2004 Watchman's Teaching Letters

Watchman's Teaching Letter #80 December 2004

 
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This is my eightieth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. We are going to continue in this lesson where we left off in the last, that being the defense of the writings of Josephus. Down through history until today, Josephus has had his share of critics in spite of the fact that other historians cover very little of the events in Judaea during that period. Yet there is a greater need today for his witness than ever before in the Israel Identity Message! But instead of getting more teachings which inspire the Israel sheep to a higher understanding, we instead have many purveyors of confusion! Unless we can start establishing a pattern of instruction that is constructive, the Israel sheep will continue to be scattered, aimlessly adrift.

To demonstrate the honesty of Josephus, we will read the footnote to the preface of Josephus’ Wars, translated by William Whiston, published by Kregel Publications. (I also have Josephus on my Libronix Digital Library System by Whiston, published by Hendrickson Publishers, but the footnotes are slightly different):

I have already observed that this history of the Jewish War was Josephus’s first work, and published about A.D. 75, when he was but thirty-eight years of age; and that when he wrote it, he was not thoroughly acquainted with several circumstances of history from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, with which it begins, till near his own times, contained in the first and former part of the second book, and so committed many involuntary errors therein: that he published his Antiquities eighteen years afterward, in the 13th year of Domitian, A.D. 93, when he was much more completely acquainted with those ancient times, and after he had perused those most [authentic] ancient histories, the first book of Maccabees, and the Chronicles of the Priesthood of John Hyrcanus, &c.: that accordingly he then reviewed those parts of this work, and gave the public a more faithful, complete, and accurate account of the facts therein related; and honestly corrected the errors he had before run into.”

Watchman's Teaching Letter #79 November 2004

 
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This is my seventy-ninth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. Since we have completed a series of lessons in defense of Herodotus, we will now continue by defending Josephus; that he was also Anointed of Yahweh for the work he accomplished. In the August, 2004 lesson, #76, it was demonstrated that Herodotus’ writings go hand-in-glove with the prophecy of Daniel 11:1-3. It was shown that the Darius the Mede” at verse 1 should be Cyrus. How very many have been confused trying to figure out the three kings” spoken of in verse 2, and come up with all kinds of opinions without any meaningful success reading their KJV or other Bibles rendering that error. No doubt, you were amazed at how easy that passage is to understand once one understands that 11:1 should read Cyrus.” Once we have established the reality that Josephus was also an Anointed witness to divine prophecy, many other passages of Scripture will be opened to us. 

IN DEFENSE OF JOSEPHUS 

After a long presentation of several lessons justifying the writings of Herodotus, we will now start our case in the defense of Josephus. The following is a portion of the Introductory Essay” by the Rev. Henry Stebbing, D.D., from the book Josephus by William Whiston, printed by Kregel, Introduction pages XVI-XVII:

Now as to myself, I have so described these matters as I have found them and read them. But if any one is inclined to another opinion about them, let him enjoy his different sentiments without any blame from me.’ But the personal character of a writer must not be passed over-in the estimate taken of the honesty of his narrative. In this respect Josephus may claim honourable attention. The predominant sentiment of his writings is veneration for God and his providence, nor does he omit any opportunity of showing the value of integrity, or the supreme beauty of holiness. His faults may, therefore, fairly be ascribed to somewhat of timidity on the one side, and of literary vanity on the other. Most of the errors with which he has been charged are clearly referable to these sources. Of the others, which cannot be so accounted for, there are some that appear to have originated in the different opinions which prevailed among the Jews of his time, and threw no small obscurity over portions of the Scripture narrative; while the remainder, whether omissions, or statements plainly opposed to the inspired history, must be left without conjecture, and are better disposed of by the acknowledgment that such discrepancies cannot be accounted for, unless by suppositions which involve us in new difficulties.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #78 October 2004

 
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This is my seventy-eighth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. As I stated in lesson #77, at this point in time, I am compelled to write an additional lesson on Herodotus that I didn’t originally plan to write. With this lesson, it will be two lessons I had not planned on. Because of this, I will have to advance the numbers and dates on four already prepared lessons. All of this came about when I visited a used book store and found a book entitled History Of Assyria by A. T. Olmstead. Olmstead was a prolific historian and also wrote the History Of The Persian Empire. Again I would remind the reader, the reason I’m compelled to address this subject two additional times is because a very dear friend of mine tried to dissuade my effort in publishing William Finck’s presentation on the Genesis 10 nations. In my opinion, Finck’s outline on this subject is the best I have ever witnessed from an Israel Identity perspective.

My dear friend was very vehement and hostile, insisting that the Medes and Persians were Israelites and that any data from Herodotus and Josephus couldn’t be trusted. Though I highly value this person’s friendship very much, I absolutely refuse to deviate from the truth. I’m quite certain that a fast-talking third person has caused all this bad influence; which I now find it my Biblical duty to address so others will not stumble into this same dangerous pitfall.

Inasmuch as he was so impressed with Herodotus’ work, A. T. Olmstead, in his book History Of The Persian Empire, made reference to him 44 times. In his History Of Assyria, A. T. Olmstead speaks very flatteringly of Herodotus on pages 243-249 under the chapter heading Deioces And The Median Foundations.” The following will be the entire chapter:

DEIOCES AND THE MEDIAN FOUNDATIONS: The veracious Father of History’ sponsors an entertaining tale about the origins of the Median power. After the Assyrians had ruled Upper Asia for five hundred and twenty years, he says, the Medes first of all their subjects revolted and in a single battle completely freed themselves. The other dependent peoples followed their example, and thereafter all enjoyed what the Greek believed the greatest of all blessings, complete autonomy.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #77 September 2004

 
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This is my seventy-seventh monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. At this point in time, I am compelled to write additional lessons on Herodotus that I didn’t originally plan to write. As a result, I’m going to have to advance the numbers and dates on my next four lessons. All of this happened when I visited a used book store and found a book entitled  History Of Assyria by A. T. Olmstead. This is the same Olmstead who wrote a very informative book the History Of The Persian Empire. On the book History Of Assyria, the title page was missing, but gave the name of the author on page xvi of the preface, along with a date of 1923. The reason I’m compelled to address this subject one additional time is because a very dear friend of mine tried to dissuade my effort in publishing William Finck’s presentation on the Genesis 10 nations. Upon checking out Finck’s postulations, most of my sources vindicated his thesis.

My friend tried to convince me that the Medes and Persians were Israelites and that Herodotus and Josephus were bad guys, and that their histories couldn’t be trusted. Now, as much as I value this person’s friendship, I absolutely will not digress from what I comprehend to be the truth. I have since resolved that if the truth costs me a dear friendship, that’ll be the price I’ll have to pay, for the Kingdom comes first and foremost above everything else! I have reason to believe, though, it’s a third party’s bad influence that’s causing all the trouble! Anyway, it now becomes my responsibility to expose such false premises in order to protect others from these dangerous pitfalls.

While it is true that most of the Israelites taken captive by Assyria were settled in Media (II Kings 17:6), it is not true, however, that the Medes, as a people, were of any of the tribes of Israel! Rather, the Medes were White descendants from Japheth rather than Shem. On the other hand, a good share of the Persians were made up of Elamites, though surely there were a few pockets of Israelites who settled in both Media and Persia.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #76 August 2004

 
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This is my seventy-sixth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. I have been running a series of lessons in defense of Herodotus, and it will be continued here. It is my desire that you are beginning to have a healthy appreciation for his writings. He was far from perfect, and didn’t have the tools to work with as we have today. Most of his informants had the bad habit of exaggerating many things highly out of proportion, and it’s a miracle he was able to sort out facts as well as he did. He must have had the mind of a detective, and a way of asking questions to get the response he needed. Herodotus is important to us because he serves as a valuable witness to important fulfilled Biblical prophecies.

No prophet is any better than the witnesses who vouch for the fulfillment of the prophecy that the prophet foretold. Prophecy without witnesses is not Sacred prophecy, for without witnesses the prophet prophesies in vain! Therefore, if the prophet is a true prophet, he is anointed by Yahweh for that purpose. Additionally, if the prophecy comes to pass and is verified by witnesses, the witnesses are anointed to give evidence of its fulfillment. Prophets and witnesses simply cannot be separated! From this we must conclude there are both anointed prophets and anointed witnesses! Herodotus’ writings are a witness of the fulfillment to a substantial portion of Daniel’s prophecies! Herodotus’ main subject is the war of invasion by the Persians into Greece. His Histories are divided into nine books: the first three deal with the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses and the accession of Darius and his expansion of the Persian Empire. This Cyrus” is mentioned in Scripture at 2 Chr. 36:22 , 23; Ezr. 1:1, 2, 7, 8; 3:7; 4:3, 5; 5:13, 14, 17; 6:3, 14; Isa. 44:28; 45:1; Dan 1:21; 6:28 & 10:1. There are two prophets concerned in these passages, Isaiah and Daniel. Herodotus speaks of Cyrus” at 1. 75-92, 107-130, 141, 188-191, 201-214; 3. 34, 36, 159 & 9. 122. It would seem, then, that it would be advisable to compare Herodotus with Scripture. It should be noted that all of these references are to Cyrus II (the Great), for there was a Cyrus I, his grandfather.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #75 July 2004

 
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This is my seventy-fifth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. With this lesson, we are going to continue to show more evidence concerning Herodotus’ report as regards to the burial of the Scythians and their kings. The idea is to show the account by Herodotus pertaining to this and compare it to the report of the archaeologists. Not only that, but to compare this new evidence against what was offered in the last lesson. The following three articles are from the book The World Of The Past, edited by Jacquetta Hawkes (a set of two volumes) under chapter 5, Europe”, pages 454-456:

 

HERODOTUS: The Burial of Scythian Kings

 

THE Scythians formed the main clan of an enormously widespread group of nomads, whose territories may at times have stretched as far east as the Yenisei. Although there was no political unity among them, these nomadic tribes shared much in common in their way of life and in their art. The Scyths proper occupied the more westerly part of the range. By the seventh century B.C. they were established in southern Russia, the Kuban and the Crimea, and in time they pushed further into eastern Europe – into Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Prussia. At various points, and particularly along the Black Sea, they came into contact with the Greek colonists. Nomadic chiefs employed Greek craftsmen to work for them, and some Scythic art shows a blending of Hellenic with Persian and other oriental elements.

The Scyths were so powerful in the fifth century B.C. that Herodotus devoted an entire Book to them. To collect material he went to Olbia, a Greek commercial outpost on the Black Sea by the mouth of the Bug. Some of the information he recorded was fanciful, but much has been proved correct. In particular his description of the burial of Scythic kings has been supported even in detail by graves excavated in south Russia and elsewhere.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #74 June 2004

 
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This is my seventy-fourth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventh year of publication. With this lesson we will continue our series on the importance of Yahweh’s Anointed witness, Herodotus. 

ARCHAEOLOGY VINDICATES HERODOTUS 

During the past six or seven years The Learning Channel (TLC), on television has been showing an archaeological special entitled The Frozen Tombs Of Siberia. My video copy actually shows the graves of the Scythian people, or the Lost Tribes of Israel in their migrations. Not only that, but these Scythian burials fit Herodotus’ description of the Scythian customs in his Book IV very well.  To show you how the archaeologists’ spade is vindicating the writings of Herodotus, I will now quote a passage from the book The Celts by Gerhard Herm, pages 105-107. While some of the statements may seem strange, I will make some explanations during and after the quotation:

Of yet others Herodotus says that they regularly scalped their victims and made towels or garments from the skins. What is more, members of the nearby tribe were said to be magicians, every year changing themselves for a few days into wolves; and the tribe itself was said to be composed of cannibals.

What we have since learnt of the Scythians is sufficient to absolve Herodotus of the charge of telling horror-stories: there was an element of truth in at least two of his reports. The steppe nomads really did believe that their ancestors had been animals. They therefore carried images of them as totems or coats of arms and crowned their rulers with head-pieces shaped like bears, bulls or other animal heads. A man who thought he was descended from wolves may well have worn the open jaws of the proto-dog on his head and imagined himself to be a kind of werewolf. Besides, as regards Herodotus’s other story, the Scythians and their neighbours were indeed led by shamans (shamana, the Sanskrit word for such priests, means magician’). The third detail he mentions, head-hunting, can be written off as a curiosity only if we ignore that the Scythians are among the progenitors of Celtic culture.” [Note: Hebrew lexicons lack completeness of language, but shaman” seems to fit the sense of Strong’s #5567, and also #s 8064, 8065, or the group from #s 8080 through 8095.]

Watchman's Teaching Letter #73 May 2004

 
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This is my seventy-third monthly teaching letter and starts my seventh year of publication. In the last two lessons, we started a study with the purpose of defending Herodotus’ historical writings. It’s not a subject that can be passed over lightly. It is especially important in the Israel Identity Message, for without his Anointed witness, we as Yahweh’s kindred people would have far less evidence demonstrating the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. While it is important to have true prophets of the Almighty, it is likewise just as imperative to have witnesses to the fulfillment of their Yahweh-enlightened future foretelling. There are many Anointed witnesses, but Herodotus and Josephus are among the principal ones which, given time, we will cover. Without these two principal historians, much of our Bible would remain a mystery.

The following article on Herodotus is about as comprehensive and well done as one might find. It comes from an era when men were still reputable in their desires to print the truth to the best of their ability:

 

HERODOTUS

From The 1894 Ninth Edition Of The Encyclopedia Britannica

 

HERODOTUS, according to the best authorities, was, born in or about the year 484 B.C. He was a native of Halicarnassus, a city which belonged originally to the Doric Hexapolis, situated towards the south-western corner of Asia Minor, but which from a date considerably anterior to the birth of Herodotus had been excluded from the confederacy, and was an isolated Greek town, dependent upon the Persians. Herodotus was thus born a Persian subject, and as such he continued until he was thirty or five and-thirty years of age. At the time of his birth, Halicarnassus was under the rule of a queen called Artemisia, who had been allowed by the Persians to succeed to the sovereignty of her husband, and was mistress, not only of Halicarnassus, but also of Cos, Nisyrus, and Calydna. The year of her death is unknown; but she left her crown to her son Pisindelis (born about 498 B.C.), who was succeeded upon the throne by his son Lygdamis about the time that Herodotus grew to manhood. The family of Herodotus belonged to the upper rank of the citizens.  His father was named Lyxes, and his mother Rhæo, or Dryo. He had a brother Theodore, and an uncle or cousin called Panyasis, who was an epic poet, and a personage of so much importance that the tyrant Lygdamis, suspecting him of treasonable projects, put him to death. It is likely that Herodotus derived from this near relative that love of letters which led him at an early age to the careful study of the existing Greek literature, and determined him ultimately to engage in the composition of his great work. It is probable also that he shared his relative’s political opinions, and was either exiled from Halicarnassus, or quitted it voluntarily, at the time of his execution.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #72 April 2004

 
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This is my seventy-second monthly teaching letter and completes my sixth year of publication. As this teaching letter is a continuation of lesson #71, you may not fully comprehend the subject matter presented herein until you do read it. The object of these lessons is to show Herodotus was an Anointed witness to the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy concerning the whereabouts of the Lost Tribes at his time. Thus, Herodotus’ witness becomes a vital factor to the awakening of the true Israelites of today. Without his witness, we might never have come to a realization of who we are, being Yahweh’s Covenant people. I then quoted quite a lengthy passage from The World Of Herodotus by Aubrey de Sélincourt, chapters 19 & 20. For other references, check The Post-Captivity Names Of Israel by Wm. Pascoe Goard, chapter 7, pages 76-80;A History Of Greece by J. B. Bury pages 228-229 and, A History of the Greek City States by Raphael Sealey page 173. (Also see the Smithsonian, March 2000, pages 88-93.)

Later in this series on Herodotus, I will show how the archaeologist’s spade is vindicating his writings! Once we have observed Herodotus’ writings and compare them with what they have found on the Scythians in archaeology, it will build our confidence to a high level of regard for them. The whole idea is to present Herodotus’ writings on the Scythians from an Israel Identity perspective rather than secular history.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #71 March 2004

 
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This is my seventy-first monthly teaching letter and continues my sixth year of publication. In the last lesson we discussed the “sin unto death” which is the sin of race-mixing. When a White commits miscegenation, he/she is literally shaking his/her fist in the face of the Almighty. This is also true for anyone who promotes “universalism” in any way, shape or form! We will now continue on a topic which would rank at the same level of seriousness. Most of us have the very bad habit of believing almost everything we hear or read! All the speaker or writer need to do is somehow make his ideas sound reasonable and wrap them up in an attractive package. Amazingly, some of the most intellectually inclined people seem not to be exempt from this detrimental influence. On trivial matters a misjudgment may not be so damaging, but on weighty topics an erroneous premise can cause injury beyond all comprehension. Once such incorrect concepts are set into motion, they can be as damaging as nature’s severest disasters; floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. All this simply by not checking one’s premise. When such faulty conclusions are applied to Biblical matters, one can begin to imagine the detrimental consequences that can be produced. With the next few lessons, we are going to explore some consequences of these terribly unsound premises. This issue will start with the topic of Herodotus.

While some proclaim Herodotus as the “father of history”, others label him “the father of lies.” To show you why Herodotus was originally called the “father of lies”, I will quote The Portable Greek Historians, edited by M. I. Finley in the introduction on pages 6-7: 

“... Herodotus was no philosopher, he was not even a systematic thinker; but he was no less sensitive than the sophists and the tragedians to the great moral issues, and he made a unique contribution to the discussion. He found a moral justification for Athenian dominance in the role she had played in the Persian Wars, and he sought to capture that story and fix it before its memory was lost.

Watchman's Teaching Letter #70 February 2004

 
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This is my seventieth monthly teaching letter and continues my sixth year of publication. With this issue, we are going to address a subject that is in much need of being brought to the forefront. Many of you have already noticed my continual attack on various false doctrines. This is the scatological (study in excrement) job Yahweh has placed on my shoulders. Recently, He has given me witness that I must continue, for we are now living in a day where more of this twisted theology abounds. I find all this a great responsibility, and everything I write, I write with fear and trembling! I do this because we are either gathering the sheep or scattering them, Matthew 12:30. There is no category in between. All one need do to scatter the Israel sheep, is conjure up some ambiguous, flawed premise arriving at a mistaken conclusion. Therefore, all truth starts with a correct premise, and only truth can set us free.

But it is even more serious than this, for Scripture tells us that if we continue in our arrogant ways, we will be turned over to Satan either for our correction or for our destruction. And yet this is not all, for though we put forth much effort to help build the Kingdom, our rewards at the Judgment will be taken from us and given to another. Therefore, we dare not deviate from the truth! With this in mind, I publish the ensuing:

The following is a reprint of a letter sent to Dave Barley from William Finck, September 17, 2003. Finck’s personal letter has been modified from a personal to an open letter with Finck’s permission:

Before making this challenge, it would be best to quote the offending paragraph from Barley’s newsletter on page 4:

“By the way, I received a phone call from an Arab man the other day who had watched the film and became converted to following Christ. His testimony was fantastic and upon learning that Jesus Christ has a place and purpose for all people, he had great hope. He learned that God’s law had many forms and facets to it, such as the law of aerodynamics, and gravity. All of God's creation experiences those ‘laws of nature’ and they are subject to those laws. However, as we know, there are also God’s laws to Israel, and Israelites for the most part, are to teach and administer those laws, but as God’s Word says, ‘to whom much is given, much is required,’  and ‘each man in his own order.’  This Arab learned that as he acquired truth, that there was also a responsibility that he now bore to properly use and apply that truth.”

Watchman's Teaching Letter #69 January 2004

 
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This is my sixty-ninth monthly teaching letter and continues my sixth year of publication. In the last lesson #68, we surveyed the teachings of Dan Gentry, Stephen E. Jones and Dave Barley. It was observed how, while teaching the Identity Truth, they nullify any beneficial building of the Kingdom they might have accomplished by disowning that Israel has an enemy. 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 lesson we shall continue to expose Jones’ prevarications. I will now present an open letter to Stephen E. Jones written by William Finck.

Before making any comment, it will be necessary to review the offending passage at the heart of his postulation (for the entire quotation, refer to lesson # 68):

“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 ...”

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