An Open Door

 An Open Door

By Richard P. Joseph

6/17/2025

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

As I talk to people about the bible the same subject comes up over and over again, modern Israel.  The Zionist doctrine has so permeated the Christian community that it is the major underpinning of nearly all sermons concerning eschatology.  In fact they use the Zionist thought as a basis of understanding the bible.   Also, most pastors separate themes in categories such as history, miracles, eschatology etc etc.  I don’t.  I can safely say that eschatology is the major theme of the New Testament and you must understand history and miracles etc in that light.  The blatant overarching theme in the New Testament is that Judaism had run its course, it failed to atone for their sins, therefore God offered his sacrifice on the altar which paid the price for all sin, thus the law became obsolete and the vineyard that God planted has been handed over to a nation (the church) that will produce fruit worthy of it.  The problem that most modern day Christians have is that they simply cannot leave that old vineyard.

For some odd reason they cannot comprehend that Judaism has passed and that modern day Israel is no longer the owners of the vineyard.  However, anyone who has read the New Testament can plainly see that from beginning to end this theme takes prominence.  Let’s look at John 1:11-12:

  11 He came to His [c]own, and His [d]own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the [e]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Re-read that about 10 times until you get it.  He came to the Jews who did not know him.  That is because they were not his.  Those that did know him were of God, they were those who “believed”, not those that were simply “born” a Jew.  The unbelievers were those of the “flesh” (Abraham’s physical offspring).  But those of the “spirit” (God’s children by belief) knew Jesus and followed him.  That is why, right off the bat, John the Baptist warned the Jews about the wrath to come (in their generation).  

Luke 3:8

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Again the subject of the seed of Abraham comes up, right from the start and continues throughout the New Testament.  The entire book of Revelation is about this transfer of ownership until it concludes that there is a New Heaven and Earth, that is a new covenant, not of the flesh but of the spirit.  Jesus became the fulfillment of the old covenant and is the king of the New Covenant.  Please read the entire chapter 10 of John real slow.  The point I am trying to make is spelled out in no uncertain terms in that chapter.  

John 10:1-5

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Look especially at verse 6.  They still don’t understand it even today.  They are still mulling over what Jesus and all of the apostles shouted from the rooftops.  After AD 70 the Jews had no claim to be the chosen people; that has been transferred to the Christians.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  Jesus clearly called the Jewish leadership “hirelings” and the true believers can’t even hear their voice.  Jesus is the true “door” to heaven.  All who came before him are thieves and liars.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, nobody comes to the father but through him.  Not through the law or through Israel but through Jesus.  Only.  That’s it.  Done.  It is finished.  Period.  

As you study the bible, stop and contemplate the meaning of what is being said and how those people at that time and in that culture would interpret it.  We simply cannot interpret it using modern thinking.  It must be interpreted in context.  Keep studying and keep praying and keep following the Good Shepherd. 

What about the Pygmies?

 What about the Pygmies?

By Richard P. Joseph

6/8/2025

Just search the internet or engage in social media and there is a prophet on every corner (or page).  Ever since I was a kid I listened to preachers documenting the “End Times” in fake time.  Menachem Begin, Ronald Reagan, Anwar Satat and just about every other world leader was named as the antiChrist and every war in Europe, or the Middle East was a sure harbinger of the second advent of Christ. 

And most of this comes from the Western Christianized countries.  Everything is interpreted from our point of view.  Whether it is famines, earthquakes, wars, treaties, military movements, presidents or kings, they are all interpreted from the Western point of view.  But what about the Pygmies?

There are a few different tribes of Pygmies in Africa and Asia but I never hear their interpretation of scripture.  Is their view less valid than ours?  Why is our perspective more important than theirs?  Or, I remember when I got my first Air Force assignment and was sent to Anchorage, Alaska.  The first night we got there we were sleeping and got rocked out of bed by an earthquake.  This was something new to a guy from Michigan.  I suppose I could have ran out in the streets and cried “the Lord is coming”.  That would have been just as valid as the preacher proclaiming it from the pulpit.  In fact there was a volcano during our stay in Alaska.  The eruption spewed tons of ash into the atmosphere blocking the sun for days.  This also could have been interpreted as a sign of the second coming.  Why not?  Which perspective is correct, or are all of them correct?  That is why my article called “Who, what, when, where, why” is probably my most useful article.  It is an article that explains the basics of biblical hermeneutics.  

Hermeneutics is very important.  Back in 1983 I got on one knee and proposed to my girlfriend.  She must have been crazy cuz she said yes.  Then we did nothing for several thousand years and other people found out that we were engaged and they started predicting that someday we would be married to other people on the other side of the earth!  That might sound a little ludicrous but that is exactly what our pastors have been preaching.  The truth was, we got married a few months later and lived happily ever after (except when I get her mad).  We proceeded to have six kids and now have multiple grandchildren.  When I proposed it was me proposing to her (who), in 1983 (when), in Temperance, Michigan (where), on my knee (how), because I loved her (why), to be married (what).  I never proposed to anyone thousands of years later but in a thousand years my offspring will be a testimony of what happened way back in 1983.  My most fervent prayer is that the Holy Spirit move through all of my future generations to bring them into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ.  They won’t have to keep waiting for me to marry their great great great great grandmother.  That marriage was consummated and fulfilled.   They are the very proof of that.  Our earthly mission was complete and they are part of it.  My vows of marriage were complete and it has produced fruit that many generations will enjoy.  

When Jesus and the apostles spoke of the Parousia (the visitation  of Christ) it was always in imminent language.  It always had time stamps to it.  The only valid point of view is that of those living at that time.  When they began observing those wars, earthquakes, and other social convulsions they would have been correct to interpret them as End Times events.  Those events are not ambiguous or amorphous.  They were well defined and history bears out those events in real time.  All was completed by AD 70 and we are the offspring.  We are the testimony.  We are the proof.  Jesus did not leave us orphans.  Jesus did not leave us confused.  He said what he said and did what he said.  

In other words, how did modern Western society become the spokesperson for ancient Hebrew scripture?  How come the West is more important than the Pygmies, or the Chinese, or the Eskimos or the apostles?  The only correct interpretation is from those apostles that were there at that time.  All others are frauds.