The Names of Isaiah’s Sons

Many Americans researching their ancestry run into ancestors with religion-inspired names like Constance, Faith, Salvation, Perseverance. Piety, Redemption, Prudence, and many others. These are technically called theophoric names, names derived from or related to a god.

Some of the personal theophoric names were quite unwieldy. In one family in my genealogical research, there is a man named Indignation, as in God’s righteous indignation at sin. Not surprisingly, Indignation went by the personal name Ignatious.

Imagine being a Puritan woman with the personal name of Fight-the -Good-Fight-of-Faith or a man named Flee-Fornication.

The Hebrew prophet Isaiah had two sons whose names he said God gave to him for “signs and wonders in Israel.” (Isaiah 8:18) The sons were Shear-Jashub (Isaiah 7:3) and Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3).

The name Shear-Jashub ((Isaiah 7:3) translates from the Hebrew as “the remnant shall return.” Isaiah carried this son with him when he went to confront King Ahaz of Judah. He told King Ahaz that if he would just trust in God, then God would bless him. Instead, Ahaz asked Tiglath -pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help. The help arrived, but at a great price. Judah was eventually destroyed with only a remnant remaining to return to the land.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13513-shear-jashub

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/464021/jewish/King-Ahaz.htm

The name Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3) translates loosely from the Hebrew as “hasten to seize the prey and to take away the spoil.” A more literal translation is “spoil speeds prey hastes.” The name is a reference to the impending conquest of Samaria and Damascus by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (734 - 732 BC) and is a warning to Judah, which wwould be conquered later.

http://jaymack.net/isaiah-commentary/Cf-The-Sign-of-Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.asp

Messianic Prophecies from the Old Testament: Today This Scripture Has Been Fulfilled in Your Hearing

Luke 4:16-28New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Footnotes:

Luke 4:27 The terms leper and leprosy can refer to several diseases

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

That the quoted text (from Isaiah 61:1-3) is a Messianic prophecy is evident because Jesus Himself used it in this way.

The scholars who insist that Jesus never identified Himself as the Messiah obviously never read this passage. Why else was the synagogue so quickly filled with rage? They understood exactly what He meant and they believed that He was speaking blasphemy.

Verse 28 says they “were fiiled” ἐπλήσθησαν  with rage. This is from the verb πλήθω I am filled (to the top; to full capacity. )  Strong categorizes the word ἐπλήσθησαν (e-plees-the-san) as V-AIP-3P (verb-aorist indicative passive- third person plural).

In English and many other languages, tense has primarily to do with time. In Koine Greek, tense has primarily to with the type of action. The aorist tense expresses action without any further definition. It carries the idea of sudden action. The people were suddenly filled with rage

The Last Pope

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has once again stirred talk of “the Last Pope.”  I vaguely remembered talk of this several years before and so, I had to investigate.  Apparently, many people believe that the next pope will be the last pope.  This is tied into speculation that this is the beginning of the end of the world.  Some believe that the next pope will be The False Prophet of Revelation.

The speculation is based on the predictions of St. Malachy (d. 1148) an Irish bishop who, when he fist saw Rome, fell into a trance-like state and produced a list of 112 popes identified by short Latin phrases.  Benedict is the 111^th pope since that date making the next pope number 112, whom Malacy describes as “Petrus Romanus.  (Peter the Roman)”

Those who are believers in the list insist that it is eerily accurate,  They cite the phrase for the 106^th pope, “Pastor Angelicus.”  This would be Pope Pius XII. 

“Piscator minorita,” (“The minorite fisherman”) is used of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), who was a member of the Friars Minor and the son of a fisherman.

“De rure alba,” (“drom a white country”).  The Englishman, Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159) was born in England, which in ancient times was known as Albion.

Of the Pope known as John Paul II, Malachy declares “de labore Solis,” (“from the labor of the sun,” “of the eclipse of the sun.”  Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) was born during a solar eclipse.

The manuscript recording Malachy’s phrases was locked in the Vatican for four hundred years.  When it was discovered again in 1595, the Catholic Church declared it to be fraudulent.  Some declared it to be an outright 16^th century forgery.   Modern commentators point out that many of the Latin phrases have to be “creatively” viewed to fit their intended popes.  Also, about 10% just cannot be made to “fit,” thus failing one of the tests of true prophecy.  Bernard of Clairvaux, who was a personal friend and biographer of Malachy makes no mention of the prophecies.

Some who believe that the next pope will be the last, bring in the prophecies of Nostradamus (Century 5 Quatrain 49 of “Les Propheties.”).

“a l’ennemy sera faicte fiancé,
Qui dans son regne ser peste cruelle.”
(“He will make a promise to the enemy,
Who will cause great plague during his reign.”)

Notice something here.  All of this is extra-biblical!

Remember also that we are expressly forbidden to set dates for the return of Christ.

Book Comment: Edgar Cayce on Jesus and His Church

Edgar Cayce, a photographer by trade, and born in 1877 in Kentucky (USA), is known as the Sleeping Prophet.  He is represented today by the Association for Research and Enlightenment. 

In a trance state, Cayce gave thousands of “life readings” (over 14,000 documents) for individuals over a forty-three year career.  He claimed to be a Christian, read the entire Bible annually, and served as a Campbellite (Christian Church, Disciples of Christ) Sunday School teacher.  Those who knew him personally said that he was a gentle, kind, and humble man. Then, why is he considered to have been a heretic by the vast majority of Christendom?  Reading Edgar Cayce on Jesus and His Church (1970) will give you a good idea.

 

The book, by devotee Anne Read, is supposed to give us a “much truer and more complete understanding of the life of Jesus than the Bible alone.”  To the spiritually and intellectually awake Christian, this statement is a giant flashing red flag.

The vast majority of the Cayce “life readings” concern health, massage therapy,  and the treatment of disease states.  Cayce, though possessing only a seventh-grade education, is considered by many to have been one of the fathers of modern holistic medicine.

In other readings, starting around 1922, Cayce began to stray significantly from orthodox Christian doctrine.  His trance declarations began to include references to past lives, reincarnation, astrology, Atlantis, Akashic records, the Universal Mind, spiritual beings, prophecies of the future, and unorthodox declarations about the nature of God and Jesus.       

At first, Cayce himself was concerned about the turn his readings had taken, but soon, he became convinced he was imparting the truth to his followers.  Edgar Cayce said that he never actually heard his own readings because he was asleep when he gave them.  He read transcripts of the readings when he woke up.  His initial misgivings about the contents of the readings is obvious from what he said to Arthur Lammers when he awoke from one trance state and read what he had said.  

“But what you’ve been telling me today, and what the readings have been saying, is foreign to all I’ve believed and been taught, and all I’ve taught others, all of my life.  It ever the Devil was going to play a trick on me, this would be it.” Quoted in Thomas Sugrue, Stranger in the Earth, 1971, p. 210.

The worst deviation from Christianity in the Cayce teachings concerns who Jesus was.  This is the main point of Cayce’s heresy.  He taught that Jesus was a man, a created soul, a spirit child of God, who became the Christ.  He further taught that we are also the spirit children of God, the same as Jesus, and that salvation and enlightenment comes when we realize our true nature and return to God.  This is the New Age doctrine of the divinity of man mixed in with the ancient heresies of Adoptionism and Arianism.  Both heresies deny the full deity of Jesus.

One Christian response to Cayce is stated by William J. Petersen in his book, Those Curious New Cults, p. 46.

“For a good portion of his life, Cayce was a commercial photographer.  He understood very well the mechanics of his trade.  A blank film is inserted, the shutter is snapped,  and then the film is developed in the dark.  The nature of a photograph, whether it is a formal family picture or pornography, depends not on the film but on the photographer who uses the cameras.  During his trances, Cayce’s mind was like a blank film that would be developed in the dark.  I believe that Cayce allowed his camera to get into the wrong hands.”

Petersen is hinting at what many people believe: the person who was speaking during Cayce’s trance states was not Edgar Cayce, but someone else, something else.  Speaking in traces is a standard event for mediumship and spiritism/spiritualism.  The New Age teachings of Ascended Masters and spirit guides speaking through human channellers comes immediately to mind.  The messages given by these spirit guides invariably are at odds with orthodox Christianity.

 What I am about to say will sound very controversial to some Christians, especially those who have accepted the anti-supernaturalism of the modernist world view (there it is again).  Unless one accepts that the spirit guides are who they say they are, they must be someone else.  The obvious answer is that they are Satan himself, or more likely his demons.

The Bible is quite emphatic that Satan and his demons exist.  In fact, Jesus said so.  Either Jesus was ignorant, mistaken, or correct.  I would go with Jesus.

A detailed Christian Response

http://www.watchman.org/profiles/edgar-cayce/

More on Edgar Cayce tomorrow.

Recurrent Segments in This Blog

From time to time I add new features to this blog.  I will always keep you updated as I do. Currently there are fifteen recurrent segments.  You can search for them on the Labels list at the bottom of the current page.  I welcome suggestions for new recurrent subjects.

Bible Printer's Errors: You have to proofread "vewwy vewwy cahrfuwwy" or you may say something you didn't intend.
Book Comments: Comments on books about Christianity, religion, philosophy, ethics, history, scholarship, Bible study, Christian writing, children's books, publishing, pastoring, etc.
Christian Heresies:  An ongoing listing of the historical heretical doctrines and a few modern ones.
Christians: Mini biographical listings of persons from any period of history who have, at some time in their lives, been identified as Christians. You may be surprised to see some of these people listed here.
Female Images of God: Obviously, if you think about it, God is not male or female. He is both and more. The gender identification of God was given to us so we would have a point of reference from which to understand Him as a Person (He is obviously not an "it.") It may surprise you that the Bible often presents God with female imagery.
Film Comments: Many films address issues of religious and/or philosophical import. Some may provide insights for Christians which were possibly not part of the original intent of the film's director.
Interesting Websites: Websites which present interesting or eccentric points of view; websites of Christian oriented groups; etc.
Lost Books of the Bible: There are books mentioned in the Bible which are otherwise unknown. Other books may be fragments of longer books.
Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: Christians believe that manyOld Testament (TANAKH) passages speak about the Messiah Jesus.
Names in the Bible: The names of the persons in the Bible are not just sounds.  Many have known meanings.
Poetry: Some from me, some from other folks.
Religious Humor: Contrary to what many people think, Christians are not without humor. Look up Rev, Grady Nutt.
Religious Place Names: The religious origins of some place names may not be immediately obvious.
Trivia: Obscure facts about Christianity, the Bible, religion, etc. Some really are trivial, some, not so much.
What Does It Mean?: Many passages in the Bible need a little explaining to make sense to modern readers because they must be understood in the historical and religious context in which they were written. Remember that they made perfect sense to their original readers/hearers.

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: The Messiah Will be Born in Bethlehem

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.”
 Micah 5:2

“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, [in] the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” Matthew 2:4-6.

“Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”
 John 7:42

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: Herod's Slaughter of the Children in Bethlehem

Messianic Prophecies is a recurrent segment in this blog.

Old Testament:

“Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.” Jeremiah 31:15.

New Testament:

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." Matthew 2:16-18.

Listen to the Holy Spirit

When I decided to start this blog I wondered if I would be able to keep up the pace of posting daily. That has proven to be no problem as it seems that now I have the opposite problem; how to restrict my posting to just one post a day. I am making no claim to be an "inspired" writer but I firmly believe that God can make use of us through whatever our talents are. Mine happens to be writing and I know, I do not think, I know, that God has used this simple blog to speak to other people. Some of them have told me so.

My hope for this blog is that my readership will increase; every writer wants to be read. I also pray that the posts in this blog will remain within Christian orthodoxy, that anything I say will be biblically sound. Another hope is that God will continue to use this blog to speak directly to specific people who need to hear a message specifically for them.

This may sound "spooky" to you, the idea that God can speak specific messages to others through us, but, of course He can, and often, we won't even know it has happened; the other person will know. What we need to do is to be open to the leading of the Spirit and to not ignore Him when he prods us to take some action or to say something. We don't personally have to be aware of what we have done, God can still use it.

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:" Ephesians 1:11

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: Jesus' Birth Reflects Leviticus 12:1-6

Messianic Prophecies is a recurrent segment in this blog.

Old Testament:

”And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:” Leviticus 12:1-6.

New Testament: “And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present [him] to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:21-24.

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: He Will Be Called Out of Egypt

Messianic Prophecies is a recurrent segment in this blog.

Old Testament:
“When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
 Hosea 11:1

New Testament:
“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” 
Matthew 2:13-15.