The Valley of Megiddo

In the Hebrew tongue: Armageddon

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      The Valley of Megiddo, also called the Plain of Esdraelon, or the Plain of Jezreel in in Northern Israel between the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. The battle of Armageddon, according to the prophesy of the Apostle John in Revelation, will be fought in this region. In fact, in the Hebrew language, Megiddo is translated as Armageddon.

      All of the world's armies will gather to attempt to overthrow the Antichrist, in which the Antichrist will turn the battle around and wipe the Jews from the face of the earth. From there, Jesus and His armies will appear in the East of the valley and bring judgment to the armies and the Antichrist.
      Revelation 16:16-21

¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,^[a] fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
      As you have read from me in the past, God has a standard that will not be mocked, second guessed or assumed upon without judgment. At Armageddon (Megiddo), God will pour His wrath out on all man-kind for the last time before opening the abyss of Hell and condemning Satan and his demons for all time in the second death. In this same time, all of the people of the history of the world who have rejected God and Jesus, will be cast into the lake of fire after their judgment.
      Many say, "A loving God will not send the people He loves to hell."
      That is partially true to some extent, depending on one's point-of-view. God does not send a person to hell for no reason. Man is an intruder in hell. Hell was intended for Satan and his demons. However, on the last day at the Great White Judgment Throne of God when each non-believer is judged according to whether or not their name is in the Lamb's Book of Life, there will be people that we know and millions to billions more that will be cast into the lake of fire.
      God is holy. He can not be in the presence of sin. Once the church has been called away in the great disappearance (the rapture), their chances of receiving salvation are gone, despite what the movies say. A non-believer, who is dead in their trespasses, will have no other place to go but hell, as their rejection of God and Jesus, the Messiah has condemned them alone. To blame God for their condemnation is to say that He is to blame for the sin in their life.
      People, we have to start taking responsibility for the decisions that we make and the paths that we choose to take in life. There is way too much comfort in sin going on in today's society, and way too many people justifying their sin with the philosophy that today's society is different than the society in Jesus' time. Actually, things are really much the same. The quality of life, technology and lifestyles in general have advanced, but there was still a great deal of comfort, self-entitlement and self-centered justification in sin in the mass population back then as well. Granted, there were stiff criminal penalties for some of the lifestyles from that era, which contributes to the loosely held philosophy by many; but the comfort in sin was still present. They have had their time to turn to the will of God. If they failed to do so, they will have to answer to God for their lack of faith in Him.
      It is evident, however, that as long as there is breath in a person's lungs, a heart beating in their hearts and life left in their veins, they still have a chance to put their faith in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Failure to do so, will unfortunately place many people at the Valley of Megiddo for the battle of Armageddon. This is one war that God does not want us as people to participate in, neither does He want us to be in the situation where He has to tell us, "Depart from me, you who work iniquity, I never knew you."  
      It is not God's will that anyone be lost and condemned to hell. The Bible says, "Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That scripture applies to all of man-kind. There is none that is alive, will be alive, or ever was alive that was not intended to share in the love, acceptance, and salvation of the Lord as the bride of Christ. We, the church, have the greatest opportunity of all to secure the futures of millions and millions of people for Christ, as the great commission is to "Go into all the world and make disciples of nations."
      What is the ministry that God has called you to? What is it's mission for saving people from the lake of fire and empowering them with the word of God to stand against the wiles of the devil and avoid the battle that infinitely belongs to the Lord? Make it a meaningful one and send it to the world around you in such a way that you start out acting locally, thinking globally. It has to start somewhere. Where it goes from there, depends on where you stand in the will of God.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative

The Valley of Mizpah

The "Watchtower" of God over a divided Israel

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      Genesis 31:48-50
      48Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore it was named Galeed, 49and Mizpah, for he said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. 50"If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me."
      Judges 11:10-12
      10The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is witness between us; surely we will do as you have said." 11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah. 12Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, "What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?"
      Hosea 5:1-2
      1Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor. 2The revolters have gone deep in depravity, But I will chastise all of them."
      Judges 11:29-30
      29Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. 30Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,"
      In Israel's very checkered past, God was witness to dissension, spilt of tribes, brother betraying brother, an entire race disobeying God and breaking their covenant and the ultimate betrayal of His only Son, Jesus, as the Jews called for His crucifixion. The Valley of Mizpah is the region just north of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The tribes of  Benjamin inhabited the region of Mizpah.
     In scripture, the events surrounding the valley seemed to constantly involve division or separation of tribes through betrayal and a lack of brotherly love for one another, unlike God commanded of them. The valley's elevation at its highest point is 6,047-feet; certainly high enough for it's leaders to watch over the land and maintain the peace of its citizens from attacks from enemy tribes. However, it was the betrayal from within that the people in the region needed to worry about the most.
      In that the region saw much division among its people, it was also the place of many a victory over the enemies of Israel such as is spoken of in Joshua 11:7-9
      "⁷ So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them, ⁸ and the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left. ⁹ Joshua did to them as the Lord had directed: He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots."
      Joshua was a great military leader of Israel after Moses died and God put him in charge. Joshua also won victories in battle against enemies such as Jericho, Ai, the Amorite kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish , Eglon and Gibeon. God gave Joshua the gift if immortality in battle and allowed him to live a long, successful life as the leader of Israel. Joshua died at 110-years-old.
      The battle in the Valley of Mizpah was one of Joshua's and Israel's most celebrated victories. What battles are you facing in life? The Lord of Lords is seated at His "Watchtower" at a point much higher than the Valley of Mizpah, and is ever interceding in the lives of His chosen people, whom He has called and has set apart as a holy race of royalty in His name, for His glory. One might say that the power that He gave Joshua over his enemies, God is also offering to you this very day. It is no accident that you are reading this. God ordains everything that we do for His purpose, in His timing.
      Call on God today to help you through whatever trials you are facing. He will help you and keep you from going down in defeat, and under in retreat. God will stand with you, carry you and sustain you as He carries you through it all!

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative
     

The Valley of the Shadow of Death

The history behind the metaphor

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      King David wrote hundreds of songs that were compiled into one book of the Bible called Psalms. In the 23rd Psalm, David made mention  of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He spoke about the comfort that he had in the Lord when danger came upon him. When he was a boy, a lion tried to kill him and his father's flock of sheep. Because David trusted in God and took heart against the beast, he overcame the threat of death as the lion fell at his feet. But did you know that the valley that David spoke of was an actual place?
      It is believed traditionally, that as Mary and Joseph were traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Jesus was born, that the valley between Jericho and Bethlehem was a spot where Mary stopped to rest as she was weary from travel and very pregnant with Jesus. In fact, she would give birth to Jesus only a day or so later after arriving in Bethlehem. This valley where she rested was the same valley where David tended his father's sheep; the Valley of the Shadow of death.
      The name was given to the valley because of the dangers that lurked within the walls of the canyons in the mountain range east of Bethlehem. Many wild, treacherous animals made their homes in the range of mountains. So why would Mary and Joseph travel that path? Why would Jesse have his young son David watch his flock in that region? West of the town of Bethlehem, where David lived, Samaritans robbed and plundered and were a threat to anyone who passed that way. People would have rather have trusted the dangers of the animals than the cunning of the band of thieves that came from Samaria.
      David wrote of still waters and green pastures that the Lord led him through. Even though the majority of the land between Bethlehem and Jericho was desert and wilderness with all kinds of dangers around every corner, the peace that passed all of his fleshly understanding came upon him as his faith in God was greater than his fear of the wilderness. No matter what he faced as far as dangers of the world, that peace from his faith in God helped him to press on. Even when facing the Giant Philistine, Goliath of Gath, David showed no fear, but stood with all authority under heaven, given to him by God, as he told Goliath that because he blasphemed God and did not have respect and reverence for the Lord, he was going to fall to Israel. He pressed on and won the fight.
      Metaphoric valleys are an every day occurrence in our lives that come upon us and test our faith. God says in the His word that we are to take it as a blessing when trials and valleys come our way, because they are how we grow in the strength and victory of the Lord so that He is glorified. When we try to handle the situation on our own, we fall flat on our faces and run away like a scalded dog, instead of standing in victory and overcoming adversity by allowing God to lead us in our circumstances. And sadly, all too often, we allow our circumstances to dictate our direction in life. Avoiding trials when they come does us no good. Situations don't just disappear when we ignore them. Bills don't pay themselves.
      Calling upon the name of the Lord will afford us the victory over our struggles and trials. When we do, He will be faithful to deliver us from evil. We have not because we ask not, or we ask for the wrong reasons. When we pray, we need to pray for God's will to be done, not just pray asking for vain things like winning the lottery or winning the heart of the lady or man that caught our eyes. That might not be what the Lord has for us. When we choose to go around the blessings that God has for us by wanting things of this world, the Bible says that we grieve the Holy Ghost.
      Seek the will of God and His righteousness, and He will add it unto you. Pray that His will be done and not our own. Even Jesus, who had every right to ask for what He wanted because of His righteous perfection, asked for God's will to be done, knowing He was facing death of the cross. When we seek the will of God, He will reveal it to us and our reward will be an eternal one.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative