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The Revelation of Y'shua
By John of AllFaith © 9.16.09 (last update: 10.24.2012)Revelation 3:7-13
Go to the index page for: The Revelation of Navi Y'shua
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Video version: We pray to HaShem, the Holy One of Israel, to fill our hearts with wisdom and understanding as we continue this study into the Revelation of our chief rabbi, Navi Y'shua
The Seven Periods Continued
The Period of Philadelphia: The Messianic Way in Revival: From the First Great Awakening to World War One.
1750 CE - 1914 CE: As time flowed onward there occurred that exciting period of time known as the Great Awakenings. Volumes could and have been written about this spiritually exciting period but I will try and keep this brief. This spiritual awakening produced several noted evangelists, ministers and ministries, all seeking to restore spirituality and life to the fading Nicean Christian faith. These people ministered in all segments of the Church and several new denominations came into existence, each claiming to have reestablished "the Second Chapter of Acts Church." To be sure some of these people were charlatans, skillfully taking advantage of a spiritually thirsty public, but many were men and women of profound spiritual awareness and faith. Something was happening! Millions sensed it. The old world was dying and a New Order of the Ages ("Novus Ordo Seclorum") was dawning. Some of these ministries praised the dawning New World Order ("Novus Ordo Mundi") while other railed against it and warned of coming evil days.
Early in this period, in fledgling America and beyond, the First Great Awakening occurred. This Awakening began in the Dutch Reformed Churches of New Jersey circa 1726. The Awakening soon spread to the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches of the area, and then beyond. This "First Great Awakening" finally reached its zenith in New England in the 1740's. It produced thinkers such as Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) who was inspired by people like John Locke (1632-1704), John Wesley (1703-1791) and George Whitfield (1714-1770). Understand that everything arises from forces preceding them and this Awakening had been simmering for many years! These were by and large scholarly Christians who opposed the high level of emotionalism that was typical of the Enlightenment. This movement, the Enlightenment, also gave to the establishment of Orthodox Judaism. The so-called Enlightenment was actually the emerging darkness of Heylel, Lucifer, Son of the Morning.
The Believers of this period demanded a return to biblical religion and faith. Itinerant preachers such as the Reverends Gilbert Tennent, Samuel Davies, Eleazar Wheelock, Samuel Finley etc. traveled throughout the thirteen American colonies expounding an emotionally charged intellectually concise "American Protestantism." They boldly proclaimed a new breed of religion that was born of American experiences and that was catered to the citizens of "New Zion" as many were calling the US during this period.
The Emergence of Secular Humanism
The sparks of the Awakening spread to Virginia and elsewhere in the 1750's, but soon ended under the Atheistic onslaught of Humanist theories and science so-called. The new anti-religion, called Secular Humanism by many (in contradistinction to "Religious Humanism"), ridiculed the old beliefs. They referred to the Torah of HaShem as myth and legend, similar to the Greek myths but less cultured! They sought to replace these "myths" with scientific theory and human philosophy. They engaged the government controlled school systems to brainwash the children of America into accepting the new Atheistic New Religion. THIS is why there exists a Federal Department of Education. School teachers became little more than missionaries of Secular Science and Darwinism. The allegedly enlightened elite, through the pawns, proclaimed from their ivory towers that there was no need of a Creator! Science could explain it all! There was no need for faith... it was just superstition!
You see, they explained, 'Something unformed and uncreated, something really big, exploded (for some reason) and a wad of blue-green algae emerged from it and landed in some sort of primeval ooze (where did that ooze come from? Don't ask....)... but then, after billions of years this sludge gradually grew gills and turned into myriad forms of fish! Then some of the fish just happened to grow legs and lungs and became human... but... other fish stayed fish for reason... Now, doesn't that make more sense than believing in a wise and loving Creator?
And the masses bought it! They didn't understand it, but they accepted it from the white coated holy men of Science.
The impact of this Awakening was essential for the colonies as it created a bond between them (an "e pluribus unum") and established a sense of national identity and social destiny for the colonists as a distinct people, a chosen people... Protestant Americans began to hail the United States as the "New Zion," a virtual Protestant Promised Land! Forget about the Jews of old! White Protestant Americans were now "Spiritual Israel!" Any by the way, Jesus was White guy with blue eyes... Jimmy Swaggart confirmed this so it must be true...
Jonathan Edwards considered the Awakening to be a "surprising work of God" and he boldly proclaimed that “Jesus has flung the door of mercy open so that all could enter"... a clear and at-the-time bold rejection of Calvinism which had been so popular and so pessimistic!
During this period, the fatherhood aspect of the Nicene Christian Triune God was emphasized, and the Colonists regarded themselves as His special children with a "Manifest Destiny" to fulfill. These American children of God fully expected their God to lead them as a nation and to punish them for any sins they allowed, even as He did the children of Israel. Threats of Hellfire and damnation were heard throughout the land. This was a strict and disciplined form of Christianity! Onward marched these "Christian soldiers as to way!" This view was widely accepted and its missionaries went out in droves. Arguably this revitalization was just what the dead church period of Smyrna needed! "Wake up!" these fiery preachers and missionaries shouted. And millions did.
As a result of these beliefs "submission of the stubborn human will" became an important concept and the religious life of the day and the fiery sermons of the evangelists reflected this. Holiness in all things came to typify this Puritan revival.
According to E.S. Gaustad:
"...the founding of the Separates and the Separate Baptists was the most conspicuous institutional effect of the [first] Great Awakening in New England." It was by no means the only one however. By 1755, there were over 125 Separate (or Strict Congregationalist) churches in New England. By 1776 over 70 Separate Baptist Churches existed. Later came the Universalists, the Unitarians, Free Will Baptists, Shakers and Quakers, the New Light Theologies (later organized as Edwardsianism, Hopkinsianism, and Consistent Calvinism), etc. The general-consensus of these movements was fundamentally Calvinistic, but this view was gradually changing.John Calvin of course was one of the primary 16th century Reformers. He was a gifted debater and noted theologian. Unfortunately like all the others who leaving Catholicism Calvin embraced the Nicene Creed and the other essential Nicolaitan heresies. He didn't know any better. These things had been so utterly ingrained in the minds of the people that few ever even considered the need to rediscover the Jewish, Hebraic roots of Rebbe Y'shua's teachings. And these reformers did not even serious try.
John Calvin's Nicean teachings had a profound influence on the Reformed Christian Movement and for many years Calvinism was a hallmark of Reform theology, even though today the vast majority of Christians reject Calvinism completely, many even feel Calvinism is a heretical doctrine.
The distinctive teaching of Calvinism is the doctrine of predestination. This belief holds that before the foundations of the heavens were set in place, God had already chosen those people who would be saved. Understand this well, the teaching is not that God, in His foreknowledge knew which people would choose to accept Him (HaShem knows everything of course), but rather that God chose who He would accept, who He would save before Adam was even created. The majority of human beings who would ever live according to Calvin had already been condemned to eternal torment and damnation and there is nothing anyone can do about that! The vast majority of humans who would ever live, even before they were conceived in their mother's wombs, were already slated to suffer eternal torment in Hell no matter what they might do or desire to the contrary! People have no choice in the matter of their salvation whatsoever. This is Calvinism.
This doctrine is not as popular today as it once was, but many Christians still accept it as true. Most Christians do not really understand the Christian doctrine of predestination nor its dark implications. The God of Calvinism is a God that cares nothing for free will, nothing for human reason, nothing for justice. His determinations are completely arbitrary and He tortures His children without mercy or hope.
This is not the God of authentic Messianic Judaism! And the teaching is not only anti-biblical it was completely at odds with the emerging sense of social responsibility and liberty of the developing American Republic.
The American-wrought emphasis on individuality
The First Great Awakening promoted the notion that God was willing to save anyone who truly repented and placed their faith in him. That was revolutionary to a degree that is difficult for us to fathom today. This was a harsh blow to then popular Calvinism! To do otherwise, it was argued, would be un-American because in America a person was only limited by his own choices! If an American wanted to be saved then he could get saved! And surely God was an American and shared our ideals! This sounds silly if not blasphemous today, but this is how Americans thought during this period.
The ministers of the First Awakening viewed America as God's tool for the establishment of "the millennial reign of Christ" and considered themselves to be Hisministers to that end. American Christians were sending out missionaries to the ends of the earth promoting not only Nicean Christianity but Americanism as well! It was America's destiny to lead to world to Jesus! All who opposed the Nation of God would fall!
As the 1700's were waning Calvinism was dying and new religious forms and doctrines were being developed by the diverse Protestant and heterodox thinkers of the day. Among the new Nicene Christian groups that arose during this shift away from Calvinism were the Missouri Synod, the Norwegian Evangelical Synod, the Church of the United Brethren, the Disciples of Christ, the diverse Millerite sects, and Mormonism (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). Also appearing during this period was Swedenborgianism, Taylorism (or Beecherism), Mesmerism, Owenism, Fourierism, the Oneida Society, the Mennonites, the Moravians, the Seventh Day Baptists, the Six Principle Baptists and Dunker Baptists, the Free Will Baptists, the YMCA, etc.
This enlivening Spiritual Americana seemd to be divinely inspired. Individual responsibility and self worth began to replace determinism and predestination and the future seemed rosey indeed! Once again this spirit of hope and individualism broke out first among the New England Congregationalists. But this time the renewed revival fires spread far and wide throughout the United States. It was soon being found in all the major denominations to some degree including among Catholicism. By the mid 19th century however this movement likewise was absorbed into the predominant religious structures. The stagnation of traditional Nicene dogma replaced the excitement of discovery and the Spirit of hope and rediscovery again began to wane. Authentic Messianic Judaism remain a thing of the past.
It should be remembered that these flowerings of intellectual and spiritual awakening did not and never do occur in a vacuum. Each appearance of spiritual renewal is directly tied to the experiences (for good or ill) of its predecessors. Such was again the case between the years 1875 and 1914 when the Third Great Awakening occurred.
Note that some authorities do not see a break between the Second and Third Awakening as I list them here. Its semantics really.
During this Great Awakening the modern religious landscape was established.
As the period of the Third Great Awakening was ending, the first major signs that the End of the Times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) had arrived were dawning for all who knew the prophecies. The doctrinal debates were interesting, but the dawn of the Final Way Period was now at hand and both Heaven and Earth shuttered at the realization.
And so despite the dehumanizing work of the Secular Humanists, this period of renewed hope gradually flowered into the Second Great Awakening. There was real hope of renewal that through the fervant study and prayers of such people biblical Messianic Judaism might be rekindled. Alas that was not to be. This Great Awakening abruptly ended with the onset of World War One in 1914. As Rebbe Y'shua had foretold it would.
Our Rebbe's talmidim (students) had asked the Rebbe for signs that would mark when the begining of the End of the Age was nigh, and he told them:
Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.With the close of the sixth period and the dawning of the seventh the Time of Jacob's Trouble began. Of this period we read:
Jeremiah 30:4 These are the words ADONAI spoke concerning Isra'el and Y'hudah:
5 Here is what ADONAI says: "We have heard a cry of terror, of fear and not of peace.
6 Ask now and see: can men give birth to children? Why, then, do I see all the men with their hands on their stomachs like women in labor, with every face turned pale?
7 How dreadful that day will be! - there has never been one like it: a time of trouble for Ya'akov, but out of it he will be saved.
8 "On that day," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "I will break his yoke from off your neck, I will snap your chains. Foreigners will no longer enslave him.
9 Instead, they will serve ADONAI their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 "So don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant," says ADONAI, "or be alarmed, Isra'el; for I will return you from far away and your offspring from their country of exile. Ya'akov will again be quiet, at rest; and no one will make him afraid.
11 "For I am with you to save you," says ADONAI, "I will finish off all the nations where I have scattered you. However, you I will not finish off, but will discipline only as you deserve; I will not completely destroy you."World War One, the treason against the US that occurrd with the formation of the Federal Reserve, the Russian Pogroms of 1903-1906 and so on all signaled the beginning of the Times of Jacob's Trouble for those with biblical understand.
Prophet Yochanan (John) was shown the following:
Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.All of these new religious forms that were emerging, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the LDS Church and so on all claimed to be revealing the truth and they did indeed unlock many of the forgotten and forbidden biblical truths. The Jehovah's Witnesses preached the earthly Kingdom of God rather than one in heaven. They also proclaimed the Oneness of HaShem and rejected the Trinity and the defication of Y'shua. They were largely responsible for teaching the Gentile world about haShem's Holy name.... many good points. The Adventists sought to restore Shabbat as the Holy Day and so on. However all of these sorts of groups also taught a form of Replacement Theology whereby they rejected Torah and the eternal status of HaShem's Elect. They claimed to be Jews, but they were not.
Continue with Chapter Three of the Revelation of Navi Y'shua
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