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Many Christians today are wholly ignorant of the events of the past that have shaped what Christianity teaches regarding the three main schools of eschatological thought: Historicism, Preterism, and Futurism. An analysis of these events will prove that a “reversal of fortune” of sorts has taken place regarding what is popularly taught today as Biblical eschatology:
I. Historicism
This was the belief held by all Protestant Reformers from the 16th century until the 19th century – over 300 years – before the Protestant Reformation began to lose steam and other ideas began to creep in. Renowned, brilliant, scholarly Christians everywhere understood that the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation pointed to the Papacy as the system which would arise as the greatest archenemy of Christ: the Antichrist. The metals, beasts, heads, and horns of these two prophetic books point to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. After the Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D., ten barbarian “horn” nations that would evolve into the nations of Europe stood up in its place (Daniel 7:7 KJV). It is curious that though some modern religious historians deny this fact, many others, including secular historians, have recognized that when the dust of the fallen Roman Empire settled, it was these ten nations who initially stood as separate and distinct one from another – http://everlasting-gospel.blogspot.com/2012/10/historical-sources-affirm-little-horn.html :
Initially, there was no imperial power ruling over them, but when Emperor Justinian at the bequest of the Bishop of Rome sent his general Belasarius from Constantinople to overthrow the Ostrogoths – the last of the three which were “plucked up by the roots” and completely wiped off the map (Daniel 7:8 KJV) – the “little horn” Antichrist system of the Papacy, which is the union of the Catholic church and the State, emerged as the reigning, undisputed heavyweight champion who's authority would be magnified to the point where the Bishop of Rome would even decide whether kings could sit upon their thrones. According to the prophecy of Daniel 7, the Papal Little Horn Antichrist:
Much more evidence could be given for why the Protestant Reformers believed this Historicist interpretation of prophecy, but suffice it to say that Historicism dealt a devastating blow to the Papacy and it was for this that decisive action was taken against the Protestant Reformation.
Although there were other forerunners to him, it was not until the imminent scholar and intrepid Catholic monk Martin Luther in 1517 A.D., began protesting the corrupted teachings of the Papacy in earnest desire to reform his church that the Christian world began to take notice. It was from his early efforts to reform his beloved church that the Protestant Reformation finds its roots and grew as more and more of Christianity's finest and foremost authorities on language and Scripture under the aegis of the Holy Spirit joined with him in opposition to the Papacy. Luther was eventually excommunicated from the Catholic church and soon afterward embarked on a study of Daniel and Revelation, and was led to believe that the identity of the Antichrist was none other that the Papal system to which he once loved and belonged. This idea was forged to become one of the pillars of the Reformation and it caused the Catholic church to hemorrhage so many congregants that a “Counter Reformation” was launched by the Papacy. The infamous Council of Trent in Italy was convened and lasted a record 18 years and was establish for the sole purpose of overthrowing the Protestant Reformation. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was formed and two Jesuit priests, who had approached the Bible with preconceived notions that the Papacy was innocent of the claims of the Reformers, sought an alternative Biblical interpretation of prophecy which would exonerate the Papacy – an approach to Biblical study which guarantees failure in the quest for spiritual enlightenment every time because it removes the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These Jesuit priests are credited with fabricating both Preterism and Futurism.
II. Jesuit Preterism
Jesuit priest Luiz Alcazar unveiled to the world that the Antichrist was not the Papacy, but had actually arisen long ago in the first century, and that most of the end time prophecies had been fulfilled then. Protestant Reformers rejected this idea, which formed the basis for the modern Preterist interpretation, for over 300 years, but in the last few decades it has been growing in popularity.
III. Jesuit Futurism
Jesuit priest Francisco Ribera unveiled to the world that the Antichrist was not the Papacy, but was one evil man who would arise outside the church and deceive it. He sliced off the last week Daniel's 70 weeks and sent it down to the end of time as the “last 7 years of Tribulation”, leaving a “2,000 year gap” of time between Christ's death and the beginning of this tribulation period. During this time, the Antichrist would sit in a rebuilt Jewish temple and preside over a covenant of peace between the Arabs and the Israelites, which would be broken by him and usher in Armageddon. Later, John Nelson Darby added the “Secret Rapture” theory which would take place just before the start of the tribulation, though today there is debate as to when that “rapture” takes place in relation to that tribulation.
The Protestant Reformers soundly rejected both ideas as weak diversionary tactics to get the Christian world to point their fingers of accusation to the past, to the future – anywhere but at the Papacy. Unfortunately, during the 19th century, when Papal persecution began to wane, Protestants became lax in their study of prophecy and became vulnerable to Jesuit ideas. At the turn of the 20th century, Christian Europe had become infected with Jesuit Futurist ideas and they began to spread to the United States. With the introduction of the Scofield Reference Bible into American seminaries and Bible colleges, the “Late Great Planet Earth” by Hal Lindsey, and the “Left Behind” books and movies of the 80's, Jesuit Futurism has exploded in popularity in a country where as recent as the 1960s, Protestant sentiments toward the Papacy were still negative to the point that when Catholic JFK was elected, it was considered a turning point in our history. Today, the next generation of Protestants is so engrossed with Jesuit Futurism that they are found to be more vocal in defending these Jesuit ideas than Papal apologists themselves. It is time for Protestantism to take a look at our roots and rediscover why our forefathers saw in the Papacy the greatest enemy to the truth as it is in Christ.
I. Historicism
This was the belief held by all Protestant Reformers from the 16th century until the 19th century – over 300 years – before the Protestant Reformation began to lose steam and other ideas began to creep in. Renowned, brilliant, scholarly Christians everywhere understood that the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation pointed to the Papacy as the system which would arise as the greatest archenemy of Christ: the Antichrist. The metals, beasts, heads, and horns of these two prophetic books point to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. After the Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D., ten barbarian “horn” nations that would evolve into the nations of Europe stood up in its place (Daniel 7:7 KJV). It is curious that though some modern religious historians deny this fact, many others, including secular historians, have recognized that when the dust of the fallen Roman Empire settled, it was these ten nations who initially stood as separate and distinct one from another – http://everlasting-gospel.blogspot.com/2012/10/historical-sources-affirm-little-horn.html :
Heruli = extinct
Vandals = extinct
Ostrogoths = extinct
Anglo-Saxons = England
Francs = France
Visigoths = Spain
Lombards = Italians
Burgundians = Swiss
Alemanni = Germany
Suevi = Portugal
Initially, there was no imperial power ruling over them, but when Emperor Justinian at the bequest of the Bishop of Rome sent his general Belasarius from Constantinople to overthrow the Ostrogoths – the last of the three which were “plucked up by the roots” and completely wiped off the map (Daniel 7:8 KJV) – the “little horn” Antichrist system of the Papacy, which is the union of the Catholic church and the State, emerged as the reigning, undisputed heavyweight champion who's authority would be magnified to the point where the Bishop of Rome would even decide whether kings could sit upon their thrones. According to the prophecy of Daniel 7, the Papal Little Horn Antichrist:
came up “among” and “after” the ten horns, which proves that the Antichrist did not arise in the first century as it is claimed by Preterism which will be looked at in brief later.
would “pluck up three of the first horns”, which proves that the rise of Antichrist is historical, not future, because the Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths were three of the first horns to attack the Roman Empire.
would be “diverse” in that it was both a religio/political horn, unlike the other ten horns.
“had eyes like the eyes of man” - a man at it's head lacking Holy Spirit discernment.
has “a mouth speaking “great words” as it claims that the Pope is God on Earth and that he alone possesses the power to absolve or not to absolve guilt of sin, both of which are defined in the gospels as “blasphemy” and Revelation 13 says that the Antichrist would “speak great things and blasphemies” and “he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God”.
was “more stout than his fellows” in that it gained the ascendency over the other horns.
“made war with the saints” as history attests to the fact that between 75 – 150 MILLION saints which were put to death as “heretics” for rejecting the Papacy's Satanic dogmas. Revelation 13 says almost verbatim of the Antichrist that he would “make war with the saints and overcome them.”
would “think to change times and laws” which it did so by abolishing the Second commandment forbidding idolatry, splitting the Tenth commandment into two separate commandments to make up for the Second, as well as other changes that are recorded in various Papal encyclicals which legalize theft, murder, etc.
would reign for “a time, times, and half a time”. Revelation 13 says that the Antichrist was given power to “continue forty and two months” which is the same as “1,260 days”, “3 ½ years”, or “a time, times, and half a time”. Revelation 12 plainly identifies “time, times, and half a time” as 1,260 symbolic prophetic days (which are literal years according to the “day/year principle” in prophecy) that the church – the virgin “woman” espoused to Christ which awaits her bridegroom – would be forced to flee from the face of the Papacy to the mountains and caves for this same period of Papal reign – exactly 1,260 years from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D., when Napoleon sent his general Berthier to arrest the Pope and declared the Papacy dead. Among those who comprised the true church of God which fled into the wilderness were the Waldenses, the Albigensis, the Lollards, the Bogomills, the Hugenots and many, others who labored both out in the harsh environment of the wilderness as well as clandestinely for Christ among the people right under the nose of the Papacy. Though the Papacy sought to depict these rebels as scattered sects here and there, their own archives, which speak of an “infestation”, accurately attest to the truth that the “woman fled into the wilderness”
accurately fulfills the description of the “number of the beast – 666” by virtue of the ancient practice of Numerology, which is the assignment of numerals to the letters in an individual's name. The title of the man at the head of the Papacy which is “Vicarius Filii Dei”, as well as other title or names associated with the Papacy, numbers exactly 666.
Much more evidence could be given for why the Protestant Reformers believed this Historicist interpretation of prophecy, but suffice it to say that Historicism dealt a devastating blow to the Papacy and it was for this that decisive action was taken against the Protestant Reformation.
Although there were other forerunners to him, it was not until the imminent scholar and intrepid Catholic monk Martin Luther in 1517 A.D., began protesting the corrupted teachings of the Papacy in earnest desire to reform his church that the Christian world began to take notice. It was from his early efforts to reform his beloved church that the Protestant Reformation finds its roots and grew as more and more of Christianity's finest and foremost authorities on language and Scripture under the aegis of the Holy Spirit joined with him in opposition to the Papacy. Luther was eventually excommunicated from the Catholic church and soon afterward embarked on a study of Daniel and Revelation, and was led to believe that the identity of the Antichrist was none other that the Papal system to which he once loved and belonged. This idea was forged to become one of the pillars of the Reformation and it caused the Catholic church to hemorrhage so many congregants that a “Counter Reformation” was launched by the Papacy. The infamous Council of Trent in Italy was convened and lasted a record 18 years and was establish for the sole purpose of overthrowing the Protestant Reformation. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was formed and two Jesuit priests, who had approached the Bible with preconceived notions that the Papacy was innocent of the claims of the Reformers, sought an alternative Biblical interpretation of prophecy which would exonerate the Papacy – an approach to Biblical study which guarantees failure in the quest for spiritual enlightenment every time because it removes the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These Jesuit priests are credited with fabricating both Preterism and Futurism.
II. Jesuit Preterism
Jesuit priest Luiz Alcazar unveiled to the world that the Antichrist was not the Papacy, but had actually arisen long ago in the first century, and that most of the end time prophecies had been fulfilled then. Protestant Reformers rejected this idea, which formed the basis for the modern Preterist interpretation, for over 300 years, but in the last few decades it has been growing in popularity.
III. Jesuit Futurism
Jesuit priest Francisco Ribera unveiled to the world that the Antichrist was not the Papacy, but was one evil man who would arise outside the church and deceive it. He sliced off the last week Daniel's 70 weeks and sent it down to the end of time as the “last 7 years of Tribulation”, leaving a “2,000 year gap” of time between Christ's death and the beginning of this tribulation period. During this time, the Antichrist would sit in a rebuilt Jewish temple and preside over a covenant of peace between the Arabs and the Israelites, which would be broken by him and usher in Armageddon. Later, John Nelson Darby added the “Secret Rapture” theory which would take place just before the start of the tribulation, though today there is debate as to when that “rapture” takes place in relation to that tribulation.
The Protestant Reformers soundly rejected both ideas as weak diversionary tactics to get the Christian world to point their fingers of accusation to the past, to the future – anywhere but at the Papacy. Unfortunately, during the 19th century, when Papal persecution began to wane, Protestants became lax in their study of prophecy and became vulnerable to Jesuit ideas. At the turn of the 20th century, Christian Europe had become infected with Jesuit Futurist ideas and they began to spread to the United States. With the introduction of the Scofield Reference Bible into American seminaries and Bible colleges, the “Late Great Planet Earth” by Hal Lindsey, and the “Left Behind” books and movies of the 80's, Jesuit Futurism has exploded in popularity in a country where as recent as the 1960s, Protestant sentiments toward the Papacy were still negative to the point that when Catholic JFK was elected, it was considered a turning point in our history. Today, the next generation of Protestants is so engrossed with Jesuit Futurism that they are found to be more vocal in defending these Jesuit ideas than Papal apologists themselves. It is time for Protestantism to take a look at our roots and rediscover why our forefathers saw in the Papacy the greatest enemy to the truth as it is in Christ.
