The need to have a handle of hope for the future, however tenuous, is as old as mankind itself. We have a hunger for reliable prophecy, because so much of our hope rests on what Yahweh promises for the future. Tiqveh (hope) is an integral part of Christian/Messianic life, as integral as emunah (faith) and ahavah (love). Whether we like it or not, what we are sure will happen in the future profoundly affects our behaviour in the present. Our conviction of what is to come also profoundly influences our evangelism and our social action.

I feel sorry for those who have invested their hope and effort in a prophecy that has not come to pass. The history of Christendom is littered with false prophecy that has destroyed people's hope. The cleverer and more devious false prophets find ways of 'reinterpreting' failed predictions as the Seventh Day Adventists did when the Millerite prophecy that Yah'shua (Jesus) would return in 1844 failed and Ellen White invented the doctrine of the 'Investigative Judgment' to save his skin...and hers. Adventists refer to that time as the 'Great Disappointment'.

The Adventists are not alone. There are at least six major prophecies made by the Jehovah's Witnesses that failed:

• 1. The End of the Harvest prophecy (1878);
• 2. The Revised End of the Harvest prophecy (1881);
• 3. The End of Human Rulership prophecy (1914);
• 4. The New Terminus prophecy (1918);
• 5. The Resurrection of the Patriarchs prophecy (1925); and
• 6. The Worldwide Jubilee prophecy (1975).

I remember the last one particularly. I was a 21 year-old student at Oxford and had studied with the Witnesses for a spell so I knew people who had sold all their possessions, given it to the Watchtower organisation because they believed the Jehovah's Witness 'Millennium' (called 'Paradise on Earth') would begin then. When the prophecy spectacularly failed and they asked for their money back from the Organisation, they were refused, reminding me a bit of the time I was scammed when we ordered a dozen new Bible translations in advance of their publication in India.

The Messianic organisation, which still runs today, and to its great shame has still not repented of its deception, discovered they did not have the funds to complete the printing of their new Bible translation. So they seized the orders of many of their customers in order to pay off the printer and then claimed we had made a donation to the ministry and had not actually ordered Bibles at all. They used as an excuse the fact that on their advertisements they had asked for payment in the form of 'donations' (to avoid paying tax). Lots of ministries do that but most are honest. We never saw the consignment of Bibles we ordered and the scam artist, who still heads a ministry, wonders why he has to reach out with his begging bowl practically every month in order to meet the many economic crises that he has.

So a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses left the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society after they were bankrupted and had to start their lives all over again. Most false prophecy does not lead to such economic hardship for gullible and undiscerning families, though it still goes on.

The latest scam is false prophecy commanding gatherings to remote communities where the assets of those deceived is seized and they are turned into virtual slave labour. I related the story of one family a few months ago as personally related to me by the wife and mother of the household. One of their family members nearly died in that awful experience.

This is bad enough but worse, in some ways, is the effect these scams have on genuine gathering when it happens. People who have been burned are justifiably sceptical and hesitant - and I would be too. Try to imagine a false 'Moses' telling the Israelites to leave under the mantle of a false prophecy and then experience Pharaoh massacring them. Then picture the real Moses coming along later and the total disbelief that would greet him from the children of Israel when told that the real Exodus was nigh. That didn't happen, of course, but you get the picture. Satan wins all sorts of victories when he gets believers to accept lies. That's why it is so hard to convert Christian and Messianic Zionists away from one of the biggest prophetic scams of the 20th century - the claimed restoration of Israel in 1948. The more passion invested into a false project, the harder it is to let go of it when confronted with emet (truth). Of course, there are even bigger scams that have lasted centuries or millenia but that's another story altogether.

I don't think most false prophecies are deliberate scams - the ones issuing the predictions are more often than note sincerely deceived because they have been taught bad theology or haven't been given the gifting they claim. I don't think either Miller or the Jehovah's Witnesses deliberately manufactured their false prophecies even if they did manufacture 'explanations' for the sake of denominational damage control. After each false prophecy the Witnesses have given the same explanation for their failure: they did not have enough 'knowledge' at the time. Indeed I confronted a Jehovah's Witness elder friend of mine recently over the failure of the 1914 prophecy since today those alive from that generation are now all dead, the claim being that some who were alive in 1914 would see the advent of their 'Paradise on Earth'. He gave me the standard reply of 'not enough knowledge'. Yet as we all know authentic prophecy does not work that way. Nevi'im (prophets) don't make 'calculations' but hear or see the Davar Elohim (Word of God) directly from source.

Yesterday - 23 April 2018 - saw yet another prophecy, this time by David Meade, fail to come to pass, exactly as I predicted last Rosh Chodesh at the beginning of this year's Jericho March. He's not the only one who has been juggling with the stars, planets and blood-red moons to find signs of end-time events like the 'rapture', Great Tribulation and Second Coming. There is something that the star-gazers and the Jehovah's Witnesses share in common when it comes to failed prophecy and it is that they continue to use the same failed methods over and over again, even though they never work. The Evangelical Christian 'rapture' folks do precisely the same. Yet they never pause to consider the obvious but instead invent explanations or create postponments, kicking their dud prophecies further into the long grass in the hope, perhaps, people will forget. There are an awful lot lying there in what is now overgrown jungle. Obviously they get upset when intrepid explorers dig them out, and then start begging for charity. Well, absolutely, we must forgive if they repent, but more often than not they won't.

Exactly the same mistake is made by the Zionists and their 1948 prophecy which has undergone so many revisions now that you'd have thought they would have stopped flogging that horse to death. Yet that particular one has cost lots of lives, and is still costing lives. It's in an altogether different category to failed raptures and Bible scams - it is deadly in its effect. As an ex-Zionist, I make no bones about that. You need to quit that scam fast because it is such a dangerous belief to espouse, and so many more innocents will die yet because of it. You don't want blood on your hands by association.

So, yet again, the Christian constellation-gazers have failed but they will continue to observe and read into those specks of light events which they hope will yet come to pass. The biblical events will happen but not at all in the way they thought because they quite simply do not have the gift of prophecy. It grieves me that deceived believers have wasted so much money, faith and time (not to mention their reputation before unbelievers) by running around the Middle East waiting for imaginary 'sealings' or 'raptures' to take place, or closing down their businesses and selling off their homes in order to head off into the mountains thinking Yah'shua (Jesus) was on His way. Now they have to rebuild their lives all over again as I am pretty sure they have not got any refunds from the false prophets. All will be chastised for being so gullible, some will be humble and turn this bad experience into wisdom, but others will be angry and bitter and will either never trust true nevi'im (prophets) in the future or stop trusting Yah'shua (Jesus) altogether. Whatever choices are made, damage has been done, some of it with eternal consequences.

Christians and Messianics of every stripe have invested so much over the centuries into new prophecies that have failed or when old ones have been misinterpreted. In the year 1000 Catholic Europe was abuzz with anticipation. The year before, 999 AD, saw a frenzy of repentance taking place as people expected Yah'shua (Jesus) to return and thought a last minute dash of piety would do the trick to gain them their heaven-bound tickets. The same thing happened a thousand years later, in the year 2000, which most of us witnessed, and once again Christians got very excited indeed. When the years 1000 and 2000, arrived, respectively, and Yah'shua (Jesus) didn't show up, everyone pretty much returned to their normal sinning patterns again. By 1001 and 2001 everything was as it was before, if not a little worse.

What prophetic markers do we need to gain a knowledge on which we can pin our hopes and plan accordingly? Even in the most basic prophetic theology there is enormous division in Christendom. I won't even discuss amillennialism, premillennialism or postmillennialism. Some have got so frustrated over the lack of surety over this issue that they have refused to take sides and have begun calling themselves panmillennials, a vague sort of belief that everything will 'pan' out alright in the end, whatever and whenever that might be.

Of course they're right - everything will pan out right in the end - but there are some important questions which we must answer because we need to know how we are to live in the meantime - that is, with what expectations. Will things get progressively worse, as I absolutely believe they will because of what Yah'shua (Jesus) testified when He said the condition of the world would be like that of the days of Noah when He comes back? And that was a time of virtual anarchy with people wholly unprepared:

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left" (Matt.24:37-41, NIV).

That prophecy, by the way, has nothing to do with any 'rapture' even though the rapture salesmen are always quoting it as a prooftext. The good guys are the ones who are left behind! It's the baddies who are taken away, in this case, in death. Which again proves the point - 'a text without a context is a pretext for a prooftext'! But when people become blinded by false theology, they can't even read plain scriptural passages the way they stand any more. A veil covers their eyes. That is why I said two days ago that preachers must not only be heard but plainly understood too. You have to be clear and not let your feelings carry you away into the realms of fantasy.

Yet there are a lot of Christians we believe the 'Kingdom Now' teaching. This false doctrine teaches that things will get progressively better and that when Yah'shua (Jesus) returns, the world will have been conquered for Messiah and Millennial conditions will prevail already. That is very dangerous because the expectations are wrong as well as the mode of conversion. The 'Kingdom Now' don't believe evangelism will be the sole or even main means of bringing the earth into a millennuial condition: they also believe it will be accomplished by Christian politicians in high places. It is for this reason you will find many 'Kingdom Now' evangelicals in the corridors of power plotting to fulfil Biblical prophecy through waging war and threatening war against Iran or bringing to pass the prophecy that Damascus will be a heap of rubble. They are power-crazed and doing tremendous damage.

There are those, like the Adventists, who believe that the earth will be a wasteland during the Millennium, the playground of fallen angels. So their hope is aimed at heaven where they expect everyone to be for a 1,000 years. I don't think they're ever expecting to come back here so a desolate earth is simply a terminal point and a final exit. The Jehovah's Witnesses do believe we will all be down here (only the inhabitants of the planet will only be of their particular sect) though they believe the 144,000 will be ruling in heaven.

Then there are those Christians and Messianics who don't believe Messiah will be returning until the end of the Millennium and others (like the Roman Catholics) and various Preterists who, incredibly, being amillennialists, believe the Millennium is already here and we have been in it for a very long time already. I have never understood how they could reconcile that position with the picture of peace and happiness that Scripture clearly demarcates as a condition of the Millennium. Yet they do, and live accordingly. There is therefore less of an incentive to evangelise.

Then there are those who believe the Millennium is a literal 1,000 years and others who believe it just denotes a very, very long time indeed, and may not end at all. I cannot imagine what sort of mindset such people must have and I can only imagine that it would tend toward inertia leading to spiritual stagnation.

Some think He's only coming to judge the nations and will quickly depart, others (like Messianic Evangelicals) that He will judge and stay behind with us. So is He coming to reign or not? Many don't think He is.

Yes, our interpretation of prophecy very much affects our attitudes and the way we live and witness. That can't be avoided. It must be hell for those believers who get all worked up about imminent raptures, tribulations and second comings only to be disappointed and, who knows, maybe relieved too sometimes. Yet they come back for more of the same drivel. What drives them to be so desperate to escape this world?

One thing is absolutely certain: Yahweh does not reveal the future to satisfy our curiosity, nor does He give us superior knowledge with which to get ready to escape. Consistently when Yahweh gives prophecy about hard times it is to enable us to prepare for them in advance so that we can do our part and play our rôle in whatever ministry and calling we have been called to. We are supposed to be living to be productive for the Kingdom and earning our daily bread, not constantly on edge waiting for disaster or rapture. If he wants to take us to safety, He will tell us when we need to know. Trusting Him does not create terror. We can sleep easy in Him.

For years I have preached against the escapist myth called the 'rapture'. The kind of person who hopes for a rapture is often one who thinks Yahweh would not possibly call him or her to suffer through a dark time of tribulation because He does want His people 'soiled'. What makes them think that they are so 'special' and 'privileged' to escape suffering when millions of believers have waded through it - and are wading through it now in various parts of the world - both leaves me shaking my head and disgusts me. Without possibly realising it, they think themselves superior to others, and look condescendingly down and with crocodile tears on those who will be 'left behind' because they were too late, being converted during the Tribulation which they, the 'elect', have so mercifully escaped. Who said that snowflakes are purely a phenomenon of the 21st century? In latent form this attitude has been around a while, only now the inheritors of this destructive doctrine are often lazy, antinomian, self-entitled spiritual brats who grossly overrate their importance and specialness.

Face it. You're not going for a trip in the sky to another planet to escape the refinement this crooked and perverse generation both deserves and needs. Like beached whales, modern Western Christians deserve to stay behind more than anyone else if only to wake them up to their pride. There is absolutely a future 'meeting in the air' but it will be after the Great Tribulation - not before and not mid-way - and they will only be off the ground for a short while - probably less than a day, maybe only for an hour or two, or even just a few minutes. They're not going to be whisked away to some Shangri-la paradise in the clouds while late converts suffer martyrdom.

Read the first 10 verses of the 20th chapter of the Book fo Revelation and read it as it is written. It's all written plainly there, just don't read anything into it that isn't there:

"And I saw a malak (angel) coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yah'shua (Jesus) and because of the Davar Elohim (Word of God). They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Messiah a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and qadosh (holy, set-apart) are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be cohenim (priests) of Elohim (God) and of Messiah and will reign with him for a thousand years.

"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of Elohim's (God's) people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false navi (prophet) had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev.20:1-10, NIV).

That's pretty much all we need to know. No raptures, no date-setting and plenty of beheadings of true believers. Just a plain chronology of events showing setting and duration. Why is that so hard to believe? Why must people make it more complicated? And before that is a 7 year period of Anti-Messiah or Antichrist rule, the last half of which will not be dissimilar to the horrors that Christians in Syria and Iraq have been subjected to under ISIS and other terrorist groups. What's been happening in those countries - all the torture, rape and beheading - will give you an idea of what conditions will be like globally - for everyone who has not been gathered to the twelve places of refuge and safety reserved for the Remnant. The only 'rapturing' going on will be horizontal and will be for those who have totally given themselves to our Master. It won't be for lazy, rebellious snowflakes.

As Messianic Evangelicals, our vision is crystal clear. We know absolutely what we're preparing for and our hope rests firmly on the promises of heaven (for the disembodied spirits of the dead) and the Millennial world to come (for the resurrected). Our energies are therefore focused on evangelism, discipleship and preparation. We get revelation when we need it to enable us to accomplish these tasks in an orderly and realistic way with our feet firmly on the ground.

Don't get 'Corinth Fever'. Remember those early unruly, immature and undisciplined qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) who lusted after the spectacular and showy things. I think they were a lot like modern Christians with all their false prosperity teaching, babbling tongues and psyche-driven wonder-working. They may have gold dust on their hands and a few diamonds coming out of the air, they may get psychic 'highs', but they are not being transformed within, and that's the most important thing. Gold dust and diamonds are for the flesh but a new mind and heart, every daily reflecting more and more that of Messiah, is what matters.

We have not seen the end of false prophecies and they will likely multiply and become even more devious as the devil does more and more supernatural tricks. They must all be tested, Moreover, every born-again believer has the right to ask Yahweh for confirmation, and not trust any claimant navi (prophet) blindly. We must discover who the real ones are and stay clear of the rest. In that respect, all are nevi'im (prophets) because we all must be able to discern prophetically anything and everything that is making a claim on our lives. I suppose what I am really concerned about is helping those who have been the victims of false prophecy heal and find their spiritual balance again. We must help them not to throw the baby out with the bathwater in abandoning the gifts or, worst of all, abandoning Yah'shua (Jesus). It may be, if you have been burned by false prophecy, that Yahweh wants you to give all that kind of thing a 'miss' until you are stable and strong in the Ruach (Spirit) again. Just don't swing in the opposite direction which is an all too human thing to do. Learn your lessons, be sure not repeat mistakes, and keep going.

As forecast, there is a slurry of false prophecies coming out of the deceived colossus of the Body of Messiah. The latest has been issued by another pop exegete, Mathieu Jean-Marc Joseph Rodrigué, who, through his study of the Book of Revelation, claims the world will be destroyed on 24 June this year (2018). How did he arrive at the date? By taking the passage, "he was given authority to act for 42 months". By adding 42 to the crop harvest and price, he claims, it gives you the last date on earth.

Ridiculous? Totally. And there are thousands of people doing this. My concern is both for these false prophets and especially for those weak in the faith who are led by the nose into saying and doing all sorts of nonsense, compounding the bad reputation that is being given to Christians and Messianics. That is why we have to repudiate this rubbish as soon as we hear it so there is a record somewhere that we are not like them.

See you on 25 June.