OBJECTIONS TO THE DISPENSATIONAL INTERPRETATION

The objections to the dispensational interpretation are summarized below.

Dispensational statements are given in bold.

This is followed by counter-arguments in normal text.

1.      The 490 years start with Artaxerxes’ second decree.

This decree did not “restore” Jerusalem as judicial and executive capital of the nation, as required by the prophecy.  See discussion above.

2.      The 490 years have 360 days each.

The “weeks” of the Seventy Weeks are sabbatical weeks of years, where each seventh year is a Sabbath.  Each year is therefore a normal literal solar year.  There is no justification for reading this prophecy symbolically.

3.      The appearance of the Messiah (9:25) at the end of the 483 years is Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus appeared about three years earlier when He was “anointed” and introduced to the world at His baptism.  “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power” (Acts 10:38) and proclaimed this Anointed One to be His Son or King (Mark 1:9-11; cf. Ps. 2:6, 7) on the day of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist:

so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. (John 1:31)

4.      The Jewish period ended at Jesus’s triumphal entry, to be resumed much later.

The Jewish period did not end at Jesus’s triumphal entry, or at the Cross.  For the first three or four years after the Cross the gospel was preached with the power of the Holy Spirit exclusively to Jews.  It was only three or four years after the Jews started to persecute the believers that Peter, in a dream, received the instruction to take the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 10).

5.      The “firm covenant” of the 70th week (v 27) follows after the destruction of the city in verse 26 in AD 70.  Therefore the 70th week must follow after 70 AD, which necessitates a gap between the 69th and 70th weeks.

The events in the prophecy are not presented in chronological sequence, for instance:

The rebuilding of the city (25c) is mentioned after the appearance of the anointed one (25b), while the city was rebuilt four hundred years before the Anointed.

The prince causes sacrifices to cease (9:27) after the sanctuary is destroyed (9:26), but if the sanctuary is destroyed there remains no sacrificial system to be ceased.

Since 70 weeks have been determined for the city of “thy people” (9:24), the destruction of the city and the sanctuary in verse 26 must occur after the 70 weeks, and therefore after the 70^th week of verse 27.

To determine the actual chronological sequence it must be noted that the prophecy is presented in a poetic form of parallelism with two foci—Jerusalem and the Anointed, and alternates between the two:

JERUSALEM	ANOINTED ONE
9:25a  commandment to restore	9:25b unto the anointed one
9:25c Seven weeks	9:25c – and 62 weeks
9:25d shall be built again	9:26a - after the 62 weeks anointed cut off
9:26b destroy	9:27a - firm covenant – one week – sacrifice cease
9:27b abominations … maketh desolate

Because of this poetic parallelism, the assumption of a strict chronological sequence is incorrect.

6.      The desolation at the end of verse 27 is concurrent with the end that is made to sacrifice and offering “in the middle” of the 70th week (earlier in the same verse).  Daniel therefore placed the “abomination of desolation” exactly in the middle of the last week.  Our Lord placed the “abomination of desolation” at ‘the end,’ just before His second coming in glory (Matthew 24:15, 21, 29, 30).  The Seventieth Week therefore must also come at the end of the present age, just prior to Christ’s coming in glory.

The first assumption is the reasoning above is that the desolation of verse 27 is concurrent with making an end to sacrifice and offering.  This is not so:

According to the literary analysis the termination of the sacrifices relates to the Messiah while the desolation has to do with the city, some 40 years later.

The messianic context of the prophecy demands that the termination of sacrifices must refer to the Cross.

The second assumption in the reasoning above is that Daniel 9:27 refers to an “abomination of desolation”.  This is also not true.  9:27 refers to a desolator that arrives shortly after (on the wing of) abominations.  The phrase “abomination of desolation” is used elsewhere in Daniel for something that is set up (11:31; 12:11), not a desolator.  Similarly, our Lord spoke about the “abomination of desolation” as something that stands in the holy place (Matthew 24:15; or “standing where it should not be” Mark 13:14).  The abomination of Matthew 24:15 and the desolator in Daniel 9:27 are related, but different things.  An “abomination of desolation” is some repulsive sin, which leads to destruction.  A desolator is a destroyer.  It is therefore not appropriate to link Matthew 24:15 to Daniel 9:27 as if they refer to the same thing.  The “abomination of desolation” is something that belongs to the other prophecies in Daniel, and those are not limited to the 490 years or to the Jewish nation, as is the prophecy in Daniel 9.

Thirdly, Jesus mentions the “abomination of desolation in Matthew 24:15 in the context of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. (Compare mat 24:16-19 to Luke 21:20-23.)  Perhaps one can also apply it to the time before His return (v23), but that would be an additional meaning.

The reasoning therefore includes three major errors, any one of which would refute the conclusion.

7.      There is a gap of 2000 years or more between the first 69 weeks and the 70th week.

An important conclusion from the literary analysis above is that the first part of verse 27 elaborates on the Messiah, while last part of the same verse elaborates on the destruction of the city.  This denies the dispensational approach of detaching verse 27 from the previous verses and propelling it into the distant future to the end of time, to describe the events of the last seven years of earth’s history.

Verse 27 is arguably the core of the prophecy.  All important events occur after the long period of 69 weeks (483 years).  The purpose of the 69 weeks is therefore to foretell the timing of these events.  Hence, to postpone that final week of years and to propel it far into the future is to defeat the purpose of the 69 weeks.

Many of the words used to describe the destruction of the city in verse 26 are repeated in the description of the destruction at the end of verse 27 (desolations – decreed – flood/poured out – end of/complete destruction), which implies that these two verses refer to the same events.

The wording of the text of Daniel in no way indicates a break or gap.  There appears to be no valid reason, or defensible ground, for separating the seventieth week from the previous 69.  To postpone the last seven years of final crisis to the end of the age is a form of exegesis without a precedent in all prophetic exposition.

8.      The covenant in verse 27 is a new covenant made by an end time Antichrist.

The covenant in verse 27 is the divine covenant because that covenant is the central theme throughout Daniel 9, and for the other reasons provided above.

9.      The temple will be rebuilt again a second time, after the destruction in verse 26.

The prophecy explicitly promises only one rebuilding of the city and the sanctuary.  If the temple was to be rebuilt after the destruction of verse 26, the prophecy would have explicitly stated this, given that it is so clear about the rebuilding in verse 25.

10.   The sacrificial system will be resumed.

There is no indication in Daniel 9 that sacrifices will be resumed, as in Daniel 8.  Daniel 9 ends in the opposite, namely increasing chaos.  The re-instatement of the sacrifices stems from the assumption that Daniel 9 covers the same ground as the other prophecies of Daniel, an idea which has been refuted above.

There can never be a valid return to the old covenant and its earthly temple worship.  Christ, the Antitype, has terminated once for all the “shadow” and inaugurated a “better covenant” that offers His righteousness as the everlasting righteousness (see Hebr. 7:22; cf. chap. 10:12; Rom. 3:22, 25).

11.   The termination of the sacrificial system relates to an end time Antichrist.

According to the New Testament, through the sacrifice (death) of the Lamb of God, God brought the sacrificial system to an end, made atonement for sin and brought in everlasting redemption.  If we—against this background—read that the purpose of the 70 weeks includes “to make atonement and to bring in everlasting redemption” (9:24), and that the events of the 70 weeks include the appearance and death of the messiah, it is more than fair to conclude that the context demands that the termination of the sacrificial system in verse 27 refers to His crucifixion.

His death was the ultimate and real sacrifice for the sins of the human race.  We, frail and tiny humans, living on a speck of dust floating in the immeasurable universe, find it difficult to believe in the supernatural.  Here Daniel, 500 years before the cross, disclosed a great truth, which is also disclosed by Isaiah 53 when he wrote, ‘pierced through for our transgressions’.  We must cling to such proofs of the supernatural.  This also tells us much about the nature of the universe.  God knows where we are.  He died for our sins.  We cannot understand why and how because His thoughts are as far above our thoughts as the stars are above the earth, but it is wonderful to understand that the Source of all power and love feels this way about us; undeserving sinners.

12.   The sanctuary will be destroyed in the middle of the last week.

70 weeks have been determined for the city of “thy people” (9:24).  This promises safety for the city for 70 weeks of years.  The sanctuary will not be destroyed during that period.  For this reason the city and the sanctuary was destroyed after the end of the 490 years.

13.   The 70th week ends with the return of Christ.

The prophecy ends in the accumulation of desolations.  It does not refer to the return of Christ.  If the end of the last week was the Second Advent, would verse 27 not end in a description of His glorious return, as the other prophecies in Daniel do?

14.   The goals of 9:24 will be fulfilled at the end of the 490 years

Daniel 9:24 declares that “atonement for iniquity” and “everlasting righteousness” was to be attained during the 490 years, through Israel.

A strange aspect of Dispensationalism is the proposal that sin will continue for 1000 years after the return of Christ.  Furthermore, by postulating the Millennium as a period of Jewish dominance, it allocates in total 1490 years to the Jews; not 490 years.

It was argued above that Jesus made “atonement for iniquity” and consequently brought in “everlasting righteousness” for ages and ages to come.

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

Those who claim to have been into Heaven are LIARS - full stop!!!

Lately I have been preoccupied by what is commonly known as the near death experience, or the NDE. That obsession with the afterlife I could mainly put down to a kind of morbid curiosity about what really lays beyond the realms of the death experience. In particular, I liked the stories of those who had allegedly died and then found themselves in Heaven. However, just lately I have come to the rather sad realization that I have been a very foolish man indeed. In hindsight, It would have been much better for me to have occupied my time with leading the unsaved to salvation, rather than to have been engrossed by tales of alleged visits to Heaven by those who are simply making the whole thing up for financial gain. Common sense would dictate that anyone who had died and entered Heaven would not want to return to this earth just to recount the story of their alleged experiences for the benefit of those who are still alive. Once a person dies and enters Heaven there is no way that they would want to return to the world. Instead, they would want to stay there to live with the Lord forever and ever. If there is anyone, anywhere who says that have died and gone to Heaven, to return back here to retell their story, then they are not telling the truth. I hate to use the word, but those same persons are liars of the highest order.  By telling the lies that they are they are not only condemning themselves, but the word of God as well.

However, that still does not mean that I can discount the tales from those who have alleged they have died and then went to Hell and back. Nor can I discount the Near Death Experiences of those who have died and went to Hell, and then where shown the gates of Heaven, but where not allowed to enter Heaven at that particular time. See the website of Ian McCormick. There is a very distinct difference between those who have supposedly had visions of both Heaven and Hell. Or indeed there is a very distinct difference between those who have been to Hell and then after having had that experience been shown the gates of Heaven, but have not entered into Heaven. In this instance what I can mainly refer are the stories of those who have purported to have stepped over the line and entered into Heaven and then came back here to the earth and retell of their experiences. These are the people that I am calling LIARS.  

There are those out there who are able express the utter frustration that I feel relative to the charlatans making money out of selling books by telling stories of visits to Heaven better than what I am able to. One such man is John MacArthur a pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California and president of The Master’s College and Seminary. Dr. MacArthur is also the author of more than one hundred books, covering a great expanse of Christian topics. He also is heard worldwide on his radio program Grace to You. Here is what Mr. MacArthur has to say relative to this rather delicate subject matter. However, by reading what has been copied and pasted below one still needs to keep in mind that during the course of his whole article he only speaks on the subject matter of NDEs proportional to Heaven.  He has not discounted the NDE of the visits to Hell which in turn gives me the incentive to say that there may just be something that is a lot like the truth in some of the stories of those who claim to have been to Hell and back. 

Are Visits to Heaven for Real?
By Dr. John MacArthur
A pastor’s book recounting his son’s visit to heaven rose to the top of the bestseller list and became a major motion picture. Christians were quick to spread the word, but could such visits be for real?

In recent years, Christian booksellers have inundated the evangelical world with testimonies from people who say they visited heaven in near-death experiences. Their stories are full of specific details about what heaven is like, who is there, and what is happening in the celestial realm. But when we compare their claims with Scripture, it becomes clear that they are merely figments of the human imagination, not true visions of heaven as it is described in God’s Word.

The best known of all these tales, Heaven Is for Real,1 is to be a major motion picture, released in April 2014. It is the story of Colton Burpo, whose parents believe he visited heaven when he was just four—during surgery after a burst appendix nearly took his life. Colton’s descriptions of heaven are full of fanciful features and peculiar details that bear all the earmarks of a child’s vivid imagination. There’s nothing transcendent or even particularly enlightening about Colton’s heaven. It is completely devoid of the breathtaking glory featured in every biblical description of the heavenly realm.

There’s nothing transcendent or even particularly enlightening about Colton’s heaven.

Stories like Colton’s are as dangerous as they are seductive. Readers not only get a twisted, unbiblical picture of heaven; they also imbibe a subjective, superstitious, shallow brand of spirituality. Studying mystical accounts of supposed journeys into the afterlife yields nothing but confusion, contradiction, false hope, bad doctrine, and a host of similar evils.

We live in a narcissistic culture, and it shows in these accounts of people who claim they’ve been to heaven. They sound as if they viewed paradise in a mirror, keeping themselves in the foreground. They say comparatively little about God or His glory. But the glory of God is what the Bible says fills, illuminates, and defines heaven. Instead, the authors of these stories seem obsessed with details like how good they felt—how peaceful, how happy, how comforted they were; how they received privileges and accolades; how fun and enlightening their experience was; and how many things they think they now understand perfectly that could never be gleaned from Scripture alone. In short, they glorify self while barely noticing God’s glory. They highlight everything but what’s truly important about heaven.

It is quite true that heaven is a place of perfect bliss—devoid of all sorrow and sin, full of exultation and enjoyment—a place where grace and peace reign totally unchallenged. Heaven is where every true treasure and every eternal reward is laid up for the redeemed. Anyone whose destiny is heaven will certainly experience more joy and honor there than the fallen mind is capable of comprehending—infinitely more than any fallen creature deserves. But if you actually saw heaven and lived to tell about it, those things are not what would capture your heart and imagination.

You would be preoccupied instead with the majesty and grace of the One whose glory fills the place.

Sadly, undiscerning readers abound, and they take these postmodern accounts of heaven altogether seriously. The stratospheric sales figures and far-reaching influence of these books ought to be a matter of serious concern for anyone who truly loves the Word of God.

The Bible on Near-Death Experiences
There is simply no reason to believe anyone who claims to have gone to heaven and returned. John 3:13 says, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” And John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time.”

Four biblical authors had visions of heaven—not near-death experiences. Isaiah and Ezekiel (Old Testament prophets) and Paul and John (New Testament apostles) all had such visions. Two other biblical figures—Micaiah and Stephen—got glimpses of heaven, but what they saw is merely mentioned, not described (2 Chronicles 18:18; Acts 7:55).

Only three of these men later wrote about what they saw—and the details they gave were comparatively sparse (Isaiah 6:1–4; Ezekiel 1, 10; Revelation 4–6). All of them focused properly on God’s glory. They also mentioned their own fear and shame in the presence of such glory. They had nothing to say about the mundane features that are so prominent in modern tales about heaven (things like picnics, games, juvenile attractions, familiar faces, odd conversations, and so on). Paul gave no actual description of heaven but simply said what he saw would be unlawful to utter. In short, the biblical descriptions of heaven could hardly be any more different from today’s fanciful stories about heaven.

Lazarus of Bethany fell ill and died, and his body lay decaying in a tomb for four days until Jesus raised him (John 11:17). A whole chapter in John’s Gospel is devoted to the story of how Jesus brought him back from the dead. But there’s not a hint or a whisper anywhere in Scripture about what happened to Lazarus’s soul in hat four-day interim. The same thing is true of every person in Scripture who was ever brought back from the dead, beginning with the widow’s son whom Elijah raised in 1 Kings 17:17–24 and culminating with Eutychus, who was healed by Paul in Acts 20:9–12. Not one biblical person ever gave any recorded account of his or her postmortem experience in the realm of departed souls.

Crossing the Boundaries
Far too much of the present interest in heaven, angels, and the afterlife stems from carnal curiosity. It is not a trend biblical Christians should encourage or celebrate. Any pursuit that diminishes people’s reliance on the Bible is fraught with grave spiritual dangers—especially if it is something that leads gullible souls into superstition, gnosticism, occultism, New Age philosophies, or any kind of spiritual confusion. Those are undeniably the roads most traveled by people who feed a morbid craving for detailed information about the afterlife, devouring stories of people who claim to have gone to the realm of the dead and returned.

Scripture never indulges that desire. In the Old Testament era, every attempt to communicate with the dead was deemed a sin on par with sacrificing infants to false gods (Deuteronomy 18:10–12). The Hebrew Scriptures say comparatively little about the disposition of souls after death, and the people of God were strictly forbidden to inquire further on their own. Necromancy was a major feature of Egyptian religion. It also dominated every religion known among the Canaanites. But under Moses’s law it was a sin punishable by death (Leviticus 20:27).

The New Testament adds much to our understanding of heaven (and hell), but we are still not permitted to add our own subjective ideas and experience-based conclusions to what God has specifically revealed through His inerrant Word. Indeed, we are forbidden in all spiritual matters to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6).

Those who demand to know more than Scripture tells us about heaven are sinning: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The limits of our curiosity are thus established by the boundary of biblical revelation. In the words of Charles Spurgeon,

It’s a little heaven below, to imagine sweet things. But never think that imagination can picture heaven. When it is most sublime, when it is freest from the dust of earth, when it is carried up by the greatest knowledge, and kept steady by the most extreme caution, imagination cannot picture heaven. “It hath not entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Imagination is good, but not to picture to us heaven. Your imaginary heaven you will find by-and-by to be all a mistake; though you may have piled up fine castles, you will find them to be castles in the air, and they will vanish like thin clouds before the gale. For imagination cannot make a heaven. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man to conceive” it.2

What God has revealed in Scripture is the only legitimate place to get a clear understanding of the heavenly kingdom. God’s written Word does in fact give us a remarkably full and clear picture of heaven and the spiritual realm. But the Bible still leaves many questions unanswered.

We need to accept the boundaries God Himself has put on what He has revealed. It is sheer folly to speculate where Scripture is silent. It is sinfully wrong to try to investigate spiritual mysteries using occult means. And it is seriously dangerous to listen to anyone who claims to know more about God, heaven, angels, or the afterlife than God Himself has revealed to us in Scripture.

The Glories of Heaven
It is, however, right and beneficial for Christians to fix their hearts on heaven. Scripture commands us to cultivate that perspective: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth” (Colossians 3:1–2). “While we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

Such a perspective is the very essence of true faith, according to Hebrews 11. Those with authentic, biblical faith acknowledge that they are strangers and pilgrims on this earth (v. 13). They are seeking a heavenly homeland (v. 14). They “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (v. 16). The “city” that verse refers to is the heavenly Jerusalem, an unimaginable place—the very capital of heaven. It will be the eternal abode of the redeemed. No wonder Christians are intrigued with the subject.

But no matter how much they might obsess over what heaven is like, people who fill their heads with a lot of fantastic or delusional ideas from others’ near-death experiences have not truly set their minds on things above. If the inerrant biblical truth God has given us is the only reliable knowledge about heaven we have access to (and it is), then that is what should grip our hearts and minds, not the dreams and speculations of human minds.

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

Why the Book of Enoch is a FAKE

Evil Fallen Angels

Those who are advocating there are fallen angels coming through dimensions from other worlds have taken the context of that notion from the book of Enoch which speaks predominately about fallen angels. However, there is a slight problem with the book of Enoch, for starters it is not a part of the word of God for good reason; it is totally the work of men and nothing much more than a work of fiction.

From the watchman for Jesus BlogSpot, Quote: A big difference between it and the genuine Word of God. The Bible is readable, from cover to cover, it tells a story. In sharp contrast, the Book of Enoch appears to be mocking the Word of God, quoting phrases here-and-there from the Bible, without any meaningful logic or order. This, coupled with a bunch of added mumbo-jumbo, makes the Book of Enoch a ridiculous piece of literature to even consider inspired by God. As a person progresses deeper into the Book of Enoch, they will eventually find the Books of Adam and Eve fascinating as well, and then they will be into New Age occultism without even realizing it.

Don't be fooled friend, the Book of Enoch is occult material that will lead you into the senseless mysticism of pagan religion. The fact that it's being paraded to the public nowadays on Walt Disney's History Station as a SHOCKING revelation, should be a clear warning sign where this is all headed. The credibility of the Word of God is under malicious attack." Let us remember that Enoch WAS rejected as a canonical book. It is NOT inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is just a lot of ramblings.

Jude quoted from it because there was just ONE passage which was considered inspired. Nowhere else in the whole Bible are any other verses from Enoch quoted? As Jude quoted a few verses from it then we also can use that section but be wary not to trust those ramblings and use it to justify views on fallen angels, spirits in prison and the Nephilim or any other subject. To be noted: Enoch is not considered the author of that book, by the way.

It is quite obvious that one statement of Enoch was used as a quote in this book, in the attempt to endorse everything else in the book. We should compare scripture with scripture (ie the inspired writings as contained within the canonical books). This also applies to the apocrapha writings which are NOT inspired and NOT canonical.

We should NEVER include within our theology teachings from those external books. In fact (as I understand it) much of the false teachings within the Catholic Church are based on those external books including the apocrypha. Let us NOT become like them introducing external heresies but STICK to 66 inspired books of the Bible and encourage everybody to read those books alone as they are everything we need for our salvation, faith and journey. End of Quote

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

Catholic Bashing By Alleged Fundamentalist Born Again Christians

Roman Catholic Pope Francis

Right at the beginning of this article I would like to stress quite clearly that I am neither for nor against the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, my stance is relatively neutral when it comes to an opinion on the church or its followers. The basic reason for taking that position is because there is very little or nothing that I can readily identify with about the Roman Catholic Church in comparison to my own fundamentalist (Bible believing) Christian beliefs. More so, and a great deal more so than any other weird and wonderful system of belief out there, the amount of Catholic bashing going on lately appears to have intensified with a greater amount of ferocity and nastiness than I can ever recall in the past. This all seems to have been taking place ever since the appointment of Pope Francis. It is with much sadness that I must report the greatest amount of attacks coming from the Internet, aimed squarely at the Roman Catholic Church, and in particular the newly appointed Pope, are coming straight from my own brothers and sisters in the Lord, Fundamentalist Born Again Christians. I can only hazard a guess as to why all of this is taking place? However, my best estimation as to why all of this slanderous type of behaviour is taking place against the RC (and in particular the new Pope) may have to do with so many of my brothers and sisters out there in cyber land somehow or another readily identifying the Whore of Babylon as being the RCC.

The newly appointed pope has coped the greatest amount of flack though, with so many out there that are running end times blog spots calling him of all things the second beast of Revelation Chapter 13, the False Prophet. For starters, there is very little mentioned in the word of God relative to the FP, but what we do know is that he does not seek authority for himself; but instead, he gives his backing or support to Antichrist. Right now, there is really no one at all that I could quite categorically identify as being the Antichrist. As that is the case, how that is there are then those out there who are identifying this Pope as being the FP, when we don’t even know who the Antichrist is? In other words, what they are saying is that the Pope is the FP even though he is not giving his authority over to anyone, let alone the Antichrist, who we don’t even know who is yet. A lot of this rot going on at the moment relative to the RCC may have a lot to do with a book that has recently been published written by on one Tom Horn who has claimed, amongst other things, that the current Pope is the last Pope and therefore must be the FP. Avoid that book like the plague for the complete and utter nonsense that it is. For appetizers, there is really no one at all who really knows whether the RCC is the Whore of Babylon or not let alone if this Pope, or any other Pope for that matter, is the FP. My firm belief is that Babylon is the United States of America simply because the city described a burning sounds a lot like New York Harbour? At the end of the day who really knows that answer to that one either?

Despite all of what I have made mention of above there is still no getting away from the facts of the tremendous amount of sheer idolatry that has infiltrated the RCC over the centuries. The greatest amount of blasphemy and hypocrisy is directed by the Catholics against the one true and living God in the deity worship of the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary. What bothers me the most about this kind of false worship is that even though she was a virgin when Christ was conceived, Mary was not a virgin on the day she died simply because after the birth of Christ Mary gave birth to brothers and sisters for Christ, all conceived the natural way? Even though Mary was blessed amongst women she is not the Queen of Heaven sitting alongside and being worshiped on the same level as Christ and the father himself. The bottom line is that Catholics have knowingly, and stubbornly, rejected the commandments of God to follow their own traditions instead. This is exactly what Jesus said concerning the Apostate Jewish religion, "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men ... Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition ... Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye" (Mark Chapter 6, Verses 8 and 13). (Emphasis added)

The Catholic Church is a prison house of religion.

Even though there are several faults with the RCC I have only mentioned one in this article; but there are still no doubts at all that there are also faults with the fundamentalist churches as well. For example, the Pentecostal teaching that a believer can LOSE salvation has been a cause for great concern by believers for a long time. From my own experience, I have found that the average Christian isn't sure what to think about the Pentecostals (i.e., the Charismatic Movement). Are they saved or not? If you speak to most Charismatics, they'll give every impression that they're true Christians. Many are aggressive witnesses for their religion. Yet something is VERY wrong with their doctrine ... VERY WRONG! The Jehovah's Witnesses are as aggressive as any religion in propagating their doctrines; yet they serve Satan by spreading devilish doctrines. Just because Pentecostals are aggressive to spread their doctrines doesn't mean that they're of God. Charismatics PERVERT the Gospel of Jesus Christ by ADDING holy living as a requirement to keep one's salvation. This is utter self-righteousness, and a lack of faith in God.

Pentecostalism looks and feels good, but is rotten to the core!

If there are faults with both the protestant and the Catholic movements then what do we do to make sure that we are truly saved? Which church do we attend and indeed does our salvation depend on what church we attend and how we live according to the particular doctrines of faith that each particular domination holds fast to. From the time that I was saved forty four years ago I remember the beautiful feeling that it was and how I just knew that I had been truly Born Again, and as a consequence was Heaven bound upon having the death experience. Needless to say, I have not been a regular church attendee over the past few years. However, I still knew that I had to hold onto my salvation by regular prayerful sessions and daily Bible reading which I have kept up for decades and decades now. That being said, I do not advocate non church attendance. On the contrary, go to church by all means, but still be very aware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing and the absolute jackals that now inhabit the pulpits of so many so called houses of God in this modern day and age. Not to go to church was and still is the best path for me to take, I make that statement given the enormous amount of pretence so many church leaders and attendees seem to have.

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 5 (Emphasis Added)

Go directly straight to the point of Christian preaching and apologetics and defend the Fundamental Born Again Christian faith and its stand of Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, in Christ alone and glory to God alone. Uproot heretical teachings that mislead people, win souls and promote the splendour, the majesty and the triumphs of the Church that was built upon Jesus Christ.

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

BEWARE FALSE PROPHETS IN THESE LAST DAYS

Justin Peters

This article needed to be written as a precursor to the previous article. After some serious Bible study I learnt that just before the return of the Lord the whole world would be abounding with flourishing False Prophets. Firstly, let me make it quite clear that it has never been my intention to go along the path of attacking the so called ministries of others.

There are those Born Again Christians whose gifts are to do just that, and may I say that there are some who do so that are quite good at what they do. There is one young man who readily comes to mind who makes it his business to expose the hypocrisy of some of the more well-known ministries in these latter days. His name is Justin Peters and his website is http://justinpeters.org/ He comes very highly recommended if one wishes a good understanding into the False Prophets currently thriving in these end times.

That is still not to say that all is right in the ball park when it comes to other Christian ministries. The name of one False Prophet that readily comes to mind. However, if there are no names mentioned then there is no shame attached to either this ministry or the ministry of those I choose to refer to on this occasion. That being said there is one quite well know ministry, that comes out of the United Kingdom, whose administrator seems to get a bee in his bonnet from time to time and then run with whatever is on his mind for weeks and weeks right up until the point that it starts to become quite boring.

(I have made a pact between myself and the Lord that I would not make any further comments at that particular BlogSpot simply because he only tends to publish comments that run with his own stance on whatever subject matter.)

At the moment he has some strange and unexplained notion that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church is somehow or another the second beast of Revelation Chapter 13 known commonly as the False Prophet. However, most of us who study the word of God know quite well that out of the two beasts mentioned in Revelation Chapter 13 the first beast is the political side of the New World Order, and that the second beast is the religious side of the New World Order. As that is the case, and following the chronological order for the appearance of the two beasts, then how can we now assume that the current Roman Catholic Pope is the second beast (the False Prophet) when we haven’t even seen the first beast (the Son of Perdition) as yet.

Conversely, credit should be given where credit is due?  It may be the instance where the current Pope is preparing the way for the real False Prophet, but as far as I can see that is all that is going on for the time being with the current Pope. Nevertheless that is still not to assume that any Roman Catholic Pope is going to turn out to be the False Prophet. However that is still not taking into account the enormous amount of confusion and harm this man is causing by sending out all the wrong signals just at this particular time in history when all of Christendom needs proper and correct information. If one is look at his past history relative to these matters then he, and numerous others, seem to have been following the same path all along by getting some crazy and silly notion somewhere along the line and then running with it to the point of extinction. Just as is the case in his instance time and time again there are just too many who are proving to be nothing more than False Prophets.

The bottom line still remains, that there is nothing at all wrong with listening to what others have to say, but for those who are earnestly seeking the Kingdom of God, when it comes to current and future events refer always to the Holy Scriptures for the correct answer. (Emphasis Added)

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.

Why the Day of the Lord should not be confused with a Rapture

There has never ever been a time when I have held the stance that there would not be a taking away of the church before events here on the earth became so unbearable so as that we not him able to bear what was going to happen. The only point that I have remained steadfast on was that there were never ever going to be two events, the day of the Lord and the Rapture.

There are several scriptures that tell us that the Lord is indeed going to be a return to the earth to take his church back home with him. However, there is nothing that I can see at all that says anything about a Rapture. So there is the Day of the Lord, but there is nothing at all that I can find that says anything at all about a Rapture.

There are still going to be those who are going to refer to the verses they say refer to a Rapture when those verse do not refer to a Rapture but instead refer to the Day of the Lord. However as  it is nigh on impossible to predict the timing for the Day of the Lord there is no point at all in even trying to do so because the Day of the Lord and the alleged Rapture do not correlate at all because there is no Rapture.

There is no one that has shown me the following verses at all and it is not just something that I happened to come across on the Internet; just today I was reading the word of God and in doing so noted the following which tells us quite clearly that the Lord is going to take his elect up to Heaven with him when he returns back here to the earth.

 22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

 23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

 24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Mark Chapter 13, Verses 22 to 27. (Emphasis added)

That language is quite clear, when false prophets and show signs and wonders to seduce, in those days, after that tribulation, the sun and the moon shall be darkened and the moon shall not give light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken, then shall you see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect (the born again Christians) from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth (from all the earth) to the uttermost part of heaven.

In plain and simple to understand English, when the Lord returns his angels are going to gather the Born Again Christian together and take them up to Heaven, after we see the False Prophets mentioned above. But let’s have a bit of a look for the moment about the condition that we have going on here on the earth at the moment? Don’t we already have many false prophets showing signs and wonders to seduce? If that evaluation is correct (as it is) then it looks to me like the Day of the Lord is not all that far away at all? 

WHY I AM NOT A DISPENSATIONALIST John Nelson Darby is recognized as the father of dispensationalism later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield's Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Henry Mackintosh, 1820–1896, with his popular style spread Darby's teachings to humbler elements in society and may be regarded as the journalist of the Brethren Movement. CHM popularised Darby more than any other Brethren author. As there was no Christian teaching of a “rapture” before Darby began preaching about it in the 1830s, he is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. Dispensationalist beliefs about the fate of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel put dispensationalists at the forefront of Christian Zionism, because "God is able to graft them in again," and they believe that in His grace he will do so according to their understanding of Old Testament prophecy. They believe that, while the methodologies of God may change, His purposes to bless Israel will never be forgotten, just as He has shown unmerited favour to the Church, He will do so to a remnant of Israel to fulfill all the promises made to the genetic seed of Abraham. I am not a dispensationalist; it is unbiblical.