John 12:15 must be a mistake on the part of the list maker as it has nothing to do with sin. “Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John 12:15. After searching the internet – and about three pages in on a “Google” search I found a different reference given for D’varim / Deuteronomy 18:19, and this is Acts 3: “For Moses said, ‘The L-rd your G-d will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” Acts 3:22-23. So it seems the list maker (never credited that I can find) made a mistake and many people continue to paste the list of “365 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus” all over the web, without even proof checking to see if there are mistakes. If a person reading this is a Christian ask yourself why you should trust some online source who does not even verify the information, but blindly “pastes” information from other missionaries? Check your facts. Feel free to "fact check" my blog posts, too. Do not blindly accept what anyone tells you, do your own research and ensure that you find the truth. Let’s continue as if the reference was Acts 3:22-23 and not John 12:15. "For Moses said, ‘The L-rd your G-d will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” Acts 3:22-23. This certainly makes more sense and even directly links to D’varim / Deuteronomy 18:19. “I (G-d) will set up a prophet for them from among their brethren, just as you are. I will place My word in his mouth, and he will declare to them all that I command him. If any person does not listen to the word that he declares in My name, I will punish [that person].” D’varim / Deuteronomy 18:18-19. The claimed prophecy in the Torah definitely ties to Acts 3:22-23 – but yet again we have the Christian bible making a claim, but in no way supporting that Jesus is the prophet “raised up” whom we should listen to everything he tells us. Even more interesting, Acts stops there – it does not continue with the rest of G-d’s message to the Jews in this passage. Fair enough. Both Acts and D’varim (Deuteronomy) says we must listen to true prophets, and if not G-d will punish us. But does D’varim / Deuteronomy tell us we should listen to every single person who claims to be a prophet? Absolutely not! The list maker stopped at line 19 – but this is typical “proof texting” (lifting a word or sentence out of context). G-d continued to speak and He said: “if a prophet presumptuously makes a declaration in My name when I have not commanded him to do so, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet shall die.' You may ask yourselves, 'How shall we recognize that a declaration was not spoken by G-d?' If the prophet predicts something in G-d's name, and the prediction does not materialize or come true, then the message was not spoken by G-d. That prophet has spoken deceitfully, and you must not fear him.” D’varim / Deuteronomy 18:20-22. We are told time and again NOT to listen to false prophets. "And the L-rd said to me; The prophets are prophesying lies in My name; I did not send them neither did I command them, nor did I speak to them. A false vision, divination, a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart they prophesy to you. Therefore, so says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name although I have not sent them, and they say, "Sword and famine shall not be in this land." Those prophets shall perish by the sword and the famine." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 14:14-15. Do not listen to false prophets! Just because someone claims to be a prophet does not mean they ARE a prophet. "I heard what the prophets said, those who prophesy in My name falsely, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed." How long [will this be]? Is it in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? But they are prophets of the deceit of their hearts, Who think to cause My people to forget My name with their dreams that they tell. . .Therefore, behold I am against the prophets, says the L-rd, those who steal My words from one another.Behold I am against the prophets, says the L-rd, those who train their tongues and say, "He says,"Behold I am against those who prophesy with false dreams, says the L-rd, and they tell them and mislead My people with their falsehoods and with their bewilderment, but I neither sent them nor commanded them, and they have not availed this people, says the L-rd." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:25-32 Ergo we are to listen only to true prophets. If someone comes along claiming to be a prophet but that person makes declarations claiming to be from G-d which contradict G-d (and we know His commands for they are all given in the Torah) that is a false prophet. In other posts I’ve already given many quotes from the Christian bible showing that Jesus was not a prophet and made many false predictions failing the test of D’varim 18: “the prediction does not materialize or come true).” So far from commanding us to listen to Jesus, the Torah commands us to reject what he said. Now, there are good things in the Christian bible – love your neighbor, be good to others, etc. – but all of these teachings were already found in the T’nach (the Jewish bible). As Rabbi Tovia Singer puts it “everything good in the New Testament isn’t new and everything new in the New Testament isn’t good”! For someone to be a Jewish prophet they could not just declare themselves to be a prophet and everyone said “OK, you’re a prophet.” Likewise, performing miracles (which could simply be tricks or magic) do not “prove” someone is a prophet. We are warned of this in D’varim / Deuteronomy 13. “If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know (at Sinai) and we shall worship them do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. HASHEM, your G-d, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against HASHEM, your G-d Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery to make you stray from the path on which HASHEM, you G-d, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst.” (Artscroll) D’varim / Deuteronomy 13:2-6. Got that? Just because someone can perform “signs” do not follow them. After all, the Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate many of Moses’ miracles. Signs, magic and even miracles are not proof that a person is a true prophet, let alone a messiah or a “god.” If someone adds to or subtracts from the Torah -- changing any of its lessons and mitzvot -- they are a false prophet. It is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the Torah received at Sinai will never be changed nor become obsolete. This concept is mentioned in the Torah no less than 24 times, with the words: "This is an eternal law for all generations" (Sh’mot / Exodus 12:14, 12:17, 12:43, 27:21, 28:43, Vayikra / Leviticus 3:17, 7:36, 10:9, 16:29, 16:31, 16:34, 17:7, 23:14, 23:21, 23:31, 23:41, 24:3, Bamidbar / Numbers 10:8, 15:15, 19:10, 19:21, 18:23, 35:29, and D’varim / Deuteronomy 29:28). Link to “The Living Torah” translation if you would like to check the references. Throughout the Christian bible, Jesus contradicts the Torah and states its commandments are no longer applicable. (John 1:45 and 9:16, Acts 3:22 and 7:37). Thus we know that through his deeds and his words Jesus was not a prophet, and although D’varim / Deuteronomy 18:19 does indeed tell us we must listen to the words of a true prophet, D'varim / Deuteronomy 18:20-22 make it clear that we are not to listen to the words of a false prophet.
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