Posted by Richard Smit on June 14, 2005 at 14:51:34:
In Reply to: Re: Acknowledgement posted by Ben Curran on June 11, 2005 at 08:40:52:
I’m glad and happy that you have read my acknowledgement as posted to the website of “How near Armageddon”, and that it gives you some sense of encouragement in its confirmation.
It is important to note very clearly, that the foundation for the interpretation, accuracy and value of Dr Janson’s analysis of the book of Revelation lies in the words of Jesus Christ.
Understanding these words, I believe, can only come through a Divine intervention, the personal experience, which she openly and in my opinion courageously describes, in the introduction of her book “ How near Armageddon”
You either believe her or not, however:
One cannot and should not place any reliance on another person’s viewpoint, opinion or analytical expertise and conclusions, especially when it comes to matters spiritual.
I cannot tell you how many times I have listened to others only to be sorely disappointed. In 999 cases out of a 1000 we humans have the tendency to get it incorrect and totally wrong. To persistently go through the 999 cases to find that one correct answer is an exercise in futility and in my opinion a total waste of time. I’ve done it more than once.
This is the only reason why I undertook the long and laborious journey to thoroughly check in as much detail as possible, everything I could, written in her books. This however, in itself, does not prove that her interpretation is correct. If we, as humans spent 1000, 30000 or even 1million hours studying the word of God, we would realize, somewhere along the road, that in actual fact, we really know very little about those things that really matter, mainly because we operate and think on a human level.
To rise above this limitation we absolutely, totally and seriously need the help of God, without which we go in a never ending circle to nowhere, in doubt and uncertainty.
How many of us will really speak to God, as we would to a friend, and ask for the help.
This, I believe is where the fundamental and perhaps fatal flaw lies, because we humans have very “little” faith. Some of us do not really know or really believe that God actually exists, therefore how can we know that the Bible, for instance, is the word of God in written form.
If this is the case how can one ever support or even believe anything that Dr. Janson or anyone else for that matter, write in their books. It’s totally impossible because the starting point or foundation is based on very shaky ground.
I could not recommend that others undertake the journey I undertook, because although sometimes full of mystery and sometimes awe inspiring, it was in the end a “bitter” pill to swallow, however great and thrilling the journey itself was. I would gladly do it again, perhaps a little differently the second time round.
In the summer of 1947 Mohammed Dib, a Bedouin shepherd from the tribe of Ta’Amireh by sheer coincidence, while looking for “a lost lamb”, discovered a collection of the oldest manuscripts of the Bible known to date.
Among the manuscripts was a 23 foot leather scroll containing the complete text of the book of Isaiah in Hebrew. Expert examination revealed that the text dated from 100 BC.
which makes it over 2000 years old , an original scroll of the type that Jesus held in his hands when He read the lesson in Nazareth on the Sabbath day ( Luke 4:16).
“Every movement of Jesus’ hands is brought closer to us for we can still see on the reverse side of the leather the marks of the readers’ fingers”–a quote from Professor Andre’ Parrot who examined the scroll.
It is absolute proof of the reliability of the Holy Scriptures that have been handed down to mankind through “the generations”, as the text agrees exactly with what we have in our present day Bible and is the most convincing answer to all previous human doubts as to the reliability of the Old Testament text of our present day Bible.
The total number of manuscripts discovered at the Dead Sea amounts to over 400, perhaps more today, with over one hundred Biblical manuscripts. Every book of the Old Testament is represented excluding the book of Esther.
There are some who say they want more proof – of what I’m not sure?
Perhaps the Scrolls failed to provide the spectacular discoveries, proof and “sign”, many were secretly hoping for, concerning the lives and personal activities of John the Baptist and Jesus the Nazarene.
Later in 1952 two inscribed copper scrolls were discovered in a cave to the north of the ruined monastery of Qumran near to where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. After careful chemical experiments, experts at the Manchester College of Technology succeeded in opening them in the winter of 1955/56. The contents about which everyone had been agog (normal human reaction to something mysterious) turned out to be an inventory of hidden treasure, which guess what, no-one has found to date.
However, a geographical reference in the copper scrolls has confirmed the reliability of a piece of topographical information contained in the Gospel according to John 5;2, namely, “ there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches……”
The accuracy of this description had been questioned (by humans of course), for how long who knows, until Bethesda was cleared (excavated) of the rubble, sand and dust of centuries past, and eventually brought into the sight of humans, a vast double pool covering over 5000 square yards to the north of the Temple of Jerusalem. It had five colonnades, four of which surrounded the whole area, and the fifth, in which the sick people lay waiting to be healed, stood on a ridge of rock dividing the two pools.
The copper scroll describes the layout of Bethesda as consisting of two pools because one of the hiding places of the royal treasure is presented as the smaller of the two pools. The end result being no more doubt and questions - about Bethesda
It is important to note that Dr Janson’s book “How near Armageddon” deals with these two important discoveries in secret places, amongst others, in the very first chapters.
There are literally hundreds (which I’ve seen) if not thousands of similar proofs resulting from careful examination of combined scientific investigation, along many different lines which provide an overwhelming mass of authentic and well attested evidence, which even sceptics and agnostics alike, would not be able to stand up against.
With Werner Keller the author of the book “The Bible as History” from which some of the above detail has been extracted I say –
“The Bible is right after all” (in all respects - my words)
Likewise “How near Armageddon” presents an overwhelming, comprehensive mass of proof and evidence in a systematic and methodical manner, of things which only God has known and foretold from the very beginning, through His Word and faithful servants.
To each one of us God will generously give that which is necessary for our salvation provided we do our share to the best of our ability in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Now is a good time “to reflect” upon our own personal lives and live in a way that is pleasing to our Father “in heaven”. It means overcoming sin, in the words of the book of Revelation.
At the end of the formidable analysis, this in simple terms, I believe is the message that Dr Janson has been instructed “to make known” what she knows, and has learnt through the study of the history of the Christian nations of the last two millennia
It is an important message but one that also carries “a warning”.