From: Dan & Angi Matson
Sent: Mar 7, 2006 7:57 PM
To: Nicholas A Stivers
Subject: Signs of the End...


Dear Nicholas,

Thank you for such a lengthy letter. When I get home from work and after I talk with my wife and kids, I check my computer to hopefully find letters like yours. I am eager to see what God may do with this book and how it impacts others

I like how you call it the "church of man". I have tried to share some of the things I have discovered, but it is quickly apparent that the message is not very welcome. I am sure we feel about the same here. When I wrote the book, I naively expected a welcoming of the truth. It is hard to get so excited and then find dull ears. Fortunately not everyone has been this way, just not too much.

When I started to write the book I was amazed how taking the initial step would lead to more material. Those "a-ha" moments carried a wide range of emotions (excitement, joy, fear, etc). I had to write the book. I feared God if I sat on the material.

I will have to order your book soon. Your website and ministry look solid and I am eager to read what God has had you put to writing.

Concerning the 120 years. This is hard since people did live to be over 120 years for awhile after the Flood, but by Moses day it seems to be the maximum--and interesting considering Moses age. I have heard others trying to make it a 120 jubilees to show a 6,000 year span (but I can't find evidence for it). I just noticed how 120 years fit with 1897 and 2017, so I wouldn't call it a solid proof, but interesting how it fits the whole development of all of the other signs. So it is like the maximum generation, though I think other years are used as well. Does this answer your question adequately?

If you have any questions, I will try to answer them as soon as possible.

I noticed how my book was posted on the Cephas ministry site--so I will say thank you. If there is anything else I could do within reason, please let me know.

I grew up in the Seattle area, so it still takes getting used to the desert over here (been here 5 years).

Please keep in touch. I need to go for now . . .

Many thanks and may God bless your hard work,
Dan

March 8, 2006

Dear Dan,

Wow, we really do share a similar discernment and also dissapointment. I too, was very naive when I was pressing my publisher, "This book must be published... it's going to set mainstream christianity on it's ear!" was my plea. I thought that I too would be well received outside of my home region but should have paid attention to the earlier responses in my awakening which inspired the exhortations in the first place. Wow, what a let down it was becoming. Fortunately, not long after a few hundred Church contacts, I got a really welcome reply from Rita Williams who developed Cephas Ministry with her husband in 1992. She had just been widowed and we began a long discourse which inevitably led to my office at Cephas. She runs the show from Florida and like arms spread across the country, I minister from Washington. It may inspire you somewhat but as unpopular as true disciples of Christ are... we do have a growing fellowship. Though I do not know the number and refuse to keep a count, it is noteworthy to mention here that since Rita brought me aboard, the average number of "hits" experienced by us on a monthly basis quickly rose from 150,000/mo to over 300,000 then 600,000 then 1,000,000 and now averaging over1.5 million hits a month. There seems to be an aweful lot of international traffic as well as North American traffic. I also discovered after coming aboard with Cephas that were others I have met and communicate with who share the same faith in Christ. How refreshing indeed! This of course became another personal fulfillment of the Word in my life as the Spirit in me once said, "Now go, find your brothers and sisters and share with them. They are scattered far and wide. The time for our gathering soon approaches."

I hope that our advertising your book will do you well but please don't be dissapointed if it is largely rejected. Even with all the great coverage Rita has provided me and the addition of a related working website, my book sales are pathetic. This is a clue to me how many are siding with the system of the beast and also shows me how many will not recognize our Master's visitation. So many are unable to discern the difference between faith and religion - truth and falsehood - Temple and Church. Most are already under a deluding Spirit I believe or at the very least, stricken with deep unbeliefs. I hold the church of man, all their clergy and their strong delusions and unbelief accountable for this apostasy. The Seven letters to the Seven Churches pretty much proves my discernment on the state of mainstream Christianity. In essence, the Gentiles have done no better with the laws of grace and faith than the Jews did with the "letter of the Law." It is a very sad state of affairs indeed. But keep your chin up Brother because you are not alone and you do have the fellowship of genuine brethren. Since we are so scattered, cyberspace is where you will find many who are "your brothers of the same faith."

I'm logging off now and going back to reading your book. I will be in touch soon.

Grace, peace and mercy be with you always. God Bless your household.

NicholasA.Stivers
Cephas Ministry

From: Dan & Angi Matson
Sent: Mar 8, 2006 10:27 PM
To: Nicholas A Stivers
Subject: Signs of the End...


Hello Nicholas,

My time today is very short. I guess one has to have some hope, but also a dose of reality. I did my thesis in Seminary on the Seven Churches. I tried to show what their purpose was (prophetic), but was practically threatened with an "F" at my board. But they couldn't do it because my grades were too high in all of my classes. I think the application of the seventh church was not appreciated. This was my first taste of reality.

My publisher is the only one I contacted with a pretty shabby rough draft 3 years ago. He called a month after I sent it, which was shocking. I figured, even the more so now, that God had a definite hand in it so that word would get out in some quantity. My web site hits currently are at 2,500 per month with a high of 3,500 a month, but it was at less than a thousand a month before 2006. My book sales are probably pathetic, but I am encouraged with each one and especially those who come back to get a few more. At least with the internet books have made their way to many places. So far there have been about 700 books sold.

I must go to bed for I need to get up very early to go to work. Thank you for your encouragement based in reality of the present situation.

Oh, I really enjoy your comparision of the Jewish failure to the Church failure. I think of this often. This makes sense of the message to Laodicea and the common theme for the need for a dispensational change. Too much tradition of men.

I'll write more later. Thank you again for your time, efforts and encouragement..

Best Regards,
Dan

March 9, 2006

Shalom Dan,

Sorry, I know your busy and don't want to keep you away from your family too much but I have some questions and observations. Please take your time in answering as I feel the desperate need to disappear into prayer for a little while after having read your book. I must confess that I am awestruck, sad, delighted and also extremely concerned all at the same time. I honestly tried to poke holes in your discovery because it seems almost to good to be true. I never expected that any-one person would be given the direction, insight and revelation to spell out the "last days" events in specific dates on the calendar. I have always taken the position that such an important prophetic revelation would be "given" to a number of appointed messengers simultaneously thereby allowing for confirmation. You seem to be standing all alone as the recipient of this discovery. Honestly, that concerns me.

It seemed important to include in your calculations, the missing 40 minutes of time (10 degrees on the Sundial of Ahaz) as found in the story of Hezekiah but why did you not also consider the all important "missing day" found in the book of Joshua 10:12-14?
If a mere 40 minutes were important to your calculations it would seem that a whole day missing off the timeline in Joshua's day would definitely need to be considered. The next question is related to the start of Creation, the anniversary date given for the creation of Adam and also the start date of Noah's flood. Did you at any point make any "assumptions" in order to arrive at those conclusions you made? If you did not make prior assumptions to work the math, did you make any post assumptions based on the math you were working? The reason I ask is that you offer no other evidence or further explanation to prove the dates you have given as probable dates for Adam's creation, Noah's flood etc. Am I missing something here? Foot note number 57 on page 71 also seems to be a bothersome result in numbers. Have you made any new discoveries since the last writing of your book?

Lastly, your understanding of apostasia is similar to mine but my understanding differs slightly from yours. In fact, my understanding of apostasia is in part what led to the strong rebuke (warnings) delivered to the contemporary churches of man in my book Apostasy Revealed. Here is how I understand the use of the word #646 Apostasia; from aphistemi (868), which is from apo (575), from, and histemi (2476), to place, stand. Occurs in Acts 21:21 translated forsake and in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 falling away. In the majority of occasions the verb is intran. Meaning that a person does not depart from where he is to go somewhere else, but stays away having chosen from the beginning to stay away, not to believe instead of believing, in which case the verb, histemi (2476) is to be interpreted not as departing but as standing away, placing oneself away; with the prep. Apo (575), to stay away from. In Acts 21:21, the new Christian believers among the Jews decided to stand apart from the Jewish practices of Moses for they were in a new dispensation. They were not Judaizing Christians but Christians standing apart from Moses. Having departed from Moses and coming to Jesus Christ, they decided that they should stay apart from Moses, that is, his Judaistic practices. Therefore, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 the word apostasia does not refer to the Christians who would depart from the faith, but those who would reject Christ.
Referring back to my analogy that the Christians have done no better with the laws of grace and faith than the Jews did with following the letter of the Law... If we were to accept the above definition of apostasy just as it is, it helps to shed light on why the churches of man are in such a state of deception, treachery, delusion and division. It is because they as a whole never really have been one in Spirit and Truth with Christ. They're may well be individuals within these religious institutions of man that are true disciples of Christ who will likely be raptured before the tribulation but the modern Church as a whole and in it's present state... is in a terrible condition and affliction. The sheep have been corraled by many wolves. After so many rejections from mainstream clergy and their quaint little religious circles mirroring the same degree of rejection that Christ experienced... I finally had to admit that Jesus was right and there was nothing I will ever do to change that. The Spirit in me has uttered more than once, "You will know them by their word and deeds."

If what you have presented is true then you should be getting nothing less than front page press around the world. Before I can give it my two thumbs up I have to really test out every possible angle to to see what might be right or wrong. I believe that's how the Bereans handled the Word too.

Working out my salvation with fear and trembling...

NAS

Dear Nicholas,

Yes, this concerns me too and has others. A man in Texas said this put him at 2% doubt because he has not heard of these conclusions before. Your range of emotions seem appropriate and similar to mine. Every day I anaylze my conclusions for verification, because it does concern me as well.

The Long Day of Joshua is important, but I did not see a connection--yet. I had understood that the calendar shifted from 360 day years to 365.2422 day years around 700 BC. What caught my attention was that the 10 degrees on the sundial occured at roughly this time. So I dug deeper and was amazed how everything went together with what I had written to this point (this chapter was added a year later). The difference I believe is that the Long Day of Joshua did not seem to alter the calendar year in length. This also seems to solve the reasoning why God still uses 360 days in the Bible, but also that our current year is used as well.

The assumptions were that I needed to stay within a biblical (using the Bible and not wavering from its information) chronology and not shift dates as is apparent in some other works. I had a firm chronology and then did the mathematical comparisions. This is what blew me away is when I would stick with biblical preciseness and allow no creative wiggle room to then see if it would work against all odds of it doing so. The 2521 year issue is because to make it work to 2520 one would have to apparently fudge the numbers somewhere else and I don't want to do that. There is probably a solution, but the problem is probably my lack of understanding at this point. My biggest concern is the modern dates since we know when they occured (very accurately) and how they seem to point very accurately to the near future. My chronology is on pages 163 and 164. The only jump is from Shem to Abraham since I didn't have room to list those patriarches.

Any new discoveries? I am working on an article and diagrams concerning the Great Pyramid. I resisted because of the baggage to this subject, but I believe there is biblical support to the study. I am going to write a short as possible article to show how I believe the Great Pyramid points to the time of the return of the Lord at the Second Coming. I will post it soon on the website, I was hoping to last weekend. I realize there have been many attempts with this subject, but this is a different approach and something I started thinking on about 10 years ago, but after the book, it narrowed my focus to enable to find out a solid conclusion with some surprises.

Regarding your explanation of apostasia, For me Paul is pointing to an identifiable event before the man of sin can be revealed, though I agree that the condition of the church and world will get worse.

Keep testing it because I don't want to be wrong either!

Thanks for all of this, Dan.