Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Prophe-Zine Issue 024
Prophe-Zine, Issue # 24
Aug 15, 1996
Raymond Gano..........Welcome to Issue # 24
Patti Lalonde ....Building The Third Temple
Thomas D. Ice ....Why the Doctrine of the Pretribulational Rapture
Did Not Begin with Margaret Macdonald
Prophe-Zine News Bites ....Assorted News sources and faithful readers
Jack Van Impe...THE COMING WORLD GOVERNMENT
Wayne Merritt ...Like it or Not, Cash is Becoming Obsolete.......
Justin <Gizmonic@cctrap.com> Pet Microchips in CA
Tod Strandberg...Nearing Midnight Update
Grant Jeffrey's Latest Bestseller - The Signature of God
US Rep Henry Hyde ...GOALS 2000 AND OBE
McAlvany Intelligence Advisor ...American & Global Food Crisis
Statement of Faith, publication cycle notice, ect
**************
Welcome to PZ # 24
Hello all,
Thanks once again for DL'ing Prophe-Zine. This is an exciting issue for me.
I am happy to announce that Patti Lalonde is gracing the pages of PZ once
again. It has been a while since the last article. I want to thank her and
her husband Paul of This Week In Bible Prophecy for allowing me to reprint
"Building The Third Temple". I truly enjoy Patti's writing style and the
way she presents the facts. I hope you enjoy her article as much as I did
when I first received it. If you have the chance, check out their revamped
www site at http://www.niagara.com/~twibp/. You can also get there from
the Prophe-Zine's www links pages.
MORE HOT NEW!!! I want to tell you about a GREAT new comic book series
called "Archangels". Archangels is about spiritual warfare and presents a
message about the trials of life and the true power of faith and prayer.
Archangels is published by Eternal Studios.
I found out about Archangels through my many travels on the www when I
stumbled across the site. I spoke to Patrick Scott, the creator and writer
for Archangels, and asked him for his latest issue. Patrick was so kind
that he sent me his back issues as well to review. I want to thank him for
doing that...now I am a hooked reader and I can not wait for the new issues
to come.
The main reason I am telling you about these comics if because Patrick and
the rest of his staff have gone a long way to create a GREAT ministry with
a Great message. This is a ausome means to reaching out to the youth and
young people sharing about God and His Love for us.
If you want to order Archangels you can call Eternal Studios and order the
Archangels series. They cost $2.50 each (sold in 10 packs only). Pass them
out to the youth at your church or to kids on the street. To order call
1-800-395-5599. They have cool T-shirts as well for $16.95. When you order
tell them you read about it is Prophe-Zine.
HOT NEWS!!!! I need help and advice from YOU the reader. I am thinking of
taking PZ weekly. In doing this I will discontinue my daily news that many
of you get and combine it with the weekly issue. In doing this I want to
break PZ down to just 20 pages ( at 10 point ariel font printed on 8.5 x 11
page with a " boarder) I will still bring the great stories and articles,
but the longer ones will be continued in the following issue.
I feel that in todays world things are moving SO fast and I truly feel that
time is short. We at Prophe-Zine feel that we MUST keep you and others
abreast of what is going on in the world dealing with Bible Prophecy, World
Events and Politics.
SO what I need from you is input about this idea. Do you like it? Do you
thing you will burn out? What would be better idea?...etc. Write to me at
my email address...ray673@best.com.
I also need to fill some positions here in helping me out put PZ together.
I have 2 very good people who have told me that they are willing to step up
to the challenge. I am looking for people who want to serve the Lord and
have a strong commitment to the project once it is started. If you are
interested you do not have to have a strong background in Bible Prophecy. I
would like someone with strong editing skills and some experience in
journalism. But it isnot needed. The biggest thing I am looking for is a
willingness to serve an a heart that loves the Lord and also someone who
has has a great love for the lost and asleep of the world.
Now if this sounds like you, please drop me a note at ray673@best.com. I
will respond promptly. What I want to see is your background and why you
want to join the staff of PZ. If you have a resume, that is good also. Tell
me about yourself.
Well that is all for now. I want to say sorry for the issue being late, but
like I have stated, PZ is going to be making some changes here in the
future.
So until we meet on this earth or in the air with our Lord...
Always in His service,
Ray
Sr. Editor
Prophe-Zine
**************
Building The Third Temple
by Patti Lalonde
The Temple Mount, Jerusalem. It is such a tiny piece of property when
considered globally. Yet it is the most sought-after and controversial
piece of real estate the world has ever known. It is the most holy place of
the Jewish religion. Christians claim it as significant to their own.
Today, it is controlled by the Muslim faith which declares the Temple Mount
the third most holy site of Islam. It is a piece of property where
construction, destruction, rebuilding, and yet more destruction have been
witnessed over a long history, some of it peaceful, some of it bloody. And
it is a site on which the world will be witness to yet more building in the
days ahead as the modern construction cranes move in for the building of
the Third Temple. How do we know there will be a Third Temple reconstructed
in the days ahead? Well, in Daniel 9:27 we are told that the Antichrist
will sign a seven- year covenant with Israel. We are also told that in the
midst of this seven year period, "the week" known as the Tribulation, the
Antichrist "shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for
the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate..."
Also, in II Thessalonians 2:4 we are told that the Antichrist, "who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that heis God."
This act of proclaiming his own divinity is the "abomination of desolation"
spoken of by the prophet Daniel, and by Jesus in Matthew 24:15.
But the main point is that these events, the abomination of desolation, and
sacrifice and oblation, require that the Jewish people be worshipping in a
rebuilt Jewish Temple in the days ahead.
Reinstituting Temple Worship
The Ashes of The Red Heifer: As would be expected, therefore, if we are
indeed approaching the Tribulation period, there should be a growing
interest in things concerning the Third Temple and Temple worship. And this
is indeed the case. In recent years there have been a fewarcheological digs
taking place in the area of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were
discovered. The search is for the ashes of the red heifer referred to in
Numbers 19 which were used in a cleansing ritual after the Jews came in
contact with the dead.
It is still true today that the ashes of the red heifer are required for
cleansing and purifying the Jewish people for Temple worship and sacrifice.
The most popular archaeological digs for the ashes of the red heifer are
being independently conducted by Dr. Gary Collett, and Vendyl Jones, a
former Baptist preacher who has since renounced his Christian faith.
Each of these men feel that they will be the one to discover the ashes of
the red heifer since Jewish tradition declares that it will be a gentile
who will be responsible for their discovery.
Also, apparently red heifers without blemish are being bred today that can
be used in the ritual of Numbers 19.
The Priesthood: The Temple, of course, also needs a priesthood to perform
the Temple rituals. This is being undertaken by religious Jewish
organizations preparing for the building of the Third Temple. Rabbi Nahamn
Kahane of the Institute for Talmudic Commentaries and head of the Young
Israel Synagogue spent many years compiling a computerized list of
candidates who fulfill the requirements of a Temple priest. The Temple
Institute located in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem has been training
rabbis for the priestly functions in the rebuilt Temple. And rabbinical
students in Jerusalem have been training for the ancient Jewish rites of
sacrifice.
The Hebrew Language: Another prophetic fulfillment required for Temple
worship is the revival of the Hebrew language since 1920. Zephaniah 3:9-10
says, "For then will I restore to the peoples a pure language, that they
all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord." The
Temple Treasures: Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have also been for the past
few years making vessels necessary for Temple worship. The Temple Institute
is one such group and has on display many of the vessels already made. It
is one of the stops we make on our tours to Israel. But the Temple
Institute has not constructed all of the vessels that were in the First
Temple because it is assumed that these items will be found in the near
future, including the most famous of all Temple treasures, the Ark of the
Covenant.
The Ark and The Third Temple
Perhaps the most treasured treasure of the Temple is the Ark of the
Covenant. Many religious Jews today anticipate its reappearance for the
Third Temple. Some religious Jews even claim to know of its secret
location.
But will the Ark be present for the Third Temple? After all, some conclude,
it wasn't present for the Second Temple. According to Randall Price in his
book In Search of Temple Treasures, "The reason the Ark could not have been
returned to the Second Temple when it was constructed by Zerubabbel may be
understood from a review of the historical and religious context in which
this Temple existed. During the time of Zerubabbel, Judah was under the
authority of Persia; under Herod it was occupied by Rome. During both
periods the Temple was never free from that threat of attack. In fact,
during the latter era the Roman eagle insignia had been placed above the
eastern gate of the Temple and various attempts were made to set standards
bearing images of the emperor in the Temple precincts. In addition, many
Jewish sects felt that a non-Zadokite priesthood and the political
corruption of the high priesthood had desecrated the Herodian Temple. There
was even a popular opinion that the Second Temple would soon be destroyed
to make room for God's final and purified Restoration Temple. Under these
political conditions, no Levite who knew the secret location of the Ark
would have revealed it, nor would he have considered returning the Ark to
its Foundation Stone platform within the Holy ofHolies." [pg. 105]
And consider that the main reason for the existence of the Tabernacle and
the First Temple was simply to house the Ark, whose aim was to manifest God
on earth. It seems plausible that the Ark could be present in the Third
Temple, seeing as the same political conditions during the time of the
Second Temple do not exist.
In Search of the Lost Ark
This, of course, leads us to the question, "Where was the Ark during the
Second Temple period? And why was the Second Temple built, if the purpose
of the Temple is to house the Ark?"
In 965 B.C. King David passed on the plans for the First Temple and Temple
treasures to his son Solomon. Having successfully completed the Temple
Solomon installed the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle and Temple
vessels in 950 B.C.
According to Randall Price [In Search of Temple Treasures; pg. 71],
"Solomon's construction of the Temple and the Ark's placement within it
marked a new beginning in the relationship between God and His people. The
dedication ofthe Temple by Solomon was the high point of his spiritual
career and a major transition in Israel's history. For thefirst time, the
nation was at peace on every side.
"Once the Ark was brought into the Temple it was to remain there and all
prayer was to be directed toward it from every place on earth (I Kings
8:30, 41-43; 2 Chronicles 6:20)."
But as was the usual case in the relationship between Israel and her God, Israel began to backslide. Her eventual punishment for her backslidings was the destruction of this First Temple. Price continues:
"Israel's last major turn upon the hinge of the Ark comes during the great
civil war that divided the kingdom between the north (Israel) and the south
(Judah). King Solomon's compromise with the religions of his foreign wives
started the nation on this path of spiritual defection and decline (I Kings
11:1-28).
"It wasn't long before the Assyrians exiled the Israelites, leaving only
the southern kingdom of Judah and the Ark. After the demise of the north,
apostasy returned to Judah to inflict a greater desecration than Israel had
ever known. The apex of this apostasy came with the reign of King Manasseh,
who renovated the Israelite sanctuary according to a pagan design.
Apparently this was done by removing all the temple vessels and replacing
them with pagan idols, referred to in the biblical text as the
'abominations of the nations' (2 Kings 21:2; 2 Chronicles 33:2). The text
implies that in the place of the Ark he put an image of the Canaanite
fertility goddess Asherah (2 Kings 21:7; 2 Chronicles 33:7)...
"Josiah [Manasseh's grandson] was a godly king who sought to make spiritual
and political reforms based on the Bible. He began by renovating and
purifying the Temple that Manasseh had desecrated (2 Chronicles 34:8-33).
As part of this necessary reform, he ordered the Ark returned to the Temple
by the faithful Levites, whose job was to transport it whenever it had to
be moved (2 Chronicles 35:3). This verse records the last mention of the
Ark in the Old Testament; there is nothing but silence concerning its
location from this point onward." [pp. 71-73]
Some just assume that these items were destroyed or loote when the
Babylonians destroyed the First Temple. But in accounts of this destruction
(II Kings 25:8-9 and II Chronicles 36:19) the Ark is not mentioned among
the items that were looted or destroyed. According to Price, "The omission
of the Ark from any list of spoils would constitute a great contradiction
to biblical history. Forexample, a previous account of the Philistine
capture of the Ark warranted two entire chapters (I Samuel 5-6). It seems
inconsistent at best--if not impossible--that the Ark could have been
captured or destroyed by the Babylonians without any mention of the fact in
Scripture.
"Second, it is clear from the lists of vessels taken that all of these
items were later returned by the Persians (Ezra 1:7-11). They had kept an
accurate inventory of these items and provided them to the Israelites in
Judah for rebuilding the Temple. Such a careful accounting in the
scriptural texts would certainly have mentioned the most famous object of
all, the Ark." [pg. 86]
So for the most part it is considered that the Ark is still out there
somewhere just waiting to be revealed.
Some believe that the prophet Jeremiah may have had a hand in the
disappearance of the Temple treasures and the Ark of the Covenant until an
appointed time. Betty Lynn writes in Pathways to Armageddon and Beyond
[published by and available through This Week in Bible Prophecy], for
example, "the possession of Jordan [an event prophesied for Israel that is
still to be fulfilled] could play an active part in restoring temple
worship in Israel! For almost twomillennia Israel has not had a proper
temple, or a priesthood that could perform the rituals ordained in the law.
This could soon change!
"The Amos 9:11, 12 passage previously noted describes the restoration of
the tabernacle. It is interesting that this same prophecy also mentions the
possession of the portion of Jordan called Edom. In this prophetic
reference from Amos, it sounds as if God is going to 'resurrect' David's
tabernacle. How does this relate to Israel's possession of Jordan?
"There is a mountain in Jordan called Nebo. The originaltabernacle, the ark
of the covenant and the altar of incense may have been hidden by Jeremiah
on Mount Nebo prior to the Babylonian looting of the temple. This event is
described in the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees. Although the books of the
Apocrypha are not part of the Jewish or Christian canon, they do provide
valuable historical information. Second Maccabees 2:1-8 tells us that the
exact location of the original tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, and the
altar of incense on Mount Nebo would be hidden until the "gathering of the
congregation of his people." Again, God's regathering of His people in the
land of Israel is the 'date stamp' for this significant reference.
"If Israel possesses Jordan, it could result in the return of the lost
tabernacle and temple treasures to Jerusalem after 2500 years! Would it not
be just like our God to restore Israel's temple treasures using His
judgment of their original oppressor, Babylon? Would it not be just like
our God to restore temple worship using an act of judgment which He
describes as 'vengeance for His temple' (Jeremiah 50:28; 51:11)." [pp.
182-183]
There are still others who believe that some time after the death of
Josiah, and before the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians,
the Levites hid the Ark in a secret room beneath the Holy of Holies of the
First Temple. And it is believed that it remained there throughout the
Babylonian captivity, the time of the Second Temple, and it remains there
today. Many religious Jews are sure that the Ark of the Covenant is today
hidden under the Temple Mount which is, of course, controlled by the
Muslims.
Access Denied
Two monumental events took place in Israel in 1967 and in 1981 that dashed
the hopes of religious Jews who were sure the messianic age was about to be
ushered in. "For religious Jews concerned with the national and spiritual
redemption of Israel," writes Price, "these two tragedies are enshrined in
infamy. The first was the loss of control of the Temple Mount in July of
1967, and the second was the loss of access to the underground Temple Mount
Gate in July of 1981...
"In 1967, the feeling of tragedy was mixed with betrayal as Defense
Minister Moshe Dayan removed control of Judaism's most holy site from Rabbi
Shlomo Goren and returned it to the Wakf (the Islamic authority). The
Temple Mount had been captured from the Jordanian forces only a month
earlier during the final days of the Six-Days War...[Dayan] announced that
it had been given back to the Muslims as a gesture of peace...
"In 1981, Rabbi Goren again felt betrayed by an Israeli government
official. This time it was Joseph Berg, who allowed Muslim Arabs to force a
conflict within Goren's secretly excavated tunnels beneath the Temple
Mount. The ensuing melee resulted in the permanent closure of the dig, an
excavation that Goren had proclaimed would lead to the greatest discovery
of all time, the Ark of the Covenant." [pg. 159]
The discovery was at Warren's Gate. In July 1981 Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz,
chief rabbi of the Western Wall was constructing a new synagogue behind the
Wall that would face the Temple Mount. While the construction was going on,
workers accidentally discovered Warren's Gate and an open area behind it
that they believed to be from the First Temple period.
Rabbis Goren and Getz put together a clandestine crew of ten men for an
unofficial dig under the Temple Mount. Those involved claimed that they
were may about one-and-a-half years away from reaching the surface of the
Holy of Holies area and the Ark of the Covenant.
But word of the clandestine operation leaked somehow and a group of Arabs
entered the tunnels in a rage.
In an effort to appease the Wakf the Israeli government sealed off Warren's
Gate with steel and plaster, denying, according to religious Jews, access
to the Ark. Gershon Salomon was one of the ten men involved with the secret
dig under the Temple Mount. He is also the head of The Temple Mount
Faithful which created a stone-throwing riot by the Muslims in 1990. One of
the TMF's goals is to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple which it was
supposedly going to attempt to do in 1990. Gershon Salomon told This Week
in Bible Prophecy in July 1993, "We know very well that the underground
floors of the Second Temple are still existing today under the ground of
the Temple Mount. We know that the Ark of the Covenant from the First
Temple,which was hidden by the priests before the destruction of this First
Temple, is still under the ground of the Temple Mount in a secret place. We
know where it is. It is the same case with the Menorah, the seven candles
from the wilderness which was hidden also before the destruction of the
First Temple." The Great Divide
There is no question that denying religious Jews access to the Temple Mount
has created a great rift between them and their government. According to
the American-born founder of The Temple Mount Yeshiva, Rabbi Baruch
Ben-Yosef "The secular state has lost its legitimacy and its right to
represent the Jewish people for denying us our natural rights to pray
there, to serve God on the Temple Mount, and, of course, to rebuild the
Temple... The Arabs have no rights to the Temple Mount and one day they
will find themselves out with their mosques off the Temple Mount in Mecca
or somewhere else." [as quoted by Adnan Husseini in an interview with Ulf
Carmesund; Sept. 1991; Two Faces of the Expanding Jewish State: A Study on
How Religious Motives Can Legitimate Two Jewish Groups Trying to Dominate
Mount Moriah in Jerusalem; pg. 86]
This great divide has grown wider with the peace process. Gershon Salomon
told This Week in Bible Prophecy that religious Jews have a big problem
with the government giving away land for peace. "We believe that the Land
of Israel was given to us by God forever. We are not allowed to divide it,
to give parts of it to other nations. This country was given to us
completely, and I believe that in the close future Israel will live in the
borders which God painted for them in the Bible. This is the only Land in
which God painted its borders. We are not allowed to change them. Because
we shall break the Word of God."
And perhaps the final clincher, cementing the relationship between the
national and spiritual elements of Israel came last year. Randall Price
explains:
"In March 1994 an unprecedented closing of the Western Wall (the only
remnant of the Temple Mount accessible to Jews) followed an Arab stoning at
the wall. The latter event was in response to the Hebron mosque shooting
that took place on Feb. 25, 1994. This closure was the first-ever attempt
by the government to restrict the religious rights of all Israelis at the
Temple Mount...
"After closing the wall, the government restricted the right of Jewish
worshippers to carry arms. Perhaps the final blow came when the government
later declared that all 'Arab-hating groups' were illegal and placed them
on par with militant Islamic groups. These Jewish religious groups were
branded as 'terrorists' because their objectives 'include the establishment
of theocracy in the biblical Land of Israel and the violent expulsion of
Arabs from that Land.' Under this definition, such groups as Kach, Kahane
Chai, the Jewish Defense League, the Temple Mount Yeshiva, and the Temple
Mount Faithful are now illegal terrorist organizations." [pp. 305-306]
Awaiting the Messiah
It is believed by some religious sects of Jewry that it will be the Messiah
himself who reveals where the Ark and other Temple treasures are hidden,
and that the construction of the Third Temple is paramount to the
revelation of the Messiah and the Ark.
Such events would obviously have a profound effect on the world. First of
all, the Muslim world, which is in complete denial of the fact that the
Jews have any spiritual claim to the Temple Mount, would finally be proven
wrong. In fact, this is one of the reasons why the Arabs are not interested
in searching for the Ark under the Temple Mount themselves. Such a
discovery would prove once and for all that the Jews have a claim to the
Temple Mount.
Secondly, it would be seen as the time of Israel's redemption. "In a paper
entitled 'Waiting in the Wings,'" writes Price, "which was distributed all
over Israel, the appeal was made to give Messiah the signal to come. The
article, in part read:
"'We must show him we want him with all our heart. He is ready. He is just
waiting for the signal from us. Moshiach is waiting in the wings. He is
ready. When he comes the curtain will rise on the most magnificent stage
set we could imagine--world peace and disarmament, glory and honor for the
Jews, the end of strife and jealousy. We must show him through our good
deeds, through our tangible anticipation, through our longing for him, that
we are ready." [pp. 208-209]
And it is expected it would usher in a time in which Jerusalem will be the
spiritual center for all the world. "We believe," says Gershon Salomon, "at
the same time that the Temple Mount must become again the seat of the Third
Temple. Jerusalem must become not only a capital of Israel, but an
identical capital of Israel, and at the same time, the city of God, the
spiritual city for the people of Israel and then for all the nations...
"This is the time, again, to build the Third Temple. Not only for us, but
for all the nations, exactly as the prophet Isaiah said. My house will be a
house of praying for all the nations."
And indeed, this was the vision for the Temple and the Ark since Solomon
built the First Temple. I Kings 8:39-43 tells us:
"Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give
to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou,
even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
"That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou
gavest unto our fathers.
"Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but
cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;
"(For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy stron hand, and of thy
stretched out arm:) when he shall come and pray toward this house;
"Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the
stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy
name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that
this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name."
Does not, however, the descriptions of the messianic age given by many
religious Jews today sound instead like the prophesied new age of the
Antichrist? Indeed, many descriptions of the Messiah given by Messianic
Jews, such as the Lubavitchers, sounds more like the Antichrist, not the
Messiah as Christians know Him. Randall Price observes:
"The Lubavitcher promotion of a coming messiah who will be a strictly
human, nonmiracle-working Jewish leader has opened the field for many such
messianic candidates. The Lubavitchers are preparing the Jewish world to
accept as messiah whoever is instrumental in bringing about the erection of
the Third Temple...
"Rabbi Manis Friedman, interviewed by University of Maryland professor
Susan Handelman in the Hasidic journal Wellsprings, reveals the Lubavitcher
opinion:
"'If he goes on to build the Temple and gather all Jews back to Israel,
then we will know for sure that he is the Moshiach. Moshiach comes through
his accomplishments and not through his pedigree. Maimonides says that once
he builds the Temple and gathers the Jews back to Israel, then we will know
for sure that he is Moshiach. He doesn't have to say anything. He will
accept the role, but we will give it to him. He won't take it to himself.
And his coming, the moment of his coming, in the literal sense, would mean
the moment when the whole world recognizes him as Moshiach...that both Jew
and non-Jew recognize that he is responsible for all the wonderful
improvements in the world: an end to war, an end to hunger, an end to
suffering, a change in attitude.'
"This new Jewish concept of the messiah, then, is that of a mortal man and
a leader with sufficient charisma to captureand command the admiration of
the world--if not its devotion. He will be recognized not by his lineage
(as the biblical Messiah--a descendant of the Davidic dynasty), but by his
acts of global significance." [pp. 209-211]
This Lubavitcher Messiah will be recognized by "his accomplishments and not
through his pedigree" or his lineage. Yet in the Old Testament the Jews are
given various clues as how to recognize their Messiah. One of these
prophetic points is that he will be from the seed of David. The New
Testament, while frowning upon the study of genealogies, gives great detail
about the genealogy of Jesus.
Jesus did say to the Jews, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive
me not" If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John
5:43)
The views of the Messiah vary amongst the different Jewishsects. However,
they all seem to point to the false Christ who is about to make his
appearance in the world. The deception will be so great in the world at
that time that the Antichrist will fit every one's expectations, for a
while anyhow. The Antichrist will have something for everyone. Something
for Everyone
It is difficult to know exactly how some things will come into being in the
future. We can ponder and speculate how things will be, but our concepts
may prove to be wrong whenthe actual biblical fulfillment takes place. For
example, as things are right now, it would seem impossible for there to be
a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. Jews, or "Christians" for that matter,
are not even allowed by the Wakf to pray while they are on the Temple
Mount. But we do know from the prophetic Word that there will be a Third
Temple. We just don't know exactly how the Muslims will be convinced to
allow such a thing.
Many today believe that the existing Dome of The Rock and the Mosque
al-Aksa will have to be moved in order to accommodate the Third Temple.
Gershon Salomon, for example, told This Week in Bible Prophecy, "I believe
this is the will of God. It [The Dome of the Rock] must be moved. We must,
you know, take it from the place. And today we have all the instruments to
do it, stone by stone, very carefully, and then to put it in a package and
mail it back to Mecca, the place from where it was brought. Those two
buildings, the Mosque al-Aksa and The Dome of The Rock are symbols of Arab
imperialistic occupation. Even if it was done before one thousand and three
hundred years, it is still an imperialistic act against the will of God and
the history of the most holy place of the Israeli people andother nations.
It must be moved. You ask me how? I can answer very shortly. And even that
answer must be long. God is together with Israel now. We must trust God.
You know we trusted him in the short history of Israel, forty-five years,
seven wars; a little minority against a big majority. People ask how can
you do it. We did it. God did it. So as long as God is the general of the
Israeli army, believe me, it will be very simple to move those two
buildings. Together with God, we shall always be themajority."
Yes, God is the general of the Israeli army. Unfortunately, many Jews in
the days ahead will follow the wrong commander in a case of mistaken
identity. And perhaps this impostor, heralding in an age of peace and
tolerance and understanding will somehow convince the Jews to accept a
gentile presence on the Temple Mount. We cannot know this for certain, but
we do know that a description given of the Temple in Revelation 11:1-2
leaves out the outer court. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod:
and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and them that worship therein.
"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not;
for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under
foot forty and two months" [three-and-a-half years].
Somehow, as well, the Jews will believe that the Ark of the Covenant fits
the same bill as it did during the days of Moses and King David. It was a
channel for God's power and its aim was to manifest God's presence with
Israel. "On earth," writes Randall Price in In Search of Temple Treasures,
"the Ark was the place where God's glory was displayed as a pillar of fire
by night; where Moses, Aaron, and Joshua heard God's voice; and which
served as the symbol of God's power in warfare. If these divine deeds were
associated with the Ark in Israel's early days, then perhaps the call to
remember them in latter days when Israel once again becomes a nation may
imply the Ark's reappearance at that time." [pg. 319]
Interestingly, the Ark displayed God's glory through a pillar of fire at
night. Perhaps this is why, in an effort to duplicate the power of the true
God, the False Prophet calls fire down from the heavens. In Revelation
13:13-14 we read of the False Prophet:
"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven
on the earth in the sight of men,
"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them
that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which
had the wound by a sword and did live." A Tribulation Scenario
I am going to present here a possible scenario of how things may work out
during the Tribulation period. Keep in mind once again that we have been
given certain prophecies by God. So we know they're going to take place.
Sometimes, it seems difficult to believe they will take place. But by
looking at the Word of God and comparing it to current events, we begin to
see patterns developing that seem to make their fulfillment more plausible.
But it is only when the actual biblical fulfillment comes to fruition that
we will know exactly how God saw it would work.
Anyhow, we do know that the Rapture will take place. I believe it will be
before the seven-year Tribulation. The time of the gentiles will have been
fulfilled and God is now focusing on Israel for the final week of Daniel's
prophetic seventy weeks.
Probably at the beginning of this time period the Antichrist will sign a
covenant with Israel and other nations, guaranteeing Israel's safety.
Israel is deceived by the Antichrist and False Prophet and believes the age
of her messianic redemption has arrived. A Third Temple is built, perhaps
next to The Dome of The Rock and the Mosque al-Aksa. Maybe the Antichrist
and False Prophet will even convince the Jews to allow a "Christian" church
to be erected on the Temple Mount as well.
So for a time Israel is living in peace with world and is worshipping and
making sacrifices in her cherished Temple.
Near the middle of the Tribulation, however, things begin to sour in this
age of peace and prosperity. The Russian army from the north, along with
other nations, mostly Muslim, start heading towards Israel which is now a
land of "unwalled villages" (Ezekiel 38:11). It is the true God who comes
to Israel's rescue and destroys this northern army.
Israel recognizes her God and is now fully aware that she has been
following the wrong general. The Antichrist, in his anger, goes into the
Temple and in an act of self-deification, proclaims that he is God (II
Thess. 2:4). This act is known as the abomination of desolation.
It appears that it is at this point when the utopian kingdom created by man
comes to an end and all hell breaks loose. Revelation 13:5-8 tells us:
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name,
and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome
them: and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues, and nations.
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world."
It could also be that at this point the mark of the beast is enforced. It
wil be a sign of allegiance to the beast because God warns in Revelation
14:9-11:
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any many
worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand,
"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out
without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb:
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they
have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
The Plagues
In the past God has often visited rebellious man with plagues. It was true
for the Egyptians when they defied God's command to set the Israelites
free.
An account is given in I Samuel, chapters 4 and 5, of thi recognition by
the Philistines concerning the Ark of the Covenant. In chapter 4, verses 6
to 8 we read:
"And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout,they said, What
meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they
understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp.
"And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp.
And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing
heretofore.
"Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?
These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the
wilderness."
However, the Philistines did end up fighting Israel victoriously and
captured the Ark. In chapter 5, verses 1 to 7 we read:
"And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto
Ashdod.
"And when the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the
house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
"And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took
Dagon, and set him in his place again.
"And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen
upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of
Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only
the stump of Dagon was left to him.
"Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that comeinto Dagon's
house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
"But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed
them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
"And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the
God of Israel shall not abide with us: forhis hand is sore upon us, and
upon Dagon our god."
The Philistines were wise enough to recognize that neither they nor their
god Dagon were any match for the God of Israel. So they returned the Ark to
Israel.
The final generation of man will not be so wise, however. God's wrath will
be manifested against those who worship the beast and take his mark through
"the seven last plagues" (Revelation 15:1). Now, there are no atheists at
this point. Mankind knows that it is the wrath of the God of Israel that is
responsible for these plagues. But instead of bowing down to God and
acknowledging its mistake, mankind blasphemes God. "And men were scorched
with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over
these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory" (Rev. 16:9).
Instead, in the ultimate manifestation of human arrogance, mankind gathers
at Armageddon to destroy Israel. It is here that rebellious man meets his
final destiny at "the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (verse 14).
**************
Why the Doctrine of the Pretribulational Rapture Did Not Begin with
Margaret Macdonald
By: Thomas D. Ice
Pastor, Oak Hill Bible Church, Austin, Texas
From: Bibliotheca Sacra 1990
Did the key elements of the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture
originate with a young Scottish girl named Margaret Macdonald, as advocated
by another "Mac"--Dave MacPherson? This is the thesis put forth in a number
of publications for over 15 years by MacPherson, a newsman turned rapture
researcher. MacPherson's major book The Great Rapture Hoax is one in a
series of revisions of his original discourse The Unbelievable Pre-Trib
Origin.
Dave MacPherson is convinced "that the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of
today was really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the
early 1800's." "If Christians had known [this] all along," bemoans
MacPherson concerning the historical beginnings of the pretribulational
rapture, "the state of Christianity could have been vastly different
today." He thinks this ignorance has been due not merely to a historical
oversight, but rather to a well-orchestrated "cover-up" carefully managed
by clever pretribulational leaders each step of the way. Before discussing
the background of the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture, this
article first discusses the background of Dave MacPherson.
MacPherson's Background
Dave MacPherson is dedicated to disrupting belief in the pretribulation
rapture, since, according to his interpretation, it has been the cause for
great disruption in his own life. "Back in 1953 1 had a jolting encounter
with the Rapture," is the first sentence in one of MacPherson's books. This
is a reference to his expulsion from a Christian college in California for
propagating views that conflicted with the pretribulational view. He
suggests that this experience was so devastating that it accounts for a
setback in his Christian life. Because of his discouragement MacPherson and
a friend got drunk in Mexico and passed out. MacPherson says this was a
brush with death because of the many dangers that could befall someone in
that condition in Mexico. Later he was involved in a wreck with a car while
riding his motorcycle, and he almost lost his left arm. But these were not
the beginning of his nor his family's troubles because of the
pretribulational rapture.
Trials and tribulations due to this doctrine seem to run in the MacPherson
family. Dave's father, Norman, had planted a church in Long Beach,
California and was doing quite well until a group of new people in the
church caused a commotion over the timing of the rapture. Norman MacPherson
was forced out of this prospering church because he had shifted from the
pretribulational to the posttribulational view of the rapture. He then
started another, less successful church in Long Beach. In 1983 MacPherson
declared, "Fifteen years ago I knew nothing about Pre-Trib beginnings." He
began his quest by writing to his father and received an answer that
indicated a lack of consensus among scholars, "so I decided to do some
research on my own." MacPherson's investigation gathered steam when he
found a rare book in 1971 by Robert Norton, The Restoration of Apostles and
Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church (1861). "The important part in
Norton's book," claimed MacPherson, "is a personal
revelation that Margaret Macdonald had in the spring of 1830." MacPherson
uses this finding to project the notion that the doctrine of the
pretribulational rapture is of demonic origin through a 15-year-old
Scottish lassie.
John Walvoord has noted:
MacPherson made these charges against pretribulationism and then afterward
went to great lengths to find historic verification.... Readers will be
impressed that as a newsman MacPherson builds a strong case for his
position, but will be less impressed when they begin to analyze what he has
actually proved.
Irvingite Robert Norton included a handwritten account of Margaret
Macdonald's "prophecy," which MacPherson says was the fountainhead for J.
N. Darby's development of the pretribulational rapture doctrine. MacPherson
does not say that Macdonald included a clear statement of the
pretribulational rapture, but that she "separated the Rapture from the the
Second Coming before anyone else did." According to MacPherson, Darby
pilfered this two-stage teaching from Macdonald and then developed it
systematically, skillfully passing it off as the fruit of his personal
Bible study.
Macdonald's so-called revelation that MacPherson cites to make his case
revolves around two key phrases. "Margaret dramatically separated the sign
of the Son of man from the coming of the Son of man," declares MacPherson,
based on her phrase, "now look out for the sign of the Son of man."
MacPherson argues that "she equated the sign with the Rapture--a Rapture
that would occur before the revealing of Antichrist." He bases this on her
statement, "I saw it was just the Lord himself descending from Heaven with
a shout, just the glorified man, even Jesus."
MacPherson's Errors
MacPherson makes two major errors in his attempt to argue that Margaret
Macdonald originated the basis for the pretribulation rapture. First, it is
highly doubtful that the Macdonald "prophecy" refers to a two-stage coming
of Christ, as MacPherson advocates. Therefore it would be impossible for
this source to be the basis for a new idea if it did not contain those
elements. MacPherson has misinterpreted Macdonald's words by equating her
use of "sign" with a rapture. Rather, she is saying that only those who are
spiritual will see the secret sign of the Son of Man that will precede the
single, posttribulational second coming of Christ. In other words onlv
those who have the light of the Holy Spirit within them will know when the
Second Coming will take place because this spiritual enlightenment will
enable them to have the spiritual perception to see the secret sign (not
the secret rapture). These are her own words:
... all must, as Stephen was, be filled with the Holy Ghost, that they
might look up, and see the brightness of the Father's glory. I saw the
error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural
eye; but tis spiritual discernment that is needed, the eye of God in his
people.... Only those who have the light of God within them will see the
sign of his Appearance. No need to follow them who say, see here, or see
there, for his day shall be as the lightning to those in whom the living
Christ is. Tis Christ in us that will lift us up-he is the light-tis only
those that are alive in him that will be caught up to meet him in the air.
I saw that we must be in the Spirit, that we might see spiritual things.
John was in the Spirit, when he saw a throne set in Heaven.... it is not
knowledge about God that it contains, but it is in entering into God.... I
felt that those who were filled with the Spirit could see spiritual things,
and feel walking in the midst of them, while those who had not the Spirit
could see nothing.
Macdonald is clearly concerned with spiritual insight for several reasons:
(1) Stephen saw into heaven; he was not raptured or taken to heaven.
(2) The sign will be seen only by the spiritually enlightened. It will not
be a natural or physical sign, but one perceived by "spiritual
discernment."
(3) She is discussing "the sign of his appearance," not His actual appearance.
(4) Once a person has been so enlightened, he will not need direction from
others. He will be guided directly by "the living Christ."
(5) The emphasis is on seeing: "John was in the Spirit, when he saw,"
"those who were filled with the Spirit could see." Posttribulationist
Kromminga observes that Macdonald's "prophecies made it plain that the
return of the Lord depended upon the proper spiritual preparation of His
Church."
Anti-pretribulationist John Bray agrees that Margaret Macdonald was
teaching a single coming, not a two-staged event. "The only thing new in
her revelation itself seems to be that of just Spiritfilled Christians
being caught up at the second coming of Christ following heavy trials and
tribulation by the Antichrist," notes Bray. In other words Macdonald seems
to have been teaching a posttribillational, partial rapture. Bray further
explains:
It seems to me that Margaret MacDonald was saying that Christians WILL face
the temptation of the false Christ (antichrist) and be in "an awfully
dangerous situation," and that only the Spirit IN US will enable us to be
kept from being deceived; and that as the Spirit works, so"will the
antichrist; but the pouring out of the Spirit will "fit us to enter into
the marriage supper of the Lamb," and those filled with the Spirit would be
taken while the others would be left.... Margaret MacDonald did teach a
partial rapture, of course, but this did not necessarily mean that the
teaching included a tribulation period FOLLOWING THAT for the other
Christians.... It would not be right to takefor granted that Margaret
MacDonald believed in a tribulation period following the appearing of
Christ unless she had definitely said so. Rather, it would be more logical
to think that her view would have been the same as prevalent among the
futurists at that time, that is, tribulation then the second coming.
Another point MacPherson makes to support his opinion is that "Margaret
Macdonald was the first person to teach a coming of Christ that would
precede the days of Antichrist." This would mean, according to MacPherson,
that Macdonald had to be teaching a two-stage coming. However, it is highly
questionable, as already noted, that Macdonald was referring to the
rapture, as MacPherson insists. Also Macdonald was still a historicist; she
believed the church was already in the tribulation and had been for
hundreds of years. Therefore the Antichrist was to be soon revealed, but
before the second coming. She said believers need spiritual sight so they
will not be deceived. Otherwise, why would believers, including herself,
need to be filled with the Spirit to escape the deception that will
accompany "the fiery trial which is to try us," associated with the
Antichrist's arrival? Further, she certainly includes her-self as one who
needs this special ministry of the Holy Spirit, as can be seen from this
passage from her "revelation."
...now shall the awful sight of a false Christ be seen on this earth, and
nothing but the living Christ in us can detect this awful attempt of the
enemy to deceive.... The Spirit must and will be purged out on the church,
that she may be purified and filled with God.... There will be outward
trial too, but 'tis principally temptation. It is brought on by the
outpouring of the Spirit, and will just increase in proportion as the
Spirit is poured out. The trial of the Church is from the Antichrist. It is
by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept. I frequently said,
Oh be filled with the Spirit-have the light of God in you, that you may
detect satan-be full of eyes within-be clay in the hands of the
pottersubmit to be filled, filled with God.... This is what we are at
present made to pray much for, that speedily we may all be made ready to
meet our Lord in the air-and it will be. Jesus wants his bride. His desire
is toward us.
Ryrie also notes a further misunderstanding of Macdonald's prophecy":
She saw the church ("us") being purged by Antichrist. MacPherson reads this
as meaning the church will be raptured before Antichrist, ignoring the "us"
(pp. 154-55). In reality, she saw the church enduring Antichrist's
persecution of the Tribulation days.
Macdonald, then, was a posttribulationist. She believed the church would go
through the Tribulation. This is hardly the beginnings of
pretribulationism! Walvoord observes,
Readers of MacPherson's Incredible Cover-Up will undoubtedly be impressed
by the many long quotations, most of which are only window dressing for
what he is trying to prove. When it gets down to the point of proving that
either MacDonald or Irving was pretribulationist, the evidence gets very
muddv. The quotations MacPherson cites do not support his conclusions.
Second, in spite of MacPherson's great amount of research and writing he
has yet to produce hard evidence that J. N. Darby was influenced by
Macdonald's utterances, regardless of what they meant. MacPherson only
assumes the connection. Throughout MacPherson's writings, he keeps
presenting information about issues, developments, and beliefs from Great
Britain during the early 1800s, apparently thinking that he is adding proof
for his thesis that "the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of today was
really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the early 1800's."
Much of the information is helpful and interesting, but does not prove his
thesis. If his research were represented as a river, it would be a mile
wide (amount of information) but only an inch deep (actual proof). Even if
Darby developed the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture after
Macdonald's utterance, specific proof would be needed to make a link
between Macdonald and Darby. Instead MacPherson only offers speculative
guesses about how Darby used his training for the law profession to
manipulate Christians by hiding the supposed true origins of his teaching
on the rapture. Perhaps MacPherson is using his investigative journalism
training and experience to smear Darby.
Scholarly Responses to MacPherson's Claims
"A few Pre-Trib leaders have long asserted that scholars scoff" at his
findings, declares MacPherson. "The following quotes from leading experts
tell a different story!" True, many scholars have complimented MacPherson
on his effort; however, most have not endorsed or agreed with MacPherson's
thesis. F. F. Bruce's comments are typical: "This makes most
interestingreading.... It is an illuminating book." MacPherson takes such
general statements about his book as agreement with what he is saying. Most
scholars, however, while saying that MacPherson's work is valuable, stop
short of agreeing with his conclusion. Bruce, long associated with the
Brethren movement but one who does not agree with the pretribulational
rapture view, says, "Where did he [Darby] get it? The reviewer's answer
would be that it
was in the air in the 1820s and 1830s among eager students of unfulfilled
prophecy.... direct dependence by Darby on Margaret Macdonald is unlikely."
Various scholars reveal that they think, in varying degrees, that
MacPherson has not proven his point. Most if not all of the following six
writers whose statements are quoted do not hold to the pretribulation
rapture teaching. Ernest R. Sandeen declares,
This seems to be a groundless and pernicious charge. Neither Irving nor any
member of the Albury group advocated any doctrine resembling the secret
rapture.... Since the clear intention of this charge is to discredit the
doctrine by attributing its origin to fanaticism rather than Scripture,
there seems little ground for giving it any credence.
Historian Timothy P. Weber's evaluation is as follows:
The pretribulation rapture was a neat solution to a thorny problem and
historians are still trying to determine how or where Darby got it....
A newer though still not totally convincing view contends that the doctrine
initially appeared in a prophetic vision of Margaret Macdonald....
Possibly, we may have to settle for Darby's own explanation. He claimed
that the doctrine virtually jumped out of the pages of Scripture once he
accepted and consistently maintained the distinction between Israel and the
church.
American historian Richard R. Reiter says,
[Robert] Cameron probably traced this important but apparently erroneous
view back to S. P. Tregelles.... Recently more detailed study on this view
as the origin of pretribulationism appeared in works by Dave McPherson....
Historian Ian S. Rennie ... regarded McPherson's case as interesting but
not conclusive.
Posttribulationist William E. Bell asserts,
It seems only fair, however, in the absence of eyewitnesses to settle the
argument conclusively, that the benefit of the doubt should be given to
Darby, and that the charge made by Tregelles be regarded as a possibility
but with insufficient support to merit its acceptance.... On the whole,
however, it Seems that Darby is perhaps the most likely choicewith help
from Tweedy. This conclusion is greatly strengthened by Darby's own claim
to have arrived at the doctrine through his study of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2.
John Bray does not accept the MacPherson thesis either.
He [Darby] rejected those practices, and he already had his new view of the
Lord coming FOR THE SAINTS (as contrasted to the later coming to the earth)
which he had believed since 1827.... It was the coupling of this "70th week
of Daniel" prophecy and its futuristic interpretation, with the teaching of
the "secret rapture," that gave to us the completed "Pre-tribulation Secret
Rapture" teaching as it has now been taught for many years. [This] makes it
impossible for me to believe that Darby got his Pre-Tribulation Rapture
teaching from Margaret MacDonald's vision in 1830. He was already a believer
in it since 1827, as he plainly said.
Brethern scholar Roy A. Huebner considers MacPherson's charges as "using
slander that J. N. Darby took the [truth of the] pretribulation rapture
from those very opposing, demon-inspired utterances." He concludes that
MacPherson
did not profit by reading the utterances allegedly by Miss M. M. Instead of
apprehending the plain import of her statements, as given by R. Norton,
which has some affinity to the post-tribulation scheme and no real
resemblance to the pretribulation rapture and dispensational truth, he has
read into it what he appears so anxious to find.
It seems, then, most likely that Margaret Macdonald did not teach any of
the features of a pretribulation rapture doctrine as MacPherson suggests,
and therefore she could not have been a source for the origin of that
doctrine.
The whole controversy as aroused by Dave MacPherson's claims has so little
supporting evidence, despite his careful research, that one wonders how he
can write his book with a straight face. Pretribulationalists should be
indebted to Dave MacPherson for exposing the facts, namely, that there is
no proof that MacDonald or Irving originated the pretribulation rapture
teaching.
The Progress of Dogma
If the pretribulation rapture is taught in the New Testament, as this
writer believes, why did it take 1,800 years for Christians to realize this
doctrine? The answer lies in the fact that the tiiniilg of the rapture is
more the product of one's theology than the prooftexting of specific
passages. Thus the historical development of a certain theological climate
led believers to give attention to this New Testament subject. The recovery
of the pretribulational rapture as taught in the New Testament awaited the
proper progress of dogma.
In 1897, James Orr, a British postmillennialist, delivered a series of
lectures at the Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on
the progress of dogma. Orr's thesis was that, generally speaking, the
historical development of the church's understanding of her doctrine
parallels the logical development of systematic theology. He said, "The
articulation of the system in your text-books is the very articulation of
the system in its development in history." Orr makes his case by noting the
order in which virtually all theology textbooks logically develop their
systems.
Its opening sections are probably occupied with matters of Theological
Prolegomena-with apologetics, the general idea of religion, revelation, the
relation of faith to reason, Holy Scripture, and the like. Then follows the
great divisions of the theological system-Theology proper, or the doctrine
of God; Anthropology, or the doctrine of man, including sin (sometimes a
separate division); Christology, or the doctrine of the flerson of Christ;
Soteriology (Objective), or the doctrine of the work of Christ, especially
the Atonement; Subjective Soteriology, or the doctrine of the application
of redemption (justification, Regeneration, etc.); finally, eschatology, or
the doctrine of the last things. If now, planting yourself at the close of
the Apostolic Age, you cast your eye down the course of the succeeding
centuries, you find, taking as an easy guide the great historical
controversies of the Church, that what you have is simply the projection of
this logical system on a vast temporal screen.
Many scholars acknowledge that eschatology was the last major area of
systematic theology formulated in detail by the church. Orr's view of
doctrinal development gives the framework for understanding why a number of
the details of prophecy were only understood later in church history. This
is not to suggest that Orr's view is correct in every detail. But all can
agree that eschatology has been a late development within the church's
history. Dispensationalist Gerald Stanton wrote in 1956,
During these past nineteen centuries, there has been a progressive
refinement of the details of Christian theology, but not until the last one
hundred years has Eschatology come to the front to receive the major
attention and scrutiny of foremost Bible scholars. It is not that the
doctrine of Christ's coming, or any of its special features, is new or
novel, but that the doctrine has finally come into the place of prominence
it rightfully deserves. With that rominence there has come a greater
discernment of prophetic detail. It seems clear that prophecy-especially
the futurist form of premillennialism-has only been developed in a detailed
way since the Reformation and especially during the last 150 years. The
following section presents some reasons why the doctrine of the
pretribulational rapture has been a later development in the history of the
church.
Development of Eschatology
The early church had a clear but undeveloped view of eschatology. They were
premillennial, but had not formulated the system into anything that matches
the sophistication of today's theologies. Nathaniel West, a Presbyterian
pastor, said in the late 1800s concerning the predominance of chiliasm in
the early church, "History has no consensus more unanimous for any doctrine
than is the consensus of the Apostolic Fathers for the pre-millennial
advent of Christ."
Even though the early church was clearly premillennial, many of the details
and implications of that doctrine had not been worked out. J. N. D. Kelly,
a leading authority on early church doctrine, wrote along that line.
Four chief moments dominate the eschatological expectation of early
Christian theology-th
e return of Christ, known as the Parousia, the
resurrection, the judgment, and the catastrophic ending of the present
world-order. In the primitive period they were held together in a naive,
unreflective fashion, with little or no attempt to work out their
implications or solve the problems they raise.
Harry Bultema echoed this perspective and underlined the undeveloped nature
of the early church's premillennialism as something that "was not taught on
the basis of any philosophical principle, but on the basis of oral
tradition which had been received from the mouth of the apostles
themselves." This likely explains why chiliasm, though undeveloped in
detail, was so widely held.
By the fifth century A.D., the amillennialism of Origen and Augustine had
virtually eliminated all traces of premillennial teaching. This continued
until shortly after the Reformation. In the early 1600s premillennialism
began to return as a factor within the church after more than a "1,000-year
reign" of amillennialism. This time premillennialism was not alone. A new
approach known as postmillennialism grew up side by side with the
premillennial revival. Many post-Reformation Puritans were divided between
a mild form of premillennialism and the newly developingpostmillennialism
popularized and systematized by Daniel Whitby in the early 1700s. However,
the majority of post-Reformation Protestants continued to hold to the
amillennialism of the Roman Church.
Postmillennialism was popular for most of the 1700s until the French
Revolution at the end of the century caused the optimism of Christendom to
wane. Premillennialism then made its greatest surge as the 1800s began.
However, premillenialism, like postmillennialism and amillennialism, was
still dominated by the "historical" school of interpretation. By 1826, the
more literal interpretation of the prophetic portions of Scripture known as
"futurism" began to supplant the "historicism" of the previous 500 years.
This environment of a literal, futurist, premillennial framework
interacting with the progress made by systematic theology provided the
momentum that led to the understanding of the pretribulational rapture.
Pretribulational Ingredients in the Doctrine of the Pretribulational Rapture
The doctrine of the pretribulational rapture is built on and derived from
certain hermeneutical and theological factors. Walvoord is the leading
present-day defender of this doctrine. The major headings that group his 50
arguments for the pretribulation rapture into categories, show that the
early 1800s were the first time a climate existed conducive to the
development of the doctrine.
First, since the pretribulational rapture is a subdoctrine within
premillennialism, and premillennialism alone, it requires a premillennial
environment in which to thrive. Before the 1800s there were only two major
eras of premillennialism: the early church (till about A.D. 400), and after
the Reformation (the 17th century). Therefore almost two-thirds of the
church's history has existed without a premillennial witness (1,200 years).
It was impossible for a doctrine (the pretribulation rapture) to spring up
in an environment lacking a necessary ingredient from which to build
(premillennialism). So the fact that premillennialism began gaining
popularity after the French Revolution is a major factor in its
development.
Second, when premillennialism returned to Christendom the dominant
hermeneutical approach to key eschatological books, like Daniel and
Revelation, was the historicism of the previous 600 years. As noted
earlier, Maitland established the futurist hermeneutic for the first time
since some of the church fathers. Futurism is the product of a more
literalinterpretation of key eschatological themes. It sees, for example,
the Antichrist as a future person, not as the pope of the Roman Church. The
1,260 and 2,300 days are seen as natural or literal days and therefore as
yet future. The tribulation period is also to be taken as a future, literal
time. Thus the literal hermeneutic of futurism was restored and further
developed, which the pretribulational teaching requires in order to
maintain certain distinctions such as that between Israel and the church.
The return of premillennialism and the literal, futurist hermeneutic
included widespread belief in the nearness of the return of the Lord
(imminency); the hopeless apostasy of the church; the great tribulation in
the near future; and the conversion of the Jews and their return to Israel
as a nation. Brethren historian Harold Rowdon noted that "a distinction was
drawn . . . between the 'epiphany' and the 'advent' or 'parousia' of
Christ.," This along with a gap between the two comings formed for the
first time a climate that resulted in the development of the doctrine of
the rapture before the tribulation.
Another reason the theological climate, combined with Bible study, is
likely the major factor in the development of the pretriblilational rapture
doctrine, is the fact that when it was taught,
many others, influenced by the same climate, embraced the teaching. It is
one thing to come up with an idea, but most ideas become accepted only when
the public is ready. It seems that many others were already thinking along
the same line as Darby, which accounts for the spread and acceptance by
many of the teaching of the pretribulational rapture.
Conclusion
F. F. Bruce's conclusion as to where Darby got the doctrine of the
pretribulational rapture seems to be correct. "It was in the air in the
1820s and 1830s among eager students of unfulfilled prophecy.... Direct
dependence by Darby on Margaret Macdonald is unlikely." Dave MacPherson has
failed to demonstrate that Macdonald's "prophecy" contains latent rapture
ideas, nor has he linked Darby to her influence with clear, historical
evidence. This is why the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture did not
begin with Margaret Macdonald. Perhaps Darby's training at Dublin accounts
for many of his views, especially his views on the nature of the church.
Walvoord concludes,
Any careful student of Darby soon discovers that he did not get his
eschatological views from men, but rather from his doctrine of the church
as the body of Christ, a concept no one claims was revealed supernaturally
to Irving or Macdonald. Darby's views undoubtedly were gradually formed,
but they were theologically and biblically based rather than derived from
Irving's pre-Pentecostal group.
***************
Prophe-Zine News Bite
THE COMING WORLD GOVERNMENT
By Jack Van Impe
Welcome to the U.N.'s 'Global Neighborhood'
The United Nations Commission on Global Governance has completed a
three-year study of how to implement world government by the year 2000. The
report comes in the form of a 410-page book titled "Our Global
Neighborhood," publishedby Oxford University Press.
"It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by
individual nation-states, however powerful," writes Maurice Strong, former
head of the U.N. Environment Program and secretary-general of the U.N.
Conference on Environment and Development. "It is a principle which will
yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global
environmental cooperation."
Make no mistake -- Strong and the U.N. have their sights set on the wealth
and freedom of the United States and other western powers. The idea is to
create a giant, global welfare state in which wealth and power are taken
from some by force and given to others.
"Although people are born into widely unequal economic and social
circumstances, great disparities in their conditions or life chances are an
affront to the human sense of justice," the report explains.
Environmental concerns will be the principal vehicle by which the U.N.
consolidates its power. Under the plan, the U.N. Trusteeship Council would
be restructured to give 23 individuals extraordinary international powers
over what the report calls the "global commons." What are the global
commons?
"The atmosphere, outer space, the oceans and the related environment and
life support systems that contribute to the support of human life,"
explains the report. In other words, virtually everything will be under
U.N. stewardship.
Is all this just some wild pipedream? Hardly. All existing international
environmental treaties -- about 300 of them in total -- are already
administered by the U.N. This new plan would simply place them under the
authority of the Trusteeship Council and give the U.N. wider enforcement
power.
Already the U.N., claiming an interest in the area under the 1972 World
Heritage Treaty, is pushing a plan to close off development of millions of
acres in the American West. Under the U.N.'s treaty provisions, the United
States government is now required to get approval for development near
World Heritage Sites. The Clinton administration is taking this very
seriously and complying with U.N. demands.
In fact, in April, President Clinton announced a plan to designate 5
million acres in 17 national parks as wilderness areas, a move that would
put those lands off limits even to tourists. Imagine national parks
off-limits to tourists? Wasn't tourism the justification for the parks
being nationalized in the first place?
All this is part of the United Nations bigger plan -- "Agenda 21," a
blueprint for global environmental dictatorship that calls for "re-wilding"
at least half of the continental U.S. The premise of this agenda is that
human society is a cancer on the planet and that radical surgery is
required to bring it under control.
Rep. Helen Chenoweth says the ideas being put forth by the U.N. are
inspired by a religious worldview -- "a cloudy mixture of earth worship,
pagan mysticism and folklore". That worldview was endorsed by Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt during an address late last year to the National
Religious Partnership for the Environment. He condemned traditional
Christianity and exalted pagan nature worship as the basis for a new social
"covenant."
"The U.N. is in the process of acquiring its own superlative status as the
primary law-making entity for the world," explains Henry Lamb, founder and
chairman of the Environmental Conservation Organization.
That's the message of a new book by William Knoke, founder and president
of the Harvard Capital Group, as well, who writes in "Bold New World": "In
the 21st century, we will each retain our 'indigenous' cultures, our unique
blend of tribal affiliations, some acquired by birth, others chosen freely.
Many of us will live in one place for most of our lives and take pride in
the local region. Yet our passion for the large nation-state, for which our
ancestors fought with their blood, will dwindle to the same emotional
consequences of county or province today. A new spirit of global
citizenship will evolve in its place, and with it the ascendancy of global
governnance."
Knoke explains that this will happen as regional blocs -- such as the North
American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union -- form over trade
issues, desire for common currency and environmental regulations.
"In each case, we are experimenting with new ways to link countries, to
yield sovereignty in exchange for something more than what is lost," Knoke
writes. "What happens in Europe will very much be the model for world
consolidation in the 21st century, not just economically, but politically
and socially as well."
Knoke urges the U.N. to be equipped with taxing powers, a standing army, a
world police force manned by "peacekeepers" who are "a combination of
social worker, policeman, riot police and Rambo-style SWAT commandos."
What's holding back this brave new world? It seems only a vacuum of
leadership -- that one charismatic official capable of uniting people
throughout a continent and throughout the world. The next few months may
well produce some new leadership on the world stage. Within a nine-month
period, Israelis, Russians, Americans and the United Nations all hold
elections. It is entirely possible that one or more of these elections
could be critical in the formation of the
coming world government.
In addition, in October, the State of the World Forum will reconvene in San
Francisco to plan how more and more power can be placed in the hands of
fewer and fewer people. As Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev explained at the $3.5
million 1995 conference: "From the outset, I would like to suggest that we
consider the establishment of a kind of global brain trust to focus on the
present and the future of our civilization."
Co-chairman Thabo Mbeki, executive deputy president of South Africa, went
even further: "There will be no day of days when a new world order will
come into being. Step by step and here and there, it will arrive, and even
as it comes into being, it will develop fresh perspectives, discover
unsuspected problems and go on to new adventures. We make bold to say that
some of those new adventures will consist in what we have sought to
describe -- the formation of a new system of governnance marked by a
dynamic interaction between an empowered citizenry, national government
that will have impacted upon by the erosion and diffusion of its powers and
the enhancement of global governnance. What it is that 'slouches toward
Bethlehem tobe born' remains to be seen."
Students of Bible prophecy know just what will be born of global government
-- a tyrannical world leader responsible for bringing the world little but
death and destruction.(Daniel 7:23, Revelation 13:7, 16-18, 7:12-13)
This article first appeared in the Van impe Intelligence Briefing July 96
issue.
Check out Dr. Van impe's www site at:
http://www.niagara.com/~jvim/
+++++++++++++
Like it or Not, Cash is Becoming Obsolete.......
By: Wayne Merritt
a1nonly@iinet.com
This was the name of an article I found in Compute, a San Diego Based
Computer Rag. The article went on to talk about "e-cash", the next step in
the global communications age. Let Me Quote some parts of the article for
you:
Quote 1
"The fourth kind of payment method, soon to hit the Internet, is electronic
cash. This consists of an encrypted digit, or serial number, issued by the
consumer's bank and STORED on the consumers cash card or hard drive".
My Comment: Stored on a cash card (too easy to lose) or on a hard drive
(only accessed at home or by a laptop). Next step after this works will be
in a persons right hand or forehead. That would "seal" the cash card to
prevent a stolen or lost card. If the storage is on you, you can't lose it.
If you are handicapped, without a right hand, you need a head to live, so
the forehead is the alternative. I personally feel that this will be
spiritual too. In other words, when this day finally comes, those deciding
to take this mark will know that they are giving everything to the beast,
the political, financial and religous system of the day. Those who reject
this, will know that its against God and they will be the ones I call the
Tribulation Saints! I am also fully convinced that the Mark will be after
the rapture (2Thes 2:6-10) When the restrainer is taken out of the way,
then the wicked will be revealed. Sometimes I really don't think we realize
how much restraining is going on today....but when the Holy SPirit and the
Church is taken out of the way.... standby inhabitents of the earth! (I am
glad Paul didnt write "Taken Away" but he wrote "Taken out of the way"
Holy Spirit is still present, and will get involved again when the 144,000
from the 12 tribes go evangilizing like never before seen. You know those
who say "dont push your religion on me".... well, they have something to
really look forward too)
Quote 2
"One of the benefits of e-cash is that it allows the person making the
payment to remain anonymous, but the person receiving the payment reveals
his identity when he "cashes" the e-cash at the bank that issued it."
My Comment: The bank that issued it!!! Think about that. There are
hundreds of banks, for now. Is this saying that one day banks will be
united into one big one? Well, that will happen, I beleive, and if we keep
tabs on that arena, we can easly see banks emerging today, left and right.
In fact, not only the banking industry, but Entertainment is also merging.
Thats real interesting, considering What Ted Turner and Time Warner are
really all about. The effect Television has on this nation, and worldwide
is astounding and more so than one can even imagine. The effect of Movies
is just as effective, but not in quanity. ID4: The Movie, united the
world against Aliens, Aliens commercials are out and the Roswell tapes are
now going to be a series on Fox (or NBC, cant recall). The Outer Limits,
Star Trek and Lost In Space are really nothing compared to the Roswell
Tapes. See, Roswell suppose to be a real alien autopsy. Yesterday it was
entertainment, today its real?!?! Tommorow it may be the excuse why
millions suddenly vanished from the Earth! Watch for more and more
movies, TV Shows on this spiritual, alien awakening.... But be carefull,
subliminal messaging is becoming common ground for this new age in which we
live. (Subliminal = subconscience messages sent to your brain though quick
pictures spliced into certain TV Commercials, Shows and possibly Movies)
Quote 3
"Netscapes new LIVEPAYMENT software will open the door for secure business
transactions over the Internet"
My Comment: Livepayment even sounds scary. Probably because today even
dead people are paying taxes. Anyway, we have to watch for the words used
to lull people into an easier way to do things. I firmly beleive that word
games kill and destroy peoples lives. The words that move the Abortion
movement and Euthenasia are deceiving, like Pro Choice and Right To Die!
The words used for homosexuality agendas, like tolerence and affirmative
action and my favorite "Equal Opportunity Employer"...... If I had a
company and put an ad in the paper it would end with "Homo's need not
apply". All joking aside, words kill and our ideas have consequences. I
have become more aware of wording from the elite media, and elite
politicians and the newspapers and so forth. As a Brother in Christ, I say
watch the words you use or hear and like a filter, strain out the real
agenda, and replace it with the correct meaning. Pray in this area, for
wisdom and discernment so when the physco bable, Politically COrrect words
come in your life, you can smile and say ThankYou Lord for your
WORD......It can go in, but let it go out the bottom instead of from the
tounge.
I went off in 20 directions from those quotes, but to sum it up, I find
it interesting that these quick, easy, safe ways are leading to the
ultimate wrath of God. Remember those ad's : Slices, Dices, Cuts, with the
super knife from Ginshe??? I used to laugh at those ads, but on the other
hand thought wow, that would be nice to have. So I sent away for it, only
to find that it was a good blade, with a cheap plastic handle, that would
break within 6 months. Such are the ways of the world. Jesus comes with
the ultimate sword, a handle that wont let you go, and our daily bread,
along with living water, which, if we taste, we will never send away (or
fall for) that plastic handle ginshee knife.
Without Knowledge, my people perish.
In His Name
Wayne Merritt
a1nonly@iinet.com
Hebrews 4:12
+++++++++++++++
Bio-Chip Update
Pet Microchips in CA
Submitted by: "Justin" <Gizmonic@cctrap.com
From the Ledger Dispatch, Vol. 126, No. 223, Saturday, August 10th, 1996.
(Serving Antioch, Pittsburg, and Brentwood, California)
Supe wants to require ID chips for Pets
By Ariel Ambruster (Staff Writer)(Front page 1A, bottom right corner.)
Contra Costa dog and cat owners can now implant microchip identification in
their animals' skin, but currently the system is relatively worthless.
County-run animal shelters don't have a computer scanner to read the chips.
Antioch's city-run shelter does.
Supervisor Gayle Bishop hopes to change all this for the county. She's
asking her colleagues Tuesday to require scanning at the shelters in
Martinez and Pinole.
And she plans to go further; she wants county leaders to consider
encouraging microchips by subsidizing chip costs for dogs. The board will
consider her proposal to study every possible option, including mandatory
microschipping of all the county's cats and dogs.
Microchips have been available for pets for several years, but there's been
a big problem for shelters: There are several different brands of animal
microchips, and no single scanner that can read every brand. However, such
a scanner is now being manufactured and is expected to be available soon.
The county's animal shelters, which serve all parts of Contra Costa except
Antioch, impound about 18,000 cats and dogs each year. Any chips now
carried in these animals would be missed.
Veterinarians have been circulating petitions, gathering as many as 800
signatures to ask for shelter microchip scanning.
But Rose Lernberg of the Contra Costa Humane Society said her group prefers
that pet owners use microchips only as a backup system, and continue
licensing their dogs and searching for a pet if they escape. The
microchips, she said, aren't entirely reliable yet.
There's a range of government microchipping programs. Novato requires
microchipping, while San Mateo, San Jose, and Gilroy require chips in
outdoor cats.
In other areas, such as Peninsula, the shelters implant chips in animals
when they are adopted.
Mike Ross, administrative services officer for the county Animal Control
Department, said he's afraid adding on charges for chips might boost the
cost of adopting animals to a point where people go elsewhere to get their
pets.
But San Ramon veterinarian Glen Weber said such a program could help keep
track of animals under the care of less vigilant owners.
+++++++++++++++
Subject: Nearing Midnight Update
Current events that are fast moving and supportive of Bible prophecy.
* Iraq and Iran are showing signs that they're having a thaw in their
relations. Tuesday they exchanged the remains of several hundred soldiers
killed during their 1980-88 war; they may be, with Turkey's help, ready to
cooperated over the Kurdish problem; and Iraq has publicly condemned the US
sanctions against Iran. During the Gog war, Iran will be one of the
invading nations that will attack Israel. In order for Iran to effectively
support the Gog war, it appears its army will need to pass through Iraq. In
order for this to take place, there needs to be a level of cooperation
between these two nations. After years of bitter conflict between Iran and
Iraq, we may be seeing the start of this collaboration.
* There is talk of an electronic Armageddon coming in the year 2000. When
software was written in the 70's and 80's, programs left off the first two
digits of the year to save space. Now, as the year 2000 draws closer, those
same programs that run just about every business operation, will suddenly
become confused when the year goes from 99 to00 - many computers will
either freeze up or go back to 1980 when 00 is entered. Most experts say
the problem should be fixed by the time of century change over.
*The Agriculture Department said Monday Aug 14th the 1996 corn harvest
will be a disappointing 8.69 billion bushels. Analysts had been hoping for
a crop of around 9 billion bushels, which is needed to keep pace with
demand and stabilize prices. This sharply smaller harvest will likely fuel
the biggest food price increases this decade. We are not just talking corn
flakes here folks - hundreds of products are derived from corn. By the time
the 1997 harvest begins, the Ag. Dept. is say, we could be down to 523
million bushels in storage. That's not driving on empty, that's drive on
vapors. I have had a number of people, who are aware of the poor grain
stocks, send me messages that described how shocked they are at how little
press coverage this problem is getting.
* With Yeltsin missing in action because of his poor health, the Russian
security chief Alexander Lebed seems to be the man with the momentum. Lebed
has personally gone to Chechnya and negotiated with rebel leaders there. He
claimed he had an agreement to end the 20-month war. Lebed has made some
statements that should be noted with concern. He called religious sects
operating in the country mold and scum, and he accused the Russian
Journalist of sounding too Jewish. If Boris should buy the collective farm
someday, right now, Lebed is in line to replace him.
* Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was "no
possibility" that Jerusalem will become the capital of a Palestinian state.
After lifting a four-year settlement freeze imposed by the Labor party,
Netanyahu said Jews have the right to live anywhere in what are biblical
Jewish lands. Clearly, Netanyahu has been living up to the far-right label
the western press has given him in all areas except one - the Temple Mount.
Netanyahu has yet to fulfill his promise he made to the religious Jews that
he would allow them to pray on the Temple Mount. I know he's upset a number
of his supporters by stalling on this pledge, but I see the Temple Mount
issue as not a matter that in Netanyahu hands - I see it as one that's in
God's hand. The very moment the Jews are allowed to pray on the Temple
Mount, the final end time clock will start going ticktock ticktock.
* Boris Yeltsin, who has been "resting" for over a month now, reported to
work Friday so he could attend his inaugural ceremony. Yeltsin was on stage
for about 14 minutes. After his swearing in, he went right back on sick
leave. With the war in Chechnya heating up again and the Russian economy
just about as ill as Yeltsin, it's very dangerous, politically, to have a
head of state so incapacitated.
* Israel said on Sunday it has discovered oil near the Dead Sea. For a
number of years drillers have been searching for oil in Israel. I recall
about 10 to 15 years ago, Christian investors formed an Israeli based oil
company purely in the hopes of cashing in on a blessing that was promised
to one of the sons of Jacob. The investors interpreted that blessing as
being oil. I'm pretty sure their venture went bust a long time ago and is
not related to the current activity.
* A flash flood in the Pyrenees mountains of northern Spain has killed 56
people and left a number of others still missing. The flood is Spain's
worst disaster in 13 years.
* Federal officials are to begin testing an electronic device that will
allow police to stop all vehicles fitted with a triggering mechanisms. The
device would work by means of radio signals. The purpose for this option is
to be able to end dangerous pursuits of motorists who refuse to pull over.
It would also make a wonderful stocking stuffer for that special dictator
you know who likes to tightly control his people.
* Jack Kevorkian wheeled the body of a 59-year-old Cincinnati woman into
Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital late Tuesday. This would make it his 34 death.
I have been noticing how every time he wheels in another one of his
victims, I mean patients, he gets less and less media attention. I foresee
the day when Jack will need to do two at once to arose public interest.
After that, it will be on live TV. Who knows, someday Kervorkian could be
taking to the road in some pay-to-see-someone-croak show. The Amazing
Kervorkian will take the stage, Jack asked for a volunteer - someone
suffering from an incurable decease, they roll the person on stage,
Kervorkian waves his magic carbon monoxide wand in the face of the
volunteer, Jack says the magic words, "You are getting very dead...very
dead...alacazam...abra-cadaver", then the person drifts into a coma and
dies, and the audience applauds. It may seem a far stretch to go from
helping very ill people kill themselves to some lewd public circus. If you
doubt this, you should remember what happened in Nazi Germany where they
went from helping the old folks pass on, to killing millions of health
undesirables.
+++++++++++++
Grant Jeffrey's Latest Bestseller - The Signature of God
"Grant Jeffrey has written an extraordinary new book, The Signature of God,
that provides astonishing proof that the Bible was inspired by God. Grant
is recognized as the leading researcher in Bible Prophecy today." Hal
Lindsey, Hal Lindsey Ministries
Is there some way to determine the truth about God and the Bible? This
book, The Signature of God, will examine incredible scientific discoveries
that prove that the Bible is authoritative and inspired by God. How would
God prove that the Bible was His legitimate revelation to mankind? How
would God differentiate the true inspired Scriptures from the many other
religious books produced by men over the centuries.
I believe that God would authenticate His own true revelation by writing
His signature on the pages of His Scriptures. This signature would consist
of evidence, knowledge and phenomenon in the text of the Bible that no
unaided human could possibly have written. In other words, the genuine
Scriptures should contain supernatural evidence within its text that no one
apart from a Divine Intelligence could create.
Topics Covered in The Signature of God
1. Fascinating ancient inscriptions and manuscripts that prove the
incredible historical accuracy of the Scriptures.
2. Little known archeological discoveries that provide overwhelming
confirmation of the biblical accounts, including the Tower of Babel, the
famine in Egypt,
3. An astonishing discovery of ancient rock inscriptions in the Sinai and
Yemen that record the events of the Red Sea Crossing and the Exodus
mentioning Moses, Miriam and Joseph.
4. The tremendously accurate scientific statements in the Bible that cannot
be explained apart from God's inspiration.
5. These Hebrew Codes reveal the names: Hitler, Eichmann, and Anwar Sadat.
6.Throughout the Old Testament God has placed the name of Jesus - Yeshua in
code, bebneath theespecially in passages that prophecy the coming Messiah.
7. The staggering phenomenon of hidden codes and mathematical patterns
found in the text of the Bible that could not have been produced by human
intelligence.
8. The incredible fulfillment of twenty prophecies in our generation that
authenticate God's authorship of the Scriptures.
9. Ezekiel prophesied the rebirth of Israel as a nation on May 15, 1948
10.Fascinating archeological discoveries that confirm the accuracy of the
Bible's statements about the falling walls of Jericho, the seal used by
Baruch, the scribe who wrote the Book of Jeremiah.
11. Scriptural "coincidences" that confirm the divine inspiration of the
Scriptures.
12. The phenomenon of the transformed character and lives of the writers of
the Bible.
13. The unprecedented influence of the Bible on the lives of individuals,
the culture, and history of the Western world.
14. Incredibly advanced medical laws and knowledge found in the Bible
confirm its supernatural origin.
The evidence presented in The Signature of God provides tremendous evidence
supporting the authority and inspiration of Scripture. Those who love the
Word of God or anyone who wonders if they can trust the Bible need to read
the thrilling information in this fascinating book.
You can oreder Grant's Book from his www site (I have a link from my site
to his at Prophe-Zine)or look for it in your local Christain Bookstore.
+++++++++++
GOALS 2000 AND OBE:
Clinton's National Workforce and Education Plan
by US Rep Henry Hyde
President Clinton's plan for a national workforce of skilled
laborers is being achieved through the Goals 2000 Educate America Act (HR
1804), School to Work Opportunities Act (HR 2884), and Improving America's
Schools Act (HR 6), all of which were passed and signed into law by
President Clinton in 1994.
I'll tell you why it is so important to repeal these laws.
The plan for Goals 2000 was developed by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Ira
Magaziner, and Marc Tucker, President of the National Center on Education
and the Economy (funded by the Carnegie Foundation), prior to Clinton's
election. It is a concept for dumbing-down our schools and changing the
character of the nation through behavior modification (a vital part of this
plan). It moves away from an academically intensive curriculum to one that
is integrated with vocational training, producing skilled manpower for the
labor market. The economy will be controlled by
the federal government by controlling our workforce and our schools. I'm
enclosing an 18-page letter to Hillary Clinton from Marc Tucker, which
includes the frame work for Goals 2000. He also writes about creating "a
seamless web of opportunities to develop one's skills that literally
extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone -- young
and old, poor and rich, worker and full-time student."
Our children are the guinea pigs who will become the human
resources needed for the global labor market. Working adults will be
included later. Two other bills, still pending, are
designed to advance the School-to-Work phase of Goals 2000. The Careers Act
(HR 1617) and the Workforce Development Act (S.143) will support a
nationwide workforce development system, state by state. Funding is
provided for "one stop career" employment agencies under the supervision of
the federal government. Please, let's not let these bills become law.
At an education summit in 1989, then Governor Bill Clinton
chaired a Governors meeting to establish national performance goals to make
America internationally competitive. The governors adopted six of the
National Education Goals, which are now included in the eight goals in
Goals 2000. The other two came from goals adopted at a World Conference
sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank in March, 1990.
S. 143 "requires funds implementing tech-group programs and
career counseling at the earliest possible age." After passing performance
outcome assessments determined by the
National Skills Standards Board (which replaces school diplomas), students
at age 16 (10th grade) will be placed in either vocational training classes
or apprenticeships. (In some magnet schools, they are placing children in
"career" classes at ages 13 and 14.) If students are not prepared to enter
vocational classes by age 16, they are to be placed in "youth centers" for
further development towards that goal.
After two years of "high school" vocational training, and one
year of community college tech/training, supported by public funding,
students will receive a technical degree (Certificate of Advanced Mastery:
CAM) and will be permitted to apply for a job at the US Job Service Centers
with an Occupational Skills Certificate (OSC).
Employers who have "contributed" an amount equaling 1-2% of
their payroll to the training of the workers will be permitted to hire them
through the US Job Service Centers. In an article Hillary Clinton had
published in the March, 1992 issue of Educational Leadership entitled "Will
America Choose High Skills or Low Wages" she wrote, "The movement to high
performance work organizations is more widespread in other nations, and
training of frontline workers is commonplace." She recommended that "public
technical assistance be provided to companies, particularly small
businesses, to assist them in moving to higher performance work
organizations."
Behavior modification is a significant part of restructuring
our schools. School children will be trained to be "politically correct,"
to be unbiased, to understand diversity, to accept alternative family
lifestyles, to contribute to the community through mandatory community
service, to respect and protect the environment, to become a collaborative
contributor and a quality producer. In Marc Tucker's letter to Mrs. Clinton
laying out the plan for Goals 2000 he states, "Radical changes in
attitudes, values and beliefs are required to move any combination of these
agendas."
Dumbing-down education is a prime component in creating a
willing workforce. Higher education is not conducive to accepting skilled
labor training for a career that fits into the federal government's planned
labor force. Goals 2000 abandons the American competitive tracking system.
It is replaced by new national achievement standards which assess students'
behavior and attitude. Students are not allowed to excel independently.
They must achieve higher levels as groups/units. The brighter students will
tutor slower students until the entire unit can move to a higher level. In
order not to harm any student's self esteem, no one fails and no one
excels. Report cards are out. Everyone receives "Satisfactory" when their
assignments are completed (at their own pace). Brighter students tutor the
slower ones. The new performance-based "assessment" standards are reflected
in the Oregon "Certificate of Initial Mastery" (CIM), enclosed in this
packet.
A computer tracking system will track teachers' training and
performance, school performance and students from pre-kindergarten through
technical training and into the workforce. All information will be made
available to interested government officials and prospective employers.
Pre-school, health clinics, daily meals, and parental
assistance (they have the gall to instruct parents on how to rear their
children, including how students' free time should be spent), are in this
all-inclusive "cradle to grave" plan to control our children's minds and
careers.
According to Clinton's new Budget For Fiscal Year 1997, 48
states participated in the first year of Goals 2000 funding. Any school
district accepting Goals 2000 funding is mandated to accept the curriculum
dictated by the National Board. When governors or state legislatures do not
agree with the school- to-workforce plan, they can be circumvented because
Goals 2000 allows individual contracts between state or local school boards
and the US Department of Education.
This concept has been around since at least the 1960s and
perhaps as far back as the 1930s. It has been tried in many schools over
the last 20-30 years, to the detriment of our children. In the '70s, it was
called "Mastery Learning" under the supervision of Professor Benjamin Bloom
and now is known as "Outcome-Based Education" (OBE). State school
superintendents have learned to call OBE by other names because of its bad
reputation which precedes it, but the concepts are all the same.
I ask you to please investigate Goals 2000 yourself. I think
you will come to the same conclusion. Goals 2000 must be rejected, and the
sooner the better -- for our children's sake.
_________________________
Editor's Remarks: Want to help defeat OBE and Goals 2000 in Washington
State? Conservative Consensus has endorsed Dr. Ron Taber for
Superintendent of Public Instruction, a statewide office. The endorsement
appears on our Website:
http://www.eskimo.com/~ccnrs/news.html
Dr. Taber's campaign has a multitude of anti-OBE/Goals 2000 materials, but
no one to help put them up on his website. If you can help Dr. Taber with
his Website (or with other aspects of his campaign), please contact him at:
taberhq@tcm.nbs.net
http://tcm.nbs.net/~taberhq/
========================
C O N S E R V A T I V E C O N S E N S U S (tm)
*****************************************************************
Events * Analysis * Forecasts * Commentary * Readers' Opinions
*****************************************************************
E D U C A T I O N ::: World, National, Regional
Distribution: World
Editor's Desk
COPYRIGHT 1996 by Conservative Consensus, ISSN 1074-245X. Excerpted from
our Journal; email subscription below.
QUOTATION and redistribution are encouraged, for private, non-commercial
use, provided nothing is changed and our headers and trailers remain
intact. V2XC50
SIGN UP FOR FREE RELEASES. This is a low-volume list; you will receive 8-12
releases monthly and no mail from other subscribers.Email ccnrs@eskimo.com
with SUBSCRIBE CC as the subject.
BRAND NEW! Visit our all-text Website for back issues and frequent updates.
It's free, fast, and accessible with any browser -- plus you are free to
download or repost our material onto other services.
http://www.eskimo.com/~ccnrs/news.html
GET THE FULL STORY: Each month our Journal covers over 100 news events --
with analysis and commentary -- that have been spiked, suppressed, or
ignored by the government-sourced mainline media! Email ccnrs@eskimo.com
with GET CATALOG as the subject. We cover:
***
The US Constitution * US & World Security * Political Corruption Individual
Liberty * World Financial Markets * Religious Freedom
***
__________________________________________________________________
Conservative Consensus * ccnrs@eskimo.com * jinks@u.washington.edu
http://www.eskimo.com/~ccnrs/news.html
__________________________________________________________________
++++++++++++++
American & Global Food Crisis
June 1996 McAlvany Intelligence Advisor
"America's emergency food stocks are all gone, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. This is the first year since World War II in
which there are no emergency food stocks." - James Lloyd, Christian Media.
"Food is power. We use if to change behavior. Some may call that bribery.
We do not apologize." - Catherine Bertini, executive director of the U.N.
World Food Program.
1996 is turning out to be the greatest year of physical disasters since the
1930s, taking a severe toll on U.S. food production. Many grain producing
states are seeing crop reduction down 50% to 80% below normal. Corn prices
have just soared to the highest levels in U.S. history, with U.S. corn
supplies expected to be exhausted by September when, for the first time in
U.S. history, America may have to start importing corn.
Cattlemen are finding it very difficult to find or afford corn or grain to
feed their livestock, and so are beginning to kill off their herds.
Ranchers are being hit with the double whammy of the highest feed prices
and the lowest beef prices in decades. Recently Tyson Foods cut its chicken
production by 7% in order to help ration scarce grain supplies. Why?!
1) SEVERE AND ABNORMAL WEATHER CONDITIONS - floods, snow, winds, ice, heavy
rains in some sections of the country, severe drought in the central,
southwest and western United States.
2) A NEW WAVE OF CROP DISEASES - A crop-damaging wheat fungus found in
Mexico, India, and other countries has shown up in American wheat this
year. Kamal bunt (or partial bunt) is a fungal disease of wheat, durum
wheat and titicale (a hybrid of wheat and rye) which is caused by a smut
fungus and spread by spores.
Durum wheat has heretofore been thought to be resistant to these fungi.
Kamal bunt had not been seen in the U.S., but in March it appeared in
Arizona, then New Mexico, then Texas, then California. Diseased wheat has
also been shipped to Montana. The infestation of this wheat fungus probably
came from Mexico via rail or truck traffic. There is no known treatment for
the fungus. The spores which are spread by the wind, can remain active in
the soil for four to five years. Tens of thousands of acres of contaminated
wheat have been destroyed in the four contaminated states and if the
disease continues to spread, hundreds of thousands (or millions of acres)
could eventually have to be destroyed. Other plant diseases that are
spreading are:
1) Wheat Scab - showing up in wheat in Indiana and Ohio.
2) Grayleaf Spot - a disease infecting corn crops in Missouri,
Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.
3) Potato Fungus the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine
150 years ago has turned and is ravaging American potatoes. Fungicides
become ineffective as the fungus mutates and becomes immune.
Many of the diseases now beginning to affect U.S. crops are because of the
modern scientifically-bred crop varieties. These hybrids have increased
yields but, because they are striking in their genetic uniformity if one of
those plants becomes vulnerable to a new strain of disease, they all are.
3) U.S. EXPORTATION OF OUR FOOD RESERVES TO COMMUNIST AND THIRD WORLD
COUNTRIES - Our food reserves have been almost completely sold at heavily
discounted prices, on credit to Russia, Red China, and various Third World
countries. 400 thousand tons of U.S. grain are going to Red China at a time
when U.S. grain surpluses are approaching zero and with growing corn
shortages, the U.S. is still exporting 50 million bushels of corn per week.
4) DECADES OF SOCIALIZED CONTROL OF U.S. AGRICULTURE BY THE GOVERNMENT --
The government has paid farmers not to plant and has saddled American
agriculture with thousands of laws, rules and regulations which have been
gradually strangling American farmers and ranchers.
Corn reserves in America are now down to 14 days -- the lowest in history.
Wheat reserves are at 50 year lows and oat supplies in Canada and Mexico
have also dropped to the lowest levels in recorded history. (The USDA is
currently taking the U.S. Food Security Wheat Reserve and using it to meet
the country's food aid commitments to Russia, Red China, and other
Communist
and Third World countries - thus dissipating what remains of America's
already highly depleted food supplies at prices far lower than U.S.
consumers can buy that grain.)
Much of the U.S. grain sold or given to Russia in recent years has either
been used to fatten Russian cattle herds or has been stockpiled by the Red
Army for some future crisis. It is possible that Russia has larger grain
surpluses today than America.
It is unthinkable for most Americans that food shortages or widespread
hunger could ever occur in America. Like so many other of the blessings we
take for granted, we assume that we will always have abundant, never-ending
supplies of food.
Twenty to thirty years ago, America had several years of food surpluses or
reserves set aside for times of emergency, famine, drought, or war, much as
our strategic metals stockpile used to be set aside for times of national
emergency. Over the past decade or so these food surpluses have been sold
off or given as aid to other countries. Today, our food reserves in America
are down to 40-45 days.
*************
Publication Cycle Notice: Prophe-Zine will be published (up loaded), on the
1st and the15th of each month. (bi-weelkly)
Prophe-Zine is freely distributed to the major on-line services, BBSs, and
to the Internet. You can also get back issues at Prophe-Zine's web site.
Address: http://www.best.com/~ray673/pzhome.html
The Editor of Prophe-Zine can be reached by sending e-mail to:
ray673@best.com. Please write the Editor if you are interested in receiving
guidelines for submission to Prophe-Zine
Statement of Faith
THE PURPOSE of Prophe-Zine is to carry out the command of the Lord Christ
Jesus, recorded in Matthew 28:19:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations"
Prophe-Zine is a Christian publication grounded in the deity of Christ and
the inerrancy of Scripture. The major intent of the editors is first, the
giving out the message of the Gospel, "For what I received I passed on to
you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures," 1 Cor. 15:3-4.
The Editor of Prophe-Zine holds to a strictly literal and inerrant Bible
interpretation, salvation through Christ alone, a soon pre-tribulation
Rapture of all believers and the establishment of a thousand-year kingdom
on earth. The evangelism of the unbelievers and the exhortation of the
believers take precedence over all other activities of this ministry.
Prophe-Zine may not agree with some of the authors and their beliefs, but
Prophe-Zine believes that we must endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit
(In other words agree to disagree), so Prophe-Zine feels that it must give
equal time to other biblically based doctrines in all fairness.
Eph 4:3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The Legal Stuff About Prophe-Zine
Prophe-Zine
Copyright (c) 1996 Raymond B Gano
All rights reserved.
Please ask for permission before reproducing or reprinting specific
articles and/or graphics, since some of the individual works appearing in
Prophe-Zine are copyrighted works belonging to their respective authors or
artists and are used here with their permission.
Prophe-Zine may be freely distributed under the following conditions: It
may not be included in a software package without prior consent from the
author. It may not be distributed or reproduced for commercial purposes.
Prophe-Zine's editor uses a Quadra 840 AV Macintosh computer. Programs
include: MacWrite, Color-It, JPEGview, OnLine Bible KJV 2.1.
The Editor is currently looking for submissions, artists, writers,
fiction, reviews, columnists and other help for Prophe-Zine articles. If
interested, please write the Editor to receive a guideline for submissions.
Feedback and suggestions from the Prophe-Zine readers are ALWAYS WELCOME!
Don't just tell me that you actually liked reading Prophe-Zine, tell me
what YOU would like to see in future issues!
