This is my least favorite Feast scripture often quoted by the ministry, and sorry to say myself a few times, in countless sermons at the Feast over the years. Aside from the fact that the author still anticipated plagues upon their still in use horses, mules, camels and donkeys, thus rendering it as something very far into the future ridiculous, it is an incredibly bad example on how to motivate people to attend the Feast. It's an incredibly bad example on how to motivate anyone to do anything. It's an incredibly bad example of forcing belief in what there is understandably no belief in. It's the consequences for not doing that motivate.
I mean, how would you react if Islam, by the hand of Allah, rotted out the eyes and tongues of loved ones not yet into the Islamic Faith, while still alive and then we, as survivors, forced to keep Ramadan? Would Ramadan be your "Best Ramadan Ever"? Well aside from it being your first of many or else.
Do we really believe the losers against Israel, now forced to go to the Feast or the God of Love will cut off their rain are going to sing "Praise ye the Lordo" with zest and feeling of gratitude? Do we think that singing "climbing through the windows leap" will bring back good times and fond memories? Do we really think those defeated gentiles in the future to whom this mandatory Festival attendance policy , or else , would rejoice in "Onward Christian soldiers , marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before"?
This is more a formula for PTSD! Post Theological Stress Disorder.
Zechariah 14:
12This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. 14Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
16Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. 18If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord b will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 19This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
21 comments:
Another anti Christian article by Dennis. At least I haven't tried to extend my life by transplanting my brain into a chimpanzee.
COVID-19 has made this a great scripture to turn back on the ministry. Many ACOG brethren in 2020 did in fact have their Best Feast Ever, because they stayed at home and didn't face the stress and expense of traveling to a convention site and dealing with the crush of sick people and the demands for volunteers to help with car parking, ushering, etc.
This is by far the worst post you've ever written Dennis.
Dennis:
You have to consider the context. The time is the Day of the Lord. These nations are actually coming up to Jerusalem to fight Jesus. I believe it is difficult for any of us to imagine this scenario of raging futility. Maybe the existence of this passage alone would be enough to prevent this senseless attack by those nations. Down to verse Zech 14:15, this is not an attempt to motivate people to keep the FoT.
Remember that the Germans and Poles used horses in WW2 - a "modern" war. The Germans alone used 3 million horses. Zechariah's cavalry is not described in any kind of detail. It makes me think that the nations involved in the battle are relatively low-tech - or have already exhausted their high-tech weaponry.
Verse 16 onward, the discussion shifts to keeping the FoT. These same nations are given a warning. Maybe this warning will be persuasive enough to change some minds. I do not envision that Jesus would be gratuitous in the use of drought. This connects to the fact that Israel prayed for rain at the time of the FoT.
Without a doubt, coming to the FoT because you are afraid of being zotted out is not optimal but it may be the most efficient and effective solution available in this context. This is at the beginning - how observance gets started - not the sustaining phase.
An important question is why is the FoT apparently the only one of the seven holy periods that gets re-established at that time? For instance, Zechariah does not mention the nations refusing to come to Jerusalem for Passover or Pentecost. Maybe FoT is retained because of this international flavor:
"Yet it (FoT) is unique from the other two annual pilgrimage festivals in that God-fearing Gentiles were also invited to come up along with the Jewish people on this particular holiday to worship God in Jerusalem." ("Sukkot and the Gentiles" by John M. Black)
Among all the holy periods, the FoT ideally reaches out to the Goyim.
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Worst Feast site ever in the WCG...
Fresno California , circa 1978.
Just a note for those who don't know: "Best Feast Ever!".........is not scripture.
Government authorities making threats ... no go to feast, no get no rain. No get death jab, no go to pub. Not much has changed.
Zech 14:12 And this shall be the plague (Heb maggephah, Strong's H4046) with which YHVH will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve (Heb maqaq, Strong's H4743) while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve (Heb maqaq, H4743) in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve (Heb maqaq, H4743) in their mouths.
The Hebrew word maggephah, translated plague in Zech 14:12, is also used in 1 Sam 4:17 but translated slaughter. Strong's lists the definition as 'a blow', 'slaughter', 'plague', 'pestilence'.
What would cause the deaths/slaughter of people (Zech 14:12) and animals (Zech 14:15), with such deaths involving dissolution/vaporization of flesh while they are standing?
In my opinion, it would be the detonation of a nuclear weapon.
From the NYTimes article about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
When the two bombs were detonated, thermal heat from the explosions seared human skin and vaporized some people instantly. “The closer to ground zero and the more exposed you were, the more horribly you were likely to die, but the less likely you were to be aware of it,” Professor Stoff wrote.
Only in the 20th century is the slaughter in Zech 14:12 starts to become a reality.
YHVH uses malak (translated angels/messengers) as His agents to do His divine will. In the case of Zech 14:12, it's likely that the State of Israel would be the malak who unleash its nuclear weapon in order to defend itself.
Remember, any words or actions of a malak, in the performance of YHVH's divine will, are as if YHVH was the one uttering or doing it. In 2 Sam 24:1-2, YHVH moved David to number Israel. In 1 Chr 21:1-2; Satan, who is a malak, was the one who actually moved David. Satan's action was attributed to YHVH because he was only following YHVH's divine will.
End time predictions are based on cherry-picked scriptures and cherry-picked history and cherry-picked current events.
Athiest haters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Romans 3:5-6)
The Armstrongite law keepers do not think through their beliefs too much when they claim that all of these so called "holy days" point to Jesus Christ and his reign and that the entire world would be keeping these days in the millennium.
If they point to Christ, who is then supposedly in the midst of the new kingdom, then why in the hell would anyone still be keeping a day that points to the one who is already here?
Its just like the sabbath. Adam and Eve never kept sabbath nor did Abraham and those before Moses. WhenMoses gave the law specific day to the Children of Israel it was for them and them alone. It never was for any gentile or other person in the world around them. Today Armstrongites claim they can only worship their Christ on Saturdays. Christian understand that worshiping God is a daily event, which it would be in the millennium. The Rest we have today is not in a physical day but in the One whom we follow.
Armstrongites prefer the ministry of death over life and rest in Christ.
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. (AV).
“The Sabbath and the observance of the new moon would be part of the worship ritual during the Millennium” (Ralph H. Alexander, Ezekiel, EBC, Vol.6, p.986).
“To whom are the promises given? Just to the people of Israel? Hardly. They are given to those of all flesh who worship from month to month and Sabbath to Sabbath. This is the ultimate end of Israel religion, that everyone should have the opportunity of joining Israel in worshiping the one God (cf. Zech. 14:16-21)” (John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66, NICOT, p.691).
Yeah right. Building the fake persona. Fooling none.
You bet 5:05. Athiest's who love to go to church and have dominion over others are the lowest of the low. Christianity is overflowing with this modern plague.
9:03. Still worshipping the ministry of death, I see.
Ge 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger [nekar], which is not of thy seed.
“Just as infants and children were included within the covenant sign, so were people of other races and social classes. Any who were associated with Abram as members of his household, whether born in his house or bought with money, were to be circumcised. In this way foreigners who were not born of Abraham were from the start grafted into the people of God, in keeping with the Lord’s declared intention of blessing all the families of the earth...” (Joyce G. Baldwin, The Message of Genesis 12-50, BST, p.67).
Ex 8:19a Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God:
Ex 9:14 For I will at this time send all my plagues [maggephah] upon thine heart ... and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
Ex 12:38a And a mixed multitude went up also with them;
“Thus the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, of a blessing to “all peoples on the earth,” received another fulfillment in this swarm of foreigners who were impressed by the power of God to leave Egypt with Israel after all the plagues had been performed. Another aspect of God’s display of his power was so that the Egyptians could, if they only would, be evangelized (7:5; 8:10, 19; 9:14, 16, 29-30; 14:4, 18)” (Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Exodus, EBC, Vol.2, pp.379-80).
Zec 2:11a And many nations [goyim] shall be joined to the LORD in that day...
Zec 8:22 Yea, many people and strong nations [goyim] shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem...
Zec 8:23 ... In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of [chazaq] all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of [chazaq) the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
“The announcement made in 2:11, that many nations will join themselves to the Lord, it taken up and expanded... Jerusalem will be the rallying-point for huge processions, intent on finding the secret joy and gladness, truth and peace, that the Jews enjoy...
“This vision of nations seeking God completes the purpose of the call of Abraham (Gn 12:3)...
“The intensity of their desire for God is indicated by the verb take hold of, which occurs twice in Hebrew... It is used of Moses snatching the serpents tail (Ex 4:4), and of David taking the lion by the beard (1 Sa 17:35). They could not afford to let go! The spread robe was a symbol of the protection of marriage (Ru 3:9; Ezk 16:8), while to clutch the robe of Samuel was for Saul a bid for reconciliation (1 Sa 15:27). Evidently their intention was to be accepted in the covenant alongside the Jew...” (Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, TOTC, p.155-56).
Dt 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast [of tabernacles], thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger [ger], and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague maggephah], wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
“The one festival uniting all nations in worship is to be the feast of booths... [In the Mosaic legislation] it was open to all, including ‘the stranger’ [Deut 16:14], and continued its importance during the post-exilic period (Ezr. 3:4; Neh 8:14-18). The reference in Nehemiah shows that the festival was not only a thanksgiving for the harvest, but also an occasion for hearing the law read. This means that the covenant was renewed. In God’s kingdom the gentiles would be brought within that covenant when they came to worship in the Temple the King, the Lord of hosts...” (Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, TOTC, p.206).
While the plagues may be punishment they are also evangelistic.
5.26 PM
If you rest once a week, you will find find that you are much more productive the next six days. Overall, you achieve more by resting once a week than never having a weekly rest.
So nature tells us that a Sabbath is part of the creation.
Is that Satan's take on God Almighty 12:39 ? How twisted. Thanks for the insight.
I was stunned just now to discover that "Onward Christian Soldiers" is NOT in the COGWA Hymnal!
How did that happen??
They have ALL been my BEST Feasts since I left the CORPORATE churches!! Now I get REAL Spiritual food instead of regurgitated ARMSTRONGISM VOMITUS!! 🤮
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