First Edition
Twenty-five New Testament Verses That We Christians
Usually Twist, Ignore, or Pass By Without Comment
by Mark Mountjoy
Breaking the ice and engaging Christians on the subject of Bible prophecy can be full of challenges and hazards, but even pleasant surprises. And one of the reasons for this is that usually very early on we are endowed or else inherit a template of Bible prophecy that we take for granted well before we are able to critically question any of the major questions and inquiries that need to be examined.
Infant = 0-1 year.
Toddler = 2-4 yrs.
Child = 5-12 yrs.
Teen = 13-19 yrs.
Adult = 20-39 yrs.
Middle Age Adult = 40-59 yrs.
Senior Adult = 60+
Juveniles and teenagers are not equiped to deal with or determine what has merit against what is merely conventional but unsubstantive information, but we often received a steady diet of repitative but false information from the earliest years of our lives.
In fact the history of Bible prophecy interpretation and over twenty centuries of Christian teachings around this subject demonstrate, without question, how vulnerable an area this is for the people of God and no census seems to be possible in the present state of affairs where Christian are locked into a four-way academic and ideological stand-off commonly called, “The Four Views.”
Nevertheless, the New Testament, taken as a whole, is very clear about the nearness of the Second Coming, kingdom of God, day of Judgment, and end of all things and the question we want to entertain in the essay is: Should Christians take this abundant information with a grain of salt? The next thing we want to explore is what the reasons why our understading of the third and fourth kingdoms of Bible prophecy (both foretold in the Book of the Prophet Daniel) has not been of assistence or of much use to Christians in grasping the significance of the first and second century situation in late Second Temple Judaism and early seventh decade first and third decade second century Christianity?
We want to list, explore, and discuss why this subject in super critical for Christians to understand and list the many reasons why our perception of the ramifications and significance of this issue will have an outsized impact on the way we look at, perceive, judge, and treat one another—and the Permission Structure or Interdiction Structure we believe is valid for Christian authorities and everyday believers to abide by to be holy and acceptable in the eyes of God.1 2
The Domino Effect that Leads to the Four Views
Instead of a Definitive New Testament Eschatology
Upon investigation a course can be charted which leads to inclusive results in Bible eschatology after everything has been said and done—and we need to be reminded to no view, good, bad, or indiffirent, exists within a vacuum—all are happening a
a result of identifiable reasons and we want to talk about the main ones here.
A. Missing books from the original Septuagint Scriptures inherited by Christians from the Second Jewish Commonwealth. This is a big one here, folks! Without First and Second Maccabees, which was excluded from the Scriptures by the Medieval Reformers, this entiure subject is doomed to failure before we can even properly begin it. We simply must have the list of the reign of the kings and the queen who properly constitutes the real fourth kingdom of Bible prophecy to be able to intelligently discuss what foundation of ideas and notions represents a proper starting point that can lead to any stability as we learn and grow. It cannot be exaggerated that without these two vital books (every wit as important as 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles) chaos. error, and miscalculation will ensue and we will not be able to proceed out of the B.C. years towards any credible target, goals, or credible expectations.3
Daniel, 1 & 2 Maccabees and Matthew 10:23
An indespensible triangulation of Scriptures consisting of the Book of the Prophet Daniel, the 1st and 2nd Chronicles of the Levitical Reign of the Hasmoneans (1 and 2 Maccabees) and the Gospel According to Matthew, chapter 10 respresent a stunning starting point to what, at first, may seem like a drudgery, but is, in reality, a very exciting and energetic study full of unexpected surprises.
It should first be noted that the majority of people in the Christian world do have 1 and 2 Maccabees in their canon of the Bible--Eastern (Greek Orthodox churches do--along with all their sister churches), Oriental Orthodox churches do, Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have these texts as well as do Roman Catholics and all their associated rites (Unionite, Maronite, Melkite, Chaldean, so on and so forth). The only Christians who are excepted are Protestant churches where, in most other cases, personal examination of the Scriptures is encouraged and mostly accepted as a norm around the world. So the absence of the Deuterocanonical texts, in this respect and related to this subject is something of unsung tragedy of deprivation of the very highest order.
The fact remains that Daniel foretold a fourth kingdom would emerge from the Hellenistic world and this happened as a result of the Maccabee rebellion entirely independent from anything the Romans could instigate, control, or circumscribe at the time it happened from 168 to 141 B.C. The Hasmoneans and the Hasmoneans alone blazed a trail in persuit of their liberation from Hellenistic tyranny and persecution that ended up creating a mutant Græco-Judæan state beyond that quickly ballooned to a size reviling the kingdom of Solomon quite anyone’s expectation at the time. However, 78 years later the Romans conquered this anomalous and bizarre Jewish State making it a client kingdom within the Roman Republic where it continued to give the Romans problems and headaches all the way into the second century of the Christian era. So we have to understand the Hasmonean fourth kingdom as the very first domino in this course of events that, if omitted from the equation, will swerve away from a straight line that leads to the second century conclusion of the Second Jewish Commonwealth which, we believe, is the target the New Testament prophets, apostles, and saints were expecting in no uncertain way and with every reason in the world to trust as certain.
Daniel 2 quotes, Daniel 7 quotes, and Daniel 9 quotes, and Daniel 11 quotes, and Daniel 12 quotes.
1 Maccabees quotes, 2 Maccabees quotes.
Matthew 10 quotes, Matthew `11 quotes, Matthew 12 quotes and Matthew 16 quotes. . .
Endnotes
1 Permission Structure - Matthew 10:23; 12:43-45, Titus 2:1, and 1 Peter 4:7; Revelation 1:1,3, 7, 20:6, 7, 10, 11, 12, and 20—Christians are allowed to teach Jesus came back at the termination of the Second Jewish Commonwealth: A.D. 63—A.D.136. The feasibility outreach of the Atavist Bible Church outreach seeks to persuade Christians to implement this type of religious authority for the first time since the second century Bar Kokhba revolt.
2 Interdiction Structure - 2 Timothy 2:16-18 cf. 2 Peter 3:4; 2 John 9-11—Christians are not allowed to teach or believe Jesus came back at the telos of the Second Jewish Commonwealth: A.D.63—A.D.136; instead they must expect and seek for these events in a future entirely divorced from anything connected to the context, social world, and history of the late Second Temple and immediate post-Second Temple period, on pain of excommunication and disfellowship. All Four View versions of conventional Christianity assume or implement this Interdiction Structure against any attempt to rethink the eschaton in a seventh decade first-century—third decade second-century event window.
3 History Crash Course # 29: Revolt of the Maccabees
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Domino gif caption: Source: Wikipedia.