Sept 19
My Judgment Day: October 3-4, 2005
Well folks, the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah is almost upon us. This
holiday occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh
Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh
Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. It is also viewed as a
potential rapture date by many Christians.
One reason Rosh Hashanah has a connection to the
pre-tribulation rapture is because the holiday is the Feast of Trumpets; a
linkage is made with rapture trump spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Another
reason is the fact that Jesus fulfilled a major prophecy on all other Jewish
holidays, and Rosh Hashanah is viewed to be next in line.
Nearly every time a new date is set that points to Rosh Hashanah, a
special number is used to link the holiday to major events is Israel's
history. This time around, the 14,000 days was
selected. Here is an explanation of one justification cited for using this
number.
"After the Israelites passed thru the Red Sea, God commanded Moses to number
the men of the congregation who were 20 years of age and older. The
numbering of the men 20 and over established who was of fighting age and the
generation that was accountable to God. Once the men were numbered, the
wilderness journey began. In Numbers 10:11, we read the numbered accountable
generation of Israelites left Sinai on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the
2nd year - (Calendar Year = 360 days of 12 months). We add 30 plus 20 plus
360 = 410 days. When the last man of the cursed generation died, God
commanded that the congregation cross into the Promised Land. In Joshua
4:19, the Israelites entered the Promised Land on the 10th day of the 1st
month of the 41st year (for 41st year see Dt. 1:3.) Calendar Year 360 x 40 =
14400 + 10 = 14410. When we subtract the 410 days from the 14410 days, we get
exactly 14000 days for the numbered accountable, cursed generation! The
Israelites were commanded by God to enter the Promised Land the very day the
last man of the cursed, numbered generation died. Exactly 14000 days from
when the numbered generation set out into the wilderness!" (http://www.rapture2005.com)
The folks promoting the 14,000 theory cite two prior examples as proof that
God is mindful of this number. The Israelites wandered in the desert exactly 14,000 days after receiving the Law and before entering the Promised Land. There were exactly 14,000 days from the day Jesus entered Jerusalem until Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.
With all the preconditions in place, it then become plausible to predict the
time frame for the rapture. The date comes from the day Jerusalem was
recaptured in June 7, 1967 to Rosh Hashanah, October 3-4, 2005 - exactly
14,000 days.
Not all major date setters are behind this rapture date. Marilyn Agee,
who has been called “The Queen of Date Setters,” does not support this 14,000-day
theory. Here is what she had to say a few months ago:
"I read '14,000-Day Generation and Rosh Hashanah 2005' by Stuart Cobbs. I
disagree with some of his figures. To me, he is mixing apples and oranges.
In figuring the 14000-day generation from the Exodus to the entry into the
Promised Land, he uses the 360-day year. In figuring the time from the
Six-Day War in 1967 to his proposed Rapture on the upcoming Feast of
Trumpets, he uses the actual number of days, not going by the 360-day year.
Are they equal? I don't think so."
(Agee had already committed herself to looking for the rapture to occur in
the middle part of last month. Some news event in Israel on July 6, 2005
caused her to set her forecast 40 days out to Monday, August 15, 2005).
I strongly doubt the rapture will ever occur on Rosh Hashanah. Jesus
repeatedly described the date of the rapture as being a surprise. The
popularity of the holiday invalidates it as a possibility.
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of
man cometh" (Mat. 24:44).
The reason I called this article “My Judgment Day” is that several of
these date setters strongly condemned me for failing to cover the date.
Terry and I have been assured that we will be severely punished by God
for not sharing this vital information with the public.
Because I couldn't find anything beneficial to say about the October 3-4
rapture prediction, I decided to let this date pass like all the
rest. But in the past couple of weeks, I have noticed something worth commenting on about this group of people. They tend to be the opposite of what could be
called productive Christians. They are internally focused and want everyone to know how clever they are for figuring out the mysteries of the end times.
If it were possible to know the rapture date, I wouldn't be wasting my time
trying to figure out the schedule of all the tribulation events. My goal would
be to save as many people as possible before time runs out.
These people are not necessarily slothful. Many of them have very extensive
websites that required hundreds of hours to compile. It is rather sad to
see all this effort serving no real purpose.
I do believe we are getting very close to the end of the age, but I also
believe that preparation for the Lord's return never should take a back seat
to being a good watchman. If you're not active in leading the lost to
Christ, prophecy is of no importance.
God Is No “Indian Giver”
The title of this commentary has, no doubt, already landed me in the proverbial hot water with the PC crowd. And there are many readers who won’t recognize the antiquated term, “Indian giver.” So I had better clear that up first.
The term described, for the youth of my childhood, a person who gave something to you to keep forever, then turned right around and took it back. The act was not at all in keeping with the noble savage–the native Americans of the days of the cowboys and Indians--so I can’t figure why the term “Indian giver” was the accepted pejorative. My own ancestors, the inhabitants of ancient Scotland –mixed, perhaps, with the Nordic tribe-folks of ancient Scandinavia--were apparently, during some periods of history, so prone to brutally take whatever they wanted in war that they might better have been used to describe the horrid act of “Indian giving.” It’s like a kid giving you an arrowhead once used by Geronimo to fight the U.S. Cavalry, then snatching it back just because the “Indian giver” got mad over a perceived wrong he had suffered.
There is no way to say it better. Much of the clergy within Christianity today view God as an “Indian giver” in the matter of His promises to the nation Israel. These replacement theologians proclaim that God has taken back His covenant promises to the Jew –and the nation Israel, and has given them to the Church –believers of this Age of Grace.
These church leaders erroneously preach and teach that Israel has no place in God’s future plans, except perhaps to be one of the small nations of earth, if they are able to survive. And, at the rate America and the world, in concert with the Sharon government, are shrinking Israel’s land, it would appear that soon there will be no more Israel. God would then indeed be an “Indian giver” because He promises some awesome things to His chosen people. The question these replacement propagandists should be asking themselves is this: If God will take back His promises from His chosen people, why would He not take away those promises, which now supposedly belong to the Church, from His “new chosen people”--i.e., how can such a God be trusted to keep His Word? Certainly, the Church has failed in many ways to live up to God’s expectations, just as Israel is accused of being guilty of failures.
There are tragic consequences for such thinking that puts forth that Israel is but another nation in a sea of nations. That it belongs in the area surrounding Jerusalem only because the United States supported its 1948 declaration of nationhood. Not the least of the tragedy involved is the encouragement the land-for-peace travesty gives the terrorists who continue to murder Israelis at every opportunity. The following is a recent account of such encouragement to terrorists:
Huge Hamas 'Victory' Rally in Gaza
Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza City, as the Islamic terrorist group Hamas claimed victory and took credit for driving the Israelis out.
Leaders of the group vowed that holy war would continue until Israel is destroyed. ‘We are not going to rest until we raise the flag of Islam over the
minarets of Jerusalem,’ said Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar. He also rejected requests by the Palestinian Authority to disarm, as demanded by the internationally-backed ‘roadmap’ peace plan. ‘These weapons will remain aimed at the chest of the enemy until we achieve liberation, Allah willing,’ Zahar told the crowd” (Prophecy Update, Sept. 14, 2005).
While the territory won through terrible battles in modern times is simply taken from the people of Israel by diplomatic fiat, America and the international community keep up the pressures to make Israeli leaders give Israel’s blood-vowed enemies every concession they demand. And the Islamic fanatics continue to threaten the west with more and more attacks--each, they pledge, to be more catastrophic than 9/11.
With Israel’s diminishing size, it would seem it is destined to lose its statehood, and the Jewish people to again be scattered to the winds of history.
Is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob –the God of all Creation—an “Indian giver”? Let’s look at some of His Words on the matter of His covenant language directed at Israel.
The Lord first promised to Abraham a land for God’s people:
"The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.'" (Gen. 12: 7a).
Then God repeated the promise:
"For all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever" (Gen. 13:15).
Again, God spoke the promise:
"To your descendants I have given this land" (Gen. 15:18).
He also promised an unconditional covenant:
"And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17:7-8).
The replacement theologians imply and/or proclaim that God’s promises were conditional, that the promises He made were in place as long as the people kept certain covenant principles. God says something quite different!
"If his sons forsake My law, and do not walk in My judgments, if they violate My statues, and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not break off My loving kindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful" (Psa. 89:30-37).
No matter the diasporas (scatterings) Israel has endured because of the people’s disobedience to God, the Lord has never stopped viewing them as His chosen people. This Truth is made absolutely clear by God’s own Words:
"This is what the Lord says, 'He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -- the Lord Almighty is His Name; Only if these ordinances vanish from My sight,' declares the Lord, 'will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before Me'" (Jer. 31:35-36).
Many other texts could be put down here to further the fidelity of the Living God to His chosen nation. The vast power of the United States and all of the world’s nations combined are as nothing when compared to the incomprehensible might that stands behind this tiny nation, whose inheritance includes almost all of that region falsely named Palestine. It is Canaan, and Jesus Christ is destined to sit atop Mount Moriah (Mt. Zion) at Jerusalem for 1,000 years. Nothing, and no one, can stop that from coming to pass.
God is no Indian giver!
--Terry
