Posted on 03/16/2015 6:07:58 PM PDT by grumpa
Many American evangelicals regularly pray for Jesus to come soon. And then they search the daily newspaper for events which seem to affirm that Jesus is answering those prayers. Do you realize that, in actuality, they are praying for a holocaust in which two-thirds of Jews will die? That seems more than a bit anti-Semitic to me.There are legitimate questions whether this is biblical.
Shouldn't Christians be reading the Bible through the lens of the writers of the New Testament? Reading the Bible through the lens of news events has led to false end-times prophecies throughout Christian history. These predictive errors are a result of (a) ignoring the plain reading of numerous imminency passages, and (b) failing to understand Jewish apocalyptic literature in interpreting key passages such as Matthew 24 and 2 Peter 3. (The latter will be critically analyzed below.) Indeed, their continual disturbingly false predictions look more like those of the cults than of sound biblical exegesis. Here are some examples of predictions about when the world was supposed to end:
• Ellen G. White: 1843, 1844, 1850, 1856. • Joseph Smith (founder—Mormon Church): 1891. • Jehovah's Witnesses: 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1984. • Hal Lindsey: 1982, 1988, 2007, with contingency dates going as far as 2048. • Jack Van Impe: 1975, 1992, 2000, 2012. • Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel): before 1981 • Pat Robertson: 1982. • Edgar C. Whisenant: 1988. 1989. • Benny Hinn: 1993. • Kenneth Hagin: 1997 to 2000. • Jerry Falwell: 2010. • Louis Farrakhan: 1991. • John Hagee (at age 71): before he dies. • Harold Camping: 1994, 2011. • Perry Stone: 2009-2015 • Billy Graham: Even this venerable preacher began telling us in the 1930’s to expect the soon return of Christ.
(Excerpt) Read more at faithfacts.org ...
Yep, there are quite a few “CHRISTIANS” that are praying for the return of Jesus. But not me. I’m praying to GOD to open the eyes of every body, and return us to what we were before HE allowed this world to go completely crazy. We need the majority of the world population to REPENT. I’m praying for repentance instead of world destruction
So if Christians don’t pray for Christ to come He won’t? The prophecies contained in Revelation just go away? So this dude wants Christians to quit praying the Lord’s Prayer because it is anti-semitic? Idiot.
The main thing is the main thing. Be prepared. The end is going to come for everyone. . .some sooner than later. . .it is appointed for us to die and then the judgment. It’s about eternity. Time is not on our side. . .it is not wise to wait to make the important decision to believe in our loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and put your trust in Him. http://patburt.com/
Wow, that’s not God’s plan... hope you make it in the rapture my friend...
2 Timothy 4:8 says, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
When you say you pray for the world to get saved, your praying a good prayer, BUT if your not loging for His appearing, there is no crown of righteousness waiting for you my friend.
Why do all of these dates start in the 1800’s? Why not look into the really early teachers and what they believed? This is a re-post of something form a few weeks ago. I’m afraid you have been de-railed - look again.
The Early Church Fathers and the Last Days of the Jewish Age
MAY 25, 2014ADAM MAARSCHALK3 COMMENTS
The following resource was compiled by Bishop George Kouri, an author and the pastor of The King’s Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He references the stated beliefs of Barnabas, Clement of Alexandrea, Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus concerning “the last days”, “the end of the age,” and Daniel’s 70th Week (Daniel 9). This is not exhaustive, and there’s no doubt that leaders in church history have held quite a variety of views about these and related topics in the field of eschatology. When researching their beliefs, though, it’s easy to see that many did not view the Biblical “last days” as being about the (alleged) end of world history, but rather as the last days of the old covenant age. Here are just a few examples, as provided by George Kouri (all emphasis in the original):
BARNABAS:
Written anonymously around 100 AD, the “Epistle of Barnabas” is the earliest extra-Canonical source we have. Although not included in the Canon of the New Testament, it is an incredibly early documentation of the early Church’s beliefs about the last days. The Apostle John was probably alive when it was written. And although the authorship is disputed, we will refer to Barnabas as the author.
The Epistle of Barnabas sets forth the common view held by the early Church that the seventieth week of Daniel ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, as Messiah’s Day dawned and Christ’s Church was born. Barnabas writes, “For it is written, ‘And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple of God shall be built…in the name of the Lord.’ I find…that a temple does exist. Having received the forgiveness of sins…in our habitation God dwells in us….This is the spiritual temple built for the Lord.” (EOB, 16:6)
Barnabas uses the expression “the week,” but does not mention Daniel. Yet scholars agree from the context that this is definitely a reference to Daniel’s 70th week. And it is assumed by many scholars that the prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks was so well known and so widely expounded in the early Church that it needed no further explanation. The early Church did not avoid Daniel’s prophecy.
This early Christian writer connects Daniel’s vision of seventy weeks with the prophecy of Haggai 2:7-9 and the building of a “spiritual temple,” the Church. The author of the Epistle of Barnabas obviously believed that Daniel’s 70th week was fulfilled with Christ’s first advent. This was when the Old Temple was destroyed and the new “spiritual temple” was initially established. Writing in 100 AD he clearly believed the 70th week of Daniel was already completed.
It seems clear from this passage in the Epistle of Barnabas that less than a century after Christ’s passion (remember that according to Daniel the Messiah would be cut off in the middle of the 70th week), it was the widespread belief of the Church that the 70th week of Daniel was completed. It is certain that Barnabas placed the end of the 70th week no later than 70 AD. His mention of the building of the Church (which was able to grow largely unimpeded after 70AD) makes it probable that Barnabas saw 67 to 70 AD and the destruction of Herod’s Temple as the end of the Jewish or Old Covenant Age and the dawning of Messiah’s Day. As David B. Currie writes in his book, Rapture, The End-Times Error That Leaves The Bible Behind, “He (Barnabas) assumes his readers will agree that the events of ‘the week’ led to the building of the Church” (Page 422).
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDREA
Within a century of Barnabas, Clement became bishop of Alexandria until his death in 215 AD. Clement taught that the blessings of the New Covenant required the end of biblical Judaism within the 70 weeks of Daniel. Clement writes of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD in the prophetic language of Daniel’s seventy weeks, “Vespasian rose to the supreme power (Emperor of Rome) and destroyed Jerusalem, and desolated the holy place” (STO, XXI, 142-143).
Clement of Alexandrea believed the Jewish Age, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel and the great tribulation were behind, not ahead of the Church.
ORIGEN (185-254 AD)
A student of Clement of Alexandrea, Origen agreed that the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD marked the end of the Jewish Age and the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy regarding the 70 weeks. Origen writes,“The weeks of years up to the time of Christ the leader that Daniel the prophet predicted were fulfilled” (TPR, IV:1:5).
Like Clement, Origen also believed the Jewish Age, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel and the great tribulation were behind the Church, not ahead of it.
TERTULLIAN
In 203 AD Tertullian wrote his famous treatise Against The Jews. This early Church father also taught that Daniel’s 70th week had been fulfilled in 70 AD: “Vespasian vanquished the Jews…and so by the date of his storming Jerusalem, the Jews had completed the seventy weeks foretold by Daniel” (AAJ, VII; CID).
Contrary to modern postponement preachers and teachers, Tertullian believed the Jewish age, the abomination of desolation, and the great tribulation was behind, not ahead of the Church.
ATHANASIUS
Athanasius was bishop of Alexandria from 326 to 373 AD. Like the early Church fathers before him, he also taught that the 70 weeks of Daniel culminated and the Jewish Age ended in 70 AD: “Jerusalem is to stand till His coming (Daniel’s reference to Messiah’s appearing in His First Advent), and thenceforth, prophet and vision cease in Israel (the end of the Old Covenant or Jewish Age). This is why Jerusalem stood till then…that they might be exercised in the types as a preparation for the reality…but from that time forth all prophecy is sealed and the city and Temple taken” (INC, XXXIX:3-XV:8).
Athanasius clearly reflects the view of the entire early Church: once the Messiah had come, the role of the Temple in Jerusalem would be ended. “Things to be done which belonged to Jerusalem beneath…were fulfilled, and those which belonged to the shadows had passed away” (FEL, IV:3-4).
This important early Church father clearly believed that the Jewish age ended in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
IRENAEUS AND HIPPOLYTUS
Irenaeus was a contemporary of Clement of Alexandrea whose widely held view we dealt with above. Irenaeus and his pupil Hippolytus are the only two writers from the early Church period who believed in a still-future fulfillment of Daniel’s 70th week. They both placed the 70th week at the end of the gospel age and so are the first interpreters to postulate a gap between the 69th and 70th weeks (AG, V). Both predicted a specific date for the second coming that has long since come and gone.
But their belief in a future 70th week was never widely accepted! St. Jerome specifically pointed out that the number of years in their system did not coincide with the historical events they purported to cover. He wrote, “If by any chance those of future generations should not see these predictions of his (Irenaeus) fulfilled at the time he (Irenaeus) set, then they will be forced to seek for some other solution and to convict the teacher himself (Irenaeus) of erroneous interpretation” (CID).
David B. Currie points out in his scholarly work, “As a point of history, the views of Irenaeus did give seed to premillennialism. But the early fathers of the Church strongly and universally denounced this concept. The early Church understood the presumptuous-parenthesis theory that rapturists employ…but they resoundingly rejected it” (David B. Currie, Rapture, page 425).
The prevailing view of the early Church fathers was that Daniel’s vision of the 70 weeks was fulfilled in 70 AD. The final or 70th week began with the baptism of Jesus and his presentation to Israel by John the Baptist. The Messiah was cut off in the middle of the 70th week when Jesus was crucified. The abomination of desolation and the great tribulation spoken of by Daniel were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
These events marked the end of the Jewish age and the dawning of Messiah’s Day.
John ended Revelation by praying, “Come Lord Jesus”. Apparently the author thinks he knows more than the apostle John.
Demonstrably false ...
http://pre-trib.org/data/pdf/House-Premillennialisminth1.pdf
http://pre-trib.org/data/pdf/House-TheUnderstandingofth.pdf
That’s interesting - but why did Jesus tell the disciples that their generation would see it all? Can we not believe Jesus? And the entire New Testament is full of expectation of the close of the age very soon. Were they wrong also? And the first verse of Revelation also reveals the expectation - again from Jesus - that these things will happen soon. We ignore these things at our peril. The earlier we look, the stronger the case for fulfillment in 70 AD.
Yeah, and I thought the experts believed that John wrote Revelation some years after 70 A.D.
In that case, it wouldn’t be prophecy, just old news.
‘This generation’, is the generation that is alive when all the terrible things happen. Jesus said that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached unto all the world, and then the end would come.
But that interpretation does not agree with the expectation of His disciples or of Jesus in the first verse of Revelation. His followers asked when these things would happen, and He answered them plainly.
OKay so in your opinion where are we now? When did the battle of Meggido take place? When the Lord descends with His army in battle. When will Satan be locked up for a thousand years? What was the mark of the beast where nobody could buy or sell without it?
YOu can pray for these things, I don’t see the harm, but we are supposed to pray in accordance with the will of God actually.
Luke 21:24
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Looks like the times of the Gentiles in Jerusalem coming to an end.
In some Christian groups, it appears that since R.C. Sproul’s 1996 book THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO JESUS, forms of preterism are becoming the dominant view.
In what groups are forms of preterism becoming the dominant view? Catholic? Presbyterian? Baptist? Lutheran? ??? Inquiring minds would like to know.
What a bunch of garbage. Christ Himself told us to watch and not be asleep. Evangelicals pray for Israel and the peace of Israel, but we know a storm is coming - and that storm is God's plan, now ours.
This author is not a Christian in my opinion, because no true follower of Christ would believe what he writes.
Did He ever and then some!
John 13:19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
2 Timothy 1:7,8For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord
Rev 19:10 for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
Matthew 24:45,46 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
In other words blessed is that servant who,when Jesus comes,is telling people "He's coming"
For if you believe Revelation was fulfilled in 70 AD, if you are going to be consistent ... it must have ALL been fulfilled ... since Jesus again says multiple times at the END of the book ... 'I am coming quickly.' Rev. 22
Yours is the only eschatological position where the date of a book of the Bible is foundational to your view.
If Revelation was written after 70 AD, which the vast majority of scholars believe, preterism goes up in flames.
John must have been anti-semitic.
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