The new moon as sighted from my backyard on the evening of September 8, 2021
The moon does not lie! Men’s calendars do, however, when it comes to the times and seasons of Elohim. They obscure divinely revealed Truth as they come and go from the scene.
Over the millennia, calendars get changed and reconfigured based the whims of human vicissitudes, but the heavenly bodies, which are in reality a giant timepiece that YHVH Elohim created, never change. They are as reliable now as they were in the time of the Yeshua and before and going all the way back to the beginning of time for determining the set-apart, kadosh (holy) times and seasons of YHVH.
For these reason, I get excited when I see the new moon of the seventh month on YHVH’s biblical calendar. It tells me that I’m meeting the Almighty on the exact day that he set in stone long ago to celebrate Yom Teruah, the Day of Shofar Blowing or Shouting.
But what’s the big to do all about? Why all the shouting and shofar horn blowing?
It will be on this day in the not too distant future that Yeshua the Messiah will be returning in power and glory, and when he will gather his righteous saints—both the living and the dead— together to meet him in the air. NOW THAT IS SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT!
To learn more about Yom Teruah and how to celebrate it, go to
Today, Shabbat, I have been busy studying and writing in preparation for Yom Teruah—the Day of Shouting or Shofar Blasts. In several days (Thursday, Sept. 9 on the biblical crescent new moon, abib barley calendar), my family and I will be celebrating this first of four fall biblical feasts, which our rabbinic Jewish brothers incorrectly refer to as Rosh Hashanah—an unbiblical name. Although Scripture gives us but scant information about this high holy day, its significance relative to the disciple of Yeshua’s cannot be overestimated.
In light of the current global chaos occurring on so many fronts and the tidal wave of evil that is systematically sweeping across the earth, Yom Teruah affords the faithful saint a great opportunity to celebrate in advance a glorious upcoming event. This is because Yom Teruah not only points prophetically to the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah but to the resurrection and glorification of his righteous saints as well. (See my in-depth study article on the subject at https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/yom_teruah.pdf)
In preparation for celebrating this biblical holiday, I have put together a study on Matthew 24, the famous Olivet Discourse, where Yeshua talks about end time events as they will occur in more or less chronological order. This is an excellent place to attempt to figure to where we are at in the progression of events that signify the end of the age or end times just before the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah.
What follows is my best analysis of the subject based on decades of Bible study. However, I reserve the right to be wrong on anything that I write below. Regardless of biblical understanding, we are still looking through a glass darkly, and we will not fully understand end time events until they are occurring or have already occurred. This is a biblical provable fact regardless of what the profit motive driven Christian prophecy pundits and prognosticators will tell you.
So here is my best analysis on the first part of Matthew 24.
Matthew 24
Matthew 24:1–51, The Olivet Prophecy and the Book of Revelation. See notes in Revelation entitled “Revelation and the Olivet Prophecy (i.e. Matt 24 and 25) Compared.”
Matthew 24:1,The buildings of the temple.The geographical context of Yeshua’s Olivet Discourse contained in Matthew chapters 24 and 25 is the Temple Mount containing Herod’s Temple (vv. 1–2), and from the vantage point of the Mount of Olives overlooking the same (v. 3ff).
Matthew 24:3,Do you see? Yeshua’s predicts the destruction of the temple—a prophecy that was clearly fulfilled in A.D. 70.
Matthew 24:3,Tell us. Yeshua’s statement as to the destruction of the temple elicits further questions from his disciples. Yeshua’s following discourse is in response to three questions that his disciples asked him, while on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount. These three questions were:
When shall these thing be?
What shall be the sign of your coming…
And the [sign of] end of the age?
The first question is in response to Yeshua’s statement that the temple would be destroyed. The temple was destroyed approximately forty years later in A.D. 70.
The second questions is more open-ended as to the timing of its fulfillment. The disciples knew that Yeshua would eventually return as the Conquering King, Son of David Messiah, even as so many Old Testaments prophets had predicted and of which the disciples were well aware. The disciples had no way of knowing whether Yeshua’s second coming was imminent or far away timewise.
The third question refers to the end of this present age age when Messiah will establish is kingdom on earth—a subject that many Old Testament prophets had written about. We now refer to this Messianic Age as the Millennium based on John’s book of Revelation. There we learn that at the end of this present age, Yeshua will return from heaven to destroy the world-ruling kingdom of Satan (called Mystery Babylon the Great) along with all of his demonic and human minions, and will then establish his kingdom on this earth for one thousand years.
So as we can see, the three questions that Yeshua’s disciples asked and that he subsequently answered cover a long time span including from the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 until the end of the age some two thousand years later.
Therefore, the Olivet Prophecy must be viewed as being fulfilled over a long, protracted time-frame. This view, however, has not been that of many classical Christian scholars, who, rather, have viewed Yeshua’s prophecy as having been fulfilled in A.D. 70 and subsequently thereafter with the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as Yeshua’s supposed kingdom on the earth. It is total folly to view the largely apostate, paganized Roman Catholic Church with all of its offshoot denominations as representing Yeshua’s millennial kingdom on earth for several reasons.
First, the Roman Catholic Church and its spiritual daughters have, to one degree or another, failed to walk in Yeshua’s Torah-truths that he came to bring to its fullest expression (Matt 5:17) and not to destroy (Matt 5:18), and which he commanded his disciples to obey (Matt 5:20; John 14:15, 21) and teach (Matt 28:20). Rather, the Catholic Church and her spiritual daughters have spurned much of his Torah.
Second, all of these churches, in spite of the good works they may done on this earth in the name of Jesus, have not fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that speak of the universal rule of King Messiah on this earth in specific detail. It certainly cannot be said that the Roman Catholic Church has fulfilled these millennial prophecies.
Third, the book of Revelation speaks of many events that have yet to transpire and that must happen before the Millennium. Most notable of these is Yeshua’s return on a white horse with his saints and the overthrow of all of men’s governments, and the defeat and banishment of Satan and his minions into the abyss for one thousand years.
Matthew 24:4,Deceive [Gr. planao] you/lead you astray. Planao means “to lead astray via fraudulence and seduction.” The fact that Yeshua mentions this warning first emphasizes the importance he places on this point. The fact that Satan comes as an angel of light seeking to devour spiritually whomever he can is the first and foremost tactic of the enemy of which the saints must be aware. The moment Elohim reveals his Truth to humans, whether it was in the Garden of Eden to the first humans, or in the form of his Son as the Word of Elohim incarnate, the enemy has been there to counterfeit it and to lead and to lure humans astray. His tactics have not changed from then until now and on to the end of the age.
Matthew 24:5, I am the Messiah. In Gospels of Mark and Luke, this phrase simply reads, “I am” (Mark 13:6; Luke 21:6). This can possibly be viewed as a Hebraic allusion to the I AM of Exodus 3:14, to which Yeshua likened himself in John 8:58. Matthew’s account adds the title the Messiah to I am. The word Messiah is from the Hebrew word mashiach meaning “an anointed or consecrated one.” Here Yeshua is plainly telling us that after him, many deceivers will come claiming to be the one that heaven has anointed or consecrated as its divine messenger to humans. The world is full of pseudo-messiahs and those claiming to be Elohim’s messenger and billions of people have been deceived to follow many false religions. Mohammed, the founder of Islam is a leading example of false prophet or anointed one. There have been plenty of such individuals in the Christian church as well.
Our current annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2021-2022 that begins on 9/26/21 is now available to download and can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links”. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
** A different Haftarah and/or Maftir is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Shuva on the traditional calendar. Otherwise, Isaiah 55:6 – 56:8 would be read.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 9/5 through 9/11/2021.
Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The link to the previous 2019-2020’s Scripture Reading Schedule will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links” into next year. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian English Bibles when they differ from Hebrew Bibles or the Tanakh.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 8/29 through 9/4/2021.
Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The link to the previous 2019-2020’s Scripture Reading Schedule will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links” into next year. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
* Verse numbers in parenthesis refer to the verse number in Christian English Bibles when they differ from Hebrew Bibles or the Tanakh.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 8/22 through 8/28/2021.
Our annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2020-2021 with daily readings that began on 10/11/20 is available to download and print. The link to the previous 2019-2020’s Scripture Reading Schedule will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links” into next year. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 8/15 through 8/21/2021.
The story below is very alarming and only the beginning of what is to come.
I live 20 minutes from this park. In the past, I have preached the gospel there.
What is the sickest part of it all is that the police did not show up to protect the Christians from the lawless Satanists. In the past when we street preached in Portland, the police were there to help keep the peace. The leftist thugs have now replaced the police. These Antifa goons have become the SA Brownshirts warlords in control of the Portland streets, and no one, not even the police, are able to stand up to them or stop them. This is because the politicians have defanged the police and rendered them impotent.
The church is largely impotent to do anything as well. I used to preach to skinhead gangs and the like in downtown Portland. The anointing of Elohim was all over us when we did it. When the gangs and Satanist came against me, I’d lift up the name of Yeshua and they’d back off. They couldn’t touch me. We saw miracle after miracle. Now all the Christians do is stand around with their fingers in their mouth and say “peace in the name of Jesus” as the thugs mace them and toss their sound equipment in the river.
Moreover, where are the preachers to preach sin and repentance at that moment to these Satanist? Signs and wonders follow the preaching of the gospel, not thumb sucking and Kumbaya singing Christians. That’s what we used to do and YHVH was there to protect us. Now all these impotent Christians can do is stand there with their fingers in their mouths and sing Kumbaya. Sick and sad how the church as devolved.
YHVH bless any Christians that may not have been in the videos who stood up and preached the gospel as Yeshua commissioned us to do.
And what’s with the sissy pastor standing in his slick suit off to the side looking all dapper, but saying and doing nothing? As I’ve said many times, as long as the pastors are behind their acrylic pulpits in the safety of their churches standing behind their security detail, they’re powerful “men of God.” But get them out into the streets, and they wilt like the real pansies that most of them are. I stood behind a pulpit for 18 years, and I also spent years on the streets preaching the gospel, so I know what I’m talking about. — Natan
Antifa members assaulting a prayer and worship event in downtown Portland, Oregon. | YouTube/Mary Todd
Dozens of black-clad Antifa militants carrying shields and melee weapons on Saturday assaulted Christians, including children, who were attending a prayer and worship event in downtown Portland, Oregon, featuring Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski.
Portland police looked on as Antifa bear-sprayed Christians and their children, lobbed “flash bombs” into the crowd, and reportedly threw the sound equipment being used for the prayer event into the Willamette River, PJ Media reported.
In black bloc and riot gear, armed Antifa could be seen in a video physically confronting the Christian attendees. One of the members sprayed a congregant with what appeared to be pepper spray. The attendees stepped back to evade the assault, The Post Millennial reported.
“Where is your God now?” one of the Antifa members can be heard shouting in the video.
A woman attending the prayer event described the group as “ruthless.”
“Antifa just rolled in like an angry mob, started throwing flash bombs at everybody, macing everybody … rotten eggs,” CBN News quoted her as saying. “They threw a flash bomb into a group of kids that were out there from 4 months old to like 10.”
Pawlowski, who serves as pastor of Street Church and Cave of Adullam Church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and has been seen in viral videos documenting his encounters with law enforcement over COVID-19 restrictions, was also sprayed in the face with mace.
An attendee who helped the pastor was quoted as saying, “Walked up to ask them to stop throwing things at the children. There’s kids down there. I mean, they’re toddlers and they sprayed me too.”
“Welcome to Portland. You won’t like it here, pastor,” tweeted an Antifa member, who identifies herself as Melissa Lewis on Twitter.
In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, Pawlowski spoke about his interactions with authorities over the past year and doubled down on his characterization of local law enforcement as Nazis and communists.
Pawlowski has compared the measures taken by law enforcement officials to enforce novel coronavirus restrictions on churches to the actions taken by authorities in his native Poland when it was under communist rule.
In March 2020, he was informed that Street Church would have to “shut down and stop taking care of the poor.” Pawlowski refused to obey that order, concluding that by issuing “orders to stop feeding them [and] giving them necessities of life, they were sentencing them to death. [And] some of them did die.”
“All of those people wandering the streets, if I don’t feed them or someone like me does not feed them … they’re going to attack your house or break into your car,” he added. “You got to provide people with food if they cannot get it on their own for whatever reason. … Addictions or mental illness or whatever it is, those people will eat this way or that way. I prefer to feed them instead of letting them go and hurt other people to get what they need.”
The Saturday prayer and worship event in Portland was announced a month ago, which gave Antifa enough time to plan the attack.
Antifa has also attacked several churches in Portland.
