Marie's love and devotion for Robert were bearing fruit. He studied the
Bible day and night, worked on his plans for the future and continued
his investigation of science, for he believed that the Bible was the
key to the process by which man may know all there is to know. He
realized that by studying it he might be able to forecast the future
and benefit himself thereby. Above all things he was interested in
airplanes, inventing and improving an airplane that would be useful in
the future wars. He had found the plan for a great airplane in Ezekiel
1:4-16:
And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great
cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and
out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of
the fire.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living
creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a
man.
And one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was
like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the colour of
burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides;
and they four had their faces and their wings.
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they
went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man,
and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face
of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two
wings of every one were joined one to another; and two covered their
bodies.
And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to
go; they went; and they turned not when they went.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like
burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up
and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out
of the fire went forth lightning.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash
of lightning.
Now, as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the
earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour
of a beryl; and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and
their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Robert felt sure that this was the prediction and description of an
airplane that Ezekiel was talking about. He thought that an airplane
could be built with four wings, which would be more powerful and useful
than any of the airplanes yet built. It was his great desire to build
an airplane of this kind.
Robert read Ezekiel 5:2 and 12:
Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when
the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part,
and smite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt scatter
in the wind; and I will draw but a sword after them.
A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine
shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall
fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part
into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Also Ezekiel 7:2 and 12:
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of
Israel. An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
The time is come, the day draweth near; let not the buyer rejoice, nor
the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
Robert thought he saw in this the coming war and famine on the earth
from the cycle, that a greater portion of the earth would be destroyed
by war and famine, and that the end was near. Ezekiel 7:13:
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although
they were yet alive; for the vision is touching the whole multitude
thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself
in the iniquity of his life.
Ezekiel 8:1 and 14:
And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the
fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of
Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which
was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Ezekiel 10:9-11:
And when I looked, behold, the four wheels by the cherubims, one
wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the
appearance of the wheels was as of the colour of a beryl stone.
And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a
wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as
they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it;
they turned not as they went.
Robert felt sure that it was an airplane which Ezekiel was talking
about and which was going to be made in the future. He thought the one
referred to with "the face of an eagle" referred to the United States
Government. He hoped to build some day and help win the great war in
the air and make peace when the days of the "End" come and the great
air battles would be fought. Ezekiel 10:19 and 21:
And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth
in my sight; when they went out, the wheels also were beside them; and
every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and
the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the
likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
Ezekiel 12:22:
Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel,
saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
Ezekiel 14:14, 16 and 21:
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should
deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God,
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be
delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
For thus saith the Lord God. How much more when I send my four
judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome
beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast.
Ezekiel 16:1 and 44:
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, every one
that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is
the mother, so is her daughter.
Ezekiel 17:3 and 7:
And say, Thus saith the Lord God, A great eagle with great wings,
long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto
Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers;
and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth
her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her
plantation.
Ezekiel 20:46:
Son of man set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the
south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field:
Robert interpreted this to mean that the day was coming when there
would be a great air fight from the southern part of the United States.
Ezekiel 20:47:
And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord, Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall
devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flaming flame
shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall
be burned therein.
He thought this meant the South would be destroyed by airplanes with
liquid fire and poisonous chemicals when the war would take place.
Robert read Ezekiel 21:14, 26 and 30:
Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together,
and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain;
it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into
their privy chambers.
Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown;
this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that
is high.
Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the
place where thou wast created, in the land of the nativity.
Ezekiel 28:3:
Behold thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can
hide from thee:
Robert had great faith in the prophecies of Ezekiel because the Lord
said: "Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that
they can hide from thee." He understood from Ezekiel's prophecies that
a great war was coming and that it would be fought in the air by the
great airplanes as described by Ezekiel 32:1 and 2:
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the
first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say
unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art
as a whale in the seas; and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and
troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
From these predictions of Ezekiel and others in the Bible which Robert
believed was a repetition of previous battles, he interpreted it to
mean that there was to be a great flood during the year 1927. He
predicted terrible floods along the Mississippi Valley, which would
destroy the cotton crops and would lay waste vast acres of fertile
land. He wrote that it would be one of the greatest floods in history.
Ezekiel 32:7:
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
Robert understood this to mean the two great eclipses that would occur
in June, 1927.
Ezekiel 33:21 and 33:
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth
month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of
Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The City is smitten.
And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come) then shall they know
that a prophet hath been among them.
Robert felt that he knew the Scriptures and was prepared to prophesy
the future and warn the people of the famine, pestilence and the coming
war.
Ezekiel 35:1 and 8:
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and
in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain
with the sword.
Ezekiel 36:1 and 34:
Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and
say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.
And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the
sight of all that passed by.
Ezekiel 37:9, 16, 17, 19 and 22:
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four
winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live,
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 mine hand.
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of
Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no
more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms, any
more at all.
Robert interpreted this to mean the coming of the great war when the
United States should be the one great nation that would rule the world;
that there would be no more divided kingdoms and no more divided
countries; that it would be the United States of the World, which would
be the land of liberty where freedom exists.
Ezekiel 38:19:
For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, Surely
in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.
Robert understood--"the jealousy in the fire of wrath"--to mean
chemical elements which would be used in the coming war and the use of
airplanes.
Ezekiel 39:2:
And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and
will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee
upon the mountains of Israel.
Robert's interpretation of this was that the last great battle of the
war was to be fought in the northern part of the United States.
Ezekiel 39:8 and 9:
Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the
day whereof I have spoken.
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall
set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers,
the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves and the spears, and they
shall burn them with fire seven years.
He thought the 9th verse where it says that everything should be burnt
with fire seven years, meant either seven years of war, or seven days.
He had read where it says, "I will appoint a day for a year and a year
for a day."
Ezekiel 39:11, 12 and 14:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a
place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers of the
east of the sea; and it shall stop the noses of the passengers; and
there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude; and they shall call
it, The Valley of Hamon-gog.
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that
they may cleanse the land.
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through
the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face
of the earth, to cleanse it; after the end of seven months shall they
search.
Robert thought all this referred to the war yet to come, in which the
United States was to play the final and principal part, and the use of
the airplanes should reach its greatest perfection.
Ezekiel 43:1, 2, 3, 4 and 10:
Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward
the east:
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the
east, and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth
shined with his glory.
And it was according to the appearance of the vision that I saw when I
came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I
saw by the river Chebar: and I fell upon my face.
And the glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way of the gate
whose prospect is toward the east.
Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may
be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.
Ezekiel 44:1, 4, 5 and 26:
Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary,
which looketh toward the east, and it was shut.
Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house; and I
looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the
Lord; and fell upon my face.
And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with
thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, all that I say unto thee
concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the
laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every
going forth of the sanctuary.
And after he is cleansed they shall reckon unto him seven days.
Robert thought this referred to the last seven days at the end of the
Great War in the Air.
Ezekiel 45:25:
In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he
do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin
offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.
Robert thought this referred to the 15th day of July, 1932.
Ezekiel 46:1, 2 and 17:
Thus saith the Lord God, The gate of the inner court that looketh
toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath
it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
And the prince shall enter by way of the porch of that gate without,
and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare
his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at
the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall
not be shut until the evening.
But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then
it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the
prince; but his inheritance shall be his son's for them.
Ezekiel 47:5, 6, 8 and 9:
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not
pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that
could not be passed over.
And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? then he brought
me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country,
and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought
forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth,
whithersoever, the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a
very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither:
for they shall be healed; and everything shall live whither the river
cometh.
Ezekiel 48:14 and 15:
And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the
first fruits of the land: for it is holy unto the Lord.
And the five thousand that are left in the breadth, over against the
five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for
dwelling, and for suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst thereof.