There is a consensus among the ancient Hebrew prophets that a messiah of the House of David will return for the redemption of His own people, the “chosen ones”. This will occur after the seventh year of a seven year Sabbatical week of years at the time of the end. In the first year of the era of the next Sabbatical cycle, the eighth year of that current Sabbatical seven years, the Messiah son of David (Moschiach ben Dovid) will return to destroy those who seek to control and destroy this earth and will usher in a new messianic era. As we study, we are impressed that looking beyond that day has not been a big part of the eschatological mindset of the sages of Judah. The focus is redemption and restoration. This reality has such a persisting appeal that it appears to permeate the deepest level of Jewish consciousness.

As we begin to look to our prophetic future, in the hopes for redemption and salvation for all who are willing to come before the throne of God, we are sometimes overwhelmed as we watch the clashing streams of prophecy that are cascading and surrounding our lives. The world appears to becoming one big prophetic river of geo-political and religious events. As we watch this roller coaster ride into the future apocalypse, we pause and pray;

“Lord, open our eyes that we might behold that our salvation is near! Open our minds, O Lord of the heavenly hosts, that we might believe that You will bring holiness out of the profane, bring Light to the darkness that is surrounding us, and bring peace and salvation from the terror of evil of those who seek only power, greed and control of this planet earth! Open our hearts that we might affirm that You alone O Lord, is the Sovereign God of the Universes, guiding the affairs of the nations to their final culmination! Please open Your arms, O Master of the Universe, we might have the privilege to “abide within the Shadow of the Almighty.”

The Hebrew Number Seven

The Number Seven is a mystical and sacred number in all ancient traditions, but to the Hebrews, the number seven denoted completeness and a new beginning. All ancient traditions are anticipating an approaching seventh era with the completeness of the old era and the anticipation of a new. It is not the Christian traditions that carry the respect of the greatest antiquity but the Hebrew-Judaic traditions upon which all that is Christian should appeal. The foundation of their beliefs, creeds, traditions, came from its founder, Jesus the Nazarene that was supported by all sacred histories as an orthodox Jew, who lived His life above the letter of the Torah (Law).

In the Hebrew traditions, we first find the seven days of Creation, the prototype of the seven days of the week, with the weekly Sabbatical rest of the seventh literal day of the week, called the seventh day Shabbat (Sabbath). Yet, not only in the seven day cycle, we also find the seven year cycle, called the “Sabbatical week of years” and the forty-nine (seven times seven) year cycles, called the “Jubilee cycle”.

The seventh day of the weekly cycle was called the “Shabbat” or the “Sabbath”. The seventh year of the Sabbatical yearly cycle was called the “Sh’mittah year”. The forty ninth year of the “Jubilee cycle” was called the “Year of Jubilee”.

There were three great Jewish feasts that lasted for seven days. Between the first, Passover (Pesach) and the second Pentecost festival (Shavuot) were the seven weeks called the “Days of Omer”. These forty nine days of the Days of Omer were in remembrance of the seven weeks it took the Israelites to arrive at the mount called Sinai.

On each day, there was an object lesson they had to learn to raise their low spiritual condition from the 49^th (seven times seven) level of Tuma (degradation) before they could stand before the holiness of the God of Israel and affirm a covenant relationship with Him. And all the laws of the Levitical purification rites that were given to be a part of the six hundred thirteen commandments of God on Sinai, lasted for seven days.

In the histories of the Hebrews written the TaNaKh (Old Testament), we learn:

· Jacob served Laban for seven plus seven years before he could call Rachel, the future mother of his two favorite sons, Joseph and Benjamin, his wife.

· There were seventy (ten times seven) members of the House of Jacob who went to Egypt.

· The salvation of the House of Jacob came because the God of Abraham gave the Egyptian Pharaoh in a dream about seven cows in which he saw seven years for each of his seven wives.

· The exile of the Israelites lasted in Egypt four hundred ninety (seventy time seven) years until their redemption came by the great power of God from their land of oppression.

· The government of Israel was advised by the priest of Midia, called Jethro, who had seven daughters. One of these daughters became the wife of Moses the Lawgiver.

· Daniel the Prophet was given a vision about seventy weeks (of years) that were determined his own people the Jews.

· The Jews were exiled in the Land of Babylon for seventy years.

One of the Largest ancient Megalithic Hewn Stones in the World at 379 tons (41x12x11.5 feet) at the Base of the Foundation of Solomon’s Temple

Later during the days of the Judges and the Prophets, we find:

· The prophet Balaam who built seven altars, and upon them he sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams where his curses upon the Israelites were turned to blessings;

· Seventy seven priests with seven trumpets marched around Jericho once every day but seven times on the seventh day, before the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

· The Hebrew Judge, Sampson’s wedding to the Philistine, Delilah, was held for seven days, where he told his newly bride the answer to the riddle of his secret power, when on the prenuptial night he was bound with seven withes and his head shorn of seven locks of hair.

· Elijah the prophet sent his servant to scan the horizon looking for rain seven times after killing the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah.

· Elisha commanded Naaman to dip seven times in the waters of the Jordan for healing.

· We later learn that the family of King David, from the House of Jesse, had seven sons.

· The Israelite dynasty of King David was overthrown by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who ended up living like a beast in the field for seven years before gaining his sanity and his newly found faith in the God of Israel.

In the Brit Hadassah (New Testament) histories of the Nazarene, we find:

· Jesus in Galilee using seven loafs of bread to feed a multitude of four hundred men plus women and children, leaving seven baskets of bread afterwards.

· We also find Yehoshua (Jesus) casting out seven devils.

· In the histories of the Nazarene Ecclesia (Jerusalem Church of Acts) we find seven deacons of good report, who ministered to the believers of “The Way” in the Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia.

· In the Apocalypse of Revelation, we find seven candlesticks symbolizing the seven churches of Asia, seven stars, seven last seals, the seven thunders, and the seven archangels bringing the seven trumpet and seven vial plagues, the seven spirits before the throne of God, a red seven-headed dragon with seven horns and seven crowns, and the Lamb with seven horns, and seven eyes as the seven Spirits of God.

The Sh’mittah or Seventh Year began in the Fall 2007 of the

Sabbatical Week of Years 2002

(Rosh Hashanah 2001) – 2008 (Rosh Hashanah 2007)

The Master Course, Jerusalem, Israel The Jewish sages over the last two millenniums have analyzed the prophetic predictions concerning the time of the end. In the Talmud, these Torah giants have recorded their collective observations, most of the time agreeing and sometimes disagreeing. While many Christians claim that the Jews worship the writing of the sages in the Talmud above their sacred scriptures in the TaNaKh (Old Testament), this view has no historical support. What it does depict is how much they respect the wisdom of their sages, who spent most of their lives in deep literal, allegoric, prophetic, mystical, and Hebrew exegetical study of the Torah, the prophets, and the writings.

“The Master Course” at the Western Wall Excavations at the Temple Mount - One of the Largest ancient Megalithic Hewn Stones in the World at 379 tons (41x12x11.5 feet)

We shall now begin to ponder the sage’s commentaries of what they predicted the last seven years before the coming of the Messiah would be like. Let us now look at these collection of passages in the Talmud in the Sanhedrin 97a, we read:

Sanhedrin 97a – “Rebi Yochanan said: In the generation that Ben Dovid will come, talmidei chachamim, the “pupil of wisdom” known as the Torah sage or scholar, will decrease, and the eyes of the remainder will protrude from sighing and sorrow; many chastisements and many evil decrees will be renewed; one will not cease before another begins.

The rabbis taught: The Shmittah period in which Ben Dovid will come the following verse will be fulfilled:

1. In the first year, "And I caused it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I caused it not to rain." (Amos 4:7).

2. In the second year, slight famine will be sent.

3. In the third year, a great famine from which men, women, and children, pious and deed-doing people will die, and Torah will be forgotten by those who learned her.

4. In the fourth year, some will be satiated, and others will not be.

5. In the fifth year, there will be great satiation, with eating, drinking, and joy, and Torah will return to those who learned it.

6. In the sixth year, voices (speaking of the Moshiach's imminent arrival) will be heard, and

7. In the seventh year, there will be war [Gog u'Magog].

8. In the year after the seventh, Ben Dovid will come.

Rab Yosef said, "Many Shmittah cycles have come and he (the Messiah) did not arrive!" Abaye answered, "Were there voices in the sixth year followed by war in the seventh year? Secondly, did they follow this order?" (Sanhedrin 97a)

Rebi Yehudah said: The generation in which Ben Dovid (Messiah son of David) will come ... The wisdom of the scribes will be corrupted; men fearing sin will be hated; the leaders of the generation will have the nature of dogs; and truth will be lacking ... He who turns away from evil will be regarded by the public as being foolish.

Rebi Nehorai taught: The generation in which Ben Dovid will come the young will embarrass the old, and the old will rise for the young; a daughter will rebel against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the leaders of the generation will have the nature of dogs, and a son will feel no shame when criticized by his father.

Reb Nechemiah taught: The generation in which Ben Dovid will come, insolence will increase, respect will be missing ... and all the governments will turn to false beliefs (minnus); criticism will be of no avail.

Ben Dovid will not come until informers increase ... And hope in the redemption is renounced.

Any one of these observations by the sages of Judah could be relevant today, especially in the Land of Israel. The leading rabbis of Israel are corrupt, while the political leaders are pawns of the world globalist community. We can truly suggest that the “truth” is gone from the land.

As we have now seen, according to the rabbinic commentaries, the final seven years cycle before the coming of the messiah, certain specific events will happen before the year of the Maschiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel) will begin. Let us begin our journey and see where we have been in the cycle of God’s Plan of Redemption. Let us look where the pathway of our world is leading us today and possibly where these streams of prophetic pathways will be going in our future.

The Sabbatical Weeks of Years 1994-2001, a cycle of “Peace for Land”

The cycles of the anticipation of redemption appeared to come with increasing frequency, especially at the height of the Y2K and the global celebration of the third millennium at the turn of the year of 2000. Yet, we saw the same trend in 1993 as the international world hoped that the signing of the Oslo Accord between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat would bring international peace. Here they saw these two statesmen surrounded by the fatherly arms of President Bill Clinton, with a messianic pose also like a savior. With historical hindsight, the visions of the prophetic future became clearer.

An amazing event occurred in the year of 1993, when in a public ceremony at Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993, Shimon Peres signed a peace agreement called the “Oslo Accord” with Mahmoud Abbas representing the Palestinian Liberation Organization. This event was witnessed by Israeli’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, both in the presence of President Bill Clinton, President of the United States, along with Warren Christopher representing the United States of America and Andrei Kozyrev representing the Russian Federation.

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat signing the Oslo Peace Accord with American President Bill Clinton as the World’s savior

During the seven years of the Oslo Accord, between Rosh Hashanah 1993 (Jewish Year 1994) and Rosh Hashanah 2000 (Jewish Year 2001), the nations of the world cried out, “Peace! Peace! Let Israel give more land for peace!” It appeared that the time of the messiah was soon to come.

As that seven year Sabbatical cycle ended at Rosh Hashanah 2000, there was anticipation with “voices and hints” of the imminent arrival of the coming of the messiah. This came in anticipation of world wide chaos with the anticipated collapse of the global marketplace with Y2K commuter failure. Instead the global community arose in the wake of the fears of Y2K with all nations of the world now interlocked electronically, poised and prepared for a One World Order.

Even in the seventh year of the Oslo Accord (2000), the Arab world appeared to rise in anger as though it was a scripted rebellion according to the Talmud as the Second Palestinian Intifada began. As Ariel Sharon descended from the temple mount, violence erupted as young Arabs threw rocks down upon the Jewish people praying at the Western Wall. This swiftly led to the lynching of the Jewish solder at Ramallah. The Oslo’s seven years of “peace for land” collapsed. It was replaced with a new seven year cycle of “peace for more terrorism and war”.

The Prophetic Warnings from the Master – the “War Cycle” of 2001-2008

In the eighth year (2002) of the 1993-2000 Oslo cycle (Jewish Years of 1994-2001), the anticipated Messiah was expected to arrive. Instead America saw her global markets assaulted with the collapse of the “twin towers” on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. Seven days before Rosh Hashanah 2001 on September 18, 2001, the beginning of the Jewish year of 2001, the economic foundation of America appeared to “fall”. The “Great Shofar” blast of war resounded around the world on that 911 day.

What we now know, 2001 was not the beginning of the year of the messiah but heralded a new Seven Year War Cycle, 2002-2009 (Rosh Hashanah 2001 to Rosh Hashanah 2008).

This war cycle began with the fall of Oslo and the rise of the Palestinian Intifada on Rosh Hashanah, 2000. As the seventh year approached in 2007, there arose a call in Israel for “emuna” (faith in the Sovereignty of God) with the hopes that it would hasten the coming of the messiah in 2008-2009.

Jesus overlooking the Temple in Jerusalem

We still have a problem. The Seven Years of Peace and War Cycles appeared not to be in synchronization with the Jewish Sabbatical Weeks of Years. The Seven Year “Oslo Peace Accord” cycle between the years of 1994 (Rosh Hashanah 1993) to 2001 (Rosh Hashanah 2000) were one year earlier than the Jewish Sabbatical Seven Year Cycles of Rosh Hashanah 2001 to Rosh Hashanah 2008.

Seven Year “Oslo Peace Cycle” – Rosh Hashanah 1993 – Rosh Hashanah 2000

Seven Year “Sabbatical Cycle” - Rosh Hashanah 1994 – Rosh Hashanah 2001

Would this dis-synchronization of cycles be repeated again the next seven years?

Seven Year “GoguMagog War against Terror” Cycle – Hoshana Rabba 2001 to Hoshana Rabba 2008

Seven Year “Sabbatical Cycle” – Rosh Hashanah 2001 to Rosh Hashanah 2008

Suddenly, as with the stroke of the Divine Hand, the eighth year of the Oslo Cycle did not bring a Messiah, but rather heralded the next seven years, a “War Cycle” now perfectly synchronized with the Jewish Sabbatical Week of Years? Will the rabbinic commentary also convert forward to the new cycle as it converted from a “peace cycle” to a “war cycle”?

We remind ourselves of the prophetic caution given by our Master Yehoshua ha-Maschiach (Jesus the Messiah) when he told His disciples on the Mount of Olives:

Matthew 24:6-8 - “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows.”

Jesus hints in no uncertain terms that global wars around the world are only a sign of the time of the end, but not the end. Unfortunately, most of the Jewish people are clueless because they have not reclaimed the respect for the prophetic wisdom of the One who was recognized by a majority of the Jewish people in first century Judaism, to be their messiah. When that day comes, when the Jewish people reclaim Yehoshua ben Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph) as their messiah, the whole spectrum of prophetic understanding will explode into a multitude of new revelations.

According to Jesus, the time of tribulation will be beyond the time of national or global wars. There will be no more nationalism. There will be no more regional or sectarian strife. The freedom of all people, in all nations of the world, will be under the managed civilization of a unified world body of nations. As the sovereignty of the European nations are dissolving and merging into the European Union, so this will happen to North American continent. The whole world will follow after the globalist pattern of the ancient Roman Empire.

New York twin towers burning from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. It is hard to conceptualize, but the sovereignty of the United States is about over. There will be increasing discussions about the emerging North American Union as the countries of Canada, the United States, and Mexico merge into one Super State. The globalist’s plan is that all the nations of the world will be under the control of a one world order, ten global unions, regionally segmented for universal global management.

Will, the Nation of Israel be also a part of the Universal Federation of Nations? May we suggest that Israel already is under a one world order? Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, Moshe Katsov, and Shimon Peres were all members of the western globalists of the Golden Internationale.

The Attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001

When that day arrives, no one will be able to flee or move from one country to another. There will be no global safe haven. As we look at these global wars, we must remind ourselves that the Almighty One of Israel is once again intersecting our three dimensional world. The Lord of hosts is actively completing what He told His prophets millenniums ago what He would do.

In the “eye” of the God of Israel there are no “conditional prophecies” when it comes to bringing salvation for all mankind. If He proclaims that He will save “Israel”, even though they profane His Holy Name, then He will do what He says. For those with the “eyes to see and the ears to hear”, they will understand. They will know that the Sovereign Lord is managing the affairs of the nations so that the day of the messiah will come. Yet, the “time of the Messiah” appears to be still further in the future, immanent, but not quite yet. What Yehoshua suggested to His Jewish disciples was even more sobering:

Matthew 24:9-14 – “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another; and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Remember, Yehoshua (Jesus) was speaking to His orthodox Jewish disciples while they were overlooking the Temple of the Lord from the vantage view of the Mount of Olives. He was talking of a time when anti-Semitism or hatred to the Jewish people will not be isolated to Nazi Germany or Islamic believers. In that day, it will be global, even in the United States. He also was speaking of specific local events in Israel, for where else would be the repetition of the “abomination of desolation” except in Jerusalem. Let us read:

Matthew 24:15-22 – “’There when you see the ‘abomination of desolation’, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand), ‘then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.’”

This concept of even a greater tribulation than the holocaust in Nazi Germany is hard to comprehend and fathom. Yet, the prophets allude that for the messiah to come, evil will have to be revealed to its fullest. The architect of demonic evil, HaSatan (“Satan the accuser of Israel”) and all the angelic dark powers will have to be exposed and understood in their starkest and basest of evil.

The Shores of Capernaum in the Days of Yehoshua (Jesus)

The Sabbatical Weeks of Years 2002-2009, a

“War Cycle of Peace with Great Security from Terrorism”

As our prophetic journey continues, let us first look seriously at the Talmudic passages in the “Sanhedrin” that contain the prophetic commentary of the sages of Judah. The first thing that we will do is summarize these predictions that were anticipated to occur at the last Sabbatical Week of Years. We hope to see if the recent historical records would testify to the validity of the sage’s proclamations as to what would happen on each individual year. Let us now see if these prophecies match historical events that occurred on each year between the years of 2002 and 2008, beginning with the fall of 2001?

Let us continue with the Rabbinic prophetic commentary:

“In the first year (2002), the following prophecy in Amos 4:7 will be fulfilled “I caused it to rain on one city, but, on another city, I did not cause it to rain.”

In the second year (2003), there will be a “slight famine” in which according to Rashi, “no place will be completely satisfied”.

In the third year (2004), “famine will be great, and men, women, children, pious people, and men of good deeds will die; Torah will be forgotten by those who learned it.”

In the fourth year (2005), some will be satiated while others are not,

In the fifth year (2006), there will be plenty and people will eat, drink, and be joyous, and the Torah will return to those who learned it.

In the sixth year (2007), there will be voices which according to Rashi depict either the blowing of the shofars (war) or the hints and voices about the coming of the messiah.

In the seventh year (2008), there will be war.”

We then will ask, will the arrival of the Maschiach ben David (Messiah son of David) come in the eighth year at Succot 2008 (Jewish Year 2009)?

The First Year 2002 as Spiritual “Rain” Disappears

The first year 2002 (fall of 2001 to the fall of 2002) it was written in the prophecy of Amos 4:7 that the following will be fulfilled - “I caused it to rain on one city, but, on another city, I did not cause it to rain.”

Amos 4:7 – “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city. I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain, the part withered.”

It was in the fall of 2000 (Jewish year 2001) that the rabbanim in Israel announced that the “time of tribulation” had arrived. It appeared that the spiritual “rain” of God’s blessings and protective power was becoming more erratic and selective. What the God of Israel beginning to remove His protective shield from Israel and from around His people?

Just prior to this time, on Rosh Hashanah 5760 (2000), the prime minister candidate, Ariel Sharon, ascended upon the Temple Mount and there read the prophecy of the Gog Magog War in the Book of Ezekiel. Within hours, suddenly the Second Intifada erupted by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority. The Oslo Accord’s seven years of “Peace for Land” (Rosh Hashanah 1993 to 2000) died quickly on the withering vine. Suicide bombers became a way of life for the Israelis. Fear was everywhere. Though deaths were sporadic and spotty throughout the land, they were only a reminder that this emerging era was one of increasing demonic evil.

The land of Israel plus the entire Middle East region had been under a drought since the year of 1999. Water wars were a major threat of the region. There were regions that received rain, and regions that the drought was hitting more severely. On a spiritual plane, the showers of the latter rain were beginning to descend upon Israel. Those areas that were Torah observant appeared to be sharing in the abundance of God’s spiritual and material blessings.

Gaza was one of the vegetable produce and flower centers of Israel and a “bread basket” for Europe. Gaza was also one of the most Potent Torah Observing Cultural Centers in the Land of Israel

One of the regions that began to receive international attention was the once barren, non-productive, and fly- infested sand dunes in the Gaza Strip. Here a large group of observant orthodox Jews settled with the permission and encouragement of the
government of Israel. Here also they began to develop a unique farming agrarian culture, akin to the days of their forefathers. Within years, they had perfected an agriculture technology that produced world-class fruit and vegetables untainted by bugs, parasites, or scale. Soon these choice vegetables and fruit became the “pick of the crop” for the European culinary markets, seeking superior produce noted for excellence and succulence. The Israeli farmers also became the prime employers of Palestinian national workers and the envy of the political Palestinian Authority leadership who now wanting to possess and take this region for their own.

Self-proclaimed Ambassador to Africa’s Starving Children – Angelina Jolie

In 2002, the world was focused on famine as the United Nations warned in June, 2002 that 13 millions Africans were in the brink of massive starvation in six countries of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. By November, 2002, the Red Cross was sending international alerts about the overwhelming famine with warnings of another 15 millions Africans that were on the brink of starvation in a country that was spending 10% of entire gross national income on debt to the World Bank.

The world, after the 911 catastrophe in New York, was filled with restlessness and apprehension. It was not so threatening to watch suicide bombers in Israel on TV but to imagine such TV images here in America gradually began to sink into the American consciousness. The denial of such a possibility came with the subliminal apprehension that something was not right. Soon we watched as our global military war machine began in earnest to prepare for a major invasion into Saddam Hussein’s Iraq with the apocalyptic mission to fight the “axis of evil”.

The Second Year 2003 with Famine, Death, as the Torah is Forgotten

In the second year of 2003 (fall 2002 to the fall 2003) if the text in the Sanhedrin was referring to Israel that there will be a “slight famine” in which according to Rashi, “no place will be completely satisfied”.

The Nof Ginasaur Kibbutz housing the First Century Fishing Boat found in the drought receding Sea of Galilee

That same year, the drought conditions in the regions of Israel continued to rise as the water in the Sea of Galilee continued to drop. It was not the Israelis that were dying but rather they were seeking to assimilate drought victims into Israel. That same year, the Rabbinic Council and the Israeli Knesset battled in the negotiations about the request for massive airlifts to bring to Israel 18,000 to 20,000 of the Ethiopian Falash Mura, who claimed Jewish ancestry and were forcibly converted to Christianity.

Yet in April of 2003, it was reported in the Christian Science Monitor article, “The Famine that wasn’t” the following:

Christian Science Monitor - “Despite predictions that 11 million to 14 million people were facing potential starvation, few of the traditional signs of hunger had materialized. There were no hordes of migrants leaving their homes in search of food, no hospitals filling with malnourished children, no graveyards filling with the dead…the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) asked for more than $500 million in aid. Donors opened their wallets, the WFP and their nongovernmental partners mobilized, and since June of last year, 650,000 metric tons of food was distributed to some 10 million people. It was the largest humanitarian response in the organization's history, though Iraq is expected to be bigger.”

The Roman First Century Boat found on the Waterless Shores of the Sea of Galilee

Yet the drought and fear of famine conditions in Israel began to be noticed. It was as early as the year 1999 when the State of Israel was reported to be in a progressive water shortage as the Sea of Galilee’s water level continued to shrink. The main source of drinking water for Israel had dropped to it lowest level with a deficit of 60%, since the year of 1908.

Between the years of 1999 and 2004, the water deficit continued for the next five years.

The Third Year 2004 with Severe Famine and the Loss of the Spiritual Giants of Israel

View from Alumot Finally after Succot, 5704, in the fall of 2003, the “latter rains” returned to the land of Israel in abundance. The waters of the sea, where Jesus trod two centuries prior, rose from severe drought levels nearly to optimal levels in one growing season. By the end of January, 2004, the Deganiah Dam at the southern border of the Sea of Galilee was opened up for the first time since 1992 to prevent the Sea of Galilee from overflowing into the residential and commercial areas around the coastline of the Kinneret Sea. Was this a fulfillment of prophecy or a shadow picture or a preview of what was yet to come?

The Jordan River meandering in the Jordan Valley (just above the green field). The walking trail takes us from the Degania Dam to the Alumot Dam.

Already it appeared that we were running a year ahead of ourselves. It was as if we were still on the seven year “peace cycle” though in 2001 it converted into a “war cycle” with the American coalition invasion into Afghanistan and in 2003 with the invasion into Iraq.

In the third year 2004, (fall of 2003 to 2004) the commentary of the Jewish sages proclaimed that “famine will be great, and men, women, children, pious people, and men of good deeds will die; Torah will be forgotten by those who learned it.”

The famine cycle was over by January 2004 with the “latter rains” coming after Succot 2003. Yet we are still on a disconnection with the Sabbatical week of year cycle. Though the God of Israel gave to His people an abundance of rain that would make this land a region flowing with “milk and honey”, the secular leftists and the globalists government rulers did not have the spiritual eyes to praise the God of their forefathers.

The famine as predicted was now over as it related to Israel. There were no children, women or Torah observers dying from the famine, and if anything, in 2004, a “revival” of Torah observance was beginning to erupt all over Israel. Rumors were circling throughout Israel that a massive disengagement was being planned to uproot almost 10,000 Israeli from their communities in the Gaza Strip. There was a progressive call to rally, march, wave orange flags in support of the beleaguered Gaza residents that the Sharon was planning to uproot.

Envy erupted throughout the Middle East, especially with the Palestinians. This land that was beginning to “flow with milk and honey” was there for their taking. The “evil inclination” in the hearts of the globalist elite in Israel began to perceive that here was a bargaining chip for peace and safety. They said, “Let us give our prime agriculture regions to the Palestinians in the hopes for a “peaceful element” (Hebrew aluf) that could live autonomously side by side with Israel. Yet, the “Land” belongs to the Lord of hosts, and the Land of Israel was not for sale.

The Fourth Year 2005 with Political and Spiritual Ambivalence

In the fourth year of 2005 (fall of 2004 to 2005) it appeared that the prophetic commentary of the Sanhedrin commentary back on target, as it stated that “some will be satiated while others are not”.

Moving a television. Yasser Arafat was in his declining years and holed up in Palestinian Presidential Compound in Ramallah more like a caged man than an international diplomat he desired to be. His HIV ridden body, only recently confirmed in the public press in 2007, had taken its toll. The consequences of “sin” had reached its literal, spiritual, and natural fulfillment.

The Palestinian Presidential Compound of Yasser Arafat surrounded by the Israeli Defense Force, like a “Bird in the Cage”

There was a lull or a stale-mate in the land of Israel, where there was neither satisfaction, happiness, nor discontent abounded. This spiritual discontent bred “evil thoughts” in the mind of the Prime Minister of Israel. He now unilaterally began to push, negotiate, and force the agenda upon the Israelis and the global communities of the world for the Nation of Israel to unilaterally give the farms, homes, and communities of the orthodox communities of Israelis in Gaza to the Palestinians. Many perceived the delusional thoughts that this act would for the first time heap praise upon the Jewish people by the world community and the United Nations since the creation of the State of Israel in 1947-48.

With the death of Yasser Arafat on November 11, 2004, many of the Israelis were elated and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no longer a leader of the Palestinians for which the crying withnTorah.small Israelis could negotiate, and there was no pressure from America or the world community to negotiate. Yet for many in the land, there was no satisfaction, for the omens and instability gave portents that the worse was yet to come.

Grief as the Torah Scroll is removed from a Gaza Synagogue

As the year of 2005 began, the first democratic Palestinian election occurred on January 9, 2005. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) won the election for the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) with a winning vote of 62.32% of the Palestinian people. Confidence returned to Israel, for it appeared that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon now had a moderate Palestinian partner in order to work for peace in the Middle East. The Torah did return and was recognized internationally as the world’s attention was focused on a small strip of beach property as the prosperous Israeli garden district at Gush Katif was threatened and then forced upon with a unilateral disengagement, an evacuation, as the orthodox settlers quickly became refugees in God’s Holy Land.

The focus on the plight of the residents of Gush Katif, swung many on the Jewish social left and even many Jewish who considered themselves to be anti-Zionists to feel the pangs of yearning for the Torah of their forefathers. Tens of thousands Jewish protesters, incensed at the Israeli government’s unilateral disengagement, marched and petitioned the State of Israel. Even many young teenage girls spent months in jail as “enemies of the state” for protesting Sharon’s ill-fated disengagement on August 15, 2005.

The Jewish Netzarim Synagogue in the Gaza Strip before the Expulsion of the Jews in 2005

For the Jerusalemites and the secular Jews in Tel Aviv, these were the days of “plenty”. The economy was booming. The world response for the Jews to continue to give up land for the Palestinian demands of land equality in the Land of Israel brought a feeling that for once, the Jewish State was now becoming a real member of the globalist world community of nations.

Even with the feeling of global acceptance, the reality and fear of terrorism saw the land of Israel fragmented and sectionalized as it was being carved up by a wall between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Most Israeli’s saw this barrier as a wall of security yet many in the larger world community saw it as an “apartheid wall”

The Torah orthodox faithful in Gaza, there was “famine in the land”. They were abandoned by the Sharon government of Israel. It was not a time to “eat, drink and be joyous”. The terrorists against Israel were appeased, as millions of donated dollars by Microsoft’s billionaire owner Bill Gates bought the Jewish flower and produce farms to give to the Palestinians for an agrarian industry. The Torah faithful were abandoned as refugees.

Palestinians celebrate as they destroy the Netzarim Synagogue on September 12, 2005

The “plight” was not for the Palestinians but the Jewish refugees that were forcibly evicted from their homes and businesses in Gaza. By the midst of the sixth year of 2007, 85% of the Jewish refugees that were forcibly driven from their communities and businesses in Gaza were still homeless and jobless in Israel.

The Fifth Year 2006 as Torah will Return with Joy and

Happiness to the Land

The prophetic march still appeared to continue in the fifth year of 2005 (fall 2004 to fall 2005), when it stated that there “will be plenty and people will eat, drink, and be joyous, and the Torah will return to those who learned it”.

The Aftermath of the Gaza Expulsion

It was in the fall of 2005 that the Vatican came knocking again to obtain the “holy sites” in Jerusalem, specifically the Church with the Upper Room. The problem with the transaction, it was sitting over the Jewish holy site of the Tomb of David and the home of a thriving Jewish yeshiva (Torah seminary) that would have to be evacuated.

During that same year, the Jewish people began to mourn as many of the Torah giants living in Israel began to die. This came almost two years later than prophesied. The entire land of Israel also mourned when the revered Sephardic sage, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri died on January 28, 2006 when an estimated 300,000 Israelis poured into the streets of Jerusalem for his funeral.

Hamas Palestinian Leader, Ismail Haniyeh, now as the “King of Gaza”

This event was only highlighted by the comatose state of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon whose government position as Prime Minister was shortened by a sudden and surprising stroke while having a private luncheon alone with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. This surreal event came only one day after Sharon was implicated in a massive corruption scandal, while, according to some reports, Sharon was returning to the Torah, and was reported to have resisted and refused the Vatican’s offer to give up Israeli holy sites.

It was thought provoking to consider that within days, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was struck a second time by the hand of the “avenging death angel”. He was put into a state of living death, at the edge of the boundaries of Jerusalem. Both of these moments of time, Sharon was in the presence of Shimon Peres, who many suspect to be the Vatican’s secret agent to Israel. Though the Israelis in the first quarter of 2006 were confident in the future of their country, there were ominous omens that were hanging over the land.

In the democratic elections that were forced upon the Palestinian community by the globalists of the Bush administration, the radical Hamas, the most virulent of the anti-Jewish Islamic fundamentalists of the Muslim Brotherhood, swept into political power by the Palestinian elections of March, 2006. Within twelve months, they had forged a coalition government with Abbas’ “moderate” Palestinian Fatah. Soon after the Hamas took over the Gaza government in a military uprising that swept away Yasser Arafat’s protégés from power in the month of June 2007. The resurrected Haman’s Amalekite Hamas, was now the defacto government of Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh had now won the honor of being the “King of Gaza”.

This reminds us of the unique prophetic utterances of Zechariah:

Zechariah 9:1-7 (parts) – “The burden of the word of the Lord…against Tyre and Sidon…Behold, the Lord will cast her out;…she will be devoured by fire. Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; …The king shall perish from Gaza and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines (Palestinians). I will take away the blood from his mouth, and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God.”

Lebanese based Hezbollah Commandos

Not only the now comatose Ariel Sharon who resisted the Vatican, but also now the President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, who also refused to relinquish the Israeli holy sites suddenly came under charges of raping and sexually molesting ten women employees in his presidential office. He was later indicted and forced to resign in disgrace from office.

By summer, 2006, as the “blowing of the (war) shofars” thundered their piercing tones across the land, the tides of personal fortunes and the moods of the people in Israel froze in time while the rest of the world watched nightly in amazement as hundreds and even thousands of missiles rained down over the regions of Galilee. The Iranian proxies of the Shi’ite Hezbollah militia fighters headquartered in Damascus, Syria, were now coming to claim what they thought would be their own. These missiles were not too sophisticated and most did not do significant damage, but the infrastructure of Lebanon in many parts surrounding Beirut were virtually destroyed as the Israeli air force pounded Hezbollah positions in retaliation.

NATO’s United Nation’s Peace-keeping Forces from the Regions of Vatican’s Europe

The consequences of the Lebanese War between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006, led to one solution invoked by the Vatican mediated Rome Peace Summit, the proxy forces of Rome were now to be stationed at the “Northern Gates of Jerusalem” as the United Nation’s NATO Peace –keeping forces, led by the Italian NATO contingent would now be the occupants just outside the “walls of Israel”.

The Sixth Year 2007 with Voices of the Messiah and the

War Call of the Shofar

In the sixth year of the Sabbatical week of years, 2007 (fall 2006 to the fall 2007), the prophetic momentum appeared to return in stride. According to the prophetic commentary by the Jewish sages, it stated: “there will be voices which according to Rashi depict either the blowing of the shofars (war) or the hints and voices about the coming of the messiah.”

It is fascinating that again in the sixth year of a Sh’mittah cycle, such as also similar as in the year preceding Y2K, when the “voices” of the Messiah’s arrival were spreading around America, Israel, and even over the landscape of Ishmael’s children in the Middle East. Yet, this time, the “voices” became more forceful.

The Note Written by Senior Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri just prior to his Death naming the Secret Name of the Jewish Messiah as Yehoshua.

The Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, was determined to hasten the coming of the Islamism’s first messiah, the Mahdi, by forcing chaos over this globe. The blogs were alive in Israel, as their favorite sage, the Baghdad born Sephardic kabbalist rabbi, Yitzhak Kaduri, who at the age of 108-110 years of age, gained world renown for his apocalyptic omens; the prophetic announcement of the start of the seven year War of Gog Magog on the 7^th day of Succot in 2001 when America sent the first wave of jets to attack al-Qaeda positions in Afghanistan; the catastrophic omens preceding the Indian Ocean Indonesian tsunami on December 26, 2004, and on November 2003 the shocking announcement that he had met the first of the two Jewish messiahs, the Maschiach ben Yosef (Messiah son of Joseph).

What was even more fascinating was the raging firestorm that erupted when Rabbi Kaduri wrote the name of the messiah on a sealed note that was not to be open until a year after his death on January 26, 2006. In the spring of the seventh year, 2007, the sealed note of Rabbi Kaduri was opened. The controversy associated with the excitement raced around the international Jewish and Christian blogs again as the revealed name of the Jewish messiah son of Joseph was Yehoshua, the Hebrew name for Jesus.

The revelation of the messiah’s name came from a specific kabalistic formula that used the first letter of each Hebrew word to spell the name of the messiah on the Hebrew sentence of six Hebrew words that stated; "Concerning the letter abbreviation of the Messiah's name, He will lift the people and prove that his word and law are valid. This I have signed in the month of mercy."

During the fall (2006) harvest festivals of the Jews in the sixth year of 2007, these threats of war became even more strident. The nations of the Middle East stayed in a heightened state of alert, as one war game after another was played out over the Middle Eastern landscape.

This military buildup by the Islamic nations was only highlighted by the largest military armada of Vatican’s NATO ever to be stationed off the coast of Israel and Lebanon. This naval armada only complements the Vatican sponsored NATO UNIFIL peace keepers also from the multinational NATO European forces that were now stationed not in opposition to, but imbedded with the regrouped and now more highly fortified Hezbollah forces that Israel was fighting against in 2006.

This military buildup by the United States was also highlighted by the largest American naval armada ever assembled in the fall of 2006 throughout the winter of 2007. It now consisted of three aircraft carriers attack forces that were stationed in the Persian and the Indian Oceans off the coastline of Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. With America as the Grecian “face of Rome”, it appeared that the epic war of the east against the west in Daniel Eight’s War between the Persian Ram and the Greco-Roman He-Goat was being prepared to play out its final battle.

A few may protest that this war was already fought, not just in the shadow-picture war of Alexander’s Greece and Darius II’s Persia, but when the Iron Curtain fell in 1991. Yet we have to ask, was the ascendant power of Persia (Iran) a major participant in 1991? Was Yang Shangkun, the President of the People’s Republic of China, involved and the Chinese “horn” broken also in 1991?

The War Shofars Blasting in America as the Sovereignty of America come to her End

The United States throughout the year has been under a war mentality footing. The military forces continued to be built up, with the largest American naval presence in the Indian and Persian Gulf ever, the largest European NATO naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea ever, while the American Executive Branch with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales began to lock down and limit dissent in America.

In the first quarter of 2007 came the announcement by the Attorney General that federal judges were not qualified to make rulings affecting national security and terrorism. This came on the heels of criticism of the DOD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Detainee Affairs Charles “Cully” Stimson against law firms providing pro bono representation to detainees in American military prisons. The trends continued to mount shifting the judiciary representation of American rights under “due process” and “fair trials” from civilian to military courts when for the first time in 200 years. Then eleven top federal prosecutors resigned because of alleged political pressure ever since the USA Patriot Act, that was reauthorized in 2005, allowed the U.S. attorney general to appoint judiciary appointments without confirmation from the U.S. Senate.

Rapidly behind came the revelation that the fine lines of freedom between the use of military forces to engage in law enforcement upon American citizens had been breeched. It was the Insurrection Art of 1807, that was sealed in national law after the Civil war, that set up the major exemptions to the “posse comitatus” that limits the powers of the executive branch and the use of the American military in law enforcement to putting down rebellion, insurrection, and lawlessness, or where a state is depriving the citizens of this country their constitutional rights. In October 2006, in the early hours before voting on an enormous defense budget bill, at the insistence of the executive branch, a provision was inserted to weaken this constitutional right so that the president of the United States could military forces, including nationalized state national guards to replace local or state police enforcement in the case of a natural disaster, the outbreak of a national epidemic of a disease, a terrorist attack or any “other condition” without any public hearings or debates, either without the consultation of the Congress of the United States of any governors of any of the states in the country. In other words, as the International Herald Tribune stated in a titled article, “Making Martial Law Easier”, America is now one stroke of a pen from military or martial law.

As the Easter, Lent, and Passover season 2007 came, in Rome, the trusted adviser to Pope Benedict XVI, retired Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, former Archbishop of Bologna, was chosen to lead the Lenten Mass for the Cardinals and hierarchy in the Vatican. He pronounced a remarkable and startling warning, that a “Green Anti-Christ” will emerge that is “a pacifist, ecologist, and ecumenist” and quoting Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), Russian mystic and philosopher, that this anti-Messiah “will convoke an ecumenical council and seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions”. Using Solovyov’s “Three Dialogues on War, Progress, and the End of History”, he suggested that the anti-Christ was a real person that would oppose (orthodox) Christianity that stood for “absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty” and encourage “relative values” such as “solidarity, love of peace, and respect for nature”.

Departure in Temperature of the Earth's surface temperature since the 1961-1190 average. Image modified from IPCC materials.

With the rhetoric of the “Global Warming” advocates, who, along with former Democratic candidate, Al Gore, they were trying to rally the globalists around the world to radical reforms in all the nations of the world. This came as though global warning was the fault completely of humans. Yet, the God of Israel proclaims the He will induce radical climatic changes at the time of the end in a manner, not much different then He did to the Pharaoh of Egypt, to “harden their hearts”.

Suddenly, in May 2007, the new American Immigration bill to be debated in Congress, would affect every job applicant in the United States. As proposed, every job applicant will have their eligibility to work verified by the Department of Homeland Security. This will include a government database unknown in human history on everyone in America and tied to their Social Security number. Apart of this process would be a hardened Social Security card that will contain biometric information, like a National ID, along with a Real ID-compliant driver’s license in order to get any job.

The “National ID” card brings its own Orwellian image as a Read ID system that has “proposed branding citizens not possessing a Real ID card in a manner that lets all who see their official state-issued identification know that they're "different," and perhaps potentially dangerous, according to standards established by the federal government. They would become stigmatized, branded, marked, ostracized, segregated.” As states, it would a “new form of social segregation – an attempt to separate “us” from “them” in the age of counterterrorism and the new normal, where one is presumed suspicious until proven more suspicious.”

In the same month, the Pentagon rejected any alternatives to the fact that the law recently signed by President Bush puts all U.S. National Guard Units under the power of the presidency, removing all federal constitutional guarantees of a state militia as a counter-balance to a federal military.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad

That same month, the War between the Ram and the He-Goat came a “war” closer to being fulfilled when there was a report of a secret Cheney-Ahmadinejad meeting that was held in the United States Emirates in the Middle East, strangely a long time ally of Iran that is also home to the home of the U.S. military support services. As reported:

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz greeting Cheney as he arrives at King Faisal airbase in Tabuk yesterday