Amos 8:11
THE COUNCIL of NICAEA (325AD to 2025AD = 1700 years)
The cicada goes underground for 17 years. The biblical word is locust, meaning, “to point to the Most High,” (a teaching of the first revelation), which is what Jesus did. Jesus disappears from scripture between the ages of 13 and 30, for 17 years, spending time in that spiritual ground called the heart. And what Jesus gave the world was spiritual corn—spiritual truth, the literal Word of God written in a symbolic language, preserving this spiritual knowledge for over thirty-five hundred years. It’s a language that is foreign to the religious ear, which is why Joseph’s brothers didn’t understand his language, and why the Pharisees didn’t understand Jesus’ parables. But when the famine waxed sore in all the land, the brothers of Joseph went down into Egypt to buy corn, as our religious brothers will eat of the spiritual corn when they enter their spiritual famine, of which the prophet Amos spoke: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the the words of the Lord” (8:11). The masses have been hearing the words of the Lord, but not through the orator of spiritual truth. The only perspective with regard to the literal Word of God has been a religious one, which was established 17 hundred years ago by the Council of Nicaea; a group of political and religious leaders that formed a government-sanctioned religion for the people to follow. The return of Jesus that so many are waiting for is a return of spiritual truth after 1700 years of religious iniquity, the veil that has prevented those of religion from seeing the spiritual truth of God’s Word.
Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2025
THE STICK OF JUDAH & JOSEPH
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand… Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand…”. Ezekiel 37:16-19. “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them:… I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Ezekiel 37:,26,27
It was Judah that prevailed above his brethren (1 Chronicles 5:2), as it was the tribe of Judah that enlarged, seen in Judah’s first king, Rehoboam, meaning a people has enlarged, the tribes of Israel dispersed in 722. It is not only the tribe of Judah that has enlarged. It is the religious doctrine of a Gentile Judah. The first book of Kings reveals that Judah and Israel became as one (1 Kings 22:4).
“… take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions…”
This Gentile Israel became Judah by accepting the born again Pentecostal doctrine. Judah proclaims to have the birthright. But God’s Word plainly tells us that “…the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2). Let’s go back in biblical history and look at the relationship between Judah and Joseph. It was Judah, and his brothers (the tribes of Israel) that threw Joseph in the pit. It is the Christian religion that has thrown the spiritual teachings of Jesus in a metaphorical pit or prison by accepting the carnal teachings of Paul. But when the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt, symbolizing the World, the brothers are forced to go down into Egypt and humble themselves before Joseph, just as Joseph’s dream had predicted (Genesis 37:9,10). The corn that Joseph stored up during the seven good years symbolizes spiritual truth, which is feeding those that are spiritually hungry. Those that have entered the spiritual famine of which Amos prophesied (Amos 8:11).
Fast forward some 2000 years to the Jews of Judah and Jesus, the son of Joseph. Jesus is allegory to Joseph, as we see through their parallels. Both were hated by their brothers, Joseph by his biological brothers and Jesus by his religious brothers. Both were falsely accused and thrown into prison. Both entered Egypt in order to preserve their lives. And both would bring salvation to the people. Judah is companions with the children of Israel— the children symbolizing those that are unskilled. Christians, the Gentile Judah, are unskilled in the spiritual Word of God. Joseph is companions with all the house of Israel. The house of Israel are the sons of Jacob, as Jacob was called Israel (Genesis 32:28). The sons of Jacob are the tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28), the twelve tribes symbolizing the spiritual judgment through which one obtains true salvation (Matthew 19:28). Christians have accepted a lie when it comes to their salvation, and according to the Prophet Jeremiah, they shall come to know it (Jeremiah 8:20). Jeremiah’s prophecies pertain to Judah.
The stick of Judah is joined to the stick of Joseph when Christians renounce the carnal teachings of Paul and accept the spiritual teachings of Jesus, which is to eat of the corn. “I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand…” Ephraim, in the literal sense, was the leading tribe of the northern kingdom, which was Israel. Ephraim means double-fruit. What we think we are and what we are— a teaching of the first revelation. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” Revelation 3:17. We become Ephraim when we become aware of this. Those that thought they were born again and saved, now think differently. Now they are ready to do the works of the first six churches, which they have skipped over, through which they will experience true salvation. “ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire…” Revelation 3:18. The fire symbolizes the spiritual judgment, through which the mind and heart are made pure, which the gold symbolizes. Christians have unwittingly chosen religious iniquity over spiritual truth, which they have become quite firm in (the meaning of the word “stick”). But through repentance, which means to think differently, they will become firm in spiritual truth, which the stick of Joseph symbolizes. This is the joining of the stick of Judah to the stick of Joseph.
Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2015
BEHEADING of JOHN the BAPTIST
A representation of the spiritual event that was taking place at that time; a transition from worshipping God through the mind and body to worshipping God through the heart. Both were present at the time. John with his disciples, and Jesus with his disciples, and the disciples of John were taking notice: “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?” Matthew 9:14. Jesus answers in parables, using symbolism, speaking of the children of the bridechamber, the bridegroom, the new cloth, the old garment, the new wine, and the old bottles. He is saying that it is not going to be easy for those serving God through their mind and body to accept this new way through the heart. They found the symbolism of his parables hard to understand. It was God’s spiritual language, which is foreign to the religious ear. And if they were not able to hear the message in the literal sense, how could they possibly hear it in the spiritual sense, which is to obey it. It was the new wine, which cannot be put into old bottles lest they burst, referring to the outburst of anger many Christians, who are still holding on to old religious beliefs, display when their beliefs are questioned. What Jesus was talking about through his parables was the conception of spiritual truth. But they, as Jesus described them, were children; unskilled and immature, completely satisfied with their old religious practices, to which they had become addicted. Like a drug, it gave them a feeling of euphoria. It gave them false peace, symbolized by the wall the prophet Ezekiel spoke of, which comes crashing down in difficult times (Ezekiel 13:10-15). What we have is a time of trouble brewing, and a lot of people that are unskilled and unprepared because they have chosen the physical path over the spiritual path; choosing religious worship over spiritual revitalization and regeneration.
Let us rewind the reel of Jewish history back to Joseph, allegory to Jesus. Both hated for the words they spoke. Both falsely accused and thrown into prison. Both taken into Egypt to preserve their lives. Joseph is in prison, where he comes in contact with the baker and the butler. Each man has a dream, which Joseph interprets. The baker will be beheaded, but the butler will continue his butler-ship. John was beheaded. Jesus went on to fulfill his mission. But unfortunately, religion prevailed, the spiritual truth, and spiritual path through the heart, subjugated, symbolized by Joseph’s imprisonment, the return of spiritual truth symbolized by Joseph’s release from prison. The corn that Joseph gathered into the storehouses for the coming famine symbolizes the spiritual Word of God, spiritual truth that has been preserved through the symbolism of the literal Word of God. It will take a spiritual famine to get those who have chosen the path of religion to hunger for spiritual truth. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:” Amos 8:11
In the spring of 2010, I was shown that we are in the exact same place we were two thousand years ago, man’s spiritual stagnation over the past fifteen hundred years due to teachings that were diametrically opposed to the spiritual teachings of Jesus, which only those few entering the narrow gate; choosing the path through the heart, understood. I believe this is the last call to ascend the mount, which the children of Israel were instructed to do on the third day, but declined out of fear, remaining at the foot of the mount worshipping the graven image. The world entered the third day with the new millennium, the graven image symbolizing the false religious image that so many continue to worship out of fear. These religious beliefs, like the carnal law, have no power to bring us into perfection. “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?” Hebrews 7:11. That will require us to make the transition from serving God through our mind and body to serving God through the power of our heart, which is to worship God “in spirit and in truth,” the words of Jesus. The power and authority that was once associated with religious customs and practices has been cut off, beheaded! “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” Isaiah 1:13
The children of Israel, chosen out of all the nations of the world to teach us about ourselves, received the carnal law because they transgressed the spiritual law. The ritualistic feasts and festivals served as a tangible pattern for the spiritual, which they would have kept had they reached spiritual maturity by not resisting the Spirit of God, which they illustrated for us by resisting Moses. Their second opportunity came two thousand years ago, when the spiritual son, seed, or word returned to take them out from the bondage of keeping the letter of the law, and bring them into the freedom that comes with keeping the law spiritually, through which the carnal law is fulfilled. But the Jews would reject this spiritual knowledge, as would religious Christians, who chose to believe a doctrine diametrically opposed to that of Jesus, choosing to remain in their childish ways, worshipping the beastly religious image as the children of Israel worshipped the gold calf, never ascending the spiritual mount, through which one experiences the spiritual transformation of their heart. The beheading of John the Baptist takes place within us when we no longer worship God through the power of our mind and body, but through the power of our heart, which is why John said he must decrease, so Jesus could increase.
Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2010
THE BIBLE DECODED 