Gilbert House Fellowship

THE FIRST six seals are opened in our study of Revelation this week. Bearing in mind that the meaning of these seals has been debated for 2,000 years, we offer our best understanding of the images and prophecies recorded by John the Revelator.

We discuss the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, speculating that the first rider, often interpreted as the spirit of Antichrist (although some incorrectly believe it is Christ), may be Apollo (AKA the Semitic god Resheph and Babylonian god Nergal; both, like Apollo, are archers and gatekeepers of the underworld). We examine descriptive imagery of God on His throne that pagans used to describe the storm-god of the ancient Near East (Zeus/Jupiter/Baal), and highlight links between what John saw heaven with the throne room imagery in Isaiah and Ezekiel.

The Hear the Watchmen conference in Dallas is sold out! But you can join us via live video stream. The cost is $39 and all presentations will be archived for 30 days after the conference. Click here to order the live stream, and save 5% with the promo code GILBERT5.

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available very soon! For a free preview, click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

PRIDE AND repentance are the themes of this week's Old Testament study. First we discuss the Book of Jonah, a short four-chapter study in obedience to God and His mercy toward those who repent.

Then we look at the kings of Israel and Judah during the second half of the 8th century B.C. (750-700 B.C.), especially Azariah (Uzziah), who led Judah to its period of greatest power and prosperity since the days of Solomon. Unlike the king of Nineveh, who was spared from destruction when he chose to repent in sackcloth and ashes, Uzziah responded with anger when the priests in the Temple stopped the king from burning incense in the Temple. This was a sin of disobedience for which the sons of Aaron were struck dead; Uzziah got off relatively easy with a case of leprosy.

We had some time left at the end of our readings today so we discussed the concept of divine weapons in the ancient Near East. Archaeologists have discovered that pagan temples often contained weapons that were believed to have been wielded by the gods. We talk about the clubs of Hadad (AKA Baal), with which the storm-god defeated the chaos-god of the sea, Yamm, and the mysterious weapon of Dagan. Scholars don't know what that was, only that it required copper, the hide of some kind of beast, and animal fat. Hmm.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH.

If you can't be in Dallas for the conference, join us via live video stream! Cost is $39 and all presentations will be archived for 30 days after the conference. Click here to order the live stream, and save 5% with the promo code GILBERT5.

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available very soon! For a free preview, click here for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

NOW WE get to the prophetic stuff! The Book of Revelation was written by John, either in the mid-60s A.D. or around 95 A.D. Most scholars believe it was the later date, during the reign of Domitian, although some believe it was thirty years earlier, during the reign of Nero.

Either way, Revelation is a deep and fascinating prophecy given to John by Jesus himself. This week, we discuss the introduction to the book and the messages from Jesus to the seven churches of Asia. All seven are in modern-day Turkey, which may have significance for the last days. We briefly explain how the seven churches represent the ages of church history (see the chart below) and various heresies that had entered the church before the end of the first century A.D.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click www.HearTheWatchmen.com for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH.

If you can't be in Dallas for the conference, join us via live video stream! Cost is $39 and all presentations will be archived for 30 days after the conference. Click www.HearTheWatchmen.com to order the live stream, and save 5% with the promo code GILBERT5.

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available within weeks! For a free preview, click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

IRON AGE history is a bloody business, and the history of the kings of Israel and Judah is no different. This week's Old Testament study looks at transfers of power — somewhat less than peacefully — in the generation following Ahab and Jehoshaphat.

One thing you can say about Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and the only queen in the history of Judah — she was definitely her mother's daughter.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Visit www.HearTheWatchmen.com for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH.

If you can't be in Dallas for the conference, join us via live video stream! Cost is $39 and all presentations will be archived for 30 days after the conference. Visit www.HearTheWatchmen.com to order the live stream, and save 5% with the promo code GILBERT5.

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available within weeks! For a free preview, click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

THE EARLY church had to deal with a number of heretical teachings. The idea that Jesus was not fully God and fully man was one of them.

The apostle John addressed this in his first epistle. In his gentle style, John counseled believers to love one another, to recognize false teachings, and to test the spirits, because not everything that manifests from the supernatural realm is from God.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Log on to www.HearTheWatchmen.com for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH.

If you can't be in Dallas for the conference, join us via live video stream! Cost is $39 and all presentations will be archived for 30 days after the conference. Visit www.HearTheWatchmen.com to order the live stream, and save 5% with the promo code GILBERT5.

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available within weeks! For a free preview, click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

THE CONCEPTS of holy ground and cosmic geography are behind most of the stories in today's Old Testament study. As we saw in the life of Elijah, God often did things to teach a lesson and/or send a message. In this case, it was the clear message that Israel belongs to Him.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he divided mankind,

he fixed the borders of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.

But the LORD's portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (ESV), emphasis added

The Syrian general Naaman, for example, asked permission of the prophet Elisha to cart a couple loads of dirt back home after he was healed of leprosy. Why? Because it belonged to Yahweh, and therefore it was holy.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH!

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available by mid-March. Want a free preview? Click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE and the sin of the Watchers are the focus of this week's New Testament study. Peter and Jude were in accord with the letters we read this week, and there is a lot of meat in these four short chapters.

Both apostles warned their readers of false prophets who had wormed their way into the church, spreading false doctrine, encouraging the pursuit of physical pleasure, and "blaspheming the glorious ones." Who or what are the glorious ones? We honestly don't know, but the context implies that they might be some kind of high-ranking angelic entities that even the archangels don't dare rebuke!

We highlight references to the Book of Enoch and the sin of the Watchers, which we are learning (thanks to our friend Dr. Michael Heiser, whose new book, Reversing Hermon, documents the influence of the Mount Hermon incursion on the New Testament) was a lot more important than we ever thought. Peter and Jude make it explicitly clear that their sin was sexual, and resulted in their imprisonment until the judgment. Links between the angels "who left their proper dwelling" and the Greek myths of the Titans are discussed, and we spend a good deal of time on Peter's list of the attributes of spiritual maturity (and how social media can short-circuit our spiritual growth).

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH!

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available by mid-March. Want a free preview? Click www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

THE DIVINE COUNCIL in action and prophecy is the focus of this week's Old Testament study. Psalm 82 depicts a courtroom scene in the divine council with Yahweh declaring judgment on the lesser gods who "judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked". Incredibly, the psalm prophesies a day when the small-G gods die "like men," which may have something to do with their bad attitude.

Psalm 83 follows with what may be a prophesy of a coming war between Israel and the Muslim nations around it. The psalm takes on new context if we assume the nations mentioned have been allocated to these lesser elohim — which, of course, they were.

Then we return to historical books to hear the rest of Elijah's life story. The prophet is one of two characters in the Bible (Enoch is the other) who was assumed into heaven without dying. We note the parallel between Elijah's association with the fire of God from heaven (i.e., the thunderbolt, which was supposed to be the exclusive weapon of Baal) and the power of the two witnesses of Revelation to summon fire from heaven.

And we discuss the short book of Obadiah, a prophecy of judgment against Edom for its participation in the sack of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 B.C.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH!

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available by mid-March. Want a free preview? Visit www.TheGreatInception.com for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.

FAITH AND perseverance are at the heart of today's New Testament study. We conclude the remarkable Book of Hebrews with a discussion of the Old Testament patriarchs who were accounted righteous because of their faith even though they never saw the fulfillment of the promises of God. The command to show hospitality to strangers is also examined in light of recent political developments.

Then we move to Paul's second letter to Timothy, in which he exhorts the young man to keep fighting the good fight. It's a very personal letter with some poignant touches; most likely it was written during Paul's second imprisonment in Rome near the end of his life.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH!

Derek's new book The Great Inception: Satan's PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be published in March. Get a free preview by reading his series of articles based on the books at www.TheGreatInception.com.

GOD HAS a council that carries out His commands, and this week we get one of the few glimpses into its workings recorded in the Bible. It's the story of Ahab's demise in battle against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead, where the king of Israel is enticed by lying spirits to go to his doom.

We also cover the career of the good king Jehoshaphat, the consequences of his decision to enter into a marriage alliance with Ahab, and the brief rule of the evil queen of Judah, Athaliah, who was nothing if not the daughter of her mother, Jezebel.

Join us in Dallas March 31-April 2 for the Hear the Watchmen conference, God's Great Gathering! Click here for information and to register. Save $20 with the promo code SKYWATCH!