I took some time out this Easter morning to read the news. Lo and behold, even on an Easter morning, the Signposts were lurking. The following story appeared in the news –
Short of Money, Egypt Sees Crisis on Fuel and Food
It seems that since secular leader Mubarak was removed from office two years ago by the Islamists (in Egypt they are known as the Muslim Brotherhood), tourism has been suffering in Egypt. Because of the loss of tourist dollars and euros, the government’s reserve of foreign currency has fallen from $36 billion to $13 billion in just two years. And with a severe shortage of cash the Egyptian government can no longer import all the fuel and wheat the country needs. The bottom-line is that if the current conditions continue there will be a severe food shortage in Egypt.
This is a reminder of the conditions that will occur during the Third Signpost, as written about in my book Hidden In Plain Sight. The Third Signpost will begin with the breaking of the Third Seal which releases the rider on the black horse:
“When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ’Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ’A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” (Revelation 6:5-6)
There will be food, but it will be expensive, in part due to its production using fuel at high prices. When Iran has invaded the Middle East during the Second Signpost and cut off the Gulf oil, prices of oil and fuel will spike.
Today, Egypt is experiencing a fuel shortage only due to a shortage of cash. During the Third Signpost, a fuel shortage will be experienced across the Islamic realm due to high oil prices. Then as now, food will become much more expensive.
Today’s fuel shortage in Egypt is a preview of the Third Signpost.
Happy Easter everyone! May our risen Lord return soon!
Categories: In The News, Signpost #3: Four Nations
THE FOUR SIGNPOSTS 
Happy Easter because He has risen indeed!
Even tho’ the shortages are localized to Egypt currently, the rippling affect of the 2nd signpost paralleling the 2nd Horseman on the red horse of the Apocalypse (i.e. Iran seizing and restricting Mid East oil production) will nearly be immediately felt and ushering in the 3r Horseman of the black horse of the Apocalypse in my mind. With restriction of energy because of Iran’s actions, inflation will be astronomical on a global scale. Just like the case in Egypt now, but to a far lesser degree the cable news reporting shows large-scale riots in the streets due to food/energy shortages.
Except if Iran does as you propose in your book, the result will be felt on a world-wide scale. Then global inflation kicks in because of the food/energy shortages. What does it mean when the living creature says do not harm the oil or wine? Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.
Btw, I sent an email to a church elder I know and tho’ he is skeptical about how I “think” I know so much about prophetic Scripture when he doesn’t know himself just goes to show how much Satan does not want the Body of Christ to be aware of what might happen and the nearness of the return of Jesus. Truly, I think you might be on to something here, Mark. If God is with you and your interpretation of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is correct, the unseen spiritual battle is raging in the mind of this elder. The followers of your blog’s job and you are to inform the body of Christ to the best of your ability.
I see my role as informer as God allows events to unfold through prophetic Scripture. Once the information is communicated, then decision-making rests with Church Elders and Pastors. But until then…it will be an up hill battle fought in prayer…
Hi Mark,
You are quite right in your comments. Shortage of food is the tinderbox for revolutions and Islam is particularly ripe for this sort of action. The Iranians must be watching developments with a keen eye for the right moment to strike. It is quite alarming though that so few people are aware of what is happening in the Middle East let alone interested. Of course with the “Church” prostituting herself with Islam or any other religion for that matter in an effort to appear tolerant, highlighting the “Signposts” falls on deaf ears. However, you must keep right on writing and warning. Thank the Lord for the watchmen He has put in place.
Sharon
Julie,
The inflation will be in fuel prices and therefore food prices – such as in staples like wheat and barley. As far as the oil and wine are concerned, I cover your question in the book pp 204-7. “Not harming” means that the prices for those commdities won’t rise, just as they did not rise during the food price crisis of 2008.
And it looks like you’ve encountered the battle. Satan absolutely does not want this message getting out. And thank you, Julie, as I’ve written about before, that if anyone has read this book and agrees with it they need to tell their brothers and sisters and pastor about it. Hopefully the attention-getter will be the new position in the government of Iran rather than waiting for the invasion itself. By then it will be too late to prepare, assuming one can prepare at all.
Thank you for your prayers and work, sister.
Mark,
Another question, if I may, I don’t mean to highjack your topic thread here…but here goes, and it is about event sequencing, if such a thing is possible. Maybe a better definition is prophetic “war gaming.”
It would seem to me that the West and in particular, the USA, would need to be incapacitated both economically and militarily for Iran to “do as the ram pleases with none to stop it” correct? So then before Iran can make such a bold and daring move into Mid East oil producing countries, the USA must experience nothing short of an economic collapse before Iran feels confident enough to do what you suggest in your book. Or will such a “collapse” not matter when (not if anymore) Iran obtains deployable nuclear weapons and then use the threat of them against Iran’s oil-rich neighbors?
I am just thinking out loud as to what to look next for in addition to the internal switch of Iranian leadership.
Thanks so much for your patience to the “trying to understand” posters…I hope others like me are out there lurking have the same questions.
No problem, Julie. Of course the Bible is silent on how the invasion starts and exactly why Iran is allowed to invade, for it simply says Iran does. There are of course logical reasons one could think of like in this post and this post.
I do believe that once Iran has the oil fields, the petrodollar system of the U.S. and thus the government’s ability to borrow will be destroyed. It could literally be overnnight or it could take weeks. But the question remains of how Iran gets there.
I’ve had the growing feeling – and its only speculation – that the U.S. may very well attack Iran to stop its nukes, but the attack goes badly for the U.S. because of unexpected tactics and events on Iran’s part. If U.S. forces are hurt badly in the opening day, then Iran may feel bold enough to run out. Russia and China won’t stop them, and Europe will have no stomach for it. But this is only speculation.
On the other hand this scenario seems fitting in a way. The U.S. has its fingerprints all over the First Signpost by orchestrating it, and the Third Signpost by encouraging it. So why wouldn’t the U.S. be involved in the Second Signpost by triggering it?
These are good questions. You and anyone else please feel quite free to ask away and discuss.
Mark
I know my Elder who also is my Bible Class teacher is a trained lawyer so he will have to step outside of logical western thought…and I too have a legal background, tho’ not a lawyer but worked in legal services for many years. In his email, he said we will need to have a talk and he appears, and I think it is wise for now, to have a healthy dose of skepticism regarding this unless or until certain events play out to check against the “Platinum Standard” of the faithful and true Scriptures. I suspect you agree. For now your interpretation is a well-researched prophetic theory and must be tested against the truth of the Word of God.
If this comes to pass and is no longer theory, God will prove it true in light of His Word in due time. Pray, watch, report and if not, then know you would not be the first to fail and we must all adjust our thinking knowing prophetic Scripture is always progressive revelation. True prophecy students never ever give up.
However, I have come to learn something in my favorite hobby that is extremely helpful in understanding God’s Word, especially when it comes to the prophetic word. When studying prophetic Scriptures, it is most wise to study directly from the Orthodox Jewish Bible. Any other translation no matter how well intentioned may obscure the real intent of the author. Thereby, possibly missing highly relevant and vital information in understanding.
I found that very helpful to me and of course, I did not know this for much of my pursuit through trial and error. Hope this is helpful.
How are Egypt and Syria going to be able to participate in an alliance with Turkey and Albania to beat back Iran for the third signpost? With all their internal problems, I can’t see where they would have any military resources to fight against Iran, unless this won’t occur for about 10 years. How long do you expect Iran to hold onto the countries it conquers?
Julie,
You touched on some weighty issues in your last comment, but that makes for a good comment. I had to spend some time thinking about it. How much do I say or how much do I hold back? I could write a long post or the chapter of a book in order to properly discuss some of these things. Again, this is all good. I’ll try to keep it brief and hopefully I’ll hit on the most important points.
Since writing Hidden In Plain Sight, I’ve given a lot of thought to what the message would do to impact the theological community and even church history, if the message is true. All of us (the church) have been educated and conditioned on the same set of ideas framing the end times, and it started with Hippolytus around AD 200. He was the first to speculate (or declare) what Daniel 7 and 8 meant. As an example, he guessed that the lion with wings was ancient Babylon in the time of Daniel even though Daniel 7:17 says that these beasts are kingdoms that will rise in the future relative to Daniel.
I’ve also come to realize what Daniel 8:26, 12:4 and 12:9 are saying in regards to concealment. God said the prophecies of Daniel are concealed because they are sealed up until the time of the end. (Perhaps man’s need to explain things is why there are commentaries on sealed prophetic passages, written over the last many centuries. Or maybe there are so many commentaries because men are hoping they are living in the time of the end and so the words are hopefully unsealed and what they see are the unsealed words.) The popular framework today defining Daniel 7 and 8 is based on a speculation 18 centuries before the present time. The Hebrew word for concealed is catham (Strong’s #5640, saw-tham’) and it means to conceal, to keep secret. The hebrew word for sealing is similar. It is khatham (Strong’s #2856, khaw-tham’) and it means to seal, to fasten, to stop.
That same word, khatham, is used in Isaiah. God tells the Jews in Isaiah 29:11 that a prophecy He gives them that is sealed means the people won’t be able to understand, period. And it is such that a person is asked to read the sealed words, but the person responds in Isaiah 29:11, “I can’t; it is sealed.” So do we have any business declaring with certainty that our 1,800-year-old interpretation is platinum, when God is telling us it is hidden until now? You even wrote “until certain events play out to check against the ‘Platinum Standard’ of the faithful and true Scriptures.” What I find interesting about that statement is that even though you have read and agree with the book’s message, you can still write about comparing events to this new message versus the platinum standard of the Bible. And yet, the Bible itself can be said to be “platinum” but we cannot say the same about any interpretation. Your statement infers that the current popular 18-century-old picture is what is platinum, that we are possibly labeling something the Bible isn’t saying, as platinum. I know that’s not what you are saying but that is what comes across. But I don’t fault you because this is how we were all raised to think and believe.
You mention “logical western thought.” It’s that logical western thought that has propagated the words of a Roman church father, and has disregarded the history of Rome, Persia, and Islam over the centuries in order to hold to that popular thought. It is so engrained that of course skepticism is natural. And I know first-hand it can take months and years to break out of that old mindset. You mention the “platinum standard of the faithful and true Scriptures.” But the only true platinum standard is the Bible itself, not an interpretation of sealed up prophecy. Jude says that the Gospel was given to us once, for all. And that is true, and the church fathers did a wonderful job of interpreting the Gospel message that saves. But included in the Scriptures is a part that is sealed until the end times. We must not place our 1,800-year-old understanding of sealed prophecy on the same pedestal as our understanding of the open and plain basic Gospel message of Christ crucified and resurrected. That part was not sealed (thankfully). And that is why the Gospel was expounded correctly in the first century after the Apostles.
The interpretation I have derived of Daniel 7 and 8 in what may be the end times, was derived from considering every verse carefully, with no glossing over or ignoring verses, as well as a careful study of history. As an example of ignoring verses, the popular interpretation of Daniel 8 ignores Daniel 8:17, 19 and 26 – how else can they say that the goat’s horn is Alexander the Great? This new message also considers history when the popular picture does not – how else can Rome be thought of as the iron legs when Daniel 2:40 is staring them in the face?
I appreciate your suggestion of using the Orthodox Jewish Bible. I use several translations as well as interlinear versions using the original Hebrew and Greek. The Orthodox Jewish Bible can come in handy every now and then. One thing I did notice about it though is in Daniel 8 is it adds in parentheses the popular notes, such as Antiochus Epiphanes is the little horn, similar to what the Scoffield Bible does. These notes are meant to be helpful, but they are based again on that 1,800 year old interpretation – that’s how ubiquitous and deeply engrained these popular thoughts are. These notes are written into the Bible like they are the Bible itself.
I believe you know that I do not go beyond what is written in the Bible. My book reflects that. As an example, I can tell you what the action is that Iran is going to do, but to tell you how it begins I tell you we must speculate.
True, this new interpretation may be false and I won’t be the first or last to fail. But if this message is true I would rather be seen succeeding not so much because future events actually happen, but because the verse-by-verse exegesis and the study of history to assist in that exegesis is true, logical, and built on sound arguments. Sound Biblical teaching is all-important to me. The Bible’s end-time prophecy, past history, and future events must all mesh together logically. I look forward to the day when pastors and theologians will bother to see how the interpretation is put together. However, I must be real and know that this will come second – it is the future events unfolding that will grab most people’s attention.
So I will continue to watch and report. But I also invite the debate and discussion. I will be happy to debate with theologians or lawyers or whomever. I am a systems engineer by trade. I enjoy seeing all the myriad of details form a greater system, a greater whole. I enjoy and consider it a challenge to pay attention to every last detail across a wide range of fields, of history, of Scripture, and watch as a broader system, a broader greater interpretation emerges, as this new interpretation requires attention to many details.
And finally, this message is too important, if true, to just toss aside and forget about. My conscience is clear because I am doing what I believe with all my heart God would have me do and has prepared me to do.
And thank you sister for all you do. I sincerely hope I have not offended you in this long comment, for that was not my intention. You just said some things that touched on some weighty issues.
Mark
John,
Yes, that is something that has to be considered. When Iran runs out across the Middle East, their reason for doing so won’t be conquest for the sake of building a nationalistic empire, it will be for causing chaos to cause the Mahdi (Antichrist) to appear. It wouldn’t surprise me if their forces were spread rather thin. Though Albania’s forces are small, and Syria would be recovering from a civil war, nevertheless they will form a 4-nation confederacy with Turkey. Turkey will be the real power. The goat is what charges, where the horn is the man, the leader, who is the king or leader of “Yavan”. This will be the leader of Turkey. Even though Iran has conquered the Middle East, Turkey has the second largest military in NATO, second only to the United States in size. I wrote about all this in chapter 11 of the book, which deals with the Third Signpost.
Also, these four nations may have also fought off an advance from Iran, so banding together may be needed to combine war-weary militarys into a better fighting force. In Chapter 11 I also talk about why a leopard is used to symbolize this confederacy. There are specific reasons, just as there are specific reasons Iraq is compared to a lion and Iran is compared to a bear.
Mark
Thanks, Mark. It’s been a few months since I read your book, and I was so interested I read it quite quickly. I plan to read it again to pick up on some the more subtle points. On things to watch for the time to be ripe for Iran to attack, I think its a matter of relative strength of Iran over its neighbors. Libya, Egypt, and Syria are all self destructing. Yemen has problem with extremists. Don’t hear much about Jordan and Saudi Arabia, so appearently stable. Doesn’t Saudi Arabia have some military, including an air force? Once the US leaves Iraq and downsizes in Afghanstan, Iran’s position will be relatively strong, assuming the second horn growing up doesn’t cause much internal turmoil. Looks like the US’s attention could soon be drawn away to North Korea, freeing Iran to act. How quickly do you think Turkey responds to the Iranian actions?
John,
Another good question (about the response time). The simple answer is, I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say directly.
I do believe, however, that from the time of the beginning of the First Signpost, until the return of our Lord, is within one lifetime. It wasn’t developed in the book, but in this post. Jesus said it in Matthew 24.
We can all analyze it to death on our own. One lifetime? Take away the seven years for the Tribulation. Take away 32 years for the First Signpost. What does that leave – maybe 20 or 30 years total for Signposts 2, 3 and 4? And that’s about as far as we can go. So it might be days, months, or years. We’ll just have to watch.
Mark
Mark,
I was interested in your response to Julie’s input. I was out walking today and thinking about the “usual” understanding most people have on all this – revived Roman Empire/antichrist coming from that Empire etc, coupled with the other things going on – the Illuminati, powerful people in high places in USA, European Union etc and I wondered about it all.
It was after I had read Joel Richardson’s book “Mideast beast” I was first really challenged about Islam’s importance, then after reading your book “Four Signposts” I saw it so clearly. Prior to that for all my Christian life I had held the “usual” understanding, so I struggled with the concept of an Islamic antichrist and an expanded Islamic empire.
So today while I pondered all this it came to me that as Satan has had plenty of time for his plan to be put in place culminating with the Islamic antichrist coming from that caliphate, he has used history down through the centurys to do this. Today the European Union/Ulliminati revived Roman Empire etc understanding, although important because these entities are indeed a very real factor – it is Satanically engineered as a “red herring” for the “church”and anyone else who might just work it out for themselves. I always wondered within the wrong understanding I had where Islam fitted in and supposed that a battle with Israel would destroy it. Now I see that it as the main player (after Israel of course) but still find it quite remarkable so many Christians will not even discuss it. Satan must be delighted to have the so-called church looking the wrong way while he carries on with his masterplan. The “church” is now so far apostate that I doubt she could ever turn the right way now.
The remarks about the prophecy being sealed till the right time was interesting as every generation probably thought they were the generation to see the Lord’s return therefore in light of that they thought their understanding was correct and the book was unsealed. But the return of Israel to her land makes all the difference! That is the clue for the right time to unseal the prophecy.
I am so grateful to have read your book as it explains so much.
God bless you.
Sharon
Well said Sharon. I think you’ve articulated the situation well.
Mark
Since we are so far a field from the topic of this thread and I would think only biblical prophecy geeks (like me) generally are the ones who visit this blog spot, I would like to add a general prophesy comment, if I may, Mark. It would be most prudent of us to pay attention to the red moon eclipse tetrad appearances coming within 2014-2015 upon the LORD’s appointed feast days. These red moon tetrads during the Jewish feast days are potentially prophetically important because there is strong precedent for significant events to happen regarding Israel, specifically, and the Jewish people generally. And not only that, but there are two solar eclipses also happening within that same time period and tradition says are signs for the world (ie, gentile nations.) A total solar on the Jewish civil new year (Adar 29/Nissan1) and more importantly, a partial solar on the eve of Rosh HaShana which is the end of a Shimta cycle (Sabbatical). As if all this wasn’t enough…it is also according to Jewish rabbinical teachings I have been reading on line in study a Jubilee year in 2015! (Sharon, the Jubilee placement was wrong on the doc I sent you, my apologies!)
Are the “signs” aligning for significant events to take place very soon? It seems this is the case. Is Mark’s 2nd signpost coming to fruition during this time period? Will the State of Israel be in a time of all-out war? What will be the capacity of the USA to project her influence if she is hobbled economically or is defeated by surprise militarily against Iran?
There are many questions here. But the one thing we must do…is watch and Mark must continue to report and we must inform our church leaders as events in Scripture unfold to the best of our ability to those who will listen.
Amen, Julie.
On further reflection of Sharon’s last comment, though that term “red herring” is common enough as an idiom, wanting to be thorough I went ahead and looked up the definition of “red herring” in Wikipedia to see if the given definition was close to our situation here. Sure enough, Wikipedia says a red herring is “a logical fallacy that misleads or detracts from the actual issue.” So its not just any fallacy but more specifically one that seems logical. It is indeed, a perfect definition.
There are many places in the centuries-old belief of the Roman antichrist that a hole could be poked because the logic for such a position is based on wrong assumptions and ignorance of history.
Mark, That’s fascinating! I didn’t know the phrase had quite that exact meaning. I thought it was just a means of distraction. Absolutely fascinating. The phrase kept coming into my thoughts as I walked.
God bless
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
I thought the same thing you did, about the red herring. But I suppose in thinking about it, misleading or detraction can be a distraction too in certain situations. The term was first used in 1809 in political literature saying that a smoked red herring would distract hunting dogs from trailing a scent. The dogs were mislead or distracted, whatever the intent was.
Thanks for opening up this thought to begin with – the whole “red herring” thing.
Mark
I’m glad to see the interesting exchange here! Last Sunday I offered the Pastor of a grace bible church Mark’s book to read: I was politely turned down: He wouldn’t even accept it as He was working on a series of counselling messages.
Today I’m in Dallas meeting this evening with one of the professors of Dallas Theological Seminary: hoping to stir interest in real Islam: they recently hosted an “expert” on Islam from Fuller Seminary who gave quite a whitewash of Islam to the President of the DTS Mark Bailey. You can listen to it here:
I was saddened and disheartened by this interview. I hold DTS in high regard having helped produce bible teachers of high caliber: J Vernon McGee and Arnold Fruchtenbaum for example.
According to the DTS doctrinal statement the next major prophecy to be fulfilled will be the rapture so they like most of the Church, are not taking Islam seriously enough.
There are no books in the DTS library by Shoebat, Richardson, Jack Smith or Mark Davidson!
Well, I’ll report back on how my discussion with the DTS professor goes. If he’s open to reading it, I want to give him my copy of “Hidden In Plain Sight” to donate to the Library. I have a faint hope that by the reception of the Islamic endtimes paradigm, the school will REVIVE: it seems to be in a downward drift: grown fat and complacent: not lean and mean as in former years.
Bible Prophecy is the T Bone steak of Bible Study!
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy: Revelation 19:10 b
James,
It will be a battle all the way. I encountered the stonewalling of pastors out of the starting gate. So have others like Gabe and Dave.
Thanks for sharing your encounter, and for the video.
Yes, between a pre-Trib rapture and a Roman Antichrist they’re all asleep at the helm. I am hoping and praying that the Iranian government shuffle will help get people interested, and that there will be enough time betwen then and the actual invasion for people to catch on in large numbers. I believe that after the invasion begins it will be much harder to spread any message, at least by internet.
In the meantime we must take every opportunity to spread the word.
Mark
I met with a long time professor of Dallas Theological Seminary who has a keen interest in eschatology(study of future things). He politely listened to me and accepted my offer of Mark Davidson’s book Hidden in Plain Sight! Praise the Lord!
He said I could get back to him in one week as a followup.
He also said he would place it in the DTS library when he was done.
Hopefully DTS will then want to invite Mark for a lecture series.
James
Did you know that 40% of the world’s daily oil consumption comes thru the Straights of Hormuz? I did not until I read a chart and it is astounding that Iran borders these Straights! When the West becomes hobbled and unable to protect those Straights and the Western Church is sleeping because they are unprepared, how will they handle even this probable crisis let alone a future full fledged restored Islamic Caliphate! I tell you, they will not! It will only be the ones who have watched, prayed, fasted and understood the times that will be ready in mind, heart and soul to face it. It really is astounding how many should know better, but do not because as my Elder put it, “It is just too hard to figure out.” Really? Well, not anymore! It is plain as the nose on your face because the pieces fit! It doesn’t matter if believers are skeptical, all of us must continue to try!
James,
Its in the Lord’s hands now. Thanks James. We’ll see what happens.
Mark
Julie,
What will be especially hard for the United States when Iran takes over the oilfields will be the loss of the US Dollar as currency reserve of the world. The US government will then lose its ability to borrow at low interest rates, resulting in government workers and those dependent on government help being cut off, because spending will be drastically reduced. The misery will be widespread here.
And yes, there are many pieces to the puzzle but you are right, all the pieces do fit – the pieces of Scripture, of history, and of current events.
Mark