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The False Prophet  
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But if ye turn unto me,
and keep my commandments, and do them;
though there were of you cast out
unto the uttermost part of the heaven,
yet will I gather them from thence,
and will bring them unto the place
that I have chosen to set my name there.

SO far, we have only studied prophetic days. In every instance we
found them to be years. But day=years are not the only duration
of  prophetic  time  in  the  Bible.  Twice  in  Daniel,  and  once  in
Revelation, there is the expression "time, times, and half a time."
So how long is a time? Look at these times in Daniel:

his hand until a time and times and the dividing of

and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power
of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

Is a time a year like the day=years? One thing for sure, a time is
not a year. Here is how we know. The Hebrew word for day is
yom. The Hebrew and High Syriac words for time (as used in Dan

 Time, Times & a Half  69

7:25 and 12:7) are iddan and moadah.1 Surely, the Creator of the
universe knows the difference between iddan, moadah and yom.
Of course, and He gave us a yom for a year, not an iddan or a
moadah for a year. So  iddan (time), and moadah (time), must
mean something else. Let's call them time durations "X."

And what about the cryptic way in which those words were
used, "time, times, and the dividing of a time?" How many "times"
do we have there? As is true of English, Hebrew is full of idiomatic
language. For instance, the Hebrew idiom "cut off" means to kill.
"Ate the pieces of" means to bring malicious accusations against,
and so on. Is "time, times, and the dividing of a time" also an
idiom? Let's see if there is Scripture to support that hypothesis:

perceiveth it not.  

Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea,
twice; but I will proceed no further.

that power belongeth unto God.

In the above, once is one, and twice is only one more, for a
total of two: 1+1=2. A singular one followed by a plural twice is
only two. In the same way, a singular time followed by a plural
times might be only two. Only two! The words are different, but
the idiomatic form is the same. If the Lord had said, "time, yea
times" we might have seen it instantly.

Now let's employ the same idiomatic language  to interpret
time, times, and half a time. Time = one; times = one more, for a
total of two times. Add a half a time and we have two and a half

1  DAY= H3117. yowm, yome: from an unused root mean. to be hot; a day (as the
TIME= H5732. 'iddan, (Chaldean), id-dawn': from a root corresponding. to that
of H5708; a set time. TIME= H4150. mow'ed, mo-ade'; or mo.ed mo-ade'; or
(feminine) mow'adah  (H2  Chron. 8 :13), mo-aw-daw': from H3259; prop. an
appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season.

 70  The False Prophet

times, or 1+1+1/2 = 2-1/2.1 That is pretty  simple, isn't it? So why
have people been saying that "time, times, and half a time" are
three and a half years? Who knows? Probably because it fits the
Seven-Year tribulation scheme. However, Hebrew scholars have
told me their grammar does not support 3-1/2 times as the correct
translation for that idiom.

(Webmaster add-on:  From the Tanach - ...that in the time of [two] times and a half,...)

All right, so "time, times, and half a time" are two and a half
times. But if a time isn't a year, how long is it? Daniel understood
day=years, but he didn't understand time. Why? Because day=
years were defined for him in Old Testament scriptures while time
was  not.  In  fact,  time  was  not  defined  until  late  in  the  New
Testament epistles:

one day [Greek word, hemera] is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day.

On the surface that sure doesn't look like much of a definition
for time, does it? It certainly doesn't work in English. But some-
thing is wrong here. God has already given us the definition for
day. He gave us a day for a year. Is the Lord changing His
definition of prophetic days here? Not at all. We can prove that
the correct interpretation for prophetic days is still years by the 42
months and 1260 days of Revelation that we just studied.

What we have here is an "X with the Lord is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is as an X." So how do we solve for
"X"?  By  doing a word study in Greek, which was the original
language of the New Testament. The Greek word translated "day"
in 2 Pe 3:8 is hemera, ( Z:?D").2 Hemera is an ambiguous word

1  Sorry about this 1+1 stuff. I know I am getting down on the kindergarten level,
but this seems the easiest way to explain the concept.
2  Strong's No. G2520. hemera, hay-mer.-ah: feminine. (with G5610 implied) of a
der. of hemai (to sit; akin to the base of G1476) several days were usually reckoned
by the Jews as inclusive of the parts of both extremes; fig. a period (always defined
more or less clearly by the context): age, + always, forever, judgment, (day) time,
while, years.

 Time, Times & a Half  71

sometimes translated: period, moment, season, year, and, guess
what ... Time. So what is the correct translation here? In Greek,
context often determines translation, but in the above verse, the
correct translation cannot be established with certainty because
context does not  suggest  the  correct concept. Understandably,
translators went with "day," which is the most common usage, but
that may not be correct. Hemera is translated time in four verses
in the KJV, and twelve verses in the NASB. So time is a very accep-
table  translation.  Is  it possible that duration "X" is a thousand

If time is a thousand years, and we have 2? of them, then
"time, times, and half times" could be 2500 years. Thus far, we
have only a supposition. But that is all we had for day=years until
we started plugging them into history. Let's see if there is an exact
2500 year historic fit that fulfills the Bible's description of these
times right to the year.

After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon died in 562BC, each of his
three sons ruled for a couple of years.1 The kingdom was very
unstable. Though the archives don't tell us a lot about it, reading
about those Middle Eastern empires from secular sources gives us
a  picture  of  what  must  have  been  going  on  there.  King
Labashi-Marduk was murdered as a mere child. Daniel must have
been walking on eggs to avoid the plots and political intrigue in
the Babylonian court. Many of his fellow rulers in Babylon hated
him and some even plotted his death (Dan 6:4-13). However, the
Lord protected Daniel in that harrowing environment.

Then in 555BC, a nephew  of Nebuchadnezzar named
Nabonidus seized the throne. He proved to be a very able ruler.
However, he couldn't stomach the Babylonian court life, so three
years later, in 552, he chose a close relative, Belshazzar, to rule

1 Nebuchadnezzar was  succeeded by his eldest son Awel-Marduk - the Evil-
Merodach of 2 Kings 25:27-30 (561-560BC). Awel-Marduk was followed by
Neriglissar (560-558 BC), who was succeeded by Labashi-Marduk (557BC).

 72  The False Prophet

the empire  for  him.  Then Nabonidus  spent  the  rest  of  his  life
wandering around Arabia, doing archeological digs and writing
lots of poetry.1

During these turbulent times, the Lord gave Daniel the vision
of four great beasts coming up out of the sea.2 Scripture tells us
when this was, right to the year, "In the 1st year of Belshazzar"
(Dan 7:1). In pictorial language, the vision then describes the four
great kingdoms that were to rule in the Holy Land during the time
of the Gentiles. At the end of that prophecy, the Lord tells Daniel
about times:

Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the Most
High and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and

Sometimes our doctrines  get messed up because we don't
think about who the Lord is speaking to, or when. In this instance,
the Lord is speaking to Daniel in 552BC.

So in Daniel's day, who spoke out against God? Then, as now,
Satan speaks out against God. Who were the saints in Daniel's
time? The Jews, of course. So from 552BC, when this prophecy
was given, the Lord is telling Daniel that the Jews would be under
satanically controlled Gentile powers for two and a half times, or
possibly 2500 years. That the Holy Land would be ruled by Gentile
strangers far into the future. Now let's run that up and down the
framework of history and see what it fits. Since the definition for
time was given  in the New Testament, we don't even need to

1  To date, there is no direct archeological evidence for 552BC being the 1st year
of the Belshazzar's regency. However, that date can be supported by correlating
evidence  about  the  reign  of  Nabonidus.  John Walvoord,  The  Key  to  Prophetic
Revelation (Chicago, Moody Press, 1971) p. 115 accepts a 553BC Belshazzar dating,
and most authorities recognize a one to three year ambiguity in Old Testament
2  The sea is the peoples of the Earth (Rev 17:15): "The waters which thou sawest

 Time, Times & a Half  73

convert from Hebrew to solar years to fit our calendar. A simple
subtraction will do just fine:

2500 - 552BC = 1948AD, and new Israel!

Just a lucky hit? If that is not the correct interpretation, then
it has to be one of the most remarkable  coincidences  in  all  of
recorded history. It fits Scripture and history, right to the year. But
remarkable as that fulfillment of prophecy may be, we would still
have only a theory if it was the only 2500 year time period that fit


God is so kind. When He takes the blinders off, He gives enough
proof  for us  to know  for sure  that we are headed  in  the right
direction. At the end of Daniel's prophetic ministry, God gave him
another vision containing times. This prophecy also includes the
1290 days which led us to understand that the Dome of the Rock
is the Abomination that makes Desolate. This vision may be dated
to the third year of Cyrus the Persian, or 533BC:

 74  The False Prophet

was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called
Belteshazzar .

Daniel was now a very old man. He knew he was going to go
to be with the Lord soon. The temple mount had been abandoned
and sacrifices abolished during his own lifetime. He knew that an
Abomination of Desolation was going to stand on that beloved
temple mount in less than 1300 years. Would the Jews ever
control  Jerusalem  again?  Of  course.  Many  Old  Testament
Scriptures told him so. But when? The Lord told him that as well,
right to the year, but then hid it so that no one would know when
that time would be, until it happened:

for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and half; and when
he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy
people, all these things shall be finished.

Three years earlier, Cyrus had given a decree that would permit
the Jews to return to their homeland. They had begun their trek
back to the Holy land, and soon they would begin to build the 2nd
temple. That temple stood until 70AD, when the Jews were driven
from  the  land  again.  But  God  knew  the  end  of  this  second
dispersion, too. He knew that at the end of it, the Jews would
return  to  the  Holy  Land  one  more  time  and  again  control
Jerusalem. When was the vision given? In 533BC, the third year
of Cyrus. So this "time, times, and half a time" should begin in the
third year of Cyrus:

2500 - 533BC = 1967AD

Jerusalem freed of Gentile control!

 Time, Times & a Half  75


Note: When the Jews again took control of Jerusalem in 1967, the "scattering of
the power of the holy people" was over. Daniel was a prophet to the time of the
Gentiles.  Daniel's prophecies were, in the main, fulfilled in 1967AD. This does not
include the last half of Dan 8, which directly states that it is a vision of "the ultimate
time of the end."

The Lord even worded the last phrase of that prophecy in such
a way that it would be difficult to miss His intent: ".... and when he
shall have accomplished to scatter [or shatter, NASB] the power
of the holy people, all these things  shall be finished." As of
1967AD, His holy people, the Jews, were no longer scattered
among the Gentiles. They have their nation again, and their power
is shattered no longer.


There is a third time in Daniel that proves a prophetic "time"
to be a thousand years. The four beasts of Daniel 7 are understood
to be the great Gentile empires that would rule in the Holy Land
during  the  time  of  the  Gentiles.  The  first  three  beasts  were
Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The fourth beast, Rome, fell in
476AD (more on these empires in a later chapter). The Moslems

 76  The False Prophet

came on the scene soon after Rome fell, but the Moslems were not
granted world dominion like the empires that came before them;
however, the Lord did permit the Islamic states to rule in the Holy
Land for a "season and a time":

Daniel 7:11-12 I beheld even till the [4th] beast [Rome] was
slain,  and  his  body  destroyed,  and  given  to  the  burning
flame.  As  concerning  the  rest  of  the  beasts [the  Islamic
nations of the Middle East], they had their dominion taken
away: yet their lives [in the holy Land] were prolonged for a
season and time.

If time is 1000 years and there are four seasons, then a season
would  be  1/4th of a time, or  250 years. 1000+250=1250.
Remembering that a season is not an exact number and could
fluctuate a week or two either way, this "season and time" fits
history well, indeed.

New Israel became a nation a "Season and Time,"
(1260 years) after the Dome of the Rock was built.

We  have  seen  three  examples,  from  Daniel  alone,  of  time
fitting history, when time is understood to be a thousand years.
Consequently, it is unrealistic to hold that prophetic times mean
anything else. Brethren, I'll accept time=1000 years as a
coincidence  once,  but  not  three  times.  These  solutions  span
thousands  of  years,  from  historic  events  that  took  place  in
antiquity  to  historic  events  that  have  taken  place  in  our  own
lifetimes. That is a statistical impossibility, so we no longer have
just a theory; we have a sound biblical and historically supportable

1  There is a further message in Dan 12:7: "all these things shall be finished" shows
that all events predicted in Daniel's last vision, including "Michael standing up,"
were fulfilled by 1967.This brings to an end the contention that Dan 11:36-45 is
about some period in our future or about a coming antichrist. These verses are all

 Time, Times & a Half  77


In times and day=years, we have a solid empirical argument, a
prophetic jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces interlock with each
other. We can argue about the placement, color, or shape of any
one piece, but when the whole puzzle  is put  together, we can
stand back and view a completed picture. It's not so  easy to
discredit a prophetic picture in which all the elements fit perfectly.

 78  The False Prophet

If it is not of God, it will crumble back into its original pieces on its
own; however, if it is of God, it will remain and flourish, no matter
who comes against it (Act 5:35-39).

These day=year and time prophecies are truly remarkable.
They show the sovereignty of a timeless God over the affairs of
men in a way that is difficult to dispute, and they do so over eons
of time. Despite the best efforts of the enemy and the complexity
of 2500 years of history, God not only foreknew what was going
to happen in the Holy Land, but He managed history in such a way
that what the Bible prophesied did take place, right to the year, at
His chosen location, in His chosen time. Astounding.


Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio, 11/20/2001, 11:18am
The three Shavei Shomron residents who were wounded in
yesterday's  attempted  terrorist  murder  outside  their
community  are  still  hospitalized.  Shimrit  Haibi,  17,  is  in
moderate-to-serious condition, her  father Ya'ir  is  listed  in
moderate condition, and Rabbi Yehoshua Shmidt was lightly
hurt. The three were travelling in a taxi when they were hit
by several rounds of fire. Rabbi Shmidt told Arutz-7 today
that though two bullets passed  through his kippah
(skullcap), "G-d protects us, and my head was only grazed."

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started this book from the beginning rather than clicking "next