Zionism is Not Biblical: The Broken-Bottle Nation

Zionism is Not Biblical: The Broken-Bottle Nation

There are many references to Jerusalem, to the “daughter of Jerusalem” or to the “daughter of Zion” in the words of the prophets, but it should not be taken for granted that they always refer to the city or mountain in ancient Judaea, or especially to modern Jerusalem. Rather, it is evident in the Old Testament that “the daughter of” something such as a city or a nation is a reference to the people who are produced by that city or nation, or their circumstances, regardless of where they are at the time when they are described. One example of this is where Tyre, the merchant city, is called the “daughter of Tarshish” in Isaiah chapter 23, evidently because Tyre became a very wealthy city by engaging in trade with Tarshish, which is evident in the historical books of Scripture.

Another example of this is found in Isaiah chapter 62 where we read: “11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” There the phrase “daughter of Zion” is a metaphor describing the “holy people”, the “redeemed of the Lord”, and also “a city not forsaken”, because they would be redeemed. These are all references to the people themselves, the people being a “holy city” regardless of where they are, and the people being the “daughter of Zion” regardless of where they are. So when they were called these things, Isaiah was told that Yahweh had proclaimed these words “unto the end of the world”, where the word for world is ארץ, or erets, which means land. More frequently, the same phrase is translated “the ends of the earth” because the children of Israel were also prophesied to be spread out to the ends of the earth in their captivity.

Concerning those same Israelites of the captivity who would be spread to the ends of the earth, we read in a prophecy found in Micah chapter 4 that: “6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” So as it is described in Micah, the kingdom shall come to a people cast far off, who would become a strong nation, which is described as “mount Zion” although it is obviously not in Palestine. They are also called a “daughter of Jerusalem”, in the sense that Jerusalem had produced them, being descendants of the ancient Israelites.

The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, was prophesying concerning the fate of the peoples of Israel and Judah who would be taken into captivity over 700 years before the birth of Christ. As it is evident in Jeremiah chapter 3 and in the historical books of Scripture, these people were taken into the north, but they were never called Jews. The people later known as Jews were not scattered away from Jerusalem until after the time of Christ. But before they were scattered, Christ had told them, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 21, that “43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” That verse should certainly be cross-referenced to the passage in Micah chapter 4, “the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”

Paul of Tarsus recognized the allegorical use of the name of Jerusalem in the prophets where he wrote in Hebrews chapter 12, telling his readers: “22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Over thirty years after Paul had written those words, that same allegorical use appears again in the Revelation, in chapters 3 and 21, and again the references to “new Jerusalem” are allegories referring to the collective body of the people of God, rather than to a physical city in Palestine.

Therefore with this in mind, we shall also assert that concerning Scripture, any interpretation of a prophecy cannot invalidate the words of the prophets. So if Jeremiah explicitly explains that some entity is going to be destroyed never to be put back together again, where the name of that entity is used later in prophecy, we must search for an interpretation which is not contradictory, because we cannot simply assume that part of Jeremiah is somehow wrong, and discard the supposedly wrong portion.

So having that understanding, we shall present and critique a paper by Clifton Emahiser titled The Broken-Bottle Nation, which is based on a prophecy found in Jeremiah chapter 19.

The Broken-Bottle Nation, by Clifton Emahiser

For the title of this brochure, I searched for a special font to impress upon the reader that the subject being addressed is indeed about “the broken-bottle nation”. I found an appropriate font named Matisse ITC, and you will notice how shattered it appears. I could have used other synonyms for “broken”, such as “totaled”, “finished”, “ruined”, “destroyed”, “smashed”, “wrecked”, “demolished”, “shivered”, “fractured”, “splintered”, “spent”, “expended”, “terminated”, “crushed”, “shattered”, “pulverized”, “dashed”, “consumed”, etc. I would like the reader to grasp that we are addressing something that cannot be salvaged, restored, renovated, rehabilitated, rejuvenated, reinstated or revived in any way, shape, manner or form. That it’s totally defunct, extinct, dead, never to be resurrected. Yet the majority of pastors fail to understand as much!

Here Clifton began with a point which was meant to stress the completely irreparable condition of a broken bottle, which in the prophecy that he is about to cite is the condition of Jerusalem some time future from that of the prophet. The majority of pastors think that the present-day city of Jerusalem is the rebirth of ancient Jerusalem, but that is simply not true. Modern Jerusalem is a subject of prophecy, particularly in the opening verses of the prophet Malachi, but not for anything good.

While I cannot describe Clifton’s font here, which was used for the title of his original paper in the pamphlet upon which it had been distributed, it will be depicted in an image accompanying this presentation. Now there are other fonts which may have been better, but perhaps they were not so readily available in January of 2007, which is apparently when Clifton had completed this essay. Now he will cite the title passage about which he had written:

What we are talking about here is Jeremiah’s prophecy [in a passage found in chapter 19, verses 1 to 11], which reads: “1 Thus saith Yahweh, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And say, Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.”

Here I am compelled to interrupt Clifton’s citation briefly, in order to explain that the “valley of the son of Hinnom”, which was also called the valley of Hinnom, was just south of Jerusalem, which is apparent in Joshua chapter 15. In the Greek New Testament, it is Gehenna, which is from a partial transliteration meaning “land of Hinnom” in English. In the King James Version, the Greek word γέεννα, for Gehenna, was unfortunately translated as hell. The valley of Hinnom was known in the Old Testament as the place where the Canaanites, and the children of Israel who followed them, had sacrificed their children upon the altar of the pagan idol Moloch. In part, we read in Jeremiah chapter 7, speaking of the children of Judah: “31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.” This situation had evidently been ongoing for some time, since several decades before the time of Jeremiah we read in 2 Kings chapter 23 of some of the actions of the young king Josiah that: “10 … he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.”

Now returning to Clifton’s citation of Jeremiah chapter 19, and the portion which he sought to illustrate in this paper:

“8 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.”

So Jerusalem would be made broken so that it “cannot be made whole again”, and that is the basis for Clifton’s premise here, a premise with which we certainly must agree. Therefore Clifton comments in response to this passage:

You will notice that this is a prophecy to “Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”. Yet further explanation is needed for the reader to thoroughly comprehend the importance of this passage. Jeremiah was not addressing all the twelve tribes of Israel, nor was he speaking of all of the original nation of Judah! We must not overlook the fact that the bulk of Judah had also been taken into the Assyrian captivity, never to return, and after Assyria left off with Judah, all that was left was the city of Jerusalem. It was, rather, addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some of whom had mingled their blood with the Canaanites.

As it is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 18, and in Assyrian inscriptions, the Assyrians took forty-six fenced cities of Judah, which are larger walled cities, and carried the people of those cities into captivity with the rest of Israel. Only the Assyrian records number the cities, and they also number the captives. So virtually all that were left of Judah were in Jerusalem and had suffered in the siege which happened in the days of Hezekiah. The descendants of the survivors would later face the Babylonians and go into captivity about a hundred and twenty years later.

That those who were left did indeed mingle with the Canaanites may be established upon examining prophecies found in Jeremiah chapter 2, Ezekiel chapter 16, and elsewhere in the writings of those prophets. Now Clifton continues his comments by speaking of the later Babylonian captivity and says:

Later, when the nation of Judah was taken captive into Babylon, most of pure-blooded Judah would never return again, but follow in the footsteps of the ten northern tribes. After a remnant of the nation of Judah returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, even more admixture of the Canaanites was added to Judah. Nevertheless, many stayed racially pure. This race-mixing process continued more and more until, at the time of Christ, there remained only a remnant in the nation of Judah with the pure blood of Judah, Benjamin and a smattering of Levites. We must also fathom that the prophecy at Jeremiah 19:1-11 of the broken-bottle nation is just the opposite in nature to the prophecy given at Jeremiah 18:1-6 of the potter and the clay, which indicates that the house of Israel would be restored, unlike the remnant nation of Judah with its inhabitants of Jerusalem, condemned never to be revived.

Here we will interrupt Clifton once again, as he is about to use the term “bad-fig… jews”. Later in Jeremiah, in chapter 24, there is another prophecy where the prophet is presented with a vision of two baskets of figs and we read: “3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.” Then a little further on, in reference to the evil figs: “8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.” We shall return to this last part concerning the evil figs after hearing more from Clifton.

In reality, the parables of the potter and the clay and the broken-bottle nation are not so much a dissimilarity between the twelve tribes of Israel, but a contrast between the nations they ultimately became, especially the nation of Judaea which, during the last 500 years of its existence had many inhabitants with little-to-no true blood of Judah among them.

Here we would offer a minor correction. In the books of Nehemiah and Ezra it is evident that some race-mixing with Canaanites had transpired, but there was no “nation of Judaea” until after 160 BC, when the Hasmonaeans gained independence from the Seleucids, and began to consolidate their power throughout Palestine. From that time and until the conquest of Palestine by the Romans, the Judaeans, although a minority population in the area, had ruled what later became the Roman province of Judaea. During this period, the inhabitants of the land were forcibly converted, and then it became permissible for the Judahites to intermarry with Canaanites and the Edomites, as even the high priest had given his niece in marriage to Herod, an Edomite. The dominant ethnic population of Judaea in the time of Christ were the Edomites, who had moved into the ancient lands of Israel and Judah beginning in the 6th or even the late 7th century BC. The Hasmonaeans converted them all to Judaism, as it is recorded in the writings of Flavius Josephus. Now to continue with Clifton:

Once we comprehend this, the meanings of the parables of the potter and the clay and the broken-bottle nation become more evident. Today, judeo-churchianity in general ignores the prophecy of Jeremiah; that the nation of Judah, once broken, would never be put back together again. It all boils down to this: all those who claim the bad-fig-Canaanite-Edomite-jews squatting in Palestine today is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy declare Jeremiah’s prophecy of the broken-bottle nation to be null and void. They also refute the red-letter words of Yahshua Christ Himself at Matthew 21:19, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.” Incredible are the claims of the modern-day false prophets.

Clifton did well to interpret the cursing of the fig tree as an allegory for Jerusalem in the days leading up to the Crucifixion. But before we continue, we will take another digression, to go back to the subject of the bad figs of Jeremiah chapter 24. There we saw two groups of figs. The good figs represented those of Judah who went into captivity in Babylon for their good. The evil figs were evidently not of Judah, but “Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem” would be delivered over to the evil figs, and then they would become “reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse”, whereby they would be driven out and punished, being “consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.”

But notice in that passage that Yahweh had said that He had already sent the good figs to the land of the Chaldaeans for their good. Around 597 or 596 BC, eleven years before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, as it is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 24 we read: “11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. 12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.”

So these ten thousand captives are those good figs of which the Word of Yahweh said in Jeremiah chapter 24 that “so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.” Among these were the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. Then all of the other inhabitants of Jerusalem and those remaining in Judah and in Egypt would be given over to the bad figs, and then “removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.”

That this interpretation is certain is found in another prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 29. There we read a reference to the ten thousand of the captivity of Jehoiachin where it says: “1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; 2 (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)…” In that letter, Jeremiah had urged those captives to build houses, plant gardens, marry and multiply, and be at peace with the Babylonians, and along with a few other instructions, it would result to them for good. There they were also promised the opportunity to return from captivity in 70 years. This 70 years prophecy is mentioned by Clifton here, in order to help demonstrate the fact that Jeremiah’s broken-bottle prophecy was not fulfilled in 586 BC, but must have been fulfilled in 70 AD.

Then a little further on in the chapter it speaks once again of the remainder of the people of Jerusalem, all those who were not part of these ten thousand, and it says: “16 Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David [Zedekiah, who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar], and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them…” So once again we see that except for the ten thousand, all of the remaining inhabitants of Jerusalem from the period of the Babylonian captivity were accursed by Yahweh God Himself. As part of this curse, they would be given over to bad figs so that they themselves would also become vile. With this, we may also justly deduce that where Christ had cursed the fig tree, it was indeed an allegory by which we may identify the good figs of Jeremiah chapter 24 as those who had accepted Him, and the bad figs as those who rejected Him.

Then, as it is recorded in Luke chapter 21, Christ associated His adversaries in Judaea with these bad figs once again, where His disciples marveled at the beauty of the temple and He explained to them that “6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” So where He continued to describe the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, according to the King James Version further on in the chapter He said: “22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people [His adversaries in Jerusalem]. 24 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.” Here we must notice the similarity of the punishment of the bad figs in the prophecies of Jeremiah with the enemies of Christ in Luke chapter 21, and realize that these are both describing the same events. The Jews who rejected Christ are indeed the bad figs of Jeremiah chapters 24 and 29, the association is unmistakable, the words of Christ identifying them are explicit, and they are also the Jews of today, and today’s so-called judeo-christian churches reward them, instead of punishing them as the Word of God commands. Therefore, we must also recognize the fact that all of the historic pogroms and expulsions of Jews throughout history were also decreed by God, and therefore they were good.

Now speaking of the broken-bottle prophecy found in Jeremiah chapter 19, Clifton says:

Many commentaries try to relate Jeremiah’s prophecy of the broken-bottle nation to both the fall of Judaea to Babylon in 586 B.C. and also to Rome in 70 A.D. But the remnant of Judah was restored after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, so only the destruction of Judaea and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. can apply to Jeremiah’s broken-bottle nation. And Josephus makes it quite clear that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were indeed eating their children during the Roman siege. Nearly all of the 24th chapter of Matthew is a prophecy by Yahshua Christ Himself concerning the siege of Jerusalem, which almost all futurists apply to a so-called “latter day seven years of tribulation”. Here is an edited excerpt from my Watchman’s Teaching Letter #52, August, 2002:

Paul of Tarsus had also prophesied of the impending destruction of Judaea, when he wrote his epistle to the Romans around 57 AD and he said “ 20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” Those words were fulfilled from 65 to 70 AD, wherein Jeremiah’s broken-bottle prophecy was indeed fulfilled. So the Jews were the Satan whom Paul told the Romans that they would crush, and they are also the “synagogue of satan” of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Now for the citation from Clifton’s 2002 Watchman’s Teaching Letter, under the subtitle:

Door Slammed Shut On the Counterfeit Bad-fig-jews

Messiah really locked the door tight, never to be opened for the impostor bad-fig-jews, Matthew 21:43. I must point out: I am not talking about the pure-blooded members of the Tribe of Judah, but the mongrel descendants of Cain and Esau, along with other non-Israelite mixtures: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

The Edomite Jews from the time of Herod had actually believed that they were in control of the Kingdom of God. For example, in the eighteenth year after he had been made king of Judaea by the Romans, Herod, who was an Edomite and not at all an Israelite, is recorded by Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities of the Judaeans, Book 15 (15:387) as having undertaken the reconstruction of the temple, upon which he had addressed the Judaeans and said, in part: “… 387 but since I am now, by God's will, your governor, and I have had peace a long time, and have gained great riches and large revenues, and, what is the principal thing of all, I am at amity with, and well regarded by the Romans, who, if I may so say, are the rulers of the whole world, I will do my endeavour to correct that imperfection, which has arisen from the necessity of our affairs, and the slavery we have been under formerly, and to make a thankful return, after the most pious manner, to God, for what blessings I have received from him, by giving me this kingdom, and that by rendering his temple as complete as I am able.'” In four places in his writings, Josephus confirms that Herod was an Edomite on both sides of his family, mother and father. His father had been a wealthy Edomite who had gained access to the government through the court of the Hasmonaeans, and had his sons appointed to administrative positions. Once again continuing with Clifton, he makes allusions to Isaiah chapter 56, upon which we shall not elaborate:

Today’s pastors “that cannot bark” never so much as identify what nation Yahshua Christ was referring to here. This passage is saying, in no uncertain words, that the kingdom would be taken from this prophesied broken-bottle nation and would be transferred to another nation that would be worthy of such an honor. Since the kingdom was taken from the broken-bottle nation of Judah, and allocated to another nation, it would be ridiculous to suggest that Yahweh would renege and give it once more to the broken-bottle nation of Judah. There are vilifying expressions today for that kind of a giver! But this is what the “dumb-dog” pastors of today are proclaiming when they claim that the bad-fig-jews returning to Palestine is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy! That kind of interpretation is just the opposite of what Jeremiah prophesied! Yes, the small remnant nation is all that remained of the kingdom at the time of Christ, but it was also destroyed, never to be restored. It behooves us, therefore, to discover to which nation the kingdom was transferred. But that’s another topic for another time.

As we have explained, it must have been to a nation comprised of Israelites who had been cast afar off, according to Micah chapter 4. Many other prophesies agree that the children of Israel became many nations, and Paul brought the gospel to those nations, as he had explained in Romans chapter 4, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and elsewhere in his epistles. Now Clifton once again recounts the cursing of the fig tree:

Additionally, our Savior placed an everlasting curse on that proselytized, racially-mixed nation, Matthew 21:19: “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.”

What is there about the phrase “henceforward for ever” that we fail to understand? Furthermore, while Jeremiah prophesied that the House of Israel would be reworked by the “potter” (Jeremiah 18:6), yet he proclaimed that the remnant nation of Judaea and Jerusalem would become a broken-bottle, never to be made whole again, Jeremiah 19:10-11: “10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee. 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again …”

Again, what is there about “cannot be made whole again” that we don’t understand? Thus, that present-day so-called nation of Israeli will never become a homeland for the Zionist-jews.

Here I should qualify the remark. Actually the Israeli State could not possibly be a home for the true people of Judah, as only Judah could make Jerusalem whole again, and the Edomite Jews are not of Judah. Rather, the Edomite Jews are the bad figs to which that remnant of Judah which Yahweh sought to punish had been turned over, as He explained in Jeremiah chapters 24 and 29. But one prophecy which the Edomite Jews do fulfill in Palestine is found in Malachi chapter 1, where after the Word of God attested His love for Jacob, we read: “3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.” In Romans chapter 9, Paul of Tarsus cited this passage of Malachi in order to explain the divisions among the people in Judaea in the time of Christ. Returning to Clifton:

When Yahweh breaks something, it stays broken. It’s like Humpty Dumpty on the wall that had a great fall, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never put that bad-fig cursed nation back together again. And all of those television fundamentalist “dumb-dog” preachers can proclaim the “jews are God’s chosen people”, and that the migration of those misfits back into Palestine is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, until they are blue in the face, and it’s not going to change a thing! The Israelis have tanks costing several million dollars per copy on their side, fighting against stone-throwing teenagers and boys, and Israelis can’t win, and they never will. Not that we should take up the arab cause, as they are as satanic as the bad-fig-jews.

Messiah proclaimed this against those false bad-fig-jews, Luke 19:27: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

With this one statement alone, the gravity of the errors of the modern churches should be fully evident. Their support for Jews and for Zionism is a direct reproach of Christ Himself, and they have actively taken the side of Satan against God. Clifton continues in reference to Jews:

The Zionist-jews who are migrating today into Palestine actually consist of several mixed-ethnic groups: one group consists of a proselyted portion that never came from Palestine, while another is of a Canaanite-Edomite-mixture that did. The reason today’s Zionist-jews want Palestine and Jerusalem is another attempt, like Shebna, to usurp the throne and the “key of David.” And this is only part of the complex story.

Here I must disagree with Clifton somewhat. At this point he must have accepted the so-called “Khazar theory” which, to the best of my determination, is found earliest in the writings of the 19th century Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz, although credit is often given to the 20th century Jewish writer Arthur Koestler. We would assert that while Ashkenazi Jews certainly have a higher degree of admixture with European and Eurasian Whites than the Sephardic Jews have, they are nevertheless also Edomites, who were forced out of the Byzantine Empire in the early Middle Ages and who had migrated into Khazaria and intermixed with local population there, as they do everywhere that they are permitted to do so.

Now Clifton turns to discuss the exclusion of these bad-fig Jews by Christ and His apostles:

Door Opened Only To The True Israel Sheep

The usurping-jews claiming to be Judah are goats, while the true Israelites are His sheep. The door has been slammed shut to the usurping-jews, and opened wide to His true Israel sheep. No other but the sheep need apply, as it is a closed corporation. Messiah told the false-usurping-jews, John 10:26-27: “26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

The bad-fig-jews have not followed Christ for nearly 2000 years, but have fought Christianity at every turn. What is there about the words “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” that we don’t understand? When Christ said to the bad-fig-jews “ye are not my sheep”, He was stating a scientific, genetic fact.

At Matthew 15:24, our Savior stipulated the specific purpose of His Mission: “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

At Amos 3:2, Yahweh proclaimed to Israel: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

Further, we are told at Deuteronomy 7:6: “For thou art an holy [set apart] people unto Yahweh thy singular-Elohim [God]: Yahweh thy singular-Elohim [God] hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”

After the Almighty divorced Israel, putting her away and punishing her, in the New Testament at 1 Peter 2:9-10 we read: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” RSV. Have the bad-fig-jews ever “declared God’s wonderful deeds”?

Here Clifton cited the Revised Standard Version, ostensibly because it has a correct translation for the word for race in verse 9. However it obscures the significance of verse 10, which is a citation from Hosea chapter 1 concerning the children of Israel, and it reads in the King James Version: “10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” Continuing with Clifton:

These passages should give us an idea as to what doors “the key of David” open and shut. No matter how hard some prostitute-churchianity-“dumb-dog” ministers try to open the “door” of Israel’s Redemption to other races (and especially the bad-fig-jews), they will fail in their effort.

The record is clear, that the Jews have fought against Christianity for 2,000 years. For the first three hundred years, they persecuted Christians, or instigated the Romans to persecute Christians. Then after the Empire accepted Christianity, the Jews brought the Arabs and Turks against the Empire in their endeavor to destroy it, a trial which they executed for over a thousand years. But finally, they were able to subvert Europe through the French Revolution and the false ideals which it had spread. Once they gained their emancipation in Europe, for three hundred years they have fought against Christianity from within the Christian nations, rather than from without, and the churches have all been complicit. But all of this is explained in Revelation chapter 12, were we read: “15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” If the Jews have persecuted Christianity, then the Jews are identified as the serpent of the Revelation. Once again, the churches have taken the side of Satan against Christ. Continuing with Clifton, he expounds upon yet another passage which he had cited earlier:

Kingdom Of Judah Given To Another Nation

It is necessary here to repeat Matthew 21:43: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” In this passage, Christ is addressing the bad-fig-jews rather than the remaining few true Israelites of Judaea. [Cross-reference this passage to Micah 4:7, but not Acts 13:46 where it would be out-of-context.]

When the Edomite-jew Herod came to power, some of the following began to happen in Judaea. Eusebius speaks of this in his Church History 1:6, and my translation is by Paul L. Maier, pages 34-35:

“When the line of Jewish [sic Judaean] rulers ceased, the orderly succession of high priests from generation to generation fell into instant confusion. The reliable Josephus reports that Herod, once made king by the Romans, no longer appointed high priests of the ancient line but obscure sorts instead, a practice followed by his son Archelaus and the Roman governors after him when they took over the government of the Jews. The same writer reports that Herod was the first to lock up the sacred vestment of the high priest and keep it under his own seal rather than priestly control, as did his successor Archelaus and the Romans after him.”

The passages in Josephus to which Eusebius referred here are found in Antiquities Book 15 (15:403-404) and Book 20 (20:247-249). So Eusebius is certainly reliable in this respect, though not always in others. Returning to Clifton’s citation:

Not only this, but once Herod took power he attempted to destroy all of Israel’s genealogical records, ibid. 1:7, page 37: “... So Herod, with no Israelite ancestry and pained by his base origins, burned the genealogical records, thinking he would appear of noble birth if no one were able to trace his bloodline from public documents. A few, however, carefully kept private records of their own, either remembering the names or finding them in copies, and took pride in preserving the memory of their aristocratic birth …”

Apparently, Josephus did not mention this event, however here Eusebius is said to have been citing a 3rd century Christian historian named Sextus Africanus. This is also supported by passages in the Talmud. [See the Jewish Encyclopedia article on Genealogy, an article titled Destruction of Judaic Documents at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and also an article for genealogy in the Bible at Encyclopedia.com.] Continuing with Clifton, where he makes an error in the name of the last king of Judaea:

We must remember that after Hezekiah there were no kings of the House of David in Judaea continuing to the final fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and that was the prophetic end of the “broken bottle” nation, never to arise again! It should be noted that even the Edomite Herod was “king” in title only over Judaea under the Romans, but hardly of the House of David. If there were ever a good-fig of Judah who was king after Hezekiah, let all the dumb-dog-pastor supporters of the Zionists in Palestine today name him/them!

Actually, Zedekiah was the last of the house of David to rule in Jerusalem, although his rule was not entirely legitimate. Around 597 BC Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin ruled in his place, but he only lasted three months (2 Kings chapter 24). At that time, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, put Jehoiachin in bonds and brought him back to Babylon with the ten thousand captives we have already mentioned, appointing his uncle Zedekiah in his place. Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakim, ruled eleven years before Jerusalem was destroyed, and he and his own sons were executed by the Babylonians.

Now Clifton moves on to Daniel’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was most likely the inspiration for Paul of Tarsus informing the Romans that Yahweh “shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”, in Romans chapter 16:

DANIEL CHAPTER 9:

Chapter 9 brings us to Daniel’s prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, or 490 years. Daniel, understanding that Jeremiah’s literal Seventy Years prophecy concerning Jerusalem was quickly coming to an end, agonized what the future of the Holy City might be. Being greatly afflicted about the future, Daniel earnestly sought guidance through fasting, meditation and fervent prayer to the Almighty, recorded from verses 4 to 21. In his prayer, Daniel didn’t make any excuses for our people, but spelled everything out exactly as it was. One must remember that before those Judahites were taken captive into Babylon, they had incorporated many of the religious practices brought into Israel by Solomon’s foreign wives, which hurried their process into paganism, resulting in many of Judah race-mixing with non-Israelites, confirmed later by Ezra. Though afterward many of those Judahites reformed, that fraction of the original race-mixed nation of Judaea was doomed to final extinction in 70 A.D., and they never became an enduring self-governing sovereign nation after their Exile, at which time they chose leaders from the tribe of Levi rather than Judah. They became the cursed-fig tree and/or broken-bottle nation, never to be put back together again. Though being doomed as a nation, nevertheless there were still some good seed among them. Surely, Daniel, with his copy of Jeremiah, knew the prophecy of the “broken bottle” at Jeremiah 19:1-11.

It is very likely, or even assured, that Daniel knew of Jeremiah. First, although Jeremiah was an older man than Daniel, the two were contemporaries. Daniel was one of the captives to which Jeremiah had written in the letter recorded in Jeremiah chapter 29. But by the time Daniel wrote the 9th chapter of his own prophecy, it was much later, in the Persian period, and therefore by that time Jeremiah’s prophecies could not have escaped Daniel’s notice. Another contemporary, Ezekiel, who was also a captive, mentioned Daniel three times in his own writings.

Clifton did not repeat Daniel’s prophecy, so we shall repeat the most pertinent portion: “24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” This describes in part the reason for the coming of the Messiah. Now continuing: “25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” With each day being interpreted as representing a year, and although the wall had been rebuilt a little earlier, by Nehemiah, it was indeed nearly 490 years from the time when Ezra finally rebuilt the city to the time of the Crucifixion of the Christ, who was “cut off” in the midst of the final week of those years. It is difficult to determine precisely why the first 69 weeks of the 70-week period were divided into 7 and 62, but that is not entirely necessary. Continuing further: “26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come [the same prince as Messiah the prince] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

So Jerusalem was to be made desolate, as Christ had also told His adversaries that “38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate”, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 23. According to that prophecy in Daniel, the desolation is to last “until the consummation”, from a Hebrew word which also means completion or termination. As we have also already seen, it would be Esau who returns to rebuild the desolate places, and not Jacob, in Malachi chapter 1: “ 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.” That certainly describes the modern Jews, and in that same place Jacob is portrayed as having great care for Esau, where Yahweh God professes to hate Esau and promises to destroy him. Now Clifton moves towards his own conclusion:

It is simply amazing that today nearly all the “mainstream” clergy try to imply that the present-day bad-fig-jews gathering in Palestine, and especially Jerusalem, is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Yes, they are fulfilling prophecy, but not in the manner they suggest. When Scripture proclaims that that remnant nation is like a broken bottle, “that cannot be made whole again” (Jeremiah 19:11), how can they sidestep and reconcile that inalterable fact? Yet they try! Again, how can they remove the curse of the fig tree of Matthew 21:19 which our Redeemer placed on them when he said: “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.” Both of these passages totally eliminate any such future (so-called) fulfillment. Therefore, Daniel’s prophecy at chapter 9 concerns itself with the sum and substance of how long, and under what conditions, that post-exilic remnant, non-sovereign nation would last. It fell in 70 A.D. to the Romans, never to be revived again! It hasn’t and it never will!

To substantiate beyond all reasonable doubt that this is true, I will cite Paul at Romans 16:20: “And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly ...” Paul was predicting that the Romans would shortly besiege and destroy Jerusalem, along with Herod’s temple, a fulfillment of Jeremiah 19:11. This prophecy by Paul foresaw a fulfillment of the prophecy at Genesis 3:15; that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This could only mean that the Romans were of the seed of the woman, and the bad-fig-jews at Jerusalem the seed of the serpent (John 8:44).

In another epistle, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, Paul also likened the high priests sitting in the temple of God to Satan. Clifton now concludes with three citations of Scripture, and a few short comments:

At Matthew 15:24, our Savior stipulated the specific purpose of His Mission: “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This included the good-fig-Judahites.

Paul said at 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” In order for Paul to make such a statement, he too, must go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which were to be reworked by the hand of the potter, not the broken-bottle nation of bad-fig-jews! (Jeremiah chapter 18 vs. Jeremiah chapter 19.)

Although Paul was taking the gospel to distant nations, He understood that he was bringing it to the scattered children of Israel, as he testified before Herod Agrippa II in Acts chapter 26 and said: “6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: 7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.” Clifton now offers a similar statement from James:

James at 1:1 said: “James, a servant of God and of the Master Yahshua Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” Inasmuch as James was killed before the siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans, all twelve Israelite tribes had already been scattered abroad. So all those under the misconception that the dispersal of the bad-fig-jews at 70 A.D. represents the dispersion of all the twelve tribes of Israel are insufficiently informed.

Flavius Josephus recorded the death of this James, whom he called “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ,” in Antiquities Book 20 (20:200) in a context just after the death of Roman procurator Porcius Festus, who is mentioned in the book of Acts, and just before his replacement, Lucceius Albinus, had arrived to take his place. Most likely, the year was 62 AD, and no later. It was Festus, who ruled Judaea from 59 to 62, who had sent Paul of Tarsus in bonds to Rome. So Clifton is correct, all twelve tribes were spread abroad before 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Therefore the diaspora of the Jews is something other than the true diaspora of the Israel of God.

Rather, as we have shown from Jeremiah chapter 29 and from the words of Christ in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21, the diaspora of the Jews is the removal of the enemies of Christ so that they may be persecuted as “a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them.” The churches have all relinquished their obligations as Christians, and now they are all no better than Jews themselves.