In part 1 of this blood moon series, I gave an introduction as to the fact that a new "He's coming" timing issue is making the rounds in evangelical circles, and mentioned that two men are promoting it: Mark Biltz and John Hagee. When we look at the latest prophetic fad news, we look at the bible, which this series will do, and we also look at the people behind it who are promoting it.
Mark Biltz is one of these men. Mr Biltz is a minister of El Shaddai Ministries. He is part of a new movement called “Hebrew Roots Movement”. The Hebrew Roots movement is a false movement that attempts to revive Judaism and overlay it upon Christianity, essentially, GotQuestions says, their goal is to restore the Jewishness of Christianity, and they are the Judaizers that the Apostle Paul thoroughly refuted in the Epistle to the Galatians. Got Questions says of the Hebrew Roots Movement
“The premise of the Hebrew Roots movement is the belief that the Church has veered far from the true teachings and Hebrew concepts of the Bible. The movement maintains that Christianity has been indoctrinated with the culture and beliefs of Greek and Roman philosophy and that ultimately biblical Christianity, taught in churches today, has been corrupted with a pagan imitation of the New Testament gospels.
Those of the Hebrew Roots belief hold to the teaching that Christ's death on the cross did not end the Mosaic Covenant, but instead renewed it, expanded its message, and wrote it on the hearts of His true followers. They teach that the understanding of the New Testament can only come from a Hebrew perspective and that the teachings of the Apostle Paul are not understood clearly or taught correctly by Christian pastors today. Many affirm the existence of an original Hebrew-language New Testament and, in some cases, denigrate the existing New Testament text written in Greek. This becomes a subtle attack on the reliability of the text of our Bible. If the Greek text is unreliable and has been corrupted, as is charged by some, the Church no longer has a standard of truth.
Although there are many different and diverse Hebrew Roots assemblies with variations in their teachings, they all adhere to a common emphasis on recovering the "original" Jewishness of Christianity. Their assumption is that the Church has lost its Jewish roots and is unaware that Jesus and His disciples were Jews living in obedience to the Torah. For the most part, those involved advocate the need for every believer to walk a Torah-observant life.
On Mark Biltz’s website it states the following:
This in itself should tell you that Mr Biltz is a dangerous false prophet. The millions of Jews are lost. Without conversion to Christianity, Jewish people will endure God’s wrath in hell for all eternity. Can anyone casually put such a disclaimer on their website, that millions of lost people are not candidates for conversion into the grace of Jesus?
Paul wrote:
"Galatians 2:16, “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”"
John Hagee is overly Israel-centric in his ministry as well. He picked up on Mark Biltz’s blood moons teaching of several years ago (yes, Mr Biltz predicted via plausible denial the return of Jesus several years ago when several lunar eclipses coincided with a holy day or two. The only thing that is different about the blood moons of 2014-15 is that there are four blood moons, not two.) Mr Hagee has written a book on the tetrad (four) blood moons of 2014-2015. This book is selling like hotcakes right now.
Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change by John Hagee
Mr Hagee has also promoted several aberrant doctrines himself. For example, John Hagee denies Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. From Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry , we read,
“The problem, however, is with his new book "In Defense of Israel" where Dr. Hagee apparently states that Jesus was not the Messiah. If you were to go to youtube.com2 you can hear where Dr. Hagee speaks regarding his book and says his book, In Defense of Israel, will prove that "Jesus did not come to Earth to be the Messiah," (20 seconds in) and that "...since Jesus refused by word and deed to claim to be the Messiah how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?" (32 seconds in). Obviously, this is a huge problem. ”
Pastor Matt Slick, The author of the CARM essay on Hagee, then went to get Hagee’s book to more thoroughly research the matter and to confirm whether in context Hagee made these aberrant statements or not. He concludes that there are too many aberrant statements.
In my opinion,Hagee’s book “In Defense of Israel” contains serious theological error, too numerous and detailed to go into here. He has also been accused many times over the years of holding to a dual covenant theology, which he denies but the accusation still clings because Mr Hagee is disingenuous at best in attempting to dispel them. Dual Covenant theology is where Jews have a separate covenant to be saved, distinct from the one that the Gentiles hold. Remember, Peter and Paul and the other apostles were Jews! Yet they came to faith under the one covenant.
Yet Hagee is quoted in the Houston Chronicle newspaper in 1988 as stating
"I’m not trying to convert the Jewish people to the Christian faith." "In fact, trying to convert Jews is a ‘waste of time,’ he said. ‘The Jewish person who has his roots in Judaism is not going to convert to Christianity. There is no form of Christian evangelism that has failed so miserably as evangelizing the Jewish people. They (already) have a faith structure.’ Everyone else, whether Buddhist or Baha’i, needs to believe in Jesus, he says. But not Jews. Jews already have a covenant with God that has never been replaced by Christianity." ("San Antonio fundamentalist battles anti-Semitism," Houston Chronicle, April 30, 1988, sec. 6, p. 1
Suffice to say, neither Biltz or Hagee are solid theologians and in fact have severely clouded judgment about what is the church and what is the Law, and this is being generous to say the least. To say they are dangerously false would not be overstating things. When looking at the blood moons teaching on the next pages, please consider the source.
Part 1 here
----------------------------------------
More information on blood moons here in Answers in Genesis-
Will Lunar Eclipses Cause Four Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015?
Mark Biltz is one of these men. Mr Biltz is a minister of El Shaddai Ministries. He is part of a new movement called “Hebrew Roots Movement”. The Hebrew Roots movement is a false movement that attempts to revive Judaism and overlay it upon Christianity, essentially, GotQuestions says, their goal is to restore the Jewishness of Christianity, and they are the Judaizers that the Apostle Paul thoroughly refuted in the Epistle to the Galatians. Got Questions says of the Hebrew Roots Movement
“The premise of the Hebrew Roots movement is the belief that the Church has veered far from the true teachings and Hebrew concepts of the Bible. The movement maintains that Christianity has been indoctrinated with the culture and beliefs of Greek and Roman philosophy and that ultimately biblical Christianity, taught in churches today, has been corrupted with a pagan imitation of the New Testament gospels.
Those of the Hebrew Roots belief hold to the teaching that Christ's death on the cross did not end the Mosaic Covenant, but instead renewed it, expanded its message, and wrote it on the hearts of His true followers. They teach that the understanding of the New Testament can only come from a Hebrew perspective and that the teachings of the Apostle Paul are not understood clearly or taught correctly by Christian pastors today. Many affirm the existence of an original Hebrew-language New Testament and, in some cases, denigrate the existing New Testament text written in Greek. This becomes a subtle attack on the reliability of the text of our Bible. If the Greek text is unreliable and has been corrupted, as is charged by some, the Church no longer has a standard of truth.
Although there are many different and diverse Hebrew Roots assemblies with variations in their teachings, they all adhere to a common emphasis on recovering the "original" Jewishness of Christianity. Their assumption is that the Church has lost its Jewish roots and is unaware that Jesus and His disciples were Jews living in obedience to the Torah. For the most part, those involved advocate the need for every believer to walk a Torah-observant life.
On Mark Biltz’s website it states the following:
“El Shaddai Ministries is a Hebrew Roots Resource and Teaching Ministry
We do not want to convert Jews to Christianity or Christians to Judaism”
This in itself should tell you that Mr Biltz is a dangerous false prophet. The millions of Jews are lost. Without conversion to Christianity, Jewish people will endure God’s wrath in hell for all eternity. Can anyone casually put such a disclaimer on their website, that millions of lost people are not candidates for conversion into the grace of Jesus?
Paul wrote:
"Galatians 2:16, “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”"
John Hagee is overly Israel-centric in his ministry as well. He picked up on Mark Biltz’s blood moons teaching of several years ago (yes, Mr Biltz predicted via plausible denial the return of Jesus several years ago when several lunar eclipses coincided with a holy day or two. The only thing that is different about the blood moons of 2014-15 is that there are four blood moons, not two.) Mr Hagee has written a book on the tetrad (four) blood moons of 2014-2015. This book is selling like hotcakes right now.
Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change by John Hagee
Mr Hagee has also promoted several aberrant doctrines himself. For example, John Hagee denies Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. From Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry , we read,
“The problem, however, is with his new book "In Defense of Israel" where Dr. Hagee apparently states that Jesus was not the Messiah. If you were to go to youtube.com2 you can hear where Dr. Hagee speaks regarding his book and says his book, In Defense of Israel, will prove that "Jesus did not come to Earth to be the Messiah," (20 seconds in) and that "...since Jesus refused by word and deed to claim to be the Messiah how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?" (32 seconds in). Obviously, this is a huge problem. ”
Pastor Matt Slick, The author of the CARM essay on Hagee, then went to get Hagee’s book to more thoroughly research the matter and to confirm whether in context Hagee made these aberrant statements or not. He concludes that there are too many aberrant statements.
In my opinion,Hagee’s book “In Defense of Israel” contains serious theological error, too numerous and detailed to go into here. He has also been accused many times over the years of holding to a dual covenant theology, which he denies but the accusation still clings because Mr Hagee is disingenuous at best in attempting to dispel them. Dual Covenant theology is where Jews have a separate covenant to be saved, distinct from the one that the Gentiles hold. Remember, Peter and Paul and the other apostles were Jews! Yet they came to faith under the one covenant.
Yet Hagee is quoted in the Houston Chronicle newspaper in 1988 as stating
"I’m not trying to convert the Jewish people to the Christian faith." "In fact, trying to convert Jews is a ‘waste of time,’ he said. ‘The Jewish person who has his roots in Judaism is not going to convert to Christianity. There is no form of Christian evangelism that has failed so miserably as evangelizing the Jewish people. They (already) have a faith structure.’ Everyone else, whether Buddhist or Baha’i, needs to believe in Jesus, he says. But not Jews. Jews already have a covenant with God that has never been replaced by Christianity." ("San Antonio fundamentalist battles anti-Semitism," Houston Chronicle, April 30, 1988, sec. 6, p. 1
Suffice to say, neither Biltz or Hagee are solid theologians and in fact have severely clouded judgment about what is the church and what is the Law, and this is being generous to say the least. To say they are dangerously false would not be overstating things. When looking at the blood moons teaching on the next pages, please consider the source.
Part 1 here
----------------------------------------
More information on blood moons here in Answers in Genesis-
Will Lunar Eclipses Cause Four Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015?
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