Who is the beast “out of the sea” mentioned in Revelation 13? This has obviously intrigued many Bible scholars throughout history. If you believe the current, modern day interpretations of end time prophecy, then you most likely believe that the “beast out of the sea” of Revelation 13 is speaking about a future world leader who is also the antichrist. This is definitely the most popular belief today. Is it scripturally accurate? The problem I have always had (when I would think about the Book of Revelation) is this: why would God leave a 2,000 year prophetic void in history? Based on current interpretations of Revelation, it seems like we live in a time that is not referred to in the Bible. We are in a kind of prophetic ‘no man’s land’ where we have no guidance on what is happening in the world. Everything relating to end time prophecy is always going to happen ‘in the future’. Is this true or are we living through the prophecies in Revelation today?
There is another view of Revelation that subscribes to the theory that the Book of Revelation only references the time of the Roman Empire. This theory says that most of the prophecies of Revelation have already come to pass….in past history. This would, once again, leave us in a prophetic void. In my mind, this is even worse than the futurist view of Revelation. This belief not only places us in a prophetic void, but gives us no guidance on the future. Again, would God leave us in a prophetic void with no knowledge of future events, no guidance on how to prepare? I believe the answer is a resounding NO. Our Father in Heaven loves us too much to provide us with no guidance.
I believe that the Lord has made it clear to me that we are not approaching the beginning of the Book of Revelation, but the end. Did this get your attention? It should, because I firmly believe that it’s true. If you are like I was before being born again in the Spirit of God, then this probably shocks you. As I’ve said before, the problem with being deceived is that you don’t know you are deceived until it’s too late. All of my life, I have believed that the horrible things described in Revelation were coming someday…hopefully not in my lifetime. The truth is that the prophecies in Revelation began to come to pass during the Roman Empire and have continued to come to pass to this day. We are now nearing the time when the “beasts” of Revelation will begin to exert control over the entire world. If you’ve been living a nice, comfortable life as I was, then you haven’t been paying attention to what is happening to the governments of the world (especially America) and what is happening to Christianity. To me, it is obvious that a political beast and a religious beast are forming…..based on what we’re told in God’s Word and what we’re seeing in the world today. It’s time that we all prepared ourselves for the coming spiritual battles that are about to be waged in our world. It’s time to come close to God through His Son and become the warriors we were meant to be. You are living in the end times for a reason….and it’s not to live a nice, cozy life surrounded by worldly comforts and pleasure. You are here now to fight the good fight of faith for Jesus Christ who leads us and guides us against our enemy. Are you ready?
Something else to consider as we begin this discussion – Do you know why there are now many Protestant denominations? Ever thought much about it? I haven’t…..until now. Why do we have Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians…etc.? If you’ve never looked into this, the answer may be surprising to you.
Continuing in “End Time Delusions”:
_________________________________________
Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen. – Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The New Testament Church possessed an all-consuming desire to exalt Jesus Christ and His incomprehensible once-and-for-all Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (see Hebrews 10:12, 1 John 2:2). The Book of Acts reports how the message of Christ’s perfect righteousness and grace spread like an uncontrollable brushfire throughout the Roman Empire (see Acts 2:36-41; 5:14, 8:4). As the apostles lifted up the Risen One before the multitudes, sinners realized they were loved by God in spite of their faults, and the Lord’s power moved them to repent, be baptized, and stop serving satan (see Acts 2:38, 26:18). As people trusted the merits of Jesus Christ for salvation (see Acts 16:31), rather than their own “works” (see Ephesians 2:9), He forgave their sins (see Acts 13:38), purified their hearts (see Acts 15:8-9), and set their feet on the path to Paradise.
As a result of Spirit-filled preaching, strong churches were raised up in the midst of an idol-worshipping, pleasure-crazy, Caesar-devoted world. The new Christian converts were taught to obey the Bible above the traditions of men (see Colossians 2:8) and to cherish “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mathew 4:4). They had discovered the only way to the Father, Jesus Christ Himself (see John 14:6); and were taught to trust Him implicitly (see Ephesians 1:12) as the only Mediator between Almighty God and the human family (see 1 Timothy 2:5). They were also taught the importance of “obeying the truth” (1 Peter 1:22), even if it meant opposition, ridicule or death. They were willing to walk the narrow road “which leads to life” (Mathew 7:14) because Jesus was precious to them, just as they were to Him.
But as the Christian train rolled down history’s track, monumental changes took place. Just as Paul predicted, there came a tremendous “falling away” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) from the simplicity and purity of the gospel. Almost imperceptibly, false theories, man-made traditions, and unbiblical practices slipped into the very heart of Christianity. Little by little people lost sight of the beauty and loveliness of Jesus. In the fourth century, during the time of Constantine, a large portion of the church compromised key Bible truths and decided to line up with the Roman State. Rejecting the humility of the meek and humble One (see Mathew 11:29), church leaders sought pomp and worldly glory. Leaving the heavenly “power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13), they relied on the earthly power of politics and government. As even more traditions came in, Europe eventually became engulfed in the Dark Ages. In the twelfth century, a monstrous tribunal was established called the “Holy Office of the Inquisition” which was purposefully “created to persecute and exterminate ‘heresy’ by violence and not by persuasion.” Its 600 year history is filled with “gloomy portals”, “dark passages”, “locked doors”, “dungeons”, “bloodstained records”, and “extreme, merciless, unmitigated tortures”. Incredibly, so-called Christians murdered other Christians in the “name of Jesus Christ”.
By the time the 1500’s came along, the original simplicity of the early Christian faith was virtually non-existent. All over Europe sinners were taught to confess their sins to priests, to pray to the Virgin Mary, to buy “forgiveness notes” called indulgences and to kiss statues of the saints, none of which is taught in the New Testament. Monks even beat themselves with whips in a misguided effort to earn the favor of God. It’s true, there were sincere and godly people in what had become the Roman Catholic Church, but overall, Christianity was a mess! It was time for the Protestant Reformation!
21st century Christians should realize it was sincere Catholics wanting a change that originally spearheaded the Reformation. Initially, they had no thought of leaving the Mother Church, but simply wanted to redirect their Catholic countrymen away from the traditions of men and to lead them back to the pure truths of the Word. Their main goal was to lead other sinners like themselves to stop trusting their own works for salvation and to have simple faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says,”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Salvation is a wonderful gift from Jesus (see Romans 6:23). When we repent of our sins and receive this gift, trusting alone in Christ, the Father Himself forgives us, transforms our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and gives us power to obey His Word (see Luke 13:3, 1 John 1:9, 1 Peter 1:22, John 17:17). This simple message of free salvation through what Jesus Christ has already done for the entire world on the cross and of “the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10), is called the good news of the gospel. Paul defined the good news as: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). We must believe this good news wholeheartedly, for it alone can save our souls (see 1 Peter 1:3, 9).
The word antichrist literally means “opposed to” or “in the place of” Christ, and in its most subtle and diabolical manifestation it concerns something which claims loyalty to Jesus while really leading away from Him. Now let’s take a closer look at what truly happened during the time of the Protestant Reformation.
In the 1500’s, as a result of the invention of the printing press, countless European and English Catholics read the Bible for the first time in their lives. As a result, they uncovered the good news of salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ. At the same time, to their shock and amazement, they also realized that many Roman doctrines – including praying to dead saints and confessing to priests – actually led away from a simple faith in the merits of the Lamb. Compelled by the Spirit, these sincere Catholics tried to reform the church they loved from within. They preached the gospel and even appealed to the Pope. The result was fury, intense opposition, threats of flames and the ugly cry, “You’re now a candidate for the Inquisition!” As the conflict deepened, those who saw the Bible as their final authority began to have serious doubts about the basic authority of a church that utilized torture chambers. In other words, they began to question whether the Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, as an institution centered in popes and the Vatican, was really the Bride of Jesus Christ in the first place.
One by one the reformers turned to the prophecies. In amazement they discovered what Paul actually wrote about “the falling away”, “the son of perdition”, and a “mystery of lawlessness” that would proudly set itself up inside “the temple of God”, which is the church (see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 7; 1 Corinthians 3:16). They were stunned to read Daniel’s prophecy about a “little horn” with “eyes like the eyes of a man”, “a mouth speaking great things”, that would be centered in Western Europe and would make bloody “war with the saints” (Daniel 7:7-8, 21). They shuddered as they realized this same power was called “the beast” in God’s last book, and that it would finally exert worldwide influence and control (see Revelation 13:2, 7-8). There were especially jolted when they read about a harlot named “Mystery Babylon” who was “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6). As death sentence after death sentence was hurled against them for pointing sinners to the holy Lamb of God, and as the smoke of burning martyrs blackened Europe’s fair skies, these reformers eventually came to a frightening, unanimous, and terribly solemn conclusion. They had discovered Jesus Christ and antichrist.
Let me clarify something right here. Even though, in the pages that follow, I will apply the Bible’s prophecies about the “little horn” and “the beast” to the papal system in general (because of its doctrines and practices), this does not reflect a judgment on individual Catholics. Personally, I have nothing against any member of the Roman Church. Because God is merciful and judges men fairly based on the light they have (see James 4:17), I know I will meet many sincere Catholics in Christ’s Kingdom.
Nor does my position reflect an exclusive view of the word antichrist itself. I realize “the spirit of antichrist” is now working inside various organizations and non-Christian religions, including many churches that call themselves Protestant. Nothing written here is designed to promote hostility toward any human being. Jesus said “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) which includes the Pope; and His clear command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mathew 22:39) applies to Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus and everyone else. Yet this book is about the prophetic truths of God’s Word, truths which must not be ignored by any God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian.
The following quotations may seem a bit strong for our politically correct modern ears, but they reveal the facts of history. The reader is encouraged to consider them squarely and honestly, in the blazing light of Bible prophecy.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) (Lutheran):
Newsweek reported, “Martin Luther was the first to identify the papacy as such with the antichrist. At first he discounted the value of John’s Apocalypse. But then he saw in it a revelation of the Church of Rome as the deceiving antichrist….a view that was to become dogma for all Protestant Churches.”
On August 20, 1520, Luther declared, “We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real antichrist.”
John Calvin (1509-1564) (Presbyterian):
“Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt…I shall briefly show that (Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy.”
John Knox (1505-1572) (Scotch Presbyterian):
John Knox wrote about “that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church.” Along with Martin Luther and John Calvin, Knox finally concluded that the Papacy was “the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.”
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) (Anglican):
“Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons.”
Fox’s Book of Martyrs (1563):
Written by Englishman John Fox (1517-1587), this much-respected volume helped “mold the national character” of 17th century America. Fox reported: “Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the Gospel, the papal Church, arming herself with the power of the sword, vexed the Church of God and wasted it for centuries, a period most appropriately termed in history, the ‘dark ages’. The kings of the earth gave their power to the Beast.”
Roger Williams (1603-1683) (Considered the first Baptist Pastor in America):
Roger Williams spoke of the Pope as “the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God Himself….speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2).
A Great Cloud of Witnesses:
“Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer; in the seventeenth century, Bunyan, the translators of the King James Bible and the men who published the Westminster and Baptist confessions of Faith; Sir Isaac Newton, Wesley, Whifield, Jonathon Edwards; and more recently Spurgeon, Bishop J.C. Ryle and Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones; these men among countless others, all saw the office of the Papacy as the antichrist.”
These quotes come from some of the most respected and influential Christians who have ever lived. They were intensely earnest, honest men who based their conclusions on the prophecies of the Bible. I realize times have changed. It’s true, we’re not in the Dark Ages anymore; and yes, this is the 21st century, but there is something we must consider: Daniel’s prophecy about “a little horn” that would make “war against the saints” (Daniel 7:8, 21), Paul’s predictions about a “falling away” and an antichrist “man of sin” or “mystery of lawlessness” that would sit in God’s temple (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), John’s prophecy about “a beast” with global influence (Revelation 13:2, 7), and finally, Revelation’s strikingly graphic portrayal of a woman named “Mystery Babylon” who would become drunk with “the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6) – these prophecies are still in the Bible. There is something else we should remember: Nations rise and fall, history rushes on, technology advances and a new millennium has arrived – but God’s Word has not changed!
Either those dead Protestants were dead wrong, or history’s forgotten voices still speak.
____________________________________
I agree 100% with Steve when he says that his application of Bible prophecy on the papal system does not reflect a judgment on individual Catholics. Each of us will be judged individually by God. “Nothing here is designed to promote hostility toward any human being.” But I also agree with Steve that we cannot deny the Bible’s prophecies and how they relate to historical events.
Are there other prophetic verses that support this argument? The answer is yes. We will continue this in the next posting.
Based on the historical brutality and ruthlessness of the papal system in the dark ages, it stands to reason that the Roman Catholic Church would attempt to defend itself from this new application of Biblical prophecy. Did they attempt to defend themselves? How could they defend themselves from this new doctrine established by Protestants? Were they successful? The answer is yes – it took some time, but they were eventually successful. If you haven’t been shocked by anything yet, you will be by this revelation of historical fact. I say this, because if you are currently a Christian, you most likely believe the doctrine they created in their defense. Never forget, our spiritual enemy is very deceiving and highly intelligent. Read on…….
Monday, October 09, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Who is the beast? (Revelation 13) Part 2
We continue our discussion of the “beast out of the sea” of Revelation 13. We explore more Biblical prophecies relating to the beast. Once again, I agree with Steve’s evaluation of the prophecies mentioned in this discussion.
From “End Time Delusions”:
________________________________
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. –Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
“What time is it?” How many times have we heard that? The clock relentlessly governs this high-tech world of ours. Cell phones, computers, palm pilots, fax machines and radios all have clocks on them. In other words, we live our lives and make decisions based on time. This may surprise you, but even the Creator of the universe is concerned about time. His Word says, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). In fact, the entire life of Jesus Christ was based on time. He knew when “His hour had come” (John 13:1) and when it was time for His holy heart to experience the horror of sin upon the cross. Just as Christ’s life and death was based on time, the same is true of antichrist. Paul predicted that antichrist would “be revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6). What is the time of the antichrist?
Daniel described the antichrist as a little horn “making war against the saints, and prevailing against them” (Daniel 7:8, 21). A few sentences later he wrote, “the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (vs. 25). This is the time of the antichrist. This special time period is actually referred to seven times in God’s Word, being spoken of as 3 ½ times (see Daniel 7:25); 12:7; Revelation 12:14), 42 months (see Revelation 11:2; 13:5), and 1260 days (Revelation 11:3; 12:6). Most scholars recognize that a “time” represents a year (the Hebrew 360-day year), and thus 3 ½ years, or 42 months (based on a 30 day month), or 1260 days. It’s simple mathematics.
Is this a literal time period, or a symbolic one? Consider this. Just as Daniel 7 reveals the time of the antichrist (see Daniel 7:25), even so does Daniel 9 reveal the time of Jesus Christ (see Daniel 9:24-26). That latter prophecy pinpoints “seventy weeks”, or 490 days. As we’ve mentioned before, all Bible scholars interpret this 490 day period according to the day-for-a-year principle found in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34. Thus the 490 days are 490 literal years. We know the prophecy in Daniel 9 is a day-for-a-year because it begins with a command to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Daniel 9:25) and reaches all the way down to the first coming of Jesus Christ (Daniel 9:26). Because 490 literal days would not reach far enough to the time of Jesus since that would only be about 1 year and 4.3 months, the prophecy must be a day-for-a-year. That’s proof positive. Few question this.
Prophecy teachers in our generation definitely apply the day-for-a-year principle to the famous 70th week of Daniel 9:27, which says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice…to cease” (Daniel 9:27). Based on the day-year truth, this “one week” is really seven years. Almost everyone agrees with this. Yet, as we have already seen, many prophecy scholars today - following the lead of J.N. Darby – have decided to sever this 70th week from the first 69 weeks (creating an almost 2,000 year gap or parenthesis), slide it down to the end times and call it “the seven years of tribulation”. We have already analyzed the problems with this view and have proven it was really Jesus Christ who brought an end to the Jewish sacrificial system through His death on the cross. Net conclusion: no seven-year tribulation.
Here’s a startling mega-point. Protestant scholars from the 1500’s to the 1800’s not only applied the day-for-a-year principle to the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 (the time of Jesus Christ), but also to the 3 ½ years of Daniel 7:25, to the time of antichrist. And they applied it to papal Rome. They interpreted the 3 ½ years, 42 months or 1260 days as 1260 literal years of papal rule.
This is easy to prove, as a little study in church history will quickly demonstrate. Dr. H. Grattan Guiness reported:
The seventy weeks of Daniel, or 490 days to the Messiah, were fulfilled as 490 years; that is, they were fulfilled on the year-day scale. On this scale the forty-two months or 1260 days are 1260 years. We ask then, has the papacy endured this period? An examination of the facts will show that it has.
In 1701, Robert Fleming published his book, The Rise and Fall of Papal Rome. Fleming showed, as others had done for many centuries, that the 1260 days of prophecy represent 1260 years.
E.B. Elliott, in his 1862 classic, Horae Apocalypticae, often referred to:
….the great prophetic period of 1260 years.
David Benedict’s A General History of the Baptist Denomination also commented on…the rise of antichrist…his reign [for] 1260 years.
Such quotations could be multiplied, but this is enough to prove that Protestant commentators of the past did not apply the 1260-day period to a supposedly future 7 year period of tribulation like modern pre-tribulation rapture teachers often do. Instead, they applied it to real history – to the long period of papal supremacy spanning the Dark Ages.
When did the 1260 years begin? In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul gave a clear clue. In verse 6, he made a definite connection between the removal of the restrainer and the beginning of the time of the antichrist. Notice carefully. Paul told the early Thessalonians, “And now you know what is restraining, that he [antichrist] may be revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6). As we have previously proven, this restrainer was the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which was the Roman Empire. In 476 A.D., when Rome fell, the Caesar restrainer was “taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Thus we would expect the 1260 year period to begin shortly after 476 A.D.
H. Gratton Guiness places the beginning of the 1260 year period shortly after 476 A.D. He states that it began with “the notable decree of the emperor Justinian [525-565 A.D.] constituting the Bishop of Rome as the head of all Churches [in Western Europe]”. When the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., there were still rulers in the East. One of them, named Justinian, believed the key to peace in Europe was the uniting of all religions under the leadership of the Roman Church. So, he issued his famous decree which made the Pope the legal “Head of all the Holy Churches”. This decree fully established the papacy’s political power over all of Christianity in Western Europe. Justinian’s decree went into effect in 538 A.D., which was shortly after 476 A.D.! That key date – 538 A.D. – marks the beginning of the time of the antichrist.
Daniel predicted that during the 1260 year period the little horn would “persecute the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:25) – a prophecy that was fulfilled to the letter by papal Rome during the Dark Ages. By the end of this period, enough was enough, and Europe was ready for a change. If we start at 538 A.D. and count down 1260 years, this takes us to 1798 A.D., the time of the French Revolution. In the midst of a bloody reaction against the Roman Church and its monstrous torture chambers, Napoleon finally decided to abolish the papal government entirely. Can you guess what year this feat was accomplished? 1798! That’s why Guiness marks the conclusion of the 1260 years at the time of “the tremendous Papal overthrow in the French Revolution”.
In 1798, a general of Napoleon named Berthier entered Rome with a French army. He swiftly abolished the papacy, dismissed the Vatican’s Swiss guards and proclaimed Rome to be a republic for France. “Berthier entered Rome on the 10th of February, 1798, and proclaimed a republic.” “One day the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican, surrounded by his cardinals…Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away from his finger his pontifical ring, and hurried him off, a prisoner.” Pope Pius VI was taken to France where he died in exile. “Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.”
This happened in the exact year 1798, marking the end of the predicted 1260 year reign of the persecuting “little horn”. In that very year Protestant scholars all over Europe and America recognized the fulfillment of the prophecy. In the downfall of the papal government…many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures.
Thus many scholars of the past have applied the 3 ½ year, 42 month, 1260 day prediction found in Daniel and Revelation to a 1260 year period starting in 538 A.D. and ending in 1798 A.D. These well-respected theologians saw those dates – 538 and 1798 – as prophetic milestones, and they appealed to the whole world to take note that God’s “sure Word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19) had not been fulfilled in a corner.
Here is a quick summary of biblical and historical facts surrounding “the time” of the antichrist:
1. Paul clearly wrote that after the restrainer was removed, the antichrist would be “revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6).
2. Daniel predicted that after the fourth beast fell, the “little horn” (the antichrist) would rule for 1260 years, “making war against the saints” (Daniel 7:7-8, 21, 25).
3. Shortly after the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., the Eastern Emperor Justinian issued his famous decree giving the Roman Church special power in Europe.
4. Justinian’s decree went into effect in 538 A.D., marking the beginning of 1260 years of European papal supremacy.
5. During the 1260 years, the Roman Church did indeed “make war against the saints” by papal crusades against heretics and through the nightmarish barbarism of inhuman inquisitors who set up their deadly tribunals in Europe, England, India, South America and even Mexico. Literally, millions of “saints” lost their lives.
6. In 1798 A.D., exactly 1260 years from 538 A.D., Napoleon’s general (Berthier) abolished the papacy’s political power, thus ending that long and painful period of papal rule.
So what time is it? If you check your watch, computer, or cell phone you can discover the exact minute in the Pacific, Mountain, Central or Eastern time zones.
Only the Bible reveals the precise time of Jesus Christ (490 years) and antichrist (1260 years).
____________________________________
The truth can make us uncomfortable. Biblical truth calls for us to examine not only what is going on in the world and how it relates to prophecy, but it calls for us to examine ourselves. Can we overcome the world and its deception? Will we believe the truth when presented with it? …or will we deny the truth because it doesn’t fit with our theology? Do we believe God’s Word unconditionally or are we picking and choosing what to believe from the Bible as it fits our lifestyle? I have learned over the past year that there is only one, uncorrupted, clear truth in this world….and that truth is the Holy Bible.
As I mentioned before, it’s very difficult to overcome years of believing something that has been told to you over and over for your entire life to this point. We must take a step back and seek God and His truth, regardless of what we have believed in the past. Are we first seeking God and His righteousness in this life or do you have a few items ahead of Him on your list of priorities? Have we accepted His offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ or are we focused on man-made religious traditions and rituals? The question you MUST ask yourself……am I being deceived? How can I know? You must read and study God’s word and pray to Him. Ask Him to show you the truth. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mathew 7:7) This is all that I have done. I have sought the Lord with a humble heart and prayed for wisdom and knowledge. He listens and answers.
From “End Time Delusions”:
________________________________
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. –Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
“What time is it?” How many times have we heard that? The clock relentlessly governs this high-tech world of ours. Cell phones, computers, palm pilots, fax machines and radios all have clocks on them. In other words, we live our lives and make decisions based on time. This may surprise you, but even the Creator of the universe is concerned about time. His Word says, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). In fact, the entire life of Jesus Christ was based on time. He knew when “His hour had come” (John 13:1) and when it was time for His holy heart to experience the horror of sin upon the cross. Just as Christ’s life and death was based on time, the same is true of antichrist. Paul predicted that antichrist would “be revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6). What is the time of the antichrist?
Daniel described the antichrist as a little horn “making war against the saints, and prevailing against them” (Daniel 7:8, 21). A few sentences later he wrote, “the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (vs. 25). This is the time of the antichrist. This special time period is actually referred to seven times in God’s Word, being spoken of as 3 ½ times (see Daniel 7:25); 12:7; Revelation 12:14), 42 months (see Revelation 11:2; 13:5), and 1260 days (Revelation 11:3; 12:6). Most scholars recognize that a “time” represents a year (the Hebrew 360-day year), and thus 3 ½ years, or 42 months (based on a 30 day month), or 1260 days. It’s simple mathematics.
Is this a literal time period, or a symbolic one? Consider this. Just as Daniel 7 reveals the time of the antichrist (see Daniel 7:25), even so does Daniel 9 reveal the time of Jesus Christ (see Daniel 9:24-26). That latter prophecy pinpoints “seventy weeks”, or 490 days. As we’ve mentioned before, all Bible scholars interpret this 490 day period according to the day-for-a-year principle found in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34. Thus the 490 days are 490 literal years. We know the prophecy in Daniel 9 is a day-for-a-year because it begins with a command to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Daniel 9:25) and reaches all the way down to the first coming of Jesus Christ (Daniel 9:26). Because 490 literal days would not reach far enough to the time of Jesus since that would only be about 1 year and 4.3 months, the prophecy must be a day-for-a-year. That’s proof positive. Few question this.
Prophecy teachers in our generation definitely apply the day-for-a-year principle to the famous 70th week of Daniel 9:27, which says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice…to cease” (Daniel 9:27). Based on the day-year truth, this “one week” is really seven years. Almost everyone agrees with this. Yet, as we have already seen, many prophecy scholars today - following the lead of J.N. Darby – have decided to sever this 70th week from the first 69 weeks (creating an almost 2,000 year gap or parenthesis), slide it down to the end times and call it “the seven years of tribulation”. We have already analyzed the problems with this view and have proven it was really Jesus Christ who brought an end to the Jewish sacrificial system through His death on the cross. Net conclusion: no seven-year tribulation.
Here’s a startling mega-point. Protestant scholars from the 1500’s to the 1800’s not only applied the day-for-a-year principle to the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 (the time of Jesus Christ), but also to the 3 ½ years of Daniel 7:25, to the time of antichrist. And they applied it to papal Rome. They interpreted the 3 ½ years, 42 months or 1260 days as 1260 literal years of papal rule.
This is easy to prove, as a little study in church history will quickly demonstrate. Dr. H. Grattan Guiness reported:
The seventy weeks of Daniel, or 490 days to the Messiah, were fulfilled as 490 years; that is, they were fulfilled on the year-day scale. On this scale the forty-two months or 1260 days are 1260 years. We ask then, has the papacy endured this period? An examination of the facts will show that it has.
In 1701, Robert Fleming published his book, The Rise and Fall of Papal Rome. Fleming showed, as others had done for many centuries, that the 1260 days of prophecy represent 1260 years.
E.B. Elliott, in his 1862 classic, Horae Apocalypticae, often referred to:
….the great prophetic period of 1260 years.
David Benedict’s A General History of the Baptist Denomination also commented on…the rise of antichrist…his reign [for] 1260 years.
Such quotations could be multiplied, but this is enough to prove that Protestant commentators of the past did not apply the 1260-day period to a supposedly future 7 year period of tribulation like modern pre-tribulation rapture teachers often do. Instead, they applied it to real history – to the long period of papal supremacy spanning the Dark Ages.
When did the 1260 years begin? In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul gave a clear clue. In verse 6, he made a definite connection between the removal of the restrainer and the beginning of the time of the antichrist. Notice carefully. Paul told the early Thessalonians, “And now you know what is restraining, that he [antichrist] may be revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6). As we have previously proven, this restrainer was the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which was the Roman Empire. In 476 A.D., when Rome fell, the Caesar restrainer was “taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Thus we would expect the 1260 year period to begin shortly after 476 A.D.
H. Gratton Guiness places the beginning of the 1260 year period shortly after 476 A.D. He states that it began with “the notable decree of the emperor Justinian [525-565 A.D.] constituting the Bishop of Rome as the head of all Churches [in Western Europe]”. When the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., there were still rulers in the East. One of them, named Justinian, believed the key to peace in Europe was the uniting of all religions under the leadership of the Roman Church. So, he issued his famous decree which made the Pope the legal “Head of all the Holy Churches”. This decree fully established the papacy’s political power over all of Christianity in Western Europe. Justinian’s decree went into effect in 538 A.D., which was shortly after 476 A.D.! That key date – 538 A.D. – marks the beginning of the time of the antichrist.
Daniel predicted that during the 1260 year period the little horn would “persecute the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:25) – a prophecy that was fulfilled to the letter by papal Rome during the Dark Ages. By the end of this period, enough was enough, and Europe was ready for a change. If we start at 538 A.D. and count down 1260 years, this takes us to 1798 A.D., the time of the French Revolution. In the midst of a bloody reaction against the Roman Church and its monstrous torture chambers, Napoleon finally decided to abolish the papal government entirely. Can you guess what year this feat was accomplished? 1798! That’s why Guiness marks the conclusion of the 1260 years at the time of “the tremendous Papal overthrow in the French Revolution”.
In 1798, a general of Napoleon named Berthier entered Rome with a French army. He swiftly abolished the papacy, dismissed the Vatican’s Swiss guards and proclaimed Rome to be a republic for France. “Berthier entered Rome on the 10th of February, 1798, and proclaimed a republic.” “One day the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican, surrounded by his cardinals…Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away from his finger his pontifical ring, and hurried him off, a prisoner.” Pope Pius VI was taken to France where he died in exile. “Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.”
This happened in the exact year 1798, marking the end of the predicted 1260 year reign of the persecuting “little horn”. In that very year Protestant scholars all over Europe and America recognized the fulfillment of the prophecy. In the downfall of the papal government…many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures.
Thus many scholars of the past have applied the 3 ½ year, 42 month, 1260 day prediction found in Daniel and Revelation to a 1260 year period starting in 538 A.D. and ending in 1798 A.D. These well-respected theologians saw those dates – 538 and 1798 – as prophetic milestones, and they appealed to the whole world to take note that God’s “sure Word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19) had not been fulfilled in a corner.
Here is a quick summary of biblical and historical facts surrounding “the time” of the antichrist:
1. Paul clearly wrote that after the restrainer was removed, the antichrist would be “revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6).
2. Daniel predicted that after the fourth beast fell, the “little horn” (the antichrist) would rule for 1260 years, “making war against the saints” (Daniel 7:7-8, 21, 25).
3. Shortly after the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., the Eastern Emperor Justinian issued his famous decree giving the Roman Church special power in Europe.
4. Justinian’s decree went into effect in 538 A.D., marking the beginning of 1260 years of European papal supremacy.
5. During the 1260 years, the Roman Church did indeed “make war against the saints” by papal crusades against heretics and through the nightmarish barbarism of inhuman inquisitors who set up their deadly tribunals in Europe, England, India, South America and even Mexico. Literally, millions of “saints” lost their lives.
6. In 1798 A.D., exactly 1260 years from 538 A.D., Napoleon’s general (Berthier) abolished the papacy’s political power, thus ending that long and painful period of papal rule.
So what time is it? If you check your watch, computer, or cell phone you can discover the exact minute in the Pacific, Mountain, Central or Eastern time zones.
Only the Bible reveals the precise time of Jesus Christ (490 years) and antichrist (1260 years).
____________________________________
The truth can make us uncomfortable. Biblical truth calls for us to examine not only what is going on in the world and how it relates to prophecy, but it calls for us to examine ourselves. Can we overcome the world and its deception? Will we believe the truth when presented with it? …or will we deny the truth because it doesn’t fit with our theology? Do we believe God’s Word unconditionally or are we picking and choosing what to believe from the Bible as it fits our lifestyle? I have learned over the past year that there is only one, uncorrupted, clear truth in this world….and that truth is the Holy Bible.
As I mentioned before, it’s very difficult to overcome years of believing something that has been told to you over and over for your entire life to this point. We must take a step back and seek God and His truth, regardless of what we have believed in the past. Are we first seeking God and His righteousness in this life or do you have a few items ahead of Him on your list of priorities? Have we accepted His offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ or are we focused on man-made religious traditions and rituals? The question you MUST ask yourself……am I being deceived? How can I know? You must read and study God’s word and pray to Him. Ask Him to show you the truth. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mathew 7:7) This is all that I have done. I have sought the Lord with a humble heart and prayed for wisdom and knowledge. He listens and answers.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Who is the beast? (Revelation 13) Part 3
We continue with our discussion of the ‘beast out of the sea’ of Revelation 13. If you have studied Biblical prophecy in the past, then you probably know that the ‘beast’ is wounded at some point and then healed. Most modern day prophecy teachers once again apply this prophecy to a future antichrist – a world leader who is somehow killed and then resurrected by satan. You’re about to see that another modern, speculative theory about Bible prophesy is once again incorrect. I believe Steve is correct in his interpretation of this prophecy.
From “End Time Delusions”:
_______________________________
The truly educated man is that rare individual who can separate reality from illusion. – Author Unknown
The Bible warns about the beast, “….his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3).
Near the end of The Indwelling – The Beast Takes Possession, book seven of the Left Behind novels, antichrist Nicolae Carpathia is assassinated in Jerusalem. His corpse is jetted to New Babylon and a funeral service takes place before millions of viewers with full media coverage. As the world’s TV cameras are fixed on the coffin, the unbelievable occurs. Carpathia’s left index finger moves; his chest starts to swell; his eyes open. Nicolae finally stands up and triumphantly declares before an awestruck world, “Peace be unto you!” In Left Behind’s next book, The Mark – The Beast Rules the World, “His Excellency Global Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia is back, this time as satan. Resurrected and indwelt by the devil himself, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy as the beast tightens his grip as ruler of the world.”
This is how many Christians imagine Revelation 13:3 might be fulfilled.
This literal view of a murdered and resurrected Mr. Sin has been depicted in scores of prophecy books and was graphically illustrated in the multi-million dollar Christian film, The Omega Code. Although details vary, most modern portrayals involve the antichrist being shot with a gun and then miraculously being raised to life. When Ronald Reagan survived a gunshot wound during his presidency, some speculated that he might be the antichrist whose deadly wound was healed!
As always, there’s a big difference between fact and fiction. The wounding of the beast is referred to four times in Revelation (13:3, 10, 12, 14). Yet notice, the beast “was wounded by the sword and lived” (13:14). Thus his wound comes from “the sword”, not a pistol, rifle or submachine gun. Revelation 13:10 also reveals the additional insight that the wounding of the beast seems to involve his going “into captivity”.
Paul declared “the sword of the Spirit” to be the Word of God itself (Ephesians 6:17). During the Reformation times, it was this that “wounded” the papacy. As John Wycliffe, John Huss, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, John Calvin, John Wesley and countless other Spirit-filled reformers wielded the Bible’s message about Jesus Christ and antichrist, papal Rome received a nearly fatal slash. Hundreds of thousands left the Roman Church and Europe was shaken as with a mighty earthquake. The final blow against the weakened Roman system came in 1798 when the army of Napoleon invaded the Vatican and took the Pope into exile. God’s prophetic clock had set the year 1798 as the end of the papal supremacy, and when the hour struck, the mighty ruler on the Tiber, before whose anathemas the kings and emperors of Europe had so long trembled, went “into captivity” (Revelation 13:10), and his government in the Papal States was abolished.
You’ve heard the expression, “You’ve come a long way baby.” This is especially true when it comes to prophetic interpretation. Bestselling books and blockbuster Christian movies now apply Revelation’s prophecy about a beast that receives a deadly wound to some fictitious Mr. Deception like Nicolae Carpathia who is assassinated after a secret rapture. This is all like a house of illusion at an amusement park. The truth is, the Bible says the beast, which represents a “kingdom” (Daniel 7:23), would be “wounded by the sword” (Revelation 13:14) and go “into captivity” (Revelation 13:10). The reformation did wound the papal power with Heaven’s razor-sharp “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) and finally, Rome’s leader went “into captivity” into France. This papal downfall took place on February 10, 1798, exactly at the end of 1260 years predicted in Scripture!
As Paul Harvey so often says, we need to hear “the rest of the story”. The prophecies about the “little horn” and the “beast” do not stop with the 1260 year period, the deadly “wound by the sword” or the beast’s “captivity”. There’s more. In words of deep significance, Scripture predicts, “…his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3). Is this happening now? There is no question about it. The former deadly would inflicted upon papal Rome now hardly needs a band-aid. With over a billion members, the Vatican is now the headquarters of the most powerful religious organization on Planet Earth. In spite of horrendous sex scandals which have embarrassed the Roman Church, when the Pope addresses America or the United Nations, the global community listens.
In his 1990 book The Keys of this Blood, Malachi Martin suggested that in his time there were only three powers capable of ruling the world – Russia, America and the Vatican. Of those three, Martin predicted that the Roman Church would win in the struggle over “who will hold and wield the dual power of authority and control over each of us as individuals and over all of us together as a community; over the entire 6 billion people expected by demographers to inhabit the earth by early in the third millennium.” Along with the Pope himself, Martin upheld “the papacy as the ultimate arbiter for problems and dilemmas affecting nations all over the globe” because it alone is the “Mother of all men’s souls”.
It’s a fact: In our 21st century, there is no president, statesman, or even rock-and-roll singer who can gather a larger crowd than the Pope. In 1995, the front cover of Time magazine labeled Pope John Paul II its “Man of the Year”. “When he talks, it is not only to his flock of nearly one billion; he expects the world to listen. And the flock and the world listen”.
The Holy Bible says:
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast (Revelation 13:3).
Have Protestants lost their swords? Why don’t they discern the fulfillment of prophecy?
Because they are waiting on Nicolae.
______________________________________
This is a chilling, but accurate thought. Keep everyone thinking about evil coming someday….while it’s already here and actively working against God’s saints. I believe there is another reason why no one is sounding the alarm – political correctness. This fear of offending has permeated our society to the point that we won’t even talk about something if it might offend. We’re now afraid to bring up anything controversial for fear we might alienate someone. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the prophecies of Revelation? Simply too controversial. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it - the truth is that our spiritual enemy is very intelligent, very deceiving and evil. He’s coming at us from many different avenues to blind us from the truth….and it’s working. Only those that are close to Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven have the spiritual eyes to see what is happening. We’re told in God’s Word that the devil is constantly scheming against us. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). “Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We all need to be awakened from our sleep.
There is another "beast" described in Revelation 13 (vs. 11) that makes "the earth and all its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed" (vs. 12). We'll discuss this at a later time, but this verse makes it clear that the Roman Catholic Church will once again act like a "beast". This church may seem friendly in our present time, but that is about to change. This second beast is going to force the world to worship in the manner dictated by the first beast....which will eventually lead to the Mark of the Beast. We'll discuss the Mark at a later time as well...but it is of the utmost importance that each of us is prepared for what is going to happen in our lifetime. Think of it this way, if you are confronted with staying faithful to Jesus or execution.....could you continue to stand with our Lord? It's going to be a reality many of us must face.
From “End Time Delusions”:
_______________________________
The truly educated man is that rare individual who can separate reality from illusion. – Author Unknown
The Bible warns about the beast, “….his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3).
Near the end of The Indwelling – The Beast Takes Possession, book seven of the Left Behind novels, antichrist Nicolae Carpathia is assassinated in Jerusalem. His corpse is jetted to New Babylon and a funeral service takes place before millions of viewers with full media coverage. As the world’s TV cameras are fixed on the coffin, the unbelievable occurs. Carpathia’s left index finger moves; his chest starts to swell; his eyes open. Nicolae finally stands up and triumphantly declares before an awestruck world, “Peace be unto you!” In Left Behind’s next book, The Mark – The Beast Rules the World, “His Excellency Global Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia is back, this time as satan. Resurrected and indwelt by the devil himself, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy as the beast tightens his grip as ruler of the world.”
This is how many Christians imagine Revelation 13:3 might be fulfilled.
This literal view of a murdered and resurrected Mr. Sin has been depicted in scores of prophecy books and was graphically illustrated in the multi-million dollar Christian film, The Omega Code. Although details vary, most modern portrayals involve the antichrist being shot with a gun and then miraculously being raised to life. When Ronald Reagan survived a gunshot wound during his presidency, some speculated that he might be the antichrist whose deadly wound was healed!
As always, there’s a big difference between fact and fiction. The wounding of the beast is referred to four times in Revelation (13:3, 10, 12, 14). Yet notice, the beast “was wounded by the sword and lived” (13:14). Thus his wound comes from “the sword”, not a pistol, rifle or submachine gun. Revelation 13:10 also reveals the additional insight that the wounding of the beast seems to involve his going “into captivity”.
Paul declared “the sword of the Spirit” to be the Word of God itself (Ephesians 6:17). During the Reformation times, it was this that “wounded” the papacy. As John Wycliffe, John Huss, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, John Calvin, John Wesley and countless other Spirit-filled reformers wielded the Bible’s message about Jesus Christ and antichrist, papal Rome received a nearly fatal slash. Hundreds of thousands left the Roman Church and Europe was shaken as with a mighty earthquake. The final blow against the weakened Roman system came in 1798 when the army of Napoleon invaded the Vatican and took the Pope into exile. God’s prophetic clock had set the year 1798 as the end of the papal supremacy, and when the hour struck, the mighty ruler on the Tiber, before whose anathemas the kings and emperors of Europe had so long trembled, went “into captivity” (Revelation 13:10), and his government in the Papal States was abolished.
You’ve heard the expression, “You’ve come a long way baby.” This is especially true when it comes to prophetic interpretation. Bestselling books and blockbuster Christian movies now apply Revelation’s prophecy about a beast that receives a deadly wound to some fictitious Mr. Deception like Nicolae Carpathia who is assassinated after a secret rapture. This is all like a house of illusion at an amusement park. The truth is, the Bible says the beast, which represents a “kingdom” (Daniel 7:23), would be “wounded by the sword” (Revelation 13:14) and go “into captivity” (Revelation 13:10). The reformation did wound the papal power with Heaven’s razor-sharp “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) and finally, Rome’s leader went “into captivity” into France. This papal downfall took place on February 10, 1798, exactly at the end of 1260 years predicted in Scripture!
As Paul Harvey so often says, we need to hear “the rest of the story”. The prophecies about the “little horn” and the “beast” do not stop with the 1260 year period, the deadly “wound by the sword” or the beast’s “captivity”. There’s more. In words of deep significance, Scripture predicts, “…his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3). Is this happening now? There is no question about it. The former deadly would inflicted upon papal Rome now hardly needs a band-aid. With over a billion members, the Vatican is now the headquarters of the most powerful religious organization on Planet Earth. In spite of horrendous sex scandals which have embarrassed the Roman Church, when the Pope addresses America or the United Nations, the global community listens.
In his 1990 book The Keys of this Blood, Malachi Martin suggested that in his time there were only three powers capable of ruling the world – Russia, America and the Vatican. Of those three, Martin predicted that the Roman Church would win in the struggle over “who will hold and wield the dual power of authority and control over each of us as individuals and over all of us together as a community; over the entire 6 billion people expected by demographers to inhabit the earth by early in the third millennium.” Along with the Pope himself, Martin upheld “the papacy as the ultimate arbiter for problems and dilemmas affecting nations all over the globe” because it alone is the “Mother of all men’s souls”.
It’s a fact: In our 21st century, there is no president, statesman, or even rock-and-roll singer who can gather a larger crowd than the Pope. In 1995, the front cover of Time magazine labeled Pope John Paul II its “Man of the Year”. “When he talks, it is not only to his flock of nearly one billion; he expects the world to listen. And the flock and the world listen”.
The Holy Bible says:
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast (Revelation 13:3).
Have Protestants lost their swords? Why don’t they discern the fulfillment of prophecy?
Because they are waiting on Nicolae.
______________________________________
This is a chilling, but accurate thought. Keep everyone thinking about evil coming someday….while it’s already here and actively working against God’s saints. I believe there is another reason why no one is sounding the alarm – political correctness. This fear of offending has permeated our society to the point that we won’t even talk about something if it might offend. We’re now afraid to bring up anything controversial for fear we might alienate someone. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the prophecies of Revelation? Simply too controversial. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it - the truth is that our spiritual enemy is very intelligent, very deceiving and evil. He’s coming at us from many different avenues to blind us from the truth….and it’s working. Only those that are close to Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven have the spiritual eyes to see what is happening. We’re told in God’s Word that the devil is constantly scheming against us. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). “Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We all need to be awakened from our sleep.
There is another "beast" described in Revelation 13 (vs. 11) that makes "the earth and all its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed" (vs. 12). We'll discuss this at a later time, but this verse makes it clear that the Roman Catholic Church will once again act like a "beast". This church may seem friendly in our present time, but that is about to change. This second beast is going to force the world to worship in the manner dictated by the first beast....which will eventually lead to the Mark of the Beast. We'll discuss the Mark at a later time as well...but it is of the utmost importance that each of us is prepared for what is going to happen in our lifetime. Think of it this way, if you are confronted with staying faithful to Jesus or execution.....could you continue to stand with our Lord? It's going to be a reality many of us must face.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Who is the beast? (Revelation 13) Part 4
We continue to explore what the Bible tells us about the ‘beasts’ of Revelation 13. As we continue, we’ll also continue to discuss current events in our world and how we are being deceived by these ‘beasts’. As you’ve learned, this isn’t a Bible study of what is going to happen at some point in the future, we’re discussing the Book of Revelation and how it applies to world events today. Although many refuse to believe this, it is the truth. We are winding our way through the Book of Revelation, nearing the end of this evil age.
Continuing from “End Time Delusions”:
______________________________________
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. –Douglas Noel Adams
Every time I travel overseas, I always carry my passport so I can identify myself before local or government officials. After comparing my face with my photo, they know it’s me. In America, my driver license serves the same purpose. It lists my name, birth date, height, hair color, and current address. These details are not so much for information, but for identification. That’s the issue.
In addition to the other puzzle pieces we’ve found so far, the Bible gives us another highly practical clue to help us identify that which is truly antichrist.
Notice carefully:
…Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:2-3).
Again John wrote:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (2 John 7).
Thus the Bible plainly says twice that a denial that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” is a definite mark of the antichrist. To continue my analogy, if you ever wonder whether something or someone might be the antichrist, just look closely at the information on their passport or driver license. If you see the words, “Does Not Confess Jesus Christ Has Come in the Flesh,” you have your answer.
Every Christian should “confess” Jesus has come in the flesh. But this confession must be more than a lips-only statement that Jesus Christ was a real person who was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross for our sins. Amazingly, a person may confess all this and yet still be a “deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 7). According to the Bible, our confession must be more specific. We must confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. And this confession must be genuine, from the heart, prompted by the Spirit of God (see 1 John 4:2). What does it really mean that “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”? Let’s delve deeper and find out.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “The Word” was Jesus Christ before His nativity in Bethlehem. “The Word became flesh” simply means the infinite Son of God became Man. Here’s a key question: What kind of flesh did Jesus become when He fused with humanity? Paul answered with the utmost clarity: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). Don’t miss it. Paul said Jesus took “the same” flesh as “the children” have. “The children” doesn’t apply to Adam and Eve, for they were never babies, but were created directly by God in the Garden of Eden. Rather, “the children” applies to their descendents after sin entered the world, that is, to fallen humanity.
“As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). Thus the Bible plainly says Jesus Christ Himself “took part” of the same flesh we have. You might ask, “So what? What does this have to do with antichrist?”
First, we must understand what “the flesh” is. “The flesh” is a biblical expression which describes our basic human nature as it has been affected by sin. Paul said, “ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells….” (Romans 7:18). In other words, the flesh itself is bad. It’s our enemy. It’s like a nasty cesspool that often stinks and seeks to drag us down. “The flesh” is the channel through which satan works to tempt us and lead us into actual sin.
One of the most impenetrable mysteries found in the Bible is the truth that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3). It may be hard to fathom, but Jesus Christ “took” upon Himself the very same flesh we have. Why did He do it? So He could relate to us, understand our struggles, experience our temptations, and reach us where we are. In other words, God didn’t simply send us a rope. He entered our world’s slime and mud to get us out of it!
Yet in all of this, there is one monumental truth we must never forget, or we will drift into heresy. Even though Jesus “took” our sinful flesh and shared our humanity, He never committed one sin. He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). In spite of His real connection with human flesh, Jesus Himself – in His thoughts, feelings and character – remained “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). This is exactly what the Bible says. By taking our flesh but not participating in its evil, Jesus literally “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3), which means He met and conquered the very temptations that give us so much trouble.
Not only did Jesus defeat our flesh on our behalf, but He also died for all of our sins wherein we have yielded to temptation (see 1 Corinthians 15:3). Thus He is a perfect and complete Savior! After His total victory over satan, Jesus ascended to Heaven to become our High Priest. Notice the following connection between Christ’s being tempted in the flesh down here and His present ability up there as our High Priest to help us in our struggles.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession [or confession]. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Fantastic! Jesus Christ is now our High Priest in glory. Because He took our fallen flesh down here and conquered it, we can come directly to Him by faith up there for mercy, grace, and spiritual power. It’s true. Today, at this very moment, we have immediate access to His throne. Christ earnestly solicits our approach. We can “come boldly”!
Hebrews 2:17-18 also firmly connects Jesus Christ’s coming in the flesh with His High Priestly ministry and with His present ability to save us from sin.
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God…For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).
Again the truth is established. We need no other mediator. We can be direct. This is all part of our confession.
It’s time to tie this in with antichrist. As we have already seen, it was the teaching of the major Protestant Reformers that the “little horn” (Daniel 7:8), the “beast” (Revelation 13:1), and “the man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) all apply to papal Rome. So here’s the all-important question. Does the Roman Church genuinely confess “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh”? On the surface it claims to do so, but let’s take a closer look.
One of the official doctrines, or “confessions”, of the Church of Rome is a dogma called The Immaculate Conception. Contrary to what many think, this does not refer to the birth of Jesus as a sinless baby, but rather to the conception of Mary herself inside her own mother’s womb. The dogma teaches that when Mary was conceived, she was miraculously preserved from all original sin. Thus her nature was “immaculate”, or sinless, and therefore fundamentally different from ours. In other words, according to papal teaching, Jesus’ mother did not have exactly the same flesh and nature that we have. Now don’t miss this. What is the implication of this teaching? According to papal Rome’s official statements, when Jesus Christ was born, He took Mary’s supposedly sinless nature, not ours. If you think about it, this is really a denial that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:3).
Here’s the proof from official, Vatican-approved sources:
This is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses [this is their own word], as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
As a consequence, according to the Roman Church, when Jesus Christ was born, He took Mary’s perfect nature, not our fallen one. The famous Cardinal Gibbons said it this way:
In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity…by being born of the Virgin, [took] to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers….a true human nature of the same substance with her own.
This doctrine of The Immaculate Conception with its idea of the entrance of Jesus into Mary’s sinless nature, not ours, really removes Christ “one gigantic step away from mankind.” As a result of this dogma and others, Rome doesn’t teach sinners to “be direct” by going straight to our heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ for free forgiveness. Instead, the Vatican encourages poor sinners to come to Jesus through Mary, popes, priests and saints – that is, through the mediation of the Roman Church itself. Even more than this, Rome declares that by virtue of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and supposedly sinless life, she now has a “saving office” in addition to her Son. Through Mary’s “manifold intercession”, she is now our “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix” who can ”bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” and “deliver our souls from death.”
Thus, in her official teachings, in spite of appearances, the Roman Church really denies “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:3), that is, in “the same” (Hebrews 2:14) fallen flesh the rest of us have. No matter what she may deceptively claim, Rome’s declaration that Mary is now our “Advocate” and “Mediatrix” swerves sinners away from childlike trust in Jesus Christ alone, and thus really “denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). God’s Word says, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:3).
According to the Bible, “the spirit of antichrist” was “already” working in John’s own day (church history records a group called Gnostics who denied Jesus Christ’s coming in the flesh in the first century). As history progressed, the same spirit later reared its head through the Immaculate Conception idea. Today, “the spirit of antichrist” continues its subtle efforts through various individuals and organizations around the world to entice humanity away from direct faith in the Savior of sinners.
Personally, I think “the spirit of antichrist” can also work through popular TV shows, flesh-flaunting models, and hip-hop musicians. The same chapter that talks about the spirit of antichrist also says, “They are of the world. Therefore, they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). Ultimately, any spiritual influence that leads away from Jesus Christ comes from the greatest anti-Christ being of all, lucifer himself.
Now let me ask you personally, is your own flesh dragging you down? Are you struggling with tobacco, alcohol, pornography, appetite, bitterness, an evil temper or pride? If so (and who isn’t struggling with at least one sin?), I have good news for you. Not only did God’s Son pay the full price on the cross for all our sins (see 1 Corinthians 15:3) thus enabling Him to forgive us totally, but “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). Yes, He took our flesh and conquered it! And now, as our High Priest, “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Because Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, He alone is our Savior, Intercessor and Mediator. He is our High Priest – we need no other. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5). Our almighty Savior has enough God-power to deliver us from the flesh’s deadly grip, no matter how tightly it holds us. He loves us all, and He now invites Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Democrats, Republicans, alcoholics, prostitutes, drug addicts, and everyone else to be direct and come boldly to His “throne of grace” for undeserved mercy, free forgiveness, and spiritual power to overcome evil.
Even if you feel like Mr. Weakness himself, Jesus Christ is Mr. Strong. His encouraging word is “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Do you trust Him today?
________________________________________
Very powerful words from Steve. Are you beginning to see just our deceptive our enemy is? On the surface, everything seems fine, but if you dig a little bit deeper you begin to see the truth of what is transpiring. Our enemy has not changed tactics for thousands of years for one simple reason: they work. Think about sin for a moment. Do you think Bernie Ebbers or Ken Lay envisioned a massive accounting fraud that would not only destroy their own lives, but the lives of thousands of their employees? They probably could see a bad financial quarter coming up…and a little voice whispered in their ears that there was a way to fix the problem. Nothing major mind you, you will probably be able to correct it in the next quarter. The problem is, the next quarter is worse and you begin a downward spiral and very soon, you can see no way out other than to continue the deception through to its conclusion. Eventually, you have destroyed your life and the lives of many others. Of course this was the devil’s “scheme” all along. “The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy…..” (John 10:10). “…in order that satan may not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
The same thing happens with infidelity. Someone of the opposite sex begins to show a little interest, becomes a little too friendly and you’re faced with a choice. Make it clear you are happily married and not interested, or begin to listen to the whispers that your marriage really isn’t that great right now…..what’s a little lunch with someone….it won’t hurt anyone. You’re never shown the long term consequences of your actions, only the short term pleasure. Marijuana isn’t that bad, I’ll just try a little and stop there………
These deceptive tactics are present in governments across the world. Think that our government’s number one goal is protecting us? Think they have our best interests in mind? Think they are doing everything they can to make our lives better? If you think the answer is yes, you’d be wrong. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8). We’ll discuss this in more detail when we discuss the ‘beast out of the earth” of Revelation 13, but rest assured, when the Bible tells us the world is evil, God isn’t saying that America is immune to it. Far from it. The problem in the United States is that we’ve been living the good life for so long, we think we are immune to it….and we’ve allowed our enemy to deceive us. We’re about to be shown that the world is truly evil, and America has had a big part to play in the devil’s schemes. Keep Proverbs 29:25 in mind as we continue: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Where is fear leading us to today? The answer lies in the Book of Revelation. Read on………
Continuing from “End Time Delusions”:
______________________________________
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. –Douglas Noel Adams
Every time I travel overseas, I always carry my passport so I can identify myself before local or government officials. After comparing my face with my photo, they know it’s me. In America, my driver license serves the same purpose. It lists my name, birth date, height, hair color, and current address. These details are not so much for information, but for identification. That’s the issue.
In addition to the other puzzle pieces we’ve found so far, the Bible gives us another highly practical clue to help us identify that which is truly antichrist.
Notice carefully:
…Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:2-3).
Again John wrote:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (2 John 7).
Thus the Bible plainly says twice that a denial that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” is a definite mark of the antichrist. To continue my analogy, if you ever wonder whether something or someone might be the antichrist, just look closely at the information on their passport or driver license. If you see the words, “Does Not Confess Jesus Christ Has Come in the Flesh,” you have your answer.
Every Christian should “confess” Jesus has come in the flesh. But this confession must be more than a lips-only statement that Jesus Christ was a real person who was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross for our sins. Amazingly, a person may confess all this and yet still be a “deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 7). According to the Bible, our confession must be more specific. We must confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. And this confession must be genuine, from the heart, prompted by the Spirit of God (see 1 John 4:2). What does it really mean that “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”? Let’s delve deeper and find out.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “The Word” was Jesus Christ before His nativity in Bethlehem. “The Word became flesh” simply means the infinite Son of God became Man. Here’s a key question: What kind of flesh did Jesus become when He fused with humanity? Paul answered with the utmost clarity: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). Don’t miss it. Paul said Jesus took “the same” flesh as “the children” have. “The children” doesn’t apply to Adam and Eve, for they were never babies, but were created directly by God in the Garden of Eden. Rather, “the children” applies to their descendents after sin entered the world, that is, to fallen humanity.
“As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). Thus the Bible plainly says Jesus Christ Himself “took part” of the same flesh we have. You might ask, “So what? What does this have to do with antichrist?”
First, we must understand what “the flesh” is. “The flesh” is a biblical expression which describes our basic human nature as it has been affected by sin. Paul said, “ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells….” (Romans 7:18). In other words, the flesh itself is bad. It’s our enemy. It’s like a nasty cesspool that often stinks and seeks to drag us down. “The flesh” is the channel through which satan works to tempt us and lead us into actual sin.
One of the most impenetrable mysteries found in the Bible is the truth that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3). It may be hard to fathom, but Jesus Christ “took” upon Himself the very same flesh we have. Why did He do it? So He could relate to us, understand our struggles, experience our temptations, and reach us where we are. In other words, God didn’t simply send us a rope. He entered our world’s slime and mud to get us out of it!
Yet in all of this, there is one monumental truth we must never forget, or we will drift into heresy. Even though Jesus “took” our sinful flesh and shared our humanity, He never committed one sin. He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). In spite of His real connection with human flesh, Jesus Himself – in His thoughts, feelings and character – remained “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). This is exactly what the Bible says. By taking our flesh but not participating in its evil, Jesus literally “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3), which means He met and conquered the very temptations that give us so much trouble.
Not only did Jesus defeat our flesh on our behalf, but He also died for all of our sins wherein we have yielded to temptation (see 1 Corinthians 15:3). Thus He is a perfect and complete Savior! After His total victory over satan, Jesus ascended to Heaven to become our High Priest. Notice the following connection between Christ’s being tempted in the flesh down here and His present ability up there as our High Priest to help us in our struggles.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession [or confession]. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Fantastic! Jesus Christ is now our High Priest in glory. Because He took our fallen flesh down here and conquered it, we can come directly to Him by faith up there for mercy, grace, and spiritual power. It’s true. Today, at this very moment, we have immediate access to His throne. Christ earnestly solicits our approach. We can “come boldly”!
Hebrews 2:17-18 also firmly connects Jesus Christ’s coming in the flesh with His High Priestly ministry and with His present ability to save us from sin.
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God…For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).
Again the truth is established. We need no other mediator. We can be direct. This is all part of our confession.
It’s time to tie this in with antichrist. As we have already seen, it was the teaching of the major Protestant Reformers that the “little horn” (Daniel 7:8), the “beast” (Revelation 13:1), and “the man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) all apply to papal Rome. So here’s the all-important question. Does the Roman Church genuinely confess “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh”? On the surface it claims to do so, but let’s take a closer look.
One of the official doctrines, or “confessions”, of the Church of Rome is a dogma called The Immaculate Conception. Contrary to what many think, this does not refer to the birth of Jesus as a sinless baby, but rather to the conception of Mary herself inside her own mother’s womb. The dogma teaches that when Mary was conceived, she was miraculously preserved from all original sin. Thus her nature was “immaculate”, or sinless, and therefore fundamentally different from ours. In other words, according to papal teaching, Jesus’ mother did not have exactly the same flesh and nature that we have. Now don’t miss this. What is the implication of this teaching? According to papal Rome’s official statements, when Jesus Christ was born, He took Mary’s supposedly sinless nature, not ours. If you think about it, this is really a denial that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:3).
Here’s the proof from official, Vatican-approved sources:
This is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses [this is their own word], as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
As a consequence, according to the Roman Church, when Jesus Christ was born, He took Mary’s perfect nature, not our fallen one. The famous Cardinal Gibbons said it this way:
In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity…by being born of the Virgin, [took] to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers….a true human nature of the same substance with her own.
This doctrine of The Immaculate Conception with its idea of the entrance of Jesus into Mary’s sinless nature, not ours, really removes Christ “one gigantic step away from mankind.” As a result of this dogma and others, Rome doesn’t teach sinners to “be direct” by going straight to our heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ for free forgiveness. Instead, the Vatican encourages poor sinners to come to Jesus through Mary, popes, priests and saints – that is, through the mediation of the Roman Church itself. Even more than this, Rome declares that by virtue of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and supposedly sinless life, she now has a “saving office” in addition to her Son. Through Mary’s “manifold intercession”, she is now our “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix” who can ”bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” and “deliver our souls from death.”
Thus, in her official teachings, in spite of appearances, the Roman Church really denies “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:3), that is, in “the same” (Hebrews 2:14) fallen flesh the rest of us have. No matter what she may deceptively claim, Rome’s declaration that Mary is now our “Advocate” and “Mediatrix” swerves sinners away from childlike trust in Jesus Christ alone, and thus really “denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). God’s Word says, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:3).
According to the Bible, “the spirit of antichrist” was “already” working in John’s own day (church history records a group called Gnostics who denied Jesus Christ’s coming in the flesh in the first century). As history progressed, the same spirit later reared its head through the Immaculate Conception idea. Today, “the spirit of antichrist” continues its subtle efforts through various individuals and organizations around the world to entice humanity away from direct faith in the Savior of sinners.
Personally, I think “the spirit of antichrist” can also work through popular TV shows, flesh-flaunting models, and hip-hop musicians. The same chapter that talks about the spirit of antichrist also says, “They are of the world. Therefore, they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:5-6). Ultimately, any spiritual influence that leads away from Jesus Christ comes from the greatest anti-Christ being of all, lucifer himself.
Now let me ask you personally, is your own flesh dragging you down? Are you struggling with tobacco, alcohol, pornography, appetite, bitterness, an evil temper or pride? If so (and who isn’t struggling with at least one sin?), I have good news for you. Not only did God’s Son pay the full price on the cross for all our sins (see 1 Corinthians 15:3) thus enabling Him to forgive us totally, but “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). Yes, He took our flesh and conquered it! And now, as our High Priest, “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Because Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, He alone is our Savior, Intercessor and Mediator. He is our High Priest – we need no other. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5). Our almighty Savior has enough God-power to deliver us from the flesh’s deadly grip, no matter how tightly it holds us. He loves us all, and He now invites Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Democrats, Republicans, alcoholics, prostitutes, drug addicts, and everyone else to be direct and come boldly to His “throne of grace” for undeserved mercy, free forgiveness, and spiritual power to overcome evil.
Even if you feel like Mr. Weakness himself, Jesus Christ is Mr. Strong. His encouraging word is “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Do you trust Him today?
________________________________________
Very powerful words from Steve. Are you beginning to see just our deceptive our enemy is? On the surface, everything seems fine, but if you dig a little bit deeper you begin to see the truth of what is transpiring. Our enemy has not changed tactics for thousands of years for one simple reason: they work. Think about sin for a moment. Do you think Bernie Ebbers or Ken Lay envisioned a massive accounting fraud that would not only destroy their own lives, but the lives of thousands of their employees? They probably could see a bad financial quarter coming up…and a little voice whispered in their ears that there was a way to fix the problem. Nothing major mind you, you will probably be able to correct it in the next quarter. The problem is, the next quarter is worse and you begin a downward spiral and very soon, you can see no way out other than to continue the deception through to its conclusion. Eventually, you have destroyed your life and the lives of many others. Of course this was the devil’s “scheme” all along. “The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy…..” (John 10:10). “…in order that satan may not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
The same thing happens with infidelity. Someone of the opposite sex begins to show a little interest, becomes a little too friendly and you’re faced with a choice. Make it clear you are happily married and not interested, or begin to listen to the whispers that your marriage really isn’t that great right now…..what’s a little lunch with someone….it won’t hurt anyone. You’re never shown the long term consequences of your actions, only the short term pleasure. Marijuana isn’t that bad, I’ll just try a little and stop there………
These deceptive tactics are present in governments across the world. Think that our government’s number one goal is protecting us? Think they have our best interests in mind? Think they are doing everything they can to make our lives better? If you think the answer is yes, you’d be wrong. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8). We’ll discuss this in more detail when we discuss the ‘beast out of the earth” of Revelation 13, but rest assured, when the Bible tells us the world is evil, God isn’t saying that America is immune to it. Far from it. The problem in the United States is that we’ve been living the good life for so long, we think we are immune to it….and we’ve allowed our enemy to deceive us. We’re about to be shown that the world is truly evil, and America has had a big part to play in the devil’s schemes. Keep Proverbs 29:25 in mind as we continue: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Where is fear leading us to today? The answer lies in the Book of Revelation. Read on………
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Who is the beast? (Revelation 13) Part 5
We continue our discussion on the “beasts” of Revelation.
From “End Time Delusions”:
_____________________________
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach. – Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894-1963)
As we have already seen, the major Protestant Reformers had one primary passion: To inspire sinners to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31) and to obey God’s Word above the traditions of men (see Mark 7:13). But as they tried to lead their English and European countrymen to the Bible alone, to Christ alone, to His grace alone, and to faith alone, they encountered fierce opposition from the Roman Church hierarchy. As persecution increased, it drove them deeper into their Bibles.
“There are two great truths that stand out in the preaching that brought about the Protestant Reformation”, American Bible Commentator, Ralph Woodrow, reminds us, “The just shall live by faith, not by the works of Romanism - and the Papacy is the antichrist of Scripture. It was a message for Christ and against antichrist. The entire Reformation rests upon this twofold testimony.”
H. Gratton Guiness provides this stirring testimony, not only of the effects of the Reformation, but also of one of the mightiest instruments in its accomplishment – the preaching of God’s holy prophecies about the antichrist:
From the first, and throughout, that movement was energized and guided by the prophetic word. Luther never felt strong and free to war against the papal apostasy till he recognized the pope as antichrist. It was then that he burned the Papal bull. Knox’s first sermon, the sermon which launched him on his mission as a reformer, was on the prophecies concerning the Papacy. The reformers embodied their interpretations of prophecy in their confessions of faith, and Calvin in his “Institutes”. All the reformers were unanimous in the matter; even the mild and cautious Melanchthon was as assured of the antipapal meaning of these prophecies as was Luther himself. And their interpretation of these prophecies determined their reforming action. It let them to protest against Rome with extraordinary strength and undaunted courage. It nerved them to resist the claims of that apostate Church to the uttermost. It made them martyrs; it sustained them at the stake. And the views of the reformers were shared by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. They were adopted by princes and peoples. Under their influence nations abjured their allegiance to the false priest of Rome. In the reaction which followed, all the powers of hell seemed to be let loose upon the adherents of the Reformation. War followed war, tortures, burnings and massacres were multiplied. Yet the Reformation stood undefeated and unconquerable. God’s word upheld it, and the energies of His almighty Spirit. It was the work of Christ as truly as the founding of the Church eighteen centuries ago; and the revelation of the future which He gave from Heaven – that prophetic book with which the Scripture closes – was one of the mightiest instruments employed in its accomplishment.
As you can imagine, papal Rome rose to its own defense in what became known as the Counter Reformation. In 1545, she convened a special council destined to become the heart of her central intelligence operation against Martin Luther and the Protestants. This famous council took place in northern Italy in the city of Trent, and is now known as the Council of Trent. During its many sessions (which continued until 1563), the leaders of the Vatican developed a highly sophisticated “game plan” to counteract the reformers. Up to this point, Rome’s main method of attack had been largely frontal – the open burning of Bibles and heretics. Yet this type of warfare only confirmed Protestant convictions that papal Rome was indeed the very beast which would “make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7). A new tactic was needed, something less obvious. This is where the Jesuits came in.
On August 15, 1534, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) founded the Society of Jesus, otherwise known as the Jesuits. “From the very outset of the Reformation, the Jesuit Order hung upon its heels as closely as its shadow.” This highly secretive and militant Catholic order has a dark history of intrigue and sedition; that’s why its members were expelled from Portugal (1759), France (1764), Spain (1767), Naples (1767), and Russia (1820). “Jesuit priests have been known throughout history as the most wicked political arm of the Roman Catholic Church. Edmond Paris, in his scholarly work, The Secret History of the Jesuits, reveals and documents much of this information.”
The conflict between Romanism and Protestantism was basic and irreconcilable. The Romanist believed in the authority of the Church; the Protestant, in that of the Bible. The one yielded his conscience to the priest; the other, to God alone. The Romanist believed in the pope as the visible representative of Christ on earth; the Protestant looked, instead, upon the pope as antichrist.
At the council of Trent, papal leaders and Jesuits brainstormed about how to counteract Protestantism and bring defectors back to the mother church. Behind closed doors, they decided this was to be done, not only through the Inquisition and torture, but also through theology. What kind of theology? Here’s the answer: by re-interpreting the prophecies about “the man of sin”, “the little horn”, and “the beast”!
Two very intelligent Spanish Jesuits rose to the challenge, Luis de Alcasar (1554-1613) of Seville and Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) of Salamanca. Their strategy was, in a nutshell, one of reapplication and diversion, yet they went in opposite directions. After reading the Bible by candlelight like Martin Luther did, Alcasar decided to apply the Bible’s antichrist prophecies to the ancient past while Ribera applied them to the distant future. “Smart move!” was the response from Rome. By reapplying these prophecies to the past and to the future instead of to the present, these two tricky Jesuit scholars sought to divert the prophetic finger light-years away from the Vatican. Their views quickly became official positions within the Roman Church – even though these two views contradicted each other!
Even the Catholic writer, G.S. Hitchcock, confirmed the origin of these anti-Protestant counter-theories:
The Futurist School, founded by the Jesuit Ribera in 1591, looks for antichrist, Babylon and a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, at the end of the Christian Dispensation.
The Preterist School, founded by the Jesuit Alcasar in 1614, explains Revelation by the Fall of Jerusalem or by the fall of Pagan Rome in 410 A.D.
It’s time to clarify three important isms – preterism, futurism, and historicism – which reflect three competing schools of prophetic interpretation.
Preterism is what Luis de Alcasar taught. Its prefix, “pre”, points back to the past. Preterism sees the majority (or all) of the prophecies found in Mathew 24 and the Book of Revelation as having already been fulfilled in either the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or the in the fall of the Roman Empire. For preterists, “the end of the world” usually means “the end of the Jewish world”. Concerning the core issue – who is the antichrist? – preterists usually see the Roman Emperor Nero as the number one candidate. Compared with futurism and historicism, preterism has always been a minority viewpoint within the church, yet it is now making increased inroads into 21st century Christianity. Developed in the 1600’s by the Jesuit Alcasar into a full anti-Protestant system, preterism strategically removes the “little horn” stigma away from the Vatican. Jesuit objective achieved.
Futurism is what Francisco Ribera taught. In contrast to preterism, futurism usually sees the majority of Revelation’s prophecies (from Chapter 4 onward) on the horizon. Concerning the antichrist, instead of preterism’s application to Nero in the past, futurism generally applies the prophecies of “the little horn”, “the man of sin” and “the beast” to a single, yet-future Mr. Serpent who will slither into history during time’s last sliver (now usually seen as a “seven year” sliver). Compared to preterism and historicism, futurism has by far the most adherents in the 21st century as the majority report. As with preterism, futurism’s net result is that it also significantly wipes away “the beast” stain from the papacy. Jesuit objective achieved again.
In staunch opposition to both preterism and futurism is historicism, which is what the vast majority of Protestants used to teach. In essence, historicism teaches straight-forward, chronological progression by saying that the major prophecies of Daniel and Revelation find fulfillment throughout Christian history while pointing toward a climactic, visible second coming of our Savior. Historicism also places special emphasis on the ongoing struggle between Jesus Christ and satan inside the Christian church. While not wanting to attack honest individuals, historicism still points the prophetic finger at the Vatican by calling it “the little horn”, “the man of sin”, “the beast” and “Mystery Babylon”. Jesuit objective not achieved.
Describing historicism as the truest and most reasonable method of interpretation, E.B. Elliott comments on the entire Book of Revelation:
Its subject matter I assume to be the continuous fortunes of the church and of the world, (that is of the Roman world and Christian Church settled therein), from the time of the revelation being given, or time of St. John’s banishment, to the end of all things.
In another description of the “historic Protestant view of the Apocalypse,” Elliott wrote:
That view regards the prophecy as a pre-figuration of the great events that were to happen in the Church, and the world connected with it, from St. John’s time to the consummation; including specially the establishment of Popedom, and the reign of Papal Rome, as in some way or the other the fulfillment of the types of the Apocalyptic Beast and Babylon.
Historicist teachers of the past (and present), far from being aberrant theologians, include some of Christianity’s most illustrious scholars: John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Philip Malanchthon, Ulrich Zwingli, Robert Barnes, Isaac Newton and many others. These may not see eye to eye on every doctrinal detail; but they’ve all discerned the fulfillment of prophecy in church history and especially in the anti-christ nature of the papacy as a colossal institution whose doctrines deny the New Testament message of free salvation by grace through simple faith in the Crucified and Risen One, apart from works.
________________________________
I think we can all agree that the majority of people in today’s Christian world believe the futurist view of the Bible’s end time prophecies. Did it surprise you that the Roman Catholic Church initiated this theory? It surprised me. I will also say that in all the time I’ve spent in the Protestant Church over the course of my life, I have never once heard that the early Protestants believed the Catholic Church was the antichrist….even though it fits these prophecies. Is the historicist view politically incorrect in our modern world? Why do most Protestant churches now adhere to this view? We’ll examine this in the next posting.
Countless Christian books and movies adhere to the futurist view. It does a nice job of selling books and tickets and there really isn’t any opposition to it. The enemy is always some future bad guy, so therefore, no one gets offended today. Imagine if a movie studio tried to make a movie about Martin Luther and his belief that the Catholic Church was the antichrist. It wouldn’t be pretty. I believed the futurist view myself until earlier this year and I will agree that it is intriguing. It’s also more comforting to believe that these prophecies will happen at some point in the future outside our lifetime. Regardless of whether is makes us feel better, is it the truth? Would God leave a 2,000 year prophetic void in history? As I’ve said before, I believe the answer is no. I agree with Steve Wohlberg in that the futurist view was launched in the 1600’s as a way to deflect us from the truth. It has worked so well, that today, most of us don’t even know when it originated or where it originated from. In the next posting, we’ll examine how this view found acceptance in modern-day Protestant churches.
From “End Time Delusions”:
_____________________________
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach. – Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894-1963)
As we have already seen, the major Protestant Reformers had one primary passion: To inspire sinners to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31) and to obey God’s Word above the traditions of men (see Mark 7:13). But as they tried to lead their English and European countrymen to the Bible alone, to Christ alone, to His grace alone, and to faith alone, they encountered fierce opposition from the Roman Church hierarchy. As persecution increased, it drove them deeper into their Bibles.
“There are two great truths that stand out in the preaching that brought about the Protestant Reformation”, American Bible Commentator, Ralph Woodrow, reminds us, “The just shall live by faith, not by the works of Romanism - and the Papacy is the antichrist of Scripture. It was a message for Christ and against antichrist. The entire Reformation rests upon this twofold testimony.”
H. Gratton Guiness provides this stirring testimony, not only of the effects of the Reformation, but also of one of the mightiest instruments in its accomplishment – the preaching of God’s holy prophecies about the antichrist:
From the first, and throughout, that movement was energized and guided by the prophetic word. Luther never felt strong and free to war against the papal apostasy till he recognized the pope as antichrist. It was then that he burned the Papal bull. Knox’s first sermon, the sermon which launched him on his mission as a reformer, was on the prophecies concerning the Papacy. The reformers embodied their interpretations of prophecy in their confessions of faith, and Calvin in his “Institutes”. All the reformers were unanimous in the matter; even the mild and cautious Melanchthon was as assured of the antipapal meaning of these prophecies as was Luther himself. And their interpretation of these prophecies determined their reforming action. It let them to protest against Rome with extraordinary strength and undaunted courage. It nerved them to resist the claims of that apostate Church to the uttermost. It made them martyrs; it sustained them at the stake. And the views of the reformers were shared by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. They were adopted by princes and peoples. Under their influence nations abjured their allegiance to the false priest of Rome. In the reaction which followed, all the powers of hell seemed to be let loose upon the adherents of the Reformation. War followed war, tortures, burnings and massacres were multiplied. Yet the Reformation stood undefeated and unconquerable. God’s word upheld it, and the energies of His almighty Spirit. It was the work of Christ as truly as the founding of the Church eighteen centuries ago; and the revelation of the future which He gave from Heaven – that prophetic book with which the Scripture closes – was one of the mightiest instruments employed in its accomplishment.
As you can imagine, papal Rome rose to its own defense in what became known as the Counter Reformation. In 1545, she convened a special council destined to become the heart of her central intelligence operation against Martin Luther and the Protestants. This famous council took place in northern Italy in the city of Trent, and is now known as the Council of Trent. During its many sessions (which continued until 1563), the leaders of the Vatican developed a highly sophisticated “game plan” to counteract the reformers. Up to this point, Rome’s main method of attack had been largely frontal – the open burning of Bibles and heretics. Yet this type of warfare only confirmed Protestant convictions that papal Rome was indeed the very beast which would “make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7). A new tactic was needed, something less obvious. This is where the Jesuits came in.
On August 15, 1534, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) founded the Society of Jesus, otherwise known as the Jesuits. “From the very outset of the Reformation, the Jesuit Order hung upon its heels as closely as its shadow.” This highly secretive and militant Catholic order has a dark history of intrigue and sedition; that’s why its members were expelled from Portugal (1759), France (1764), Spain (1767), Naples (1767), and Russia (1820). “Jesuit priests have been known throughout history as the most wicked political arm of the Roman Catholic Church. Edmond Paris, in his scholarly work, The Secret History of the Jesuits, reveals and documents much of this information.”
The conflict between Romanism and Protestantism was basic and irreconcilable. The Romanist believed in the authority of the Church; the Protestant, in that of the Bible. The one yielded his conscience to the priest; the other, to God alone. The Romanist believed in the pope as the visible representative of Christ on earth; the Protestant looked, instead, upon the pope as antichrist.
At the council of Trent, papal leaders and Jesuits brainstormed about how to counteract Protestantism and bring defectors back to the mother church. Behind closed doors, they decided this was to be done, not only through the Inquisition and torture, but also through theology. What kind of theology? Here’s the answer: by re-interpreting the prophecies about “the man of sin”, “the little horn”, and “the beast”!
Two very intelligent Spanish Jesuits rose to the challenge, Luis de Alcasar (1554-1613) of Seville and Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) of Salamanca. Their strategy was, in a nutshell, one of reapplication and diversion, yet they went in opposite directions. After reading the Bible by candlelight like Martin Luther did, Alcasar decided to apply the Bible’s antichrist prophecies to the ancient past while Ribera applied them to the distant future. “Smart move!” was the response from Rome. By reapplying these prophecies to the past and to the future instead of to the present, these two tricky Jesuit scholars sought to divert the prophetic finger light-years away from the Vatican. Their views quickly became official positions within the Roman Church – even though these two views contradicted each other!
Even the Catholic writer, G.S. Hitchcock, confirmed the origin of these anti-Protestant counter-theories:
The Futurist School, founded by the Jesuit Ribera in 1591, looks for antichrist, Babylon and a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, at the end of the Christian Dispensation.
The Preterist School, founded by the Jesuit Alcasar in 1614, explains Revelation by the Fall of Jerusalem or by the fall of Pagan Rome in 410 A.D.
It’s time to clarify three important isms – preterism, futurism, and historicism – which reflect three competing schools of prophetic interpretation.
Preterism is what Luis de Alcasar taught. Its prefix, “pre”, points back to the past. Preterism sees the majority (or all) of the prophecies found in Mathew 24 and the Book of Revelation as having already been fulfilled in either the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or the in the fall of the Roman Empire. For preterists, “the end of the world” usually means “the end of the Jewish world”. Concerning the core issue – who is the antichrist? – preterists usually see the Roman Emperor Nero as the number one candidate. Compared with futurism and historicism, preterism has always been a minority viewpoint within the church, yet it is now making increased inroads into 21st century Christianity. Developed in the 1600’s by the Jesuit Alcasar into a full anti-Protestant system, preterism strategically removes the “little horn” stigma away from the Vatican. Jesuit objective achieved.
Futurism is what Francisco Ribera taught. In contrast to preterism, futurism usually sees the majority of Revelation’s prophecies (from Chapter 4 onward) on the horizon. Concerning the antichrist, instead of preterism’s application to Nero in the past, futurism generally applies the prophecies of “the little horn”, “the man of sin” and “the beast” to a single, yet-future Mr. Serpent who will slither into history during time’s last sliver (now usually seen as a “seven year” sliver). Compared to preterism and historicism, futurism has by far the most adherents in the 21st century as the majority report. As with preterism, futurism’s net result is that it also significantly wipes away “the beast” stain from the papacy. Jesuit objective achieved again.
In staunch opposition to both preterism and futurism is historicism, which is what the vast majority of Protestants used to teach. In essence, historicism teaches straight-forward, chronological progression by saying that the major prophecies of Daniel and Revelation find fulfillment throughout Christian history while pointing toward a climactic, visible second coming of our Savior. Historicism also places special emphasis on the ongoing struggle between Jesus Christ and satan inside the Christian church. While not wanting to attack honest individuals, historicism still points the prophetic finger at the Vatican by calling it “the little horn”, “the man of sin”, “the beast” and “Mystery Babylon”. Jesuit objective not achieved.
Describing historicism as the truest and most reasonable method of interpretation, E.B. Elliott comments on the entire Book of Revelation:
Its subject matter I assume to be the continuous fortunes of the church and of the world, (that is of the Roman world and Christian Church settled therein), from the time of the revelation being given, or time of St. John’s banishment, to the end of all things.
In another description of the “historic Protestant view of the Apocalypse,” Elliott wrote:
That view regards the prophecy as a pre-figuration of the great events that were to happen in the Church, and the world connected with it, from St. John’s time to the consummation; including specially the establishment of Popedom, and the reign of Papal Rome, as in some way or the other the fulfillment of the types of the Apocalyptic Beast and Babylon.
Historicist teachers of the past (and present), far from being aberrant theologians, include some of Christianity’s most illustrious scholars: John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Philip Malanchthon, Ulrich Zwingli, Robert Barnes, Isaac Newton and many others. These may not see eye to eye on every doctrinal detail; but they’ve all discerned the fulfillment of prophecy in church history and especially in the anti-christ nature of the papacy as a colossal institution whose doctrines deny the New Testament message of free salvation by grace through simple faith in the Crucified and Risen One, apart from works.
________________________________
I think we can all agree that the majority of people in today’s Christian world believe the futurist view of the Bible’s end time prophecies. Did it surprise you that the Roman Catholic Church initiated this theory? It surprised me. I will also say that in all the time I’ve spent in the Protestant Church over the course of my life, I have never once heard that the early Protestants believed the Catholic Church was the antichrist….even though it fits these prophecies. Is the historicist view politically incorrect in our modern world? Why do most Protestant churches now adhere to this view? We’ll examine this in the next posting.
Countless Christian books and movies adhere to the futurist view. It does a nice job of selling books and tickets and there really isn’t any opposition to it. The enemy is always some future bad guy, so therefore, no one gets offended today. Imagine if a movie studio tried to make a movie about Martin Luther and his belief that the Catholic Church was the antichrist. It wouldn’t be pretty. I believed the futurist view myself until earlier this year and I will agree that it is intriguing. It’s also more comforting to believe that these prophecies will happen at some point in the future outside our lifetime. Regardless of whether is makes us feel better, is it the truth? Would God leave a 2,000 year prophetic void in history? As I’ve said before, I believe the answer is no. I agree with Steve Wohlberg in that the futurist view was launched in the 1600’s as a way to deflect us from the truth. It has worked so well, that today, most of us don’t even know when it originated or where it originated from. In the next posting, we’ll examine how this view found acceptance in modern-day Protestant churches.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Who is the beast? (Revelation 13) Part 6
In this posting we’ll discuss how the futurist view of the antichrist found its way into Protestant teaching. In Steve’s book, this chapter is called “The Path of the Virus”, which is a fitting analogy. It is astonishing to me that many of us (myself included) have never taken the time to learn these things. Once again, the world keeps us too busy to really look into what is important. These are things that we all need to know, because ultimately, true knowledge and wisdom from God’s Word will lead you to salvation in Jesus Christ. Lack of knowledge and wisdom will lead you to an eternal life in desolation. “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). What does God say about worldly knowledge and wisdom? “for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Worldly knowledge and wisdom is foolishness. All the Doctorate degrees in the world won’t help you gain knowledge and wisdom of what is truly important – God and His plan of salvation for us. True knowledge and wisdom come from God. You must ask God through Prayer for the truth.
Let’s continue our history lesson with “End Time Delusions”:
_______________________________________
Oh, how powerfully the magnet of illusion attracts. –Karl Gutzkow (1811-1878)
Code Red, Melissa, Sircam, Nimba, Loveletter, Klez, Mydoom – what do they all have in common? They’re computer viruses that can turn one’s beloved laptop or PC into a terribly malfunctioning machine that becomes good for nothing. Just as Osama bin Laden became public enemy number one to the United States after September 11, 2001, even so has the computer virus become public enemy number one to all who sit before a monitor.
This chapter is about prophecy, not computers, nevertheless we can learn many spiritual lessons from the virus. As we have plainly seen, the Protestant reformers held two core beliefs: 1) Salvation is through the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ alone; and 2) Papal Rome is the antichrist of Scripture. Their prophetic perspective was called historicism. In the language of computers, we might say that historicism was their basic prophetic operating system, much like Windows XP is now the main operating system for most PCs. Even though computer programs and systems become quickly outdated because of upgrades to better versions, it is an amazing fact that historicism remained intact as the primary operating system of most Protestant churches for almost 400 years.
But in our 21st century, historicism has faded and futurism is in as the majority report. What happened? How did the seismic shift take place? The story is both fascinating and tragic. Here are the highlights. We have already seen that at the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church reacted against the Reformation by commissioning members of the Jesuit Order to counteract historicism. In a short time, Alcasar and Ribera put forth their anti-Protestant counter-theories. In this chapter, the inroads of Ribera’s influence into Protestantism will be traced because, although Alcasar’s preterism is now making renewed progress into churches, Ribera’s teaching is overwhelmingly dominant.
Shortly after the Council of Trent, with the blessing of the Pope, Francisco Ribera master-minded a virus, the virus of futurism. For the next 300 years his Jesuit cohorts did their best to insert this virus into Protestant churches, especially through educational processes connected with the universities of Europe, but they failed. Protestants were too smart and they consistently blocked futurism’s entrance. In addition to effective Holy Spirit virus protection, they basically said, “Sorry. We don’t open foreign attachments!”
But in the 1800’s they dropped their guard. The futurism of Ribera never posed a positive threat to the Protestants for three centuries. It was virtually confined to the Roman Church. But early in the nineteenth century it sprang forth with vehemence and latched on to Protestants of the Established Church of England.
Dr. Samuel Roffey Maitland (1792-1866), a British lawyer and Bible scholar, became a librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. It is likely that one day he discovered Ribera’s commentary in the library. In any event, in 1826 he published a widely read book attacking the Reformation and supporting the Jesuit idea of a future Mr. Antichrist person. For the next ten years, in tract after tract, he continued his anti-Reformation rhetoric.
After Dr. Maitland came James H. Todd, professor of Hebrew at the University of Dublin. Giving credit to Maitland, Todd published his own futuristic pamphlets and books. Commenting on the views of Maitland and another so-called Protestant (Mr. Burgh), E.B. Elliott reported how these “two Protestant writers excused the Papacy from any concern with the predicted antichristian apostasy.”
Next player: John Henry Newman (1801-1890), a member of the Church of England and a leader of the famous Oxford movement. In 1850, Newman wrote his “Letter on Anglican Difficulties” blatantly revealing that one of the goals of the movement was to lead “the various English denominations and parties” back to Rome. The “Oxford Tracts” gave fresh weight to “anti-Protestant opinions,” gave “assistance to the laborers of the futurist school,” worked to “unprotestantize the Church of England” and “set aside all application to the Roman Papacy of the fearful prophecies respecting antichrist.” After publishing his own pamphlet about a future Mr. Sinister, Newman himself became a Catholic, and later a highly honored cardinal. Through the combined influences of Maitland, Todd, Burgh, Newman and others, a definite “Romeward movement had arisen that destined to sweep away the old Protestant landmarks, as with a flood.” The virus was sneaking in.
Then came the Scottish Presbyterian minister Edward Irving (1792-1834) who pastured the large Chalcedonian Chapel in London with over 1,000 members. Co-founder of The Society for the Investigation of Prophecy, Irving eventually accepted the one-man antichrist idea of Newman, Burgh, Todd, Maitland, Bellarmine and Ribera, yet he went a step further. Somewhere around 1830, Edward Irving began to teach the novel idea of a two-phase return of Christ, the first phase being a secret rapture before the rise of antichrist. Where he got this concept is a matter of hot dispute. Christian journalist Dave MacPherson has researched this matter for many years. In his investigative books – The Rapture Plot and The Incredible Cover-Up – Mr. MacPherson suggests Irving snatched it from a young Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald who first “saw” it during an ecstatic “revelation”. Regardless of where Irving got it, the fact is, he taught it!
In the midst of this growing anti-Protestant climate in England came the man we talked about earlier, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). A brilliant lawyer, pastor and theologian, Darby wrote more than 53 books on Bible subjects. On the positive side, he staunchly defended the infallibility of the Scriptures against British liberalism and soon became one of the leaders of an English group called the Plymouth Brethren. Darby’s contribution to the development of evangelical theology has been so great he has been called The Father of Modern Dispensationalism. Yet John Nelson Darby, like Edward Irving, not only became a champion for the pre-tribulation rapture idea (some say he grabbed it from Irving, others say he found it on his own), but also of a future antichrist who appears only after we disappear. Both teachings – a secret rapture and a future Mr. antichrist – are now dispensational pillars.
Reporting on Irving and Darby’s rapture-then-antichrist views, MacPherson wrote:
Into this [futurist] system both Darby and Irving had injected a further refinement, based upon a declared attempt to reconcile the different parts of the New Testament which they considered to be relevant. In their view, the Second Advent would take place in two stages: first, there would be a quiet appearance – the “presence” – of Christ, when all true Christians, the true Church, would be removed from the earth. This was the “rapture of the saints”. Only then, when the restraining presence of the Holy Spirit in His own people had been removed from the world scene, would antichrist arise. His rule would be brought to an end by the second stage of the Advent – the public “appearing” of Christ in glory.
Concerning the highly probable link to Margaret MacDonald, MacPherson testified:
Since Margaret MacDonald was the first person to teach a coming of Christ that would precede the days of antichrist, it necessarily follows that Darby – back to whom pre-tribism can easily be traced – was at least the second or third or even further down the line. To date, no solid evidence has been found that proves that anyone other than this young Scottish lassie was the first person to teach a future coming of Christ before the days of antichrist. Before 1830, Christians had always believed in a single future coming, that the “catching up” of 1 Thessalonians 4 will take place after the Great Tribulation of Mathew 24 at the glorious coming of the Son of Man when He shall send His angels to gather together all of His elect.
Whether she realized it or not, Margaret did her part to pave the way for the doctrine that would demand separate waiting rooms at the end of this age – one for the church and another one for Israel!
In light of MacPherson’s careful research, it seems Margaret MacDonald’s pre-antichrist “rapture revelation” is the real smoking gun behind Darby’s theology. Regardless, the essential pre-tribulationism of Margaret’s doctrine soon became a weapon of mass deception in the hands of Darby and his dispensationalist followers.
One of the most important figures in this whole drama is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921), a Kansas lawyer who was greatly influenced by the writings of Darby. In 1909, Scofield published the first edition of his famous Scofield Reference Bible. In the early 1900’s, this Bible became so popular in American Protestant Bible schools that literally millions of copies were printed. What made Scofield’s Bible so energizing was not so much the Scripture itself, but his footnotes. Yet those footnotes contained the virus. Anti-Reformation interpretations were inserted that pointed the finger away from papal Rome and toward a future antichrist. As 20th century American Protestants “downloaded” Scofield’s notes into their unsuspecting brains, the virus attacked file after file linked to historicism, clicking “delete”.
The Moody Bible Institute and the Dallas Theological Seminary have strongly supported the teachings of John Nelson Darby. Thus these firmly Christian institutions, in spite of the good they have done and continue to do, have unknowingly enabled the virus to do what viruses do best – multiply rapidly.
Then in the 1970’s, Pastor Hal Lindsey, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, released his blockbuster book, The Late Great Planet Earth. This 177 page, easy-to-read volume brought futurism to the masses of American Christianity, and beyond. The New York Times labeled it, “The number one best-seller of the decade.” Over 30 million copies have been sold and it has been translated into over 30 languages. Through The Late Great Planet Earth, the Jesuit virus of futurism made incredible progress in its ancient intelligence strategy to replace historicism as the prophetic operating system of the Protestant world.
Enter Left Behind. In the 1990’s, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins took the future Mr. Evil idea of Hal Lindsey, Scofield, Darby, Irving, Newman, Todd, Maitland and the Jesuit Ribera, and turned it into “the most successful Christian-fiction series ever” (Publisher’s Weekly). Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was largely theological, while Left Behind is a fast-moving sequence of highly imaginative novels “overflowing with suspense, action and adventure” (Entertainment Weekly). The novels have reached the bestseller lists of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and have even resulted in an interview of LaHaye and Jenkins on Larry King Live. Left Behind books are now available at Wal-mart, Costco, Target, airports and inside countless other stores. The central figure of this blockbuster series is Nicolae Carpathia, representing Mr. Nightmare himself, the after-the-rapture antichrist. The result? Through Left Behind, the virus of futurism has multiplied exponentially and practically taken over the prophecy-minded Christian world. Most Christians expect a future antichrist, which means Protestantism’s original operating system has crashed!
Tragically, historicism has been knocked down by a powerful punch, but let me clarify something – it’s not entirely out of the boxing ring. Though not as popular as it once was, historicism lives. God’s truth never dies.
In the light of history, the Protestant Reformation, and a correct understanding of the Bible’s antichrist prophecies, in this sense only, historicism is a the good virus. Who is bold enough to upload the truth? Dear friend, an essential component of this good virus – the biblical truth about the antichrist – when rightly understood, will blow both preterism and futurism into a million pieces. It may be painful, but it needs to happen for the sake of Christians everywhere.
Truth may be in the minority, but don’t forget, its power is limitless. In the 1500’s, it started with individuals like Martin Luther. He studied the Word of God and then inserted its high-voltage force into European Christianity. Through the Holy Spirit’s power, Luther and his associates helped dissipate the Dark Ages. The Reformation shook the world.
In the 21st century, God again wants to shake the world (see Revelation 18:1).
He’s looking for heroes to upload His good virus.
___________________________________________
So, now you know how Nicolae Carpathia was born. Very sobering history lesson. Let’s take a look at how this happened through spiritual eyes. Let’s start by stating who our true enemy is. Who does the Bible say is our enemy? People walking around with us on the Earth? No. Our enemies are spiritual forces of evil and wickedness. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12). So, our true enemy is satan and his demonic forces. Let’s think about our enemy for a second. Does he plan and scheme against us? Absolutely. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11). What do these schemes lead to? What is the devil trying to do to us? “The thief [satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10). To summarize who are enemy is and what he is trying to do:
1. Our enemies are spiritual forces of evil (satan), not human beings.
2. Satan plans and schemes against us using temptations, people not filled with the Holy Spirit, etc.
3. The goal of our enemy is to destroy us…..physically, mentally, financially, spiritually.
So, knowing this, how can our enemy use futurism against us? It may seem trivial at first, but let’s think this through. Our enemy slithers into Christ’s Church after the fall of the Roman Empire and takes over. The simple message of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is pushed out and man-made rituals and worldly religious traditions are installed (sounds very similar to what the enemy did to religion leading up to and during Christ’s time on earth). A simple invention, the printing press, leads to the printing of millions of copies of the Bible being distributed throughout Europe (Think that was a coincidence? – don’t forget, we’re in a war). The Reformation results from the spreading of God's Word and the papal system is labeled as the antichrist. Now, if you’re the enemy, you’ve got a problem. Hundreds of thousands of souls are leaving the church you’ve infiltrated. They are flocking to the Truth. What’s the initial solution? Let’s kill and torture as many of these “reformers” as possible and drive everyone back to the “mother church” by fear. The problem is that the Holy Spirit is working through these saints and they are not backing down. In fact, it just solidifies their beliefs that the Roman Church is the antichrist. Regardless of death and torture, they are standing for Jesus Christ. So, the enemy tries another tactic that he’s good at – deception. Futurism is introduced, our enemy waits patiently, and after 300 years, the deception takes hold. Attention is diverted from the truth. Everyone is looking into the future (perpetually) and not paying attention to what is happening in the here and now.
What are a couple of things that Christians (and some non-Christians) today are looking for in order to determine when the antichrist will come on the scene? The pre-tribulation rapture, a rebuilt Jewish temple and an antichrist peace treaty with Israel. Think about what happens when these things don’t happen. Think about what the enemy will try to do when horrific wars break out, plagues, famine and diseases get worse and …..no rapture. Think about the “beasts” persecuting God’s saints endlessly and ……no rapture. What do you think the enemy will whisper in our ears then? I’ve got an idea……Where’s God? Where’s the rapture? Doesn’t God’s word say you should be out of here? You’re not out of here, so either you’re not a true Christian or God’s Word isn’t true. He will attack our faith......and he's been planning this for hundreds of years. Remember, our enemy has an IQ of around a billion (don’t quote me). He’s planning and scheming against us. He wants to destroy us. The whole futurist theory is a deception by our enemy. It’s harmless now, but it won’t be harmless much longer. The other problem is that true Christians are waiting around for a rapture instead of putting on the armor of God and preparing for the spiritual battles we face.
What will the spiritual battles look like? It’s not hard to see. All we have to do is look back into history at the first Protestants to see what true faith looks like. The next posting will take a look at what they faced. Ladies and gentlemen, in wars there are casualties. A good soldier can put the fear of battle away and focus on the fight at hand. We must be able to do the same. We don’t fight with the weapons of this world, but it is a life and death battle nonetheless. Remember – “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed” (Revelation 13:3). Although the saints of the Reformation wounded the beast with the Sword of God’s Word, the beast is on its way back. It will be joined with another worldwide political beast (we’ll discuss this beast in future postings). These beasts will “make war on God’s saints”. Are you ready? When I say ready, I mean have you put on God’s armor (Ephesians 6)? Are you ready to die for our Savior? You may be thinking that this statement is a bit harsh. After all, things are pretty good right now. Not for long. It’s the truth of what we face. What we’re going to face is worse than what the Reformers faced in the Dark Ages. We must be prepared to discern the Mark (this will be much more deceiving than a simple microchip) and resist it. God is looking for warriors to rise up and take the battle to the enemy. I leave you with Psalm 94:16-17.
“Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against the evildoers? Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.”
Let’s continue our history lesson with “End Time Delusions”:
_______________________________________
Oh, how powerfully the magnet of illusion attracts. –Karl Gutzkow (1811-1878)
Code Red, Melissa, Sircam, Nimba, Loveletter, Klez, Mydoom – what do they all have in common? They’re computer viruses that can turn one’s beloved laptop or PC into a terribly malfunctioning machine that becomes good for nothing. Just as Osama bin Laden became public enemy number one to the United States after September 11, 2001, even so has the computer virus become public enemy number one to all who sit before a monitor.
This chapter is about prophecy, not computers, nevertheless we can learn many spiritual lessons from the virus. As we have plainly seen, the Protestant reformers held two core beliefs: 1) Salvation is through the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ alone; and 2) Papal Rome is the antichrist of Scripture. Their prophetic perspective was called historicism. In the language of computers, we might say that historicism was their basic prophetic operating system, much like Windows XP is now the main operating system for most PCs. Even though computer programs and systems become quickly outdated because of upgrades to better versions, it is an amazing fact that historicism remained intact as the primary operating system of most Protestant churches for almost 400 years.
But in our 21st century, historicism has faded and futurism is in as the majority report. What happened? How did the seismic shift take place? The story is both fascinating and tragic. Here are the highlights. We have already seen that at the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church reacted against the Reformation by commissioning members of the Jesuit Order to counteract historicism. In a short time, Alcasar and Ribera put forth their anti-Protestant counter-theories. In this chapter, the inroads of Ribera’s influence into Protestantism will be traced because, although Alcasar’s preterism is now making renewed progress into churches, Ribera’s teaching is overwhelmingly dominant.
Shortly after the Council of Trent, with the blessing of the Pope, Francisco Ribera master-minded a virus, the virus of futurism. For the next 300 years his Jesuit cohorts did their best to insert this virus into Protestant churches, especially through educational processes connected with the universities of Europe, but they failed. Protestants were too smart and they consistently blocked futurism’s entrance. In addition to effective Holy Spirit virus protection, they basically said, “Sorry. We don’t open foreign attachments!”
But in the 1800’s they dropped their guard. The futurism of Ribera never posed a positive threat to the Protestants for three centuries. It was virtually confined to the Roman Church. But early in the nineteenth century it sprang forth with vehemence and latched on to Protestants of the Established Church of England.
Dr. Samuel Roffey Maitland (1792-1866), a British lawyer and Bible scholar, became a librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. It is likely that one day he discovered Ribera’s commentary in the library. In any event, in 1826 he published a widely read book attacking the Reformation and supporting the Jesuit idea of a future Mr. Antichrist person. For the next ten years, in tract after tract, he continued his anti-Reformation rhetoric.
After Dr. Maitland came James H. Todd, professor of Hebrew at the University of Dublin. Giving credit to Maitland, Todd published his own futuristic pamphlets and books. Commenting on the views of Maitland and another so-called Protestant (Mr. Burgh), E.B. Elliott reported how these “two Protestant writers excused the Papacy from any concern with the predicted antichristian apostasy.”
Next player: John Henry Newman (1801-1890), a member of the Church of England and a leader of the famous Oxford movement. In 1850, Newman wrote his “Letter on Anglican Difficulties” blatantly revealing that one of the goals of the movement was to lead “the various English denominations and parties” back to Rome. The “Oxford Tracts” gave fresh weight to “anti-Protestant opinions,” gave “assistance to the laborers of the futurist school,” worked to “unprotestantize the Church of England” and “set aside all application to the Roman Papacy of the fearful prophecies respecting antichrist.” After publishing his own pamphlet about a future Mr. Sinister, Newman himself became a Catholic, and later a highly honored cardinal. Through the combined influences of Maitland, Todd, Burgh, Newman and others, a definite “Romeward movement had arisen that destined to sweep away the old Protestant landmarks, as with a flood.” The virus was sneaking in.
Then came the Scottish Presbyterian minister Edward Irving (1792-1834) who pastured the large Chalcedonian Chapel in London with over 1,000 members. Co-founder of The Society for the Investigation of Prophecy, Irving eventually accepted the one-man antichrist idea of Newman, Burgh, Todd, Maitland, Bellarmine and Ribera, yet he went a step further. Somewhere around 1830, Edward Irving began to teach the novel idea of a two-phase return of Christ, the first phase being a secret rapture before the rise of antichrist. Where he got this concept is a matter of hot dispute. Christian journalist Dave MacPherson has researched this matter for many years. In his investigative books – The Rapture Plot and The Incredible Cover-Up – Mr. MacPherson suggests Irving snatched it from a young Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald who first “saw” it during an ecstatic “revelation”. Regardless of where Irving got it, the fact is, he taught it!
In the midst of this growing anti-Protestant climate in England came the man we talked about earlier, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). A brilliant lawyer, pastor and theologian, Darby wrote more than 53 books on Bible subjects. On the positive side, he staunchly defended the infallibility of the Scriptures against British liberalism and soon became one of the leaders of an English group called the Plymouth Brethren. Darby’s contribution to the development of evangelical theology has been so great he has been called The Father of Modern Dispensationalism. Yet John Nelson Darby, like Edward Irving, not only became a champion for the pre-tribulation rapture idea (some say he grabbed it from Irving, others say he found it on his own), but also of a future antichrist who appears only after we disappear. Both teachings – a secret rapture and a future Mr. antichrist – are now dispensational pillars.
Reporting on Irving and Darby’s rapture-then-antichrist views, MacPherson wrote:
Into this [futurist] system both Darby and Irving had injected a further refinement, based upon a declared attempt to reconcile the different parts of the New Testament which they considered to be relevant. In their view, the Second Advent would take place in two stages: first, there would be a quiet appearance – the “presence” – of Christ, when all true Christians, the true Church, would be removed from the earth. This was the “rapture of the saints”. Only then, when the restraining presence of the Holy Spirit in His own people had been removed from the world scene, would antichrist arise. His rule would be brought to an end by the second stage of the Advent – the public “appearing” of Christ in glory.
Concerning the highly probable link to Margaret MacDonald, MacPherson testified:
Since Margaret MacDonald was the first person to teach a coming of Christ that would precede the days of antichrist, it necessarily follows that Darby – back to whom pre-tribism can easily be traced – was at least the second or third or even further down the line. To date, no solid evidence has been found that proves that anyone other than this young Scottish lassie was the first person to teach a future coming of Christ before the days of antichrist. Before 1830, Christians had always believed in a single future coming, that the “catching up” of 1 Thessalonians 4 will take place after the Great Tribulation of Mathew 24 at the glorious coming of the Son of Man when He shall send His angels to gather together all of His elect.
Whether she realized it or not, Margaret did her part to pave the way for the doctrine that would demand separate waiting rooms at the end of this age – one for the church and another one for Israel!
In light of MacPherson’s careful research, it seems Margaret MacDonald’s pre-antichrist “rapture revelation” is the real smoking gun behind Darby’s theology. Regardless, the essential pre-tribulationism of Margaret’s doctrine soon became a weapon of mass deception in the hands of Darby and his dispensationalist followers.
One of the most important figures in this whole drama is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921), a Kansas lawyer who was greatly influenced by the writings of Darby. In 1909, Scofield published the first edition of his famous Scofield Reference Bible. In the early 1900’s, this Bible became so popular in American Protestant Bible schools that literally millions of copies were printed. What made Scofield’s Bible so energizing was not so much the Scripture itself, but his footnotes. Yet those footnotes contained the virus. Anti-Reformation interpretations were inserted that pointed the finger away from papal Rome and toward a future antichrist. As 20th century American Protestants “downloaded” Scofield’s notes into their unsuspecting brains, the virus attacked file after file linked to historicism, clicking “delete”.
The Moody Bible Institute and the Dallas Theological Seminary have strongly supported the teachings of John Nelson Darby. Thus these firmly Christian institutions, in spite of the good they have done and continue to do, have unknowingly enabled the virus to do what viruses do best – multiply rapidly.
Then in the 1970’s, Pastor Hal Lindsey, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, released his blockbuster book, The Late Great Planet Earth. This 177 page, easy-to-read volume brought futurism to the masses of American Christianity, and beyond. The New York Times labeled it, “The number one best-seller of the decade.” Over 30 million copies have been sold and it has been translated into over 30 languages. Through The Late Great Planet Earth, the Jesuit virus of futurism made incredible progress in its ancient intelligence strategy to replace historicism as the prophetic operating system of the Protestant world.
Enter Left Behind. In the 1990’s, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins took the future Mr. Evil idea of Hal Lindsey, Scofield, Darby, Irving, Newman, Todd, Maitland and the Jesuit Ribera, and turned it into “the most successful Christian-fiction series ever” (Publisher’s Weekly). Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was largely theological, while Left Behind is a fast-moving sequence of highly imaginative novels “overflowing with suspense, action and adventure” (Entertainment Weekly). The novels have reached the bestseller lists of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and have even resulted in an interview of LaHaye and Jenkins on Larry King Live. Left Behind books are now available at Wal-mart, Costco, Target, airports and inside countless other stores. The central figure of this blockbuster series is Nicolae Carpathia, representing Mr. Nightmare himself, the after-the-rapture antichrist. The result? Through Left Behind, the virus of futurism has multiplied exponentially and practically taken over the prophecy-minded Christian world. Most Christians expect a future antichrist, which means Protestantism’s original operating system has crashed!
Tragically, historicism has been knocked down by a powerful punch, but let me clarify something – it’s not entirely out of the boxing ring. Though not as popular as it once was, historicism lives. God’s truth never dies.
In the light of history, the Protestant Reformation, and a correct understanding of the Bible’s antichrist prophecies, in this sense only, historicism is a the good virus. Who is bold enough to upload the truth? Dear friend, an essential component of this good virus – the biblical truth about the antichrist – when rightly understood, will blow both preterism and futurism into a million pieces. It may be painful, but it needs to happen for the sake of Christians everywhere.
Truth may be in the minority, but don’t forget, its power is limitless. In the 1500’s, it started with individuals like Martin Luther. He studied the Word of God and then inserted its high-voltage force into European Christianity. Through the Holy Spirit’s power, Luther and his associates helped dissipate the Dark Ages. The Reformation shook the world.
In the 21st century, God again wants to shake the world (see Revelation 18:1).
He’s looking for heroes to upload His good virus.
___________________________________________
So, now you know how Nicolae Carpathia was born. Very sobering history lesson. Let’s take a look at how this happened through spiritual eyes. Let’s start by stating who our true enemy is. Who does the Bible say is our enemy? People walking around with us on the Earth? No. Our enemies are spiritual forces of evil and wickedness. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12). So, our true enemy is satan and his demonic forces. Let’s think about our enemy for a second. Does he plan and scheme against us? Absolutely. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11). What do these schemes lead to? What is the devil trying to do to us? “The thief [satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10). To summarize who are enemy is and what he is trying to do:
1. Our enemies are spiritual forces of evil (satan), not human beings.
2. Satan plans and schemes against us using temptations, people not filled with the Holy Spirit, etc.
3. The goal of our enemy is to destroy us…..physically, mentally, financially, spiritually.
So, knowing this, how can our enemy use futurism against us? It may seem trivial at first, but let’s think this through. Our enemy slithers into Christ’s Church after the fall of the Roman Empire and takes over. The simple message of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is pushed out and man-made rituals and worldly religious traditions are installed (sounds very similar to what the enemy did to religion leading up to and during Christ’s time on earth). A simple invention, the printing press, leads to the printing of millions of copies of the Bible being distributed throughout Europe (Think that was a coincidence? – don’t forget, we’re in a war). The Reformation results from the spreading of God's Word and the papal system is labeled as the antichrist. Now, if you’re the enemy, you’ve got a problem. Hundreds of thousands of souls are leaving the church you’ve infiltrated. They are flocking to the Truth. What’s the initial solution? Let’s kill and torture as many of these “reformers” as possible and drive everyone back to the “mother church” by fear. The problem is that the Holy Spirit is working through these saints and they are not backing down. In fact, it just solidifies their beliefs that the Roman Church is the antichrist. Regardless of death and torture, they are standing for Jesus Christ. So, the enemy tries another tactic that he’s good at – deception. Futurism is introduced, our enemy waits patiently, and after 300 years, the deception takes hold. Attention is diverted from the truth. Everyone is looking into the future (perpetually) and not paying attention to what is happening in the here and now.
What are a couple of things that Christians (and some non-Christians) today are looking for in order to determine when the antichrist will come on the scene? The pre-tribulation rapture, a rebuilt Jewish temple and an antichrist peace treaty with Israel. Think about what happens when these things don’t happen. Think about what the enemy will try to do when horrific wars break out, plagues, famine and diseases get worse and …..no rapture. Think about the “beasts” persecuting God’s saints endlessly and ……no rapture. What do you think the enemy will whisper in our ears then? I’ve got an idea……Where’s God? Where’s the rapture? Doesn’t God’s word say you should be out of here? You’re not out of here, so either you’re not a true Christian or God’s Word isn’t true. He will attack our faith......and he's been planning this for hundreds of years. Remember, our enemy has an IQ of around a billion (don’t quote me). He’s planning and scheming against us. He wants to destroy us. The whole futurist theory is a deception by our enemy. It’s harmless now, but it won’t be harmless much longer. The other problem is that true Christians are waiting around for a rapture instead of putting on the armor of God and preparing for the spiritual battles we face.
What will the spiritual battles look like? It’s not hard to see. All we have to do is look back into history at the first Protestants to see what true faith looks like. The next posting will take a look at what they faced. Ladies and gentlemen, in wars there are casualties. A good soldier can put the fear of battle away and focus on the fight at hand. We must be able to do the same. We don’t fight with the weapons of this world, but it is a life and death battle nonetheless. Remember – “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed” (Revelation 13:3). Although the saints of the Reformation wounded the beast with the Sword of God’s Word, the beast is on its way back. It will be joined with another worldwide political beast (we’ll discuss this beast in future postings). These beasts will “make war on God’s saints”. Are you ready? When I say ready, I mean have you put on God’s armor (Ephesians 6)? Are you ready to die for our Savior? You may be thinking that this statement is a bit harsh. After all, things are pretty good right now. Not for long. It’s the truth of what we face. What we’re going to face is worse than what the Reformers faced in the Dark Ages. We must be prepared to discern the Mark (this will be much more deceiving than a simple microchip) and resist it. God is looking for warriors to rise up and take the battle to the enemy. I leave you with Psalm 94:16-17.
“Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against the evildoers? Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.”
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Faith of our fathers
We have touched on the faith and courage of the Protestant Reformation in previous postings. Steve devotes an entire chapter to this topic in his book. I think this is also a good place for us to spend some time discussing true faith and the courage needed to stand up for Jesus. What is required of us? As I’ve written about before, we must follow the narrow path that Jesus mentions in Mathew 7:13, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” What is the narrow gate? Accepting God’s plan of salvation and His will for your life. Many enter through the wide gate because they follow their own selfish ways….which is following our enemy instead of God. Think about the world and the people in it. How many people do you know that are truly following God’s will for their lives? Who do you know that truly lives their life according to God’s Word? Who do you know that truly puts God #1 in their life? Most of us know a few people like this, but the vast majority of people (including many professed Christians) are not seeking God first. Obviously, if you want to know what true faith is composed of, the Bible is the source of what is required of us. If you want to see Biblical faith placed into practice, reading the history of the Protestant Reformers is another period in history that shows us the face of true faith. I believe it is important for us to see what they experienced, because I truly believe that we will face even worse persecution as true believers in our lifetime.
If you study the New Testament and the history of Christ’s Church after the fall of the Roman Empire, you begin to see a pattern develop. True believers in Jesus Christ are persecuted. Why? Our spiritual enemy attacks Christ’s followers. Were we warned? Absolutely. “I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). It is happening throughout the world today and it will continue to the end of time. In the U.S., things have been a little too comfortable. I believe we have allowed ourselves to become complacent in our worship and our commitment to Jesus. As I’ve written before, I believe we have been given a very stern warning in Revelation 3:14-22. It’s time to re-focus our lives on Jesus and His plan for us. We must prepare ourselves spiritually for what is coming at us. Instead, many of us are living nice, comfortable lives and waiting for a pre-tribulation rapture to spare us any actual tribulation, a secret rapture that isn’t coming. If we’re told in the New Testament to expect tribulation and persecution as true followers of Christ, and this has happened consistently throughout history since Christ’s resurrection, why do we believe we will be spared now? Is it because we don’t really want to face tribulation? Is it because we don’t really want to “be faithful, even to the point of death”? Is it because we’d rather believe that we’re going to live comfortable lives and then be “caught up” when the going gets tough? Bingo.
Let’s continue in “End Time Delusions” with the chapter “Faith of our Fathers” and see what some of the Protestant Reformers were required to do for our Savior.
______________________________________________
Protestants there are, but Protestantism is no more. –Alexander Vinet (1797-1847)
Through their acceptance of futurist and preterist viewpoints about antichrist, many people today don’t know who the real beast is. Yet our eyes have been opened. We know the truth. It won’t be easy, but with the Bible in our hands and God’s love in our hearts we must stand up for the “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1) and solid prophetic truth, no matter what the cost. It is my hope and prayer that God will impress the minds of many well-known TV evangelists, radio hosts, seminary professors, best-selling authors, and ministry leaders to reconsider their positions. Hopefully, like noble ships with a new command from their captain, they will yet change their course.
As we near the end of this section, I want to focus on a lesson of faith and courage – of standing up for Jesus and His prophetic truth. Turning away from futurist fiction with its imaginary Nicolae, and also the preterist persuasion of a long-buried antichrist, we are about to look at the real account of a man who battled the beast in history. This conflict took place in the 1400’s, during the time of the famous Roman Catholic Council of Constance, in Constance, Germany. The council met November 1, 1414 and continued until April 22, 1418.
“The total number of the clergy alone present at the council, though perhaps not all of them all the time, was four patriarchs, twenty-nine cardinals, thirty-three archbishops, one hundred and fifty bishops, one hundred and thirty four abbots, two hundred and fifty doctors, and lesser clergy, amounting to eighteen thousand. With the emperor and his train, kings, dukes, lords and other nobles, the members were ordinarily fifty thousand. At certain periods of the conference there were as many as one hundred thousand present. Thirty thousand horses were fed and thirty thousand beds were provided by the city.”
In our modern terminology we would have said, “This is a big event. Parking is limited.”
The Council of Constance condemned the writings of John Wycliffe of England, who lived in the 1300’s. Wycliffe taught at Oxford University and has been called, “The Morning Star of the Reformation.” The movie, John Wycliffe – The Morning Star, was awarded the title of Best Film from the Christian Film Distributor’s Association. Before Martin Luther, John Wycliffe protested against Rome, was the first to translate the Bible from Latin into English, taught salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone, placed the Word of God above popes and kings, and openly declared papal Rome to be the great antichrist of prophecy. The Council of Constance – more than forty years after Wycliffe’s death – decreed that his decaying bones should be dug out of his grave and publicly burned. His ashes were triumphantly thrown into a nearby brook. “This brook”, says an old writer, “hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblems of his doctrine, which now is dispersed the world over.”
John Huss of Bohemia read the writings of John Wycliffe and continued many of his reforms. After denouncing Wycliffe, the Council of Constance summoned John Huss also, condemning him to the flames. Jerome of Prague was a good friend of Huss, and in April of 1415, before the martyrdom of Huss, Jerome arrived at Constance, hoping to help his friend. Unfortunately, he was seized by his enemies, cruelly dragged through the streets in chains, and promptly thrown into a dark, miserable, rat-infested dungeon. For almost a year, he was transferred from cell to cell. At last he was brought before the council. Fox’s Book of Martyrs declares that before that vast assembly these false charges were read to him: “1. He was a derider of the papal dignity. 2. An opposer of the pope. 3. An enemy to the cardinals. 4. A persecutor of the prelates. 5. A hater of the Christian religion.” Jerome was commanded to accept Romanism or be consumed at the stake.
Weakened by almost a year of horrible treatment, Jerome’s faith wavered, and he agreed in some measure to submit to Rome. But after he was returned to his rat-infested cell, he saw more clearly what he had done. He thought about his friend John Huss, who perished in the flames. He thought about Jesus Christ, his Savior, whom he had pledged to serve and who, out of love for Jerome’s lost soul, had endured the full justice of God’s holy wrath against sin and the incomprehensible pain of separation from His Father. Before his cowardly decision to compromise, Jerome had found comfort amid his sufferings in the assurance of Heaven’s favor; but now remorse and doubts tortured his soul. He knew other compromises must be made before he would be released, which could only end in his complete apostasy from God’s truth. As he looked into the whiskered faces of rats and felt cockroaches crawling around his toes, Jerome made his decision. He would no longer deny his Lord.
Jerome was brought again before the council, but this time he was determined to boldly confess his faith and to follow his friend John Huss to the flames. He publicly renounced his former denial and demanded, as a dying man, an opportunity to make his defense. “You have held me shut up three hundred and forty days in a frightful prison,” he protested, “in the midst of filth, noisomeness, stench, and the utmost want of everything; you then bring me out before you, and lending an ear to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me….If you be really wise men and the lights of the world, take care not to sin against justice. As for me, I am only a feeble mortal; my life is but of little importance.” His request was finally granted. In the presence of Europe’s judges, priests, and nobles, Jerome knelt down and prayed for the Holy Spirit to take control.
Jerome then gave an uncompromising defense in behalf of the truth. Referring to John Huss, he firmly declared, “I knew him from his childhood. He was a most excellent man, just and holy; he was condemned, notwithstanding his innocence…I also am ready to die. I will not recoil before the torments that are prepared for me by my enemies and false witnesses, who will one day have to render an account of their impostures before the great God, whom nothing can deceive…..Of all the sins that I have committed since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind, and cause me such remorse, as that which I committed in this fatal place, when I approved of the iniquitous sentence rendered against Wycliffe, and against the holy martyr, John Huss, my master and my friend. Yes! I confess it from my heart, and declare with horror that I disgracefully quailed when, through a dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore supplicate…Almighty God to pardon me my sins, and this one in particular, the most heinous of all.” Raising a bony finger toward his judges, he declared, “You condemned Wycliffe and John Huss…The things which they affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think and declare, like them.”
His hearers were stunned! “Shut him up!” screamed his enemies. “What need have we of further proof? We behold with our own eyes the most obstinate of heretics!” Yet Jerome stood unmoved, like a mighty rock amidst a hurricane. He thundered back, “What! Do you suppose I fear to die? You have held me in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. You have treated me more cruelly than a Turk, Jew or pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive, and yet I make no complaint, for lamentation ill becomes a man of heart and spirit; but I cannot but express my astonishment at such great barbarity toward a Christian.” He was seized by his guards and hurried back to the rats, beetles and vermin.
Jerome was again visited in his dingy cell and given one last chance to repent. “Prove to me from the Holy Writings that I am in error!” he responded. “The Holy Writings!” said one of his tempters. “Is everything to be judged by them? Who can understand them until the church has interpreted them?” Jerome replied, “Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith than the gospel of our Savior?” “Heretic!” spat back his accuser, “I repent having pleaded so long with you. I see you are urged on by the devil.” Thus Jerome, even though he was accused of being inspired by satan, refused to bow down to the traditions of mere mortals. “The Bible and the Bible only,” was his motto. This lesson is for us. We also may be accused of being Lucifer-led when we turn from preterist persuasions, futurist fables, and bestselling ideas. Nevertheless, with love in our hearts we should stick to “the Holy Writings”, no matter what the cost.
Sentence was passed, and Jerome was led out to the very same spot where John Huss had yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his face lighted up with joy and peace. His gaze was fixed upon Jesus Christ, the Prince of Life, so why should he fear Dr. Death? Arriving at the place of execution, Jerome once more knelt down to say a heartfelt prayer. He was tied to a stake as branches of wood were piled around his feet. When the executioner stepped up to light the fire, this holy martyr exclaimed, “Come here, and kindle it before my eyes; for if I had been afraid of it, I had not come to this place.” As the flames began to rise, Jerome prayed again. His last words were, “Lord, Almighty Father…have pity on me, and pardon my sins; for Thou knowest I have always loved Thy truth.”
Do we love truth above tradition? Are we willing to stand up for Jesus Christ, the Author of Truth, and for the Holy Bible, no matter what the price may be? Dear reader, Jesus loves you personally. He has a special place in His heart for you and your family. He gave Jerome strength to stand up for what he knew to be right, and He will do the same for us. There is forgiveness only through the blood of the Lamb. Satan and mixed-up men may kill the body, but they can’t harm the soul (Mathew 10:28). Though the beast makes “war with the saints and overcomes them” on Earth (Revelation 13:7), in Heaven’s eyes “they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, [as] they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11).
In our modern world of Delta flights, plasma TVs and heavily traded mutual funds, may our hopes still echo the words of the classic 19th century hymn, “Faith of our Fathers”:
Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they like them, could die for thee!
Faith of our fathers! Holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
Frederick W. Faber, 1849 (1814-1863)
________________________________________________
Let’s take a look at a couple of things from this excerpt from Steve’s book. If you were still undecided about whether the Roman Catholic Church is, in fact, the antichrist and beast, think about the millions of people throughout Europe that were burned and tortured as a result of their ‘heresies’. If you’re saying to yourself, “Well, that was the dark ages….lots of bad things happened during that time in history,”….think about how Jesus preached and how this church behaved. The New Testament warns us not to judge people simply by their words, but by their actions. Did Jesus ever say to kill or torture someone if they disagreed with him? Absolutely not! Then why did the Catholic Church do this? Because they created their own version of Christianity based on man-made traditions and rituals. They were not concerned about Jesus and His teachings, only their own power and glory. Where do you suppose this doctrine came from? There’s only one other spiritual realm other than Heaven, so it’s easy to see where these church ‘leaders’ were getting their instructions.
If you then say to yourself -“Well, that was then and thank goodness I’m alive now!” You better start focusing on Bible prophecy and what it means for the immediate future. Does this ‘beast’ remain dormant? The Bible says no. The whole world will follow after this beast. Will we escape persecution from this beast? I’m 35 years old and I do not expect to die from old age. I believe that one of two things will happen to me. The first is that I survive to the end of this age and see Lord Jesus returning for me....so I believe that His return will be within my lifetime. The second scenario is that I will die standing against the beasts. It has been made clear to me that I will stand against evil…in some capacity. Regardless of how I’m asked to stand, I will not compromise my faith for anyone or anything in this world. Plain and simple. If I’m asked to do so, I will refuse…..regardless of the consequences. I still have a long way to go, but the Lord has placed me on His path for me. What path are you on? Are you traveling on the narrow path? Our brothers who lived during the Reformation fought the beast, we will be asked to do the same.
If you study the New Testament and the history of Christ’s Church after the fall of the Roman Empire, you begin to see a pattern develop. True believers in Jesus Christ are persecuted. Why? Our spiritual enemy attacks Christ’s followers. Were we warned? Absolutely. “I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). It is happening throughout the world today and it will continue to the end of time. In the U.S., things have been a little too comfortable. I believe we have allowed ourselves to become complacent in our worship and our commitment to Jesus. As I’ve written before, I believe we have been given a very stern warning in Revelation 3:14-22. It’s time to re-focus our lives on Jesus and His plan for us. We must prepare ourselves spiritually for what is coming at us. Instead, many of us are living nice, comfortable lives and waiting for a pre-tribulation rapture to spare us any actual tribulation, a secret rapture that isn’t coming. If we’re told in the New Testament to expect tribulation and persecution as true followers of Christ, and this has happened consistently throughout history since Christ’s resurrection, why do we believe we will be spared now? Is it because we don’t really want to face tribulation? Is it because we don’t really want to “be faithful, even to the point of death”? Is it because we’d rather believe that we’re going to live comfortable lives and then be “caught up” when the going gets tough? Bingo.
Let’s continue in “End Time Delusions” with the chapter “Faith of our Fathers” and see what some of the Protestant Reformers were required to do for our Savior.
______________________________________________
Protestants there are, but Protestantism is no more. –Alexander Vinet (1797-1847)
Through their acceptance of futurist and preterist viewpoints about antichrist, many people today don’t know who the real beast is. Yet our eyes have been opened. We know the truth. It won’t be easy, but with the Bible in our hands and God’s love in our hearts we must stand up for the “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1) and solid prophetic truth, no matter what the cost. It is my hope and prayer that God will impress the minds of many well-known TV evangelists, radio hosts, seminary professors, best-selling authors, and ministry leaders to reconsider their positions. Hopefully, like noble ships with a new command from their captain, they will yet change their course.
As we near the end of this section, I want to focus on a lesson of faith and courage – of standing up for Jesus and His prophetic truth. Turning away from futurist fiction with its imaginary Nicolae, and also the preterist persuasion of a long-buried antichrist, we are about to look at the real account of a man who battled the beast in history. This conflict took place in the 1400’s, during the time of the famous Roman Catholic Council of Constance, in Constance, Germany. The council met November 1, 1414 and continued until April 22, 1418.
“The total number of the clergy alone present at the council, though perhaps not all of them all the time, was four patriarchs, twenty-nine cardinals, thirty-three archbishops, one hundred and fifty bishops, one hundred and thirty four abbots, two hundred and fifty doctors, and lesser clergy, amounting to eighteen thousand. With the emperor and his train, kings, dukes, lords and other nobles, the members were ordinarily fifty thousand. At certain periods of the conference there were as many as one hundred thousand present. Thirty thousand horses were fed and thirty thousand beds were provided by the city.”
In our modern terminology we would have said, “This is a big event. Parking is limited.”
The Council of Constance condemned the writings of John Wycliffe of England, who lived in the 1300’s. Wycliffe taught at Oxford University and has been called, “The Morning Star of the Reformation.” The movie, John Wycliffe – The Morning Star, was awarded the title of Best Film from the Christian Film Distributor’s Association. Before Martin Luther, John Wycliffe protested against Rome, was the first to translate the Bible from Latin into English, taught salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone, placed the Word of God above popes and kings, and openly declared papal Rome to be the great antichrist of prophecy. The Council of Constance – more than forty years after Wycliffe’s death – decreed that his decaying bones should be dug out of his grave and publicly burned. His ashes were triumphantly thrown into a nearby brook. “This brook”, says an old writer, “hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblems of his doctrine, which now is dispersed the world over.”
John Huss of Bohemia read the writings of John Wycliffe and continued many of his reforms. After denouncing Wycliffe, the Council of Constance summoned John Huss also, condemning him to the flames. Jerome of Prague was a good friend of Huss, and in April of 1415, before the martyrdom of Huss, Jerome arrived at Constance, hoping to help his friend. Unfortunately, he was seized by his enemies, cruelly dragged through the streets in chains, and promptly thrown into a dark, miserable, rat-infested dungeon. For almost a year, he was transferred from cell to cell. At last he was brought before the council. Fox’s Book of Martyrs declares that before that vast assembly these false charges were read to him: “1. He was a derider of the papal dignity. 2. An opposer of the pope. 3. An enemy to the cardinals. 4. A persecutor of the prelates. 5. A hater of the Christian religion.” Jerome was commanded to accept Romanism or be consumed at the stake.
Weakened by almost a year of horrible treatment, Jerome’s faith wavered, and he agreed in some measure to submit to Rome. But after he was returned to his rat-infested cell, he saw more clearly what he had done. He thought about his friend John Huss, who perished in the flames. He thought about Jesus Christ, his Savior, whom he had pledged to serve and who, out of love for Jerome’s lost soul, had endured the full justice of God’s holy wrath against sin and the incomprehensible pain of separation from His Father. Before his cowardly decision to compromise, Jerome had found comfort amid his sufferings in the assurance of Heaven’s favor; but now remorse and doubts tortured his soul. He knew other compromises must be made before he would be released, which could only end in his complete apostasy from God’s truth. As he looked into the whiskered faces of rats and felt cockroaches crawling around his toes, Jerome made his decision. He would no longer deny his Lord.
Jerome was brought again before the council, but this time he was determined to boldly confess his faith and to follow his friend John Huss to the flames. He publicly renounced his former denial and demanded, as a dying man, an opportunity to make his defense. “You have held me shut up three hundred and forty days in a frightful prison,” he protested, “in the midst of filth, noisomeness, stench, and the utmost want of everything; you then bring me out before you, and lending an ear to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me….If you be really wise men and the lights of the world, take care not to sin against justice. As for me, I am only a feeble mortal; my life is but of little importance.” His request was finally granted. In the presence of Europe’s judges, priests, and nobles, Jerome knelt down and prayed for the Holy Spirit to take control.
Jerome then gave an uncompromising defense in behalf of the truth. Referring to John Huss, he firmly declared, “I knew him from his childhood. He was a most excellent man, just and holy; he was condemned, notwithstanding his innocence…I also am ready to die. I will not recoil before the torments that are prepared for me by my enemies and false witnesses, who will one day have to render an account of their impostures before the great God, whom nothing can deceive…..Of all the sins that I have committed since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind, and cause me such remorse, as that which I committed in this fatal place, when I approved of the iniquitous sentence rendered against Wycliffe, and against the holy martyr, John Huss, my master and my friend. Yes! I confess it from my heart, and declare with horror that I disgracefully quailed when, through a dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore supplicate…Almighty God to pardon me my sins, and this one in particular, the most heinous of all.” Raising a bony finger toward his judges, he declared, “You condemned Wycliffe and John Huss…The things which they affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think and declare, like them.”
His hearers were stunned! “Shut him up!” screamed his enemies. “What need have we of further proof? We behold with our own eyes the most obstinate of heretics!” Yet Jerome stood unmoved, like a mighty rock amidst a hurricane. He thundered back, “What! Do you suppose I fear to die? You have held me in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. You have treated me more cruelly than a Turk, Jew or pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive, and yet I make no complaint, for lamentation ill becomes a man of heart and spirit; but I cannot but express my astonishment at such great barbarity toward a Christian.” He was seized by his guards and hurried back to the rats, beetles and vermin.
Jerome was again visited in his dingy cell and given one last chance to repent. “Prove to me from the Holy Writings that I am in error!” he responded. “The Holy Writings!” said one of his tempters. “Is everything to be judged by them? Who can understand them until the church has interpreted them?” Jerome replied, “Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith than the gospel of our Savior?” “Heretic!” spat back his accuser, “I repent having pleaded so long with you. I see you are urged on by the devil.” Thus Jerome, even though he was accused of being inspired by satan, refused to bow down to the traditions of mere mortals. “The Bible and the Bible only,” was his motto. This lesson is for us. We also may be accused of being Lucifer-led when we turn from preterist persuasions, futurist fables, and bestselling ideas. Nevertheless, with love in our hearts we should stick to “the Holy Writings”, no matter what the cost.
Sentence was passed, and Jerome was led out to the very same spot where John Huss had yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his face lighted up with joy and peace. His gaze was fixed upon Jesus Christ, the Prince of Life, so why should he fear Dr. Death? Arriving at the place of execution, Jerome once more knelt down to say a heartfelt prayer. He was tied to a stake as branches of wood were piled around his feet. When the executioner stepped up to light the fire, this holy martyr exclaimed, “Come here, and kindle it before my eyes; for if I had been afraid of it, I had not come to this place.” As the flames began to rise, Jerome prayed again. His last words were, “Lord, Almighty Father…have pity on me, and pardon my sins; for Thou knowest I have always loved Thy truth.”
Do we love truth above tradition? Are we willing to stand up for Jesus Christ, the Author of Truth, and for the Holy Bible, no matter what the price may be? Dear reader, Jesus loves you personally. He has a special place in His heart for you and your family. He gave Jerome strength to stand up for what he knew to be right, and He will do the same for us. There is forgiveness only through the blood of the Lamb. Satan and mixed-up men may kill the body, but they can’t harm the soul (Mathew 10:28). Though the beast makes “war with the saints and overcomes them” on Earth (Revelation 13:7), in Heaven’s eyes “they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, [as] they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11).
In our modern world of Delta flights, plasma TVs and heavily traded mutual funds, may our hopes still echo the words of the classic 19th century hymn, “Faith of our Fathers”:
Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they like them, could die for thee!
Faith of our fathers! Holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.
Frederick W. Faber, 1849 (1814-1863)
________________________________________________
Let’s take a look at a couple of things from this excerpt from Steve’s book. If you were still undecided about whether the Roman Catholic Church is, in fact, the antichrist and beast, think about the millions of people throughout Europe that were burned and tortured as a result of their ‘heresies’. If you’re saying to yourself, “Well, that was the dark ages….lots of bad things happened during that time in history,”….think about how Jesus preached and how this church behaved. The New Testament warns us not to judge people simply by their words, but by their actions. Did Jesus ever say to kill or torture someone if they disagreed with him? Absolutely not! Then why did the Catholic Church do this? Because they created their own version of Christianity based on man-made traditions and rituals. They were not concerned about Jesus and His teachings, only their own power and glory. Where do you suppose this doctrine came from? There’s only one other spiritual realm other than Heaven, so it’s easy to see where these church ‘leaders’ were getting their instructions.
If you then say to yourself -“Well, that was then and thank goodness I’m alive now!” You better start focusing on Bible prophecy and what it means for the immediate future. Does this ‘beast’ remain dormant? The Bible says no. The whole world will follow after this beast. Will we escape persecution from this beast? I’m 35 years old and I do not expect to die from old age. I believe that one of two things will happen to me. The first is that I survive to the end of this age and see Lord Jesus returning for me....so I believe that His return will be within my lifetime. The second scenario is that I will die standing against the beasts. It has been made clear to me that I will stand against evil…in some capacity. Regardless of how I’m asked to stand, I will not compromise my faith for anyone or anything in this world. Plain and simple. If I’m asked to do so, I will refuse…..regardless of the consequences. I still have a long way to go, but the Lord has placed me on His path for me. What path are you on? Are you traveling on the narrow path? Our brothers who lived during the Reformation fought the beast, we will be asked to do the same.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
