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WHATSNEW
1996-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08
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GUESTBOOK |
ARTCHIVE
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12/29/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) Chapter XV - The Siege
is Begun "The Jews fought regardless of life; single men dashed into
the midst of the Romans and fell there fighting fiercely; John’s compact
companies hurled themselves upon the line and broke it. Simon fought
desperately at the head of his men, cutting down all who stood in his
way. The Romans were wavering and would soon have broken into open
flight, when rescue arrived. The general in command had, immediately the
Jews had been seen issuing out, sent off a horseman to Titus with the
news, and he, putting himself at the head of this body-guard, started
instantly to their assistance."
-
American Teen Travels to Iraq in Humanitarian Search - "Those
terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted,
decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately
altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside
the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and
risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will."
- Reclassified All Archives
- Now reflecting four categories: Preterist, Partial Preterist,
Futurist, Early Church
12/28/5:
- StudyBible:
James 5:8 - "Finite minds, reading what Peter wrote in the first
century, have trouble with his saying that "the end of all things is at
hand" (1 Peter 4:7). Likewise, they have difficulty with a first century
writer saying that "it is the last hour" (1 John 2:18). Similarly, as
men count time, a first century announcement that "the coming of the
Lord is at hand" could not be true (James 5:8)."
- Rome:
Archeology Mag: Review of "Rome" - Is the HBO series Rome's history
though the eyes of ordinary men or just an ancient version of Desperate
Housewives? On balance, then, as a visualization of ancient Rome, "Rome"
is certainly better than most of its genre, but lacks the dramatic
tension of that classic series, "I, Claudius".
12/25/5:
-
Partial: John
Piper -
Jesus:
Mediator of a Better Covenant "(Christmas) means the replacement
of Old Testament shadows with reality. The temple and tabernacle and
sacrifices and priesthood and feasts and dietary laws were all shadows
and copies of the Reality in heaven, namely, Jesus Christ and his work
as our High Priest and our Sacrifice and our focus of worship. Jesus
fulfills and replaces the shadows of the Old Testament."
-
Critical: Gene Shaparenko:
Preterism... the
Church's Final Apostacy
"Preterists have an uncontrollable penchant for parsing various
scriptural words and phrases, relying on what they believe are relevant
greek or latin translations which support a prior assumption. Former
President Bill Clinton was a master of this parsing process in his
evasive testimony regarding his fornication activities in the White
House and other locations. Preterists don't seem to be able to grasp the
entirety of the Holy Scriptures, rather looking for isolated proof texts
upon which to create an entirely new Gospel and eschatology."
-
Matthew
16:28:
Preterism and Matthew 16:28
-
The Upper City During Second Temple Period - "The Burnt House was
found buried under a thick layer of destruction. Throughout the house,
scattered in disarray among the collapsed walls, ceilings and the second
story, were fragments of stone tables and many ceramic, stone and metal
vessels, evidence of pillaging by the Roman soldiers. Leaning against a
corner of one of the rooms was an iron spear, which apparently had
belonged to one of the Jewish fighters who lived here. At the entrance
to the side room, the arm bones of a young woman were found, the fingers
clutching at the stone threshold. The many iron nails found in the ruins
are all that was left of the wooden roof, the shelves and furnishings
which were completely burnt. Numerous coins minted during the rebellion
against the Romans (66-70 CE) attest to the date of the destruction of
this house. In one of the rooms a round stone weight, 10 cm. in
diameter, was found. On it, in square Aramaic script was the Hebrew
inscription (of) Bar Kathros, indicating that it belonged to the son of
a man named Kathros. The "House of Kathros" is known as that of a
priestly family, which had abused its position in the Temple. A ditty
preserved in talmudic literature speaks of the corruption of these
priests:
Woe is me because of
the House of Boethus,
woe is me because of their slaves.
Woe is me because of the House of Hanan,
woe is me because of their incantations.
Woe is me because of the House of Kathros,
woe is me because of their pens.
Woe is me because of the House of Ishmael, son of Phiabi,
woe is me because of their fists.
For they are the High Priests, and their sons are treasurers, and their
sons-in law are trustees, and their servants beat the people with
staves. (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 57, 1
Tosefta, Minhot 13, 21)
Can we assume that the Burnt House was
actually the House of Kathros?
-
Critical:
Was the Jewish
"World" Destroyed in AD70? - "The idea that the Roman destruction of
Jerusalem in AD70 could be the prophesied end of the world, does not
stand up to examination. The Jewish "world" is based in its blood, its
scriptures, and its synagogue. None of these was destroyed or abolished
in AD70. To make prophecies in the Bible about the second coming of
Christ, and the end of the world, refer to events of AD70 misrepresents
these prophecies, because nothing was destroyed that had not been
destroyed in times past, and nothing was destroyed that was essential to
the Jewish world's continuance into the future. "
-
N.T. Wright:
N.T. Wright Page
12/24/5:
- Sibylline
Oracles: Telegraph:
Christmas and the End of History - "There is, though, an unlikely
place where both the prophets of Israel and the Cumaean Sibyl are
honoured, and that is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo's incomparable frescoes show her opposite the prophet
Ezekiel. The idea comes from the poet Virgil, for in his fourth Eclogue
he talks of a Cumaean prophecy coming true; he speaks of a virgin, the
birth of a boy, the beginning of a golden age, with a new generation
born from heaven. No wonder Christian poets and artists took it for an
inspired prophecy. There, on Michelangelo's painted plaster, the puzzles
of the pagan Sibyl and the Bible's prophecies are reconciled. But the
world's conflicts still await reconciliation, and only in a spirit of
hope can we wish all of our readers a Happy Christmas." (Not as
glorious or optimistic as the Pret version of the same story is..)
-
Revelations:
Early Image of Jesus Found - "A rare 6th-century seal that bears the
likely image of Jesus on one side and a cross symbol signifying the name
"Christ" on the back recently was excavated in Tiberias, Israel,
according to archaeologists who continue to work at the site. Since
seals with this imagery do not appear before the middle of the 6th
century, the object is one of the first to show such early Christian
symbolism. " |
Church of Apostles found on Mt. Zion
-
Jesus Christ is Israel:
Nazareth Village Recreates Life as Jesus Knew It - "The village is a
real message for all local people and foreigners to come and touch what
real life was like here in the first century," said Nermine Haj, a local
pharmacist and guide. "Jesus used parables that touched people's life,
so they knew what he was talking about. He talked about materialistic
things, but his words had deep spiritual meaning. We can really see
it here in the village. It's very exciting to see how people used to
live and how Jesus used all these everyday things to reach their
hearts."
12/23/5:
- Dr. David Hocking:
What is Preterism?
"Preterists believe that the promise of our Lord’s Second Coming began
to be fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Some believe
that the prophecies mentioned above were fulfilled in the Second Century
AD at the time of the Second Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire at
the time of Emperor Hadrian. Some preterists hold that the prophecies
were fulfilled during the first three centuries AD as God wages war on
the enemies of the Church (which they argue include Israel and Rome!)
resulting in the “Christianization” of the Roman Empire under
Constantine. These viewpoints are merely a sampling of what one finds in
the literature of those committed to “Replacement Theology.” Our beliefs
about prophecy are totally different! We believe that there are specific
future events that will take place on this planet, and that GOD HAS
NEVER FORSAKEN ISRAEL, and that He will fulfill all of His promises and
covenants to her. "
- Haaretz:
Messianic
Mania - "Kalian says that not everyone who founds or joins a
religious cult has Jerusalem Syndrome. "The question we're concerned
with is whether, as a result of the religious belief, the person
presents a danger to himself or his surroundings - people like Michael
Dennis Rohan, who wanted to set Al Aqsa on fire. Of course, he wasn't
the first Christian to tie the redemption of all nations to the idea of
the ingathering of the Jews from all over the world."
- Tim LaHaye:
Christianity Today:
Left Behind is neither first or last word on "last things" "The
Revelation of John has bred a plethora of end-time interpretations. For
example, first-century Papias (c. 60-120) believed that Christ's
resurrection had already inaugurated the new millennium, while Justin
Martyr (c.100-c.165) believed that the church would reign with Christ
after his second coming (a view typically referred to as
pre-millennialism). Justin admitted that "many who belong to the pure
and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise." As Roman
authorities increased their persecution of the church, Christians like
third-century Hippolytus began making end-time predictions—Hippolytus
expected Christ to establish his millennial reign in 496. Other
Christians, like Alexandria's foremost theologian Origen, preferred to
interpret Revelation allegorically, rejecting detailed schemas
altogether. "
-
Titus
F. Vespasianus:
Images of
the Arch of Titus
12/21/5:
Michael Scheifler: Did
Jesus Not Know the Hour of His Second Coming? "Jesus
is not saying He is ignorant of the hour of the second coming, but
rather, He cannot reveal it, neither can angels, because it is reserved
for the Father only to announce the very hour of the second coming. This
begs the question, does scripture reveal this announcement, when God the
Father Himself declares the impending second coming?" -
Press:
Lusting After Apocalpyse: "Barbara Rossing is one Christian scholar
who isn't afraid to admit it. "The Rapture is a racket," she accuses
unapologetically in her 2004 book The Rapture Exposed. In this
bold study, Rossing outlines how the theology of the Left Behind
series represents a very real danger because of its promotion of
ethnocentric mentalities, irresponsible environmental ethics and a
militaristic political agenda in America.
The most disturbing example she gives is in
the realm of Middle East politics. Premillennial dispensationalists
believe that the Bible names the rebuilding of Israel as a necessary
precursor for Christ's return. So was born an American fundamentalist
movement known as Christian Zionism, which unilaterally supports the
expansion of the modern state of Israel. This alliance between Christian
and Jewish Zionists is deeply ambivalent, however, as the former also
believes that Christ will not return until the great suffering of Israel
and the eventual conversion of his chosen people. Besides their obvious
offensiveness to Jews, Rossing points out that such groups look forward
to "tribulation and war in the Middle East, not peace plans."
-
Rome:
Lessons for America from the Roman Empire - "The
founders hoped that, in America, we would see these virtues of ancient
Rome, and they knew that under such a constitution the United States
would grow into an empire. They already spoke of a rising empire of
America. They hoped that Rome of the republic would be our enduring
model, but they feared, and rightly so, that one day, perhaps today, our
model would be Rome of the Caesars, Rome of the first and second
centuries A.D. For Rome of the Caesars and the United States today are
the only two absolute superpowers that have existed in history."
(somewhat misinformed, but relevant use of Rome as archetype)
12/20/5:
- Free Online Videos:
Daily Show: Heaven Can't Wait - "Ed Helms profiles an e-mail service
that will notify you when the Rapture happens. Add a 'Rapture Clause' to
your will. - 'The rapture is a tendentious reading of the bible.'"
- Free Online Videos:
Herod: The Builder King
(Length: 27 min.) - The Book of Matthew
relates that Herod, King of the Jews, ordered the slaughter of the
innocents to eliminate a potential challenger to his throne. Then came
the birth of Jesus Christ, marked in our day by Christmas. This video
describes the life and times of Herod the Great, builder-king of Judea,
who ushered in a new age for Judaism and ironically laid the groundwork
for the emergence of Christianity. An enigmatic ruler "with larceny in
his heart and blueprints in his veins," King Herod strove to make Judea
a showcase of the Roman Empire. "it must be stressed that the Western
Wall is not a part of the Temple itself."
-
Nero, The Beast:
Rain Forces Closure of Nero's Golden House -
BBC -
"Completed in AD68 - the year Nero committed suicide -
the sprawling palace was called the House of Gold because of the amount
of gold leaf which adorned much of it. "
-
Revelations:
ArmageddonChurch.com - "Our mission is to promote Holyland's
most ancient Church, recently discovered in Megiddo prison. Armageddon
Church.com is intended to address the general public, offering a wide
range of articles and interviews. We hope you will enjoy the history,
the symbolism, the meaning, and lighter sides of this amazing
discovery."
12/18/5:
- Josephus: SocialistWorker:
A
Judas Who Didn't Betray the Movement -"Two thousand years ago, a
Jewish peasant rebellion stirred in the countryside in and around
Judaea, an obscure Mediterannean province of the Roman empire. The
rebellion would change the face of history. Judas of Galilee was one of
its early leaders. The rebellion, which climaxed in open revolt in
66-70AD, was mercilessly crushed by Roman legions. The Jewish
temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Defeat was a catastrophe.
Historian Neil Faulkner (Apocalypse: The Great Jewish
Revolt Against Rome, AD 66-73 - Tempus, 2002) has summed it up:
“Apocalypse” glimpsed but missed, “the revolutionary overthrow of Rome
and a passage into the light of a possible sunrise”
12/17/5:
-
Press:
LA Times:
Jesus Skeptics on the Run "ANNE RICE'S "Christ
the Lord: Out of Egypt," her novel about the boy Jesus whose
family has not gotten around to telling him that he is the messiah, is a
national bestseller. That's not surprising. Rice is a seasoned
storyteller whose 26 previous novels on subjects ranging from vampires
to sadomasochistic erotica have sold more than 75 million copies. With
"Christ the Lord," she transferred her flair for the supernatural to a
new market of Christian believers who share the faith she has
re-embraced.
What is interesting — and portentous — is that just as "Christ the Lord"
was nearing release in early September, Robert Funk, founder of the
Jesus Seminar, died. The Jesus Seminar is still going strong. But Funk's
death and Rice's novel constitute a kind of symbolic marker of the
passing of a brand of dogmatic hyper-skepticism toward the Gospels and
the rise of a new and more generous biblical scholarship that holds,
contra the seminar, that the Gospels and other New Testament writings
constitute virtually our only record of what Jesus said and did. These
scholars contend that there is no point in trying to deconstruct the
Gospels to find the "real" Jesus. They maintain there is nothing in the
historical or archeolological record of the 1st century that makes the
Gospel accounts of Jesus' life inherently implausible. "
12/11/5:
-
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
D.H. Hume -
The Better Resurrection (2005) "This better Resurrection has an
eternal timeframe attached to it, which some see as a future event
following a future return of Christ, while others declare that Christ
returned in AD70 according to his oath, which may or may not imply that
the resurrection is past. This is a question that plagues the view of a
past fulfillment of the Apocalypse. This author holds to the veracity of
Christ’s words to his followers in AD30 of the great tribulation they
would experience and his promised return within that generation.
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you,
this generation shall not pass, until all these things are fulfilled.
This implies that there is no other return in
the scripture, because the Second Coming has already taken place. This
leaves one with the dilemma, if the dead were raised when Christ
returned, what hope do I have? If we accept the futurist view of
dividing the resurrection into two separate events, one at the Rapture
and another at the General resurrection of the last judgment, we still
have the problem of an uncompleted salvation. This is because Christ has
already returned in judgment, to the generation he lived amongst, which
implies we are not part of his Church as it has already been removed and
raised in the Rapture."
12/10/5:
-
Revelations:
A Lost Scrap of Tobit from the Schoyen Collection - From Tobit 14
"Indeed, everything that was spoken by the prophets of Israel, whom God
sent, will occur. None of all their words will fail, but all will come
true at their appointed times. So it will be safer in Media than in
Assyria and Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has said
will be fulfilled and will come true; not a single word of the
prophecies will fail. All of our kindred, inhabitants of the land of
Israel, will be scattered and taken as captives from the good land; and
the whole land of Israel will be desolate" (3-4)
12/9/10:
-
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
The City of Delight: A
Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem
(1908) "Somewhere in the city a voice that was heard even by the
fighting-men on the wall in Akra cried: “The Sacrifice has failed! The Oblation is ceased! There is
no Offering for the Altar; none is left to offer it!” The vast gathering heard it, and immediately from the high
place of the prophetess came back the words, prompt and
effective: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:
and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and
the oblation to cease!”
-
Press:
Chicago Tribune -
In world of 'Left Behind' end is weird - "From Chicken Little
to Charles Manson, outlandish theories abound concerning the end of the
world as we know it. But when a particular brand of fictional Armageddon
is based on the biblical Book of Revelation, has a co-founder of the
Moral Majority as a co-author, and has sold more than 60 million books,
it's time to sit up and take notice."
-
Press:
Jason Miller for Online Journal -
The
Iron Fist of Jesus - "Fundamentalist
Christians, adherents to a nauseating
perversion of Christianity (conjured from their twisted imaginations and
their distorted interpretations of the Bible) wield a significant amount
of power in the United States, socially and politically. In
short, Fundamentalist Christians are the people whom the real
Jesus would have hammered with
his Iron Fist, if he had had one, and
if he had been inclined to use it. Fortunately for them, Warrior Jesus
is simply a myth the Christo-Fascist masters use to keep their minions
in line. Unfortunately for the rest of us, America's
religious extremists are as dangerous as those in the Middle East and
around the globe. Just in case there is an Iron Fisted Jesus and an
impending Rapture, I am signing off by wishing you a Merry Christmas!"
-
Press:
Pope
to visit Auschwitz - "Referring to a biblical psalm about the
destruction of Jerusalem, the Pope said: "It was almost a symbolic
foretelling of the extermination camps in which the Jewish people were
subjected to as part of infamous project of death which remains an
indelible shame on the history of humanity.”
12/8/5:
-
Nate4OneNation.com -
New Host, New Materials
- BreitBart -
Iranian President "Move Israel to Europe" - "Why did you come to
give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people
to them? "You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the
Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would
support it," he said, according to a transcript of his original
Farsi-language comments given to AFP. "So, Germany and Austria, come and
give one, two or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so
they can create a country there which all of Europe will support and the
problem will be solved at its root," he said. " |
U.N. Ceremony
Includes map of "Palestine" without Israeli State
-
TWIGBI:
American life expectancy hits all-time high - "Life
expectancy in the U.S. has been rising almost without interruption since
1900, thanks to several factors, including extraordinary advances in
medicine and sanitation.."
12/6/5:
-
Press:
World Socialist Website:
The
Rise of the Religious Right in Australia - "Maddox outlines
the leading strains of Christian fundamentalist thought, including
Dominionism and Reconstructionism, whose zealots, according to one
insider, ‘consider democracy a manifestation of ungodly pride’.
Dominionists (who believe ‘chosen’ Christians must capture all leading
public offices in anticipation of Christ’s second coming) and
Reconstructionists, (who want the Constitution replacement by strict
Biblical law) are influential doctrines with well-documented connections
to the Bush-Cheney White House. Former Attorney-General John Ashcroft is
a Dominionist, while Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia offers
opinion, and legal rulings, clearly influenced by tenets of
Reconstructionist thought. (In a 2002 article “God’s Justice and Ours”,
from which Maddox quotes, Scalia attacked opponents of the death
penalty, denouncing democracy’s tendency to obscure “the divine
authority behind government”).
-
Press:
CounterCurrents:
Christian
Zionism: Terror in Jesus' Name - "Christian Zionism is a call for
global war. The belief that Christianity is the sole truth, that all
other faiths are 'Satanic' or 'false', that the Jews must all gather in
Palestine to fulfil so-called Biblical prophecies, and that a grand
global war will soon erupt leading to the massacre of hundreds of
millions and heralding the 'second coming' of Jesus, who will establish
his Christian kingdom extending till the four corners of the world,
clearly indicate the hate-driven, global expansionist project of
Christian Zionism. "
-
Jerusalem:
Islam's Mystical Claim to Jerusalem - "The third factor, says Nasr,
is the Muslim belief in the Second Coming of Christ to Jerusalem.
Therefore the city is sacred to Muslims and to Christians—according to
Nasr. But this is misleading, for Muslim theology says that Jesus will
return as a leader of Muslims and break the cross to show how wrong
Christians have been, in following their Lord
12/3/5:
-
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the
Idea of Redemption in the Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch
- "The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch is a
pseudepigraphic apocalyptic work ascribed to
Baruch, son of Neriah and the scribe of
Jeremiah. Its overt content concerning the
last days of the First Temple period disguises a
description of the fall of the Second Temple in
70 C.E. Contrary to the general scholarly
view, this book attempts to show that the
internal structure and central ideas of 2 Baruch
must be understood in a Christian context.
This theological identity is reflected mainly in
traditions which describe the destruction of
Jerusalem and the three apocalyptic visions
which depict the coming of the Messiah and the
eschatological redemption."
12/2/5:
-
Press:
Baptist Standard - Bumper crop of disasters wratchets up "Rapture Index"
- "Not all Christians have jumped on the rapture bandwagon. Many see it
as a modern twisting of what they believe biblical prophecy really
is--not so much predictive as prescriptive. Barbara
Rossing, a New Testament professor at the Lutheran School of Theology in
Chicago, is familiar with the website but doesn't think it holds much
appeal for Christians like her who have condemned the Left Behind
series and argue the rapture is not a biblical concept. She wrote The
Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation.
(Rapture Ready fella Terry) James is familiar with the criticism, and it
doesn't shake his confidence in the rapture. "I'm of the opinion
that every Christian will go (in the rapture), regardless of the state
of their walk with Jesus," he said. "We're all in God's family."
12/1/5:
-
Press:
Disasters Increase Interest in End-Time Prophecies - "That said,
Lowery believes the hurricanes provide valuable lessons in the context
of Revelation and for Christianity as a whole. But it's not anything as
titillating as one normally expects from a Revelation specialist. For
Lowery, the main value of Revelation is in teaching how to live. It's
the "forth-telling," not the foretelling, he said. Said Lowery, "I
believe the Bible teaches that we have been living the last days for
2,000 years. ... The last days are leading to the last day."
11/26/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888)
Chapter XIII The Test of Devotion "Crowds of fugitives
were making their way by this road to the city, flying before the
advance of the Romans, who were, they said, but a few hours’ march in
their rear. Many were men coming to take their part in the defense of
the city, but the great proportion were old men, women, and children
flying for refuge. John shook his head as he watched the stream of
fugitives, for he well knew the horrors that would befall the besieged
town."
- Guardian UK:
Secret British Document Accuses Israel "The
document says stringent Israeli controls on the movement of Palestinians
in and out of the city are an attempt to restrict Arab population
growth. "When the barrier is completed, Israel will control all access
to East Jerusalem, cutting off its Palestinian satellite cities of
Bethlehem and Ramallah, and the West Bank beyond. This will have serious
... consequences for the Palestinians," it says. "
11/25/5:
-
Books:
Redating the New Testament
(1976) "One of the oddest facts about the New Testament is that what on
any showing would appear to be the single most datable and climactic
event of the period - the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and with it the
collapse of institutional Judaism based on the temple - is never once
mentioned as a past fact. It is, of course, predicted; and these
predictions are, in some cases at least, assumed to be written (or
written up) after the event. But the silence is nevertheless as
significant as the silence for Sherlock Holmes of the dog that did not
bark."
11/23/5:
-
Press:
Lewis County
Chronicle:
We might better live our lives as if End Times are with us - "But,
again, no one knows for sure if the signs we are seeing now are the
beginning of the “birth pangs” signaling the start of the End Times or
when the End Times and the Second Coming of Christ will occur.
“It’s possible” or “it might be,” TV evangelist Pat Robertson said of
current signs seen as portending the End Times. "
11/22/5:
-
Partial Pret: Rich
Lusk:
A new perspective on the mystery of God - "Jesus
stands upon Israel and the nations and swears an oath. He promises to
make the kingdoms of this world his own kingdom. When this union of two
peoples into one is completed, the mystery of God is finished (cf. Rev.
11:15). (I think this passage is best understood in preterist fashion.
The seventh angel in 11:15 announces the final fall of the temple in
Jerusalem in 70 A. D. If so, it further reinforces my understanding of
"mystery" as the trans-epochal union of Jew and Gentile in Christ. The
mystery revealed in the New Covenant is the new shape of the people of
God.)" |
Theologia
11/20/5:
-
Books:
Our Young Folks' Josephus -
"Jump
back in time to a place where historical accounts of the Hebrews are
brought to life in an exciting narrative style. The history of Ancient
Israel is revealed in a first-hand account from the great historian
Flavius Josephus. Our Young Folks’ Josephus is a compilation of
his two greatest works, Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish
Wars. You’ll marvel at the history that is played–out before your
eyes. A journey that begins with the call of Abraham and ends with the
destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Massada...this is a must-have
for any bookshelf.” ~Eclectic Homeschool Online~ "
11/16/5:
-
Revelations:
Ivory Emperor Emerges From Roman Forum - "Emperor Vespasian (69-79
AD) built the temple in 72 AD to house the spoils from the suppression
of the First Jewish Revolt by his son Titus - later emperor 79-81 AD -
along with Greek masterpieces collected by Nero (54-68 AD) . The
ivory-statue coup comes shortly after another jackpot find - a huge
marble head of Emperor Constantine (305-337 AD) discovered in July at
Trajan's Forum . The 60cm-high head, which was found in good condition,
showed Constantine in stylised glory, at the time of his triumphant
entry into Rome after beating rival Emperor Maxentius at the Battle of
the Milvian Bridge (312 AD)."
11/15/5:
-
Books:
Anne Rice -
Christ the
Lord: Out of Egypt (2005)
"Without ever planning it, I've moved
slowly backwards in history, from the nineteenth century, where I felt
at home in my first two novels, to the first century, where I sought the
answers to enormous questions that became an obsession with me that
simply couldn't be ignored. Ultimately, the figure of
Jesus Christ was at the heart of this obsession. More generally,
it was the birth of Christianity and the fall of the ancient world.
I wanted to know desperately what happened in the first century, and why
people in general never talked about it." (p. 306)
11/11/5:
-
Press:
Anne Rice believes entire New Testament written prior to AD70
- "The queen of darkness has seen the light. In her latest book,
Christ the Lord, novelist Anne Rice turns away from the doomed souls of
her best-selling tales about vampires and witches in favor of a
first-person account of the 7-year-old Jesus. Rice also
critiques the widespread dating of the Gospels to between about 60 and
90 A.D., and the theory that they appeared decades apart. Instead, she
believes they were produced around the same time, and all before Romans
destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D."
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) Chapter XII - "In
the afternoon he head a clash of arms as the sentry gave the military
salute, and a moment later Titus entered, accompanied by one whom John
instantly recognized as Josephus. John rose to his feet. “I told
you he was but a young man,” Titus said to Josephus; “but now that I can
see him more nearly, or at any rate more calmly, I can see that he is
little more than a lad, and yet, as you have heard me say, he is a man
of valor, and defeated me in a fair fight.” “I seem to know his
face,” Josephus said, and then addressed John in Hebrew. “Who are
you, young man?” “I am that John whom you saved in the storm on
the Sea of Galilee, and who fought with you at Jotapata.” “Is it
possible!” Josephus exclaimed in surprise. “I thought that I alone was
saved there.”
-
Bookstore:
Scot McKnight -
A New Vision for Israel: The Teachings of Jesus in National Context
(Studying the Historical Jesus) (1999) "The
most interesting portion of the book is McKnight's discussion of the
future kingdom. The future kingdom, which was imminent, involved the
overthrow of the Romans, the restoration of the twelve tribes, and the
coming of God in full glory. Jesus didn't know exactly when this would
occur, but he knew that it would occur within a generation. McKnight
argues that Jesus "did not see past 70 A.D." and that his predictions
were fulfilled in 70 A.D., when the Romans sacked Jerusalem. This view
is often called "preterism" and McKnight's presentation of it in this
book is the first presentation by a mainstream publisher of which I'm
aware. "
-
Nero as Antichrist
| St. Jerome:
"As for the Antichrist, there is no question but what he is going to
fight against the holy covenant, and that when he first makes war
against the king of Egypt, he shall straightway be frightened off by the
assistance of the Romans. But these events were typically prefigured
under Antiochus Epiphanes, so that this abominable king who persecuted
God's people foreshadows the Antichrist, who is to persecute the people
of Christ. And so there are many of our viewpoint who think that
Domitius Nero was the Antichrist because of his outstanding savagery and
depravity." (St. Jerome - Commentary on Daniel; notes on Daniel
11:27-30, -- BAKER BOOK HOUSE Grand Rapids 6, Michigan 1958)
11/10/5:
-
Press: Peter Sellick
for Online Opinion -
Apocalypse: Why we shouldn't fear if the end is nigh - "One of the
jokes against religion appears in cartoon form, a little raggedy man
holding up a sign that says, “The End is Nigh”. There have been a large
number of real life doom-sayers in our history, even famous ones like
Isaac Newton,
who spent years calculating the exact date of the end of the world from
biblical texts and came up with the year 2060, so we still have some
time left. Well, he was right about gravity!"
-
Press:
Steve Eighinger for
Quincy Whig - Have we entered the End Times? - "The Rev. Joby Brown
of First Christian Church in Quincy does not necessarily subscribe to
the current End Times thinking. "I really don't think any of the
recent natural disasters we have seen are tied toward the rapture,"
Brown said. "We have lots of tragedies each year. Sometimes we see more
storms than in other years." Brown said these tragedies might be
unfolding for a different reason. "God's calling us more to
respond to those in need," he said. Mark Bailey, president of the
Dallas Theological Seminary, a conservative evangelical institution,
says to be careful when predicting specific times and dates for the
ultimate Judgment Day. "There have been storms throughout
history," Bailey said. "To say that any of these that 'this is it' is
dangerous speculation."
-
Revelations:
Move the prison, save the church, archeologists say - "The Israeli
Prison System said the experience of helping to excavate the site had
gone a long way toward rehabilitating some of the prisoners. More than
60 prisoners (none of them Palestinian security prisoners) worked on the
excavations and a few of them were so happy with the work, they have
asked for jobs with the Israel Antiquities Authority, when they complete
their prison sentence, said IPS spokeswoman Stelser. "If this is not
rehabilitation, you tell me what is," Stelser said.
11/8/5:
-
Press:
Nancy Haught for Oregon Live! -
Wars! Earthquakes! Pestilences! - "James knows that not all
Christians see scripture and the signs the same way he and Strandberg
and the whole Left Behind crowd do. The Web site gets a lot of critical
mail, and some of it is posted online. "Some people get really hostile
over anything on the site," James says. "To me, that shows the truth of
what we're doing."
-
Press:
Heather Quitos for Badger (Wisc.) Herald -
Apocalypse Now in Lecture - “I liked that he talked about the
progressive uses of millennial thinking and how people have used it to
gain power awareness,” she said. Enstad added she does not believe in
the apocalypse, but will attend upcoming lectures to learn about its
place in the current world and if it can help her gain insight into her
own life."
11/7/5:
-
Press:
Apocalypse Now? - "Mike Glover is the Pastor at First Assembly of
God in Jonesboro (AR). "Some of those last things that Jesus talked
about are taking place as I said, in repetition, closer and closer
together as a woman would give birth the scripture describes it. The
contractions are closer and the intensity becomes greater and that's
what we're seeing," said Glover. "
-
Revelations:
Independent -
Early Christian Church Found in Jail Compound
|
IsraCast - "Biblical Armageddon - where St John the
Divine (Revelation 16:16) prophesied the war to end all wars, is now the
high-security prison of Megiddo, where the Israelis send the hardest
Palestinian cases. A mosaic floor, inscribed with an ornate
Greek dedication to "the God Jesus Christ," was discovered during
ground-clearing for a new wing. " They found three other
inscriptions and a medallion decorated with a pair of fish. One
inscription was dedicated to Gaianus, a Roman officer who paid for the
mosaics out of his own pocket. A second commemorated four women,
Primilia, Kiraka, Dorothea and Crista; while a third praised
"God-loving" Akeftos, who donated the table as a memorial to Jesus."
- Hermeneutics:
Interview with
Mordecai Vanunu "The
Jewish tribe teaches that there is only one Chosen people of God. They
teach of their superiority, taking literally word-by-word the
writings in the old bible. "
- Haaretz:
There is a hole in the shirt - "The National
Theatre in London has in its repertoire a new play by Howard Brenton,
"Paul," following the life of Saul of Tarsus, who started as a ferocious
fighter against fanatic terrorists who threatened Jewish life in Judea.
Following a meeting with Jesus, just risen from the dead, he experienced
a change of heart and became an apostle, one of the founders of
Christianity. The Romans crucified him for spreading the word.
The last scene of Brenton's play takes place in a jail cell in Rome.
Emperor Nero comes to meet Paul and Peter on the eve of their execution,
and spells out the bitter truth of religion and politics: "Rituals.
Repeated patterns of behavior. To shore up belief. To stop chaotic
behavior. In the end, it is the ritual that matters in religion, not
what it means, mmm? ... You have long been seen as a political danger to
the Imperial State ... because you're leaders of a death cult. Death
cults always give the state problems."
Following that, Nero informs them of Rome's plan to destroy Judea and
the Temple in Jerusalem: "When Judea is destroyed, your cult will have
its chance. It can cut itself off from its Jewish roots ... and when you
have priests ... a good hierarchy of bribable gentlemen in fine robes,
like any other religion ... why, then you will do business with the
state? A hundred, two hundred years from now, Christianity could be the
Empire's religion."
11/6/5:
-
Revelations:
Archaeologists Discover Ancient Church - The dig took place over the
past 18 months at the Megiddo prison in northern
Israel, with the most significant discoveries taking place in
the past two weeks, Tepper said. Scholars believe Megiddo to be the New
Testament's Armageddon, the site of a final war between good and evil.
"Normally we have from this period in our region historical evidence
from literature, not archaeological evidence," he said. "There is no
structure you can compare it to, it is a very unique find."
Channel Two said there is speculation that Israel may move the prison
and open a tourist attraction in its place. "If it's between a prison
and a church, I would like a church," Zias said. "You can put a prison
anywhere." |
Noah's Ark?
11/5/5:
-
Pret:
FP: Tami Jelinek -
Ye Have Done It Unto Me
"Since we have been made in His image, we live that out by displaying
who we are in Him to each other. But He was the first. We love only
because He first loved us, and we love Him back by loving each other. We
are indeed His body, wherefore He says, 'ye have done it unto Me.' So as
we consider these applications, we should keep in mind both the
reciprocity and intimacy of our communion first with the Lord; then
secondarily and by extension, with each other. The two cannot be
separated, as one flows from and finds its source in the other. 'Freely
ye have received, freely give.' (Matthew 10:8)"
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) Chapter XI - A Tale of Civil Strife
“I am quite content to wait here until the day comes that
you shall return; and then, though our cause be lost, our country
ruined, and God’s Temple destroyed, we can yet feel that God has been
good and merciful to us, even if we be driven out of our home, and have
to become exiles in a far land.”
10/31/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) Chapter X - Captives “You are all the
same,” the Roman replied, scowling upon them. “You speak fair one day,
and stab us in the back the next. Pomponius,” he continued, turning to
the sergeant, “put these two lads with the rest. They ought to fetch a
good price, for they are strong and active. As to the girl, I will make
a present of her to the general to send to his wife in Rome. She is the
prettiest Jewess I have seen since I entered the country. The old woman
can go. She is of no use to any one.”
10/28/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) -
Chapter IX - The Storming of Gamala "A sudden idea
flashed across John’s brain: he waited till the soldier came out,
followed him with silent steps, and then sprang upon him at a bound,
hurling him to the ground and burying his knife again and again in his
body. Not a cry had escaped the Roman. "
10/27/5:
- Tisha B'Av:
History through a
Jewish lens: The War of Tisha B'av - "This
translation comes from my Artscroll edition of the Chumash, pages
1081 and 1085. First, Devarim/Deuteronomy 28:49-50:
HaShem will carry against you a nation from afar, from
the end of the earth, as an eagle will swoop, a nation whose language you
will not understand, a brazen nation that will not be respectful to the old
nor gracious to the young. Rambam comments on Deuteronomy 28:49
that Vespasian and his son Titus came from Rome to conquer the Land of
Israel and destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple. The awful conditions
described though verse 57 took place during the siege of Jerusalem. A
yeshiva student studying these lines in Warsaw on the night of Wednesday,
August 30, 1939, would have read Rambam in the Hebrew, saying exactly
what I quoted you. However, if he had time to follow the reading of the
Torah in shul (synagogue) on September 2 and could concentrate
upon it, instead of the screaming of the Luftwaffe overhead, he might
have had a very different comprehension of these same lines. "
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) -
Chapter VIII - Among the Mountains “Only we must remember
that while we desire now to do the Romans as much harm as possible, this
is but the beginning of our work, and that we must save ourselves for
the future. Gamala is but one town,
and we shall have plenty of opportunities for striking at the enemy in
the future. We have put our hands to the plow now, and so long as the
war lasts we will not look back. It may be that our example may lead
others to follow it, and in that case the Romans’ difficulties will
thicken every day.
10/24/5:
- Cambridge
Scientist: Humans can live for thousands of years - "The 42-year-old
English biogerontologist has made his name by claiming that some people
alive right now could live for 1,000 years or longer. Maybe much longer.
Growing old is not, in his view, an inevitable consequence of the human
condition; rather, it is the result of accumulated damage at the
cellular and molecular levels that medical advances will soon be able to
prevent — or even reverse — allowing people to go on living pretty much
indefinitely. We'll still have to worry about angry bears and falling
pianos, but aging, the biggest killer of all, will cease to be a threat.
Death, as we know it, will die. " "One hundred and fifty thousand
people die every day, and two-thirds of those die of aging in one way or
the other," he says, while nursing a pint of fine English ale. "If I
speed up the cure for aging by one day, then I've saved 100,000 people."
-
Revelations:
After 100 Years,
Acient Papyrus Returns to UC Berkeley - "The papyri, which come
primarily from mummy wrappings in the Egyptian city of Tebtunis,
span a period of nearly 600 years when the Egyptian empire was ruled by
the Greeks and later the Romans, Faulhaber said. "
10/23/5:
-
Christ the
Lord: Out of Egypt: "Christ
the Lord" - Anne Rice's New Novel based on the Gospels - "I
promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord."
It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train
Coming" announced that he'd been born again. But she sees a
continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken
evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair."
In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ...
the ultimate immortal of them all."
- Burbank Leader:
Is Revelation Relevant?
10/22/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) - Chapter VII - The Massacre on the Lake "Father,” he said
that evening, “I had thought to stay quietly with you until the Romans
advanced against Jerusalem, but I find I cannot do so. The massacre at
Jotapata was bad enough, but the slaughter of defenseless men on the
lake is worse. I pray you let me go.” “Would you go into Gamala
and die there, John?” Simon asked. “Better to die at the Temple than to
throw away your life here.”
10/20/5:
-
New Discussion
Board Opened - Let's get acquainted before diving into the
work...
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) - Chapter VI The Fall of the City "Certain it is that no
similar act of clemency was show by Vespasian to any other Jew, that no
other thought of pity or mercy entered his mind during the campaign,
that he spared no man who fell alive into his hands, and that no more
ruthless and wholesale extermination than that which he inflicted upon
the people of Palestine was ever carried out by the most barbarous of
conquerors. To this day the memory of
Josephus is hated among the
Jews."
10/19/5:
-
Press:
Mixing Prophecy and Politics in the Holy Land - Jane Lampman for CSM
"Ray Sanders and his wife, Sharon, grew up on farms in the American
Midwest, but Israel has long been their home. Their journey began in the
1970s, when they read Hal Lindsey's apocalyptic bestseller, "The Late
Great Planet Earth," which laid out a scenario for the end of the world
according to a literal interpretation of Bible prophecies. "That
awakened our understanding to Israel and its prophetic role in the Last
Days," Mr. Sanders explains in his spacious Jerusalem office. "That was
a real paradigm shift in our lives." -- (Premillennial
Dispensationalism) divides history into eras (dispensations) based on a
complex interpretation of biblical texts in books such as Daniel,
Ezekiel, and Revelation. Most
other Christian groups view these prophecies as predictions fulfilled
long ago or as visions with a purely symbolic or spiritual meaning.
But premillennialists insist they will occur on earth in the future."
-
Revelations:
Cremona Dig Confirms Tacitus - "Excavations in Cremona have
confirmed a legendary description of the city's destruction in December
69 AD by the Latin historian Tacitus .
"Such was the end of Cremona, 286 years after its foundation," he
concluded . The sack of Cremona occurred in the "Year of the Four
Emperors", the period of civil war that followed Nero's forced suicide
in 68 AD."
10/18/5:
-
Press: Sonia Nettnin for Media
Monitors -
Uses and
Abuses of Bible Prophecy (Rossing Influenced by DeMar) - "Mainline
Christians left the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation to
the fundamentalists for interpretation. As a result, Revelation theology
became the dominant, Christian interpretation - a prophetic, apocalyptic
interpretation - that fuels a lucrative prophecy industry. Another
interpretation of this passage is in regards to the word “meet.” The
following is Rossing’s deconstruction of the interpretation: “the word
for ‘meeting’ in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is from the Greek word ‘apantesis,’
which is used to describe a delegation going out to meet an important
dignitary to escort them back. It doesn’t mean going out to meet the
dignitary and them leaving with them.” Rossing references a
conservative, evangelical critic by the name of Gary Demar. In his book,
“End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind
Theology,” he says the dispensationalist script is unsupported because
there is no evidence of it in the Bible.
-
Press: AP Wire -
Evangelicals donated $40,000 to Gaza Evacuees - "Pinchas Wallerstein,
a Jewish settler leader, said Monday that all support is "greatly
welcomed," as long as it doesn't come from Christian missionaries."
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) - Chapter V - The Siege of Jotapata “But how are we to make
them attack us? We want nothing better.” “I will think it over,”
Josephus said, “and tell you in the morning.” In the
morning, to the surprise of the men, they were ordered to dip large
numbers of garments into the precious supply of water, and to hang them
on the walls. Loud were the outcries from the women as they
saw the scanty store of water upon which their lives depended so wasted;
but the orders were obeyed, and the Romans were astonished at seeing the
long line of dripping garments on the wall. The stratagem
had its effect. Vespasian thought that the news he had received that the
place was ill supplied with water must be erroneous, and ordered the
troops again to take their station on the walls and renew the attack.
Great was the exultation among the Jews when they saw movement among the
troops, and Josephus, ordering the fighting men together, said that now
was their opportunity."
10/15/5:
-
Books:
Revelations:
Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede
-
Eyewitness to Jesus:
Amazing New Manuscript Evidence About the Origin of the Gospels
(1996) "using the new science of papyrology, had redated to roughly 60 CE three
papyrus fragments of the Gospel of Matthew, held in Oxford's Magdalen
College Library since 1901. the Magdalen
Papyrus corroborates the tradition that St. Matthew actually wrote the
Gospel bearing his name, that he wrote it within a generation of Jesus'
death, and that the Gospel stories about Jesus are true. "
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) -
Chapter IV: The Lull Before the Storm "Vespasian marched first to Gadara, which was undefended, the fighting men
having all gone to Jotapata; but although no resistance was offered,
Vespasian put all the males to the sword and burned the town and all the
villages in the neighborhood, and then advanced against Jotapata. "
-
Press: Ben
Macintyre for Times UK -
As
scientists predict scientifict disaster, others foresee Apocalypse
"Sales of apocalyptic literature have grown hugely in recent times: the
doom boom is nigh. While scientists give warning of scientific disaster
— Atlantic hurricanes, a new European ice age as the Gulf Stream dies,
the disintegration of the Antarctic ice shelf — others foresee
Apocalypse, Armageddon and Rapture, the bodily ascent to Heaven of the
saved. A recent poll in Newsweek showed that some 55 per cent of
Americans believe in the Rapture, and more than a third believe that the
world will end as predicted in the Book of Revelation. The 12 novels in
the Left Behind series of Christian apocalyptic fiction have sold
more than 63 million copies. "
10/14/5:
-
Press: JHW for LifeSite -
Vatican
Correspondent Says Pope Using Apocalyptic Imagery - "O'Brien points
out that Pope Saint Pius X, in his 1903 encyclical, Suprema Apostolatus,
wrote, "There is room to fear that we are experiencing the foretaste of
the evils that are to come at the end of time. And that the Son of
Perdition of whom the apostles speak has already arrived on the earth."
-
Press: Greg O'Brien for Codfish
Press - End
Game for the End Times - "Is anyone listening? Are these signs of
the apocalypse detailed in the Book of Daniel, the Gospel of Matthew and
the Book of Revelation, or are we just having a global stretch of bad
luck? "
-
Outside Links:
Finding
Fulfillment in Finding Prophecy Fully Fulfilled in Jesus Christ
(Ron Wagner)
-
Partial Pret:
The
Anti-Rapture Page - Index Page "...yes,
I (Bob) am a normal human being and sane Christian who loves the Lord
and believes the Bible to be the inspired Word of God without error. I
attended a conservative (Dallas Theo Seminary-type) Bible College where
Premillennialism was taught and all other views scorned. Now I'm
thinking that preterism is the most sound Biblical approach to
prophecy. Why? Read on!" (Archived Websites Project)
10/13/5:
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) - Chapter 3: The Revolt Against Rome "The terms were accepted and
ratified, but as soon as the Roman soldiers marched out and laid down
their arms Eleazar and his followers fell upon them and slew them,
Metilius himself being alone spared. “After this terrible massacre
a sadness fell on the city; all felt that there was no longer any hope
of making condition with Rome." “On the very day and hour in which
the Romans were put to death retribution began to fall upon the nation,
for the Greeks of Cćsarea rose suddenly and massacred the Jews. Twenty
thousand were slain in a single day. The news of these two massacres
drove the whole people to madness. They rose throughout the land, laid
waste the country all round the cities of Syria—Philadelphia, Sebonitis,
Gerasa, Pella, and Scythopolis—and burned and destroyed many places.
“The Syrians in turn fell upon the Jewish inhabitants of all their
towns, and a frightful carnage everywhere took place. Thirteen thousand
perished here. In many other cities the same things were done; in
Ascalon twenty-five hundred were put to the sword; in Ptolemais two
thousand were killed. The land was deluged with blood, and despair fell
upon all." “Even in Alexandria our countrymen suffered. The
Jews fought, but vainly, and fifty thousand men, women, and children
fell. "
-
MistakenID:
FP: Samuel Frost
-
Israel
and the Gentiles "These Gentiles would also be included
into the nation of the newly redeemed Israel so that they, too, would be
called, " members of Israel." God has only one nation in his kingdom and
that nation is Israel, and Israel has been raised from the dead and
newly transformed into a son of God so that just as The Son of God is,
so they are also."
- Press:
Harold Bolinger for The Conservative Voice -
More heresies unleashed on Christendom "Indeed the fire-brand
preachers that helped found religious freedom in America, such as Rev.
Timothy Dwight, Samuel Sherwood, Jonathan Mayhew, and John Wesley, would
have viewed such madness as “futurism” or “preterism” as the ranting of
an Anti-Christ. "
10/12/5:
- Press:
Gary DeMar -
Pat
Robertson is wrong - Militantly Dispensationalist News Site
publishes Preteristic article! "Pat Robertson is making predictions
again.
He's reading the Bible through current events rather than letting the
Bible speak for itself. In Matthew 24:7, Jesus says that "in
various places there will be famines and earthquakes." He says nothing
about an increase in their number or intensity. Luke writes, "There will
be great earthquakes" (Luke 21:11). Jesus wasn't describing events that
would precede the end of our time. Rather, He was describing
signs that led up to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 that would
take place before that first-century generation passed away (Matt.
24:33–34). "
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty -
For The Temple
(1888) - Added Chapter II: A Storm on Galilee "It
was indeed the governor. Flavius Josephus, as the Romans afterward
called him, came of a noble Jewish family, his father, Matthias,
belonging to the highest of the twenty-four classes into which the
sacerdotal families were divided. Matthias was eminent for his
attainments and piety, and had been one of the leading men in Jerusalem.
From his youth Josephus had carefully prepared himself for public life,
mastering the doctrines of the three leading sects among the Jews"
-
Books:
Bookseller -
Crown Rights
(Mauro Reprints)
10/11/5:
10/10/5:
- Are We Living in the
Last Days? - WND Poll: Write
pollsuggestions@wnd.com to suggest Another Option: No, I
believe the Last Days were in the First Century from the Cross of Christ
to the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D.70
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
G.A. Henty:
For The Temple
(1888) - Added Chapter One (More to come this week!) - This
world-famous 'fulfilled eschatology' novel was written for all ages, using the events of the Roman-Jewish war as a backdrop for our hero John of Gamala's coming of age.
"In all history there is no drama of more terrible interest than that which terminated with the total destruction of Jerusalem."
10/9/5:
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
H. Rider Haggard:
Pearl-Maiden: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem
(1901) "The city went mad beneath the weight of its abominable and obscene misery. Thousands perished every day, and every night thousands more escaped, or attempted to escape, to the Romans, who caught the poor wretches and crucified them beneath the walls, till there was no more wood of which to make the crosses, and no more ground whereon to stand them. All these things and many others Miriam saw from her place of outlook in the gallery of the deserted tower. She saw the people lying dead by hundreds in the streets beneath."
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
Ernest Renan:
History of Christianity in Seven Volumes
(1890)"Never was a people so sadly undeceived as was the Jewish race on the
morrow of the day when, contrary to the most formal assurances of the Divine
oracles, the Temple which they had supposed to be indestructible collapsed
before the assault of the soldiers of Titus. To have been near the
realisation of the grandest of visions and to be forced to renounce them, at
the very moment when the destroying angel had already partially withdrawn
the cloud, to see everything vanish into space; to be committed through
having prophesied the Divine apparition, and to receive from the harshness
of facts the most cruel contradiction—were not these reasons for doubting
the Temple, nay, for doubting God himself?"
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
Suetonius (69-122)
Titus Vespasianus |
Nero |
Vespasian
(Lives of the Caesars)
Washington Irving:
A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the
Dutch Dynasty, Volume 2 (1809) "Shewing
how Peter Stuyvesant defended the city of New Amsterdam for several
days, by dint of the strength of his head.
Pause, oh most considerate reader! and contemplate for a
moment the sublime and melancholy scene, which the present crisis of our
history presents! An illustrious and venerable little town -- the
metropolis of an immense extent of flourishing but unenlightened,
because uninhabited country -- Garrisoned by a doughty host of orators,
chairmen, committee-men, Burgomasters, Schepens and old women --
governed by a determined and strong headed warrior, and fortified by mud
batteries, pallisadoes and resolutions. -- blockaded by sea,
beleaguered by land, and threatened with direful desolation from
without; while its very vitals are torn, and griped, and becholiced with
internal faction and commotion! Never did the historic pen record a page
of morecomplicated distress, unless it be the strife that distracted the
Israelites during the siege of Jerusalem -- where discordant parties
were cutting eachothers throats, at the moment when the victorious
legions of Titus had toppled down their bulwarks,and were carrying fire
and sword, into the very sanctum sanctorum of the temple."
Books:
Hank
Hanegraaff:
The
Last Sacrifice - From the publishers of the popular Left Behind
fiction series, comes the second volume in a new series by best-selling
authors Sigmund Brouwer and Hank Hanegraaff. This is a remarkable
publishing development. Tyndale is publishing a series of books from the
partial preterist perspective! It's fiction, but so is Left Behind.
Author Hank Hanegraaff is a partial preterist who holds a view on
eschatology that is similar to the position held by Gary DeMar in
Last Days Madness. American Vision readers have asked for
a counterpart to the Left Behind series, and here it is. Show
Tyndale that there's a market for preterist books by purchasing it from
AV now. (Hardback, dust jacket, 384 pages) Book Summary "One
man is martyred in the arena. Another is spared, sent from Rome on a
ship in the dead of night, armed with a scroll holding answers that can
be found only through understanding the divine Revelation, a scroll that
can help him topple Nero’s reign of terror and bring him back everything
he has lost. But only if he has the courage to trust. And behind him,
the Beast is on the hunt. . . .“This calls for wisdom. If anyone has
insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s
number. His number is 666.” – Revelation 13:18, NIV"
Daniel's Seventy
Weeks: Susan Perlman:
Four Startling Facts about the Identity of the Messiah - "Fact One:
the Messiah's appearance was locked into a fixed time Fact Two:
that fixed time was while the Second Temple was still standing
Fact Three: the Messiah had to come from a specific lineage
that was only verifiable through the Temple records And the
fourth startling fact is that the Messiah had to die a violent
death.
Pat Robertson: Disasters point to Second Coming
New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments |
The DSS' Long and Winding Road to the Public Eye
10/8/5:
- Press: Manila Times -
Ekklesia in Asia: Unfitted Guests - "The groom, the king’s son, is
our Lord Jesus Christ. Special people, the Jews, have been initially
invited to the wedding celebrations. The two groups of servants that
were sent to insure their coming were the prophets first, then the
Christian disciples and missionaries. The invited guests’ refusal and
other preferred concerns, plus their maltreatment and even murder of the
servants, dramatize the ferocious rejection of the Christian message on
the part of the Jews. The burning of the city of the unworthy guests
refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D."
-
10/5/5:
10/4/5:
-
Evangelicals
Get a Piece of the Promised Land -
"on hand was Dr. Paul Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network,
a worldwide giant in Christian broadcasting, and Jay Sekulow, the head
of the American Centre for Law & Justice, a Christian-based law firm
founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson."
- 14,000
Days Ends Today! "According to this verse; the Jews would be
dispersed through out the world and Jerusalem would be trodden, or
trampled, by the gentiles, or nations, until "the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled". Exactly 14,000 days from Jesus' proclamation of the
destruction of Jerusalem, it happened in AD 70, as Jerusalem was
surrounded by Titus Vespasian." Luke 21:32 Verily I say unto
you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. I and
many others believe that "This generation" is the generation of June 07,
1967. Take 14,000 days from this date, a biblical generation, and you
come to October 04, 2005. This day is also a very significant
feast, Rosh Hashana. "
10/3/5:
- Papal
Homily speaks
of Jewish nation as "unfaithful vineyard" - "Thus we reach the third
element in today’s reading. The Lord, in the Old and New Testament
alike, pronounces judgement upon the unfaithful vineyard. The judgement
that Isaiah foresees comes about in great wars and exile at the hands of
the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The judgement announced by the Lord
Jesus refers above all to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.
But the threat of judgement regards us too, the Church in Europe, Europe
and the West in general."
- Ted Byfield:
Shouldn't Christians Know Better? - "It's hard to imagine any
current fact that better illustrates the disheveled state of Christian
education. For by almost any standard of New Testament scholarship, the
Da Vinci Code is unmitigated nonsense, and any Christian with the barest
knowledge of the history of the New Testament would know this. Yet it
has been passed off by the author as historically credible, and many
millions of people believe him, an embarrassing number of them
practicing Christians. "
- Christian Bible
Chat.com - Inviting Preterist discussion threads
9/25/5:
-
Location, location, location - "The building of the Third Temple, he
says, will be "something wonderful for the Jewish People, and for the
world as a whole" – although he does not believe that ritual sacrifice
will be reinstated. "
9/24/5:
-
Critical: Stephen
Cole:
Are you ready for Christ's return? - "Although those who hold this view say that they are attempting to deal with the biblical texts, I believe that the extreme Preterists go outside the bounds of orthodoxy and are guilty of heresy."
-
Babelemlekei.hu - Gombor Gabor's Hungarian Preterist Site
Archived - "Bábel emlékei - preterizmus és arám eredet"
- Mistaken ID:
Bat Creek Stone - "Emmert
was a relatively uneducated, obscure former Confederate Army private
from Bristol, Tennessee and life-long Democrat who was employed in
l884 by the Smithsonian to dig in Indian mounds in what was a
successful attempt to prove that the Mound builders were not descendants
of the lost Tribe of Israel. That theory was the prevailing
belief in the Nineteenth Century. Old myths die hard. There are
many, including Mormons, who still cling to it. Some of these believers
use the Bat Creek Stone to support their belief." | Across the Sabbath River
9/23/5:
9/22/5:
-
Pret: Rene Hedges:
Why does Preterism seem to struggle? - "Fascinating how Paul
diminishes the idea of earthy things, yet the present day Christian
looks forward to more earthly things. However, it is difficult
for Christians today, because of their physical reality, to separate the
beliefs of a physical kingdom to come and the genuine spiritual
existence of the kingdom now. "
- CBS News:
Soldiers Spooked By New Orleans: Ghosts/Bibles - "It (Revelation 10
& 11) talks about a great storm that last three days, that washes away a
city -- and that there are bodies in the city."
- Books:
Easterbrook. Gregg -
The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse "Average Americans and Europeans not only live better
than more than 99 percent of the human beings who have ever existed,
they live better than more of the royalty of history, if only owing to
Antibiotics. But we don't seem particularly pleased about our lot.
In 1997, 66 percent of Americans told pollsters they believed 'the lot
of the average person is getting worse.'"
9/21/5:
- Mysterious
"Ball of Fire" seen in sky over Florida - "Dozens of people from
Jacksonville to Ft. Pierce flooded the U.S. Coast Guard late Tuesday
with calls about a mysterious ball of fire seen flying in the sky,
according to a Local 6 News report. Callers flooded the newsroom
of Local 6 News partner Florida Today after they saw the object
over the Space Coast Tuesday night." [waiting on dispensationalist
comments/books (Perhaps "Eye-Ball
to Eye-Ball")]
9/18/5:
- Mistaken Identity Doctrine
- Exploring the Anti-Christ Nationalism of the
Christian Identity Movement [Nationalism akin to 1st Century Judaism and
Modern Dispensationalism, which is racist in its identification of
Israel as a temporal nation]
9/17/5:
-
Dave MacPherson:
Pre-Trib
Rapture Die-hards - "Since the 1970's stunning new data has been
surfacing about the pretribulation rapture's long-covered-up beginnings
in the 1800's. In recent years several persons associated with Dallas
Theological Seminary (which had long been pretribized) have reportedly
gone to Britain to check on my research sources and then write books
opposing my claims. In 1990 an Ohio pastor told me that Dr. _____
_____, the most qualified DTS prof, traveled there and came back and
wrote nothing! The pastor added that he and some others had a good
laugh. But change was coming. "
-
FREE ONLINE BOOKS:
Douglas Krieger -
ANTICHRIST and THE GOG-MAGOG WAR
"Sir Robert Anderson clearly spells out that the wording committed in
Daniel 9:26 tells us that THE PEOPLE (of the prince who is to come)
would destroy the city and the sanctuary—which was done in 70 A.D. under
Titus of Rome (but Titus of Rome was not “the prince who is to come”).
Titus was among the “people of the prince” who were absolutely Roman
and/or Gentiles, who destroyed both Jerusalem and the Temple."
-
Kabbalist
Urges Jews to Israel Ahead of |
|
