The Boiling Pot - Moriel Ministries

All That Can Be Shaken – Continued
which is a Slavic country. Take Austria,
which is a Germanic country, and Italy,
which is a Latin country. What is the only
thing that a Polish person, an Irish person,
an Austrian person and an Italian person all
have in common? It is not language, not
culture, not history, it is not cuisine; there is
only one thing they have in common, which
is Catholicism. A Pontiff is needed to create
stability between disparate people. The same
thing took place during the Roman Empire
and it will happen again in the Last Days.
The Past Reveals the Future
But also understand what else happens.
When Jesus came the first time there was a
general named Octavius who took the name
Caesar Augustus. Other emperors had been
deified posthumously, but Caesar Augustus
was deified in his lifetime by the Senate; he
was worshiped as god. And what happens?
He assigns a number to people—he took a
census when Jesus was born. This is a type
of the Antichrist. Someone is going to come
in the character of these deified emperors
who is going to actually number people for
the same reason, to have economic control
of the known world just as the emperors
did; that is why they did this.
In other words, we have to understand the
early Church in the first coming of Christ to
understand His return. We have to understand
the events surrounding 70 AD and the
Book of Hebrews to understand what is going
to happen in the Last Days. To learn the
future, first learn the past. If we do not know
what happened, we will not know what will
happen; if we understand what happened,
we will understand what will happen. The
Pontiff said one could have any religion
they wanted as long as they acknowledged
the Pontiff.
Twice there were convocations in Assisi,
Italy held by Pope John Paul II. In attendance
at his invitation were African witch doctors,
Zoroastrian priests, Muslim Imams, rabbis,
the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhists—he met
with everybody. He was the Pontiff—the
“bridge builder,” but four times Pope John
Paul II condemned only one religion. He
did it in Rome, Mexico City, Santo Domingo,
and the first time in 1985 in La Paz, Bolivia:
he condemned Evangelicals, calling
us “rapacious wolves.” This was because
of the large numbers of Catholics becoming
Pentecostals and Baptists in Latin America.
That is what the Pontiff did in the 1 st century,
so that is what the Pontiff does in the
21 st century. If we want to know the future
we must understand the past.
There is going to be a reconfederation of
European countries into a non-democratic
Europe and they are going to need a multireligious
ecumenical system to create an
artificial basis to maintain a social, cultural
and political harmony of these widely different
countries, the same as the Romans did.
So these believers in Israel who received
the Epistle of Hebrews were getting two
kinds of persecution, first by the rabbis and
the Sanhedrin, and now they are also being
persecuted by the Roman government. In
this place, some of them were being tempted
to say that when they were in the synagogue
and the Temple they had a license — they
were religio licita, and that they had blood
atonement through the sacrifices of the animals
through the Levitical sacrificial system.
Some were saying, “Let’s go back to
the Law, let’s go back to the Temple. We’ll
use that for blood atonement.” They were
advocating recanting faith in Jesus as the
Messiah to go back to relying on the Law
and the blood atonement of the Levitical
priests to make atonement for sin. That is the
historical context of what was taking place.
Hebrews warns them that they were forgetting
what Daniel said, forgetting what
Jesus said, that the Temple was going to
be destroyed. (Heb. 9-10) Whenever we
see Christians going back under the Law
they become a cult such as the Seventh-day
Adventists; we cannot live under two covenants
at the same time. Another example
is the extreme elements of the Messianic
Movement; we cannot live under two covenants
at the same time because it becomes
something cultic and heretical. It is the oldest
trick in the book. In the 4 th century, Satan
paganized Christendom, but in the 1 st
century he tried to Judaize it — put it back
under the Law. This is what the Epistle of
Galatians is about and this, in part, is what
Hebrews is about.
They are in this situation where they are
being to go back to the Law to trust for their
salvation in order to not be persecuted. If we
just get religious, we will not be persecuted.
The problem is that while we can have religion
and not be persecuted, we cannot
have religion and the assurance of salvation.
Only Jesus can give us the assurance
of salvation, but we might be persecuted,
and if we are not willing to be persecuted
for Jesus, we do not have Him. This is what
Hebrews is saying to us.
When the Heavenlies Shake, the
Earthly Shakes
See to it that you do not refuse Him
who is speaking. For if those did not
escape when they refused him who
warned them on earth, much less will
we escape who turn away from Him
who warns from heaven. And His voice
shook the earth then, but now He has
promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE
I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE
EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”
This expression, “Yet once more,”
denotes the removing of those things
which can be shaken, as of created
things, so that those things which cannot
be shaken may remain. Therefore,
since we receive a kingdom which cannot
be shaken, let us show gratitude,
by which we may offer to God an acceptable
service with reverence and
awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
(Heb. 12:25-29)
It speaks of this impending “shaking”.
For them, in the short term, the “shaking”
was the events of 70 AD which we read
about in Josephus and Eusebius and so
forth, but here it becomes very focused on
the Last Days and begins quoting from the
Old Testament. It begins to warn what is
going to happen about this shaking that is
going to come, and it refers back to Isaiah
and quotes Haggai that everything that can
be shaken will be shaken and so forth: “Yet
once more I will shake not only the earth,
but also the heaven.”
Zechariah, Job, Daniel and Revelation
all show us something. The turmoil we see
happening on the earth is merely a reflection
of the conflicts in heaven. Daniel sees
Michael fighting the Prince of Persia. (Dan.
10:13) This has political ramifications upon
the earth. Daniel 10 tells us that in the final
conflict, Persia—Iran, will rise up against
Israel. But we do not struggle against flesh
and blood (Eph. 6:12)—it is not Ahmadinejad,
it is what is controlling him, the prince
with the power over Persia. People call it
“territorial spirits”— that is a bad translation
of the more accurate term “principalities”.
What we see happening in the Middle
East is merely a reflection of battles in the
heavenlies as Daniel saw.
We see the same thing in Revelation:
there is a battle in the heavenlies. What was
happening to Job on earth was a reflection
of what was happening in heaven when Satan
was accusing him. What was happening
in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai
was simply a reflection of what was happening
before the throne of God in Zechariah.
Zechariah opens up the curtain to show
us what is happening in heaven at the same
time these events are happening on earth.
Daniel shows us what is happening in heaven
at the same time these political events
happen on earth. Revelation shows us both
what is happening in heaven and what is
happening on earth. These events we see
in the Middle East today are all ramifications
of a spiritual battle in the heavenlies.
Jerusalem is where Satan received his biggest
defeat and it is where he will receive
his final defeat; there is a spiritual battle.
The physical, military conflicts are simply
the ramifications of something spiritual taking
place and is much of what the Book of
Daniel is about.
30 Moriel Quarterly • June 2012