| Jesus A False-Prophet? |
| Jesus A False-Prophet? |
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INTRODUCTION Are 'False-Prophets' that Obvious? A while back on a cable channel (which I forgot!), they were interviewing a Samaritan jewish leader. The 'Samaritans' were the group that managed to stick with the Torah only (Gen-Deu), along with their own manuscripts and interpretations. The interviewer was Christian, and before he could hardly get started, the Samaritan pointedly referenced the 'second coming' that didn't happen, and its obvious significance. The Christian interviewer kind of grimaced and then kept going. The Samaritan just smiled. Why Was the (sneaky) Samaritan Smiling? The problem is whether a human can predict the future, be wrong, and still claim divine inspiration. We routinely say 'nope' ... indeed the failure is the proof of human-ness. Now, if per chance a human did predict the future correctly, of course we'd have to ask 'twenty questions' to make sure they could, since that's generally not possible for humans. What Was the Issue with Jesus?? In the 'synoptic' gospels, Jesus several times assured his disciples and even the high priest that they would personally see the 'end-time' events. Next, Jesus was executed, buried, but returned for lunch with his disciples (barbequed fish). Unfortunately, Jesus then headed up to heaven, but none of the end-time events happened. Christianity kind of shrugged it off, but the good Samaritan leader above didn't. He knew his 'Old' Testament. YHWH Graciously Provided an Easy-to-Use Test for False-Prophets Now as it turns out, ancient Israel had this very problem. Moses (or the Deuteronomy writer) reported the existance or strong likelihood of false-prophets in their future. And so YHWH gave the Israelites some quick rules to identify them: 1: 'Prophet' claims 'dreams' and/or 'gives to you a sign or wonder' (Deu 13:1) 2: The sign or wonder indeed happens. (Deu 13:2) 3: The prophet is trying to get you to follow another god (Deu 13:2) => Don't follow. This is simply a TEST by Jehovah/YHWH (Deu 13:3). => Sub-point: By inference, only YHWH is the source of signs/wonders; YHWH does the 'test'. See how easy that was? OK, now there's additional instructions from YHWH: 4: A real prophet speaks for YHWH; a false one speaks for other gods (Deu 18:20) 5: How to tell the difference? If his prophesy doesn't happen, ignore the false-prophet. (Deu 18:22) => YHWH doesn't 'do' false prophesies. => Sub-point: The false-prophet will prematurely(?) die. (Deu 18:20) Now, just to make sure, let's repeat the rules. - Signs and wonders come from YHWH. So if there's anyone but YHWH being claimed, you're being tested. - If the 'prophet' claims to speak for YHWH, there's a simple test: do his prophesies come true? The OT doesn't give a handle on what happens if there's 'signs and wonders' (test from YHWH) but the prophet incorrectly prophesies (not from YHWH). Personally, I'd think the second one trumps the first one. But how can we know for sure? Well in Mat 24:24, Jesus spoke to this very issue: 'For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen.' (YLT). But wait a minute. Jesus also did 'signs and wonders'. How can we tell which guys were the 'false prophets'?? Jesus Spoke for YHWH > Jesus Did Signs > Jesus Predicted the Future > But was Jesus Right? If we were 'prosecutors', we could simply obtain evidence about Jesus on each point. And if they all 'checked out', well, we could conclude Jesus indeed was the real prophet. That isn't our goal, by the way! But we are demonstrating a problem this section of the site attempts to deal with: Jesus' failed prophesies. Question 1: Did Jesus Claim to Speak Directly for YHWH? Without going through all four gospels, I think the answer has to be a resounding 'yes'. Marcion claimed YHWH was NOT 'the Father'. But let's ignore Marcion, since he's dead. Clearly Jesus was claiming 'prophet' status from YHWH (plus Messiah, Son of God and maybe even Daniel's 'Son of Man'). Question 2: Did Jesus Do Signs? Hmmmm. Here we're going to have to rely on our gospel writer witnesses. All four agree Jesus did 'signs'. Some of the epistles writers confirm that He did 'mighty works'. Now, some of our more liberal scholars hint that signs might NOT be literally possible. But that's not the question here. (Be quiet, you 'historical Jesus' guys.) So again, the answer is a resounding 'yes': Jesus really did 'signs'. Question 3: Did Jesus Predict the Future? Since this question is an important one, let's list out His predictions of the future (quotes from YLT). Prophesy 'A' Mat 10:23 'And whenever they may persecute you in this city, flee to the other, for verily I say to you, ye may not have completed the cities of Israel till the Son of Man may come.' This was when Jesus sent His disciples out 2 x 2 to get Israel to repent for certain judgment. Prophesy 'B' Mat 13:41 'The Son of Man shall send forth his messengers, and they shall gather up out of his kingdom all the stumbling-blocks, and those doing the unlawlessness.' This one was an explanation to a parable of the reaper. Prophesy 'C' Mat 16:28 / Mar 9:1 / Luk 9:27 'Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.' This one was in one of Jesus' teaching sessions. Prophesy 'D' Mat 24:34 / Mar 13:30 / Luk 21:32 'Verily I say to you, this generation may not pass away till all these may come to pass.' This one was in Jesus' 'Little Apocalypse' discussion. Prophesy 'E' Mat 26:64 / Mar 14:62 Jesus saith to him, 'Thou hast said; nevertheless I say to you, hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming upon the clouds, of the heaven.' This one was Jesus at His trial, talking to the Chief Priest. Prophesy 'F' Mar 13:26 `And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in clouds with much power and glory.' This is also in Jesus' 'Little Apocalypse', similar to Prophesy 'D'. Prophesy 'G' Joh 1:51 And he saith to him, `Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.' Jesus said this to his soon-to-be disciple Nathaniel. OK ... these look pretty 'prophetic' and quite a bunch of 'verily's' too. So, it looks like we have one more resounding 'yes'. Question 4: Was Jesus Right?? Ignoring whether Jesus did 'mighty wonders' (question 2, where some of the witnesses might have been a bit biased), this question is more easily dealt with. Some of the prophesies (mainly 'D' and 'E') were pretty clear (difficult to argue with). And as best we know, 'the end' or 'the coming of the Son of Man' didn't happen. We're still here! So clearly, according to YHWH's 'inspired word' (per the apostles), Jesus was literally just one more 'false prophet'. And indeed he DID die prematurely (literally within hours of one of his failed prophesies; a bonus clue!). But Wait Just a Gosh-Darn Minute. Maybe Jesus Didn't Really 'Say' Those Things! And this is what this section of the site is about: (1) Did Jesus really predict the end to occur within the lifetimes of his listeners, and (2) If indeed the prediction is 'there', did Jesus make the prediction, or did his biographers put it in his mouth? There's actually a third question (if indeed a failed-prediction was made, but Jesus didn't make it). And that is 'What's the theological significance?' The last question is kind of interesting, once you start looking at it. Anyway ... Jesus' prophesies are the subject of this section. Was he a 'false-prophet'? Next page please > |
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NOTE 1: Read 1 John 4:2: 'In this know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit that doth confess Jesus Christ in the flesh having come, of God it is.' (YLT) Here John seems to have expanded the requirements for valid prophesy. There's three new checkpoints: (1) Must 'confess' Jesus Christ, (2) That Jesus came 'in the flesh', and (3) Jesus came 'of God'. This will be important for us, since if Jesus turns out to be a 'false-prophet' (per YHWH), we're really getting ourselves into theological hot-water confessing a false-prophet and even worse that he was 'of God'. Thinking Jesus came 'in the flesh' would probably be ok. NOTE 2: If you apply YHWH's rules to Joseph Smith (of Mormonism fame), the issues are very similar to Jesus. (1) He said he spoke for God (in the last days). (2) He did 'mighty wonders' (his golden-plates translation). (3) He predicted the future (last days would be near the end of the 1800s). And of course (4) he was wrong (therefore a false-prophet per Deu 18). Interestingly enough, as a 'false-prophet', he also died prematurely as the OT promised. No wonder the good Samaritan smiled so much. |
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