By William Riley
Olive Tree Ministries
ot.waxahachie@yahoo.com
Q. In past columns you have stated that the beginning of Day of the Lord (Millennium) will occur on Rosh Ha Shanah year 6001 after creation. It is currently 5767 on the Hebrew calendar. Does that mean that the millennium will not start for approximately 234 years?
A. The Hebrew calendar is not an exact accounting of the years from creation. In the book called “Seder Olam Rabbah” which means the “Great Book of the World” it says that when chronicling the years they did not count the years of the Persian kings not mentioned in the Scriptures. There are only four mentioned. As a result, there is approximately 210 to 250 years not included in the years. If you take the minimum number of 210 and add it to the current year 5767 you have 5977 and any number after that could put us right up to the year 6000 so we are closer than what the calendar says.
There are other sources to verify this information like the Artscroll Yom Kippur Machzor p. 336-337, Mesorah Publications “History of the Jewish People” p. 211-212, the Artscroll Tanach “Bereshit” p.357 and the genealogies of the Bible itself all testify to the fact that we are very close to the end of the 6000 years from creation. God gave a blueprint for the history of man in Genesis chapter 1-2. He makes the world in 6 days and rests on the seventh. This is the pattern we are to follow by working the first through the sixth day (Sunday through Friday) and resting on the seventh day, which is Saturday. By doing this God says we acknowledge Him as creator, and it is an eschatological picture. Man-made traditions have hidden this picture over the years and that is why these articles have consistently tried to get the truth of God’s word out to those that hear. The six days of creation were seen in the first century as 6000 years based on Psalm 90.4. Peter reinforces this idea in his epistle so this idea is nothing new.
Paul uses this idea of a “Sabbath rest” to teach the idea that a believer has spiritual rest in the Messiah, based on the literal seventh day weekly Sabbath which he kept all his life and taught others to do, unlike modern day teachers who teach it has been “done away with.” He also talks about a literal “day” (1000 years) of the Lord which is known as the “Millennium” by many prophecy students. When the 6000 years from creation is complete, earth will enter the seventh day. Biblical days begin at sundown, or darkness. This “Day of the Lord” will also begin in “darkness” called the “Birth-pains of the Messiah” or the tribulation period. There is much more to this as you can see but there is no inconsistency in the years on the Hebrew calendar and Jewish history, there was just a certain way it was calculated.
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upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
1 Corinthians 10:11 (NASB95)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Two Witnesses & the AntiChrist
By William Riley
Olive Tree Ministries
Q. Do you believe the two witnesses and the false messiah are alive right now?
A. I’m going to answer in two ways, one in a spiritual sense and the other literally. Spiritually, the two witnesses are “alive” in that the Torah and the prophets are witnessing to us everyday. It doesn’t even depend on whether a person reads them or even believes them. They are a witness today (Psalm 40.7, John 5.39-47, Luke 24.27, Rom 3.21) and are personified in Moses (Law) and Elijah (prophets). These two appeared with Yeshua at the transfiguration because they testify of Him, and still do. That is why the doctrine that the Law has been “done away with” is so dangerous because to say that means the prophets have bee done away with also, and that is just as false as can be. But, let’s say the Law has been done away with.
That leaves only the prophets and one witness, and that is not enough to establish anything according to the Lord, so again there are problems. Now, let’s take the literal aspect of this. In prophecy, there will be two witnesses. God has always had two witnesses in earthly events, especially significant ones. You had Moses and Aaron, Zerubbabel and Joshua (Yeshua), Yeshua and John and so on. When the world enters the Birth-pains of the Messiah (Mt 24.8) there will be two witnesses (Rev 11). People have tried to identify them as Moses and Elijah but they won’t literally be them, having come back from the dead. They will be two individuals who will come in the spirit and power of Moses and Elijah, but they don’t have to be them literally.
For example, when Yeshua came the first time he said that John the Baptist “was Elijah” (Mt 11.14). Well, we know he really wasn’t Elijah and John said so himself (John 1.21). In Luke 1.17 John’s father Zechariah was told that his son will come in the “spirit and power of Elijah” and Yeshua confirmed that. So, the two witnesses during the birth-pains will be two individuals God will anoint in the same way he did Moses and Elijah, who personify the Law and the Prophets.
In other words, the two witnesses will be teaching the Law and the Prophets and saying the same thing the Scriptures say. Those that believe the Law has been done away with will never listen to them because they don’t believe Moses or the Prophets (John 5.46-47). Now to your original question. I personally believe we are approaching the Tribulation period (birth-pains) and we are very close. It is very possible that the two witnesses are alive right now, and the false messiah as well. There is no point in trying to identify them because nobody knows so everything is just pointless speculation. However, the teachings of the two witnesses are already in the world through the Torah (law) and the prophets and the teaching of the false messiah is in the world also through the doctrine of “we are free from the Law” and “the Law has been done away with” and so on. This is called lawlessness and the man of lawlessness (no Torah) will persecute those who keep the commandments of God (Rev 12.17).
Olive Tree Ministries
Q. Do you believe the two witnesses and the false messiah are alive right now?
A. I’m going to answer in two ways, one in a spiritual sense and the other literally. Spiritually, the two witnesses are “alive” in that the Torah and the prophets are witnessing to us everyday. It doesn’t even depend on whether a person reads them or even believes them. They are a witness today (Psalm 40.7, John 5.39-47, Luke 24.27, Rom 3.21) and are personified in Moses (Law) and Elijah (prophets). These two appeared with Yeshua at the transfiguration because they testify of Him, and still do. That is why the doctrine that the Law has been “done away with” is so dangerous because to say that means the prophets have bee done away with also, and that is just as false as can be. But, let’s say the Law has been done away with.
That leaves only the prophets and one witness, and that is not enough to establish anything according to the Lord, so again there are problems. Now, let’s take the literal aspect of this. In prophecy, there will be two witnesses. God has always had two witnesses in earthly events, especially significant ones. You had Moses and Aaron, Zerubbabel and Joshua (Yeshua), Yeshua and John and so on. When the world enters the Birth-pains of the Messiah (Mt 24.8) there will be two witnesses (Rev 11). People have tried to identify them as Moses and Elijah but they won’t literally be them, having come back from the dead. They will be two individuals who will come in the spirit and power of Moses and Elijah, but they don’t have to be them literally.
For example, when Yeshua came the first time he said that John the Baptist “was Elijah” (Mt 11.14). Well, we know he really wasn’t Elijah and John said so himself (John 1.21). In Luke 1.17 John’s father Zechariah was told that his son will come in the “spirit and power of Elijah” and Yeshua confirmed that. So, the two witnesses during the birth-pains will be two individuals God will anoint in the same way he did Moses and Elijah, who personify the Law and the Prophets.
In other words, the two witnesses will be teaching the Law and the Prophets and saying the same thing the Scriptures say. Those that believe the Law has been done away with will never listen to them because they don’t believe Moses or the Prophets (John 5.46-47). Now to your original question. I personally believe we are approaching the Tribulation period (birth-pains) and we are very close. It is very possible that the two witnesses are alive right now, and the false messiah as well. There is no point in trying to identify them because nobody knows so everything is just pointless speculation. However, the teachings of the two witnesses are already in the world through the Torah (law) and the prophets and the teaching of the false messiah is in the world also through the doctrine of “we are free from the Law” and “the Law has been done away with” and so on. This is called lawlessness and the man of lawlessness (no Torah) will persecute those who keep the commandments of God (Rev 12.17).
Monday, February 12, 2007
Paul's Letters Quoted by Untaught, Distorted Christians
By William Riley
Olive Tree Ministries
ot.waxahachie@yahoo.com
Q. Why do Christians continuously quote Paul to back up their views when Paul was through and through a Torah-observant Jew?
A. Peter answered this question in 2 Pet. 3.15-16 when he said that Paul’s letters were hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. Paul kept the Torah commandments, the Sabbath and biblical festivals, ate biblically allowed meat, performed animal sacrifices in the Temple in keeping with a Nazarite vow (Acts 21) and other commandments. He hardly taught what is taught today in Christianity, in fact if he did he would have a false prophet. Every writer of the New Testament was Torah-observant and taught their people to do the same. Remember they were a sect of Judaism in the first century so that tells you they never taught otherwise.
Christian theology about the above mentioned commandments is nothing new. False prophets in the first century were already trying to distort the Torah. But after several hundred years of effort, the false prophets finally succeeded and a new official “faith” emerged out of the Council of Nicea, presided over by a sun-worshipping emperor named Constantine. He said that one of the main reasons for the council was to “root out the last vestiges of Judaism,” and they did. So, far from having “Jewish roots” Christianity would be better known as “Constantinian Christianity” because he was the founding father of much of what is seen today. Paul would hardly recognize the faith today and would have never approved of it and would be highly agitated by the way his words have been perverted.
Q. Were roosters allowed in Jerusalem and if not can you explain Mt. 26.75?
A. Roosters were not allowed in Jerusalem for a variety of reasons, most of which involved Temple purity laws. There are many references to this in Jewish publications, prayer books and the Talmud. In the book by Alfred Edersheim called “The life and times of Jesus the Messiah” on page 844 it also refers to this custom. The term in Hebrew for rooster is “gever” but it also is used for the Temple crier who called the people, the priests and the Levites to the worship service. It was this man Yeshua made reference to when he told Peter that before the “cock” crows, or in other words the Temple crier, he would deny him three times. So, here is what happened. Yeshua has been in a trial all night.
Meanwhile the priests and the Levites wake up and begin to prepare the morning offering, which included a male, unblemished lamb. This trial took place in the very shadow of the Temple. The Temple crier would call out in a loud voice for the priests to take their posts, the Levites to their stations and the men of Israel to stand up (for the people in prayer). This also alerted everyone else that could hear that the morning Tamid (continual) offering was going up on the altar for the people. This was exactly what was happening to the true Lamb. Peter denies him as the city is being alerted that the lamb was getting ready to be offered. See the connection? There is so much more going on than what people see in a movie, with some rooster crowing in the back-round.
Olive Tree Ministries
ot.waxahachie@yahoo.com
Q. Why do Christians continuously quote Paul to back up their views when Paul was through and through a Torah-observant Jew?
A. Peter answered this question in 2 Pet. 3.15-16 when he said that Paul’s letters were hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. Paul kept the Torah commandments, the Sabbath and biblical festivals, ate biblically allowed meat, performed animal sacrifices in the Temple in keeping with a Nazarite vow (Acts 21) and other commandments. He hardly taught what is taught today in Christianity, in fact if he did he would have a false prophet. Every writer of the New Testament was Torah-observant and taught their people to do the same. Remember they were a sect of Judaism in the first century so that tells you they never taught otherwise.
Christian theology about the above mentioned commandments is nothing new. False prophets in the first century were already trying to distort the Torah. But after several hundred years of effort, the false prophets finally succeeded and a new official “faith” emerged out of the Council of Nicea, presided over by a sun-worshipping emperor named Constantine. He said that one of the main reasons for the council was to “root out the last vestiges of Judaism,” and they did. So, far from having “Jewish roots” Christianity would be better known as “Constantinian Christianity” because he was the founding father of much of what is seen today. Paul would hardly recognize the faith today and would have never approved of it and would be highly agitated by the way his words have been perverted.
Q. Were roosters allowed in Jerusalem and if not can you explain Mt. 26.75?
A. Roosters were not allowed in Jerusalem for a variety of reasons, most of which involved Temple purity laws. There are many references to this in Jewish publications, prayer books and the Talmud. In the book by Alfred Edersheim called “The life and times of Jesus the Messiah” on page 844 it also refers to this custom. The term in Hebrew for rooster is “gever” but it also is used for the Temple crier who called the people, the priests and the Levites to the worship service. It was this man Yeshua made reference to when he told Peter that before the “cock” crows, or in other words the Temple crier, he would deny him three times. So, here is what happened. Yeshua has been in a trial all night.
Meanwhile the priests and the Levites wake up and begin to prepare the morning offering, which included a male, unblemished lamb. This trial took place in the very shadow of the Temple. The Temple crier would call out in a loud voice for the priests to take their posts, the Levites to their stations and the men of Israel to stand up (for the people in prayer). This also alerted everyone else that could hear that the morning Tamid (continual) offering was going up on the altar for the people. This was exactly what was happening to the true Lamb. Peter denies him as the city is being alerted that the lamb was getting ready to be offered. See the connection? There is so much more going on than what people see in a movie, with some rooster crowing in the back-round.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Acts 15: Misconceptions
Q. In some of my Bible classes it was mentioned that there were contentions with Jews who didn’t believe in Yeshua and new Gentile believers in Yeshua over whether or not they were to keep the Torah. Some of these contentions were specifically over dietary laws. My question is, was this a point of contention in the early congregations?
A Well, first of all there are some misconceptions in your question. Let’s look at one contention in particular and that will be found in Acts 15. The contention was between Jewish believers. So, the premise from which you discussed the question was not accurate. Here’s what was going on. People came from different back-rounds and beliefs in the first century. Two main factions or sects of the Pharisees was the School (of thought, interpretation) of Shammai and the School of Hillel. Shammai was a great teacher in the 1st century and was stricter in his interpretations than Hillel was. Shammai believed that a gentile who came to the Lord must be circumcised ritually, or become Jewish, to have a part in the World to Come, or be “saved” as it is understood in Acts 15.1-3. Hillel didn’t think that was necessary and so the two sects disagreed on what to do with gentile converts. Paul was taught in the School of Hillel.
Now, some of these people became believers in Yeshua but they carried some of the same “theology” with them into the Faith. So, when gentiles became believers they still had some of the old contentions. To settle the issue, they go to Jerusalem to the elders of the sect of the Nazarene, in other words the sect that believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, and they brought the issue up to be settled. Each sect had elders and their own “halakah” or way to walk before God. They had their own “rules of conduct” so to speak. The issue was over what to do as a sect of believers with the gentiles coming into the faith. Do they have to become Jewish (get circumcised) or not. Peter brings up the salvation of Cornelius, who received the Holy Spirit and wasn’t circumcised.
Paul gives his testimony about all the gentiles coming into the faith, receiving the Holy Spirit without being Circumcised (becoming Jewish). It was decided that gentiles did not have to become Jewish to be saved but they were to start with some minimal standards of obedience in order to maintain fellowship in the congregations. These minimal standards are found in Leviticus 18 and 19 and are known as the “heart of the Law”. These standards were to quit engaging in sexual uncleanness, idolatry, eating blood and raw meats and eating carrion. While doing that they could go to the local synagogues and learn the rest of the Torah and what they were to do (15.21). So, in short what was going on was far from what is being taught today. The gentile was welcomed into the faith without having to become Jewish, was to start following the Torah commands about some major issues and then go to the synagogues on the Sabbath day to learn what else applied to them.
That is a far cry from the premise you were discussing in your class and that is why there is so much error taught by so-called Bible teachers today. Peter said it best in 2 Peter 3.15-16 when he said Paul was being misunderstood because unlearned and unstable people distort what he said as also they do with the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. The Book of Galatians is also a good example of this question. The question in Galatians is again over some brethren who came and tried to get the Galatians to ritually convert to Judaism through circumcision according to a long standing, man-made law concerning it as it related to a gentile convert.
The Galatians began to entertain the idea thinking their salvation was deficient and they fell short of it. Paul again presents the case that it was unnecessary to submit to man-made traditions and doctrines. They already had salvation and God had already accepted them so why did they think they were short of it. This had nothing to do with obeying the God-given commandments. It was over man-made traditional laws concerning the ritual conversion of gentiles to Judaism in order to be saved.
A Well, first of all there are some misconceptions in your question. Let’s look at one contention in particular and that will be found in Acts 15. The contention was between Jewish believers. So, the premise from which you discussed the question was not accurate. Here’s what was going on. People came from different back-rounds and beliefs in the first century. Two main factions or sects of the Pharisees was the School (of thought, interpretation) of Shammai and the School of Hillel. Shammai was a great teacher in the 1st century and was stricter in his interpretations than Hillel was. Shammai believed that a gentile who came to the Lord must be circumcised ritually, or become Jewish, to have a part in the World to Come, or be “saved” as it is understood in Acts 15.1-3. Hillel didn’t think that was necessary and so the two sects disagreed on what to do with gentile converts. Paul was taught in the School of Hillel.
Now, some of these people became believers in Yeshua but they carried some of the same “theology” with them into the Faith. So, when gentiles became believers they still had some of the old contentions. To settle the issue, they go to Jerusalem to the elders of the sect of the Nazarene, in other words the sect that believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, and they brought the issue up to be settled. Each sect had elders and their own “halakah” or way to walk before God. They had their own “rules of conduct” so to speak. The issue was over what to do as a sect of believers with the gentiles coming into the faith. Do they have to become Jewish (get circumcised) or not. Peter brings up the salvation of Cornelius, who received the Holy Spirit and wasn’t circumcised.
Paul gives his testimony about all the gentiles coming into the faith, receiving the Holy Spirit without being Circumcised (becoming Jewish). It was decided that gentiles did not have to become Jewish to be saved but they were to start with some minimal standards of obedience in order to maintain fellowship in the congregations. These minimal standards are found in Leviticus 18 and 19 and are known as the “heart of the Law”. These standards were to quit engaging in sexual uncleanness, idolatry, eating blood and raw meats and eating carrion. While doing that they could go to the local synagogues and learn the rest of the Torah and what they were to do (15.21). So, in short what was going on was far from what is being taught today. The gentile was welcomed into the faith without having to become Jewish, was to start following the Torah commands about some major issues and then go to the synagogues on the Sabbath day to learn what else applied to them.
That is a far cry from the premise you were discussing in your class and that is why there is so much error taught by so-called Bible teachers today. Peter said it best in 2 Peter 3.15-16 when he said Paul was being misunderstood because unlearned and unstable people distort what he said as also they do with the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. The Book of Galatians is also a good example of this question. The question in Galatians is again over some brethren who came and tried to get the Galatians to ritually convert to Judaism through circumcision according to a long standing, man-made law concerning it as it related to a gentile convert.
The Galatians began to entertain the idea thinking their salvation was deficient and they fell short of it. Paul again presents the case that it was unnecessary to submit to man-made traditions and doctrines. They already had salvation and God had already accepted them so why did they think they were short of it. This had nothing to do with obeying the God-given commandments. It was over man-made traditional laws concerning the ritual conversion of gentiles to Judaism in order to be saved.
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