On Vacation

I will be away for two weeks. My wife and I will be traveling to the Mayan Riviera to enjoy a time of rest and relaxation. I will not be posting to the blog for about two weeks.

My sabbatical project is almost on target. Jeremiah is a fascinating character and his book is rich in imagery. What fascinates me most in the book of Jeremiah is Jeremiah’s struggle with his vocation. Jeremiah was rejected because of his message and he was ostracized because of his insistence that the Lord would not deliver the nation. Jeremiah’s pain and suffering mirrors God’s suffering because of the sins and rebellion of the people. After my return, I hope to write at least one post on the suffering of God in the Old Testament.

Enjoy your summer.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Resurrection of a Biblical Tree

Science News is reporting that the Judean date palm has been brought back to life from a pit found at Masada. According to the report, the pit from which the plant germinated, is 2,000 years old. The following is an excerpt from the report:

The palm some ancients called the “Tree of Life” has been revived from a 2,000-year sleep, genes and all. In what is now the germination of the oldest known seed, a date pit plucked from ancient rubble at Masada has sprouted, scientists report. The sapling’s genetic fingerprint suggests it is none other than the Judean date palm, a variety referred to in the Bible and long thought extinct.

Like the iceman found in the Alps, this Judean date palm opens a window into the past, comments Paul Gepts, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis. “A small window, but a window nonetheless.”

Excavations in the ’60s uncovered five date pits in the Dead Sea region of Israel at Masada — a mesa-top Herodian fortress and, in the first century A.D., the last stronghold of Jews who, as the story goes, chose to fall upon their own swords rather than be slaughtered by the Roman forces surrounding them.

You can also see a picture of the seeds and of the new plant in the National Geographic page.

Date trees currently growing in Israel come from California. If the new plant, called “The Methuselah Tree” because of its age, produces fruit, it will produce dates that are sweeter than other dates and it will be better suited for the dry climate of Israel.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Judean Date Palm, Masada

Father’s Day 2008

Sunday, June 15 is Father’s Day. This is the day set aside by our society to recognize fathers for the labor of love they do on behalf of their children. To recognize fathers of Father's Day, I am reprinting a post published on December 5, 2005. Happy Father's Day!

The Challenges of Parenthood

There are many genealogies in the Old Testament. The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are composed of a series of genealogies. Most people who read the Bible regularly, generally skip these genealogies because they are boring to read.

It is true that a simple list of names may be irrelevant to many, but they display the complicated relationships between distant generations and provide important information about the facts and circumstances that are related to the members of a family.

Although bare names in a genealogy may be insignificant to a casual reader, to an attentive reader genealogies teach important historical lessons and other truths that may not have been intended by the original writer.

The genealogies that appear in the Old Testament, in general, are related to the ancestors of Israel. At times, the names may refer to father and son or they may refer to distant ancestors or different generations. The genealogies served to reinforce the sense of kinship among members of a clan. The genealogies also promoted nationalistic feelings that served to connect an individual with the traditions of the past.

In the genealogy of the kings of Judah that appears below, we learn a great lesson.

“Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham was the father of Ahaz, Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh was the father of Amon and Amon was the father of Josiah” (Matthew 1:9-10).

Uzziah was the father of Jotham: a good king is the father of a good king. This is not unexpected because, generally, a good father will become the father of a good son.

Jotham was the father of Ahaz: a good king becomes the father of an evil king. This is disappointing, for a good father expects his son to be a good son and follow his example.

Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah: an evil king becomes the father of one of the best kings of Judah. Now, that is a blessing because we learn that children do not have to follow the evil ways of their parents.

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh: one of the best kings of Judah becomes the father of the worst king of Judah. Now, that is a mystery, for how can the goodness of a good father not affect the life of his son? The fact is, that children make their own decisions and choose a life for themselves, even when that life is evil.

Manasseh was the father of Amon: an evil king becomes the father of an evil king. This also is not unexpected, because at times, sons follow the evil example of their fathers.

Amon was the father of Josiah: an evil king becomes the father of the best king of Judah. This clearly shows that children do not have to follow the evil example of their fathers.

There is a lesson that all of us must learn from this genealogy: It is tough being a parent.

As we look at this genealogy, we learn that a person’s relationship with another person in a genealogy may be complicated. For instance, a trait that appears in the life of a man may appear also in the life of his son or grandson. In the same way, the presence of a trait in a child may not be a characteristic that is found in the life of either parent.

One good example of this principle is found in the following quotation from Thomas Fuller, the 17th Century theologian:

Scripture Observation

“Lord, I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations:

1. Rehoboam begat Abiam; that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
2. Abiam begat Asa; that is, a bad father a good son.
3. Asa begat Jehoshaphat; that is, a good father a good son.
4. Jehoshaphat begat Joram; a good father a bad son.

I see, Lord, from hence that my father’s piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.”

Joy and happiness, disappointment and pain are some of the experiences parents have to face in the rearing of their children. As children grow up, parents take great satisfaction in the accomplishments of their children but they also experience the pains and disappointments that come as the children fail their parents’ expectations. Joy and disappointments come with the agony and the ecstasy of being parents.

Parents hurt when they believe they have failed in their God-given task of bringing their children to love and obey God. Parents hurt when their children reject the moral values or standards they worked hard to instill in the lives of their children.

When crises arrive, parents blame themselves for failing to providing a good education for their children. They judge themselves for their failure and feel guilty because they cannot understand what went wrong. But, in order for them to deal with their sense of failure, they must understand the lesson Ezekiel teaches: “A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own” (Ezekiel 18:20).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Fathers, Genealogies, Thomas Fuller

The Oldest Church in the World: The Pictures

Jordan Church

Monster and Critics has posted several pictures of the cave where the oldest church in the world is located. The above picture is the altar of church at the town of Rehab, Jordan

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Oldest Church

To Baptist or Not to Baptist

A few days ago, the Washington Post published a report about churches renaming themselves in order to avoid a perceived stigma that the name “Baptist” carries in the mind of some people. The report focuses on the plight of Baptist Temple Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Baptist Temple is an old congregation, organized more than 100 years ago. In the days when the church was vibrant and prosperous, more than 900 people worshiped in a sanctuary built for 500 people. Now, the church attendance averages about 30 people each Sunday.

The congregation feared that the church was dying. The pastor of the church, Rev. Todd Thomason, believed that the problem facing the church, a problem that had caused the membership to dwindle, was the name of the church.

In trying to understand the reason the church was failing to attract new members, Rev. Thomason worried that “the word ‘Baptist’ had become indelibly tied to the political religious right and that when combined with ‘Temple’ it sounded like a fundamentalist ‘bring out the snakes’ kind of place.”

A few Sundays ago, 37 members came together after the morning service to decide whether to change the name of the church. After the vote was taken and counted, the result was a split decision. By the majority of one member, the church decided to change its name to Commonwealth Baptist Church. As a result of the vote, the church changed its name while maintaining its Baptist identity.

Many churches of different denominations are changing their names in order to attract people who are reluctant to identify themselves with a denomination. As attendance drops steadily in mainline churches, churches are changing their names in order to attract new people, fill the pews, and market themselves to a seeker generation.

But should churches change their names in order to gain more members? Should churches drop the word “Baptist” from their names? To Baptist or not to Baptist? This is the question of the moment. A new name or a generic name will not by itself attract more people to the church. The problem of dwindling attendance is systemic and there is no magic bullet that will solve the problem.

In what follows, I will submit four reasons many churches are unable to bring new people into their membership. These reasons are my own and do not come from any study conducted by a research firm. These reasons are what I think cause churches to dwindle and die. These reasons also reflect my Baptist perspective on this issue. They come out of my congregational church background and the revivalist movement in which I grew up.

The first reason churches are failing to reach more people with the gospel is the lack of spiritual power. Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The work of the church cannot be accomplished by human power. The church needs to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish its work. Many churches and many pastors are using gimmicks and programs to attract people to the church, but unless the church is mightily infused with the power of the Spirit, all human efforts will come to nought.

The second reason churches have been unable to reach new people for Christ is because churches have lost their missionary fervor. Jesus said: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Today’s church is not willing to go after people. Jesus expected his disciples to go. In the parable of the great banquet, the master told his servants: “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full” (Luke 14:23).

Instead of going where the people are, churches expect people to come to them. Today’s Christians have lost the fervency of the first disciples, the same fervency that motivated Paul to go “from house to house” preaching the Gospel. Today, only Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons go evangelizing house to house.

The third reason churches are failing to reach a lost world with the good news of Jesus Christ is the lack of costly discipleship in the lives of many Christians. Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” People want to follow Christ but they refuse to carry a cross. This is cheap grace, the kind of grace that does not please God.

Because of a lack of commitment to the cause of Christ, Christians are willing to conform to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:2) and refuse to become involved in evangelism, ministry, and discipleship. They rely on a paid ministry to do the work they were called to do. These are the Christians who are not aware of their vocation in the world: “You are . . . a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” When people fail to declare the praise of God their Creator and of Jesus their Savior, then no one will believe in this wonderful Savior.

The fourth, and I believe the most important, reason churches are not reaching people for Christ and people are not being evangelized is because churches and their members have been afflicted with the plague of universalism, the doctrine that declares that in the end all people will be saved.

For generations, Christians believed the words of Paul: “There is salvation through no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Today we hear from some pulpits that we do not have to evangelize the Hindus, the Moslems, and the Buddhists because they will be saved by their faith. Some believe that their religion is as good as Christianity.

A few years ago Emil Brunner was able to talk about “The Scandal of Christianity.” Today, to many Christians, the scandal of Christianity is the Christian attempt at evangelizing Hindus, the Moslems, and Buddhists. When Christians accept as a fact that unbelievers are not “lost,” they also believe they do not need to be saved. If there are no lost people, why then go after the lost?

Evangelism is almost non-existent in many churches. Among Baptists, there are thousands of churches that each year do not add a single new member to their membership roll. Today, almost 50% of Americans are unchurched and yet, some churches are unable to reach even one of them and bring them to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Ministers must set the example. It is incumbent for pastors to go out and visit the lost and bring them the good news that Jesus saves. If Sunday after Sunday a preacher preaches the gospel from the pulpit but is unable after 52 Sundays to bring one new person to Christ, that preacher cannot expect the church to grow and the members to become evangelists.

I am not against changing the name of a church and dropping the “Baptist” from its name provided that we do not abandon our religious heritage. Baptists have a rich religious heritage and I am proud to be a Baptist. What we need, however, are Christians who are willing to go out into the world and proclaim from the top of their lungs that Jesus saves. And the task of evangelizing the lost must begin with the pastor.

After Baptist Temple Church changed its name to Commonwealth Baptist Church, the congregation asked their pastor to resign.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Church

Tag: Baptists, Evangelism, Discipleship

The World’s Oldest Church

The World's Oldest Church

The BBC News is reporting on the church discovered in a cave in Jordan. The BBC is also publishing a picture of the cave that served as the church. The following is an excerpt from the news report:

Archaeologists in Rihab, Jordan, say they have discovered a cave that could be the world's oldest Christian church.

Dating to the period AD33-70, the underground chapel would have served as both a place of worship and a home.

It is claimed that it was originally used by a group of 70 persecuted Christians who fled from Jerusalem.

These early Christians lived and practised their faith in secrecy until the Romans embraced Christianity several hundred years later.

Remains found in the cave

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Oldest Church

Gold and Bread

Commodity on Line, in a recent article discussing the role of gold in countering inflation, made the following statement:

The purchasing power of gold has not diminished since Biblical times. According to the Old Testament, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, an ounce of gold bought 350 loaves of bread. Today, an ounce of gold still buys 350 loaves.

It is a fact that in times of economic uncertainties, many people invest in gold as a way of dealing with the unforeseen problems caused by inflation or recession.

It is also a fact that in the ancient past kings and conquerors were fascinated with gold, not only as currency or as a mean of commerce and trade, but for the beauty and splendor it conveyed to its owners.

The above quote taken from Commodity on Line is interesting. First of all, I do not remember any place in the Old Testament where it says that in the days of Nebuchadnezzar an ounce of gold bought 350 loaves of bread. This seems to be one of those occasions where someone cited the Bible without really checking the Bible.

The other statement, that an ounce of gold today buys 350 loaves of bread seems to be correct. Last time I checked, gold was selling at $901.00 an ounce. At that price, one can buy 350 loaves of bread at $2.57 each.

To say, however, that one ounce of gold in the days of Nebuchadnezzar bought 350 loaves of bread, one must assume several things. First, one must assume that the ounce, a unit of weight in the avoirdupois system, once used in the United Kingdom and still used in the U.S. system of weights, was also used in Babylon. Since the Babylonians did not use imperial units, this statement is false.

Second, we must assume that the value of gold has remained stable in its relative value to the price of bread. If this assumption is correct, then we must also assume that the price of gold and the price of bread has remained relatively the same for the past 2,600 years. It is evident that no one can assume that this is true, therefore, the statement above also cannot be proved.

There is a lesson for all of us here. Whenever the Bible is used to prove a point, it is best to avoid generalizations or comparisons which cannot be verified.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bread, Gold, Nebuchadnezzar

The Earliest Christian Church

Archaeologists in Jordan have announced that they have discovered a church that probably was first church in the history of Christianity. According to the archaeologists the church was in existence between A. D. 33 and A.D. 70

Read the news report here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminar

Tag: Early Church

Is Barack Obama the Messiah?

Barack Obama has won the battle with Hillary Clinton to become the nominee of the Democratic Party to run against John McCain for the presidency of the United States in November. Despite the charges of improprieties that has been lodged against him by an investigative reporter, the rise of Barack Obama to the nomination has been meteoric.

The campaign of Barack Obama to the nomination has been presented in messianic terms. In fact, there is a whole blog dedicated to answer the question whether Barack Obama is the Messiah. The blog, Is Barack Obama the Messiah? introduces itself with a quote from Obama taken from a speech Obama gave in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on January 7, 2008, a quote that reflects the words of Isaiah 9:2:

“... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany . . . and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”

The messianic movement associated with Obama seems to be growing. A Google search of the words “Obama” and “Messiah” yields more than 300,000 entries. The blog dedicated to finding out whether Obama is the new messiah quotes the words of several individuals who are fascinated with the Obama phenomenon. Here are some of the quotes taken from that blog:

“This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament.” “I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event.”

-- Chris Matthews

“I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let's say, blessed and highly favored. That's not routine. There's something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God's plan.”

-- Bill Rush

In an article that appeared in the Jewish World Review titled “A Messiah in Our Midst?”, Jonah Goldberg writes about the messianic fervor that characterizes the Obama campaign. Goldberg wrote:

Obama's apostles are hard to dismiss. Oprah simply calls him "The One," because "we need politicians who know how to be the truth." (Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth ...") Oprah goes on to say Obama will help us "evolve to a higher plane," which would put Obama in the role of our Intelligent Designer.

Michelle Obama is arguably Obamanity's greatest evangelist, even though she has a streak of Old Testament smiting and wrath to her. She insists her husband has redeemed the entire nation (hence her newfound pride in America). She proclaims her husband is the sort of leader who will fix our broken souls. But don't hope for grace on the cheap. "The change Barack is talking about is hard," she insists, "so don't get too excited, because Barack is going to demand that you, too, be different."

When asked in an interview what sin is, Obama defined it as "Being out of alignment with my values."

On the night he gained the majority of delegates needed to secure his nomination, Obama gave a victory speech in which he used words that come close to the words of the Servant in Isaiah 61:1. He said:

I am absolutely certain, that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless.

The purpose of this post is not to take a political position or to endorse one candidate over another. My fear is that so many people are mesmerized by the charismatic persona of Barack Obama that they are saying with words and actions that he is the new messiah. It is at this time that people must remember the words of Christ:

If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here's the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don't fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better (Mark 13:21-22 The Message).

If Jesus said that false messiahs and false prophets will appear in the last days and with words, signs, and wonderful deeds will deceive, if possible, “those who ought to know better,” then one must be aware because whoever that false messiah will be, he will be very convincing.

Is Barack Obama the new Messiah? No, he is just a politician!

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Barack Obama, False Messiah, Messiah

On Bibles and Manuscripts

A few days ago, I wrote a post on “How To Dispose of Old Bibles.” n that post I quoted the words of a Rabbi who wrote the following:

Old deteriorated Bibles still bear the word of God and the name of God in them. They are old and worn, but they are still vessels of the holy, and so they cannot be disposed of in the garbage with yesterday’s green bean casserole.

Because old Bibles “still bear the word of God and the name of God in them,” the Rabbi suggested that old Bibles should “be covered and buried respectfully though not necessarily in a cemetery. They should be covered and then buried. ‘Dust to dust’ refers to the disposal of all holy vessels.”

The act of giving a proper burial to sacred texts was an ancient practice of Judaism. Jewish synagogues had a store-room called “the genizah” where old and deteriorated sacred texts were kept for proper disposal. The role of the genizah in Judaism is explained in an article in the Wikipedia:

A genizah is the store-room or depository in a synagogue (or cemetery), usually specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics that were stored there before they could receive a proper cemetery burial, it being forbidden to throw away writings containing the name of God (even personal letters and legal contracts could open with an invocation of God).

The writing of Sacred Scriptures in Judaism was done with much reverence and care. Manuscripts were written by scribes trained for this special ministry. One article describing the making of a scroll of the Torah says that scribes must use sheets of parchment that come from a kosher animal and must use quills for writing the manuscripts and the quills must come from a kosher bird. The writing of the manuscript begins after the scribe “visits the mikveh in preparation for such holy work, and prays that the holy work about to be undertaken will be imbued with the sanctity in the scribe’s heart.”

A scroll of the Torah “may contain no errors whatsoever. While some mistakes may be corrected by scraping off the ink of a letter made in error and rewriting it, if a mistake is made in writing any of the names of God, no correction may be made because God's name may not be erased. The entire sheet of parchment must be buried or placed in a genizah, and the scribe must begin that section of the Torah again.”

All this reverence and sacredness in Judaism for the written Word of God brings me back to my original question: how to dispose of old Bibles?

I have an old Bible that I have used for more than 25 years. It is my teaching Bible. The Bible has been rebound because its covers were falling apart. I have marked the Bible with red, blue, and black ink. I have underlined the text and written notes in the margins. This old Bible bears the word of God and carries the name of God in it. Is writing on and marking the Bible desecrating God’s Word? Is the printed Bible as sacred as the written manuscript? If old Bibles need to be disposed of, should these Bibles “be covered and buried respectfully”?

I have a copy of the Revised Standard Bible on cassettes. Is the Bible on cassettes still the Word of God? The magnetic tape in one of the cassettes is broken. Should I also bury the cassettes because they bear God’s Word?

The other day I bought a new Bible and inside the Bible there was a CD containing the Gospel of John. Since I did not want the CD, I threw the CD away in the trash can, not with “yesterday’s green bean casserole,” but in the garbage with other garbage. Is the Bible on CD still the Bible? Should I have buried the CD?

These questions are not meant to ridicule the Bible because I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. And I believe Christians should treat the Word of God with respect. However, when disposing of an old Bible, should I bury the book? Is the book holy because it is the Bible? Where should I bury old Bibles? In my backyard? Behind the church? In a cemetery?

This question became relevant a few days ago, when about 200 New Testaments were burned by some Jewish teenagers in Or-Yehuda, a city near Tel-Aviv. A news report circulated by CNN says that “News accounts in Israel have quoted Uzi Aharon, the deputy mayor of Or-Yehuda, as saying he organized students who burned several hundred copies of the New Testament.”

Burning New Testaments is not a demonstration of respect for books that bear the word of God. The Jewish Anti-Defamation League has issued a statement criticizing the burning of New Testaments. The statement reads: “We condemn this heinous act as a violation of the basic Jewish principles and values. It is essential that we respect the sacred texts of other faiths. The Jewish people can never forget the tragic burning of sacred Jewish volumes at many points in history.”

Aharon told CNN that he collected New Testaments in order to dispose of them. I wonder whether he was planning to give those New Testaments a decent and respectful burial.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bible, Genizah, Manuscripts

What the Bible Predicts Will Happen in the Year 2000

Occasionally, I receive unsolicited papers from people requesting that I read their work and evaluate what they wrote. Most of these papers present exoteric interpretations of the Bible, that at times, border on the bizarre. One paper I read was a defense of polygamy. Most papers, however, deal with the second coming of Christ and events related to the last days.

Many of these papers deal, one way or another, with the prophecies of Daniel. The numbers found in the prophecies of Daniel are intriguing and invite fertile minds to try to solve the mystery behind the numbers.

Biblical numerology fascinates people. Those who study biblical numerology believe that numbers in Scripture show a design that reveals the work of God in the world. The way certain numbers are used in the Bible suggests that their use has a deeper meaning that calls for understanding.

In 1987, I received a paper from a gentleman from Philadelphia (I will not mention his name because he may still be alive today) who did a comprehensive study of the numbers in Daniel. His paper, “What the Bible Predicts for the Year 2000,” was an attempt at demonstrating that God has prepared a comprehensive program of events that will culminate with the coming of Christ.

According to the paper, hidden in the seventy weeks of Daniel was “a blueprint of the disposition of the nations and a prophetic time clock which tells us when specific events will take place in the future.”

In order to study this blueprint, the writer of the paper decoded the mystery of the seventy weeks. This process of decoding the numbers in Daniel is complicated because he took the 490 years of Daniel 9 and changed them to days and then he related the days in Daniel 9 to the 1150 days of Daniel 8:14, the 1290 days of Daniel 12:11, and the 1335 days of Daniel 12:12.

He also worked with the 2 days of Hosea 6:2, years of 360 days and years of 365 days. Don’t ask me to explain; it is just too complicated. After calculating the day Christ was born (February 23, 4 B.C.) and the day of his crucifixion (April 7, 30 A.D.), the author related these dates to the dates in the book of Daniel and came with the following conclusions:

1. The seven-year tribulation will begin on June 16, 1989.
2. The tribulation will end on August 30, 1996.
3. From 1996 to 2000 the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
4. On April 21, 2000 the first Passover of the millennium will be celebrated in the new temple.

After I read this paper, I felt I should provide some kind of answer to the writer. But, what should I say? I decided to write a detailed evaluation of the paper, showing the writer where he was wrong and where he misinterpreted the text. My response was long and comprehensive. At the end of my response, I reminded him of the words of Christ.

In Matthew 24:36 Jesus said: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” I also reminded him of Jesus’ words to his disciples: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). The fact is, that Jesus never revealed the events of the last days to his disciples nor did he reveal them to us.

There are scores of books on prophecies in stores today that attempt to provide new insights on the books of Daniel and Revelation. These modern-day prophets claim fresh revelation from God and a supernatural wisdom that allows them to understand the prophetic meaning of the numbers in the book of Daniel.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have set several dates for the end of this age. Using the numbers in the book of Daniel, they have arrived at the precise year when the end would come. In a book titled The Time Is At Hand, published in 1902, they wrote (p. 99): “In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God, will be accomplished by the end of A.D. 1914.”

In another article published in the Watchtower on November 1, 1914, they wrote (p. 325): “Studying God’s Word, we have measured the 2520 years, the seven symbolic times, from the year 606 B.C. and have found that it reached down to October, 1914.”

When the events of 1914 did not materialize, the Jehovah’s Witnesses set another date for the end of the present era. Writing in a book titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die, written in 1920, they wrote (p. 88): “Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection.”

Those who claim new visions and a hidden knowledge about future events should remember the words of the Lord in Deuteronomy: “But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak-- that prophet shall die. You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?’ If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it” (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

People do not stone false prophets anymore, although they have spoken presumptuously. But we all know that theirs is a message which the Lord has not spoken.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: False Prophets, Prophecy