Messiah the Prince

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. Daniel 9:25, KJV

"Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens.' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. Daniel 9:25, NIV

Three verses Dan. 9:24 through 27, give us the exact day when Jesus rode a donkey through the streets of Jerusalem. This is why faithful Jews flocked out to meet Him and spread royal palms upon the street to welcome him.

The beginning of this sequence of seven year periods (Jewish version of our decades) is part of secular history. His ride was on the only day which Jesus allowed Himself to be called king. This sequence of 70 seven year periods is a guide to the great events in the life of Jesus-to the day! Jews reading it have absolutely no room to hide from the historical fact that Jesus was, and is the Messiah.

A hula dancer could take lessons from the wriggling of those trying to deny and evade this truth. Jews have been converted based on these three verses. "Better," say these supposed masters of scripture, "avoid it altogether." To count these days in history is to admit that Messiah came and that they crucified Him.

Do I love this portion of the Old Testament? Oh, yes! It helped to change my life.

Not only do the Jews fear this passage, but many churches do also. I was in one. The book of Daniel is, to them, like a crucifix to a vampire in a horror movie. Kingdom Grabbers hate it. The remaining seven year period, the 70th week, freaks them out. "You mean, the Kingdom of God upon the earth is not the Presbyterian church!!!" It's not even the Watchtower Society.

Jesus will return in glory. Not "spiritually", as some try to teach, but "every eye will see Him."

No Church Until After John the Baptist and Jesus Died

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. Acts 15:14

Once again I am earning my reputation as one who could get shot at a Quaker picnic. I may seem to be misinterpreting what the church is and when it cane into being. But I think many churches and congregation members do just that.

A typical sermon or Sunday school lesson will be about the Gospels. Matthew is a favorite. A young Lutheran told me, "We stick to the Gospels." Sounds pious doesn't it? The Gospels are "safe".

Draw your moral lessons from the Sermon on the Mount. No one but Jesus ever kept it, but we must try. The hymn for such a lesson should be "To Dream the Impossible Dream". This sermon illustrates the perfect righteousness required by God. No blood of Christ in it, just the perfection required to please God. It should make people cling to the righteousness of Christ conferred by faith. When I hear, "I follow the Sermon on the Mount," I know I have a person who is not in touch with reality.

Those who limit their studies and behavior to the Gospels should attend synagogues. The Gospels were written for Israel. There is much of great value in them for the church, but they are not written about the church. It is not until we come to Acts chapter two that we see the beginning of the church.

A good Baptist told me that the narrative of Pentecost proves the church existed prior to that day. This, he said, was because that the Pentecost converts were said to be added to the church on that day ( Acts 2:47). I concede that the disciples were the core of the new church. But neither Jews nor Gentiles, other than the twelve, were in such a body.

Both Covenant people and Baptists like to make the church out as existing much earlier than it did. Covenant people claim the Jews were in the church during the Exodus, i.e., "the church in the wilderness". But "church" used alone merely means "a small group called out of a larger group". Unless "of God" is used, it does not refer to the church or anything necessarily holy.

Many Baptists date the origin of the church to John the Baptist, with Jesus as the first "convert". No kidding.

The church was a new body in the days of Acts. Jesus was calling out His bride, even as He is today.

Just a Natural Cycle

A young man about 25 years old kisses his wife goodbye at the door. She is a vivacious 23 year old. In the evening he returns and sees an old woman of about 80, asleep in a chair. She is wearing the same dress his wife had worn in the morning.

She wakes, puts on her glasses, looks up at him and says, "Hi, Honey."

It's his wife! The man grabs a phone, calls his best friend, and blurts out, "Hank, you've got to help me. My wife has turned into an old woman."

His friend calmly tries to reassure him. "Now hold on Bill. Nothing to get excited about. It's just a natural cycle. We all get old. Always have."

Bill yells into the phone, "Sure we all get old, but in one day?"

A good friend told me that he thought global warming was a hoax. He said that a scientific study shows that the temperature of the earth has remained the same for fifteen years. One reference to a "study" had convinced him. This idea, going around now, meant to pacify people, was based on a satellite survey which has since been discredited.

When Sean Hannity tosses out a reassuring idea like this, some people follow it as if it were a revelation by God. That his corporate sponsors favor such propaganda is not at all surprising. It tells people that all is well. Use lots of petroleum. We will make plenty of $$$$$ and you will have peace of mind.

Now, I want you to know that I do not worry at all about global warming, true as it is. People can use all the carbon they want. I don't care. Though north and south polar ice is melting at an increasingly rapid rate and sea levels are rising, this is nothing compared to what will happen in the Last Days.

Man has a hand in it. It is not a natural occurrence. Not at the present rate. Nothing will stop it, or the cataclysmic changes ahead. While man messes with nature, God will soon surpass anything man can do.

Watch Discovery Channel - Global Warming, What You Need To Know, with Tom Brokaw.

Samuel Offs Agag

And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
1 Samuel 15:33

In this passage, we see Samuel has come a long way from the days when his mother made him a little garment for her yearly visits. Where is the rebuke for this action? There is none. Samuel acted before the Lord and as a minister of God in cutting up Agag.

Many would say that this is the "God of the Old Testament", a real meanie. Aren't we glad that God does not act this way any more?

As we proudly put medals on the shirts of men who send out drones to blow up innocent people in far away lands. Got another wedding party that might have included a "terrorist". Brave men, not at all like murderous Samuel.

The cognitive dissonance of those who say they live by the Sermon on the Mount, and shrink from the very idea of killing (unless someone else does it), shows how sick and confused we are. Praise to you, Samuel! You got the right man and wielded the sword yourself.

You really needed to know Agag, maybe by reading about him. But there is a way to "justify" God's sentence, and the man who carried it out. We'll just say that Agag was a terrorist!

The Security of the Unbeliever

Yes, I meant unbeliever. Not all of them, of course, but God's chosen, born as all people are, in sin and unbelief. I can speak personally of being guided and protected by God's hand while yet denying Him.

The wonderful story of Joseph is such a story on the grandest of scales. Not that Joseph was an unbeliever, but that he was protected while yet a youth. As Joseph was preserved, even through a plot on his life, so we are kept. I speak of the elect who are kept from the evils and perils of the world, from the devil himself.

In the story of Joseph, had he not been put into a pit, and later into prison, he could not have been lifted up to serve in the world's mightiest nation. His story is a guide to all of us. Have patience through our own versions of pits and prisons. Someday we will be lifted up.

But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Genesis 50:20

Unspeakable Words

How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Corinthians 12:4

And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. Revelation 10:4

A young lady I know prayed that God would reveal to her the utterings of the seven thunders in Revelation. She promised not to tell anyone about them. She was not told, but I can appreciate her desire to know. With all the things that are revealed in this wonderful book, there are things, revealed to John, that we are not yet to know.

I am surprised that we are told of the seven thunders at all. But we can be certain that there are even greater things in store than those which have been revealed. The timing of the coming of the Kingdom (Mark 13:32) was not known even by Jesus during his earthly life. So much for those who set dates today. They claim to know more than Jesus did.

Santa Stole My Toys!

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded , you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. Matthew 23:15, NIV

Let's say some parents saved up to send their boy to college. Or a church took some of its wealth to send off a young man. Nothing unusual in this unless he is going to seminary.

I actually overheard an exchange from inside a church office about such a transaction.

"We're sending young so and so to seminary."

"Oh, which one?"

"I believe it is Gordon Conwell."

"Well at least it's not totally liberal."

By totally liberal I think they meant that this theological cemetery did not refer to God as "Her".

Amazing what you can hear while using a copier!

So why the reference to Santa? I am borrowing Mr. Claus for an illustration only. Imagine a family putting up a tree and sending their young one to bed with the expectation that he will soon get lots of toys. When the poor kid wakes up, he finds that Santa not only did not bring toys, but he stole the ones the child had.

This is what happens when some so-called outfits get through with a young preacher to be. What he once believed is taken from him and false ideas are implanted. Why, you hardly know the young man when he returns. Now he is prepared to make clones of himself by passing on lessons he learned in "How to lose your faith 101".

Think I'm exaggerating? Those inside the church know that places that once fitted men to take up the ministry, have become the number one place to lose your hope.

The church is the world's quietest battlefield. Example, Harvard. It was founded as a seminary, but soon became non or even anti-Christian. Yale was supposed to be its replacement, but followed the same course. Christian publications tell the story.

My drunken artist friend Vance said it well. "Take any religion as set forth by its founder, and you'll find it has been turned upside down."

Am I angry? I'm too sweet and loveable to get angry, but sometimes I make other people feel that way.