Because I said so….!

Over the last 1,700 years, the Catholic Church has made some claims about its authority that gives it exclusivity over all truth. The Church makes the claim that it holds itself as the authority over the Bible, giving itself the highest authority; higher even, than the Bible. This is done by elevating “Church tradition” to an equal status to the Word of the Lord.

The Catholic Church teaches that it has two sources of the Word of God: “Sacred Tradition and Scripture”, because they both contain the Word of God, and it claims that she is the servant of the Word of God, in Sacred Tradition and Scripture.

The Magisterium of the Church
"The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."

This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with “the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome”.
“Scripture and Tradition “are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move toward the same goal” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 80).

So, according to Catholicism, Scripture and Tradition together make up authoritative divine revelation for the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church’s claim to this authority is through what is known as “Apostolic succession”. This is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the Apostles by a continuous succession, which has been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bishops ultimately passed down to the head Bishop or the Pope.

The Pope, according to the Catholic Church, is the direct successor of the authority handed down to him from Peter, the supposed first Pope. They make this claim by taking the passage in Mathew 16 out of context.

Matthew 16:13-17
Now when Yeshua came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." He *said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Yeshua said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 

The claim of the Catholic Church is that this statement by Yeshua established Peter as the first Pope of the church, and that they are now the successors of that authority by every subsequent Pope that preceded him. 

But the problem is that Yeshua is not establishing Peter as the rock of the “Church”. The rock that Yeshua is establishing is the confession that He (Yeshua) is the Messiah the son of the living God. This would make sense since the rest of the Scripture clearly declares that salvation is found by believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths.

Romans 10:9-11
“… that if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 
 
It is also clear that Yeshua is the stone which the builders rejected.
 
Psalm 118:22 
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.
 
Matthew 21:42 
Yeshua said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?
 
Mark_12:10 
"Have you not even read this Scripture: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
 
Luke_20:17 
But Yeshua looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone'?
 
Act_4:11 
"He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.
 
Ephesians 2:20 
…having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the corner stone,
 
1Pe_2:6 
For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

1Pe_2:7  This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER STONE,"

Shouldn’t we hear more about Peter’s appointment as the first Pope if this were so? If, as Catholics say, the Church was built upon Peter as the first head of the “Church”, then I would consider it a bit more important of an issue than to have it relegated to just one verse. It should be expounded upon to make it clear. I think it was made pretty clear in other passages that Yeshua is the corner stone.

Where in Scripture do we ever see a precedent where one man was imbued with all the authority of the Lord? Moses spoke on behalf of the Lord but did not speak on his own authority. When he took it upon himself to strike the rock instead of speak to the rock, he was severely penalized by the Lord. All authority was given to Yeshua after the resurrection, not a man.

Matthew 28:16-20 
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.   When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
 
Why would Yeshua pass that authority back to men when it was His to inherit? The Catholic Church has presumed way too much in thinking that they are the sole inheritors of Gospel message. As a result, this has led them to make statements under the auspices of what is called Papal infallibility.
 
“Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church that states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error " when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.”
 
The gravity of that statement is outstanding. Not only is this just a bit presumptive of them to say this, but it is blasphemy. In one breath they say only the Pope has the power to speak in this authority in regards to doctrine and morals, yet in the first Vatican council in 1869 they say in Chapter 2, paragraph 5:
 
“Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema.”

So if I do not agree that the Pope is the successor of Peter and the head of the “Church”, I am to be cursed. They set up a scenario where his authority and position cannot be challenged under penalty of a curse. And then they back peddle and say that he only speaks ex cathedra in matters of faith and doctrine. He, according to this, has primacy over the whole church. I can’t question this under penalty of a curse, but then I am supposed to believe his authority is limited to faith and doctrine. And why is this so, “because I said so”!  This is what I call double speak.

Why should I accept the authority of the Catholic Church? Because they said so? Me thinkest not!

Just this one example below makes the scenario clear. The Catholic Church changed the day of the Sabbath from Friday evening to Sunday in its own authority. Why? Because they said so! 

The Roman Emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity, although his subsequent actions suggest the “conversion” was more of a political move than a genuine heart change. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321.

On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. —Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75.

The Catholic Church admits that they had the right to change the Biblical mandate of the Sabbath, thus breaking the 4th commandment in Ex 20.
 
Exodus 20:8-11 
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
 
In this matter they take authority over the Scriptures themselves. Do they really believe that the Lord has given them this authority?
 
In the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, we read:
 
Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….
Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

First of all Yeshua did not rise from the dead on Sunday. I have dealt with this many times in other blogs. Second of all nowhere in Scripture do we see the Lord replacing or abolishing the Shabbat. So where did the Catholic Church get the idea that they had the right to do this? Because…they said so! All of their authority is based on the false premise that Peter, who was the first Pope, decreed apostolic authority upon their declared successor.  

So that has to mean that if their premise is true, that the Lord abandoned Israel and established a new people in their place. These new people were given the right to invalidate the Shabbat, worship idols, pray to Mary and the saints, invoke indulgences, establish infant baptism, declare the Eucharist as being critical for salvation, teach that the Eucharist becomes the actual blood and flesh of Yeshua, sexually abuse children, kill Jews and other true believers, invent holidays that are not Biblical and abolish the Biblical feasts of Leviticus 23, establish Mary as the Queen of heaven, declare that Mary was conceived without original sin, teach that the Pope is infallible in matters of religious doctrine. Need I go on? As I said before, it’s all because…they said so!

Their track record is a bit shaky to say the least. I for one would not be willing to take anything they say as authoritative.

So with that being said I have to ask, how much have they influenced Christianity today? Let’s just pick on one of those subjects addressed above.

 Yes, you guessed it, Christmas.

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. A few years later Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th of December.

This date might have also been chosen because the Winter Solstice and the ancient pagan Roman midwinter festivals called 'Saturnalia' and 'Dies Natalis Solis Invicti' took place in December around this date; so it was a time when people were already celebrating.

The Winter Solstice is the day which is the shortest time between the sun rising and the sun setting. It happens on December 21st or 22nd. To pagans, this meant that the winter was over and spring was coming, and they had a festival to celebrate it and worshiped the sun for winning over the darkness of winter. In Scandinavia, and some other parts of northern Europe, the Winter Solstice is known as Yule, and it is where we get Yule Logs from. In Eastern Europe the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.

The Roman Festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17th and 23rd and honored the Roman god Saturn. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means 'birthday of the unconquered sun' and was held on December 25th (when the Romans thought the Winter Solstice took place) and was the 'birthday' of the Pagan Sun god Mithra. In the pagan religion of Mithraism, the holy day was Sunday and is where get that word from.

So to recap, the Pagan Roman culture celebrated these days dedicated to their deities. The Catholic Church sprinkled holy water on them and synchrotized them into the church’s celebrations to draw in the pagans. They did this because they said so. Christians, of all flavors, all over the world celebrate these made-up events instead of the Biblical feasts in Leviticus 23, which prophesy the coming of the Yeshua to the detail. They do this all in the name of good intentions, i.e., “we’re not celebrating Santa, we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus”. Protestants, supposedly, broke off from the Catholic Church because of the paganism that they practiced, yet they themselves participate in many of those same practices today and why…because they said so!

One last thing to consider.

Mal 3:6  "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 
Exo 23:13  "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.    
Exo_23:33  "They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."   
Lev 20:23  'Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.                                                                                    
Deu_12:30  beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?'
Deu_7:16  "You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
Deu_12:2  "You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
Deu_12:30  beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?'
Jer 10:2  Thus says the LORD, "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by them; 
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 
Jer 10:4  "They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. 
Jer 10:5  "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good." 
Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

And why, because He (The Lord) said so….!

So the end time prognosticators are at it again. I remember as far back as 1987 that there was a guy Named Edgar C. Whisenantwho wrote a book on the subject,“88 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming in 1988”. Needless to say, Yeshua didn’t come that year, so he wrote a sequel,“89 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming in 1988”. I don’t think the second book sold as well. The one thing I do know is that end-time prophecy is a good business. False prophets and cults have been predicting the Lord’s coming since the day He left, and as much as I hate wasting my time on their dribble, for the sake of those good folks who read my rantings, I probably should say something.
While I do believe that we are in some very critical days, I am not of the belief that we are able to discern the signs of the time using their ridiculous formulas. I really believe that the Scriptures make it clear what we should look for in relation to the end times. There are enough Biblical signs that we should be heeding. We don’t need to be making up erroneous signs from every natural phenomenon. The go-to verse that most of these recent false prophets reference is found in Genesis.

Gen 1:14  Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 
 
The only problem is that they never quote the rest of the verse.
 
Gen 1:15  and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 
Gen 1:16  God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 
Gen 1:17  God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 
Gen 1:18  and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 
Gen 1:19  There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 
 
These end-time prophet wannabes say that this passage declares that these celestial lights were given as a sign for the end times. While it is true that there are verses that speak of signs in the heavens during the end times, those happen at the end of the tribulation period, as I will point out later. As for this passage, it is in the creation narrative that they are placed, not the end times. It is simply stating that the Lord gave the sun, moon and stars as signs to mark the day, night, seasons, days and years. Hey, and guess what? That’s what they do! Quite well, I might add.
 
This is what the Word says concerning the approach of the end times.

Signs of the End of the Age
Mat 24:3  As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 
Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 
Mat 24:5  "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. 
Mat 24:6  "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 
Mat 24:7  "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 
Mat 24:8  "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
 
So based on this passage we are not there yet. I would go so far as to say that we are in the birth pangs. It will get much worse.
 
Mat 24:9  "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 
Mat 24:10  "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 
Mat 24:11  "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 
Mat 24:12  "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. 
Mat 24:13  "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 
Mat 24:14  "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
 
After the birth pangs comes tribulation. Many will fall away because of that tribulation. Guess what?The believers are still here during this tribulation period.

The Abomination of Desolation
Mat 24:15  "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 
Mat 24:16  then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 
Mat 24:17  "Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 
Mat 24:18  "Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 
Mat 24:19  "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 
Mat 24:20  "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 
Mat 24:21  "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 
Mat 24:22  "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 
Mat 24:23  "Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him. 
Mat 24:24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 
Mat 24:25  "Behold, I have told you in advance. 
Mat 24:26  "So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. 
Mat 24:27  "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 
Mat 24:28  "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 
 
The abomination of desolation that Matthew is speaking about was prophesied in Daniel 7 and 9.
 
Dan 7:23  "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 
Dan 7:24  'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 
Dan 7:25  'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 
Dan 7:26  'But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 
Dan 7:27  'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.' 
Dan 7:28  "At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself." 
 
For a time, times and half a time–3-and-a-half years–the saints will be given into his hand. The Hebrew word used here is from the root word Moed, which means Season, and is usually used in the context of a period of time that equals one year. It is used like that in the 70 weeks of Daniel. He will wear down the saints. Who are these saints? According to many, the saints will be raptured out of this world before the Tribulation.
 
The Seventy Weeks
Dan 9:24  "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 
Dan 9:25  "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 
Dan 9:26  "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 
Dan 9:27  "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." 
 
This same one who wears down the saints is the one who commits the abomination of desolation.
 
The Coming of the Son of Man
 
Mat 24:29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 
Mat 24:30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 
Mat 24:31  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. 
 
Then we come to the place where Yeshua comes again, when we see the signs in the heavens. When does it happen, immediately after the tribulation?It is not until the end of the tribulation that we see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. It is after the tribulation that Yeshua sends forth His angel with the great trumpet.
 
So let’s sum it up.

1. Many false prophets shall come in His name claiming to be the Messiah.
2. Many shall be misled.
3. There will be wars and rumors of wars.
4. There will be famines and earthquakes.
5. These are not the end, just the birth pangs.
6. There will be tribulation and many will die.
7. Many will fall away.
8. More false prophets will come and lead many away.
9. Lawlessness is increased; only the one who endures to the end will be saved.
10. The Gospel is preached throughout the entire world,then the end comes.
11. Matthew backtracks to give us more details.
12. We are instructed to look for the abomination of desolation.
13. Instructions are given to the believers during this time.
14. Then comes the greatest tribulation that has ever been.
15. Those days are cut short for the sake of the elect.
16. He again reminds us of the false messiahs and prophets to come.
17. Then, after the Tribulation, we see the sign of the sun, moon and stars.
18. Now comes the Son of Man in the clouds.
19. The great trumpet is blasted and the saints are raised.

These are the signs in the order that we should look for. I don’t see anything instructing us to look to the constellations for the coming of the Messiah. Please also note, I also do not see anything supporting the pre-tribulation rapture. The majority of the so-called end-time prophets base their predictions on the idea that the second coming is preceded by the “rapture”.

Now we deal with the issue of what some of the end-time prophets are saying we should be looking at. I took this from an article on Wikipedia. I don’t often use this website, but I found it to be fair in defining this issue.

“The Revelation 12 Sign is an apocalyptic belief heralding that the time of Jacob's Trouble—also known as the Tribulation Period—may begin on September 23, 2017. This theory, which has been promoted by a number of people and news organizations, proposes that a literal fulfillment of the prophecy made in the Book of Revelation 12:1-2 will occur on this date over Jerusalem.
​
This passage of scripture in the New Testament metaphorically describes ‘a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.’ (NIV). Many people worldwide believe that an astronomical alignment involving the constellations Virgo and Leo, the sun, moon, and planets Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter occurring in September 2017 will fulfill this prophecy word-for-word.”
 
The Woman and the Dragon
                
Rev 12:1  A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 
Rev 12:2  and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 
Rev 12:3  Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 
Rev 12:4  And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 
Rev 12:5  And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 
Rev 12:6  Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
 
Boy, I wish I had the gift of interpreting the end-time prophecies like they do. I understand that this event most likely alludes to Yeshua and his incarnation. As for the remainder it, it is rather foolish of them to assume that the rest of this event is fulfilled in the “astronomical alignment involving the constellations”. I simply have to say the end time significance of this prophecy is rather ambiguous, to say the least.
 
There are also a number of other holes in their interpretation that cannot be filled, no matter what theological putty they use as filler.

As I said above, most of their predictions are based on a pre-tribulation rapture theory. In just a very short time, using only a few Scriptures in context, that theory can be blown out of the water, and there are many more passages. I have addressed that issue in other articles and I would be happy to send those to anyone who might be interested.

I Thess 4:13-18 are the quintessential verses showing the pre-trib rapture.

The Coming of the Lord
1Th 4:13  But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 
1Th 4:15  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 
1Th 4:16  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 
1Th 4:17  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 
1Th 4:18  Therefore comfort one another with these words. 
 
Very simply in this verse it says the dead in Messiah will raise first – hence the first resurrection. The pre-tribbers say that this proves that the saints will be translated from the earth before the tribulation.
But Rev 20:1-6 says:
 
Rev 20:1  Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 
Rev 20:3  and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 
Rev 20:4  Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 
Rev 20:5  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
 
Those who are raised in this first resurrection were beheaded because they would not worship the beast or his image. They would not receive his mark. I could be wrong, but it sounds like they went through the tribulation. It also says they were raised first. How could those first resurrection folks in 1 Thess 4 be raised in a pre-trib rapture, while the saints in Revelation are also raised first, yetthey go through the Tribulation?
 
Here the dilemma is solved; anyone who declares a sign from the Lord about His coming that is based on a pre-trib rapture theory is a false prophet, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
 
So in conclusion to this short little rebuttal about the September 23rd alignment of the stars and those who declare it as a sign of the coming of the Lord, i.e., the rapture, be careful! For you are standing in a dangerous place. There are more than enough Biblical prophecies that warn us about what to look for when He comes. We don’t need to make up any others.
 
Deu 18:20  'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 
Deu 18:21  "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 
Deu 18:22  "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. 
​
Godlessness in the Last Days
2Ti 3:1  But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 
2Ti 3:4  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 
2Ti 3:5  holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 
Some Will Depart from the Faith
1Ti 4:1  But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 
1Ti 4:2  by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 
 
We are not lacking Biblical information concerning His coming again. Let’s not get caught up in the feeding frenzy of end-time false prophecies.
 
As an addendum to my little article I want to post a short time line of some of the false prophets that have presented themselves to their non-discerning adherents. In my lifetime alone there has been approx 78 major false end time prophecy events. I am sure there are more events that only affected smaller groups of people.
 
From the website
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
 
1959 Apr 22
Florence Houteff
The 2nd Prophet of the Branch Davidians predicted the apocalypse foretold in the Book of Revelation would proceed on this date. The failure of the prophecy led to the split of the sect into several subsects, the most prominent led by Benjamin and Lois Roden.
[91]

1962 Feb 4
Jeane Dixon, various Indian astrologers
Dixon predicted a planetary alignment on this day was to bring destruction to the world. Mass prayer meetings were held in India.
[92][93]

1967 Aug 20
George Van Tassel
This day would mark the beginning of the third woe of the Apocalypse, during which the southeastern US would be destroyed by a Soviet nuclear attack, according to this UFO prophet, who claimed to have channeled an alien named Ashtar.
[94]

1967
Jim Jones
The founder of the People's Temple stated he had visions that a nuclear holocaust was to take place in 1967.
[95]

1969 Aug 9
George Williams
The founder of the Church of the Firstborn predicted the Second Coming of Christ would occur on this day.
[96]

1969
Charles Manson
Manson predicted that an apocalyptic race war would occur in 1969.
[97]

1972
Herbert W. Armstrong
The second of three revised dates from Armstrong after his 1936 and 1943 predictions failed to come true.
[88]

1974 Jan
David Berg
Berg, the leader of Children of God, predicted that there would be a colossal doomsday event heralded by Comet Kohoutek.
[98]

1975
Herbert W. Armstrong
Armstrong's fourth and final prediction.
[88]

Jehovah's Witnesses
From 1966 on, Jehovah's Witnesses published articles which stated that the fall of 1975 would be 6000 years since man's creation, and suggested that Armageddon could be finished by then.
[99]

1976
Brahma Kumaris
The Brahma Kumaris founder, LekhrajKirpalani, has made a number of predictions of a global Armageddon which the religion believes it will inspire, internally calling it "Destruction". During Destruction, Brahma Kumari leaders teach the world will be purified, all of the rest of humanity killed by nuclear or civil wars and natural disasters which will include the sinking of all other continents except India.
[100]

1977
John Wroe
The founder of the Christian Israelite Church predicted this year for Armageddon to occur.
[77]

William M. Branham
This Christian minister predicted the Rapture would occur no later than the year 1977.
[101]

1980
Leland Jensen
In 1978 Jensen predicted that there would be a nuclear disaster in 1980, followed by two decades of conflict, culminating in God's Kingdom being established on Earth.
[102]

1981
Chuck Smith
The founder of Calvary Chapel predicted the generation of 1948 would be the last generation, and that the world would end by 1981. Smith identified that he "could be wrong" but continued to say in the same sentence that his prediction was "a deep conviction in my heart, and all my plans are predicated upon that belief."
[103][104]

1982 Apr–Jun
Tara Centers
Full-page ads in many newspapers April 24–25, 1982, stated that "The Christ is Now Here!" and that he would make himself known "within the next two months".
[105]

1982 Mar 10
John Gribbin, Stephen Plagemann
Predicted in their 1974 book The Jupiter Effect that combined gravitational forces of aligned planets would create a number of catastrophes, including a great earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.
[106][80]

1982 Jun 21
Benjamin Creme
Creme took out an ad in the Los Angeles Times stating that the Second Coming would occur in June 1982 with the Maitreya announcing it on worldwide television.
[107]

1982
Pat Robertson
In late 1976 on his 700 Club TV programme, Robertson predicted that the end of the world would come in this year.
[108]

1985
Lester Sumrall
This minister predicted the end in this year, even writing a book about it entitled I Predict 1985.
[109]

1986 Apr 29
Leland Jensen
Jensen predicted that Halley's Comet would be pulled into Earth's orbit on April 29, 1986, causing widespread destruction.
[110]

1987 Aug 17
José Argüelles
Argüelles claimed that Armageddon would take place unless 144,000 people gathered in certain places across the world in order to "resonate in harmony" on this day.
[111]

1988 Sep 13, Oct 3
Edgar C. Whisenant
Whisenant predicted in his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988 that the Rapture of the Christian Church would occur between September 11–13, 1988. After his September predictions failed to come true, Whisenant revised his prediction date to October 3.
[112]

1989 Sep 30
Edgar C. Whisenant
After all his 1988 predictions failed to come true, Whisenant revised his prediction date to this day.
[112]

1990 Apr 23
Elizabeth Clare Prophet
Prophet predicted a nuclear war would start on this day, with the world ending 12 years later, leading her followers to stockpile a shelter with supplies and weapons. Later, after Prophet's prediction did not come to pass, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.
[113][114]

1991 Sep 9
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
This Russian-born rabbi called for the Messiah to come by the start of the Jewish New Year.
[115]

1991
Louis Farrakhan
The leader of the Nation of Islam declared that the Gulf War would be the "War of Armageddon which is the final war."
[116]

1992 Sep 28
Rollen Stewart
This born-again Christian predicted the Rapture would take place on this day.
[117]

1992 Oct 28
Lee Jang Rim
(이장림 or 李長林)
Lee, the leader of the Dami Mission church, predicted the rapture would occur on this day.
[118]

1993
David Berg
Berg predicted the tribulation would start in 1989 and that the Second Coming would take place in 1993.
[119]

1994 May 2
Neal Chase
This Bahá'í sect leader predicted that New York would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb on March 23, 1994, and the Battle of Armageddon would take place 40 days later.
[120]

1994 Sep 6/29, Oct 2
Harold Camping
Camping predicted the Rapture would occur on September 6, 1994. When it failed to occur he revised the date to September 29 and then to October 2.
[121][122]

1995 Mar 31
Harold Camping
Camping's fourth predicted date for the end. This would be Camping's last prediction until 2011.
[121]

1996 Dec 17
SheldanNidle
Californian psychic SheldanNidle predicted that the world would end on this date, with the arrival of 16 million space ships and a host of angels.
[123]

1997 Mar 26
Marshall Applewhite
Applewhite, leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, claimed that a spacecraft was trailing the Comet Hale-Bopp and argued that suicide was "the only way to evacuate this Earth" so that the cult members' souls could board the supposed craft and be taken to another "level of existence above human". Applewhite and 38 of his followers committed mass suicide.
[124]

1997 Aug 10
Aggai
The 1st-century bishop of Edessa predicted this date to be the birth date of the Antichrist and the end of the universe.
[125]

1997 Oct 23
James Ussher
This 17th-century Irish archbishop predicted this date to be 6000 years since Creation, and therefore the end of the world.
[126]

1998 Mar 31
Chen Tao
(陳恆明)
Hon-Ming Chen, leader of the Taiwanese cult God's Salvation Church, or Chen Tao – "The True Way" – claimed that God would come to Earth in a flying saucer at 10:00 am on this date. Moreover, God would have the same physical appearance as Chen himself. Chen chose to base his cult in Garland, Texas, because he thought it sounded like "God's Land." On March 25, God was to appear on Channel 18 on every TV set in the US.
[127]

1999 Jul
Nostradamus
A quatrain by Nostradamus which stated the "King of Terror" would come from the sky in "1999 and seven months" was frequently interpreted as a prediction of doomsday in July 1999.
[128]

1999 Aug 18
The Amazing Criswell
The predicted date of the end of the world, according to this psychic well known for predictions.
[129]

1999 Sep 11
Philip Berg
Berg, dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre, stated that on this date "a ball of fire will descend, destroying almost all of mankind, all vegetation, all forms of life."
[130]

1999
Charles Berlitz
This linguist predicted the end would occur in this year. He did not predict how it would occur, stating that it might involve nuclear devastation, asteroid impact, pole shift or other Earth changes.
[131]

Hon-Ming Chen
The leader of the cult Chen Tao preached that a nuclear holocaust would destroy Europe and Asia in 1999.
[132]

James Gordon Lindsay
This preacher predicted the great tribulation would begin before the year 2000.
[133]

Timothy Dwight IV
This President of Yale University foresaw Christ's Millennium starting by 2000.
[134]

Nazim Al-Haqqani
Predicted that the Last Judgment would occur before the year 2000.
[135]

2000 Jan 1
Various
During and before 1999 there was widespread predictions of a Y2K computer bug that would crash many computers on midnight of December 31, 1999 and cause malfunctions leading to major catastrophes worldwide, and that society would cease to function.
[80]

CredoniaMwerinde, Joseph Kibweteere
An estimated 778 followers of this Ugandan religious movement perished in a devastating fire and a series of poisonings and killings that were either a group suicide or an orchestrated mass murder by group leaders after their predictions of the apocalypse failed to come about.
[136][137]

Jerry Falwell
Falwell foresaw God pouring out his judgment on the world on this day.
[138]

Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
These Christian authors stated that the Y2K bug would trigger global economic chaos, which the Antichrist would use to rise to power. As the date approached, however, they changed their minds.
[139]

2000 Apr 6
James Harmston
The leader of the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days predicted the Second Coming of Christ would occur on this day.
[140]

2000 May 5
Nuwaubian Nation
This movement claimed that the planetary lineup would cause a "star holocaust," pulling the planets toward the sun on this day.
[141]

2000
Peter Olivi
This 13th-century theologian wrote that the Antichrist would come to power between the years 1300 and 1340, and the Last Judgment would take place around the year 2000.
[142]

Isaac Newton
Newton predicted that Christ's Millennium would begin in the year 2000 in his book Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John.
[143]

Ruth Montgomery
This self-described Christian psychic predicted the Earth's axis would shift and the Antichrist would reveal himself in this year.
[144]

Edgar Cayce
This psychic predicted the Second Coming would occur this year.
[145]

Sun Myung Moon
The founder of the Unification Church predicted the Kingdom of Heaven would be established in this year.
[146]

Ed Dobson
This pastor predicted the end would occur in his book The End: Why Jesus Could Return by A.D. 2000.
[147]

Lester Sumrall
This minister predicted the end in his book I Predict 2000.
[148]

Jonathan Edwards
This 18th-century preacher predicted that Christ's thousand-year reign would begin in this year.
[149]

2001
Tynnetta Muhammad
This columnist for the Nation of Islam predicted the end would occur in this year.
[150]

2003 May 27
Nancy Lieder
Lieder originally predicted the date for the Nibiru collision as May 2003. According to her website, aliens in the Zeta Reticuli star system told her through messages via a brain implant of a planet which would enter our solar system and cause a pole shift on Earth that would destroy most of humanity.
[151]

2003 Nov 29
AumShinrikyo
This Japanese cult predicted the world would be destroyed by a nuclear war between October 30 and November 29, 2003.
[152]

2006 Sep 12
House of Yahweh
Yisrayl Hawkins, pastor and overseer of The House of Yahweh, predicted in their February 2006 newsletter that a nuclear war would begin on September 12, 2006.
[153]

2007 Apr 29
Pat Robertson
In his 1990 book The New Millennium, Robertson suggests this date as the day of Earth's destruction.
[154]

2010
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
This order predicted the world would end during this year.
[155]

2011 May 21
Harold Camping
Camping predicted that the Rapture and devastating earthquakes would occur on May 21, 2011 with God taking approximately 3% of the world's population into Heaven, and that the end of the world would occur five months later on October 21.
[156]

2011 Sep 29
Ronald Weinland
Ronald Weinland stated Jesus Christ would return on this day. He prophesied nuclear explosions in U.S. port cities by July 2008 as the blowing of the Second Trumpet of Revelation. After his prophecy failed to come true he changed the date for the return of Jesus Christ to May 27, 2012.
[157]

2011 Oct 21
Harold Camping
When his original prediction failed to come about, Camping revised his prediction and said that on May 21, a "Spiritual Judgment" took place, and that both the physical Rapture and the end of the world would occur on October 21, 2011.
[156]

2011 Aug–Oct
Various
There were fears amongst the public that Comet Elenintraveling almost directly between Earth and the Sun would cause disturbances to the Earth's crust, causing massive earthquakes and tidal waves. Others predicted that Elenin would collide with Earth on October 16. Scientists tried to calm fears by stating that none of these events were possible.
[158]

2012 May 27
Ronald Weinland
Ronald Weinland stated that Jesus Christ would return and the world would end on this day.
[159]

2012 Jun 30
José Luis de Jesús
José Luis de Jesús predicted that the world's governments and economies would fail on this day, and that he and his followers would undergo a transformation that would allow them to fly and walk through walls.
[160]

2012 Dec 21
Various
The 2012 phenomenon predicted the world would end at the end of the 13th b'ak'tun. The Earth would be destroyed by an asteroid, Nibiru, or some other interplanetary object; an alien invasion; or a supernova. Mayanist scholars stated that no extant classic Maya accounts forecasted impending doom, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented Maya history and culture. Scientists from NASA, along with expert archeologists, stated that none of those events were possible.
[161][162]

2013 Aug 23
Grigori Rasputin
Rasputin prophesied a storm would take place on this day where fire would destroy most life on land and Jesus Christ would come back to Earth to comfort those in distress.
[163]

2014 Apr – 2015 Sep
John Hagee and Mark Biltz
The so-called Blood Moon Prophecy, first predicted by Mark Blitz in 2008 and then by John Hagee in 2014. These Christian ministers claimed that the tetrad in 2014 and 2015 may allegedly represent prophecies given in the Bible relating to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
[164]

2016 Jul 29
End Time Prophecies
A viral video from the YouTube channel "End Time Prophecies" claimed that the world would end with the Earth undergoing a "polar flip", which would apparently cause the Earth's atmosphere to be pulled to the ground as the surface reels like a vacuum, causing a "rolling cloud" to cover the planet. They also claimed that a worldwide "megaquake" would ensue.
[165]

2017 May 13
Horacio Villegas
Villegas claimed that the world would descend into nuclear war on May 13, 2017, due to increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He also said this date coincided with the hundred-year anniversary of the visitation of Our Lady of Fátima.
[166][167]

 
So as you can see we are not lacking examples of false prophets in our lifetime. No need to give room for anymore. Be discerning and look only to the signs found in the Scriptures.
 
Shalom uvrachab’Yeshua Rabbi Henry

​GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
I realize that there are many sincere people of faith. These people love the Lord and serve Him with the knowledge they have of Him, however limited that is. And we praise the Lord that we are not saved by knowledge but by grace through faith, Eph 2:8-9. But that does not give us the excuse to live a life of Biblical illiteracy. I am sure that everyone would agree with me on that point, as the Scripture says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of the Lord,” Rom. 10:17. Good intentions – no matter how sincere we are – do not trump obedience.
We see this example in the life of King Saul when he refused to obey the instructions of the Lord in 1 Sam 15:1-3
1 Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD. 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3 'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" 
1Sa 15:9-11
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.  10Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night. 
1 Sa 15:13-23
13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD." 14But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" 15Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed." 16Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!" 17Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, 18and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.' 19"Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" 20Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal." 22Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. 23"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king." 
 
This might seem rather harsh to some, but let me assure you that the Lord had a very good reason for the destruction of the Amalekites. Because Saul would not do what he was told, the Amalekites came back to haunt Israel in the form of Haman, a descendant of Agag. This is recorded in the book of Esther.
 
Not only was Saul claiming that he had good intentions, but when he was caught in his string of excuses, he actually tried to place the blame on the people.
 
1Sa 15:21 
"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal." 
 
This is why the Lord rejected him; He refused to repent and take responsibility for his disobedience and he then he placed the blame on to a scapegoat, the people of Israel. We can see that when the Lord tells us to do something, He does not mess around. There is no wiggle room when it comes to disobedience. There is no excuse.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they were instructed to take the blood of the lamb and place it on the doorposts and lintel of their houses, Ex 12:7. They were also instructed by the Lord to stay indoors until the morning.
 
Exo12:21-23
21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. 22"You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. 23"For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 
 
There was no wiggle room here either. After the application of the blood, we were instructed to stay indoors until the morning, no excuses. If you weren’t in the house covered by the blood of the lamb, there was no protection from the Angel of death. We couldn’t say to the Lord, “Hey Lord, I have a few schlemiel Egyptians that want to buy some swamp property from me. It’s a good deal. Would you hold off the Angel of death for me for a couple of hours so I can get this deal through? I am coming, just going to be a little late.” As I said, the Lord was pretty emphatic about His instructions – His time, His way.
 
We also see another example of the Lord being very specific about His instructions when it came to handling the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord is holy, His presence is holy. There was no compromise for the children of Israel; they needed to know who they were dealing with. It wasn’t like their past history showed that they were faithful when it came to listening to His Word. The history of Israel is totally checkered with nothing but disobedience. This is why they went into captivity.
 
1 Sam 6:19-20
19 He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20The men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?" 
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
1Ch 13:1-14
1Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader. 2David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is from the LORD our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us; 3and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul." 4Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 
Uzza and the Ark
5So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. 6David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the LORD who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. 7They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets. 9When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it.  10The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. 11Then David became angry because of the LORD's outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day. 12David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?" 13So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.  (Also found in 2 Sam 6)
 
Until we get to the place where we realize who the Lord is, we will always come before Him thinking we have a better plan. Then we find an excuse as to why we think the Lord endorses our plans over His. This has also played out in the history of the Church. This standard shouldn’t be the way we conduct our own lives. If the Lord said don’t touch the Ark then…DON’T TOUCH THE ARK. If He says something is forever in all of our dwelling places throughout our generations, then we should not take this lightly. He was setting up foundational principles to help us in our walk. These were the things we were to do to keep us on the straight and narrow track. They were also events that prophecied the coming of the Messiah.
 
Prov 16:1-4
Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
1      The plans of the heart belong to man,
      But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
2      All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,
      But the LORD weighs the motives.
3      Commit your works to the LORD
      And your plans will be established.
4      The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
      Even the wicked for the day of evil.
 
Is 55:8-11
8      “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
      Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
9      “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      So are My ways higher than your ways
      And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10      “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
      And do not return there without watering the earth
      And making it bear and sprout,
      And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11      So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
      It will not return to Me empty,
 
This is what obedience in the New Covenant Scriptures looks like.
The Sons of Sceva
Act 19:11-20
11God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. 13But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. 18Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. 
 
Where do we think that Paul received his instructions about witchcraft and sorcery? From Deuteronomy 18 of course.
 
Abominable Practices
 
Deut. 18:9-14
9"When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12"For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. 13"You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14"For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so. 
 
These were the only Scriptures they had. They were the same Scriptures that Rav Shaul spoke about to Timothy when he said…
 
2 Tim 3:14-17
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
The only Scriptures which were able to do this were the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tenach (Old Testament). They not only read them, but they obeyed them. They were believers in Yeshua and followers of the Torah.
 
 
The Lord gave the Jews some pretty simple and concrete things to do and not to do. They were not hard to follow. We may be two thousand years into the future,  but the Lord has not changed. He still expects us to live as the first century believers did.This is what they were taught by the Lord.
 
Deuteronomy 7:1-6
Warnings
1“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 3“Further-more, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4“For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. 5“But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their ◙Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. 6“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
 
We were to have nothing to do with the paganism of the unbelievers. There was to be no co-opting of anything pagan, no matter what your intentions were, just like King Saul. The New Covenant says the same thing in the book of Corinthians  6:14-18
14Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
      “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
      And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
17   “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
      “And do not touch what is unclean;
      And I will welcome you.
18   “And I will be a father to you,
      And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
      Says the Lord Almighty.
 
What, you don’t think Rav Shaul is reflecting on this passage in Deut 7? Where else would he come up with this precept? For emphasis sake, the writer of Deuteronomy goes on to reiterate in 7:25-26:
 
25“The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. 26“You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.”
 
I think it is pretty clear that the Lord didn’t want paganism in any way, shape or form to creep into our faith. It matters not what your good intentions are.
 
Why can’t we just obey and do what He says without making the excuse of King Saul? The Church cannot presume that their Easter offering is acceptable to the Lord when the majority of its practices are from a pagan origin, no matter what they call it or their good intention. Easter denies the actual prophetic timeline of Passover and First Fruits, the real time that Yeshua arose from the dead. Easter was birthed and made the official day of the resurrection from the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 AD as an attempt to divorce the resurrection and the Gospel from its Jewish roots entirely and once and for all. He was an agent of Satan then and his legacy continues today. The Church has been deceived for over 1700 years. It is time for the people who call themselves believers in the King of the Jews to act as they were commanded, not according to their “GOOD INTENTIONS”.
 
These are the words of Constantine himself.
From the letter of the Emperor (Constantine) to all those not present at the Council of Nicea. (Found in Eusebius, Vita Const., Lib III 18-20)
“When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable than to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality, celebrated by all with one accord and in the same manner? It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of festivals, to follow the customs (the calculation) of the Jews who had soiled their hands with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded. In rejecting their custom we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter; which we have observed from the time of the Saviour’s passion (according to the day of the week).
   We ought not therefore to have anything in common with the Jew, for the Saviour has shown us another way; our worship following a more legitimate and more convenient course (the order of the days of the week: And consequently in unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jew. For it is truly shameful for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this feast. How can they be in the right, they who, after the death of the Saviour, have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence, as their delusion may urge them? They do not possess the truth in this Easter question, for in their blindness and repugnance to all improvements they frequently celebrate two Passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error.
    How, then, could we follow these Jews who are most certainly blinded by error? For to celebrate a Passover twice in one year, is totally inadmissible.
    But even if this were not so it would still be your duty not to tarnish your soul by communication with such wicked people (the Jews). You should consider not only that the number of churches in these provinces make a majority, but also that it is right to demand what our reason approves, and that we should have nothing in common with the Jews.”
(Gleaned from Dr. Henry R. Percival’s “The Nicean and post Nicean Fathers”. Vol. XIV Grand Rapid: Erdmans pub. 1979,pgs. 54-55)
In contrast these are the words of our Lord.
Exo 12:14
 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
Exo 12:17 
'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance.
Exo 12:19 
'Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
Exo 12:24 
"And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.
How is it that Passover is totally ignored by the “Church” and has been subverted, replaced, by Easter? Please forgive me for asking, but what Biblical passage commands me to celebrate Easter? What is it that we do on that day that shows the prophesied and risen Messiah? It doesn’t make it so just because we say so, no matter what our intentions are.
Once you take the death. Burial, and resurrection out of the context of the Passover, you can no longer show the resurrection of Yeshua as a fulfilled event. Because Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, just doesn’t pack the prophetic punch that Passover and First Fruits do. Ishtar was not appointed by the Lord, it was appointed by Constantine.  Who gave him the authority to declare God’s appointments null and void?
For Yeshua to be our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:6-8), He must die during the time the Passover lambs are killed. For Yeshua to be the First Fruits resurrected from the dead (1Cor 15:20-23), He must be raised 3 days and 3 nights later, as he said, on the Biblical feast of First Fruits (Lev 23:9-11).
                                                    
There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We either do as the Lord said, or we are making it up as we go along, just like Constantine and King Saul did. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in that place.
 
The scariest words ever said in the Scriptures for a professed believer are…
Matt 7:21-23
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
 
I know this is late, but I hope you had a blessed Passover and First Fruits celebrating the true Holy days that speak of our Lord’s prophesied death and resurrection. If not, there is always next year. Beloved, cast off all the paganism from your life and practice and celebrate according to the Lord’s prescription and not Constantine’s.
 
Shalom uvracha b’Yeshua Rabbi Henry
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

​ Speaking truth about a subject is not a statement of hatred or prejudice. We as believers are called to speak out against lies and expose them.
​
Eph 5:11  Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 
 
That being said, there is something that needs to be revealed about this Syrian refugee crisis that is not being brought to light.
 
There is a well-known doctrine in Islam known as Hijrah. This doctrine states that it is obligatory for a Muslim to migrate from a dominant Islamic society to a non-Muslim society for the purpose of conquest through demographics. This is based on the movement of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD when he fled for fear of his life from the local tribes of Mecca, who he was unable to conquer through the preaching of his so-called “revelation”. During this move he realized that winning the world over was not going to happen through the preaching of his new religion, so he changed his tactics and realized that growth was to be reached by movement and military conquest.

To emigrate in the cause of Allah – that is, to move to a new land in order to bring Islam there – is considered in Islam to be a highly meritorious act. “And whoever immigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many locations and abundance,” says the Qur’an. “And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him, his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.” (4:100)
 
From the website www.missionislam.com/knowledge/hijrah.htm

“As Islam is the religion of dignity and authority, it was impossible to think of any Muslim submitting himself to the disbelievers; indeed it is forbidden for a Muslim to go to live amongst them and acknowledge their authority over him, because his presence amongst them would make him feel weak and isolated, and then he would become docile and apologetic before them. He would first be called upon to approve of them, and then to follow them. But Muslims should be filled with morale and confidence; they should be leaders, not followers. They should hold the reins of power; no power should be above them but that of Allah. Therefore, Muslims were forbidden to remain in countries where Islam is of no account, except when they are able to freely practice their religion and to observe it without any impediment, and without any fear that their presence there could damage them in any way. If this is not the case, then they must migrate to a better place where the authority of Islam is of some account. If they refuse to do so, while they are able, then they would have no further claims on this religion. About this Allah has spoken in Surat an-Nisa:”

Remember, to the faithful Muslim the free practice of their religion means that they are able to spread Sharia Law throughout the land so that Islam will dominate any culture already in existence.

“The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “I am not responsible for any Muslim who stays among polytheists. They asked: 'Why, Apostle of Allah? He said: ‘Their fires should not be visible to one another.’, and he (peace be upon him) said, “Who joins the polytheists and lives with them then he is like them” and he (peace be upon him) said: “Migration will not end until repentance ends, and repentance will not end until the sun rises in the west.”[36]”

This is why Muslims who practice their religion cannot assimilate into our country. They must dominate or move to a place where they can. This is the Hijrah. All one needs to do to see a modern example of this is to see what has happened in England, France, Germany, Belgium and other European countries that have taken large numbers of Muslims in as refugees into their country.

There are a number of Koranic verses that support this.

Surah al-Baqarah ayah 218 “Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah – those expect the mercy of Allah. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

Surah at-Tawbah “The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah. And it is those who are the attainers [of success].”

Surah an-Nisa, “And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him – his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.”

Ultimately Hijrah is Jihad through emigration and demographics.

I am not endorsing that we as believers in any way shape or form should try and conquer Islam through the sword. But we absolutely should try and conquer Islam. The weapon that we have is the Gospel. It is the best weapon fashioned against this demonic faith.

From the website http://network.crcna.org/muslim-ministry/what-hijrah-and-it-trojan-horse

The Islamic doctrine of Hijrah or conquest via immigration is alive and well.  In a similar fashion to the movement of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, the purpose is to first establish a beach-head, and then slowly gain increasing influence and power, likely in a peaceful way at first, and then more violent later. The goal, as it was in Medina, is not to cooperate and to assimilate to the local customs and culture—although that can be done for a short time in order to gain a critical mass of Muslims—but it is to strategically take over more and more areas of religious and political influence. Recall that the Albanian leader of ISIS said (quoting the example of Abraham from Sura 60:3), "We say to you as Ibrahim said to his father: "Verily we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We have rejected you, and there has started between us and you hostility and hatred forever, until you believe in Allah alone."  If one looks at areas of London, Amsterdam, Paris and Stockholm, this replay of Islamic history is patently obvious. At present four Hijrah tactics are being used to gain control of certain areas:

1. Multiplication of Muslims by birth rates
2. Multiplication of Muslims by immigration
3. Multiplication of Muslim influence via political systems
4. Expulsion of non-Muslims from certain areas by numerical and sometimes dominance by force—[think of the effect of documented rape-gangs in areas of Great Britain]

So what does this have to do with refugees?
ISIS has gone on record that it will swamp Europe with refugees. It is doing so and is simply using the playbook of Mohammed at Mediina as very consistently ISIS is living out the adage "What Did Mohammed Do?" If we had a chance to replay history or to re-write history, the Jews of Medina who either were forced to convert to Islam, turned into sex slaves, killed or expelled, might have second thoughts about welcoming the "poor and oppressed and weak" band of followers of Mohammed and him as their leader. It would appear that non-Muslim countries today would need a great deal of discernment as to who is truly "poor and oppressed and weak" and whether or not they have any other agendas.

There are 57 Islamic states in the world. If we took all of those states and put them into one place, we would have a country the size of America one third of Canada, Alaska and Hawaii. Why are no Syrian refugees being relocated into any of those Islamic countries? That is because Islam is looking to spread around the world through Hijrah. Unfortunately, there are always going to be innocents who suffer because of those who are in power. The solution is to work harder to determine who are the good guys in this battle and stop pandering to politics. Once we determine whose side we should be on, then we help them help themselves. If all sides of the conflict are not to be trusted, then we do a regime change just like we did in WW2 and put in power someone who will treat their people with justice.

You might say we can’t just go around affecting regime change throughout the world. But be assured we have been doing this behind the scenes for years anyways. Why should we send our boys over there to fight a war we cannot win? Why should we give our country over to refugees who want to change the very fabric of our nation? If they want to live in peace with their neighbors and make a better future for their wives and children, then—and only then—should we interfere. We can’t be the world’s police force, but we can teach them to police themselves, but only if they want to. As for ISIS, this is a different issue because they desire world conquest just like the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. We should fight Isis like we fought the Axis then. We need to go in destroy the enemy and bring our boys home.

The Lord has given the right for our authorities to protect our society, and until they take that responsibility seriously and begin to protect the people they have been given charge of, they cannot even begin to take in the refugees of the world; especially if these refugees want to change our country to look more like the ones they came from. These are not statements of hate or prejudice—this common sense.

Rom 13:1  Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 
Rom 13:2  Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 
Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 
Rom 13:4  for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 
Rom 13:5  Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 

Obviously subjection to our leadership is not to be above the Scripture. He is speaking about Godly leadership which enforces righteous behavior.

So if our Government leads us in righteousness, we have no issues with them; but if not, we follow the Word of the Lord. But what we don’t do is to force anyone else to serve or convert to the Messiah. Neither do we revolt against the government trying to take over by means of violence. We, as believers, have a higher calling. Yeshua said turn the other cheek, Mohammed taught his followers to slap it. Let us not be foolish to the tactics of the enemy, but let us also not replicate those same tactics.

In the mean time I end with this. 
 
2Ti 4:1  I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 
2Ti 4:2  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 
2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 
2Ti 4:4  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 
2Ti 4:5  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 
2Ti 4:6  For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 
2Ti 4:7  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 
2Ti 4:8  in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. 

To be sung to the tune of Santa Clause is coming to town.
 
Chorus:
Oooooh  ya better watch out, ya better not cry,
Ya better not shout, I’m telling you why
The anti Christ is comin’ to town.
He’s got a big list of sins that aren’t nice.
He’s tried to pollute the world once or twice.
The anti Christ is comin’ to town
He knows about Messiah, He knows the Word is true,
He knows about the promises that the Lord made to the Jew.
Chorus
He knows how to deceive you. The things he says are fake.
He knows if you’ve been true to God, so be true for your own sake
Chorus:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan 7:19  "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 
Dan 7:20  and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 
Dan 7:21  "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 
Dan 7:22  until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. 
Dan 7:23  "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 
Dan 7:24  'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 
Dan 7:25  'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 
Dan 7:26  'But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 
Dan 7:27  'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.' 
Dan 7:28  "At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself." 
 
This passage in Daniel seems to be related to a number of passages found in the book of Revelation, specifically Revelation chapters 17 through 20. Time and room do not allow me to address all the specific details on this matter. That will be addressed in a later blog. But suffice it to say that I believe that the beast in Daniel 7 is the same beast in these chapters in Revelation. The job of this beast is to defile the saints. cause them to worship a false god and make sure they abandon the Torah and the feasts of the Lord. He does this very aggressively.
There have been many historical figures and kingdoms who have tried to fulfill this job description as posted by the devil himself. Pharaoh, Haman, Nebuchadnezzar, Belteshezaer, Darius, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Caesars, 70 AD Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem, 135 AD Hadrian’s expulsion of the Jews from Israel, the formal establishment of the Catholic Church in 325 AD under Constantine, the establishment of Islam by Mohamed in approximately 622 AD. Martin Luther in his writings against Jews, Stalin, Hitler, Sadam Husain, Amadinijad. The list could go on.

The job description, if it were to be posted in the newspaper. would go something like this. “Looking for a charismatic, yet vile personality who is willing to pose as a demigod. Good communications skills are a must. Tasks will be to undermine the Torah and forbid the Jews to celebrate the Biblical feasts found in Lev. 23. Must be willing kill all those opposed to this agenda. Experience in beheading is a plus. Applicants will be judged by past performances of despotic behavior. Knowledge of the Scriptures is mandatory as it will be rewritten and reinterpreted by the applicant. If interested, please apply in person and be prepared to bring recommendations of despicable, despotic murderous past behavior.”
This is the behavior that has been typical of all of the above-mentioned despots who were prototypes of this beast found in Daniel and Revelation. The one thing that we can be assured of is that Satan has, for centuries, tried to install his anti Messiah and Beast as soon as he can.

The Lord however has a prophetic time line and will not allow this to happen until He says it is time. Satan has tried to undermine this time line by getting this anti Messiah character inaugurated many times throughout history. His thought is this: if he can install his man before the Lord allows it, then the prophesies will be out of their time. This will confound the Lord and His will. This is why so many of these despots look the same and have done the same thing. They refuse to allow the Jews to practice living Torah-observant lives, and they outlaw the celebration of the Biblical feasts. This is no small plot. The Torah and the feasts are foundational elements that make the Jewish people who they are. Separate the Jews from their Torah and feasts and there is nothing left of their identity.
The Holy days are the events that speak of the Lord’s great acts of salvation to Israel and the world. The Torah is the Lord’s standard of behavior for the nation of Israel. It is also the testimony to the world.

Moses Commands Obedience
Deu 4:1  "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 
Deu 4:2  "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 
Deu 4:3  "Your eyes have seen what the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you. 
Deu 4:4  "But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you. 
Deu 4:5  "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. 
Deu 4:6  "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' 
Deu 4:7  "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? 
Deu 4:8  "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? 
Deu 4:9  "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. 
Satan wants to do everything he can to keep Israel from fulfilling their calling to be a light to the world.
Isa 42:6  "I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.”
 
This is why Christmas is such an affront to the Lord. It is a very subtle attempt by Satan to make us think that the message is being preached through the lie of Christmas. It has all the appearances, entrapments, and false promises for peace on earth and good will to men. but it is a poor substitute to replace and delegitimize the Lord’s prophetic appointed times and seasons fulfilled by Yeshua. If Satan can’t inaugurate his man early, he will do the job through the back door. The establishment and celebration of Christmas is all part of that scheme – destroy the Torah/instruction of the Lord and alter the times and season, replace it with a man-made hollow day that is steeped in Catholic and pagan rituals and traditions, then sprinkle it with holy water and try to redeem it for the Lord.

Dan 7:25  'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 

Satan’s plot always looks good but never truly does what it promises to do. All of the half truths will be exposed in the end. The true Messiah will be revealed, and there will be no mistaking who He is and what He really wants from His people.
 
Isa2:1  The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 
Isa 2:2  Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 
Isa 2:3  And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
Isa 2:4  And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. 
Isa 2:5  Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. 

The Lord changes not…
Mal 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

If the Lord is the same yesterday today and forever…
Heb 13:8 “Yeshua Hamashiach  is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

If the Lord has decreed that His Word should not be added to or anything taken away…
Deut 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.”
Prov 30:6 “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.”

If The Lord would not allow Nadab and Abihuto to offer strange fire…
Leviticus 10 “1Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire pans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the LORD spoke, saying,‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.’ So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”

If King Saul’s offering was rejected…          
1Sam 13: 8Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. 9So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. 11But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, 12therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” 13Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14“But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
 
...then why do we think it is wrong for the anti Messiah to attempt to do this when the Church is guilty of the same thing by substituting His Word with the traditions of men?
 
Concerning that Yeshua said…
Mark 7
1The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, 2and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; 4and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) 5The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” 6And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’8“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
 
Mark’s explanation of this ritual of hand washing in these verses corresponds to the commentary and details set forth in the Mishna tractate called Yadayim. This ritual is called n’tilat-yadayim. The issue here is not washing one’s hands. It is about putting the traditions and authority of men on the same level as the Word of the Lord. Just like King Saul; just like Nadab and Abihu; just like so many in the Church do with Christmas. So we have to ask ourselves, do we celebrate the Word of the Lord or the traditions of men elevated to an inordinate stature as the some in the Church have done? This is the lie of Satan and his anti Messiah to confuse the saints with a false narrative that goes against the nature and commands of the Lord. We need to recognize this subtlety and not be fooled now so when the time comes and the Lord does allow the real anti Messiah to make his appearance, we won’t be fooled again.

If you find yourself getting offended with this message, then feel free to prove me wrong. But just remember, if you can’t defend your point by the Word of the Lord, then your defense is only based on the traditions and authority of men. This is what the anti Messiah will do as well.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

​I realize that I am not the brightest bulb in the pack. Neither am I the most formally-educated theologian. All I have is a Bachelor’s degree in Bible and Theology from a small Bible college in Missouri. But with that being said, there are some theological issues that are so clear and remedial that even a lightweight like me can see the simple truth. Although I am sure some will read this and say, “Judge not lest ye be judged”, Rabbi, remember this; there are judgments of observation and judgments of condemnation. While the Lord is the eternal judge, we are still called throughout Scripture to make proper judgments of observation. We are called to judge a tree according to its fruit,
Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16  By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20  Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
 
This is not our judgment, it is the Lord’s. All we are required to do is apply this standard to our lives and declare it. That being said, I would like address a very pressing issue that has been brewing about in the Messianic movement that is not only dangerous, but so insidious as to pollute an entire segment of the Messianic community. This is not an issue that I am speaking about from a second-hand source. I am very aware from a first-hand perspective of the details concerning this subject.
There is a movement in the Messianic community that has made its allegiance with the Roman Catholic Church. They have for a number of years been meeting with priests and representatives of the Vatican in an attempt to form some ungodly alliance. Some of the leaders of this movement are Mark Kinzer, Daniel Juster and Rich Nichol. In the past I attended a number of these meetings trying to understand their reasons for this alliance.
Not once in the year that I attended were any topics discussed that ever dealt with the Catholic Church’s biblical inconstancies. I tried to address some of the pertinent issues like: icons (idols); prayers to Mary and the saints; the clergy’s sex abuse scandal; the persecution and murder of the Jews for 1,700 years; the adoration of the Eucharist; indulgences; confession; salvation by infant baptism; last rights; the Pope as the “Vicar of Christ” on the earth; Encyclical authority of the Pope. The list could go on ad nauseum. Every time I tried to address any issue, I was dismissed as “one who came to bring dissension”. All they wanted to do was pretend that all was just fine in Roman land and sing “Kumbaya”.  The meetings consisted of lunch, schmoozing, and prayer.
I brought forth the issue of praying in agreement with someone I could not agree with from a Biblical perspective. I argued that we should deal with some of these serious theological issues before we could ever agree in prayer. How could I pray in agreement with someone who breaks so many Biblical commandments? I was dismissed as an impediment to their unity.
Scripturally speaking, I have no choice but to call out the Catholic Church according to its fruits, past and present. The Catholic Church seems to find it appropriate to pray with anyone of any faith all in the name of ecumenism. This Pope has prayed with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Non-Messianic Jews, Messianic Jews, etc. He has made these meetings very public for all to see. Based upon the Catholic Church’s Doctrines and actions for the last 1,700 years, I can only conclude that they are a pagan cult and that I have nothing in common with them. Therefore, how could I pray with them or have any spiritual fellowship? How in the world any of these so-called Messianic Leaders could have anything in common with the Catholic Church is beyond my understanding.
 
1stCor 5:9-13
“9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves”
When the Catholic Church calls itself the Mother Church, and truly believes that they are the organization that the Lord ordained to represent Him on this earth, and act like they have for the last 1,700 years without being accountable to anyone, then I would say that this passage above applies to them in every way. It is pretty clear that their history, doctrines, and actions reveal who they really are.         
Knowing their past history, this actually becomes an obstacle for the Jewish people to come to their Jewish Messiah as they associate Catholics with idol-worshiping pagans. This ends up being a total misrepresentation of who the Messiah really is and what our faith is all about. Even when I was a boy going to Hebrew school I thought “Jesus” was the founder of Catholicism. I never thought of Him as a Jew. 
Here is just a brief synopsis of Catholic persecution of the Jews. Unfortunately, I cannot say their behavior has changed at all when they won’t even call Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel.
325 A.D.: TheCouncil of Nicea separated the celebration of Easter from the Jewish Passover. They stated: "For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this odious people...We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews...our worship follows a...more convenient course...we desire dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews...How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are almost certainly blinded."
337 A.D.: Christian Emperor Constantineus created a law which made the marriage of a Jewish man to a Christian punishable by death.
379-395 A.D.: Emperor Theodosius the Great permitted the destruction of synagogues if they served a religious purpose. Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire at this time.
528A.D.: Emperor Justinian (527-564) passed the Justinian Code. It prohibited Jews from building synagogues, reading the Bible in Hebrew, assembling in public, celebrating Passover before Easter, and testifying against “Christians” in court.
613 A.D.: Very serious persecution began in Spain. Jews were given the option of either leaving Spain or converting to Christianity. Jewish children over six years of age were taken from their parents and given a Christian education.
1096 A.D.: The first Crusade was launched in this year. Although the prime goal of the Crusades was to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims, Jews were a secondary target. As the soldiers passed through Europe on the way to the Holy Land, large numbers of Jews were challenged: "Christ-killers, embrace the Cross or die!" 12,000 Jews in the Rhine Valley alone were killed in the first Crusade. This behavior continued for eight additional crusades until the ninth Crusade in 1272.
1099 A.D.: The Crusaders forced all of the Jews of Jerusalem into a central synagogue and set it on fire. Those who tried to escape were forced back into the burning building.
1189 A.D.: Jews were persecuted in England. The Crown claimed all Jewish possessions. Most of their houses were burned.
1229 A.D.: The Spanish Inquisition starts. Later, in 1252, Pope Innocent IV authorizes the use of torture by the Inquisitors.
1290 A.D.: Jews are exiled from England. About 16,000 left the country.
1306 A.D.: 100,000 Jews are exiled from France. They left with only the clothes on their backs and food for only one day.
1320 A.D.: 40,000 French shepherds went to Palestine on the Shepherd Crusade. On the way, 140 Jewish communities were destroyed.
1492 A.D.: Jews were given the choice of being baptized as Christians or be banished from Spain. 300,000 left Spain penniless. Many migrated to Turkey where they found tolerance among the Muslims. Others converted to “Christianity” but often continued to practice Judaism in secret.
 
These persecutions were all endorsed by the Catholic Church. The persecutions of the Jews continued in a serious degree all the way up until the Second World War. With the continuance of their pagan practices and sexual scandals, why would anyone trust that this leopard all of a sudden is going to change its spots? Tell me, who should I trust? Is the word of some deceived so-called “Messianic Rabbis” more reliable than the history and bad testimony of a religio-political mafia-styled organization? The Catholic Church is an organization guilty of the murder of more Jews than anyone in history? You be the judge. Just judge them by their fruits.
1stCor 6  Watch your allegiances.
14Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15Or what harmony has Messiah with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16Or what agreement has the temple of YHVH with idols? For we are the temple of the living Elohim; just as YHVH said,
      “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
      And I will be their YHVH, and they shall be My people.
17      “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
      “And do not touch what is unclean;
      And I will welcome you.
18      “And I will be a father to you,
      And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
      Says the Lord Almighty.
It is and always has been about who we make an allegiance with. But we are not to confuse that with our call to be a witness. 
As I said above, the Catholic Church has made allegiances with some of the most nefarious characters in all of history. In an excellent article entitled, Hitler’s Pope by John Cornwall, June 5, 2000, it chronicles the refusal of Pope Pius the 12th to act on behalf of the Jews in light of the Nazi’s final solution to destroy all of world Jewry.  It is a must read to put perspective on this ungodly alliance of these so-called Messianic Rabbis and the Catholic Church. The article can be found at, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican55.htm.
One more point I want to stress before I conclude. Nothing has or ever will change with the Catholic Church. If we look at just a few statements made in the second Vatican documents known as Lumin Gentium, we can clearly see with whom the Catholic Church makes its modern day allegiances. I am including in the quote the full paragraph to keep it in context. I also posted the commentary on this quote by the unnamed person who submitted it in the website,
http://www.catholic-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?32756-Lumen-Gentium-16-Islam
 
From Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, article 16:
“Finally, those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God. In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohammedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham along with us, adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind. Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things, and as Saviour wills that all men be saved. Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life. But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention.”
“Specifically regarding the passage that pertains to Islam, it's interesting to note that the authors of this document have written that the Mohammedans “profess to hold the faith of Abraham” (indeed, a good deal of Abraham’s history in the Qur’an differs markedly from the accounts in the Septuagint). But in any case, I wonder about the phrase “along with us [they] adore the one and merciful God.” If there is only one God, how can anyone believing that God dispatched a definitive revelation to an Arabian shepherd some six centuries after the time of Christ be said to believe in the same God as Christians? In my light, the two concepts appear to be manifestly dissimilar (and certainly not unified).”
 
My simple thought about this is that the Catholic Church is the master of doublespeak. They will say anything to win allegiance with anyone whom they feel they can consume under their authority. Is this the group we should align ourselves with? The group who in one sentence calls Islam the people “who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.”
Do Muslims worship the same Lord as I? If not then Catholicism has now implicated itself in the worship of a generic “one size fits all” god who embraces all faiths, including Islam. This is not the Lord I serve. I serve YHVH and the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua. His claims are exclusive and there is none like Him.
 
John 14:6  
“Yeshua saith unto him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.’”
I don’t hear any mention of the Pope, the Catholic Church, or Mohammed here.
So in conclusion, the leadership and community of Messianic Congregation Sha’ar Hashamayim, in no uncertain terms, wholeheartedly reject this ungodly allegiance with the Catholic Church, and we will call out any one as a false prophet who does.
 
Signed:
Messianic Rabbi Henry M. Morse and the Elders of Sha’ar.