Are we now living in the Tribulation? - Nathan Jones - http://www.lamblion.com/enewsletter2/v3_enewsletter_template_151209.html
The Christmas season is supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill to all people. Instead, the world appears to be on the brink of descending into utter chaos.
Mass shootings by jihadi sleeper cells have become almost a weekly offence. Europe is being overrun by an Islamic invasion of Syrian refugees. Our universities are in upheaval over unsubstantiated claims of racism and calls to end free speech by Cry Bullies. Too many competing armies in Syria could accidentally spark a war bigger than the Middle East can hold. And, our current leaders' way of dealing with all of this mess are to hide in their own alternate reality called Climate Change.
Jingle bells, anyone?
These events have led our viewers to ask many questions concerning the Last Days. Lamb & Lion Ministries is peppered daily with these Bible prophecy questions, and we welcome them. We've taken some of the more common questions and concerns and answered them in this week's episode of our television program Christ in Prophecy. We've invited Gary Fisher of Lion of Judah Ministries to help us out.
We hope that our answers will provide you with some peace during these trying times.
Are we now living in the Tribulation?
Gary Fisher: If we are now living in the Tribulation, where is the one-world leader whom the Bible calls the Antichrist? The Antichrist is the First Seal Judgment of Revelation 6, and he is the very first event that happens from the very beginning of the Tribulation.
Dr. Reagan: How can we have been living in the Tribulation for the past 50-60 years when Daniel and Revelation tell us the Tribulation is supposed to be seven years long?
Gary Fisher: In the very first few months of the Tribulation half the world's population will die. Horrible! When has that occurred?
Dr. Reagan: Concluding that we are now living in the Tribulation is what happens when one starts interpreting prophecies symbolically. A literal interpretation of the Bible proves we are not now living in the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: I looked out of the window today and a third of the trees weren't burning, the water wasn't filled with blood, they're weren't dead bodies littering the landscape, and no one is trying to imprint 666 on my right hand or forehead. Those are part of what's supposed to happen during the Tribulation, and they're not happening today. It's obvious from taking a literal interpretation of the Bible that we are not now living in the Tribulation.
Even if times are difficult, and they are, the Tribulation still lies ahead. We need to take comfort in the blessed hope that the Church is promised to be delivered from God's wrath by the Rapture.
Will Islam conquer the world, and if so, is the Antichrist then going to be a Muslim?
Gary Fisher: According to Daniel 9:26, the Antichrist will come from the people who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary, meaning the Temple. We know from history that it was the Romans and their Fifth Legion who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. So, if you want to take that verse literally, Daniel insists that the people would come from Rome, and possibly even the very city of Rome itself. In fulfillment of that prophecy, the Antichrist will then come from the people of Rome.
Dr. Reagan: Those who believe the Antichrist will instead come from the Middle East and be a Muslim would counter by saying those Roman legions were made up of people from the Middle East, and were not really made up of actual Romans. But, that's not true, and even if it was true, it was the Roman government who commanded that those troops be sent to destroy Jerusalem. The legions were under Roman leadership. It was a Roman decision to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. Historically proven, the legions in reality were made up of actual Romans.
Gary Fisher: The Romans conscripted people along the way, but the majority of the army was still Roman. It was the Fifth Legion, and they are the ones who were responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem in fulfillment of Daniel 9.
Dr. Reagan: Supporters of an Eastern Antichrist would go on to claim that we've got to consider the fact that the Roman Empire ended up split into two divisions. There was the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire, therefore a Muslim could be the Antichrist coming out of the Eastern wing. They forget that the Eastern wing didn't develop until long after 70 AD.
Nathan Jones: I have a hard time believing that a Muslim will be the Antichrist because there are some prophetic wars coming up that will essentially destroy Islam. We are talking about the Psalm 83 War where Israel subjugates the neighbors directly bordering them. Following will be the Ezekiel 38-39 War, better known as the Gog and Magog War. That is the prophetic war where Russia leads an Islamic coalition made up of Iran, the 'Stan nations, Libya, Turkey and others. They all get together for the purpose of plundering and destroying Israel. Just when Israel's fate appears sealed, God steps in and supernaturally destroys all the invaders.
We are at the point today where Russia already has made those allegiances. And, all the timing signals indicate these prophetic wars will happen before the Tribulation. If Islam is decimated by God before the Tribulation, it can no longer be a major player in the world and so produce the one-world leader.
Gary Fisher: If the Ezekiel 38-39 War occurs either before the Rapture, immediately after the Rapture, or the beginning of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will not have a Muslim army to command.
Dr. Reagan: First we've got the Psalm 83 War which destroys all the nations right around Israel. Then we've got the Gog and Magog War where God destroys the Islamic nations and Russia in the Middle East. There would be no Muslim army left in the Middle East by the time the Antichrist comes on the scene.
There is another problem with the Muslim Antichrist view. Supporters always talk about how the Islamic Antichrist - the Mahdi - is going to unite the whole Muslim world, but that violates the Scriptures. The Scriptures teach that the Arab people are going to be a people who are always against each other. They will always be fighting against each other, and they have all throughout history. The Shiites and the Sunnis hate each other with a passion. Nobody is going to unite those two Islamic factions.
Nathan Jones: Plus the Antichrist is supposed to walk into the Temple, desecrate it, and declare himself to be God. No man can claim to be Allah in Islam. Doing so is absolute taboo in Islam. A Muslim can never claim himself to be God, for it means an instant death sentence.
Dr. Reagan: I think that is the strongest argument of all against the Muslim Antichrist view. Any Muslim who declare himself to be God would be killed immediately by other Muslims.
Gary Fisher: We're still dealing here with another issue - is God Jehovah or Allah? Which God does the Antichrist declare himself to be? If he declares himself as Allah, no Muslim would go up to a Jewish temple and worship Allah there.
Dr. Reagan: The prophet Daniel also says the Antichrist is going to make a peace treaty that is going to guarantee the safety of Israel for seven years, but we later learn in Scriptures will only be enforced for the first three and a half years of the Tribulation. Do you think the Israelis are going to put their faith in a Muslim Antichrist?
Nathan Jones: No, not really. Israel has been burned too many times by the Muslims to ever trust them.
Gary Fisher: No Israeli I have ever known would trust an Islamic leader.
Nathan Jones: Isn't it interesting how often people make the mistake of looking at Bible prophecy through the lens of the news, and not through the lens of the Bible. We've flipped good, biblical interpretation over when we interpret based on the current news reports. Sadly, it's becoming easier for everybody who has been jumping on that train because obviously Islam is rising in strength, but due to the end time wars, Islam's days are fairly numbered.
With Islam out of the picture, will the Church then conquer the world for Christ?
Dr. Reagan: A number of very prominent Christian leaders have recently taken the position that the Church is going to peacefully conquer the world. In fact, one of the most prominent Christian leaders in America has taken the position that he has a PEACE Plan which will allow the Church to take over the world. Then they propose the earth will experience the Millennium and the Lord will come at the end of that time. This view is just a revival of Post-Millennialism, which died out at the beginning of the 20th Century, but now it seems is coming back to mainstream Christian thinking.
Gary Fisher: I think this view can only be nonsense because the Church has had 2,000 years to try to achieve this. It begs the question, when are we going to get started? The Church was never called to conquer the world for Christ. The Church's mission is to occupy until Jesus returns. Jesus is the King, not the Church. The Church is not going to rule anything in this age.
Jesus is going to be the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and the Church is only here to be ambassadors for Him until He returns. What does an ambassador do? He comes from one country representing the values of his country in a country strange to him. Eventually the Church will be united in our own "country" here under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Reagan: This is a view of the Church as a kingdom. The Church is going to rule the world and make it ready for Jesus Christ to come. He comes after the world is at peace, and not before. But, the Bible says that Christ's reign on earth is going to be via a Jewish kingdom. Once Jesus returns, He is going to regather the Jews from all over the world, reestablish them in Israel, and there are going to be Jewish believers in Christ acting as His priestly people. Then Jesus through the believing Jews is going to flow blessings to all the nations of the world. This Post-Millennial view just rules the Jews out completely.
Nathan Jones: This Kingdom Now, or Dominion Theology as it is also called, assumes that the Church is getting bigger and bigger and the world is getting better and better. While the Church is certainly growing, it is clearly not taking over the world. We are seeing Christianity in competition with Islam and other religions, and even Atheism is growing. We can't look at the world today and conclude that the Church has peacefully conquered the world for Christ, because it totally goes against what is really happening.
Dr. Reagan: This end times theory was completely proven false in the early 20th Century. At the end of the 19th Century most Christian leaders, both Protestant and Catholic, all took the position that the 20th Century was going to be the Century of the Church. The Church would finally conquer the world for Christ. The Church would then reign for a thousand years and finally Jesus would come. Almost everybody was Post-Millennial in their view in the 19th Century. Then, suddenly we had World War I, the Great Depression and World War II, and you couldn't find a Post-Millennialist anywhere after that.
Gary Fisher: War reminds us that man is fallen and can never on our own usher in a global utopia.
Nathan Jones: Post-Millennialism is great for missions. Churches love this view I think because they see their own church as an important cog in the missions wheel. The view inspired great missions work in the 1800's, but it's still not a biblical view about the conditions surrounding Jesus' return.
Dr. Reagan: Jesus in His own teachings pointed out that the vast majority of mankind will always reject the Gospel. Christianity will never take over the world. When Jesus comes back, He will conquer the world Himself and He will usher in His own reign.
Gary Fisher: The Church in the meantime ought to stick with what Jesus told us to do - go out and teach, make disciples, baptize, and wait on Him.
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