MATTHEW-TJ VERSE COMPARISONS, Mt 24

Mt 24:3-4    3As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?" 4And Jesus answered them, "Take heed that no one leads you astray."

TJ 25:6-7    6And when he sat on the Mount of Olives his disciples came up to him and said, "Tell us, when will this take place, and what will be the sign?" 7And Jmmanuel answered, saying, "Two thousand and more years will pass, but meanwhile Israel will never find peace because wars and many calamities will threaten the unlawful occupants of this land; but see to it that nobody leads you astray. 8That is,..."

TJ 25:6-7    6Und als er auf dem Oelberge sass, traten zu ihm seine Jünger und sprachen: «Sage uns, wann wird das geschehen, und welches wird das Zeichen sein dafür?» 7Jmmanuel aber antwortete und sprach: «Zwei Jahrtausende werden vergehen und einige Zeit dazu, doch auch dazwischen wird Israel niemals Ruhe finden, so also weil Kriege und viele Übel drohen für die unrechtmässigen Besetzer dieses Landes, doch sehet zu, dass euch nicht jemand verführe.»

THE PROBLEMS.  At this point, Jesus had just told the disciples that not one of the temple's stones would be left intact, but the disciples had not yet heard that Jesus would come again (the Parousia). Beare (p. 464) notes that they could not have anticipated this Second Coming since they could not even comprehend that Jesus was supposed to become resurrected. Yet here they are portrayed as asking for the sign that would signal his Parousia. Only later in the chapter does Jesus tell his disciples about his future return.

And it is peculiar that when the disciples ask Jesus when this destruction would occur, his reply skips over the question entirely. This suggests the possibility that it was the writer of Matthew who omitted a portion of the response given in his source document.

SOLUTION.  The TJ indicates that the writer of Matthew had indeed gotten ahead of himself here and betrayed the later time of his writing, in which "Parousia" was a common theme of the apostolic church. In the TJ, the disciples simply ask Jmmanuel what the sign will be for the occurrence of what he had just told them—of the destruction of the temple and trauma for Israelites, this trauma to involve similar actions against them as they had inflicted upon the rightful owners of the land.

In the Gospel of Mark (Mk 13:4) we find that this error in Matthew was corrected, with "these things" having been substituted for "Parousia."

And the TJ indicates that Jmmanuel did reply to the "when" question—the destruction is to occur some time within our own present-day era. However, the immensity of time involved was apparently much too great for the writer of Matthew to either contemplate or wish to transcribe. This writer wished for the Second Coming to occur very soon, as in Mt 10:23 and 16:28. This second Matthean problem constitutes "editorial fatigue": The writer substituted "[sign] of your coming and of the close of the age" for the bulk of TJ 25:7. But then, he resumed by following the TJ where it mentions to avoid being led astray. Thus, he failed to edit back in something that would directly answer the question of when the Parousia would be. His substitition had eliminated it.

One may wonder to whom the TJ's "but see to it that nobody leads you astray" was spoken or intended. It seems not to have been meant solely for the disciples to hear, but for future readers of the TJ as well, since the next 39 verses pertain mostly to this future time. Presumably it was some years after the crucifixion that Jmmanuel began to dictate his recollections of what he had told the disciples to his disciple-writer, Judas. At that time he may have primarily addressed it to those who would be living some 2,000 years into his future who he could prophesy would have access to his true teachings, and for whom the "don't be led astray" admonition would be just as germane.

Many of today's biblical scholars believe that the prophecy of the Temple's destruction refers to the destruction of the Temple during the Roman-Jewish war that ended in A.D. 70. And since they do not believe that prophecies in general can be successful, they assume that it means this was not a successful prophecy but an a posteriori statement of fact; hence they assume the Gospels were written after A.D. 70. Now, the first half or so of the TJ is presumed to have been written before A.D. 70, with only the first quarter of the entire, later TJ surviving as a translation. So, it might be assumed that its prophecy was also an a posteriori prophecy except that it mentions an era some two thousand years into the future. In this regard, we must take notice of the fact that what is believed to be the Western Wall of the Temple, the Wailing Wall, is still standing, suggesting that the prophecy "Not one stone here will remain upon the other without being broken," has not literally been fulfilled. Hence we cannot yet say that the prophecy, as posed in the TJ, has not been fulfilled if its fulfillment may yet be in the years to come.

Concerning Jmmanuel's ability to make viable long-range prophecies, we have some glimmer of what is involved, thanks to studies of some hypno-therapists who not only have regressed patients or subjects of theirs into past lives, but into future lives as well.[1] In the trance state, they can prophesy about what they see around them in one or more of their own future lives, though with questionable accuracy. With a highly evolved spirit, namely Jmmanuel, the accuracy may be quite high, however.

Concerning the hoax hypothesis, it is quite unlikely that a literary hoaxer would be able to foresee Beare's little known objection here. Not even the critical commentary of Davies and Allison mentions it.[2] Thus the evidence of redaction within the Matthean verse is too strong to neglect, along with the indications that the TJ was the redactor's source. PHoax 0.3.




Mt 24:5    5"For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray."

TJ 25:8    8"That is, many deceivers and false prophets will come in my name and say, 'I am Jmmanuel, and I am the sign of the time,' and they will mislead many."

TJ 25:8    8«Es werden nämlich viele Betrüger und falsche Propheten kommen in meinem Namen und sagen: ‹Ich bin Jmmanuel, und ich bin das Zeichen der Zeit›, so sie werden viele verführen.»

THE PROBLEM.  The Matthean prophecy makes sense only if the imposters would claim to be reincarnations of Jesus, as implied by Beare (p. 464). This then would have been understandable to the disciples if Jesus had taught them about reincarnation. He does not do that in any of the Gospels, so that the Christian reader would instead think in terms of resurrection. However in order for an imposter to claim to be Jesus in resurrected form, he not only would need to display physical markings that would identify him as Jesus (crucifixion scars in hindsight), but also prove that he, the imposter, had appeared suddenly on earth as an adult of about the same age as Jesus during his Palestinian ministry, without having had a modern-day childhood. If a friend or relative were to be located who knew the claimant had grown up from childhood, this would immediately disprove his resurrection claim. He would not then be able to lead any rational person astray.

SOLUTION.  In reality Jmmanuel had taught his disciples about reincarnation, or rebirth. Thus his statement in TJ 25:8 would have made perfectly good sense to the disciples, who would think in terms of reincarnation. Anyone in their distant future, male or female, could say they were the reincarnation of Jmmanuel, whom they would call "Jesus," and it would be impossible to disprove the claim (or to prove it, either). The fact that the name "Jmmanuel" appears in TJ 25:8 rather than "Jesus" (or "Joshua") is understandable, since Jmmanuel was speaking to his disciples who knew him only as Jmmanuel, even though he could prophesy that he would in the future be known as "Jesus."

The above objection to Matthew seems unknown within NT scholasticism, and even Beare did not go into it despite having suggested it by using the "reincarnation" word. Thus a hoaxer is unlikely to have thought of it to rectify the verse. However, it might be argued that it was rectified only accidentally, due to the TJ already possessing a theme of evolution of the spirit, and reincarnation. Yet the fact that the Matthean verse does not make good sense within its Christian context cannot be ignored. PHoax 0.35.

Concerning the "false prophets" in the TJ verse, most of us could name figures such as the Rev. Jim Jones of the Jonestown massacre of 1978, David Koresh of the Branch Davidians who claimed to be the messianic Lamb of Rv 5, and Rev. Moon of the Unification Church who claimed to be the Lord of the 2nd Advent. There are of course lesser known ones, such as Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who claims to be Jesus Christ returned.




Mt 24:9    9"Then they will deliver you [the disciples] up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake."

TJ 25:12-13    12"Soon the knowledgeable people will be consigned to misery and will be killed. 13They will be hated on account of the truth of the teachings and the wisdom."

TJ 25:12-13    12«Alsbald werden überantwortet die wissenden Menschen in Trübsal und werden getötet. 13Sie werden gehasst werden um der Wahrheit der Lehre und der Weisheit willen.»

THE PROBLEMS.  Once again "in my name's sake" appears in an anachronistic sense.[3] The phrase "in his name" or "for his name's sake," as previously noted under Mt 7:21-22, came into use only after Paul initiated it (e.g., Rom 10:13) and the early churches were developing. Here the same phrase is used with the first-person voice replacing the third person.

Before this delivering up of the disciples occurs, there is supposed to be wars and rumors of wars, nations rising up against nations, famines and earthquakes (Mt 24:6-8). There would not be nearly enough time for all this to take place while the disciples were still alive.

SOLUTION.  The TJ verses indicate that Jmmanuel was referring to people in the distant future and not to the disciples. Hence there would be ample time in which the prophesied calamities could take place. In altering this into statements applicable to his own time, however, the evangelizer slipped up using language ("for my name's sake") that did not yet hold meaning for the disciples. We also see that the writer of Matthew inserted another anti-gentile dig here, as "nations" or "ethnos" refers to gentiles—nations other than the people of Israel.

The "Soon" in TJ 25:12 still refers to the distant future time of Jmmanuel's prophecy. Hatred for the knowledgeable persons will lead to their misery and death.Here "knowledgeable persons" must mean those with definitive knowledge of some part of what Jmmanuel himself knew through his experiences with the "celestial sons," his prophecies of the future, including that of his crucifixion and its survival, and awareness of the reality of the human spirit and reincarnation. Estimation of PHoax here will be reserved until discussion of Mt 24:13.




Mt 24:11    11"And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray."

TJ    [No cognate]

THE PROBLEM.  This verse is but an echo of Mt 24:5 (see above), which says that false Christs, which includes false prophets, "will lead many astray." It adds nothing new. Thus it is highly suspect of being a redaction.

SOLUTION.  The TJ's lack of cognate does point to this verse being a redaction. However, a hoaxer might not have noticed the indications of its non-genuineness and have replicated it in one form or another. PHoax 0.45.




Mt 24:13    13"But he who endures to the end will be saved."

TJ 25:18    18"but those who persist in the truth will survive."

TJ 25:18    18«Wer aber beharret in Wahrheit, der wird überstehen.»

THE PROBLEMS.  This Matthean verse says nothing of substance. One interpretation is that those who do not die until the end has come will have survived to the end—an insipid statement. If it should instead mean that only those who endure to the end will go to heaven or be resurrected, then that would contradict other verses, such as Mt 7:21, 18:4 and 19:21, which speak of how to attain heaven irrespective of enduring "to the end." If, furthermore, Mt 24:40-41 is interpreted to mean that some people will be "taken" up in a "Rapture" and thus avoid the end, then Mt 24:13 contradicts that also. That is, those taken up in a Rapture would not have endured on earth to see the very end come; alternatively, those not taken up by such a Rapture would have endured just as long but not have been saved.

The verse is also suspect because it is a repeat of the last part of Mt 10:22. These problems are indicative of editing.

SOLUTION.  By editing out the TJ's mention of persisting in the truth, which just left "persisting" or "enduring" in his verse, the writer of Matthew made pointless what had been a meaningful statement. The writer of Matthew once again did not wish to encourage Christian followers to seek truth for themselves.

The TJ verse could be a valid prophecy, since it holds a definite meaning: those who persist in the truth of Jmmanuel's teachings will survive. However, does TJ 25:12 contradict this? Presumably the knowledgeable persons will be those who persist in the truth, but TJ 25:12 says they will be killed. I believe this means that those knowledgeable ones who aren't killed, and who persist in the truth, will survive. In other words, in making his points, Jmmanuel often generalized without mentioning the exceptions. For example, some cases where this occurred previously, where Matthew shows very similar parallels, are as follows:

With this common-sense interpretation, the TJ verse, along with TJ 25:12-13, still qualify as prophesies that a wisdom teacher might make, with the Matthean verses exhibiting too many problems that could result from editing. PHoax 0.3 for this verse along with TJ 25:12-13.


Mt 24:14    14"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

TJ 25:19    19"These teachings will be preached in the new age throughout the world as a testimony for all peoples, and then the end will come."

TJ 25:19    19«Und es wird gepredigt werden diese Lehre in der Neuzeit auf der ganzen Welt zum Zeugnis für alle Völker, und dann wird das Ende kommen.»

THE PROBLEMS.  First, "this gospel" can only refer to the Gospel of Matthew; it certainly cannot refer to any oral gospel, where "gospel" would have its meaning of "good news," since the preceding verses have told of anything but good news. But of course the Gospel of Matthew had not yet been written at the time Mt 24:14 was supposedly spoken.

Second, the Gospels and New Testament have been preached throughout the world, for over a century now, and yet the end has not come.

SOLUTION.  The changes that the compiler of Matthew made to the TJ verse are relatively minor, yet the problems do not exist for the TJ. Its text, including the prophecy of catastropic events to come, has not yet been preached throughout the world. The Matthean version contains too many alterations and omissions to be said to constitute the same thing as the TJ's much longer prophecy.

As a sidelight, we see that in this instance the writer of Matthew allowed the TJ's "to all peoples" or "to all nations" to stand as is, rather than to restrict his attempts at evangelizing just to the Jews, as he had done previously more than once. This is not surprising, inasmuch as he would feel that a preaching of the end of the world should not be restricted just to the Jews, but should include the hated gentiles!

The fact that there are severe problems against the authenticity of Matthew here, which do not apply to the TJ, has to count strongly in favor of the TJ over Matthew. PHoax 0.25.




Mt 24:15-16    15"So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;"

TJ 25:20-21    20"When the people see the horror of destruction in Jerusalem, of which the prophets have spoken, the end will come. 21Whoever is in the land seized by the Israelites should flee to the mountains at that time."

TJ 25:20-21    20«Wenn die Menschen sehen werden die Greuel der Verwüstung stehen an der Stätte von Jerusalem, von dem es schon so gesagt ist durch diePropheten, alsdann wird das Ende kommen. 21Wer zu jener Zeit im von den Israeliten geraubten Lande ist, der möge auf die Berge fliehen.»

THE PROBLEM.  Here, the parenthetical part, "let the reader understand," was obviously not part of anything Jesus said, but was an aside fed in by the writer of Matthew, to indicate there was a definite meaning behind the Semitic phrase, which in English was rendered as "desolating sacrilege" (see Beare, p. 467). Since the meaning of the reference to Daniel required some sort of explanation in order to be understood, except perhaps to a learned Pharisee, it would not have been spoken thus by Jesus to his disciples, devoid of explanation; and his words to his disciples certainly would not have been directed to "the reader," who would also be kept in the dark as to the meaning. (There was no punctuation in the ancient manuscripts, and certainly no parentheses. All punctuation is added at the decision of the modern translator/editor.) The relevant verses in Daniel are rather obscure (Dn 8:13, 12:11), as they might refer to a vision of the pagan altar established in the temple in 167 BC;[4] yet in Dn 8:17 the vision is instead said to refer to the end times. Thus Davies & Allison give the latter as another possibility of what the desolating sacrilege is, but mention a third possibility—the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70.

SOLUTION.  Evidently, the verses in Daniel about a desolating sacrilege came to the redactor's mind when editing the TJ at this point. He was ever alert, when editing away heresies and unacceptable material within the TJ, to take the opportunity to make substitutions for them that would involve scriptural references or allusions. From the TJ, we see that the reference had been to Jerusalem itself, in Jmmanuel's far future—probably our own era, but not to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 (see also under Mt 24:3-4). The fact that the lowermost portion of the "Wailing Wall", or Western Wall, contains original, intact Herodian stones may signify that Jmmanuel's prophecy of "not one stone here will remain upon the other without being broken" (from TJ 25:2) has not yet been fulfilled.

The Matthean verses exhibit too much of the redactor's handiwork, as opposed to the TJ verses' realism, to offer a supporter of the hoax hypothesis any comfort. PHoax 0.35.




Mt 24:20    20"Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath."

TJ    [No cognate]

THE PROBLEM.  The "in winter" phrase is perhaps understandable, but "or on a sabbath" is not, considering that earlier, in Mt 12:3-12, the writer of Matthew had allowed that "it is lawful to do good on the sabbath." It ought to be "good" to try to escape the prophesied destruction even if it occurred on a sabbath.

However, a cool winter day would be a better time to flee outdoors than on a scorching hot summer day, so even the first portion of the verse may not be apropos.

SOLUTION.  It has been pointed out by E. L. Abel that there is a Jewish regulation not to walk over 2000 paces during a sabbath.[5] Thus the writer of Matthew likely included the "not on a sabbath" phrase for that reason, without giving thought to its possible contradiction with a previous verse. The writer of Mark, in his copying and alteration of Matthew, is then seen as having omitted the phrase "or on a sabbath" (Mk 13:18) to correct Matthew's inconsistency or remove a phrase that would not have meaning for a gentile audience.

The absence of any TJ cognate therefore has to count in its favor. PHoax 0.45.




Mt 24:27     27"For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man."

TJ 25:42     42"For as lightning flashes and illuminates from rising to setting, so will be my coming in the future, when I will bring the teachings anew and announce the legions of the celestial sons. At that time I will have a renewed life and will again be accused of deception and blasphemy across the entire world, until the teachings of truth will bring about cognition and change in the people."

TJ 25:42     42«Denn wie der Blitz ausgeht und leuchtet vom Aufgang bis zum Niedergang, so wird auch sein mein Kommen in der Zukunft, wenn ich neu die Lehre bringe und von den Heerscharen der Himmelssöhne künde, wenn ich zu der Zeit ein Wiederleben habe und in der Weite der Welt neuerlich des Betruges und der Lästerung beschimpft werde, ehe die Lehre der Wahrheit im Menschen Erkennung bringet und Wandel.»

THE PROBLEM.  It was pointed out by Beare (p. 470) that Matthew is wrong. Lightning "does not in fact spread from east to west," not as a rule, anyway. And what would it mean if Jesus, in a second coming, were to appear in the East—this might mean in Asia or India; would his influence only secondarily reach out to the West? Perhaps more important, why is the verse so terse and ambiguous? It is not explained by subsequent verses.

SOLUTION.  The east-west interpretation is probably an inappropriate translation, as both the Greek text of Matthew, its German text and the TJ can be rendered "from rising until setting" more easily. The fact that rising is often likened to the east and setting to the west, as for the sun, can explain the mistranslation.

From the TJ verse we see that in Jmmanuel's future life under discussion here he will not generally be recognized for who he is. But have we not all heard it said that if Jesus were to return today, nobody would recognize him? It is not inconsistent then that what he would say or demonstrate would be misbelieved by most, leading to accusations of deception and blasphemy. The connection to lightning, then, could be as follows. What Jmmanuel would say at various times in this future life, which would give rise to accusations of deception and blasphemy, would strike out like flashes of lightning into the darkness of ignorance and deception.

The coming of the celestial sons would seem to refer to the Pleiadians who contacted Eduard Meier, and perhaps also to other aliens who have been engaging in what we call the UFO phenomenon. The obvious possibility this suggests, then, is that Meier is the future life of Jmmanuel referred to in the prophecy.

From within the TJ framework, all of this is quite possible; someone on Earth would be this future incarnation of Jmmanuel, and whoever that is would obviously be the butt of ridicule. But within Matthew's context, whether interpreted within a Christian framework or not, the verse doesn't impart anything meaningful or understandable. PHoax 0.4.




Mt 24:28    28"Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

TJ 25:43    43"People of all times, beware: where the carcass is, there the vultures gather; so watch out for them."

TJ 25:43    43«Der Mensch aller Zeiten achte darauf: Wo das Aas ist, da sammeln sich die Geier; also er sich vor ihnen hüte.»

THE PROBLEM.  This Matthean verse comes soon after four others in which Jesus predicts that various people will come forth proclaiming that they are the Messiah, and it comes immediately after one more predicting how noticeable his own coming will be. In that context, the verse makes little or no sense. Beare (p. 470) thought it means that the Second Coming would be as evident as a flock of vultures circling over a corpse. But that interpretation would represent a great letdown, if the preceding verse is considered to liken the signaling of the Second Coming to the radiance of lightning. Moreover, the eagles or vultures would be expected to be gathered together on the ground around the carcass and not be visible from afar; nothing is said about their being in the air, circling, as they would for an animal not yet dead. Some different meaning is thus suggested, which the writer of Matthew left obscure. Davies and Allison mention seven other possible explanations that have been put forward.[6] N. T. Wright thinks it refers to a gathering of Roman forces, since the eagle was the Roman standard or emblem.[7]

SOLUTION.  The portions of the TJ cognate that were omitted tell us that this saying did not pertain to the appearance of Jmmanuel's coming. Instead, four of the preceding six TJ verses concern deceivers. This motivates us to connect this verse with their theme. The metaphorical interpretation then is that the carcass represents a false proclaimer or false prophet, and the vultures represent people who, feeding off of his words and false claims, are taken in by them and do his bidding. The last five words of the TJ verse, plus the preceding word "beware," all absent in Matthew, make this interpretation almost mandatory. Thus, the verse is an inclusio (conclusion) to the sub-theme of not to be led astray. This explanation is not even among the nine possibilities presented by Davies and Allison, plus that of Wright, and thus highly unlikely to have been conceived of by a literary hoaxer. PHoax 0.2.




Mt 24:30    30"then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;"

TJ 25:46    46"And then signs will appear in the sky, and all Earth humans will wail and come to see the signs in the clouds of the sky that bear witness to great power and severe judgment against irrationality."

TJ 25:46    46«Alsdann aber werden erscheinen Zeichen am Himmel, und es werden heulen alle Geschlechter auf Erden und werden kommen, um zu sehen die Zeichen in den Wolken des Himmels, die von grosser Kraft und strengem Gericht wider die Unvernunft zeugen.»

THE PROBLEMS.  One problem here with Matthew is that, if "Son of man" means Jesus as usual, the only sign he referred to was the sign of Jonah—in the belly of the fish three days and nights. It makes little sense that that sign could appear in the sky—would there be a cloud shaped like a giant fish loitering in the sky for three days above every city and town in the world? Also, it seems contradictory that, since people are supposed to see the sign, it is to be seen in "heaven," the place usually thought of as unseen. Moreover, why would there be mourning when the "Son of man" comes? This should be a time of rejoicing, at least for Christians.

For such reasons, it was noted by scholar A.J.B. Higgins, that "the editorial construction of this verse is obvious."[8]

The appearance of "Son of man" caused Beare (p. 471) to reason similarly—Matthew's compiler borrowed from the Old Testament book of Daniel for this imagery.

SOLUTION.  The TJ does not suffer from the particular criticisms listed, thus supporting the conclusion of Higgins and Beare. The wailing would signify fear over what it all means and what would happen next; the signs (plural in the TJ, not singular) are most easily interpreted as being UFOs piloted by extraterrestrials. The compiler's alterations can be understood as creating a central role for the Son of man (alias Jesus) in the Second Coming, in contrast to the secondary future role indicated in the TJ for Jmmanuel reincarnated, relative to the role of the UFO aliens.

The TJ further suggests that the picture it presented to the compiler caused him to recall the following verse from Daniel:

Dn 7:13    I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man....

and from it to use "the clouds of heaven" and once again use "Son of man" in his edited verse.

The judgment against irrationality in the TJ verse is consistent with Jmmanuel's teachings on using logic, including the logic of following the laws of nature and of Creation.

The strongly redactive nature of the Matthean verse contrasts with the realism of the TJ verse as could have been spoken by a true prophet and wisdom teacher. PHoax 0.2.




Mt 24:31    31"And he [Son of man] will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

TJ 25:49    49"In days to come, he [El—leader of the ETs involved] will send forth his guardian angels who will sound their trumpets and call together his trusted followers from the four directions, from one end of the Earth to the other."

TJ 25:49    49«So wird er dereinst senden seine Wächterengel mit hellen Posaunen, und diese werden dann sammeln seine ihm Getreuen von den vier Winden, von einem Ende der Erde bis zum andern.»

THE PROBLEM.  Beare (pp. 471-472) presumed that Mt 24:31 was drawn from the imagery of Daniel, where the son-of-man scene unfolds in heaven. However the "elect" are to be gathered from the world, not from heaven. This discrepancy was noticed by Beare.

SOLUTION.  The TJ verse instead appears to have been what prompted the verse in Matthew. Substitution of "heaven" for "earth" by the compiler was then likely made to strengthen the correspondence with a verse in Zechariah, which reads:

Zec 2:6    ...for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says the LORD;

If Jmmanuel's prediction in the TJ of catastrophic destruction some two millennia into his future, followed by a gathering of El's followers, is treated seriously and not dismissed as the work of a literary hoaxer, then that in conjunction with this and other TJ verses is suggested here as being what spawned the doctrine of the Millennium. It is only plausible that before the TJ fell into the hands of the writer of Matthew, a few others, some with Gnostic tendencies, had a chance to read it and notice its mention of events some 2000 years into their future (see TJ 25:7, above, in particular). We know that the writer of the Gospel of John at some point read the TJ, and he may have been the author of Revelations, which sets forth its millennialism at Rv 20:1-7. And if bishop Papias learned about some of the contents of the TJ, referring to it as the Logia, then his brand of millennialism likely also stemmed from the TJ. Thus the TJ's mention of "two thousand years" here may have been responsible for millennialism's thousand-year period, upon distortion and embellishment.

The explanatory power of the TJ verse as opposed to the secondary characteristics of the Matthean verse again point towards TJ genuineness. However, the TJ does not go on to explain just how El's "guardian angels" will call together his trusted followers, and does not clarify if these will be humans or alien collaborators. In either event, the TJ does not present any Rapture theme, either here or in subsequent verses. PHoax 0.35.

If the "trusted followers" refer to humans, it may be mentioned that numerous present-day UFO contactees, or alleged contactees, as well as some abductees, have received a similar message, often telepathically. They are made to feel selected, and are told where to go to escape destruction, or what to prepare for in order to survive and help others survive in the days after the destruction they are warned is coming. However, the different messages are usually contradictory in some aspects, or contain seemingly silly science, discouraging investigators from treating them seriously, and leading to the contactees being branded as hoaxers or crazy if they persist in talking about their perceived messages.[9]




Mt 24:33    33"So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates."

TJ 25:51    51"So will it also be for the people of that time; when they see all this transpire they may know that these events are upon them."

TJ 25:51    51«So wird es auch sein für die Menschen jener Zeit: Wenn sie das alles sehen, so mögen sie wissen, dass es nahe vor der Tür ist.»

THE PROBLEM.  The description of when the Son of man is going to arrive has become unduly discontinuous. He may have arrived as early as Mt 24:27, which likens his coming to lightning, but definitely by Mt 24:30 (see a preceding verse). Now in this still later verse the prophecy continues on to say that he is near but has not yet quite arrived. Something is wrong here, which could reflect editorial activity on the part of the writer of Matthew.

SOLUTION.  One can see from TJ 25:42 (several segments above) that Jmmanuel prophesies he will be living a future life during this time period, with aspects of that life and renewed teachings reaching out like lightning. That verse is the parallel of Mt 24:27. Then, unlike Mt 24:30, the TJ's parallel verse (TJ 25:46) doesn't prophesy once again that he is coming, but rather that "signs in the clouds" (UFOs) will arrive. Now the present TJ verse is again consistent in implying not that he is not yet here, but that "the end" is not yet here though it is close at hand. The writer of Matthew altered "the end" into "he [Son of man]." Thus, once again his emphasis upon the Son of man and the Second Coming led him into making alterations from which the inconsistencies of his editorial activity can be discerned. On the other hand, it is unreasonable to suppose that a literary hoaxer could so simply and realistically solve these rather obscure Matthean problems without himself producing problems indicative of redaction. PHoax 0.2.

One gathers from the prophecies in the TJ that "the end" means the premature end of life for a large fraction of the population, due to mankind-inflicted warlike destruction. That there will be survivors is ascribed to the appearance in force of the "celestial sons" (ETs), who put an end to the destruction (foreshorten its days), but only after colossal damage has occurred.




Mt 24:34    34"Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place."

TJ 25:52-53    52"Truly, truly, I say to you, this is how it will be. 53And that generation will not pass away until all of this has happened."

TJ 25:52-53    52«Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch: So wird es sein. 53Und dies Geschlecht wird nicht vergehen, bis alles so geschehe.»

THE PROBLEM.  Beare (pp. 472-473) recognized that this Matthean verse, along with accompanying ones, is a failed prophecy that cannot be explained away as referring to the destruction at Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

SOLUTION.  The TJ's German text also has "this generation," thus explaining its appearance in Matthew. However, within the TJ context, there is little doubt that "this generation" refers to the generation being spoken of in Jmmanuel's far future to which his lengthy prophecy applied. Hence it is translated in the English of the above 3rd-edition TJ as "that generation." Even without benefit of the TJ, this possibility has previously been suggested.[10] The writer of Matthew, on the other hand, wished the end time and Second Coming to be as soon as possible, and so utilized the same verse with "this generation" also in Mt 23:36 (see under Mt 23:34-36). Thus the TJ does not suffer from Beare's criticism, since its prophecy has not yet been tested. However, it contains an uncertainty or discrepancy of its own, since "pass away" here could imply that the whole human race will be killed off in the prophesied apocalypse, while elsewhere (TJ 25:34) Jmmanuel prophesies that some portion of humanity will survive the apocalypse. However, it more probably means that all that he prophesied in this section would come about within a single human generation of the distant future (i.e., within a period of 30 years or so), in which case TJ 25:53 is not discrepant, at least not yet. PHoax 0.5.

Those who believe the prophecy that an apocalypse is impending can point to the UFO phenomenon as possible verification. One reason UFO aliens have been visiting us in much greater numbers since 1947, while still refusing to shock society as a whole by letting their presence be definitely known, may be in order to observe us while we still exist intact; another reason may be to help some to prepare for surviving the apocalypse; and another may be in hopes of elevating enough people's consciousness, without forcing anyone to believe what they cannot accept, so as to somehow invalidate or ameliorate the dire prophecy.




Mt 24:35    35"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

TJ 25:54      54"At some future time the skies and the Earth will pass away, and so will the universe; but my words will not pass away because they are the words of truth within the laws of Creation."

TJ 25:54      54«Himmel und Erde werden dereinst vergehen und so also das Universum; aber meine Worte werden nicht vergehen, denn sie sind die Worte der Wahrheit in den Gesetzen der Schöpfung.»

THE PROBLEM.  Earlier Matthean verses (19:16-21, 19:29) tell of the heavenly afterlife being eternal. But here we are told that heaven itself will pass away some day; and thus along with it all heavenly afterlives must pass away.

SOLUTION.  In the TJ verse, its "skies" stems from the German word "Himmel," whose meanings include the heavens, sky and heaven. However, "heaven" would not apply, because it was not a concept espoused by Jmmanuel in the TJ. Its "skies" refer to all material things outside of the Earth. Hence, the TJ does not suffer from this contradiction. It does not prophesy that the spiritual world and Creation will ever pass away.

To the writer of Matthew, heaven (along with hell) and Earth encompassed everything there was. He could not know that the "heavenly" afterlife occurred within the realm of the spirit. Heaven and "the heavens" were the same to him, located up in the sky. The stars were part of heaven, where the angels dwelled. Jmmanuel's contactors, on the other hand, came from "the skies," or outer space, and could inform Jmmanuel that the physical universe would someday pass away (very many billions of years into the future), but that the spiritual world and Creation would still exist. PHoax 0.25.




Mt 24:37-41    37"As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man... 41Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left."

TJ    [No cognate]

THE PROBLEM.  Beare (p. 474) noticed that the comparison between the trauma of the great flood and the prophesied parousia is not consistent in at least two respects. During the flood, no one outside of Noah's extended family was spared from the catastrophe, while here in Matthew some people here and there are to be spared or "raptured up." Also, in the Noah story the extreme wickedness of mankind is stressed; here in verses 38-39 it is not. The implication is that Jesus' thinking would not have been this inconsistent, so the verses represent an insertion of the compiler.

SOLUTION.  This implication from Beare's analysis is correct, and the verses are a Matthean insertion. The theme "one is taken and one is left" is not present in the TJ, unless its prophecy that some portion of humanity will survive is construed as such. The Matthean verses occur at the beginning of a lengthy substitution for omitted TJ material that starts out discussing El and Creation, and their laws, and thus could not have been retained by the compiler. A New Age hoaxer, on the other hand, could well desire to retain this Matthean verse with only minor modification, as it could be his view of how the "Rapture" would take place during "beam-ups" into alien spacecraft. However, the imagined hoaxer did not do so. PHoax 0.4.




Mt 24:42-44    42"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

TJ    [No cognate]

THE PROBLEMS.  The coming of the Lord was supposed to be an event to look forward to, as suggested in the parable of the next chapter when the delayed bridegroom was eagerly awaited. But here in the slave-supervisor parable his coming is likened to the entry of a thief. This is such an incompetent analogy as to invite the conviction that it was invented by a gospel compiler who was in no way any teacher of wisdom.

It may be mentioned that if you are told that someone is coming to visit you but at a completely unknown time, which could be a year or ten years of fifty years in the future, you lose no sleep night after night watching out for him to arrive.

In this parable Jesus' coming is indicated to be sudden and abrupt, while in the previous text of Mt 24:5-33 his coming, to the contrary, is to be preceded by various signs over some period of time.

SOLUTION.  The TJ's lack of cognate is consistent with these problems having been incurred through the editing of the writer of Matthew. PHoax 0.45.




Mt 24:45-50    45"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?... 48But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, 50the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know."

TJ    [No cognate]

THE PROBLEMS.  These verses comprise most of the parable of the servant-supervisor. In it, Beare (p. 478) sees the master as being likened to Jesus, and the servants to church leaders. He observed that the verses suggest that some church leaders had been taking advantage of their status and behaving improperly. Also, its phrase, "My master is delayed," was noted by Beare to indicate the vanishing hopes of early Christians that the Second Coming of Jesus would be in their near future.

An aspect of incoherence, also indicative of redaction, is that the servant, who was described in the first three verses as being faithful and wise, then turns out to be wicked. The last verse above demonstrates further inconsistency, in that only if the wicked servant misbehaves will the master return at an unexpected time, which implies that if he doesn't misbehave the master would return at some known time; but that contradicts preceding verses indicating that the time of return is unknown to all. Thus, Beare attributed these verses to later authorship.

Davies & Allison have noted that "give them their food at the proper time" (which in the more original Greek text is "to give them the food in season") harkens back to Pss 104:27 and 145:15, which speak of "...to give them their food in due season" and "...givest them their food in due season," respectively. Hence they conclude that Mt 24:45 contains this allusion to the Scriptures,[11] and is therefore a redaction by the writer of Matthew.

SOLUTION.  The TJ agrees with these analyses. The Matthean insertion is part of a longer one that follows TJ descriptions of the end days culminated by the arrival of the "guardian angels." Considering the TJ-hoax hypothesis, the lack of Matthean genuineness in this pericope then points towards the TJ's genuineness. PHoax 0.45.




Mt 24:51     51"and [the master] will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth."

TJ     [No cognate]

THE PROBLEM.  This verse concludes the parable of the servant-supervisor, and the returning master refers to Christ, who is to punish the wicked servant. From a logical viewpoint, it may merely be noted that the master in the parable is violating Jesus' admonition not to resist one who is evil (Mt 5:39) as well as violating the Golden Rule (Mt 7:12).

Beare (p. 479) noted that the more faithful biblical renditions read "cut him in pieces" in place of "punish him." Bible editors evidently found this punishment to be so savage that they just knew it could not be right, and so they mollified the language.

Considering that the other verses in this pericope are found to be redactions, this verse must be, also. Its last clause indicates as much, being a theme that the writer of Matthew liked to repeat (it is also found in Mt 13:42, 13:50, 22:13 and 25:30) as a fate of those cast into hell or into the outer darkness.

SOLUTION.  Again, the TJ's lack of cognates supports the deduction that this verse also is a Matthean redaction. The TJ indicates, in fact, that all of Mt 24:37-on is a Matthean substitution.

Regarding the hoax hypothesis as applied to this 24th chapter of Matthew as a whole, and the TJ's corresponding chapter 25, upon accumulation of the individual probabilities above we find the chance that the TJ is a hoax to be only 1.0 x 10-5.



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REFERENCES

1. See Weiss, Brian, Same Soul -- Many Bodies (Simon & Schuster, New York: 2004); Goldberg, Bruce, Past Lives, Future Lives Revealed (Hawthorne, NJ: Career Pr Inc, 2004).

2. Davies, W. D., and Allison, Dale C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, vol. 3 (Edinburg, T&T Clark, 1997), pp. 333-338.

3. Sanders, E. P., Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), p. 229.

4. Davies and Allison, Critical Commentary, vol. 3, p. 345.

5. Abel, Ernest L., "Who wrote Matthew?" NTS 17 (1971), pp. 138-152; see p. 144.

6. Davies and Allison, Critical Commentary, vol. 3, p. 356.

7. Wright, N. T., response to letter in Bible Review (BR), 17 (Dec. 2001), p. 4.

8. Higgins, A.J.B., "The sign of the Son of man (Matt. xxiv.30)," NTS 9 (1963), pp. 380-382.

9. If the UFO aliens are indeed intelligent and have a strategy for handling us, it would not be at all surprising if that strategy included doling out significant amounts of disinformation. In that manner they could help prevent science from prematurely catching on to the reality of their presence, and so continue to maintain the UFO coverup until they decide we are better prepared to face up to the fact of their presence and evolutionary head start over us. By this strategy they could also deter us from treating them as gods/goddesses once again, which might occur if scientists and others were to find their every word to be truthful or informative and thus come to depend upon them for intellectual and moral advancement. Yet such a strategy would still permit them to put across the reality of their existence to those who are curious and of the proper frame of mind to accept it.

10. Carson, D. A., "Matthew," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), pp. 494, 507.

11. Davies and Allison, Critical Commentary, vol. 3, pp. 387-388.

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