http://standeyo.com/NEWS/06_Prophecy/060605.gay.judgment.htmlThe warning regarding the Northwest Earthquake turned out to be a false alarm. Of course, a major devastating earthquake could still happen at any time. The man who gave this is not to blame since he was obviously very sincere in sharing his concerns over a dream he had. For him it was a "better safe than sorry" situation and he felt he had to warn people, just in case. He gave all the details on why he felt the way he did, and left it up to us to decide what to do. Those that got the warning passed it along, which makes sense and seems reasonable.
So rather than criticise him for doing what he did, my question is whether or not when we read his warning we could have had discernment as to the likelihood of its veracity.
Thinking back on the "14400" days situation last October we have something similar that occurred. It started with the predictions of John Zachary (http://harvardhouse.com/prophetictech/) who initially believed the rapture would happen in 1998, then (adding back in the 7 years of tribulation) revised it to 2005. His analysis was compelling due to all the coincidences coming together: a nice Biblical number like 14400, the date falling exactly on Rosh Hashana, and a rare solar eclipse falling on the same day. It seemed too good to be true. But, again, most people merely "held out hope" that this could very likely be the date, but did not actually predict that it was the date.
But the same question should have been asked about that one: i.e., rather than lambasting anybody who tries to forewarn the body of Christ about a potential date or disaster, is there instead any hints we have that would cause us to question how reliable the dream/vision/analysis is?
First, I think we should examine the source of the information and see what the person who gives it believes, and that would give us a better idea of whether or not the Lord would use such a man as his mouthpiece.
For example,visiting John Zachary's website we find references to Nostradamus, astrology, numerology, telepathic paranormal experiences, and an "explanation" why the occult is useful in researching the Bible. That sounds like this person is too compromised to hear from the Lord - he is spending too much time acting like Harry Potter when he should be sticking to the Bible. Perhaps if we had considered these tendencies at the first and asked ourselves how likely it would be that God should chose to reveal to such a person the "14400 day" discovery and credit for learning in advance the date when the rapture would occur.
The source of the Northwest "Father's Day/Gay Pride Parade" Earthquake prediction was Lloyd Day of the Beth Tefilah Messianic Congregation in Salem, Oregon http://www.bethtefilah.net/blank?pageid=14&catstart=0&prodstart=0. He seems to have honestly come to this conclusion following two dreams he had. Some people said he deserved extra credence because "the signs are for Israel" so a messianic Jew at the close of this age may portend a new outpouring on the Jewish people, etc.
There are only three types of people in this dispensation: Jews, Gentiles, and Christians - and the Christians are composed of former Jews and Gentiles who now share a single identity in Jesus Christ. Therefore any notion that a "Messianic Christian" is in some special fourth group is untrue - they are Christians just like the rest of us. That is special enough. Along with this idea of a special "Messianic" group is a certain nonsense going around that it is somehow holier to always call Jesus Christ by the name "Yeshua" and to refer to Jehovah God as "YVHV" (or even by the erroneous term "Yaweh") - and to basically employ as many Hebrew phrases as possible to somehow authenticate and elevate Christianity by a strained attachment to ancient Judaism.
The "Father's Day/Gay Parade" prediction included recommendations that people start observing the Sabbath day rest under the ten commandments (i.e., obey the Sabbath day, fill up your gas tank on Friday, etc.). This is a false teaching - the Church is under the gospel of grace and we don't observe these holidays. We are not under the law! Remember: the law is not a cafeteria - anybody under the law in part is cursed if they continue not to do ALL things whatsoever are written in the law to do them (Deu 27:26 , Gal 3:10 "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse").
He also said in his warning, " My concern now is that you get to where you can sit under the teachings of the Torah on a weekly basis. The only places that I am aware of that is committed to this are the Messianic congregations. This is of the utmost importance for you. DO NOT accept any substitute."
So with his warning he was telling everybody to leave their regular Christian church and go join a Messianic congregation where they would get taught the 10 commandments every week. I think that should have been a red flag that something was amiss.
Hopefully by looking back over these experiences we can learn a little bit about some of the clues to watch out for to avoid falling into any traps regarding the predictions we sometime get.
- M