Ezekiel (est 595 - 571 B.C.)

Ezekiel, the son of Buzi,in the place of the Chaldeans.  Ezekiel was a priest who saw a 'whirlwind of fire' and from it came all manner of things, things with wheels and things with wheels, he is told by God to go to the children of Israel, and he is given a book containing sadness and grief and woe, and yet he has to eat the roll in order for him to deliver its words, told to tell them whether they listen or not.

He travels first to Telabib to the captives there where he declares that wickedness creates iniquity, once done the iniquity cannot be changed but the soul can be saved (Eze 3:18 & 19)

He walked and talked with God and Ezekiel himself is used to represent the Jewish nation, told about a siege on Jerusalem and how the people were divided into three, one part destroyed, one part killed by a plague and the last part scattered.

"Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none" (Eze 7:25)

Then he met with the elders of Judah, and he had another vision, in a vision he foresees the destruction of the wicked people in Jerusalem, that captives will be taken to Babylonia, and he sees the throne of God and his four angels, as Ezekiel begs for lives of the people, God promises him that the people to scattered will return and live in Israel once again.  He is told to condemn the false prophets who speak falsehoods, they know that they make it up yet they believe in what they say.

In Ezekiel 18, it talks about people charging high interest rates are evil, we are instructed to "start thinking pure thoughts" and to "stop sinning and live".  Ezekiel is told to pass on messages in cryptic parables, he even admits that "I confuse them with my messages"

Not only will Babylonains come to attack but also armies from Assyria, Chaldean tribes of Pekod, Shoa and Koa, Ezekiel's wife dies and God tells him not to mourn as a sign for what punishment that is coming for the rest of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is also told to give other messages; to condemn the people of Ammon, Moab, Edom the Philistines, Egyptians and Ethiopians, and the cities of Tyre Sidon Thebes, and to condemn the King of Tyre and the King of Egypt.  Daniel is mentioned as a source of knowledge (Eze 28:3) as well as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.  Ezekiel is told that if he refuses to pass on God's message then he becomes responsible for their fate (Eze 33:8) God promises Ezekiel that he will rebuild the nation of Israel.

On another occasion God takes Ezekiel to the valley of bones where he raises bones up out of the ground to have muscles and skin to make an army and he tells Ezekiel to breath life into them.

Then Ezekiel is told to condemn Gog the ruler of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog, as they with their allies from southern Spain will attack Israel, yet the army will be put to death (this a prelude to the revelations prophecy?), the army will be buried east of the Dead Sea.

Next Ezekiel is given the measurements to re-build the temple, and how to divide up the land between all the tribes and that the trive of Levi shall be the priests.

Old Document Review 'The confession of Prous Boneta'

Na Prous Boneta (d.1328) made her confession before an Inquisition in 1325, she was associated with a break away group which had become convinced that they were living in the end times.

Boneta believed that all seven seals had been opened during her own lifetime, and applied the characters in the Book of Revelations to people of her time.  She identified the two witnesses as being Francis of Assisi and Olivi, and that the current pope, Pope John XXII was actually the Antichrist!  Whats more unbelievable is that she goes on to identify herself as the woman that appears in Revelations 12, and that she seen herself as the only one worthy of opening the seals.  

It is easy to see why she had been brought before the Inquisition for her beliefs, yet, it is interesting to see that even back in the 14th Century there was those who believed that they lived in the end times, a belief which re-occurs over and over even to the present day, and it also shows how wrongly people can interpret prophecies.

Old Document Review 'Question and Answer Manual on the Apocalpse'

This ancient document is said to have been written by Alcuin of York (d.804) in the ninth century and it is a list of questions about the Apocalypse (Revelations) along with a set of answers.  Alcuin was associated with Charlemagne's school called the Carolingian court, he worked there as a scholar at the invitation of Charlemagne himself.

Alcuin sees the seven seals in the Book of Revelations (Apocalypse) as being opened after Jesus had lived his life, died and rose again and returned to heaven.  The first seal is seen as the start of the early church, the following three seals are seeing as wars against the church.  The fifth seal is seen as the triumph of the church over its enemies, the sixth is seen as the time of the Antichrist and the seventh as the start of eternal life.

It is an interesting document yet it is quite short, it lacks the explanation of how each seal points to these events but simply points at the direction of their meaning.  In a sense the wars against the church could be seen as the persecution by the Romans before the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, and the second could be when the crusades happened, but this would be simple speculation based upon brief words, which can be linked to other documents rather than being the origin of the ideals.  However the idea that the Book of Revelations is fully prophetic of the future, rather than being an explanation of Jesus' life, lives on to this day and many people still view the Book of Revelations as a prophecy for the future and not the past.

Old Document Review 'Brief explanations of the Apocalypse'

This ancient document was written by Cassiodorus (d.580) who was a senator, then theologian before he founded a monastery in Italy where he resided with scholar-monks till his death. Only one copy of this document remains in existence and is in Verona.

Cassiodorus sees John's vision in the Apocalypse (Revelations) as specifically "concerning the end of the world" and that furthermore the visions are "joining things in the past with things in the future".

Here the seals are seen differently to other commentators of Revelations which I have mentioned before, Cassiodorus believes that the first two seals and the first two horsemen symbolize Christ. The white horse is purity and the red horse is the blood that was shed. He also sees other symbolic things as describing parts of the church, for example the 144,000 are the "congregation of the saints" also, the 'harp of the elders' signifies the relationships between the members of the church.

Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202 AD)

Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora was born in the village of Celico (Italy), he was son of Mauro and married a girl called Gemma. He was educated at Cosenza and then became a cleric working for the courts before later becoming a notary for an archbishop.

His life changed direction in about 1159 when he left his life behind and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Jerusalem) where it is said that he went through a spiritual conversion, and upon his return home, he became a hermit for many years, wandering and preaching to many people.

His life took another change as he got older, in 1168 he applied himself totally to try and understand the meanings hidden within the Bible, in particular the Book of Revelations and he himself wrote some books, of which copies are rare. He was later made abbot where many people would visit him on their way to the Holy Land including Richard the Lionheart. He was said to be a simple man who was eloquent yet not proud and often wore rags.

In 1184 he was called to Rome to decipher an obscure prophecy found by the pope and afterwards Joachim founded the Abbey of Fiore in Calabria. He has also been put forward as the author of Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus, the book from which the 'Lost book of Nostradamus' was based upon.

To read about Joachim's prophecy in the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

To read about Joachim's interpretations of the Apocalypse CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'Book of the Bee'

The Book of the Bee is a collection of theological and historical texts compiled by Solomon of Akhlat in the thirteenth century(est1222). The book consists of 55 chapters discussing various topics including the creation, heaven and earth, the angels, darkness, paradise, Old Testament patriarchs, New Testament events, lists of kings and patriarchs, and the final day of resurrection.

I have to say upon the reading of this book I am very intrigued as its like it gives partial history that complies with the Bible yet it gives additional information on many topics. For example Chapter XXXII is a history on how all the prophets died, listing some as dying in peace and others who were killed or assassinated. This is strange to me because when I researched the biblical perspective of the 12 minor prophets, very little is actually known about many of them, so, this collection of histories of their demise is very interesting to me and I wonder where the original content comes from. It may be that the author collected various beliefs or maybe he simply published a copy of some earlier document concerning the prophets.

In many places this book attempts or succeeds to fill in the missing facts from the Bible, including for example the details of the wise men who came to visit Jesus after his birth, this document names 12 kings who made the journey to visit him (please note the bible does not provide a quantity of visitors only that there were three gifts).

I have had my own theory about the authorship of Revelations for a while now knowing that there was still some debate on the matter. In Chapter XLVIII it is said when the disciple was on Patmos that he himself had a disciple called John who later became the bishop of Ephesus, and that he was the author of the Book of Revelations and that everything he had written down he had heard from John the disciple.

Furthermore there is a chapter dedicated to the end of times and another dedicated to the Antichrist, yet these are written with the ideal that there will be peace after tribulations, that cities will be rebuilt and everything will continue on except in peace.

Prophecy Collector Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

In1926 old documents written by Isaac Newton around 1704 turned up for auction. These old documents are said to be secret research done by Isaac at the height of his career which he never published in his life due to fear of being arrested for heresy. Newton was a devout Christian who became obsessed with the prophecies contained in the Bible. He believed that 'the authority of prophecies is divine' and named his writings 'the history of things to come' based around simple mathematical calculations. He was also interested in alchemy much the same as Nostradamus and Paracelcus.

In his first maths prediction, he takes the number 1290 from the Book of Daniel and adds it to the year 609A.D. (the year in which the Romans start to give power to the church) and ends up with a figure of 1899. The 1890s was when the Zionist movement took hold, a group of people who want the holy land to be given back to the Jews. This is central to Newtons beliefs, that these are the stepping stones towards the ends times.

In his second prediction, he takes the number 1335 from the Book of Daniel and once again adds it to the date 609A.D. Which ends up with the date of 1944 which is around the end of World War 2, another turning point towards Israel becoming a nation once again.

In the third prediction, he takes the sayings 'a time, two times and half a time' from the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelations and comes up with the figure of 1260 which he adds to the year 800A.D. (the year in which the holy roman empire was formed) and comes up with the year 2060 which he believed would be the end of the world.

The figure of 2060 is also highlighted in 'The prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl'

Old Document Review 'Exposition of the Apocalypse'

This old document was composed by Caesarius of Arles and was written somewhere between the years of 510-537A.D. It was intended as a commentary of understanding the meanings hidden within the Apocalypse (Revelations). In the preface, Caesarius claims that there were originally people within the beginnings of the church that understood fully the greater part of the book and that the knowledge had been lost to time.

Some other theologians apply the book of Revelations to the life of Christ, but in this document applies the book of Revelations to Christ and His church. The white horse is seen as the church that has been made snow-white-clean by the sacrifice of Christ, and how it spead out across the world. He further more highlights the description of the darkened sun, the red moon and the falling stars as representing different sorts of people within the church. For example the falling stars here as seen as people who have fallen away from the church.

The other three horses are seen here as a trilogy, all being ridden by the devil. The black horse is seen as representing sinister people (who are influenced by the devil), and that these sinister people pretend to serve justice but are deceiving. The red horse is seen as evil people and the pale horse as people who persecute others.

Although I do not agree with everything that the author wrote, it is very interesting for me to see his view of things. I have always believed that Revelations has an interpretation and in some places that interpertation will have double meanings, as this is how prophets always write, in cryptic meanings that sometimes mean so much more than the initial interpretations.

Old Document Review 'On the Apocalypse of the Apostle John

This old document was written by the dominican preacher Nicholas of Gorran (d.1295) and was composed between 1263 and 1285 A.D. only four copies of the manuscript have survived through the passage of time.

In this document Nicholas analyses the Apocalypse (Revelations) , the most intriguing part of this read was finding both the similarities and differences between Nicholas and another dominican preacher of the same time and same location by the name of Hugh of Saint Cher.

Nicholas believes that the Seven Seals represent the seven parts of the life of Jesus; conception, nativity, death, descent into hell, resurrection, ascension and the coming judgement. Very similar to Hugh's version yet to two preachers cite different references from the Old Testament.

Furthermore he recognizes that the visions from chapter five of Revelations is a continuation of the vision from the previous chapter. To Nicholas, the seven seals also mirror the seven days of existence, that all time is enveloped into seven days. This is obvious not literal to actual days but symbolic days of a greater calender. This is something that the Mayans also believed, that the world goes in cycles of seven days and six nights, that belief was centre to their infamous calender.

Old Document Review on 'The Expositions on the Apocalypse'

This old document was composed around 1235 A.D. by Hugh of Saint Cher (d.1263) under the title of Aser pinguis. Hugh was a dominican preacher and also a theology professor. In this document, he gives comments about the meanings behind the Apocalypse ( otherwise called Revelations).

His views are somewhat similar to that of Apringus, in that the Seven Seals mentioned in the book refer to prophecies sealed in time that were broken by the coming of Christ, in fact he goes as far as to say the 'the book is Christ'.

Hugh goes on to describe the various references from the Old Testament which are the seals, the incarnation, nativity, passion, resurrection, ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit and lastly the coming judgement. These are all referenced to the seven miracles of Jesus. Note the slight differences to beliefs of Apringus from hundreds of years previous, this may be due to passage of time that ideas may change, but this document gives insight to what was believed within church circles in the 13Th century.

Most profound was a reference which claimed that Mary was not just the mother of Jesus, but in fact she was a prophetess!! This is formulated based upon one of the prophecies that formed one of the seals and quoted from Isaiah.

Old Document Review 'Tract on the Apocalpse'

This ancient document was written by the Bishop Apringus of Beja somewhere between 531-548 A.D. > it did not have wide distribution therefore middle sections of the document did not survive through history unfortunately.

The document itself it a commentary on the Apocalpse, in other words Revelations from the Bible, where the bishop makes attempts to explain the visions of John.

The Bishop believed that the Seven Seals which so many people nowadays attribute to fortelling of the 'end times' were actually symbolizing the life of Jesus. In essence the seven stages of His life which are; incarnation, nativity, passion, death, resurrection, glory and kingdom.

The Bishop further decribes how he believes that only Jesus was worthy to open the seals, the seals represent prophecies about the Messiah which were fulfilled by Jesus' life. In essence, the seals are events destined to happen only upon a certain set of circumstances that could only happen once, at a certain point in time, events in time that are sealed. These are the Seven Seals opened by Jesus.

He further identifies the four animals in Revelations as the gospels, and the seven horns as the stength and power of Jesus and the seven eyes as the seven spirits of God, the seven spirits being the virtues that dwelt in Jesus.

This interesting and compelling read gives a very believeable version of identifiying items in the Book of Revelations that have mystified scholars around the Earth, and it would also dispute many theories about the 'end times' that are based upon the seven seals.