Little to my surprise - May 21, 2011 came and went just like May 20. Mr. Harold Camping of Family Radio just was not correct in stating that the rapture and judgment would take place on May 21, 2011. I have listened to this fellow speak about May 21 and I must say that it literally makes me feel sick when I hear his utter disregard for proper Biblical exegesis. It is truly amazing to see someone so bound up in a web of deception.
I spoke with one fellow on May 23rd who actually believed Harold Camping was correct in his calculations. I could not believe my ears when this man said that Camping was right on target and only missed the date by a little bit because he has not accepted the Biblical calendar. I then asked this man if he knew the "true" date and he asked me in return if I was going to mock it after he told me. My answer... of course I was going to mock it. Yeshua plainly says in Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 that no man knows the day or hour of his return, not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. What did this gentleman say to me when I gave him these verses? He told me the Son in these verses was actually the son of perdition... ??? I can't even begin to fathom how someone could really believe that is what Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 are speaking of by mentioning the Son (especially placed in between the angels in heaven and the Father). What a prime example of eisegesis. He then began to tell me that the reason the May 21st date didn't occur was so that 2 Peter 3:4 could be fulfilled - a passage which speaks of mockers. I tried my best to go through the verse and explain to him that the mockers of 2 Peter 3:4 weren't mocking someone who set a date and the date didn't come to pass, they were rather mocking the idea that there would even be a second coming and thus judgment upon the earth. I believe in the second coming of the Messiah for the purpose of judgment and there are people who mock me and numerous others for believing in this. This man could not see the point. Why? He has been blinded. I have now by this time (May 25th) heard Harold Camping say things like Christ did come spiritually, and that he isn't at all embarrassed by the coming and going of May 21. There has been no repentance on his part, no acknowledgement that he was flatly in error. It looks as though Harold Camping is a genuine deceived false prophet who will continue in his satanic ways until the day that he dies. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 speaks of people who do not have a love for the truth but instead enjoy lawlessness. These people are the ones upon which God sends a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false. If Yahweh places a strong delusion upon someone there is no power other than Yahweh Himself that can remove such a delusion. Matthew Janzen
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I've been teaching through Daniel now for about 3 months and I've finally gotten to the prophetic portion of the book; the part that so many people want to talk about; the part that so many people have disagreements about. I find it fascinating to say the least.
One thing that I've been looking at is this: how a person views the prophetic portions of the book of Daniel will determine how this same person views other texts such as Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 3, Revelation, etc. I thought I had somewhat of an understanding of some of these prophetic texts, but I have come to see that some of what I thought I understood, I actually did not understand. The reason? Not digging deeply into the book of Daniel which comes prior to all of these other prophetic texts. When it comes to the intial stage of the Kingdom of Yahweh or the Messianic Kingdom there are basically three views. 1. A-millennial 2. Post-millennial 3. Pre-millennial To get a bit more technical there are two branches of the pre-millennial view defined best as "historic pre-millennialism" and "futuristic pre-millennialism." But for the sake of brevity we will keep it at 3 views for now. Both the a-millennial position and the post-millennial position deny that there will be a literal 1,000 year earthly reign/kingdom of the Messiah. A-millennialism doesn't really believe in a millennium (as its title suggests) believing rather that the 1st coming of Yeshua (his death, resurrection, etc.) was the fulfillment of the binding of Satan mentioned in Revelation 20. The "millennium" is simply a figure of speech meaning a long time. They believe that the church will continue to be persecuted and will receive a greater amount of persecution just before the second or consummating coming of the Messiah. This second coming will bring on the eternal kingdom where we will live forever in heaven with the Messiah. Post-millennialism is extremely similar minus one major point. Those in this "camp" believe that Yeshua's first coming brought on the "millennium" (still figurative), but instead of the church suffering, they believe that things on this current earth will continue to get better and better and that the church will eventually gain control and dominance over the earth to usher in the second coming of Messiah, the eternal kingdom, living in heaven forever. What is the same in both views is that the Messianic Kingdom is current, and that it is a figurative kingdom ruled from heaven through the agency of the church. I find both of these positions very hard to swallow in light of what we read in both Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 concerning the timeline of prophecy and the kingdom of Yahweh. I'll be brief here. All four kingdoms (represented by precious metals in Daniel 2 and vicious beasts in Daniel 7) represent literaly, earthly reigns/kingdoms whereby literal laws and rule govern a literal realm. Every single place in the book of Daniel where the word kingdom (Hebrew = "malkoo") is used means exactly this. When the Messianic Kingdom comes on the scene as the stone in Daniel 2 and the Son of Man receiving the kingdom from the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7, it is not good exegesis of the texts to move from earthly kingdoms to a Messianic Kingdom that is not an earthly kingdom reality, but rather runs along contemporaneous with the many man-made kingdoms of the earth in our current time, or really for the last 2,000 years. The Messianic Kingdom in both chapters of Daniel comes on the scene after the fourth beast is judged and killed. History teaches us that the Romans Empire (the fourth beast) continued at least in its first form strongly until the end of the 4th century A.D. This does not align with the prophetic portions of Daniel. This must mean that there will be a final form or revival of this Roman Empire yet in the future out of which will arise 10 contemporaneous kings, and and 11th king (the little horn) that will govern for 3 1/2 years. At the conclusion of this final form of the fourth beast the Messianic Kingdom will come on the scene. Yeshua will return and the literal 1,000 year reign of Messiah (spoken of 6 times in Revelation 20) will commence. Matthew Janzen It seems that as the Scriptural year comes close to ending I always find myself doing more reading and research on the Biblical calendar. I do this I guess to refresh my mind on why I have made the decisions I have made in regards to how to begin the Biblical new year, and sometimes I do so because I have been challenged by others who feel that the method I've chosen to use is incorrect.
I have found that many in the modern "feast-keeping movement" (for lack of a better term) are very adamant that their way is the right way and that all other ways are false inventions of man. Some people will put you right into the lake of fire if you don't agree with them on the calendar. I'll be the first to say that I really would like for the Biblical calendar to be laid out in kindergarten terms in Scripture, but I've come to realize that this is just not the case. I do believe that we can arrive at some solid foundational conclusions, but when it comes to tedious points on what exactly constitutes a new moon or how exactly is the new year to be determined, the Scriptures are grey rather than black and white. I by no means am faulting Yahweh on this point. He "calls the shots" if I may say and I believe He has placed in Scripture what we need to know for eternal salvation. All I am saying is that the exact directions for certain calendar calculations are not spelled out in the Bible. The Bible never gives us a command like this: "Thou shalt begin the first month of the year with the conjunction of the moon that takes place after the spring equinox." I currently believe that this is how the first new moon of the new year is to be determined, but I'm not going to be so one-track minded as to think that I'm 100% certain that this is how it is to be done. I have good friends that I believe love Yahweh dearly who disagree with me on how to begin the new year. This sometimes leads me and my friends to keep feasts days in different months or new moons on different days. I do not believe that doing so marks them for destruction or that they (or me for that matter) are committing intentional sin. They could be in error, I could be in error, or we both could be in error. I believe they are trying just as much as me if not more so to do their best to serve Yahweh in the area of keeping His appointed times. I do know some people who are very quick to bring up the issue of Jeroboam's false 8th month feast when certain feast keepers keep what they call a "late Tabernacles." For those that don't have a clue what I'm talking about go read 1 Kings 12, specifically verses 25-33, but the entire chapter should be read. Basically, Yahweh ordained that the Feast of Tabernacles be kept in the 7th month of His calendar, but Jeroboam devised a month in his own heart and thus moved the Feast from the 7th to the 8th committing all sorts of abominations along the way. Sometimes I keep a later Tabernacles than other feast-keeping groups because I use a different method than them. There are many other people who believe as me and they too keep a "later Tabernacles" than other people in certain years. Sometimes you hear people say things like: "They are keeping Jereboam's 8th month feast!" Sometimes they say it loud and boastfully, but others say it with true concern in a gentle manner. Is there a possibility that some people are today keeping the Feast of Jeroboam? My answer is no for the most part. Here is why. Everyone that I know personally today that keeps the Feasts of Yahweh does so genuinely wanting to keep His feast. They are not seeking to move His feast from the 7th to the 8th month on purpose. Their heart isn't seeking to make golden calves and bring in false worship. They are rather seeking to please Yahweh. Now that being said, could I among others possibly be keeping the 8th month instead of the 7th? Yes, it is possible, but the situation is not the same as with Jereboam. I am not purposefully keeping a wrong feast. See, in the time of Jereboam there was no argument as to when the 7th month on Yahweh's calendar was. Everyone agreed because everyone knew exactly when the 7th month occurred. Therefore what Jereboam did was deliberate, intentional, and downright rebellious. Today, there exists people who love Yahweh on all sides of the calendar debate. We are discussing and debating which month is the 7th, so we should not condemn another person if they choose a different month than us because they really believe it to be the 7th. Jereboam didn't really believe that His 8th month was Yahweh's 7th month. You should see the difference. I would suggest that you now read 2 Chronicles 30. Here we see a Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated with a pure heart, but without all the i's dotted and t's crossed. I believe we should make an effort to dot the i's and cross the t's but if we fall short while making the effort Yahweh sees the intention of the heart. He sees that you are doing your very best and if you don't get it all exactly right it's not out of an evil intent to distort His calendar, it's simply out of lack of knowledge on our part. Sometimes we lack knowledge not because we have not studied, but simply because we just don't know - it can be that simple. There's so much more to say, but if you study the calendar again before this new year starts, study with an open mind towards others who see things a bit differently. Recognize that people are at different stages and that at least they are trying to serve Yahweh in the area of His appointed times even though they may not see eye-to-eye with you on all the particulars. Matthew Janzen I remember when almost everyone you met who professed Christianity wore a bracelet that had imprinted on it "WWJD?" I know, I know, not everyone wore them but you get my drift - they were very popular. The acronym stood for "What would Jesus do?" This fad urged people to think about how they lived their life by asking this question. What would Jesus do in this or that situation?
A Torah observant lifestyle takes this question to it's inevitable conclusion. What would Yeshua (Jesus) do? He would keep the commandments of his Father. He said that we shouldn't even think that He came to destroy the law and the prophets but rather to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17) and He taught others to be fulfilling the law as well (Matthew 5:19). What would Yeshua do? He would keep the Sabbath day, the holy-days, and the new moons (Leviticus 23; Isaiah 66:22-23; Ezekiel 46:1). What would Yeshua eat? He would follow the dietary laws of Scripture (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14.) What would Yeshua wear? He would dress modestly (Genesis 3:21), wear tassels on His garment (Numbers 15:37-41; Deuteronomy 22:12), and not wear clothes mixed with wool and linen (Deuteronomy 22:11). What would Yeshua teach? He would teach the Kingdom of Yahweh and for people to repent from their law breaking and believe in this Kingdom (Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43). How would Yeshua treat others? He would do unto others and He would have them do unto Him (Matthew 7:12). What would Yeshua look like? He would have a beard rather than shaving his face (Leviticus 19:27). The list goes on and on, but the point should be clear. If we are really going to look to Yeshua as our example, shouldn't we be doing the best we know to imitate his life? If our answer is yes, then we need to be diligent to strive to be like Him and - yes - this means we need to follow all the commandments of Yahweh Almighty that are applicable to us in every area of our life. Matthew Janzen |
AuthorBlog by Matthew Janzen. Lover of Yahweh, Yeshua, my wife and 5 children. All else is commentary. Archives
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