Friday, December 17, 2021

END TIME CHRONOLOGY DEBUNKED #10

 


END TIMES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.... DEBUNKED




The Second Half of the Tribulation



From the book  by Ron Rhodes


IN THIS CHAPTER


The Great Tribulation Begins  

Time Limits of the Great Tribulation  

The Mark of the Beast    

Deception Escalates 

The Bowl Judgments  

The Gospel of the Kingdom 



The Great Tribulation Begins


The events of the second half of the seven-year tribulation period are properly called the great tribulation. 



(THERE  IS  NO  7  YEARS  TRIBULATION.  THE  GREAT  TRIBULATION  IS  "PART  OF"  THE  LAST  42  MONTHS  OF  THIS  AGE  -  Keith Hunt)



There are a number of reasons for making this distinction between the two halves of the tribulation period.

First, the foundational prophecy in Daniel 9:27 makes a distinction between the two halves. We read that the antichrist "shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering." As we have seen, the week refers to a week of years, or seven years. For half of that week—-that is, the last three and a half years—the antichrist will put an end to animal sacrifices in the Jewish temple.



(AGAIN  SEE  THE  BIBLE  COMMENTARIES  OF  MATTHEW  HENRY;  ADAM  CLAKE;  ALBERT  BARNES;  FOR  THE  TRUTH  OF  DANIEL  9:27  AND THAT  WHOLE  PROPHECY.  AND  AGAIN  REMEMBER  EZ. 39:29....THE  JEWS  OR  ISRAELITES  HAVE  GOD'S  SPIRIT  POURED  OUT  ON  THEM,  HENCE  MAKING  THEM  SAINTS  OF  GOD,  AND  WITH  THIS  MAN'S  ORDER  OF  EVENTS,  PART  OF THE  SECRET  RAPTURE  THAT  HAS  TAKEN  PLACE,  HENCE  NO  JEWS  IN  THE  HOLY  LAND  -  Keith Hunt).....



In this context, the second half of Daniel 9:27 takes on great significance: "On the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator." Once the antichrist puts an end to the animal sacrifices in the Jewish temple at the midpoint of the tribulation period, he will apparently desolate the temple, and that desolation will apparently continue throughout the second half of the tribulation. This is one thing that makes this part of the tribulation so terrible—especially for the Jews.



(NOPE  WILL  NOT  HAPPEN,  ALL  BASED  ON  A  FALSE  UNDERSTANDING  OF  DANIEL  9:27.....AND  CANNOT  HAPPEN,  USING  THE  AUTHOR'S  TIME  SCALE,  BECAUSE  OF  EZ. 39:29  AND  THE  JEWS  HAVING  GOD'S  SPIRIT  ARE  IN  THE "SECRET"  RAPTURE,  ACCORDING  TO  ALL  THIS  TIME  CHRONOLOGY  USED  BY  RON  RHODES  -  Keith Hunt)



Jesus warns the Jews to get out of Jerusalem quickly when the abomination of desolation occurs.


"When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be (Matthew 24:15-21).



(BUT  AS  BEFORE  STATED......EZ. 39:29 ...  AND....WELL  SAID  IT  MANY  TIMES  ALREADY -  Keith Hunt)



The connection between this abomination of desolation and the beginning of the great tribulation, then, seems clear from a comparison of Daniel 9:27 with Matthew 24:15-21.



(NO  NOT  CLEAR  AT  ALL,  FOR  DANIEL 9:27  IS  MISUNDERSTOOD  -  Keith Hunt)



Speaking of this same time of travail, Daniel 12:1 comments, "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time." This time period largely deals with Israel, so Jeremiah 30:7 calls it "a time of distress for Jacob" (Jacob is a metaphorical name referring to Israel). Truly this will be a time of great tribulation.



(YES,  JACOB'S/ISRAEL'S  TROUBLE  WILL  BE  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  LAST  42  MONTHS  OF  THIS  AGE  -  Keith Hunt)



Time Limits of the Great Tribulation


These passages in Daniel and in Matthews Gospel reveal the two defining characteristics of the great tribulation: the self-exaltation and forced worship of the antichrist, and his war against the people of God. By understanding how long the antichrist will be worshipped and how long he will persecute the saints, we can confirm that the great tribulation will last three and a half years.



(YES,  THREE  AND  A  HALF  YEARS,  42  MONTHS AS  IN  REVELATION,  BUT  NOT  7  YEARS  -  Keith Hunt)



The antichrist claims deity, blasphemes the one true God, and demands to be worshipped at the midpoint of the tribulation, and these activities continue for precisely three and a half years—-that is, 42 months (Revelation 13:5)--- This confirms that the great tribulation will be the last three and a half years of the tribulation period.



(IT'S  NOT  AT  THE  MID-POINT  AT  ALL,  NO  7  YEARS  IS  MENTIONED  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  BIBLE  -  Keith Hunt)



Likewise, Daniel 7:25 reveals that the antichrist "shall wear out the saints of the Most High.. .and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time"---three and a half years. The persecution of the saints is a defining characteristic of the great tribulation, so this verse confirms that the great tribulation will be the last three and a half years of the tribulation.



(YES,  BUT  NOT  7  YEARS  -  Keith Hunt)



Yet another scriptural observation supports this view. We know that the antichrists persecution of the saints begins at the midpoint of the tribulation (Revelation 13:5-10).



(NO  WE  DO  NOT  KNOW  THE  PERSECUTION  BEGINS  AT  THE  MID-POINT,  FOR  THERE  IS  NO  7  YEARS  TO  BEGIN  WITH  -  Keith Hunt)



 This will continue until the "time came when the saints possessed the kingdom" (Daniel 7:21)— that is, until Jesus's second coming and the beginning of His millennial kingdom (see Zechariah 14:1-9; Revelation 19:11-20:6).



(OH  BUT  JESUS  HAS  ALREADY  COME  ONCE  IN THE  PROTESTANT  PROPHETS  TEACHING  -  A  "SECRET"  INVISIBLE,  ANY  SECOND  COMING  -  Keith Hunt)



 Again, then, it would seem that the great tribulation will constitute the last three and a half years of the tribulation period.

Renald Showers quotes Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons who lived during the second century and who supported this view.

When this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom.2



(AH  MAYBE  SOME  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  PROPHETS  IDEAS,  IRENAEUS  HAD,  BUT  NO  "SECRET"  INVISIBLE  FIRST  PHASE  COMING  IS MENTIONED  BY  IRENAEUS  -  Keith Hunt)



This being the case, how are we to understand these words of Jesus about the shortening of the great tribulation? "Then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short" (Matthew 24:21-22). Was Jesus saying He would make the great tribulation shorter than three and a half years, or was He saying that three and a half years is the shortened time? To answer this question, we turn to the parallel verse in Mark 13:20. "And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days." Greek scholars note that the two verbs in this verse—"cut short" and "shortened"—express action that was taken by God in the past.

In this view, God in eternity past sovereignly decreed a limitation on the length of the great tribulation. "What are Gods sovereign decrees? Theologian Henry C. Thiessen tells us. "The decrees are God s eternal purpose. He does not make His plans or alter them as human history develops. He made them in eternity, and, because He is immutable, they remain unaltered (Ps. 33:11; James 1:17)."3 (See also Isaiah 14:24-27; 46:9-11; Daniel 9:24,26-27; 11:36; Luke 22:22; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; Ephesians 1:11; 3:11.)



(SO  FINE  GOD  HAS  DECREED  THERE  WILL  BE  42  MONTHS,  1260  DAYS,  PLUS  SOME  MORE  AS  IN  DANIEL  12 [BUT  WE'LL  GET  TO  THAT LATER] AND  SO  IT  IS  ALSO,  A  TIME,  TIMES,  AND  HALF  A  TIME -  ALL  A  TIME  SPAN  OF  3  AND  1/2  YEARS,  NOT  7  YEARS  -  Keith Hunt)



In view of this, we conclude that Jesus was teaching that God in the past had already shortened the great tribulation. He did so in the sense that in the past He sovereignly decreed to cut it off at a specific time rather than let it continue indefinitely. In His omniscience, God knew that if the great tribulation were to continue indefinitely, all humanity would perish. To prevent that from happening, God in eternity past "sovereignly fixed a specific time for the Great Tribulation to end--- when it had run its course for three and one-half years or 42 months or 1,260 days. That fixed time cannot be changed!



(INDEED  IT  CANNOT  BE  CHANGED  -  NO  7  YEARS  AT  ALL,  UNLESS  YOU  MAKE  A  COMPLETE  MESS  OF  UNDERSTANDING  DANIEL  9  CORRECTLY,  WHICH  THE  PROTESTANT  PROPHETS  HAVE  DONE  -  Keith Hunt)


  


The Mark of the Beast


In Revelation 13, we read that the antichrist and the false prophet --- a diabolical duo—will subjugate the entire world so that no one can buy or sell who does not receive the mark of the beast.

[The false prophet] causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666 (verses 16-18).



(WILL  NOT  SUBJUGATE  THE  "ENTIRE"  GLOBE  AT  ALL,  ONLY  THE  WESTERN  WORLD  -  THE  BEAST   BABYLON-ROME,  WILL  ONLY  RULE  THE  WESTERN  WORLD - Keith Hunt)



Clearly, the book of Revelation reveals that the false prophet will seek to force human beings to worship the antichrist, the man of sin. He will require everyone to make a choice: Either receive the mark of the beast and worship the antichrist or starve, with no ability to buy or sell.



(ONCE  MORE  MIXING  UP  THE  ANTICHRIST  AND  FALSE  PROPHET.  THE  ANTICHRIST  IS  THE  FALSE  PROPHET  -  A  WOLF  IN  SHEEPS'  CLOTHING.  THE  "BEAST"  MAN  IN  REVELATION  IS  THE  POLITICAL/MILITARY  LEADER  -  Keith Hunt)



The next verse denotes a stark contrast. "Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with hirn 144,000 who had his name and his Father s name written on their foreheads." The antichrist's mark seems to be a parody of God's sealing of the 144,0 0 0 witnesses of Revelation 7 and 14. Prophecy experts Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy offer this suggestion: "God's seal of His witnesses most likely is invisible and for the purpose of protection from the antichrist. On the other hand, antichrist offers protection from the wrath of God—a promise he cannot deliver-—-and his mark is visible and external." They also note, "For the only time in history, an outward indication will identify those who reject Christ and His gospel of forgiveness of sins."5



(WRONG!  THE  ANTICHRIST'S  MARK  WILL  NOT  BE  SOME  VISIBLE  WHATEVER  ON  YOU,  EXTERNAL.  THE  FASLE  PROPHET  ANTICHRIST  WILL  SEEM  LIKE  HE  IS  FROM  GOD,  A  BILLION  AND  MORE  WILL  BELIEVE  IT  IS  SO,  THOSE  WHO  DO  NOT  WILL  EITHER  FLEE  TO  THE  WILDERNESS  OR  SUFFER  PERSECUTION  AND  DEATH  [REV. 12]  -  IT  WILL  ALL  LOOK  SO  HOLY  AND  RIGHTEOUS.  AS  JESUS  SAID  IN  MATTHEW  24,  THE  DECEPTION  WILL  BE  SO  GREAT  THAT  IF  IT  WAS  POSSIBLE,  EVEN  THE  VERY  ELECT  WOULD  BE  DECEIVED.  THE  PROTESTANT  PROPHETS  MAKE  IT  ALL  SOUND  LIKE  THE  DECEPTION  OF  THE  ANTICHRIST  FALSE  PROPHET  WILL  BE  SO  EASY  TO  SEE  AND  KNOW  -  NOTHING  COULD  BE  FURTHER  FROM  THE  TRUTH  -  Keith Hunt)



Receiving this mark is a serious business, as we read in Revelation 14:9-10.


If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.


Revelation 16:2 pictures the scene. "The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image."

Such words are sobering. Any who express loyalty to the antichrist and his cause will suffer the wrath of our holy and just God. How awful it will be for these to experience the full force of Gods divine anger and unmitigated vengeance (see Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15-16)!

Revelation 20:4 tells us, by contrast, that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will refuse the mark of the beast. "I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."


What Is the Mark?


Apparendy, people will somehow be branded, just as animals today are branded and as slaves were once branded by their slave owners. 



(NOT  SO  AT  ALL  -  NO  PHYSICAL  OUTWARD  BRANDING  OF  ANY  KIND,  THUS  MAKING  IT  MORE  DECEPTIVE  -  Keith Hunt)



We cannot be certain how the number 666 relates to this personage or the mark. Bible interpreters have offered many suggestions as to the meaning of 666 down through the centuries. A popular theory is that inasmuch as 7 is the number of perfection, and the number 777 reflects the perfect Trinity, perhaps 666 points to a being who aspires to perfect deity (like the Trinity) but never attains it. (The antichrist is just a man, though influenced and possibly indwelt by Satan.)

Others have suggested that perhaps the number refers to a specific man—such as the Roman emperor Nero. It is suggested that if Nero's name is translated into the Hebrew language, the numerical value of its letters is 666. Some suggest that antichrist will be a man like Nero of old. Of course, all this is highly speculative. The truth is, Scripture does not clearly define what is meant by 666. Interpreting this verse involves some guesswork.



(THE  NUMBER  666  CAN  BE  UNDERSTOOD  AS  TO  WHAT  IT  STANDS  FOR.  ALL  FULLY  EXPLAINED  IN  STUDIES  ON  MY  WEBSITE  -  Keith Hunt)



One thing is certain. In some way that is presently unknown to us, this number will be a crucial part of his identification. It is sobering to realize that receiving this mark of the beast is apparendy an unpardonable sin (Revelation 14:9-10). The decision to receive the mark is an irreversible decision. Once made, there is no turning back.



(THE  SCRIPTURES  SAY  NO  SUCH  THING  AS  NO  TURNING  BACK.....PEOPLE  CAN  REPENT  AT  ANY TIME,  IF  THEY  SO  DESIRE  -  Keith Hunt)



Receiving the mark signifies approval of the antichrist and his purpose. No one takes this mark accidentally. One must choose to do so with all the facts on the table. The choice will be deliberate and have eternal consequences. Those who choose to receive the mark will do so with the full knowledge of what they have done.



(BUT  WHEN  MORE  LIGHT  IS  GIVEN  ON  TRUTH,  ANYONE  CAN  REPENT  AT  ANY  TIME  -  Keith Hunt)



The choice will cause a radical polarization. No middle ground is possible. One chooses either for or against the antichrist. One chooses either for or against God. People in our present day think they can avoid God and His demands on their lives by feigning neutrality, but no such neutrality will be possible during the tribulation, for one's very survival will be determined by a decision for or against God. One must choose to either receive the mark and live (being able to buy and sell) or reject the mark and face suffering and death. One must choose to follow antichrist and eat well or reject the antichrist and starve.



(TRUE,  DURING  THIS  PERIOD  OF  42  MONTHS,  THERE  IS  NO  MIDDLE  GROUND  FOR  THOSE  COMING  UNDER  THE  REIGN  OF  THE  BABYLON/ROMAN  BEAST  POWER  -  Keith Hunt)



A Commerce Passport


The mark of the beast will be a commerce passport during the future tribulation period. Arnold Fruchtenbaum suggests that the mark of the beast will be given to all who submit themselves to the authority of the antichrist and accept him as god. "The mark will serve as a passport for business (Revelation 13:17a). They will be able to neither buy nor sell anything unless they have the mark.. Only those who have this number will be permitted to work, to buy, to sell, or simply to make a living."6



(IT  WILL  BE,  TO  LIVE  A  KIND  OF  NORMAL  LIFE  UNDER  THE  BABYLON  BEAST,  YOU  WILL  HAVE  TO  SUBMIT  TO  ITS  WAY  OF  LIFE,  PHYSICALLY  AND  SPIRITUALLY  -  Keith Hunt)



This mark will apparendy be required during the second half of the tribulation period. Prophecy scholar Mark Hitchcock suggests that there is ancient historical precedence for such a mark.7 For example, he points to Ezekiel 9:4: "The Lord said to him, 'Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.'" This mark on the forehead preserved the faithful, just as the blood of the Passover Lamb marked the Israelites' doorposts and saved them from death during the final plague on the Egyptians (see Exodus 12:21-29).



(THE  FOREHEAD  SYMBOLIZES  THE  MIND  -  WHAT  AND  HOW  YOU  THINK  -  WHAT  YOU  BELIEVE,  AND  HENCE  HOW  YOU  LIVE  -  Keith Hunt)



Such a mark was also used in connection with pagans and false deities in ancient times, as Robert Thomas explains.


The mark must be some sort of branding similar to that given soldiers, slaves, and temple devotees in John's day. In Asia Minor, devotees of pagan religions delighted in the display of such a tattoo as an emblem of ownership by a certain god. In Egypt, Ptolemy Philopator I branded Jews, who submitted to registration, with an ivy leaf in recognition of their Dionysian worship (cf. 3 Mace. 2:29). This meaning resembles the long-time practice of carrying signs to advertise religious loyalties (cf. Isa. 44:5) and follows the habit of branding slaves with the name or special mark of their owners (cf. Gal. 6:17). Charagma ("mark") was a [Greek] term for the images or names of emperors on Roman coins, so it fittingly could apply to the beasts emblem put on people.8



(NOT  SO  IN  THIS  END  TIMES  -  NO  PHYSICAL  MARK  AT  ALL  -  MAKING  IT  THAT  MUCH  MORE  DECEPTIVE  AND  OF  THE  HEART  AND  MIND  -  EITHER  GOD'S  MARK  SPIRITUALLY  OR  THE  BEAST'S  MARK  SPIRITUALLY.  HOW  YOU  CONDUCT  YOUR  LIFE  ACCORDING  TO  YOUR  SPIRITUAL  MIND,  WILL  DETERMINE  WHOSE  ON   GOD'S  SIDE  AND  WHOSE  ON  THE  SATANIC  SIDE  -  Keith Hunt)



John MacArthur makes a similar note:


In the Roman Empire, this was a normal identifying symbol, or brand, that slaves and soldiers bore on their bodies. Some of the ancient mystical cults delighted in such tattoos, which identified members with a form of worship. Antichrist will have a similar requirement, one that will need to be visible on the hand or forehead.9



(MAKES  NO  DIFFERENCE  WHAT  THEY  "USED" TO  DO  IN  THE  PAST  -  THAT  PAST  HAS  NO  BEARING  ON  FUTURE  END  TIMES  IN  THE  LAST  42  MONTHS  OF  THIS  AGE  -  Keith Hunt)



Economy and Religion


Prophetic Scripture reveals that the false prophet will be an economic religious leader. These two domains will become merged so that one depends on the other during the future tribulation. The mark of the beast will tie them together. David Jeremiah puts it this way:


"The mark will allow the Antichrists followers to buy and sell because it identifies them as religiously orthodox-—-submissive followers of the Beast and worshippers of his image. Those without the mark are forbidden to buy because they are identified as traitors." So, though receiving the mark is essentially a spiritual decision, it will have life-and-death economic consequences.



(YES  THAT  IS  TRUE.....THEY,  THE  PROTESTANT  PROPHETS  HAVE  A  FEW  THINGS  CORRECT,  THEY  MUST  OR  THEY  COULD  NOT  BE  SO  DECEPTIVE.  THERE  ARE  MILLIONS  OF  FUNDAMENTAL  CHRISTIANS  WHO  TAKE  THEIR  EVERY  WORD  AS  "GOSPEL"  AND  NEVER  DO  THOSE  PEOPLE  STUDY  FOR  THEMSELVES;  THEY ARE  BLIND  SHEEP  FOLLOWING  BLIND  SHEPHERDS  -  Keith Hunt)



High Technology Itself Is Not the Mark


This is a very important point. Though modern technology will enable the antichrist and false prophet to bring about a cashless society and control all commerce on earth, we must differentiate between this technology and the mark of the beast, for the technology itself is not the mark. I make this point because a number of prophecy expositors have claimed that the mark will be a high-tech chip inserted under the skin, a barcode on the hand or the forehead, some kind of universal product code, or some other such technology.

This is not the case. The mark itself will identify allegiance to the antichrist, but that is separate and distinct from the technology that enables him to enforce his economic system. John F. Walvoord comments on how technology will make it possible for such economical control, based on whether or not people have received the mark.


There is no doubt that with todays technology, a world ruler, who is in total control, would have the ability to keep a continually updated census of all living persons and know day-by-day precisely which people had pledged their allegiance to him and received the mark and which had not.10


Dr. Walvoord also suggests, it is also highly likely that "chip implants, scan technology, and biometrics will be used as tools to enforce his policy that one cannot buy or sell without the mark."11


Notice that this mark will be on people, not in them (like some kind of micro computer chip). It will be on the right hand or head and will be visible (perhaps like a tattoo), not hidden beneath the skin. It will be universally rejected by GOD'S PEOPLE but universally accepted by unbelievers. Woe to those who receive the mark! 

..........



This chapter to be continued



THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST  WILL  BE  PURELY  MENTAL/SPIRITUAL.....YOU  FOLLOW  THE  WAY  OF  LIFE  AND  SPIRITUAL  WAY  OF  WORSHIP  TOWARDS  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  HOW  THIS  BABYLON  SYSTEM  TELLS  YOU  TO  WORSHIP  GOD,  OR  YOU  STAND  FOR  THE  TRUTH  OF  GOD,  LIVE  THE  TRUTH  OF  GOD,  AND  SO  YOU  WILL  STAND  OUT  LIKE  A  WHITE  DROP  OF  PAINT  ON A  BLACK  SURFACE......YOU  MUST  FLEE  TO  THE  WILDERNESS,  OR  BE  PERSECUTED  AND  SUFFER DEATH,  AS  MANY  WILL  DO,  AS  THEY  STAND  FOR  THE  TRUTH  ONCE  DELIVERED  TO  THE  SAINTS.  IT HAS  ALWAYS  BEEN  DOWN  THROUGH  HISTORY,  SOME  ESCAPE  PERSECUTION  IN  THE  WILDERNESS,  SOME  STAND  UP  TO  BE  COUNTED,  AND  SUFFER  PERSECUTION  AND  DEATH.


Keith Hunt

No comments:

Post a Comment