There are many strange prophetic interpretations floating among Seventh-day Adventist circles today. Last Sabbath at the Bangkok Chinese SDA Church, there was a pastor from Australia with a new twist. But can he show us from the Bible how he got the idea to divide 1260 by 6 and then add that to 1798 to arrive at 2008? And does grasping at 1888+120=2008 seem a bit far-fetched to anyone else besides myself? But if he or anyone can show from inspired words that this is truth, then i am happy and willing to follow all truth. Many times tho, i’ve seen people come up with crazy “timing” prophecies which cause an excitement for a while, but when the time is passed and nothing has happened, the people’s hearts become harder than stones.
There were people promoting the “Jubilee Cycles” among us Seventh-day Adventists in the late 1980s-early 1990s. What they showed looked pretty good. It is true that the Jubilee cycle was very important to Jewish society and to their relationship with God. They calculated that the year 1994 would be the end of the Grand Jubilee of Jubilees if i remember right, and some people got really worked up about it and left the church and sold their stuff and bot land way out in the country etc. etc. It is very hard, if not impossible, for those people ever to come back to the truth, and they put a big stain on ALL prophecy study.
Satan has led many since just right after the October 22, 1844 disappointment to point to some day or year as something special happening, only to disappoint people, and make them that much more resistant to any kind of prophecy studying. That’s what i see happening – after the false interpretations fail, it makes it much more difficult to wake people up to study prophecy at all. I believe that there is a LOT more in Daniel and Revelation that is still future, but it is very difficult to study with anyone, as most of us believe the “safe” way is to just believe what Uriah Smith wrote over 100 years ago.
I heard that there was a “prophet” among the Hmong people. He said many wonderful things, seemingly all in line with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. He even wrote about things he could not have known about, in an intelligent way. But then he said that 2006 would bring a huge shift in the oceans that would cover half of Thailand etc. Several hundred people were at meetings he held near the end of 2006. But now, almost everyone from that group is gone. So sad. And so unnecessary if we were really studying the prophecies.
What the Australian pastor (Steve) said about pastors in Australia doubting him because he has got everything done in the past in Europe was interesting. Those pastors from other churches are correct in my opinion. If nearly all the terrible threatenings in Revelation are just for Europe 1000 years ago, then i don’t need to take what God says in that book very seriously.
Here is some information about the Jewish calendar. I’ve found several sites on the internet, and this place describes how they calculate some things:
http://www.webexhibits.org
“In the year C.E. 2006 we shall witness the start of Hebrew year AM 5767.”
This would mean 2008 is 5769 in their calendar.
You state that “It is true that the Jubilee cycle was very important to Jewish society and to their relationship with God.”
I have been told by an OT scholar that “There is no indication that the Jews even once kept the Year of Jubilee.” This was given as an example of the Jews not keeping all the laws that were given to them.
I grew up with regular date setting. My nuclear family is one of the few Adventist families left in an extended family that was all ‘Adventist’. Thank you for mentioning the spiritual consequences of date setting in your post.
Yes, that is true about the Jubilee. As far as i know the Israelites never did keep the Jubilee. The Jubilee was to: “The regulations that God established,were designed to promote social equality.” This does not mean Socialism where everyone is the same, but the plan of God was to keep greed and envy both out of their hearts.
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One other interesting thing, is that the 7 year cycle where the land was to rest on its “Sabbath”, seems to never have been kept either. That is specifically menionted as the reason the Israelites went into captivity. 2Ch 36:21 “To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” I believe this has application to end-time prophecy too.
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So sad about your extended family. My oldest brother also left the faith many years ago. It was over Ellen White being a true messenger of God or not. Many of us SDAs get so hard-hearted that we drive people away. While carrying out our duties to rebuke and exhort, we must always remember to do it in love.
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Stay strong Brother, and always look to Jesus.