Bible Time

Two Cows Burned as Ark Returned

At August 22, 2001 we expected to see the prophetic replay of two cows being burned as the Ark was returned after 7 months with the Philistines. The story includes an offset, 20 days, that lands on September 11, 2001. Pravda printed an article July 12, 2001, that said an attack was planned on the financial centers of America for August 19, 2001. The event was obviously delayed 23 days.

The Philistine's problem

During the time of the Judges, indeed, throughout all her ancient history, ancient Israel was at war with her neighbors. One such group was the Philistines, the modern Palestinians. For a 7 month period at the end of the Judges, the Philistines captured the Ark. The ark was placed in various locations in the Philistine community and eventually returned to Israel on an ark pulled by two cows. Upon its return the two cows used to pull the cart were sacrificed in a fire.

The 7 months that the Ark was with the Philistines replays within August 22, 2001. A date reference like this is unusual in that most of the ancient chronology is specified only to the year. These 7 months might or might not land compressed into this specific day. No precident exists before this date to determine which it will be. A note is included in the offsets band that shows what those 7 months will be should they turn out to be a complete modern 7 months. The period ends in April, 2002, an important time for various other reasons, so the expanded use of this time is likely correct.

Headlines

We often learn more about the prophetic stories by looking at headlines at the start of offsets like the 20 days indicated by this story. Monitoring headlines at August 22, 2001, indicated the following:

• The Chinese had ended a week of war games and test fired a nuclear missile.
• The Syrians and Iraqis had just finished signing a new alliance and at this date had allowed visa-free travel between their two countries.
• The United States announced its intension to back out of the ABM treaty. This seriously exposed the United States to the threat of nuclear war as the new anti-missile systems are not known to work and will not be ready for years.

At the time there was another strange headline. United States President Bush had taken a nearly month long "vacation" at his ranch in Texas. Unlike a true vacationer he remained quite busy with the affairs of state, hosting a stream of guests, and he never "dressed down" suggesting he was mentally not on vaction. Did he vacate Washington DC for a reason?

At September 16, 2001, newsmax.com published an article indicating that at July 12, 2001, Pravda, the semi-official paper of the Russian government had published an important article reguarding the United States. At July 12, 2001, the Russians were holding high level hearings on the subject of coping with an attack on the financial centers of the United States. An attack was expected August 19, 2001, and Russians were being urged to sell US dollars in favor of Russia rubbles and gold.

Also in the September 16, 2001, article the same Russian sources were indicating that further attacks, beyond the WTC Attack of September 11, 2001, were also planned. The goal of the entire endeavor was to break the control over world financial markets currently excercised by the United States and to break American's faith in their own government.

Curiously the August 19, 2001, date indicated in Pravda never came to be but the source indicated the delay was of no consequence. For students of Bible prophecy, the delay was a no-brainer. But, it does give the linkage between the dates and it may explain Bush's odd behavior across August and it may explain his delay in returning to the White House on September 11, 2001. Perhaps he knew something was going down, just as Pravda had said.

Why Philistines?

The burning of the two cows was in a way a substitionary sacrifice for the leaders of the Philistine towns who had been beset with tumors across the previous 7 months. The burning of the two World Trade Center towers would then be a sample of the burning of Philistines, a conclusion also suggested by Samson's story.

In both cases it appears that the United States support for the Palestinian state and for the terrorists of Arafat makes the United States out to be Philistines for the purpose of these prophecies.

It should also be noted the 5 Philistine rules, or 5 philistine towns agrees in count with the 5 cities ultimately destroyed when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.