ANDY WOODS: PRE-TRIB RAPTURE UNDER ATTACK

Rapture Under Attack! Pastors’ Point of View Episode 44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFfg24z6-

Pseudo Ephraim (c. 374-627)

In the above video, staunch pre-trib rapture teacher Andy Woods cites Pseudo Ephraim as a pre-Darby source for the pre-trib rapture. Author and researcher Dave MacPherson was a reliable critic of the pre-trib rapture view. Below is an excerpt from an article he wrote demonstrating how Pseudo Ephraim was dishonestly misinterpreted by pre-trib rapture teachers Grant Jeffrey and Thomas Ice. 

Pseudo Ephraim: "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." The phrase "taken to the Lord" was taken out of context by Jeffrey and Ice to mean the pre-trib rapture.

Dave MacPherson: "In Section 2, P-E (Pseudo Ephraim) says that the only event that's 'imminent' is 'the advent of the wicked one' (that is, Antichrist). Nevertheless, Grant Jeffrey in his 1995 book, FINAL WARNING, had the audacity to claim that P-E 'began with the Rapture using the word 'imminent' and added in the next sentence that 'Ephraem used the word 'imminent' to describe the Rapture.' (If he and other P-E promoters can look at a coming of Antichrist and see a coming of 'Christ,' is it any wonder that in his endtime view folks will look at Antichrist and see 'Christ'?

Dr. Paul Alexander, the leading authority whose book inspired the P-E claim, is portrayed in Jeffrey's book, FINAL WARNING, as 'perhaps the most authoritative scholar on the writings of the early Byzantine Church.' But this misleading statement, designed to make readers think that Professor Alexander supports the P-E claim, covers up the fact that this world famous scholar sees not even a smidgen of pretrib in the same Medieval writer!

In fact, Alexander writes that the phrase 'taken to the Lord' (which has become a bonanza for pretrib history revisionists) means "participate at least in some measure in beatitude.' While Jeffrey and Ice do include this 'beatitude' phrase, all P-E promoters carefully avoid revealing that the Catholic doctrine of 'beatitude,' according to the NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, has to do with 'the highest acts of virtue that can be performed in this life' - works on earth and not being raptured off earth! (Elsewhere in his sermon P-E repeats the importance of doing 'penance,' because of 'our sins,' so that church members will be 'sustained' during the tribulation!)

In fact (again), Alexander has two summaries (textual and outline), in chronological order, of P-E's endtime events. And guess what. Alexander demonstrates both times that P-E saw only one future coming ('Second Coming of Christ"'for the 'punishment of the Antichrist') which follows (!) the great tribulation ('tribulatio magna lasting three and a half years') - claim-smashing summaries that self-serving promoters, with malice aforethought, have jointly swept under their 'secret rapture' rug! {1}

    

The Day of the Lord 

The phrase that Andy Woods repeats during this video is that the church is not appointed to wrath i.e. the church will escape wrath of God via the pre-trib rapture. (1 Thessalonians 5:9). He takes the position that the entire 70th week of Daniel is the tribulation period and defines this period as "wrath". The first time the term "great tribulation" is mentioned is Matthew 24: 21,29. This refers to the Abomination of Desolation, the event that takes place at the mid point of the 70th week. When the Antichrist takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God, he unleashes terrible persecution, upon both Jews and Christians. (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the persecution of the Antichrist, not the wrath of God. As explained many times, thlipsis (tribulation) and orge (wrath) are distinct terms used in the scriptures describing separate events. The scriptures refer to the events preceding the great tribulation during the first half of the 70th week as the beginning of birth pains i.e. ~ wars and rumours of wars  ~famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:8). To make up our own definitions when the scriptures make a clear distinction is eisegesis. The only time that wrath (orge) is specifically mentioned in relation to the 70th week is the period known in the scriptures as "the day of the Lord" when the sixth seal is broken.

For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” (Revelation 6:17).

Alford observes that this of itself should be sufficient to keep commentators right in confining their interpretation of this seal to the last judgment. (cf. Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1, 2; Acts 2:20; Jude 1:6). {2} 

In 1 Thessalonians 5 the phrase the Day of the Lord refers to an unknown period of time and not a literal 24 hour day for obvious reasons. (Revelation 9:5). This period refers to God's wrath as it is poured out during the seventh seal trumpet and bowl judgements described in the book of Revelation and referred to a number of times in the scriptures. (e.g. Acts 2:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Isaiah 2:12, 13:6-9, 34:8, Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5, 30:3; Joel 1:15, 2:1-31, 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:1-18 etc.)

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; (Isaiah 13:9-11 cf. Revelation 6:12-17).

After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. (Revelation 15:5-7).

Matthew 24 and 25

The speculation that the Olivet Discourse applies exclusively to Israel originated with cult leader John Nelson Darby in the 1830s in a ploy to facilitate his flawed pre-trib rapture framework. Unfortunately much of the Western Church has been subjected to this false teaching by those who have much to gain from it. Darby's domineering personality, his pseudo intellectualism and his abstruse style of writing obscured his eschatological perversions for a number of spiritually naïve believers. However Darby did not fool the most discerning of his contemporaries such as BW Newton, SP Tregelles, George Mueller and Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon: "If the author would write in plain English his readers would probably discover that there is nothing very valuable in his remarks." {3} 

The disciples asked Jesus a twofold question:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

Darby: "..what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. They class together the destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ, and the end of the age. We must observe, that here the end of the age is the end of the period during which Israel was subject to the law under the old covenant: a period which was to cease, giving place to the Messiah and to the new covenant. Observe also that God's government of the earth is the subject, and the judgments that should take place at Christ's coming, which would put an end to the existing age..

Besides this, other circumstances prove, if further proof were needed, that it is the Jewish remnant who are in question, and not the assembly. We know that all believers are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. They will afterwards return with Him. But here there will be false Christs on the earth, and people will say, 'He is here in the wilderness,' 'He is there in the secret chambers.' But the saints who shall be caught up and return with the Lord have nothing at all to do with false Christs on earth, since they will go up to heaven to be with Him there, before He returns to the earth; while it is easy to understand that the Jews, who are expecting earthly deliverance, should be liable to such temptations, and that they should be deceived by them unless kept by God Himself."  {4}

In the minds of the disciples, the destruction of the temple in 70AD and the end of the age (aeon) were concurrent events. Darby misrepresents the term the end of the age in Matthew 24:3 and applies it to the end of the old covenant under the law, thereby limiting it to the Jewish remnant. However the term is never used in this context in the scriptures. In context "the end of the age" in Matthew 24 has a widespread application for future generations of believers and "all nations". (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15). To limit the relevance of Matthew 24 and 25 to the Jews is unconscionable.

 

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:30-40,49 cf. Matthew 24:3; 28:20; 1 Peter 1:5).  

“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all 3nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:6-14)

BW Newton made a critical distinction regarding who is specifically addressed in Matthew 24 and 25. Below are some excerpts from a document written by Newton published by the Brethren Archive. {5} 

"This prophecy is not addressed to Jerusalem or its people. They had been left, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, to reap the consequences of their rejection of their King; and this, their season of tribulation is only referred to here because it is a sign to the church: otherwise it would have been passed in silence by.."      

..Jerusalem and the Jews are not the theme of this prophecy. They have been left in the preceding chapter, and they are only referred to here for the sake of others, that is, ourselves-Christians, to whom their history is a sign. Their history is only given in this chapter so far as it is a sign to the church.. 

..They (Israel) are spoken OF, but they are not spoken TO. The body thus addressed in the twenty-third chapter is as diverse from that addressed in the twenty-fourth, as blessing is different from woe. The first were rejectors of Jesus - refusing to call Him blessed. They were the representatives of hardened, blinded, unbelieving Israel. But the others, that is to say, those addressed in the twenty-fourth chapter, were the disciples of Jesus. They had already called Him blessed. They were going without the gate bearing His reproach. Whilst blindness was resting upon Israel, they were to be His ministers, and His witnesses. They were to walk in light whilst the others were groping in darkness. They were addressed, therefore, not as the representatives of hardened, unbelieving Israel, or of Israel partially enlightened. They were addressed as the representatives of the Church of the living God. To them it had been said, 'Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.' Having Christ they had all things. How important, therefore, to distinguish between the 'ye' of the twenty-third chapter, and the 'ye' of the twenty-fourth. In each case it is a corporate 'ye', and has already extended over nearly two thousand years..

If 'you' in this passage does not refer to persons belonging to the church of the living God (this some have said)  then Stephen, Peter and Paul and John could not have been members of that church."  (Matthew 24: 15, 33).

H A Ironside: “That the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are Christian Scripture, in the same sense in which the Gospel of John is Christian Scripture. {p. 33} “III. That the Pentecostal church was not in a semi-Jewish or semi-Christian condition, or in any sense ‘earthly,’ or ‘formed for citizenship in the earth;’ but in a true church position, as ‘partakers of the heavenly calling.." {6}

I have colour coded the relevant verses from 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 in order to demonstrate that that Paul mirrors the Olivet Discourse. Both passages concern the rapture and are relevant to the church. These verses also confirm that rapture is not a "secret" event as many pre-trib teachers claim.

 
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31).

Matthew 24:30 "..all the tribes of the earth will mourn" also ties in with Revelation 6:

Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” Revelation 6:15-17).

Something To Consider

The pre-trib rapture doctrine dominates the teaching of Andy Woods and others, such as Jan Markell, Amir Tsafarti, JD Farag etc. They consistently produce videos defending the subject in spite of the fact that when tested, both the evidence for pre-trib and its history is questionable. (1 John 4:1). If the pre-trib camp are wrong, and they are, then there is real potential for terrible damage to believers. In particular there is a credible link to the apostasy in Matthew 24:10 cf. Matthew 13:21. We will all have to give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 4:5 ), teachers more so than the rest of us. (James 3:1). Pre-trib teachers should be mindful that the doctrines they so confidently assert are not a stumbling block to the body of Christ. (Psalm 40:4).

In another way, post-trib rapture teachers also have a responsibility to study the scriptures and to respond to questions about the weaknesses in their particular view. As far as I am aware, apart from one conversation I had with someone from Good Fight Ministries, the post-trib camp tend to ignore questions about these weaknesses. {7} Joe Schimmel's recent example of the early Church Father Victorinus, whom he cited in an attempt to prove a post-trib concurrent interpretation of the sixth seal, the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl, was unreliable. {8} This kind of speculation causes confusion, not clarity. Many arguments used by pre-trib teachers are taken directly from weaknesses in the post-trib view and vice versa. Although I believe that they are sincere, the post trib camp, albeit inadvertently, are remiss in bringing clarity to this debate. In contrast, I believe that the prewrath position consistently solves the inherent weaknesses within both the pre-trib and post trib views. 

1. Even Pseudo-Ephraem Was Perhaps Not Pre-Trib (brotherpete.com)
2. Revelation 6 Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford (biblehub.com)
3. Charles H. Spurgeon and Eschatology (romans45.org)
4. http://bible.christiansunite.com/darby.cgi?b=Mt&c=24
5. The Prophecy of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24 & 25 | Plymouth Brethren Archive
6. Chapter Three Gathering Clouds | Plymouth Brethren Writings
7. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: GOOD FIGHT MINISTRIES SKEWED POST-TRIB RAPTURE VIEW (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)
8. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: JOE SCHIMMEL BLESSED HOPE CHAPEL: VICTORINUS IS UNRELIABLE (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)

Further Links:

* What did the early church fathers say about a pre-trib rapture? (Gospel, churches) - Christianity - - City-Data Forum (city-data.com)
* 7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture
* Articles for Posttribulationism to Consider | ESCHATOS MINISTRIES (alankurschner.com)* (25) Chuck Missler & Friends, Council for National Policy Exposed Part 1 - Dr Scott Johnson - YouTube
* WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: SAM ADAMS INDEPENDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH: MISREPRESENTATION OF THE PRE-WRATH RAPTURE (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)

SAM ADAMS INDEPENDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH DEBUNKED: ABRAHAM'S BOSOM # PARADISE

Abraham's Bosom: Paradise, Prison, or Purgatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDdUuiBYKck

Sam Adams 9th July 2020 Independence Baptist Church Ocala, Florida. 

Bible texts: 1 Peter 3:18-20; Matthew 12:40; Luke 23:43. 

The opinionated Sam Adams spectacularly fails to demonstrate his theory regarding the complex question of where Jesus actually went after His crucifixion before he ascended to the Father, and the location of Abraham's bosom/paradise. 

Sam Adams: "A thorough study answering the question of where Christ's spirit spent the 3 days His body was in the tomb, and refuting the Roman Catholic doctrine of 'Limbus Patrum' -- as it has been adopted by most Protestants, 'Evangelicals' and even most so-called 'Baptists' today. The 'Limbo of the Patriarchs' or 'Limbo of the Fathers' (Latin limbus patrum) is seen as the temporary state of those who, despite the sins they may have committed, died in the friendship of God but could not enter Heaven until redemption by Jesus Christ made it possible." 

Sam Adams uses the King James Version of the bible exclusively. For the sake of continuity, I will also use this version. However, I will refer to the Greek text for clarification regarding what the KJV refers to as "hell" and some other details.

The main passage in question:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (1 Peter 3:18-20). (KJV)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  (ESV)  

1 Peter 3:18 ..but made alive by or in the spirit?

 

The Textus Receptus omits the article and has to {the} spirit. {1}

..by or in are both are insertions, hence the debate. 

Greek: ζῳοποιηθεὶς δὲ τῷ πνεύματι (having been made alive δὲ to spirit). 

δὲ (conjunction) ~ but, on the other hand, and.. 

1 Peter 3:19. The ESV correctly translates ἐν ᾧ (in which) from the Greek.

The proposal that Christ, by/in the Holy Spirit preached to disobedient spirits through Noah is an awkward interpretation of the above verses. A plain reading of the text suggests that Jesus preached (ἐκήρυξεν) to the spirits in prison after He was made alive by/in {the} spirit. Another translation of kérussó is "to be a herald, proclaim". In our verbiage, "preach" often indicates that a response, either positive or negative, is required, whereas to proclaim something is to make an announcement that does not require a response. 

Sam Adams has put three views forward in the above video. In fact there are at least five different views. {2}

View 1: When Noah was building the ark, Christ "by/in the spirit" was in Noah preaching repentance and righteousness through him to unbelievers who were on the earth during that time but afterwards became "spirits in prison" i.e. people in hell.
View 2: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell, offering them a second chance of salvation.
View 3: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell, proclaiming to them that he had triumphed over them and their condemnation was final. 
View 4: After Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had repented just before they died in the flood, and led them out of their imprisonment (in purgatory) into heaven. This view corresponds with the Roman Catholic doctrine of limbus patrum (Latin: 'fathers’ limbo'), i.e. the place where the Old Testament saints were thought to be confined until they were liberated by Christ in his 'descent into hell"..  {3}
View 5: After Christ died, he proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels in prison who had sinned by marrying human women before the flood. 

View 1: Christ "by the spirit" preached through Noah. This view is advocated by Sam Adams. It is surprising for a so called anti-Catholic teacher to support this interpretation. This view was invented by Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) who was a false teacher and the man who is known as the Father of Roman Catholicism. This view is also found in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was an Italian Dominican friar, a philosopher, a Roman Catholic priest and a so called "Doctor of the Church". {4} 

Meyer: "ἐν ᾧ καὶ κ.τ.λ.] 'in which (spirit) He also went and preached unto the spirits in prison (to them), which sometime were unbelieving when,' etc. The close connection of these words with what immediately precedes—by ἐν ᾧ, sc. πνεύματι,—favours the view that ἐκήρυξε (preached) refers to an act of Christ which, as the ζωοποιηθεὶς πνεύματι (alive in the spirit), He performed after His death, and that with reference to the spirits ἐν φυλακῇ (in prison) of the unbelievers who had perished in the deluge. This is the view of the oldest Fathers of the Greek and Latin Church; as also of the greater number of later and modern theologians. Augustin, however, opposed it, and considered ἐκήρυξεν as referring to a preaching by Christ ἐν πνεύματι, long before His incarnation, in the days of Noah, to the people of that generation, upon whom the judgment of the deluge came because of their unbelief.[205] This view, after being adopted by several theologians of the Middle Ages, became prevalent in the Reformed Church.."   {5} (translation added)

Irenaeus (130-202 AD) "It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him." {6}

According to Tertullian (c.150-225 AD), a sanctuary for the righteous called Abraham’s bosom is located within Hades:

"It must therefore be evident to every man of intelligence who has ever heard of the Elysian fields, that there is some determinate place called Abraham’s bosom, and that it is designed for the reception of the souls of Abraham’s children, even from among the Gentiles (since he is the father of many nations, which must be classed among his family), and of the same faith as that wherewithal he himself believed God, without the yoke of the law and the sign of circumcision. This region, therefore, I call Abraham’s bosom. Although it is not in heaven, it is yet higher than hell, and is appointed to afford an interval of rest to the souls of the righteous, until the consummation of all things shall complete the resurrection of all men with the full recompense of their reward.. You have a treatise by us, 1812 (on Paradise), in which we have established the position that every soul is detained in safe keeping in Hades until the day of the Lord. {7}

Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 AD) referred to Abraham's bosom as "..the place in hades where the righteous await judgment day in delight."  {8} 

The Book of Enoch divides Sheol into four sections: "..for the truly righteous, the good, the wicked awaiting judgment at the resurrection, and the wicked that will not even be resurrected." {9}

The place known in the scriptures as Hades or Sheol is a general term for "the place of the dead".  As demonstrated above, it is probable that the early church believed that Abrahams bosom and also the "prison" referred to in 1 Peter 3:18-20 were located in separate areas within Hades. Both within Judaism and the early church, Abraham's bosom is thought to be synonymous with paradise i.e. the abode of the righteous dead. {10} The assumption that heaven itself was visible to those suffering in prison in Hades cannot be verified by the scriptures. Jesus parable of the rich man and Lazarus simply refers to those who are located in Abraham's bosom, not to heaven itself.

Abraham's Bosom

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell (hades) he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (Luke 16:22-28). 

Note: verse 23 is hades in the Greek, not hell as translated in the KJV. {11}

KJV - Luke 16:26 A great gulf afar off -  In the Greek "gulf" is chasma, literally a chasm. This is the only occurrence of chasma in the NT. Broadly speaking chasma is a wide space. 

Albert Barnes makes some interesting points regarding the connection between "the spirits in prison" and "the disobedient in the days of Noah". (1 Peter 3:18-20).

"No others are specified; and if it should be maintained that this means that he (Jesus) went down to hell (Hades), or to Sheol, and preached to those who are confined there, it could be inferred from this passage only that he preached to that portion of the lost spirits confined there which belonged to the particular generation in which Noah lived. Why he should do this; or how there should be such a separation made in hades that it could be done; or what was the nature of the message which he delivered to that portion, are questions which it is impossible for any man who bolds to the opinion that Christ went down to hell after his death to preach, to answer. But if it means that he preached to those who lived in the days of Noah, while they were yet alive, the question will be asked why are they called 'spirits?'" {12}

The whereabouts of Jesus during the three days and three nights after his death, however we calculate this period of time, is not a straightforward question. 

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40).

Meyer: "But the question as to what Jesus meant by ἔσται … ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς (will be ... in the heart of the earth), whether His lying in the grave (so the greater number of expositors), or His abode in Hades (Tertullian, Irenaeus, Theophylact, Bellarmin, Maldonatus, Olshausen, König, Lehre von Christi Höllenfahrt, Frankf. 1842, p. 54; Kahnis, Dogmat. I. p. 508), is determined by καρδία τἥς γῆς, to which expression the resting in the grave does not sufficiently correspond; for the heart of the earth can only indicate its lowest depths, just as καρδία τῆς θαλάσσης means the depths of the sea in Jonah 2:4)." {16} (translation added) 

Meyer's observations regarding "the heart of the earth" corresponds with the following scriptures:

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43).

Jesus instruction to Mary Magdalene, the first person who saw Him in resurrected form, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the My Father.” (John 20:17). 

If Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father, then paradise was not located in heaven at that time. The word "paradise" translated from the Greek  paradeisos, is mentioned only three times in the Bible: Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7.

View 5: After Christ died, he proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels in prison who had sinned by marrying human women before the flood. 

Although I am not dogmatic, the fifth view appears to be the logical interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18-20. By opting for this view, I understand that there may be difficulties for those who struggle with the concept of a union between fallen angels and human women. However, despite various attempts to prove otherwise, there can be little doubt that "the sons of god" in Genesis 6:4 were fallen angels. Before Sam Adams (or anyone else) dismisses this view, I suggest that research be undertaken on the etymology of the term "sons of god" (benei ha-elohim) in the Old Testament. Additionally, only once in the New Testament does the plural word “spirits” apply to humans; actually the verse refers to righteous spirits (πνεύμασιν δικαίων). (Hebrews 12:22-24).This creates a major difficulty with the theory that lost humans are "the spirits in prison".

The connection between Genesis 6:1-4, 1 Peter 3:18-20, 2 Peter 2:2-4 and Jude 1:6 appears to corroborate the above view.

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4).

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-5). The word "hell" in the KJV in Greek is ταρταρώσας, having cast [them] down to Tartarus. The Greek word Tartarus appears only once in the New Testament. 

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6).

(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:9-10).

Alford: "But that He ascended (τὸ ἀν. does not here mean, ‘the word’ ἀνέβη, (ascend) which does not occur in the text cited), what is it (does it imply) except that he also (as well) descended to the lower parts of the earth (the argument seems to be this: the Ascension here spoken of was not a first exaltation, but a return to heaven of one who dwelt in heaven—οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τ. ἀνθρώπου ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, John 3:13, which is in fact the key to these verses. The ascent implied a previous descent. This is the leading thought. But it is doubted how far the words κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς (lower parts of the earth) carry that descent, whether to earth merely, so that τῆς γῆς (of the earth) is the genitive of apposition,—or to Hades, so that it is genitive of possession. Usage will not determine—for 1) it is uncertain whether the Apostle meant any allusion to the corresponding Hebrew expression: 2) that expression is used both for Hades, Psalm 63:9, and for earth (θεμέλια, LXX), Isaiah 44:23 (and for the womb, Psalm 139:15). Nor can it be said (as Harl., Mey.) that the descent into hell would be irrelevant here—or that our Lord ascended not from Hades but from the earth: for, the fact of descent being the primary thought, we have only to ask as above, how far that descent is carried in the Apostle’s mind. The greater the descent, the greater the ascent: and if the αἰχμαλωσία (captivity) consisted of Satan and his powers, the warfare in which they were taken captive would most naturally be contemplated in all its extent, as reaching to their habitation itself:—‘this ascent, what does it imply but a descent, and that even to the lower parts of the earth from which the spoils of victory were fetched?’ And this meaning seems to be upheld by the ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα (so that he might fill all things) which follows, as well as by the contrast furnished by ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν. This interpretation is upheld by most of the ancients, Iren., Tert., Jer., Pelag., Ambrst.; also by Erasm., Est., Calov., Bengel, Rück., Olsh., Stier, Baur (uses it as a proof of the gnostic origin of the Epistle), Ellicott, al.: that of the Incarnation merely, descent on earth, by Beza, Calv., Grot., Schöttg., Mich., Storr, Winer, Harl., B.-Crus., Meyer, De W., al.: that of Christ’s death (and burial), by Chr., Thdrt., Œc., al.: that corresponding to Psalm 139:15, by Beza (alt.), Witsius, al.)?" {13} (translation added)

Sam Adams' Proof Texts Debunked

A Psalm of Asaf - Psalm 73:24 - Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

The meaning of this verse is disputed by bible scholars. {14} 

Ellicott: "To glory.—Better, With honour, as LXX. and Vulg.; or achar may be taken as a preposition: Lead me after honour, i.e., in the way to get it."   

 "..no parallel can be quoted for the absolute use of ‘glory’ in the sense of ‘heavenly’ or ‘eternal glory.’ Elsewhere in the Psalter kâbôd is used in the sense of ‘,honour’ (Psalm 42:7; Psalm 84:11; Psalm 112:9; Psalm 149:5);"

Heaven may be represented by the term "glory". However, since the meaning of this verse is obscure we cannot take it for a definite proof text. 

Ecclesiastes 3:21: Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?  
Ecclesiastes 12:6-7:  Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it..

Above, Solomon asks a rhetorical question and differentiates between the spirits of humans and animals. He refers to the "spirit of man" i.e. the spirits of all humans, both the righteous and the wicked. These verses have nothing to do with the location of Abraham's bosom prior to Christ's resurrection. It appears that all the spirits of humans, whether righteous or wicked, are conscious of God's presence in some sense after death.  

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! (Psalm 139/8 cf. Luke 16:27-31).

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:(Hebrews 9:27). The final judgement of the wicked will happen at the great white throne judgement after the millennium. (Revelation 20:11). 

The "long home" i.e. "eternal home", referred to by Solomon is the ultimate destination of believers. (Ecclesiastes 12:5).

For Sam Adams to link his spurious "proof texts" with Paul's statement "absent from the body, present with the Lord" in 2 Corinthians 5:8 is substandard exegesis. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians was written in about 57AD i.e. after Christ's resurrection. Paul was writing about the present expectation of those who die in the Lord, not about those who had died prior to Christ's resurrection.  

 The Witch of Endor

   
Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
(1 Samuel 28:8-14).

In my view, the above passage refers to the prophet Samuel himself rather than to a demonic entity as some teach. This was an exceptional event. The scriptures unequivocally condemn seeking out the spirits of the dead. (Deuteronomy 18:10-18).

Sam Adams gives the impression that he delves deeply into the subjects he purports to teach. In reality he has presented a negligent view of Peter 3:18-20, and in the process he has demonstrated that he has major problems both with sound exegesis and his own prejudice. (James 3:1). 

As a final note on the subject, it is necessary to refute the false teaching of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White and others from the wicked Word/Faith/Charismatic/NAR camp, who teach that Jesus died spiritually and went to hell in order to be punished further for the sins of humanity. This teaching is a doctrine of demons and should be rejected outright. (1 Timothy 4:1). The death of Jesus Christ on the cross sufficiently provided for our redemption. The scriptures tell us plainly that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree.. (1 Peter 2:24). Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:21-26). Jesus last words were "It is finished" (John 19:30). 

The Rapture

I have observed in the past that Sam Adams is often too hasty to dismiss views that do not agree with his own theology. His previous onslaught against, and misrepresentation of, the prewrath rapture position is a shameful example of his unfortunate habit of condemning other views without doing the necessary spadework. {15} The post-trib view is at best unhelpful, and at worst, it produces confusion and complacency amongst believers.

Those who teach the false pre-trib rapture view will have to give an account for leading many believers into serious error. (Romans 4:12; Matthew 24:10). In a different way, I believe that those who teach the post-trib view will have to give an account for the confusion they have allowed to develop due to their exegetical inaccuracy, their lack of diligence, and in some cases their own pride. For a teacher to oppose the prewrath rapture and other views when he cannot adequately the defend difficult questions associated with his own view is insupportable. (Job 6:24). 

I challenge Sam Adams to address the difficulties associated with the post-trib rapture view as outlined by Alan Kurschner (Eschatos Ministries) in the following link:
https://www.alankurschner.com/2017/08/10/articles-for-posttribulationism-to-consider/

1.   https://www.logosapostolic.org/bibles/textus_receptus/1_peter/fpet03.htm
2.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirits_in_prison#Early_Christian_interpretations
3.   https://www.britannica.com/topic/limbo-Roman-Catholic-theology#ref222486
4.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
5.   https://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/1_peter/3.htm

6.   https://ccel.org/ccel/irenaeus/against_heresies_iv/anf01.ix.vi.xxviii.html
7.   https://st-takla.org/books/en/ecf/003/0030433.html
8.   https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Bosom_of_Abraham
9.   https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Bosom_of_Abraham
10. http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/362-abraham-s-bosom
11. https://biblehub.com/lexicon/luke/16-23.htm
12. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_peter/3-19.htm
13. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/matthew/12.htm
14. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/alford/ephesians/4.htm
15. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/73-24.htm
16. https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com/2018/02/sam-adams-independence-baptist-church.html

Further Links:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward..
https://nephilimfiles.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-nephilim-were-on-earth-in-those.html

Joe Schimmel, Blessed Hope Chapel - Post Trib Rapture

https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com/search/label/Joe%20Schimmel%20Blessed%20Hope%20Chapel

The Time, Location and Purpose of Christ’s Descent into Hades, according to Biblical and Patristic Tradition
https://pemptousia.com/2020/04/the-time-location-and-purpose-of-christs-descent-into-hades-according-to-biblical-and-patristic-tradition/

REVELATION TV: CHARITY COMMISSION REPORT

The Charity Commission has now published its report of the statutory inquiry into the Revelation Foundation. The report may be viewed online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-revelation-foundation/charity-inquiry-revelation-foundation

The article below from wiredgov is a reasonable summary of the situation:

Regulator finds mismanagement at Revelation Foundation

In a report published recently (09 October 2020), the Charity Commission was highly critical of the charity Revelation Foundation, after uncovering flaws in its structure and serious governance failings that amount to mismanagement by its trustees.

Revelation Foundation is involved in creating and broadcasting Christian content programmes for television.

The Commission opened an inquiry into the charity in 2014 following concerns raised by the public that the charity was being used for private advantage. The charity had recently moved most of its operations to Spain, and in doing so, had developed an overly complex operating structure.

The Commission found no evidence to support the allegation of private advantage, but its investigation instead exposed a series of governance failings on the part of the charity.

These failings included decision-making processes that were inadequate such as not obtaining professional advice before key decisions, badly managed conflicts of interest and poor financial oversight.

The regulator also found the charity’s founder Howard Conder, who had links to companies involved in the delivery of the charity’s activities and was a significant donor, held a disproportionate influence over the trustees.

As a consequence of the governance failures, the charity developed an unwieldy structure which placed a significant proportion of the charity’s assets beyond its direct control and therefore at risk.

Amy Spiller, Head of Investigations at the Charity Commission, recently said:

The public expects each charity to show that they are doing their bit to uphold public trust in charity more generally. This starts with trustees being able to clearly show how they are acting in their charity’s best interests and for its beneficiaries.

Our inquiry found the trustees of Revelation Foundation could not show why decisions were taken or how they had acted in their charity’s best interests and that of its beneficiaries. Instead they demonstrated weak governance and oversight and ultimately left themselves open to allegations they were making decisions in their own interests. Whilst our inquiry didn’t find evidence of this, our work does demonstrate the importance of good governance and transparency to prevent a charity being exposed to undue risk. We hope other charities will look to this as an example of why effective governance is so important.

The Commission appointed an interim manager to the charity in June 2015. The report acknowledges there was a significant delay during which the inquiry sought updates from the interim manager and the trustees’ concern that he had been in very limited contact with them. The interim manager was discharged in September 2018 on conclusion of his work.

The charity has, as a result of this inquiry, made many significant improvements to its governance arrangements, which includes Howard Condor stepping back from the charity and the trustees gaining a clearer understanding of their role and responsibilities.

The Commission will continue to monitor the charity.

Notes to Editors:
When the charity moved to Spain many Christian broadcasters were operating from the country at the time and so this was not an unusual decision.
The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.

Press office

Email pressenquiries@charitycommission.gov.uk

Press enquiries – office hours 0300 065 2123

Press enquiries – out of hours 07785 748787

https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Regulator+finds+mismanagement+at+Revelation+Foundation+12102020133800?open

JONATHAN CAHN DEBUNKED: ISRAEL TRUMP AND CYRUS

THE ORACLE: Ancient Prophecy Foretelling Trump & End Times | Jonathan Cahn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieIIakmwFy8

Jonathan Cahn's novel The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled (2019) presents specific events that allegedly correspond to biblical prophecy and the establishment of the modern-day nation of Israel. The PDF version of the book is available on https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf The subject of the book is an unnamed traveller, described as "a seeker of truth", a man who receives a divine revelation from "the Oracle" on the top of a mountain. The dialogue between the traveller and the Oracle reveals "the Jubilean Mysteries" i.e. the alleged connection between the years of Jubilee and the return of the Jewish people to to their ancestral land. (Leviticus 25:10-11). Cahn's introduction reads: “What you are about to read is presented in the form of a narrative, but what is contained in the story, all that the Oracle reveals, is absolutely real.” 

The Jubilean Code

According to Cahn the Hebrew word tashuvu (you shall return) equates to the year 1948. “In this year of Jubilee each of you shall return (tashuvu) to his property. {Leviticus 25:10,13]." Cahn's thesis relies on Kabbalistic gematria rather than accepted exegetical methods.

WTCD: "When the year of the Hebrew calendar is written, the millennia number is always ‘5’, and is therefore never written (a kind of short-hand), so the 708 in this case can be interpreted by the process of Kabalistic gematria as referring to the year 5708, which just so happens to equal the Christian calendar date of 1948, the year when the modern State of Israel was declared.

The phrase (repeated twice) in Leviticus 25:10 – TaShuVU (“you shall return”) can now be interpreted according to the principles of Kabalistic gematria as – “you shall return (lacking, minus, or without the 6[,000,000] in the year [5]708).”" {1}

The Stranger

Cahn: “The prophecy was appointed to be read in every synagogue in the world. So all across the earth, in every synagogue from San Francisco to Siberia, they were reciting and chanting the prophecy of the stranger, who would come from far away to the land of Israel to bear witness of the desolation. And so the prophecy of the stranger was being proclaimed throughout the earth at the very moment the stranger was in the land fulfilling its words.” “And they had no idea.” “Nor did the stranger.” {2}

In the above quote, Cahn refers to the reading of weekly parashah, i.e. the portion of the Torah that is read each week in Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath. Cahn claims that on the particular Sabbath that Mark Twain walked through the ancient city (Jerusalem) in 1867, the remnant of Jewish people living there would have been reciting the appointed Scripture of the stranger’s visit "proclaiming it, chanting it. . . as the stranger walked in their midst.” {2} According to Cahn, Mark Twain fulfilled the prophecy of Deuteronomy 29:22-23 of "the stranger/foreigner" on account of his description of the desolation of Israel. It is true that Mark Twain did travel to what was known as Palestine in 1867, and he did describe the country as "desolate and unlovely" in his travelogue Innocents Abroad. However, this is where the similarity ends.

Mark Twain: "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Palestine is desolate and unlovely… It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land." {3} 

Deuteronomy 29:22-23
And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath—

 

Cahn's alleged biblical fulfilment of Mark Twain's visit to Palestine typifies his eisegetical approach to the scriptures. The reference to "the foreigner/stranger" in Deuteronomy 29:22 is a plural term that refers to the next generation..  your children.. and the foreigner. This verse is not a prophecy regarding a specific stranger/foreigner who comes from a far land several generations later. Cahn's application of these verses to Mark Twain simply because he visited Palestine and brought back a negative report is out of context. In addition, the dates he alleges for specific Jubilee years cannot be verified.

 

Cahn continues with the coincidence that this happened to Mark Twain some years after God’s judgment on Israel through the Romans in 70AD. He claims that the beginnings of Zionism are also tied to the same year. This is inaccurate. Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century. The political movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897, thirty years after Mark Twain's visit to Palestine in 1867. {4} 

 

Mark Twain was the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Cahn makes much of this name, on the basis that the meaning of Samuel in Hebrew is "God has heard". Clemens is not a Hebrew name; it is an Old French name meaning “Merciful, mild, gentle". Nevertheless Cahn interprets Samuel Clemens as "The Lord has heard.. He has now been merciful". 

Cahn fails to mention Mark Twain's bizarre unfinished novel, The Mysterious Stranger: The Chronicle of Young Satan, a story that relates three boys encounter with a mysterious stranger, Satan or No. 444. {5} 

Mark Twain was a Freemason and member of the Polar Star Lodge No. 79 of Saint Louis. 

He was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research. 

Scottish Rite: "Although there is not a great deal of evidence to point to Mark Twain’s Masonic devotion, it is clear that Freemasonry had an impact on his life, which can be seen throughout his various writings. In The Innocents Abroad, he includes many Masonic phrases such as 'great Architect of the Universe,'” {6}    

The Trump/Cyrus Connection

A number of evangelical leaders, including Lance Wallnau, Mike Evans, Jim Bakker and Jonathan Cahn have exploited the idea of Trump as a modern day King Cyrus. (Ezra 5:13).

Aljazeera: "Back in 2016, during a televised conversation on whether Trump has a 'biblical mandate' to be a president, evangelical thinker Lance Wallnau opined: 'America’s going to have a challenge […] With Trump, I believe we have a Cyrus to navigate through the storm.'” {7} 

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu made a comparison between Trump and King Cyrus. Netanyahu: "I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory. So we remember the proclamation of the great King Cyrus the Great—Persian King. Twenty-five hundred years ago, he proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon can come back and rebuild our temple in Jerusalem." {8} 

Cahn informs us that the name Donald means "world leader" and that Trump means "trumpet". On the day of  President Trump's birth (Friday June 14the 1946), the appointed parashah was Numbers 10:1-10 i.e. the Lord's instruction to Moses regarding two silver trumpets. Cahn's justification for this dubious link: "Trump means the one who blows the trumpet". Once again Cahn's exegesis leaves much to be desired. Two silver trumpets were employed by the Israelites for various reasons: ..you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp; to sound an alarm; at appointed feasts and the beginning of your months you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the LORD your God.”

On December 6th 2017, Trump made a proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and relocating the United States Embassy to Jerusalem. Cahn speculates that 2017/18 was a Jubilee year, and he claims that "Cyrus did the same thing."  There is no evidence that Cyrus edict occurred on a Jubilee year. According to various sources there is considerable uncertainly regarding the calculation of Jubilee years. The first injunction to observe Sabbath years and Jubilee years was given to Moses, to be observed "When you enter the land I am giving you.." (Leviticus 25:1-4, 8-10). According to Chabad.org the Jubilee was not regularly observed after the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 6th century BC. As such Cahn's claims for various Jubilee years are speculative. 

Chabad.org: "..the last time there was a biblical requirement to observe the Jubilee was about 150 years before the destruction of the First Temple."  {9}

Cahn: "The building of the house decreed by Cyrus came at the end of a period of seventy years. The house decreed by President Trump was inaugurated on May 14, 2018. It was inaugurated exactly seventy years from the birth of Israel—to the exact day!" {10}

Cahn: "'[Cyrus'] proclamation was linked to a house,' says the protagonist in The Oracle. 'It specifically directed the construction of a house; it decreed a building to be built in Jerusalem. So if the American president is following the template of the ancient king, could his declaration follow that of the ancient proclamation? Could it likewise decree that a house be established, a building be built, in Jerusalem?..'" {11}

Cahn's reference to "a house" is another distortion of the scriptures. Cyrus edict is mentioned twice in the scriptures (2 Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:1-4). In both accounts, Cyrus' edict specifically concerns the subject of the Second Jerusalem Temple. In contrast, Trump's declaration concerned the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Cahn's incomplete comparison between the two "houses" is a misleading analogy that has no scriptural precedent. 

Cyrus' Edict

Cahn's seventy year comparison between Israel's release from Babylonian captivity and Trump's declaration only partially matches his thesis. When we examine all the facts, a definite correlation between Cyrus/Trump and a seventy year mystery is questionable.

Trump issued his declaration concerning Jerusalem in his first year as president, precisely 70 years after the UN Resolution in 1947. Cahn: "Seventy years before Trump’s 2017 declaration was 1947—the very year that Israel was voted back into existence."    

King Cyrus made his edict in his first year after the 70 years of Israel in captivity according to the prophecy of Jeremiah:  

“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10 cf. Daniel 9:2).   

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’ ” (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem:
Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, with three layers of cut stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid from the royal treasury. Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God. (Ezra 6:3-5).

Cyrus the Great was an ancient world leader who had, or rather was given, sole authority to sanction the rebuilding of the Second Temple and the return of the Jewish exiles. Cyrus' edict was inclusive of both these events, whereas Trump's declaration related to neither of these things. Trump's declaration occurred after a seventy year gap from the birth of Israel and the reversal of the diaspora. Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 14th 1948 contained no hint of a third Jewish temple. Trump's declaration concerning Jerusalem was limited to the United States, it was rejected by the majority of world leaders. Unlike Cyrus, Trump is not an autocrat i.e. he does not have the power to sanction anything concerning Jerusalem outside his own sphere influence. According to the international standards, Jerusalem is a divided city.  

Cyrus was called by name i.e. Isaiah's prophecy applies specifically to Cyrus: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus.. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. (Isaiah 45:1-4). Exegetically, Cahn's allusion to "Trump and trumpet" is not a credible proposition when compared with the precise information given in Isaiah 45. 

 

Cyrus the Great (c. 559 – 530 BC) 

The popular view concerning King Cyrus is that approximately 150 years before he was born, he was called by name in the book of Isaiah as the deliverer of the Jews from their seventy year long Babylonian captivity. The Jewish historian Josephus states that Cyrus was made aware of material from the book of Isaiah and that he was motivated to fulfill the prophecy. (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1ff).

Antiquities of the Jews — Book XI

“Thus saith Cyrus the King: since God Almighty hath appointed me to be King of the habitable earth, I believe that He is that God, which the nation of the Israelites worship. For indeed he foretold my name by the Prophets, and that I should build him an house at Jerusalem, in the countrey of Judea.”
2. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his Prophecies. For this Prophet said, that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be King over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and an ambition seized upon him, to fulfil what was so written. {12} 

There are a number of problems with Josephus' account. Josephus was a first century Romano-Jewish historian. This puts hundreds of years between him and the events in question. As far as we know, Josephus did not have independent sources to validate his version of Cyrus' calling. (2 Corinthians 13:1). Biblical scholars generally agree that the book of Isaiah has at least three distinct timelines and was written by at least three different authors, referred to as Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 (Proto-Isaiah) is thought to have been written by the eighth century prophet Isaiah. However, there is compelling evidence that  chapters 40-45 (Deutero-Isaiah) was written during the sixth century BC. Not only is there a significant break in language, content, themes, style and theology, the events are described as past events. This evidence puts considerable doubt upon Josephus' claim that Cyrus was called before his birth. As such, it is unlikely that Deutero-Isaiah was a prediction of a future Persian ruler since Cyrus was already living at that time. 

The Third Temple

The Oracle: "A question,” I said. “Since in the ancient decree the house was the Temple, could what happened in 2018, the establishment of the house in Jerusalem, be a foreshadowing of a future rebuilding of the other house, the Temple?” “It could,” he said. “Remember, each Jubilean event is only the beginning and sets in motion the course for the next Jubilean cycle. So the Jubilee of 2017 had set in motion a course of events." {13}

The political maneuverings around Jerusalem and Trump's 2017 declaration may well be a precursor for the Third Temple. However, Cahn's partially accurate speculations are scripturally defective and are a distraction from biblical eschatology. (1 John 4:1).

There is no scriptural mandate for the Jews to build a Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

However many people would disagree, including radical fringe groups of Orthodox Jews (The Temple Institute and the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement). Support for a Third Temple is strong in certain quarters, including many evangelical Christians who believe that the building of the Third Temple is necessary in order to fulfill bible prophecy. I do not doubt that the prophecies will be fulfilled, only that the outcome will be very different to what is expected. The apostle Paul referred to the coming temple as the seat of the man of lawlessness where he (the Antichrist) will perform the abomination of desolation before the great and terrible day of the Lord. (Joel 2:31 cf. 1 John 2:18). 

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; cf. Daniel 9:24-27,  11:31, 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Revelation 11:1-2, 13:1-18). 

I regard Cahn's book, The Oracle, as a demonically inspired occult work with loose connections to events and dates based on half truths, numerology, speculation and mysticism (Kabbalah).

1.   http://wtcdemolition.com/blog/node/1351
2.   https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf page 44
3.   http://www.literaturepage.com/read/twain-innocents-abroad-458.html
4.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Zionism
5.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102564.The_Mysterious_Stranger
6.   https://scott,ishritenmj.org/blog/the-masonic-life-of-mark-twain
7.   https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/4/11/is-trump-a-king-cyrus-or-a-queen-esther/

8.   https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-netanyahu-israel-bilateral-meeting-2/
9.   https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/513212/jewish/When-Is-the-Next-Jubilee-Year.htm?
10. https://www.charismamag.com/life/politics/44606-the-mysterious-reasons-behind-trump-s-evangelical-support-for-israel
11. https://www.charismamag.com/life/politics/44606-the-mysterious-reasons-behind-trump-s-evangelical-support-for-israel
12. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-11.html
13. https://files.charismahouse.com/pdfs/9781629996301.pdf page 224

JONATHAN CAHN ~ THE RETURN: PROPHETIC WORD TO AMERICA

Prophetic Word to America - Jonathan Cahn At 'The Return'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Jonathan Cahn is a well known Messianic rabbi and author of a number of books, including bestselling novel The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that holds the Secret of America's Future (2012). The Return was an event specifically based on Cahn's "harbinger" theme i.e. his "prophetic" view that nine parallel harbingers show a connection between ancient Israel's destruction and a possible coming destruction of present-day America. The event was promoted by Cahn as "A global day of prayer and repentance" on the National Mall in Washington DC on Saturday September 26th 2020. 

Good News Florida: "Believers and leaders from every walk of life are already part of 'The Return' include Dr. James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Ann Graham Lotz, Alveda King, Kevin Jessip, Michele Bachmann, Gordon Robertson, Marcus Lamb, Bishop Harry Jackson—and many more."  {1}

Cahn's books are published by the Charisma Media Group whose Founder and CEO is Stephen Strang, an "apostle" with ties to the New Apostolic Reformation. 

Cahn's associates include Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Jim Bakker, Sid Roth, Pat Robertson, Morris Cerullo, John Paul Jackson etc. All these teachers follow an ecumenical agenda at odds with the scriptures and all of them promote an end time "revival". 

The Return: "Now we move forward together for worldwide revival and the end-time harvest foretold in the Scriptures." {2} 

The scriptures warn about false prophets, apostasy and wickedness in the last days, not revival. (Matthew 24:5-12; 2 Timothy 3:1-9). 

Cahn does not claim to be a "prophet". As such it is difficult to hold him accountable to Deuteronomy 18:22. However, his reticence on that score is something of a misnomer since The Return was promoted as a "prophetic announcement". Cahn's title "rabbi" is antithetical to the New Testament. Jesus Christ stated unequivocally that no one should be called "rabbi" (Matthew 23:8). Cahn is very careful to make loose predictions and ambiguous statements with disclaimers without actually saying anything definite. His books are presented as "fiction" and yet he claims divine insight. Cahn is very careful not to say that America is actually in "covenant relationship" with God. However this is what he constantly infers.

Cahn: “Those who laid America’s foundations saw it as a new Israel, an Israel of the New World. And as with ancient Israel, they saw it as in covenant with God.’” {3}   

God's covenant is with individuals from every tribe, nation and language and is entered into exclusively by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. (Revelation 7:9; John 3:16; Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 2:8-9). America can claim no special distinction amongst the nations before God. (Romans 3:23).

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10).

I have not read Cahn's book The Harbinger and I am unlikely to do so. However, I have listened to his audio The Harbinger On Audio. {4} Cahn claims that: "..there are only two nations in world history founded and dedicated from their inception upon God -  they are Israel and America." {5} 

The Myth: America's Puritan Foundations

It is important to note that the Pilgrims/Puritans were not the first to land in America, nor did they discover it.

Cahn argues as historical fact that American civilization was founded exactly 400 years ago by the Puritans who set sail from Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620. The Mayflower set sail with up to 30 crew and 102 passengers on board. Forty one of the passengers were Puritans who were also known as "Separatists". Cahn identifies Plymouth Massachusetts as the first foundation of American civilization, and he specifically draws attention to the The Mayflower Compact. {6} Cahn fails to point out that the Anglicans had already established colonies in America prior to 1620.

Jamestown Virginia, America’s first permanent English colony, was founded in 1607, thirteen years before the Puritans landed at Plymouth Massachusetts on the Mayflower. The Jamestown charter was granted by King James to the Virginia Company on April 10th 1606. The Anglican leaders of the Virginia Company of London oversaw the original charter.

Text of The Jamestown Charter

"Wee, greately commending and graciously accepting of theire desires to the furtherance of soe noble a worke which may, by the providence of Almightie God, hereafter tende to the glorie of His Divine Maiestie in propogating of Christian religion to suche people as yet live in darkeness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worshippe of God and may in tyme bring the infidels and salvages living in those parts to humane civilitie and to a settled and quiet governmente.." 

 "Jamestown was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion." {7} 

The original Jamestown charter was subsequently followed by three further charters:

The Second charter of the Virginia Company of London, 1609 
The Third Charter of the Virginia Company of London, 1612 
The Great Charter November 18, 1618
Dissolution of the Charter - The Jamestown Massacre in 1622 {8}

The Mayflower Compact was signed on the 11th November 1620 on board the Mayflower. Nothing in the Mayflower Compact dedicates America as a nation to God. The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony i.e. its application and relevance was limited to that particular geographical area.

Text of The Mayflower Compact:

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.

The Arbella 1630

Cahn misquotes Puritan leader John Winthrop who travelled on the Arbella in 1630 and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony with 900 Puritans.

Cahn: "He (Winthrop) was saying that our nation shall be as a 'city on a hill." {9}

Winthrop was referring to Massachusetts Bay Colony, NOT TO AMERICA AS A WHOLE.

"While crossing the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Arbella, Winthrop delivered a renowned sermon entitled 'A Modell of Christian Charity.' Winthrop compared the flight of the Puritans to the story of Exodus. He described the future colony as an ideal Puritan society, where colonists could uphold their obligations to God and one another. Winthrop believed that the world was watching this grand Puritan experiment and, in an echo of Jesus's words in Matthew chapter 5:14, he declared that Massachusetts 'shall be as a city on a hill." {10} 

Winthrop’s sermon has been quoted out of context by almost every president to hold office including John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

National Endowment For The Humanities: "..the content of Winthrop’s sermon—what {Perry} Miller thought Winthrop was actually saying or proposing as a model—differed radically from what Reagan and others would make of it. According to Miller, this sermon called Puritans to model radical communal solidarity. It had nothing to do with the American Dream, nothing to do with bettering one’s life, nothing at all to do with making money or getting ahead. In fact, Miller claimed, Winthrop specifically rejected all such ideas. Going it alone, pulling ahead of others, getting rich or even trying to—these were the very dangers that Winthrop sought to guard against. Society’s success depended instead on mutual affection, being 'knit together in this work as one man.'" {11} 

Cahn also quoted from George Washington's Inaugural Address in which he affirmed America's relationship to God. Washington's precise phrase was "that Almighty Being". Since George Washington was a Freemason, we might legitimately question whether his faith was biblical, or whether he followed the ambiguous Great Architect of the Universe. George Washington was influenced by the Illuminati or “luminaries", a movement rooted in the Enlightenment. {12} America was allegedly consecrated to God in 1789 at today's ground zero in New York, a fact that Cahn finds "prophetic". 

It is reasonable to conclude that America consisted of pockets of believers from 1620, but it is also apparent that there were other influences at work in the country both before and after the Mayflower landing. This is evidenced by the Masonic symbols interwoven into American architecture and society, in particular, the Great Seal of the United States and other national seals, the symbols on the dollar bill, the layout of Washington DC etc. In fact several "founding fathers", such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Monroe were Freemasons.

Isaiah 9:10: The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”

Three leading politicians quoted Isaiah 9:10 following 9/11: Tom Daschle, John Edwards and Barack Obama. Isaiah 9:10 was Israel's vow of defiance against God after they had been struck by the Assyrians.  

Obama signed a beam laid at the WTC memorial with the words "We remember, we rebuild, we come back stronger." on June 14 2012. He also quoted Isaiah 9:10 on January 2009 in his first State of the Union address.

Barack Obama 2012

Tom Daschle Speech, 09/12/01 -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukYiWd3T9sk

John Edwards September 11 2004 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1IOn57a6s&t=10s

Cahn: “Like Daschle, Edwards thinks he’s invoking inspirational and comforting words from the Bible, but he’s actually inviting judgment on America.. He’s repeating the vow that provoked God to bring calamity on ancient Israel.” I find it hard to accept that leading politicians would publicly quote Israel's vow of defiance against God in Isaiah 9:10 without knowing the context as Cahn indicates. 

Cahn teaches that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the events that followed were warning signs of impending judgment or "harbingers". He sticks to the official script regarding 9/11, i.e. that it was a terrorist attack carried out by al-Qaeda. However numerous anomalies have arisen that have shed doubt on the official explanation, and several people, including myself, question this portrayal of the 9/11 disaster. 

The renewal of the Consecration of the United States of America to "the blessed Virgin Mary" was managed exclusively by the Roman Catholic Church:

LA Catholics: "On Friday, May 1, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and president of the USCCB, led the Renewal of the Consecration of the United States of America to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The U.S. bishops joined the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in renewing the consecrations of the two nations to the care of our Blessed Mother."  {13} 

Cahn's Breaking Of The Vessel 

It is ominous that Cahn's "prophetic act" of smashing the vessel took place at the Mall in Washington DC at the southern tip of the occult inverted pentagram directly in front of the obelisk. Cahn's use of masonic hand signals is evident throughout this event. I refer in particular to his frequent upward pointing index finger (pointer).

Cahn: "How can God bless a nation that wars against His ways, that blasphemes His name, that silences his Word and vilifies those who uphold it, that sheds the blood of over sixty million of its children."

Cahn smashed the vessel in front of many "professing Christians" as a replay of Jeremiah 19. He specifically called out the sin of abortion as one of the primary reasons for God's impending judgement against America. The awful sin of abortion is a symptom of godlessness. However, pervasive sin in every area of society is the disease that can only be healed by the new birth. (John 3:3). 

The chronic sin Cahn fails to acknowledge is the sin of ecumenism. Cahn loudly protests the sin of abortion, but he deliberately ignores the millions of souls lost due to the false works gospel of Roman Catholicism. The inevitable prospect of spiritual death and eternal damnation awaits countless numbers of people deceived by the imitation gospel of the ecumenical movement. (2 Corinthians 11:4). 

The Return was a politically motivated event and a call to vote for Donald Trump who, like Cahn, is deeply involved with many false NAR Dominionist leaders who are guilty of the many things that Cahn supposedly speaks out against. 

Shabbat Shuvah

Cahn: "When this day was chosen for The Return, nobody realized, no one had any idea.. It turned out that this day was a sacred day set apart on the biblical Hebrew calendar from ancient times. It is called  Shabbat Shuvah. Shabbat means the sabbath, that's Saturday which is right now, but the key word is Shuvah. What does it mean? Shuvah means the return..  This day was specifically consecrated as the day of repentance of return to God for the return of a nation.."  

I find it surprising that Cahn, a "rabbi", was unaware that the 26th of September was Shabbat Shuvah/The Sabbath of Return. I am inclined to think that this date was specifically chosen for The Return to fit in with Cahn's spiel. In any event, there are discrepancies between Rabbi Hillel's lunisolar calendar and Jewish holidays.

"..there are discrepancies between his (Hillel's) calendar and the astronomical reality. This is a serious problem the Sanhedrin is taking steps to gradually fix." {14}

Cahn's involvement with the New Apostolic Reformation is a clear indication that he has a different agenda that is completely at odds with the scriptures. He works on the assumption that America's alleged special position before God through its Christian foundations is relevant to individuals living in America today. This assumption is not only false, it is a denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ who calls individuals out of the world, from darkness into his marvelous light. (John 17:6; 1 Peter 2:9). 

I regard Jonathan Cahn as an extremely dangerous man. (Matthew 24:24; Ephesians 6:12).

..the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19).

 

1.  https://www.goodnewsfl.org/the-return-a-movement-for-thousands-to-pray-for-repentance-on-the-washington-mall-sept-26/
2.  https://www.thereturn.org/
3.  https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonathan-cahn/jonathan-cahn-answers-dr-ice/461538227203199/
4.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqb0Qc_Cr9Q
5.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqb0Qc_Cr9Q
6.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqb0Qc_Cr9Q
7.  https://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown-settlement/history-jamestown/
8   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Company#The_charters_of_the_Virginia_Company_of_

London
9.   https://christinprophecyblog.org/2015/01/jonathan-cahn-on-america-a-city-on-a-hill/
10. https://www.thearda.com/timeline/persons/person_24.asp
11. https://www.neh.gov/article/how-america-became-city-upon-hill
12. https://michelinewalker.com/2014/05/23/designing-washington-dc-pierre-charles-lenfant/
13. https://lacatholics.org/consecration/
14. https://www.israel365news.com/63610/sanhedrin-performs-rare-biblical-commandment-not-seen-2000-years-jewish-world/#/