gender. He later appeared at a student ball wearing a
frock: it caused comments such as "what’s that chap doing in a
frock".
The tampering with a birth certificate (a statement of truth) is
reminiscent of the former Soviet days when history was rewritten to
suit current opinions. We seem to be slipping yet further into the
liberal morass where everyone is allowed to behave as they thing fit.
The end of Judges gives us a powerful example of what happens when that
occurs.
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