Future History of the Church Part 2 (~4.52 MB)

Transcription

MORIEL
“G o d i s
MINISTRIES
m y t e a c h e r”
October/December 2013
Cheshvan/Kislev/Tevet 5774
No. 56
Infiltration of the Church
December 2013 • Moriel Quarterly
1
F
rom the Moriel team,
GOD IS MY TEACHER
Jacob Next Tour
Jacob has one conference in January 0f 2014. Jacob and David Hocking
will be teaching in El Centro California for the holidays. The weather is
always nice in El Centro in January, so please mark your calendars for this
event.
Jacob will be coming back to America in early March for a brief tour
ending in mid April. Be sure to check out the website for a conference near
you. We have conferences all over this spring from Ohio to California. We
hope to see you there.
The Moriel TV Channel Coming Soon
We are all working hard on getting Moriel TV up and running soon. We
hope to do live broadcasts as well as Q & A sessions. With the great apostasy in full speed mode, our hope is to be able to feed those sheep who are
experiencing the famine for the Word predicted by Amos. So look for some
beginning broadcasts in December and stay tuned.
Also if you do not receive the Moriel Alert make sure you sign up. This will
be the vehicle that we will send out notifications through. Contact Scott
Brisk at Moriel Editor ([email protected]). Also please pray that
we can all learn the jobs and skills we need to have to make this happen.
RENEW – RENEW – RENEW
Work continues in the Philippines, as well as evangelical outreach to a
number of churches. Moriel teachings as are being translated and distributed in the local language, which is providing a number of people with
God’s word, this is incredible! Please keep Goeff and his lead missionary,
Hope, in your prayers. Also please pray as Jacob’s book Grain for the Famine
is also being printed there and distributed in the very remote regions of the
islands.
Please Pray
Jacob and Danny are going to be working on Jacob’s next book about
the time you are receiving this Quarterly. So please pray they can make
good progress on the new book and even finish it. We have been waiting
for 4 years for this book to be publish and made avaliable to the public.
Please pray for both Danny and Jacob’s health. Keep Jacob in your prayers
as he travels, and also that we would have God’s wisdom to take on a rather
risky mission trip next year. Jacob will be going to the Far East next year and
has stops planned in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. These around
the world trips are grueling and Jacob needs strength and good health.
God Bless,
Moriel Ministries †††
Jacob’s Itinerary
FOR
USA & CANADA
USA
– November Moriel Conference 2013 –
Friday 15th – Sunday 17th November 2013
The Growing Remnant verses
The Shrinking Majority
Guest Speaker: Dr David Hocking
From Hope for Today
Book Now – Limited Spaces Available
USA/MARCH 2014
– Vision Calvary Chapel –
Friday, March 21
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Prophecy Conference
1900 West Olive Avenue
Porterville, CA 93257
559-361-1200
– Columbus OHio Prophecy
Conference –
Friday and Saturday,
March 28th and 29th, 2014
David Hocking and Jacob
Grace Fellowship Church 3475 Paris Blvd.
Westerville, OH 43801
– Fellowship Bible Chapel –
Sunday March 30, 2014 - 9:30 AM
East Wing Community Center
151 East Orange Road
Lewis Center, OH 43035
614-305-5152
April 2014
– Believers in Grace Ministries –
Wednesday thru Sunday, April 2 - 6, 2014
8600 C Avenue, Marion, IA 52302
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday - 7:00 PM
Saturday - 6:00 PM
Sunday April 6, 2014 - 10:00 AM
Friday thru Sunday, April 25-27, 2014
Southern California
Details to follow
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Moriel Quarterly • December 2013
featured articles
GOD IS MY TEACHER
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october – december
Issue No. 56
PUBLISHED BY
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INTERNATIONAL
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Future history of the church,
part ll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
STATE OF MORIEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
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thailand
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AUSTRALIANnews
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Feature Article – Future History of the Church Pt. ll
Introduction – Part I
Rome Then and Now
W
hat happened during the Reformation was relatively mild
in comparison to the tremendous revival taking place now in Roman
Catholic countries, specifically in South
America: In Santiago, Chile, 20,000 people
leave the Roman Catholic church every
week to become Pentecostals. In Guatemala, 10% of the population left the Roman
Catholic church within ten years’ time and
became Pentecostals. In the Philippines it is
the same; in the United States, the number
of converted Roman Catholics is incredible. In Ireland, more Roman Catholics are
now getting saved than Protestants. In Italy
there are over 1,000 Assemblies of God
churches, none of them small and practically all of them new. While the Assemblies
of God denomination is failing in countries
that had the Reformation, it is prospering
in Catholic countries. We will observe that
the Mary issue will be incendiary; “Great is
Diana of Ephesus” – see Acts 19:23-34.
The Roman emperors were worshiped
and God’s people were killed for refusing
to participate in it. 2 Thessalonians 2 and
Revelation 13 speak of the same thing.
The emperor worship of Rome prefigures
worship of the Antichrist. The kissing of
the Pope’s ring and other similar practices
are derived from emperor worship. Once
again, in the Last Days the Antichrist, the
emperor will demand to be worshiped in
some way. Those who will not do so will
be persecuted for their refusal.
Scripture notes in Acts 5:37, the nativity
narratives, etc., that the Roman emperors
took a census. When you really understand
the way census was used in the Bible, you
will understand why David’s taking the
census in Israel (1 Chr. 21) was even worse
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Jacob Prasch
than his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. The
Roman emperors used census to number
people’s heads and thus gain financial control of the world; this is what the Antichrist
will also do. It happened in the time of the
Early Church and it will happen again in
the end. The worst emperors slaughtered
the church and then turned against the
Jews. It began with Nero in 62 A.D., and
in 68-70 A.D. the tide turned against the
Jews. In the 2nd Century emperors such as
Diocletian, Marcus Aurelius, and Septimus
Severitus were against the church, but then
with Hadrian they went against the Jews
from 120-132 A.D.
The early believers had an imminent
eschatology; they believed that Jesus was
coming back during their lifetime. We, too,
will begin to see that happening. The general tide of world events politically at that
time fulfilled specific eschatological prophecies. The events surrounding the destruction of the Temple, the burning of Rome,
etc. – those things fulfilled prophecy. But
once again, Jewish prophecy is pattern, and
those same prophecies will again be fulfilled in the future. What I am basically saying is this: When you read the book of Acts,
you’re not only reading the history of the
early church, you’re also reading the history of the latter church. What happens to
Jesus happens to the Apostles, happens to
Paul, and happens to the early Christians;
all of these things together teach what will
happen to us. What happens to Jesus in His
last days happens again to His Body in the
Last Days.
What happened in the Early Church will
happen in the latter church. The Book of
Acts happens again. Forty-eight percent of
the Gospel of John deals with the last week
of Jesus’ life; the Passion narrative. All four
gospels devote at least one-third of their
time to what happened in the last days of
Jesus’ earthly life. If it is read the right way,
the New Testament does the same with us,
speaking a great deal about what will happen
in the Last Days. Jesus was betrayed, crucified, and raised victorious. We, too, will be
betrayed, crucified, and raised victorious.
Deception Then and Now
It is important to realize that the kinds of
deceptions perpetrated by Satan against the
Early Church are the kinds of deceptions
he will use against the church in the Last
Days. The same heresies, false doctrines,
and deceptions that the devil introduced
into Christianity in its early centuries make
a comeback in the Last Days.
In the Early Church people with a low
Christology – people who did not believe
that Jesus was God – were called “Arians.”
Today we call them Jehovah’s Witnesses;
the two are essentially the same.
In the Early Church they called the Sabbatarians and dietary legalists and Nomianists “Judaizers” (see Galatians). Today
we call them, Seventh-Day Adventists.
In the Early Church people who were
hyper-Dispensationalist – who took Dispensationalism to a bizarre extreme and
made a radical, tremendous separation between the Testaments – were called “Marcionites.” Today they are the Exclusive or
Closed Brethren.
In the Early Church, the people who said
that the Father was Jesus, the Son was Jesus, and the Spirit was Jesus were called
“Sabellians” or “Patripassionists.” Today
we call them Jesus-Only Pentecostals, or
United Pentecostals. There is nothing new
under the sun.
Undoubtedly, however, of all these lies
and the many others, the two most damaging were the Montanists and the Gnostics,
who were related to each other. The Montanists had over-realized eschatology; they
believed that the kingdom was now. They
made many crazy predictions and prophe-
Jacob Prasch
cies that revival was coming to their capital
or that Jesus was coming there Himself in
Phrygia or modern-day Turkey. They had
all manner of wild predictions, but the way
they sucked people into it was by putting
a heavy emphasis on signs and wonders.
“The Apostles had these things, the Bible
teaches them, so we should have them” was
their philosophy. Irenaeus, the pre-Nicean
church father, wrote against these people
while yet defending what was right about
them. He did say that signs and wonders
and the gifts of the Spirit are Biblical; but
this particular group was using them to get
people to believe other bizarre things. The
same is true today.
In the Early Church people like Tertullian, the church father – people you would
never have expected to get caught up in
crazy errors – did. Today, too, I find people
I never would have expected being caught
up in the same kinds of Kingdom Now ideas
of Triumphalism, Restorationism, and Dominionism. It works the same way, with the
emphasis laid on signs and wonders, etc.
These people in the Early Church made
insane predictions that didn’t happen and
led to total anarchy. At any turning point
in church history, this same Kingdom Now
theology has surfaced. The Montanists began to surface when the Roman Empire
went into decline.
During the Renaissance, which was a
very important turning point in the history
of Europe, believers in Montanist doctrines
were called the followers of Joachim of
Fiore. This man, leader of Kingdom Now
theology at that time, has such a similar
philosophy to that of the Vineyard movement today that he could have written for
their magazine. We see in them the same
ideas, for example: there are supposedly
three ages, the Age of the Father, the Age
of the Son, and the Age of the Spirit; the
Age of the Father being Old Testament Israel, the Age of the Son being the church
age, and the Age of the Spirit being the
latter-day rain, identified with their own
movement. They believed they belonged to
a new religious order that was going to take
over all other religious orders. This is the
same belief found today in John Wimber’s
Vineyard Movement.
During the Reformation, there were the
Prophets of Zwickau. Now, if you’re Brethren, Pentecostal, or Baptist, don’t ever consider yourself a Protestant. If you had been
around during the Reformation, the Protestants would have called you an “Anabaptist” and they would have killed you as fast
as the Catholics would. Zwingli said, “So
you want to be baptized again?” and cut
a hole in the ice in Zurich in which they
drowned the believers there who believed
in believers’ baptism. The followers of Lu-
ther, Calvin and Zwingli killed Anabaptists.
If you’re Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
or Reformed, then you’re a Protestant; but
anything non-conformist is not Protestant.
The Anabaptists were in most ways
much closer to the Scripture than the Reformers were. The Protestants ran around
pretending they had rediscovered the Gospel, when in fact there were people who
had never lost it. Long before Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli, there were people on the
Continent such as John S. Huss and the
Bohemian Brethren, or in England the followers of John Wycliffe, or the Waldensians who were around for centuries – all
of whom were Bible-believing Christians.
There were always people who understood
the basic truth and knew the church at large
had gotten away from it.
However, in the time of the Reformation
something happened. Feudalism ended,
and capitalism began. The decline of the
Holy Roman Empire – which was neither
holy nor Roman – was occurring, and that
Empire was being replaced with the nation-state; people began saying “I am English”, “I am German”, “I am Scottish”, etc.
Therefore, the Pope no longer had the political leverage to exterminate Christians and
suppress the preaching of the Gospel in the
way that he had throughout the Dark Ages.
Additionally, Gutenberg invented the
printing press. You no longer had the Vulgate, which was the Latin edition of the
Bible that monks copied; instead you had
people like Luther putting the Bible into
German and Tyndale into English and so
on, and Bibles could be mass-produced
because of Gutenberg’s invention. So the
Bible went out, literacy increased, and the
Pope lost his ability to stop the spread of
the Gospel politically. That is why the Reformation happened. The only thing people
like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli did was
get away with something that other people
before them had always said, only the political and social circumstances were not ripe
for them to live to tell about it. The idea that
the Reformers rediscovered the Gospel is a
perversion of history.
There were some Anabaptists whose
capital was Muenster in Germany, near
Holland. They followed these “prophets”
called the Prophets of Zwickau, who made
a lot of crazy predictions, prophecies, and
practices, with excessive abuses of the gifts
of the Spirit etc., which led to total anarchy. Today we have the same thing, only
instead of the Prophets of Zwickau we have
the Kansas City Prophets. After Paul Cain
publicly made false predictions with John
Wimber in England, the same people who
witnessed these false prophecies will get on
buses again to go hear a repeat performance
by this man, who prophesied falsely in the
Feature Article – Future History of the Church Pt. ll
name of the Lord. The Anglican bishop David Pitchers wrote a book called Some Said
it Thundered, telling all Evangelical Anglicans to follow this guy. They did, and Paul
Cain has since that time gone to Saddam
Hussein, a man who has murdered God
only knows how many tens of thousands
of his own people, and apologized, repenting on behalf of the born-again Christians
in the United States and Great Britain for
“what we did to him”.
Proper Use of Midrash
Kingdom Now theology has always surfaced at pivotal points in history – there is
nothing new under the sun. Related to it is
something really crazy: Gnosticism.
Alexandria was where the Judeo-Christian world met the Orient. It was where
Zoroastrian priests, Jewish rabbis, Buddhist monks, and Christians converged
with the exchange of ideas. At the onset of
the Christian era, the Hellenistic ideas of
someone named Philo had already begun
to come into Judaism. This was picked up
by some of the people in Alexandria who
were Christians, especially Origen – possibly Clement of Alexandria, but certainly
Origen. Let me explain.
Midrashically, in the Jewish way of handling Scripture, you use symbolism, typology, and allegory to illustrate and illuminate
doctrine, without ever basing doctrine on it.
Take the Passover as an example with the
symbolism of the Last Supper. When you
understand the Jewish Passover and the
Last Supper as a Passover, the symbolism
of the Jewish ritual in the Passover seder
will help you understand the Lord’s Supper
on a much deeper level than you otherwise
could. The purpose of allegory, typology
and symbolism is to illuminate doctrine on
a deeper level, never to be the basis of doctrine in itself.
Very briefly: A Jewish Christian reading John’s Gospel in the 1st Century would
have read John 1, 2, and 3 and he would
have said that it was, of course, a midrash
on Genesis 1, 2, and 3. He would have said
that John 1, 2, and 3 narrated the New Creation, while Genesis narrated the Creation;
therefore Genesis 1, 2, and 3 and John 1, 2,
and 3 are a midrashic parallel.
• God walks the Creation in Genesis,
and God walks on the earth in the New
Creation in John. The Spirit moves on
the water and brings forth the Creation in Genesis, and the Spirit moves
on the water and brings forth the New
Creation in John.
• God comes to separate the light from
the darkness in the Creation in Genesis, and He does so again in the New
Creation in John.
• In the Creation in Genesis you have
5
Feature Article – Continued
the small light and the great light; in
the New Creation you have Johanan
Hamadvil – John the Baptist (the small
light), and Yeshua ha Mashiach, Jesus
the Messiah (the great light).
Midrashically, the fig tree is a metaphor
for the Tree of Life that is in the Garden
of Eden. The Tree of Life is in the garden,
and the fig tree is in John. So midrashically,
when Jesus sees Nathaniel “under the fig
tree,” in Jewish metaphor Jesus was not
merely saying to Nathaniel, “I saw you under a literal fig tree,” although he did; He
was saying midrashically, “I saw you from
the creation; from the foundation of the
world I foreknew you.” That illustrates the
truth; the Bible directly states elsewhere
that there are “those whom He foreknew
from the creation of the world.” (Rom.
8:29) I am not a Calvinist, but there is a
truth in it. The midrash illustrates that truth,
but it is not the basis of it.
In the same way, “This is the cup of the
new covenant in My blood,” as Jesus said
at the Last Supper, (1 Co. 11:25) shows that
the Passover meal illustrates the doctrine of
atonement while not being the basis for it.
That is the way in which Jewish hermeneutics uses allegory. It’s totally wrong to reject allegory in the way the Reformers did
because the deeper things of the Scriptures
will never be understood if we do that. On
the other hand, however, it is just as wrong
and even dangerous to base doctrine on it.
Gnosticism
What the Gnostics did was this: They
claimed a subjective mystical insight into
the types and allegories in Scripture, then
reinterpreted the plain meaning of the Bible in light of this “gnosis,” which is the
Greek word for spiritual revelation. They
claimed to have special knowledge, and if
you didn’t see it, they would say you were
under spiritual deception or in rebellion.
Roman Catholicism is based on Gnosticism. The Pope erroneously claims to be the
successor of Peter; to have your hermeneutics right, you must first have your ecclesiology right. In other words, only the Pope,
the Magisterium of the Church, can interpret the Bible. Therefore, although the plain
meaning of Luke 1:47 is that Mary says she
needs a Savior, Catholicism replies, “Yes,
but you don’t have the gnosis; the Pope has
it because he’s the heir of Peter, and he says
that Mary does not need a Savior because
she was conceived without sin.”
Hasidic Judaism is the same way. Their
rabbis are called “rebbes” and they’re the
descendants of someone called Bal Shem
Tov, the Besch in Judaism, a Jewish Gnostic who was into things like astral projection. The Hasidic Jews contend with each
other about whose rebbe is the real descen6
dant of Besch; who really has the spirit of
the Besch. It’s a form of reincarnation that
comes from Hinduism. Therefore, for Hasidic Jews there are two ways to God: The
Torah and the rebbe, the righteous one. The
rebbe goes to God through Torah; you go
to God through the rebbe. What the Torah
says is not important; what the rebbe says
about it is important.
Similarly, with Catholicism it is not what
the New Testament says that is important,
but rather what the Pope says about it that
matters. With Sufi Moslems, it’s the suf;
with Shi’a Moslems, it’s the imam, and
what the imam says about the Koran. With
Zoroastrians, it’s their priesthood. With
Hindus, it’s the Brahman priests, the highest order of the caste system, or the guru.
He goes to Vishnu and Krishna, you go
through him. With Shamanism it’s the shaman. To Tibetan Buddhists the essential figure is the Dalai Lama. All of these groups
follow Gnosticism.
The essential issue in these forms of
Gnosticism therefore becomes, “Who is
your guru, who is your pope, who is your
imam, who is your rebbe, who is your suf,
who is your lama or your priest or your shaman?’” In Restorationism, the corresponding question is, “Who is your apostle, who
is your prophet?”
Modern-Day Gnostics
Joel chapter 2 is the basis for the Manchild/Manifest Sons of God doctrines of
Restorationism. Let’s take a look at John
Wimber’s exposition of Joel chapter 2. Remember that Jewish prophecy is pattern,
and therefore somehow this passage is
about the Last Days. However, in its historical context it is speaking of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion. Joel 2 says this:
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, Sound an
alarm…There is a great and mighty
people…There has never been anything like it, Nor will there ever be
again To the years of many generations. A fire consumes before them,
And a flame after them. The land is
like the Garden of Eden before them,
And desolate wilderness after them.
Nothing escapes them.”
That is what John Wimber, Paul Cain,
David Pitchers, Gerald Coates, and the
people in the house churches who follow
them have said that the church triumphant
is going to be. But let’s look more closely
“Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; Like warhorses they
run… …They rush on the city, They
run on the walls.”
It goes on from there to describe this
army as locusts. The Restorationists say
that the church triumphant will be this army
of devouring locusts, that they will conquer
all. But now let’s look at verse 20:
“I will remove the northern army
far from you, And will drive it into a
parched and desolate land, Its vanguard in the Eastern Sea And its rearguard into the Western Sea. And its
stench will arise, and its foul smell
will come up, For it has done great
things.”
God is going to destroy and judge this
army because it is evil the way He judged
and destroyed Nebuchadnezzar’s army.
That is the context exegetically, grammatically, historically, or any other way you
would like to look at it. But John Wimber
came along claiming a gnosis saying, “No,
that’s not what it means – it’s the church
triumphant”; if you don’t see this, he will
simply say that you are under spiritual deception. If you disagree, you’ll be accused
of having the spirit of Antichrist.
Another man who is guilty of this kind
of thing is Andrew Shearman, though he is
more eisegetical than actually Gnostic. He
will take a text which says that the Gospel
is preached until John, but then with the
Kingdom, men enter it violently; he will
twist that text. (Mt. 11:12) What “violently” means here in its original Greek context
is “pressed into.” It can be compared to this
hypothetical situation: If you were taking a
boat across the Irish Sea from Hollyhead in
Wales to Dublin, and you put on a life jacket and got into a lifeboat, the other passengers would think you were crazy. On these
ferryboats there are pubs, discotheques,
casinos, etc. The people are thereby amusing themselves, while you sit in the lifeboat
with your life jacket on, trying to encourage people to put on life jackets and join
you because it will add to the comfort and
pleasure of their trip. They would say you
were nuts; but as soon as the warning whistle goes off and these people know the boat
is sinking and they’re doomed, they’ll be
pressing into the lifeboats and trying to get
life jackets on in order to save their necks.
The Law and the Prophets are taught
until John; in Galatians the Law is called
our teacher because it teaches us that we
are condemned and in need of salvation.
(Gal. 3:24) This is what the text means,
but Mr. Shearman says, “No, this is the
church triumphant. We’re the mighty men
who are going to do the conquering.” This
is nonsensical and doesn’t come close to
what the text means. There is no way anyone can read that text in its original context
and come up with such a stupid conclusion,
yet this is what the man teaches, and ifyou
don’t see it you’re “under spiritual deception.” Again, it’s not what the Bible says
that’s important, but rather what the person
with the gnosis claims.
Two Forms of Gnosticism
This is what the Gnostics do today, and it
is exactly what they did in the Early Church
as well. In the time of the Early Church
there were two forms of Gnosticism: the totally pagan form and the form that got into
the church under the leadership of people
such as Basil and Valentinus. The same applies today; there are two forms of Gnosticism. The utterly pagan form is the New
Age movement; Gnosticism is really what
the New Age movement is. It may have occult packaging and so on, but the core of it
is Gnostic. The kind of Gnosticism getting
into the church today is Restorationism. All
of the visualization techniques among many
other popular things Restorationists embrace – such as Joyce Huggett’s books – are
New Age ideas, totally alien to the Bible.
Using breathing exercises for prayer, as
she describes, comes from yoga. She states
also that the exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
should be used as a model for Christian
prayer. Ignatius Loyola was the founder
of the Jesuits, a religious order designed to
stop the spread of the Gospel in the Counter-Reformation. He was a man whose order is responsible for the death, torture, and
murder of probably a half-million Christians. Yet his shamanistic exercises are being upheld in today’s church as a model for
Christian prayer! These are New Age ideas
creeping into the church. These were also
the kinds of deception faced by the Early
Church; the same ones have come back.
It doesn’t matter whether you call it
“Arianism” or Jehovah’s Witnesses; it is the
same thing. Charles Taze Russell and Judge
Rutherford, the founders of the Jehovah’s
Witness movement, claimed a gnosis. If
you don’t agree with them, you’re under deception. Roman Catholicism = Gnosticism.
Shia Islam = Gnosticism. Sufi Islam = Gnosticism. Zoroastrianism = Gnosticism. Hinduism = Gnosticism. Shamanism = Gnosticism. The house churches = Gnosticism.
Just look at the damage that heavy shepherding and similar practices have caused
people. This Restorationism is a natural
bedfellow for all kinds of other errors, one
of which is heavy shepherding. We deal
with this more in depth in a separate teaching; I am simply saying here that it was
a deception in the Early Church, and it is
again becoming a deception now. A person
who claims the gnosis is naturally going to
become a heavy shepherd; what else could
he be? Jesus, however, said that One is your
Teacher, Who is in heaven (Mt. 23:8-10).
God will do a new thing. If a couple has
four children and they decide to have a fifth
(God help them), God will do a new thing,
but they will get the fifth child in the same
way in which they got the first four. When
God does a new thing, it will always be in
character with the way He has always done
things. What Gnostics will say is that everything can be abrogated because God is going to do a new thing in the Last Days; that
is true, but it will never be out of character
with the way He has always done things.
There is a lot wrong with abortion, but
one of the things that bothers me most is
the waiting list of couples who are trying to
adopt a baby. This list is three miles long,
while other people are killing children.
There is no such thing as an unwanted baby.
People will adopt handicapped children or
just about any child if they want one badly
enough; yet other people are killing them.
If a couple really loves each other, and
they want to share their love with a baby,
the mother never says, “I just can’t face labor. I can’t face morning sickness or contractions; therefore I am not going to have
the baby. It’s too miserable.” The only thing
she’s thinking of is pushing the baby in a
pram, taking him to the park on the swings,
and going to the zoo to show him the zebras
and the monkeys. Morning sickness and labor are not what occupy her mind; that’s
just what has to be gone through in order to
get the child.
I’m glad I am not a female. I watched one
of my children being born, and kept my eye
on the monitor that measures the intensity
and frequency of contractions. Every time
the thing started moving I told my wife,
“This is the last one, this is it! I wouldn’t
lie to you, baby,” but I was lying. Forget
those rugby players at Wiggin; women are
the strongest creatures in the world! If one
of those rugby players had a baby he’d be
out for the season.
Increasing Tremors
Birth pangs and earth tremors – but particularly birth pangs – are the most common things Scripture uses to describe what
is going to happen to the church before
Jesus comes. Think of the nature of birth
pangs: Contractions become more frequent
and more severe, while letting up for a
while in between. They are at their worst
right before the baby is born. The same applies to the Last Days; the pressure grows
worse and worse, and though it might let
up for a while, it returns and continues in
that pattern until the birth occurs. That’s
what Revelation is about; certainly that’s
what Jeremiah talks about. Jeremiah refers
frequently to birth pangs; he is a prophet
who prophesied for his own time, for the
first coming of Jesus, and for the Last Days,
sometimes almost in the same breath.
Whenever you see something in Scripture
about birth pangs, the Holy Spirit is trying
to reveal something about what will happen
to the church in the Last Days.
1 Thessalonians 5 is another example:
“When they are saying ‘peace and safety’, then destruction will come upon
them like birth pangs upon a woman
with child, and they shall not escape.”
Read Jeremiah; whenever you see the
idea of birth pangs, it is eschatologically
significant. In addition, whatever you have
in the science of obstetrics has its parallel in the science of seismology. Earth
tremors behave in much the same way as
birth pangs; before there is a major shift of
plates causing a big earthquake, a number
of smaller tremors precede it. They tend to
become more frequent and more intense
before the final quake actually occurs. In
America and Japan they spend astronomical sums of money trying to discern patterns in tremors in order to predict earthquakes. But they do know that tremors
operate under much the same principle as
birth pangs. Tremors, too, teach something
about what will happen in the Last Days.
The tremors increase, the birth pangs increase, and then the baby comes. Once the
baby arrives, and the obstetrician or midwife
hands the baby to the mother, all the pain,
misery, and mess of labor and delivery is
quickly forgotten. The only important thing
is the baby, who is well worth it. A woman
could be in labor for four weeks, but as
soon as she has her baby it’s all forgotten.
It will be the same way when Jesus
comes; as soon as He appears, all pain and
misery is forgotten. We should think about
Jesus coming; we don’t have to consider
the tribulation that goes before it, just as a
mother anticipates her child’s birth rather
than dreading labor pains. Yet we must realize that tribulation is going to happen in the
Last Days; just as a mother realizes there is
no getting around the birth process.
Examples Past and Present
What happened with the Maccabees
and Antiochus Epiphanes happens again
to Israel and the church in the Last Days
in some way. The book of Daniel also happens again. What happened in the days
of the Maccabees was this: a lot of Jews
compromised with the Seleucids, allowing
Hellenism and “Avodat Zara,” in Hebrew,
or foreign worship, to begin taking place in
the city of God and ultimately in the house
of God. Things wouldn’t have gotten that
far if so many Jews hadn’t been willing to
compromise. The way the Maccabees stood
up against it and others began joining them
teaches something about what is going to
happen when the Antichrist manifests. Antiochus Epiphanes did not simply come
one day, slaughter a pig in the Temple, and
set up an image of Zeus and of himself to
be worshiped. Nor is that the way the future abomination of desolations will come.
Things build up toward that point; the Jews
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compromised and compromised until one
day things had gone so far they could no
longer put a stop to it.
The same thing is happening now. The
Church of England is a church where someone who will not agree to sprinkle babies
for infant baptism cannot be ordained a
minister, but someone who is prepared to
deny the Resurrection of Jesus Christ can
be consecrated a bishop, with two-thirds of
the other bishops defending him – including Evangelicals. Canterbury Cathedral is a
site of interfaith worship. The Greek word
“demonoi,” Hebrew word “shiddim” – other gods are demons, as Scripture directly
states in Deuteronomy and in 1 Corinthians. (Dt. 32:17; 1 Co. 10:20) Hindu worship takes place in Canterbury Cathedral;
2,000 Anglican bishops signed a petition
to stop it, but the Evangelical Archbishop
stated that he “respects all religions.” That
is an abomination of desolations in the
house of God. People give up and give up
and give up, continuing to compromise until it is too late.
In the same way, don’t expect to see the
Antichrist being worshiped in the church
overnight. It doesn’t happen that way, it
happens the way it did in the time of the
Maccabees, with God’s people compromising repeatedly until things have gone too far
to be stopped. Daniel 11:33-35 says this:
“Those who have understanding
among the people will rise up and give
understanding to the many. But they
will be persecuted . . .”
(We discuss this on the Christmas/ Hanukah tape.) What happened with the Maccabees happens again in the Last Days.
The book of Daniel is replayed; Jesus said
directly that when we see the abomination
of desolations being set up, we could know
that our redemption draws near. (Lk. 21:28)
What happened with the Maccabees as
Daniel predicted it has to happen again; Jesus said so directly. When you read Daniel,
read Maccabees in the Apocrypha and see
what happens. When you do, you will be
reading about one of the main things that is
going to happen to the church again. There
will be an abomination of desolations.
The Physical Reflects the
Deeper Spiritual
There are different words in Greek for
“church” or “temple”: oikos, naos, hieron; in Hebrew it’s ha hekal, beth mishkatn, beth migdash. In no less than seven
places, the New Testament says that the
church is the temple. When Jesus died, and
the Temple veil was torn from the ceiling
to the ground, a physically visible event
did happen in the Temple. However, what
was important was not that the Temple
veil was torn; what mattered was what it
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meant: that sinful man was no longer separated from holy God because Jesus paid the
price for our sins. (We deal with this on the
Typology of the Temple tape) The old-time
Brethren emphasized the typology of the
Temple and in many fundamental respects,
because of their emphasis on typology, the
old-time Brethren were probably closer
than the Gentile church has ever been to
beginning to interpret the Bible as a Jewish
book the way the Early Church did. Maybe
they didn’t go far enough; maybe a lot of
things, but they were closer than the Gentile church otherwise ever got to reading
this Jewish book as a Jewish book.
Nonetheless, when Jesus died and the
Temple veil was torn, the physical event
reflected a deeper spiritual one. If the Temple is rebuilt – and I don’t say it won’t be;
there are many supposedly secret excavations going on in Jerusalem that everybody
knows about – and if this image is set up
in it, it will only be a reflection of a deeper
spiritual reality. Make no mistake: the Antichrist will be worshiped in the so-called
church and it will happen in the same way
it happened with the Maccabees. Repeated
compromise on the part of God’s people
until it’s too late.
Look at the Church of England today as a
modern example. They deal with this issue
of women priests, yet the New Testament is
clear that every Christian is a priest. If you
are not a priest, you are not a Christian. The
issue is not even Biblical, yet over the ordination of female priests people are standing
up to walk out. Did you see anyone stand
up to walk out when a bishop denied the
Resurrection and Virgin Birth of Jesus, or
when homosexuality was approved? Did
you see anybody stand up to walk out over
demons being worshiped in Canterbury
Cathedral? No. People will only walk out
over something not Scriptural. And where
do they walk out to? Rome. That’s almost
like someone going to Brighton for a holiday and saying, “This place is a dump; I’m
going to Blackpool.”
Restraining Evil
Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:
“We request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our gathering together
to Him, that you may not be quickly
shaken from your composure or be
disturbed by a spirit, a message, or a
letter as it were from us, to the effect
that the Day of the Lord has come. Let
no one in any way deceive you, for it
will not come unless the apostasia, the
falling-away, comes first, and the man
of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
destruction, who opposes and exalts
himself against every so-called god or
object of worship, so that he takes his
seat in the Temple of God, displaying
himself as God.”
We see in Isaiah and Ezekiel that Satan
wants to be worshiped as God like the king
of Babylon, etc.
“Do you not remember, when I was
with you I was telling you these
things? And you do not know what
restrains him now, so that in his time
he may be revealed; for the mystery of
lawlessness is already at work. Only
He who now restrains will do so until
He is taken out of the way.”
There are three things that restrain evil:
One is human government, which God ordains for that purpose. The New Testament
tells Christians to pray for the authorities.
The early Christians even prayed for the
emperors because they knew that if the emperor was not being influenced by God’s
Spirit, he would be influenced by another
spirit. I don’t like politicians much, but I
certainly pray for them, because I know that
if I am not praying for them, they will come
under other influences and will make it bad
for us. When the Antichrist comes, human
government will be given into his hand.
To understand how this happened in
the Early Church, we must look at emperors such as Caligula, who persecuted the
church. Another example is the medieval
papacy, when the government was given
into its hands. What makes the Great Tribulation unique is this: God is the God of
history. But somehow, Scripture says that
the Antichrist will seek to change the times.
(Dan. 7:25) For a brief period of three and
a half years, equating to the ministry of Jesus, the lordship of history will be given
into the hands of Satan within certain parameters. Christians often make the mistake of saying that the last seven years of
history will be the Great Tribulation. The
Bible calls it the seventieth week of Daniel
and “ha Tekufot ha Tsurot Yacov,” “the time
of Jacob’s Trouble.” Only the second half
of that time can be proven to be the Great
Tribulation. There will be tribulation before it, but the second half is much worse.
If you want to say that the church will not
go through the Great Tribulation, that’s one
thing; but that’s not to say the church won’t
enter the last seven years. Neither is it to
say that they won’t be taken out sometime
after the beginning of those seven years.
If you or I should die, God forbid, on
the road tonight – Jesus came for us. We
should always live our lives as if He could
come for us at any moment, because He
can. Whether He returns tonight or a million years from now has no effect on our
walk with Him, because in any case He can
come for us at any moment. But the Resur-
rection and the Rapture cannot happen until
the identity of the Antichrist is revealed to
the faithful: “Until the man of lawlessness
is revealed.”
So the first thing that restrains evil, human government is given into Antichrist’s
hands. The second thing that restrains evil
is the church preaching the Gospel.
Understand about the metaphor of the
night:
• Jesus said, “Work while you have the
light, for night will come when no man
can work.” (Jn. 9:4)
• He’s coming “like a thief in the night” (1
Th. 5:2)
• Is He coming “in the second watch of the
night, or the third”? (Mt. 24:42-44)
• “Watchman, watchman, how far is the
night?” (Is. 21:11)
• The ten virgins needed oil in their lamps
in order to see in the night. (Mt. 25:1)
• The Apostles were arrested at night, and
so was Jesus. (Lk. 22:54) That means
something.
In the Song of Solomon, the bridegroom
comes for the bride during the night. (Song
3:1-5)
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins, in Matthew 25, was told at Passover,
at the same time the Song of Solomon was
being read in the synagogues. In the Song
of Solomon, it is evident by the gender of
the Hebrew text whether it is the bride, the
bridegroom, or the hosts of heaven singing the choruses. The story hinges on the
two dreams of the bride in chapters three
and five. In chapter three, she is ready for
the bridegroom to come; in chapter five,
she is not. When Jesus returns, it is either
the church’s best dream, or it’s her worst
nightmare. In Judaism, Nisan, the month of
Passover, is the month of redemption. This
is when the Song of Solomon is read in
the synagogue, and that is what Jesus was
preaching from at Passover in Matthew 25.
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins
replays what was being read in the synagogues that very week.
The night is the most frequent Biblical
metaphor for the Great Tribulation. When
Jesus was betrayed, it was night. Remember: His last days are like our last days.
This night is coming. The Holy Spirit, we
are told in John 14, convicts the world concerning sin. Somehow, He restrains evil
and He unites the church and empowers us
to preach the Gospel. God’s Spirit “will not
forever strive with man.” (Gen. 6:3) Jesus
said, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.” (Heb.13:5) God’s Spirit will never
leave the hearts of His people. He will not be
taken from us, but He will be taken from the
world. In the book of Revelation (without
being a Dispensationalist), God goes back
to behaving the way He did in the Old Tes-
tament. Grace, as it were, comes to an end.
There is a difference between the Spirit
indwelling and the Spirit outpoured. The
Spirit indwelt the disciples in John 20:22;
Jesus breathed on them – pneuma in Greek
– and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. The
Holy Spirit then indwelt them, but He was
not outpoured on the church until the Day
of Pentecost, thus empowering them to
preach the Gospel. He also brought conviction on the world as John 14 said He would.
That will end. In other words, God’s Spirit
will be the reserve of His people. God will
never take His Spirit from us, but His Spirit
will no longer convict the world and will
no longer empower the church to minister
the Truth to the world in the way He does
now. Grace comes to an end and His mercy
is reserved for those who are His, though
He does turn His redemptive attention towards Israel and the Jews during this period
through the Great Tribulation. However,
that is not to say that the church will be
removed at the beginning of it. Too many
people equate the taking of the Church in
the Rapture with the taking of the Holy
Spirit; that is not true – the Spirit indwells
and the Spirit is outpoured. There is a gap.
Between the Ascension and the Day of
Pentecost there was a gap. The Spirit indwelt God’s people during that time, but
He was not yet poured out and was not convicting the world. The converse happens in
the Last Days. Jesus ascended into heaven
and sent the Holy Spirit to be outpoured; in
the time of the end, the Holy Spirit leaves,
is no longer outpoured, and sends Jesus.
God does not take His Spirit from us, but
He is taken from the world. This period is
the Great Tribulation; Satan is no longer restrained, and the church is rescued out of it
– we do not go through the worst part of it.
It says in Job,
“In six tribulations He will keep us, in
seven He will deliver us.” (Job 5:19)
I am quite convinced that the removal
of the church takes place between the sixth
and seventh seals in the book of Revelation.
There are a number of things in the Bible
that teach about this period of time. The
first is the period of time between Jesus
breathing on the Apostles and the Day of
Pentecost. Christ had risen, the victory was
won, and His Spirit indwelt His people. But
the church was not yet empowered to deal
with the world, nor was the Holy Spirit restraining the world’s evil or bringing conviction on the world. That happens again in
the end. His Spirit will be only with us.
We have to understand the Church of
Smyrna, as seen in Revelation 2. “Smyrna” comes from the Greek word “myrrh,”
which was used in anointing bodies for
burial. The way the Roman government
acted in declaring every religion legal – religio licita – except ours will happen again
in the end. The government in league with
the Antichrist will declare every other religion religio licita, but come against us.
The church of Smyrna is another thing that
teaches about the experiences of the Last
Days church.
Spiritual Seduction
The third thing is more complicated. We
must understand Elijah; whether this means
a man or something else in this context is
an issue I cannot deal with now – we have a
separate teaching on it. But it says in James
that Elijah stopped the rain for three and a
half years. That rain represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when it stops during
the second half of the three and a half years.
1,260 days by the Jewish lunar calendar;
two times, time and a half time. Elijah fed
the Gentile woman during that period.
Now, look at what happens in the story as
told in I Kings: Jezebel. (On the Antichrist
tapes we develop this at length.) There are
good girls, and there are bad girls. Whenever you see a “good girl” in the Bible, it
teaches us something about God’s woman,
Israel or the church in some way. Shulamite
in the Song of Solomon, Eve, Rachel, Rebekah, Sarah, Mary, Deborah, Jael, Esther
– the good women in the Bible all teach
something about the Bride of Christ in some
aspect. The bad women in the Bible, on the
other hand, teach something about the spirit
of false religion, the bride of Satan. She is
personified by Jezebel in Revelation. Certainly Queen Athaliah in the book of Kings
is another example; her behavior is very
much like that of Nero’s mother. The way
that Nero’s mother influenced him negatively, becoming part of the cause of his
turning against the church is the same way
in which Queen Athaliah influenced her
son in the book of Kings. All of the wicked
women in the Bible teach something about
that ultimate one; the spirit of false religion.
Let’s look at Proverbs, please, and we’ll
read it midrashically: Now, I don’t suggest
that the teaching of Proverbs is not about a
literal prostitute; it is. But in Midrash you
have a difference between peshat and pesher. Peshat is the literal whoredom and idolatry and spiritual seduction is the pesher.
This is, of course, about literal prostitution,
adultery and immorality. But the character
of this woman, or these women, describes
the spirit of false religion. Very briefly, let’s
look at Proverbs 31. In verses 10-31 we find a
description of Solomon’s ideal woman. She
goes to a field, like a mission field (v. 16).
She gives food to her household, she considers a field and buys it, and she’s a delight
to her husband. In v. 18, she senses that her
gain is good and her lamp does not go out
9
at night. Is that familiar? That is the good
girl. Now let’s look at some of the bad girls.
Who said bad girls are more fun? They’re
not more fun, they’re deadly. Let’s look at
Proverbs 5:
“My son, give attention to my wisdom”
– remember, people without God’s wisdom are going to be deceived by false religions –
“that you may observe discretion, and
your lips may reserve knowledge. For
the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and smoother than oil is her speech”
– oil is what you use to anoint people
with. The devil is very good at counterfeiting anointing; how does he do it? With
smoothness and suavity. The hype artists
from America are smooth talkers. They’re
substituting anointing with hype, and people don’t know the difference.
“But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood.”
Take as an example a poor drunken sailor
on payday. On his way back from the pub
after last call, he sees a prostitute and goes
with her, only to find out two weeks later
he has contracted AIDS. That’s the kind of
metaphor the Scripture is using here.
“In the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword”
– look at that! The devil can counterfeit
God’s truth. Remember, in the Old Testament the devil is called “Star of the Morning” (Is. 14:12); Jesus is called the “Bright
and Morning Star”. (Rev. 2:28) (We go into
this on the Antichrist tapes.)
“Her feet go down to death, her steps
lay hold of Sheol; she does not ponder
the path of life, her ways are unstable.
Now then, my son, listen to me: do not
depart from the word of my mouth.
Keep your way far from her; don’t go
near the door of her house, lest you
give your vigor to others and your
years to the cruel one, lest strangers
be filled with your strength and your
hard-earned goods go to the house of
an alien.”
Who gave his strength to a wicked woman? Samson. Delilah is a type of the wicked woman; she seduces God’s man into
giving up his strength. The way that she
brought Samson to destruction, but how
God revived him in victory teaches something about the end. Sometimes you’ll have
a guy who really loves Jesus, who is sincere
in his faith and his walk with God, but he’s
a sucker for some nasty woman. That can
happen to people; however, it can also happen to the church: spiritual seduction.
We have to understand the relationship
between idolatry and adultery. Israel’s husband was to be Yahweh; the Hebrew word
10
for “husband”’ is “ba’al,” the same word as
“master.” The abomination of desolations
is called shikutz ha meshomen in Aramaic.
Shikutz comes from the Hebrew word “shihetz,” meaning “slimy reptile,” or “detestable thing.” Satan has two modes of attack
in Revelation: the serpent and the dragon.
The dragon is the persecutor, the serpent
the seducer. The way that the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden is the
same way in which Satan tries to deceive
the church.
Women are generally much more vulnerable to spiritual seduction than men are
because they are more sensitive and God
can speak to them more easily than He can
to men, and anything that God intends for
good Satan will twist and use for evil. God
instructed that women have their heads
covered; not literally covered, but because
Eve was vulnerable to spiritual seduction, a
woman needs to be under male headship in
a protective sense. In that culture it meant
wearing a headscarf, but the principle is
true in every culture. I know a woman who
always wears a head covering yet has the
biggest mouth I’ve ever heard. If her husband dares open his mouth, he gets a smack.
That woman’s head is not covered.
Adultery = Idolatry
The word shikutz occurs many times in
the Bible; unfortunately we usually translate it “your detestable things:” “O daughter of Zion, you have played the harlot.
You have profaned My sanctuary with your
detestable things.” That word is shekitzim;
it has to do with Satan as a deceiver, but
is almost always applied to Baal-worship.
Baal, again, is the Hebrew word for “husband.” The abomination of desolations will
express Satan’s desire to be God as we see
with the king of Babylon in the Old Testament. He will attempt to take God’s woman
through spiritual seduction. That’s what
the abomination of desolations means: Satan using spiritual deception to try to take
God’s woman. Adultery and idolatry go
together. Idolatry equals spiritual adultery.
That is why when Israel goes into the sin
of idolatry God says, “O daughter of Zion,
you’ve played the harlot, you’ve gone after
other lovers, etc.” The language of marital
infidelity is used to describe idolatry.
Proverbs 7:
“My son, keep my words and treasure
my commandments within you. Keep
my commandments and live, and my
teaching as the apple of your eye.
Bind them on your fingers, write them
on the tablets of your heart, say to
Wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call
understanding your intimate friend’”
Remember, in the Last Days, understanding and faithfulness become closely
associated. Why? Because those who don’t
have it will be vulnerable to deception.
“That they may keep you from an
adulteress, from the foreigner who
flatters with her words. For at the window of my house, I looked through my
lattice and saw among the naïve, and
discerned among the youths, a young
man lacking sense passing through the
streets near her corner. And he takes
the way to her house in the twilight.”
When? In the twilight, the evening. Remember, qol veh homer. Things that are always true become especially true in the Last
Days. Spiritual seduction has always been
around, but it intensifies before Jesus comes.
“And behold, a woman comes to meet
him, dressed as a harlot and cunning
of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious; her feet do not remain at home.
She is now in the streets, now on the
squares, and lurks by every corner. She
seizes him and kisses him, and with a
brazen face she says to him, ‘I was
due to offer peace offerings today that
I have paid my vows. Therefore I have
come out to meet you, to seek your
presence earnestly, and I have found
you. I have spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens of Egypt’”
What is Egypt a figure of? The world.
“’I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh’”
It’s a deathbed, though it smells nice. A
corpse can be made to look pretty good, but
it is no less dead with cosmetics.
“‘Come, let us drink our fill of love till
morning; let us delight ourselves with
caresses.’”
Now let’s read verses 19 and 20:
“‘For the man is not at home; he has
gone on a long journey, he has taken
a bag of money with him and at full
moon he will come.’”
And she goes on to deceive the guy. You
see, she knows that the man is not at home;
she knows that Jesus has gone on a long
journey, and that at “full moon” He will
come. What, again, is full moon? The time
at which the moon is reflecting the maximum amount of light from the sun. The
Bible will have to be understood at some
point, that despite the darkness there will be
a ray of sun. But for those who do not have
oil in their lamps, it will then be too late to
go out and buy it. We must get the oil now.
God bless,
Jacob Prasch †††
Sandy Simpson
Moriel Pacific
MORIEL
PACIFIC
We are still overwhelmed and excited to
be working with Moriel Ministries! They
have been helping us in many ways and are
encouraging of the work we are doing. Jacob has been a mentor for me for many years
and we continue work to spread the Gospel
and sound doctrine here in the Pacific islands. Just to remind those who don’t know
us well, we continue to teach two Bible
studies weekly for Micronesian islanders
from the islands of Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Korsae, Pohnpei, Guam, Saipan and the Marshall Islands. We also do counseling, visiting of the sick and speak at local churches
and conferences when invited. I have organized a number of discernment conferences over the years and have produced
DVD series on various subjects while including excellent apologists such as Jacob.
I am, as of this writing, finishing up
my study in 1 Corinthians and many have
been helped by the practical teachings of
Paul which are just as important today as
they were when he wrote them as guided
by the Holy Spirit. In teaching that letter,
which I will follow up with 2 Corinthians
after Juanita takes her turn; I have had a
number of occasions to remind our people
of the Gospel message. We have quite a
few young people attending our studies
now along with church leaders and some
of them have yet to make a commitment
to Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago a young
lady by the name of Victoria asked me a
number of questions on how to be saved.
I frankly thought she was already but it is
always a joy when someone gives their life
to the Lord. She continues to attend our
studies along with some other members of
her family.
Micronesians face many challenges here
on Oahu. Their kids are exposed to many
sinful activities that are part of modern
Western society and there are the usual
tensions between island groups to con-
tend with, especially since a number of our
people live in low income housing projects.
One of the pastors, by the name of Nerio,
has been having problems with his two
sons getting into fights, getting drunk, etc.
One of his sons came home drunk and went
out the door yelling. Nerio went after him
and tried to bring him home but meanwhile
some Samoans thought his son was yelling
at them so one came over with a baseball
bat and hit Nerio in the head multiple times.
He had to go to the hospital with various
head injuries, a broken nose, broken teeth,
etc. I am happy to report that we have been
praying for him, as we continue to pray for
many who have various health issues, and
he has recovered to the point where he can
attend Bible study again and has not lost his
apartment over this incident. Please continue to pray for protection for our people as
there are ongoing conflicts all the time in
those places. I am told that even Dog the
Bounty Hunter doesn’t like to go into the
places I pick people up on a weekly basis.
We also continue to provide pastors with
information on the steady flood of cults entering the islands. Two of the newer ones to
come into Chuuk are Victory Chapel (aka
Potter’s House) from Guam and 4th Watch
(aka Pentecostal Missionary CHURCH of
CHRIST) from the Philippines. I sent that
information to a missionary and also handed it to the head pastor of Berea Church in
Chuuk who attends our Bible studies. I also
placed that information on my web site as
I am beginning to add information on cults
and false religions along with the information about heresies in the churches, which
has been the focus of my web site for many
years. I am currently writing a number of
articles to refute the teachings of the World
Christian Gathering of Indigenous People
(WCGIP) movement with adherents such
as Daniel Kikawa of Aloha Ke Akua,
Don Richardson who wrote “Eternity In
Their Hearts” (on Kikawa’s board), Richard Twiss of Wiconi International, Terry
LeBlanc of World Vision Canada, Danny
Lehman of YWAM, and many, many others. They teach that people can be saved
through general revelation of God and tell
cultures to find the “supreme being” they
have always been worshipping and believe
He is the same as YHWH. I have just written a paper detailing how not one patriarch,
prophet, Apostle or Jesus Christ led the cultures surrounding them to think they had
always been worshipping the true God of
the Bible. My latest article on that subject
is called, Questions for Those Who Claim
the “Supreme Beings” of the Nations Are
the True God and is available at this link:
(http://www.apologeticscoordinationteam.
com/questionssupremebeings.html). There
are also many more articles addressing
these false teachers who are having a direct
effect on the churches and church leaders
we minister to in my section called “WCGIP.” It continues to be amazing to me how
many Christian leaders today have turned
into Universalists. I guess it is a sign of the
times and indicates we are nearing the end
of the Apostasy. I believe these ideas are all
part of the setup to the one world false religion. Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Two news items in case you had not noticed. Moriel Pacific, which is the ministry
of the Simpson family, now has a donation
link on the Moriel USA site called “Moriel Pacific Fund” here: (www.moriel.org/
store/c/5/donations). We also want to let
those who pray for us and support us know
that they can subscribe to the Moriel Newsletter which is sent out quarterly FREE by
following this link: http://www.moriel.org/
newsletter.php. I will be writing updates for
this newsletter quarterly so you can keep up
with what is going on with us.
In His hands,
Sandy Simpson and family
11
Moriel Pacific – Continued
P.S. This is Juanita Simpson, Sandy’s
mother, adding my “two cents” to his letter.
I would like to add my appreciation to our
good friends, Jacob Prasch, David Lister
and Model Ministries, for their great help.
And my heartfelt thanks to all of you who
support Sandy and me, making our ministries possible.
Sandy and I are partners in the ministry
to the Micronesians. Each Tuesday and Saturday I make a whole list of phone calls to
the Micronesians whom I think may want
to attend the Bible Studies. I line up the
pick-up route for Sandy who drives our 1
5-passenger van. Some others come in their
own cars. Next on my agenda is to bake
8-10 dozen muffins or cupcakes or brownies. These are for people to enjoy during
the Studies and to take home with them. I
lead the singing first before the teaching.
We sing in the languages of the people who
come. Sandy and I take turns teaching. As
he mentioned above, he is presently teaching I Corinthians. When he finishes I will
be teaching I & II Peter. It’s such a privilege and joy to teach through God’s wonderful Word.
Another part of this ministry is visitation.
I visit sick or handicapped Micronesians.
Each week I visit 10-12 homes or hospitals.
Most of them live in the low income housing areas that Sandy mentioned above. I
am thankful that I can still drive my leased
Ford Fiesta on the freeways and side roads
here on Oahu. I take baked goods or fruit
to these visits for encouragement and do a
short Bible Study and have prayer with the
hurting ones. I am so grateful that as an 85
year-old cancer survivor I have been blessed
by God with good health, making all this
possible. It is my joy to be able to serve the
Lord I love and my beloved Micronesians.
P.O. Box 1759, Pearl City, HI 96782
Tel. 808-456-1031
Quotes of the QUARTER !
“They will manhandle and
persecute you, summoning you to synagogues and
prisons, bringing you to trial
before kings and govenors,
all because of my name.”
– Luke 21:12 –
12
Sandy Simpson
Assembly of God CEO
Forms Ties of Faith
with Church of LDS
(Excerpts)
“God is playing a role in all religions and that Christians are more united than they
sometimes think.” ~ George O. Wood
The question is, united around what? Around which God? The eternal Christ that
Christians worship, or the created being whose brother is Lucifer?
Yes, some strange things have been happening with the Assemblies’ top leadership
these past few months. [In August] at the Assemblies of God “Believe” Conference, leadership brought in New Age Contemplative key player Ruth Haley Barton.
And now it appears [Wood] and his leadership team are joining hands to find common ground with top Mormon leaders at BYU. According to the campus newsletter…George O. Wood, addressed hundreds of BYU students and Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland of “the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles…”
The paper reports that the Quorum of the Twelve sponsored the lecture for its
Faith, Family, and Society series:
“Wood shared his lifelong spiritual journey and ministry as a member of
the Assembly of God. He gave a brief history of the Assembly of God’s origin
in the early 1900s, including the receiving of the gift of tongues. He spent time
drawing parallel’s between Latter-day Saints and the Assembly of God.
“Like the LDS we were a very marginalized minority, and even persecuted,” Wood said.“We had preachers that were tarred and feathered and driven
out of town because we had this experience that others didn’t understand.”
Elder Holland sat on the stage, listening intently and laughing at the humorous and touching experiences Wood shared.
Wood spoke of an experience he had two years earlier with Elder Holland
at a conference in Utah. In response to a question from Wood, Elder Holland expressed that his greatest worry about the young generation was that
they would grow coarse to the values and principles taught by Jesus Christ.
“His response immediately bonded my heart to him,” Wood said. “Any Assembly of God preacher could say the same thing. We just absolutely share
that in common.”
Wood expressed that the Assembly of God’s 66 million members test out
their faith just like Latter-day Saints do. He urged the audience to seek a
strong faith through diligent study of the scriptures.
“The question for me in college became, ‘Is experience enough to carry me
through?’” Wood said. “I had to have a stronger, intellectual foundation for
my faith.”
Wood showed that God is playing a role in all religions and that Christians
are more united than they sometimes think.
“The whole aspect of the Christian faith, and my personal faith, rests upon
whether or not Jesus Christ rose again from the dead,” Wood said.
Conference Review
Conference Review: Impressions from Strange Fire
(by Anton Bosch)
Here are the impressions I have gained
from John MacArthur’s strange Fire Conference. Please note this is not an exhaustive critique of which, I am sure, many
will be appearing on the internet – for and
against. I simply want to convey the broad
strokes as I saw it.
I attended all of the first day (Wednesday October 16) and the Q&A session on
the third and last day. In addition, I have
read parts of the book by the same title and
read summations of the other sessions as
published by MacArthur’s people: http://
thecripplegate.com/.
The facilities and organization were extremely professional. All the way from the
white table cloths on the tables in the parking lot at which 5,000 people dined in style,
to the sessions starting on the exact second.
One could not help being impressed with
such a huge crowd singing the great hymns
of the faith, especially when accompanied
by a string orchestra and powerful organ.
The only sour note for me was when on the
Wednesday evening a 50 something couple
in front of me decided that it was time for
foreplay (literally) during the meeting. So
much for the moral high ground!
The sessions were being simulcast in many
different languages and the book Strange
Fire was simultaneously being launched on
several continents and in several languages.
The sense of professionalism flowed
through to the ministry, which obviously
sorely lacked any form of straying from the
very carefully prepared and orchestrated
scripts. I guess some people like the professional approach, but I prefer to feel that the
preacher is actually trying to communicate
with me rather than reading his script for
the sake of the cameras.
The first (middle and last) word went to
John MacArthur. “You are the chosen” was
the first words out of his mouth. Everyone
laughed, but I cringed, feeling that the joke
had a real barb to it. This was more than
an ice-breaker, this was the message of the
conference: Unless you are Reformed and
elect – you are in error and not saved!
It became clear to me that the issues
were not so much cessationism vs. Pentecostalism (or Continuationism, as they prefer to call it), but Reformed Cessationism
vs. the rest. Non-Calvinist Evangelicalism
does not seem to exists as far as the speakers were concerned – you are either Calvinist and Cessationist or nothing.
MacArthur draws no distinction between
classical Pentecostals and Charismatics.
Neither does he believe that there can be
any such thing as a moderate or conserva-
tive Pentecostal. He likes to bandy about
the “statistic” that 90% of Pentecostals are
into Word of Faith and Prosperity. My personal experience in the USA and in Africa
contradicts this exaggeration and suggests
that 90% are NOT into Word of Faith. His
number may be true of Nigeria but that’s as
far as that “statistic” goes.
According to the speakers Continuationists are not saved, and are worse than
Mormons in their error, growth and threat
to “true” Christianity. All charismatic gifts
are demonic (including most of what was
happening in the church of Corinth). It was
the consensus of the speakers that no movement in the history of the church has done
more damage to the Gospel than Continuationism. MacArthur promotes a caricature
of Pentecostals of which Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Benny Hinn and Paul
and Jan Crouch are typical, rather than the
exception. He makes a point of emphasizing that there is absolutely no difference
between someone like Hinn and moderate
Pentecostals.
Part of this caricature is that Pentecostals have made no contribution, ever, to the
spread of the gospel, the promotion of Biblical truth or the glory of God. To protest
about the thousands that have been saved
through the missionary activity of Pentecostals the world over is pointless since
such converts are (by their definition) not
saved. In contrast to the half Billion (their
statistic) Continuationists who have been
saved out of darkness, MacArthurism has
done almost nothing to reach the lost. Their
sect is almost exclusively populated with
sheep, and entire congregations, stolen
from other churches.
He further emphasizes that the only
stream of truth runs from Augustine
through Luther and Calvin to RC Sproul
(and others of the same ilk). Clearly evangelicals that held to the truth before the Reformers came on the scene and the thread
that runs through the small groups that held
to truth throughout the ages are also mistaken. I am lead to conclude that the Lord’s
promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church did not apply to the
period between the “Church Fathers” and
the Reformation, unless that stream flows
through the church of Rome? MacArthur
did not exposit Scripture but simply ranted.
RC Sproul
Sproul spoke by means of video (probably pre-recorded). The first part of his analysis was good as he traced the thread of the
promise of the Spirit through the Prophets
to the day of Pentecost. He then dealt with
four of the five recorded occasions that the
Spirit came on people in the book of Acts.
His thesis was simple but short on logic
and truth. According to Sproul there were
four main groups of people in the book of
Acts: The Jews, the God Fearers, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. Somehow this
relates to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and
the uttermost parts of the earth.” His logic
here was too convoluted for my simple
brain. What I do know however, is that
there were only two main groups – Jews
and Gentiles and that everyone else fell into
those groups. The very vision of the sheet
of unclean and clean animals in Acts 10 declare Cornelius and his people as “unclean”
– Gentiles. Acts 11:1 specifically calls them
“Gentiles.” They are not, by any stretch of
the imagination, a separate group. Neither
are the Samaritans or the God Fearers representative of any future group of people.
Throughout Paul’s epistles there are only
two groups – Jews and Gentiles.
Sproul’s thesis then is that the Spirit was
given to these four groups in turn (Acts 2,
8, 10 and 19) to show that everyone is included because these four groups represent
all the possible kinds of people to whom
the gospel would be preached.
I must grant that at this point Sproul went
against the classical cessationist view that
the receiving of the Spirit was (note: not is),
in Acts, a separate experience from salvation.
So the first problem with his theory is
that the four groups are not representative. The second problem is that he glibly
ignores the 5th event which is Paul in Acts
9:17. It is just plain faulty logic to have five
examples and then to base a theory on the
four that fit your idea and then ignore the
one that contradicts your theory. (Pentecostals have long been guilty of the same error
when trying to prove tongues as the initial
evidence, based on three out of five of these
same events plus deductions based on the
other two).
Just as Sproul jumps from circumcision to infant baptism without any logical
or Scriptural link between them, he then
jumps from these examples to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a “second
blessing”, in any shape or form, and that we
receive the Spirit at salvation. Please listen
to the recordings and you will see he does
not even attempt to build a bridge between
these two divergent ideas – he simply
makes a wild assumption.
Sproul is one of MacArthur’s heroes and
is held up as an example of someone who
believes in Sola Scriptura, but he has based
13
Conference Review – Continued
his entire Pneumatology on an assumption
and disregards the plain teaching of the
Scriptures. This would be bad enough, but
it is worse since these are exactly the people who claim to be fastidious about interpreting the scriptures and blame everyone
else for loose theology and flawed logic.
One of the accusations the speakers kept
leveling at classical Pentecostals is that
they “opened the door” for the excesses of
Charismania. But if Pentecostals open the
door, then Sproul and his Reformed friends
provided a theological foundation for the
Prosperity and Dominionists heresies with
their Post-millennialism, Amillennialism
and replacement theology. So the speakers
can rant and rile against Dominionism and
Prosperity as much as they like (and they
should), but it is simply the logical extension of their own theology. (Note: MacArthur is Pre-Millennial yet he finds in Sproul
a champion for truth)
Joni Eareckson
Eareckson gave a well delivered and
touching testimony of how God did not
heal her quadriplegia even though she had
prayed for healing many times and even attended a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting in the
hope of being healed. The bottom line was
that she came to understand that healing is
not physical but spiritual.
I believe she was carefully chosen to illustrate one of the fundamentals of the cessationist position that there is no such thing
as physical healings for the post-apostolic
church. (MacArthur touches on this in 1 ½
pages in his book - pg. 245.)
My friend, who attended with me, did
not think that she was making a universal
point but rather just giving her own testimony, but I am a lot more skeptical and
believe that each participant in the conference was carefully chosen to make a very
specific contribution.
Steve Lawson
Lawson never opened the Scriptures
once, but preached from the gospel according to Calvin. His whole presentation was
a presentation of what Calvin had to say
about the miraculous (so-called by the Roman church) and the Pentecostal phenomena as displayed by some Anabaptist and
Libertine groups.
He opened by extolling the glories of
Lord Calvin. I had never heard so much
unreserved praise and glory heaped on one
man as I heard in this session. Not even the
Charismatics with their personality cults go
as far as Lawson did. Interesting how you
perpetuate the very thing you so despise in
others!
One of the evidences he quoted as proof
of Calvin’s greatness is the fact that he wrote
his institutes when he was only 27 years old
14
and two years after he was “saved”/out of
Catholicism. I am sorry, but to me that is
no commendation but rather a serious flaw.
It is not possible for a 27 year old, being
saved for 2 years to reverse the effects of
27 years of indoctrination by Rome. Rather
than this being a recommendation for Calvin, it simply underscores the weaknesses
of his theology which ultimately perpetuates many of the errors of Rome. Yet this
is the man they all but worship and whose
word is the final authority on all matters of
doctrine! I assume the ESV Bible does not
contain verses that warn about laying hands
suddenly on people and appointing novices
to positions of leadership?
In Lawson’s presentation he frequently
stole quotes from Calvin which were aimed
at the false miracles and signs of Rome
which Lawson then applied to the “Pentecostals” of his day. This is just not being
honest. Worse, one of the points MacArthur
likes to make is that Pentecostalism is a
new thing going back to Azusa Street (early
1900’s). Yet Lawson contradicts MacArthur
by saying there were Pentecostal phenomena before, and during, the Reformation.
(Somewhere into Lawson’s presentation,
my friend who is more tolerant of divergent
views than I, had had enough and left.)
One of his three points in conclusion
really disturbed me. He said: “The Bible
joins together the Spirit and the Word in the
tightest bond.” Several other speakers said
the same thing – that the Spirit only works
in, and through, the Word and you cannot
separate the Spirit from the Word. To me it
sounds dangerously close to redefining the
Trinity as Father, Son and Word.
While taking side swipes at Pentecostals
and Charismatics, Lawson’s presentation
was not primarily aimed at them. Rather, he
had in his sights, certain Reformed Charismatics such as John Piper and Wayne Grudem. He concluded the session by saying
that a “Charismatic Calvinist” is a “oxymoron” (sic) just as a “Baptist Theologian” is
a contradiction in terms.
Conrad Mbewe
Conrad Mbewe is a Reformed Baptist
pastor from Lusaka, Zambia and referred
to by some as “the Spurgeon of Africa.”
A few months ago he published an excellent article on his blog entitled “Why is the
Charismatic Movement Thriving in Africa.” He made some really good points in
this article and, as a result, was asked, at the
last minute, to speak along those lines at the
conference. (By the way his article is worth
reading as it explains very accurately, how
well Charismania synchronizes with African traditional religion.)
It was good to hear a fellow African speak
in an accent and style I could understand and
relate to. But he had changed his message!
On his blog he drew a clear distinction
between Pentecostals and Charismatics:
“In this blog post, I do not refer to the old
conservative form of Pentecostalism once
represented by the Assemblies of God
churches. I have in mind the current extreme form that is mushrooming literally
under every shrub and tree in Africa.”
In his address he still saw Pentecostals
and Charismatics as different and separate – a distinction that MacArthur and
his friends do not make. But Mbewe had
recently changed his tune and now blames
Pentecostals for “opening the door” for the
Charismatics. Obviously a message he had
picked up from MacArthur and was now
echoing. I was very saddened to see him
become a puppet of the very Americans
he so despises because of what they have
done to African Christianity.
Mbewe emphasized a point that almost
evry other speaker also made: that Classical Pentecostals are to blame for the Charismatic movement and that “we” opened
the door for it. But that is a total lie.
The Charismatics did not come out of
the Pentecostals at all. They had nothing to
do with each other. There may have been
isolated individuals that had attended Pentecostal meetings but the majority of these
people were in mainline churches. They
independently, from one another, and from
Pentecostals (they despised Pentecostals)
began to seek God’s face and were filled
with the Spirit – some as individuals and
some as small groups within mainline
churches. I have always believed that it
was a sovereign work of God and that it
was genuine but it went wrong. Very few of
these people ended in Pentecostal churches. They began to meet informally and as
ministers were kicked out of their churches, mainly over adult baptism, they began
to form churches. These churches came under the wrong influences and ended in the
chaos we have today.
Now here’s the thing; they came out of
all the traditional churches, including Reformed churches. So if the Charismatic
chaos came out of anything and if anyone
“opened the door”, the traditional churches
(including the Reformed ones) opened that
door because of their deadness! Had those
churches been preaching Spirit and life
there would never have been a need. Irrespective of how you cut it, this had nothing
to do with Pentecostals.
Pentecostals did not corrupt the Charismatics but the Charismatics corrupted
many Pentecostals.
Division
MacArthur agrees that this conference
is divisive and he is proud of that since he
Conference Review – Continued
says that truth divides – the same excuse
many others have used to sanctify their
rude and unChristlike behavior. But once
again, MacArthur is guilty of the very thing
he blames on Pentecostalism. The speakers
frequently referred to Pentecostals dividing
the church into the haves (the Spirit) and
the have-nots and that they had created a
two-class system of Christians. This conference has done the same except the two
groups are the Calvinists and the rest. The
difference is that Pentecostals never (that
I know of) said that those who were not
filled with the Spirit are not saved, but MacArthur and his friends are saying that that
Pentecostals are not saved and that the only
repository of truth is in Calvinism.
We have always felt that there is a certain elitism and superiority to being Calvinist. We no longer have to “feel” that way,
they are claiming it outright – Calvinists
have the truth the rest are in darkness.
The battle lines have been drawn, it is no
longer Evangelicals and Moderate Pentecostals against Charismania, but it is Calvinism against the rest with Baptists and
other Evangelicals only slightly better than
Pentecostals. One of the sad side-effects
of this will be that many Pentecostals will
now feel they have to defend the indefensible and will form alliances with the Charismatics against a common enemy.
What happened to Sola Scriptura?
For all the noise they make about the
Scriptures alone, it became amply evident
that their base was not the Scriptures alone
but the Scriptures plus Augustine, Calvin
et al. Speaker after speaker quoted Calvin
and in all the sessions I attended Calvin
was quoted more (in total) than the Bible!
Augustine, yes the father of Catholicism
and allegoricalism, was frequently upheld
as one of the most vital links of the truth between the Apostles and Sproul/MacArthur.
It therefore appears that MacArthur is closer to Rome than to evangelicals since he
shares a common root in Augustine while
the rest of us find our base in the Scriptures.
Ignorance
While the speakers had set themselves
up as experts on the subject, they were all
remarkably ignorant about the many complexities, history and theological positions
of Pentecostals. It seems to me, that if
you are going to produce a book and begin a world-wide attack on something, you
would at least have made a study of Pentecostals and Charismatics. If their education is so superior (they love flashing their
PhD’s), how come they never learnt that
you cannot study a subject, as complex as
Pentecostalism, by watching TBN a few
times? (MacArthur freely admits that this
goes back to a time he had surgery and had
nothing else to do but watch TBN.)
Every presentation was filled with inaccuracies, exaggerations and plain old lies.
They had drawn a caricature, based on
what they saw on TBN, and proceeded to
convince themselves that all Pentecostals
looked just like the caricature.
Conclusion
This was, for me, a very sad and frustrating experience. I had long admired, read
and defended MacArthur, in spite of what
I believed to be idiosyncrasies. He wanted
division and he certainly got that with me.
If he does not believe I am saved, what
should I think of him?
Watching and subsequently digesting
all this, I realized with horror that Calvinists are, by definition, NOT Sola Scriptura.
They do not base their doctrines on Scripture but primarily on Calvin who in turn
based his doctrine on that of Augustine.
They are therefore, at least, twice removed
from the Scriptures.
The Sola Scriptura slogan is just that –
a slogan. If they really were committed to
the Scriptures they would not come up with
TULIP, amillennialism, paedobaptism, replacement theology and cessationism, to
name a few. These doctrines cannot be arrived at through a simple study of the Scriptures, they have to be taught by someone
external to the Scriptures.
It seems one of the things MacArthur
is hoping the conference will achieve is a
revival of Reformationism. He made reference to this idea a couple of times and
wrote in the booklet we received: “Tetzel
was a medieval monk whose high-pressure
selling of indulgences… so enraged Martin
Luther and touched off the Protestant Reformation.” He then continues to liken Tetzel
to TBN leaving one to conclude that he sees
himself as a modern Luther who is ushering in a modern Reformation. I hope he is
wrong, but I fear he may well be right as
thousands have already left the craziness of
Charismania for the coldness of Calvinism.
May the Lord Jesus come soon!
Anton Bosch †††
Quotes of the QUARTER !
“As it is written, There is
none righteous,not even
one;”
– Romans 3:10 –
moriel’s
prayer
closet
A Small corner of rest from the chaos and
tumult of the world around us.... “But
thou, when thou prayest, enter onto thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in Secret; and thy
Father which seeth in Secret will reward
thee openly.”
– Matthew 6:6 –
• PrayER - Please pray for Moriel affiliates in the Path of the current Typhoon
in the Philippines. As it has been said, this is
the biggest typhoon this year and there are
numerous Moriel friends directly in its path.
Michael Carstens in Bohol, whose house
was damaged by the recent earthquake there.
Pastor Taloy, lives on a small island just
the size of a few football fields, directly in
its path. Also Hope, Pol and their members
in the Visayas. Pastor Danny and his people
in Mindoro. There is a long list of others.
As the storm is passing over their homes
now please pray for God’s protection for
their families, church members and homes.
Moriel Japan
• PrayER - Moriel and Jacob Prasch request prayer for Anthony Royle, Dave Royle’s son in Wales. Anthony was breathless
and after x-rays has shown a very enlarged
heart. He is awaiting appointments for a
consultant and more ECG.
• PrayER - Please pray for The Lord’s
protection on the Jericho Ranch, a Christian ministry and small community of Jewish and non Jewish believers in Monterey,
California that is affiliated to Moriel.
The livestock on the ranch are highly vulnerable to the recent outbreak of West Nile
virus not far away and the ramifications of
infection would be devastatingly serious.
• PrayER - Moriel and Jacob Prasch request pray for Ofelia Garcia, a believer in
Christ, who has experienced a mild stroke.
15
Moriel Israel
Elon and Hadass Moreh
Moriel Israel /December 2013
Dear Moriel supporters,
Well Israeli Winter is almost upon us,
but as things cool down here, they are heatting up as well.
A region fast destabilizing
There has been a lot of aerial activity
exercises and fly-pasts over our house in
the past weeks, almost certainly connected
with a possible strike on Iran, and we have
now heard that Saudi Arabia are about to
buy nuclear warheads from Pakistan. We
do know that the Saudis are terrified of Iran
and want to have some kind of deterrent,
but as they are also the major instigators
behind 9-11, the thought of them obtaining nuclear warheads does not fill us with
joy unspeakable! Speculating on this, the
scenario of nuclear proliferation in the
Middle East may be the kind of thing that
would make the rest of the world desperate
from some kind of peace-plan to ‘solve’ the
problems here.
A conversation with the
orthodox
Because of the sharp polarization in Israel between secular and religious, there is
a tendency for one to demonize the other.
There is so much religious corruption and
coercion within the haredi (ultra-orthodox)
sector and the national level of disgust with
the religious is so elevated that it is easy
even believers to forget that they are just
as much people whom the LORD yearns
over and for whom Jesus died. On two occasions now, while out walking we have
met and conversed with the same haredi individual, who initiated a conversation with
us, simply based on the fact that our dog
ran up to them tail a-wagging and they responded by petting it. Now two things are
unusual here; firstly, many Sephardic Jews
have a real aversion towards dogs, and the
16
religious particularly so. Secondly the religious can be quite insular and aloof at times
with those of non-religious appearance, at
least in our experience. This person lacked
the harshness and pride that can characterise many haredim here and had a simple
faith and yearning for the Messiah and the
redemption of Israel, which while ‘not according to knowledge’ was touching. We
really felt that this was one of those ‘divine
appointments’ and it was also a welcome
reminder that, while the religious here in
Israel can be very troublesome, there are
many individuals within it who are sincere
and trying to serve God even if at present
they do not know Him. We would particularly ask prayer for this person (whom we
shall call ‘P’), that the LORD would be gracious and reveal His salvation to them.
We have known for some time that the
ultra-orthodox have targeted our town for
‘conversion,’ that is to take it over and make
it a religious city. The number of religious
is certainly growing here and they have invested considerable sums in building new
institutions for their followers. While a religious takeover would, on the one hand,
make life difficult for believers here; on
the other the people trapped in these haredi
groups (which are in effect very controlling
cults) desperately need to know the LORD!
Please pray that the LORD would prepare
the Body here in town to meet the challenges ahead that we may bear witness to
these people.
Moriel Israel Web Site
If all goes according to plan by the time
this newsletter is published the Moriel Israel site should be up and running. There
will be some gaps and parts not initially
functioning, but it should be there. The
site will contain both English and Hebrew
text, with the ability to switch between the
two. Over the coming weeks you should
see more Hebrew text and translations of
articles into Hebrew. You may notice some
differences between the English material
on the site and on the main site at moriel.
org, this is because the Israeli site will be
more tailored and adapted to suit Israeli’s,
whereas much of the material on the main
site is addressed towards a Western Christian audience.
The ‘Project’
We are making a quick trip to Europe
soon, after our return we plan to begin leaflet distribution. Please pray that there will
be fruit from this, that the LORD would use
the leaflets to spur people’s curiosity or that
they would find needy and seeking hearts.
Growing the work
One of the things that is on our hearts
is to see the work here in Israel grow and
develop. We would welcome your prayers
for the following:
• Greater dissemination of Moriel teach
ings and materials, some of which are
greatly needed as correctives to false doctrines currently abroad here in the Land.
• Partnerships with other ministries that
are compatible with Moriel’s doctrinal
basis; that we can provide assistance to
help congregations and solid workshere,
that they may grow and thrive. This
calls for a certain degree of caution and
discernment.
Monthly Updates
Beginning in December (as we are away
for part of November) we plan to produce
monthly updates of what is going on around
us, these should appear on the main Moriel
site. Watch this space!
Elon and Hadass Moreh
Noah and the Flood;
a typology for our times
For those of us watching the signs of
the times, it is clear that the storm clouds
are lowering on the horizon, both at home
and abroad. Appropriately enough I have
been reading Genesis at the moment and
I thought I would share some thoughts
that might be an encouragement to others.
Please note, due to space limitations I have
not been able to include full citation of all
scriptures referred to.
Moriel has often warned of the dangers
of basing doctrinal theology on typology
alone. The people that practice this, do it
usually because they have nothing solid or
in-context to build upon, so they use typology and ‘inference’ to make their claims
sound biblical. Any doctrine that relies on
inference or typology and lacks solid incontext exegesis to makes its case, should
have no place in the pulpit.
The early chapters of Genesis are always
fascinating and give rise to many questions.
What people bigger? Did dinosaurs have
fur? These are things I have opinions about,
but do not hold too tightly on them, as there
is insufficient data for dogmatic certainty,
however when Scripture states something
clearly, then our opinions have to be laid
aside in favor of Divine truth, We all have
opinions, it’s a free world and we can hold
our own opinions before men, but in the
ministry of the Word if typology and inference is all we have to build our doctrine on,
then a lurch into error is certain.
However typology is a very useful tool
for illustrating biblical truths clearly stated
elsewhere, and the typology of Noah and
the Flood, is particularly illustrative and illuminative of some important features of
end-time events.
The typology of the
Antediluvian Age
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto
them, That the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair;
and they took them wives of all which
they chose. And the LORD said, My
spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh: yet his
days shall be an hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were in the
earth in those days; and also after
that, when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old,
men of renown. And GOD saw that
the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And it repented the
LORD that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ‘The Nephilim (6:4) (from Heb. nafal:
‘to fall’) were in the earth.’ It appears that
these Nephilim (A.V ‘giants’ following the
LXX) were the offspring of some kind of
interaction between fallen angelic beings
and humans, and were possessed of unusually large stature (see Num. 13:32-33) and
physical prowess. The Hebrew text calls
these mighty men gibborim, (plural of gibbor) and while gibbor has good connotations when used of God or David’s ‘mighty
men;’ when used of wicked men, as here
and as of Nimrod (a major type of the Antichrist) it can mean one who uses his might
and power to dominate, oppress and subdue
others to his will.
The activities of these beings appear to
be an exacerbating factor in the spiritual
decline of pre-Deluge humanity; one that
prompted God to call time on the Antediluvian world.
The wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of his
heart was only evil continually.
The earth was corrupt before God and
filled with violence, all flesh had corrupted its
way upon the earth (the Hebrew word translated violence denotes more than just beating up old ladies, it includes ethical wrong
and injustice as well as physical harm).
Yet Jesus said that in the midst of all
this people were buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage.
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall
it be also in the days of the Son of man.
They did eat, they drank, they married
wives, they were given in marriage, until
the day that Noe entered into the ark, and
the flood came, and destroyed them all.
He also mentions Sodom; where there
were roving mobs happy to commit homosexual rape on whomsoever they fancied,
yet:
... in the days of Lot; they did eat, they
drank, they bought, they sold, they
planted, they builded; But the same
day that Lot went out of Sodom it
rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”
The figure of buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage is not one that
implies all is ‘peace love and happiness.’
As we can see, the earth was not peaceful,
but ripe for judgement in Noah’s day; -filled
with all manner of evil, and in Lot’s time
Downtown Sodom was not somewhere
you would let your kids play in the street at
night; yet in both scenarios certain normal
activities were carrying on. So what does
Jesus mean when he uses these figures? We
see the same motif in His parables and this
Moriel Israel
gives us some idea:
A certain man made a great supper,
and bade many: And sent his servant
at supper time to say to them that were
bidden, Come; for all things are now
ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto
him, I have bought a piece of ground,
and I must needs go and see it: I pray
thee have me excused. And another
said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,
and I go to prove them: I pray thee
have me excused. And another said,
I have married a wife, and therefore
I cannot come. (see Luke 14:14-25)
In Matthew’s version of the parable we
see:
The kingdom of heaven is like unto
a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his
servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would
not come. Again, he sent forth other
servants, saying, Tell them which
are bidden, Behold, I have prepared
my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings
are killed, and all things are ready:
come unto the marriage. But they
made light of it, and went their ways,
one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his
servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king
heard thereof, he was wroth: and he
sent forth his armies, and destroyed
those murderers, and burned up their
city. (see Matt. 22:2-14)
We can see from this that the motif of
weddings and commerce in this eschatological context is not about peace, love and
universal happiness, but depicts a world either not interested, not listening, not willing
or even violently resistant to the message
of the Gospel. A world not only so taken
up with material things and pleasures that
it has no time for the things of God and is
thus oblivious to approaching judgement;
but even one quite prepared to forcibly silence the voices of warning.
We see this pattern throughout the Prophets, and particularly in the specific Tribulational context of Revelation 11, where in
spite of the miraculous events going on and
signs done by the Two Witnesses; the people, instead of repenting, are revelling over
the deaths of the witnesses, and sending
each other presents, heartily relieved that
the annoying and troublesome duo have
been dealt with by the Beast, that their allconquering leader has disposed of those
who would disturb their carnal security.
Paul says that when the Day of the
YHWH overtakes the wicked, they will all
be saying ‘peace and safety.’ Many misinDecember 2013 • Moriel Quarterly
17
Moriel Israel – Continued
terpret this, thinking that it means all will
be sweetness and calm prior to the Day of
the LORD. But it is not saying that at all,
the expression here does not mean that true
conditions of real peace necessarily exist;
only that people are fooled into believing
so. In certain biblical contexts, phrases like
‘they/you are say[ing]’ is an idiom used
to express what people were thinking and
what their ideas, beliefs or attitudes are; for
example in Jeremiah 7 we read:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, Amend your ways and your
doings, and I will cause you to dwell in
this place. Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, The temple of the LORD, The
temple of the LORD, The temple of the
LORD, are these. For if ye throughly
amend your ways and your doings;
if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye
oppress not the stranger, the fatherless,
and the widow, and shed not innocent
blood in this place, neither walk after
other gods to your hurt: Then will I
cause you to dwell in this place, in the
land that I gave to your fathers, for
ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying
words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal,
murder, and commit adultery, and
swear falsely, and burn incense unto
Baal, and walk after other gods whom
ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called
by my name, and say, We are delivered
to do all these abominations? (see Jeremiah 7:1-17)
We learn from this, that people thought
that the mere presence of the Temple in
Jerusalem would guarantee peace and deliverance, apart from any considerations of
repentance and amendment of life. This of
course was a delusion. In Ezekiel we see
the cause of this erroneous belief.
‘Because, even because they [the false
prophets] have seduced my people,
saying, Peace; and there was no peace;
and one built up a wall, and, lo, others
daubed it with whitewash. (Eze. 13:10)
Here we see that the people’s erroneous idea that they would have ‘peace and
safety’ was due to spiritual seduction and
had no basis in objective reality. Vulnerability to this kind of spiritual seduction is
not rooted in the intellect but in the will, as
Jeremiah puts it:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests bear rule by their means; and
my people love to have it so. (Jer. 5:31)
People wanted to believe the lie! In 2
Thes. 2:8-12, Paul says the unbelieving
world will be seduced by the Antichrist,
because they received not the love of the
truth... and had pleasure in unrighteous18
ness. In the same vein, Peter describes
those who scoff at the Lord’s coming in
judgement as,‘walking after their own lusts
and willingly ignorant.’ (2 Pet. 3:5)
The Antediluvian world was characterized by injustice, violence, demonic activity and dominated by powerful individuals
typical of the Antichrist. It was a world
taken up with itself and physical pleasures.
It had no conception that it was heaping up
wrath, and that judgement was looming.
The typology of warning
The exact amount of time Noah took to
build the Ark is not completely clear though
it could have been up to 120 years. Initially
Noah was simply told that judgment was
coming to build an Ark and get ready. It is
particularly interesting though, is that when
the Flood was imminent Noah was given
further and more specific chronological information.
‘For yet seven days, and I will cause it
to rain upon the earth forty days and
forty nights; and every living substance
that I have made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth.’ (Gen. 7:4)
Many misunderstand or misinterpret Jesus’ words where he says:
‘But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as the days of
Noah were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be. For as in the days
that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, And knew
not until the flood came, and bore
them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall
two be in the field; the one shall be received, and the other left. Two women
shall be grinding at the mill; the one
shall be received, and the other left.’
(Matt. 36-41)
They assume that ‘no man knoweth the
day or the hour’ means that Jesus could return at any moment without warning. This
teaching originated with eschatologically
confused cult groups in the early 19th Century who dreamt up the biblically unfounded notion that Jesus is talking about two
second comings; one invisible coming that
could occur at any moment and another that
is visible to all and preceded by signs. Part
of the reason for their error was their divorcing of v. 36 from its immediate preceding context in v. 29-35. The Flood typology
however illustrates Jesus’ words very well
and clears up the confusion. Noah had work
to do for the LORD so he faithfully got on
with it. Initially he did not know clearly
when the Flood would happen, (though
common sense would also have told him
that when the Ark was complete the time
would be drawing nearer), however when
the time was truly imminent faithful Noah
received more information. Please note this
should not be confused with Harold Camping-like date-setting!
Noah gives us the key to understanding ‘not knowing the day or the hour,’ but
knowing when His coming is ‘at the doors’
or imminent (not to be confused with the
unbiblical dispensational doctrine of imminency). One is a statement referring to the
long-term overall time period between His
First Coming and the Second, the other is
connected with the Tribulation period immediately prior to His Return. Jesus said
that when his coming is about to happen
certain signs will demonstrate that ‘it is
near even at the doors.’ Faithful watching
believers will see the promised signs that
the Tribulation is drawing to a close and
the Parousia is nigh. On the other hand in
Jesus’ parable of the watching servants he
stated that they would be taken unawares if
they were unfaithful:
‘But and if that evil servant shall say
in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with
the drunken; The lord of that servant
shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of.’ (Matt. 24:48-50, see
also Rev. 3:3).
The typology of surprise
The Deluge came as a complete surprise
to the unbelieving and godless world, who
were not watching and waiting. It did NOT
come as a surprise to Noah who had been
preparing himself, and with the progression
of time it was revealed to him more fully
when the event was at hand. This illustrates
Paul’s statement that the Day of the LORD
will come as a thief in the night for ‘them’
meaning the ungodly. He specifically says
that,‘that day should not overtake you (believers) as a thief’, or in other words, the
Day of the LORD is will not come as a thief
in the night to faithful, watching believers.
‘For yourselves know perfectly that
the day of the Lord so cometh as a
thief in the night. For when they shall
say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they
shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are
not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
should overtake you as a thief. Ye are
all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night,
nor of darkness. Therefore let us not
sleep, as do others; but let us watch
Moriel Israel – Continued
and be sober. For they that sleep sleep
in the night; and they that be drunken
are drunken in the night. But let us,
who are of the day, be sober, putting on
the breastplate of faith and love; and
for an helmet, the hope of salvation.’
So what differentiates between the children of light and those of the darkness?
How are the children of light not surprised
by the arrival of the day of the LORD? Peter says:
‘We have also a more sure word of
prophecy (literally made more sure);
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts.’ (2 Pet 1:19)
When Peter wrote this prophecy ‘made
more sure,’ was referring to the body of
OT prophecy, (and of course we now have
NT teaching also). It was made more sure
because having seen certain fulfillments
already in Jesus’ First Coming our confidence in the rest is increased. We would
do well to take heed to it because there are
certain specific time indicators within OT
prophecy that indicate the nearness of the
Day of the LORD namely:
• The appearance of an Elijah type ministry/the Two Witnesses. (Mal 4:5, Rev. 11)
• The Gathering of the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat. (Joel 3:9-17)
• Astronomical Phenomena, closely linled with the gathering of nations (Joel 2:3132, Joel 3:15)
To these we could add Paul’s teaching
that the Day of the LORD could not come
about until after the Revelation of the Antichrist and his defilement of the Temple.
(see 2 Thess. 2)
There are more, but it should also be
stated here that at least two of the above
also presuppose the existence of Israel as a
nation, which is on reason why the regathering of Israel and its rebirth as a nation is
of such prophetic magnitude.
For those of us who are awake the Lord
has given us a clear light of prophecy to
see us through the coming darkness till the
dawn. Wakefulness ensures that the coming
of the LORD will not take us by surprise
and not be unexpected, when these signs
appear we will know that it is truly imminent and our redemption draweth nigh.
The typology of the
Deluge itself
The Flood (Heb. mabul; Grk kataklusmos) is one of the clearest types of the Day
of the LORD and is referred to a number
of times in this context in the New Testament (2 Pet. 2:5-9; 3:1-12; Lk 17:24-36;
Matt. 24:32-41). The Day of the LORD is
His destroying wrath on an ungodly world
at Jesus’ return, a wrath however which no
faithful and awake believer will suffer. In
the same way that Noah was taken shut up
in the Ark away from the destroying flood
waters on the selfsame day that the Flood
came, even so the Lord will send forth His
angels to gather up His saints to meet Him
in the air before He pours out his wrath on
the earth.
In addition to clear statements elsewhere;
the typology of the Flood shows that the Day
of the LORD and the Tribulation should
not be confused with each other. There are
significant contrasts that demonstrate this,
namely:
• The Tribulation is an event of extended
duration at least 3 ½ years. In the Flood
narrative, the judgement has eliminated
all the ungodly in a short term of 40 days
or less.
• During the Tribulation the Gospel is being
preached to the unsaved. After the Flood
started, Noah was not preaching to any
one; at least not without scuba equipment.
• The Tribulation itself is not a total extinction level event like the Flood. During the
Tribulation some unsaved will become believers, turn to God in saving faith and be
rescued at the end of the Tribulation when
the Lord returns. In the Flood scenario the
ungodly become bloated corpses floating
on the water.
• During the Tribulation the saints are persecuted by the unbelievers. In the Flood
the unbelievers are persecuted by the
sharks.
• During the Tribulation there is the Antichrist a demonically energized figure. In
the Noah narrative, the demonically energized humans are active before the Flood.
• Two purposes of the Tribulation are to
purify the Lord’s Bride (Rev. 19:7) and
to save a remnant from among the nations
(Rev. 7:9). The purpose of the Flood was
to execute sentence on a hopelessly corrupt ungodly world and wipe it out man
and beast.
Praise the LORD that when He comes
to pour out His wrath on the ungodly,
those who trust in Him will receive the
promised rest (2 Thes 1:4-10)
The typology of Noah
(where the rubber hits the
road)
The Scriptures describe Noah as a righteous man, that ‘he walked with God.’ (Gen.
6:9). He was perfect (Heb. Tamim;-innocent) in his generation, a blameless man
in a world gone mad. Noah was a man of
faith that through his relationship with God
had warning of things coming on the earth;
things that mankind had never seen before
(Heb. 11:7). Noah ‘did according to all that
the LORD said,’ thus he was a godly man
and faithfully obedient to the revelation he
received from the LORD, and to him that
hath shall more be given. Peter describes
him as a ‘preacher (Gr. herald) of righteousness’ (2 Pet. 2:5) so he was also one who proclaimed the Word of God in his generation.
There are many features of Noah’s character that make him a portrait of the remnant during the Tribulation period, but they
also tell us that the key to the Last Days
is not knowledge or intellectual prowess,
but obedience to already received revelation and faithfulness. May we cling ever
tighter to Him in the days ahead, for in so
doing, He will reveal to us all that we need
to know and will not fail us nor forsake us!
Wishing you every blessing in Him,
Elon and Hadas Moreh
In Memory of Ruth Hunt
‘Gone but not Forgotten’
It was with a combination of joy and
sadness that we learned of the loss and
the gain of our dear friend and sister in
Jesus Ruth Hunt, widow of Dave Hunt
whom she faithfully stood by in his
battle to defend the Body of Christ and
proclaim scriptural truth in an age of
apostate error.
The last decade of Ruth’s life was
not easy, as she watched her beloved
daughter eventually succumb to a brain
cancer and her beloved Dave struggle
to hang on his last few years before going home to glory and a well deserved
reward. Ruth is now with Jesus , with
her daughter, and with Dave. We who
remain shall miss her warmth, her
smile, and her unyielding commitment
to Jesus. I shall on a personal note always recall the tasty salmon dinner she
cooked for me at her home on Oregon.
The next time I eat with Dave and Ruth
will be at The Marriage Supper of The
Lamb. In the interim, our loss is her gain.
Jacob Prasch
Oct 30, 2013
19
Letters and Comments
Your Letters and
Comments
Question: To Jacob Prasch:
1--What does Paul mean by praying in
the Spirit? Eph 6:18 mentions it. Jude mentions it V.20
2---Is Praying in the Spirit related to a
prayer language 1 Cor 14:14? “For if I pray
in a tongue (other language) my spirit prays
but my mind is unfruitful.” 3-If it is related to prayer language, and it
is a gift of the Spirit, can all believers pray
in the Spirit or in a prayer language?
Thank you brother,
Many blessings!
Reply:
First of all, a distinction must be made
in these texts between our spirits, and The
Holy Spirit who inspires the prayer. Too
often those constructing pneumatologies
(doctrines of The Holy Spirit) emphasizing these passages fail to factor this central
point into the equation. Secondly, Ephesians 6 & Jude 20 and
1 Cor. 14 are not the same and must not
be confused. In Corinthians it is “TOW
PNEUMATI” = ‘With the spirit’, while in
Ephesiasns and Jude it is “EN PNEUMATI” = ‘in the spirit.’
They are speaking of two different (howbe-it related) things. The Greek prepositions supported by the context makes this
clear. Ephesians 6 and Jude moreover make
no mention of tongues.
Praying “in the spirit” may or may not involve a prayer language. All prayer uttered
through the intercessory ministry of The
Holy Spirit in our spirits is “in the spirit.”
It is possible to pray in The spirit only in
tongues (1 Cor. 14: 14) where we are not
intellectually cognizant of what The Spirit
who searches the depths of God is inspiring
us to pray in a given situation. This is why
Paul says “with our spirit” as there is no
intellectual cognizance (“with the mind”)
of what is being prayed without interpretation (or translation of a human language which is another related but different issue
I would not want to get into by e mail).
In the next verse 15 for instance, Paul
makes it clear that we can pray with the
spirit and with the mind also.
The false dichotomy that praying in
tongues is praying “in the spirit” or “with
the spirit,” while praying with cognizance
is not in the spirit is erroneous and is basically the misconception of the doctrinally
ignorant fringe of ultra Pentecostalism and
20
hyper charismatic extremism, much the
same as there is doctrinal ignorance on the opposite end of the theological spectrum
among cessationists. Such brethren on both
poles may be sincere and of honest intention, but they are mistaken. A valid dichotomy can be drawn from
scripture however where liturgical or
ritual prayers can degenerate into a ceremonial religious formalism where people
are passively repeating the words but are
not spiritually engaged. This is not however to suggest that all liturgical prayer is
wrong resulting in a dead formalism devoid of The Holy Spirit; this may or may
not be the case. There is certainly warrant
for The Lord’s Prayer (better labeled ‘The
Disciples Prayer’), and Jesus Himself incorporated references to liturgical Psalms
of ascent in His festal discourses and also
made reference to the Hebrew confession
of Faith known as the Shma (“Here O Israel...”) and directed Moses and Moses to
ritually pray the Aaronic Benediction from
Numbers 6 over the sons of Israel.
What we are reminded f by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 however is that ‘charismatic’
prayer practiced wrongly and out of God’s
order can degenerate into something just as
carnal and pseudo spiritual on one extreme
as dead religious formalism on the other.
I trust this helps.
In Jesus,
J. Jacob Prasch
Question: Dear Jacob I have a question about the Mark of the
Beast. Is it possible that the Mark of the
Beast could be put upon you without your
being aware? With all the modern technology with chips for identification, I can see
the possibility that the Best could add his
mark (electronically) to a chip already installed in a person. With events of today
moving so quickly, I can see the chip being a necessary and acceptable means of
security and economical survival as we
grow nearer to one world economy. I understand taking the Mark is a spiritual decision. Is it possible people can be duped
into taking the Mark apart from making a
conscious decision to worship the beast?
Just a thought!
We look forward to seeing and hearing you in August at Chino Hills Calvary
Chapel.
Mary
Reply: Dear Mary,
Although a viable possibility technologically, theologically the text of Revelation
13 stipulates clearly that receiving the mark
requires consent of the recipient.
Email Replies: from Be Alert
• Greeting Jacob,
This is a great and timely review of this
subject, thank you. Can I check with you
the facts regarding Cotton Mather as being
one of Oliver Cromwell’s witch-finders I
think that he was born about five years after
the death of Cromwell in 1663.
Blessings,
Neil
• Excellent alert! Had not received one
for awhile; thought I was off your list. I
read your article from Walk in the Word,
‘When Experts Get It Wrong.’ Great article, and timely for me. I just ordered Jacob
Prasch’s DVD’s on the Apocalypse Conference he did in 2005. Some of my pre-trib
friends are starting to see where the gathering together could possibly be different from what they were always taught or
believed. I was not saved until I was 24;
Catholic and so I did not have any presuppositions to a certain position. Didn’t even
know there was such a thing as a Rapture!
My husband and in-laws never believed in
pre-trib, so that position was never taught
to me until I started to go to an AG church.
Pre-trib never made any sense to me. Like
you said, nothing to split over anyway. My
Pastor at Berean Baptist Church believes
pre-trib, but thinks there is room for a prewrath position and does not think people
are heretical if they believe that way. One question: We traveled to Iowa last
March for a conference with Jacob. I asked
him if he was writing another book. I had
read in the newsletter a few issues back that
he was working on a book on the rapture.
He said yes he was. Do you have any idea
when that book will be done? Just curious.
I have all of his other books, and am learning much about history and things I had
never understood before. My family has
enjoyed very much all the messages and
information from this Ministry. We have all
learned and continue to learn more everyday. My daughter, Kate, will be traveling
to Israel for the tour in September. She can
hardly wait.
Thanks for all the updates and alerts,
Rita
• Brethren,
THANK YOU very much for this very
informative posting. I was hoping to see
some commentary on the Greek term
apantesis, and was disappointed it was not
covered. Did the authors of the book completely ignore the obvious implications of
a word study of this term? Or is there willful blindness concerning it?
Keep pressing on,
Richard
• Dear Jacob and friends,
An excellent review if a little hard for
. . . . . continued on page 34
Moriel Japan
Geoff Toole
moriel japan
News from the Far East
December Report 2013
The biggest event this quarter was Jacob
and Stiv’s visit to Japan. We were blessed
with 4 days of teaching and discussion in
Tokyo and Osaka. Jacob’s messages were
powerful as usual. Christians were forced
to accept the reality of biblical truth and
popular error. A sudden change of topic hit
the nail on the head as one believer’s eyes
were opened by the Jeremiah 23 message.
Praise the Lord for guiding our steps. Stiv’s
messages (mostly centering around storms)
struck deep to the heart and were clearly
given in answer to prayer. The Holy Spirit
ministered powerfully and the effects were
clear. During that time many Moriel friends
gathered and discussed their situations. We
have learned to cut down on teaching and
give more time for fellowship. In the past
we were rushing to finish the messages
before the cleaners got to work, but now
we plan for relaxed discussion. Some new
faces shared with tears that their churches
are teaching them in the style of the false
prophets and religious hypocrites of old,
not feeding their members and in some cases even abusing them. The blessing of this
year’s meetings was that so many Christians realized what is happening. They are
standing up to challenge their leaders regarding doctrine and practice, with people
around them taking notice. In some cases
they are having a wonderful affect. People
come to them with their questions. We encouraged people with the message that ‘the
answer to bad church is good church’. We
are encouraging Moriel people to fellowship and study together, even if that means
via Skype!
Just in the last month
One believer who has broken free of a
heavy shepherding church and is now enjoying freedom and real fellowship.
Another believer, having been misled by
the faith prosperity message for years, finally confessed his failings and owned to
the truth. In a short time, many sins were revealed and his family received the blessing
of repentance and the hope of restoration.
Shortly after he broke free of a decades
long alcohol problem.
Other believers are continuing to share true
biblical hermeneutics with their churches,
although they will likely be ostracized
for it, and their friends are listening.
It is one here, and a few there, but the
Lord is at work.
Grant has been able to lead a small study
group and freely share discernment, prophecy and biblical truth. Does it seem strange
to say ‘freely’ share truth? It is strange in
a developed country. But churches oppress
the truth to the extent that you feel it is a
major achievement to even discuss the matters with other Christians. Unlike the west
with its history of debate and discussion,
Japan chooses worldly peace over honest
truth and churches often follow the world.
In the midst of all this ‘seeking the lost
sheep of the house of Israel’ we have to be
careful to keep active in evangelism. This
is an area that Japan truly needs God’s help
to break out of the no-conflict, no-ask, nothink-seriously cultural comfort zone . May
the Lord give boldness to Japanese believers and grace to the yet unsaved. You would
think that living on the brink of a nuclear
disaster, as they say we are, would wake us
up a little. Our world is living on the brink
of hell. How great is the need to evangelize
in the time we have left.
• Pray for up-coming Filipino meetings.
In early 2014 we plan bible study camps,
and Lord willing a follow-up pastors conference for the group which accepted us
last year.
mj
Asakusa: Downtown Tokyo
Joy and Tears in Tokyo meetings
Philippines
We are happy to say that Grain for the
Famine has finally been printed and delivered in the Philippines. Lord willing Peter
Danzey and Grant Norman will hold various meetings down in the islands early next
year. The Moriel affiliated believers there
are so hungry for the truth and always asking for more teaching and materials. Peter
and Grant will emphasize how to study the
scripture practically, in a biblical way.
Prayer Points
• The growing number of believers who
have recently come to realize that they
need more biblical church and fellowship.
Please pray that the Lord will guide them to
true church. Also that they will have clears
answer to their friends who ask why they
have broken out of the heavy shepherding
churches.
• Keiko and Naruomi have heard the gospel recently at our local fellowship in Kobe
and shown an interest. Please pray for the
gospel message to become clear for them.
Free at last! A lady set free
from heavy shepherding
Daisuke and Grant: Young and Zealous
in discernment ministry
21
Moriel Thailand
Scott Noble
vaded by the Burmese in the 18th century.
Our friend from the Congo is a teacher at a
university there. We went to visit him and
to share the gospel at his university. While
waiting in the cafeteria I jotted down some
questions we could use when talking with
students:
Bangkok Skyline
Ric
e fi
eld
s C
hi
ang
Ma
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
i
thailand
Tin Shack Village
Our friend who is a Shan man, recently
showed me some videos about the conflict
that’s going on in Burma- Burmese soldiers
attacking and burning villages there (which
has been going on for a long time), putting
many of the Shan people on the run, and
pushing them into an unstable lifestyle with
no schools for their children. Many as a result
have also immigrated to Thailand in search
of work. At this particular village and for
many Shan, work means construction work.
We’ve continued having classes for them.
Once a week we teach them the Bible and
English. And, on another day of the week,
our friend Paul has started a new class,
which they also attend, teaching them Judo
and Aerobics–also with a Bible message.
There are three men who attend regularly,
but two of them don’t speak much Thai and
virtually zero English, so it is difficult to
communicate with them. One of the three
Shan men who comes, speaks fairly good
English and good Thai, and he also seems
the most interested in the message of the
Bible. We’ve given all of them the gospel
of John in Shan. Please pray for these men,
that God will work in their lives to bring
them to faith in Jesus.
ABC’s at the Tin Shack Village
Some of the children at this village, don’t
go to school, so Khae and I have started
teaching them English and Bible at their
village, three times a week. We have about
9 regular attendees for this class. Most of
them have gone from zero, to being able to
remember most of the letters of the alphabet. We pray with them each class and they
are very polite and quiet when we pray (except one boy occasionally).
We’ve been told though, that the whole
village will have to leave this location in
about 2 months, because a dormitory will
22
be built on that spot. Some of the workers
have moved already. One of the children
told us they will move to a completely different city, so we may only have two more
months to work with them and share the
gospel with them. We plan to redeem the
time, by God’s help and make an impact in
their lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Their parents sometimes walk by the room
we teach in and seem very appreciative.
Shan Teacher
It seems much of our ministry is with
Shan people now. We try to study Shan
about once every two weeks. We select 1-5
Bible verses and then write them down in
the Shan script. Then, our teacher, who is
not a Christian comes to teach us the pronunciation and the meaning of the words.
In the process he’s been reading many Bible verses, sometimes reading the whole
chapter from which the verse(s) came.
He’s a Buddhist, but says he believes that
God created the world. Also, Khae and I
teach his children on Saturdays. The father
actually seems closer to coming to the Lord
than the children, but we’re praying for
the whole family to come to know Jesus.
Burma
Last month we went to Burma for one
day and met the same man that we went
with when the team from Iowa was here.
He helped to translate for us and took us
to 3 different locations to share the gospel.
I did the balloon show at the first location
and we handed out some food and gospels
of John in Burmese. At the next two locations, 2 of the Bible students who were
with us, shared a message and we also
handed out some food and gospels there.
Five Questions
On that trip we also went to Ayutthaya,
a former capital of Thailand that was in-
Do you believe God made the world?
What do you think about Jesus?
Do you think you will go to heaven?
How can a person go to heaven?
Do you want to know what the Bible
says about these questions?
Then we went around in groups of 3-4
to ask the students these questions. We
had a very good response of interest from
students. That university also has many
Muslims that we spoke with. Some of the
Buddhists would say they don’t believe
God created the world, but then they said
they thought they would go to heaven, or
at least they believed there is a heaven.
So, I asked them “If there’s no God, then
who’s in charge of heaven?” or “Who made
heaven?” That got them thinking and some
of them had to reconsider whether they believed in God or not. Most of the students,
whether Buddhists or Muslims thought that
the way to get to heaven is by “doing good.”
Then we would follow up with questions
like “How much good does a person have
to do to get to heaven?” or “How can we be
forgiven or our sins?” etc., and we shared
the gospel with them.
Park Ministry- “Ethiopian Eunuch”
The same group of Bible college students came with me and Champ to the
park. Two of them preached and me and
Champ translated for them. There was a
young Thai university student there. He
said that his Thai teacher who is a Christian
assigned the whole class to read the book of
Acts in Thai. He was at the pavilion, trying
to write his summary of the book of Acts,
for his homework! Champ and I got to talk
with him and he agreed that this was not
just “coincidence” that he came to do his
Bible homework, while a Christian group
was there, who could explain his questions
about the book of Acts. May God draw him
to faith in Jesus. Thank you God!
Prison Ministry
We’ve still been going to the prison
once a week. Most of our students are nonChristians now, which is a reversal from a
few months ago. This is good though as we
have more opportunity to share the gospel
now. We also asked them the “five questions” and had some good interaction with
them regarding that.
Buddhism Camouflaged
Also, recently I’ve almost finished part 2
Scott Noble
of the series “A Historical Analysis of Mysticism,” which is now 38 pages. Excerpted from that is a smaller article (9 pages)
mostly about Teresa of Avila, giving a summary of the many similar techniques that
are used in Mysticism and in Buddhism,
making it plain that Catholic Mysticism is
in many ways just Buddhism camouflaged.
This issue of “contemplative spirituality”
or “mysticism” is not only big in the emergent church, but has made major in-roads
to “conservative” churches as well, through
various books and popular speakers. Writing about this has reminded me about the
importance of prayer- not mystical “zoning
out,” but biblical prayer, talking with our
God and worshipping Him in spirit and in
truth. Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Blessed are the Peacemakers
In the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6,
these six items begin and end with TRUTH.
That is very important for the days we live
in. Of course, all six of these items are important. While many people around us do
not know the joy of being adopted into
God’s family, forgiven of their sins, given
eternal life, and taken from darkness to
light, let us not forget also to have our feet
shod, with the gospel of peace, bringing
God’s message to the lost. Thank you for
your support and for praying for us. Peace
in Christ, Scott and Khae.
Continued from June quarterly . . .
Part II–Japanese Buddhism: The
Large Vehicle in the Far East
Only One Savior
At first glance, Amida seems to fulfill the
role that God does in Christianity- bringing salvation by grace and not by works.
But there are some big differences between
God Almighty and Amida: “[Amida]...is
not unique in the universe as a whole, being only one of many Buddhas...he does
not create, sustain, or destroy the universe
as a whole, nor is he the ontological support...for the universe as a whole...he does
not stand above the worshiper as an ontologically ‘Higher Power’...his life is not infinite, since there was a time when he was
not a Buddha.” (Corless, 247-248)
Honen and Shinran were not the only
ones to make changes to Pure Land doctrines. “These two points- recitation rather
than meditation, and the inclusion of sinners with those who can benefit from Amitabha’s [Amida’s] vows–were the main
Chinese departures from Indian Amitabha
doctrines.” (Robinson, 196) Over the years
many changes have been made in Pure
Land doctrine. Shin Buddhism has strayed
not only from Pure Land doctrine, but has
also strayed far from reality in following
after a non-historical person who has no
authority to save us. When we look for a
doctor we look for good credentials and
reliability. When we look for an insurance
company we likewise look for reliability
and trustworthiness.
When looking for a saviour we should
not expect less. In fact, we should expect
more. “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” (Isaiah 43:11)
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth: for I am God, and there
is none else.” (Isaiah 45:22) “For unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
There is only one God Almighty! God said
“beside me there is no saviour,” and yet
Jesus is called “Saviour.” This is because
Jesus is God Almighty.
Jesus’ salvation is far reaching, even
promising salvation to the thief on the cross
who put his faith in Him. This was not an
empty promise. Jesus proved his authority
when He rose from the dead. The historical
records regarding the resurrection of Jesus
from the dead are of the caliber that have
brought many lawyers to faith in Jesus.
“And one of the malefactors which were
hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be
Christ, save thyself and us. But the other,
answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost not
thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly; for
we receive the due reward of our deeds: but
this man hath done nothing amiss. And he
said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus
said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:39-43) Jesus can save someone
from any walk of life. To read the story of
how the granddaughter of a Shin Buddhist
priest’s daughter became a Christian, please
see Appendix B. Nichiren: Nichiren Buddhism
As of 2004, the various Nichiren sects
accounted for about 13% of Japan’s population. Nichiren (AD 1222-1282) also left
the Tendai school, but focused exclusively
on the Lotus Sutra to form his Buddhist
sect. “Only the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren felt,
contained the unadulterated True Dharma.
All other Buddhist sects were wrong...”
(Robinson, 256) “Nichiren’s life followed
the pattern of a Shinto shaman more than
that of a Buddhist leader. He attracted a following largely through his courage and...
his personality, which at times resembled
that of a medium possessed.” (Robinson,
256) “...the practice he [Nichiren] recom-
Moriel Thailand
mended was simplicity itself: the repetition
of the daimoku (mantra) ‘Namu Myōhō
Renge Kyō’...Later he worked out a mandala [sacred picture] representing his beliefs, called the gohonzon, at which one
was to stare while repeating one’s declaration of homage.” (Robinson, 256)
The name “Nichiren” which was not
his original name, but is a name that he
chose, means, “sun-lotus.” “...nichi standing not only for the sunlight of true faith,
but for Japan itself; ren, for the Lotus.”
(Saunders, 231) Nichiren also wrote a lot.
“...these writings were devoted to exposing the errors of other sects, especially the
Amidist and Zen, and later the Shingon and
Ritsu. In fact, adverse criticism of these
four branches became an integral part of
Nichirenism.” (Saunders, 233) “Although
Nichiren promoted the doctrine of universal salvation, his school developed into the
most exclusive and often militant group in
Japanese religious history.” (Michio, 273)
Nichiren once said, “It is a great pity that
they should have cut off the heads of the
innocent Mongols and left unharmed the
priests of Nembutsu [Pure Land], Shingon,
Zen, and Ritsu, who are the enemies of Japan.” (Mason & Caiger, 165)
“Nichiren presented his doctrines as
complex meditations on the Lotus Sutra’s
teaching of the original Buddha-nature...
placing faith in the conviction that the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni, the truth of the Sutra, and all beings were ultimately one...”
(Robinson, 256) This belief, like those
of other schools in Japanese Buddhism
(Kegon, Tendai, Shingon, and Zen), sounds
very pantheistic.
For example in Tendai, “...there was the
idea that all life, and not just human life,
was basically the same; that is, an idea of
underlying unity of existence...This teaching was based on the Lotus Sutra...” (Mason & Caiger, 102) Such a “unity of existence” and the supposed ultimate oneness
of the Buddha and “all beings” can make
no distinction between good and evil. It is
pantheistic, saying that everything is one,
which would include good and evil! Even
though Nichiren tried to make distinctions
of “right” and “wrong,” based on the Lotus Sutra he had no grounds for doing so.
Nichiren was not indifferent about what
he thought was good or evil, but he had no
standard within his system which was authoritative and separate from the evil of this
universe. Only God almighty can provide
that perfect standard.
Kannon
In Kyoto there is a temple that has 1000
idols of Kannon. Surrounding these are 28
“protectors” of hers, many of which look
like demons, some having snakes hanging
23
Moriel Thailand – Continued
out of their head or arms. Many of these
28 were taken straight from Hinduism.
Doesn’t that say something when a “deity”
is being protected by demon-like beings?
Demons certainly don’t want to promote
the truth. The Dalai Lama is said to be the
manifestation of Kannon even though he is
male, and usually Kannon is portrayed as
female. “In China, Avalokitesvara [Kannon] was eventually represented as a woman.” (Robinson, 108) By the way, the brand
name “Canon” (cameras, printers, etc.) is
also named after Kannon.
Kannon receives much attention in the
Lotus Sutra, going by the name of Avalokitesvara. In the Lotus Sutra, it is recorded
that Avalokitesvara (Kannon) can change
its form, becoming a woman, a boy or a girl,
a garuda bird, or even a naga snake... “The
Avalokitesvara Sutra was incorporated into
the Lotus Sutra as late as the third century
C.E.” (Robinson, 108) “...Maitreya, Manjusri, and Avalokitesvara [Kannon]...These
great beings are nonhistorical; there is no
evidence that any of them is an apotheosis of
a human hero...Strangely, no Sutra preaches devotion to a celestial bodhisattva until
the third century C.E....” (Robinson, 105)
In Japan there are 10 statues of Kannon
taller than the U.S. statue of liberty, and
32 statues of Kannon ranging in height
from 17-100 meters. Sadly, millions of yen
have been poured into this non-historical
idol, while ignoring the One who really
deserves our praise and attention, namely
our Creator. God doesn’t want to be worshipped with idols though, but in “spirit
and in truth,” as Jesus taught. Jesus’ existence is very much confirmed in history.
He performed miracles, led a perfect life,
was raised from the dead, and his life was
prophesied in hundreds of details in the
Old Testament, hundreds and thousands of
years before he came. Jesus said, “...I am the
way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
The Ashikaga Period Through the Edo
Period (AD 1333-1868): Stagnation
During this time “All Buddhist sects
aside from Soto and Rinzai [both Zen] had
formed armed societies to protect their
interests, only to be slaughtered by the
hundreds of thousands, which destroyed
Buddhism’s credibility as an instrument
for national unity.” (Robinson, 257) Government headquarters were set up in Edo
at this time (modern day Tokyo). From the
Kamakura Period (1185) up until the beginning of the Meiji Period (1868), Japan was
mostly ruled by shoguns. “...the long period
of uneventful existence, of status quo, the
absence of new ideas or challenges from
abroad, were ultimately to sap the vitality
of Buddhist institutions until, by the end of
24
the Tokugawa period [1868], their condition can at best be called apathetic.” (Saunders, 247) “...at the beginning of the Meiji
era [1868], Buddhism was at its weakest.
The years of stultification under Tokugawa
control had terminated in the identification
of the religion with the shogunal power..
In 1867, the shogunate collapsed, and the
next year Buddhism was disestablished and
largely disendowed.” (Saunders, 255)
The Meiji Period (AD 1868-1912): Renovation
The Meiji Restoration involved many
aspects of society, but of course began
with, “...restoring the emperor to his rightful position which had been usurped by the
Fujiwara and a succession of shoguns.”
(Mason & Caiger, 258) The exaltation of
Shintoism went hand in hand with the exaltation of the emperor. “The government
proclaimed the adoption of Shinto as the
national religion in 1870 under the name
of Daikyo, or ‘Great Doctrine.’ A strong
propagandist movement was initiated, and
missionaries were sent throughout the land,
whose duty it was to refute Confucianism
and Buddhism and defend the concept of
Shinto.” (Saunders, 257)
The Taisho Period to The Heisei Period (AD
1912- present): Innovation
After World War II, “...the emperor publicly denied his divinity...individuals were
no longer bound by their family religion...
[and] a policy of land distribution was enacted...The combined effect of these directives
was to create, for the first time in Japanese
history, a totally secular government; to give
individuals total religious freedom.” (Robinson, 264) Many new religions (shinko
shukyo) sprung up. On the other hand,
“Polls indicate that large numbers of Japanese do not view themselves as belonging
to any particular group.” (Robinson, 265)
Soka Gakkai
Soka Gakkai Buddhism is an offshoot
within Nichiren Buddhism. It began in 1938
and is based on Nichiren’s teachings. “The
sect recommends the traditional Nichiren
practice of chanting...although the purpose
of the chant is to attain this-worldly goals:
Job promotion, financial success, family
harmony, and the alleviation of physical
and psychological ills.” (Robinson, 265)
“The Gohonzon scroll is the religious core
of the Soka Gakkai faith.” (Dumoulin, 259)
“The personal character of the religion
is particularly apparent in the spirituality
of President Ikeda, who teaches the faithful to pray daily: ‘Gohonzon, help me to
accomplish this today.’” (Dumoulin, 259)
“Among the many mandalas created by
Nichiren to represent symbolically the total
content of his teachings–that is, absolute re-
ality according to the vision of the Lotus Sutra- one [the Gohonzon] is accorded special
importance by the Nichiren Shoshu and the
Soka Gakkai...a scroll upon which Chinese
ideograms are written in vertical order...”
(Dumoulin, 258- 259) Dumoulin, in visiting the Daisekiji temple, writes, “...I was
not only touched by the intense conviction
of the young people there, devoid of all human fear, but I also felt that their disposition
unmistakably exhibited a personal relationship with the Gohonzon.” (Dumoulin, 259)
David Hesselgrave, writing about a
disagreement between Soka Gakkai Buddhism and Nichiren Buddhism (their
umbrella organization at that time) says,
“Built a quarter century ago at a cost of
$100,000,000 (well over twice that figure
at today’s exchange rate), the Shohondo [a
main hall on Nichiren temple grounds, but
largely built by Sokka Gakkai donations]
was one of the most impressive buildings in
the Buddhist world. And yet, in spite of the
pleas and protests of prominent architects,
politicians and religious leaders of various
persuasions, a Nichiren Buddhist priest had
spent $35,000,000 to have it demolished!...
Power struggles and factionalism finally
reached a climax in 1991 when High Priest
Abe took the radical step of excommunicating Ikeda [Soka Gakkai’s president] and
all his followers.”
Conflict between Nichiren and Soka Gakkai went back further to after World War II
when Soka Gakkai president Toda, forced
one of the Nichiren monks in 1952 to sign a
declaration of guilt. “This particular monk
was blamed for the suppression of the Soka
Gakkai during the war, and for Makiguchi’s death [the founder of Soka Gakkai] in
prison, because as a leader he had favored
syncretism with Shinto, the state religion,
as well as an organizational merger with
other Nichiren sects from Mount Minobu.”
(Dumoulin, 258) This conflict aside, Soka
Gakkai members focus on the Gohonzon,
which Dumoulin was told was, “...nothing
other than the presence of the holy Buddha
Nichiren.” (Dumoulin, 259) Having a relationship with a scroll, which is supposed
to invoke the presence of Nichiren, a dead
man, whose personality, “at times resembled that of a medium possessed,” (Robinson, 256) is spiritually dangerous to say the
least. More on this later, when discussing
“familiar spirits.”
Reiki
Reiki was a Japanese adaptation of some
Hindu ideas (e.g. chakras- the seven energy
centers). In 1922 Mikao Usui, after going
through a Buddhist training course, said
he received a revelation regarding Reiki.
It’s a method that aims to bring healing
through “supernatural influence.” “...many
nurses, counselors, and especially massage
therapists use Reiki as a supplement to
their work.” (Yungen, 95) “Reiki came to
the United States (from Japan) in the mid
1970s. It took about twenty years for this
particular practice to reach 500,000 practitioners....By the year 2005, the number
skyrocketed to an astonishing one million
practitioners in just the U.S.!” (Yungen,
13) Reiki claims to have 5 million followers worldwide.
“...many Reiki practitioners report having verbalized channeled communications
with the spirit world.” (Yungen, 97) In
Reiki, guidance is given by spirits, called
“Reiki guides.” One Reiki master wrote of
her experience, “For me, the Reiki guides
make themselves the most felt while attunements are being passed. They stand
behind me and direct the whole process,
and I assume they also do this for every
Reiki master. When I pass attunements, I
feel their presence strongly and constantly.
Sometimes I can see them.” (Yungen, 95)
Reiyu-kai
Reiyu-kai, was founded in 1925, as an
offshoot of Nichiren. In 1963, they claimed
to have 3.6% of the Japanese population as
members. Presently, they have about five
million members worldwide “It is based
on the Lotus Sutra and stresses filial piety
and duty towards ancestors.” (Saunders,
281) “...ancestor worship is the core of its
teaching and practice. Easily understood
by the common man, it gives him access
to the world of spirits and souls which the
shamanistic cofounder mediated to her following.” (Dumoulin, 241)
Funerals and Spirits
“...traditional Buddhism has lost much
of its appeal, except as a relic of Japan’s
cultural past. ‘Funeral Buddhism’ is the
name that many people use to refer to the
traditional sects, in light of the ritual role
to which many of the priests have been reduced.” (Robinson, 265) “Many temples
have become funeral institutions, whose
administrators concern themselves primarily with well-paid rites for the dead.” (Dumoulin, 217). “As a means of gaining their
[provincial samurai and the peasantry] allegiance Soto [a school of Zen] assimilated a
certain amount of popular beliefs and rituals but devised, above all, funeral and memorial services for the dead, a trait that was
to become one of the characteristic features
of almost all Buddhist schools in Japan.”
(Noriyoshi, 169)
“The time-honored ritual of sutra copying (shakyo), still popular among Jodo,
Shingon, and Tendai followers, is undertaken to bring repose to the spirits of the dead,
accumulate merit for the practitioner, and
deepen faith in the sutra copied.” (Unno,
323) Also related to bringing “repose to
the spirits of the dead” is the Obon festival. “...it [Ullambana, known in Japan as
Obon] began in the sixth century in China
and soon after was introduced to Japan...the
origin of the Ullambana ceremony is found
in the legend of Moggallana...who through
transcendental vision saw his mother suffering in Avici hell. In order to save her he
followed the advice of Sakyamuni Buddha
and practiced charity by feeding hundreds
of monks.” (Unno, 320) This story is a very
late invention, not being in the Pali Canon,
which in and of itself already contains
many legends. It comes from a text, “made
in China,” called the, “...Ullambana Sutra
(a text composed in China)...” (Robinson,
215) “...much of the content of the Ullambana festival is non-Buddhist in origin.”
(Unno, 320-321) The main purpose of the
Obon festival is, “...aiding the dead in their
proper journey, keeping them from becoming malevolent and thereby dangerous to
the living.” (Robinson, 215)
Involvement with spirits is a trademark of
many Japanese Buddhist sects. Shintoism,
being an animistic religion, also involves
ceremonies to appease spirits, ask them for
blessings, etc. In the Bible, “familiar spirits” are actually devils. God forbids us to
invoke or communicate with them, because
they are deceivers. When people die, they
don’t float around in this world. “And as it
is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment...” (Hebrews 9:27) There
is nothing we can do for those who have
died already. Whatever they have done in
their lives will be judged by God, whose
judgment is perfect and fair.
The spirits that are in the spiritual realm
of this world are not deceased family members, but are either angels or devils. If we
are NOT submitted to God and adopted
into God’s family, then we are in danger of
deception by devils pretending to be merciful and powerful beings. They try to take
people’s attention away from God, and towards bondage to spiritual lies. Even those
who are Christians and part of God’s family
are told to be careful. “Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God: because many false prophets
are gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1)
The word “try” here means “put on trial”to test. We do this by comparing their message with the standard of the Bible. God
made it very clear that we are not to seek
spiritual direction from anywhere apart
from His Word. “There shall not be found
among you any one that maketh his son or
his daughter to pass through the fire, or that
useth divination, or an observer of times, or
an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or
a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wiz-
ard, or a necromancer. For all that do these
things are an abomination unto the LORD:
and because of these abominations the
LORD thy God doth drive them out from
before thee.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
Isaiah, who lived about 700 years before Christ, rebuked the people for seeking
dead spirits instead of God Almighty. “And
when they shall say unto you, seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto
wizards that peep, and that mutter: should
not a people seek unto their God? For the
living to the dead? To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in
them.” (Isaiah 8:19-20) God has authority
over every spirit, so we need not be troubled by any lesser spirits. We can simply
submit ourselves to God almighty, and He
will lead our lives.
God Almighty
If we found a computer mouse laying on
the road, would anyone doubt that it has a
maker? A computer mouse cannot make itself. Even though we may not see the maker, the computer mouse itself is evidence
that points to it having a creator. People
have factories for making computer mice.
But, people have no factories for making
real mice. A computer mouse is impressive
in that it can transmit information via it’s
“tail” to the computer, or in some types, the
mouse has no tail and can transmit information “remotely.” But, a real mouse has
its own brain with which it can transmit
commands to its body.
Although we normally would think of a
computer mouse as being “high-tech,” seeing that people can make these, but cannot
make real mice, we should actually call
a computer mouse “low tech” and a real
mouse “high tech.” Only God can make a
real mouse! Although we don’t see God,
the mouse itself is evidence that it has a
Creator. Being far more complex than a
computer mouse, it cannot make itself,
nor randomly come into being without a
Designer. God created people, too, but He
created people in His own image, different
from the animals. Monkeys don’t have police monkeys, nor courtrooms, nor prisons,
nor libraries, nor philosophers, etc. They
follow instinct. People have the freedom to
choose right or wrong. People will one day
be held responsible by God for what they
have done with their lives and how they
have responded to God their Creator.
Right now, the tallest statue on earth is
an idol of the Vairocana Buddha in China,
which stands at 128 meters. Compared
to God Almighty, that statue is like a tiny
piece of dust. How could people fit the Almighty God who made everything, into an
idol made by people? Even if people could
25
make an idol 8000 meters tall, with its head
in the clouds, or 12,000 meters tall, with its
head peering above the clouds, that is still
tiny, compared to God Almighty. “Thus
saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool: where is the
house that ye build unto me? And where is
the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1)
In Japanese Buddhism, the Vairocana
Buddha is exalted as a solar deity, and in
Shintoism, Amaterasu Omikami is exalted
as the sun goddess. Is the sun a worthy
object of our worship? The universe itself
is also said to be a manifestation of Vairocana. Is the universe a worthy object of
our worship? The sun truly is massively
big and amazing. But, compared to the rest
of the universe it is likewise tiny. The sun
and the universe point to God’s incredible
design. God almighty is separate from His
creation and awesomely greater than it.
The universe is also still under the curse
brought about through sin, and is thus only
an imperfect reflection of God’s power. We
should worship the Creator, not the creation.
Jason Lisle gives us some insight about
the sun and our universe, “The sun is about
400 times more distant than the moon. Remarkably, it is also 400 times larger. So
it has the same angular size as the moonmeaning it appears the same size and covers the same portion of the sky [making the
moon the perfect size to eclipse the sun]...
If it [the sun] were hollow, it could hold
over 1 million earths...When we consider
the immensity of the Milky Way, with its
100 billion stars...the overwhelming power
of the Creator becomes clear. Yet, our galaxy is not the only one...It is estimated that
there are at least as many galaxies as there
are stars in the Milky Way (100 billion).”
As incredibly large as the universe is
(making the sun seem tiny), God almighty
is even greater than the universe He created. “Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? saith the LORD.
Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:24)
Conclusion
The large vehicle of Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism) is expressed in a large
variety of ways and is practiced in Japan,
China and elsewhere. Within this large vehicle there are schools of thought that are
completely opposite of one another, but
they are still considered to be part of Mahayana, since they cater to a larger group of
people as opposed to Hinayana (the “small
vehicle”) for which enlightenment is seen
as something few people can attain (Theravada is the only surviving school of Hinayana). Mahayana had a later start historically, mystically adding many new ideas to
an already faulty system (Hinayana). In this
26
paper, we’ve seen some of the shortcomings of the large vehicle in Japan.
Shingon and the other schools which emphasize a pantheistic type of view implode
on themselves when we consider that if all
is included (which Shingon especially is
very clear about, and other schools hint at),
then evil also is included in the “Buddhanature.” Zen relies on the silent sermon
and the “beyond logic” approach, defeating itself with any attempt to communicate
anything. Shin Buddhism sees the vanity of
self-effort, but suggests believing in a limited and imaginary being to help. The various
Nichiren schools have an equally unreliable
foundation in the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus
Sutra was composed around AD 200 (Robinson, 85), but claims to be a final sermon
of Gautama Buddha, which makes it about
600 years too late to be credible. Various
other schools of thought which call on the
“spirits of the dead” are likewise limited
and in the dark, not knowing that these are
actually deceiving spirits they are calling
on. Besides this, no lesser spirit can help us
find eternal salvation. God is almighty. Because He is almighty He expects us to put
all of our faith in Him, not 50% in Him and
50% in something else.
If we compare any of these schools of
thought to a “vehicle” which is supposed
to save us and get us to heaven, they are
like vehicles that have no gasoline, or no
tires, or are only imaginary, having no ability to take us anywhere. People have factories for making nice vehicles for the roads
here on earth, but we have no factory to
make a vehicle to get us to heaven. Only
God almighty can bring a person to heaven,
and that must be on His terms, which are
revealed in the Bible through Jesus Christ.
Tokichi Ishii, a former criminal, became
a Christian in 1916. He wrote the following
words: “Again, chaplains and pastors, and
those who see men die, agree that the last
words a man utters come from the depths
of his soul, and that he does not die with
lies upon his lips. Jesus’ last words were,
Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do, and so I cannot but believe
that they reveal his true heart.” “What did
the verse reveal to me? Shall I call it the
love of the heart of Christ? Shall I call it
His compassion? I do not know what to
call it. I only know that with an unspeakably grateful heart, I believed. Through this
simple sentence I was led into the whole of
Christianity.” (Ishii, 36)
Christianity is not just a good idea, but
is confirmed with historical and prophetic
evidence. This is essential. Experiences,
dreams, or even visions are not proof of
spiritual reality. Such “evidences” would
be thrown out of a court of law very quickly. What we have in Christianity are not
only life transforming and wonderful truths
about Jesus and His teachings, but also the
kind of evidence that can be proven in a
court of law. God our Creator deserves all
of our worship and faith. Will you come
to Jesus and put your faith in Him today?
“And this is the record, that God hath given
to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. (I
John 5:11-12
Appendix A
Numbers and Hearts
Japan has a land mass that is smaller than
California, but a population over 3 times
that of California. The entire population of
the United States is only about 2.5 times
that of Japan. In other words, about half of
the United States could move into the state
of California, and this would be roughly the
population density of Japan. In spite of being a fairly small nation compared to other
nations (but with a large and very diligent
work force), Japan has done very well
economically. “...the generally sustained
increase in annual production has raised
Japan to a position where, today, it comes
second to only one other nation, the United
States, in economic strength.” (Mason &
Caiger, 361, copyright 1997). More recently China has moved into the number 2 spot,
but Japan is still number 3 in the world (as
measured by GDP).
In this situation of economic strength,
many people’s hearts in Japan, China, and
America have decided to follow money
instead of God almighty. “No servant can
serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon. And the
Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard
all these things: and they derided him. And
he said unto them, Ye are they which justify
yourselves before men; but God knoweth
your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God.” (Luke 16:13-15)
In Dale Saunders’ book “Buddhism
in Japan,” he cites two other books dated
1960 and 1963, showing the number of
members of the various Buddhist sects in
Japan. Between 1960-65 the population of
Japan was about 95.85 million people. Using the statistics from Saunders’ book, but
as a percentage of the total population, here
are the seven most popular Buddhist sects
at that time: Jodo Shin (also known as Shin
Buddhism) 14.9%, Soka Gakkai 10.4%,
Zen 9.6%, Jodo (the predecessor of Jodo
Shin) 3.7%, Reiyukai 3.6% [an offshoot
of Nichiren], Shingon 3.1%, and Nichiren
2.3%. Also reflecting the popularity of Shin
Buddhism, a book published in 1918 (“A
Gentleman in Prison”) states that all prison
chaplains at that time were Shin priests
(Ishii, 49).
The 1960/1963 statistics show that about
56.77% of the population of Japan was
Buddhist. Statistics from 1995 show that
about 69.6% of the population was Buddhist and 93.1% of the population was
Shinto. Christians accounted for 1.2% and
other religions for 8.1% of the population
(Encyclopedia Britannica). Clearly there
is an overlap between those who consider
themselves to be Buddhist and those who
consider themselves to be Shinto. Many
people consider themselves to be followers
of both Shintoism and Buddhism. These
two religions have a history of syncretism
with each other, though at times forcible
distinctions were made.
Comparing these statistics with more recent ones in 2004, we see that about 44% of
the population considered themselves to be
Buddhist, based on a population at that time
of 127.6 million people. Nara religions accounted for 0.56% of the population, Zen
2.6%, Tendai 2.7%, Shingon 9.9%, Nichiren 13%, and Pure Land 15.3% (O’Brien).
It seems that Soka Gakkai, Reiyukai, and
Nichiren are all included under the heading of Nichiren here. Also, Jodo and Shin
Buddhism seem to be included under the
heading of Pure Land Buddhism. In summary, Jodo, Shin Buddhism and schools
based on Nichiren’s exaltation of the Lotus Sutra were still the most popular, with
Shingon Buddhism, Tendai Buddhism, and
Zen Buddhism also accounting for a large
percentage of followers.
The tallest statue in the world presently
is in China and is of the Vairocana Buddha,
which stands at 128 meters. Japan has 10
idols of Kannon that are taller than the U.S.
statue of liberty (which is 46 meters tall).
The tallest statue in Japan is the Amida
(Amitabha) Buddha at 110 meters. Of all
the Buddhist statues in Japan ranging from
13 meters to 110 meters tall, the top four
types are as follows: Vairocana Buddha (3
statues), Kukai (4 statues), Amida Buddha
(4 statues), and Kannon (32 statues). The
massive amount of money that is poured
into these statues tells us something about
where people’s hearts are at. “For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.” (Matthew 6:21)
The popularity of various statues gives
a slightly different picture compared to the
popularity of the various Buddhist sects.
With the popularity of Shin Buddhism,
we would expect there to be more statues
of Amida. Kannon is overwhelmingly the
most popular statue, but it doesn’t even
have a sect dedicated solely to it. Kannon features prominently in the Lotus Sutra though, which Soka Gakkai, Nichiren,
Reiyukai, and Tendai all exalt. Shin and
Jodo Buddhism also give a place to Kannon, next to Amida. Vairocana is the central Buddha of the Shingon sect. And, Kukai (AD 774-835) was the founder of the
Shingon sect. So, in a way this distribution
does make sense.
Appendix B
Ayako Kawanishi’s Story, Hyogo Ken,
90 years old (June 2013)
(Thank you Geoff and Fumie Toole of
Moriel Japan for recording this.)
Praise the Lord. About 30 years ago there
was a pastor who had been a teacher in my
son’s school. He saw that society had given
up taking care of children’s souls. Realizing
that the training of the soul was important,
as opposed to only teaching academic subjects, he quit teaching and ended up studying in a theological college to become a
pastor. My son also attended his church and
one day he visited me at home. He invited
me to come to church and shared with me
the following scripture.
“Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God.”
But I thought that it would be impossible for me to go to church. Actually my
grandmother was the daughter of a Buddhist priest [Jodo Shinshu]. As a child I had
gone to Buddhist Sunday school, learned
to recite the “Okyo” Buddhist chants and
learned stories about the Buddha. I repeated
the Buddhist chants each morning and evening. On top of that, our lives were saved
by returning to my grandmother’s temple in
the countryside just before my house was
burned and destroyed during the war in Hiroshima. They had looked after us during
the war, so I felt that I could not turn away
from their religion...I was always against
my son’s faith.
Even in the days following the war in
Japan, every day was a struggle with my
children and family. Everything had been
burned down and all resources had been lost.
Somehow we managed to live day to day.
In search of some solution to my problems,
I bought a Zen book and read it but it didn’t
contain the answers I was looking for. I finally thought (after many years) I would
go along with my son to church one day.
The first church I went to was Nishinomiya Baptist Church. There was a wonderful American missionary couple there
who taught great things about the Bible. It
was wonderful for me to see all the smiling
faces and to be in such a happy environment. I learned that God had given Jesus
Christ to a world lost in sin to die in my
place for my sins. My small, narrow heart
which had long been troubled was turned
180 degrees and filled with light.
I don’t know how many people’s hearts
have been saved by the many words God
has left us in the Bible. I am so grateful that
Japan has become a nation which legally
recognizes freedom of religion so that even
people like myself can freely go to church.
Ever since then I have looked forward to
going to church each week on Sunday and
now I find that I am 90 years old. I greatly
enjoy living each day in good health and
in God’s care. As I look back on my life
there have been many struggles, but the
words of the Bible have always given me
the answers. I give thanks to the Name of
the Lord for all things.
Scott Nobel
Special
announcetment
from MORIEL MINISTRIES
I had always promised before the Lord
Jesus two things concerning Christian TV.
The first is that I would never “Ride in
Ahab’s Chariot”; that is I would not appear
on the same channel, network, or station
that broadcast heretical money preachers.
I would not want Moriel to be misunderstood as endorsing such deceivers who
have prostituted God’s Word or allow us to
be identified with them in the eyes of the
secular public. They discredit the Gospel
of Salvation to the world, twisting the truth
into a financial con game.
With the advent of ROKU and other new
technologies however, it is fast becoming
possible to have not only internet TV but
internet TV that works like satellite TV. In
North America and more advanced Asian
countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, it’s becoming both
easier and cheaper to circumvent both analog and satellite based digital broadcasting
with newer technologies. While these advances are well underway in the USA and
elsewhere where ventures such as “HIS
CHANNEL” are providing a more doctrinally solid alternative to the hype artistry
and conniving of popular Christian TV.
First and foremost, we seriously request
prayer. Such a project will require money
but, we will trust God and the generosity
of His people for adequate finances. An online contribution and subscription will be
implemented.
Your prayers and support will be much
required and very much appreciated.
In Jesus,
Jacob Prasch and all at Moriel
27
Moriel Philippines
Paul Sevilla
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We praise and thank the Lord for additional christian experience of our young children
when attending Young Peoples Fellowship at San Felipe Zambales. They also sang their
praise song for the Lord.
Aside from Children Chapel Hour, Parents Bible Study, We started Evening Worship
Service with the young children and parents. Let us pray that the work of the Lord will
encourage more souls.
Most of our dump children have baby brother,baby sister that are growing up. They are
also our concern for the Lord’s sake. They are added to our Moriel Regular Feeding Program, on proper time we will also feed them the word of God.
We thank our Almighty God for we are not affected from last month’s calamity of Olongapo heavy flood and Leptospirosis out-break.
It is common to our children to have phlegm,colds,cough and asthma. like John Emmanuel Romero with slight pneumonia. We bought medicine prescribed by the Doctor.
Three days ago, we brought John Lee Ireneo to James Gordon Memorial Hospital. He has
also a pneumonia, we bought the prescribed medicine and now he is relieve.
Regarding Jeannarose Romero who have a heart problem was cured in her pneumonia. She
was scheduled back to Phil. Heart Center on November 11,2013 for Case Presentation-Doctor’s findings if she will undergo for heart surgery. We continue providing proper food,vitamin
and maintenance medicine to build her body strength to prepare her if surgery come.
Mothers of our dump children are so thankful for all the blessings received by their
children.
You, our Moriel family and Supporters are always in our prayers, thank you so much for
your unceasing love in the ministry.
Request Prayer for :
1. Small unit of nebulizer for children.
2. Medical needs of Jeannarose Romero.
3. Dental Mission for our dump children.
4. Roofing on vacant space at front of Feeding room.
- used as extension of children Sunday school class.
- used as when children gather and play.
5. December Give a Gift Program.
Sincerely in Christ,
Ptr. Paul
28
Margret Godwin
Moriel Australia
news
AUSTRALIAN
Australian/New Zealand Report – December Issue 2013
Greetings in the Name of Jesus,
Here we come hurtling towards the end
of 2013 at a supersonic speed.
When I was a newish Christian I used to
have trouble getting my head around us being reduced to a remnant. How would loving brothers turn against each other?
Children against parents, nations against
nations and so the list goes on. But I must
say I see it far more clearly now. We must
be constantly vigil.
It has been a huge year and we have seen
some beautiful brothers and sisters go home
to their final reward. While they have left a
huge gap in our lives (we are only human)
but we have that settling joy in our spirit
that one day we will all be together again
but not with our worldly imperfections and
these old bodies but we will be forever in
the presence of The King of Kings, the
Lord of All, Mighty Counselor, our creator.
Recently someone sent me a card with a
piece out of scripture from Psalms,
“The Lord God is a sun and shield,
The Lord will give grace and glory. No
good thing will He withhold From those
who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11
A dear lady reminded me today that we
must constantly watch each other backs
with prayer and intercession.
Jacob’s 2014 Australian Tour
There will be quite a change in this years
visit by Jacob. Given his health and the
amount of travel that he does annually we
have decided to do the following.
Note the dates are not confirmed as yet
but I hope to be able to include them in this
issue before it goes out.
• Late June/early July Jacob will fly from
Singapore to Perth for one meeting, then
onto Melbourne for a three day conference at (Bellgrave Conference Centre)
with a wide range of accommodation &
meals available.
• New Zealand for meetings in Wellington & Auckland. (3 to 4 days only)
I realize this means that some are going
to miss out but on his return in 2015 we will
capture that other states that miss this time.
I surely could do with your prayerful
support, as this will be a huge undertaking
in a very short time.
2013 Israel Tour:
Jacob has just returned from this year’s
tour and I think there were about 5 or 6
Aussies and Kiwis on the tour.
One report comes from Pastor Paul from
Melbourne:
We had a wonderful time with Jacob. There were 5 of us from BCC,
and one of them was baptized by Jacob in the Jordan River. This was just
one of the many highlights.
It was an experience that enhanced
knowledge of both Israel and the Bible. I would recommend this tour to
anyone who would like to broaden his
or her Biblical knowledge.
letters and queries:
Question: Dear Jacob
Just hoping you will shed some light
on what you mean by the following quote
“When Jesus died on the cross, God took
our sin and put it on His Son in order to put
His Righteousness on us.” Do you simply
mean that God placed the punishment for
our sin on His Son and therefore we can
be forgiven and made righteous, or do you
mean something deeper?
And my second question is: In many of
your articles you talk about backsliders,
particularly in the “Once Saved Always
Saved.” Proverbs 14:14 is a description of
a backslider that they are filled with their
own ways. In the article you say the following; Look at the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32)
The Prodigal Son has many interpretations.
(The rabbis said a parable had up to seventy
different interpretations, certainly meaning
“multiple” anyway.
One of the interpretations of the Prodigal Son is that of a backslider. A backslider
will wind up the way the Prodigal Son did,
upon faith in humiliation, coming back to
the father. When a backslider comes back
the father will forgive him and take him
back, but he has to come back. And what
does the father say? “This brother of yours
was dead” (Lk 15:32) He was Dead!
From this paragraph it seems to me that
what you are saying is that a backslider was
someone that was actually saved, part of
the faith, but then they got to a point when
they forfeited their salvation for the bond-
age of sin again. They still believe the truth
but they don’t have the Holy Spirit they are
dead to God again! Is that what you mean
by a true backslider and then from the rest
of the article I gathered if they continue in
this state they end up blaspheming the holy
Spirit although this may take a while. Is this
the definition of a backslider that you hold,
someone who was a Christian but now is
unsaved?
Jacob’s Response:
In the Garden God placed our sins on Jesus and on the cross God poured out His
wrath for sin on His Son in our place. He
who knew no sin became sin for us: the Just
for the unjust. God in turn imputed the righteousness of His Son Jesus to us.
Unrepented backsliders do not have the
assurance of salvation until and unless they
do repent. We have never associated this
however with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
In Christ,
Jacob
Question: Dear Sir
I would like to make a couple of comments on the book review The Popular
Handbook of the Rapture by Jacob.
Firstly concerning the word ‘apostasy’ in
Thess 2:1-3 being misinterpreted as ‘rapture’ The passage begins saying, “Now we
request you, brethren, with regard to the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together to Him.” This puts the
verses, which follow in the context of the
Rapture (the gathering). I would just like
to say that only the word ‘apostasy’ will
fit verse 3. If the word apostasy is changed
to rapture, in v.3 then it will read, “Let no
one in any way deceive you, for it (the
rapture) will not come unless the rapture
comes first, and the man of lawlessness is
revealed.” The verse no longer makes sense
as it is saying that the rapture won’t come
unless the rapture comes first.
The other point is that Jacob’s use of 1
Cor.1: 7 to say all gifts are for all time is
very weak. In this verse Paul is stating a
point regarding the Corinthian church and
if anyone wants to claim it then they will
also have to accept that they are men of
flesh, mere infants in Christ as 1 Cor.3:1-3
says Corinthians were.
God Bless – Mr M
29
Moriel Australia – Continued
Jacob’s Response:
Dear Sir as to your first question the term is
not ‘apostasia) (apostasy) but ‘episunagoge’
Your point however that if it were the
rapture alone (which it is not but the resurrection plus rapture or parousia) is valid; we
have stated this ourselves. It would mean
that the rapture will not take place until the
rapture does, which is obvious nonsense.
The text states in both Greek and English
that the gathering to the Lord will not happen until the apostasy/great falling away
takes place and the man of lawlessness (anthropon anomon) is revealed.
As to your second point, I have read it
twice and whatever you are trying to assert
is unclear to me. I do not understand what
you are saying. The Test of 1 Cor.7 in context
makes it clear that charismatic gifts continue until the apocalyptic revelation of Christ,
not the closing of the New Testament canon.
In Christ,
Jacob
Question: Dear Jacob
I have appreciated your ministry for
many years, in particular, your teaching
on the Jewish interpretation of scripture. I
have a query concerning the translation and
interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2.
The conventional wisdom is that the
one restraining the man of lawlessness is
the Holy Spirit. This, however, seems to
be inconsistent with what Jesus described
as the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14+.
Moreover, it seems to me that all things
have been handed over to Christ Jesus, it is
He who restrains the lawless one until the
prophetic time for his manifestation and
revelation is arrived.
Supporting the traditional interpretation
of this passage is the view that ek mesou
genetai in Thessalonians 2:7 is translated as
“he is taken out of the way”, the teaching
being that the Holy Spirit is removed and
the church goes with Him. But this phrase
cannot be translated in that way; it means,
as you most certainly would know, “out
of the midst he becomes” and the passage
continues in verse 8 “and then will be revealed the lawless one”. So the interpretation I get from this scripture is that Christ
Jesus is restraining the lawless one until it
is his time to manifest and then out of the
midst (of Israel? Islam? The Church? The
World?) he becomes and then he will be revealed so that all will see him.
Reinforcing the conventional view of the
Holy Spirit as the restrainer and will be taken out of the way along with the Church is
the interpretation given to Matthew 24:40
and 41, which says when Jesus returns there
will be two in the field; one is taken and one
is left; two grinding in the mill; one is taken
and one is left.” This is taken to signify that
when Jesus returns the Holy Spirit and the
30
Church are taken away and everyone else
is left behind, but it seems to me that Jesus clearly sets this passage in the context
of the flood in the Days of Noah in which
the lost were taken away and the saved remained, not vice versa. So if we take that
event as a metaphor and apply it to the coming of the Son of Man, then in my view,
those in the ark of salvation (Jesus Christ)
remain and those who are not carried away
in the flood of deception and lawlessness.
This seems to be consistent with the pattern of Jesus’ teaching in the parables of the
kingdom (Matthew 13) where the tares are
pulled out and the wheat remains;
Where the good fish are kept and the bad
thrown away; where the wicked are severed from the righteous and thrown away.
Although there comes a time when those
in Christ are snatched away, this seems to
me to follow the resurrection of the dead in
Christ who are raised first.
I would very much appreciate your views
on this issue.
May the Lord bless you and the work.
Mr D.W Australia
Jacob’s Response:
Blessings from Holland,
You write from Australia but if I am not
mistaken your name appears to be Welsh.
Are your parents POMS from Wales?
You are absolutely correct that the interpretation that the Holy Spirit that restrains
is removed with the faithful church at the
rapture is indeed bogus.
However, the Holy Spirit is absolutely
the restrainer (not an angel as dome assert
or Christ).
The dynamics of this text are too extensive to delve into by email. I would therefore point you to our series ‘Understanding
the Rapture’ or the Apocalypse Conference
on DVD series filmed on location on the
Island of Patmos (available from Marg at
Moriel). Better still, I might suggest you
read the book I authored on the manner in
which the anti Christ will be revealed to the
faithful church entitled: “Shadows of the
Beast” (available from Marg at Moriel)
The issue you raise is addressed in some
detail.
In Jesus,
Jacob
Thank Yous!
As this is the last issue for 2013 I would like
to thank firstly you – our readers – for your
faithful and prayerful support of the ministry.
For your love and support of our missionary work – thank you.
To our dear readers in New Zealand a
huge thank you for your patience as we have
attempted sort out new administrators –
prayerfully this will be put in place in January.
I am sorry it has taken so long but we have
to have the leading of the Lord. I could almost
heard Nigel’s words “come on Fluffy get on
with it – goodness you Aussies are slow”
I hope to catch up with quite a few of
you when I come over.
To my wee band of faithful volunteers,
Pam & Vic, Celia, Pst Michael & his wife
Margaret, their daughter Rachel, Don & Gloria, their daughter Leisa, Gail and Michael
our faithful chaffeur. May the Lord bless
you abundantly for your faithful service.
To the very dear and loyal Pastors around
the country – bless you.
Well dears it is time to bring this to a
close. As a dear friend says to me “Margie we must watch each others back and
prayerfully cover each other”
Stay well and safe my dears.
In Christ,
Marg
I
l
e
a
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s
MORIEL MINISTRIES
2014 Bible Study Tours with
James Jacob Prasch
(Dates to be announced)
Paul in Greece with Patmos, and Book the
of Revelation on site Focusing on ‘Parousia’
the timing of the rapture and resurrection to
be studied in Thessalonika and on Patmos.
plus:
Paul in Philippe, Berea Athens, and Corinth
and the Greco Roman Historical background
of the First Century Apostolic Church in
historical Greece.
combined with:
12 Day Intensive study Tour of Israel
(In addition to our essential core study tour
of Israel, additional days will be spent in
the Shephila Region Studying Samson, Micah, The Maccabee History, and other accounts on location).
Those joining us have the option of coming
with us to either Israel, Greece, or both.
David Royle
Dear Family and friends,
Greetings in Jesus name. The last two
months has been a bit of a Roller coaster ride
so please forgive the lateness of our newsletter. First of all my trip to the UK went
well both personally and ministry wise.
It was good to catch up with family and
friends and I would like to thank all those
who hosted me from the bottom of my heart.
Secondly, one week after coming home
from this six week trip my son Anthony
was taken ill. Anthony has a congenital
heart block and was experiencing breathlessness. A trip to the hospital was required
and it was decided he needed a pacemaker.
As well as this his wife Liz is expecting
their fourth child and so Lyn has gone to
the UK to help out with the children while
Anthony recovers and Liz has the baby.
She will be away till 3rd of December.
It was a great home coming while it lasted, the kids had helped Lyn paint the place
and complete the reed farm. As well as
this builders had come and built a Pegoda
across the Stoep area to help shade us from
the intense summer heat.
The children continue to grow and thrive
in this environment and have lots of interesting things to do. There are seeds to
plant, garden to establish and Pee Wee is in
charge of the new worm farm. The worms
(Australian red wrigglers) are great at composting and produce an amazing fertilizer
that gives plants a great boost. When 2000
of them arrived in the post though he got
a suprize because a bunch of them had es-
caped their container.
Health wise the children are blessed by
Gods grace. Again CD4 and Viral loads are
brilliant. My own diabetes is under control at
the moment, although it was difficult while
in the UK with all the goodies tempting me.
Last month we were also able to source
a tractor for the farm as well as a Bush cutter. Abre has been at work since cutting
the grass. This will make sure Snakes and
Ticks keep their distance.
Ministry wise, on the way home from
the UK I was asked to min ister at our new
associate church ‘Bread of Life’ by Pastor
David Nathan. It was an awesome time getting to know him and his family better and
to be able to share the word at the church
which is set in the Benoni farm area.
We are also preparing to minister more
fully to the people locally who live on the
rubbish dumps. Please pray for this as we
share the good news with them.
I can also announce that in January, our
Sunday morning time of worship and teaching will God willing become ‘The Mount
of Olives Christian Fellowship’. Now the
house is in some order we can now open it
up for church. Please pray for this.
New Teaching material plus a stock of
books has arrived. We have a great conference from Tongham in the UK featuring
Jacob and PS Bill Randles. I also recorded
my messages in the UK and we have Shadows of the Beast, Dilemma of Laodicea and
the Daniel factor in stock. Along with this a
great selection of teachings in our catalogue.
Moriel South Africa
Please email or call Chris for your orders.
The New year has many exciting things
waiting for us. It is good to be in a place
where God is at work and we would like
to thank all of you who over the last 12
months have worked alongside us in this
corner of Gods vineyard. It has been a challenging year on many levels and we thank
God for his grace and we thank you for being part of our lives and ministry.
So have a great Christmas/Channukah or
whatever you celebrate and may next year
be full of great things because we have a
Great God.
Visitors
We would like to welcome Rachel and
TJ to Moriel Missions. Rachel is over here
for three months helping with the children
and the planting of seeds. TJ is over for a
few days and is a builder/farmer and I am
sure the Lord will bless his work here.
Prayer
• Please pray for Lyn, she is in the UK and
for me holding the fort here
• For Anthony and a speedy recovery
• For Aaron our son who has eye problems
linked to his diabetes
• For the children’s continued well being
• For our daily bread
• Praise God for His supply and sufficiency
• For our new evangelism on the dump
• For a fellowship here on the farm
• Please pray for the birth of Liz new baby
• For our new visitors Rachel and TJ
31
Moriel South Africa – Continued
Teaching
Jesus cleansing the Temple
In this study we will be looking at the
event of Jesus over turning the tables and
driving the money changers out of the Temple. Jesus’ actions are often misunderstood
as being violent and aggressive. Some believe Jesus is loosing his temper. Many
Christians gloss over the event as they feel
they encounter an angry Jesus, rather than
the loving Jesus, who was led like a lamb to
the slaughter. This event is used quite frequently by unbelievers to attack the character of Jesus.
A few months ago my Pastor spoke on
the subject of ‘meekness’ and quite rightly
said that Jesus was meek. After the service
a man approached me and said ‘if Jesus
was so meek why did He overturn the tables and drive the money changers out of
the Temple?’ I said to him ’What did Pastor say meekness was? Power under control. Jesus didn’t loose his temper in a fit of
rage and decide to take matters into his own
hands. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing AND He had the authority to cast those
men out of His Fathers house.’
I said to him ‘If you came into my house
and began to exploit my children I would
have the right by law to turf you out.’ I told
the man about a burglar that broke into my
house over a year ago. I told him that when
I caught the guy I got physical with the guy
in order to catch him and protect my family.
When I had the man on the floor I showed
restraint and told my wife to phone the
police.’ At first I questioned what I did because I am not a violent man and you hear
of all kinds of stories of people in the people being sued for defending their home.
However, the police officer that attended
the scene said I did what was aloud by law.
In contrast to this an uncle of mine had
a similar experience when watching a DVD
at home with two of his mate who happen
to be black belt martial arts instructors. A
man broke into his house and walks into
the living room while they’re watching the
DVD. They get hold of him and gave him
a beat in, leaving the guy black and blue
before they chucked him out of the house.
Hours later they get a knock on the door by
the police. This man had gone to the police
and said my uncle and his mates had kidnapped him and beat him to a pulp. They
were then arrested and released on bail.
Jesus was well within his rights to drive
those money changers and merchants from
the Temple and he did so with restraining
power. He knew what he was doing so much
32
so that He knew He was fulfilling Old Testament Prophecy. And that is the focus of
this study-Jesus fulfilled Old Testament
prophecy when driving out the merchants
and cleansed the Temple.
The event is recorded in all four gospels,
which highlights that the event was very
significant in understanding Jesus mission
as Messiah. Tonight we will mainly look at
Mark’s account as both Matthew and Luke’s
account are similar but less detailed than
Mark. We will also look at John’s account in
detail as it differs from the synoptic tradition.
Synoptic Account
Mark 11:15-18
15
And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus
went into the temple, and began to cast out
them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16
And would not suffer that any man
should carry any vessel through the temple.
17
And he taught, saying unto them, Is it
not written, My house shall be called of all
nations the house of prayer? but ye have
made it a den of thieves.
18
And the scribes and chief priests heard
it, and sought how they might destroy him:
for they feared him, because all the people
was astonished at his doctrine.
Jesus uses two Old Testament texts in
this passage. He quotes from Isaiah 56 and
alludes to a passage in Jeremiah 7. If we
are going to understand what is happening in this event and the significance of it
then we need to know the context of the
passages Jesus used. (Whenever we see a
quotation of the Old Testament in the New
Testament go back to the cited passage and
look at the context)
Isaiah 56:1-7
Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment,
and do justice: for my salvation is near to
come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
2
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and
the son of man that layeth hold on it; that
keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and
keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3
Neither let the son of the stranger, that
hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me
from his people: neither let the eunuch say,
Behold, I am a dry tree.
4
For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs
that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things
that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5
Even unto them will I give in mine
house and within my walls a place and a
name better than of sons and of daughters:
I will give them an everlasting name, that
shall not be cut off.
6
Also the sons of the stranger, that join
themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to
love the name of the Lord, to be his servants,
every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar;
for mine house shall be called an house of
prayer for all people
Craig Blomberg observes that Isaiah 56
deals with both the restoration of Israel
and the salvation of all peoples. Foreigners
and eunuchs previously excluded from the
assembly of Israel will now be treated as
equal citizens in the community of God’s
faithful. The vision of this prophecy is that
all nations will come to the Temple to worship and pray in the Messianic age.
What does Isaiah 56 have to do with
Jesus driving moneychangers and traders
out of the Temple? Well the place where
they were conducting their business was in
the Gentile court of the Temple. Rabbinic
sources inform us that Caiaphas the High
Priest had recent to this event moved the
trade of sacrificial animals from the Kidron
Valley to the very court of the Temple designed for God-fearing Gentiles to worship
and pray to God. The trade that was taking
place made it difficult for pure worship to
take place. This thickens the plot as Jesus
was directly protesting against a decision
the High Priest had made. This act would
have been seen as a challenge to the authority of Caiaphas. Later Caiaphas would preside over the Sanhedrin that judged Jesus.
Jesus also alludes to Jeremiah 7:11. The
context of Jeremiah 7 along with Isaiah 56
gives us further insight into Jesus’ actions.
Jeremiah 7:1-11
The word that came to Jeremiah from the
Lord, saying:
2
Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house,
and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear
the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that
enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
3
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel, Amend your ways and your doings,
and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The
temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord,
The temple of the Lord, are these.
5
For if ye throughly amend your ways
and your doings; if ye throughly execute
judgment between a man and his neighbor;
6
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent
blood in this place, neither walk after other
gods to your hurt:
7
Then will I cause you to dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave to your fathers,
for ever and ever.
8
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that
cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense
unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom
ye know not;
10
And come and stand before me in this
house, which is called by my name, and
say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
11
Is this house, which is called by my
name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.
Blomberg in his commentary again observes that Jeremiah 7 begins with the
prophet lambasting Israel for trusting in
temple worship for their safety while committing all manner of injustice, immorality
and idolatry. People were committing
crimes in Israel and used the temple as a
secure hideout or a place of asylum. It had
become a den of robbers or more literally
to ‘a cave of violent people.’‘Robbers,’
in this culture,weren’t just your common
thief. The term is used of someone involved in mercenary activities. The two
thieves that were crucified with were Jewish mercenaries. ‘Den of Robbers’ implies
a Nationalist stronghold which is typically
‘anti-Gentile.’ The actions of the moneychangers and traders were seen as oppressing the foreigner in the same way
Jeremiah 7:6 describes. So in both Isaiah
56 and Jeremiah 7 we have the judgement
and restoration of Israel, the salvation and
inclusion of gentile sand the judgement and
cleansing of the temple. All these themes
have a part to play Jesus overturning the
tables and driving out the moneychangers
and traders as an act of judgement.
The text says that Jesus casts them out.
It’s the same term used when Jesus casts out
demons. An action Jesus is able to perform
with authority. Further down Mark 11:2733 Jesus enters the temple again and is
confronted by the chief priests and scribes
who ask Jesus where He gets His authority
from? Jesus answers them by asking them
a question. Where did John the Baptist get
his authority from heaven or men? They
wouldn’t answer him in fear of the people
so Jesus never answered their question. But
we know that Jesus came with the authority
of heaven. He came with the authority of
God. And with this authority the time had
come for judgement to come upon the temple and the religious leadership of Israel.
You must understand that the prevailing view of the Messiah during the Second
Temple Period was that Messiah would
come and kick out the occupying forces,
which at the time was Rome. But instead he
was kicking out Jewish traders of the Temple placed there by the High Priest of Israel.
9
John’s Account
John’s account also adds some more in-
sight to Jesus’ actions in the temple.
John 2:13-17
13
And the Jews’ passover was at hand,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14
And found in the temple those that sold
oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15
And when he had made a scourge of
small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and
poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16
And said unto them that sold doves,
Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17
And his disciples remembered that it
was written, The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up.
John’s account is slightly different to the
synoptic gospels. The event is placed at
the beginning of the gospel account rather
than in the passion narrative. Jesus’ words
are different. And John includes a scripture
that relates to the event that came to the disciples mind after the event occurred.
John quotes from Psalm 69:9. And in
similar fashion to the quotations we read in
the synoptic gospels, the context of Psalm
69 brings light to the actions of Jesus in the
temple.
Psalm 69:1-9
Save me, O God; for the waters are come
in unto my soul.
2
I sink in deep mire, where there is no
standing: I am come into deep waters, where
the floods overflow me.
3
I am weary of my crying: my throat is
dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4
They that hate me without a cause are
more than the hairs of mine head: they that
would destroy me, being mine enemies
wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that
which I took not away.
5
O God, thou knowest my foolishness;
and my sins are not hid from thee.
6
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord
God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let
not those that seek thee be confounded for
my sake, O God of Israel.
7
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
8
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
9
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten
me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
Andreas Kostenberger notes that Psalm
69 like Psalm 22 share Davidic typology
with the theme of the righteous sufferer.
Both Psalms were written by David and tell
of his sufferings from opposition because
of his election as being the anointed King
of Israel. John appropriates David typology
found in the Psalm upon the mission ofJe-
sus. Firstly, David’s anointing made alienated him from his kin. There were Israelites
that were against David as King. In verse 8
David writes he was an alien unto his mother’s children. In other words they treated as
a Gentile.
But nevertheless, even though they rejected him, he was for them. Secondly, in
verse 9 David writes that his zeal for the
house, by extension the household of God
(i.e. Israel) had consumed him. And the reproach of the sins of Israel fell upon David. And through this reproach David and
the righteous were saved from the wrath of
God and judgement came upon those who
rejected him.
Psalm 69:29-36
29
But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy
salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30
I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31
This also shall please the Lord better than
an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32
The humble shall see this, and be glad:
and your heart shall live that seek God.
33
For the Lordheareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
34
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the
seas, and every thing that moveth therein.
35
For God will save Zion, and will build
the cities of Judah: that they may dwell
there, and have it in possession.
36
The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall
dwell therein.
Psalm 69 fits into the theme of the other
two Old Testament passages that we have
looked at. There is the judgement and restoration of Israel. Also there is the inclusion
and salvation of all people. Note in verse
36 that the stipulation for entering the temple was that they love His name. There is
judgement upon the land but then a hope of
a restored Judah and Zion. But what Psalm
69 brings to the table is that judgement happens because of the rejection of the anointed King- The Messiah.
It is because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus
as Messiah that the Temple was destroyed
in 70 AD. Jesus’ action in the temple was
prophetic towards this event.
The synoptic gospels place this event
during the Passion Week where the Destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem is
in view. During this time Jesus cursed the
fig tree, representing Israel for not bearing
fruit. There are the Woes upon the Pharisee’s and the lament over Jerusalem, where
Jesus says ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who
kills the prophets and stone those who are
sent to her.’ Jesus continues to say ‘Behold
your house is being left to you desolate’.
Further along when the disciples ask about
the stones in the temple Jesus says that not
33
one stone will be left upon another. Jesus announces judgement but also salvation. God
doesn’t just judge Israel in annihilation but
judges in order to so there is salvation because GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH ISRAEL! Jesus is returning to judge and save.
Jesus says after prophesying the destruction of the temple that he will return. When
will he return?
Firstly, in Matthew 23:39 Jesus says they
(meaning Israel) will not see him until they
say ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name
of the Lord’. Israel must turn to Jesus as
Messiah.
Secondly in Matthew 24:14 the gospel
must be preached to all nations.
Thirdly, Jesus notes two end time events
for believers to be aware of that concern the
temple and Jerusalem. The first is what is
called the Abomination of desolation when
the Anti-Christ will sit in the holy of holies
sitting on the Ark of the Covenant and declare himself as God. The second is when
Jerusalem is surrounded by the armies of
the nations of the world.
It is at this moment Jesus gathers and
saves his people before bringing in the
Messianic age mentioned in the three Old
Testament passages we have read tonight.
So when Jesus drove those moneychangers and traders out of the temple he was
acting prophetically concerning the judgement and salvation of God’s house and by
extension the household of God- both Jew
and Gentile
When Jesus quoted from Isaiah and Jeremiah he wasn’t using some random text
to justify his actions. Sometimes you get
Christians who do something and they take
a text out of context to justify what they
had done. Jesus isn’t doing that at all. He is
taking what was prophesied concerning his
role as Messiah to come and judge and save.
We can take encouragement tonight in
what Jesus has done for us on the cross, that
the zeal for his house made him bare the
reproach of our sins. We can take encouragement at what is happening now that the
offer of salvation towards Gentiles is for
today and that those of the temple are now
broken that we can come into the presence
of Almighty God. And we can be encouraged to be alert, to look at the sign of his
coming, especially surrounding the coming
temple in the last days and look up for our
redemption is nigh.
Anthony Royle
Your Letters and
Comments
. . . . . continued from page 20
my uneducated brain to follow at times. I
would be very blessed and grateful if, when
you get some moments, you could watch
and comment on a YouTube video I put up
some time ago (my movie making skills are
gradually improving since then). It is on
the teaching of a pre-trib rapture and why
it is wrong from scripture. (www.youtube.
com/watch?v=41G95u61OJo)
Thanks so much and God bless you all.
In Messiah.
Bob
• Hi Jacob,
I just got this e-mail and you were in the
city friday and saturday....I haven’t seen
you in years..and would like to catch up.
How’s the wife,Eli and your daughter?? I
hope you are well as well as your family.
Please let us know ahead of time so at least
I can schedule my workweek to someday
catch up to you.
Blessings,
Jean NY
“He [Christ] is before all things,
and in Him all things
hold together. Colossians - 1:17”
Prayer of the QUARTER !
Facebook Page replies:
• [Hebrew characters] After the tribulation
we’ll see the signs in the sun, moon and
stars before the gathering together! then
the “wrath” is poured out! We’ll go through
tribulation but NOT the wrath! The western
“church” isn’t ready for tribulation, try”
“selling” “the pre-Trib theory to those Christians who are being martyred day and daily
in India, China, Indonesia, Sudan etc etc.
August 10 at 11:59pm · Likes 6
• Dede: Good review, thanks, Jacob!
August 11 at 12:01am via mobile · Likes 1
• Lynn: One of the very best reviews that I
have ever read. Thank you Jacob for your
unrelenting research & presentation of facts.
Bless you. August 11 at 12:43am · Likes 1
• Ian: The problem is that with respect Mr.
Prasch does not really understand Dispensationalism. Which is a pity since unlike
Calvinism it’s not a difficult position to understand. August 11 at 8:50am · Likes
• Tim: Thank you Jacob for the clear teaching on the timing of the rapture and for your
stand for truth in these days. August 11 at
5:16pm · Likes 2
• JoAnn: Thank you Jacob for your tireless
efforts to point out error. The apostle Paul
named names of false teachers. We should
not be afraid of man, and be Berean’s by
34
searching the scriptures for ourselves to see
if it is true or not. August 11 at 9:36pm ·
Likes 1
We had 10 Unsubscribes from this alert,
a normal amount. Usually people don’t
write why but two did.
• A contact named Adam who unsubscribed from Be Alert wrote:
“My theology has shifted in the last year
to a covenental and a-millenial view of eschatology, such as Kim Riddlebarger’s.”
• Another unsubscriber, Paul from the
UK wrote:
“Whilst a lot of what Jacob says I thoroughly agree with, I am not and cannot see
myself ever being convicted of his views
on Israel “
In Jesus,
Scott
Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual
Growth
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NASB)
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every
family in heaven and on earth
derives its name, that He would
grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, to be strengthened
with power through His Spirit in
the inner man, so that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith;
and that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to
comprehend with all the [b]saints
what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses
knowledge, that you may be filled
up to all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far
more abundantly beyond all that
we ask or think, according to the
power that works within
us, to Him be the glory in
the church and in Christ
Jesus to all generations
forever and ever. Amen.
Rambling Rose
Margret Godwin
ambling
Dear Readers, I feel a little like that
coyote in the cartoon with the roadrunner
– sometimes getting to what I envisage as
being closer and having him out smarted
when “BEEP BEEP!” he flies by in a cloud
of smoke. Why do I feel like that you may
ask – well I equate it with time and how I
think I am getting on top of things when
“Beep Beep! I get bowled over again. Surely many of you must be feeling the same
way or is it just me. As I write this I just
glanced at my diary and it is less than seven
weeks till Christmas! “BEEP BEEP!”
It is getting to that crazy time again when
the diary is constantly being checked. Is it
I or is just my advancing years?
The one constant I know is Our Lord Jesus Christ – always was, is now and will
forever be! Praise Him.
Subscription Returns;
Thank you for all those that have taken
the time to send in the 2014 Subscription
Forms and updating their contact details.
Thank you too for some of the sweet or
cheeky little notes attached.
Come on Aussies our Kiwi brothers and
sisters are outdoing you in the “Returns Race”
In the December (2013) magazine there
will be the last reminder form for the forthcoming (2014) issues. Please ignore the reminder if have in fact returned yours.
Postage Stamps:
Thank you to all those who have sent in
their used stamps – keep them coming.
My latest Catastrophe:
Recently someone wrote to me and said,
“You must be having a better year as there
haven’t been too many catastrophes. No
sooner said than done! I may have well
outdone myself in the past week.
Locally I have a bit of a reputation for
making sausage rolls and Pavlovas and as
such was approached to make a Pav for a
special evening. I usually make them in the
evening but for some unknown reason I left
it till the morning of the said event. Knowing there would be a good number attending I decided to make a 20 egg one. So off I
set, separating the yolks almost without any
disasters. Got out my late mother-in-laws
big Sunbeam Mixer and started beating the
egg whites–they were peaking beautifully–
wow! this was going to be a master piece,
then in went the cornflower, vinegar & vanilla and right before my eyes the entire
mixture began to go mushy! Where were
ose
my beautiful white peaks? What to do? So I
decided to line the huge tray from my oven
(900 x 600) with foil and tenderly transferred my “slop” onto the tray and headed
for the oven. I don’t think it will require
much imagination for you to know what
happened next. I put it into the warm oven
and as I did the mixture began to run off the
tray, down my arms, onto the floor and worse
still the bottom of the oven. I screamed
out for some help from a friend who was
visiting and all she could do was stand
there all most in hysterics–some friend!
Now what to do–close the oven and “let
it fall where it may.” I had already rang
the local supermarket to see if they have a
large one in stock–yes they did. I begged
them not to sell it and I would arrange to
get someone to pick it up. However around
that time my conscience began to get the
better of me so I got the last dozen eggs out
of the fridge and started again. This effort
was perfect and I had to put in the oven, of
course that brought me to face up to my first
effort. It was worse than anything I could
have envisaged. I pulled it out and quickly
put in the latest effort.
As I confronted this disaster the only
thing I could liken it to be a very bad cricket
pitch with bumps and craters all over. I put
it on the bench and tried not to look at it.
Finally the good replacement was ready to
come out – it was beautiful but what was
laying in the bottom of the oven and all
over the trays was not.
My friend Celia got down on her hands
and knees with every type of cleaner I processed and set to cleaning up. In telling you
this story it probably does not translate in
the same humour had you been here – but try
this, here she is done on the floor breaking of
bits of Pav as she attempts to clean the oven
and says “don’t worry it sure tastes good!
Now just when you thought I was going to draw this to a close there was further
disaster to follow. I took the new one off
to the evening covered with beautiful raspberries, everyone ohhing and arrhing and
before too long it was time for the guest
of honour to cut said Pav, everyone lined
up for some as did the guest, lovely compliments followed but before too long the
guest disappeared after a little while he returned looking very gray – guess what the
poor man is “lactose intollerent” and after
eating it he was violently ill.. As I am standing there feeling terrible he kindly says it
looked so good and he didn’t want to hurt
December, 2013
my feelings.
I am sure there is a lesson for me to learn
from all this – maybe not to be a show-off,
not to be full of pride. So pride aside covered the disaster with cream and fruit and
the next day we polished it off, after one
slice I could not handle any more sugar but
have to say it didn’t taste too bad – like a
crunchy meringue. I farmed it out to friends
– they can be responsible for their own sugar readings.
Of course there is still part of the disaster
lingering – what do I do with 32 egg yolks?
Celia with a better effort.
As we come to the end of 2013!
Well my dears it is time to draw this nonsense to a close, I pray that you all have a
safe holiday break with the Joy of the Saviour as your centre piece.
Stay safe on the roads and as I remind
you at this time of the year please look
around for some one on their own or in a
nursing home to share your Christmas with.
Our office will close on Friday 20th December and will reopen on Wednesday 29th
January 2014. Feel free to send in your orders etc as the mail will be cleared from
time to time.
New Zealand Visit:
Pam and I will be over in January to sort
out the Moriel NZ office – so please keep us
in your prayers that we will always be mindful of what the Lord wants for Moriel NZ.
Blessings in Christ
Marg
35
The State of Moriel
STATE OF MORIEL 2014
Blessings in Jesus to all of our brethren with much gratitude in Christ for your
prayers and support as we approach the arrival of 2014 and close of the present year
(actually the Jews in Moriel observe two
New Years, the secular one and Rosh Hashanna and/or the 1st of Nissan).
Most people in Moriel observe the Nativity instead of Christmas (although we
leave this to the individual) and the Jews
among us celebrate Chanukka as Jesus/ Yeshua did in John chapter 10.
Be you Jew or Gentile we are one in our
Messiah who saved us and we wish you every
blessing for whatever you do or do not observe (Colossians 2:16-18, Romans 14:4-5).
Prophetic events in The Middle East in
Egypt, Syria, and Iran ticked away this year
with not only secular politicians but many
Christians oblivious to the prophetic significance of these issues. Sadly, the downward doctrinal and ethical spiral continues
in much of the so called Evangelical church
as we see the prophecy of AW Tozer from
55 years ago take place that Evangelicism
would become so corrupted that the true
people of God would have no choice but to
begin alternatives to the existing churches
and denominations. This is not to suggest
all are lost or that ministries like Moriel are
the only ones trying to keep things right in
the light of scripture, but it is to say God is
building a remnant last days church to prepare the way for His Son’s return and we are
trusting Jesus to keep faithful until that day.
We have seen major moves away from
the Word of God with everything from
professing regenerate believers endorsing
same sex marriage to interfaith worship of
other gods and even teaching things which
are theologically insane, such as it is possible to worship the antichrist and take the
mark of the beast and still become saved.
Sister Ruth Hunt went to join her beloved Lord and her beloved Dave Hunt and
Moriel lost our friend and colleague Max
Rosenquist and former Moriel music minister Kevin Doyle. Our friend and brother
Chuck Smith finally gave up the battle
against old age and cancer. The Lord has
taken him home to await his new body. We
thank God for Jesus and His resurrection
that such separations will be only temporary and that The Lord’s return draws closer.
Our New Zealand branch is operational
but requires a relaunch following the loss
36
of Nigel. The reorganization of our New
Zealand branch will be a prime objective
for 2014.
In preparing the way or His return much
is left to be done. We continue to expand
our impoverished children’s work in the
Philippines, building up our network of
affiliated churches there. In 2014 we are
planning a children’s dental mission to follow the children’s medical mission that we
did in 2013. Also the new Ebyown in South
Africa is largely constructed although still
under development.
Together with the producers we are
building on the evangelistic success the
Lord has given us via the film “The Daniel
Project” through which a very considerable
number of people in a variety of countries
have been saved. The film has been the
most fruitful evangelical venture we have
had since the Five Questions series were
initially introduced on our website. Also in
2014 the Moriel website should see its refurbishment completed.
Our largest growth however has been in
Asia, where Moriel is now doing pastors
seminars that are reaching from Singapore
into China. Due to persecution our work in
China and Vietnam must remain low key
but it is going forward by God’s grace, as
is our work in Israel. We do not comment
publicly often for similar reasons. Although
small by international standards, by the difficult standards of Japan our work there
has increased substantially. The meetings
we have had in Osaka were the largest on
record. Our missionaries there and in Thailand have done a great job as has our partner ministry ETW in Singapore.
Unfortunately, India still remains on the
back burner although the Moriel Australia
branch s involved in the financial sponsorship of Children’s work there. We hope to
have a clearer vision from The Lord on the
way forward in India by the end of 2014.
Moriel Canada branch has opened under
the administration of Steven Boot who also
has joined the Moriel board, and Sandy
Simpson is opening Moriel Pacific branch
fully in 2014.
The book on the rapture “HARPAZO”
should be published in 2014. We are desperately trying to get Moriel TV operational as an alternative to the heresy and
con artistry on popular Christian TV. We
urgently request prayer or God’s provision
for this venture. It will be the largest (and
most costly) project we have ever attempted, but God must be in it. This powerful
medium has for too long been corrupted by
apostate swindlers discrediting the Gospel
and deceiving the church.
We also ask prayer for our new affiliated
churches in New York and in Cork, Ireland.
We have seen very conspicuous growth
in our ministry and attendance figures in
Northern Ireland and both the English and
Scottish Moriel conferences had to turn people away for which we are sorry – but what
a wonderful problem to have. We cannot
measure blessing success in terms of numbers, but numbers by God’s goodness have
very visibly increased. More Christians are
wanting solid scriptural exposition that too
few are any longer getting in their churches.
All in all, although a year of challenges
and some disappointments, it has certainly
by God’s grace been a year of growth (the
devil only attacks targets worth attacking).
Please pray with us as we meet the opportunities God has for us in 2014 and please remember our children in the Third world, the
persecuted Christians we work with in certain countries, and our hopes of establishing Moriel TV on ROKU and on internet.
Lastly, we have not forgotten our home
base of Jewish evangelism. In 2013 Moriel
co-sponsored a Christian wrestling team
from the USA, led by Jamie Northrup from
Pastor Bill Randles’ church to the Israeli
“Maccabia” (Jewish world Olympics).
They were wearing their Zechariah 12 Tshirts as a high profile witness to Israel and
to Jewish sports fans watching everywhere.
Carrie, who beautifully designs and puts
together our Quarterly, we will be working
on the e-adverts which we have planned
for some time and also hope to run in select newspapers. You will be seeing these
in 2014 on our website. Pastor Menno Kalisher has been most helpful in his advice
base on his own experience in Israel in this
regard and it should also prove to be very
interesting as we seek to bring the Good
News of Yeshua back home again to His
own people.
Once again, we praise Jesus for His
goodness to us in 2013 as we look forward
to 2014, and we indeed praise Jesus for
your prayers and support. May The Lord
bless each and all of you.
(James Jacob Prasch - Director)

Future History of the Church Part 2 (~4.52 MB)

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