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The Christian Church in Prophesy?
The Christian Church is not mentioned once by any of the Old Testament prophets. In fact, Israel is mentioned as being the central player in all Bible prophesies. This proved to be a major dilemma for Protestant theologians. Unlike their parent, the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestants denied papal authority and placed scripture in a position above all human authority. This policy, of course, caused no end of problems for the Protestants. The solution was to go to the prophets and every time “Israel” was mentioned substitute “the church.” This solution, however, seemed to have too many pitfalls so it was modified. Any time “Israel” was mentioned in a positive light it became “the church” but any time “Israel” was mentioned in a negative light it became “the Jews.” “Replacement theology,” as it became known, was thus dished up buffet-style. Two major religions emerged out of the first century of the Common Era; Christianity and Judaism. Christianity actually didn’t really come into being until after the “decree of Hadrian” (c. 130CE), when the gentile Christians were forced to separate themselves from the Jewish sect of the “Nazarenes.” The Nazarenes were a “messianic” sect that believed their rabbi to be the Moshiach (or Messiah) who was to come and rule over Israel for one thousand years. By the time of the destruction of the temple in 70CE, the Nazarenes were the largest sect of Judaism. When Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph (known today as Jesus) failed to return after his crucifixion to restore the Kingdom of Israel, the Nazarenes began to develop different explanations. The first explanation was called the “second advent.” It was theorized that Rabbi Joshua had come once as Moshiach ben Joseph (Messiah son of Joseph), but that he would come a second time as Moshiach ben David (also called King Messiah). The second explanation was called “the two messiahs.” It was theorized that Rabbi Joshua was not the awaited King Messiah, but that Messiah ben Joseph was the moshiach mentioned by the prophet Daniel. This messiah was to be slain, but his death would bring about the ingathering and the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. When it became obvious that the ingathering was not happening, the bulk of the Nazarenes joined with the other sects of Judaism to form what would become “Orthodox Judaism.” The Christians retained the “second advent” theory, while the Jews retained the “two messiahs” theory. However, Messiah ben Joseph became a future messiah instead of a past messiah. What no one realized is that Rabbi Joshua would indeed affect the ingathering, but the process would take two thousand years. The Jews eventually forgot about Rabbi Joshua, while the gentiles turned him into a god. Christianity became a mixture of gentiles and exiles of the “northern kingdom” (also called, in prophesy, the “House of Israel.” In recent years many “Israelites” have been leaving traditional Christianity to search out the “Hebraic Roots” of their faith. The rise of modern “messianism” among Christians may just be the beginning of the ingathering as Christians begin to leave the myths and the legends of Christianity for truth of the Bible.q Help this ministry with a tax deductible donation. |