Tag Archives: Ezekiel

Islam: YHVH’s Judgment to Bring Jews & Christians Back to Him

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This is a hard message. Few will be able to receive it. But the watchman must give it anyway (Ezekiel 33:1–11).

The Ancestry of Modern Arabs

In Genesis 32, Esau and his army stood in the way preventing Jacob and his descendants from returning to their homeland — the land YHVH had promised to them. This historical event is prophetic of what will happen in the end times as the Jews and the rest of the Israelites endeavor to receive their promised inheritance and the kingdom of Elohim.

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Not only that, YHVH used Esau to test Jacob’s who had grown overly self-confident due to his business acumen and his ability to produce a large family clan. In the ancient world, he had reached the pinnacle of wealth and power. However, what mattered to YHVH more than these things was the character of a man. Would Jacob have faith in his Creator, or would he trust in his own abilities to outwit his adversaries and come out on top as he had done twice previously with his brother Esau and Laban, his uncle? Jacob’s confrontation with his brother at the threshold of the land of Israel and his wrestling with the Messenger from heaven were the two tests that he had to pass. The Bible calls this Jabob’s Trouble and prophesies that something similar will occur in the end times to Jacob’s descendants (Jer 30:7).

According to Genesis 32, Jacob divided his wives and children into two camps (Gen 32:1, 7). This was prophetic of what would eventually occur to the nation of Israel after the death of King Solomon. The one nation of Israel became two houses or kingdoms — the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Israel. The descendants of these two kingdoms are presently — loosely speaking — the Jews and the Christians. But who are the descendants of Esau historically and, more importantly, today. Why is it important to know?

Many, if not most of the modern Moslems (especially the Arabs) trace their lineage back if not biologically then spiritually to Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. Islam in its religious book, the Koran, claims that it was Abraham and Ishmael who founded the religion of Islam and built the Kaaba, which is the small building containing a stone that supposedly fell from heaven. This shrine is located in the midst of the great mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Of Ishmael and his descendents, the Bible prophesies in Genesis 16:11–12,

The Messenger of YHVH said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because YHVH has given heed to your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

The Koran has further twisted the biblical account to declare that the biblical patriarchs were Muslims and that Abraham gave the birthright blessing to Ishamael instead Isaac. Both Israelites and Arabs, therefore, believe that they have a right to the Promised Land of Canaan, and, hence, thus forming the basis for the modern Arab-Israeli conflict. Continue reading →

 

Four More Years of Obama—Prophesied in the Bible??

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Like most Americans, I was glued to the computer monitor (our family doesn’t have a television) watching live coverage of the presidential election returns until the election was called in favor of Barack Obama.

Okay, I’ll be honest. My flesh-man wanted Romney to win, since I felt that he’d be better for the economy and for my personal pocketbook. Conversely, my spirit man knew that this nation had done nothing to deserve a reprieve from the divine judgments that are coming against it for turning its back on YHVH. As a nation, we have largely rejected Elohim and biblical values. Remember the sound bite from the Democratic Convention where the crowd booed and rejected adding to its party platform “the idea of faith and belief in God” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncbOEoQbOg)? This nation has not repented of its apostasy. There has been no mass (or even minor) return to YHVH and to his Word as our guiding light and spiritual standard. No major leaders calling for true repentance. And so on. Only divine judgments will bring a nation to repentance. Show me any place in the Scriptures with the possible exception of Nineveh where revival came to a nation without judgments first occurring? To wit, just study the book of Judges! This being the case, I knew that we deserved four more years of a man that YHVH will use to spank America for its spitting in his face.

We must ask ourselves, what will bring America to its knees? Nine-eleven didn’t. Neither did Katrina, nor record droughts and floods, nor fires, nor, most recently, Superstorm Sandy. Only when the golden calf of our prosperity comes down in a major way (even worse than 2008) will proud America fall to its knees—at least as I see it. The economy is that one thing that affects us all. Terrorist events, storms, droughts and fires only affect some of us. It’s always the other guy. With the economy, it’s all of us equally (more or less). Obama is the man for the job! He’s all about destroying our economy: carbon sequestration and credits, increased taxation, socialized healthcare, destroying attempts to develop our vast energy reserves, deficit spending and so on. All these things, along with natural disasters and terrorist attacks and the like will help to lower the standard of living of this nation by destroying our economy and bringing an end to the easy life as we know it, which will cause us all great woe and cause—at least some of us—to cry out to our Creator for reason of our sufferings. A pessimistic outlook, you say? Yes, but this could actually be a good thing if it leads to spiritual revival, which is optimistic!

It is my opinion that Obama and his crew will be the ones to help bring YHVH’s judgments upon this nation. And, to be sure, we, as a nation, deserve a sound thrashing at the hands of the Holy One of Israel for soundly rejecting him and his rule over us!

When Obama was running for president against Hillary back in 2006 and 2007, it seemed certain that Hillary would win the Democratic Party’s nomination. After all, who was this Barack Obama, who had ever heard of him, and what were his credentials and what had he ever done to qualify to be the president? However, in 2007 at Sukkot Northwest in Gold Beach, Oregon before a crowd of about 100 people, I predicted that Obama would win, since it fit the biblical pattern for YHVH’s judgment against America. At that time, I was teaching on Edom, and showing how YHVH historically had used Edom and its friends to punish the Israelites to bring them back to him. In Jewish thought to this day, Edom is a metaphor for any nation that YHVH will use to punish the Israelite people for their apostasy. Well, Edom is another way of saying Islam. Need I say any more about the connections between Obama and Islam? (For more on this subject, read my article entitled, “Is America in End-Times Bible Prophecy” which I published in 2007 (http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/america.pdf).

And now for the clincher that pretty well convinced me that Obama would be re-elected this time around.

Remember the famous Gog and Magog prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39? Many of us believe that this is an end-times Bible prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled, and which will occur just prior to the second coming. (For those astute prophecy students, another completely different Gog-Magog event occurs at the end of the Millennium, see Rev 20:7–10.) Well guess what? (drum role) In Ezekiel 38:2, the name Obama is spelled in Hebrew letters forward every seven letters starting with the Hebrew word n’sey, which ends in the letter aleph, which I assume in this case is silent. (If I am wrong on this, someone please correct me.) This last letter (ie., aleph) is the first letter of Obama’s name spelled in Hebrew (every seven letters) like this: aleph, vav, bet, aleph, mem, heh.

Is this a Bible prophecy that Obama will be president during the Gog-Magog event, which is one of the precursor events to the return of Yeshua? You tell me!

 

Edom’s Hatred for Jacob: The Roots of the Islam’s Hatred for the People of the Book

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Edom Has a Perpetual Hatred for Jacob (Judah and Ephraim)

As we saw in the previous blog post, Esau’s other name was Edom and he hated and tried to kill his brother Jacob (Israel). The Jewish sages over the millennia have viewed Edom as the archenemy of Israel. The biblical prophets speak of a great showdown in the end times between the literal and spiritual descendants of Jacob (the Jews and the Christians)  and those of Esau (the Moslems).

Let’s explore a little further the nature of the hatred Edom has for the people of Israel.

As we have noted, Edom’s hatred for Israel has its roots in the antagonism between Ishmael and Issac, and then afterwards between Esau and Jacob. The hatred that Esau had for Israel has been passed on down to successive generations of Edomites. The biblical prophets discusses this murderous antagonism on Edom’s part as being carried down generation to generation to the very end times. Let’s review some of these biblical prophecies.

Ezekiel 36 speaks about the conflict between end-time Edom and end-time Israel. In verse two, we see that the enemies of Israel have regarded the “ancient high [or declared, promised] places” of Israel as “ours in possession.” This is a clear reference to the holy places in Israel (e.g., the Temple Mount for the Jews and Bethlehem for the Christians—only in recent years have the Palestinians taken Bethlehem and forced—out of persecution and intimidation—the majority of the large Christian population of that city to leave). “High places” can also refer to the militarily strategic high places such as the Golan Heights and the ridges surrounding the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Next, let’s look at Ezekiel 35, which is a prophecy against Edom. In verses four through five, we see that end-time Edom will be devastated because of its perpetual hatred for the Children of Israel. They have killed their enemies by the power of the sword. This is how Islam has traditionally spread—by the curved scimitar sword. Advancing Moslem armies force its captives to leave, covert or die. According to verse five, this is to be occurring at the time of the punishment (of the children of Israel?) at the time of the end (NAS) or the end of time (lit. Hebrew). This is another example of YHVH’s using Edom (Esau) to bring Ephraim and Judah to its knees in the time of the end.

In verses six through nine of the same chapter, we see that YHVH will punish Edom for its blood-thirstiness against Israel and will devastate its cities and slay large numbers of its people. Other biblical prophecies indicate that the militaries of Judah and Ephraim will be the means by which YHVH accomplishes this.

Finally, in verse 10, Edom (Islam) wants to take over or possess the two countries/nations/lands (Heb. eretz) of Israel: Judah and Ephraim even though YHVH was there (in the lands of his people). Their anger and hatred against Israel is based on envy or jealousy (verse 11) of Israel.

The Koran, the unholy book of Islam, has taken the historic and prophesied hatred of Edom and formed a religion around it. The Koran was written by Mohammed, a Jew and Christian hater, more than one thousand years after the prophecies of Ezekiel and Obadiah. Here are some quotes from the Koran that confirm the prophecies of the Bible with regard to Edom.

Make war upon those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in God [Allah] … and who forbid not that which God and His Apostle [Mohammed] have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.  The Jews say, “Ezra in a son of God”; and the Christians say, “The Messiah is a son of God.” Such sayings in their mouths. They resemble the sayings of the infidels of old! God do battle with them! How they are misguided! (Sura 9:29–30)

When thy Lord spake unto the angels, “I will be with you: therefore stablish ye the faithful I will cast a dread into the heart of the infidels.” Strike off their heads then, and strike off from them every finger-tip. (Sura 8:12)

“O people of the Book! … Can I announce to you any retribution worse than that which awaiteth them with God? They whom God hath cursed and with whom He hath been angry—some of them hath he changed into apes and swine; and they who worship Thagout are in evil plight, and have gone far astray from the right path. (Sura 5:64–65)

Only recompense of those who war against God and His Apostle, and go about to commit disorders on the earth, shall be that they shall be  slain and crucified, or have their alternate hands and feet cut off, or be banished from the land …(Sura 5:37)

 

The Feast Days in the Messianic Age/Millennium

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The following is a list of the scriptures that prophesy that YHVH’s people would observe the weekly Sabbath and biblical feasts during the church age and into the Millennium or Messianic Age.

  • Ezek 45:17 — The Sabbaths (plural, includes the weekly and annual Sabbaths; i.e., Holy Day festivals) and solemnities (moedim) or appointed times (see also v. 9).
  • Ezek 45:21 — Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
  • Ezek 45:25 — The Feast of Tabernacles
  • Ezek 46:1 — The weekly Sabbath
  • Ezek 46:9 and 11 — solemn or appointed times (moedim) and feasts (Heb. chag meaning “pilgrimage feast, festival, celebration, holy day, time of dancing, cyclical/yearly seasonal event; i.e., the feast days”)
  • Zech 14:16,18,19 — The Feast of Tabernacles

As you read these passages, you will see that it was not only Israel, but the nations of the world (i.e., the Gentiles) who would be celebrating YHVH’s appointed times.

It is curious to me how church leaders have told us for nearly 1900 years that the “Jewish” feasts were for the Jews only and not for the Christians. So let me get this straight: YHVH expected his people—ancient Israel—to celebrate the feasts, Yeshua celebrated them as did the early church and the apostles, yet when the Gentile church came along, they no longer had to do them, but then when Yeshua returns, YHVH will expect his people along with all the nations of the world to celebrate them, and if they don’t he will punish them for their disobedience? Something doesn’t add up here, and it’s not the Word of Elohim that’s off!

At this point, I’m reminded of the words of Yeshua in Mark 7:13, where when speaking to the religious hypercritical leaders of his day, he accused them of making of no effect the word of Elohim by their religious traditions.

 

The Reunification of Israel & the Return of the Messiah.

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Ezekiel 37:14–28, The vision of the two sticks (trees). The second vision Ezekiel records in chapter 37 involves YHVH commanding him to take two sticks (or trees) and writing upon one stick “for Judah and for the children of Israel and his companions [i.e., those who have knit themselves together with or joined to the tribe of Judah],” and upon the other stick, write “for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel and his companions.” Ezekiel was to then join the two sticks together so that they would become one stick (or tree) in his hand (verses 15–17).

One Stick in His Hand

Image courtesy of messianicisrael.com

How were these two nations, which separated from each other some three thousand years ago, to be rejoined into one nation? That has been the subject of much debate between both Jewish and Christian commentators for years. Some modern historical revisionists view this prophecy as having been fulfilled when the Jews returned to the land of Israel in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah after their Babylonian captivity ended. But this interpretation leaves some unanswered questions. The book of Ezra, which chronicles the return of a remnant of Jews from Babylon to the land of Israel, lists the numbers and tribes of those who returned. All the tribes listed were originally from Jerusalem and Judah and were from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 2:1; 4:1; 10:9), and there is no mention made that any of the ten northern Israelite tribes joined the Jews in resettling the land of Israel. So far as the returning Jews were concerned, it is likely that they considered their northern brothers lost and assimilated among their Assyrian captors and that only they were left of all the twelve tribes to resettle the Promised Land. If this were so, this may explain why they considered themselves to be “all Israel” (Ezra 2:70; 6:17), since they considered themselves to be the representative remnant of all the twelve tribes, even though their numbers did not consist of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Furthermore, how do those who teach that the prophecy of the two sticks has already been fulfilled explain how anytime in Israel’s past history the two sticks became one nation, and how the once scattered twelve tribes of Israel were regathered from the nations of the world, and how all were resettled in their own land (Ezek 37:21)? Whenever in the past did all the twelve tribes of Israel completely disassociate themselves from the pollution and defilement of paganism and start serving Elohim in perfect righteousness (Ezek 37:23)? Moreover, has David ever been resurrected from the grave to rule over the regathered and reunited Israel as this prophecy declares will happen (Ezek 37:24–25)? After all, the Scriptures tells us that David is dead and buried to this day (Acts 2:29), and awaits the resurrection of the saints at the second coming of Yeshua.  Continue reading →