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# The Book of Joel and The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church - Number Twenty-Four

Number Twenty-Four

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

January 6, 2026

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Key Takeaways

- Joel 1 as a Direct Address to End-Time “Old Men”
- Fourfold Pattern: Generations + Devourers
- Ezekiel’s Ancient Men as the Same Class
- 25 ↔ 250 as Leadership Apostasy Scale
- Judgment Order: Temple First
- Harvest Mechanics: Wheat vs Tares
- Know the Lord Timing

We ended our last article touching on the three parallel lines of prophetic testimony represented by chapters eleven through twenty-two in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, Matthew the first book of the New Testament and Revelation the last book of both the New Testament and the Bible. The line of Genesis identifies the covenant with Abram, the line of Matthew identifies the covenant with the Christian church, with Peter as the symbol of the beginning and end of modern spiritual Israel. The middle verses of both lines identify the seal of God, with Abram, it was “circumcision,” and with Peter it was his name changing. The center verse of the line in Revelation is chapter seventeen, verse twelve.

> And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. Revelation 17:12.

Genesis and Matthew identify the marriage of Divinity with humanity, and Revelation identifies the marriage of the beast and the dragon at the Sunday law. All three lines point to the Sunday law where one class manifests the mark of the beast and the other the seal of God. The counterfeit of the beast and dragon in verse twelve is the omega mention of Nimrod’s tower in Genesis eleven. There the counterfeit covenant religion met its judgment, and in Revelation seventeen the whore–who is Babylon the great–is judged. Nimrod is the alpha to the Vatican’s omega, and for this reason the papacy is Babylon the great, the omega to Nimrod’s Babel the alpha.

Of note in these three middle verses is that the testimony contained in each middle point of the line is actually three verses.

> This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. Genesis 17:10–12.

> And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:17–19.

> And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Revelation 17:11–13.

The story of the counterfeit covenant represented by Nimrod’s bricks and mortar, and his counterfeit system of church and state, represented by the tower and the city, typifies the counterfeit system of the image of the beast represented in the omega of Nimrod’s story. Three lines, with three center points of three verses, which all testify to the covenant of life and the covenant of death. The one hundred and forty-four thousand are the true eighth who are of the seven, and the papacy is simply the counterfeit. Nimrod’s class has unity of mind at their marriage, a counterfeit to the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who are unified with the mind of Christ. The counterfeit beast “was, and is not,” is a counterfeit of Christ who was, and is, and is yet to come. In verse eight the full expression of the counterfeit represented by the papacy is expressed.

> The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Revelation 17:8.

Jesus is He who was, and is, and is yet to come, and the papacy, the eighth that is of the seven, is the beast that “was, and is not, and yet is.” The “one hour” that the marriage of the dragon and beast represents the history from the Sunday law, where the one hundred thousand represented by Peter and Abram, ascend to the heaven as an ensign, at the very time the papacy ascends.

We have been seeking to address the book of Joel from the perspective that Peter at Pentecost identified his Pentecostal message as a fulfillment of Joel. In the three covenant lines of twelve chapters each, the middle three verses of each line address the identical history, and Peter is represented in that history as being with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, which is Panium, which is where the world is now on the verge of experiencing. At Panium, Peter is also in Jerusalem at the Pentecostal outpouring. The three lines of twelve chapters converge at Panium and Pentecost when the seal of God is impressed upon Christ’s bride and the mark of the beast is impressed upon Satan’s bride. The book of Joel is identifying the wake-up call in the parable of the ten virgins, when the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church awakens to the fact that they are lost.

The book of Joel is set within the context of four generations.

> The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

> Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

> Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Joel 1:1–4.

The “old men” are the leaders of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church during the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, and the sealing is accomplished during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The “old men” are represented by Ezekiel as “the ancient men.”

> Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. Ezekiel 8:12.

Inspiration is clear that the sealing of Ezekiel chapter nine is the same sealing as chapter seven of Revelation. It is also clear that the “ancient men” of chapter eight’s four escalating abominations, are represented by the number 25. Twenty-five “ancient men” who were to be the guardians of God’s flock, are the men bowing to the sun. They are the first to be judged. In context of the sanctuary that they turn away from, they represent two courses of twelve priests and the high priest. At the Sunday law, they bow to the sun and accept the mark of the beast, pledging their agreement with the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The 25 were typified by the 250 in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who represent the threefold union that the 250 men offering incense join. The three ring leaders of apostasy died when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.

> And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.

> And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

> And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. Numbers 16:28–35.

The rebellion of 1888 was typified by the rebellion of Korah, Dahan, Abiram and the 250 men who offered incense. The 250 men had formed an alliance with a threefold confederacy that arrives at the Sunday law when the United States, the earth beast opens its mouth and speaks as a dragon. At that point, the latter rain is poured out without measure, just as the 250 men that offered incense were destroyed by fire coming down from heaven. The 250 men represent a false religious system who are destroyed during the outpouring of the latter rain at the Sunday law. The earth opening up on Korah and his cohorts, is the earthquake of Revelation eleven, that identifies the United States opening its mouth and speaking as a dragon. When the fire came down out of heaven on the 250, it typified the fire of Elijah at Mount Carmel, when those false prophets were slain. Elijah’s fire at Mount Carmel aligns with the Sunday law, so the fire upon the 250 men is the Sunday law fire of the latter rain.

The passage in Numbers dealing with Korah’s rebellion, is prophetically aligned with the rebellion against the message of the Promised Land, as presented by Joshua and Caleb. That rebellion represents the biblical “day of provocation.” The passage of Korah’s rebellion says, “ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.”

It is the wise who understand, and the wise are to understand that the history of Korah’s rebellion, is to be laid upon the rebellion against Joshua’s message of the Promised Land. That rebellion took place at Kadesh, and both Kadesh and Korah’s rebellion are the rebellion of Seventh-day Adventism at the Sunday law. Korah and the 250 men who offered incense, typified the 25 men bowing to the sun in Ezekiel 8. The ancient men in Ezekiel eight represent the fourth of four escalating abominations, that are accomplished in Jerusalem, the symbol of God’s church.

The first abomination is the image of jealousy, the second is hidden chambers, the third is weeping for Tammuz and then the 25 men bow down to the sun. Then chapter nine identifies those who are sighing and crying for the abominations, represented in chapter eight. Those that sigh and cry are sealed by the angel that ascends from the east. An angel is a messenger, and represents a message.

The sealing message from the east, is the message of the east wind, which is the message of Islam. Once the one hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed, the destroying angels begin their work, right where the external line of prophecy teaches that “national apostasy is followed by national ruin.” Before the judgment is accomplished upon those represented by Korah, the rebels are taken outside of Jerusalem. The wicked are removed from Jerusalem, for it is not the righteous that flee Jerusalem.

> Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord’s house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

> Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city: Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

> Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the Lord;

> Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them. Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it. Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord God. And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel: And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.

> And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Ezekiel 11:1–13.

Jerusalem is purified at the Sunday law, when the wheat is separated from the tares. The men represented by the 25, or Korah’s 250 are taken outside, to the “border” of Jerusalem to die. 25 is the number of priests who served for a week, and when symbolized by the tenfold number of 250, it represents the worldwide church, for ten is a symbol of worldwide. The church militant is defined as the church made up of wheat and tares, and the church triumphant represents the church that is only wheat.

> “Has God no living church? He has a church, but it is the church militant, not the church triumphant. We are sorry that there are defective members, that there are tares amid the wheat. Jesus said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way…. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.’

> “In the parable of the wheat and the tares, we see the reason why the tares were not to be plucked up; it was lest the wheat be rooted up with the tares. Human opinion and judgment would make grave mistakes. But rather than have a mistake made, and one single blade of wheat rooted up, the Master says, ‘Let both grow together until the harvest;’ then the angels will gather out the tares, which will be appointed to destruction. Although in our churches, that claim to believe advanced truth, there are those who are faulty and erring, as tares among the wheat, God is long-suffering and patient. He reproves and warns the erring, but He does not destroy those who are long in learning the lesson He would teach them; He does not uproot the tares from the wheat. Tares and wheat are to grow together till the harvest; when the wheat comes to its full growth and development, and because of its character when ripened, it will be fully distinguished from the tares.

> “The church of Christ on earth will be imperfect, but God does not destroy His church because of its imperfection. There have been and will be those who are filled with zeal not according to knowledge, who would purify the church, and uproot the tares from the midst of the wheat. But Christ has given special light as to how to deal with those who are erring, and with those who are unconverted in the church. There is to be no spasmodic, zealous, hasty action taken by church members in cutting off those they may think defective in character. Tares will appear among the wheat; but it would do more harm to weed out the tares, unless in God’s appointed way, than to leave them alone. While the Lord brings into the church those who are truly converted, Satan at the same time brings persons who are not converted into its fellowship. While Christ is sowing the good seed, Satan is sowing the tares. There are two opposing influences continually exerted on the members of the church. One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the corrupting of the people of God.” Testimonies to Ministers, 45, 46.

The wicked are taken outside of Jerusalem to be destroyed. They are removed at the time of the harvest, which is also the time when the wheat has matured, for it is then that the wheat is gathered together as the first fruit wave offering of the two Pentecostal wave loaves. The harvesting of the first fruit of the wheat is a specific subject of biblical prophecy. The separation of the wheat and tares is addressing this very subject, and many of Christ’s parables identify this very significant prophetic waymark.

> “Again, these parables teach that there is to be no probation after the judgment. When the work of the gospel is completed, there immediately follows the separation between the good and the evil, and the destiny of each class is forever fixed.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 123.

The wheat offering is the one hundred and forty-four thousand, and the third angel separates the wheat from the tares.

> “I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his word, awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal or bind the wheat for the heavenly garner.’ These things should engage the whole mind, the whole attention. Again I was shown the necessity of those who believe we are having the last message of mercy, being separate from those who are daily receiving or imbibing new error. I saw that neither young nor old should attend the assemblies of those who are in error and darkness. Said the angel, ‘Let the mind cease to dwell on things of no profit.’” Manuscript Releases, volume 5, 425.

The third angel seals the wheat and also separates the wheat from the tares. The third angel represents the Sunday law, which is where the 25 men, representing the leadership of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church are taken outside of Jerusalem and judged. At that point the church militant is transformed into the church triumphant.

> “The work is soon to close. The members of the church militant who have proved faithful will become the church triumphant. In reviewing our past history, having travelled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what God has wrought, I am filled with astonishment and with confidence in Christ as Leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.” General Conference Bulletin, January 29, 1893.

The prophetic subject of the separation of the tares from the wheat is a major subject of Bible prophecy. Christ cleansing the temple is an illustration of this work, the climax occurs at the Sunday law, for we the see those who were to be judged taken to the border of Jerusalem to die.

> “When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the Temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the Temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel’s message is, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8). And in the loud cry of the third angel’s message a voice is heard from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities’ (Revelation 18:4, 5).” Selected Messages, book 2, 118.

The church of wheat and tares exists until the Sunday law crisis when the tares are removed, not by human strength, but by the third angel—which represents the Sunday law, but also the message of the latter rain then swelling into a loud cry. The tares are an element of the prophetic testimony, as is the wheat. The providence of God reaches the Sunday law and the third angel purifies the temple the second time. He cleansed it on October 22, 1844, and the second temple cleansing is the Sunday law.

The external elements of history that lead to the Sunday law are a major element of the testimony of the church triumphant, as are the tares, the wheat and the binding of the two classes. The closing messages of Revelation are the three angels’ messages, and they separate and bind the two classes, but it is important to see that Sister White identifies that those “closing messages,” “ripen the harvest.” The closing message that ripens the harvest is the latter rain, and it is the fire that binds the 250 men “as fagots for the fires of destruction.”

> “To John were opened scenes of deep and thrilling interest in the experience of the church. He saw the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God. He records the closing messages which are to ripen the harvest of the earth, either as sheaves for the heavenly garner or as fagots for the fires of destruction. Subjects of vast importance were revealed to him, especially for the last church, that those who should turn from error to truth might be instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them. None need be in darkness in regard to what is coming upon the earth.” The Great Controversy, 341.

His cleansing of the temple, is also illustrated by the work of the Dirt Brush man who John the Baptist introduced as the One who followed his ministry. He is the one who sweeps out the rubbish in Miller’s dream.

> “The Lord is about to reveal the difference between the righteous and the wicked; for his ‘fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” Review and Herald, November 8, 1892.

Isaiah is referenced by Sister White, when she identified that in 1849 the Lord had stretched out his hand a second time to gather the remnant of His people, and Isaiah and Sister White are identifying the final gathering of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The process of gathering includes the scattering and gathering represented as the first disappointment, that leads to the gathering at the end of a tarrying time. Each of these elements of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is a specific topic of biblical prophecy. The external history which the Lord employs as His tool to bring sin to its conclusion is represented in Daniel 11:11; and the final gathering is found in Isaiah 11:11; and the end of the tarrying time is found in Revelation 11:11 and the separation of the wheat and tares at the Sunday law is located in Ezekiel 11:11:

> This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel. Ezekiel 11:11.

In Joel, the “new wine” is cut off from the ancient old men who were to be the guardians of the sanctuary. The message of the Midnight Cry is the new wine of Joel, and the fire that comes down at the Sunday law has been typified by the Pentecostal fire. That fire represents a message, which is the new wine, but it is also the message that destroys the 250 men who offered incense. The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church ends at the Sunday law, for it is then that the fire is poured out without measure and it destroys the 250 men who offered incense; it therefore destroys their system of worship.

If the Seventh-day Adventist church were faithful at the Sunday law, the power and might of the United States government will close it down. If it is unfaithful, it will simply change its name to First-day Adventist church or some other close facsimile. Righteous or unrighteous the Seventh-day Adventist church does not go beyond the Sunday law. The prophetic testimony identifies that Adventism has rejected the message of the old paths at 9/11, and those old paths lead to the shut door at the Sunday law. The 25 men were represented in Ezekiel’s passage by “Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.”

Their name’s profess the characteristics of God’s people, but it is simply profession. Jaazaniah means God hears, and he is the son of Azur, which means to help and protect. Sister White says the 25 men were to be the guardians, as represented by “Azur.” His son professes to “hear” God, but he is the class that seeing, they see not, and hearing, they hear not. Pelatiah means delivered of God, and his father “Benaiah,” means God has built. When Ezekiel finished his warning message Pelatiah died.

> This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel: And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Ezekiel 11:11–13.

Pelatiah died at the loud cry of Ezekiel. The wheat died in the street on July 18, 2020 in fulfillment of Revelation eleven. The wheat are Moses and Elijah, the first author of God’s Word, and the promise of Elijah to come, is the last statement in the Old Testament. Alpha and Omega are slain in the street of Sodom and Egypt, but they are resurrected in 2024, as represented in Revelation 11:11. While they were dead, Sodom and Egypt rejoiced. Ezekiel places the death of Pelatiah in the time of the remnant when he says, “Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” Sodom is the Seventh-day Adventist church in the time of the remnant, according to Isaiah.

> Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

> Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

> Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:2–10.

Moses and Elijah are slain in Sodom and Egypt during the period of the remnant. Egypt is a symbol of corrupted statecraft and Sodom of corrupted churchcraft. Pelatiah the son of Benaiah dies at the Sunday law, which Isaiah aligns with the biblical day of provocation, which is either 1863, or the Sunday law. Pelatiah the son of Benaiah represents a counterfeit of those who actually hear the Word of God. In the time of the remnant those represented by Moses and Elijah are slain and then resurrected. That resurrection began with a voice in the wilderness in July of 2023. From 2024 the final separation of the wheat and tares has been under way.

At the Sunday law the Seventh-day Adventist church will know that they are lost.

> This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel: And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Ezekiel 11:11–13.

The death of Pelatiah, whose names means delivered by God, means in context, delivered unto death, at the same point that the eleventh-hour workers are delivered from the hand of the king of the north in verse forty-one of Daniel eleven. Pelatiah is delivered into the hand of the king of the north at the Sunday law. Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, meaning “what God’s has built.” At the very point where God has once again built a temple, to lift up as the church triumphant at the Sunday law, those represented by Pelatiah are delivered unto death, for rather than participating in the work of building up the old waste places, they were building themselves Tobiah’s tomb. Pelatiah represents Isaiah’s head to the toe, a body that is completely laden with sin. That body is the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church at the conclusion of four generations of progressive rebellion, that Isaiah expresses as an escalating rebellion when he states, “revolt more and more.” In the final testing process which began in 2024, the wheat is dead for three and a half days, then resurrected, at which point they shall know that the Lord is God.

> Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. Ezekiel 37:12–14.

The counterfeit priesthood who are represented by 25 at the Sunday law, shall then know the Lord is God. The wheat know that the Lord is God in 2024, and the tares wake up to that knowledge at the Sunday law, when it is too late. The period begins with a grave and resurrection and ends with a grave and no resurrection. The wheat at the beginning know God, when He fulfills the resurrection of Revelation eleven, and the tares know at the Sunday law earthquake of the same chapter. In between those two waymarks the testing process of the latter rain brings both classes to maturity for the harvest.

Joel’s message is the song of the vineyard, but the first issue it raises is whether men can recognize the latter days, by the former days. The “old men” in Joel could not do that, for when the wake-up call arrives at midnight, they are cut off—spewed out of the mouth of the Lord, right where the earth beast opens it’s mouth to speak, which is also where Balaam’s ass spoke, and where John the Baptist’s father spoke.

The judgment upon the “old ancient men” is based upon the question of whether this has happened in the days of your forefathers? The passage opens by saying, “hear this.” It then sets forth two witnesses, one of four generations of men and the other four types of insects. Then they are awakened at the Midnight Cry, only to find they are passed by as God’s chosen covenant people. They are not passed by because they had no wine, they are passed by because they have the wrong wine. In the parable of the ten virgins, Joel’s new wine is oil.

Their salvation is placed in the terms of whether they receive the “new wine” of the latter rain message. The “old and ancient men” are also portrayed as “the drunkards of Ephraim” by Isaiah, and Ephraim is not represented in the sealed in Revelation seven. He is replaced by his brother Manasseh. It is difficult to find a more wicked king than Manasseh, but he replaces the drunkards of Ephraim.

> “The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord commissions His messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands: ‘Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.’

> “Here we see that the church—the Lord’s sanctuary—was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God’s power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus ‘Peace and safety’ is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God’s people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together.

> “The abominations for which the faithful ones were sighing and crying were all that could be discerned by finite eyes, but by far the worst sins, those which provoked the jealousy of the pure and holy God, were unrevealed. The great Searcher of hearts knoweth every sin committed in secret by the workers of iniquity. These persons come to feel secure in their deceptions and, because of His long-suffering, say that the Lord seeth not, and then act as though He had forsaken the earth. But He will detect their hypocrisy and will open before others those sins which they were so careful to hide.

> “No superiority of rank, dignity, or worldly wisdom, no position in sacred office, will preserve men from sacrificing principle when left to their own deceitful hearts. Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies. Their wicked course He will tolerate no longer, and in His wrath He deals with them without mercy.

> “It is with reluctance that the Lord withdraws His presence from those who have been blessed with great light and who have felt the power of the word in ministering to others. They were once His faithful servants, favored with His presence and guidance; but they departed from Him and led others into error, and therefore are brought under the divine displeasure.” Testimonies, volume 5, 211, 212.

Joel is speaking to the leadership of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church when he identifies the “old men,” but Joel is also speaking to the unlearned, as Isaiah calls those who are contrasted with the learned. Joel is speaking to the ancient men who bow to the sun in Ezekiel chapter eight, and who are the first to be judged in chapter nine. He is also addressing the laity of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church when he says, “Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.”

The 25 men in chapter eight are located at the Sunday law, where they are bowing to the sun with their backs to the sanctuary. They are a “tithe” of the rebellion of the 250, who stood with Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The 25 men are a symbol of the rebellion that was repeated, according to inspiration in 1888, which typified the rebellion of the leadership of the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church at 9/11, through unto the Sunday law. They represent a “tithe” of rebellion in the very same period that Isaiah in chapter six identifies the wise as a “tithe,” that has substance within.

Joel is the announcement to Adventism, that their probation is closed for they have filled up their cup of probationary time with sin, and the fulness is represented as sickness from their head unto their toes, identifying that the message of the latter rain has been cut off from their mouths. Isaiah describes the same reality in chapter twenty-nine.

> Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

> Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah 29:9–16.

The “understanding” of the wise men is based upon the unsealing of God’s prophetic Word. Those who have been trained in the corrupted institutions of Adventism cannot read the book of prophecy, and they accuse God of having no understanding. When the prophecy is unsealed, they cannot understand it, so they accuse God of being the one who has no understanding, and in so doing they turn things upside down. The learned and unlearned of Adventism cannot understand the prophecy that is unsealed just before probation closes, and the book of Joel commands the “old men” to hear, but they are a class that hearing, they do not hear, and seeing they do not see.

The very heart of their rebellion is represented in their inability to recognize Christ as the first and the last. This is the context of the chapter where the question is asked, “Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?”

Was there a time in the history of your fathers where a people awaken at the Midnight Cry, only to find they are foolish virgins? The “old men” are commanded to “awake,” as were the Millerites at Exeter camp meeting in 1844. The parable of the ten virgins is the parable of the experience of the Adventist people which was fulfilled to the very letter in Millerite history, and will be fulfilled again to the very letter in the latter days. The inability of Laodicean Seventh-day Adventism to recognize that the foundational history of their church is repeated in the latter days, emphasizes the prophetic principle that is the key that unlocks the prophetic message. It is not only the biblical rule, but also the heart of the Revelation of Jesus Christ’s character that is unsealed just before probation closes.

Joel asks, “Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?” Or it might be asked, “In the days of your fathers, was there a testing process that separated a new covenant people, from and old covenant people?” There was, and the separation was accomplished by the prophetic message represented as oil in the parable. “Hath this been in your days or the days of your fathers” immediately identified that what happened in the days of their fathers was an awakening after four generations of escalating destruction, as represented by the command to send the message out over four generations, and with the four insects of escalating destruction. Joel is the pronouncement of judgment against a backslidden and apostate church at the Midnight Cry. No church in sacred history has stood against greater light than the Seventh-day Adventist church. The symbol of that type of rebellion against the truth is represented by “Capernaum.”

We will continue in the next article.

> “At Capernaum Jesus dwelt in the intervals of His journeys to and fro, and it came to be known as ‘His own city.’ It was on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and near the borders of the beautiful plain of Gennesaret, if not actually upon it.” The Desire of Ages, 252.

> “Among the professed children of God, how little patience has been manifested, how many bitter words have been spoken, how much denunciation has been uttered against those not of our faith. Many have looked upon those belonging to other churches as great sinners, when the Lord does not thus regard them. Those who look thus upon the members of other churches, have need to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. Those whom they condemn may have had but little light, few opportunities and privileges. If they had had the light that many of the members of our churches have had, they might have advanced at a far greater rate, and have better represented their faith to the world. Of those who boast of their light, and yet fail to walk in it, Christ says, ‘But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum [Seventh-day Adventists, who have had great light], which art exalted unto heaven [in point of privilege], shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.’ At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent [in their own estimation], and hast revealed them unto babes.’

> “‘And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.’

> “The Lord has established among us institutions of great importance, and they are to be managed, not as worldly institutions are managed, but after God’s order. They are to be managed with an eye single to his glory, that by all means perishing souls may be saved. To the people of God the testimonies of the Spirit have come, and yet many have not taken heed to reproofs, warnings, and counsels.

> “‘Here now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: fear ye not me saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual degree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? but this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. . . . They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord; shall not my soul be revenged on such a nation as this?’

> “Shall the Lord be compelled to say, ‘Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee’? ‘Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain. . . . Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?’” Review and Herald, August 1, 1893.

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