Jesus astonished His disciples when, in response to them pointing out the buildings of the temple, He said that not one stone of those buildings would be left upon another.

And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Mark 13:2)

It hardly seemed possible, yet history has borne out the truth of His statements, and none of those buildings remain today. The only thing still standing is the retaining wall below, which was not part of any building. The extreme, even unfathomable nature of such a destruction led the disciples to question the Lord about the only thing they could imagine that would bring it about: the end of the world.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)

This was as God would have it, because He would use the destruction of Jerusalem, wherein that remarkable prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled, as a type for the destruction that would bring an end to the whole world nearly two millennia later. Far from applying only to the destruction that was imminent in that day, you will see how His entire discourse provides a foundation for understanding the trouble of especially these last days.^[1]

The Beginning of Trouble

After warning of deception, wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, Jesus said,

All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:8)

This expression, “the beginning of sorrows” refers to birth pangs, which brings our mind to many end-time prophecies that use the analogy of childbirth to represent the throes of anguish that the world experiences at the end. The great sign of the woman that the whole Christian world was speaking about in September of 2017 (mostly darkening God’s counsel by words without knowledge^[2]), was in the period of the fourth trumpet when the woes of Revelation were announced, directly connecting the birth pangs of the woman to the woes of Revelation!

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (Revelation 12:2)

In the prophecy, her birth referred to the birth of Christ on earth, but the heavenly sign points forward to the return of Jesus, represented in the sign by the “king planet” Jupiter, which crosses the line that forms the womb. Thus, when Jesus says those signs are the beginning of sorrows, we can see a valid reference to the beginning of the woes. The trouble of those days began loud and clear with Trump’s December 6, 2017 declaration regarding Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (Revelation 8:13)

The trouble that began at that time is not comparable to what comes nearer the end! That was just the first woe. The trouble starts out little, and increases in intensity before Jesus indicates that it is truly a time of great trouble. And Jesus gives us an important indicator of the time at that transition point:

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)

A Mission of Sacrifice

Who are the witnesses for the gospel of Christ’s kingdom? Recently—less than ten days from the third plague—a young American missionary who loved Jesus and yearned to see those words of Christ fulfilled, offered himself to suffer the consequences of reaching out to the world’s most isolated people. He knew the dangers, and that visiting North Sentinel Island was illegal, but those people had never been introduced to the gospel of Christ, and he, seeking to obey God rather than men or his own fears, willingly risked his all to give them the opportunity to receive life through Jesus. In his diary of the trip, he wrote:

The Milky Way was above and God Himself was shielding us from the Coast Guard and Navy patrols.

When with the help of seven local believing fishermen, John Allen Chau landed on this island in the Indian Ocean, which had been strictly barred from access by the Indian government, he was met by a boy from the last prehistoric tribe of the Sentinelese, who shot an arrow at him. It hit the Bible that the missionary was holding in front of his chest.

Quickly returning to his boat, he journaled about the experience, noting that he didn’t want to die, and questioning the wisdom of this endeavor. “Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue?” he scrawled, revealing his inner struggle. “No,” he resolved. He would return, whether he would live or die.

This is the sacrifice that the world does not understand. It is foolishness to those who think that it is more important to preserve a culture that teaches violence to their children as a way of life, rather than promote a peaceful lifestyle through truth. The world can only offer peace through tolerance, but God offers peace through transformation.^[3]

Many show contempt for him as though he were the murderer, because of the risk of bringing a foreign disease to the isolated people. However, their apparent protectionist concern betrays a different, more likely motivation.^[4] In Satan’s kingdom, proselytism is taboo. The governing rule is to “coexist”, that is, let everyone believe what they want, and don’t assume that your own religion is better than any other. This principle spells trouble for those who serve God, because it is not what Jesus taught His disciples.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

The publicity that this resolute young missionary received, with his commitment to the Lord’s work above his own interest, puts before the world’s eye a sign of the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that the gospel would go to the whole world. But was he, having only the beginning of the gospel,^[5] the world’s last witness, or is his experience in martyrdom a figure, or reflection of those who preach the whole gospel in its undimmed glory? Who are the real last witnesses of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ?

The wise, having oil in their lamps, know the answer specifically, but they are described in prophetic terms in Revelation 11. They preach to the world at the end, giving witness through great signs and plagues, such that the nations have tremendous hatred against them on account of Christ. The Sentinelese welcomed their last missionary with arrows aiming to kill, but they pierced the Word instead,^[6] whom he represented to them. His reception reflects that of the two witnesses, who were greeted with equally prompt hostility by the world.

If you are familiar with the studies of the White Cloud Farm website, then you might know that the prophecy timeframe of these two last witnesses, 1260 days for each, ends at a special time: April 6, 2019. As we continue, you will begin to see just how important that temporal milestone is, but we already know that it is at the beginning of the sixth plague according to God’s clock, and Jesus points to the end of the testimony timeframe of the two witnesses as the time when the preaching of the gospel of His kingdom to the whole world would be finished. This is a key division in time that separates the “little time of trouble” preceding it from the very different kind of trouble that we see when we look at the subsequent verses:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: … For then shall be great tribulation [Strong’s: “pressure,” also translated “trouble”], such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:15-16,21-22)

The Abomination in a Holy Place

So severe is the trouble that follows the abomination standing in the holy place, that God in His mercy must shorten it or even His elect would be destroyed. When we ask ourselves what this prophecy means, we must first think about what it is we want to know! Do we want to know where the great time of trouble begins, or when it begins?

Like Daniel when he inquired about the vision he was given, which Jesus is referring to, we’re less interested in the where than in the when! Therefore, the angel Gabriel answered the prophet Daniel’s question about the end with time and not with location:

And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.… And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:8-9,11-13)

Thus, Jesus’ answer in Matthew 24 to the apostles’ question about time was also less an indication of place than of time. Let’s look at that again:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matthew 24:15)

To be more precise, it is a place in time! Where do we find such a thing? On a clock, of course! If, for example, the hour hand is in the segment between 5 and 6, then we know that we are either in the early hour of 5 o’clock in the morning or 5 o’clock in the afternoon. If we were to define this area, e.g., as an hour of prayer, as other religions do, then it would be a “holy”^[7] place on our clock... the times of the morning and evening prayer.

But where is there a clock that has something to do with Christianity, Jesus, the heavenly temple, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place? In Orion, of course! We have known this for a long time.

Are there holy and less holy places or segments on this clock? Of course, there are very special “holy places” on it: the so-called throne lines, which are formed by the three belt stars of the thrones of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which define two narrow beams on God’s clock (shown in red). These must be the “holy places” of God’s time!

Does this validate the previously identified time marker that divides between the little and great times of trouble? Certainly! The end of the 1260 days of the witnesses, as well as the 1290 days of the abomination of desolation from Daniel’s vision coincides exactly with the throne lines, or the “holy place” of the sixth plague!

We must ask, of course, what it means that the abomination of desolation stands at that place—or rather, time. This will be answered in detail in a forthcoming article, but for the time being, let’s consider two important clues:

• In Daniel 12, the abomination of desolation is set up at the beginning of the 1290-day countdown, while Jesus refers to the time when that previously set-up abomination is standing in a holy place. The two prophecies look at the same abomination from two different angles, or positions in time!

• The throne lines on God’s clock are a region of prophetic reflection, such that the events and prophecies occurring at the throne lines on one side of the clock are related to those that occur at the opposite throne lines.

Thus, from point 2, we can look at the third plague throne lines for a hint as to what may happen at the sixth plague throne lines. And from point 1, we should ask what must happen at the end of the prophetic timeline expiring then, that relates to what Jesus seems to describe as a diabolically high moment in the work of the abomination of desolation—when it stands in the holy place.

But first, let’s refresh our memory regarding the nature of the abomination of desolation in Daniel 12, which is set up when the “daily” is taken away^[8] at the beginning of the 1290 days:

Brother John already wrote about the “continual” or “daily” at the beginning of his public ministry, and it is worthwhile to review the short article The Resurrection of the Beast again. There he identified the “daily” as the “scepter of power,” which unfortunately only a few Bible students have recognized so far. He wrote:

I support the opinion of the pioneers (paganism^[9]) and Marian Berry, and see in the “daily” finally “the scepter of power” that is passed from one power to another. It’s about the supremacy of papal Rome in Daniel 12:11.

Was it right of us to begin the 1290 days of Daniel 12:11 with the transfer of power of the two houses of the US (the second beast) and the UN (the beast of Revelation 17) to Pope Francis on September 24/25, 2015? Indeed, they began perfectly with the healing of the wound of the first beast of Revelation 13, when it regained its supremacy over the whole world and the “daily” was thus taken away: Pope Francis had regained the “scepter of power” with greater power than ever before, and the separation of Church and State had been abolished, de facto, in the USA.

Thus, the way had been paved for the election of a president of this second “beast” who received the support of fallen Protestantism and recently turned out to be the double-tongued snake of pride^[10] when he even tolerated murder in front of the international public, just to gain financial benefits. Is it any wonder that Babylon’s punishment in Chapter 18 of Revelation speaks so much of the destruction of Babylon’s commercial and economic power?

The throne lines of the third plague are also a holy place in time, and we saw how the bloody waters of that prophecy referenced millions of Ukrainians who were starved to death on account of the corrupt policies of Stalin’s regime. Could that cruel and despotic rule have anything to do with the sixth plague? What about the papal abomination himself? Did the pope do or say anything of interest during the third plague throne lines that would shed light on the transition to the great time of trouble at the sixth plague?

At the beginning of the third plague throne line, Pope Francis weighed in on the situation in Ukraine with unusual promptness, recognizing the aforementioned Ukrainian famine as a genocide and calling for prayers “for its long-sought-after peace.” By bringing to mind that horrific deed, he figuratively took his stand on a holy place, and that at a holy place on the clock. Yet his words were not spoken in Ukraine, but like usual, at the Vatican—which, considering the many who have been executed by its own abuse of power, is no more a holy place than is the Kremlin where Stalin once stood! The pope’s words figuratively reflect what will come in the sixth plague, just as the throne lines make the third plague a reflection of the sixth.

These things all have great significance—like the body of John Allen Chau, which authorities declined to risk retrieving for a proper burial. It was last seen just over a week before the third plague began, which reflects the time shortly before the sixth plague, when the two witnesses would finish their preaching before likewise being silenced. The events surrounding the third plague reflect those coming at the sixth.

The pope’s recollection of the Holodomor—a name that in Ukrainian clearly refers to mass killing by starvation—points forward not just to the tolerance-induced famine for God’s word that the world is clamoring for, but also to the literal famine of the seven lean years that will begin shortly thereafter. Today, the world persists in seeking to establish peace through tolerance instead of truth. Could the announcement—made during the third plague throne lines—that Trump’s Middle East peace deal (prepared by his son-in-law) is complete, also reflect coming events in the sixth plague?

What might the pope do to physically stand on a holy place at that time? These topics are the subject of forthcoming articles that you won’t want to miss, but in as much as this is a time when the prophetic fulfillments are converging, the great culminating end that God has been warning about for so long is already seen in the reflections of time.

We can anticipate that as it was in Ukraine in 1932-1933, the animalistic fight for survival will overcome every remaining vestige of morality. As the good people were first to go in the Holodomor, so those with true morality will be taken early—at the Second Coming—before the seven lean years, when the prophecy of Moses against those who do not hearken to God’s voice or regard His law will be fulfilled again as a stark testimony to the results of sin:

And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. (Deuteronomy 28:53-55)

No flesh can survive the time of trouble “such as never was” that is coming upon the earth.