By Cris D. Putnam
In Vatican City, on October 10, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI opened the Synod of Bishops’ Special Assembly for the Middle East at St. Peter’s Basilica. The synod took place at the Vatican from Oct. 10–24 under the theme: “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness.” Speaking as the alleged Vicar of Christ, the pontifex maximus said the Promised Land is “not of this world” and that Israel is not an earthly kingdom. His words are not surprising as the Roman Catholic Church has historically led the way in promoting supercessionism (replacement theology) by denying ethnic Israel’s place in God’s plan. According to the pope’s biblical eisegesis, “He reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf. Ex 3:6), who wants to lead his people to the ‘land’ of freedom and peace. This ‘land’ is not of this world; the whole of the divine plan goes beyond history, but the Lord wants to build it with men, for men and in men, beginning with the coordinates of space and time in which they live and which He Himself gave them.”[1]
While it is true that God’s plan ultimately transcends time and space, it simply cannot be denied that the Lord meant a literal land in His promises to the patriarchs. However, the pope is not so naïve; rather, he is promoting an agenda by painting the Promised Land as a metaphysical abstraction. His political and theological overtones reflect the Vatican’s consistent position that “Jerusalem cannot belong to one state.”[2] Rome ostensibly pleads the case of Palestinians and Catholics who want to make pilgrimage but in truth, there is a wealth of evidence that the Vatican wants to possess Jerusalem as its own
Furthermore, the pope’s homily is harbinger of the coming tribulation or “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). Like Paul in Romans 11:25, Jesus also said that Jerusalem would be occupied by gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled, just prior to His Second Coming.
“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Lk 21:24).
Several important points can be derived from this statement by Jesus. First, it is a prophecy of the diaspora, which occurred in AD 70. The Romans spread the Jews all over the known world, selling many as slaves. Jesus’ prophecy could have been easily falsified but its fulfillment is verifiable. Second, the text uses the Greek term achri, rendered “until,” that clearly implies one day Jerusalem will be back in Jewish hands.[3] Thus, it is also an inferred prophecy about the reclamation of Jerusalem which began in 1967 and is still being contested by the Vatican. Jerusalem certainly was under Gentile control until 1967, and today it is the most fiercely contested piece of real estate on the planet. This should give skeptics pause because there are existing copies of Luke’s Gospel dated to the second century.[4] The fact that Jerusalem is ostensibly in Jewish hands speaks to the lateness of the hour in God’s prophetic plan. Recognizing the end-time markers “the fullness of the gentiles” (Ro 11:25) and “times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24) which were qualified by “until,” we now examine the current state of affairs to if they are lining up with the predicted arrival of Petrus Romanus.
One way to examine that “until” is in reference to Romans 11:25 and the spread of the Gospel and there are many competent sites like the The Joshua Project doing that.[5] One rather astonishing indicator is the success of the Gospel in China where it is reported that there are currently sixteen thousand, five hundred new converts per day![6] Africa reports similar numbers where sixteen thousand Muslims leave Islam per day for Christianity.[7] (While these numbers are exciting, there are still many unreached people-groups and languages with no Bible translation. To that end, we strongly encourage Christians to support missions.)
Still yet, another way to quantify that “until” might be to look at Israel and see if there is any movement in that sector. There were no more than a dozen or so Messianic believers in the Jewish homeland when they declared statehood in 1948 and only around 250 when they retook Jerusalem in 1967. Writing in the year 2000, Brent Kinman reported that, “Now there are in the neighborhood of six thousand believers in more than fifty congregations.”[8] Has this trend continued? As of May 26, 2011 The Baptist Press reported:
“Now there are an estimated 150 Jewish congregations around Israel meeting in different languages. The number of believers is estimated to be around 20,000, growing exponentially from 1948 when 12 Jews who believed in Jesus could be counted, to 1987 when there were 3,000 and 1997 where there were 5,000.”[9]
If you know anything about exponential growth then this strongly implies an event horizon when the line goes vertical, meaning that 
the time of national repentance and recognition is close-at-hand. The Old Testament contains a vivid prophecy of that eventuality, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zec 12:10). The Hebrew term, dāqar, which is rendered “pierced,” is derivative of madqārâ which appears ten times in various forms and always denotes a puncture wound. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament states, “The weapon associated with dāqar is usually the sword, though a spear is the instrument in Num 25:8.”[10] So according to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, God was pierced and only Jesus Christ meets that characteristic. Tensions in the Middle East seem to forecast this prophesied national repentance sooner rather than later.
Next week: The Vatican’s Designs on Jerusalem
[1] Robert Moynihan, “The Vatican Synod on the Middle East Begins,” Spero News, October 10, 2010, http://www.speroforum.com/a/41366/The-Vatican-Synod-on-the-Middle-East-begins.
[2] Chiara Santomiero, “Prelate: Jerusalem Can’t Belong to Just One State,” Zenit: The World Seen from Rome, October 12, 2012, http://www.zenit.org/article-30628?l=english.
[3] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 948 ἄχρι.
[4] P4 is likely the earliest existing copy of Luke’s Gospel but his silence on the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 leads most to conclude it was written prior: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_4.
[6] “Fastest-Growing Christian Population,” Worldmag, last accessed February 10, 2012, http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13748 .
[7] Ali Sina,“Islam in Fast Demise: In Africa Alone Everyday, 16,000 Muslims Leave Islam,” last accessed February 10, 2012, http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm.
[8] Brent Kinman, History, Design, and the End of Time: God’s Plan for the World (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Pub, 2000), 71.
[9] Ava Thomas, “Among Israeli Jews, 20,000 Embrace Christ,” Baptist Press, May 26, 2011, http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=35389 .
[10] Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980), 195.
About Cris Putnam
The problem with some of the verses quote above regarding ‘Jerusalem’, is that the verses are taken out of context and not completed with the other associated prophecy. Ethnic, cultural or religious Jews do not have a special place in Gods coming Kingdom of Heaven on earth; but they did receive the land as promised, but they were also kicked out not once, but twice, because of their harlotry to the Lord.
The ‘crossover blessing’ clearly points to the inheritance of the coming Kingdom, going from 1st son, to 2nd son, from nation, to spiritual nation.
If some want to call this replacement theology, so be it. The promise to Abraham in covenant w/him, was ALWAYS a spiritual blessing for ‘all’ mankind, not just a chosen few.
Modern Jews will still have to make a choice as to what they believe…no man can go to the Father except through Jesus….and there’s no arguement or other way around it.
Those who believe the ‘Jews’ are special in prophecy, are truely the one who push the ‘replacement’ concept forward, replacing a spiritual Kingdom for all mankind who come to Jesus, for a special group of people who already saw fulfilled prophecy and rejected God. They can only see the Kingdom through Jesus…not through ethnicity, bloodline or other.
Stephen, I do not think any of those passages are taken out of context. This passage is quite clearly ethnic Israel:
Stephen you wrote: “Ethnic, cultural or religious Jews do not have a special place in Gods coming Kingdom of Heaven on earth;” But Paul says above “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” The context is clearly ethnic Jews and it even says they are enemies of the Gospel. So how do you explain this, in light of your charge?
And Jesus’ prediction is also clearly Jerusalem proper:
Since you have leveled a charge that I have taken scriptures out of context, please show me exactly where and provide the correct context based on the text itself.
Amen brother Stephen Leach. When we die to our carnal fleshly man and worship in “Spirit and Truth” we become New and reborn worshipping the Lord in the Holy Spirit. People, GOD is no respecter of persons. Repent confessing your sins to almighty GOD and come back to your 1st love. We as christians are to love even our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute you for His name sake. Amen.
Obviously neither of the two previous comments are from believers well-established in prophecy. Ever read the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ? If you had read this book, you would understand that the Jews are are chosen in the sense that they are the lineage from which God chose Yeshua to be born through. When WWIII happens and only a few survive, out of those few, 144,000 would be from the 12 tribes of Israel, and would all be sealed with the seal of the living God! The Gentile believers are those seen as the Great Multitude from many peoples, and tongues..and also as those who later have Victory over the Mark of the Beast. Peace out.
Israel is a spiritual condition, as Stephen Leach implies. It is a condition attained by faith in the salvation delivered by Jesus Christ.
Prophecy centers on real events in space and time. The New Jerusalem is not earthly, but Jesus was not refering to the New, He was referring to the Existing Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is not just the environs. Specifically, what is trampled is the Temple Mount.
Daniel 11 43-45 predicts the Jews will retake the Temple Mount after a decisive and violently destructive aggressive attack. It should concern us that just such an attack is being planned and talked about as I write this.
So far commentators have only focused on Israel’s plans for attacking Iran. But such an attack would be senseless if Israel did not simultaneously attack and neutralize all of her other enemies as well. When the aggression comes, it will be targeted not just at the Iranians, but at Hezbollah and the Palestinians as well. A coordinated attack on all parties by Israel will result in the occupation of the Temple Mount in less than 24 hours after the attack. Once occupied by Israel there will be no way the secular government will stop the religious segment of the Israeli population from claiming it and refusing to return it to Islam.
Welcome to the time of trouble such as has never been, not since the beginning of the world, otherwise known as World War 3.
@Priscilla- You would have to ask yourself if your assertion of ‘understanding’ prophecy related to Revelation and the 144K, has any prophetic link, to which I would say that, it ‘doesn’t make sense’. I assume that you think you’re going to be ‘raptured’ before the tribulation, to which there is no standing prophetically for; but the ‘Jew’ was explained by Paul in Romans 2, as being a Jew who is circumcised on the inside, and not the outside. It’s ‘spiritual’.
The Bride is the last witness of truth in this world, to which she is the embodiment of the true ‘jewess’ as depticted by Esther and the Song of Solomon; and is not a ‘bloodline’ ethnic/cultural or religious person. She is the overcomer, who has come out of religion and washed herself in His word, making herself pure, spotless and w/o blemish…the sister/spouse of Jesus. Prophecy points to her role very clearly.
Historically in the bible, a woman does not have the right to pass on title or position to their offspring…it was always throught he male child that this was transferred. Jesus, was the Son of Man and Son of God. Mary’s line goes right back to Adam, while Joseph, (an adopted father) goes back to Abraham, so His bloodline is technically not of a ‘Jew’. Of course, Abraham, to whom the Lord made a Covenant for all the ‘families of the earth to be blessed’, was a ‘Gentile’.
Prophetically, a ‘gentile’ are those who have rejected the Lord, Jesus, so the prophecy to which you’re speaking of aligns perfectly, pointing to the Bride, the true Jew, and not a bloodline.
If I am not mistaken, we gentiles were grafted into God’s grace and that Jesus blinded the Jewish people until the time of his coming back. Paul I believe said although we gentiles were grafted into his grace and the Jews were circumcised from the tree, the Jews were going to come back into grace and be even stronger. The prophecy has always been about God’s chosen people and that in the 1,000 yr there will be a Jerusalem here on earth. To say the Jewish people has no part in it is totally absurd. Like the 144,000 Jewish men that will go out and convert millions and only they know the song and name of Jesus shows me um..yup they are special.
Greetings, As I continue to read all about the new book coming up on Petrus Romanus, I wonder about the possible connection with the “Black Pope” or the General that presides over the Jesuits who also has had historically much authority in the politics of the Vatican . Also I noticed that Benedict VIII in about the 1000, was dethroned and anti pope Gregory was in his place until Henry the Saxon placed him back in the throne . For this, Benedict VIII named him King of the World. Wouldn’t it be coincidence if something similar would take place again?
@Lezlie: Where in scripture is it stated that the 144,000 is ‘Jewish MEN”? Why did GOD hate Esau, but loved Jacob? Esau sold and foresaked with disdain his birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup correct? When one dies to their carnal worldly flesh and repents to the Lord In the Holy Name of our savior Jesus Christ and asks HIM to send the Holy Spirit into our hearts, We then are Reborn anew. We then have the inward “circumcision of the heart”. The heavenly Father does indeed use the physical jews and does love them, but the scriptures without a doubt state that there is only ONE WAY to the Father and the road IS NARROW and there be few that find it though many were chosen. The Vine is Jesus Christ and the grafted branch is what WERE gentiles aka heathen in the past, but now FULLY part of the Vine. There is no other way, though there be those who will act as thieves and attempt to climb up another way. Remember that we wrestle NOT with flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness and dark principalities in high places. The Israel of GOD is HIS Remnant from 2000 yrs ago up until now and until Jesus returns on his coming again as He ascended up to Heaven after His Advent. Let us speak of Christ crucified , His resurrection by grace are we given the gift of the blessed hope of salvation by walking in Obedience to the New Co
The Lord God IS able to graft back in the “Broken off branch”. Please read Romans 11: 18-23.