Messiah Mania
Messiah Mania
By Terry James
The nation and world are in the throes of increasing tumult.
Anxieties and fears of every sort have invaded the psyche of the human race in general as a result. There is, accordingly, a proliferation of pleas for something, for someone, that can calm or at least damper the trepidation that can’t otherwise be solved or even salved.
Jesus said this would be the human condition as the time of His return nears.
He said such turmoil will bring with it great deception. Deceivers of all kinds will foist their nefarious wares upon earth’s inhabitants, taking advantage of the spiritual-driven neuroses that will be affecting and infecting people everywhere.
Among the deceivers will be those who even claim to be Christ, Himself. Religious deception and a profound increase in lawlessness (iniquity) will be the order of the day as the time of the Second Advent closes in.
Jesus said, for example:
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” – (Matthew 24:11–12)
He warned about a particular form of false prophecy that would especially be directed toward deceiving and misleading Israel—the Jewish people:
“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” – (Matthew 24 23–27)
Jesus was telling his brethren, the Jews, that they didn’t need to look for Him when the false prophets—the deceivers—bid them to search out various places. His coming will be spectacular. It will be seen all over the world.
Now, I must be quite careful here.
There are increasing reports that the Messiah is on His way or is already amongst us on earth today. My purpose is not to point to the following example as the Jewish leader in question being a false prophet or a deceiver of the ilk to which the Lord was referring.
However, the fact that this topic is in the headlines points strongly at where we must stand on God’s prophetic timeline.
Some of today’s most revered Jewish religious leaders have for some time been speaking and writing on how soon Messiah will come to earth to rescue and restore Israel in all the ways promised by Jehovah. The following is one example:
In his book Siach Nechama (Discourse of Comfort), Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky writes that the Messiah lives and is with us right now, and the redemption is ready and waiting. When Israel merits it. The Messiah will be revealed and redeem them immediately.
The rabbi’s new announcement was explained in the Hebrew language website, Hidabroot. As an explanation, Rabbi Kanievsky quoted the words of the Jerusalem Talmud in Tractate Brachot (2: 4) and Midrash Rabbah on the Book of Lamentations (Chapter 1), in which it is stated that on the day of the Temple’s destruction, the Ninth of Av, the Messiah of Israel was born.
“It seems that what the Sages wanted to say was that even though the Temple was destroyed, redemption exists everywhere. The Messiah is alive with us and passes on in each generation to another body,” Rabbi Kanievsky wrote, adding: “And this is the message: that you should never despair because redemption is already here, Amen.”
“It seems that [the Messiah] will only come in the moment of distraction, [which contradicts the commandment] to wait for him at any moment, in which case [the Messiah] will not come,” the rabbi wrote. “But there really is no contradiction here. Because the very belief and waiting every moment for the coming of the Messiah causes the desired distraction. He will come to His sanctuary and the Messiah will be revealed. Because even if you wait for him, you still do not think the moment will come.”
Talk of the Jewish Messiah coming to make Israel the head of all nations, of course, doesn’t sit well with the majority of earth’s national leaders. All but a very few countries object vehemently to Israel’s right to nationhood. Most, by far, believe Israel is an intruder in the Middle East, an imposter that has usurped the Palestinians’ rightful claims to the land. All nations—sadly including America—still seek to divide the land granted to Israel by the God who created all that exists.
The “Messiah mania” we’re beginning to witness today is yet another end-times indicator for prophecy watchers to take into account.
Israel’s cry for their Messiah will, again sadly, result in their accepting a false savior, one who will impose upon on the Jewish people a holocaust more horrendous than the one with a capital “H” that was accomplished by the Nazi regime.
Antichrist will inflict upon that people a “Final Solution” that will try yet again to achieve Satan’s ages-long rage to rid the world of the Jew.
Thankfully, that attempt will result in Lucifer and his followers being destroyed in judgment from on high.
Israel will be a nation forever. We have God’s very Word on it.
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” – (Genesis 17:7–8)
–Terry