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Tom and Mark Foley

Last week's resignation of Florida Congressman Mark Foley is an interesting double witness to the resignation of Congressman Tom Foley back on Nov. 29, 1994.

Recall that in 1994 was the so-called "Republican Revolution," which marked the time when the Democratic Party was swept from its long-time majority in the House. At that time, Congress passed the GATT Treaty, and then Speaker of the House, Tom Foley resigned.

Tom Foley was a Congressman from Washington State. He had just lost the election to George Nethercutt a few weeks earlier. During the campaigning, I heard on Talk Radio that they were trying to "De-Foley-ate Washington." (I was living in Washington State at the time.)

I found that expression of particular interest, because it fit so well with the Word that we had been getting since the previous year (November 1993).

So going back to the beginning, we held our Jubilee Prayer Campaign in November of 1993. It was a Jericho March that would begin 13 years of marching around "Jericho." We are now at the end of that time period, and, of course, Hollywood once again has come up with a television program called "Jericho" in the past couple of weeks. How do they do that? It is timed perfectly right at the 13th year around Jericho.

But this prayer campaign was more than just a Jericho march. Jericho is a type of Babylon, and so we understood that we were to watch 12 months later, according to Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 4. In that dream, he saw a huge tree that was defoliated, stripped, and cut down, leaving a stump behind (Dan. 4:14, 15).

Daniel interpreted the dream later in the chapter and said it applied to the king, who also represents the nation--Babylon itself. Leaders always represent their nations. Anyway, 12 months later, the dream was fulfilled when the king boasted about his great accomplishments (Dan. 4:29, 30).

We discerned from this passage that our prayer campaign (Nov. 29, 1993) was to see some sort of sign in regard to the fall of Babylon twelve months later. Thus, when I heard the following October that the Republicans wanted to "de-Foley-ate Washington," by defeating Tom Foley, I made the connection immediately. His opponent was George Nethercutt. It was obvious that Nethercutt would win the election, because his name means "a lower cut" and indicates that the Babylonian tree was being cut down to the ground.

In other words, this time Babylon would not have a stump remaining to grow later.

Well, Nethercutt did win, and in the days that followed, Tom Foley pushed the GATT Treaty through Congress. When he finally succeeded on Nov. 29, 1994, he gave a final speech praising the great accomplishment and then resigned. It occurred precisely 12 months after the prayer campaign.

The value of timing is that it proves the sovereignty of God in all things.

So now we find ourselves today at the "book end" at the end of the battle of Jericho-Babylon in 2006. We see this time period marked by Hollywood's "Jericho" as well as Mark Foley's resignation. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I find it strange that so many coincidences occur at the proper times.

Even his first name, "Mark," can be read as a verbal command, as if to tell us that we are to "mark (Tom) Foley." In other words, we should keep Tom Foley in mind in all of this.

To me, it indicates another "book end," where Tom Foley was seen at the start of this Babylonian fall, and now Mark Foley resigns at the end of the cycle.