Bible Believers' Newsletter 243
"We focus on the PRESENT Truth -- what Jesus is doing NOW . . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
"Christian friends, let's not be children any longer. We have no need of being children; we're adults. Quit running after this, and running after that, and joining this, and joining that. Come join your heart with the Word of God and with the Holy Spirit. That's the thing. Stand there and say, 'God, I believe You'."
I believe today with all of my heart that the Messages and the things that God has done across the nation are only to bring condemnation. Do you realize, that just across the sea yonder where a madman sits that the only thing he'd have to do in ten minutes from now to wipe Indianapolis from the earth is to press a button. A rocket would fly through the air and a hydrogen bomb, and they said they had one that would explode the whole ocean. . ." (William Branham, Faith Once Delivered to the Saints, #57-0610).
Preaching in Indiana, Brother Branham spoke these words with reference to the Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Russia which had just launched Sputnik I, the first space craft to circle the earth. But today America is the sole Superpower, and a 'madman' sits in the Whitehouse in Washington DC. America is the image of ancient Rome and Emperor George Bush II has decreed that whosoever is not with America is against her, and liable to be crushed. Jesus has prophesied that "all who refuse to kiss the hand of America in reverence (like a dog licking his master's hand) should be killed" (Revelation 13:15).
Emperor George Bush II's secret seven-nation nuclear hit list has drawn world outrage. A leaked Pentagon report has revealed 'contingency plans' to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Libya. The secret policy was denounced as "warmongering lunacy". Will he "dry up the great river Euphrates" (Revelation 16:12)?
Never in history has one nation possessed the almost absolute power America now holds, with no rivals either politically, economically or militarily. Even Britain at the height of her empire had to contend with second and third-ranking naval powers. We are very close to the consolidation of the totalitarian one world government Satan promised to Jesus if He would fall down and kiss his hand (Matthew 4:8-9). Prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes, and the denominations, if they can see it, are "afraid to speak openly for fear of the Jews."
It should be clear, even to those who wear rose-colored glasses, fly 'Old Glory,' and have an eagle nailed over their garage door and a wrecked Chev in the front yard, that the US has been set up for military destruction once she has been blinded of all faith, stripped of all morality, looted of her material wealth, and bled of the blood of her sons. In 1933, God showed Brother Branham seven consecutive visions:-
"The third vision was in the realm of world politics for it showed me there would be three great -- ISMS, Facism, Nazism, Communism, but that the first two would be swallowed up into the third. The voice admonished, "WATCH RUSSIA, WATCH RUSSIA. Keep your eye on the King of the North. The last and seventh vision was wherein I heard a most terrible explosion. As I turned to look I saw nothing but debris, craters, and smoke all over the land of America".
Communist Russia and China, which are ruled by the same 'hidden hand' that controls the United States, and were financed by the US taxpayer and established by the strength of US and British troops, are still supported by the US taxpayer, while America and the once Christian West is being weakened by policies imposed upon them by their alien rulers, the bankers. Brother Branham taught us that Romanism takes over the world, and that where Catholicism goes, Judaeo-Communism follows.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible. . . your brother-in-Christ, Anthony
Bush Planned Iraq 'Regime Change'
before becoming PresidentA secret blueprint for US global domination . . . uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice-president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W. Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, 'Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century,' was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power.
It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
The PNAC document supports a 'blueprint for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests'.
This 'American grand strategy' must be advanced for 'as far into the future as possible', the report says. It also calls for the US to 'fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars' as a 'core mission'.
The report describes American armed forces abroad as 'the cavalry on the new American frontier'. The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document written by Wolfowitz and Libby that said the United States must 'discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role'. (The International Jew).
The PNAC report also:
- refers to key allies such as the UK as 'the most effective and efficient means of exercising American global leadership';
- describes peace-keeping missions as 'demanding American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations';
- reveals worries in the administration that Europe could rival the USA;
- says 'even should Saddam pass from the scene,' bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently -- despite domestic opposition in the Gulf regimes to the stationing of US troops -- as 'Iran may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has';
- spotlights China for 'regime change' saying 'it is time to increase the presence of American forces in southeast Asia'. This, it says, may lead to 'American and allied power providing the spur to the process of democratisation in China';
- calls for the creation of 'US Space Forces', to dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent 'enemies' using the internet against the US;
- hints that, despite threatening war against Iraq for developing weapons of mass destruction, the US may consider developing biological weapons -- which the nation has banned -- in decades to come. It says: 'New methods of attack -- electronic, 'non-lethal', biological -- will be more widely available . . . combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes . . . advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool';
- and pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes and says their existence justifies the creation of a 'world-wide command-and-control system'.
Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP, father of the House of Commons and one of the leading rebel voices against war with Iraq, said:- 'This is garbage from right-wing think-tanks stuffed with chicken-hawks -- men who have never seen the horror of war but are in love with the idea of war. Men like Cheney, who were draft-dodgers in the Vietnam war.'
'This is a blueprint for US world domination - a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world. And I am appalled that a British Labour Prime Minister should have got into bed with a crew which has this moral standing.'
Comment: F.D.R. said, "If something happens in politics you can bet it was planned that way". Full story: sundayherald.com
In Iraqi War Scenario, Oil Is Key Issue:
US Drillers Eye Huge Petroleum PoolSeptember 15, 2002 -- A US-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from Iraq, scuttling oil deals between Baghdad and Russia, France and other countries, and reshuffling world petroleum markets, according to industry officials and leaders of the Iraqi opposition.
Although senior Bush administration officials say they have not begun to focus on issues involving oil and Iraq American and foreign oil companies have already begun maneuvering for a stake in the country's huge proven reserves of 112 billion barrels of crude oil -- the largest in the world outside Saudi Arabia.
The importance of Iraq's oil has made it potentially one of the administration's biggest bargaining chips in negotiations to win backing from the UN Security Council and Western allies for President Bush's call for tough international action against Hussein.
All five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- have international oil companies with major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad.
"It's pretty straightforward," said former CIA director R. James Woolsey, who has been one of the leading advocates of forcing Hussein from power. "France and Russia have oil companies and interests in Iraq. They should be told that if they are of assistance in moving Iraq toward decent government we'll do the best we can to ensure that the new government and American companies work closely with them."
But he added: "If they throw in their lot with Saddam, it will be difficult to the point of impossible to persuade the new Iraqi government to work with them."
Full story: washingtonpost.com
A Phantom Plane?
They even went so far as to state that sixty-three of the sixty-four passengers were able to be identified by their DNA -- which, as everyone knows, is destroyed at 100oC! A real achievement! -- laughs Emmanuel Ratier.
He then puts a simple question: Is there in the history of aviation a single case of a crash in which the bodies of passengers were found without any debris from the plane around?
A terrifying conclusion: the official version is a lie. Whence the agonising questions: what caused the explosion that went off at the Pentagon and led to one hundred and twenty-five deaths? What became of American Airlines Flight 77 and its sixty-four passengers? . .
The clearly established fact of a first deception at Washington leads one to ask questions about the attacks in New York. . .
How to explain that an article warning of an imminent terrorist attack by Osama bin Laden appeared on the internet site of the New York Times on 9 September but not in the paper edition, and was then withdrawn from the site to avoid embarrassing questions? . .
If it is correct, as numerous American officials claim, that the bin Laden family continues to maintain relations with Osama and to finance his political activities, then the Carlyle Group, which manages the financial investments of the Saudi Binladen companies, would necessarily be implicated in the insider dealings. George Bush senior would therefore be one of the fortunate beneficiaries of the manipulations of 11 September 2001. A good reason for the FBI and IOSCO to close down the financial wing of the inquiry. . .
Full story: crc-internet.org
The End of Empire
September 5, 2002 -- The imperial ambitions of the Bush Administration, post-9/11, are founded on quicksand and are eventually sure to founder, but for fundamental reasons not currently under discussion. Bush's open-ended claims for US power -- including the unilateral right to invade and occupy "failed states" to execute "regime change" -- offend international law and are prerogatives associated only with empire. But Bush's greater vulnerability is money. You can't sustain an empire from a debtor's weakening position -- sooner or later the creditors pull the plug. That humiliating lesson was learned by Great Britain early in the last century, and the United States faces a similar reckoning ahead.
The US financial position is rapidly deteriorating, due mainly to America's persistent and growing trade deficit. US ambitions to run the world in other words are heavily mortgaged and like any debtor who borrows more year after year with no plausible way to reverse the trend, a nation sinking deeper into debt enters into an adverse power relationship with its creditors -- greater and greater dependency.
Comment: America's antics are weakening the nation for Judaeo-Communist takeover as prescribed by The Protocols. Full story: thenation.com thenation.com
General Patton's Warning
At the end of World War II, one of America's top military leaders accurately assessed the shift in the balance of world power that war the had produced and foresaw the enormous danger of communist aggression against the West. Alone among US leaders he warned that America should act immediately, while her supremacy was unchallengeable, to end that danger. Unfortunately, his warning went unheeded, and he was quickly silenced by a convenient "accident" which took his life. Full story: jeffsarchive.com
German Gold Purchases
The Bundesbank suddenly acquired massive gold reserves, just as the euro was launched in the first quarter of 1999. The gold amassed, both in terms of its physical size and of its value (national valuation basis) is more than enough with which unilaterally to introduce a gold-backed 'new deutsche mark' -- in contrast to the US dollar, which is NOT backed by gold" (Economic Intelligence Review, March 2000).
Comment: Is the United States going to offset what it lacks in yellow gold by looting black gold from the Arabs?
Federal Reserve Abolition Act -- HR5356
September 10, 2002 -- Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), a physician, introduced a bill, HR5356 to congress asking for the abolition of the Federal Reserve System and a return to the US Treasury System.
Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy. The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the Federal Government to erode Americans' living standard via an inflationary monetary policy.
In fact, Congress' constitutional mandate regarding monetary policy should only permit currency backed by stable commodities like silver and gold to be used as legal tender. Therefore, abolishing the Fed and returning to a constitutional system will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our Nation's founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold. (See the attached article by Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute. It explains the benefits of abolishing the Federal Reserve and restoring the gold standard).
Full story: mygov.governmentguide.com
City Can't Invoke Jesus in Prayer
Los Angeles September 10, 2002 -- A California Appeals Court ruled that officials in a Los Angeles suburb cannot begin meetings with prayers invoking Jesus Christ, saying that doing so amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity over other religions.
The suit was brought by two men who were in attendance that night -- including Jewish Defense League head Irv Rubin, who has since been jailed on charges of plotting to bomb a mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican of Lebanese Christian descent. Full story: yahoo.com
If any Man Thirst, Let Him Come unto Me, and Drink
When Messiah came to redeem Israel, the Hebrew people and later Gentile believers were "afraid to speak openly for fear of the Jews." Now that we are at the very close of the Gentile dispensation, following which Messiah will reveal Himself to 144,000 elect Hebrews in Israel, the Gentile people and the Hebrews are "afraid to speak openly for fear of the Jews." We are going to study some of the events recorded in John 5-8 and consider their significance as natural types of Spiritual antitypes of this very persecution. Please follow in your own Bible.
The enthusiasm of the Galilean Hebrew populace for Jesus brought out by John is in stark contrast with the antagonism of the Jews, who, having sought to ensnare Him in Jerusalem, caused His return to Galilee (John 5:10-16; 6:1). Their Edomite brother Herod Antipas, had executed John the Baptist and was taking measures to bring Jesus before him for interrogation. When Jesus heard this report He took a ship with His disciples, probably from Tiberius, to a remote place near Bethsaida on the eastern shore of Galilee to restore them from the distress of this depressing news which had swamped the enthusiasm their first mission had engendered (Matthew 14:13).
Jesus sent seventy disciples in addition to His closer twelve to forerun the planned route of His campaign of ministry (Luke 10:1-22). The miraculous feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fishes persuaded many witnesses to believe in Him as their Messiah, and want to press Him in triumphal procession to Zion; but He escaped to the solitude of a mountain alone (Deuteronomy 18:15; John 6:14-15).
When darkness began to descend, the disciples entered a ship but found themselves on an involuntary course, driven by a fearful storm. Christ wished to join them at a solitary place unseen by the people, but driven by a gale, the disciples rowed three to four miles against an angry sea and were unable to take Him up according to the original plan. From the mountaintop Jesus saw them straining against the wind and waves (Mark 6:48). Now between three and six in the morning, when they were still in the midst of the lake, they saw something walking upon the sea; as it came closer they could see it was a man and cried out for fear supposing it to be a spirit. Then Jesus spoke saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid".
The following morning crowds began gathering back on the eastern shore to see Jesus for they knew that He and His disciples had come over together and had seen them go off in their own boat, leaving Him behind. And several small boats from Tiberias were nearby, so when the people saw that Jesus was not there, they boarded the boats and sailed across to Capernaum, His home town, to look for Him, (hoping for a free 'created' meal). Some of them even asked Him how they too might make food, for their expectations were sensual, fastened selfishly on the eating of the loaves. Jesus chided them for failing to perceive a Spiritual purpose behind all of the miracles, telling them: "Your responsibility is to believe on Him Whom God has sent" (John 6:1-29; Deuteronomy 18:15; Matthew 6:33).
Here is where the Pentecostal types fail. Like the Seventy apostles, they want to see signs, physical manifestations and miraculous works, affirming over and again, God is able. Here we have Jesus' admonition that the 'work' of God's people is to believe on Him Whom He has sent, and to understand the Spiritual significance behind the works He has already accomplished.
When Jesus was invited to deliver some words of exhortation following the service in the synagogue at Capernaum, he chose to speak on the bread which perishes and the living Bread, explaining how the manna with which God had fed their fathers naturally and the miraculous feeding of the multitude the previous afternoon were types of Himself, Who is also manifested Word and the true Bread from heaven that brings eternal Life to all who become one with It as the Israelites became one with the lamb they sacrificed and ate each Passover. Another type.
However these "Jews" reasoned among themselves, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat"? But they were so carnal, that their striving against one another was not over the interpretation of Christ's Word, but over the offensiveness of it. Now Jesus, in order to sift the elect from the carnal and thin out the crowds, instead of explaining, declares in still bolder language, "except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no eternal Life in you, and will have no part in the resurrection". ("Your fathers ate natural manna in the wilderness are everyone lost" -- John 7:49; Psalm 68:28).
When they had heard His Words, although the Seventy had cast out demons in His Name, they could not see the Spiritual antitype Jesus was. So Jesus, Who spoke for all ages, tried them further, saying: "If this offends you, what will you think if you see Me return to heaven again? Only the Spirit can give eternal Life. Those once born of mortal flesh alone will never receive eternal Life (John 3:3). You must partake or eat My Words in order to obtain Spiritual Life, for My Words are Spirit, and they are Life. But some of you do not believe My Words. For Jesus knew from the time He had chosen them, which were the carnal believers, and who should betray Him. And from that time the Seventy ceased to follow Him because the understanding of His Words was not given them of the Spirit" (Matthew 11:25-27).
Then Jesus said to the Twelve, "Will you also go away"?
Speaking in their behalf Peter says emphatically, "Master, to whom shall we go? You alone have the Words of eternal Life, and we believe them and know that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).
Then, meaning Judas who would betray Him, Jesus said, "I chose twelve of you, and one of you is a devil" (John 6:1-71). This is a far stronger description than the expression, "sons," or "children of the Devil".
Aside from Jesus, Judas Iscariot was the only member of the Tribe of Judah among the Thirteen. There are some believers who claim Judas was physical Serpent's seed, but Jesus said that his name was on the Book of Life. Therefore he was in Adam's race, but was the seed of discrepancy, or spiritual serpent's seed.
Notice that these murmurers were all Jews, or residents of the Roman Province of Judea, regardless of race or religion. And "after these things Jesus walked in Galilee (which was ruled mildly by Philip, a son of Herod the Great, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas who ruled Judea): for He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him" (John 7:1). And it was "for fear of the Jews" that He did not go up to Jerusalem for the Passover that year (John 6:4), because the festal caravan of the Galileans proposed to make Him a king while the Jews sought to kill Him, so He spent about seven consecutive months in Galilee until the Feast of Tabernacles when He went up to Jerusalem independently of the caravans (John 7:2-10).
Jesus did not fear the Hebrew residents of Galilee, whatever their tribe. He feared the "Jews" who were a largely hybrid race of non-Semitic peoples following John Hyrcanus' forced assimilation of the accursed Edomites who were largely physical Serpent's seed descendants of Esau who had sworn to destroy the descendants of Jacob and recover the birthright (Genesis 27:39-41).
In an article on "Edom", the Jewish Encyclopaedia reports: "(In 163BC) Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time. They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (about 125 BC), by whom they were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws. They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country called by the Greeks and Romans, "Idumea." With Antipater began the Idumean dynasty that ruled Judea till its conquest by the Romans . . . From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people . . ."
One hundred years before Christ, Judah was inhabited by Edomites and Hebrews, both following Talmudic Judaism, seemingly having healed the breach between Jacob and Esau. But the Edomites proved to be a discordant element. And in 37BC, Herod the Great (74-4BC), an Idumean or Edomite whose wife Mariamne was a Maccabean, became at the age of 36, undisputed ruler of Judea. The Pharisees gained ascendancy over the Sadducees, and Edomites were numerous in the population at the time of Christ.
Esau and his self-styled "Jew" descendants are a type of denominational believers throughout the Church Ages who claim to be Christians born of faith in the Word of Jesus but are born of flesh alone and without a true revelation as the Edomites are "Jews" in name only and not by blood (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).
Judas Iscariot was a make-believer. Judas types the pope of Rome who outwardly identifies with Jesus Christ and the early saints to the very end. Whereas Judas was the most trusted among the disciples since he was their treasurer (and a thief), the pope holds the keys to the treasures of the wealthiest religious system on earth, plus a library of repressed knowledge stolen from public view. As Satan incarnate Judas to betray and destroy our Lord, he will incarnate the pope to betray and martyr 144,000 elect Hebrews, the foolish virgin, and other classes of the "saved".
Why are these things being disclosed at this time? Because Jesus said, "Let both the wheat and tares grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn".
The season of Church growth ended with Laodicea in 1963. We live in the harvest when all of the plants are dead and the life of the seed having reproduced itself in the fruit can no longer pretend to be what it is not (Matthew 7:20).
God's law of reproduction states that "everything brings forth of its own kind whose seed is in itself" (Genesis 1:11). This explains why the Baptist message can only produce more Baptists, Methodist seed more Methodists, and Pentecostal seed more Pentecostals. But the Word for the hour will bring forth Christ every time: Christians!
In John 7 we learn that the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand and Jesus' four brothers in the flesh, James, Joses, Simeon and Judas who acted as His guardians and advisors, (not the apostles of like names), were still hoping that by a public appearance in Jerusalem He might carry the nation with Him and become a glorious Messiah. And they were correct in assuming that a Messiah could not complete his vindication outside Judea and Jerusalem. But in not submitting themselves to Jesus' wisdom and determined course of action, their unbelief was a want of confidence in Him at this time (Acts 1:14). (As the virgin Mary in Mark 3:31, Peter in Matthew 16:22, and Thomas in John 20:25). It would seem that the Nazarines were characteristically a skeptical people (John 4:44).
Declaring Jesus could not be a public figure when his works were in secret, they sought to persuade Him to go to Judea. But He would not travel openly with the caravan "for fear of the Jews" who sought to kill Him before the time of His public revelation on Palm Sunday the following year. Neither did He confide His plans to them but traveled alone after their departure, and made His appearance at the feast, not in the character of a festal pilgrim, but as a prophet coming forth from concealment to the feast to point out the insufficiency of the festal symbols in contrast with their fulfilment in His person.
"The hostile Jews sought Him at the feast, (to continue to death the persecution begun in John 5), and said, Where is that man?" To this today their kinsmen call our Lord Jesus Christ "That man" as a term of derision, not naming Him. "And no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews".
Now about the middle of the week, (when the 144,000 will catch this revelation), Jesus went up into the temple and He taught concerning the Feast, that it was a natural type of a Spiritual antitype. His hierarchical opponents, probably members of the Sanhedrin, objected to the fact that Jesus had not been promoted to the rank of a rabbi and marveled at His knowledge of books and gift of teaching but were unprepared to acknowledge anyone not endorsed by the denominational system.
"Jesus never quotes from books, except the Old Testament. He never refers to secular history, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, foreign languages, natural sciences or any of those branches of knowledge which make up human learning and literature. Jesus confined Himself strictly to religion. But, from that centre, He shed Light over the whole world of man and nature. In this department unlike all other great men, even the prophets and apostles, He was absolutely original and independent. He taught the world as one who had learned nothing from it, and was under no obligation to it. He speaks from Divine intuition, as one Who not only knows the truth, but is the truth; and with an authority that commands absolute submission, or provokes rebellion, but can never be passed with such contempt or indifference" (Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ, p. 34).
John 7:15-19, "How can He know so much when he has never attended yeshiva?"
"So Jesus told them, I am not teaching you My own thoughts, but the mind of God Who sent Me. If any man truly determines to do His will, he shall know THUS SAITH THE LORD, whether the doctrine is from God, or merely My own. He who presents his own ideas is seeking praise for himself, but one who is seeking only to glorify the one who sent him is a trustworthy and true person, and there is no unrighteousness in him."
Having established the righteousness of such a man, Jesus changes from the defensive to the offensive in order to expose the Jew's hidden plan to kill Him, and make it a subject of conversation before all the people in the temple. Quoting their highest authority, knowing that "he who breaks one commandment transgresses the whole Law" (James 2:10), He asks, "Did not Moses give you the Law? Yet none of you obeys the Law (because there is within you no true striving to do the will of God), so why do you condemn and seek to kill Me" contrary to the Law (Exodus 20:13)?
The hierarchical Judaists were speechless under this charge, because they considered it dangerous to have their plan so soon canvassed before the people. But their silence is a malicious reserve. "They of Jerusalem" who speak in verse 25, and who are aware of the conspiracy which had already become notorious in Jerusalem, hold their peace. The festal pilgrims, however, being ignorant of the designs of the hierarchy, take Jesus' accusation as against themselves, thinking it wholly unfounded, and sympathise with this Man Who is otherwise so able and devout, thinking He has been deluded by a demon, and is paranoid. But Jesus has determined to expose the inquisitorial conduct of the Jewish hierarchy and the unconscious complicity of the laity in their conspiracy.
"Jesus answered, You mean to say that for this one work of healing and commanding a man on the sabbath day to carry his bed, which was needful (John 5:1-19), but in your own view breached the Law, you would dismiss the abundance of Divine vindication?"
He proceeds to prove to them from their own Law that it is indeed good to heal a man on the sabbath. He accuses them all for failing to keep the Law, and the Levites in particular for circumcising on the sabbath which is not needful, particularly as circumcision was only a patriarchal law Moses confirmed, but which they have made so weighty as to suspend the sabbath and override the Law of Moses by circumcising a man in order to observe it (Exodus 20:8-11). He argues that if circumcision symbolically makes a man whole on the sabbath, surely a higher command is fulfilled when a man who is actually diseased is made perfectly whole on the sabbath, as enjoined in the commandment: "You shall not kill."
"Jesus admonished them, Don't Judge according to outward appearances, but according to spiritual revelation."
"They of Jerusalem, (who were informed), openly yet without directly naming any of the conspirators, confirm Jesus' accusation, Isn't this He, Whom they seek to kill? He speaks boldly, yet they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed this is the very Messiah? Then the Pharisees and chief priests sent the temple police to arrest Him".
As the hierarchy earlier disdained Jesus for his lack of education in the heretical Talmudic interpretations and yeshivot graduation, these men of Jerusalem criticize him on account of His humble origins.
John 7:27, "How could this be Messiah, for we know where this man was born; but when Messiah comes, He will just appear and no one will know whence He came."
"Jesus then cried out in the Temple as He taught, Yes, indeed you know Me, and where I was born and raised, but I represent the One you don't know, and He is the Truth."
With their legalistic spirit, the Jews live only in symbols, figures and distinctions of rank; these Jerusalemites doubly so. Theirs was a painted religion, painted sins, painted forgiveness, a painted nobility of lineage, a painted God. The real, living God, Who sent the real living Christ, they do not know. Hence they could not know whence He was sent. As the Prophet said, 'You can't get warm by a painted fire'.
"In contrast to their ignorance Jesus says, But I do know Him. Then the Jerusalemites sought to seize Him, showing themselves to be carnal Judaists, but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on Him in a double-minded fashion, saying, When Messiah comes, will He do more miracles than this man has done?"
Hearing this sly murmuring of the people which betrayed an inclination to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, the Pharisees and the chief priests order His official arrest by the temple police. But neither could they lay hands upon Him, because so many believed Him to be the Messiah.
"In the last (or eighth) day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water' (Isaiah 12:3). (But He spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given (for regeneration); because Jesus was not yet glorified)."
In the mornings during the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, a priest taking a large golden pitcher drew water from the spring of Siloam which flowed from the belly of temple mountain, and brought it into the temple. It was mingled with sacrificial wine and poured over the sacrifice at the altar through two perforated dishes to the accompanying sound of cymbals and trumpets and the singing of the Words of Isaiah 12:3: "With joy shall you receive the new doctrine from the chosen righteous," as paraphrased by Rabbi Jonathan: one rabbi with a revelation of God.
This ceremony was a memorial of the miraculous springs which God opened for the people on their pilgrimage through the wilderness. However, because the eighth day marked their entrance into Canaan, the water drawing ceased. This last feast day of the year was a holy convocation. On this day the springs of the Promised Land gave living waters to the people as a type of the streams of spiritual blessing or new birth God promised to Israel's elect when 144,000 will overcome and be born-again in one day (of mourning and joy), in the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week prior to entering the eternal Land of the Millennium. This is confirmed by Isaiah 12:1-6 and this revelation was "new doctrine" to which Jesus was referring, openly presenting Himself as the personal object and fount of saving faith.
The invitation given first to the Samaritan prostitute at Jacob's well (John 4:26), is here extended to all those at the great feast in Jerusalem who should be born-again from the coming day of Pentecost; and renewed to all who receive Christ through the ministry of His end-time Bride. "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'. And let him that hears say, 'Come'. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of Life freely" (Revelation 10:8-11; 22:17).
The temple at Jerusalem with its pool of Siloam was a type of God's true Temple which is Jesus Christ and His Bride. The smitten Rock at Rephidim was a type of Christ; whereas it brought forth waters to sustain Israel's natural life, when He was smitten, the Holy Spirit came forth to give eternal Life to all who drink of It. Siloam means 'sent,' as Messiah was 'sent' of the Father as Kinsman Redeemer to redeem Adam's race so that He could marry His Gentile Bride (Luke 4:18; John 10:36).
Water for the ashes of the red heifer was also taken from Siloam to make the "waters of separation" which signify faith or Spiritual understanding that separates one from sin. As Siloam sends its waters to gently refresh, heal and fertilize 'the King's garden' which was without the city (and is still the greenest spot about Jerusalem, abounding in olives, figs, and pomegranates), so "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowed out of the throne of God and out of the Lamb, through the midddle of the City, and on either side of the river, the tree of Life with its twelve varieties of fruit, yields its fresh crop each month: and their leaves are emblematic of the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:1-2; 2:9). This is "the King's Garden," and the trees of Life are God's elect (Isaiah 53:10).
For seven Church Ages Israel has been blinded to God's Word, as Isaiah 6:10 said. Since they rejected Jesus' invitation to receive Living waters of the Spirit, "the times of refreshing came from the Presence of the Lord" upon the (initially Hebrew, but primarily Gentile) New Testament Church (Acts 3:19), and these spiritual vagrants, finding no rest for their souls, have wandered among the Gentiles in punishment for their sin of rejecting and murdering Messiah, like their forefathers lived in booths forty years in punishment for their sin of withstanding Moses' Word. But there's coming an eighth day which will close the cycle of annual feasts, and their elect will join Messiah and the saints of all ages in a Millennium of peace, (in foretaste of the true eternal eighth day in the restored heavens and earth).
"When the people heard Jesus offer this living Water, some of them declared, This is the Prophet (of Deuteronomy 18:15), our Messiah. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? For the Scriptures state that Christ will be born of the seed of David in the town of Bethlehem, where David was born."
They all could see that Jesus was a prophet, but some could not believe Him to be their Messiah, because they supposed Him to be a native of Galilee, and were too slothful to "prove all things." To thin down the crowd, Jesus made no effort to correct their error. You can't teach Pentecostal babies supernatural things (Matthew 7:6).
"So there was a division among the people because of Him. And some of them who were His adversaries would have arrested Him; but no man laid hands on Him."
These adversaries were probably the officers who as a secret police had mingled with the people, for at no point is it mentioned that they showed themselves openly; and such an arrangement would correspond with the scrupulous nature of the Sanhedrists as we have seen in every Judaeo-Communist colony. The world-wide Intelligence services of the City of London -- MI6; KGB; CIA: Stasi; MOSSAD, etc., even the ADL has been a secret police of formidable power in the United States for the past sixty years. The same fanaticism is exhibited in the persistent plotting of their "think tanks" such as the RIIA, CFR, Brookings, Hudson, and Aspen Institutes, Trilateralists, Bilderbergers, Mont Pelerin Society, etc.,
"When the officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees, they demanded of these temple police, Why haven't you brought Him in?"
"The officers replied, He says such wonderful things. We've never heard anything like it."
"Are you also deceived? The Pharisees mocked. I'll guarantee you won't find any of our Jewish rulers or Pharisees who believe He is the Messiah. This stupid rabble that doesn't know the Law are contemptible and cursed."
This testimony proves that it was the chief priests and the great orthodox Jewish party who were and continue to this day, stupid and accursed, since the Words of Messiah take no wholesome effect upon them (Mark 7:13). They have cursed and threatened to excommunicate those entrusted to their oversight and the devout pilgrims to Jerusalem, as a cunning means of intimidating the officers and of seducing them to exalt themselves likewise in hierarchical haughtiness above the people.
The hierarchical insolence and theological self-conceit of these bigoted Sanhedrists and Pharisees who would pass themselves off as the supreme authority as to Truth confirms the Words of Jesus in John 7:18:- "He who presents his own ideas is seeking praise for himself, but one seeking only to glorify the one who sent him is a trustworthy and true person, and there is no unrighteousness in him".
The nicolaitanes always think, judge and expect of the people in all cases -- a laic ignorance -- that in special cases they may cast up against them as a reproach. But whilst these masters of the "master race" are on their way to put Messiah to death, as they pretend according to the Law, as a false prophet, the people whom they have ridiculed and cursed are on their way to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah (Matthew 23:13-23).
"Jesus said, I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25; I Corinthians 1:25-29). On another occasion, when the rulers and elders of Israel encountered Jesus' disciples they saw that they were obviously "ignorant and unlearned non-professional ministers, and marveled, realizing what being with Jesus had done for them" (Acts 4:13).
This aristocratic contempt of the people is found everywhere in church and state. And when we look carefully at the Roman Catholic church we see an impersonation of the Israelitish high priest, temple worship, and the heathen nature of their Babylonian Talmud.
Then Nicodemus, (who after nearly three year's absence from the history, is still stirred in his heart by our Lord's teachings), spoke up. (We remember him from chapter three where he came to Jesus by night -- secretly, "for fear of the Jews"). Since John knew the high priest (John 18:15), his knowledge of Nicodemus among the high priest's associates was natural.
Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin and a Pharisee who did believe, and spoke in favor of Jesus. Whereas the other members of the Sanhedrin had condemned the people for their ignorance of the Law, Nicodemus wishing to stress the necessity of an objective hearing for a pure judgment, points out to these fanatical zealots that it is they who are acting unlawfully (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:16; 19:15).
"Does our Law judge any man with out giving him a hearing to learn what he has done?"
They answered him with sarcasm and a threat, "Are you also of Galilee" (and not really our honorable colleague)?
Galilee was despised for its remoteness from the centre of Jewish culture -- 'The Galilean is a blockhead,' says the Talmud authority -- and for its mixed heathen population.
"Search, and see for yourself: that no prophet will rise to prominence from Galilee. Then the meeting broke up and everyone went home" -- the Sanhedrists failing to accomplish their purpose -- while Jesus spent the night in the mount of Olives as appears to have been His custom (Luke 21:37).
Like the vindictive hatred expressed in their ongoing hostility against the Palestinians and the unlimited warfare they are threatening against Iraq and the whole world, these words again are characteristic of their blind, raging unconscionable zeal, that despises all things Divine and human, and does great violence to history. Jonah and Elijah, and perhaps even Hosea and Nahum were of Galilee. Nicodemus was one elder who had "searched."
The Talmud tells of a "Nakdimon b. Gorion," or "Nicodemon," Nicodemus ben Gorion: one of the three wealthiest men in Jerusalem in the days of the siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus (Kethuboth 65a; v. Git. 58a). A Pharisee, wealthy, pious, and of the Sanhedrin; bearing originally a name borne by one of the five rabbinical disciples of Christ (Ta'anith, f. 19, Sanhedrin f. 43); and that his family fell into squalid poverty". One wonders how, not why? . . . never forgive, never forget.
Because the religious leaders now make as if they would acknowledge Him, at dawn the following day Jesus returned to the temple in spite of the persecution. Now the scribes are mentioned along with the Pharisees because a point of Scriptural Law is going to be decided. And here the remaining mass of festal pilgrims gathered to hear Him teach. But the scribes and Pharisees, having failed in their attempt to have Jesus arrested because even their temple police were half persuaded (John 7:32,45), begin a fresh attack and proceed to tempt Him in judgment against a woman found in adultery -- "caught in the very act" -- to see whether He will officially declare Himself as Messiah and express His authority with reference to the Law of Moses and lay down a new law. Israel's spiritual leaders should have known that no prophet can contradict the Word of another prophet. Clearly God had hardened the hearts of these priests and rulers as He had hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
As the death penalty was required the Sanhedrin were involved, and in concert with the zealots who had taken the woman in her crime and would witness against her. Now they deferred their judgment to the Lord. As Roman Law did not punish adultery with death, if He should declare Himself for Moses against the Roman law they could accuse Him to the Federal authority, while a negative answer would appear to contradict Moses.
"Jesus ignored their question, and stooping down, wrote in the dust with his finger." The act was a familiar gesture in antiquity representative of deep musing, and Jesus intended to express His inattention to their insistent questioning since He had not yet received His distinct introduction as Messiah in Jerusalem by their public hosanna. So now he abstains from any official offer of Himself as Messiah, and indeed intends not to appear at all like a Messiah, according to their idea. And as this matter is in suspense, He leaves His position towards their question in suspense, assuming the attitude of calm majesty that is not at all pleased to have its leisure intruded upon by a street scandal. If they really take Him for Messiah, they must consent to this.
According to Deuteronomy 17:7, the witnesses were to cast the first stone. So when eventually Jesus breaks the suspense, slowly raising Himself and announcing, "He that is Levitically clean, let him begin the execution," the tension in the atmosphere only rises, because here "the first stone" must be cast by the witness who will have the courage to condemn as being himself innocent.
The theocratic penalty for death stood for eternal separation. "Whosoever shall keep the whole Law, yet offend in one point, is guilty of all" (James 2:10: Deuteronomy 12:32; Galatians 3:10). So everyone under the Old Testament was liable to damnation as Jesus had stated the previous day (John 7:19), although there was the capacity for salvation.
Having spoken, Jesus returned to His symbolic recreation, doodling in the sand, that they may understand that it now rests with them as to how they must act, "their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another" (Romans 2:15-16). Jesus is discharged of the matter. And as He has previously not looked nor glanced at the woman in her consciousness of guilt, so He now does the same with them, leaving them room to escape without additional "loss of face".
"And being convicted by their own conscience, they retreated one by one, beginning at the eldest, the people staring at them," their long robes and broad phylacteries not quite so imposing as when they came in. Court has adjourned. There has been a conviction, not of the accused, but of the accusers, and they, self-convicted, not daring to look the Judge in the face, Who could discern the thoughts and intents of their heart.
Only the accusers had departed leaving Jesus alone, the woman standing in the midst of the disciples and onlookers. Raising Himself once more, and seeing none of the witnesses present, Jesus said, "Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?"
"She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more".
John 3:17, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." The woman's guilt could not be established except by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
Matthew 18:11, "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost".
John 1:11, "Jesus came to His own, and His own received Him not." Yet He had first to redeem Israel before He could marry His Gentile Bride (as typed in the Book of Ruth).
This adulterous woman who was forgiven and whom the "Jews" would stone to death represents the 144,000 elect Israelites. Small wonder they "sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Your ways, Jesus, You King of saints. Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your Name? for You alone are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before You; for Your judgments are made manifest". (Revelation 15:3-4; Deuteronomy 32:43 Sept.). nl243.htm
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Brother Anthony Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister. He has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
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