The Easter Service Called Tenebrae

By Dave Hunt
The Berean Call

Question: Our church has recently introduced an Easter service called Tenebrae. It began as a solemn service that included worship songs and scripture that led into a contemplation of the sufferings of Christ during his crucifixion. This year they are having "stations that show the 'Way of the Cross'" (quoted from service outline). A table as you walk in represents the Passover Supper; at the doors, the essence of wintergreen will be offered to mask the smell of death; the four stations:

• Humility - foot washing (reenactment of disciples feet being washed by Jesus);
• Fellowship with the Father - prayer station;
• Apathy - Pilate washing his hands/allow people to do the same;
• Suffering - table with crown of thorns and bloody shroud, bowl of nails for everyone to pickup.

There will also be a recreated tomb [with] soldiers rolling a stone over [the entrance]. There will be 30-40 minutes given for everyone to go through the stations and then the service begins. As an ex-Catholic, I would really like your input on this. We are told to remember the Lord in communion; is there any value in this kind of service? This is confusing!

Response: What your church is doing, while sincere, is rife with potential problems, in our opinion. Although your fellowship is putting together all kinds of things that it hopes will increase a person's interest (some may even believe that these will increase one's spirituality and knowledge) in the Lord and in what He has done for them, the program may have the opposite effect. Here are a few things to consider.

The New Testament gives no such examples of remembrance productions or ceremonies for the edification of believers. Although baptism and communion have become "efficacious" rituals and ceremonies in much of the church today, that's not what we find in the Scriptures. Baptism and communion are simply personal ordinances to be followed. Baptism is a public declaration of one's commitment to Christ; communion is an act of remembering Christ's sacrifice for humanity.

Most of what you described from the service outline has been taken originally from Catholic and Orthodox traditions and rituals. Since they were created to support their works-oriented way of salvation, they have little if any value in leading a person to the biblical gospel or biblical truth.

Nearly all church productions are of poor quality, even embarrassing. Yet even if they were magnificent, they would still be greatly inferior to the preaching and teaching of the Word. Jesus said, "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." It is God's Word that sets a person free, not man's ceremonies and productions.

The Scriptures give us the most direct way of knowing and believing what Christ has accomplished for humanity on the Cross. They are God's words given to the writers of the Old and New Testaments. As a person reads or hears God's words, the Holy Spirit brings conviction and enables one to understand the words of God.

The subjective nature of presentations such as you describe cannot teach objective truth - only the Word can do this. People respond to the imagery presented in the productions experientially. It would be like you and me describing a painting that we had both seen. Our evaluations would be different because they would be based upon our impressions, feelings, and other subjective criteria. If, however, we saw a sign next to the painting that said, "For sale," we would both know exactly what the sign was communicating because of the objective meaning of words.

When Moses went up to Mount Sinai, he was given objective instructions in words that he was told to write down. On the other hand, the Israelites, with Aaron's help, were involved in a production. They opted for the subjective way of paganism and idolatry. Sadly, at the very least, the church is unwittingly moving in that direction.

Another problem with so-called sacred ceremonies is that most people "feel" they are being spiritually edified or that they have had a legitimate spiritual experience; thus, they have pleased (or have drawn closer to) God in some way. No. These are experiential acts of the flesh, which the Word says, "profits nothing" ("It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life"-John 6:63).

Anything that attempts to supplement the Word through productions, ceremonies, processions, rituals, etc., in order to encourage people to believe in what it says, is at best adding a secondhand, fleshly representation of what the Bible teaches. At worst, such productions mislead people into thinking that the activity itself has some efficacious spiritual value, thus preventing them from worshiping the Lord "in spirit and in truth," which believers are commanded to do (John 4:23).


Related Links

---

Tenebrae - Wikipedia
Questions about Easter - GotQuestions.org
Apostasy of the Church - SpiritandTruth.org (Andy Woods)
Emerging Church Is Leading Protestants Back Home to Rome - Proclaiming The Gospel Ministries
The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual Discernment in the Last Days - Dave Hunt (Book)

---

Earthquakes! Are They Increasing?

By Gary Stearman
Prophecy in the News

Recent events in Haiti and Chili have caused many Christians to ask, “Are earthquakes increasing in the way that Jesus said they would in the period leading up to the Tribulation? His words are among the most forthright and unequivocal ever spoken. There can be no mistake about what He said:

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:7,8).

In January and February of this year, those who search the Scriptures and watch for His return marked those words well, wondering with renewed interest whether His coming was being foreshadowed by the prophesied global events.

On Tuesday, the 12th of January, a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti. Its magnitude was officially listed at 7.0 on the Moment Magnitude Scale [MMS]. Its epicenter was 16 miles west of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. By January 24, scientists had recorded some 53 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater. By mid-February, an staggering three million people had been affected by the quake. Most of them were homeless, living in tent cities without sanitation, running water, electricity or the necessary food and supplies.

Almost a quarter of a million dead had been identified, and that toll is still rising. Three hundred thousand were injured and over a quarter of a million buildings had been listed as irreversibly damaged. Rescue efforts were sporadic in the area, since communications, hospitals, electrical power grids and air, sea and land transportation were almost at a standstill.

One month and 16 days later, on the 27th of February, another powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Chili. This one was measured at 8.8 MMS. It was much more powerful than the Haiti temblor. Like the earlier Richter Scale, the MMS is a logarithmic or exponential scale, and they correlate closely in the lower ranges. A scale number of 8 would be ten times more powerful than a scale number of 7. The Chili temblor reached almost 9, which would make it almost a hundred times more powerful than the one in Haiti. The new MMS scale, represented by the symbol Mw, is said to be much more accurate than the older measurements. In addition, it has no upper limit of measurement. Its accuracy is said to be much greater in the range seen in larger earthquakes.

If one didn’t know better, it would seem that science is preparing to measure “the big one,” which is said to be long overdue. The first week of March witnessed the phenomenon of our Earth still ringing like a gong. During the week of March 1st through 7th, there were 85 earthquakes in the world, measuring between magnitudes 5.0 and 6.6. Forty-two of them were located in Chili! But then, aftershocks in the wake of a major earthquake are common.

It was truly a globe-shaking event. Seismologists who measured it, say that it may have shortened the length of Earth’s day by 1.26 microseconds. They also calculated a change in the Earth’s axis of rotation, which they say moved by 8 centimeters (3.25 inches)! Christians who heard this were doubtless reminded of the words of Isaiah the prophet, when he wrote about the massive earthquakes in the coming Tribulation:

“The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth” (Is. 24:19-21).

How could Isaiah have known enough to connect earthquakes with the tilt of the Earth’s axis? Writing in the 7th century B.C., the only way he could have known this “scientific” fact is for the Lord to have shown him a vision of the phenomenon. In the Tribulation, Earth’s axis will probably be displaced by miles (perhaps hundreds of miles), rather than inches. Inconceivably huge earthquakes and tsunamis will wrack the world in the Day of the Lord. And apparently, the tilt of the Earth’s axis will be permanently changed!

Is Prophecy Being Fulfilled?

In the period immediately following the Chile quake, a 7.0 MMS earthquake struck Japan, followed by a 6.4 MMS in Taiwan and a 6.5 MMS in Sumatra. Geophysicists say that earthquakes tend to arrive in clusters. The end of the last cluster, they say was in 1964, when the so-called Great Alaska Earthquake hit on March 27th of that year. Because it came on the Friday before Easter, it came to be called “The Good Friday Earthquake.” It was measured at a Richter 9.1, and was at the time, the largest North American earthquake ever recorded.

Since then, earthquakes have occurred at a more or less constant rate, with a few large ones coming from time to time. For example, in the decade from 2000 through 2009, we find the following annual U.S.G.S. tally of earthquakes above magnitude 6.0 MMS. This is their current report:

Year 2000 – 161
Year 2001 – 137
Year 2002 – 140
Year 2003 – 155
Year 2004 – 157
Year 2005 – 151
Year 2006 – 153
Year 2007 – 196
Year 2008 – 180
Year 2009 – 159
Total for the Decade : 1,589

From the above, it may be seen that this century began with a slight upward trend in numbers of earthquakes, though the year 2009 does show a slight decrease. Still, it is impossible to say that we see a significant increase to the degree that would qualify as “global cataclysm.”

Nevertheless, we have a baseline from which to watch. It will be fascinating to compare the seismic events upcoming in the year 2010 with the numbers above. If we should see more than 200 earthquakes above magnitude 6.0 MMS, we may conclude that there is real prophetic significance in the occurrences.

More Complex Observations

In the June, 1996, Prophecy in the News magazine, we took a look back into the earthquake statistics of the past. Seismologists rightly note that today we have a phenomenal increase in our ability to make accurate observations of geophysical events. In the 1920s, for example, there were only about 350 seismic observational facilities. They were the traditional, mechanical pendulum-and-ink-pen drum recorders. Today, we have over 8,000 stations, performing a constant surveillance of our globe. These newer stations use sensitive computer-driven recorders that can accurately measure seismicity, from mini-quakes to globe-shattering events.

Still, as we observed in 1996, earthquakes with magnitudes of Richter 6.0 and above were seen to be steadily increasing, decade by decade, from the 1950s through the 1990s. These numbers were reported at the time by The Philadelphia Inquirer:

1950s – 9 Worldwide
1960s – 13 Worldwide
1970s – 51 Worldwide
1980s – 86 Worldwide
1990s – 100-plus Worldwide

From this listing, it was easy to see an increase in earthquakes. Yet seismologists say that the upward trend is attributable to more sensitive instrumentation. They call it “observational bias.”

On the other hand, we’re not talking about tiny, hard-to-detect quakes; we’re simply listing the “big ones,” magnitude 6.0 and above. It’s hard to believe that better instrumentation alone in the last sixty years would yield numbers so consistently elevated, year after year.

But hold on. As now reported by the U.S.G.S., Historical Earthquakes of 6.0 and above are given for each decade as follows:

1950s – 45 Worldwide
1960s – 55 Worldwide
1970s – 44 Worldwide
1980s – 39 Worldwide
1990s – 60 Worldwide

The difference in these two tables illustrates the difficulty in making comparisons over time. To complicate matters even more, by some methods of reckoning, the U.S.G.S. reports as many as 1,492 earthquakes worldwide, in the decade of the 1990s!

Still, there is consistency when we compare the newer statistical methods given for the last two decades: 1,589 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 MMS or higher for the 2000 to 2009 decade shows a slight increase over the 1,492 earthquakes of 6.0 MMS or higher, for the last decade of the twentieth century.

Though the new observations include more data, they still show a continuing increase in seismic activity.

Certainly, the latest, higher numbers are the result of a different method of reporting. Still, regardless of the method of reporting, the figures continue to be rising, not falling. Though the numbers are generally higher and more evenly distributed, it still appears that there is a slight upward trend.

Science Vs. Faith

The scientific community is inclined toward the “uniformitarian” model, which states that earth-changes take place over long periods, ranging into the millions and millions of years. They are therefore, bound to see continental drift as infinitesimally slow. They generate geophysical statistics to favor the evolutionary view. This secular viewpoint is based upon the philosophy that man, not God, is the measure of all things. To them, history creeps along at a snail’s pace; scientists with that perspective tend to “crunch the numbers” in ways that reflect their own expectations.

Christians have a different view. We see history as moving at a uniform pace, punctuated at intervals by significant events that shake the world to its very core. Noah’s Flood, the Tower of Babel, the Call of Abraham, the giving of the Law through Moses, the First Coming of Christ, are all significant events that have shaken the world. The rapture and Tribulation are on schedule to shake it again. In fact, the Tribulation will literally shake the world in ways never experienced in the past:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

We watch the world with a sense of expectancy, believing that what the Bible promises is both real and detectable. Our Lord told us to watch for signs that prophesied events are near. Jesus not only warned of the “great tribulation,” He urged His followers to carefully observe the signs that would tell them the Day of the Lord is near:

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Lk. 21:34-36).

We might argue about how to interpret earthquake observations. Still, it is hard to escape the plain facts of the case. The tally of significant seismic activity is increasing. Even geophysicists are saying that we are long overdue for an earth-shattering megaquake. They say that it might happen in California, South America or Alaska.

But we shouldn’t forget that the world’s longest fault zone extends from Mt. Hermon, southward past the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, across the Red Sea and down Eastern Africa to Kenya. It is called the “Jordan Rift Valley,” which earthquake experts say could one day unleash the largest quake in recorded history.

The prophet Zechariah tells us that Jesus will touch down upon the Mount of Olives. His arrival will change the very landscape of Israel, creating riverbeds that do not now exist:

“And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be” (Zech. 14:5-8).

The “big one” is coming. And it’s going to be bigger than anyone can imagine. He created this world, and He will reshape it, according to His own design for a global Kingdom. Keep watching … we will!


Related Links

---

Recent Earthquakes Cause Spike in Related Searches Online - News On 6
Why does God allow natural disasters, i.e. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis? - GotQuestions.org
Shaken Earth - Hal Lindsey
The Haiti Earthquake: Was Pat Robertson Right? - Bible Prophecy Today (Randy Alcorn)
Understanding End Times Prophecy: A Comprehensive Approach - Paul N. Benware (Book)

---

Israel's Industrial Sector Reports More Jobs

By David Dolan
DDolan.com

Further signs have emerged that Israel is rapidly pulling out of the economic recession that struck the country in the wake of the American financial meltdown that began in 2008. Officials reported that Israeli industries hired 2,400 workers in the fourth quarter of 2009 after a year and a half of job losses in that important economic sector.

Nearly ten percent of all industrial employees lost their jobs during the 18 month recession, mainly due to a sharp fall in exports to the United States and Europe.Officials said that more than half of the newly hired workers are employed in long established companies that produce food products, textiles and clothing, along with wood and furniture products. But an increase was also noted in newer hi tech industries that had been hard hit by the worldwide financial crisis.

Economic analysts said they expect Israel’s overall unemployment rate to continue to decline after reaching a high of nearly eight per cent during the last quarter of 2008. Meanwhile nearby Arab countries continue to suffer a slower recovery after their exports were also curbed by the global recession.


Related Links

---

Industrial sector reports more jobs - The Jerusalem Post
Financial crisis fails to dent Israeli companies' global activity - Globes
Israel economy grows 4.4% in Q4 - Ynetnews.com
Iran strike would test resilient Israeli markets - TVNZ
Israel in Crisis: What Lies Ahead? - David Dolan (Book)

---

"Evil Exists" - Terror in Moscow

By Albert Mohler
AlbertMohler.com

“Evil exists, and horror is always right beside you.” That was the response of Sergey Kuznetsov, author of the novel Butterfly Skin, to the suicide bombings that killed at least 38 people in the Moscow subway yesterday. Once again, we are reminded of the undeniable reality of evil, even in the midst of moral confusion.

The suicide bombings, carried out by two female terrorists with at least two female accomplices, set off fears in Russia of a return to the “black widow” terror attacks that held much of Russia in fear earlier this decade.

The bombings were carefully orchestrated, with the attacks focused on two of Moscow’s most iconic subway stations just as they were filled with maximum crowds. At least 38 were reported killed, with another 67 hospitalized. Ominously, the attacks seemed to be a sign of more to come.

As The New York Times reported, Chechen rebel leader, Doku Umarov, threatened last month to direct terror attacks within Moscow. “If Russians think that the war is happening only on television, somewhere far off in the Caucasus, and it will not touch them, then we are going to show them that this war will return to their homes,” Umarov said.

The Monday attacks were blamed on terror cells associated with Islamic insurgents in the Caucasus region, where anger against Moscow brews among groups including a recently united Islamic front. Formerly, most of these terror attacks had been spawned in neighboring Chechnya, though Russian authorities downplayed direct Chechnyan involvement.

Paul Quinn Judge, a specialist with the International Crisis Group, told The Wall Street Journal that the struggle in the Caucasus region had been transformed in recent years. “Go back … even to the early 2000s and this was still a war being fought for independence by an armed force that was in its majority secular. Now we have a religious war being fought for a caliphate.”

The recent use of female suicide bombers can be traced back to 1985, when a 16-year-old girl drove a truck filled with explosives into an Israeli army convoy. The New York Times reminded its readers that Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female member of the “Birds of Paradise” in 1991. That group is associated with the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. Earlier this decade, female suicide bombers, known in Moscow as “black widows,” carried out at least 16 bombings in Russia.

The specter of spreading terror attacks has the Russian capital in a sense of shock and fear, leading to political speculation about the response of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who staked his reputation on dealing with the earlier round of terror attacks from Chechnya. But, at a deeper level, the attacks have reminded Russians - and especially citizens of Moscow - of the long legacy of terrorism that has afflicted that city since the days of the Tsars.

The statement by Sergey Kuznetsov was deeply rooted in his own memories. “Evil exists, and horror is always right beside you.”

He added, “Tomorrow, we will wake up and live with these truths. At least, until we forget them again, as we have many times before.”

Kuznetsov’s statement reflects the deep moral pessimism that characterizes so much Russian literature, philosophy, and experience. But his words also point to an even deeper biblical foundation. Evil does exist. While the situation in the Caucasus region and Chechnya reflect complex moral and political challenges - and anger against Moscow’s military repression - terror attacks upon noncombatants in Moscow subway stations are evil, nothing less. And the truth is that evil lurks far closer than we wish to admit.

The Bible reminds us that evil lurks in the human heart - and not just in the Caucasus region, Chechnya, or Moscow. Evil is far closer to us than we often allow ourselves to remember. One of the most insidious aspects of evil is its ability to insinuate itself within us so silently, until it bursts forth in the form of a “black widow” or a child abuser.

The terror attacks in Moscow may or may not be a harbinger of more to come. Terror only breeds more terror, and recent history demonstrates the never-ending cycle of evil that such attacks incite.

But this much is clear - evil is real. It should not take scores of dead bodies in a Moscow subway station to remind us of that, but we all too often forget.


Related Links

---

Moscow metro: 19 black widows could launch fresh attacks - Telegraph.co.uk
Russian security services hunt 21-strong 'Black Widow' cell - Times Online
Did God create evil? - GotQuestions.org
Terror Blasts Hit Moscow - Wall Street Journal
Fall of Man - SpiritandTruth.org (Andy Woods)

---

Brits Abandon 'Special Relationship' with America

By Jack Kinsella
The Omega Letter

In the 18th century, the thirteen British colonies along the coast of North America rebelled against the King of England in the long, bloody war that gave birth to the United States of America.

Relations between the Crown and its former colonies remained strained throughout the 19th century.

The War of 1812 ended in a decisive draw that formalized the border between the US and Canada. During the Civil War, the Crown backed the Confederacy over the Union.

But the 20th century marked a new era in US-British relations. The two nations were almost as one for the better part of the century.

In a 1946 speech entitled "The Sinews of Peace" delivered at Westminster College, Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared the existence of a 'special relationship' between the British and American people.

"Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States. . .

. . . The United States has already a Permanent Defense Agreement with the Dominion of Canada, which is so devotedly attached to the British Commonwealth and Empire. This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have often been made under formal alliances. This principle should be extended to all British Commonwealths with full reciprocity. . .

. . . There is however an important question we must ask ourselves. Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organization? I reply that, on the contrary, it is probably the only means by which that organization will achieve its full stature and strength."

It was during that same speech that Churchill coined the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe those nations of the Soviet bloc.

The "Iron Curtain" that Churchill so eloquently described has fallen. The British Empire is no more. Burma, Britain's last colonial holding, declared independence in 1948.

And now, as of this week, according to the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the 'special relationship' between the British and the United States no longer exists.

The report blames George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

"British and European politicians have been guilty of over-optimism about the extent of influence they have over the US," said committee chairman Mike Gapes.

"We must be realistic and accept that globalization, structural changes and shifts in geopolitical power will inevitably affect the UK-US relationship".

In the report itself, the committee of members of parliament said there were "many lessons to be learned" from Britain's approach to the United States over the 2003 Iraq war.

Then-Premier Tony Blair stood shoulder-to-shoulder with President George W. Bush over the invasion despite a lack of wider international support.

"The perception that the British government was a subservient 'poodle' to the US administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas," it said.

"This perception, whatever its relation to reality, is deeply damaging to the reputation and interests of the UK."

Britain's Labor Party is center-left Socialist so it is unsurprising that the committee would blame George Bush for the rift between the two countries.

But according to Prime Minister Gordon Blair, that 'special relationship' survived the Bush administration.

It was Gordon Brown that Obama snubbed last September, following Obama's earlier expression of respect for the British allies by gifting the Prime Minister with a Wal-Mart DVD gift box during their first meeting in March of ‘08.

That event was also widely characterized as a 'snub' by Obama in the British media.

Indeed, the New York Daily News headline that day read, "London Aghast at President Obama Over Gifts Given to Prime Minister Brown."

Nonetheless, insisted Brown as recently as last September, "I do say that the special relationship is strong, it continues to strengthen."

"No. 10 denied there had been any hint of a snub, saying Obama and Brown had plenty of chances to talk as they sat next to one another at the summits. . .

But as the Guardian noted dryly;

. . . But Obama has held bilateral meetings in New York with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, and the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama."

It is difficult to imagine there NOT being a 'special relationship' between Great Britain and the United States - and in particular between the Brown administration and the Obama administration. They are political kindred spirits.

One might blame George Bush and the Iraq War for sowing the seeds of discord among the British ruling Left.

But it was Obama that reaped the harvest.

Assessment:

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)

In 1492, the Spanish ordered the forced conversion or expulsion of all Jews from Spain, at the time, the world's most powerful empire.

Most of them went to England, which was at the time very welcoming of Jews. One hundred years later, the British destroyed the Spanish Armada and for the next three hundred years, the sun never set on the British Empire.

In 1917 when the British government looked favorably upon the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine, the British Empire was at the peak of its power and influence.

In 1921, the British flag flew over a quarter of the earth's surface and the Crown ruled over a quarter of the world's population.

In March, 1921, Foreign Secretary Winston Churchill severed what was to become Transjordan from the land promised by the Balfour Declaration.

"Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

In other words, the Crown was for a Jewish homeland before it was against it.

The British restricted Jewish emigration into the promised "Jewish" homeland, before and even during and after the Holocaust, sending uncounted thousands of Jews to their eventual deaths at the hands of Hitler's henchmen.

By the time the British Mandate ended in 1948, the mighty British Empire had literally been cut into pieces, replaced by the nominal British Commonwealth of independent nations.

In 1993, the United States burdened itself with Jerusalem when it forced Israel into the land for peace formula formalized in the Oslo Accords.

At the time, the United States was at the zenith of its power, wealth and international prestige.

The US had just led the largest international alliance since World War II in a successful war against Iraq to secure the liberation of Kuwait, winning the Cold War in the process.

By 2000, Israel had lost everything it had gained in the five preceding wars and was prepared to trade away Jerusalem when Yasser Arafat invoked a new uprising. The following year, the United States was attacked by the forces of radical Islam and has been steadily cut into pieces since.

All America's traditional alliances are crumbling before our eyes.

We are dependent upon hostile countries for our financial health, our energy needs and, as in the case of international support for sanctions on Iran, for our security needs.

What few genuine friends America had in the world, like Britain and (especially) Israel have openly rejected any special relationship status with the United States, overturning virtually all of the political alliances of the 20th century and leaving America to face the 21st century alone.

According to the Bible, the fate of the nations in the last days will be directly related to the manner in which they treat Israel. God promised Abraham,

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:3)

The Bible is filled with promises of Divine retribution against those who would stand against His people.

"Therefore saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies:" (Isaiah 1:24)

"And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?" (Luke 18:7)

"And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth His sheep from the goats: And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left . . " (Matthew 25:32-33)

The Bible makes no mention of any superpower resembling the United States. Russia is there, China is there, Europe is there, Israel is there, but there is no mention of anything resembling the world's representative Christian country.

It isn't that God didn't anticipate the existence of the United States - He did. He provided a detailed description of America's post-Christian social and political model during the last days through the Apostle Paul's 2nd Letter to Timothy 3:1-5.

What I want to highlight in this briefing is the incredible accuracy of Bible prophecy, down to the tiniest detail.

World events continue to follow the outline of Bible prophecy as if it were the script to an unfolding movie - each new element falling into place at exactly the right time to advance the plotline until you can tell what should happen next.

According to that script, the next major event on the prophetic timeline should be the Rapture of the Church.

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (2nd Thessalonians 4:18)

Related Links

---

Obama Is Fighting Friends - FOX News
Why Britain's Affair with the U.S. Is Over - TIME
Special relationship is over, MPs say. Now stop calling us America's poodle - The Guardian
The Rapture Question - SpiritandTruth.org (Andy Woods)
The Last Generation - Jack Kinsella (Book)

---

Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures

By Dr. David R. Reagan
Lamb & Lion Ministries

For years I have been quoting a book by Peter Stoner called Science Speaks. I like to use a remarkable illustration from it to show how Bible prophecy proves that Jesus was truly God in the flesh.

I decided that I would try to find a copy of the book so that I could discover all that it had to say about Bible prophecy. The book was first published in 1958 by Moody Press. After considerable searching on the Internet, I was finally able to find a revised edition published in 1976.

Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953 when he moved to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. There he served as chairman of the science division. At the time he wrote this book, he was professor emeritus of science at Westmont.

In the edition I purchased, there was a foreword by Dr. Harold Hartzler, an officer of the American Scientific Affiliation. He wrote that the manuscript had been carefully reviewed by a committee of his organization and that "the mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound." He further stated that in the opinion of the Affiliation, Professor Stoner "has applied these principles in a proper and convincing way."

The book is divided into three sections. Two relate directly to Bible prophecy. The first section deals with the scientific validity of the Genesis account of creation.

Part One: The Genesis Record

Stoner begins with a very interesting observation. He points out that his copy of Young's General Astronomy, published in 1898, is full of errors. Yet, the Bible, written over 2,000 years ago is devoid of scientific error. For example, the shape of the earth is mentioned in Isaiah 40:22. Gravity can be found in Job 26:7. Ecclesiastes 1:6 mentions atmospheric circulation. A reference to ocean currents can be found in Psalm 8:8, and the hydraulic cycle is described in Ecclesiastes 1:7 and Isaiah 55:10. The second law of thermodynamics is outlined in Psalm 102:25-27 and Romans 8:21. And these are only a few examples of scientific truths written in the Scriptures long before they were "discovered" by scientists.

Stoner proceeds to present scientific evidence in behalf of special creation. For example, he points out that science had previously taught that special creation was impossible because matter could not be destroyed or created. He then points out that atomic physics had now proved that energy can be turned into matter and matter into energy.

He then considers the order of creation as presented in Genesis 1:1-13. He presents argument after argument from a scientific viewpoint to sustain the order which Genesis chronicles. He then asks, "What chance did Moses have when writing the first chapter [of Genesis] of getting thirteen items all accurate and in satisfactory order?" His calculations conclude it would be one chance in 31,135,104,000,000,000,000,000 (1 in 31 x 1021). He concludes, "Perhaps God wrote such an account in Genesis so that in these latter days, when science has greatly developed, we would be able to verify His account and know for a certainty that God created this planet and the life on it."

The only disappointing thing about Stoner's book is that he spiritualizes the reference to days in Genesis, concluding that they refer to periods of time of indefinite length. Accordingly, he concludes that the earth is approximately 4 billion years old. In his defense, keep in mind that he wrote this book before the foundation of the modern Creation Science Movement which was founded in the 1960's by Dr. Henry Morris. That movement has since produced many convincing scientific arguments in behalf of a young earth with an age of only 6,000 years.

Peter Stoner's Calculations Regarding Messianic Prophecy

Peter Stoner calculated the probability of just 8 Messianic prophecies being fulfilled in the life of Jesus. As you read through these prophecies, you will see that all estimates were calculated as conservatively as possible.

1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
   The average population of Bethlehem from the time of Micah to the present (1958) divided by the average population of the earth during the same period = 7,150/2,000,000,000 or 2.8x105.
2. A messenger will prepare the way for the Messiah (Malachi 3:1).
   One man in how many, the world over, has had a forerunner (in this case, John the Baptist) to prepare his way?
   Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1x103.
3. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
   One man in how many, who has entered Jerusalem as a ruler, has entered riding on a donkey?
   Estimate: 1 in 100 or 1x102.
4. The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend and suffer wounds in His hands (Zechariah 13:6).
   One man in how many, the world over, has been betrayed by a friend, resulting in wounds in his hands?
   Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1x103.
5. The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12).
   Of the people who have been betrayed, one in how many has been betrayed for exactly 30 pieces of silver?
   Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1x103.
6. The betrayal money will be used to purchase a potter's field (Zechariah 11:13).
   One man in how many, after receiving a bribe for the betrayal of a friend, has returned the money, had it refused, and then experienced it being used to buy a potter's field?
   Estimate: 1 in 100,000 or 1x105.
7. The Messiah will remain silent while He is afflicted (Isaiah 53:7).
   One man in how many, when he is oppressed and afflicted, though innocent, will make no defense of himself?
   Estimate: 1 in 1,000 or 1x103.
8. The Messiah will die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16).
   One man in how many, since the time of David, has been crucified?
   Estimate: 1 in 10,000 or 1x104.

Multiplying all these probabilities together produces a number (rounded off) of 1x1028. Dividing this number by an estimate of the number of people who have lived since the time of these prophecies (88 billion) produces a probability of all 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of one person. That probability is 1in 1017 or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. That's one in one hundred quadrillion!

Part Two: The Accuracy of Prophecy

The second section of Stoner's book, is entitled "Prophetic Accuracy." This is where the book becomes absolutely fascinating. One by one, he takes major Bible prophecies concerning cities and nations and calculates the odds of their being fulfilled. The first is a prophecy in Ezekiel 26 concerning the city of Tyre. Seven prophecies are contained in this chapter which was written in 590 BC:

1. Nebuchadnezzar shall conquer the city (vs. 7-11).
2. Other nations will assist Nebuchadnezzar (v. 3).
3. The city will be made like a bare rock (vs. 4 & 14).
4. It will become a place for the spreading of fishing nets (vs. 5 & 14).
5. Its stones and timbers will be thrown into the sea (v. 12).
6. Other cities will fear greatly at the fall of Tyre (v. 16).
7. The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt (v. 14).

Four years after this prophecy was given, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre. The siege lasted 13 years. When the city finally fell in 573 BC, it was discovered that everything of value had been moved to a nearby island.

Two hundred and forty-one years later Alexander the Great arrived on the scene. Fearing that the fleet of Tyre might be used against his homeland, he decided to take the island where the city had been moved to. He accomplished this goal by building a causeway from the mainland to the island, and he did that by using all the building materials from the ruins of the old city. Neighboring cities were so frightened by Alexander's conquest that they immediately opened their gates to him. Ever since that time, Tyre has remained in ruins and is a place where fishermen spread their nets.

Thus, every detail of the prophecy was fulfilled exactly as predicted. Stoner calculated the odds of such a prophecy being fulfilled by chance as being 1 in 75,000,000, or 1 in 7.5x107. (The exponent 7 indicates that the decimal is to be moved to the right seven places.)

Stoner proceeds to calculate the probabilities of the prophecies concerning Samaria, Gaza and Ashkelon, Jericho, Palestine, Moab and Ammon, Edom, and Babylon. He also calculates the odds of prophecies being fulfilled that predicted the closing of the Eastern Gate (Ezekiel 44:1-3), the plowing of Mount Zion (Micah 3:12), and the enlargement of Jerusalem according to a prescribed pattern (Jeremiah 31:38-40).

Combining all these prophecies, he concludes that "the probability of these 11 prophecies coming true, if written in human wisdom, is... 1 in 5.76x1059. Needless to say, this is a number beyond the realm of possibility.

Part Three: Messianic Prophecy

The third and most famous section of Stoner's book concerns Messianic prophecy. His theme verse for this section is John 5:39 — "Search the Scriptures because... it is these that bear witness of Me."

Stoner proceeds to select eight of the best known prophecies about the Messiah and calculates the odds of their accidental fulfillment in one person as being 1 in 1017.

I love the way Stoner illustrated the meaning of this number. He asked the reader to imagine filling the State of Texas knee deep in silver dollars. Include in this huge number one silver dollar with a black check mark on it. Then, turn a blindfolded person loose in this sea of silver dollars. The odds that the first coin he would pick up would be the one with the black check mark are the same as 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of Jesus.

The point, of course, is that when people say that the fulfillment of prophecy in the life of Jesus was accidental, they do not know what they are talking about. Keep in mind that Jesus did not just fulfill 8 prophecies, He fulfilled 108. The chances of fulfilling 16 is 1 in 1045. When you get to a total of 48, the odds increase to 1 in 10157. Accidental fulfillment of these prophecies is simply beyond the realm of possibility.

When confronted with these statistics, skeptics will often fall back on the argument that Jesus purposefully fulfilled the prophecies. There is no doubt that Jesus was aware of the prophecies and His fulfillment of them. For example, when He got ready to enter Jerusalem the last time, He told His disciples to find Him a donkey to ride so that the prophecy of Zechariah could be fulfilled which said, "Behold, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey" (Matthew 21:1-5 and Zechariah 9:9).

But many of the prophecies concerning the Messiah could not be purposefully fulfilled — such as the town of His birth (Micah 5:2) or the nature of His betrayal (Psalm 41:9), or the manner of His death (Zechariah 13:6 and Psalm 22:16).

One of the most remarkable Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures is the one that precisely states that the Messiah will die by crucifixion. It is found in Psalm 22 where David prophesied the Messiah would die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16). That prophecy was written 2,000 years before Jesus was born. When it was written, the Jewish method of execution was by stoning. The prophecy was also written many years before the Romans perfected crucifixion as a method of execution.

Even when Jesus was killed, the Jews still relied on stoning as their method of execution, but they had lost the power to implement the death penalty due to Roman occupation. That is why they were forced to take Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and that's how Jesus ended up being crucified, in fulfillment of David's prophecy.

The bottom line is that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proves conclusively that He truly was God in the flesh. It also proves that the Bible is supernatural in origin.


Related Links

---

The Christ in Prophecy Study Guide - Lamb & Lion Ministries
The Inspiration of the Scriptures - Ariel Ministries (Arnold Fruchtenbaum)
A Bible Prophecy Fulfilled That Takes No Codes to Discover - Jews for Jesus
The Vital Importance of Believing in Recent Creation - Institute for Creation Research (Henry Morris)

---

No Greater Love: The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus

By Elwood McQuaid
The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

“For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isa. 53:8).

The sum of all that is taught in the Old Testament Scriptures comes before us in this stunning word from the prophecy of Isaiah. The Messiah, writes the prophet, will become the final sacrifice for the sins of the people. Details of the divine purpose are so clear, when compared to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, that there is no reason to doubt that He was the promised Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world.

According to God’s Word through Isaiah, the Messiah would make “his grave with the…rich…make his soul an offering for sin,” and satisfy the demand for a perfect sacrifice — “He [God] shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (53:9–11).

Following the last sacrifice sanctioned by God on any altar came the word that the Messiah would be gloriously resurrected, in affirmation of all that the Lord had planned in His program of redemption.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand…Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many” (53:10, 12).

That’s the whole story: Humiliation and death would be followed by resurrection and an era during which the Messiah will reign. Thus we see the convergence of both aspects of the Messiah’s ministry: the suffering servant; the reigning King.

The Timing of the Messiah’s Suffering

For the Jewish people — and for all of us who revere the sanctity of the Scriptures — there is a critical matter to be reckoned with. Daniel 9:26 reveals that before the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” In other words, the Messiah was to be “cut off” short of attaining the Kingdom. Isaiah explains just what was involved in this first cutting off.

“He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (53:8).

Comparing the passages, we learn that the Messiah’s death would precede His kingly reign, would be specifically a sacrifice for sins, and would take place before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Two Thousand Years Late

A few months ago, I stood in a room in Jerusalem looking out over the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. It is an impressive sight. Even more attention-getting is the room itself. On the door entering the room is a sign. It says, “Sanhedrin.” Inside is a series of semicircular tables. Before the tables are 70 seats. The tables are situated to focus the attention of those seated on a single raised seat reserved for the ruler of the Sanhedrin. This room, constructed under the direction of the late Rabbi Schlomo Goren, is prepared for Israel’s leaders to direct the affairs of the nation when a new Temple is built on Mount Moriah.

Today a number of other groups, each independent, are engaged in active preparations for the building of a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem:

• Those preparing vessels, furnishings, and priestly garments.
• Those identifying qualified priests to serve at the Temple.
• Those studying sacrifices and services to be performed.
• Those who have cut a cornerstone for the new Temple.

Collectively, these people are extremely sincere and intelligent and command respect from those who are in contact with them. However, it can be said with finality that those who are planning to build a Temple for the purpose of reinstituting sacrificial worship are two thousand years late. The final sacrifice has already been made. There is, therefore, no longer a need for an altar in the Holy City.

No Greater Love

In the upper room, as Jesus commemorated His final Passover with the disciples, He made this statement:

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).

Greater love has, in fact, never been displayed than when God sent His only Son to fulfill the words of the law and the prophets.

In the Jewish Temple worship and in great national celebrations, the final act of God’s great love was prophetically anticipated. With the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, that love was demonstrated.

Last October we were filming a series in Israel for the Day of Discovery television program. The subject was the feasts of Israel and what principles from them can be applied to our lives in this day and age. My segment for each program dealt with how Jesus related to the feasts. Although I have studied Israel’s feasts with great fascination for decades, I was deeply moved to think once again of what they were really all about. If the person and work of the Messiah are removed from those celebrations, we are left with only memorable traditions and thoughts of an era now lost to us. But with the sacrifice of the Messiah as the heart and soul of all that was depicted in the sacrificial system, the ceremonies reveal an eternal reality with principles that are vital to our lives today and our prospects for eternity.

There is a feature in the cross work of Jesus that is often overlooked but, indeed, manifests the depths of the love of God for His Chosen People and a lost world. For centuries, anti-Semites have vilified the Jewish people as Christ-killers deserving the worst that can befall them. As a people (the line goes), they have been guilty of calling the wrath of God down upon their own heads and, what is worse, on their children.

“Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children” (Mt. 27:25).

In this scenario, scant attention is given to two facts.

First, the crowd was incited to their actions because they were incited by a group of unscrupulous leaders who were not only betraying the Christ, but their own people as well.

“But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus” (Mt. 27:20).

Second, malicious anti-Semites, some of whom blasphemously call themselves Christians, never mention the attitude of Jesus toward those who railed against Him. What did He say from the cross?

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).

Of whom was He speaking? The very people implicated in putting Him on the cross! It is true that the majority of Jewish people live in unbelief, but in view of the obvious compassion of Christ — even for those contributing to His crucifixion — a serious question must be asked. How many Jewish people have persisted in unbelief because of churches and individuals who call themselves Christians yet manifest vindictive attitudes totally incompatible with the compassion of Christ. We cannot escape the conclusion that such people will be required to answer for deliberately ignoring the example of the Savior, thus contributing to the persecution of Jewish people.

Paradise Gained

“And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be put to death” (Lk. 23:32).

Fascinating indeed is the revelation that when Jesus was hung between two malefactors, He was not only among them but specifically named as one of them. When Jesus was brought before Pilate by an entourage from the Sanhedrin, Pilate inquired as to the nature of the charges against Him.

Once again, the precision of the prophetic Scriptures comes into play:

“He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

But this is not all that Isaiah had to say about a Messiah impaled between two criminals. “And,” the prophet continued, “[he] made intercession for the transgressors.”

The thief, who a short time before had reviled Jesus (Mk. 15:32), was now pleading to be remembered. I wonder what passed through his mind when he heard Christ’s reply:

“Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

These were not the words of some charlatan pretender who suddenly found himself with no way out. If that had been the case, Jesus would not have concerned Himself with intercession for a common thief. No indeed! His concern would have been for someone to make intercession for Him.

For the Joy that Was Set Before Him

The thief on the cross looked for a place in Christ’s coming kingdom. The joy of Jesus is found in the reality of the resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and the kingdom to come in which He will reign over redeemed Israel.

Today the resurrection is an irrefutable reality. Following His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus “was seen of above five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. 15:6)

The efficacy of His saving intercession is attested to by the millions who, for nearly two thousand years — like the penitent thief — have petitioned Him to secure, by His own blood, their eternal future.

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one” (Zech. 14:4a, 9).

The anonymous songwriter penned much more than he could possibly have known when he wrote:

“The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.”

Related Links

---

Why Did the Messiah Have to Die? - Ariel Ministries (Arnold Fruchtenbaum)
The Implications of the Resurrection - SpiritandTruth.org (Andy Woods)
Temple Institute wants to Offer Biblical Passover Sacrifice - INN
Israel Seals West Bank for Weeklong Passover Celebration - All Headline News
The Outpouring: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel - Elwood McQuaid (Book)

---

As Jews Around the World Celebrate Passover, There Is a Call for the Temple to Be Built in Jerusalem

By Dr. Jimmy DeYoung
Prophecy Today

The eight day feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread begin at sundown today and Jewish families around the world will sit at a Passover meal to rehearse the story of the first Passover some 3500 years ago as the Jews led by Moses were able to leave the bondage of Egypt for the Promised Land in Israel.

Meanwhile, there is an advertising campaign underway in Jerusalem with posters on over 200 public buses calling for removal of the Dome of the Rock, a Moslem building on the Temple Mount to be replaced by the Jewish temple and those calling for the temple want it to be built in the very near future.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The advertising campaign in Jerusalem calling for the Jewish temple to be rebuilt as Jews celebrate Passover is a precursor to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

The celebration of the Jewish feast day of Passover marks the exodus of over 2 million Jews from the Egyptian bondage some 3500 years ago as Moses led the Israelites toward the Promised Land. This year the Passover will include as it has for centuries the prayer for the Jewish temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. However, this year a major advertising campaign is going on in Jerusalem calling for the Dome of the Rock to be removed and the third Jewish temple to be rebuilt on the Temple Mount. These religious Jews that are behind this campaign say that the Israel Supreme Court's decision to not allow the Passover sacrifice and the presence of a Moslem building on Judaism's holiest site must be changed by next year's Passover.

Bible prophecy does call for the Passover sacrifice to take place once again at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 45:21-22). That passage is referring to the temple that the Messiah Jesus Christ will build when He returns to the earth. However, let me remind you that before Messiah's temple will be on the Temple Mount, there will be a temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, II Thessalonians 2:4, and Revelation 11:1). All the preparations for that next temple have been made and its ready to be built on the Temple Mount.

The call by Jewish worshipers for a temple in Jerusalem on this Passover is indeed a precursor to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.


Related Links

---

J’lem posters call for 3rd Temple - Jerusalem Post
Christ in the Passover - Jews for Jesus
How did Jesus fulfill the meanings of the Jewish feasts? - GotQuestions.org
Access to Temple Mount restricted - JTA

---