Re:Ear's response:http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2006/ear530.htm
I enjoyed your comment about the constructive posts following your 6-part series. I was going to post after reading another post that disagreed quite forcefully with your series, but then it must have slipped my mind. Fortunately, CAPS did an excellent job, which I reread three times. He constructively responded in a concise and logical manner that I wish I could have explained it that well, had I responded. I meant to commend CAPS at the time but never got around to it.
I don't remember whether you tied in how Daniel's 70 weeks are closely associated with the 70 x 7 years of Israel's time of refusal of observing sabbath rests for the land and 70 x 7 times being marked by Jesus as the period of time one should be forgiven. Many feel though because of this link, the 70 x 7 years cannot be complete until Israel has been completely forgiven and had all her land restored to her. It seems lately that Israel is giving away more land for appeasement than land being restored to her.
Another point is the ending at 6 installments. (The number 6 of course is associated with Satan - His Influence, while 7 is associated with Completeness, Perfection, Bringing to an End). I, of course, would end with a 7th that would stand for Wisdom. Remember "Information Theory" which takes the progression of data to information, answering the who, what, when, and where, then to knowledge, answering the why and how, then to wisdom, applying the knowledge to predict future behavior. Of course all prophecy could be considered wisdom as it is foretelling future behavior, but many people don't think prophecy in the Bible should be used to prepare for future events, just acknowledge past events. Poppycock!
I had also noticed that you kept adding, almost to the point of correcting scripture, 7 to the 62 weeks. Although it looked like the 7 was in a smaller font. It is good to acknowledge the distinction that the 7 weeks is separated from the 62 weeks in the scripture. It is after 62 weeks the scripture says. If we champion Isaac Newton's assertion that the 7 weeks is a separate count to a separate coming of the Messiah the Prince, as the Messiah the Prince is indeed coming again, then we have an area that we can apply wisdom. I'd apply the 7 weeks as prophetic years (360 day years) after June 7, 1967 but there may be better calls to rebuild Jerusalem in the future. But to me that is the closest on the event horizon. But since some people don't like to watch for his coming, just theorize about future events without applying it to specifics, one could leave references to an actual application out of any publication. Besides, this is what Newton himself infers that he preferred when he stated on page 251 (1733 AD Edition) of his "Prophecies of Daniel", "The folly of interpreters has been, to fortell times and things by this Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt.". Yet as noted in the introduction by Arthur B. Robinson of the 1991 reprint, "On page 113 and 114, he does give an identification of the last horn of the Beast and a numerical evaluation of the length of his reign. He also gives the approximate time of the beginning of this reign, but does not add the numbers or make a prediction". To what does this refer on page 113? When Charles the great conquered the Lombards in Italy in 774 A.C.as the earliest day mentioned? And then continuing with on page 114, "..that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a time for a calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year". So are we left then to add 1260 solar years to 774 which would be 2034 AD for the end of the reign of the Beast, or 1260 360 day years which would be 2015.9 AD. Adding 49 solar years to 1967 is 2016 while adding 49 360 day years is 2015. So much for my restraining from adding the numbers Isaac Newton put forward.
One final note regarding the date September 23rd. Anyone notice that Rita hit Sept 23, 2005, Daniel Matson has re-published a book (Signs of the End) for us to watch Sept 23, 2006, Rosh Hashana for the Rapture, I had heard Pat Robertson held, although not holding to the Rapture, been looking towards 2007 for the return of Christ, being 40 years from 1967, (Yom Kippur 2007 is Sept 23, 2007), my own book (Passion, Power & Glory) in 2004 had put forth watching Sept 23, 2015, which is Yom Kippur, for the return of Christ based on interpretation of Isaac Newton's ideas, and finally Yom Kippur in 2034 is also Sept 23rd.
Shalom,
Ted Porter
P.S. I was thinking the title, "Messiah the Prince" found in Daniel 9, means the same as the title, "LORD JESUS CHRIST" found from the 11th Chapter of Acts to the 22nd (last) chapter of Revelation. Messiah and Christ mean "anointed one" while Prince and Lord are both titles of royalty to rulership. Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah at His first coming and will fulfill the role of Prince at His second coming, ruling with a rod of iron for 1,000 years. It also appears that the title "LORD JESUS CHRIST" appears around 88 times in the Bible to the best of my counting.