2008-9-30 00:05:00
My Friends,
A few days ago Larry asked me for some references for the great whirlwind to come. I gave a few, but I must admit that I was not the one who originated the interpretation of the Whirlwind, even though it is talked about numerous times in the Bible.
I first read about it in a booklet self published by a writer from the 50's named E. T. Tennyson. He was a guy who owned a furniture store who wrote his interpretations of the Bible on the side and had a small number of readers nationwide.
I started reading him in the 60's, and he was the one who inspired me to start researching the Greek and Hebrew meanings behind the scriptures.
This publication "Deliverance In The Whirlwind" caused me significant concern after I read it and at one time I even started writing a fiction book, called "The Shift" to increase public awareness. However, I had a financial crisis which interrupted the writing, and I never finished the book. Then, as I said, I received confirmation that the great destructions I was concerned about would not happen in the near future. That was back around 1982 and have not received an update though I would expect to receive one if a great cataclysm were on the horizon. I internally sense that human caused problems are our main worry for the near future.
It looks like Tennyson's copyright has expired so his works should be in the public domain. Therefore I will post his treatise on the whirlwind for your consideration. I don't agree with everything he says, but he has significant light and is always thought provoking.
This should be the first time this will be presented on the Internet. I will publish it in several segments.
by E. T. Tennyson
(Published circa 1959)
"For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance." (Joel 2:32, KJV).
Perhaps there are few thinking people today who cannot see in the present trend of events the world plunging headlong into some cataclysmic climax, and one does not need to be a prophet of doom to entertain such a thought! The greatest minds of our day are deeply concerned, and many are expressing fear that such a cataclysm could well desolate this earth! We are living in an atomic age, where men are experimenting with unknown forces of devastation, and there exists an understandable state of anxiety that such forces of destruction might well turn this earth into a seething inferno!
The noted evangelist Billy Graham, in a national television appearance, pointed out that leading scientists, theologians, educators, and statesmen agree that we could well be headed for some kind of a catastrophic climax that could bring to a complete end our way of life. Whatever we choose to call it, thinking people today are living in expectation of some kind of an END, and a pall of fear and doubt overspreads the world like ominous clouds before the storm! The very survival of mankind appears to be at stake, and as the fear of responsible leaders of nations intensifies, the never-ending race for greater instruments of destruction increases, and men's hearts are literally failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth!
The prophets of God also agree with these thoughts of an END, but only up to a point! For while they too show that the world is headed for an almost indescribable disaster -- "such as never was since there was a nation" (Daniel 12:1) -- they never predict the end of the earth, neither the complete end of mankind upon the earth! But a new appraisal of this whole subject reveals some startling new facts, and while it is not the purpose here to indulge in the sensational, neither to cause undue fright, it is hoped that no reader will finish this Book without very grave concern -- at least to the extent of prompting immediate action!
For while the prophets warn of a coming END of things as they are known today, they definitely show that there is a way of DELIVERANCE for mankind, but it now appears that it is a way that may require individual ACTION! For only now are we discovering that it may be a way as LITERAL and definite as was the actual preparing of the ark of those who were DELIVERED from the Flood in the END of Noah's day! While this has not been known up to now, perhaps the time has come to give this warning, and if this is true, it certainly should be given wide publicity, and we fervently hope that this WARNING from the prophets has not been discovered TOO LATE for TOO MANY!
The prophets have a great deal to say about this coming END, and while we have become accustomed to calling it the BATTLE of Armageddon, the prophets show that it is more than a battle. For while it is indicated that the nations will be gathered together "against Jerusalem to battle" (Zechariah 14:2) at its inception, it is this very thing called Armageddon that will "rebuke the nations" and bring to an end this and every other battle between men! For the prophets inform us that Armageddon is the mighty forces of the elements unleashed in a devastating WHIRLWIND such as men have never seen, and this tremendous upheaval of nature which will rebuke the nations might well be called the STORM of Armageddon:
"But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain [Kingdom-Government] of the house of the Lord shall be established . . . And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Micah 4:1,3)
For nearly six thousand years men of good will have tried desperately to bring about just such conditions as the prophet describes above, but even with all of the combined efforts of such world organizations as The Hague Court, The League of Nations, and The United Nations, they have failed miserably to do so! "Then how will the Lord do it?" we might ask. Nations don't change easily, and if there is impending the judgment of an Armageddon Storm of such catastrophic proportions that its rebuke will cause the nations to forever renounce war, surely one is not a prophet of doom because he tries to learn as much as humanly possible about it, and we can do this only by going to the words of the prophets:
"A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great WHIRLWIND shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." (Jeremiah 25:31-33)
A terrible price to pay, but perhaps no one knows better than the delegates to the World Peace Organizations that it will require just such a price to bring peace on earth and good will to men! But while this Armageddon upheaval of nature will rebuke the nations and bring universal peace to the world, it will do more than that, the prophets assure us! And that it is a LITERAL WHIRLWIND, the prophets leave no doubt; for it will start in motion tremendous "waterspouts" (Pslams 42:7) that will siphon up and put in orbit the mighty waters of the salt seas, and uncover some 140,000,000 square miles of fertile ocean bottoms which will house, clothe and feed the untold millions who soon afterward will be brought back to this earth from the dead (see our book "Heaven And Hell").
An astonishing statement, and it may be difficult for many to believe, but the prophets of God leave absolutely no doubt of it. For the Flood of Noah's day was not ordinary rain, but it was the falling from orbit of a great watery canopy from around the earth, destroying the world that then was, and leaving about 71% of our good earth covered with water (see my book "The Diet Of Oxygen")! The Armageddon WHIRLWIND will reverse the Flood and re-orbit the mighty waters of the sea (Revelation 21:1), the prophets tell us, and "as the days of Noe (Noah) were (when the waters fell from orbit from around the earth), so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (when the same waters of the Flood will re-orbit around the earth)." (Matthew 24:37)
Not only is the coming Armageddon Storm a reversal of the Storm of Noah's day, but one is a picture of the other, and as the one left "the slain of the Lord upon the earth," so will the other, the prophets warn! And as only Believers who were WARNED in advance and who KNEW of the coming Storm were delivered in Noah's day, so shall it be in the Armageddon Storm! But the one fact that has been overlooked up to now, we believe, is that only those Believers who prepared in advance a LITERAL shelter (the ark) from the Storm were delivered in Noah's day, and if the prophets warn that it is to be the same in the coming Armageddon Storm of the last days, certainly we want to both RECEIVE and GIVE OUT this warning!
We have received many requests for advice upon this very point, and many express grave concern and want to know exactly what to do. Some have asked if they should leave the congested cities and settle in urban areas. Others want to know if they should move back from the seashores and seek refuge high up in the mountains, while others have wondered if the deep valleys might afford better protection from the oncoming WHIRLWIND of Armageddon! While no man is qualified to give definite answers to such questions, we can point out the words of the prophets, and it seems to us that they give us the advice we are seeking:
"Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you, seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment: seek righteousness, seek meekness: it MAY BE ye shall be HID [conditionally -- up to you to HIDE YOURSELF] in the day of the Lord's anger." (Zephaniah 2:2-3)
Thousands, perhaps millions, have taken comfort from these words, and because they have honestly tried to seek righteousness and meekness they feel safe and secure! But is this the thought of the prophet? In the first place it is a prophecy of the Armageddon WHIRLWIND -- the day of the Lord's fierce anger -- and even after seeking righteousness and meekness, there is still a condition attached! "It MAY BE ye shall be hid" has the same thought as "It may be ye shall HIDE YOURSELF in that day," and seeking righteousness and meekness beforehand could be the condition that leads one to "HIDE HIMSELF" in that day!" This was certainly the condition of DELIVERANCE in the Storm of Noah's day, and now we find that many of the prophets warn to "HIDE THYSELF" in the coming Armageddon Storm of the last days:
"Trust in the Lord forever: for in the Lord YaHWeH is everlasting strength: for he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it down, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust . . . Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers [shelters?], and shut thy doors about thee: HIDE THYSELF, as it were for a little moment, until the indignation [of the WHIRLWIND] be overpast." (Isaiah 26:4, 5, 20)
If we object to taking literally these warnings of the prophets on the coming Armageddon Storm, we have only to look at the picture -- the Storm of Noah's day! For those of Noah's day who did not take the words of the prophets literally, and who did not prepare literal shelters suitable for the Storm of that day (boats, arks, etc.), did not survive the Storm, but they were "the slain of the Lord!" And, as the Storm of the days of Noah was, so shall it be in the coming Storm of the last days (Luke 17:26), the prophets warn! And that this coming Armageddon Storm of the latter days is a literal WHIRLWIND -- as literal as was the Storm of Noah's days -- surely no one who accepts the words of the prophets could doubt:
"Behold, the WHIRLWIND of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a CUTTING [see margin] WHIRLWIND: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the LATTER DAYS ye shall consider [see] it." (Jeremiah 30:23-24)
The primary purpose of the mighty WHIRLWIND, it seems, is to remove the salt waters of the sea -- which will uncover the fertile ocean bottoms, air-condition the whole world, and make the earth a fit place for men to live forever -- and only a LITERAL WHIRLWIND, with LITERAL waterspouts could accomplish such a tremendous feat. But at the same time of this "rushing of many waters," the unleashed elements of the mighty WHIRLWIND will be used to rebuke the nations, the prophets tell us, and bring universal peace to the world:
"The nations shall rush like [with] the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased [blown] as the chaff of the mountain before the WIND, and like the rolling thing [a thistle down -- see margin] before the WHIRLWIND." (Isaiah 17:13)
It was because those of Noah's day refused to take the warning of the coming Storm LITERALLY that they continued as usual, practicing their religion, "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark." They "knew not" that it was a LITERAL Storm, and of course by doing nothing about it, "the Storm came and took them all away" (Matthew 24:38-39). Perhaps many told Noah that righteousness, meekness, religion and faith were sufficient to save, and no doubt Noah agreed that this was true under ordinary circumstances. But Noah was warned that a LITERAL Storm was coming, one with a Flood of water that would sweep this earth, and he was practical and "human" enough to know that no amount of righteousness, meekness, religion or faith could save him from such a Storm unless he prepared a LITERAL boat; so "by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark (boat-shelter) to the saving of his house." (Hebrews 11:7)
By the same token, no doubt many who read these lines will scoff at the warning of a coming LITERAL Storm, and they will continue as usual, believing that righteousness, meekness, religion or faith will save them in the coming Armageddon Storm! But if the prophets warn that another devastating Storm will sweep clean the surface of this earth in a LITERAL WHIRLWIND such as men have never seen, can we take the risk of trusting in righteousness, meekness, religion or faith alone, when it MAY BE that the proper precaution in advance might save our house (family) in that day? Moreover, with the benefit of Noah's experiences, and the warning that it will be the same in this day, can we afford to be more naive and less practical and human than was Noah?
Of course, while the DAYS of Noah are like the DAYS of Armageddon, the LITERAL Storms differ in that one is actually the reverse of the other! For the Storm of Noah's day was obviously a WHIRLWIND with "down-blasts" which "de-orbited" the great watery canopy and forced it down to earth as the mighty Flood, while the coming Storm of Armageddon will obviously be a WHIRLWIND with "up-blasts" or "waterspouts" which will siphon up the same waters of the Flood and re-orbit them around this globe!
And since the Storm of Noah's day was a WHIRLWIND with waterspouts blowing DOWN, causing the mighty Flood, of course only boats or arks provided protection in that Storm. But we must be practical enough to know that no boat or ark could protect us in the coming Storm. For the Armageddon WHIRLWIND, with waterspouts whirling UPWARD, will sweep dry the seas and empty the surface of the land, the prophets warn, and it is obvious that neither boats, arks, nor buildings, no matter how strong, could protect from that Storm. The only shelters of protection would be below the surface of the earth -- underground-shelters -- and although it sounds strange now, the greatest prophet of them all, through his Revelation to John, appears to tell us that this is true:
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great WHIRLWIND [mistranslated "earthquake"], and . . . the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains [underground shelters?]; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us [cover us], and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
It now seems certain that the "dens and the rocks of the mountains" are the natural and man-made underground shelters where men will hide themselves during the coming Armageddon WHIRLWIND. Perhaps the "dens" refer to the many natural underground caves and caverns which could be stocked with food and water, and perhaps the "rocks of the mountains" refer to great concrete public shelters, private concrete basements and underground cellars, as well as concrete railroad tunnels, subways and underground highways, as all of these are made of rock or cement and sand which come from "the rocks of the mountains!" For note that Weymouth's Version renders it "caves (natural underground-shelters) and rocks of the mountains" (manmade rock-concrete underground-shelters)!
While the English translators leave the thought that all of these people who call for the mountains (concrete covering) to fall on them are seeking death, this simply does not make sense! Sane people do not seek death in this manner, and it is obvious that they rush to the shelters for covering, not to commit suicide. Their very concern is, "who is able to stand," and it is self evident that these kings of the earth, great men, rich men, bondmen and free men are all Believers who have been WARNED and who have prepared in advance! They are people who KNOW that the LITERAL WHIRLWIND is about to break in all of its fury; "for the great day of his wrath is come," they say, and it is obvious that they have been practical enough to locate either a natural underground-shelter or a man-made one, and that they have prepared it in advance for the protection of themselves and their loved ones.
As a matter of fact, more and more underground subways and underground roadways are being constructed in all congested areas, and the trend of thought today is to go underground even with whole cities! Many nations today are already building underground shelters, and almost every nation in the world is advising all citizens to reinforce their concrete basements or build concrete cellars and stock them with food and water ! In fact, the great radio and television chains have standard public-service announcements urging all citizens to provide private underground shelters under their homes and stock them with staple food and water, and these announcements can be heard throughout the day!
Of course the latter is due to the atomic bomb scare, but such underground shelters would be the only places of safety when the coming Armageddon WHIRLWIND "shakes terribly the earth" as it takes away the mighty waters of the sea! This might well be the reason for all of this underground movement today -- although completely unknown to those who are building underground -- and this could be the answer we are seeking! For the prophet Isaiah, in his famous "last days" Chapter (Chapter 2), may well be secretly giving us the "keys" to our underground shelters in his long-hidden prophecy of the MOLES and the BATS:
"And they shall go into the holes of the rocks [man-made concrete basements, cellars, tunnels, subways, roadways, bomb shelters?], and into the caves of the earth [natural caves and cavern-shelters?], for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship [money -- but which Believers refuse to worship], to the MOLES [to prepare man-made basements, cellars, tunnels, subways, roadways and bomb shelters UNDERGROUND where MOLES burrow?] and to the BATS [to prepare the natural caves and cavern-shelters where BATS inhabit?]; to go into the cliffs of the rocks [the man-made concrete-shelter openings?], and into the top of the ragged rocks [the natural cave and cavern-shelters?], for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." (Isaiah 2:19-21)
When the time comes for the words of the prophets to deliver a warning, it is quite amazing how the "keys" turn up to unlock them! If these MOLES and BATS are the "keys" to this warning, then fortunate indeed are those who can prepare strong basement shelters, or who live near man-made tunnels, subways, roadways or any kind of underground shelters -- where MOLES burrow -- or who live near natural caves or cavern-shelters where BATS inhabit! For there is no need for such fortunate people to move anywhere, the prophet would seem to advise, but rather they need only to investigate the nearest underground shelter and be ready to go into it with food and water when the warning is given that the mighty WHIRLWIND of the Lord is about to "shake terribly the earth!"
-- End Of Part One --
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Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part Two
Copyright © 2008 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved