THE FACTS PART 11: REDEMPTION

THE PERFECT STORM

One of the best known stories in the Bible is the story of Noah’s Ark and the Flood in 👑Genesis 6-9👑. In it, God uses nature to judge his fallen creation. Ten generations after Adam and Eve, God is angry that the world is corrupt and filled with violence. So He sends a flood to wipe out His creation. But before God does this, He commands a righteous man named Noah to build a giant boat - the Ark - so that all the species on earth can be saved.

We will remind you that 8 members of Noah’s family along with a pair of every animal started a new creation on earth. A rainbow was a covenant with humans that God would not destroy his creation again with another flood.

This story is allegory not history. The moral lesson was meant to show God’s judgment against sinful humans. But it also speaks of rebirth. And the fact that your savior’s favorite number (8) made it into the story, reinforces that point.

Does God use natural disasters to teach humans lessons about the consequences of sin? NO! NO! NO! In fact, tragic natural disasters that kill large numbers of people show how nature inflicts indiscriminate suffering on people. If natural disasters show anything, they show how powerless God is to prevent the suffering of his children.

Is there any good that comes from natural disasters? Yes! Heroic people usually show up in the midst of chaos and suffering to save loved ones, neighbors or even complete strangers. You see this on your screens, big and small, when disasters strike. And there is usually an outpouring of effort and financial support to help the survivors of natural disasters rebuild their communities and lives.

For many of you atheists and agnostics, heroic and charitable responses to natural disasters are insufficient evidence for a loving God. You can’t get past the chaotic, randomness of these tragic events.

But what if we gave you some evidence that this is a temporary illusion?

What if God reached into your world and showed you a sign of divine order in the midst of a natural disaster?

What if the main character in our story about divine order in a natural disaster shared the name of a Biblical patriarch?

Isaac Cline was born in 1861. He grew up in the rolling hill country of East Tennessee. For a kid with a fertile imagination, adventure was everywhere. Tales were told of ghostly apparitions lurking in the dark forest. Sightings of ape-like humans known as Bigfoot. News of sinkholes that swallowed up houses. It’s no wonder that Isaac loved tall tales.

The late 1800s was also the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It was an age of scientific discovery. Steam powered machines opened up travel. And the miraculous long distance, instant communication enabled by the telegraph and wireless marconi machine made the impossible seem possible.

In his teen years Cline gravitated to the science fiction of Jules Verne. While Isaac wasn’t working the fields, he was going on adventures with Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). Cline was captivated by details about Civil War era U.S. Naval Commander and Oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury. Verne, in his novel, explores how Maury investigated winds, seas and currents to chart the world's oceans. In one thrilling chapter, Maury helps Captain Nemo evade a massive ocean storm by diving deep under the dangerous currents.

Given his birth name, it’s also no wonder that Isaac loved the Bible. At sixteen, he entered college and considered becoming a preacher. But Isaac thought he was too prone to exaggeration in his story telling. So he settled on a field where he could tell big stories and, at the same time, tell the truth. He chose weather forecasting.

Weather forecasting in America started with the U.S. Army Signal Corp. In 1882 Isaac was recruited by the Signal Corp and entered the meteorology training school. In March of 1889, the Army sent Isaac to Galveston, Texas to organize and lead the Texas Weather Bureau.

As part of the Weather Bureau, Isaac was assigned a “hurricane listening post” for the Mexico region. In that role, he encountered his first hurricane at sea. Isaac ventured aboard a steamship on the Gulf of Mexico on a hot, windless day. The water was glassy smooth. Yet underneath, great swells lifted the boat up and down slowly. In the morning, the horizon turned a copper red. Isaac had never seen the sky look so red. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning! Soon, the sky darkened and rain pelted the deck. The seas turned heavy and the ship rocked and pitched. At lunch, Isaac ate lunch in the dining room alone. All the other passengers were too sea sick to think about lunch. But by dinner, even Isaac had succumbed to sea sickness. The ship survived though. Isaac had ridden out a hurricane at sea. As sick as he was, Isaac left the experience unimpressed by the power of hurricanes. Being a fan of Captain Nemo, Isaac convinced himself that science fiction was becoming fact. Hurricanes were no match for modern-day steamships. Humans were developing the ability to tame mother nature with science and technology!

In the summer of 1891 Isaac wrote an article for the Galveston News about hurricanes. It was in response to a storm that made landfall about 120 miles Southwest of Galveston at Matagorda Bay. At the time, Galveston and Houston were competing for the prize of becoming the premier deep water port on the Gulf Coast. Isaac’s article struck a tone of boosterism for Galveston. It downplayed the risks of a major hurricane for the rapidly growing Texas port town. In fact, Isaac weighed in on a plan by the city to build a massive seawall to protect it from severe flooding. He said it was a waste of money! He wrote:

“It would be impossible for any cyclone to create a storm wave which could materially injure the city.”

On a Saturday morning in early September of 1900, Buford T. Morris, a real estate agent from Houston was visiting his island vacation home in Galveston. He looked out toward the ocean and saw something remarkable:

“The sky seemed to be made of mother pearl: gloriously pink, yet it contained a fish-scale effect which reflected all the colors of the rainbow. I had never seen such a beautiful sky.”

These colors of the rainbow were not a sign of hope and new beginning as they were for Noah and his family of 8 in the flood story. They were an omen of disaster.

After the storm passed over Cuba, Father Reese Gangoite, director of the Belen College Observatory in Havana observed a large, persistent halo around the moon, while the deep red sky illuminated high thin clouds. This indicated the tropical storm was intensifying into a powerful hurricane with the prevailing winds steering the system West Northwest toward the Texas coast. Isaac and his U.S Weather Bureau had this information but disagreed. Storms that crossed over Cuba almost always turned to the Northeast over Florida then out into the Atlantic. Isaac and his weather forecasters were wrong.

At dawn on Saturday, Isaac stood on the beach and witnessed the same sky that amazed Buford T. Morris. Waves had already compromised the beach and were crashing against street car trestles. Isaac panicked. The story he told later in his biography was that he ignored the official Weather Bureau forecast and ran up and down the beach warning thousands of people to evacuate.

In Eric Larson’s book Isaac’s Storm, he claims witness accounts don’t back up Isaac’s tall tale. Throughout the morning, great crowds gathered on the beach to observe the spectacular waves. The flooding continued to get worse in the afternoon. One observation of the scene could be right out of the Bible. Small frogs were everywhere clinging to ocean debris that washed up onto the streets of Galveston.

At the popular Ritter’s Cafe and Saloon in downtown Galveston, a group of businessmen gathered for lunch to talk business and enjoy the fine food and spirits. They had not heard Isaac’s storm warning. Waiters in white jackets and black pants brought tall glasses of beer, mixed drinks, huge platters of oysters and shrimp. They feasted on big, thick steaks while the wind and rain howled outside.

The two story building had a tall ceiling with chandeliers hanging down above the diners. The second floor housed a printing press with heavy machines.

The customers were well aware the storm was getting worse. As a gust of wind rattled the windows, one man shouted across the room to his associate, “I’ve counted and there are 13 people in here.”

The reply was, “You can’t frighten me, I’m not superstitious!”

Seconds later the roof was ripped off the building. The hurricane-force winds blew against the walls of the second floor, ripping the beams from their moorings. The second floor with it’s heavy machinery collapsed onto Ritter’s Cafe. Five people died instantly including the man who was not frightened or superstitious. Five other men were badly injured. A waiter was sent out into the storm to get medical help. He drowned outside in the raging storm.

The city of Galveston was literally in the dark about the massive hurricane that approached. Saturday morning, trains continued on their scheduled journeys to the port city in deadly peril. One train coming from Beaumont, Texas was headed through Galveston on its way to New Orleans. It was a short train with a locomotive and two coaches packed with 95 passengers. At midday, the train slowly plowed through flooded tracks at Bolivar Peninsula just East of Galveston. It was to board a ferry to cross a channel used for shipping into the Galveston port. The passengers watched the ferry ship captain’s futile attempt to navigate through rising waves and heavy winds into the ferry pier. They were shocked by the failure of the rapidly modernizing transportation of industrial age to be stopped literally in it’s tracks by mother nature! The train could not board the ferry so it reversed its drive train and headed back to Beaumont. The rising water began flowing into the coaches. There was a lighthouse about a quarter mile away. The train halted. Eighty-five passengers decided to stay on the train. Ten departed through the waist- deep water to the lighthouse. It was a decision that saved their lives! All the people who stayed on the train drowned.

Galveston was under siege by an angry mother nature. Isaac was about to be humbled by Her in a way he could have not imagined a day earlier.

The following account is from Isaac’s Storm (by Eric Larson). On Saturday evening, Isaac retreated to his house with his wife Cora and six-year old daughter Esther. They had no other choice than to ride out the storm.

A wall came toward him (Isaac). It propelled him backward into a large chimney. There was motion. He could not see it, but felt it all around. Things fell from the sky. Furniture, books, lanterns, beams, planks. People. Children. He entered the water. Something huge caught him and drove him to the bottom. Timbers held him. He opened is eyes. He felt the water but saw nothing. It was quiet. He could not move. He knew he would die. There was peace in this. It gave him time to think. He appraised things. The only course was to welcome the sea into his body. He did so. He disappeared.

He awoke to lions. Rain came like shrapnel. He was afloat, his chest caught between two large timbers. He coughed water. He sensed burden. There was something he had to do. It was like walking to a child’s cry in the night. He sensed absence.

It came to him abruptly that he was now alone.

Isaac was able to save Esther but his then pregnant wife Cora died in the Galveston hurricane. Cora is buried in Galveston’s Lakeview Cemetery. Her tombstone reads:

Cora May Cline

September 23, 1862 — September 8, 1900

September 8, 1900 was the day Isaac Cline realized he had been bamboozled by the techno-wonders of science and technology and, at the same time, humbled by the power of mother nature. The Galveston hurricane claimed estimates of 6,000 to up to 12,000 lives. It remains the most deadly natural disaster in U.S. history. As you can see, we (an army of angels) and God Himself are his witnesses!

Isaac lived to the ripe old age of 93. He evidently learned his lesson. The Weather Bureau Cline ran became the Gulf Coast Weather Bureau and moved to New Orleans in 1901. There, Isaac earned a stellar reputation as a weather forecaster by successfully predicting significant flooding events in 1912, 1915 and 1927. Unlike his tall tale about the Galveston hurricane, his forecasting after September 8, 1900 probably did save thousands of lives!

titanic and the little scroll

God used a gigantic boat - Noah’s Ark - to save his creation and rebirth mankind with 8 members of Noah’s family. Is it possible God will use the story about another gigantic boat to help save his creation again?

The story of Titanic has captured the attention of your world since it hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912 then sunk hours later. Director James Cameron understood this fascination clearly. At the time of it’s production in 1996, the film Titanic had the largest budget in Hollywood history at $200 million dollars. The risk payed off for Cameron and Paramount Pictures. Titanic became the highest grossing movie of all time in 1998 and won eleven Academy Awards. The director of Titanic concluded the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony by accepting the Best Picture award. In his acceptance speech, James Cameron echoed the words of his leading man Leonardo De Caprio from the film by proclaiming:

I’m King of the World!

Our “King of the World” strongly disagrees with that kind of proclamation by anyone! But the Great Invitation will show you that all of us (God, Jesus and his army of angels) are big fans of Titanic! We were even able to include some nice references to the story of Titanic in the Book of Revelation. In fact, references to Titanic are connected to our description of the Second Coming of Jesus.

First, let’s review clues about Jesus’ return in Revelation. At the end of 👑Revelation 10👑 God’s mysterious plan that is the Second Coming of Jesus is fulfilled with the blowing of the seventh trumpet. At the end of 👑Revelation 9👑, the sixth trumpet judgement concludes an increasing series of catastrophes against mankind that were inspired by the judgments against Egypt in 👑Exodus 7-9👑. Something different happened though with the sixth trumpet judgement. Despite God’s terrible judgments, people didn’t repent and change. The message is that punishment of sin is not sufficient to change the human heart. So in between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgment, God makes space for the witness of Jesus coming again to finally bring God’s kingdom to earth. This witness involves a “little scroll” (in 👑Revelation 10👑) and “two witnesses” (in 👑Revelation 11👑).

There are many theories about the meaning of the “little scroll” and “two witnesses” in Revelation. What makes ours unique is that it works best with the big theme in Revelation - the problem of evil and nature of hope! To be specific, our hope is that God will realize his dream of a great wedding in eternity between Jesus and ALL his People! Remember, EVERYONE ALL IN! That’s our goal.

In fact, the movie Titanic and God’s story have a big thing in common - they both end with a wedding in eternity! Don’t believe us? 🎥Watch the ending of the movie with us then🎥.

In addition, if you read 👑Revelation 10👑 and think about the Titanic disaster and movie it inspired, you will see some more interesting connections.

The first big connection is about the bittersweet nature of the human prophetic experience. 👑Revelation 10👑 begins with a mighty angel who hands John (the seer) our “little scroll.” At the end of the chapter, John is told to eat the “little scroll” but warned that it will be sweet in his mouth but sour in his stomach. John eats it and agrees. We know the meaning behind this because of the Old Testament book that inspired it - 👑Ezekiel 3👑. The prophet Ezekiel is told to eat a scroll that contains a special message to the people of Israel. It tastes sweet but the people of Israel will not welcome Ezekiel’s message. It will be bitter to those who hear it. Ezekiel’s audience will want to “shoot the messenger” so to speak. In the Bible, this is one of many examples were God’s eternal message of love is delivered through human tragedy. The truth is that God’s unconditional love is sweet from an eternal perspective but, many times, sour to sinful humans because of the inconvenient demands it requires of humans living on earth. The inconvenient truth prophets communicated is that human sin often brings tragic consequences as a result.

The people who boarded Titanic thought they were traveling safely on a huge, floating luxury hotel. It seemed like heaven on earth. Seas were extremely calm throughout their journey. Then at 20 minutes before 12 midnight, the iceberg struck! It was a glancing blow to the ship that many passengers barely noticed. And all thought the great ship to be unsinkable. But the iceberg sliced a long cut below the waterline of the ship. In less than 3 hours, the Titanic, named after the powerful generation of Greek gods who ruled the cosmos before the Olympian gods, would be 2 miles below the calm, freezing North Atlantic Ocean. Over 1,500 souls would perish, most freezing to death in the 28 degree water.

Yet out of this tragedy, the hopeful, eternal message of the movie Titanic is captured beautifully with the theme song 🎸“My Heart will Go On” by Celine Dion🎸. God turned another tragedy into a love story. That’s God’s sweet spot!

If the prophet Ezekiel would have visited the Titanic when it embarked from England on April 10, 1912, and delivered a warning about icebergs, he would have been ignored, laughed at or shouted down.

This is a nice transition to our next big connection - we are going to tell you how the movie Titanic created the prophetic experience we call the Great Invitation.

In The Facts Part 4: Royal Weddings and Throne Games - Your_Prince, we explained how our sacred numbers 9-8 and 12-14 were picked. The numbers 9-8 were picked by the 9/8 family birthday coincidence with the author’s brother David and in his sister-in-law Mary. Then we explained where the 12-14 came from. Here is the text from beginning of The Facts Part 4:

How did the author meet his wife? They met “in the cloud” on the original internet dating service Match.com.

We gave the author a brilliant idea to make his profile name Your_Prince. It worked like magic! He could have had a date every night if he wanted. Of course, he had to get through a year of bad dates to meet Becky!

The author and his future wife had their first “real” dinner date on December 14th (12/14), 1997.

So we have 12/14 and 9/8. Together they represent a relationship that later became a marriage.

That’s four of five of our sacred numbers. What about the number 20?

The author’s second date was on 12/20/1997. He took his new girlfriend to see the movie Titanic!

Let us remind you, there were 20 lifeboats on the Titanic, not nearly enough for the estimated 2,224 passengers. It’s why over 1,500 people died.

April 10th, the day the Titanic embarked on it’s fatal journey was THE critical date in our prophetic experience. April 10th, 2009 was Good Friday and the author’s 10th wedding anniversary. That coincidence made the author consider what numbers would honor his marriage. But why would those two special occasions prompt the author to do that?

Hint: How did the leading man in Titanic, poor vagrant Jack Dawson, get a ticket on the maiden journey of Titanic in the movie? He won a hand at poker - a game of chance - and his ticket was in the pot. As many of you know, Friday is also a Mega Millions lottery drawing day.

Our “little scroll” is a lottery ticket! It was a lottery ticket that was never meant to win money. The author knew this when he bought the ticket as we will prove later.

Behind the numbers on our lottery ticket is a story within a story. It’s the story of how our sacred numbers were picked. And wrapped inside of that, like a divine gift, is the story of Titanic as told in the movie that became a blockbuster love story.

If the Titanic was not released in the Christmas season of 1997, our “little scroll” would not exist. The timing of this epic love story helped pick our sacred numbers. You have no idea how many angels it took to time this!

How the numbers were picked and the tragic event that happened on 12/14/2012 made our “little scroll” prophetic. As in the “little scroll” John of Revelation was handed by an angel, our “little scroll” is sweet in the mouth (how the numbers were picked by a wedding) and sour in the stomach (the tragic event on 12/14/2012 that made our numbers prophetic). With your help, our love story to come will make our “little scroll” much more sweeter in the future!

  • Revelation - an angel standing with one foot on land and the other on the sea

  • Movie Titanic was a critical piece of this prophetic experience

  • Quote by Orwell on the building of Titanic comparing it to a temple.

  • Details of the floating luxury hotel

  • The illusion of safety in technology

  • Kings of the World and a real party down in steerage

  • Who lived and who died had more to do with age and sex then class!

  • Going down with the ship - witnesses of the sinking from lifeboats

    • 20 lifeboats

    • 9 year old boy witnessing the sound of 1500 freezing to death

    • How the rich behaved

  • Signs of God at the sinking

    • nearer my God to thee

    • The stars and the calm ocean

  • The 8 heroic musicians on Titanic

  • God’s sweet spot - turning a tragedy into a love story!

Links to 👑Bible chapters via BibleGateway.com using the New Living Translation👑

  1. Links to 📜Wiki pages and other trusted internet information sources📜

  2. Links to 🖼Wiki pictures🖼

  3. Links to YouTube videos of:

    🎸Music Performances🎸

    🏈Sporting Events🏈

    🎥Movie or Entertainment Clips🎥

  4. Internal web page Links to other 🏠Great Invitation pages🏠

The facts part 8: a tragedy becomes a love story

Titanic: Ship of dreams or lady of the night?

The facts part 9: victory in heaven

Victory in Revelation

  • The Seven Churches structure and meaning

  • Being an overcomer

  • What Victory in Christ means

Closing Summary

The arguments

  • Witness of Christ, Temple, Second Coming (in person), King David

  • Children of God

  • The 5 numbers and their meaning

  • Does symbolism matter to God?

  • Sacred Days and the Day of the Lord (9/8)

  • Daniel and the sacred waiting period

  • The Lottery in the Bible

  • Paul’s prophecy about the second coming

  • The Olivet Discourse

  • Revelation and the wedding in eternity

Great Invitation Outline

Opening Statement

Presentation of Facts

The facts part 1: the premise

the facts part 2: four appearances of jesus

The facts part 3: the magic of music

The facts part 4: royal weddings & Throne games

The Facts Part 5: Lions on Thrones & A Killer Queen

The facts part 6: War and Peace

The facts part 7: judgement and redemption

The facts part 8: a tragedy becomes a love story

The facts part 9: victory in heaven

Celebration of Victory in Heaven

Revelation 2-3: Common Refrain of Victory

God’s Intention for Victories on Earth (sports victories)

  1. Field of Dreams game: white Sox beat Yankees in miracle 9-8 victory (Rev 2-3)

  2. God on a basketball court. MJ first three titles won on 12th, 14th and 20th of June. The shot #1 was 1989 and shot #2 on 1998. (Rev 2-3)

  3. Cold War on ice. The 1972 summit series with Canada vs Soviet Union (Rev 2-3)

  4. Rome 1960 miracle of Wilma Rudolph born on 9/8 (Rev 2-3)

  5. Ali knocks out Frazier in round 8. And Williams sisters US open final on 9/8/2001. Gods answer to Islamic Terrorists!

  6. Touchdown Jesus! Touchdown Jesus: the gipper of “win one for the gipper” died on 12/14 (Rev 2-3). Tim Tebow baseball contract signed with Mets on 9/8

  7. Perfection in the nfl the 1972 dolphins and the miracle giants catch that preserved the record (Rev 2-3). 2008 Super Bowl was last time the Super Bowl fell on Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

  8. Another One Bites the Dust Queen chorus lyrics

Closing Summary

The arguments

If our Passion sequel happens… Then What?

Billy Graham: 5 things to watch for when thinking about Jesus’ return (from Gospels)

Description of Jesus’ Return in Revelation

Description of Jesus’ Return in NT Letters

The Wedding Party

Message from The A-Team (an army of angels)

A toast to all our fellow warriors!

Lyrics for We are the Champions by Queen

We’ve paid our dues
Time after time
We’ve done our sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
We’ve made a few
We’ve had our share of sand
Kicked in our face
But We’ve come through

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

We’ve taken my bows
And our curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
We thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
We consider it a challenge before
The human race
And We ain't gonna lose

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

🎸Touch or click here to sing it with us!🎸

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Rev 2-3(a): Help The Giant

December 19, 2021  /  Neal Brandvik

Our team is gathered in a locker room. Our coach gives us his strategy for the game. A few human players dressed in helmets, pads and white jerseys look up. They hear our laughter, at least in their minds. Our coach scolds us, “Don’t laugh A-Team! Chief gets our orders from our father in heaven! I know we usually fight giants but this time it’s different.”

Coach calls a huddle for some final words before the big game starts. “I’m going to make this speech very short team. It’s about perfection!”

Unfortunately for us, the white jersey team we help is overmatched at almost every position. Unlike Goliath, they are heavy underdogs. Our QB is named after a Bible character but theirs is the GOAT and reigning king of big plays.

We have an impact. Our white defensive line is pressuring the GOAT. The score is lower and way closer than expected. But with just over two minutes remaining in the game, the GOAT throws a touchdown pass and the blue team takes the lead by 4 points.

Time is running out in the game. It feels like perfection will elude us. There is enough time for just a few more plays but 2/3 of the field and eleven determined blue jerseys stand between us and pay-dirt. They sense a historic victory is theirs so their desire is burning, We can feel their hearts beating faster. They know NFL history is just over one minute away.

Our QB takes the snap. Suddenly, he’s surrounded by blue jerseys. He rushes a throw under pressure toward the right sideline. It is thrown right to their number 22 in blue. It’s a little high but a slight leap and it will land right in his outstretched hands. The game will be over! The A-Team sends reinforcements. We manage to put a thought in 22’s head, “the glory is mine!””

It works! Our thought makes 22’s eyes look away from the ball at the last millisecond. Glory slips through 22’s hands! Perfection lives!

We get ready for the next play and await the tactical order. Our QB, number 10, takes the next snap. The blue jerseys swamp our man again! A strong hand pulls on 10’s jersey. He escapes but he’s surrounded. Now another defender has a better grip right on his white jersey between the 1 and 0. We await an order but none comes. Amazingly, 10 spins and escapes without our help and gets free then rolls to the right, away from the blue jerseys. All the receiver routes are broken now. White number 85 comes back to the middle of the field. He’s not open but 10 heaves the ball deep downfield in his general direction. White 85 leaps high for the ball but blue 37 is right there and leaps with him.

The A-Team goes to work again. We clear out 85’s thoughts. Its a tactic that slows a human’s perception of time. Now 100% of his mind is focused on watching the ball into his large, strong hands. The ball hits both palms simultaneously and his fingers squeeze tightly. Then 85 uses has powerful arm strength to squeeze the football like a vise. But blue 37’s right hand slams the ball hard. The force knocks 85’s left hand off the ball for a split second. But luckily, the force is directed at 85’s helmet. So the ball is squeezed between his left hand, gripping the ball, and the helmet just long enough for the right hand to recover and get the vise grip back. Now blue 37’s right hand is on 85’s shoulder under his arm trying to pull his left hand off the ball as he falls. But with time slowing down in his mind, 85’s arm and hand muscles fire perfectly so he holds the grip on the football while he falls backward onto blue 37’s body.

It’s the greatest catch in Super Bowl history. The New York Giants score a touchdown a few plays later to complete the miracle upset of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Somewhere, several 1972 Miami Dolphins watch our miracle. They jump around as if they won the game! They don’t realize their undefeated 1972 season still stands alone for PERFECTION in the NFL for one reason: The A-Team, our Chief and our Father in heaven love the number 72!

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Rev 2-3(b): Touchdown Jesus

December 24, 2021  /  Neal Brandvik

David Tyree, the Giants receiver who made the miraculous “helmet catch” in Super Bowl XLII, gave God credit for his catch in his memoir called More than Just the Catch. His words after the game ended were, “God, You did it!” Then he looked up in the sky and thanked his Mother in heaven.

David repeated the words “God did it” multiple times after the game. He also stated God had “intervened” on his miraculous play and helped the Giants win the game the same way God helped the biblical David, the underdog, defeat Goliath. David Tyree is convinced that something supernatural happened in Super Bowl XLII. He said in his book, “The year 2008 is a year of New beginnings. When the New England Patriots faced the New York Giants ... God did a New thing!”

We call it the gr8 2008!

Does God really care about a football game? Aren’t there more important things to worry about in your broken world like poverty, world peace, deadly pandemics, destructive hurricanes or dictators run amuck… to name a few? And what about the players on the New England Patriots? Was their church attendance not up to par?

Good points. But let’s be clear what God is NOT in control of, that is YOU! Oh we try. Our human projects fail most of the time, usually because your motives aren’t aligned with ours. Let us share an example about project Touchdown Jesus.

We identify a target with extra money who is a trustee at Notre Dame University and big football fan. We send a team to the wealthy North Shore community of Winetka, IL where he lives. Our goal is to plant an idea: “Touchdown Jesus!”

A large wall of the 13 story university library faces Notre Dame’s football stadium and is visible to fans and players. Inspire them with a work of art! Give the home team a spiritual edge! Our idea materializes. A giant mural is painted on the library wall of Jesus towering above Catholic Saints. The painting is completed in 1964. It’s called The Word of Life. But with his arms reaching up to the sky, Jesus resembles a football referee calling a touchdown. And so Touchdown Jesus is born. TDJ works his magic for a while. Between 1966 and 1988, the Fighting Irish football team have three undefeated seasons and win two national championships. Our favorite season is of course the gr8 1988. TDJ has a hand in the great Catholics vs Convicts victory over #1 Miami that year.

Between 1994 and 1997 the powers that be at Notre Dame University build a 20,000 seat expansion to Notre Dame Stadium. It’s a money related decision. When complete, the players no longer have a clear view of Touchdown Jesus. Curses! The Fighting Irish have not won a National Championship since!

In defense of the Notre Dame administrators who made that decision, they had no clue about the story we are telling in the Gr8invitation. Most important, they didn’t know about our angelic fingerprints on “The House that Rockne Built.”

Coach Knute Rockne was born in the gr8 year 1888. His 1940 biopic movie Knute Rockne all American was made more famous when one of its movie stars became president. A line from the movie was used again by President Ronald Reagan at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Reagan was endorsing his Vice President George H.W. Bush in his winning presidential election campaign. Reagan portrayed Notre Dame player George Gipp in the film. Gipp is on his deathbed when he tells Coach Rockne to "Win one for the Gipper.” Gipp contracted pneumonia from a step throat infection. The Gipper died two weeks after being selected to the All American team his last season with the team. Gipp’s date of death is 12/14/20.

Sometimes we do care about football. If you play sports at any level and have a story to tell that aligns with our Chief’s story, we just may help you win your big game or make a big play. Don’t misunderstand what we mean here. If you win your local tennis or golf club championship, we can’t help you win Wimbledon or The Masters. Ask former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. Tebow became famous for his end zone prayers during his remarkable 2011 season (referred to as “tebowing”) with the Denver Broncos. But Tim flamed out quickly in the NFL. After failing to make the Jets and Patriot rosters in subsequent years, he decided to try baseball even though he last played baseball in high school. Tebow used his public platform to sign a major league contract with the New York Mets on 9/8/2016. He never made a big league game. But three times, each with a new minor league team, he hit a home run in his first at bat.

Holy Cow Tim!

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Rev 2-3(c): Break The Curse

December 22, 2021  /  Neal Brandvik

"Although I do not consider myself worthy of such an honor, I am deeply moved and sincerely grateful to receive an official Chicago Cubs World Series Championship ring. I am fully aware of the historical significance and appreciate the symbolism the ring represents on multiple levels. My family and I will cherish it for generations. Most meaningful is the genuine outreach from the Ricketts family, on behalf of the Cubs organization and fans, signifying to me that I am welcomed back into the Cubs family and have their support going forward. I am relieved and hopeful that the saga of the 2003 foul ball incident surrounding my family and me is finally over."

-Steve Bartman

It’s game seven in the 2016 World Series. The Cubs are winning 6-3 against the Cleveland Indians in the eight inning. Will they finally break the “billy goat curse?”

Are curses real? If fans believe in a curse, it’s real. For a cursed team, a bad play at a critical moment can turn beliefs into reality. At that moment, memories of the curse, forgotten, are remembered. A curse then becomes like gasoline poured on the fire of negative crowd emotions. Then bad things happen on the playing field.

If crowd emotions don’t affect sports contests, why is there a home field advantage?

Ask Steve Batman if crowd emotions matter? Steve unleashed an inferno of ugly, curse-fueled fan emotions by doing what every fan does at a baseball game - tries to catch a foul ball.

Flashback to October 14, 2003. It’s the 8th inning and The Cubs are five outs from getting to the World Series for the first time since 1945. They haven’t won since 1908. The fans are on their feet sensing baseball history. Florida Marlins batter Luis Castillo hits a fly ball to left field. The ball drifts toward the stands. Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou chases the ball to the stands. He knows the ball is catchable. Alou leaps near the brick wall. His arm extends over it. Several spectators seated in the first two rows are focused on the ball as well. Cubs fan Steve Bartman reaches for the foul ball and deflects it as it’s heading into Alou's glove. Alou knows he would have made the catch had Bartman not interfered. He throws his glove down on the ground and glares up at Bartman in the stands. Bartman, in a green sweatshirt, thick rimmed glasses, cubs hat and headphones has no idea the hell he has unleashed at the “Friendly Confides” of Wrigley Field!

If Alou had caught the ball, it would have been the second out in the inning. There are no big screens at Wrigley in 2003. But outside the stadium, a fan has a small television set and he is showing the TV replay to the crowd. A growing chant of………….spreads from outside the stadium into the outfield stands then the whole stadium. It’s a contagious thought virus.

We watch the ugly scene unfold from the left field rooftop seats. Unfortunately for Bartman and the Cubs, it’s hard for us to make a difference with Major League Baseball players. They play 200 games in a year including prep and post season. That’s too much practice on mental focus. Opportunities for our intervention are rare. Nevertheless, we get a strange order - distract #8! It’s not the batter. It’s got to be the Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez. This makes no sense! Is our Chief trying to turn Bartman into some kind of a sacrificial lamb in his honor?

Chief has the best intel source in the universe so we have learned not to question orders.

Of all the players on the baseball field, the shortstop fields the most plays. There is a man on first base so any ball hit to short will be a potential double play. We work the optic nerve cells of number 8. Our goal is to insert a little static interference in the energy current between his eyes and brain, highly trained to watch the ball into his glove. It works! A ground ball is hit slightly to the right of number 8. It takes a high bounce so is waist high. Alex attempts a backhand catch but his eyes move to look at second base a millisecond before the ball hits his open mit. It bounces off the heel. It’s a critical error that should have taken the heat off Bartman. Nope! Chiefs idea to save Bartman, at least that night fails. The vicious scapegoating of Steve Bartman intensifies at Wrigley!

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Directions


Did you know God’s story ends with a wedding invitation? .

If the Gr8invitation accomplishes its goal, this will be your first thought when the Book of Revelation comes to mind.

Revelation is the most misunderstood book in the Bible. Christians today tend to see the book in one of two ways:

  1. Those who become obsessed with Revelation and speculate about its predictions of wars in the Middle East or who might be the Anti-Christ.

  2. Those who ignore Revelation entirely because they think it’s just too weird.

The last book in the Bible is how God ends his story. How a story ends is the most important part!

God cannot be happy with the collective confusion about Revelation.

We intend to make the book more approachable in two ways:

  1. Relate the important messages Revelation delivers using a language today’s audience can relate to: popular culture.

  2. Interpret Revelation through the lens of a modern-day prophetic experience.

We know it’s bold to claim a prophetic experience. We accept the challenge to convince you that there is some divine intervention happening as we explain the experience. We will try to present our case as best we can. But you will need to put in some effort as well. We will ask you to “search and find” using clues to assemble the puzzle that is the Gr8invitation. But if the pieces still don’t fit for you, we still encourage you to read on. Because at a minimum, you will find a unique presentation of Revelation with messages you can relate to from movies, music and sports.

Revelation, like other apocalyptic writings, is a guided tour to unseen heavenly realms courtesy of angelic hosts. The “we” is the author of this website and what he believes is an “army of angels” helping him. In that spirit, we will start in the voice of the “army of angels” referred to in our story as the A-Team.

The A-Team will now tell you what they are trying to accomplish with the Gr8invitation.

🎥🎸🏈🎥🎸⚾️🎥🎸🏀🎥🎸🎾🎥🎸🏐🎥🎸🏒🎥🎸🏈🎥🎸⛳️🎥🎸⚾️🎥🎸⚽️

The A-Team (an army of angels) is working on a website that we dream will become a movie called The Gr8invitation. We dream big! It’s based on a modern-day prophetic experience validated by Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion of The Christ.

Hey Mel Gibson, what’s happening with your sequel to The Passion? Tough act to follow! We have some ideas for you:

  • Turn a modern-day tragedy into a love story! Isn’t that what Christ’s Passion story does?

  • Show “signs” that your first Passion movie is connected to this modern-day tragedy using a prophetic object.

  • Our prophetic object uses numbers as well as other connections to God’s story that have powerful Biblical significance.

  • A wedding invitation is how God ends his story. End your Passion sequel with a preview of this epic wedding party in eternity. Film only this last scene in 3D. That will make the audience feel like they have experienced heaven.

Behind our prophetic numbers are two dates. Later on this site, you will discover how they were picked. That’s just as important as the connections we make using the numbers.

The numbers on our prophetic object are connected to people who have lived and events that have happened since the Bible was written. The stories of these people and events will be used to help make the key messages in the Book of Revelation relevant to modern-day readers.

Below are some of the people and events connected to our prophetic object and numbers on it. Click on the links below to Wikipedia pages to start connecting the dots (note - we have many more “arrows” in our quiver).

Okay, next click the navigation link labeled “Entertainment” and watch our video slideshow set to music called “Eternal Love.” You will discover how our mysterious numbers were picked.

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

Click on the navigation link labeled “Wedding Details.”

Chapter 1 is a conversation between us (The A-Team) and the author. We will attempt to help the author describe his prophetic experience.

Chapters 2-3 are the author’s interpretation of the Letter to the Seven Churches in Revelation. What would Jesus say to a shrinking, hyper-political American Church if his greatest concern is the future of the faith?

The remainder of this e-book is a journey through Revelation 4 -22. You will need to click the links provided in the text to go on the journey with us. We hope at the end, you will accept our Gr8invitation to God’s epic wedding party in eternity!

⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️

If you are ready to be on our team, we have two final questions for you:

  • Do you believe in Miracles?

  • Want to help us bring Jesus back?

😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇

Cheers! The A-Team (an army of angels)

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Between the sixth and seventh trumpet blast there is a pause or intermission.

What happens during the halftime of a football 🏈 game?

Before this intermission, we see that the scary judgments didn’t work on God’s people. Hearts were not changed! So The A-Team comes up with a better idea.

Discover the A-Team’s halftime strategy in Revelation 10 and 11!

Note: The performance of “Halo” by Beyonce is from the halftime show during Super Bowl XLVII played on February 3, 2013 between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers for the 2012 NFL Championship.


Our “Midnights” Wedding Shower

  • The 2024 Grammys

The Wedding Crasher

  • Revelation 19 Redux

Our Wedding Priest: Black Elk of the Lakota Nation

  • Super Bowl LVIII and Black Elk’s prophecy

A Final Message from the Groom Jesus

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Dear people on our virtual jury (#12),

You have read our evidence and heard from our witnesses. The heir to David’s throne (#14) has given you confirmation of his gift of salvation. The great I AM is tired of waiting (#20) for your verdict on earth!

In heaven, The Great Invitation is NOT a jury trial. I Jesus (#8) AM the judge (#9) in this case so you don’t have to guess the verdict here. God rules from the bench in heaven.

This case was always predetermined in heaven. So there is a victory celebration. It’s a wedding party!

The only question in the unseen world is how many souls will celebrate with me at my great wedding party in eternity! Oh yes, there is music and dancing at my party!

If you aren’t hearing my marriage proposal through my American evangelical Christian flock, please forgive them. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to remove the big giant log from their collective eyes. Most evangelicals have no clue how to reach unbelievers. Pronouncements of hellfire damnation might feel good but they don’t work! The great commission requires a more invitational approach.

So I recruited someone to deliver a special message.

Imagine now that I AM speaking to you through Miss Americana herself!

🎸It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes"🎸

Touch or click our 🎸Links🎸to listen, watch and sing along!

Our core message is simple:

Choose Love! Choose me!

Because after all, in the end, YOU BELONG WITH ME!

We ask you to evaluate our facts, critically and without bias.

Through the Taylor Swift video for the song You Belong With Me, the 2024 Grammys and Suberbowl LVIII (LoVeIII), I AM (#8) sending you The Great Invitation!

You, All God’s People (#12), are the bride if you choose to attend our epic wedding party in eternity!

Here is our invitation. First, watch these videos:

🎸Taylor Swift music video: You Belong With Me🎸

🏈Final play of Super Bowl LVIII🏈

🏈Inspirational and prophetic graduation speech to the Georgia Tech class of 2023 by conservative, pro-life Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker🏈

Have you watched all three videos? In the third video did you notice Harrison Butker’s mention of Travis Kelce? Go back and watch if you missed it. Then realize this speech was just a couple months before Taylor and Travis started dating.

Did you notice how we are on both sides of America’s culture wars?

We have the celebrity TNT romance that drove the political right crazy. Then we have the devout, pro-life Catholic Saint place kicker to make conservatives happy. Together, they deliver our Great Invitation to its target audience All God’s people (#12).

See if you can find our target audience in the answers to the questions below. Go back and watch the videos if you need to!

  • 📜What record did kicker Harrison Butker tie in Super Bowl LVIII - for how many points📜 including his record 57 yard field goal?

  • What number was the player who scored the winning touchdown in Super Bowl LVIII and in the Taylor Swift music video: You Belong With Me? (see our first two video links above)

  • What did announcer Jim Nance say when the Chiefs scored the winning touchdown in Super Bowl LVIII? See our second video link above and take another look at our 🏠Evidence Exhibits🏠 page. Do you see the connection to our prophetic experience?

    Also, note the name 49ers refers to the people that migrated to California in 1849 in hopes to find gold and make fortunes.

  • What is 49ers coach 📜Kyle Shanahan’s birthday📜? Does this date look familiar?

    Now we get to the message that reflects the theme in Revelation 19 - The wedding between Jesus and His people (#12) that happens in the middle of a great spiritual war.

  • On February 14, 2024 the Chiefs held their Super Bowl victory parade and rally in downtown Kansas City. It was Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian Lent Season 40 days before Easter Sunday. Close to a million happy people celebrated their city and beloved Chiefs. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Travis Kelce enjoyed himself a little too much - like the drunk uncle at your wedding.

    Suddenly a war broke out. Dozens of gunshots rang out and the crowd panicked. Another mass shooting! Kansas City schools were closed so kids could attend the celebration. Just like at Sandy Hook, children were shot but thankfully (11) all lived. Also, 11 adults were shot and injured.

    A young mom in a #7 Chiefs jersey was killed. Lisa Lopez-Galvin was a huge KC sports fan and loved music. We can assure you that Lisa will be spinning all your favorite tunes at our epic wedding party in eternity! A friend of Lisa’s shared with The Kansas City Star, that “[Lopez-Galvan] was the most wonderful, beautiful person,” adding, “She was a local DJ. She did everybody’s weddings. We all know her. She was so full of life.”

  • In her final radio show Taste of Tejano, Lisa was excited about the next day’s Super Bowl rally. This is what she said. This is our wedding toast!

    “We are champions, all of us,” she said on the broadcast. “Champions that are going to celebrate the victory of Sunday’s game.”

Our Wedding Toast

  • Performance of We are the Champions by Queen

Last Song @ our Wedding Party

  • Lisa, we have a “last song” request for our epic wedding party. One more tune from our friend Taylor:

🎸LONG LIVE🎸 our CHIEF Jesus!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Trump argument

In 👑2 Thessalonians 2👑, the Apostle Paul spoke to early Jesus followers who were losing faith because of false prophets in their community. They were preaching that the Day of the Lord was at hand. Paul told the followers of this new religious movement not to believe it. He intuitively knew the Day of the Lord had not arrived but he didn’t know how to convince the Thessalonian believers. We (an army of angels) planted a prophetic thought in Paul’s mind:

There has to be a great falling away from the Church before the Day of the Lord can happen. There has to be a rebellion against God. A man of lawlessness has to be revealed before Jesus can return. This lawless man of sin will occupy God’s Temple and proclaim himself to be God. His followers will believe that he is the “chosen one.”

That man arrived on planet earth June 14, 1946 in New York City. He hosted a reality TV show for 12 years starting in 2004 called “The Apprentice.” The show was a contest to hire apprentices for a famous real estate business. If you look at 👑2 Thessalonians 2👑, it will tell you who this so-called “chosen one” works for.

This “Apprentice” likes to make up derogatory names for his enemies. We don’t have to make up his name. The Apostle Paul did this over 1,973 years ago: the “Lawless Man of Sin.” We also call him the “Apprentice” because of who he works for.

Jesus goes by many names. Our favorite is Christ. The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos meaning the anointed one. When you hear the “Lawless Man of Sin” referred to as the “chosen one” by anyone including himself, know that this is the same as “The Christ.” Anyone who makes this claim about a human being is elevating that person to God-like status.

The Apostle Paul prophesied that this “Lawless Man of Sin” would even sit in the temple of God and proclaim himself to be God.

On May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel, this lawless “Apprentice” made the United States the first country to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. At the same time, the U.S. embassy was moved to Jerusalem where it resides on 14 David Flusser Street.

After a brief truce in the Israel war with the Palestinian terror group Hamas, on February 5, 2025 the lawless “Apprentice” proposed that the United States would acquire the Gaza Strip. This would require the forced exile of 1.8 million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. The goal of this project is to turn the area into a fantastic beach-front resort town complete with casinos just like his bankrupted Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

If this “Apprentice” isn’t sitting in the temple of God in Jerusalem yet, he clearly intends to in the near future!

Remember though that the letters of Paul in the New Testament were written before the Gospels. According to the passion story as documented on the Gospels, Jesus replaced the temple in Jerusalem with his sacrifice and resurrection that you celebrate every Easter. The “Lawless Man of Sin” has that scenario covered as well! Expect the “Apprentice” to invite Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel to a private screening of The Passion of The Christ sequel due out in 2026. Gibson was appointed as a private ambassador to Hollywood by the newly inaugurated President of the United States, our one and only “Lawless Man of Sin.” Caviezel, who played Jesus in The Passion, screened his film The Sound of Freedom for the “Apprentice” in 2023.

Is this “Apprentice” lawless?

Yes he is! This is not debatable because there is a Supreme Court case brief to prove it. The “Lawless Man of Sin” argued before the United States Supreme Court that he should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed as President. The majority of the 9 justices ruled the President cannot be held accountable to the law for official duties. He is in effect lawless!

On February 15, 2025, the “Apprentice” confirmed his lawless intent when he announced to the world on social media:

"He who saves his Country violates no Law”

Is this lawless “Apprentice” sinful?

You are all sinners! It’s usually wise to look at your own sin and not judge others. But public servants are the exception. So here are the infamous seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed. Observe what this “Apprentice” says and does. You be the judge!

If you set aside political bias, you know our derogatory name fits perfectly and so does Paul’s prophecy about the Day of the Lord in 👑2 Thessalonians 2👑.

Nice work listening to us (an army of angels) Paul!

The Roman Empire under its first dictator Augustus crucified Jesus. Before Augustus, Rome was once a republic that lasted 500 years. The USA’s founding fathers studied the history of Rome and designed its republic with balance of powers they thought would prevent a tyrannical king from ever taking power. Your “Lawless Man of Sin” wants to destroy the republic of the USA and become its king or dictator.

So now what? We bring the real Jesus back to destroy the “Lawless Man of Sin” with the splendor of His coming. That’s what Paul said would happen. Want to help us? We can only do this with your help! Please share our free e-book with as many people as you can. We will take care of the rest.