Prophecy Class: Day 1 - Introduction & Prophecy Mythology-1

Study Topic: "Unshackling from Prophecy Mythology"

Personal Myths Cause Prophecy to be Missed!

Mythology is a collection of stories or accounts, held by a culture or religion, which typically contain elements of fact mingled with the stories and teachings of false gods. Mythology contains stories of real, historical events and people, mixed with fantastical and idolatrous tales of “the gods”. Scripture tells us not to mix the “sacred” with the “profane” or mingle truth with deception. Thus, most believers know to avoid the realm of mythology.

Bible-based believers commonly understand that spending time in the myths of the idolatrous nations is counter-productive—even sinful. But it might shock us to discover that most of us have fallen a prey to sneaking myths, which have crept in the proverbial “back door”, coming in under our spiritual radar! These myths typically manifest in our understanding of Bible prophecy...

Notes from Class:

Prophecy Mythology, which besets believers unawares—like all mythology—mingles Truth with error. This kind of mythology has biased believers in every past prophetic fulfillment. Prophecy Mythology blinded the Jews of Yahshua’s Day... Does it blind us now?

·      1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 – Don’t despise prophecy (or prophesying), instead, study properly (use the 5 keys) and then hold onto what proves true (what is good).

What is so dangerous about Mythology? Of all Greek mythology, Homer’s famous Iliad, is likely the best known. It contains the story of the city of Troy and the infamous Trojan War. But like all myths, the stories of Troy contain real historical elements, mixed with fantastical stories of the idolatrous Greek gods. From 1750-1300 B.C., the city of Troy really did exist.

“Troy in the Late Bronze Age was a thriving coastal city consisting of a steep fortified citadel and a sprawling lower town below it. It had a considerable population and extensive foreign contacts, including with Mycenaean Greece. Geographic and linguistic evidence suggests that it corresponds to the city of Wilusa known from Hittite texts...”

^{Bryce, Trevor (2005), The Trojans and their Neighbours, Taylor & Francis. p. 59}

In fact, archaeology has found that the late Bronze Age city of Troy was located in present-day Hisarlık, Turkey. But while Troy has been proven to have actually existed, Homer’s Iliad account of the Trojan War is not a trustworthy representation of actual events. Homer’s story is well known to be a myth, mingling truth with error, fact with fiction, historical elements with fantastical tales of the pagan gods.

Predating the mythical tales of Greece, and perhaps the original mythological story, is the Babylonian tale of Gilgamesh. But Gilgamesh, king of the ancient realm of Uruk, wasn’t a god as the epic tales suggest. Rather, he was a very wicked man, historically known as Sargon I, or the Biblical Nimrod. Just like the mythology of ancient Greece, the Epic of Gilgamesh mingles truth with deception, historical facts with idolatrous fiction. Such a mixing is characteristic of mythology.

In fact, by definition, mythology is a collection of accounts held by a culture or religion, which contain historical elements, mixed with fantastical tales of the pagan “gods”.

·   Leviticus 10:10 – we are to make a distinction (put a difference between) what is “holy” and “unholy”, and “clean” and “unclean”…  This applies to Truth, which Scripture classes as “clean” and “holy” and to deception, which is “unholy” and “unclean”.

·  Ezekiel 22:26 – (Believers are all called to serve Yahweh as His priests and kings)… Priests are violating (sinful) Truth and Righteousness when they don’t distinguish between “holy” and “profane”.

·  Leviticus 19:19 – We are not to “mingle seed”… This is literal and spiritual…  Remember the parable of the Sower…  The Sower went forth to sow SEED (Truth). So, in a spiritual way “Seed” is Truth. We are not to mingle the seed of Truth with deception.

According to Torah, this mixing of truth with error is a spiritual form of “mingled seed”. For this reason, Yahweh’s people have long known to avoid the realm of mythology. For centuries, believers have conscientiously rejected pagan mythology, keeping it out of their homes, from the “front door” of pagan cultures’ mythological tales.

But while guarding against idolatrous mythology, another form of myths has crept in undetected. This form of mythology manifests in one’s understanding of Bible Prophecy. In Messiah’s Day, it caused the Jews to misconstrue Messiah, blinding them from recognizing Him even when He stood before them!

In fact, one of the biggest reasons the Jews missed Messiah, when He stood right in front of them, is that they had inserted their own biases into their interpretation of the Messianic prophecies. Having personal biases about what a prophecy means, and how it should look when it is fulfilled, often happens without our awareness of it. Such biases, when strongly held, become areas of

Prophecy Mythology: Prophecy Mythology is interpreting Bible Prophecy according to our own biases, and expecting the fulfillment of these prophecies to look just as we believe it must.