Open Letter Challenging Stephen E. Jones’ Tirade On Rev. 6:13

The definition in my new Webster’s for “bonkers” is “mentally unbalanced, mad, crazy.” A very fitting description I would say! In order for you to see what I mean, I will quote a passage from Jones’ Foundation For Intercession for December 2002. In that publication, Stephen E. Jones, the man who has done more damage in the Israel Identity Message than any other I’m aware of, masquerades himself as an expert on the book of Revelation. On the first two and one half pages of four, he says little of nothing, and fails to identify the little horn of Daniel 7:21, which he so authoritatively mentions. He speaks of the Roman Catholic church as “the church”, unaware that the original church at Rome was actually a branch of the British Celtic church. The early church at Rome had no connection with the Roman Catholic church. It is apparent, then, he’s talking when he should be listening, for it is obvious he has never done his homework! So he starts at the bottom of the ladder and works himself downward.

To show you documentation of the true church in Rome, I will cite The Drama of the Lost Disciples, by George F. Jowett: “The church still stands and can be seen in what was once the palatial grounds of the Palatium Britannicum, a memorial to the Christianizing endeavors of St. Paul and the expatriate (exiled) royal British family at Rome with Rufus Pudens. The church is recorded in Roman history under four different names: 1. Palatium Britannicum; 2. Titulus; 3. Hospitium Apostolorum; 4. Lastly, as St. Pudentiana in honour and memory of the martyred daughter of Claudia Pudens, by which name it is known to this day.”

Thus, Stephen E. Jones shows his rampant ignorance. We will now see what kind of a hole he digs for himself when he writes the following:

“THE FIGS: Rev. 6:13 compares the stars of heaven to figs being cast to the ground before they are ripe. The comparison is very appropriate. In the Bible, the fig tree is the national symbol of Judah. Jeremiah 24 divides Judah into two groups of people: a basket of good figs and a basket of bad figs. The good figs are those who submit to God, even when God pronounces judgment upon the nation. The bad figs refuse to submit, thinking God wants them to fight God’s ‘enemies’ in order to retain their freedom.

“In Jeremiah’s day God classed the majority of the people as bad figs, for they fought Babylon, instead of recognizing king Nebuchadnezzar as God’s servant (Jer. 27:6) and instrument of divine judgment for sin.

“In Jesus’ day God’s servant was the Roman Empire. The majority of the Judean people again held the same view as their forefathers in Jeremiah’s day. They chafed under Roman authority, believing that it was God’s will that they be free. They wanted their freedom in order to be able to continue their empty and hypocritical worship in the temple, believing their own traditions and setting aside the divine law (Matt. 15:1-9).

“The point is this: there were two fig trees portrayed as Judah. One produced fruit so rotten that it could not be eaten. The other produced fruit that was very good. John the Baptist came, prophesying that the axe was laid to the root of the tree (Matt. 3:10), because any tree that does not bring forth good fruit was to be cut down and burned.

“The good figs, on the other hand, were represented by Jesus Christ and His followers. Those of this fig tree became the inheritors of the promises to Judah. Even as the evil fig tree was cut down, the good fig tree carried on the banner of Judah and became the legitimate tree of the tribe of Judah.

“For this reason Paul says in Rom. 2:28 and 29 that those who possess only the physical circumcision – Jews who had rejected Jesus Christ and remained part of the evil fig tree – were NOT Jews (Judahites) at all. Likewise, those who had been circumcised in their hearts ARE Jews (that is, Judahites, of the tribe of Judah).

“The early Church began as the legitimate tribe of Judah, for they were loyal followers of the King of Judah, Jesus Christ, the legal heir of King David’s throne.

“When the Church was scattered by persecution into other lands, many other people of different ‘trees’ were converted to Christ. These ‘branches’ of other trees were cut off from their former trees and grafted into this Judah fig tree. Soon the number of foreign converts exceeded that of the genealogical Judahites, so that this fig tree began to look like a ‘gentile church,’ bearing peaches, pears, apples, and plums, with only a few branches bearing figs. Hence, men began to think of this tree as something other than Judah. But they were mistaken.

“What men call the ‘Church’ is, in reality, the original fig tree of Judah with many other branches grafted into it. The Church, then, carries the banner of Judah. Those who remain unattached to Jesus Christ, the Root of this tree, are not true Judahites, regardless of their genealogy.

UNMITIGATED IDIOTIC BALDERDASH

You have just witnessed the most outlandish piece of drivel you will ever encounter. Mr. (not pastor nor teacher) Stephen E. Jones has just violated every major principal of Biblical interpretation. Folks, it doesn’t get any worse than this! This is the most disgraceful discourse which a man could speak or write in the name of our Almighty (unending blasphemy without shame).

First of all, the “figs” of Revelation 6:13 have absolutely nothing to do with the Tribe of Judah! Secondly, there is absolutely no connection of the “figs” of Jeremiah 24 to the “figs” of Revelation 6:13! Stephen E. Jones is using this “fig” hocus-pocus sleight-of-hand which is the old Canaanite merchant game of “bait and switch”, designed for simple-minded suckers. The object is to get the victim’s eye on the “bait” while switching to another object. In other words, now you see it; now you don’t! It is nothing more than the old Canaanite variety of “Jewish” hocus-pocus sometimes referred to as abracadabra! Using this Canaanite-Jew’s con game, Jones is about ready to pull a “switch.” Once your eye is on the “figs”, the next trick is to establish a couple of false premises by saying: “The good figs are those who submit to God, even when God pronounces judgment upon the nation. The bad figs refuse to submit, thinking God wants them to fight God’s ‘enemies’ in order to retain their freedom.” This is entirely false concerning the good and bad figs! The “good figs” of Jeremiah 24 are the Judahites who kept racially pure and the bad figs are those who did not. Jeremiah 2:21 spells it out quite clearly:

“Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”

Further Ezekiel 16:3 says:

“And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.”

It’s just simply amazing what kind of foul-smelling excretion Jones and his clique dream up! Jones reduces everything to a “personal decision” rather than a genetic fact. Jones then states: “In Jeremiah’s day God classed the majority of the people as bad figs.” This is entirely in error, for the “majority” of “good fig” Judahites were taken by the Assyrians in the first deportations (or later to Babylon), and the “bad fig” Judahites (being a minority) were taken in the last Assyrian deportation, or left to be the poor of the land, or ended up in Egypt, (majority, ha!).

Jones then makes the statement: “The majority of the Judean people again held the same view as their forefathers in Jeremiah’s day.”  Here again, Jones goofs, as the Judeans in the time of Messiah were more related to the Canaanite variety of Judean than to the true Tribe of Judah. By the time of our Redeemer, a good many of the “good figs” of Judah had joined with the other Ten Lost Tribes! This is what kind of twaddle we get when we have people on a kindergartner level in Israel Identity trying to run the show. Continuing, Jones says: “John the Baptist came, prophesying that the axe was laid to the root of the tree (Matt. 3:10), because any tree that does not bring forth good fruit was to be cut down and burned.”  Persisting, Jones remarks: “They may not all be descended genealogically from the tribe of Judah, but they all derive their sustenance from Jesus Christ, the King of Judah.” Let’s now see how inappropriate his conclusion is when he said: “When the Church was scattered by persecution into other lands, many other people of different ‘trees’ were converted to Christ. These ‘branches’ of other trees were cut off from their former trees and grafted into this Judah fig tree. Soon the number of foreign converts exceeded that of the genealogical Judahites, so that this fig tree began to look like a ‘gentile church,’ bearing peaches, pears, apples, and plums, with only a few branches bearing figs. Hence, men began to think of this tree as something other than Judah. But they were mistaken. What men call the ‘Church’ is, in reality, the original fig tree of Judah with many other branches grafted into it. The Church, then, carries the banner of Judah. Those who remain unattached to Jesus Christ, the Root of this tree, are not true Judahites, regardless of their genealogy.” How do you like all that “peaches, pears, apples and plums” business?

Whatever happened to the original commission?, Matthew 10:5-6 (KJV):

“5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The context for “gentiles” in this verse is non-Israelites, and in the Greek is §2<@l, or “heathen.” As for “the ax being laid to the root of the tree”, that represented the Cain satanic seedline that had mingled genetically with a small portion of Judah, and was closely related to the Shelanite Judahites descended from Judah’s first wife Bathshua the Canaanite and the Edomites. It has everything to do with genetics and nothing to do with a personal decision as goodie-goodie two shoes Jones implies.

By refusing to identify Israel’s enemy, they scatter the Israel sheep rather than gather them (Matt. 12:30; Luke 11:23). They further sabotage the Kingdom by teaching universalism. They all seem to be following the subterfuge advanced by Stephen E. Jones. Since Jones wrote his The Babylonian Connection in 1978 (an effort to wreck the truth of Genesis 3:15), several others have picked up Jones’ toxic leaven. With this paper we shall continue to expose Jones’ prevarications.

                                                                                    Clifton A Emahiser

Part 2 by William Finck:

OPEN LETTER CHALLENGING STEPHEN E. JONES’ TIRADE ON REV. 6:13 IN HIS FOUNDATION FOR INTERCESSION, Issue #171, December, 2002 (disputed by William Finck)

Before making any comment, it will be necessary to review the offending passage at the heart of his postulation:

“The early Church began as the legitimate tribe of Judah, for they were loyal followers of the King of Judah, Jesus Christ, the legal heir of King David’s throne.

“When the Church was scattered by persecution into other lands, many other people of different ‘trees’ were converted to Christ. These ‘branches’ of other trees were cut off from their former trees and grafted into this Judah fig tree. Soon the number of foreign converts exceeded that of the genealogical Judahites, so that this fig tree began to look like a ‘gentile church,’ bearing peaches, pears, apples, and plums, with only a few branches bearing figs. Hence, men began to think of this tree as something other than Judah. But they were mistaken ...” [Emphasis mine]

This was an effort on the part of Jones to bring non-Israelites into Yahweh’s Kingdom. On the subject of figs, he starts thusly as follows:

“THE FIGS: Rev. 6:13 compares the stars of heaven to figs being cast to the ground before they are ripe. The comparison is very appropriate. In the Bible, the fig tree is the national symbol of Judah. Jeremiah 24 divides Judah into two groups of people: a basket of good figs and a basket of bad figs. The good figs are those who submit to God, even when God pronounces judgment upon the nation. The bad figs refuse to submit, thinking God wants them to fight God’s ‘enemies’ in order to retain their freedom.”

Jones is making up an entire story extrapolated from a simple metaphor describing a fig tree in Rev. 6:13. Often people pick up a symbol in the Bible and make far too much of it, much more than the Book is actually saying. This is an example, for nowhere in Rev. 6 is Judah alone the topic being discussed.

First Jones makes the statement “the fig tree is the national symbol of Judah.” Now although it is true that fig tree or fig metaphors are used several times concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem (a remnant of Judah and various Canaanite peoples – Ezek. 16:3) and the later 70-week nation of Judaea, the fig tree certainly is not limited to describing Judah.

At Hosea 9:10 Israel is described first as “grapes in the wilderness” but then “as the firstripe in the fig tree”, but at 14:6 Hosea says of Israel, “his beauty shall be as the olive tree”, and at 14:8,

“Ephraim shall say ... I am like a green fir tree.”

If we were looking for national symbols in these trees, we surely would be confused. David is an olive tree at Psalm 52:8, yet his family a cedar in Ezek. 17. Jerusalem is a useless vine at Ezek. 15. Isa. 6 compares the 70-week nation to a teil (or terebinth) tree and as an oak. Jeremiah was told he was “to build and to plant” and sees an almond tree (1:11). At 11:16 Jeremiah describes Yahweh’s calling Judah “a green olive tree.” Should we really make a big deal of any of these poetic metaphors? If we make more out of them than we should, we certainly would cause confusion!

Now at Rev. 6:13 John writes, “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Does this have anything to do with Judah? Nahum at 3:12 writes:

“All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.”

Now Nahum wasn’t talking about Judah, but Nineveh and the Assyrians!

Isaiah 34:4 is much like Rev. 6:13. It states,

“And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”

Does this have anything to do with Judah? Isaiah is writing about the indignation of Yahweh upon all the nations!

So Jones takes a poetic metaphor used in several places in the Bible, which have nothing to do with Judah, and makes up an entire story about it, and a very un-Biblical story at that! Yet some elements of Jones’ tale must be addressed.

Much more damaging a lie than Jones’ mistaking the fig tree of Rev. 6:13 for Judah, is what Jones is trying to do with this fig tree of Judah.

First though, Jones tries to say that the “stars of heaven” are the “overcomers”, although this is alluded to nowhere in the Bible. The hosts of the nations in Isa. 34:4 certainly are not “overcomers.” Abraham’s descendants were to be as numerous as stars, and the woman [the nation of Israel] of Rev. 12 wears a crown of 12 stars [tribes], yet there is no mention of “overcoming” anything. So why does Jones read “stars” and assume “overcomers”? What Scripture does he base this upon? Note Gen. 26:4 and 37:9, Exod. 32:13, Deut. 1:10, 10:22 and 28:62, Judges 5:20, 1 Chr. 27:23, Neh. 9:23, Job 38:7, Psalm 147:1-4 and 148:3, Isaiah 14:13, Daniel 8:10 and 12:1-3, Joel 2:10 and 3:15, Obadiah 4, Nahum 3:16, Matt. 24:29 (Mark 13:25), 1 Cor. 15:41, Heb. 11:12, Jude 13, Rev. 8:12, and 12:4, and the idea of “stars” being “overcomers” is absurd!

He that “overcomes” is given many promises, Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 2:26, 3:5, 12, 21 and 21:7, and certainly will not be “fell unto the earth” from heaven, as Jones so ludicrously suggests. Why does Jones make these things up?

Yahshua Christ is not the root of a fig tree, as Jones so spuriously claims. He is the True Vine (John 15), and “ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you” and He has only chosen the 12 tribes of Israel (Matt. 15:24, 19:28, Luke 22:30, Acts 26:6-7, Rev. 21:12). He is the Tree of Life which bears twelve fruits (Rev. 22), one for each of those 12 tribes. Nothing else may be grafted into this tree, for “every plant, which my heavenly father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” The New Covenant is only for those 12 tribes (Jer. 31:31-34, Ezek. 37:26-28, Amos 3:2, Romans 8:29-30, 9:4, Gal. 3:15, 4:5, Heb. 8:8-12 et al.).

So what is all this business about grafting peaches, pears, apples and plums into a fig tree? Where did Jones get such an idea from? He may say “Paul”, but certainly not!

“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds” (Deut. 22:9). “Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed” (Lev. 19:19). Would Paul of Tarsus break the Law of Yahweh? The idea of grafting branches onto a tree is found only in Paul’s metaphoric example to the Romans in Romans chapter 11, verses 13-24. Paul is not attempting to break Yahweh’s Law. “God forbid. Yea, we establish the Law.” (Rom. 3:31).

Paul knew that the Romans were descendants of the Israelites. The Romans had come to Italy from Troy after its destruction by the Greeks (of the tribe of Dan) and were descendants of Judah by his son Zerah. Paul, apostle to the Nations of Israel (Gen. 17:4-6 and 15-16, 35:11 et al.), knew well that the Romans he was writing to (and Romans 11 is an example only for those whom Paul addressed it to) were actually descendants of Israel. Paul tells them that at Romans 1:23-25, and again at 1:31 (calling them “covenant breakers” he can only mean the Old Covenant, the word ἀσύνθετος appears as a verb, ἀσυνθετέω, often in the LXX translated by Brenton “to break covenant”, see Ezra 10:2 and 10:10, Neh. 1:8 and 13:27, and Psalms 72(73):15 and 77(78):57). Romans 2:14-15 is a reference to Isa. 51:7, Jer. 31:33 and Ezek. 36:27 (see also Psalms 33:15, 40:8 and 125:4). Compare Romans 2:26-29 to Ezek. 11:19-20 and Jer. 4:4. Paul counted the Romans as descendants of Abraham throughout Romans chapters 4, 8 & 9, and writing the verse at 16:20 knew full well that the Romans were “the people of [Messiah] the Prince” destined to destroy Jerusalem, foretold at Daniel 9:26.

So the bottom line here is that the only “grafting” going on in Romans chapter 11 is the grafting of the wild olive branches (11:17) onto a “good” (cultivated) olive tree (No fig trees here), and note that they are all olives! Paul would not break the Law! The word translated “wild olive tree” in Romans 11:17 is ἀγριέλαιος, “a wild olive” (Liddell & Scott) and the word translated “olive tree” is ἔλαιος, also a “wild olive”, in secular Greek writing (Liddell & Scott), is “olive” everywhere in the Bible, in the Septuagint and N.T. One other Greek word signifying a “wild olive”, κότινος, appears nowhere in the Bible and ἀγριέλαιος only appears in Romans 11. Paul’s “wild olives” were long-lost Israelites who had long ago discarded the truth of Yahweh and the Law (Rom. 1:23, 25, 31). Paul’s “good olive tree” were the Judaeans (those who were genetically pure Judah) who kept the Law. Nowhere else is anything or anyone but olives (Israel) being grafted onto any tree but an olive tree!

So Jones lies about Judah and the fig tree, he lies about stars and overcomers, he lies about grafting trees of different types, and makes up all sorts of stories from his lies! These few paragraphs address less than one-fourth of the content of Jones’ 171st newsletter. How many other lies he has told, I shudder to imagine!