Shooting Stars!

Shooting Stars!

By Richard P. Joseph

I remember when I was a kid and looking up into the night sky I noticed a streak
of light zipping by and asked what it was.  I was told it was a “shooting star”.
Recently my wife and I were watching tv in the evening and all of the sudden the
sky lit up.  Since it was not raining we thought maybe there was a storm
approaching. However, about 30 seconds later the house shook. We saw in the
news later that it was a meteorite that struck the earth about 40 miles away.  I
was shocked when recently I heard an adult talking about “shooting stars” as if
they were really stars shooting across the sky.

As any educated person knows, a meteor is not a real star but rather a small
rock or other extraterrestrial debris that enters into the earth’s atmosphere and
burns up (thankfully) due to the friction.  Of course there is evidence that quite
large meteorites have struck the earth in times past and have left craters on our
planet. I obviously had to explain this to my friend that real stars are not striking
the earth!

But don’t tell that to most Christians or you’ll get an ear full.  They will start
quoting scriptures like Matthew 24:29

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of
the heavens will be shaken.

Most Christians are still waiting for Jesus to return in the sky and the sun will
turn off, the moon will not reflect and the stars will fall down.  If you are someone
who believes that in a literal sense can you please tell me which way the stars
will fall? Do they fall up, down, to the side, which way is up, which way is down?
Where do they fall to? These articles are mostly written for those that have
been taught faulty theology their entire life. My short articles are to introduce
you to the proper way to interpret scripture.  I certainly do not know everything
but I can lead you to real scholars that do. What I do here is what most pastors
ask us to do; they say “check my sermon out in scripture”. So I do and many
times they are mistaken.  To not understand the blatant theme that the “second
coming” of Christ was an event that was to occur in the first century is a huge
miscalculation. So, back to the stars falling down.

The 19th century scholar, James Stuart Russell says this in his book (page 289)
The Parousia:

“The key to the interpretation of this passage is to be found in the prophecy of
Haggai.  On comparing the prophetic symbols in that book it will be seen that
‘shaking heaven and earth’ is evidently emblematic of, and synonymous with,
‘overthrowing thrones, destroying kingdoms,’ and similar social and political
revolutions (Haggai ii.21,22).  Such tropes and metaphors are the very elements
of prophetic description, and it would be absurd to insist upon the literal
fulfilment of such figures.”

When Jesus and the apostles used such dramatic language, the people of that
day understood it.  Nobody who was listening to Jesus on the Mount of Olives
thought the stars were going to fall down.  It is only “us” that think that. They
would have understood that he meant that kings and thrones and eras were
coming to an end.  Jesus assured them that the end of their way of life under
the Mosaic law was coming to a close and that a new order was at hand. All of
the New Testament writers understood it that way as they all preached an
imminent close to the current age they were in.  They were expecting to
experience Christ at his appearing and rejoice in it. Not one writer ever
expressed a long and protracted wait for this to happen.

It is only us in these days that have misinterpreted apocalyptic language and

have made it mean something that no one in the first century ever dreamed it
would mean.  The prediction Jesus made is an interesting story that most
church goers never even heard of. If you want to learn more about it ask and I
can suggest where to go. So don’t worry, the stars are not going to fall to the
earth, they already did 2,000 years ago!

Full or Partial Preterism?

Full or Partial Preterism?

By Richard P. Joseph

I just read a short article by Dr. Ron Rhodes.  His article shows his
unfamiliarity with preterism, scripture, hermeneutics and history.   I will try to
give a short critique of his article.

Rhodes starts out with this statement; “There are two forms of preterism:
moderate (partial) preterism, and extreme (full) preterism.”

I would like to make a correction to all who believe that there are really two
forms of preterism by showing you that there is really one form.  Full preterism
believes the bible at its word without inserting ridiculous semantic
interpretations to what the disciples really heard. In other words if John used
words like soon, shortly, at hand etc in the book of revelation and never used
any long term denotations, then the full preterist believes that John was correct
that those events would take place shortly after they were written, not millenia
later.  There is no reason to believe that anyone who first read that book would
interpret it to mean thousands of years later; period. So a full preterist believes
the bible as it is interpreted from its own context, not the context of someone
living in the United States 2,000 years later. Those that interpret the bible from
a modern time frame and different culture are called futurists.

Futurists are people who insert their own presuppositions into scripture to make
it fit their modern day paradigm.  This is an extremely dangerous thing to do as
there is no limit to what any one person from any particular culture at any given
time in history can come up with.  Scripture should always be interpreted in
context of when it was written, to whom it was written, of which culture it was
written and what purpose it was written. That is how full preterists interpret
scripture (at least the conservative Individual Body View Rapture Preterists do).  
I will not get into the cultish preterists who lean toward universalism called the
corporate body view preterists. So what do futurists and partial preterists have
in common?

Any studious futurist cannot deny that Jesus predicted the fall of Jerusalem
but they interpret that as a separate event as the second coming of Christ.  They
use fanciful hermeneutics in order to come up with something that I have yet to
find in scripture. They put time splits in all of scripture especially in the Olivet
discourse and in the book of Revelation that the apostles never found or
commented on.  The apostles always interpreted it as to occur within their
lifetime. There is not one verse in the entire New Testament that shows the
disciples thinking that the parousia would occur thousands of years later. If
there is I would like to see it. So how does this relate to partial preterists?

Partial preterism is really full futurism.  I personally cannot find any
delineation between the two.  They both believe that Jesus did in fact
predict the fall of Jerusalem and they both believe it was not associated
with the second coming of Christ.    Any difference is really semantical.
Jesus smoothly placed all of the events in one sermon on the mount.
Futurists/partial preterists believe Jesus slipped in tricky and mystical time
splits that none of his disciples were ever able to unravel.  This turns
Jesus into the Wizard of Oz by promising them something that he would
never be able to provide even two thousand years later! It is beyond this
article, but history proves that Jesus really did mean soon. So how does
Rhodes deal with real history and real scripture?

After listing several statements that Jesus and the apostles made
concerning the quick return of Jesus, his answer is; “Many evangelicals
believe...."     Who cares what anyone believes? I am interested in the
proper interpretation of a historical document, not what someone feels it
means to fit their own paradigm.   Since all of the New Testament writers
fully believed that the end was coming in their personal generation of time
then why would I “feel” that a theologian today knows more than Jesus,
Peter, Paul, John, Stephen etc?  In other words, Rhodes believes that the
seminarians are the inspired writers of scripture and the apostles were not.
Stop and process that for a moment!

In conclusion I would like to restate that there is always only one truth and
it is our duty to find it, not create it.  It is clear that Jesus and the apostles
did not make any mistakes and that the parousia did occur between
AD 66-70. We are to now live in the everlasting kingdom that Jesus gave
his blood for and to, not only spread the gospel, but to utilize it in a
functional way to produce a better world and to lead many to Christ and
his eternal heavenly kingdom.     

"Someday"

“Someday”

By Richard P. Joseph

I remember reading a children's book about a kid who wanted his grandpa to take him fishing.
Each time he saw his grandpa he would ask about the fishing trip and the response was
always “someday” I will take you fishing.  Finally the kid checked the calendar and found that
it had Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday and Saturday but he couldn’t
find Someday.  He finally asked his mom why he couldn’t find Someday on the calendar and
she told him that it was not on the calendar. She had to explain to the poor kid that Someday
is really never.

Unfortunately, we have all been told by our preachers that Jesus is going to return “Someday”.
I have the difficult task of explaining to you that Someday is really "never".
The preachers are convinced that Jesus told his disciples that he is going to return on
Someday and the disciples were somehow satisfied knowing that he is never going to
return.  So I searched the scriptures over and found out that Jesus never did say he would
return someday, he said he would appear within the lifetime of his audience. How our
preachers got Someday out of that is still beyond my comprehension. They have even
created a mode where Jesus meant for us to be perpetually ready for his return even if it is
thousands of years away.  That would be like telling your kids they can have lunch someday
far and unknown in the future. The kid would actually starve to death just like the church is
doing. We finally have to admit that, like grampa, they just don’t want to accept the truth.
The lie is more exciting somehow and brings in the dollars. Jesus was never ambiguous
about his parousia. He gave straightforward time statements that all of his disciples
understood and could count on.  The apostles must have understood it because they
preached an imminent end of the present world and a soon approaching new heavens and
earth. History makes it clear that Jesus made no mistake. Someday had no part in it.

This is the same thing that evolutionist do when they teach of millions of years for evolution
to take place.  That is the same thing as saying “Someday”. It is a diversion because they
have no real answer. Every New Testament writer promoted an imminent return in power to
judge and to consummate the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Please stop waiting for
Someday and get busy today. The life of the church depends on it.

The Common Thread

The Common Thread

By Richard P. Joseph

My entire life I have been, and still do, hear sermons concerning our conduct as Christians.
Our behavior is certainly a huge part of our faith and should never be minimized but after
much study I have found that it really isn’t the most common thread in our New Testament.
There seems to be an overarching theme that runs the length of our New Testament that
most preachers don't even realize is present.

Matthew 3:7-12, John the Baptist lays the foundation for the entire mission of Christ.  

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to
them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore
bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise
up children to Abraham. 10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every
tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “As for me, I baptize you [g]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you [h]with the Holy
Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His
threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist starts right off by running the Jewish leadership over roughshod.  He
straightway warns them of impending judgement and puts them in the category of snakes
who are attempting to hide from that judgement. He lets them know that their Jewishness
cannot save them and that God can raise up stones (gentiles) to take their place.  He then
tells them that the axe (judgement) is now laid to the root of the problem and there is a day
of reckoning fast approaching. The messiah has arrived and established a common thread
of a resurrection and a judgement at his second coming which was soon to follow.  This is
the theme that runs the entire length of the New Testament and dominates and controls the
entire mood of every writer. Jesus constantly proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was at
hand.

Matthew10:7  And as you go, [a]preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven [b]is at hand.’

He did not come to deliver a new philosophy on peace and love although real peace and real
love are important items in it.  What he really was selling was that there was going to be a
catastrophic shift in cosmology. God was about to abolish his connection to only one nation
and open it up to the world.  On page 242 of The Parousia by James Stuart Russell he sums
things up with this statement:

The ‘old covenant’ or economy is represented as ‘decaying, waxing old, and ready to vanish
away,’-that is to say, the Mosaic dispensation was about to be abolished, and to be
superseded by the Christian dispensation.  

Russell spends several pages explaining this covanental shift.  This is the common thread
that runs the entire length of the New Testament.  It never talks about the end of the physical
world, it talks about a shift from the old heavens and earth to a new heavens and earth.  And
this shift was to be concluded within one generation of time.

Judaism has run its course.  It served God’s purpose but because of their unfaithfulness to
him, the kingdom was being taken away and given over to the church (all those that leave
the world system and enter into faith in Jesus Christ).  This transition (millennium) took place
between the death of Christ on the cross and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish
economy. Those that fought to hold onto the old system (even those that believed in Christ)
actually caused such a ruckus that it forced the apostles to call for the first ever counsel of
apostles.  This counsel produced a decredal document that ended the judaism conflict that
plagued the early church (Acts 15).

So what is the point of this article?  It is a challenge for you to re-read the entire New Testament with a new frame of mind.  We often read the bible with the “pastor’s” frame of mind that he indoctrinated us with. We need to read it with a historic frame of mind where the context controls the outcome.  Most people think the bible is some sort of book of promises as if it were written by a genie. Although there are promises in the bible, that is not what it is about. It is about a covenant between us and God.  The New Testament is about that shift in covenants and specifically about a fast approaching judgement and resurrection which would occur at the presence, or coming of Christ to consummate it. This is an exciting story that most, and I mean most, people do not even know exists.  The messiah appeared at the fullness of time (end of the Mosaic age) to put his enemies under his feet and to fulfill all things thus ushering in the new covenant sealed with his blood. There is no future “end of the world”, there was only the end of the old age and the dawn of a new age (the age of the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ) where we now have work to do. No time to sit around and wait for something that is never going to happen. We need to subdue this earth with the gospel of truth and justice. I highly encourage you to get the book “The Parousia” (http://www.preterist.org) which was published in 1887.  This will open your eyes up to something that most people have been blind to for most of their lives.  

The day and hour revealed!

The Day and Hour Revealed!

By Richard P. Joseph

Picture borrowed from internet

There have been many doomsday preachers in my lifetime that have made
predictions of the end of the world and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.  
Everytime there is a new world leader, blood moon, hurricane, earthquake or war
the “prophets” go into high gear.  However, all I really found was that it only
takes money, power and women to illicit a cult leader to start his bidding for
the end of the world.  So I thought maybe I will take a crack at it.   I actually
believe I have it nailed down to the exact day and hour!  Jesus gave us many
clues to watch for.  

One clue is Matthew 16:27-28

27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His
angels, and will then [a]repay every man according to his [b]deeds.

28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who
will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

So to start with we can nail down the general time of within about 40 years from
when Jesus made that statement which was in about AD30.  That effectively
eliminates any event after about AD70.

Jesus then talks about wars and rumors of wars.  Much of this information was
conveyed by the historian Josephus who lived during those days.  He records
this upheaval in no uncertain terms when the zealots began raiding the
countryside of Judea in preparation for their upcoming war with Rome.  They
first engaged in a massive civil war in Jerusalem before engaging the main
Roman army.  Jesus’ wars were a reality within that 40 year period.  Nations
(all the city states in that area) were engulfed in this strife then the kingdom of
darkness was fighting the kingdom of light in the unseen realm.  The Jewish
leadership delivered the saints up to the Roman authorities for punishment and
abominable acts of bloodshed etc were performed in and around the temple.  All
of Jesus’ predictions of the end of the age were directed toward the unfaithful
city of Jerusalem so this also secured the time and location of this event as
before AD 70 and in Judea.  

Matthew 24:32 gives the disciples the signs to look for that would indicate that
the parousia (second coming) was about to begin.

32 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become
tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near;33 so, you too,
when you see all these things, [u]recognize that [v]He is near, right at the
[w]door. 34 Truly I say to you, this [x]generation will not pass away until all these
things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass
away.

In other words, they might not know the exact day and hour but they would
know when it is very imminent.  What really occurred is spelled out in the
gospels but I will not go through all of that in this short article but if you go
through Matthew 24-25 you will see this pattern take place.  The epistles also
follow this pattern in real time.   First there was the Neronian persecution against
the church.  The Jews and the perverted Roman dictator began a vicious
persecution  of the Christians starting in 64 and ending in 66 AD.  Ed Stevens
labeled this period as the tribulation.  Then this slaughter was cut short by the
rapture.

Matthew 24:29-21 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will
be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from
[r]the sky, and the powers of [s]the heavens will be shaken.30 And then the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth
will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky
with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great
trumpet and they will gather together His [t]elect from the four winds, from one
end of the sky to the other.

Josephus tells us that a few days after Passover in the year 66, angelic armies
were seen in the sky over Jerusalem.  He gives the day and hour of this event.
Shortly thereafter,  the priests also heard what sounded like people leaving the
underworld (hades).

Josephus (A.D. 75) - Jewish Historian

"Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth day of the
month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I
suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it,
and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such
signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen
running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which
we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as
their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they
felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great
multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence" (Jewish Wars,VI-V-3).

So if we sequence this (as biblical historian Ed Stevens might do) it would look like this:

1. Tribulation against the church.
2. Visible sighting of angelic armies in sky.
3. Hades being emptied of its contents and rapture event.
4. Visitation (second coming) of Christ which lasted 3 ½ years which was the wrath against
   the unfaithful harlot (Jerusalem).

So my friends, the very day and hour has now been revealed as the 21st day of Artemisius
(a few days after passover) in the year AD 66 just before sunset.  Now you know and you
won’t have to fall for any more scams or faulty theology.  

When Jesus told his disciples that they would not know the exact day nor hour, he was
correct but fortunately we now know because it is a past event.  We no longer have to make
excuses why Jesus made mistakes because the fact is, he didn’t.  

Matthew 25:13 Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.