Africa’s Coming Glory Part 2
Teddy Lishan Desta
Ethiopia / Dallas Texas USA
Part II
In Part I we looked at what God has revealed about the prophetic import of the trials and tribulations that have been on-going in the Africa since 1973. In Part II, we will consider the duration of the suffering, and its possible connection with end-time and prophetic time-lines.
The Beginning and the End
In Part I, it was indicated that the year 1973 was landmark year. It was taken as the beginning year of Africa’s tribulation. It was discussed there how the 1973 four-fold oil price hike and the wide-spread drought which hit the region, ushered in a period of unparalleled economic, social and political crises. As the years passed, things did not improve; rather new forms of chaos were added to the list of woes already there. In short, after 1973, Africa was no longer a safe and stable place, but one sliding from one crisis to a worse one.
The important question we have to ask ourselves at this point then will be: Given the discussion on the end-time prophetic place of Africa (see Part I), is there any outside corroborating evidence to make 1973 a prophetic End-time year? Can we associate 1973 in any way to the beginning of a worldwide shaking? Two possible outside evidences can be mustered to answer this question.
Exhibit 1: The first evidence worthy of our attention is the Yom Kippur War of 1973. As widely known among prophetic circles, all of the wars of modern Israel, starting with the war of independence in 1948, all of them foreshadow in one way or another some type of major breakthrough or change in the destiny of the Church.[1] The Israeli-Arab war of 1973 was no exception. However, unlike the wars of 1948, 1956, or 1967 there is little consensus about the prophetic significance of the war of 1973.[2]
One has to study very closely what has followed since the 1973 Yom Kippur in order to get its prophetic significance. There is one major reason why people easily miss the prophetic value of this war - What has followed that war did not affect the Church as much as it affected the world. The war was to be a sign to the world, and to as much to the church. So to say – it was a war destined to indicate the beginnings of the worldwide shakings of the last days.
It was this war which became the pretext for oil exporting Arab countries to raise the price of oil four-fold and bring the world economy to a virtual recession. The first oil crisis – the child of the Yom Kippur War – spawned multiple economic and political consequences downstream.[3] Not only that, the worldwide shakings continued in other forms as well, bearing the hallmarks of Jesus’ warning about the travails of the last-days (Matt. 24). The disasters that hit the world since 1973, in ever heightened magnitude, took the forms wars and civil wars, famines and plagues, earthquakes and ocean storms, political violence, as well as economic and social collapse. The disasters claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of people, and blighting the lives of as many others. The effect of this unique period of trial was particularly felt in Africa more than anywhere else in the world. In Africa, the suffering was widespread, acute and persistent.
Exhibit 2: There is some additional evidence about the prophetic significance of 1973. The second evidence comes in the form of a prophecy given back in 1986. One of the well-respected prophetic voices, Lance Lambert, was used of God to give us one of the most quoted prophetic words regarding the times we have been living in. This word rises the year 1973 to the levels of the years of WW I and WW II in its magnitude to shake the whole world.[4]
It will not be long before there will come upon the world a time of unparalleled upheaval and turmoil. Do not fear for it is I the Lord who am shaking all things. I began this shaking with the first world war and I greatly increased it through the second world war. Since 1973 I have given it an even greater impetus. In the last stage, I plan to complete it with the shaking of the universe itself, with signs in sun and moon and stars. But before that point is reached, I will judge the nations and the time is near. It will not only be by war and civil war, by anarchy and terrorism, and by monetary collapses that I will judge the nations, but also by natural disasters: by earthquakes, by shortages and famines and by old and new plague diseases. I will also judge them by giving them over to their own ways, the lawlessness, to loveless selfishness, to delusion and to believing a lie; to false religion and an apostate church, even to a Christianity without me. Do not fear when these things begin to happen, for I disclose these things to you before they commence in order that you might be prepared, and that in the day of trouble and of evil you may stand firm and overcome.
Therefore, what appears to be an ordinary year, 1973, was not an ordinary year at all. Rather, it was a year known to God, and marked by Him for great purposes. It was the year to mark beginning of the shaking of the world. If one wills, 1973 was the beginning of the end; the very year by which the count-down has begun with.
Another Landmark Year
From current prophetic point of view, there is also another year which has emerged as a landmark year. The year is 2008. Given the large number of prophecies given out regarding the prophetic importance of the year 2008, it will be not be practical to cite all of the prophetic words here. Among the most mature and trusted servants of God, those with tested prophetic insight, there is an emerging consensus that the year 2008 is a historic year for the Church. It is predicted to be a year of recompense; the beginning of the mighty and final works of God, where the people of God will finally enter their rest and get their glory. In particular, the coming autumn season is said to be the time when God’s mighty outpouring will begin. The Kingdom Age is proclaimed to break through the gate year of 2008.
Here are just two examples from the multitude of prophetic words spoken about 2008. Bill Hamon wrote:
2008 is the year of new beginnings. It is the beginning of the new Third and final Apostolic Reformation… This Third Reformation will bring as much transition and fulfilling of God's purpose as the First and Second Reformation did… I believe and am declaring that 2008 is God's set time for the full release of the Third Reformation. 2008 is a historical time for the Church.[5]
Susan Cummings wrote:
This Year of 2008, is going to usher in the final Chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to His Church, and then through His Church. She will become glorious through it all, and she will be arrayed in His Glory amongst the NATIONS, for them all to see HIM, and they will understand that He IS, and that HE reigns amongst all men.[6]
Seemingly, we have fixed the beginning (1973) and the possible end (2008), but how can we connect the period in between to Scripture?
How Long, O Lord?
We have apparently fixed the beginning and end years of the worldwide shakings. But can we verify this period of time from the Bible? Is there any kind of Biblical evidence to indicate to us that the shaking will last 35 years?
I believe God has provided us with some time markers in the Bible to help us to understand the broad outlines of times and seasons. These markers exist in cryptic form, usually they take the forms of poetic language and symbolism. But when we see a given prophetic marker being used in a consistent manner again and again, we can follow that lead to its logical conclusion. If that marker is handled carefully in its interpretation and application, we know that it carries the potential to unlock at least one door that will lead us to a better understanding of the mysteries of God. What follow is some tentative steps in that direction.
The Metaphor of ‘Ten Times’
In the Bible there is a unique way the number ten is used. In several places in the Bible, the number ten is employed to convey a certain kind of meaning and message. This meaning as we will see soon is tied to the idea of testing and trial. In particular, it is carries the idea of being tested to the limit, or being tried to the point of weariness. There is a cyclical nature to the trial; where the trial seems to go on forever. Related to that, the number ten as used in the Bible implies patience and endurance of the greatest kind. Here are a few examples to illustrate this point.
(i). Jacob in the house of his uncle Laban was made to serve like a slave. He worked long and hard years in order to pay off the dowry of his two wives. In the process, Jacob was cheated by his uncle on several occasions, prolonging his misery. He has to endure it all to end patiently until God intervened on his behalf. Here is the language Jacob used to describe his plight:
It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. (Gen 31:7, 41)
Why did Jacob choose the idiom, ‘ten times’ to describe his problems? Because he was cheated again and again until he could not stand it any longer. Because he served hard and long years until he could not take it any more. No other word than the idiom ‘ten times’ conveyed better to his listeners the depth and length of his trials.
(ii). The Israelites while they were wanderings in the desert were quite slow to believe in God’s protection and provisions. They murmured and rebelled against God and Moses repeatedly. Because they wore God’s patience, at one stage, God said enough is enough; He could not longer bear with their complaints. God used the number ten to convey the idea of Him being tested to the limits of His divine patience. Here is how God put it:
Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it… "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. (Num. 14: 20,27)
(iii). We also encounter the figurative ‘ten times’ in the book of Nehemiah. The Israelites were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. They became exhausted from the hard labor of reconstruction, and at the same time they were constantly threatened by their enemies. They had to run to the leadership to complain about the threat they faced. Nehemiah used the number ten to describe how many times the people came over to him to complain. He used the expression ‘ten times’ by way of saying ‘countless times’, indicating a sign of weariness from the people and the leadership.
Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work." Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us." (Neh 4: 10 -12)
(iv). Job also uses the number ten to express his weariness from the judgmental words of his would be comforter-friends. Apparently, their accusatory words had gone for too long, and Job could not bear it any longer.
How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.
(v). But the most important use of the expression of ‘ten times’ comes from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus used ‘ten days’ in relation to the time of intense suffering the church at Smyrna would face. The church had to endure the frontal attacks of the devil in a very unique way. Jesus implied that their faith and endurance would be tested to the limit. Jesus advised the church to hold out to the end, and to never give in. Smyrna’s test was to be to the point of death, the ultimate test of endurance and sacrifice. This is how Jesus encouraged that church:
Fear none of the things you shall suffer. Behold the devil will throw some of you into prison that you may be tried. You shall have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2: 10).
Let us ask one question here: Why need the Lord use ‘ten days’ to describe the duration of Smyrna’s test period.[7] Jesus must have chosen the ‘ten days’ as an apt idiom to express the degree and the length to which the Smyrna church will be tested. It will be tested to the limit, to the point of exhaustion.
The Last Days and ‘Ten Times’
As we have seen above, the idea of being tested to the limit (i.e., to the point of weariness and exhaustion), of being patient and persistent to a degree are the ideas imbued in the figurative usage of ‘ten times’ or ‘ten days’. It is the same idea implied and reflected in the following places in the Scriptures: Gen. 17:1, Gen 22; (Rom. 4:19); Deut. 32: 36; Ps. 39, 105: 8-19, 142:3; Isa. 29: 1 – 3, 53:11; Dan. 7:22, 12: 7; Matt. 25:5; Mk. 13:13; Luk. 11: 5-11; 18: 1-8; Heb. 3:6, 6:12, 10:36, 12:1-11.
The person of the overcomer the Lord speaks about in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, carries the idea of standing one’s ground to the end, and going to the limit of human patience and endurance in waiting in the faith.[8]
The idea of being tested to the limit; the idea of enduring to the end is a central idea in the concept of faith, and central to the idea related in discussing the duration of any period of tribulation. It the same idea we encounter in Daniel’s visions which deal with the end times and the unparalleled suffering associated with the activities of the beast. For example, in Daniel 7:22 we read how the beast wears out the saints through its endless persecutions and attacks. In Dan. 12:7 we read how the saints are tested to the point of exhaustion; that is, to the limits of their faith and endurance. We do not see God intervening and providing deliverance before the faith of the saints is tested thoroughly and completely. To wit, the duration of a tribulation period is calibrated to last as long as it takes to get the saints to this point.[9]
But both in the books of Daniel and Revelation the duration of a tribulation period is given as – ‘a time, two times and half-time’. So how can we connect this ‘three and half years’ period to the idea of ‘ten times’ or ‘ten days’? Is there any connection between the two prophetic date markers? The following is an attempt to make that connection. Moreover, we aim at showing how this connection leads us to recognize the period, 1973 – 2008, as prophetic. Here is the argument.
The prophetic time period – ‘a time, two times and half-time’ is always used in association with the end-time period of testing. Secondly, we have said in any period of testing there is always the element of being tested to the limit of human faith and endurance. Thirdly, we have shown how the marker ‘ten times’, as used by the Scriptures, figuratively indicates the idea of being tested to exhaustion.
At this point, it is safe and acceptable to substitute ‘ten’ in place of ‘a time’, because both imply a period of testing. Following that, ‘two times’ will now become ‘two tens’, and ‘half time’ will become ‘half ten’. In doing this, we not only connect both prophetic time markers using their intrinsic meaning, but also advance our understanding about ‘times and seasons’ much further. What now we have is: ‘ten, twenty, and five’. Or to simplify that, if we take ‘a time’ to be ‘a decade’, then the whole thing will turn out to be, ‘a decade, two decades and half-a-decade’. Viola! That makes 35 years! That is exactly the number of years between 1973 and 2008! In doing this, we not only have fixed the beginning and end year of the world-wide shaking and testing, but also proved the length of years the testing and shakings lasts.
Conclusion
What was said here about ‘times and seasons’ is an attempt to give a new vista in the understanding of the events that surround the last-days. The computation involved is a thought experiment, probing the Scriptures for knowledge (Dan 12:4, Prov. 25:2). After all, as Jesus admonished His listeners back then, to know how to examine and discern the times we live in is a commandment and not an option.
You do examine the face of the skies and the earth; but how is that you do not examine the times you are in? (Luk. 12: 56)
Others are free to discern the validity of this insight and judge how sound the logic and arguments are (1 Cor. 13:29-30; 1 Thess. 5: 19-21).
Glory to Our God
9/6/08
[1] For example, the War of Independence (1948) is associated with the restitution of the ministry of healing to the church as witnessed by the Healing Revivals of the 1940s and 50s. The war of 1956 is linked to the Latter Rain Movement and with the touching of mainline churches by the winds of the Holy Spirit. And the 1967 war is associated with the birth of the charismatic movement, etc.
[2] There is also little being written about the prophetic relevance of the two Israel-Lebanon wars, those of 1982 and 2006, as well as the 2000 – 2006 intifadah.
[3] Oil exporting Arab countries begun to wield oil as a political weapon. The massive transfer of wealth to these countries subsided the rise of radical Islam and many terrorist organizations.
[4] This prophecy was given in 1986 in a Prophetic Conference in Jerusalem, Israel. 153 prophets from 30 to 40 nations had gathered to wait upon and to hear from the Lord. The prophecy can be read in its full entirety at: http://www.tbn.org/index.php/7/7.html
[6] Jan 8, 2008, www.etpv.org
[7] At least given the figurative and symbolic nature of the book of Revelation, particularly in its use of numbers, we can rest assured that this time it is not any different.
[8] So to speaks, the overcomer, is no one but, a ‘Mr/ Ms. ten times’.
[9]At the end what is proved will be three things - how genuine the saints’ faith is, how futile the devil’s scare and seducing tactics are, and how much God is faithful to uphold and deliver His people. .