Having just read a fascinating story that involves time travel through a wormhole with the question arising: Could someone travel to the past and change the future? – I thought I’d give my two cents.

As a caveat, I’m a dunce when it comes to physics, quantum theory, wormholes, and almost every other aspect about the natural sciences. What I do know pretty well is the Bible because of having read it cover-to-cover many times. That fact alone significantly influences my thinking in regard to most subjects, including this one. What I try to do is look at the world through a Biblical, prophetic lens and let that guide my life. Am I always successful in that? I wish! But I do my best.

In my recent video Awaken Bible Prophecy Update, I mentioned this book series: City of God by Randy Ingermanson. The story revolves around the fascinating idea that someone could go back to the past – in this case through a wormhole – and alter the future by changing a previous event. Rivka is a Messianic Jew. Ari is a lapsed, largely secular Jew who hates Christianity. Damien is a man on a mission, namely to assassinate the Apostle Paul in ancient Israel because of his own warped view, believing that it was Paul’s missionary efforts that caused Christianity to spread and flourish and ultimately destroy his life. He wants to nip that in the bud and change the course of history.

Rivka has an eidetic memory, i.e., a photographic memory. She has read widely and, most specifically, the history as recounted by Josephus. All these characters travel back to 57 AD, which Damien has decided is the optimal time to kill Paul when he comes to Jerusalem. Rivka can recall literally everything she’s read and thus knows both the events Josephus records plus those in the Bible. This gives her the ability to more or less foresee the future, and she gets a reputation as a seer woman.

That causes problems. Historical accounts, whether Scriptural or secular, tell us the big events that have occurred, but they don’t necessarily inform as to the details making them happen.

Rivka believes that God has given her the task of thwarting the assassination attempt by Damien so that the future remains as it should. Ari, for his part, would be fine if Christianity hadn’t come along, but he has fallen in love with Rivka and feels he must help her to a degree.

Two opposing viewpoints are at hand as the drama in this book plays out:

1. Changes in the past can alter the future.
2. Nothing done in the past will change what is to come.

Damien and Rivka hold to the first theory, while Ari – also a physicist like Damien – believes that nothing can change the future.

We’ve all likely seen or read time travel adventures, and theory #1 is usually the predominant one. As a result, people involved in these scenarios are quite concerned about anything they do when traveling to the past because of the unknown effects of those changes in the future. The thinking is that a minor change could be much like the infamous butterfly effect.

A butterfly flaps its wings in China, and that sets off a chain reaction, causing a hurricane in Miami.

I can’t even begin to relate the technical thinking behind theory #2; suffice it to say that here the physics argues against any past change altering things to come.

Because I liked these City of God books so much, and they caused me to reflect a lot about them, I thought – for what it’s worth – that I’d weigh in on this question from what I perceive would be the Biblical point of view. If someone could travel into the past, is it possible he could change the future?

So, here we are today. Certain events have happened previously. Certain people have been born, lived in some manner, did specific things, and died.

What occurred influenced the world either minimally or in large measure. If, like in City of God, someone traveled backward in time with the intent of killing Paul and deliberately attempting to change history, could that happen?

I say no. There is also the theory that there are multiple worlds spun off through every decision any person makes. Can you imagine how many such worlds would be created in such a scenario? Again, I don’t believe that actually happens. The reason for this is because of God.

God knows the end from the beginning. He is omniscient. Every possible choice a person – every person in the world – could conceivably make, He knows. His knowledge doesn’t predetermine the future, but He foreknows it. Just because there is a multiplicity of choices: millions, billions, trillions, inconceivable different numbers of paths – that doesn’t mean a world is spawned from them. They are seen by God but never materialize into another potential universe.

There is only this one timeline in which we exist. Where we are in that world is – from God’s perspective – the only one that will ever be.

He has seen in advance what any of us might have chosen, and that decision for all people combined has brought us to this current state of existence. As importantly is the fact that God has stated prophetically in His Word that certain events will happen. Nothing and no one can change the future as God has ordained.

This being the case, a determined attempt to change the past by traveling back there could not succeed.

If we have a situation like Rivka where she follows a person like Damian to the past and intercedes to keep Paul from being killed, how might we explain something like that, if it were even possible? Let’s say the assassin is about to perform his deed and someone from the future intervenes. How does that work if this person had never come into the past in the first place?

Who would stop the assassin, if there even was an assassin? In this confusing situation, whatever was, effectively, had always previously happened. This person intervening would have already been in that place and time to stop the killing if there had been a planned murder in the first place. The travel backward in time by both the assassin and the intercessor – in God’s view – have been events that had always occurred.

Confused yet?

What I’m trying to convey is that since God has already seen these things, they would have inevitably already been part of the past in some manner.

Nothing surprises God, and nothing can thwart His purposes.

I’ll admit, one can get completely tied up and wrapped around by logic and supposition in a case like this. If my explanation above doesn’t prove that, I don’t know what it does. The bottom line is that God has created this world. It is what it is because of the way everything previously happened through all the actors on the stage of history. God has foretold what will come to pass because He has already seen it occur. Nothing will change it without God’s express permission. He is sovereign. He is in charge.

And that should be very comforting.

—

Gary Ritter website: books & blog

http://garyritter.com/

Kindle Vella story: Tribulation Rising

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099Z462WD

 

 

Introduction

“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” (Revelation 6:6).

Is there is a connection between Revelation 6:6 with the entity and city of Revelation 17 and 18 that is hiding in plain sight? For good reasons – that we’d like to uncover in this article – I believe there is.

The phrase “the oil and the wine,” found in Revelation 6:6, might be seen as somewhat cryptic. Yet, most don’t seem to really give it much thought. This included myself until recently.

In this survey, we are going to be positing portions of previous articles and tying them together to the theme of “the oil and the wine.”

The Roman Catholic Church

When dealing with the Roman Catholic Church in prophecy, I feel it is necessary to give the following qualifier:

As a disclosure, I was born, christened, and nominally raised in the Catholic Church. I haven’t been a member of the Catholic Church since I was a youth and am now a Bible-believing Christian who lives by grace through faith, and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). I have many wonderful Catholic family members and friends and love them dearly. This article’s emphasis is primarily on the leadership, history, and the prophetic role of the Roman Catholic Church and is in no way an indictment of the Catholic laity.

A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18

In A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18, we noted the following regarding the Vatican’s extreme wealth.

Now, the Roman Catholic Church’s prosperity is well documented and visibly seen. The wealth of the RCC surpasses anything any entity on earth has ever known. Everything in the list of decadence, material excess, and opulence recorded in this chapter [Revelation 18] fits the RCC to a tee. In 1,700 years of existence, they have acquired wealth and material luxuries that are unimaginable and incomparable.

Don’t just think of Vatican City when it comes to their imports and material wealth. Think of churches, rectories, monasteries, property, etc., in every city, in every country of the world where they operate. It is truly mind-blowing what the RCC imports as a whole. The material wealth of this entity supersedes anything the world has ever known.

When it comes to the wealth of Mystery Babylon – The Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome – much of her riches, I’m convinced, are hidden. But just a smattering of what is known reveals a Catholic Church that is awash in treasures, precious metals, land, investments, etc., that would make many nations flush with envy.

It’s believed – and for very good reason – that much of the Jewish Temple treasures are located in Vatican City.

Precious metals and treasures in Catholic churches are displayed for all to see, all around the world. Can you imagine what they have behind the scenes – hidden throughout the world?

When an entity and city, such as the Roman Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome, has had 1,700 years to amass and accumulate wealth, the total sum of those riches would be and should be astronomical.

Essentially, every country in the world conducts its business in fiat currency that isn’t backed by any tangible asset(s). Yet, when it comes to tangible wealth – gold, precious metals, jewels, art, property, buildings, etc. – the Roman Catholic Church leads the way.

Truly, when the world economic system collapses, the Roman Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome will be the most prosperous entity on earth from the rapture of Christ’s church up until Mystery Babylon is destroyed in the middle of the Tribulation (Revelation 17:16-18). They will not only survive but thrive when the rest of the world reels from the impact of such an unrelenting economic disaster.

Isaiah 47: The Daughter of Babylon

In Isaiah 47: The Daughter of Babylon, we exposed the connection of Isaiah’s Daughter of Babylon with the Whore of Babylon – or Mystery Babylon – of Revelation 17 and 18.

Here’s what we noted in regard to the “sorcery” of the Vatican.

“Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee” (Isaiah 47:12-13). (emphasis mine)

We should find it interesting that the Roman Catholic Church has had at least 21 major meetings to discuss “doctrine, reaffirm truths of the faith, and extirpate heresy,” and that these meetings are referred to as “councils.” This lady, according to God, is “wearied in the multitude of [her] counsels.”

The Vatican Observatory has its headquarters in Italy and has one of the most powerful telescopes in the world at Mount Graham in southeast Arizona.

The Vatican is essentially obsessed with the stars and is eagerly searching for life in outer space. The Roman Catholic Church even has what one might consider an unhealthy desire to meet aliens.

Pope Francis, in 2014, even stated that he would be willing to baptize aliens from other worlds, should they ever manifest themselves to us, saying, “If then God gave them the same gift He gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?… Who are we to close doors?”

Most concerning is that – and many books and clergy have documented these facts – the Roman Catholic Church has for centuries indulged in the practices of paganism, witchcraft, the occult, and Luciferianism.

“And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived” (Revelation 18:23). (emphasis mine)

As most know, “sorceries” in the Greek is 5331 φαρμακεία “pharmakeia” and means: sorcery, witchcraft. From pharmakeus; medication (“pharmacy”), i.e. (by extension) magic (literally or figuratively) — sorcery, witchcraft.

With what we have witnessed since 2020 – in addition to the Catholic Church being invested wholeheartedly in the occultic mystical aspect of “pharmakeia” – is that the Vatican is one of the biggest influencers in the world and has been pushing the experimental mRNA injections on the masses and, therefore, fulfills the other aspect of “pharmakeia’s” drug and medication definition.

It would also be interesting to find out how much the Vatican has invested in the pharmaceutical industry, in addition to knowing to what degree drugs have played in the mystical occultic pursuits the Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, and clergy have engaged in – both past and present.

Revelation 14: Tribulation Outline

In Revelation 14: Tribulation Outline, we confirmed our Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18 when observing the following passages.

“Another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “She has fallen! She has fallen! Bavel the Great! She made all the nations drink the wine of God’s fury caused by her whoring!” (Revelation 14:8, CJB). (emphasis mine)

This is the absolute proof that this Babylon is not the Babylon of the Antichrist and his Mark of The Beast economic and worship system, as is documented in detail in my article A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18.

The following third angel in Revelation 14:9-11, who follows this second angel, is declaring Antichrist’s Mark of The Beast economic and worship system.

The declaration of this second angel, in Revelation 14:8 (above), is proclaiming, “She has fallen! She has fallen! Bavel the Great! She made all the nations drink the wine of God’s fury caused by her whoring!”

This statement, should the reader become confused, is echoed in Revelation 18:

He cried out in a strong voice, “She has fallen! She has fallen! Bavel the Great! She has become a home for demons, a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean, hated bird. “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of God’s fury caused by her whoring — yes, the kings of the earth went whoring with her, and from her unrestrained love of luxury the world’s businessmen have grown rich.” ( Revelation 18:2-3, CJB). (emphasis mine)

As I pointed out in my article A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18, Revelation 18 is not a reference to the Antichrist kingdom – separate from Revelation 17 – but is a continuation of the Whore of Babylon in chapter 17 with an emphasis on the city where the Whore sits and of her opulence, wealth, and wickedness. And with these additional details, describes her in more depth as to her identity and her end, which will come in about the middle of the Tribulation at the hands of the Antichrist and 10 kings, as the 10 kings will, after destroying her and her city, hand their worldwide empires over to the Antichrist for the last three and one-half years [1,260 days], just as the following third angel (Rev. 14:9-11) declares.

Revelation 6:6

Here is where we would like to make the connection of Revelation 6:6 to the Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome entity (Mystery Babylon, Whore of Babylon) of Revelation 17 and 18.

As a reminder, Revelation 6:5-6 is speaking of an economic collapse of the entire world system. This particular judgment is a part of the famous “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” seal judgments.

The opening of the third seal begins the black horse judgment.

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand” (Revelation 6:5).

Now, let’s take a look at Revelation 6:6, which is the heart of our study.

“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine“ (Revelation 6:6). (emphasis mine)

The Greek word for “oil” is 1637 ἔλαιον “elaion” and means oil. Neuter of the same as elaia; olive oil — oil.

And the Greek word for “wine” is 3631 οἶνος “oinos” and means wine made from grapes. A primary word (or perhaps of Hebrew origin (yayin)); “wine” (literally or figuratively) — wine.

As we have established through these earlier articles we have briefly looked into, the Roman Catholic Church should be the preeminent entity on earth after the rapture of the bride of Christ and, as such, shouldn’t be affected by the worldwide economic collapse of Revelation 6:5-6 as the rest of the world will be. In fact, the statement of “see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” in Revelation 6:6 should actually indicate a connection of “the oil and the wine” to Mystery Babylon – the Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome.

And this is exactly what we see!

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1-2). (emphasis mine)

In regard to this passage, in A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18, we stated the following:

The “woman” has been rulers over kings (Rev. 17:2 & Rev. 18:3, Rev. 18:9); she has persecuted and killed the saints (Rev. 17:6 & Rev. 18:24); and she sits on many waters with peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Rev. 17:15 & Rev. 18:3, Rev. 18:23), showing that her empire stretches into every nation on earth. A perfect description of the Roman Catholic church, which has reigned for approximately 1,700 years.

As cited, we see “the wine” again in Revelation 18:

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Revelation 18:1-3). (emphasis mine)

What about the oil? Well, we see both “the oil and the wine” as being among the many delicacies of the Roman Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome in Revelation 18:

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men” (Revelation 18:11-13). (emphasis mine)

A fascinating note of interest is that Italy is the number one importer and number two exporter of olive oil in the world. And when it comes to the consumption of wine, Italy ranks number two in the world per capita. We should also include, of course, the importance of oil in the Catholic Church and wine in the Catholic mass.

Conclusion

The Roman Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome will be the one and only entity and city on earth with the means to consume the limited amount of goods that the world will produce during the time in between the rapture of the church and the middle of the Tribulation. The wealth and riches which she has had for approximately 1,700 years – as she has ruled and reigned over the kings of the earth so successfully – will continue to profit her up until this prophetic time in history.

This will be one of many reasons the 10 Kings will hate the whore and make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire at the midway point of the Tribulation and hand their kingdoms over to the Antichrist to rule and reign for the last three and one-half years [1,260 days] of the Tribulation, also knowns as the Great Tribulation.

“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…

“And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:12-13, 16-18).

While many prophecy teachers and students will apply “the oil and the wine” to the rich and the elite of the world – and, indeed, this could very well be a secondary application to this phrase – I have little to no doubt that the primary relevance of this statement, when comparing Scripture to Scripture, is to the Roman Catholic Church/Vatican City/Rome.

“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine“ (Revelation 6:6). (emphasis mine)

May we all continue to be Answering the Call of The Great Commission and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”

Keep reaching the lost for Christ while we still have time.

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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