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BY
Rabbi Glenn Harris
The uncertainty
surrounding the dawn of the Third Millennium AD
has many people wondering how near we are to Messiah's
return. Concerning the signs that would indicate
His Second Coming was near, Yeshua began His Olivet
Discourse with a solemn warning: "See to it
that no one misleads you. For many will come in
My name, saying, 'I am the Messiah,' and will
mislead many." Notice that the subject
of His prophecy didn't begin a warning about the
potential world-wide disruption of Y2K, nor the
role of the Roman Catholic Church in the great
Apostasy to come, nor the potential perils of
ecumenism, the European Economic Union, the Council
on Foreign Relations, or a United Nations army.
The first sign He warned us to watch for was the
proliferation of false messiahs during "Achareet
Ha-Yameem" (the Last Days).
The history
of the Jewish people is replete with false messiahs.
I'd like to consider what a few of these men and
their movements had in common, so that we can
understand how their deception could be embraced,
how the damage they wrought might have been avoided,
and how loving the truth will guard us from repeating
these tragedies.
FIRST
CENTURY FALSE MESSIAHS
Christians and Messianic Jews, focused as they
are on interpreting the Last Days, are sometimes
surprised to learn that there were false messiahs
around the time of Yeshua. The New Testament records
three of them: Theudas, Judah the Galilean, and
one unnamed Egyptian Jew.
Judah
the Galilean
Judah the Galilean is mentioned in Acts 5:37.
Josephus, the first century Jewish historian,
also made reference to Judah the Galilean, stating:
"Judah the Galilean told Jews about ten years
before the birth of Jesus that it was shameful
for them to be 'consenting to pay tribute to the
Romans and tolerating mortal masters after having
God for their Lord'" (1). It is interesting to
note that Judah apparently had a false prophet
by the name of Saddok. Very likely Saddok presented
himself to the people as being Elijah, who, according
to Scripture, was to precede and announce the
coming of the Messiah (2). The pattern of false
messiahs having false prophets was to become all
too familiar. Judah and Saddok are credited by
Josephus with having founded the Zealots, a group
we are introduced to in the New Testament.
Theudas
Theudas is mentioned in Acts 5:36. In his historical
work, Antiquities, Josephus also wrote
about Theudas who, around 45 AD, influenced "the
majority of the masses to take up their possessions
and to follow him to the Jordan River." He claimed
that the Jordan would part for them at his command.
Obviously it didn't, and he and many of his followers
paid for their foolishness with their lives (3).
An
Unnamed Egyptian Jew
A third false messiah is mentioned in Acts 21.
Rabbi Paul was nearly killed by a hostile mob.
The Roman commander stationed at the Temple arrested
Paul. When Paul said something to him in Greek,
the surprised commander replied, "Do you know
Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who some
time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four
thousand men of the assassins out into the wilderness?"
Of course, Paul assured him he was not that man.
Josephus wrote of this incident as well, though
exaggerating the number of followers of this unnamed
Egyptian Jew as about thirty thousand. This man
led his followers to the Mount of Olives, threatening
to force entry into Jerusalem and liberate it
from Roman occupation. Many of his followers were
killed in the ensuing battle.
FALSE
MESSIAHS AFTER YESHUA
Shimon Ben-Kosiba
It is ironic that Shimon Ben-Kosiba, one of the
most famous of Israel's false messiahs, is actually
regarded by the Jewish community as a hero! The
Jewish revolt against Rome which began about 66
AD ended tragically four years later with the
decimation of the Jerusalem Temple. It was not,
however, the last attempt at Jewish national sovereignty.
Another revolt began in 132 AD, led by a Jewish
general by the name Shimon ben Kosiba. As early
as 115 AD Kosiba had defied Emperor Trajan. At
that time, and again in 132, Kosiba was successful
in his military exploits. Early on it appeared
as though, under Kosiba's command, the Israeli
military might successfully defy Rome.
The Jewish
people were understandably eager to be free from
the oppressive Roman occupation of Israel. However,
this zeal for sovereignty so heightened people's
messianic expectations that, when Kosiba met with
initial victories, Rabbi Akiva recklessly declared
him "Bar-Kochba" ("son of a star") - a title taken
from Numbers 24, a prophecy which referred to
the Messiah. In so doing, Rabbi Akiva became
a false prophet, and Kosiba a false messiah.
Kosiba made no effort to disavow the title bestowed
on him. It is worth noting that, up to this time,
Messianic Jews had been fighting right alongside
their non-messianic brothers. But once Akiva's
pronouncement was made, that became impossible,
and the Messianic Jews withdrew their support
and involvement in the revolt. They could not,
in good conscience, be aligned with one they knew
to be a false messiah.
The mighty
Roman Empire was not about to permit one of its
smallest vassal countries to defy it, and within
three years, the Jewish revolt was decisively
crushed. Kosiba was killed. Akiva was tortured
and put to death. Thousands of those who fought
under the banner of this false messiah were likewise
put to death.
Shabbetai
Zevi (1626-1676)
Shabbetai Zevi was born in Smyrna Turkey, allegedly
on Tisha B'Av (a day associated with the most
tragic events in Jewish history. Many sources
affirm this, though the date may have been fabricated,
owing either to his infamy, or else to a tradition
that the Messiah would be born on the anniversary
of the destruction of the Temple). At a young
age, Zevi was identified as a prodigy. He entered
into rabbinical studies under Joseph Escapa, who
was at that time considered the most illustrious
rabbi in Smyrna. However, Zevi left the Yeshivah
(Jewish school for higher religious education)
at fifteen years of age, preferring to live an
ascetic life of solitude and to be his own teacher.
At eighteen he was ordained as a "hacham" (literally
a “wise one” - similar to being ordained as a
rabbi).
Zevi was
given alternately to bouts of euphoria and melancholy.
In modern terms, he would have been diagnosed
as manic-depressive. About the same time he was
ordained, Zevi's psychotic episodes worsened.
During his times of euphoria (referred to by his
disciples as "illumination"), Zevi would disparage
the Torah, coming up instead with new and bizarre
rituals. He advocated sexual license, and exhibited
a disturbing obsession with attempting to pronounce
the Ineffable Name of God (the Tetragrammaton
- the Yod Hay Vav Hay). At first very few people
took Zevi's behavior seriously, knowing him to
be mentally ill.
In 1648,
when news of the massacres of the Jews in Poland
reached Turkey, Zevi's bizarre public episodes
became more frequent and pronounced. Not long
after this, news began spreading that a "man of
God" called Nathan had appeared in Gaza. Nathan
supposedly was able to perform miracles, and could
disclose to each individual the particular formula
for the "tikkun" ("restoration") that their soul
needed. Shabbetai Zevi traveled to Nathan of Gaza,
hoping to be cured of his mental illness. Instead
of remedying the situation, Nathan made it worse
by urging Zevi to pursue his messianic visions,
and appointing himself Zevi's prophet.
The Shabbatean
movement (followers of Shabbetai Zevi) officially
began in May of 1665, when Zevi publicly declared
himself the Messiah. By October of that year,
reports of "the messiah" and news of miracles
and visions swept across Europe. Groups of emissaries
were sent by Jewish communities from all parts
of Europe to Turkey to pay homage to the one many
were calling "our king." In September of 1666,
Zevi was summoned by the Sultan to Constantinople,
where he was given the choice of execution or
conversion to Islam. Zevi chose conversion. The
effect of his conversion to Islam was devastating.
Many within the Jewish diaspora became disillusioned,
and a great schism occurred. Many saw the whole
episode as a debacle, while others maintained
that Zevi had only converted to Islam on the surface,
but was continuing his true work surreptitiously.
The Doenmeh were groups of Jewish people who followed
Zevi's example and publicly converted to Islam,
but secretly continued in their own form of Judaism,
still clinging to Zevi as the messiah. Interestingly,
small pockets of Doenmeh actually survived into
the Twentieth Century!
Shabbetai
Zevi died in 1676, shortly after his fiftieth
birthday on, of all days, the Day of Atonement.
A number of letters he wrote during his last years
indicate that he continued to believe he was the
Messiah. During the last ten years of his life
he allegedly had revelations of the mystery of
the Godhead, which he imparted to his followers,
which amounted to heresies. According to Zevi,
the God of Israel was not actually the Creator,
but rather "a second cause," a kind of demi-god.
Naturally, this met with revulsion and violent
opposition from the mainstream Jewish community.
After his death, Nathan of Gaza spread the idea
that Zevi had actually ascended to heaven and
was deified. Nathan, as it turns out, was much
more of a strategist than Zevi, and really is
the one responsible for the spread of the Shabbatean
movement. Nathan himself died just a few years
later, in 1680.
Jacob
Frank
Jacob Frank (1726-1791) was born Jacob ben Judah
Leib. From age nineteen until nearly thirty, Frank
earned his living selling cloth, precious stones
and other goods. His travels took him from Bucharest
to Turkey. Frank associated with Shabbateans from
his youth. Not long after joining the Shabbatean
sect, Frank gained a reputation as a "prophet"
having, it was thought, special powers and inspiration.
Frank is described as a man of "unbridled ambition"
and domineering "to the point of despotism" (4).
He had a very powerful personality, and people
were swept up in his magnetism. He was regarded
by many in the Shabbatean sect as "a new transmigration
or a reincarnation of the divine soul which had
previously resided in Shabbetai Zevi" (5). Frank
readily accepted this appellation.
Frank
lapsed into the same form of heresy as Zevi, teaching
that the God of Israel was not the First Cause,
but rather subordinate to the true Creator. In
secret, he presented himself as the Messiah, God
in corporeal form. Also like Zevi before him,
Frank converted (on pretense) to Islam in 1757.
Later, in September of 1759, Frank was baptized
as a Catholic, and thousands of Jewish people
followed his example. In the city of Lvov alone,
500 people were baptized. But this was no different
from his previous conversion to Islam. It was
only a pretext. Secretly, Frank continued to teach
that he himself was the Messiah, while publicly
making every effort to present his teachings as
Catholic theology. But the facade didn't last
long. Later that year, six of Franks new "Catholic
converts" confessed to having all the while believed
that Frank was the living incarnation of God.
When this information became public, Frank was
arrested, subjected to a thorough investigation,
and sent into exile for thirteen years. Frank
eventually died in Germany in 1791.
THE
EFFECT OF FALSE MESSIAHS
In every case, the effect of false messiahs on
the Jewish community has been devastating. The
discovery that these men were not the true Messiah
led to widespread disappointment and division.
People were left in despair, having invested their
hopes, their energies, and in some cases, their
worldly possessions, in these men.
Another
effect of false messiahs was that it left the
largely Roman Catholic leaders of Europe, as well
as the Islamic leaders of the Middle East, feeling
smug and disdainful toward the Jewish people.
As a result, anti-Jewish legislation became more
common and severe through much of the world. Perhaps
saddest of all is that many Jewish leaders over
the years have all but abandoned hope in the Biblical
promise of the Messiah, preferring not to risk
further division and decimation in the Jewish
community should another false messiah arise.
COMMON
DENOMINATORS OF FALSE MESSIAHS
How could our Jewish people embrace these counterfeits?
How is it that we have been repeatedly deceived?
How can we avoid these same mistakes? If we're
to have the answers to these questions, it is
important that we consider what these movements
and their leaders had in common:
-
These were ambitious individuals
who were accountable to no one.
-
Rather than allowing the
Scriptures to be their guide, people allowed
circumstances to dictate their expectations.
-
Lack of knowledge of the
Scriptures, especially those prophecies concerning
the Messiah, coupled with looking to extra-biblical
sources for authority, (for example, the Zohar),
allowed people to be more readily deceived.
-
The emphasis on personal,
subjective, emotional experiences, as over
the unchanging word of God.
For example, the Encyclopedia Judaica
states that "as part of his mission he (Jacob
Frank) journeyed to the grave of Nathan of
Gaza..." (6). In a striking parallel, it is
worth noting that one modern televangelist
tells of having visited the graves of Catherine
Kuhlman and Amy Semple McPherson and that
he "felt a terrific anointing," claiming that
"the anointing has lingered over Amy's body"
(7).
-
Esoteric "knowledge" allegedly
available only to an elite group, served as
an enticement to join the movements. Furthermore,
considerable pressure was put on people to
either "get with the program" or else risk
missing out on God, and be labeled as "unspiritual."
-
The fixing of dates for
Messiah's coming was characteristic of some
of these movements, as was the belief that
our efforts can hasten His coming.
-
Most significantly, these
(and other) false messiahs were able to draw
and deceive people who had already rejected
Yeshua as the Messiah. When we shun the truth,
we become vulnerable to a lie.
There are false prophets and false messiahs on
the scene even today. Their methods follow much
the same pattern, and their victims have many
of the same fallacious notions and lack of knowledge
of the Scriptures, as those who preceded them.
Only as we look to the Word of God and embrace
the truth found in Yeshua of Nazareth, will we
be immune to the lure of false teachers.
End Notes
- Josephus, Wars,
2:118
- Malachi 4:5, 6
- Josephus, Antiquities,
20:97ff
- Encyclopedia Judaica,
1972, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, Ltd.,
Israel - Vol. 7, pg. 56
- ibid, pg. 56
- ibid, pg. 56
- Christianity
in Crisis, A Harvest Audiobook, Hank Hanegraaff,
c. 1993, Harvest House Publications
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