The Coming Great Apostasy

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Enoch111

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...just as God's Holy Writ does declare for at the very end of this world.
Actually the Bible declares that the Resurrection/Rapture is before the end of the world (or the age):

1 CORINTHIANS 15
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order:
[1] Christ the firstfruits; [the resurrection of Christ] afterward [2] they that are Christ's at his coming. [the Resurrection/Rapture of the saints]

24
[3] Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

The Resurrection/Rapture (the saints going UP to Heaven) cannot possibly be the same as the Second Coming of Christ (the saints coming DOWN from Heaven). That would be absurd, since there must be a Marriage of the Lamb between those two events.

As to despising Darby and Dispensationalism, you could learn a lot if you had the humility to do so.
 

Davy

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The people you refer to in Revelation 13, who worship the 'beast', are secular peoples, not Christians.
Therefore 'apostasy' [from Christianity] doesn't apply to them.
It seems from what we are told, that very few people will convert to Christianity in the end times. The disincentive is; to do so is to get your head chopped off.

But as I showed in #2, all Christians now, will gather into all of the holy Land and form our own nation, Isaiah 62:1-5, not a member of the One World Government, led by the Anti-Christ.

That's incorrect, and not what is written in Rev.13...

Rev 13:7-8
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
KJV


The coming Antichrist, pseudo-Christ, the "vile person", dragon, the devil, Satan, that old serpent, whatever you want to call him, will make war with the saints, which means Christ's Church. And he will overcome them, physically, and some of them spiritually also, which is what Apostle Paul's falling away is about. The only saints among that group that will NOT worship that dragon are those whose names are written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, which means Christ's very elect, the same elect He spoke of in Matthew 24:24 which is the same event...

Matt 24:23-26
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, "Lo, here is Christ, or there"; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs (Greek pseudochristos, a singular false-Messiah), and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, "Behold, He is in the desert"; go not forth: "behold, He is in the secret chambers"; believe it not.
KJV



Jesus gave that warning there TWICE about that coming pseudo-Christ. He commanded us to not believe on that fake Christ. That is the same event of the falling away Apostle Paul showed in 2 Thess.2:3-4. It is the same event of the "another beast" of Rev.13, and that "dragon" of Rev.13:4-8.

While your skewed belief tries to get away from those direct Scripture connections, it only gives me more opportunity to show the actual Bible Scripture proof of the connections.
 

Davy

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I believe you have a serious misunderstanding about this subject. Ever since the 19th century, there has been a greater and greater departure from the faith once delivered to the saints. That my friend is the building up of the great apostasy. And just recently Pope Francis has signed a covenant with the Muslims that proclaims that Allah and the God of the Bible are the same, and God wanted all the religions of the world to be in place so that ultimately there is one world religion. He has declared Muslims to be brothers to Christians.
....

You're of course free to believe what you will. But it won't change the Scripture as it's actually written. The reason for so many Christian denominations is because men's doctrines loosely based on The Bible, instead of actually keeping to what's actually written.

The pseudochristos (a spurious Messiah) that Jesus warned His saints about for the end is to appear in Jerusalem not Rome. Jerusalem is where He was warning them about the events of the last days in His Olivet discourse.

Same thing in 2 Thess.2:3-4 with Apostle Paul's warning. Apostle Paul wasn't speaking of a spiritual temple that coming "man of sin" will sit in and proclaim himself as God. The spiritual temple of Ephesians 2 cannot be corrupted, for its foundation is made up of the Apostles and prophets, with Jesus as it's Chief Cornerstone. It's amazing how sottish and ignorant some of our brethren can be in buying into the lie that spiritual temple could be corrupted by anyone. That "temple of God" Paul was talking about is another physical Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and today's orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have the materials ready to build it!

So if your Jewish, maybe you've been wrongly taught to steer Christian's view about the coming Antichrist away from Jerusalem, or any endtime events for Jerusalem, but that would be serving the "synagogue of Satan", because Jesus emphatically pointed to Jerusalem for these pseudo-Messiah events, and not anywhere else.

Guess then, where the headquarters for the coming "one world government" will be? Jerusalem. And it won't be a pope sitting on a throne in Jerusalem proclaiming himself as God either. It will a false one the orthodox Jews themselves... will accept as their MESSIAH. That means the coming Antichrist will claim to be born of the tribe of JUDAH.
 

Davy

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Dave, ALl of what you said is derived from the analytical study of the Bible, through the fleshly mind ONLY! The Spirit of the Lord speaks contrary, of which I have shown.
Do you read "the natural man" in both the singular and the plural? Then so should it be for "that man of sin" .
Are there not two "son(s) of perdition" spoken of in the NT? In the context of 2 Thes., there are more!! And why not? Is it not true that ALL the unsaved shall "go into perdtion"?
Rom. 8:9 says that isso!

Don't know which Dave you directed this to, so I'll answer also just in case.

Your analytical study vs. The Spirit idea is moot, because the Scripture being opened up and made clear with more than one witness is what The Holy Spirit does for us, if we listen to Him. And I do, which is how I'm able to pull so many Scripture witnesses together on these events while many here are still struggling to realize how they link together.

I've heard that doctrinal tradition from men a long time ago, it's not yours. It's the application to 2 Thess.2 of no single Antichrist, but only the idea of many antichrists. Problem is, Apostle John spoke of both a singular "antichrist" who the brethren had already heard shall come, and then the idea of "many antichrists". That was two separate subjects. The doctrine you espouse simply throws away John's first "antichrist" example in 1 John 2:18. I covered that in a previous post here, so you might want to go back and study that.

The working of great signs and wonders the coming pseudo-Messiah is to do per Matt.24:24 and Rev.13:13-14 is the same one doing the signs and wonders of 2 Thess.2:9-10. It's the "dragon", Satan, that old serpent. That's who the real Antichrist will be when he comes to Jerusalem to proclaim himself as God and over all the world and over all religions.
 

Davy

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Correct!
In the KJV for Mat. 24, and Mark 13, the Lord says nothing of a singular false Christ, working signs and wonders, but rather specifically says it in the plural.
....

You just contradicted yourself.

The KJV translation of "false Christs" in Matthew 24:24 and Mark 13:22 is not correct.


In the Greek manuscripts, the phrase "false Christs" is the word pseudochristos, made up from 2 Greek words - pseudo and Christos.

In Greek, the word Christos means Christ, singular. Just because it has that s on it in the Greek does not have to make it plural.

This is why Dr. James Strong in his Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines pseudochristos as 'a spurious Messiah', which is singular.

NT:5580
pseudochristos (psyoo-dokh'-ris-tos); from NT:5571 and NT:5547; a spurious Messiah:

KJV - false Christ.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

Also, the context of Matt.24:23 & 26 is singular, not plural. That should have been a clue for you also, but you obviously didn't listen to The Holy Spirit while reading those verses which go with that Matt.24:24 verse, otherwise you would have know that "false Christs" was a bad translation.
 

Davy

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Actually the Bible declares that the Resurrection/Rapture is before the end of the world (or the age):

1 CORINTHIANS 15
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23 But every man in his own order:
[1] Christ the firstfruits; [the resurrection of Christ] afterward [2] they that are Christ's at his coming. [the Resurrection/Rapture of the saints]

24
[3] Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

The Resurrection/Rapture (the saints going UP to Heaven) cannot possibly be the same as the Second Coming of Christ (the saints coming DOWN from Heaven). That would be absurd, since there must be a Marriage of the Lamb between those two events.

As to despising Darby and Dispensationalism, you could learn a lot if you had the humility to do so.

Sorry, but your understanding of that order is not correct, and no doubt from following a tradition about the timing of Christ's future Millennial reign.

The "end" which Paul remarked of in that 1 Cor.15:24 verse is for after... the future "thousand years" reign of our Lord Jesus and His elect priests and kings over all nations per Rev.20. When God's GWT Judgment finally casts the rebellious and unbelieving into the future lake of fire after that thousand years, that's when Jesus will deliver up the Kingdom to The Father.

The resurrection is to occur on the last day of this present world, which is the day of Christ's 2nd coming and gathering of His Church...

John 6:40
40 And this is the will of Him That sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

KJV

John 11:24
24 Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

KJV

1 Thess 4:16
16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

KJV

This is Bible 101 stuff. Don't listen to all the whackos out there who don't even read The Bible!
 

Davy

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Amen and a big one for that AMEN

But that's not the subject Paul was speaking of. If someone stops going to Church today and listens to all the PC madness in today's world, that certainly could lead up to their falling away from Christ, but what Paul was warning us about is when that false Messiah shows up working great signs and miracles proclaiming to be God, and demanding that you believe he is God. That is why the 2 Thess.2:3 & 4 verses are linked together.

And be warned of men's doctrines that try to unlink those 2 Thess.2:3 & 4 verses apart from each other. That is one way they try to get you to be deceived about that time of falling away, which is actually about the end with a false worship to the wrong Christ!
 
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mjrhealth

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hat certainly could lead up to their falling away from Christ
the churches are filed with people falling away, it is why Christ People only follow Him,

Rev_18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

and

Joh 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

and that is why they wont remain among the religious, it is Christ alone.
 

Davy

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The great apostasy CULMINATES with the revelation of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, the Beast, or the Antichrist. Religious events today are leading up to that time, Therefore there is no such thing as *falsely promoting* that which was prophesied as a *progressive* regression to more and more sin and evil. The 19th century saw apostasy enter into the Protestant churches, and things have gone progressively worse since then.

Apostle Paul linked the time of falling away in 2 Thess.2:3 with the coming of the "man of sin" who is to proclaim himself as God, and over all that is worshiped, or that is called God, as per 2 Thess.2:4.

Paul was thus repeating the same warning our Lord Jesus gave in His Olivet discourse about the coming pseudo-Christ that is work great signs and wonders that if possible, would deceive even Christ's very elect.

Thus the 2 Thess.2:3 falling away event is about deception into false worship of that coming false one in Jerusalem at the end of this world in the generation that will see Christ's 2nd coming. This is the event of "strong delusion" that Paul said God is sending upon the unrighteous.
 

Davy

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Davy...you are reading the words and not the spirit.

One who reads what is written in word only will never understand anything other than what the words say - which you, just like most of Christendom, have done quite accurately by word. But the truth has evaded you.
  1. You read "temple" and did not spiritually discern that it does not mean the stone structure in Jerusalem, but rather the body. Which can be understood individually as well as corporately.
  2. You read "falling away" and understood it to mean what comes after...even though it says it must come first. Which was in the beginning...again, the meaning is individual as well as corporately: individually when each is born, and corporately when all are born, but "each in his own order" as Paul clearly said.
  3. You read "that day shall not come" and assumed that it had not come against the promise of Christ to come "after" His ascension, "soon" and "quickly" to each who has and will yet hear Him "knocking" and answer - again, "each in his own order."
All of which makes the "lie", that these things only happen as a mass even in the future...as you have portrayed it. That is the "lie" and the "strong delusion."

Yeah, I know how to 'read' God's Word as written, and allow The Holy Spirit to give me understanding in IT!

But apparently, you listen to another spirit, since each Bible student is called to actually study The Bible as written with The Holy Spirit Comforter as our Guide. It doesn't mean to throw away the written pages of Holy Writ!!!
 

Davy

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the churches are filed with people falling away, it is why Christ People only follow Him,

Rev_18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

and

Joh 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

and that is why they wont remain among the religious, it is Christ alone.

Now you're trying to preach instead of staying on topic of our Lord's Message through His Apostle Paul in 2 Thess.2.

Some preacher getting up behind the pulpit and preaching unwritten generalities about the endtimes is as worthless as dung. If he can't stay with what is written in God's Holy Writ, he shouldn't even be there preaching, for he preaches his own word, and not The Word of God.
 

mjrhealth

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Now you're trying to preach instead of staying on topic of our Lord's Message through His Apostle Paul in 2 Thess.2.

Some preacher getting up behind the pulpit and preaching unwritten generalities about the endtimes is as worthless as dung. If he can't stay with what is written in God's Holy Writ, he shouldn't even be there preaching, for he preaches his own word, and not The Word of God.
And what message is that?? the bible speaks of..

Mat 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

and

Mar_7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

and when Christ comes, many will be sitting in church wondering,Why am I still here??" Being in church has little to do with being in Christ.
 

Lady Crosstalk

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I do not believe in Darby's ideas of a Pre-trib Rapture, nor his Dispensationalist beliefs. Those on mans's doctrines of Preterism and Historicism (like yourself) often try to push the Biblical links about the coming false-Messiah to systems like Darby's when in reality those events are clearly written of by our Lord Jesus and His Apostles for the end of this world.

Just because one agrees with Bible Scripture about the coming Antichrist and great tribulation (which I covered earlier) will be at the very end of this world in the generation when Jesus returns does not make them a Pre-tribulationalist nor a Dispensationalist. I hold to a Post-tribulational bodily return of our Lord Jesus and gathering of His Church, just as God's Holy Writ does declare for at the very end of this world.

Actually, the doctrine of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture goes back to the early days of the Church. If you read Irenaeus, it is clear that he believed in a Pre-Trib Rapture. There are also the writings of Ephraim the Syrian which date back to the early Church as well--and it is VERY clear from his writings that was a standard teaching.

There are also the writings of Rev. Morgan Edwards, who taught the Pre-Tribulation Rapture in the 1740's. It is simply untrue that Darby invented the Pre-trib Rapture--he merely rediscovered it. It had been "lost" by the Roman Catholics and the Reformers because both groups were antisemitic (which also goes back to the early days. There were 18 Jewish-Christian bishops from the Middle East who were excluded from the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.--so strong was the antisemitism of those days. Later, Martin Luther originally tackled Jewish evangelism with enthusiasm, but, when they resisted, he advocated burning their synagogues and houses down--with them inside! Lutherans like to ignore that portion of Luther's writings but the Nazis dug up a lot of it so that they could convince Lutherans that it was okay to persecute Jews. It is sad to note that, of 250,000 Jewish-Christians living throughout Europe at the beginning of the Nazi scourge, only a small handful survived the Holocaust to make aliyah to Israel. In the Last Judgment, those who murdered the Jews will face God's abiding wrath. The Pentecostals of the 1920s embraced the Pre-Trib Rapture as well and they are NOT Dispensationalists.
 
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Copperhead

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From what I can tell from scripture, The "apostasy" has been going on since Genesis 3. Especially so by Genesis 4. And a casual read of scripture and historical records of the last few thousand years, I cannot see a time when there wasn't a time when many were separating themselves from God.

An example, Paul stated in Acts 19 that all Asia had heard the Word of the Lord. And later, Paul wrote to Timothy that all in Asia had turned against him. Seems like a major "apostasy" to me. The church couldn't even get out of the first century before there were problems. The letters to the 7 churches in Revelation sure doesn't paint a positive picture. For decades, most "christians" are just in name only out of family tradition. Most "christians", when national surveys have been done, don't believe Yeshua is the God they believe in. Most also say that Satan is a concept not a personage.

I am not convinced that "apostasy" (which is an anglicized word from the greek apostasia) has the meaning of "falling away" in the original. Many Greek scholars have made a compelling argument that apostasia simply means "departure". The only way to make it mean "departure from the faith" or "falling away" is to show in the context was is being departed from. Without that, it stands on it's own simply as "departure". Many early English translations such as the Geneva Bible used "departure", "a departure", or "the departure" to translate 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The Latin Vulgate used dicessio which suggests a physical departure, not a spiritual one. The only instance where apostasia is used elsewhere in scripture is in Acts. And there, what is being departed from is mentioned... (Moses - Law).

Given the history, I am not sure that a "apostasy" or "falling away" is really anything to hang one's hat on as a significant sign. But a physical departure could be. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the context of the passages is our gathering to the Lord. And evidently in verse 2, these folks had gotten a fake letter, as if from Paul, that the Day of the Lord had started. For them to be worried about this, they must have been taught by Paul that they would be delivered from that time on the earth and not experience it. Paul then reminds them that day would not come until there is a departure and then the man of sin would be revealed. He reminded them that he taught them this earlier in verse 5.

If they had been taught that they would go into and thru the calamity that comes upon the earth, and would see the man of sin (Antichrist), then why would they be upset that they were already in that time via a fake letter? Why would Paul need to set them straight? For them to be upset, it would imply that they thought it would be different and they wouldn't go into that period. And Paul reminds them of that.
 
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Copperhead

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Actually, the doctrine of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture goes back to the early days of the Church.

Yeah, it sure goes back a lot further than Darby. I am not sure how Darby became the focal point for attack by other eschatological positions. Darby was a relative late comer. Maybe because some of the pictures on the internet of Darby that has him almost looking like a evil mad man. Theodore Beza (Beza Bible translator and Geneva Bible contributor) held similar pre-trib views 300 years before Darby. Oh, and the 1599 Geneva Bible used "departure" instead of "falling away" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. As did virtually every English translation prior to the KJV. So even in translation, a pre-trib idea was present.

Like any other eschatological position, how long it has been held or the number of folks who hold it doesn't mean it is the right position. But many reputable scholars have arrived at a pre-trib position. There are good scholars in the other camps also.

And I really hate to rain on the non-dispensation folks parade, but "dispensation" is in the Bible. At least 5 times in the Geneva Bible. 4 times in the KJV. 5 times in the American Standard Version.
 
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Lady Crosstalk

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From what I can tell from scripture, The "apostasy" has been going on since Genesis 3. Especially so by Genesis 4. And a casual read of scripture and historical records of the last few thousand years, I cannot see a time when there wasn't a time when many were separating themselves from God.

An example, Paul stated in Acts 19 that all Asia had heard the Word of the Lord. And later, Paul wrote to Timothy that all in Asia had turned against him. Seems like a major "apostasy" to me. The church couldn't even get out of the first century before there were problems. The letters to the 7 churches in Revelation sure doesn't paint a positive picture. For decades, most "christians" are just in name only out of family tradition. Most "christians", when national surveys have been done, don't believe Yeshua is the God they believe in. Most also say that Satan is a concept not a personage.

I am not convinced that "apostasy" (which is an anglicized word from the greek apostasia) has the meaning of "falling away" in the original. Many Greek scholars have made a compelling argument that apostasia simply means "departure". The only way to make it mean "departure from the faith" or "falling away" is to show in the context was is being departed from. Without that, it stands on it's own simply as "departure". Many early English translations such as the Geneva Bible used "departure", "a departure", or "the departure" to translate 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The Latin Vulgate used dicessio which suggests a physical departure, not a spiritual one. The only instance where apostasia is used elsewhere in scripture is in Acts. And there, what is being departed from is mentioned... (Moses - Law).

Given the history, I am not sure that a "apostasy" or "falling away" is really anything to hang one's hat on as a significant sign. But a physical departure could be. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1, the context of the passages is our gathering to the Lord. And evidently in verse 2, these folks had gotten a fake letter, as if from Paul, that the Day of the Lord had started. For them to be worried about this, they must have been taught by Paul that they would be delivered from that time on the earth and not experience it. Paul then reminds them that day would not come until there is a departure and then the man of sin would be revealed. He reminded them that he taught them this earlier in verse 5.

If they had been taught that they would go into and thru the calamity that comes upon the earth, and would see the man of sin (Antichrist), then why would they be upset that they were already in that time via a fake letter? Why would Paul need to set them straight? For them to be upset, it would imply that they thought it would be different and they wouldn't go into that period. And Paul reminds them of that.

There is a difference between apostasy and disobedience. It is true that there have always been apostates but a general apostasy would come from rejecting God's word. I think you are correct that the Great Apostasy could instead be referring to the departure of the Church. But, I also think that a spiritual apostasy likely triggers the physical departure of the Church. The Church is losing the call of God through their departure from believing that Scripture is THE TRUTH (only for about the last 100 years). We are even now relegated to the "gleanings" of the fields--the Father's barns are near full. When the "full number of the Gentiles has come in" that heavenly ticker will stop at that number which only God the Father knows, and then He will tell His son, "Go get your Bride!"
 

Lady Crosstalk

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Yeah, it sure goes back a lot further than Darby. I am not sure how Darby became the focal point for attack by other eschatological positions. Darby was a relative late comer. Maybe because some of the pictures on the internet of Darby that has him almost looking like a evil mad man. Theodore Beza (Beza Bible translator and Geneva Bible contributor) held similar pre-trib views 300 years before Darby. Oh, and the 1599 Geneva Bible used "departure" instead of "falling away" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. As did virtually every English translation prior to the KJV. So even in translation, a pre-trib idea was present.

Like any other eschatological position, how long it has been held or the number of folks who hold it doesn't mean it is the right position. But many reputable scholars have arrived at a pre-trib position. There are good scholars in the other camps also.

And I really hate to rain on the non-dispensation folks parade, but "dispensation" is in the Bible. At least 5 times in the Geneva Bible. 4 times in the KJV. 5 times in the American Standard Version.

Yes, if you read Things to Come by Dwight Pentecost (now he just HAD to be a theology professor didn't he?) you will never doubt the Pre-Tribulation Rapture again. :)
 
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Copperhead

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Yes, if you read Things to Come by Dwight Pentecost (now he just HAD to be a theology professor didn't he?) you will never doubt the Pre-Tribulation Rapture again. :)

I haven't doubted the position for the over 6 decades I have been alive. Even well before Hal Lindsey wrote "Late Great Planet Earth" in 1970.
 
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Dave L

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I do not believe in Darby's ideas of a Pre-trib Rapture, nor his Dispensationalist beliefs. Those on mans's doctrines of Preterism and Historicism (like yourself) often try to push the Biblical links about the coming false-Messiah to systems like Darby's when in reality those events are clearly written of by our Lord Jesus and His Apostles for the end of this world.

Just because one agrees with Bible Scripture about the coming Antichrist and great tribulation (which I covered earlier) will be at the very end of this world in the generation when Jesus returns does not make them a Pre-tribulationalist nor a Dispensationalist. I hold to a Post-tribulational bodily return of our Lord Jesus and gathering of His Church, just as God's Holy Writ does declare for at the very end of this world.
Have you ever considered all millennial theories are false? Including Post Millennialism? Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world and tribulation remains the norm for believers until the end of the world.