Who Are the Two Witnesses? Could the Revelation 11 prophecy now be fulfilled history, or does it apply to yet future events, still waiting to happen? Here's a brief look at both options.   First, here's the actual prophecy, in Revelation 11:3-11 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 days), clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. These verses say that the two witnesses prophecy for 1,260 days against a 'beast' power. If you want to fit this prophecy into history, using the Biblical day for a year principle, that's 1,260 years. Interestingly, history does record a period of 1,260 years that could match this. Here's the explanation...  It seems that the Ostrogoths, who ruled Italy and Rome, were the last of three kingdoms symbolised as horns, that were prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 7:8 (the other two kingdoms being the Heruli -overthrown in 493, and the Vandals -overthrown in 534 A.D.). The Ostrogoths were overthrown between 536 - 555 A.D. The Catholic Papacy fits the description of the little horn in this Daniel 7:8 prophecy because it says the other three 'horns' (kingdoms) are plucked up, and then a horn with a mouth speaking great things is established. This did happen around the early 500's A.D. More specifically, Justinian 1 (who was the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire at that time) legally recognised the Pope as the head of the Church in 533 A.D.. Although the Ostrogoths EXACT date of defeat was NOT 538, they did lose significant battles in 536 and 540 A.D., so if a middle starting date of 538 is used, we can count the years from then, through a 1,260 year period, and see that the Catholic Papacy was able to enforce it's will and heavily persecute dissenters during that time, while, in a sense, the "two witnesses" of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible witnessed against them. For example, Catholic Crusaders murdered 70,000 Muslims and Jews when they captured Jerusalem in 1099. From about 1209, during the six centuries of the papal Inquisition around 50 MILLION people were murdered. Between 1540-1570 there were 900,000 Waldensian Christians murdered. 250,000 Dutch Protestants were tortured and murdered between 1550-1560. In 1572, 18,000 Protestants were killed in France. In 1685 half a million French Protestant Huguenots were murdered....   The Catholic Papacy during this period certainly fits the Daniel 7:8 / Revelation 13:11,12 description of a horned political beast! Counting from 538 for 1260 years, you arrive at the year 1798 A.D. when Napoleon took the Pope prisoner. - Was this the deadly wound described in Revelation 13:3? In history, this Catholic wound was healed in 1929 when a treaty was signed between the Vatican and the Italian government officially giving the Catholics back their political power. Do these prophecies also fit with Revelation chapter 11? To a certain extent, there IS a connection. However, we are NOW living in the very end time of world history. Is it also possible that an Old Testament /New Testament explanation of the two witnesses is NOT a full explanation, but is merely one out of several types? - The two witnesses are also typed by Moses and Elijah, and there are other types as well. But what about today? Are there two men alive today who may fit the Revelation 11 description in the future? The following sequence of events encompasses my entire life, and it's mostly provable. It seems to link me to the two witnesses in some mysterious way that cannot be easily explained. --Although this has made me interested in the subject, I'm definitely NOT claiming to be one of the two witnesses. (A) What are the chances of anyone calling a light shower of rain a flood, and it happening THAT VERY SECOND in a dramatic way that makes newspaper headlines -- 1 in 1,000? --That is being VERY conservative. Follow my story, and see what I mean. On June 29th. 2005, I discovered the Church of God's Faithful website at http://www.setapartbytruth.org and read their explanation on the Day of the Lord. (By the way, I do believe there are major errors in their teachings... pointed out at http://www.fcogl.org/, but that's another story.) However at the time, I prayed about the information I read, telling God in prayer that it felt as if the few drops of rain I could hear dripping down on my roof were like God's Holy Spirit dripping down on me, and in my enthusiasm I even told God that the few light showers, that were lasting only a few seconds, REPRESENTED a 'FLOOD of truth' because what I was reading online seemed like new truth to me. (I have a decramastic roof, which means I can easily hear fairly light drops of rain.) IMMEDIATELY after I said Amen to this rather unusual prayer, CALLING A LIGHT SHOWER OF RAIN A FLOOD, as soon as the words had left my lips, within about one second after saying Amen, I was startled when a sudden powerful DELUGE of rain POUNDED onto my roof. The exact timing for this to happen was AMAZING, but that's just the beginning of this incredible coincidence. This FLASH FLOOD downpour of extremely heavy rain continued unabated without let-up for the next 24 hours exactly. (B) So lets multiply 1,000 by 24, for the flood rain to continue non-stop for 24 hours, and last exactly 24 hours. Running Total = The odds are at LEAST 1 in 24,000. Here's the RESULT of my "flood of truth" prayer: Gold Coast  24 Hour Flood - June 29th. to June 30th. Gold Coast Bulletin front page report on July 1st. 2005

The 24 hours of rainfall occurred from about 3pm. to about 3pm.. The total fall came to 20 inches (Up to my knees) This scan reports that the Hinze dam rose over 3 meters in 24 hours.

Download this Australian government weather bureau PDF file to verify date and duration: http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_reports/Gold_Coast_Rain_June_2005.pdf The suddenly super heavy, full strength rain did not let up for even one minute, so far as I'm aware (although I did sleep during this period). But I believe it continued without any break, for the next 24 hours. One man on the Gold Coast drowned. The flood rain came VERY suddenly, and was not forecast or expected by me or the weather bureau! It seemed like I'd instigated this flood! The flood rain, which started on June 29, lasted EXACTLY ONE DAY, after I read information about the "DAY of the Lord" on the CGF website Afterwards, the local newspaper front page headline SAID it was a “1 in 1000 year deluge.” Coincidentally, the CGF website discussed 1000 year DAYS extensively. (C) Multiply 24,000 by 1000, for it to be a 1 in 1000 year event, and/or the paper CALLING IT A 1000 YEAR EVENT when I'd been reading about 1000 YEAR days at the same time. Running Total = 1 in 24,000,000. (With the increase in worldwide bad weather, 1 in 1000 year floods seem to have become almost common recently, BUT THERE'S MORE...) I then noticed that on http://www.setapartbytruth.org,  in the 1st edition of the booklet called ‘Whoso Reads, Let Him Understand’, that Mr. Robert Ardis had calculated a timeline, which included a start date for the TWO WITNESSES ministry. In the FIRST edition of this booklet the speculated start date was originally calculated for the 14th of December, which is my birthday. Perhaps no big deal? But... Unknown to me at the time, this flood ALSO OCCURRED EXACTLY 1260 DAYS before Robert Ardis’ next, second calculated timeline start date of the prophesied Rev. 11:3 TIME PERIOD OF THE TWO WITNESS MINISTRY, which was printed in the next edition of ‘Whoso Reads, Let Him Understand’ (read it here - the second timeline is on the last page). Rev. 11:3 says the two witnesses will prophecy for exactly 1260 days. So what are the chances for a freak flood that I prayed about ALSO just happening to be 1260 days before a date prediction that I was unaware of, that speculated on the appearance of the two witnesses? (D) Multiply 24,000,000 by 1260, for this coincidence to occur ON TOP OF the other coincidences (but ignoring my birthday coincidence). Running Total = 1 in 30,240,000,000. The days calculate out exactly, and take into account that 2008 was a leap year... DON'T simply take my word for any of this... These coincidences are PROVABLE. Download the flood report and the Whoso Reads booklet, and the Day of the Lord booklet, and VERIFY these MULTIPLE unlikely coincidences occurring ON TOP OF EACH OTHER for yourself. Revelation 11:6 says that the two witnesses have control over the weather, so to me, this was quite a coincidence. Of course, the two witnesses failed to materialise when Robert Ardis' second timeline start date arrived, and this timeline was WRONG. I actually believe Mr Ardis, along with most of the church splits, was using an incorrect holy day count, and making mistakes based on this false premise. Mr. Ardis still refuses to see this... And... how can the following be explained? These synchronicities (coincidences?) ALL apply to me: I clearly had a miracle, influencing the weather for 24 hours, which defies all random probability analysis. It's interesting that the two witnesses also have CONTROL OVER THE WEATHER (Rev.11:6) The timing was exactly 1260 days (Rev. 11:3) before Robert Ardis two witness date prediction I was born near, or on, the start date for taking the gospel to the world (see my ABOUT ME page) I personally WITNESSED the fulfilment event of taking the gospel to the world (see my ABOUT ME page) I was disfellowshipped from ‘Laodicea’ (Gerald Flurry's "Philadelphia Church of God") just a few months previous to this, merely for being ONE, out of only TWO WITNESSES, (there were only two) at a friends wedding, that that church, not God, disapproved of (and I'm still indignant about this!) What are the odds for this, on top of the other coincidences? Mr. Robert Ardis first timeline introduced the two witnesses into his chart on Dec. 14th. -- my birthday What are the odds for this also? Inexplicably, soon after noting these flood coincidences, I came across the following URL: http://www.mail-archive.com/surname-origins-l@rootsweb.com/msg00840.html As you can see, it gives the meaning for my surname, Binnion. It explains that this name means anvil. Then, for an illustration of my name being used in history, it gives an example of two men who are TWO WITNESSES to the death of a martyr! (If it's not the same as mine, does your surname just happen to have an example of two witnesses attached to it?) An anvil is a large piece of stone or metal used to smite something against, and shape it. The name Binnion means anvil. It also means a man of fortitude (see the sentence highlighted in yellow in this article about the two witnesses written in 1859), and also means upright and just (read another ref. describing the name here). We know Christ is the rock of the Bible, and all nations will be beaten, and cut to pieces falling against that rock, Christ. The same can be said of the two witnesses, as they are types, through whom Christ will work, as they begin the process of the smiting of the nations and the smiting of the earth in power (Rev 11:6, Dan 2:34) with justice (Rev 15:3). (So again, this surname just happens to be a perfect fit.) (E) Multiply 30,240,000,000 by AT LEAST another 1000, for TWO examples of my name fitting, ON TOP OF just SOME of SEVERAL MORE coincidences.      Running Total = 30,240,000,000,000 chances to 1, or GREATER. --That's over 1 in 30 TRILLION ODDS against ALL these things happening in my life!       There are even more unlikely coincidences /synchronicities that I have not listed here. By themselves they mean little. Put together, they're very strange! I am NOT claiming to be one of the two witnesses.. and actually, I don't want that job! At the moment I'm waiting for the real two witnesses to turn up and abolish this possibility --That would be nice! Who else is a candidate, and fits the correct profile? I'd love to know! The Latter Rain Actually, it seems the two witnesses may NOT make much H2O water flood upon the earth... Strictly speaking, it seems they mainly WITHHOLD rain, or turn water into blood -- Rev. 11:6 However, it may be, at some future time, whenever it is that the two witnesses do prevent the clouds from giving forth normal rain, that the SPIRITUAL LATTER RAIN (mentioned in Joel 2:23 and indicated in Joel 2:29) will fall instead!   Next, read "Who Now Hold's God's Government On Earth Today?"

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