144,000

 144,000

By Richard P. Joseph

I have been listening to Pastor David Curtis going through the book of Romans and enjoy his cunning insight.  Paul uses several chapters to describe what true Israel really is.  It appears that true Israel are all those who are in Christ regardless of whether they are Jew or Gentile.  Paul makes it clear that not all Israel is Israel.  The true Jewish Israelites are those that have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is only a remnant, not the entire Jewish nation.  

The nation of Israel as a whole rejected the messiah.  In Matthew 23 Jesus pairs the current Jewish leadership with all the past leaders who murdered the messengers of God.  

Mat 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  

Jesus told them plainly that their house would be left to them desolate.  As AD70 approached, every word of Christ came true.  The Jews continued murdering the apostles and followers of Chrst and then they brought on their own demise by taking on the Roman army.  But what about the faithful Jews.  

John tells us in the book of Revelation that the remnant was indeed saved.  

Rev 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, [a]a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, [b]having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

I believe that this 144,000 is the assurance of what Paul was telling us about “all Israel shall be saved”.  This number is obviously 12,000 X 12.  Twelve is the number of Jewish tribes and to multiply it gives it a fulfilled number of sorts.  This is reminiscent of when Jesus told the apostles to forgive 70 X 7 times.  It is not a real number but a meaningful number.  In other words there is no limit to forgiveness.   I believe John here is telling us that the faithful remnant of Israel is saved (in a continuing effect).  They are singing a new song that the unfaithful cannot learn.  They have received the promise that God gave to Israel that the others will not receive.  They are the first fruits of Israel in the new kingdom.  There is no real pure national ethnic Israel today.  The church is the real Israel.

Felix gets scared

Felix gets scared!

By Richard P. Joseph

    In Acts 24 we find Paul on trial in Caesarea.  The Jews, especially the judaizers, were committed to killing Paul because they felt that he had forsaken the Mosaic covenant in his teachings.   Some Jews allowed the belief in Jesus but only as a sect of Judaism as they were never able to understand that Judaism was really only a precursor to a coming Messiah.  Since the Jews were the murderers of many of the prophets and then finally the Messiah himself, they were to be judged and found wanting.  Physical Israel was to give way to spiritual Israel.  It was made quite clear in the gospels, in the epistles and in Revelation that physical Israel had run its course and would soon become defunct as a religious system.  Jesus Christ had become the fulfillment of the  law.  Now Paul was on trial for that very hope, the hope of, not only a resurrection of souls but of a resurrected Israel to be realized in both Jew and gentile alike.  

    During Paul’s trial that Felix was overseeing, he made it clear that he spoke only of the things that were written in the Old Testament.  He then said:

Acts:2415 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection [e]of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.  NKJV

Young’s literal translation actually makes it clear that this coming resurrection was imminent, not just something in the future.  

Paul kept reminding them that he was an orthidox Jew and that that orthodoxy demanded a resurrection and Paul made it quite clear (as well as the other apostles) that this rising from the dead was imminent.  

    This soon coming (greek word mello) resurrection caught Felix’s attention but his love for money was stronger.  He kept a hope up that Paul would bribe him with some money for his release which, of course, Paul never offered.  But it came around that Felix’s Jewish wife became interested in this Paul and Felix, perhaps,  thought that she might have a fresh perspective on this so called new doctrine (which of course wasn’t since the prophets have been predicting it for centuries) so he called Paul in for a private session with just him and his Jewish wife Drussila.  Drussila was descended from the Herodian dynasty.  Paul began to share the gospel with them and when he finally got to the resurrection Felix began to become afraid.

Acts 24:25 and he reasoning concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment that is about to be, Felix, having become afraid, answered, `For the present be going, and having got time, I will call for thee;'  Young's literal translation.

My question therefore is this; “why would Felix be concerned with something that won’t happen for maybe thousands of years” (according to the common futurist doctrine of eschatology)?   Answer; Because Felix never interpreted it that way, only modern day seminarians do because they use poor hermeneutics.  That might sound harsh but I think Felix had it right.  Felix was the original recipient of Paul’s sermon and he correctly understood that this resurrection was “about to occur” very soon.  Since paul was preaching about self control and righteousness, this definitely caught Felix’s attention because he was a wholly corrupt man.  When Paul mentioned an approaching judgement, Felix became frightened and promptly dismissed Paul back to his jail cell.  

    The point I am attempting to make is that the preterist position is thoroughly ensconced in new testament writings.  The context always indicates an imminent judgement and resurrection.  It never ever considers a long and protracted timeline for the events of the parousia.  Not one apostle ever embraced such a doctrine.  Stick with what was written and with the historical events that prove it and you can’t go wrong.

Original Intent

Original Intent

                                                               By Richard P. Joseph

    Just about anything that David Barton writes is worth reading.  Barton has a passion for explaining the Christian origins of the United States government. These origins have a blatant biblical foundation which has been blotted out and perverted by modern day liberal judges and educators.  Their hatred for all that is holy and good has caused them to disregard the original intent of our founding only to replace it with an imaginary and twisted distortion of American history.  In Barton’s book Original Intent,  he produces the historical documentation to prove his point concerning the writing of our constitution and amendments showing that our modern courts, in many instances, have altered the meaning to such a degree that it is unrecognizable and completely detached from its actual meaning.  

Many of our founders expressed their concern when people attempted to use “modern thought” to interpret ancient documents.  Noah Webster expressed this when he said “..not only misinterpretation but even serious error can result when original meanings are ignored.”  Joseph Story added: “The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all instruments is to construe them according to the sense of the terms and intentions of the parties”.  Preterists call this “audience relevance”.  

An example of blatant misinterpretation by way of the disregard for audience relevance would be the misapplication of our first amendment.  

In a nutshell, the amendment is written only to congress, not to individuals.  To apply this to individuals is a gross misapplication of the law.  This amendment is not intended for any individual, its only purpose is to limit congress from enacting any law that would restrict religion, free speech etc.  It has nothing to do with telling someone they can’t have a bible in a school or the ten commandments in a courtroom etc.  But because they have ignored the original intent and have a complete disregard for audience relevance, they got away with brainwashing 90% of American citizens that they can’t express their inalienable right to worship when and how they wish.  What is funny about this whole thing is that David Barton is a futurist!

    If David Barton applied this same logic to his bible studies, he would quickly turn into a preterist.  Preterism is really nothing more than a proper interpretation of the bible via audience relevance.  In other words, what did that passage mean to those that first heard it.  Nearly all new Christains today pick up the bible and think that it was written just last week and commence to interpret it that way.  The scamsters feed on this ignorance and prey on the ignorance of the new believers.  What is worse is that seminaries actually teach in this same manner.  People that should know better dig their feet in and will not relent because of either money or pride; both of which will destroy you.  For example if I ask nearly any pastor “who was the book of Timothy written to?”, he would smile and say “to me, of course”.  I hate to be the one to tell him that this book was written to a young man named Timothy who lived 2,000 years ago and must be interpreted in light of that.  What would Timothy think about the letter that was sent to “him” not me.  That is how we can benefit from Timothy’s letter, by extracting the original meaning from it.  It is ironic that someone like David Barton has not done such a thing so I now encourage him to do so (like he is going to be reading this!!!).   So let’s all glean the precious meaning from past historical documents, which includes the bible, in the most accurate way possible by applying the concept of audience relevance to our study.  

Ps, I heartily recommend Barton’s book. 

Mark of the Beast!

Mark of the Beast!

By Richard P. Joseph

Rev 13:16-17 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has [g]the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name

.

    So who or what was the beast?  There are too many theories for me to answer that but here is all you need to know for now:

    He or it was blasphemous

    He or it received worship from the heathen.

    He or it made war against the saints.

    There is more than one beast.

    He or it is deceivious.

    He or it forces all to receive a mark on their forehead or their hand.

The last item is of interest because it cripples one's ability to even survive.  The word Anti-Christ as John might put it is not an accident. Perhaps what John is telling us here is something that the Jews were well aware of.

    The Jews were well aware of Exodus 13:16 which reads:

It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

    Almost word for word of what the beast requires of his subjects!

    When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He then required the firstborn of animals and men.  The animals were to be sacrificed but the firstborn males were to be redeemed. The idea that YHWH freed the Isrealites out of bondage was to be an everlasting memorial for the Jews and it would be a sign on their foreheads and their hand.  The Pharisees even wore what are called phylacteries on their heads as a reminder of this. This again is the idea that the Isrealites were sealed as God’s chosen people. The Beast in Revelation seems to have had the same idea; that he would copy God and seal his people, not for good, but for destruction.   

For modern Americans to somehow be sitting around and waiting for the Anti-Christ to come and stamp 666 on our foreheads and hand shows a complete ignorance of scripture.   I am old enough to remember when barcodes came out. Those that are confused about scripture had a hayday promoting the barcodes as the mark of the beast. This, of course, would be just another in a continuing line of end times blunders that are not going to stop anytime soon.  Every new presidential election, every blood moon, every war, and every political stunt brings on a new round of endtime prophecies which of course pads the pocketbooks of the scammers. Since Revelation was written to a first century audience , then would it not make more sense to interpret it from their vantage point instead of ours 2,000 years later in a completely different setting and culture?  The Beast in Revelation was an event to take place at a time preceding the parousia which obviously transpired by AD70. This was the time that Jesus warned the pharisees about when their house would be left to them desolate. The Beast was about to mark his people which would separate them from the 

Christians who were sealed by the blood of the lamb.  

    While attempting to understand the New Testament one must refer to the Old Testament.  To read a passage of scripture and then just make something up according to your modern, out of context, thinking will lead you to the wrong interpretation every time.  The mark of the beast is not a barcode or 666 or any other such thing but was something that occurred in the first century and was connected with the final events of AD70.  This is something that would have been readily understood by any faithful Jewish Christian of the day. Once taken out of context it becomes a pandora's box full of anything you can imagine because it is all make believe at that point.  God sealed his people for safety but Satan seals for destruction.

Rev14:9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation.

Zionism and apostasy

Zionism and apostasy

By Richard P. Joseph

    I drive a lot so every now and again I attempt to find a good sermon on the radio to make up for me quitting church but I not only hear the same old tired futurist messages, this time it was full blown.  I happened upon a Zionist who was explaining how they believe they know where the ark and other temple treasures are buried and that once the officials agree to expose this then the “temple” is the only appropriate place for them to be properly displayed; hence a third temple must be built which would of course usher in the second coming scenario replete with the anti-christ etc etc etc.  He made it clear that they are working hard to force this to happen. They can do all of this because their theology is make belief and therefore they can make it up as they go using pieces of scripture to fool the masses. But who will explain this stuff once it runs its course?

    After the resurrection of Jesus, two disciples were traveling to Emmaus discussing the current events of the life of Jesus and his mysterious resurrection from the dead.  Jesus met them and opened the scriptures up to them explaining that the entire message of his ministry is hidden in there. He probably showed them how the seven Jewish holidays embodied the entire suffering, death, resurrection, indwelling of the Holy Spirit and second coming events but that they were such that could not be faked.  There was no way for any human to fake the events that transpired from the birth of Christ until he returned at the AD 70 events. But now we have a bunch of Zionists who are going to do exactly that: fake the second coming of Christ!

    The Zionists believe that they are going to do what God is incapable of doing.  I believe they are sick and tired of waiting for an event that is never going to come because it already had its complete fulfilment 2,000 years ago.  This coming snow job will be one of the largest hoaxes known to mankind even surpassing evolution, global warming, the HIV/AIDS hoax and COVID. The events that the Zionists are pushing for will spawn unnecessary wars and mass chaos.  Most of all it will spin the churches into a great confusion as they fall prey to this false theology. It may even cause them to accept a false earthly Christ. The devastation would be world wide and the confusion would be pushed to hysteria.  So, where will we be in all of this?

My hope is that the conservative branch of the Preterist movement would stand fast as perhaps the only beacon of stability during this time of confusion and eventual apostasy.  I can’t think of another group that is better positioned and able to weather this coming storm. We must pray that God will have his hand on us as we encounter the frantic mess that would be caused by their efforts to force the hand of God with false doctrine.  We might seem insignificant now but our time is coming when we can finally present the unadulterated scripture to the world. It is sad that it might take WWIII to accomplish this but that is where we are heading as the Zionists are influencing world leaders with their faulty theology.

This could all be avoided with sound fulfilled theology. Most people do not understand that the Jewish religion today has absolutely nothing to do with scriptural Judaism which perished in AD 70. What we have today is Rabbinical Judaism. When the Romans leveled the temple in AD70, some Jewish priests asked the Roman general Titus for permission to start a Jewish school. That was the beginning of Rabbinical Judaism as there was no more temple, no more sacrifices, no more genealogical records to prove Levitical priesthood etc. The Judaism of today is a made up religion just like Islam. The New Jerusalem is the church. Zionist eschatology is false and dangerous and needs to be exposed for what it is.

As a postscript I would like to say that I would be ecstatic if they found the temple implements.  I think it would be wonderful to see these items and use them as a wonderful testimony to our faith and the hope of the world.  This would be the greatest archaeological discovery of all time. I just don’t want to lie about these items and use them for destruction or monetary gain.  Our hope is in the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ, not in a false narrative about the end of the world!