# 2
The End of History—Messiah Conspiracy
# 1
Why War on Planet Earth?
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:1-2 New Testament, NASB
“The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2,000 years. It must be the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”
General Douglas MacArthur
“...ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass....except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved....” Jesus the Messiah
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything, save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.”1 Albert Einstein, 1946
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WHY WAR ON PLANET EARTH?
Satan’s favorite pastime is war and rebellion. His aim is to destroy as many of God’s human creations as possible through bloody conflicts. He is doing it for the same reason2 he fought so hard to cause man’s fall.
The history of the world, as you are probably aware, is filled with wars, peace treaties and very little peace! As much as we would like to see all war end, we have yet to see this occur; and as terrible as wars are, we must remember Jesus foretold (in the New Testament Scriptures) that the end times will be accompanied by “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6).
The Antichrist, known as the Armilus (the future false Messiah) in the ancient Jewish tradition,3 will bring this world to a short period of false peace. This false period of peace will precede the final war on our planet (see our chapter 26, “We Win Armageddon—Our Final Battle”). This will in turn, bring in the Second Coming of the true Messiah.
HATRED OF BELIEVERS BECAUSE OF THE
NAMESAKE OF JESUS WILL BE A HALLMARK
OF THE QUICKLY APPROACHING APOCALYPSE
The first book of the New Testament tells us Jesus’ warning of these occurrences: “....as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated[4] by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold’ ” (Matt. 24:3-12 NASB).
THE WARS OF THE END TIMES—FORESEEN BY JESUS
This passage from the first book of the New Testament is quite startling. It details the tragedies of war foretold by the Messiah which will precede His Second Advent to Earth to bring peace. Are His words true? To answer that question, let’s take a brief look at history’s most brutal wars.
Jesus said that until His return there would be wars and rumors of wars. How true has Jesus’ prophetic statement been? In the seventeenth century, ten nations fought for thirty years, killing nearly eight million people. The Manchu-Chinese War, beginning four years before the end of the Thirty Years’ War, caused twenty-five million people to die. In the early 1700’s, the War of Spanish Succession resulted in over one million dead. Six million people were lost in the French Napoleonic Wars between the years of 1792 and 1815. In the Taiping Rebellion, which was fought over a sixteen-year period (1850-1864), thirty million people died. In the six-year Lopez War (1864-1870), two million people fell. Gary DeMar notes that in “the wars that have been fought over the centuries” (over fourteen thousand) there have been “estimates of over 3.6 billion”5 people killed.
COMMUNISTS MURDER OVER
ONE HUNDRED MILLION, WHILE ABORTION
SNUFFS OUT THREE-QUARTERS OF A BILLION
Dr. D. James Kennedy documented that “seven hundred and fifty million people worldwide”6 have been destroyed in the abortionists’ modern war7 against the unborn. Abortion is the epitome of Jesus’ statement, “most people’s love will grow cold.”8 More recently, we have experienced horrifying communist takeovers or revolutions, including: Russia–1917; Mongolia–1924; Bessarabia/ Bukovina–1940; Estonia–1940; Latvia–1940; Lithuania–1940; Albania–1944; Kurile Islands–1945; North Korea–1945; Carpatho Ukraine–1945; Yugoslavia–1945; Tannu Tuva–1945; Bulgaria–1946; Hungary–1947; Poland–1947; Romania–1947; Czechoslovakia–1948; East Germany–1948; China–1949; North Vietnam–1954; Cuba–1960; South Yemen–1969; Angola–1975; Madagascar–1975; Laos–1975; South Vietnam–1975; Ethiopia–1977; Mozambique–1977; Afghanistan–1978; Cambodia–1979.
THE RUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION OF NUCLEAR
WEAPONS TO TERRORIST COMMUNIST-BASED NATIONS
Though most of these Communist countries have recently been liberated (perhaps temporarily?), we speculate that with the advent of the atom bomb and its rapid proliferation among unstable Communist and Moslem nations, we may be only a heartbeat away from the push of a button launching the third and most terrible world war. Because of the incredible destructiveness of nuclear weapons, only the Messiah will be able to save our planet. We grasp, as much as we can, from past fictional nuclear catastrophies in movies like Fail Safe9 and The Day After,10 some idea of just what Jesus really meant!
The day before Thanksgiving, 1992, the McNeil/Lehrer News Hour interviewed Senator Sam Nunn, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, regarding the plutonium which had recently been smuggled11 out of Russia. Nunn warned of the danger that “an unauthorized accident” could occur in the near future if proper measures were not taken.
This author is not saying that we might become vulnerable tomorrow, but rather that there are concerns for the future. Sometime before the mid-twenty-first century, materials bought or stolen today could easily result in a terrorist, communist, or Arab attack against America or Israel; an action that could escalate into a full-scale nuclear conflagration. It appears that the so-called “dead Soviet Union” is much more dangerous dead than it ever was when alive, because so much of its nuclear material has recently been stolen and sold off to enemy states!
BELIEVERS WILL BE SPARED THE HORRORS
OF THE TRIBULATION AND ARMAGEDDON
If you have not put off your decision to accept Jesus until after the Tribulation begins, and are presently a true believer, you will not have to worry about most of these tragedies and wars affecting you directly (see our chapter 25, “The Rapture Factor”). In addition to the wars already listed, we have fought World War I, which we called “the war to end all wars” in which over thirty-seven million people perished.12 Soon after, World War II was started by Hitler and his Nazi party.
Some have falsely perceived Hitler as right-wing. We must remember that in German, Nazi is short for Nazionalsozialist, or in English, National Socialist13 German Workers Party. Hitler made
reference to individuals “meaning little” and emphasized that the state was the only thing of prime importance.
In a 1989 Israeli television documentary on Nazi Germany, it was said that in the 1928 elections the Nazis got nowhere, while only two years later they made major inroads. The documentary claimed that, due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the demand for agricultural products was destroyed. This caused the ruin of the farmers, a factor which played into Nazi hands! Hitler stepped in and blamed the “farmer’s difficulties on the Jewish people and the democratic system.” The Nazis put up signs everywhere blaming the failed economy on “bank Jews.” Concluding this point, the program said: “It worked in local elections. In 1929 some German villages supported the Nazis one hundred percent.”
Six million Jews and many millions of others were murdered in Hitler’s utterly cruel effort to bring his brand of socialism to our world.
ARMAGEDDON AND THE ACCOMPANYING
PLAGUES—CAN WE HELP OURSELVES?
World War III will be a future conflict, the only one fought (if a smaller war does not occur prior to this) where we will have ready-made nuclear weapons. The Bible predicts this war and calls it Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). The Bible says only the Messiah will be able to save us from this war (Dan. 2:34-35; Matt. 24:6)!
In the 1980’s, forty-five local conflicts14 were ongoing. Presently, evidence is surfacing which seems to indicate that the AIDS virus might have been artificially produced to be used as germ warfare.15 All these things illustrate that the human race, in its present unredeemed state caused by the Fall (Gen. 3), just can’t help itself.
IF THERE IS A GOD—WHY WAR?
Many ask, “If there is a God, why is there so much war in the world?” In answer to this we affirm that war is indeed a tragedy, but what is more terrifying than war is the rejection of the only one capable of ending war for all time.
Man has adequately demonstrated his total inability to put an end to war, as we examine the record from ancient history right up to the present day. Who then holds the lock and key to war on planet Earth and why have they not yet put a stop to war?
The answer involves a people—in fact the Jewish people—whose most cherished religious and racial hope had been the Coming of their great deliverer king, called the Messiah. He, the Jewish Messiah, is the only one who possesses the awesome power to end war and grant everlasting resurrection bodies to those who accept and believe in Him. He would have done these and many other supernatural and wonderful things not only for the Jew but for the entire world, had His people, the Jews, accepted16 Him (Luke 19:41-44; Dan. 9:26). We know this from His words in the New Testament book of Matthew: “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37 KJV).
WOULD JESUS HAVE BROUGHT
PEACE HAD HE BEEN ACCEPTED?
Jesus said these words, recorded by Matthew, with tears in His eyes (see Luke 19:41-44), as He predicted Israel’s destruction. Moses predicted this event 2000 years before the Advent of Jesus (Deut. 28:64). These events, predicted to occur in Jesus’ generation, were caused because they (the people of Jesus’ day) would not know the time of their visitation by Messiah (Luke 19:44).
Both events—the Coming of the Messiah and Israel’s destruction—were also forecast by Daniel, the Old Testament prophet, six hundred years before the birth of Jesus (Dan. 9:24-26). Thus, because He was not received and accepted at His First Coming, these great blessings of a promised permanent world full of peace and free of injustice have been postponed until the nation of Israel and world Jewry accept Him en masse (see the New Testament; Matt. 23:39; Rom. 11:26; and Old Testament; Isa. 2:4; Lam. 4:17-20; and Hos. 5:15-6:2). We patiently await this wonderful day with excitement and thanksgiving! You can help advance this process, in part, by telling your Jewish friends about Jesus today.
MOSES, DANIEL AND JESUS FORETELL THE
CONSEQUENCES OF MESSIANIC REJECTION
As we have read, Jesus warned of the consequences of His rejection to the people of His day and future unbelieving generations when He said: “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:43-44 KJV).
According to Luke 21:24, written before the fact, and the historian, Josephus Flavius, writing after the fact, these events occurred within thirty-seven years of Jesus’ prediction, in the year 33 AD, and culminated in the holocaust of 70 AD. History records the horrors of the Temple’s destruction17 and the forced, almost 2000-year dispersion of the Jewish people by Rome. This was precisely detailed by Moses almost 3450 years ago when he predicted: “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other....” (Deut. 28:64 KJV).
Additionally, the Jewish prophet Daniel, in circa 600 BC, clearly reaffirmed the Messiah’s rejection as he pinpointed the divine discipline of the dispersion to Jesus’ generation specifically.18
Jesus also made long-range predictions about wars throughout history, which He said would occur because of His people’s refusal to let Him bring peace. Jesus said until He returns there would be wars and rumors of wars (Matt. 24:6). He also stated, as we have read: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:37-39 KJV).
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THE TRAGEDY OF WAR CONTINUES
UNTIL THE JEWS ACCEPT THEIR MESSIAH
We are still having wars today and will continue to do so until the world, with the Jews first in line, says: “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”19 to the Messiah, the Prince of Permanent Peace! It should be noted at this point that the Messiah is not punishing or “getting even” with His people through the existence and tragedy of wars; wars are the natural result of rejecting supreme protection. For example, if you have enemies who are bent on carrying out their brand of evil against you, yet you reject the army, police, security guards, or anyone else responsible for your protection—guess what? Consequences will follow, until you call your protector back.
CONSPIRACY AND HYPOCRISY OF THE HIGH
PRIESTS—THE CORE REASON FOR REJECTION
The high priests in the days of Jesus could not bring themselves to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, primarily because it would have meant too much compromise on their part. Later on, in the section dealing with Jesus’ trial, we will discuss the little-known historical fact that the Jewish priesthood had become corrupt and were unduly influenced by their political relations with the Roman government. This corruption was the chief reason for the Messiah leaving the earth until this day. As a result of the priests falsely swaying their nation into rejecting Him and consequently, the glorious benefits of peace and blessings Jesus would have brought, not only to Israel, but to us also, and we all suffer until now (Rom. 8:22-23; 11:15).20
Due to the rejection of the Jewish Messiah by the Jewish people, many great blessings, which were always central, cherished, and hopefully anticipated by Judaism, were postponed until Israel as a nation would accept Him. This will happen in our generation, as we will see later in our chapter 18, “Israel—is Real,” and chapters 27-30 on the Second Coming.
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MESSIAH—A TIME TO REJECT AND A TIME TO ACCEPT
God knew that Israel would, for a period, reject her Messiah. That is why we have two different pictures of the Messiah painted...
2 Against who or what is Satan at war? To find out what Satan is trying to destroy in relation to you, you only need to ask yourself who you are. The answer is that you came from your mother and father who were in turn, produced by your grandparents, and so on, all the way back to Adam, the first father. He was created by God, as you yourself are. Although Adam fell and you inherited that defect, God says you are not beyond the redemption for which the Messiah gave Himself to buy for you. God loves you and wants you back; Satan wants to destroy you by blinding you to what the Messiah sacrificed for all of us, in order to diminish what we are, forever. He desires to do this because your race (humanity), and you, were created by God to displace Lucifer himself (he is not very happy about this). Who do you let win? Do you receive redemption now or put it off another day, week, or year until your day of accounting?
3 See our chapter 23, “The False Messiah Armilus Equals Antichrist.”
4 We can already see new key organizations, entertainers and wealthy personalities begining with their “Christian bashing,” which is an obvious prelude to this hatred that will be perpetrated, particularly by the future Antichrist. An example of this can be seen in media magnate Ted Turner’s remark, “Christianity is a religion for losers.” Hal Lindsey, Planet Earth—2000 A.D. Palos Verde, CA: Western Front, Ltd., © 1994, p. 273. The underlying themes of the Star Trek® movies, especially Star Trek V, can certainly be interpreted as anti-Christian in the sense that certain similarities to biblical characters and verses are portrayed somewhat negatively and may influence our subconscious minds (see our Vol. II, chapter 26, “Star Trek Exposed—New Insights and Sad Memories”). Hal Lindsey lends interesting insight to the beginning of this hatred of Christians as he points out: “When Christians jammed the Capital switchboard with complaints about President Clinton’s lifting of the ban on homosexuals in the military, for instance, the Washington Post published a story characterizing them as ‘poor, uneducated and easy to command.’ Can you think of another group of people who could be so carelessly insulted by a major newspaper? And consider this statement by ABC’s Hugh Downs on the TV magazine show ‘20/20’: ‘During times of social stress, humanity usually regresses into the family....In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan urged the nation to adopt family values and return to old-time religion. Similarly, Adolf Hitler launched a family-values regimen. Hitler centered on his ideas of motherhood. Fanatics in the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party, the Hezbollah, or any other intolerant organizations refer to themselves as religious warriors. As warriors, fanatics censor the thoughts of others and love to burn books. In the modern United States, new proponents of family values continue this tradition of fear and intolerance’....Greece is adopting laws that would forbid proselytism and impose restrictions on non-Orthodox religious minorities....In Vietnam, police routinely arrest Christians for holding unregistered meetings and worship services. Church property is often confiscated.” Ibid, pp. 276-278.
5 Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness. Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers, Inc., © 1991, p. 190, used by permission.
6 He documented this in his Jan. 22, 1993 sermon on Channel 63, Atlanta, GA.
7 The Random House Dictionary defines war as: “...to be in conflict or in a state of strong opposition....” p. 1482. Having seen the video The Silent Scream, by Dr. Bernard Nathanson, which is an ultrasound of an abortion performed at only twelve weeks, I noticed a most bizarre conflict. The child pitifully opposed and fought the suction equipment which ended his life. Many have changed their minds about abortion after viewing this film. This videotape is available through American Portrait Films, 1695 W. Crescent, Suite 500, Anaheim, CA, USA 92801. Tel. (216) 531-8600 or (800) 736-4567.
8 Matthew 24:12 (NASB; italics mine). In the biblical language of Hebrew, the word for mercy is raham, while the word for womb is reham. The words share the same root base. A pro-life Israeli-Jewish minister, Barry Segal, mentioned in one of his sermons that the womb has now, in many cases, become a tomb, one of the most dangerous places a child can be. He noted the similarities between the Hebrew words for mercy and womb and pointed out that the one place God has allowed mercy is in the womb. God is merciful in allowing every succeeding human generation to come forth from this marvelous organ, yet today, many “doctors” wield the knife there without mercy. Some time after I heard this sermon, I mentioned it to an Israeli woman in response to her pro-abortion stance. When she heard the Hebrew (raham and reham) her relatively calm mood was transformed into one of uncontrollable anger. She was suddenly violently out of control, screaming, “You don’t know what you are saying. You’re playing with Hebrew, you are.” BAM—she went into another room, slammed the door and started crying. Truly, there is nothing colder than placing a knife of steel, called a curette, into the womb of a woman for the purpose of sectioning her baby apart to be thrown away, is there? A baby like she once was, deserving love as her mother gave her. We can see there is not much love today as seven hundred million people have been eliminated by their own mothers—and this number continues to grow. The love of many has truly grown cold.
9 This is a film which depicts Russia jamming our communications, which indirectly resulted in our mistakingly bombing them. After this, we bombed ourselves so that Russia would not bomb us. The author did not agree with this movie’s latter action.
10 The Day After was a made-for-television movie which we felt was intended as a propaganda tool of the left, designed to counter the American public’s support of President Reagan’s defense build-up. However, this backfired when he said, “This is what we are trying to prevent.” Our nation backed him with greater support after seeing the horrifying effects of nuclear war depicted in the movie.
11 We are all probably familiar with what happened after the “plutonium” was stolen in the film, Back to the Future. Our beloved Dr. Brown was shot by an Arab terrorist with a machine gun. He had hoodwinked this Libyan by using the plutonium for his time machine instead of an Arab A-bomb. However, Marty was able to go back in time and warn him, so he would not be killed the second time. Of course, in reality, things don’t always work out like they do in movie-land. We can only venture that in the future someone, or rather, some “many,” other than Dr. Brown, will suffer death as a result of plutonium stolen from a country in disarray!
12 This figure taken from the 1946 World Almanac.
13 For insight into newly revealed secrets concerning Hitler and Stalin and their belief in world domination, which will probably startle you, see Philip Moore, What If Hitler Won The War?, Appendix 4, “What If Hitler Had Not Turned Against Stalin—What Would Russia Have Done?”
14 In April of 1993, Paul Crouch, Sr. mentioned on his TBN broadcast Praise the Lord that there were sixty-eight wars being fought, many of which we do not even hear about on the news! These, of course, are not the cold wars of the 1980’s but the beginning of the hot wars of the 1990’s (massacres such as Bosnia). In Matthew 24, where the New Testament speaks of wars and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, the Greek word ethnos is used. This is where we get the English word, “ethnic”! The late President Richard Nixon noted: “Today, seventy-seven conflicts, based on tribal, national, ethnic, or religious hatreds, are being fought, and ruthless dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Kim II Sung, and Muammar Qaddafi are poised to attack their neighbors.” Richard Nixon, Beyond Peace. New York: Random House, © 1994, p. 35, used by permission. With many smaller and less stable Moslem countries now obtaining the A-bomb, serious trouble is an imminent possibility. This is extremely dangerous—whether we are living in the late 1990’s or just before the halfway mark of the twenty-first century, i.e. 2050 AD. Dangerous is not the word for it, is it? We pray that we are blessed so that we do not have a nuclear accident before President Clinton is relieved of office, lest we be put in a life-threatening situation. He cut our Star Wars defense program in May of 1993. Edward Teller, the father of the H-bomb, commented on Close- Up, a 1986 ABC news magazine entitled, “The Fire Unleashed”: “I think shields are just very much less dangerous....I had wished for a defense for a long time....” Teller said this in reference to President Reagan’s nuclear missile (Star Wars) defense shield program! If anyone should know, Teller should. Any future president who continues Clinton’s policy of Star Wars cuts, plays Russian roulette with our children’s lives.
15 See our Vol. II, chapter 41, “Was AIDS Made?” This author does not take this position but is open enough to consider the possibility. This chapter quotes several qualified physicians who believe AIDS was created as germ warfare. Though this may seem out of the question to most, it is wise, if such technology exists today, to not put anything past anyone. We believe the spread of this disease is greatly perpetuated through promiscuity, however, its origin may have been deliberate. The theory involves cross-viral species jumps through growing sheep and cow viruses, which were genetically altered, in human tissue cultures in the lab. Why? Some speculate to control the population. Horrifying!
16 There are many orthodox publications and writers, such as The Real Messiah, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, et al, which state that Jesus could not have been the Messiah because: “...the missionaries never mention the most important prophecies concerning the Messiah that Jesus did not fulfill. The main task of the Messiah was to bring the world back to G-d, and to abolish all war, suffering and injustice from the world. Clearly, Jesus did not accomplish this. In order to get around this failure on the part of Jesus, Christians invented the doctrine of the ‘Second Coming’ (Hebrews 9:29, Peter 3). All the prophesies that Jesus did not fulfill the first time are supposed to be taken care of the second time around. However, the Jewish Bible offers absolutely no evidence to support the Christian doctrine of a ‘Second Coming.’ ” Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, et al, The Real Messiah. New York: National Conference of Synagogue Youth, 1976, p. 57. In answer to this, we say it certainly does. Hosea 5:15-6:2 illustrates this. Hosea says: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (Hos. 5:15-6:2 KJV).
17 Hosea comes from the Old Testament portion of the Holy Scriptures, which Kaplan calls “the Jewish Bible”! Hosea indicates that the Messiah left for two days (according to Ps. 90:4, in this instance, 1000 years is likened to one day in rabbinical symbolism). The Messiah then returns before the millenial kingdom. Hosea’s words are: “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up....” The Jewish Bible passage of Zechariah 12:10, written 2500 years ago, says that when the Messiah returns: “...they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him....” When did the Messiah receive these marks all who look upon Him see (Rev. 1:7)? It is quite obvious that Jesus received them 2000 years ago. When He comes back we will see them and recognize Him. Furthermore, the ancient Jewish commentary Midrash Ruth Rabba clearly illustrates two Comings of the Messiah: “R. Berekhia in the name of R. Levi: ‘The Last Redeemer [the Messiah] will be like the First Redeemer [Moses]. Just as the First Redeemer was revealed and then again was hidden from the Children of Israel....so the Last Redeemer will be revealed to them and then will be hidden from them....’(Ruth Rabba 5:6).” Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, p. 99. Also, the Jewish Talmud speaks of Him coming on “a donkey” (Zech. 9:9) and “coming on the clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13), in its Sanhedrin 98a section. The rabbinical legend and tradition of Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David also illustrates the two roles in which the Messiah acts (see our “Messiah ben Joseph” section coming up in our next chapter). Rabbi Kaplan goes on to mock and attack the Christian faith and the Second Coming of the Messiah, as he says: “Jesus, therefore, was not the Messiah of the Jewish tradition. We still await the true Messiah who will accomplish all this in his first attempt.” We believe, with good reason, based on the Jewish Bible and ancient Jewish commentaries, that Jesus was and is the Messiah of Jewish tradition. Furthermore, to blatantly ignore this and state that Jews still await the Messiah who will accomplish all this in His First Coming, is to disregard the fact that the Messiah was to suffer in His first attempt as Joseph and reign in His second as David. Thus, falsely saying that the Messiah will come and bring peace in His first attempt is to set a baited trap to deceive world Jewry into being fooled by the Antichrist, who will, according to Bible prophecy (see our chapter 23, “The False Messiah Armilus Equals Antichrist”), accomplish a short world peace on His first appearance, as Kaplan falsely claimed the “Messiah” was to do.
See Josephus, War of the Jews.
18 It is all there in black and white. All you have to do is open to the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel in the Bible.
19 Matthew 23:39 KJV.
20 In the New Testament book of Romans we read: “For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die....when the Jews come to Christ. It will be like dead people coming back to life” (Rom. 8:22-23; 11:15 The Living Bible).