Introduction

The origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity for many.  Every day we see the terrible results of evil, and we may question how such suffering and sorrow can exist if there truly is an Elohim (God) Who is all-powerful, infinite in wisdom, and full of love.  To find the answers to these troubling questions and find the solutions to the problems we face, we need to go back to where sin began.  According to the Bible, sin began in of all places – heaven! 

“And there was war in heaven:  Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.  He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:7-9 Amplified Bible, emphasis added).

Where is the devil according to the Bible?  He is not in a place called hell; he is on earth leading “the whole world astray.”   Job 1:7 confirms what is said in Revelation 12:9.  “And Yahuwah [the LORD] said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?  Then Satan answered Yahuwah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

It says that “there was war in heaven.”  When we think of heaven, we do not think of there being wars there, do we?  We imagine heaven as a place of peace and tranquility rather than of strife and contention.  Heaven is a place of peace, harmony, and tranquility:  however, that peace was broken recently in relation to eternity.  The entire Universe had been at peace until Satan (aka Lucifer) led a rebellion in heaven against the authority of the Creator.  The final events leading to the restoration of peace, harmony, and tranquility throughout the Universe, including here on earth, is the subject of this book. 

The Bible pictures the Devil, or Satan, as once the most beautiful, powerful, and intelligent angel in heaven.  He was known as Lucifer (the Light-bearer).  He is not a hideous red monster with cloven feet, a tail, and bat’s wings.

“You [Lucifer] were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty . . . You were anointed as a guardian cherub [Cherubs are not little pixy-type beings with tiny little wings.  They are mighty angels of the highest order and are in positions of prestige as was Lucifer once upon a time] . . . You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until wickedness was found in you . . . So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of Elohim, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub . . . Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom . . . so I threw you to the earth” (Ezekiel 28:12-17,NIV).  Lucifer’s beauty and intelligence were gifts of Elohim which had been bestowed upon him when he was created.

But how could this have happened in heaven?  Elohim had created Lucifer as an intelligent, beautiful, powerful angel but Lucifer corrupted himself into “a terror” (Ezekiel 28:19).  Elohim created humans and angels as beings with free will and intelligence and able to make decisions or choices not controlled by Himself.  He did not desire to create automatons, which Webster’s Dictionary describes as “a being or person whose actions are not controlled by his own will or intelligence.”  There were risks involved in the creation of beings possessing a free will, but Elohim was willing to take those risks; He not only knew what could happen but what would happen and was prepared to meet the crisis when it would occur.  He did not ordain that it should happen!

He wanted His created beings, including the angels, to possess this freedom.      Love cannot be commanded, demanded, or controlled or even programmed into one’s nature.  It is something that is given to another by one’s own choice.  Elohim, being full of love, did not want to force His will on any being, and He still does not.   He desires only our worship and allegiance, and He wants them based on an accurate knowledge and understanding of Him and not based on fear or coercion. 

“Thus saith Yahuwah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:  but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahuwah which exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:  for in these things I delight saith Yahuwah” (Jeremiah 9:23-24, emphasis added).

We were originally created in Yahuwah’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).  The fact that Elohim created beings with intelligence and having a free will uncontrolled by Himself did not set aside His authority as the Creator and Sustainer of all life.  Elohim’s authority, based on eternal principles or laws, was challenged by Lucifer, and he was permitted to carry out his own will, rather than be forcefully subjected to the will of Elohim.  He led a third of the angels into rebellion against heaven’s authority (Revelation 12:4). 

He was not destroyed immediately; rather, in Elohim’s infinite wisdom, Lucifer was given time to fully develop his principles that were opposed to Elohim’s principles so the remaining loyal angels and the inhabitants of other worlds (Job 1:6, 2:1) could watch and decide for themselves whether or not Elohim’s government was faulty, as Lucifer had claimed it to be. 

We too have decisions to make concerning Elohim and His authority:  whether to willingly submit to Him and allow His will to be done in our lives, or to have it our way.  Satan has gained quite a following on earth.  Remember the song, Sympathy for the Devil, by the Rolling Stones?  Many openly and knowingly worship Satan (Lucifer), and many do so in ignorance. 

This battle began in heaven between Yahushua, the Son of Elohim, and Satan, the glorious angel, now fallen: it now involves you and me and everyone else on earth and has been growing in intensity for the last six thousand years.  It is not only a battle that involves us, but it is over us.  Yahuwah, using only love and truth, is drawing us to Himself.  Satan, using deception and lies, tries to keep us from coming to Elohim. 

But who is Yahushua (Jesus)?  Yahushua asked that question.  “He [Yahushua] asked His disciples, saying, ‘Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?  And they said ‘some say that You are John the Baptist; some say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’” (Matthew 16:13-14).  People still believe Yahushua to be many things incorrectly, but Yahushua put the question directly to His followers.  “‘But what about you?’  He asked, ‘who do you say I am?’  Simon Peter answered ‘You are Messiah, the Son of the living Elohim’” (Matthew 16:15-16, emphasis added).   

He is the only begotten Son of Elohim (John 3:16).   He was “begotten” or conceived by the Father (Elohim) (John 16:27, 30, 17:8).  The Apostle Paul told us this of Yahushua.  “For by Him [Yahushua] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth . . . all things were created by Him, and for Him:  and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.  And He [Yahushua] is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:16-18). 

No man has been made the head of the church.  Yahushua is the head of His church.  Yahushua put it this way:  “For one is your Master, even Messiah; and all ye are brethren” (Matthew 23:8).  Anyone claiming to be the head of the church is usurping Messiah’s position of authority and placing himself in the position that only Yahushua has the right to.  Those called to the ministry are to minister; never to control.  So Yahushua is the “only begotten Son of Elohim.”  How this came about and when, we are not told.  Yahushua existed prior to the creation of the Universe; Yahushua had a hand in the creation of everything we see.  How do we know this to be true?  The Bible tells us so in Colossians 1:13-16. 

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith we understand that the Universe was formed at Elohim’s command, so that what is seen was made out of what was invisible” (Hebrews 1:1-3, emphasis added).  There is no surety and certainty in this world.  Our faith is to be anchored in the truths found in the Holy Bible.

This faith is not some kind of blind belief; it comes from a personal knowledge and experience with Elohim.  No one has faith in a complete stranger, but as we come to know someone personally, and they prove themselves worthy, we have faith or trust in them.  So it is with Elohim.  Can I prove Elohim exists?  No!  I do not need to.  Can I prove to you that I love my wife?  No!  This is something that is known within the spirit of man. 

We can look around and see the works of the Master Designer.  Some would have us believe that all we see just happened by chance and has evolved to where it is today.

Can I love Yahuwah without having seen Him?  Yes!  A verse that became very real to my wife and me when we were first getting to know one another is 1 Peter 1:8.  “Whom having not seen, you love; in Whom, though you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”  My wife and I met on a web site called Christian Mingle.  I had been searching the site for a wife and had looked at approximately 15,000 profiles of ladies over a five month period.  I had corresponded with quite a few by the time I came across my wife-to-be’s profile.  She was the only one I ever sent a smiley face with the caption “I loved your profile.  What do you think of mine?”  We e-mailed for thirteen days before I finally got up enough nerve to call her.  We loved each other by then and knew each other very well and on a different level than maybe if we had communicated face-to-face.  She insisted on knowing everything about me and I her. 

Seventy-two days after my first e-mail to her, we were married.  When you are serious about something and honest with one another, it doesn’t take long, and so it can be with Elohim.  When you begin to really discover Elohim’s love for you, things can go very fast.  You may have to take a crash-coarse to develop a relationship with Elohim in order to be prepared for what is coming upon this earth. 

The Bible reveals many things that are not understood by man without the enlightenment of the Spirit of Elohim.  “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Elohim:  for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). 

“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth:  for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak:  and He will show you things to come” (John16:13). 

Men do not understand who Messiah is any more today than when Yahushua walked on this earth.  This is what the Bible says about Him when He came to the nation He had chosen to be His special people, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.  He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:10-11).  But a true follower of Yahushua knows, and anyone who desires to know the truth will be shown.  Remember the Devil is leading “the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9).  He does not want you to know Who Messiah is and what Yahushua has done for you and can do for you, and the plans that Yahuwah and Yahushua have for you.  “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Yahuwah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11).  “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O Elohim!  How great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17)

Yahuwah gave us the Bible so we “might know Thee the only true Elohim, and Yahushua Messiah Whom Thou has sent” (John 17:3).  For centuries, Satan has leagued together with men and has sought to destroy the true children of Elohim along with the Bible.  People were put to death, in some cases, for possessing just a single page of the Bible.  At times, there were few copies of the Bible in existence; during these Dark Ages the Bible was being kept from man at all cost.  Estimates are that between fifty and two hundred million people were put to death in Satan’s attempt to keep men from knowing what is contained in the Bible.  You owe it to yourself to discover what is contained in the Bible that would cause such destruction of human life.  And this was done by people who “professed” Christianity and not by some terrorist group!  Selah!  Pause and think about that for a moment.

Today, because the Bible is sold everywhere, Satan cannot destroy it, but he has resorted to another method equally effective.  One of the greatest deceptions that Satan is practicing on mankind today is getting people to disbelieve what the Bible has to say.  This deception has its roots when Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by convincing them to believe him rather than what Elohim had said (Genesis 3:3-5). 

In 2 Peter 3:3-5, we read, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’  For this they are willingly ignorant of” (emphasis added).

How many people today believe in Creation versus Evolution?  How do I know beyond a doubt that we are nearing “the last days?”  The “scoffers” mentioned above are not pagans or infidels or heathens or atheists:  they are professed “Christians” who know about creation, the second coming of Yahushua, and they understand the state of the dead correctly, but they have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:  from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5). 

Just because someone professes to know about Messiah and may intellectually ascribe to some tenants of Christianity does not mean they have a relationship with Him, for they live as though Yahushua will never return.  Just knowing the truth does not assure you a place in Elohim’s kingdom; we must apply it to our lives and be “born again.”  There is a big difference in knowing someone and knowing about someone.

We are commanded in 2 Corinthians 13:5:  “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.”  Many take it for granted that they are “Christians” without closely examining themselves to see whether they are in fact one.  We are told that the Devil is leading “the whole world astray” including a majority in the Christian community.  It is written that “if it were possible, even the elect” would be seduced (Mark 13:22).

The war begun in heaven continues in earnest in this tiny speck of a world in the Universe of our Creator.  Soon, this war will come to its conclusion and there is no neutral ground.  Yahushua said, “He that is not with Me is against Me” (Luke 11:23). 

Belonging to a certain church or religion is not going to guarantee your salvation.  “And this is the record, that Elohim hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He that hath the Son hath life and He that hath not the Son hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12).  Without having the Son you have a mere temporary existence.

You can be “without Messiah . . . having no hope, and without Elohim” (Ephesians 2:12) even while belonging to a church.

When General Douglas MacArthur told the Philippine people during WWII, “I will come again,” it inspired hope in those people during some very discouraging times.  Yahushua said, “I will come again” (John 14:1-3).  He will come again to put an end to suffering, sorrow, sin, and even death.  He will come in all His glory, majesty, and kingly authority to put an end to Satan’s rebellion and his tyrannical rule that has continued for over six thousand years (6022 years [AD 2016]) on earth.  Yahushua told the Jews who were trying Him before His death, “Nevertheless I [Yahushua] say unto you, hereafter shall you see the Son of man [Yahushua] sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).

But before He returns to the earth, we who live here will pass through “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” (Daniel 12:1).  It will be so bad that “men’s hearts will fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke21:26).  That “time of trouble” is described in the prophetic books (books describing the future) of Daniel and Revelation. 

Revelation begins with these words:  “The Revelation of Yahushua Messiah, which Elohim gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass” (Revelation 1:1, emphasis added). 

Here are a number of verses from the book of Daniel for you to consider.  “But there is an Elohim in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28, emphasis added).  “Behold, I will make you know what will be in the latter time of the indignation, for it has to do with the time of the end” (Daniel 8:19, emphasis added).  “And he [the angel] said, Go your way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9, emphasis added).  I and others, who have been studying the prophecies, are comprehending what is contained in the books of Daniel and Revelation; this is an indication that we are living in the last days before the return of Yahushua. 

What it has taken some of us years (twenty-three years for me) to understand, others will have to learn quickly.  Elohim works on a need-to-know basis, and we need to know what is about to take place before it occurs so the people of this world can be warned and guided through the “time of trouble” unlike anything that has ever happened in the history of our world. 

“Surely Yahuwah Elohim will do nothing, but He reveals His secrets unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  Elohim has revealed what will happen in our days through the prophets, Daniel and John, who wrote Revelation.  It is our privilege and duty to study those books and relate to others what is about to happen. 

Time will either prove me deceived or correct in all that I have written.  I would be sawing off the limb I was sitting on if I were not confident that Daniel and Revelation can be understood through the guidance of the Spirit of Elohim that is given to those who will search out the truths contained in the Bible, and who will declare to the world what is about to happen. 

Yahushua told Thomas, who had doubted that He had risen from the dead, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).  And a blessing is pronounced on those who will read the book of Revelation:  “Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:  for the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3, emphasis added).  One is richly blessed when one understands what is in that book before it occurs.

Yahushua told His disciples, and so I tell you who read this book, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe” (John 14:29).  Even if you do not believe what you read in this book right now before it happens, when the events described in the books of Daniel and Revelation begin to occur, you will believe then and will have to act on what you have come to understand.  “But there is an Elohim in heaven” (Daniel 2:28) who can and has revealed the future before us without error.

The books of Daniel and Revelation reveal the events leading up to the conclusion of the great controversy between Yahushua and Satan and beyond.  Understanding what will be happening before it begins will give us stability and a confidence in Elohim as we go through those horrible times, unlike anything anyone has experienced.  

This book will be in somewhat chronological sequence, so the chapters will not be given in the order as they are in the Bible.  Some of the chapters must be understood in their proper sequence so information relevant to what follows them can be better understood.  Each chapter is a piece to the puzzle and cannot be fully understood until put together with the rest of the pieces.  When that happens, we will have the full picture of what will happen on earth and in heaven in order to bring peace and harmony once again to the entire Universe and vindicate Elohim in the minds of all. Each piece has something to contribute to the full picture.

I recently saw a documentary on American prisoners of war who had been freed from captivity in the Philippines during World War II, and the reception they received when they returned to the United States.  That was just a foretaste of the jubilation that will occur after Yahushua rescues His people from Satan’s domination, and we make our way to heaven.  Earth has been taken over by the cruelest of tyrants who remains hidden in the shadows while he carries on his sadistic work.  In the near future, Satan will be coming in person along with his fallen angels to carry on his final work against Elohim and His Son and Their followers.  All Scriptural references used in this book are taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.