Lost Books of the Bible (155 page)

3. After this, two princes will arise to oppress the nations. Under their hands a very great famine will occur. The famine will take place in the right-hand section of the east and that nation will rise up against another nation and be driven out from their own borders.

4. Again another king will arise. He will be a deceitful man. He will order a golden image of Caesar to be made, set up, and worshipped in the house of God. Martyrdoms will be widespread.

5. Then the faith will return to the servants of the Lord, and holiness will greatly increase but so will distress and pain increase.

6. The mountains will be comforted (will comfort them?) and will drop down the sweetness of fire from its face, so that the (predestined) number of the saints may be completed.

7. After a little space of time a king will arise out of the east. He will be a lover of the law. He will cause all good and necessary things to be in supply within the house of the Lord. He will show mercy to the widows and the needy.

8. He will order that a royal gift to be given to the priests. In his days (the days of the king) there will be abundance of all things.

9. After that a king will arise, this time in the southern section of the world, and will rule for only a short time. In his days the economy will bankrupt (treasury will fail) because of the wages of the Roman soldiers. And he will order the substance of all the older citizens be taken and given to the king so it could be distributed.

Chapter 3

1. After that there will be plenty of corn and wine and oil, but a tremendous lack of money, so that it would take the substances of gold and silver to buy corn, and there will be tremendous hunger (dearth). (Hyper-inflation is indicated here.)

2. At that time the sea level will rise greatly and communications will be cut off from man to man. The kings, princes and the captains of the earth will be nervous (troubled/ fearful), and no man will speak freely.

 3. Grey hairs will be seen upon boys, and the young men will not respect or listen to the aged.

4. After that will arise another king, a deceitful man, who will rule for a short time.  In his days there will be all manner of evils. There will be genocide of the race of men living in the east to Babylon (the death of the race of men from the east to Babylon). 

5. Famine and death by the sword will follow from Chanaan (Canaan) to Rome. Then all the springs of water and all the wells will dry up (boil over) and be turned into dust and blood.

Chapter 4

1. The heaven will be moved and the stars will fall upon the earth. The sun will be cut in half like the moon, and the moon will not give light.

2. There will be great signs and wonders in those days when Antichrist draws near. These are the signs for those that live on the earth. In those days the pains of great and hard work like those of a woman in labor will come upon them.

3. Woe to them that build because they will not live in there buildings.

 4. Woe to them that plow the ground because they labor for no cause (no results). Woe to them that marry because they will bring forth sons in the famine.

5. Woe to them that join house to house or field to field because all things will be consumed with fire. Woe to them that are not introspective (examine themselves and their actions) while time allows because after this they will be condemned forever.

6. Woe to them that turn away from the poor when he asks.

7. You will know that I am the Father most high and I am the Father of all spirits. As you will see, this is the beginning of the latter age.

Chapter 5

1. These are the seven signs of the ending of this world. There will be in all the earth famine and tremendous disease and sicknesses of vast proportions.

2. All nations will take captives and men will fall by the edge of the sword.

3. The beginning of the days of judgment will make you wonder greatly.

4. At the third hour (The Jewish day starts around 6:00 P.M.) of the first day will be a loud and powerful voice in the firmament (sky/theater of stars) of heaven, and a large cloud of blood will come down out of the north, and loud thunder and powerful lightning will follow the cloud.

5. Blood will rain down on all the earth. These are the signs of the first day.
(There is some dispute as to whether this is a literal Sunday or Monday. It is assumed by the editor that Sunday is the first day.)

 6. And on the second day there will be a loud voice in the firmament of heaven, and the earth will be moved out of its place and the portals of the eastern part of heaven will be and a great power will be sent forth as if it were belched by the portals of heaven themselves and the power will cover all the heaven even until evening and there will be fear and trembling in the world.

7. These are the signs of the second day. In the third day at about the second hour, there will be a voice in heaven, and the vast depths of the earth will sound their voices from the four corners of the earth.

8. The first heaven will be rolled up like a scroll and will vanish quickly in an instant.

9. Smoke and stench of the brimstone in the chasms will darken the day until the tenth hour. Then all men will say, “I think the end draws near, that we will die.” These are the signs of the third day.

10. And on the fourth day at the first hour, the eastern section of the earth will sound, the abyss will roar and all the earth be moved by a strong earthquake.

11. In that day all the idols of the heathen will fall along with all the buildings on earth. These are the signs of the fourth day.

12. And on the fifth day, at the sixth hour the thunder will be loud and sudden in the sky, and the stars (powers of light) and the sphere of the sun will be snatched away, and there will be total (vast) darkness over the world until evening, and the stars will be sent off their course.

13. In that day all nations will hate the world and all men will despise his life on the world. These are the signs of the fifth day.

14. On the sixth day there will be signs in heaven. At the fourth hour the firmament of heaven will be split from east to west. And the angels of the heavens will be looking out on the earth and they will open the heavens.

15. And all men will see the host of the angels above the earth looking out of heaven. Then all men will flee. 

16. All men will flee to the mountains and hide themselves from the face of the righteous angels, and will say, “I wish the earth would open and swallow us!” These things will happen like this world has never seen since it was created. 

17. Then they will see me coming from above in the light of my Father with the power and honor of the holy angels.

18. At my coming, the fires that border/restrain paradise will be removed because paradise is encompassed with fire.

19. And this is a perpetual fire that will consume the earth and all the elements of the world. Then they will be clothed, and be carried by the hand of the holy angels as I have told you before.

20. They will be lifted up in the air on a cloud of light, and will go with me into heaven rejoicing. They will continue in the light and honor of my Father.

21. There be gladness abounding with my Father and before the holy angels. These are the signs of the sixth day.

Chapter 6

1. Then will the spirits and souls of all men come out of paradise and will come on all the earth and every one of them will go to his own body where it is laid up, and every one of them will say, “My body lies here.”

2. And when the loud voices of those spirits will be heard, like a huge earthquake (there will be a large earthquake) all over the world.

3. The mountains will be split in two from above and the rocks from beneath. Then every spirit will return into his own vessel and the bodies of the saints who have died (which have fallen asleep) will rise.

4. Then will their bodies be changed into the image and likeness and the honor of the holy angels, and into the power of the image of my holy Father.

5. Then will they be clothed with the garments of life eternal made from the cloud of light which has never been seen in this world, because that cloud came down out of the highest realm of the heaven from the power of my Father.

6. And that cloud will contain the beauty of all the spirits that have believed in me.

7. And on the seventh day at the eighth hour there will be voices in the four corners of the heaven. And all the air will be shaken, and filled with holy angels, and they will make war among the heathen all the day long. And in that day my elect will be sought out by the holy angels and saved from the destruction of the world. Then all men (unbelievers) will see that the hour of their destruction draws near.

8. These are the signs of the seventh day.  And when the seven days are passed by, on the eighth day at the sixth hour there will be a sweet and tender voice in heaven from the east. Then that angel will be revealed which has power over all the holy angels and all the angels will go out with him who is sitting upon a chariot made of the clouds of my holy Father and they will rejoice, running upon the air beneath the heaven to deliver the elect that have believed in me.

9. And they will rejoice that the destruction of this world has come.

10. Thomas, you must hear because I am the Son of God the Father and I am the father of all spirits. You must hear my signs that will come to pass at the end of this world.

11. The end of the world will come and the world will pass away before my elect depart out of the world. I will tell (have told) you openly (plainly) what will come, but when these things will come to pass even the princes of the angels do not know. It is now hidden from their sight as to what day the end will come.”

12. The words of the Savior to Thomas are ended, concerning the end of this world.

4 Ezra -  History

               2 Esdras, also referred to as 4 Ezra or the Apocalypse of Ezra, was written toward the end of the First Century  A.D. to explain the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. It is listed among the Apocrypha by the Catholic Church and most Protestant churches, however the Ethiopian Orthodox and Russian Orthadox churches consider it to be canon.

               In the years of the Renaissance and afterward heated arguments over this book inflamed emotions. Discussion regarding the book has evoked high tension and responses from the beginning. The French intelligentsia were among the most verbal.  The French mystic Antoinette Bourignon said it was “the finest book in the Bible.”  John Floyer  said it was “the best Key to all the Old and New Prophecies”.  Saint Jerome included the book in his Latin version of the Bible but assigned it to the apocryphal section. There were opponents also. Humphrey Prideaux considered it ”a Book too absurd for the Romanists themselves to receive into their Canon.”

               Within the Old Testament apocrypha, 2 Esdras or 4 Ezra occupies a special place because it is dated from approximately A.D. 90, well into the New Testament era. The Vulgate version, written by Jerome, contains second and third century texts. These contain additions made by Christian writers, which made the book more acceptable to the Christian audience. 4 Ezra 7:28-9,: “For my son Jesus will be revealed with those that are with him, and they that remain will rejoice for four hundred years. After these years will my son Christ die, and all men that have life.”

               This makes it the only book in the Old Testament to name Jesus as the Christ. Even though many scholars believe this portion of text to be an addition made around the third to fourth century, it makes Ezra the perfect bridge between the Old Testament and New Testament.