“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” Pt. 1 of 2
8/23/15 CFBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A Earlier in the year I did a mini-series on a prophetic hot topic called “Shemitah.”
1 Most people, church folk included, are clueless to the 3,000 year-old mystery surrounding the word shemitah, but their lives have been critically impacted or altered by its manifestation.
a The mystery of the Shemitah began nearly 3,000 years ago in a Middle Easter desert when an aged man climbs to the top of the mountain.
aa The mountain is shaking and appears to be ablaze with flames of fire, flashes of lighting and rolls of thunder sounding like a blasting trumpet.
bb At the base of the mountain are over a million people (Over 10 Busch Stadiums), watching in trembling fear.
cc The old man reaches the peak, enters into midst of a thick cloud, and within the cloud (Shikenah), he (Moshe/Moses) is given a revelation that forms the commandments, the moral laws, the dietary laws, laws of cleansings, the blue print for the Tabernacle, establishment of the priesthood and sacrifices, the laws of the Sabbath and Feasts. . . the revelation was the Torah (first 5 books of OT).
b We know that every seventh day is a day set apart for holy rest (per the Torah), but every seventh year is also a Sabbath year; Lev. 25.1-4, “1 The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. 3 ~'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, 4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
aa During that Sabbath year there was no working of the land (sowing, reaping, plowing, planting had to stop at the last day of the sixth year:Exodus 23:10-11 (NASB) 10 "You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
bb The land rested, the people rest, and for a year the land belonged to everyone and no one at the same time.
cc The last day of that Sabbath year (Elul 29) at Sunset, a sweeping transformation took place in the financial realm: everyone who owed a debt was released, and every creditor had to release the debt owed. (All credit/debit was erased) - - - It was a day of Israel’s financial nullification and remission: Deuteronomy 15:1-2 (NASB) "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 "This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed.
dd “remission” & “release” in Hebrew is “shemitah”, in v.12b, it’s called the Lord’s shemitah.
c Every seven years it was a nullification of credit/debt ordained by God on a massive nationwide scale and came to be known as the Year of the Shemitah, or simply, the Shemitah. (It’s the name of the year w/ it’s climax coming on the last night of the year.)
aa Because the effect of Shemitah upon Israel’s ancient economy, the rabbis devised ways to get around the cancellation of debt and came to observe the Shemitah only symbolically.
bb Shemitah had consequences specifically in the financial & economic realm (looks like modern day economic/financial collapse)
cc There are several reasons why Shemitah is important: Everything belongs to God, He’s first in all realms, people were forced to release what they were physically attached to, God’s the source of all blessing, act of humility/submission
2 Israel neglected the Shemitah (a sign of covenant between Israel & YHWH) for 490 years, in 586 BC, the city of Jerusalem was razed by the Babylonians, Solomon’s Temple destroyed, the Israelites were put into slavery, the fields/vineyards were abandoned.
a God sends a prophet, Jeremiah, to speak to Israel about what would happen & why: “And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets . . . buy you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, “Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever . . . Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Because you have not heard My words . . . this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” -Jer. 25.4-11 (Abridged)
aa God wouldn’t allow the Shemitah to go ignored: “until the had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” -2 Chron. 36.20-21
bb What was intended to be a blessing (Shemitah) would turn into judgement for Israel’s lack of devotion, worship: If Israel would have kept the Shemitah, God would have kept blessing Israel with all they needed & more.
cc Broken Shemitah equaled a broken nation.
b There have only been two nations birthed in covenant with the Almighty: The nation of Israel on Sinai, and America at Cape Henry, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay to the purposes of God.
aa America was intentionally/specifically founded/formed after the pattern of Ancient Israel.
bb The image of the pilgrims from Europe are a picture of Israelites coming out of Egypt; Our system of laws of our commonwealth; Thanksgiving is after the pattern of the Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles. (We share a national spiritual DNA with ancient Israel.)
cc Ancient Israel fell due to her falling away from God, America is on course to suffer a similar fate due to our not only abandoning God, but even being against God (abortion, removing God from society, banning His Word) and prophetically, the Shemitah is a major factor.
c The Shemitah year has already changed the world without most of the world knowing: The Crash of 2000-2001, Crash of 1916-17 (WWI), Crash of 1973, Crash of 1901-1903, Crash of 1937-1938 (Great Depression); Crash of 2007-2008- - - the greatest, long term, farthest reaching market crashes in modern history have occurred on Shemitah years.
aa The Shemitah can bring blessing or judgement, in my opinion 9/11, which began in September of 2000 & climaxed in September of 2001 that effected our employment, sales, production.
bb The protection was lifted, our wake up call was delivered to come/return back to God. We didn’t do it! (9/11 could have taken place at anytime, but it happened in a Shemitah year.)
cc Wall Street was closed for nearly a week after 9/11, when it re-opened on September 17, 2001, the market plunged 684 points in one session, the greatest crash in American point up to that day . . . and it so happened that the crash happened on the last day of Shemitah year, the Day of Nullification.
B Shemitah began last year and will climax in 21 days, September 13 at Sunset. (I want to give you a prophetic forecast on events that will happen or may happen by the end of September)
1 I’m going to give you some prophetic candy, know that I’m not setting dates, Jesus has given us a stern warning that “no man knows the day or hour” concerning His return.
a What we do know are the dates of the feasts, holy days, Shemitah.
aa Jesus gives an equally stern warning of being oblivious to the religious not knowing the signs of the times. Matthew 16:1-3 (NASB)
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He replied to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3 "And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?
bb We must know what is going on around us with a prophetic interpretation, with prophetic lenses.
b September 13, 2015 marks the beginning of a Super Shemitah (year of Jubilee) with September 23, 2015, Yom Kippur, has for a very long time been seen as a possibly significant day for the prophetic.
2 Sir Isaac Newton, devout Christian & ardent student of end-time prophecy, especially Daniels prophecies about the 70 weeks of the Messiah: Daniel 9:25 (NASB) 25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
a I’m not pointing to exact dates, but Newton’s calculations arrive on September 23, 2015 as a key date worth of studying.
b Interesting fact, if you take 49 prophetic years (or 17,640 days/a prophetic year is 360 days) from the time the Jewish people are restored to Jerusalem (June 7, 1967) you arrive at September 23, 2015.
C There several things that will certainly happen within 15 days of the end of the Shemitah (Sept. 13), the last Shemitah (September 29, 2008) the Dow plummeted 777 points-the largest one day stock market crash of all times in the U.S.)
1 September 14 (Sunset on 13th) is Rosh Hashanah (Feast of trumpets).
2 The Jade Helm military exercises are scheduled to end on 9/15.
a Jade Helm is a U.S. Army operation, involving more than 1,000 members of the U.S. military.
b The states involved in this drill are Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Mississippi, and Florida.
3 On September 15th (The 70th session of the UN General Assembly begins), it’s been reported that France plans to introduce a resolution which would give formal UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian State.
a Until now, the United States has always been the one blocking such a resolution, but President Obama is indicating that things may be much different this time around.
b September 2o-26 The “World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel” kicks off (Sponsored by the World Wide Council of Churches)
c September 21, The UN International Day of Peace. Could be a day when the UN Security Council resolution establishing a Palestinian state?
d September 23-Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
4 On September 23, The Pope will arrive at the White House and address a first-ever address to a joint session of Congress the next day.
a Pope Francis is the 266th Pope, meeting with President Obama on the 266th day of the year.
b Some leading prophetic pastors are wondering if something in supernatural is being birthed on that day, since 266 days is the typical gestation period from conception to birth.
c Back in May 21, 2014, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius issued a cryptic statement while standing beside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, “We have 500 days to avoid climate chaos.” Going 500 days from May 21, 2014 brings you to September 23, 2015.
5 On September 25th, the Pope will travel to New York to give a major speech kicking off the UN conference where a brand new global incentive called “The 2030 Agenda.”
a I will not get into the details, but the main focus is looking like a template for governing the entire planet.
b Not just environmental, but governmental/social.
6 September 28th (Feast of Tabernacles) Blood Moon.
a A Supermoon, clearly visiable from Jerusalem.
b It was this luminary pattern just before & after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.
7 The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), near Geneva, have restored it’s large Hadron Collider two months ago. (It will perform an experiment in September, between 9/13 & 9/23 (Feast of Trumpets & Day of Atonement).
a CERN scientists have said their latest work involves trying to open up a black hole, or “hidden extra dimensions,” which some see as a potential portal to the underworld.”
b In 2009, the director of the project (Sergio Bertolucci) said, “Out of this door might come something or we might send something through it.”
Conclusion:
A A great shaking is come not just to America, but to the world. -Jonathan Cain.
1 Revival can come out of the shaking, renewal, repentance.
a We are ripe for shaking as a nation. . .
aa Embraced evil, proud, arrogant, greedy, cold-hearted.
bb We are on track for judgement or as Rev. Graham has said, “God will have to apologize to Sodom & Gomorrah.)
b I’m not trying to scare, startle, or make you fear.
2 There is something going on, leading up to a shaking in the world.
a Prophecy should not bring fear to Christians. (He has not given us a spirit of fear.)
b These events, cycles, blood moons, pacing that are converging may not mean a thing.
aa Don’t head to the bunker, woods, . . .
bb Run to the cross and get right with God, repent of sin.
c We don’t know dates and hours, but we do know He is coming soon. . . let’s be ready, alert, watching.
B Invitation to repent.
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
