The Last Days

The Last Days

By Richard P. Joseph

We are often bombarded by end times prophecy experts that we are in the
“Last Days”.  I have been hearing this my entire life.  So I thought I would
attempt to nail down exactly when the “Last Days” really are.  As I am able to
figure out, we have two choices to choose from; the scripture or the modern
prophecy experts.  I have also figured out that these two are indeed mutually
exclusive as either one is correct and the other wrong or they are both wrong
but they cannot both be correct.

All modern prophecy experts that hold to a future last days event have created
this scenario by using modern thought patterns only.   Since there is no such
evidence in scripture that indicates a protracted wait period before the final
days, this leaves only one method of creating a future event and that is by
invention only.  I therefore will not waste any time trying to figure it out since
there isn’t anything in scripture that supports that view.  There, that was easy.  

Now let’s see what scripture says about the last days.

Let us start with the day of pentecost in the year AD 30. Most of us are familiar
with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in the upper room.
They then took to the streets and were prophesying in various languages.  
Then Peter stood up and declared;

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,...
If Peter declared that Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled in AD 30, how is
it fulfilled 2000 plus years later?  Now how about what Paul has to
say about it in Hebrews;

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in
many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to
us in His Son,...
Paul is assigning the last days as the time he was then living in.  

Again, if Paul was living in the last days, what are we living in?

If that is not enough, what about what John wrote in Revelation;

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to
His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He
sent and [a]communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus
Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those
who hear the words of the prophecy, and [b]heed the things which
are written in it; for the time is near.

If the message of the apocalypse was to take place “soon” and
“near” then when is that to us today?

In fact if John was addressing his letter to the seven churches of
Asia minor, and those churches disappeared after AD 70, then why
didn’t he address the letter to the churches in America or elsewhere?  

My real goal in these short articles is to prompt people to think
about what they are following and believing.  We were once all in
that same position of believing everything that the pastor says.  So,
the next time your pastor says to check out his teachings against
scripture, take him up on it.  Make an appointment and ask him
the questions I listed above to start with.  If he makes up a story
about a double meaning of scripture, ask him to show it to you in
scripture.  After he can’t do that, and he can’t, then present to him
the simple answer that it is and that is that the second coming was
an event that was to take place in the first century and against the
unfaithful harlot, Jerusalem.  It is all in the scripture and hard to
miss.  You won’t even have to make anything up because it all
makes sense.

Religion

Religion

By Richard P. Joseph

1/3/2018

This is a test; can you identify the item above that does not belong with the rest

of the images?

“Let’s talk religion and politics”.  Usually when you hear that, people cringe but
don’t worry, you are safe here.  There is a serious problem with most people in
that they do not understand the difference between religion and Christianity.  In
fact, most (and I mean most) people lump Christianity and religion together as
if somehow Christianity is a religion.  We often hear politicians and educators
talking about the great religions of the world.  In high school textbooks there is
usually a section on “religions of the world”.  The book will give a description of
each religion as if they are somehow items that one can choose from like a
tasty dessert.    I had a friend who came up to me and told me how well her
kid’s textbook did when it provided a healthy section on Christianity.  I had to
inform her that it is all in the master plan of indoctrinating our children into
believing that Christianity is just another man made religion that is equal to all
other religions.  This is a serious and dangerous hoax that most people have
followed right over the cliff.

Pretty much all public schools have banned the expression of religion in
schools; so they say.  The truth is, is that they only banned Christianity, not
religion.  The irony of that is that Christianity isn’t even a religion.  Schools and
liberals in general are committed to the ultimate destruction of Christianity, not
religion, and they definitely know the difference.  Unfortunately most pew
warmers have no clue of the difference.  In reality, if a school or institution bans
religion, it has nothing to do with Christianity but try telling them that.  So what
is the difference anyhow?

Simply said, religion is mans attempt to explain or seek out the spiritual
dimension of their culture or society.  All cultures have religious beliefs and all of
them are wrong.  Man does not have the capacity or the knowledge to seek out
the true creator of the universe.  This is one reason that the second
commandment warns the people to not make for themselves any graven
images of things above or below.  God knew that they had 100% chance of
getting it wrong.  The only way us humans can experience the true God is if he
himself presents his glory to us, not us looking for him.  In the beginning, God
presented himself to his creation, namely Adam and Eve, and they enjoyed a
profound communication with God until the day that they broke God’s trust in
them.  At that point God would only be experienced through his prophets until
the Messiah once again restored communications between God and man
through the Holy Spirit.  In old Testament times God made his presence known
in the Holy of Holies in the temple.  Once Jesus appeared he made many
statements about there being a time when the Temple would be dismantled and
men would then worship God in spirit and in truth.  That time occurred in AD 70.
 This is the time of the Parousia (second coming of Christ).  Once this occurred
we see that God would once again dwell with men, not in a temple.

Revelation 21:2-4

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I
heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle
of God is among men, and He will [a]dwell among them, and they
shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them[b], 4 and
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer
be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or
pain; the first things have passed away.”

God does not dwell in buildings, or in religions, or in the communion host; he
dwells with those that were called out of the darkness of the world system and
into his marvelous light.  That is the true church.  So when an institution tells you
that they have banned religion, you can stand tall and confident and worship
Jesus Christ right in front of them because Christianity is not a religion and is
therefore not banned.  Christianity is really only true history.  It is the story of
how God created the heavens and the earth and sent his son to set us free
from captivity.  There is no myth or man made beliefs associated with it.  It is
just the plain truth!  The church is really those that understand and embrace
this.  Even Nero knew that.  When Nero wanted to destroy Christianity, he did
not attack a religion or a church building; he attacked “people”.  Christians are
“free agents” of the most high God.   The church is not defined by man made
inventions.  If someone wants to destroy the church then they must destroy all
Christians.  Perhaps that is why the homosexual activists are focusing on
individuals such as wedding cake bakers etc.  They are now targeting the core
of the church.  Nero understood it, the homosexuals understand it, but the pew
warmers have no clue.  The pastors have no clue.  The people in general have
no clue.  That is why I write.

As you can guess, it would really take an entire book to do this subject justice
but my goal is to bring these issues up in short articles so that people would at
least get a glimpse of some of the social issues that are never brought up in
our politically correct churches.  I do not wait to take orders from an
organization, I take orders directly from God.  Jesus is my shepherd and I shall
not want.  My hope is that my readers will understand that Christianity is not a
religion and therefore governments cannot take it from you.  Stand tall and
proclaim the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ because there is no law against
it no matter how hard they try.

Jesus Christ has no competition, there is no one that compares to him.  He is
not in the same boat as anyone.  He is Holy which means he is separate from
all others.  He is not the founder of a great religion, he is God almighty.  

Well, Trump really did it this time!

Well, Trump really did it this
time!

By Richard P. Joseph

In December, 2017 President Donald J. Trump declared that he will
recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  As you can guess this
started a hailstorm of comments by so called prophecy watchers that
this is yet another marker of the end times.  Of course I have been hearing
this same trumpet for my entire life.  I was born just before John Kennedy
took office and from my earliest memories starting with Nixon I have been
hearing the same worn out story using the same worn out scriptures.
 Of course the scriptures are not worn out, it is the false prophets that are
worn out.  Here is how the story goes.  

Israel returns to their homeland.  A European union reforms.  There is a
false messiah set up who declares “peace,peace”.  Then Russia drops a
nuclear bomb on Israel.  Then there is a rapture and planes fall from the
sky.  Then the earth burns up with fire.  Then there is 1,000 years where
Jesus is king of a burnt up earth with his saints.  Then the church people
that fell for this garbage will still be arguing over when the rapture is
supposed to be.  Then bla bla bla.   While doing all of this they pull
scriptures out of context at random to prove each point.  And all that
really happens is a few slick scam artists are making a lot of money and
the world is going to pot because of all of the faulty theology out there.  

I love Donald Trump but I hope he stops getting sucked in by these false
prophets of doom.  I would like to sit down with him and explain that none
of the above scenario is anywhere in scripture.  Here is what Jesus
thought of Israel.  

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, and you were unwilling.38 Behold, your house is being
left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will
not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name
of the Lord!’”  Matthew 23:37-39

Jesus promised them that their house would be left desolate.
The new house was being built by the disciples and called the
church.  The disciples asked Jesus when would this take place.
Jesus made it clear by multiple parables and sayings that it
would be the current generation of people that would experience
all of this calamity.  In fact he just got done saying it in Matthew
23:36

36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation.  

I would have to quote the entire New Testament if you want
more passages like the one above.  In fact I challenge you to
go back and read the entire New Testament keeping in mind
when Jesus was going to return and who he was going to
punish.  Let me give you a hint; it was soon and it was
unfaithful Israel.  It was not thousands of years later and it was
not his church.  It was not Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush,
etc, Gorbachev, Husain, Mae, or Trump. The book of Revelation,
which was written circa AD63 was the announcement that the
second coming was about to begin.  In seven years it was all
over.  If you want more information about what happened,
please leave a comment and ask.  

Oh, ps I think Trump did the right thing!

Bring your tithes into the storehouse!

Bring your tithe into the storehouse!

By Richard P. Joseph

Perhaps the favorite verse that pastors use to squeeze more money out of their parishioners is Malachi 3:10;  

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.

The preacher will usually get up on his soap box and tell the people that if they tithe then God will bless them with all sorts of material rewards.  Then they explain that tithing is 10% of your GROSS income, not your net.  This of course would cause most of us to lose our homes.  I just got done reading the book of Malachi and, surprise, surprise, I got a slightly different view.

The prophet Malachi was the last recorded prophet before the New Testament.  The book was actually written to the priesthood, not to the people in general.  It was aimed at the sons of Levi.  The priesthood was established by Moses to serve in the temple and was a picture of what the messiah would do in reality.  A type and antitype.   However, like anything else humans get their hands on, it became corrupt.  The priests would actually bribe the sitting king with large sums of money to gain the coveted position of High Priest.  Like modern politicians, they would line their pockets with the revenue that was squeezed out of the common man through heavy and burdensome taxation.  This is the money that Malachi said never got to the storehouses.  The money from the common worker was never in doubt as we are quite familiar with the ruthless methods of the tax collectors and the money changers in the temple courts.  The money flowed in but for some odd reason never made it to the storehouses for

proper usage.

“A son honors his father,

And a servant his master.

If then I am the Father,

Where is My honor?

And if I am a Master,

Where is My reverence?

Says the Lord of hosts

To you priests who despise My name.

Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’

Mal 1:6-7

 Malachi has strong words for the priests of his day and warned them of the coming doom which finally occurred when John the Baptist began quoting from Malachi during his mission.  

So while it is good to support your church, it is the leaders of that church that is responsible for bringing the tithes of the people into the proper storehouses; not in their pockets or in baseball diamonds or into any other ridiculous man made scheme.  The storehouse is not necessarily even the church organization like they make you think, it is to be used to advance the kingdom of God and to serve the hurting people.  

Tithing is not a New Testament principle as is the case for any law.  The old civil law gave way to the personal law.  Things of the old covenant are now converted to a personal covenant between the believer and the saviour  (see my article “the end of the law”).    As far as the book of Malachi is concerned, he warned of the pending doom that Jesus brought with him at his second coming.  The evil priesthood ended when the true High Priest overthrew their city and leveled it to the ground and out of the ashes rose the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.  

The Good Samaritan "from Galilee"

The Good Samaritan “from Galilee”

By Richard P. Joseph

I stole this picture from the internet.  I hope I don’t get sued….

I have heard several sermons in my life on the story of the good Samaritan and they always focus on the lesson of helping the downtrodden and being a caring and generous person.  There is nothing wrong with that as that is what we should strive to be.  However, I recently heard a radio preacher talk about who the good Samaritan actually is and he said it was Jesus.  That should be obvious but it wasn’t to me because I have never heard it put that way.  He didn’t expound much more on the subject but it prompted me to go over the story again but this time looking at Jesus as the Samaritan.   Once we look close at scripture in its historical context, things begin to clear up.

In Luke chapter 10 we are all familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan; or are we?   It starts out with a Jewish lawyer who was an expert in the Mosaic law who was embarrassed about his rhetorical question that he asked Jesus.  In order to justify his arrogance he asked Jesus “who is my neighbor”?  Jesus then told him the story of a man that was robbed and left for dead.  Then two “well to do” shepherds of Israel saw the man and passed by on the other side.  Then a man of Samaria saved the man’s life.   

After hearing sermons on this for years one concludes that the guy who got robbed is our neighbor and that we should help our neighbors in their time of need.  That isn’t all bad except that isn’t who our neighbor is according to Jesus.  The neighbor, according to the story, is the person who “has mercy on the victim”, not the victim.  The neighbor is the Good Samaritan.  

According to the story line, those that claim that they are the people’s neighbors (the priests and lawyers), are really con-artists and hypocrites.  Then a social outcast from a mixed breed of people shows up and becomes the real neighbor.  The Samaritan man has pity on the victim and bandages him up, puts him on his own beast and takes him to a safe inn.  Then the good neighbor pays the medical costs and says that he is going on a trip and that he will soon return and upon his return he will give the innkeeper his final payment.    This story is eerily similar to another bible story we all know.

In John  7 we read about people discussing whether or not Jesus was a legitimate candidate for the messiahship.

41 Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

Later on, Nicodemus tried to plead with the pharisees to be easy on Jesus but they ridiculed him and said;

52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

They first make it clear that Jesus is a social outcast from a dumpy city called Nazareth in an out of the way place that has no significance (Just like they thought of Samaritans).  The Jewish leadership had a long history of abusing the common person in order to gain riches and status.  They would actually bribe the sitting king with large sums of money in order to gain control of the High Priesthood.  They, of course, would get this money by imposing a heavy, burdensome tax upon the common citizen.  The common man was beat down and left for dead just like the man in the story.  Jesus, the social outcast,  then arrives and bandages his people up and invites them to himself “for his yoke is easy and his burden is light”.  He then puts the people in the care of the innkeepers (the church)and pays the price for them with his own blood. He then goes away for a period of 40 years and upon his return he repaid his faithful innkeepers and destroyed the evil hypocrites.

I believe the story of the Good Samaritan is yet another visual of the life of Christ including his return in AD70 to reward his faithful followers.  It is stories like this that has hidden in it the prophecies of Jesus Christ so that nothing can be faked.  Just like the Old Testament has hidden in it the very life and mission of Jesus, especially in the seven Jewish holidays.  

Earthquakes in various places

Earthquakes in Various Places

By Richard P. Joseph

We are all familiar with the Olivet discourse as Jesus was instructing his disciples of what was soon to occur specifically concerning his parousia in judgement against unfaithful Israel.  In Matthew 24:7 Jesus tells them that there would be famines and earthquakes in various places.  Jesus said this would signal the beginning of the end.  

This verse is a godsend, pardon the pun, to futurist during this past month.  With a stellar line-up of hurricanes hitting the islands and gulf and earthquakes striking Mexico this past month alone, futurist prophecy of Christ’s return is in high gear.  The only problem with that is that every time there is a huge earthquake, futurist prophecy organizations go into high gear as this is opportune time to rake in the money from gullible people.

Another slight problem is that none of the disciples get to see it.

Matthew 24:9 clearly puts the disciples into the mix of final events indicating that the second coming would be in their lifetimes.  

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

Another problem is Revelation 16.  Revelation 16:17-21 seems to support the Matthew 24 earthquake scenario.  

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.                                                    Verses 18-19 indicate that there was an earthquake so severe that it was unique to the earth.  Now, if I remember right, during the flood the earth quaked so bad that the foundations of the great deep broke up releasing oceans of water.  This water, coupled with the water from the ice canopy above the earth, resulted in the deluge of Noah’s days.  No earthquake in the first century, and there were many, nor after was ever as huge as during the flood.  That is why this particular earthquake is of a different sort.  Here is what we know about this particular earthquake;  1. It was in Jerusalem (Great Babylon), not in Cuba or the Virgin Islands or Mexico, 2. Great hailstones weighing a talent rained down on them to make matters worse, 3. The city was divided into three parts by it.  4. It was the complete end of an era (verse 17).

So, what we need to find out is when was Jerusalem divided into three parts by a severe “earthquake” and when were talent sized hailstones pounding the city?  

What we know from historical accounts from Josephus et al is that during the Jewish war against Rome, the zealot factions began a rebellion between AD 64-70.  The zealot factions finally broke into three distinct groups lead by Eleazar B. Ananias, John of Gischala and Simon B. Giora.  Eleazar secured the temple mount as his base of operations.  John controlled the lower part of the city while Simon held the upper section of Jerusalem.  They were entangled in a heated three sided civil war thinking that Jerusalem would soon be freed from Roman occupation and one of them would become king of Israel.  This effectively divided Jerusalem up into three parts like never before. What ensued were plagues and pestilences causing men to curse God for the plague.  Once they adequately weakened themselves and the people in their bloody war of greed, the Romans finally arrived and, according to Josephus, slung burning stones against the city weighing a talent each.  And this all occurring during a 3 ½ period of time we like to call the outpouring of wrath (see verse 19 above).  

The earthquake that hit while Jesus was on the cross had a specific spiritual dimension attached to it just like this one did.  When the ground shook while he was on the cross it tore the curtain in the temple in two exposing the holy of holies.  This second earthquake split the harlot in pieces exposing them to the Roman army for a final destruction of a corrupt and unfaithful people thus completing the parousia of Christ.  
Ezekiel also talks about Jerusalem being split in three in chapter 5. His prophecy may very well describe this era and I encourage you to read through that also.

Maybe I can’t prove my point but everything seems to fit like a glove.  So, while scam false messiahs are running around setting up coin exchange tables at every church, I smile and drive right past them.  Knowing the truth and having a grasp of real history keeps me safe from being deceived just like Jesus warned the disciples about.  If you would like more information on first century history, I recommend getting a copy of “The Final Decade” by Ed Stevens at www.preterist.org .  One thing that I have found out is that most, and I mean most, Christians have no clue about historical biblical studies.  I actually don’t know much myself but the little I know has truly enhanced my understanding of the bible and of prophecy.  As always, if you have any questions concerning fulfilled prophecy, leave me a comment.