7-YEAR TRIBULATION

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7-YEAR TRIBULATION

The last thing I would want to convey is a pretense of authority, and my purpose is not to divide the Body of Christ, but rather to unite it in truth. Truth is the greatest casualty of indoctrination, whether political, religious, environmental, racial, ethnic, or other. The following is intended to encourage exploration of interpretations of apocalyptic prophecy, and not to question widely held core church doctrine.

Most Christians and Jews understand Old Testament prophecy to have been fulfilled steadily as the period that it was written about, gradually unfolded. Daniel's beasts as successive kingdoms that spanned hundreds of years, or his 70 weeks viewed as weeks of days as years, are examples of this gradual fulfillment. This was also a common Christian era perspective, regarding fulfillment of New Testament prophecy, right on through the reformation. This traditional view is generally known as continuous-historic, or linear-historic.

The Bible instructs:

Job 8:8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: 9 (For we [are but of] yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth [are] a shadow:)

In contrast, Dr. Harry Ironside of the Moody Bible Institute, an ardent supporter of the 7-year tribulation doctrine, wrote of it in "The Mysteries of God" on page 50-51: "In fact, until brought to the fore through the writings and the preaching and teaching of the distinguished ex-clergyman, Mr. J. N. Darby, in the early part of the last [19th] century, it is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon throughout a period of sixteen hundred years! If any doubt this statement, let them search, as the writer has in measure done, the remarks of the so-called Fathers, both pre- and post-Nicene, the theological treatises of the scholastic divines, Roman Catholic writers of all shades of thought; the literature of the reformation; the sermons and expositions of the Puritans; and the general theological works of the day. He will find 'the mystery' conspicuous by its absence."

Ironside concluded the absence was explained by:

Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

And 1Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Most Christians understand these verses speak of the revelation of Jesus Christ to mankind, rather than Darby's revelation, that the entire rest of the church somehow missed for 1600 years.

Scripture instructs: 1Thess 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Consider that Darby's doctrine was based on his understanding of Daniel's 70th week. This is the most variously understood and contentious element in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 12:9 we read: And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

The same folks that hold Darby's doctrine generally believe Daniel's "time of the end" began in 1948 or 1967. So how did Darby defeat God's seal in the mid-1800's?

Absent scriptural support, and without Darby's 7-year tribulation for it to be "pre", Darby's pre-trib rapture doctrine goes up in smoke as well.

On YouTube you will find that those that advance this doctrine usually do not allow comments, at least without their approval. Just like most of those that advance Islam. Consider the absence of scriptural evidence presented by popular "pre-trib" sites that ban probing of this doctrine without a moment's hesitation. Investigate historical support presented there, as well as at the Pre-Trib Research Center.

Tragically, this doctrine diminishes the perfection of the completed work of Jesus' shed blood on the Cross, by sanctifying a restoration of the old covenant through a rebuilt Jewish Temple. Perhaps understandable for a Jew from whom the Lord may not have yet lifted the spirit of slumber, but how can a Christian promote a restoration of the Old Covenant?

John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. ... 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Please visit "antichrist" and "...that man of sin..." YouTubes where this is explored further and in the light of scripture.

If Darby's 7-year tribulation and pre-trib rapture doctrine is other than an inverted pyramid of pile-on presumption, why must it run from a little probing?

It is no secret that two Jesuits created doctrines in the 16th and 17th centuries, in an anti-reformation effort to combat an increasing view that the Catholic Church was the "whore of Babylon", as a result of it's persecution of reformers.

One of these was Jesuit Luis De Alcazar and in 1614 he penned what is today known as the preterist view that holds that Revelation was fulfilled through the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

One would think that the restoration of the Jews to their land after 2500 years of dispersion, as the fulfillment of so much prophecy, would have been the death-knell of this view, yet it persists.

The other was Jesuit Francisco Ribera. He invented the first "futurist" view that holds that Revelation would not be fulfilled until the end of the Christian Era. He taught a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, and an end-time Antichrist, and such.

In the 1700s a "Father" Manuel de Lacunza y Diaz was expelled from Spain and moved to Imola, Italy where he claimed to be a converted Jew named Rabbi Juan Jushafat Ben-Ezra. Under that alias, he wrote a 900 page book titled "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty". In it, de Lacunza theorized that the Church would be taken to be with the Lord some 45 days before Jesus' final return to Earth. During that 45 days (while the Church was in heaven), God was going to pour out His wrath upon the wicked remaining on Earth. Perhaps the earliest mini-trib, pre-trib-rapture doctrine on record.

In 1812 his book was published in Spanish and fourteen years later, it was translated into English by a cultist named Edward Irving. An Irvingite evangelist named Robert Norton promoted Margaret Mcdonald's dream which often credited as being the source of the modern "pre-trib" "rapture".

John Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren, attended several Irvingite meetings, and in his letters Darby states that he had "come to an understanding of this new truth" and made no secret of the fact

that he had been influenced by de Lacunza's writings. He added a 2000 year gap in front of Daniel's 70th week, and put his 7-year spin on Irvings 45 day doctrine.

That Darby's eschatological scheme found it's way into the 20th century church, via the C.I. Scofield annotated bible, cannot be reasonably refuted. Sound Bible scholars of the day like A. J. Gordon, Charles R. Erdman and W.G. Moorhead tried to dissuade Scofield from advancing Darby's doctrine. Three members of Scofield's revision committee even resigned because of his support for it.

(Some of the above quoted or paraphrased from Ellis Skolfield "End Time Myth" PDF)

Consider that today's protestant church is divided primarily into futurist and partial-preterist eschatology. Stunningly each must believe the other to be virtually 100% wrong in their end-time understanding, because there is a gulf of 1900 years that separates the two views. Perhaps both are correct in their view of the other.

Meanwhile the traditional continuous-historic view, at least as found on the internet, has largely been hijacked by a cult that believes the Catholic Church is antichrist, even though not a single verse that uses that term suggests anything but the opposite.

We were warned: 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Demonstrating how far the stuff of itching ears has gone, there are currently 150 YouTube results for - micro chip 666.

If someone went in for an operation, and were implanted with a microchip when they were under general anesthesia, would they then be condenmed to hell?

For an introduction to the traditional continuous-historic view of end-time prophecy, demonstrating Islam at center-stage, and how the mathematics thereof may indicate that we may well be in Daniel's "time of the end", please visit beholdthebeast.com.

You can also explore details regarding REAL tribulation suffered by REAL Saints, in the REAL world - TODAY on the "Great Tribulation" page at:


	ISRAEL IN BIBLE PROPHECY \| home 7-YEAR TRIBULATION The last thing I would want to convey is a pretense of authority, and my purpose is not to divide the Body of Christ, but rather to unite it in truth. Truth is the greatest casualty of indoctrination, whether political, religious, environmental, racial, ethnic, or other. The following is intended to encourage exploration of interpretations of apocalyptic prophecy, and not to question widely held core church doctrine. Most Christians and Jews understand Old Testament prophecy to have been fulfilled steadily as the period that it was written about, gradually unfolded. Daniel's beasts as successive kingdoms that spanned hundreds of years, or his 70 weeks viewed as weeks of days as years, are examples of this gradual fulfillment. This was also a common Christian era perspective, regarding fulfillment of New Testament prophecy, right on through the reformation. This traditional view is generally known as continuous-historic, or linear-historic. The Bible instructs: Job 8:8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: 9 (For we [are but of] yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth [are] a shadow:) In contrast, Dr. Harry Ironside of the Moody Bible Institute, an ardent supporter of the 7-year tribulation doctrine, wrote of it in "The Mysteries of God" on page 50-51: "In fact, until brought to the fore through the writings and the preaching and teaching of the distinguished ex-clergyman, Mr. J. N. Darby, in the early part of the last [19th] century, it is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon throughout a period of sixteen hundred years! If any doubt this statement, let them search, as the writer has in measure done, the remarks of the so-called Fathers, both pre- and post-Nicene, the theological treatises of the scholastic divines, Roman Catholic writers of all shades of thought; the literature of the reformation; the sermons and expositions of the Puritans; and the general theological works of the day. He will find 'the mystery' conspicuous by its absence." Ironside concluded the absence was explained by: Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, And 1Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Most Christians understand these verses speak of the revelation of Jesus Christ to mankind, rather than Darby's revelation, that the entire rest of the church somehow missed for 1600 years. Scripture instructs: 1Thess 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Consider that Darby's doctrine was based on his understanding of Daniel's 70th week. This is the most variously understood and contentious element in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 12:9 we read: And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end. The same folks that hold Darby's doctrine generally believe Daniel's "time of the end" began in 1948 or 1967. So how did Darby defeat God's seal in the mid-1800's? Absent scriptural support, and without Darby's 7-year tribulation for it to be "pre", Darby's pre-trib rapture doctrine goes up in smoke as well. On YouTube you will find that those that advance this doctrine usually do not allow comments, at least without their approval. Just like most of those that advance Islam. Consider the absence of scriptural evidence presented by popular "pre-trib" sites that ban probing of this doctrine without a moment's hesitation. Investigate historical support presented there, as well as at the Pre-Trib Research Center. Tragically, this doctrine diminishes the perfection of the completed work of Jesus' shed blood on the Cross, by sanctifying a restoration of the old covenant through a rebuilt Jewish Temple. Perhaps understandable for a Jew from whom the Lord may not have yet lifted the spirit of slumber, but how can a Christian promote a restoration of the Old Covenant? John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. ... 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Please visit "antichrist" and "...that man of sin..." YouTubes where this is explored further and in the light of scripture. If Darby's 7-year tribulation and pre-trib rapture doctrine is other than an inverted pyramid of pile-on presumption, why must it run from a little probing? It is no secret that two Jesuits created doctrines in the 16th and 17th centuries, in an anti-reformation effort to combat an increasing view that the Catholic Church was the "whore of Babylon", as a result of it's persecution of reformers. One of these was Jesuit Luis De Alcazar and in 1614 he penned what is today known as the preterist view that holds that Revelation was fulfilled through the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. One would think that the restoration of the Jews to their land after 2500 years of dispersion, as the fulfillment of so much prophecy, would have been the death-knell of this view, yet it persists. The other was Jesuit Francisco Ribera. He invented the first "futurist" view that holds that Revelation would not be fulfilled until the end of the Christian Era. He taught a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, and an end-time Antichrist, and such. In the 1700s a "Father" Manuel de Lacunza y Diaz was expelled from Spain and moved to Imola, Italy where he claimed to be a converted Jew named Rabbi Juan Jushafat Ben-Ezra. Under that alias, he wrote a 900 page book titled "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty". In it, de Lacunza theorized that the Church would be taken to be with the Lord some 45 days before Jesus' final return to Earth. During that 45 days (while the Church was in heaven), God was going to pour out His wrath upon the wicked remaining on Earth. Perhaps the earliest mini-trib, pre-trib-rapture doctrine on record. In 1812 his book was published in Spanish and fourteen years later, it was translated into English by a cultist named Edward Irving. An Irvingite evangelist named Robert Norton promoted Margaret Mcdonald's dream which often credited as being the source of the modern "pre-trib" "rapture". John Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren, attended several Irvingite meetings, and in his letters Darby states that he had "come to an understanding of this new truth" and made no secret of the fact that he had been influenced by de Lacunza's writings. He added a 2000 year gap in front of Daniel's 70th week, and put his 7-year spin on Irvings 45 day doctrine. That Darby's eschatological scheme found it's way into the 20th century church, via the C.I. Scofield annotated bible, cannot be reasonably refuted. Sound Bible scholars of the day like A. J. Gordon, Charles R. Erdman and W.G. Moorhead tried to dissuade Scofield from advancing Darby's doctrine. Three members of Scofield's revision committee even resigned because of his support for it. (Some of the above quoted or paraphrased from Ellis Skolfield "End Time Myth" PDF) Consider that today's protestant church is divided primarily into futurist and partial-preterist eschatology. Stunningly each must believe the other to be virtually 100% wrong in their end-time understanding, because there is a gulf of 1900 years that separates the two views. Perhaps both are correct in their view of the other. Meanwhile the traditional continuous-historic view, at least as found on the internet, has largely been hijacked by a cult that believes the Catholic Church is antichrist, even though not a single verse that uses that term suggests anything but the opposite. We were warned: 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. Demonstrating how far the stuff of itching ears has gone, there are currently 150 YouTube results for - micro chip 666. If someone went in for an operation, and were implanted with a microchip when they were under general anesthesia, would they then be condenmed to hell? For an introduction to the traditional continuous-historic view of end-time prophecy, demonstrating Islam at center-stage, and how the mathematics thereof may indicate that we may well be in Daniel's "time of the end", please visit beholdthebeast.com. You can also explore details regarding REAL tribulation suffered by REAL Saints, in the REAL world - TODAY on the "Great Tribulation" page at: beholdthebeast.com