To glean further in our finding as to who these two lampstands represent, it is also crucial to understand, the Two Witnesses, are ministering at the same time span when the daily sacrifice is taken away:
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. (Daniel 12:11-12)
To Christ, such a warning was very crucial “that when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet” where Antichrist “will suspend [both] the sacrifice and grain offerings” (Daniel 9:27) which is the Communion of Bread Sacrifice that Christ warned in Mark 13:14, Matthew 24:15 instructing us to pay attention to Daniel 9:27 and is exercised by two apostolic succession churches and the churches derived from them. These “Two Lampstands” would be the Catholic and Orthodox and the churches derived from them.
This excludes Evangelicals who refuse to believe the Eucharist is a “sacrifice” and a sacrificial “offering”.
And to bind this sacrament, which is from God, the scripture even left a major clue that many overlook:
“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you. For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations [gentiles, two wild olive branches], and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations [gentiles],” says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:10-11)
This “pure grain offering” links directly to the same “grain offering” in Daniel’s prophecy which Christ instructed us to carefully pay attention to, where Antichrist will stop the “grain offering” and it is during this time the Two Witnesses will be active.
Therefore, the Grain Offering (Communion) is much more important than Evangelicals think. What Malachi prophesied was that basically God will do away with the old sacrificial offering and that God will reach out to the “nations” (the gentiles) with a new system in observing a “grain offering that is pure”.
And when we see that such system includes “incense” which will be “daily” accomplished from “the rising of the sun even to its setting,” such daily practice including “incense” is done as a “sacrificial” system is only practiced under the two-branch apostolic-succession type churches.
The word “incense” is in no way figurative, for if this is true, than the “grain” is also figurative, God forbid.
True churches have incense. This issue is non-negotiable.
Malachi tells us that animal sacrifices will be no more, and the new offering will be ‘grain sacrifice’ accompanied with incense.
Even when Jesus picking wheat in the fields on the Sabbath “his disciples began to pluck heads of grain” (Mark 2:23) and when the Pharisees questioned this, Christ told them:
“Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” (Mark 2:25-26)
Notice that our Lord mentions here, this bread is not just any bread, but was “the bread of the Presence”.
The presence of Who? The presence of God. This bread was also in the Ark of the Covenant, where God was present. This is Mary housing God in her womb.
The Disciples were picking grain, which would be the ingredient for the “grain offering,” the Sacrifice in the Last Supper. It is this same Sacrifice of which Christ said, “This is my body, which is given for you.” (Luke 22:19)
Both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church (The Two Lampstands) declare that the Real “Presence” of the Christ-God is in the Eucharist, which is that grain sacrifice prophesied by the prophet Malachi; and this is the Real Presence. This is what Christ foretold when He referenced “the bread of the Presence” which David had eaten and is what Antichrist will attempt to STOP.
Such an action will infuriate apostolic-succession Christians where even in Jerusalem which is also called Egypt, where Islam will control and persecute the churches there and stop the Eucharist. The Antichrist could enter the Church of The Holy Sepulcher and stop the Eucharist as well as the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the old city of Jerusalem is identified as the place both of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus Christ, where Orthodox and Catholic Christians mark the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, and this church has long been a major pilgrimage center for Christians all around the world, Originally built by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D.
Below Left: The Church of Mary Magdalene (Russian: Церковь Святой Марии Магдалины) is a Russian Orthodox church located on the Mount of Olives, near the Garden of Gethsemane in East Jerusalem.
Egypt was the persecutor of God’s people and the Antichrist is also called “Pharaoh of Egypt”.
There are more biblical hints to show that this Antichrist is Muslim from the titles that the Bible ascribes to him. Consider the following titles: the Assyrian, the Prince of Tyre, the King of Babylon, and Pharaoh of Egypt. This may seem rather simple, but if the Bible calls the Antichrist the Assyrian, then isn’t it irresponsible to conclude that the Antichrist will come from Rome or any other European nation?
Why is it that the most popular end-time paradigms completely ignore these titles when attempting to discern the Antichrist’s nation of origin? If the Antichrist is the King of Babylon, then isn’t it only reasonable to conclude that he will rule over the region of ancient Babylon and today we see Turkey’s interest in Iraq? Wouldn’t it be awfully strange to conclude that “the King of Babylon” will rule over Luxemburg, Germany or Rome? Yet innumerable Bible teachers who claim to be literalists do exactly this.
As the King of Tyre, the Antichrist will also rule over Lebanon where we see Hezbollah grows. As the King of Babylon, the Antichrist will rule over Iraq, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. As Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the Antichrist will rule over Egypt and become the persecutor of God’s people there. The title King of Tyre (Lebanon) is not some allegory for a European Antichrist, nor is the Biblical declaration that “Lebanon shall fall by The Mighty One” (Isaiah 10:34) an allegorical description of the fall of Rome. It is just what it says it is—Christ Himself will deal with the anti-Israeli elements in Lebanon.
How Antichrist can fit all these titles? How can He be a king of Babylon, a Pharaoh of Egypt, and the Assyrian?
Well, in order to respond to this question, I can ask, how could Jesus come from Egypt, Nazareth, and Bethlehem as the various Scriptures prophesied? Yet, all of the above are true. Antichrist also can be a ruler of Babylon, Assyria, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey as well as “Jerusalem-cum-Egypt.
This is why critics of the Bible keep finding what seem to be contradictions. God ordained it this way so that evil will never get it. They are always busy finding problems while like the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) – the church that had fallen asleep and yet called itself awake (3:2) for they do not even comprehend the crux of the scriptures, neither do they care of the sacraments, especially the essence of the Eucharist being the Body and Blood of Christ.
Christ defied the tyrannical Pharisees when His Disciples were picking grain from the field, as if to say, “Your priesthood is over as prophesied by Malachi 1. You see these Disciples? this is the new priesthood and this is the new temple. This grain they are picking, this is the new sacrifice.”
It can’t get any clearer than this: this is the Communion bread, the Eucharist, the very sacrament done by only apostolic-succession type churches.
Therefore, I will not address the arguments of transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation, Jesus made it clear and Paul condemns the “unrighteous” as having the spirit of “debate” (Romans 1:29).
Instead, I will direct a Jesus-style challenge to all who are anti-transubstantiation, that is, the daily sacrifice of the Eucharist, they argue, is re-sacrificing Christ. If this is true, the challenge to the common Messianic assumption, regarding Daniel 9, that if such ‘abomination’ will occur only at a rebuilt Temple by the Jews, for this to become true I ask: how could non-apostolic-succession accuse apostolic-succession believers of re-sacrificing Christ when they are accepting the re-institution of Jews re-sacrificing the Messiah who had already come?
We can’t have it both ways. If this is the case, as westerners say “what should be good for the geese (the Jews) should it not also be good for the ganders (apostolic succession churches)?
It is therefore equally astonishing to see these argue, that Jesus was “sacrifice for sin once and for all” as if this debunks transubstantiation, then they turn and support the re-institutution of another literal sacrificial system in the supposed rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
How could it be possible that if we accept a re-institution of Israel’s old sacrificial system that we have in Malachi a cancelation of it by God Almighty? “One among you [the Jews],” is the Messiah “who would shut the gates” where “I [that is God] will not accept an offering from you [Israel]”.
So here God completely replaces Israel’s sacrificial system, then according to the folly, to only re-institute it in Ezekiel’s temple in Jerusalem?
The fact that such offering is done by the Gentiles (not the Jews) and is called “grain offering” leaves no question, this is a ‘sacrifice’ and is the Christian communion which continues “for ever” fulfilling Exodus 12. Antichrist “put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering” that such an event is so crucial that it signals the countdown of the end and the coming of the Two Witnesses who represent the Two Lampstands.
Perhaps the final Jesus-style question which becomes impossible to answer unless we convert to the apostolic ways is this: If this “grain offering” which is called “sacrifice” is not as significant; why did not Daniel speak of stopping the hymnals, prayers, abolish the Bible, church demolitions … which went on and off throughout history, and yet all this never signaled the Two Witnesses and Christ’s return, yet stopping a “grain offering” does?
This is some awesome “grain offering”.
During this time, where the witnesses are active, in Joel 2:28-29 which promises that in the end days the children will see visions, prophecy and dream dreams:
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Moreover upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.”
“handmaids” are priests and nuns, and the “incense is going to be offered” in Malachi 1 no doubt are churches and “sacrifice” is only conducted by apostolic-succession churches: the Two Lampstands, Orthodox and Catholic and their derivatives.
There are no exceptions here.
THE JERUSALEM-EGYPT ROLE REGARDING THE TWO WITNESSES
As we read the narrative about the Two Witnesses, we see that after these two prophets are killed by the Antichrist (including many of their followers), their dead bodies are left on display in the streets of Jerusalem. This practice of displaying the dead bodies of enemies or criminals in public places is a distinctly Islamic practice and is still done to this day. In typical Palestinian fashion, the two witnesses are finally killed and their bodies are desecrated:
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindred and tongues and nations (Gentiles) shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them” (Revelation 11:7-12).
Often times the bodies are even dragged through the streets for all to see. Of course, most of us still remember the stripped body of the U.S. soldier that was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 or the charred bodies of Americans strung up in Iraq. The purpose of these acts is to shame the dead and to scare any others who might consider committing a similar “crime.” It is also a sick celebration of victory.
Beyond the fact that Islam has a long-standing pattern of publicly displaying dead bodies after killing them in accordance with Islamic law, we also see that after the Two Witnesses are killed, that the people will celebrate their deaths as if it were Christmas: “And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another” (Revelation 11:10)
EMULATING THE TWO WITNESSES
It is amazing that the scoffer always tells us “they only emulate Christ”. While it is true, we are to emulate Christ in all things, but certain things we can never do like revive the dead. We are to emulate all goodness including the two witnesses who will also fight sodomy. Emulating any of the saints is emulating Christ for these reflect Christ’s image in their lives. Women are to emulate Mary the Mother of our Lord and many of the women, saints and biblical figures.
Reviewing the Two Witnesses, remind me of how we too must endure. Theodore, amazingly, I named him Theodore (the Gift of God) when I was still Muslim. Was that sheer accident? My beloved son and I have withstood the onslaught from hypocrites dressed in sheep clothing. At times we wonder who would kill us. Will it be the Muslims? Hebrew Roots? Sodomites? Drug Cartels? False brethren? Fanatic Jews?
The threats come in daily. Would the Two Witnesses be silent on Sodomy in Jerusalem much less Christ would let go had the temple been invaded by Sodomites? Arise O fellow Christian. Arise from thy slumber and serve Christ for greater glory on the heavenly Mount Zion.
I hear the cry of our Lord “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
The typical comments I get. One lady writes:
“I agree with the position you’ve taken on ‘perpetrators and enablers’, but, my confusion is, that you defend the Catholic church when they are eminently guilty of doing exactly what you condemn in others …”
I replied with:
I became Catholic because they, like the Jews, were guilty of everything under the sun and the ones who discovered such guilt were the un-biggoted most loving folks on earth. You know, folks like you. God bless you Hilary for your wonderful love. One last thing, you spoke of a “confusion”. Why are you confused sister Hilary? The gay agenda infiltrated the Jewish religious community too. In fact, for your sake, I will do an article on the subject tomorrow. Just for you. So stay tuned.
She replied without even getting my hint. The most unintentionally bigoted are the “confused” who are anti-Catholic whom we thank for “all the love”. We had considered becoming Orthodox which gains lesser scorn and one can find lesser reprobates and sodomites, but we chose the most despised title: Catholic. We fight where the fight is needed. Why should we go to the healthy Orthodox when the Catholic Church is filled with the sick? Is this what Christ would want us to do? I infiltrated the Evangelical and now its time to infiltrate the Catholic. I am, after all, on a mission from God.
Righteousness is not what most see from their perspective. My right hand Keith Davies is a Jew and many times we discuss what Israel does bad and we praise when Israel does good. He too deals with family members who hate him for what he does. Although he is not Christian, he has done more to save Christian lives than anyone I knew in my entire life. He left a couple of weeks ago to the Philippines with an X-Navy seal we contracted with, who is Catholic and they went to work with the government there to save Christians enslaved by Muslims in the Middle East. Although we can’t name this contact, the Catholic caught Swine Flue and is currently in intensive care with 20% chance to die. His kidneys have shut down and is on dialysis and he might not make it. Please pray. All of you. Pray that God spares his life.
Saints are hated for exposing evil. Two saints here are martyred in Jerusalem. It is obvious that they expose all the evils of Islam, sodomy and all these ugly things we see. So go and do likewise.