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The Passover Earthquakes

When Jesus died at Passover, there was an earthquake that tore the temple veil from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51).

When Jesus was raised from the dead, there was another earthquake (perhaps an aftershock) that apparently was the way in which the angel rolled the stone from the mouth of the tomb (Matt. 28:2).

We can hardly forget this second earthquake, because, as Ron is fond of pointing out, it was the first Rolling Stones concert. So it is not a big surprise that Rolling Stone magazine has been running earth-shattering articles about Goldman Sachs and its role in the sale of toxic derivatives. The magazine is causing shock waves throughout the country and the world as the Father uses them to roll the stone away from the hearts of the people.

There was, of course, no recorded earthquake at the original Passover, when Moses led Israel out of Egypt. No quake occurred when Israel crossed the Red Sea (wave-sheaf offering). Yet a quake occurred when Jesus was crucified and again when He was raised from the dead. Beyond the spiritual significance of these quakes as "signs," it makes me wonder if we may see an earthquake on January 1 and perhaps another around January 6-8.

This also reminds me of the old revelation from my Net of Prayer days (1980's) that we were to watch for a sequence of signs: Storms, quakes and/or volcanos, and war. Since quakes and volcanos were often interchangeable, perhaps this time around we might see a volcanic eruption in place of a quake.

We may even step back and look at the long-term picture. At Israel's Red Sea crossing, "a strong east wind" arrived (Ex. 14:21), allowing Israel to cross the Sea on dry land. It was most likely a cold wind that froze the sea, while causing a dust storm that deposited sand on the ice. In Exodus 15:8 we read, "the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea."

The Hebrew word for "congealed" is qapha. Strong defines it as "to shrink, i.e., thicken (as unracked wine, curdled milk, clouded sky, frozen water)."

So in the case of water (the sea) being congealed, the word indicates a process of freezing. The ice was thick enough for the Israelites, but the Egyptians ran into some trouble with their horses and chariots.

The point is that the sign at the first wave-sheaf offering was a storm, "a strong east wind." This occurred at the start of the Passover Age.

The second sign was two earthquakes at the end of the Passover Age and at the 50-day countdown toward the Pentecostal Age.

We are now at the end of the Pentecostal Age, transitioning into the Age of Tabernacles. Will we see a volcanic eruption, or perhaps another earthquake? Just how important is this New Year's Passover in the bigger picture? If we see a quake or volcano at this time, it would strongly suggest that war is about to break out somewhere soon.

The 1985 Pattern

In mid-May of 1985, while I was still in the Net of Prayer, the revelation was given of a "storm" that would hit on May 25, killing 40,000 people. The threat was greater, but we were told that if we interceded, we had the authority to reduce the casualties to a mere 40,000. There was no internet or email back then, and we lacked time to prepare for a prayer campaign. So the Father said to hold it on June 5 and make it retroactive to May 25.

Anyway, a cyclone hit Bangladesh on May 25, killing 40,000 people. It was a bit strange to see our prayers answered before holding the "Nail and Hammer" prayer campaign.

This event then led us to focus upon the next in the sequence--an earthquake. It was discerned that this would occur on September 20, 1985. Once again a work of intercession was done, but we were still in the Age of Pentecost, which did not begin to end until May 30, 1993. (That was the 40th Jubilee of the Church dating from Acts 2.) So as intercessors, our authority was limited because Saul (Church under Pentecost) was still reigning as king. Our authority was limited in those days, and to stop this earthquake altogether required the Church to respond to the call to prayer.

Of course, they did not, and the deadline passed on Sept. 15. After completing our intercessory work, we had to "stand aside" on Sept. 17. Three days later a massive 7.5 Richter quake struck Mexico City, killing 20,000 people.

We then discerned that a volcanic eruption was next in line. The head of the NOP left on an intercessory trip Nov. 7 with instructions to be back home on November 13. The signs pointed to snow in Nevada and a city being buried in mud. Late in the night of Nov. 13, a volcano erupted in Columbia, called Nevado del Ruiz ("snow-capped mountain"). A glacier melted, and while the people slept, a wall of mud flowed down over the sleeping town of Armero. The Wikipedia reports this:

"On November 13, 1985, a small eruption produced an enormous lahar that buried and desolated the town of Armero in Tolima Department, causing an estimated 23,000 deaths."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevado_del_Ruiz

The final event in the sequence was WAR. We held a prayer campaign in April of 1986 to prevent World War III (with the Soviet Union), having in mind the expensive full-page ads that had run in 12 large newspapers around the world on April 25, 1982, claiming "The Christ is Now Here."

So on April 25, 1986 the world watched as the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl melted down. While it appeared to be a disaster (and it was), it also served to prevent World War III. The Soviet Union lost their "window of opportunity" to prevent President Reagan's "star wars defense system" from being set up in Europe, while they were busy with the crisis at Chernobyl. The following year was the 70th anniversary of the so-called "Russian Revolution," and President Gorbachev's anniversary speech changed the course of history. The Soviet Union began to implode, and the rest is history.

So the importance of April 25 as a pattern date cannot be overestimated, nor was its significance lost on us. There is no question in my mind that intercession is what averted war in 1986. Of course, we understand that God had planned this victory from the beginning.

It may be that we are now seeing another sequence of storms, quakes, volcanos, and war beginning to emerge. The country has just gone through two major snowstorms in the past few weeks. If we see quakes and/or volcanos in the days to come, this would provide the double witness to this sequence, and we would have to pray to know what to do about it.

Keep in mind also that other events were occurring in late 1985 and early 1986 that form patterns for what we are seeing today. In the interim between the volcanic eruption on Nov. 13, 1985 and the meltdown at Chernobyl on April 25, 1986, we had to focus upon the situation with Pastor Thomas. Recall that he "left the church" on Dec. 30, 1985 and later received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on January 27, 1986.

This was a type of death and resurrection, beginning with a communion service in which he took communion "unworthily" (Dec. 29, 1985) and "died" as a result. He was then "raised from the dead" by means of the Holy Spirit (Jan. 27, 1986). This became part of the historic pattern on which our current prophetic watch dates are based.

For more details, see chapter 49 of my book, The Wars of the Lord (posted online).