Questions for Dispensationalists, Part 1 of 4

The Transfiguration on the Mount of Olives was the only time Jesus revealed his deity before the Resurrection.

Raising Lazurus from the dead must have revealed SOMETHING...

weres than poodles?

aMPU -- grumpa is correct. How can you, aMPU, deny that Israel is expanded to encompass gentiles too?

Ephesians 2

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

and

Ephesians 3

. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

This is pretty clearly rejecting the dispensational fantasy of two separate groups.

The Protestant reformers would laugh at Seventh Day Adventists like yourself who believe that Jesus is the angel Michael.

aMPU -- you are wrong, there is adequate evidence that Jesus stayed true to His promise and the generation listening to Him in 30 AD lived to see the events

The 19th century Darby philosophy of rapturism fails each time

Premillenialism is a fail - the Millenium is mentioned only once - in the book of the Apocalypse that is filled with symbolism. Its mention immediately follows Rev 19 Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

and then rev 20: 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

This is clearly figurative.

Premils misunderstand the message of Isaiah, Jeremiah and the entire New Testament by claiming the Kingdom is purely corporeal

Both Pre and post are soundly wrong

The Millenium is a spiritual reign of Christ that has been present in the community of Christ since Pentecost.

The Bible continually uses the terms Kingdom of God, Kingdom of heaven, Messianic Kingdom and Church interchangeably

Matt 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Matt 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Matt 16:13-20: 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
The entire bible is amillenial and the Rapturists can only distort Revelation 20:1-6 -- note "distort" to put their 19th century rapture philosophy
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Yet we need to read what the Apostles themselves were taught and what they believed
- Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
  2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
- Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- Peter says in Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Notice that they state that the Apostles and their listeneres were in the last days or the end of the age -- because the Messiah had come
Peter never changed his mind about this - as we read in 1 Pet 1:20 Christ was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake
This is relected in Pauline epistles like 2 Tim 3:1 "In these last days" and Jude 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
We have been in the last days since that first advent of Christ
Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfillment. WE are already at 'the last hour'. Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way

Let's look at the entire passage yes

[1] And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. [3] And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world? [4] And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you: [5] For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.
[6] And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: [8] Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.
[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. [12] And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. [13] But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. [15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: [17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. [19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.
[21] For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. [22] And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. [24] For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. [25] Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.
[26] If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. [27] For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be. [28] Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. [29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.
[31] And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. [32] And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. [33] So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. [34] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. [35] Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

In this Jesus answers two questions "When will the 2nd temple be destroyed"

The opening verses of the Olivet discourse set the scene for this - they left the temple and His disciples ask him about the temple

Jesus answer Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down - this was done by the Roman legions under Titus and is the final fulfilment of Micha 3:12

Therefore, because of you,
Zion shall be plowed like a field,
and Jerusalem reduced to rubble,
And the mount of the temple
to a forest ridge.

The Olivet discourse then talks about the 8 signs that Jesus said would lead to the Temple's destruction that were important for the Apostles to recognize

Sign 1: false messiahs - Matt 24:4-5 -- Up to 70 AD there were several supposed messiahs in Judea who led armies against the legions. They were killed with their followers. At the time of the Jewish captivity, there were many leaders who declared themselves to be Christs (Messiahs), so that while the Romans were actually besiegin them, there were three factions within - and Josephus mentions them as "Imposters and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended that they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs that should be performed by the providence of God. And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the punishments of their folly""
Sign 2: Wars You will hear of wars and rumors of wars Matt 24:6 - there was civil war in Rome itself
Sign 3: famines - during the war the Jews in Jerusalem underwent a severe famine - St. Paul wrote about it in his letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 8)
Sign 4: earthquakes erupted frequently - the city of Colossae was destroyed in an earthquake in the 50s. And Pompeii had one in 63 AD (the same Pompeii that was destroyed by volcano in 79 AD)
sign 5: persecution - Matthew 24:9 - Nero's persecution killed Peter and Paul
Sign 6: Apostasy - Matthew 24:10-12 - this is reflected in Revelations 2 about the Nicolaitians
Sign 7 - the gospel worldwide. What did Paul say in Rom 1:8? First, I give thanks[f] to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is heralded throughout the world and in Col 1:5-6 First, I give thanks[f] to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is heralded throughout the world in Paul's mind there was no doubt that the gospel had gone out into the whole world Clement wrote in 73 AD that Peter and Paul had been martyred, but not before they "taught righteousness to the whole world, and they came to the extreme limit of the west" -- the word used for "world" is oikoumene - which specifically means the civilized world i.e. the Roman Empire - the Olivet discourse does not use the world "Kosmos" that designates the entire earth.

Kosmos in Matt 24:21 From the beginning of the world (kosmos) until now"
Matthew 24:14
This gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come
Yet, Paul states that in his lifetime, the Faith of those in the Church in Rome First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. - Romans 1:8
And in Colossians 1:5-6 Paul wrote
5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
There was no doubt in Paul's mind that the gospel had gone out into the whole world
This is also what the early Christians wrote about:
- Clement of Rome in 95 AD wrote that Peter and Paul had been martyred but not before they"taught righteousness to the WHOLE world, and they came to the extreme limit of the west"
  Since both Peter and Paul were martyred before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, well
- Justin Martyr in 120 AD wrote that from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the world the word of God
- Eusebius even connected this to Jerusalem's destruction writing that the teaching of the new covenant was borne to all the nations and then the Romans besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it and the Temple
the word used for "world" is oikoumene - which specifically means the civilized world i.e. the Roman Empire - the Olivet discourse does not use the world "Kosmos" that designates the entire earth.

Kosmos in Matt 24:21 From the beginning of the world (kosmos) until now"
Sign 8: Daniel's desolating sacrilege. Matt 24:15-19. Note that the Sanhedrin believed that this had been fulfilled in 167 BC, but that did not meet Daniel's prophecy of 3.5 years
Jesus then mentions in 24:21 the Great Tribulation - which is for the Jesus-movement Jews.

There has never been, nor will there ever be anything rivaling it. The Church was close to being smothered in its cradle if Nero continued and the Jerusalem Christians had not escaped to Pella - this was a tiny community, primarily Jewish and was attacked by both the Roman authorities AND the Jewish authorities. That WAS the great tribulation

THEN, in Matt 24:29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved - This is apocalyptic language exactly referring to Isaiah 13:10-13 The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light... I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place" - Jesus is foretelling the overthrow of nero and the Sanhedrin. He draws a parallel between the shaking of Babylon and the shaking of Jerusalem (and that's the basis of John's vision in the book of revelations)

This is also reflected in Haggai 2:6-7 Thus says that Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts

This splendor is Christ and the house is the Church. The Sanhedrin was uprooted forever, never to be validly re-established again.

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I'm finally answering your question, apologies for the background lenght
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Now to Matt 24:30-31 Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds on heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other -- and on reading this with Daniel we have

the sign of the Son of Man in heaven - as Josephus writes in War of the Jews book VI, 5:3

3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star 20 resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, 21 [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner 22 [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence." But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, 23 began on a sudden to cry aloud, "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!" This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" And when Albinus [for he was then our procurator] asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, "Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!" And just as he added at the last, "Woe, woe to myself also!" there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.

"There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city of Jerusalem and a comet that continued a whole year

The clouds - As in Daniel, the Son of Man is coming towards the Ancient of Days (The Father) not to earth. The "clouds on Heaven" symbolize the majesty and glory of the Son when He judges his enemies
The mourning - Matt 24:30 - "all the tribes of the earth - the Greek word used here is ge namely land. So all the tribes in the land
the four winds - He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, form one end of Heaven to the other" - Matt 24:31. This four winds is reflected in Dan 11:4 - meaning "scattered everywhere" - and Jesus refers in particular Exek 37:9-10 - and in this jesus predicts the revitalization and reunification of the Jesus-movement the young Christian Church

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Mara Bar Searpion, a pagan Syrian Gentile who wrote a letter to hsi son around 73 AD wrote "What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged"

Only God could make the type of prediction that Jesus made and have it come true. Consider how while Jerusalem was still standing,Jesus foretold what would befall it from the hand of hte empire. At that time there were no armies around Jerusalem encompassing and besieging it for the siege began three decades after His death

Finally the fig tree - "you know that He is near, at the very gates." - the generation of the fig tree was the people who lived to see the destruction in 70 AD

That is why the Gospel according to john does not include the Olivet discourse because revelations was written before 67 AD but the gospel according to john was written after 70 AD

if you read my post above, you’ll see that grumpa is correct. His belief is what nearly all Christians believed from the Apostles right until 1810.

Darby came up with the modernist philosophy of the pre-tribulation rapture at the same time when you had the other modernist philosophies of the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s witnesses, and Christian Scientists.

and I would suggest you read Malachi 4:5 5 Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.

Jesus told His disciples that John the Baptist was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets and in Matthew 11:11-14 told them that

Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: 14 And if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. 15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Furthermore, the annulment of the Old Covenant is not only clear in Zechariah, but also in Malachi 2:10

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob[c]—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.

3:1

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him

In opposition to the clear prophecies of Malachi and Zechariah, dispensationalists believe that God will reinstate the Old COvenant, along with its ceremonial blood sacrifices

but that does not take into account what Zechariah taught that the Good Shepherd would annul the Old Covenant during His first advent - this annulling is intimately associated iwth the death of the SHepherd, sold for thirty pieces of silver

Zechariah 11
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

How much proof against dispensationalism do you require?

“They are stuck ‘believing’ that Jesus has already shown up multiple times!”

...and you seem to be stuck limiting Jesus to “one ping only” to which there is no proof whatsoever.

I don’t think he would be pleased with such a limitation considering John 1:2-3 etc. But you believe what you want.

Seems to me there is ample scriptural evidence that he spoke directly with most of the noted Old Testament Prophets. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elijah, Isaiah, as well as latter day Prophets.

ealgeone - grumpa is mocking the pre-tribulation rapture philosophy which has 2 second comings - the first to rapture away and the second to come again.

Great stuff Cronos! Thank you.

My dad gave me a copy of that book on why the rapture would be in 1988. He was a godly man that IMHO got off the rails a bit into the charismatic movement in the later years of his life. Although that is what brought him to Christ - the tent revival meetings a long time ago.

But - he was ready to meet the Lord. And he did! In 1988!!

"Israel is irrelevant" to the Olivet discourse and Daniel's visions?

That's as wrong as the dispensationalist view.

Daniel's visions were fulfilled at Jesus's FIRST coming - that's very apparent in the fact that Jews from around 50 BC to 150 AD felt that they were living at the end of the 70 weeks of Daniel. That's why there were so many Messianic characters - starting from Judas the Galilean in around 6 BC right up to Simon Bar Kochkba ("bar" = son, Kochkba = "star" so "son of the star" or "son of God")

And, the little Horn fits Nero perfectly -- he "had a mouth that spoke great things" and "shall speaks words against the Most High" (Daniel 7:20-25)

Nero uprooted 3 "melek" i.e. royal ones - he murdered Claudius, Brittanicus and Agrippina

Daniel's vision accurately predicts the death of Nero in 7:26 "His dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end"

The horn also waged war against the law "for a time, two times, and half a time" - i.e. 3.5 years

That is precisely the duration of the First Jewish-Roman war from February 67 AD to August 70 AD

If there is to be a re-built temple with animal sacrifices and rituals, wouldn’t that be denigrating to Christ’s ONCE-FOR-ALL sacrifice? (Hebrews 10:10)

aMPU - you haven't answered this

thepoodlebites:

No one is building a third temple
A third temple is not needed for the AntiChrist to fulfill the prophesy of the abomination --> the 2nd temple served that purpose - read Luke 19:41-44
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Note that the 2nd temple meet's Daniel's vision - it took 434 years (62 weeks) to build: began in 444 BC and ended in 10 BC
Josephus claimed that the Judeans destroyed themselves through the abominations they performed.
He wrote Wars of the Jews --> have you read it? It is long and can be hard

thepoodlebites, Josephus wrote Wars of the Jews --> have you read it? It is long and can be hard, but here are some salient points - cross-refer what I write below with the actual text (link above):

1. Josephus tells of the civil war WITHING the walls of Jerusalem while it was besieged. The three factions burned one another's stores of grains, initiating a severe famine (WJ, V, 1:4)

2. According to Josephus, no other "age ever did breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was... They overthrew the city themselves (WJ, V, 10:1)

3. Josephus continues "The writings of the ancient prophets foretold that this city should be taken when somebody shall begin the slaughter of his own countrymen... it is God, there is it God Himself who is bringing on this fire, to purge that city and Temple by means of the Romans" (WJ, VI, 2:1).

... fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household...

...as long as you are a Catholic.

The Protestant reformers would laugh at Seventh Day Adventists like yourself who believe that Jesus is the angel Michael.

And many present-day Prots just shake our heads over the things that you Catholics have been taught/allowed to believe.

Nearly all?

...and you seem to be stuck limiting Jesus to “one ping only” to which there is no proof whatsoever.

Do you REALLY wanna go here?

Seems to me there is ample scriptural evidence that he spoke directly with most of the noted Old Testament Prophets. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elijah, Isaiah, as well as latter day Prophets.

And just what 'scripture' is going to be used for evidence of this latter claim?