The Delayed Prophecy Excuse Refuted
By Gun Lap – Copyright © 2011
Was Herbert Armstrong a false prophet when he predicted Jesus Christ would return within five to ten years (Military Service and War 1967, p. 54), that communism would take over India and engulf “the yellow races” (1975 in Prophecy, p. 10, 1956), or that a world dictator was about to appear (first copy of The Plain Truth)? Or, as Armstrong apologists say, were his prophecies merely delayed?
How long can a prophecy be delayed and still be from God? What does the bible say about this? Forget what your church teaches for a moment—what does the bible say? It might come as as surprise, but the bible does address this issue!
When Paul spoke of the return of Christ in his time (I Thess 4:17), was he merely “off in his timing” as many ministers preach? Were the prophecies of Jesus predicting his second coming (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) delayed 2000 years? Does this make Jesus a false prophet?
If any of these men were off in their timing, do they deserve the death penalty for being false prophets? The frank bible answer will come as a shock to any Christian brave enough to face it. If you are a Christian, brace yourself, and read on.
Deut 18:20-22 says if a prophet arises and if his words do not come to pass, he must die! God actually commanded the death. One cannot carry out a death sentence on someone who has aleady died of natural causes, so, obviously, the death sentence must be carried out while the prophet is still alive. If the prophet dies of natural causes that command has not been kept. This must be considered seriously. It was a serious sin to disobey a command to execute a false prophet.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, IF THE THING FOLLOW NOT, NOR COME TO PASS, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptiously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” (Deut 18:22.). Note that it says explicity (in v. 21) that this is how they were to “know” that the words of the false prophet were not from God. They did not have to guess, wonder, or wait indefinitely to find out if the words were from God. They could know. Then.
What was the penalty for the prophet?
“But the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak … even THAT PROPHET SHALL DIE.” (v. 20).
Notice the command: the false prophet must die. It’s not talking about letting him die of natural causes!
Now let’s suppose I were a false prophet. I could prophesy in the name of the Lord that lead will turn into gold. My followers might load up on lead, then wait for lead to turn into gold. And wait. And wait. How long should they wait? Eventually I die of old age. Was it a failed prophecy? I never set a date for the prophecy to be fulfilled, so my followers could be waiting forever. How will they know it was a false prophecy? How long should they hold onto their lead?
If they accept the “prophecy did not fail, it was just delayed” excuse they could be waiting forever. By that standard, one could come up with millions of prophecies which can never be disproven no matter how long we wait.
But God said you can KNOW that the words of the false prophet were not from God (v. 21). If we wait and wait forever, we will NEVER know. But God said we can KNOW if the word was from him, by whether it comes to pass.
Clearly, there must be an upper time limit on how long we must wait before we can know, and it must be before the death of the false prophet from natural causes.
“And if you say in your heart, How shall we KNOW the word which the Lord has NOT spoken?” (v. 21).
This is not talking about knowing a true prophet by words which DO come to pass. It is talking about knowing a FALSE prophet by words which do NOT come to pass. It does not say here that we should just keep waiting indefinitely because we can never know. It says we can KNOW.
God commanded that if a prophet arises and if his words do not come to pass, he must be put to death. Once again, this sentence was to be carried out while the prophet was still alive—in the prophet’s own lifetime. It would have been pointless for God to order the death of the false prophet otherwise.
Though we don’t kill false prophets today, the instructions on how to detect a false prophet are still applicable today.
To my knowledge, the bible does not say how many years to wait, but it does effectivly put an upper time limit on the prophecy. If the prophet dies of natural causes, we waited too long because God COMMANDED that he be executed, which means he must be executed before he dies of natural causes. So the maximum time we must wait is some time less than the life time of the prophet.
In other words, if the prophet dies before his prophesy comes to pass, he was a false prophet, and should have been executed!
Did Herbert Armstrong die before his prophecies came to pass? Yes! He was a false prophet. Did Paul die before his prophecies came to pass? Yes! He was a false prophet. Did Jesus die before his prophecies came to pass? Yes! Another false prophet.
But many readers will object: “the bible is full of prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled.” That is true. But according to Deuteronomy, every one of them was uttered by a false prophet. Either Deuteronomy is false, or many bible prophets who came later are false. We can’t have it both ways.
This is just more proof that the bible is a collection of contradictions that were not inspired by God. Bible scholars and ministers make a living confusing the issues. They try to jump through hoops to explain away such contradictions in the bible. This is nothing more than self-serving self-delusion and lies. If they can’t dazzle us with brilliance, they try to baffle us with nonsense. Don’t believe their nonsense.
These men are also false prophets themselves because they are perpetuating those false prophecies, telling people, contrary to Deuteronomy, to wait indefinitely until the prophecies are fulfilled. They try to scare people with the fear of lost salvation, or death, or suffering for those who disregard their prophecies. But Deuteronomy commands us not to fear such men.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptiously: THOU SHALT NOT BE AFRAID OF HIM.” (Deuteronomy 18:22.).
Sadly, many lack courage. Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare…” Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly … their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
How many chances should we give the prophet whose words do not come to pass?
“But the prophet which shall presume to speak A WORD in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak … even THAT PROPHET SHALL DIE.” (v. 20). I.e. just one “word”.
“… if THE thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is THE thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet has spoken IT presumptiously …” (Deuteronomy 18:22.). Just ONE thing. One chance. One failed (“delayed”) prophecy—that’s it!
Do not fear your ministers. Reject fear. And reject false prophets and the “prophecy was just delayed” excuse.
False prophet Herbert Armstrong came from a long line of such false prophets. Its in the DNA of his spiritual “children” who follow in his shoes and proclaim the same crap still.
They have taken the wide path that leads to the destruction of those who spend their entire lives following such men. The false prophets prosper, the followers suffer for their folly.
So you read a concept into the Bible that isn’t there (that all prophecies must be fulfilled within the lifetime of the prophet) and then use what the Bible doesn’t say to declare it ‘a mass of contradictions that is not inspired.’ Makes a lot of sense. There were clearly true prophecies in the Bible that were not fulfilled within the lifetime of the prophet. Cyrus did not invade Babylon within the lifetime of Isaiah. Messianic prophecies were not fulfilled until hundreds of years after the lives of the prophets who wrote them, and they are cited as true prophecies in the NT. Your criterion is something you have just made up; it has no bearing on the value of the Bible. The problem with HWA and his ilk is that they have declared certain things to be fulfilled within a certain time frame, and those things have not happened. That is a far different matter than undated prophecies. Because their dated prophecies have failed, we know them to be false prophets and can safely disregard all of their teachings. It only takes one false prophecy to make a false prophet. Either the prophet speaks for God, in which case the word will never fail, or he speaks from his own mind. HWA was clearly the latter.
Tom, I did not read anything into that passage in Deuteronomy that wasn’t there, but you are. It does not say that the death penalty only applies to prophets who set a date. You read that into it so you don’t have to admit the Bible contradicts itself.
If you read them carefully, you can see that the verses I quoted outlaw making prophecies for the far future. But you won’t accept that because you won’t accept that the Bible contains contradictions.
Please go to my site and read Tom Paine’s essay on the New Testament “Prophecies” of Jesus.
Something which is useful to this discussion is that Herbert Armstrong declared that “British Israelism is the KEY to Bible Prophecy”.
It’s simple.
DNA evidence, false prophecies themselves and more prove British Israelism rubbish.
Therefore…
All prophecies based on British Israelism are not from God because they are from a false premise. The criteria here is that the false prophet need only say that he speaks in the Name of the Lord (as in “in Jesus’ Name” for example) when he does not and he is to be put to death.
Of course, all the prophecies based on British Israelism have proved to be false prophecies as well, so the criteria is doubley effective.
You can go back and read “1975 in Prophecy” if you want — with time frames and everything. It’s embarassing to read it today: It’s truly cringe worthy.
Weird and creepy.
As is everything Herbert Armstrong was about.
The question now is, since this death sentence was under the Old Covenant for Israel, what are Christians supposed to do about it? Jesus said (in Matthew 7:15, if you must have chapter and verse) “Beware of false prophets, for they come as ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing” (as in expensive wool suits).
What the heck are we supposed to do with that? Beware the false prophet to death?
OK, well maybe we are supposed to mark those who cause divisions (and if there were anyone to cause divisions, it would be Herbert Armstrong — 700+ of them and counting).
Ah, but here’s the rub: They might threaten to sue you and have your web host take down your web pages and postings!
So go ahead, like a toothless old lion with no more than a roar or two left, and mark those rotten dirty scoundrel false prophet cult leaders, but don’t get too specific about it, lest you get a packet in the mail from their lawyers.
Did anyone actually get a packet in the mail from COG lawyers? Who?
Even if so, one can usually say the truth if one can back it up with proof. There is a big difference between a threat and a lawsuit.
Many Old Testament prophets said “Thus saith the Lord…” and yet their prophecies were not fulfilled. We are still waiting. So, by that criteria, they deserved death.
Now, if someone came and said “Thus saith Molech…” or “Thus saith Baal…” should they not also be put to death, just like Elijah had the prophets of Baal put to death? They were prophets of a false god, so they were false prophets, and the penalty for that was death.
So, anyone who prophecies in the name of another god is automatically put to death, and anyone who prophecies in the name of the Lord should be put to death after a reasonable time passes and they are still alive and their prophecy still has not come to pass.
http://dnarefutesbi.com/
If that site has been taken down, can the site still be zipped up and emailed to interested parties?
Not to worry. Something better is coming. In a couple of months or so.
That’s the spirit Douglas!
Your argument seems clarified by jesus in Matthew 24:23: “then if any man says to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ, or there’, believe it not”.
Quite simply, it is not necessary to believe any of them. Now, if you sayt, “Oh, Jesus meant everyo ne except himself”. Fine, the n define exactly what it was we are suppoed to follow, and you will find paradox and confusion, just as we see among the ver 38,000 versions of christianity today. Now, let’s look at Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24 for failed prophecy. Only one section is really questionable. Verse 34:
“This generation shall not pass, till those things be fulfilled Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away”.
1.Many coming to deceive you. That is sure happening, and has been happening even before jesus supposedly gave it. Therefore, it is not a prophecy so much as common sense.
2.Wars and rumors of war. We’ve had that, but again simply common sense, as wars are merely a process of technological evolution, a kind of shortcut by which civilizations are organized. War is the key to such de velopment.
3.Nation shall rise against nation. Here is one that we take for granted. How many “nations” existed in Jesus’ day? There was Rome, who pretty much ruled things, and other nations were under Roman rule for the most part.
Jesus’ statement here would have to imply that there would be nations who would fight against other nations, with Rome no longer the controlling power.
4.Famines, pestilence, earthquakes. We remember that from HWA’s comparison to Revelation 6. ^The “four horsemen”. The white horse signifying false Christs, as in Matthew 24:4. Second horseman, war, corresponding to Matt 24:6. Third horseman, balances in his hand, which takes us back t the Babylonian kingdom that used balances for measures to weigh money exchanges. IOW, a monetary system, extending from Babylon. I’ve already traced this evolution from Daniel 2 and the great image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Then of course, the 4th horseman, who brought famines and pestilence, as in Matthew 7. A very intereasting cross reference.
As we now know, HWA ne ver had this revealed to him. It was already taught by other religions before him, but he happened to see it.
Of course there is the part about being brought up and being afflicted “for my name’s sake”. Many will be offended, betray each other, etc. To sme extent, this has happeed in all of early NT history, and is simply prophesied as a continuance leading to the end time.
Again, many false prophets will arise, etc. Still true, still accurate.
Because “iniquity shall abound”, people will stop loving each other. Lawlessness, confusion, not knowing what is correct. People storing guns to protect themselves from the coming revolution. Pretty accurate.
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached for a witness…”
What gospel? With 38,000 or more versions of christianity, with “many coming in my name”, which gospel? Who is the true prophet that shall not die? Well, none of them. All christian religio ns are false, which is why the statemetn n Matthew 24:23. So, your argument is moot.