Identity Theft (16 page)

“David, it simply didn’t matter anymore. The worst they could do was kill me, and they were already doing that. I discovered in that moment that when you have nothing to lose, you lose all inhibitions. There’s nothing to hold you back. I knew it was my last opportunity in this life, and I was determined to make it count.

“I continued, ‘Fear not them that can merely kill the body, but fear Him who can cast both body and soul into hell! (see Matt. 10:28). Turn from your sins and find forgiveness in Yeshua.

“In time, to the delight of the emperor, who I am sure just wanted me to shut up, the oil did begin to boil. David, have you ever been burned by oil?”

“Actually, yes, I have. On my last wedding anniversary, I took my wife to a beach house in Delaware. I had the bright idea of making her dinner—pan-seared tuna. However, I didn’t realize how hot the oil had become or what would happen when I placed the fish in the pan. Flames shot up everywhere and boiling olive oil flew out of the pan and onto my hand. For hours my hand throbbed in pain and many months later, I still have the scars on my hand to remind me of it. Of course, that can’t be compared to what you went through.”

“But still, you have a reference,” said John. “You understand boiling oil is lethal. However, even as the oil boiled around me, I felt no pain. In fact, it was just the right temperature—therapeutic even to my old bones!

“Domitian was furious, but the people—they were half terrified, half incredulous. How was it possible? How can a man be put in a pot of boiling oil and survive, and more than that, seem impervious to the experience? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a fiery furnace and were not harmed, I was protected by the Lord. It was quite surreal, to be honest. They threw me in, expecting me to die, but I simply stood there and continued speaking. No burns, no pain…nothing. No one seemed to know what to do. Everyone just stood there staring in confused disbelief. So, finally, I simply climbed out. Even the formerly hardened guards were too terrified to do anything, wondering,
Who is this man? What kind of man could withstand such a lethal punishment?

“Then I thought,
Well, I’ll just leave
. And since no one tried to stop me, that’s what I did. I could hear the emperor shouting to his guards to stop me, but they were simply too frightened to respond. I later learned that many who were there that day turned to the faith—
including the cousin of Domitian.
”

“Ah, so that is how he came to believe in Yeshua. And then Domitian later had him executed for being an atheist.”

John nodded, “Eventually, because Domitian could not kill me, he had me exiled on the Island of Patmos and that is where I wrote these words.”

I heard the familiar sound from my tablet, and read: “On
the Lord’s Day
I was in the Spirit…” (Rev. 1:10).

“Many Christians, even some of my own disciples, wrongly assumed that I was referring to Sunday. While I understand why people might assume that, I was actually referring to a specific day of the year on the Roman calendar. A reference anyone reading the prophecy at the time would have understood.

“As I said, Domitian took the idea that he was deity very seriously. Other religions were tolerated, as long they did not conflict with Caesar worship. This became a problem for the believers as well as for religious Jews who did not believe in Yeshua.” Another quote appeared on my tablet.

Once a year, everyone in the empire had to appear before the magistrates in order to burn a pinch of incense to the godhead Caesar and to say: “Caesar is Lord.” …To refuse to say, “Caesar is Lord,” was treason.
¹

“This yearly event was known to be
the Lord’s Day
. This is what I was referring to, not Sunday. Believers, knowing my history with the emperor, defying him and surviving, understood the significance of the Lord giving this revelation to me on that specific day. It was meant to highlight the theme of the book of Revelation, which can be found over and over again within it pages: Stand firm in the faith, even unto death. I was chosen to write the book because I had already chosen death over capitulation. In addition to being thrown into a vat of oil, I was on the island because of my faith.

“Consider these verses.”
D’ling.

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in
[Yeshua],
was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of
[Yeshua] (Revelation 1:9).

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful,
even to the point of death
, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown
(Revelation 2:10).

To the one who is victorious and
does My will to the end
, I will give authority over the nations
(Revelation 2:26).

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death
(Revelation 12:11).

“If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people
(Revelation 13:10).

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to
[Yeshua] (Revelation 14:12).

“It was no accident that God chose to give this revelation to me on the very day that virtually every believer under Roman rule—many of them my children in the faith—would be confronted yet again with this crucial test of loyalty:
Caesar or Yeshua?
—a test which for some, could mean death.

“Those believers understood both the reference and its implication.”

Another quote appeared on my tablet, “…Many Christians were thrown to the lions, charged with atheism for refusing to sacrifice to the Emperor who claimed to be God.”
²

“You have to understand, David, that to publicly confess, ‘Yeshua is Lord,’ was to put one’s life and family in serious peril. Sadly believers, especially today, miss the point of what my brother, Saul, wrote to the Romans at the seat of Caesar worship: ‘If you declare with your mouth, “[Yeshua] is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved’” (Rom. 10:9).

“That’s it? Really? Just confess Him and believe?” I asked.

“Actually, it was a bit more complicated than that for the believers living under Roman rule.

“Once you understand the background of Caesar worship and the persecution it entailed, you suddenly realize that to do this—to publicly confess that Yeshua was Lord—was in essence to say, ‘I am willing to die for my faith in Yeshua.’ What Saul is doing here is indirectly confronting the issue of commitment, because to confess that you were serving Yeshua was equivalent to confessing that Caesar was, in fact,
not
your Lord. And that could earn you a one-time lunch date with a lion in a Roman coliseum—where
you
were the lunch!

“Still today, believers are suffering for their faith all over the world. In Muslim nations, even nations that tolerate Christianity, they will not allow one of their own to leave Islam. It is a crime punishable by death.”

On the board I saw the pictures of two men. One was an African man, the other Middle Eastern. Half of the African man’s face was horribly disfigured and his right eye was gone. Under his picture it read:

Umar Mulinde, 38, apostle, Uganda: ex-Muslim who preaches Yeshua to Muslims and supports the state of Israel. Two Muslim extremists threw buckets of acid in his face.

Under the Middle Eastern man it read:

Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, pastor, Iran: ex-Muslim pastor in Iran who was charged with apostasy and sentenced to death. Awaiting execution.
³

“It saddens me, David, that so many people have missed the central theme of the book, hidden in that verse. The Lord’s Day reference was a reference to persecution, something that Youcef and Umar both know well.”

“This is fascinating,” I whispered, stunned by what I was learning. “So you weren’t referring to Sunday at all?”

“No, David, I wasn’t. Just think about it. What makes more sense? I am receiving perhaps the greatest prophetic visitation that any human has ever received and I mention—
oh, by the way, it’s Sunday
.

“Now, I do understand that Sunday was more significant than Tuesday or Thursday, as Yeshua did rise from the dead on a Sunday, but still, Sunday occurred fifty-two times every year—it wasn’t that uncommon. However, doesn’t it make more sense that I am referring to the one day of the year when the faith of every believer in the empire would be tested to the hilt, as I am writing a book to encourage them to overcome, persevere, and not give in to persecution?”

“Completely! This is awesome!”

“I am pleased to see that you are grasping this, David. The Master has chosen well.”

“Chosen? For what?”

But John was gone. The board was totally blank, but not me. I was high! That is the only word I can think of to describe it. I felt like someone was waking me up, and then I would wake up again, to ever newer levels of knowledge. I don’t think there are any words in English to explain it.

“John was amazing, wasn’t he?” I rhetorically asked Ariel. “He is my favorite so far. I miss that guy already.”

“You can see now why he and Yeshua were so close. Of course He loved them all, but John was a special younger brother in the faith to Him. And David, let me say this one more time before we move on. This is key, and I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding. The Lord delights in His people when He is worshiped—no matter what day His people come together to worship Him, and Sunday is just as good as any day. But what I do want you to understand is that Sunday never displaced or replaced the Sabbath. And for Jewish believers in the Messiah, He still expects them to honor the Sabbath—not as a condition to receiving eternal life, but as a matter of identity and calling.”

Notes

1
.   Jones,
Revelations from Revelation
, 19.

2
.   Ibid.

3
.   Umar Mulinde and Youcef Nadarkhani are actual 21
^st
-century persecuted believers.

“This stuff is so completely Jewish. I can’t understand why the Jewish people rejected Him.”

“But did they, David? After untold centuries of false doctrines that
authorized
the Church to persecute the Jewish people, it is no wonder that
today
Jews have learned to stay away from the Church. But it was not like that in the beginning. In fact, if the Jewish people had indeed rejected the Messiah, the message would never have been taken to the nations. The fact that
Jesus
is a world-renowned name today and His followers number in the billions is irrefutable evidence of the faith, commitment, and success of those early Jewish believers to whom Yeshua entrusted His message of salvation. It was Jewish messengers who spread His message to Africa, Europe, and Asia.

“Let’s go back to the days immediately after Yeshua ascended into Heaven. Take my hand.”

We were heading back in time, once again. I loved this part! And again scenes from history flashed below me as we journeyed back through time. When we arrived, it was night.

We gazed once more into the room where Yeshua had celebrated Passover with the disciples. But now the room was filled with men and women who were praying. Ariel began, “Remember, David, how Yeshua, just before He ascended into Heaven, told these people not to return to Galilee but to wait in Jerusalem for what the Father had promised—the Holy Spirit. And as you can see, they are obeying Him even though they don’t really know what to expect. They spent their days in the Temple courts and nights back at the Upper Room, constantly seeking God for His promise. There are over one hundred people in that room worshiping Him, and every single one of them is Jewish.

“Let’s fast-forward a few days to Shavuot.”

And within seconds we were viewing a sea of humanity in the Temple courts on the morning of Shavuot. In one of the enclosures off the courtyard, I could see the 120 gathered here, waiting and praying. This was the same scene he had shown me earlier.

“David, they had no idea what was about to happen. Read this verse.” I saw this passage illuminated and read:

When the day of
[Shavuot]
came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them
(Acts 2:1-4).