Shofar Ministries Newsletter

Rev.Sheila Crawford
P.O. Box 513
Burton, Oh 44021
(440) 834-9006
shofarmin@adelphia.net
http://www.shofarministries.net/


News in the light of Scripture. May, 2001

Shalom Partners!,



I Tim 4:1 says in the latter days there will be those who fall away from the faith. Boy, is scripture right on for these end days. The word fall away means to "draw back ". Today there are those who are drawing back from the original teachings and the sound doctrine of Scripture.

In recent years, many opponents of the pre-tribulation rapture view have made dogmatic assertions that this view was never taught before 1820 AD. There have been attempts to attribute the origin of this view to John N. Darby. Grant Jeffrey has found an ancient citation from a sermon ascribed to Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373 AD), which clearly teaches that believers will be raptured and taken to Heaven before The Tribulation.

Ephraem of Nisibis was the most important and prolific of the Syrian church fathers and a witness to early Christianity on the fringes of the Roman Empire in the late fourth century. He was well known for his poetry, exegetical and theological writings, and many of the hymns of the early Byzantine church. So popular were his works that in the fifth and sixth centuries he was adopted by several Christian communities as a spiritual leader and role model. This sermon is deemed to be one of the most interesting apocalyptic texts of the early Middle Ages. The translation of the sermon includes the following segment:
"For all the Saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."

This text was originally a sermon called On the Last Times, the Anti-christ, and the End of the World. There are four existing Latin manuscripts (the Parisinus, the Augiensis, the Barberini, and the St. Gallen) ascribed to St. Ephraem or to St. Isidore. Some scholars believe this text was written by some unknown writer in the sixth century and was derived from the original Ephraem.

The sermon describes the events of the last days, beginning the Tribulation with the rapture, then the Great Tribulation of 3 1/2 years duration under the Antichrist's rule, followed immediately by the Second Coming of Christ. In Ephraem's book The Book of the Cave of Treasures, written about 370 AD, he expressed his belief that the 69th week of Daniel ended with the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah.

This shows that it was held (by some) in the early centuries and was not unique to the revival of the 1830's and therefore documents that this view was held by at least a remnant of the faithful from the beginning until today. Keep this in mind: if the bride is here for the tribulation or any part of it, then the Anti-Christ must come on the scene first. Who are you looking for? I am looking for Jesus with the sound of the Trumpet.
Resource: "Final Warning" Ch.18 by Grant Jeffrey

The Jerusalem Al Quds Arabic newspaper reports that US President George Bush sent a strong message to Arafat last month via the US Ambassador to Israel, urging him to bring an end to continuing mortar and shooting attacks. Despite the diplomatic moves, the so-called "uprising leadership committee" that includes representatives of Arafat's PLO Fatah movement issued a follow-up statement vowing to continue the violent jihad war even if Arafat agrees to a cease-fire. "The uprising will continue by all means at our disposal until the Israeli occupation is ended," said Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer has strongly denied that Israel had anything to do with several explosions over the weekend that left a number of Palestinian adults and children dead and wounded. "They constantly prepare bombs to kill us and sometimes apparently have accidents, and then have the gall to blame us for the premature explosions," he said.

:(Vice-President Dick Cheney's wife has come out in support of a homosexual activist picked to be the nation's AIDS czar. Lynne Cheney is praising the selection of Scott Evertz, much to the dismay of pro-family conservatives. Bob Knight, with Concerned Women for America, tells Family News in Focus that Cheney is speaking out of both sides of her mouth. He says on the one hand, Cheney says people should not be judged by what they do sexually, but on the other hand, she is glad that people are being picked precisely because of what they do sexually. Richard Lessner of American Renewal says given the fact that the Cheneys have a homosexual daughter, it is understandable the difficult position they are in on this issue. But Lessner says they are allowing their personal affection and parental love for their child to influence their stand on public policy.

Many in the pro-family movement are now wondering how the Bush Administration will stand on the federal hate crimes bill and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, both of which give special protection to homosexuals. The bible states clearly that this kind of behavior is SIN!

U.S. on alert for smallpox terror attack

THE INDEPENDENT OF LONDON News reported on, April 23: The U.S. government has ordered 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine from a British company in a sign of the growing alarm that terrorists could unleash lethal viruses in future battles against Western states. If a virus such as smallpox was released, the speed of modern communications could spread the infection all over the world in days. The latest contract for smallpox vaccine is against a disease that no longer exists. It was eradicated from the planet in 1980 and only two research institutions -- one in the US and one in Russia --still retain stocks of the virus.

PRAYER SHAWL

In Numbers 15:37-41 and Deut. 22:12, the Israelites were commanded to wear fringe, tassels, or twisted coils on the corner of their garments to remind them of the commandments of the Lord and to do them. There were 39 windings in each, which equals the numerical value of the Hebrew words "the Lord is One." How awesome to realize that Jesus suffered the same number of stripes for our healing. Is.53:5; I Pet. 2:24

Even today the Jewish people say that the TALITH (Prayer Shawl) is a religious symbol, a garment, shroud, canopy, cloak which envelopes the Jew both physically and spiritually, in prayer and celebration,

in joy and sorrow. It is used at all major Jewish occasions: circumcisions, barmitzvahs, weddings and burials. It protects scrolls of the Torah when they are moved. The dead are wrapped in it when buried. The bride and groom are covered with the canopy of the prayer shawl. (Some wrap them in it, while others have the whole wedding party stand under it.) It inspired the Jewish flag. Three separate people had the same idea. They just unfurled the prayer shawl and added the Shield of David.



Going Up? ^

In Biblical times, Jewish men wore this garment called a TALITH, TALIS, TALIT or PRAYER SHAWL all the times, not just at prayer. TALITH contains two Hebrew words; TAL meaning tent and ITH meaning little; thus, LITTLE TENT. Each man had his own little tent. (The apostle Paul was a Jewish Pharisee, but also a tentmaker. Acts.18:3. Many believe that he actually made Prayer Shawls, not tents to live in.) They would pull it up over their head forming a tent, where they would begin to chant and sing their Hebrew songs, and call upon Yahweh, Adonai. It was an intimate, set apart private time, totally focused upon God. This was their Prayer Closet! Mat.6:6.

A question often asked to me is: Is America in Bible prophecy?"

This is a difficult question as I love my country, and I'd love to find references to it in the last days. But it isn't there. And that seems to be quite a mystery, given that we are at the moment the most powerful nation on earth, by every conceivable measure.

There are some who try and find America in Scripture, like Isaiah 18, which speaks of a people "tall and smooth" who are "feared far and wide." The passage says these people are "a powerful nation whose land the rivers divide" that will one day bring gifts to the Messiah when He reigns from Mount Zion.

Those who hold this view, point to the fact the United States is divided by the Mississippi, and say we are the people "feared far and wide" of whom Isaiah was speaking. But this view only works if you ignore the first verse of Chapter 18. It clearly identifies the powerful nation divided by a river as Cush, or Ethiopia. At the time of Isaiah, Ethiopia was part of the Egyptian empire and the river referred to is without doubt the Nile.

Another view says that America is identified by the prophet Ezekiel in 38:13. Ezekiel speaks of the "merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof" who launch a diplomatic protest at the time of the Gog-Magog invasion of Israel. Some point to the fact that Tarshish was the westernmost trading and seafaring nation of the ancient world. From there, Tarshish becomes Britain. After all, Britain is the westernmost point on the Continent. And the symbol of Britain is a lion. Consequently, "all the young lions thereof" become the former British colonies, like Australia, Canada and, of course, the United States. Therefore, ipso facto, the merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof must be referring to America.

But this doesn't work, either. First and foremost, nobody can pinpoint with any degree of accuracy the location of Tarshish. The only thing we are sure of is that it isn't Britain. The most recent archeological evidence puts ancient Tarshish in Spain, which, while close, doesn't quite win the cigar.

Another popular candidate for a biblical America is found in Revelation 12:13-17. In this exercise in applied imagination, we can find America, and she is busily engaged in an heroic effort to save Israel. If you accept the interpretation that includes America, that is.

This passage states that during the Tribulation, God will provide a means of escape for the Jewish remnant in Israel. It says they will be carried into the wilderness on the "wings of a great eagle." Misinterpreting this verse makes it possible to have the United States supplying a military airlift of Israelis to safety -- on the "wings of an eagle." You can make this work only by ignoring the fact that Scripture interprets Scripture. And the Scripture already identifies who has the wings of an eagle.

In Deuteronomy 32:11, God identifies the bearer of Israel on eagles' wings. "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad on her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings, So the Lord alone did lead him [Israel] and there was no strange god with him." It is a nice picture, and in keeping with our own self-image, to see America as Israel's savior during the Tribulation. But it is clearly incorrect.

Probably the most widely accepted explanation of America in Bible prophecy uses Revelation Chapter 18 to show that the United States is really "Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots." The reason this symbol is the most widely accepted symbol of the United States is because the shoe seems to fit. Consider the evidence offered in support of this view, because it is compelling. Revelation 18:2 opens with the angelic declaration that "Babylon the Great is fallen." Verse 3 describes Babylon the great thusly: "all the nations of the earth have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornications with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." This doesn't seem to be much of a reach, on first glance.

America has sunk to moral depths scarcely imaginable a generation ago. We kill babies in the womb when they are socially inconvenient. The nuclear family is all but extinct. Morals are situational, if they are relevant at all. We choose as entertainment stories about adultery, fornication, violence and virtually every form of evil. We are the world's leading exporters of filth and pornography, not to mention being the world's largest arms dealer and exporter of destruction and mayhem. Politically, we have just emerged from eight years of the most shameful and immoral leadership the United States has ever been subjected to.

The description goes on, referencing the fact she "sits as a queen and no widow." One could argue the U.S. sits as a queen and is no widow for she has seen no war on her shores. Since the Apostle John also refers to the fact that "ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea" will see the city burning, this view makes New York City, Babylon the Great. The original Babylon still stands, in Iraq, but nowhere near the sea. And, just outside New York City is the city of Babylon, N.Y.! So, there you have it! And it all seems to make sense, really. Provided you are looking at prophecy as if it were given from the perspective of Washington. But it isn't.

In Bible prophecy everything orients from Israel. John's vision of the apocalypse is from the perspective of Israel, during the time of Jacob's trouble, not America's. But the most conclusive reason is given in Revelation 17:18. John says Mystery Babylon is really a woman -- that great harlot who will reign over the cities from earth. But John wrote that the great city was clearly Rome, and that is the city that will reign over the earth in the last days.

America faces threats from mad bombers, mad dictators, a unified Russian-Chinese military adversary and a host of other threats. Who wants to be the one to say that, biblically speaking, there is no reason to think one of them isn't going to happen? But America is not a major player in the last days -- she hasn't even a bit part. So we are either annihilated or another possible explanation is that our country and its leadership will be so decimated following the Rapture that we will simply cease to be a major influence overnight.

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:) Donations really NEEDED!
Blessings to ya'all, Love, Sheila




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