AN EX-AGNOSTIC ANSWERS PASTOR PAAP

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 14

AN EX-AGNOSTIC ANSWERS PASTOR PAAP

On throe occas'ons during the last few we ks, Pastor Paap has attacked British-Israel in the Pross. On inquiry, however, it appears that the local British-Isnu'l people have 110 intention of replying to him. Their one job, so they say. is to bring the masses back to Cod; and every minute of their time, and every penny at their disposal, is rrquircd for this work. Such being tho ease, then, there is only one course left to the present writer. As an exagnostic brought to the feet of Christ by the British-Israel message, he will take the pastor on himself. It won't take long! (1) Tho entire burden of the pastor's first article was to the effect that all the promises to T«raol were fulfilled 111 tho days of Joshua. Xow, if this is true, tho H.T. ease founders 011 the spot. But is it true? Listen to this: Seven hundred year* later than ■ Joshua's time. Micah said, '"Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou liast sworn unto our fathers of old" (Micnh vii. 20). But that isn't all. Seven hundred years still later tl an this, Paul tolls us that "Christ came to confirm the promises made to the fathers" (Romans xv. S), also this, "Those all died in faith, not having received the. promises" (Hebrews xi. 13). Readers are asked to note that each and every one of the pastor's arguments can be answered as easily as this. Xext article. . . . (2) "In tlat day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of tho land of Egypt, and a pillar at tho border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and a witness unto tho Lord of Hosts . . . ." (Isaiah xix. 10-20). Xow, many thousands of people, both inside and outside the B.T. movement, believe that this passage refers to the Croat Pyramid of Gizoh, but the pastor doesn't r"100 with this. He says that the prophet used the word "Matstsobali," which menus "pillar." If the prophet had meant, "pyramid" lie would have said so. So says the pastor, but he doesn't tell us the Hebrew word for pyroni'd. v.h'di is a pity. Strange 110 0110 appears to know this word! But all this k beside the point. It is virtually possible to smash the pastor's entire argument in one sentence. Here's the proof: (1) The Egyptian Book of the Dead refers to the pyramid as "the pillar of Enoch"; (2) Josenhus. tho «reat Jewish historian, writes of it as "the pillar of stone in tho land of Siriad": then, between tho two, chronologically, we have Jeremiah describing; "a pillar"'and its location .... the exact geographical spot occupied to-day by the Great Pyramid! A I'd. now for the pastor's third attack. This took the form of an expensive i:(lverti.semont of his own ignorance of the Scriptures and of tho British-Israel argument. Believe it or not. Mr. Paap used up a column of space in proving something that 110 one in the 8.1. movement, or outside of it. has over questioned! The fact that the throne of David remained with .Tudah until the downfall of her last king. Tho pastor is so ignorant'of t.h-3 B.f. argument that he thought this fact was contested, therefore it cost liim quite a lot to kill a straw man of his own creation. Maybe this is funny. On the other hand maybe it's pathetic. Xext point/ The promise was made to David that his throne should bo established for ever. If any of his descendants should vex the Lord they should be chftstiacd, but the throne was "established for ever" (2 Sam. 7:10), "to all generations" (Psalm 80:-!), "established for evermore" (1 Chron. 17:14). Curiously enough, in spite of these, and other equally emphatic statements, the pastor insists that the covenant was conditional. "There was to be an interim." he says, "during which no one was to. wear the crown." This interim, 110 suggests, has lasted since the dethronement of the last king of Judnh. Good enough. The reader is now respectfully asked to read thee words of Jeremiah. Words uttered at the very time when the throne of •Tudah was overturned. "Thus saith the Lord: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel" (Jer. 3.1:17). And then, possibly to prevent anyone, from trying to pretend that the, promise was conditional, the prophet continued: "Thus saith the Lord: If ye eau break my covenant of the day, and of the night, that there should not bo day and night in their season, "then may also my covenant be broken with David, that he should not have a man to sit on the throne." This is surely quite clear and emphatic enough. But still the prophet wont 011. "Thus saith the Lord: If my covenant be not with day and night., and if I have not appointed the ordinances of Heaven and earth; then will I cast away tho seed of ,Ta"ob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be RULERS over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to return arid have mercy on them." This, reader, is a prophecy which figures prominently, in the hand-book of the rationalist as one of God's broken promises. According to British-Israel this promise has been fulfilled, but according to Pastor Paap the promise was rendered null and void owing to the attached conditions having been broken. The reader is, therefore, respectfully asked to run his eye once again over the thrice reiterated sworn oath of Almighty God. ' If he can see any conditions embodied in that sworn promise then he will know for sure that the pastor is right, but if he doesn't. ... ...__ . .. '.*■ Xext point: "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone" (Hosea 4:17). Pastor Paap, without the slightest warrant, .assumes from this that "God has dropped this tribe." This prompts the query whether our pastor ha 3 over really studied the book of Hosea, for in the eleventh chapter this is what we find: "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? .... I will not exccuto the fierceness of mine finger." "I will heal their backsliding, I will lovo them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him" (chapter xiv.:4). "The number of the children of Israel shall bo as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered .... and it shall be said unto them, Yo are the sons of the living ,God" (chapter i.:10). This is the book, please note, that the pastor quotes as containing the proof of Epliraim's completo rejection. Next point': Pastor Paap then claim a that Ephraim is omitted "in the final count of the twelve tribes as enumerated in Revelations, chapter seven." He admits, however, that Joseph figures in the list. 'This proves that the pastor is ignorant of the elementary fact that as Joseph was the father of Ephraim and" Manasseh, the two tribes of that name arc here combined under the name of the tribal father. It "also proves that tho pastor is ignorant of the fact that'the tribal name Manasseh in verse six is admitted by tho Hebraists to be a copyist's error. They say that ,this scribe mistook Dan for Man. Hero's the proof: According to verse four of this chapter ALL the tribes are sealed. Not- only that; in Ezekiel, chapter forty-eight, both Ephraim and Dan came in for their share of the land at the final division. Not knowing all this, however, the pastor claims that Ephraim and Dan were "dropped," and this loads him, all into making a most wonderful discovery. Twelve tribes were sealed, so he says, and two were dropped. Now twelve plus two makes fourteen. Bible students will be interested to learn that Pastor Paap has discovered a new Israel'itish tribe. The fourteenth! Last point: The pftstor gets all worked up about Ephraim. Ephraim was just one tribe, he says, yet according to British-Israel, Britons are the descendants of the ten.tribes in one place, and the descendants of Ephraim in another. How can our people be "made up of ten tribes, and at the same time be made up of only one tribe 1" But the pastor hasn't finished yet. "Surely," he says, "this simple statement of tho case must, to any candid reasoning: mind, show how hopelessly confuscd and untenable are tho reasons set forth in defence of tho 8.1. issue." Halidoms and oddsbodikins: this is the limit! Hero we have a man who, after tangling himself up in a "hopeless confusion" of his own creation, blames the resultant effect on the innocent bystanders. He docs not -know, and lio has advertised that he doesn't know, that the name Ephraim can bo applied to the one tribe or to the entire ten! A simple elementary fact in Bible knowledge! Hosea and other prophets address tho whole House of Israel by the name of tho leading tribe., And so do modern writers on Scriptural subjects, as" all students of the Bible are aware. Onoe again: The name of the leading tribe Ephraim became a synonym for the entire House of Israel. But the pastor doesn't know this. That's tho trouble all the way through. He doesn't know, and he doesn't know that he doesn't kfiow! The reader is thanked, for his attention. Jf he has any questions to ask, he knows were to address them to. That's all. > JACOB STONE. 41 Union Buildings, Customs Street East, Auckland.