Thursday, October 20, 2016

Apologetics Corner: Why Do Some People Believe Jesus is the Messiah?

Ultraorthodox Jewish Men (source)


Since this is a prophecy website, I would like to branch out a little and explore other aspects of prophecy, in this case, Jesus Christ himself. Below is my Quora answer to "Why do some people believe Jesus is the Messiah?" I explain how Jesus "works" as a Messiah just as well as the current orthodox Jewish model(s) do. 


*****

"Why Do Some People Believe Jesus is the Messiah?" (My answer copied below).

Contrary to popular belief, Jesus is the best Messiah candidate there is.

He fits into the existing Jewish paradigms of the Messiah in a rather simple, unifying (and serendipitous) way. 

Before I can dive into this question, we have to discuss what a Messiah is....

What's a Messiah?

The Messiah is a figure predicted in the Old Testament who would:

1) Fight battles on behalf of Israel and defeat her enemies

2) Lead the world to worship Yahweh

3) Teach Law observance

4) Rebuild the Temple 

5) Generally rule the world and bring world peace

6) Be a king in the dynasty of king David

Christianity Started as a Jewish Sect

If you explore Orthodox Judaism (then and now) you will not find a single, unified concept of "what the Messiah will be like." Keep in mind, during the life of Jesus on earth, there was a variety of Jewish sects, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. In fact, Jesus Himself and Paul, are very closely aligned with the theological views of the Pharisees, in some ways. 

Christianity started as yet another sect of Judaism. The first Christians had absolutely no intention of forming a new religion. They weren't open to pagan modifications either, because they were...well... Jews. Christianity has very strong Jewish origins. In fact, when reading the book of Acts, public officials regarded Christianity as a controversial sect of Judaism. 

Because that's precisely what it was, and what it is now. 


So How Does Jesus Line Up?

Contrary to what most people think, Christians back then (and Christians today!) don't "disagree" with Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. That list I made of commonly held features of the Messiah? Christians believe every one of them applies to Jesus. In fact, many evangelical Christians believe they apply in a very literal way.  In order for Jesus to fulfill Old Testament Messianic prophecy, he must fulfill every prophecy, including rebuilding the Ezekiel 40-45 Temple, defeating Israel's enemies, ruling the world from Jerusalem, etc. 

But orthodox Jews today will quickly point out that Jesus hasn't done any of these things. This is where I need to explain how Jesus makes the best sense of the data, and compare it to other Jewish interpretations of the Messiah. 


Orthodox Judaism's "Two Messiah Theory"

There is a long running theological concept among Jews which I will call the "Two Messiah" theory. Basically, there are passages in the Bible which one could interpret to mean that the Messiah will be killed (perhaps in battle). Yet there are others which imply he will be a king in David's dynasty who rules a political and religious golden age. These are very dissimilar concepts. So we need some kind of theological theory to reconcile them. Enter: Two-Messiah theory.

Messiah ben Joseph

Many orthodox Jews in the past up until today propose that there will be two Messiahs. The first one, called "Messiah Ben Yosef" will fulfill the prophecies about dying, and perhaps be killed in battle. However, his son or grandson will come to the throne to be "Messiah Ben David" and fulfill the Davidic/ruling aspects of the Messiah. So here we have two messiahs, fulfilling two different Messianic perogatives. 

For more info on this, see Joshua Kaplan's answer to this question. (Please upvote his answer if you read it):

Joshua Kaplan's answer to What do Orthodox Jews believe about the Messiah?

Christianity's "One Messiah Theory"

This is where Christianity comes in. We believe in a "one Messiah" theory. We think all the prophecies about the Messiah dying, but yet ruling Israel as a glorious conqueror and king, occur in the same person, but at different times.*

So the Orthodox/Talmudic theory is that there will be "two messiahs." The Christian theory is that there will be "two comings" of one Messiah

The one Messiah theory is a simpler theory that accounts for all the data. The Old Testament gives the impression that there will be one primary Messianic deliverer. So Christians stick to that theme, and resolve the tension by having two comings of the same Messiah.

So there is nothing, so far, that would rule out Jesus from being the Messiah. If He indeed resurrected (which is possible in a Jewish worldview), He very well fits the bill as the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. 

The Resurrection Validates "One Messiah Theory"

If he was merely killed, without a resurrection, then it would be a cop out to say that he will fulfill all the other prophecies at the Second Coming. But if he really resurrected, then it's not a cop out at all, since we see that "One Messiah Theory" is a better theory about the Messiah than "Two Messiah theory." For evidence for Jesus' resurrection I direct you to one of my other answers:

David Wilkinson's answer to What are your reasons for believing in your religion?

The Jesus-Messiah Theory Has Theoretical Elegance 

But it doesn't stop there. The "Jesus-Messiah" theory has a lot of theoretical elegance that is very "unifying" when understanding the Old Testament. Good theories have a very unifying and simple explanation of diverse data. 

Here are some concepts found in the Old Testament.

1) Some day, God is going to make an entirely new covenant with Israel, in which he forgives all of their sins. (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)

2) Some day, all the people on the earth will rally to the Messiah. (Isaiah 11:10)

3) Some day, God is going to return in blazing fire and defeat his enemies. (Isaiah 66: 15-16)

4) Some day, the Messiah is going to destroy his enemies, just by breathing on them. (Isaiah 11:4) 

5) Isaiah and Psalms contain mysterious and confusing prophecies about someone greatly suffering on behalf of a large group of people. (Isaiah 53; cf. Psalm 22)  

6) The Old Testament is full of instances where God requires blood sacrifice for forgiveness of sins. (see the entire Torah).

7) Some day, God is going to write His law on everyone's hearts, so they instinctively do the right thing. (Ezekiel 36:22 - 37)

8) Some day, God is going to touch his feet to the ground, and defend Israel militarily (Zechariah 12-14)

9) Some day, God will be King over the whole earth and his name will be the only name. (Zechariah 14:9) 

10) Some day, the Messiah will rebuild the temple. (Zechariah 6:13)


Jesus Makes Sense of the Old Testament

So basically, upon reading the Old Testament, one will run into these ideas and themes now and again. On the surface, they appear to be separate concepts. 

But in Jesus, all of these ideas come together quite elegantly. 

1) Jesus makes a new covenant in which sins are forgiven, by dying on the cross. (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15) 

2) Christianity has huge amounts of Gentile converts. 

3) Some day, Jesus is going to return in blazing fire. (2 Thessalonians 1) 

4) Some day, Jesus is going to defeat his enemies simply by breathing on them. (Revelation 19; 2 Thessalonians 2:8) 

5) Jesus is that mysterious guy who suffers for everyone else in those prophecies in Isaiah and Psalms. (1 Peter 2:24)

6) Jesus, when suffering on the cross, is the final blood sacrifice. He was crucified on Passover week as the Ultimate Passover Lamb. (John 1:29; Revelation 5:12)

7) Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to all of His followers, to live inside them and guide them in their decisions. (John 14:16)

8) Some day, Jesus is going to touch his feet to the Mount of Olives, and engage in military conquest of Israel's and His enemies. (Acts 1:11; Revelation 19) 

9) Some day, Jesus is going to be King of the whole earth. He will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 20) 

10) Some day, Jesus is going to rebuild the temple, and be the person worshiped inside of it. 

The Most Beautiful Thing of All

I already hinted at it before, but I think this is the most beautiful thing of all, about Jesus being the Messiah. Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly promises Israel that he will save and deliver them. Furthermore, he promises a great religious and political hero called the Messiah. Jews have been anxiously waiting for this Messiah for millenia. But how fitting, that the true Messianic Hero that everyone has been waiting for, is really God Himself all along.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

*****
You will notice that, within the prophecies about the Messiah, there are two different theories to interpret the seemingly contradictory portraits we receive: suffering servant vs. conquering king. I argue above that the "two comings" (with a big gap in between) is not any more ad hoc or weird than a "two messiah" theory. 

Prophecy is replete with instances of "time compression" and the "mountain peaks" phenomena. We see this in many areas: 1) The first and second coming of Christ, 2) The first and second phase of the revived Roman Empire, 3) The gap in the 70 weeks prophecy. I am sure there are others. The prophets seemed to have given prophecies about a specific event or person, and only saw the "mountain peaks," but didn't report on the "valleys" in between. For example, when the prophets talk about Jesus, they just talks about him and all of the things he will do, regardless of how far apart each sentence will be fulfilled from each other. 

Furthermore, in prophecy, God seems to like to do things against all odds. Abraham was very old and normally wouldn't be able to have a kid with his old wife, even though God promised to make him the father of many nations. Noah made a big ark in anticipation of a large flood, to the confusion of the locals. Moses led the Israelites, fleeing the Egyptian army, to the shores of the Red Sea. Miraculously, God opened up the water and let them walk through.



This website argues both the "time compression" and "against all odds" phenomena are in progress with the Antichrist candidate Javier Solana. In the past, he had fulfilled prophecies in Daniel and Revelation about the Antichrist. Nevertheless, these fulfillments seemed to stop when he entered "retirement" and got older. Now, at 74, he seems to be back at it, in a much greater way than I (or some EU officials for that matter)* had anticipated. 

What makes him different from other Antichrist candidates is that he has historically fulfilled unique prophecies about the Antichrist that no one else ever has. Many people, when speculating on who the Antichrist is, point to a politician of interest and speculate on what he will do in the future, based on what he has done. To my knowledge no other Antichrist candidate, other than Javier Solana, is based squarely on fulfilled prophecy. To learn more about the theory guiding this website, check out the overview page. 





*(This website has no affiliation with the militia group mentioned in the Newsweek article, who share similar beliefs about Solana).

Saturday, October 15, 2016

EU Common Defense Push To Coincide with Top Job Musical Chairs

European Parliament President Martin Schulz

The European Union's common defense push is set to coincide with an undesired top jobs reshuffle. Ever since France and Germany came out with a joint paper September for a "European Defence Union," forces in Brussels and national capitals have been pushing to make that happen. In addition to this, Jean Claude Juncker's called for a permanent military headquarters and common defense in his annual speech. Since the Franco-German paper, Spain and Italy have hopped on board for further defense cooperation. This comes at a tumultuous time, when the European Council President and European Parliament seats are up for grabs in the coming months.


Common EU Defense Initiative

High Representative Mogherini has laid out plans with EU defense ministers to be proposed in November, to be decided by heads of state and government at the EU Council in December. Simultaneous to this, the European Parliament subcommittee on defence has been debating the draft of legislation on a "European Defence Union," a term former High Representative Javier Solana originally promulgated and proposed to European Parliament in June. This too is expected to be tabled in November.

While disagreeing to some extent on the details, EU officials and some major countries want a permanent military headquarters, joint defense finance activities, and the ability to intervene in outside countries, independent of NATO. This will happen under the auspices of the Treaty of Lisbon's "Permanent Structured Cooperation." These concepts are what Solana and others have meant by "European Defence Union."

Image source


Musical Chairs at the Top

Surprisingly, this major defense integration push may very well coincide with musical chairs among some of the EU's most senior positions.

  1. European Parliament President, Martin Schulz (S&D party), seeks an unprecedented third term of office starting in January 2017. Although he is backed by Juncker, this directly contradicts a written agreement Schulz has with the largest party in Parliament, the center right EPP party. It is likely the EPP will get the Presidency.
  2. European Council President Donald Tusk (EPP party) is not supported by Poland for a second term. This alone will not prevent his term renewal in June 2017, but it is politically destabilizing and might allow anyone who dislikes him or his party to have more leverage.
  3. European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker (EPP party) was rumored to possibly quit his term early, due to health problems. However, due to Brexit and calls for his resignation, he did not step down in order to save face. This third option is much less likely than the first two, but needs to be considered. 
EU High Representative Federica Mogherini


Mogherini: Exceeding Expectations? 

High Representative Federica Mogherini (S&D) is one of the most followed of all the politicians on Twitter. Furthermore, she is very well liked by Commission President Juncker and is generally regarded to be high performing.

An article in Der Spiegel stated that Mogherini is the "hope" of many in the S&D party as a lead candidate in the next European Parliament election cycle. This article strongly implies that some want her as the "Spitzenkandidate" (lead candidate) for European Commission President.

If the EPP group gets the Parliament presidency, then 3/4 top jobs will be held by someone in the EPP party. According to S&D leader Pittella, this is "unimaginable." There is increasing reason to believe that the S&D group will try to put an S&D person in the European Council presidency if they lose the Parliament presidency. Though Germany wants to keep Tusk, Italy and France may be open to such a maneuver, because they are led by socialists.

A Man Leading the EU's New Military Machinery?

Long story short, if under any circumstance Mogherini is promoted to a new role, it leaves the High Representative seat wide open for Javier Solana. He has been increasingly interested in European defence integration, placing an inordinate amount of effort in the process, even working with European Parliament itself. If you check out this page (starting March 2015), it will be hard to imagine someone who has done all of those things being uninterested in the High Representative seat, especially since the job was literally made for him originally. Furthermore, Javier Solana would immensely help party balance, as he himself is of the S&D group.

A 7 Year Whitebook for Defense?

If you go to the overview page, you will see that Solana presented a proposal for a Whitebook for European defense. MEP's have gone on to create a draft resolution on a European Defence Union, to be voted on in November. Critically of interest, the White book, when it comes out, is meant to be a 7-year plan.  They repeatedly reference the EU's MFF (7 year budget) in the draft resolution.
Invites the VP/HR to propose an initial EU security and defence white book which will be based on the EU global strategy endorsed by the European Council; takes the view that the security and defence white book should guide the Union contributions in security and defence policy for each multiannual political and financial framework of the EU; 
The 7 year nature of the whitebook may not be prophetically significant, as the Antichrist's seven year treaty with Israel is most likely to happen under the auspices of the EU's ENP, which is a seven year relationship to Israel. (This too is based on the EU's MFF). Nevertheless, the Whitebook could be really interesting if it ultimately provides some kind of security guarantee to countries in the middle east and north Africa regions, or otherwise suggests using military force to stabilize the region, as Solana has suggested that the European Defence Union should do.




All of this is Biblically significant, because Javier Solana appears to have fulfilled some prophecies in Daniel and Revelation about the Antichrist. Though he originally seemed to have retired, it is quite likely he is in the process of making a political comeback. Even if you disagree with this viewpoint, an EU High Representative vacancy would give the opportunity for a man to control the EU's new military machinery. The Antichrist is a very powerful military conqueror in the end times, coming from a revived Roman Empire. (Daniel 11:36-12:2, cf. Revelation 13:4; Daniel 7)

Stay tuned and Come Lord Jesus!

(image sources are hyperlinked in captions)

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Solana 666 Connections

This page documents the numerous connections Javier Solana has to the number 666. This is the number of the beast in Revelation 13, and is somehow associated with him, in particular as it relates to the mark of the beast. While this page does not represent the core of the theory espoused by this website, it is possibly a breadcrumb trail provided by God to make sure we are on the right track. Many of these 666 discoveries immediately followed a prayer for wisdom by multiple different people on the fulfilledprophecy.com message board.

Document 666
Document 666 at the Vienna European Council recommends the creation of a new position, called the EU "High Representative." In June 1999, Javier Solana was appointed to be the new EU High Representative. He was also made the Secretary General of the 10-nation Western European Union. 


Recommendation 666
Recommendation 666 proposes that the WEU "crisis management" functions be transferred to a newly created EU committee, under the leadership of Javier Solana. It also gave him the power to convene the Council of the European Union in an emergency.



06/06/06 Solana Iran Proposal
Solana overcomes the EU3 and becomes the face of the EU in the Iran negotiations. On 06/06/06, Solana was seen across major news outlets presenting a deal to the Iranians that they could potentially accept.
  
Click to Enlarge


Gold = $666.00 for all of Javier Solana's birthday (07/14/2007).
The gold markets closed out on July 13, 2007 at exactly $666.00. This means that the price of gold remained at $666.00 for the following Saturday, since markets were closed. That Saturday, July 14, 2007, was Solana's birthday. If I understand correctly, this was a result of a prayer for wisdom by Adamantine on the Fulfilledprophecy.com message board.


Click to Enlarge


666 Solana UN Quartet Picture
Here, Solana is pictured with the members of the Middle East Peace "Quartet." You can see a "666" in the background, since the flags cover up the 0's of the 60th anniversary posters on the wall.


(Click to Enlarge)
Solana Bottom-Right


Doctor Javier Solana (6 letters, 6 letters, 6 letters)

Javier Solana's Linkedin Profile 
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/javier-solana/66/676/982 (Original hyperlink)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/javier-solana-98267666 (More recent hyperlink)

Click to Enlarge


666: China and Global Governance Article by Javier Solana
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/666535-china-and-global-governance.html
Solana describes how China hasn't been given the place it deserves among international organizations. I found this one after praying for wisdom about Solana, even though I didn't deserve it because I had just sinned. Within two minutes, I happened upon this article I had seen before, with "666" in the hyperlink. 

EU High Representative on Pages 66-67
Between pages 66-67 (see where my mouse hovers), it recommends "Streamline Decision Making Give Mr CFSP More Resources" namely, Solana. I cheated with this one, by specifically Googling his name and the number 666.


Click to Enlarge



Iran and Big Three Solana Citation
"Dr. Solana also became, together with the Big Three states of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, a major mediator in Europe's relations with Iran since 2004. He presented the following three advantages. Internally to the EU, he represented all EU states, and not just the Big Three. This was a major issue for small states, which asked for the inclusion of the High Representative in the negotiations (Sauer 2007,10). In Iran itself, he was seen as a neutral actor as opposed to a negative actor such as the United States (Chubin, 2006, 66)." (emphasis added)
 I discovered this one completely by accident, back when I did not believe Solana was an Antichrist candidate, but was researching his position. 
The content of this EU Defence ministers meeting had an uncanny similarity to the Solana Task Force Report that was about to be released in the following weeks.

German Defence Minister Endorses Solana Plan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3066687/Our-goal-EU-army-says-Germany-s-defence-chief-Fears-country-commission-chief-s-call-force-taken-seriously-world-stage.html

‘The European Army is our long-term goal’ she said ‘but first we have to strengthen the European Defence Union.’ 
The term "European Defence Union was not widely used until the Solana Task Force introduced it. Here, the German Defence Minister is making a clear nod to Solana's plan by using the term on the heels of the task force.  


06/06/16 EU Global Strategy Adopted by Commission
Javier Solana played an active role in advising the current High Representative, Federica Mogherini, in the new EU Global Strategy. Solana has a personal connection with this, since this was the first upgrade to the strategy since Solana penned the original in 2003, titled "A Secure Europe in a Better World." The new strategy was ratified by the Commission on 06/06/16.





06/16/16 Solana Presents to EU Parliament
Solana was asked by the European Parliament to provide guidance on a "White Book" (policy proposal) for a European Defence Union. As a result of this, he drafted an 80 page document for the European Parliament, advising them of how to construct a Whitebook for A European Defense Union. He then presented to the European Parliament, and was warmly welcomed there on 06/16/16.



View references, links, and Bibliography page here.