Tel Dan… Past Follies, Present Warning

Hebrew and English Tel Dan sign

Hebrew and English Tel Dan sign

 

A Visit to Tel Dan – An Infamous Place in Time and History

Tel Dan is located in the northern most reaches of modern day Israel, surrounded by Lebanon and Hezbollah to the west and Syria to the east, a little finger jutting out towards the rest of the land promised to Israel by the father.  At one time, Tel Dan was an important place of pagan worship established by the northern kingdom of Israel’s king Jeroboam.

Alter as it is today and maybe looked like this with a gold calf

Alter as it is today and maybe looked like this with a gold calf

Jeroboam setting up Tel Dan and Bethel as worship places

NAB 1 Kings 12:26-33 Jeroboam thought to himself: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will turn to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.” The king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan. This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan.

He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the common people who were not Levites. Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month like the pilgrimage feast in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had built. Jeroboam went up to the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month he arbitrarily chose. He established a feast for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.

In this story from 1 Kings, we see that Jeroboam was fearful of being killed by the people who knew where their master was, and where they have been commanded to visit three times a year, they place where Yehovah (God) had placed His name, Jerusalem.  Out of this fear, Jeroboam took counsel and decided that he had to keep Israel from keeping the commands and do their worship in the land controlled by him.

1 Kings 12:32-33 sign

1 Kings 12:32-33 sign

So what did this counsel do?  Just like Aaron, when Moses was gone for a long time, Jeroboam made not one, but two calves and presented them to the people saying… Hey people, you do really need to go all that distance to Jerusalem to worship when you can just stay right here and keep the command.  How much better is that?  Tell you what I’m going to do, I’ll be even better than King David and give you TWO places to worship instead of one and they both are far closer than Jerusalem.  I’ll put one is Bethel and one in Tel Dan and you can worship there.

By the way,  Let’s make it even better, Let’s keep this feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month instead of the seventh month and it will be even better.  Look, I’ll go first so you will see that nothing bad is going to happen to you.  I’ll set the example and I’ll go up to my new alter and burn some incense of the fifteenth day of the eighth month.  See all is good.  (Personal version for easy understanding)

Changing God’s Time and God’s Command

So we see that Jeroboam not only changed the place of worship (to Tel Dan and Bethel), but took it upon himself to change the time of the feast as well, thus playing God instead of obeying God.  So, that was in the “Bible” times, but it doesn’t happen today.  Really?

1 Kings 12:28 sign

1 Kings 12:28 sign

In every church across America, we have Pastors, Preachers and Priests playing God and changing his times, feasts and places of worship.  They tell you that you don’t have to follow the Father’s commands anymore because you are not under the law, but are under grace.  Seriously, Pastor please by all means show me that in the Bible.  I thought forever meant forever.  I thought a “permanent statue for all generations” meant a permanent statue for all generations.  So please show me where GOD LIED to me.

Today’s Pastor’s Follow the Example of Jeroboam

Tel Dan was a place of time change and rebellion against the Almighty, just like the churches of today.  The Pastors of today, just like Jeroboam did, know that if you were to get your eyes opened to see the truth, their very livelihoods would be in jeopardy.  But, the hearts of the everyday people are starving for truth just like the people of Samaria when they were presented with a new command, worship on Sunday, keep the new day of worship like Christmas and Easter.  Don’t worry about what is in the bible.

Beautiful stone work of the city entrance

Beautiful stone work of the city entrance

Pastors preach:

Well, it is my belief that some day in the future, what happened in the Bible regarding these alters in Tel Dan and Bethel will also happen to the alters of today’s pastors and priests…  Let’s take a look into the bible.

Correction coming their way

In the very next chapter, the warning came to Jeroboam and his priests at Bethel regarding the calves there and in Tel Dan.

This is what it looks like today and might have looked like with a gold calf

This is what it looks like today and might have looked like with a gold calf

NAB 1 Kings 13:1-5 A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense. He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: “Altar, altar, thus says the LORD: A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and they shall burn human bones upon you.” He also gave a sign that same day and said: “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: The altar shall be torn apart and the ashes on it shall be scattered.” When the king heard the word of the man of God which he was crying out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched forth his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched forth against him withered, so that he could not draw it back. The altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar were scattered, in accordance with the sign the man of God gave by the word of the LORD.

Yehovah immediately sent correction their way by a prophet (a man of God) sent from Judah with power in hos words and a prophecy on his tongue.  This man of God spoke and said… Dude, what are you thinking here?  Hey Mr. Alter that this moron, Jeroboam, built Yehovah has something to say to you.  In many years to come a baby will be born in the House of King David, meaning from the tribe of Judah and I’m going one step further, his name will be Josiah.  This man will slaughter all your pastors on you Mr. Alter and then he will burn your crooked bones Mr. Preacher for leading these people into keeping Christmas, Easter and the Sunday worship to pagan gods that are not named Yehovah.

And you think I am just blowing smoke, here is a sign for you to prove it is not my words, but the word of Yehovah, this alter here in Tel Dan will be ripped apart and the your sacred ashes scattered.

So Jeroboam, being called out, pointed to his personal body guards to escort this guy out of the church building, we can’t have his kind in the holy place.  Woe man, what just happened to my arm?  It withered like a raisin.  Wait a minute, leave the guy alone for a minute, man of God can you do me a favor?  Even though I am not going to destroy these two calves, I am not going to start keeping the Sabbath and I am not stopping my Christmas celebration and Easter worship, please Ask God to fix my arm.

Warning heard but not heeded

2 Kings 23:8 sign

2 Kings 23:8 sign

So we see that even though Jeroboam had no intention to stop preaching about Christmas, Easter and Sunday keeping, Yehovah still honored the prophet and restored his arm.  Wow, now that is a God I want to serve.  But there are those that are teaching the prophetic meanings of the feasts like Perry Stone and yet they still don’t change their tune.  Knowing what the Bible says, yet they still teach people to continue in their sin while collecting the tithe and offerings.  How shameful is that?  Does the Bible say what will happen to them?  We can see what happened with the Prophecy spoken to Jeroboam in 2 Kings.

Just as the man of God said, a king was born in the tribe of Judah named Josiah.  Josiah discovered the truth and instead of teaching it but not living it, he held on to the truth and did all in his power to make things right in the land he ruled.  As for the rest of the words spoken:

NAB 2 Kings 23:15 Likewise the altar which was at Bethel, the high place built by Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin– this same altar and high place he tore down and burned, grinding the high place to powder and burning the Asherah. When Josiah turned and saw the graves there on the mountainside, he ordered the bones taken from the graves and burned on the altar, and thus defiled it, according to the LORD’s word proclaimed by the man of God as Jeroboam stood by the altar on the feast day. When the king looked up and saw the grave of the man of God who had proclaimed these words, he asked, “What is that marker I see?” The people of the city replied, “The grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed the very things you have done to the altar in Bethel.” “Let him be,” he said, “let no one move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed together with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. Josiah also removed all the temples on the high places in the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had built, provoking the LORD; he did the very same to them as he had done in Bethel. He slaughtered upon the altars all the priests of the high places that were there, and burned human bones upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Prophecy fulfilled 14 generations later

Josiah did all that the man of God said he would do. He went to Tel Dan and Bethel slaughtered the crooked pastors, preachers and priests and burned them upon their own alter and destroyed them.  Yet in the story, we see that he honored the bones of the man of God that spoke the words regarding him 14 generations before his birth.  Yes, wow!  14 generations before Josiah was born, the man of God spoke of his coming and what he would do, even to the point of speaking his name.  So how much more will the punishment of the pastors and preachers who are leading this current generation into sin and bondage?

Tel Dan Still Serves as a Reminder to the Wise

Thousands of years later, Tel Dan is still serving as a reminder to both pastors and us everyday people of the truth of Yehovah’s commands, both the blessings and the curses.  Visiting Tel Dan was a solemn reminder of how far we have fallen away from the truth and how easy it is for dynamic leaders to lead the common people astray with the blazing words and emotional teachings that are twisted versions of the truth plainly stated in the bible.

Sven and Tina Brown

Sven and Tina Brown Claim Yehovah’s calendar and confirm it with a blast of the Shofar

It is important to remember that upon the future scheduled day of judgment, your pastor, preacher or priest will not be standing next to you in front of the throne of judgment, just like Jeroboam will not be with those in Tel Dan.  You and you alone will have to give an accounting for your stand in life.  You have a bible and choose to understand it from what the pastor says.  You can say to the Father, I followed every word that pastor said I should do, how can you reject me:

Matt 7:22-23 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

Then you will ask, Father I want to see my pastor, he can tell you that I did everything that he taught from his pulpit, went sat in the same pew every Sunday and attended every Wednesday, Just ask him.  Then the Father will tell you, your pastor is swimming in the lake of fire and you will be joining him now.  You have the Bible and chose to listen to a man rather than the Word of God.  I NEVER KNEW YOU and you NEVER KNEW ME!

Find the truth, it is out there.  Don’t lean on your own understanding or that of any man including this ministry.  We point you to the Father, not to ourselves.  The message of Tel Dan is loud and clear and you can hear it even in the destroyed ruins pictured.

The choice is yours.

Truth is… you were Born in Prison

Truth?  Can you handle the truth? That you were Born in Prison.

Yes the truth is we have been born into a prison where everyone wants to force you into believing the “party” line.  This video by Miles Hanson is one of the most awesome displays of truth, just how we are trapped by this world and that during our search for truth, we run into terrible opposition, tempting, forcing, badgering us to stay in place and not follow truth.

Although they use an outdated version of the sacred name that has the power to save, heal, bless and even raise the dead, the message is still just as powerful.  Since the fall of the USSR and more manuscripts being found, the original belief was that the name, HaShem in Hebrew, was Yahweh.  Now with 4 different codexes showing the vowel markings, we now know it is Yehovah.

However, it doesn’t matter which you call in the beginning of you path to freedom and your quest for truth, if you are diligent and continue your search, the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.  Most important is to start.

Do you want out of prison?

Tired of the same old message every week, from the same old pulpit, sitting in the same old seat?  Do you know there has to be something more to the message of the bible than what you are getting?  Have you heard the voice of the father?  If this describes you, then join us in this ministry as we partner with the best of the Hebrew truth teachers.

Don’t jump into another messianic community, calling people Rabbi when the ONE teacher said to call no man Rabbi.  Go.  Watch teachings of Arthur Bailey at House of Israel. (www.arthurbaileyministries.com)  Search this site for other teachings and please COMMENT on this and subscribe to our site.  Get truth and give up the baseless, false traditions.

Arthur Bailey – The Power of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

From the House of Israel, journey into learning the power of the Holy Spirit with dynamic teacher Arthur Bailey, as he brings truth in your face and causes you to grow in the Power (Dunamis) of the Holy Spirit and walking in tune to what you life should represent.