The Shipwreck—Water level lowers, the ship runs aground, then is broken to pieces by the surf.

Acts 27:27-44

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

• Lowering of the water.
• Lifeboat ropes are cut from the ship, and it drifts out to sea.
• Feasting on the grain before it is tossed overboard.
• Ship runs aground in front and is broken to pieces from behind by the surf.
• People ordered to jump ship and to reach shore however they could.

The lowering of the water.
“On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.” Acts 27:27-28

Today, we know the Adriatic Sea as being the body of water on the northeast-ish side of the “boot” of Italy. In the days of this scripture verse, the ship was being driven by the storm across the Adriatic Sea, near Malta!  The waters were lowering as they approached Malta! They were about to be shipwrecked there, as revealed in Acts 28:1. Malta would be the last stop before arrival to the world capital and is described as an atheistic culture of humanism, Click here for posts on Malta from Acts 28:1-10.

Taking “Soundings” was a method of determining the depth of the water. Today, ships have sonar to measure how deep the water is, but in the days of the Bible, a rope with a weight tied to the end was used. The rope was thrown into the sea, like an anchor, and markings were on the rope [like markings on a tape measure]. Basically, the rope was an extra-long measuring tape and wherever the water was on the markings of the rope they knew how deep the water was. The captain and crew of the ship knew they were coming close to the sandy shore because the reading on the rope showed that the water was becoming shallower. The water dropped 30 feet in just a short time.

Before coming to the shallow waters, the ship was storm-battered for “fourteen days” barely able to stay afloat. The weight of the cargo and tackle of the ship had to be thrown overboard [Acts 27:18-20]. As they saw the water level lowering, they knew they were drawing close to the shoreline, and that sandy shoreline was, Malta!

Today, the “ship” of the people and nations of the world is being severely battered by the winds of violence, crime, illegal immigration, riots, economic woes, and protests. Cities, states, and nations are struggling to stay afloat within their fabric of society, economically, culturally, and within the confines of their national constitution. As a result, the “water levels” within the hearts and souls of people in cities across the globe are lowering.

With the lowering of the spiritual water, peoples and nations are approaching the sandy shore of the atheistic culture of humanism at “Malta!” While we hear about the lowering of water levels in lakes and rivers, it’s the lowering of the spiritual waters that the global government and its global culture thrive on. This water level is lowered by polluting and corrupting the best of human sentimentality and intentions. People are being driven away from the spiritual waters. The waters are being made undesirable, uncomfortable, miserable to be in, and turned to mire. Good is called evil and evil is called good. Instead of people living in the light they are given darkness, and living in darkness is called understanding and light. The sweetness of human intentions is polluted with bitterness, and positive reinforcement is given for bitter attitudes. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20

When the spiritual water level is lowered, we begin to see the sand, the spiritual sand. Belief in God disappears, the Gospel of Christ dwindles, the Holy Spirit is shunned, and the fruit of the Spirit are scarce. On this sand is what the global government and its culture are built on, the sand within the physiology of the people. This spiritual sand enables the atheistic entity with power over physiology to exist. This entity replaces the conscience and spirit to give life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people. The global culture is groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do. Click here for a post on human physiology being turned to sand. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand…” Matthew 7:26-27

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17-18

Lifeboat ropes are cut from the ship, and it drifts out to sea.
“Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So, the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.” Acts 27:29-32

The captain, crew, pilot, and owner of the storm-battered ship aimed to do all they could to avoid the rocks of the shoreline. They dropped four anchors from the back of the ship to slow the ship from drifting into the rocks and prayed for daylight to appear. Their plan was to run aground on a sandy beach, “…they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground…” Acts 27:39 This is the sandy beach of Malta! Malta is described in the posts on Acts 28:1-10. The “sandy shore” that the world government desires is described in the post on “The lowering of the water.” in Acts 27:27-28. The daylight comes for the global leaders when they see the sandy shore, “When daylight came…they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground… Acts 27:39

There were some crew members who tried to escape from the storm-battered doomed ship. That’s because the ship was too large for drifting into shallow water, and with no daylight, it was too dangerous to allow the ship to just drift near the rocky shore. The crew members pretended like they were going to lower some anchors from the front to save the ship and those aboard. Really, they lowered the lifeboat into sea to save themselves. The lifeboat was small enough to maneuver through the shallow waters. Those crew members didn’t care anything about the survival of those on the ship, only their own welfare.

The picture is grim to think of a world without functioning “lifeboats” in turbulent times. The “lifeboats” being healthcare, fire departments, law enforcement, social programs, etc. etc. Too grim for me even to comment on what that would be like when the governing authorities cut the lifeline from the general population. It would be so dire that people would be begging the United Nations to step in, to empower them with authority to be the one world government. After the United Nations become established as the one world government, the events of the Seven Trumpets of Revelations 8, 9, 11 and the events of the Seven Plagues of Revelation 16, the “lifeboats” will be cut loose, and the lifelines drift away. For Christians, we will always have our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the “Lifeboat”.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we see Him as being the Anchor of the soul and being the Lifeboat of Salvation to see us through the storms in this life. However, there are some preachers, who are nothing more than deceitful wolves in sheep clothing. They claim to be proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ as the Anchor of the soul, saying their mission is to lower the Anchor into the hearts and souls of the people. To the contrary, they are using the Gospel of Christ to save their own life by preaching a different Jesus that is not His Gospel of Salvation. They leave others to be battered by the storms without the hope of hearing the message of Salvation through the Gospel of Christ. The churches of today have abandoned the Gospel of Christ, and people are not hearing the message of the Cross.

Instead of preaching the testimony of Jesus, the deceitful preachers preach a Gospel based on the commandments of human beings. Jesus says, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Matthew 15:9 The Holy Spirit says this through Paul, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel… But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6, 8 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16: 25-26

The captain of the ship was an elite Roman centurion, and he had a detachment of soldiers with him on the ship. When Paul saw the crew members trying to escape with the lifeboat, he said to the Roman soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” What we need in this storm-battered world is for preachers who are able to stand with the suffering and hurting of this world and to give them hope through the Salvation testimony of Jesus. Preachers need to stand firm in their faith so that others on this global “ship” can be saved. The last thing the Roman soldiers were concerned about was the lifeboat, so they cut it loose and let it drift away. Those who govern over the passengers on the global “ship” do not care anything for the Lifeboat, who is Jesus Christ. They have cut all ties to the Gospel of Christ and Christianity is put into extinction, as described in Revelation 12.

Feasting on the grain before it is tossed overboard.
“Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have tarried and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it for your health. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” Acts 27:33-34

Just before dawn, just before the sandy shore of Malta! was in view, Paul encouraged everyone on the ship to eat. For fourteen days, the ship they were sailing on was being battered by the storm and could hardly stay afloat [Already, the cargo and tackle of the ship was thrown overboard to make the ship lighter and keep it afloat]. Those aboard the ship was not eating properly and health issues were a concern. Paul encouraged them to eat for the good of their health, and encouraged everyone that they would all survive the storm.

Today, we live in a storm-battered world where people in cities, states, and nations across the globe are not able to eat properly. There are food shortages, high prices, poverty, hunger, unsafe food ingredients, constant food recalls, flooding affecting the harvest of agriculture, sun scorched crops, wildfires, and even dinner partners not to be trusted. Not to mention unsafe drinking water. These concerns have been going on for a long time, but we need to eat. The storm-battered “ship” had not yet reached the sandy shore of the metaphorical Malta! and those sandy shores are described in the post on Acts 27:27-28 on the “Lowering of the water”. We need the people of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to express the urgency of the people’s need to eat healthy food for the proper nourishment of the body. We need Holy Spirit filled people to speak the word of hope through Jesus Christ.

More than food for the physical body, the Holy Spirit wants us to know it is unhealthy to go “14 days” without nourishing the soul on the word of God. Jesus says, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 This world is already seeing the sandy shore of “Malta!” and its essential our soul feeds on the word of God. In this storm-battered world, the Gospel of Christ is being battered, and people are going hungry for the food that nourishes the soul. As we can, which is seldom nowadays, we need Holy Spirit filled people to urge others to feed on belief in God through faith in Jesus Christ. We need to encourage others that there is life, eternal life, and not one single hair will perish, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

“After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all of good cheer and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board.” Acts 27:35-37

As followers of Jesus Christ, we want to express our thankfulness to God for the physical food we do have to eat, but especially for the food of the word of God that nourishes our soul. Even today, as we see the sandy shore of Malta! it becomes increasingly difficult to show our faith in God through Jesus Christ. “Malta!” is described as being an atheistic culture of humanism [posts on Malta from Acts 28:1-10]. Even a simple act of praying over our food becomes filled with insecurities about what might be laying on our plate or at the bottom of our drinking glass when we open our eyes. Or after the prayer, we taste the food, and it is oddly distasteful. Our Lord Jesus said the day would come when nobody will be able to work to share our faith, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” John 9:4

“When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.” Acts 27:38

In America, and in other parts of the world, we were able to eat as much as we wanted, without any concerns about scarcity or what we might eat the next day. That is not so much true today as we saw scarcity from the COVID-19 pandemic, which we haven’t fully recovered from. On top of that, now there is always the concern about high food prices, mostly due to supply failure, other countries’ food shortages, tariffs, embargos, etc. In a sense, we are seeing the “grain” of the food supply being “thrown overboard” to lighten the “ship” of consumption. The scarcity and high prices are designed to drive the storm-battered people and nations to look to the United Nations to stabilize food supply. The United Nations are progressing in becoming the one world government, and as such will be the global storehouse and distributor of the world’s food supply.

Today’s global government, and its global culture, are directing and overseeing the supply of the word of God as it is thrown overboard. As we already see today, the churches have thrown the Gospel of Christ overboard, so has the government lawmakers by not including the values of the Bible in their laws and policies. The educational system has thrown the word of God overboard as the Bible is not allowed to be taught in the classrooms, and Christianity is not welcomed in any sector of society. We are right there at the sandy shores of “Malta!”

My grandmother said to me that a day is coming when we will need to hide the word of God within our heart because the Bible is tossed aside by this world. “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat” Revelation 2:17 Overcomers will be those who feed from the Holy Spirit within our heart, soul, and mind. “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 4:31-34

Ship runs aground in front and is broken to pieces from behind by the surf.
“When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.” Acts 27:39-41

At daylight, the captain, crew, pilot, and owner of the ship saw the sandy shore of Malta! “Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta.” Acts 28:1 They knew they were in new territory but would be a welcomed place of safety from the stormy sea. The sandy shore of Malta! was not recognized by any previous recollections, but that is where they chose to run the ship aground. Daylight for today’s storm-battered “ship” of peoples and nations is to see the sandy shore of an atheistic culture of humanism. The global government and its global culture are built on that “sand”. Humanism is the fig leaf worn by those who serve the atheistic entity that replaces the conscience and spirit to give people what to feel, think, say, and do. Humanism is “…an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems…”

Today, the people and nations around the world are aboard the same storm-battered “ship”. The captain, crew, pilot, and owner of the “ship” are the city, state, national leaders and their grassroots culture. They plan to run the storm-battered “ship” aground on the new territory of the sandy shore of “Malta!” That is a place where the belief in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are turned to sand within the heart, soul, and mind of people around the world. This is the “new territory” where people and nations of the world live for the entity that replaces the conscience and spirit by giving them what to think, feel, say, and do. The sandy shore of “Malta!” is not recognized by any nations’ previous recollection of their cultural heritage, but is the place of safety from the stormy turbulence in the world. Click here for a post on the “Lowering of the water” nearing the sandy shore of Malta! from Acts 27:27-28.

The sandy shore of “Malta!” is the last stop before the United Nations become established as the undisputable one world government [the new territory]. The leaders of peoples and nations are intentionally cutting away the “anchors”, untying the “rudders”, and hoisting the “sail” to reach “Malta!”, which means they are moving steadily forward, with “air in the sails”, and knowingly guiding the world to run aground on the sandy shore of “Malta!”. Click here for posts that describes Malta! from Acts 28:1-10. Malta is described as an atheist culture of humanism.

Just before reaching the sandy bay of “Malta!”, something very significant happens that everyone in the world today experiences. The “ship” with the people and nations aboard strikes a sandbar, where the front of the “ship” is stuck in the sand and the back of the “ship” is being pounded by the “surf”. The front part is stuck in the “sand” and represents the front part of human anatomy, and the back part is being pounded by the “the surf” of today’s culture and is the back part of human anatomy. The cultural heritage of peoples and nations is being broken apart in that way.

We live in a world where there is opposition towards the front reproductive part, the part that unites male and female together. Simultaneously the pounding surf of today’s culture is felt on the back side. This is a world where the presence of the LGBQT lifestyles have grown dramatically around the world, and also the unmarried lifestyle has grown dramatically. People and nations around the world are stuck in the sand of not being able to live by natural desires. Without the front part and back part of human anatomy working as God intended, people are not responding to natural affections but are being driven to live for the unnatural presence of the entity that has power over physiology to give people what to think, feel, say, and do. People are made to feel unnatural desires. The cultural heritage of people and nations is being broken apart by being stuck in the sand in the front along with the pounding “surf” on the back side.

Click here for a post on the “Bear with Three Ribs in its Mouth” from Daniel 7:5. This is a post on the devouring of Godly relationships.

With the front part of anatomy being stuck in the sand and the back part being pounded by the “surf” of today’s culture, this results in violence and hostile behaviors of all sorts. People become angry at society when they are made involuntarily celibate, and they refuse to be considered part of the LGBQT community and are not able to respond civilly to verbal assaults and other hostilities. They cannot tolerate being pounded with malicious words “your gay”, and especially not to be called “gay” in public or implied to be “gay” in any other way. In their envy of “straight couples”, they are angered to see women and men showing affection in front of them [affection they are denied]. Our world is plagued with people who carry out shootings and violence against members of today’s culture. They are categorized as “loners”, “a bit strange”, having a history of mental health issues, not socially adjusted, etc. “In-cel” is actually a word to describe many of them, which means “Involuntarily Celibate”. They are a whole culture of people who want to have a romantic “straight” partner but feel denied by society while maliciously being pounded by words insinuating that they are gay.

Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of “In-cels”, “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” Matthew 19:12 As followers of Jesus Christ, if we feel denied of having a romantic straight partner, a marriage partner, let’s consider ourselves to be a eunuch for the sake of Jesus Christ.

The cultural change in what constitutes a relationship, and the violence that exists in the world, is to drive people away from their cultural heritage to demand conformity in the context of the goals of the United Nations. In the verses of the next post in Acts 27:42-44, those aboard the “ship” are commanded to jump “ship”, which means to abandon the national cultural heritage before arriving to the new territory of the one world government.

People ordered to jump ship and to reach shore however they could.
“The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.” Acts 27:42-44

The soldiers on the ship were Romans, with the Roman centurion as the captain, and probably with all of his 100 soldiers. The prisoners on the ship were not there voluntarily and were certainly contrary to being transported to the world capital [Rome] to face their condemnation. Instead of allowing the prisoners to make their way to Malta, and possibly escaping, the soldiers were going to put the prisoners to death. There are many people in this world, on the “ship” sailing to the world capital, who feel like prisoners being transported to the new territory of the one global government. They are not part of the today’s changing culture and don’t want to be part of the “woke” society. This atheistic world culture could very easily put them and Christians to death, very literally and brutally.

The Roman commander of the soldiers wanted to spare Paul’s life, so he kept the soldiers from killing the prisoners. After all, Paul was a prisoner being transported to the world capital to face judgment, imprisonment, and eventual execution for preaching the Gospel of Christ. However, Paul was a Roman born citizen, so the Roman Centurion didn’t want blood on his hands for killing a fellow Roman citizen. At the same time, the centurion could not show favoritism to a prisoner whom he was transporting to Rome. In other words, the Centurion wanted to “save face” by keeping Paul alive but realizing Paul was a prisoner. The global government of today pride themselves of being humanitarian so they do not want the image of being brute killers [for now] of those who do not fit into their atheist culture of humanism. They want to “save face”. They have a form of Godliness but deny the power, “…having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” 2 Timothy 3:5 These are wolves in sheep clothing, and they serve the beast with two horns like a lamb, as described in Revelation 13:11-12 The beast with two horns like a lamb is Satan’s version of the Holy Spirit.

The Roman centurion ordered those aboard the ship to jump ship and get to the sandy shore of Malta! the best way they could, either by swimming or hanging on to pieces of the ship that was storm battered and broken to pieces. In that way, the prisoners reached the sandy shore safely. Today, the leaders of the global government are ordering people to jump ship of their national cultural heritage. Their survival depends on it, and they must find their own way to survive in the attempt to reach the “shore” of the atheist culture of humanism. Referring to those of the global government seeking to build an earthly Garden of Eden, “The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them.” Joel 2:3

The pieces of the ship that people cling to are parts of their cultural heritage used to come to the sandy shore of “Malta!” For example, people use the phrase, “…of the people and by the people…” from the storm-battered and broken United States constitution to arrive to “Malta!” They use this phrase like clinging to a plank from a broken ship. They use this “plank” to refer to the atheistic masses of people whose “democracy” comes from the entity that replaces the conscience and spirit to give people what to think, feel, say, and do. The “plank” also refers to the storm-battered and broken Gospel of Christ, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9

As followers of Jesus Christ, let’s cling to the “plank” of His Gospel, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17 “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

The MAGA movement in the United States exist in various forms in “conservative” movements around the world. They resist giving up their cultural heritage and refuse to surrender to a “woke” culture they refer to as communism or socialism, or by other names. Even Russia and China have those who want to keep their cultural heritage within a changing world. Those who refuse to jump “ship” of their cultural heritage, like those of the MAGA movement, will be destroyed with the ship because they will resort to rebellion and all sorts of resistance and even violence to fight against being driven onto the sandy shore of Malta! “But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Luke 9:55-56 If they want to survive, they must jump “ship” and let go of their cultural heritage. When they do let go, they must find their own way to survive to come to the sandy shore of “Malta!”. 

“Malta!” is a place without political, religious, and cultural boundaries, and many refer to the “woke” new territory as communism or socialism [even though places like China, Russia, etc. have their own name for it]. Christians know exactly what it is, it is the global government and its global culture. They are driven by the entity that has power over physiology to give them what to think, feel, say, and do which gives life to the image of the beast to speak and live through them. They are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do. The political party and “religion” of the new territory is formed by the entity that sets itself up as God within the temple of God, our body. That is done by the entity giving people what to think, feel, do, and say, this is the one ”… who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin” Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.

Click here for posts on the description of Malta from Acts 28:1-10.

As Christians, we do not have a country on this earth to call our own, our allegiance is to Jesus Christ not a country’s identity or cultural heritage. We have brothers and sisters in Christ surviving in Russia, China, Iran, Israel, United States etc. In essence, the day we were born-again we jumped ship of the ways of this world even though we live by the laws of the country we live in. “…be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus 3:1-2

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17-18

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11