One Christian website,
http://www.raptureready.com/rap15.html has found a
new reason to rejoice over impending Jewish persecution. According to Jewish
sources, an 18
th Century midrash from R. Vilna Gaon stated: “When
you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know
that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And
when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople
(today’s Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and don’t take them
off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”
It’s always sad to hear the Rapture-enthusiasts salivate over Jewish torture
and massacre. In their simple mindset, when the Jews get their punishment from
HaShem, Rapture-enthusiasts will receive their blessed hope, the Rapture. This
will be HaShem’s payback for 2,000 years of first killing, and then rejecting Jesus.
When I was asked why I didn’t attend a prophecy conference hosted by Good
News For Israel over the weekend, I replied, “No, because this group of
Lutherans in sheep’s clothing commands that a Jew must forgo Sabbath and the
Torah, which would be Bad News For Israel.”
The Christian heroes of faith—John Calvin, Martin Luther, and most of the
Reformers—loathed the Jews. They preached that the Church had replaced Israel,
therefore, if the Jews won’t convert, we need to kill them.
"Whoever shall now contend that it is unjust to put heretics and
blasphemers to death will knowingly and willingly incur their very guilt."
John Calvin
"If I had to baptize a Jew, I would take him to the river Elbe, hang a
stone around his neck and push him over with the words `I baptize thee in the
name of Abraham'." Martin Luther
Should we bless the Jews, regardless? What would HaShem tell us?
Now Adonai said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your
kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show
you. I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your
name great; and you are to be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but
I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth
will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3 (CJB)
I’ve never stated this in my blog, but an Orthodox Jewish man stole with my
wife, he stole my business’ cash flow and he destroyed my family. I bless the
Jews regardless of this man. I recommend that you begin to pray for the Jews,
and stop obsessing over the anti-biblical Rapture, before you become so jaded
that you will reject HaShem’s salvation.
Here is the source of the Rapture Ready commentary.
FYI: Putin=Gog, Crimea=Magog, the apocalypse is here and the Messiah is
coming
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.582663
Not only Christian fans of Armageddon are buzzing: According to one rabbi,
the Vilna Gaon himself predicted that when the Russians take Crimea, the steps
of the Messiah will be heard.
By Chemi Shalev Mar. 29, 2014
The Allard Pierson archeological museum in Amsterdam is in a bind. Since
February 7, it has exhibited “The Crimea, Gold and secrets from the Black Sea,”
which it originally billed as “Spectacular archeological finds from the
Ukraine.” Now it doesn’t know whether to return the precious gold artifacts to
Russia or to Ukraine or to just stay out of it and hold on to the exhibition
for the time being.
The reason this report caught my eye is that most of the “Gold and secrets”
of Crimea come from the Scythians. Originally from what is today southern Iran,
the Scythians were a horse riding tribe that inhabited much of today’s Georgia,
Armenia and the southern parts of Ukraine and Russia for close to 1300 years,
from the 7th century BC to the 4th century AD. The northern coast of the Black
Sea was absolutely Scythian.
And what’s so special about the Scythians? Well, it turns out that Josephus
Flavius, the turncoat Jewish historian who chronicled the Masada saga, had an
interesting theory about the Scythians and the lands in which they lived. He
concluded that their land was the Magog, as in Gog and Magog, as in the war of
Gog and Magog, as in the biblical prelude to the End of Days.
Which is one of the many reasons why recent events in the Ukraine have
created a buzz among legions of apocalypse-anticipating true believers. This
could be the real thing, they tell themselves, the big time, the major leagues,
not the end of the beginning, to quote Winston Churchill in reverse, but the
beginning of the end. And it is Vladimir Putin, aka Gog, aka King of the North,
who has set things in motion.
You only have to read Ezekiel chapters 38-39, the widely accepted handbook
and screenplay for the upcoming decimation. According to traditional
translations of verse 2 of Chapter 38, Gog is the “chief prince of Meshech and
Tuval”, ancient kingdoms also near the Black Sea. But the term used for “chief
prince” in Hebrew is “nesi rosh” (as in נשיא ראש משך ותבל): Nesi could also
mean “ruler” or “president”, and some scholars believe that “rosh” is not an
adjective, at all, but a noun denoting the name of yet another nation that will
enter the fray. So Gog is the prince of Rosh, or the President of Rosh, or,
with a little bit of help, the President of Russia.
“Therefore, mortal, prophesy, and say to Gog: Thus says the Lord God: On
that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will rouse yourself and
come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north, you and many
peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army;”.
And who will ride with Gog? Why Persia, of course, as specified in verse 5.
And possibly Syria, though it hardly seems capable these days. And why will
they all gang up on Israel? The Internet site “RemantReport explains: 1. To
acquire more territory (Ezekiel 38:8). 2. To plunder Israel's wealth (38:12).
(Israel’s newly-discovered vast reserves of natural in the Mediterranean, of
course, CS). 3. To destroy the Jews (38:11, 16). And 4. To challenge the
authority of the Antichrist who will temporarily be Israel's ally due to a
treaty mentioned in Daniel 9:27 “That ruler will have a firm agreement with
many people for seven years.”
Of course, if Gog is Putin, then we all know who the natural candidate for
the Antichrist is. But let’s put that aside for now. In any case, there is a
nuclear confrontation (“I will start a fire in the land of Magog and along all
the seacoasts where people live undisturbed, and everyone will know that I am
the Lord) and then a massive seven-month cleanup and a mass burial, somewhere
in Jordan, it seems.
If you’re a Christian, the fun is just beginning: An army of “200 million”
men will come from the East, according the Book of Revelations, and there’s
only one country that can raise such an army. Then, in quick succession but in
a sequence that is disputed by scholars, the End Times really get going:
Armageddon, Desolation, Tribulation, Rapture, Redemption, the Second Coming -
the works.
Jews, by the way, make do with just the war of Gog and Magog, after which
messianic days are here and “swords are beaten into ploughshares” etc.
Nonetheless, Christians aren’t the only ones who are getting excited about the
standoff in Eastern Europe. According to a report catching fire over the
weekend in the haredi press in Israel, the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch told his
disciples this week that the times of the Messiah are upon us. And who is the
source for his amazing analysis? None other than one of the top Jewish sages of
all time, the Vilna Gaon himself, the Gra, “the genius of Vilnius”, the
famously harsh critic of Hasidic Judaism.
According to said Shternbuch, he is privy to a closely guarded secret handed
down from the 18th Century Vilna Gaon through generations of revered rabbis:
“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should
know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being
heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of
Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and
don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any
minute.”
Shalom!
