Eschatology & Anti-Christ Speculations Pt. 1

One of the things that false prophet Harold Camping did was brought to light the underworld of biblical positions regarding Christian eschatology. Some have taken advantage of the climate presenting highly questionable and particularly strained eschatological positions as if they were "revelatory" in nature. In other words some folk are preaching bad eschatology as if God has suddenly revealed something new or something unheard of within Christianity. The other problem is just simply bad doctrine and a misapplication of fact.
  

Wikipedia maintains that the word eschatology comes from the Greek word meaning "last" and "study": ἔσχατος, last; and λογία, lit. discourse and  is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the present world and beginning of the World to Come, from a Christian perspective.

Understanding Christian eschatology is a complicated subject and one that revolves around what is called the apocalyptic literature of Daniel, Zechariah, Revelation to name a few books, and many of the apocalyptic sayings of Jesus contained within the gospels.

In addition the subject is further complicated by the many signs and symbols that are pointed to within the literature which may be interpreted as either literal or figurative. There is a timeline outlined that provides some perspective on when things will or have occurred, however, agreement on the timeline is debatable. Questions immediately arise such as will Jesus reign on earth for 1,000 years?  This is called the Millennial reign. Next question is when will that reign be? Another question, is there a tribulation? This usually called the Great Tribulation. Next question, when does that tribulation begin and end? Most importantly, will there be a rapture of the church and a final judgement? If So when will they occur and are they one in the same?

Interesting Speculations

Because there is so much misinformation regarding many of the primary issues of eschatology being promoted, I thought to take up the time to deal with a few of the more seemingly interesting revived speculations regarding the subject. Although I've read and reread most of this and have developed my own sense of understanding and expectation over the last 30 years or so, there yet remains quite a few issues upon which I am not yet settled. I realize that this is a new generation and many of you have never even heard and or been taught about these issues at all. In particular, some of what you have heard from some of the mega-stars (even the one's that claim that they are not mega-stars) promoting their positions regarding the issue, is given more to fantasy than supportable biblical fact.

In this article I will deal with the following items:

1- The Rapture & Judgment.

I will look at the notion and novel speculation that these things were a creation of the Catholic Church. The fact is that the church will be gathered from this world and all of mankind will be judged one day.

2-  The 4 Eschatological Views Within Christianity

A- Preterism

2a- Full Preterism

2b- Partial Preterism

B- Historicism

2c- The Papal/Catholic/Antichrist

Old relics die hard. Popular in the past, this is a popular theory being passed to a new generation as fact. Why was this idea developed, and why is it gaining strength in modern times? 

C- Futurism
D- Idealism

3- The 1260 Days of Daniel

When did the clock start and end and is this a marker for the beginning of the end?

First, let's clear up some confusion

I: The Rapture Was Not A Creation Of Men, Nor Was It A Product Of The Catholic Church!

Harold Camping followed a line of individuals before him that claimed to know the date and time of Jesus return. Like his predecessors, he was wrong. Unfortunately he is in a nursing home now, but he probably will be wrong if he places a specific date and time again.  However, he was not wrong in looking forward to a rapture. For sure, there will be a rapture when God will gather his elect, those that are in HIM, from this world and there will also be a day when God will bring the world to an end through judgement and reward individuals for their sins and the Saints for their faith. This is known as Gk: Parousia. What may be questionable is the understanding that the rapture and the judgement may or may not be one in the same event but two separate events. Matthew 24 displays that the disciples were considering the same question. That the end of the world and the appearance of the Lord was a singular event synonymous with judgement.

What that said, whether rapture and judgement occurs together, simultaneously or not, doesn't take away from the fact that the bible clearly teaches that there will be a rapture and that there will be a final judgement and that there will be a resurrection of the dead unto divine judgement.

Of Rapture:

Mark 13: 24-27 ~ 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."

1 Cor. 15:50- 53 ~ "50-Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51-Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52-In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53-For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

1 Thess. 4:13-18 ~ "13-But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14-For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15-For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 17-Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18-Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Of Judgement

Matthew 25 41-26 ~41-Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42-For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43-I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44-Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45-Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46-And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Revelations 6:12-17 ~ 12-And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13-And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14-And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15-And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16-And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17-For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

(See 1 Thess. 4:13-18 above)

Of Resurrection Of The Dead Unto Judgement:

Revelations 20: 11-15 ~"11-And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12-And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13-And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14-And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15-And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Of An End To All Things

2 Peter 3:10-13 ~ 10-But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11-Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12-Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13-Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

None of these scriptures have ever been claimed to be insertions or additions to the text. So they are authentic in the time in which they were written and copied. Of late, some teachers and speculators, even within Christianity, have arisen to state that the whole concept of rapture and I would suppose judgement, is a product of the Catholic Church and the Pope, who are in essence the anti-Christ and part of the anti-Christ system.

Based on the prima fascia evidence of scripture we can see there are great difficulties with those assertions however we'll spend a little time exposing the roots of that argument.  The bible clearly affirms that rapture/judgement/ the coming of the Lord are events to be expected and events that will happen. Part of the confusion however, is that many individuals don't know that there are generally 4 eschatological views that guide a person's insight into these matters. We will discover them and briefly discuss the ultimate implications behind each view.

II: The 4 Eschatological Views Within Christianity

The 4 Eschatological views within Christianity are 1- Preterism 2- Historicism 3- Futurism and 4-Idealism. Although there are some variations and mixtures of these concepts, I'll do my best to keep it simple and be straightforward as possible.

A- Preterism. It is said that  Jesuit Luis De Alcasar gave the first systematic approach to this eschatological system in the 17th Century in what was called the Counter Reformation. The Counter Reformation (1560 to 1648) was a period of revival of Catholic Church doctrine and practice in response to the efforts of protestant reformers. Preterism is the eschatological view that all of prophecy (including that written in the book of Revelation) happened or occurred during 1st Century AD and primarily prior to the AD 70 destruction of the Temple. The scope of this view is literal, physical and local. There are two schools of preterist thought:

2a- Full Preterism
2b- Partial Preterism

As one can probably tell by the description, the Full Preterist view would literally restrict the fulfillment of all biblical prophecy to 70AD and prior. In other words what we read now, we can only look back to gain enlightenment. There is no future prophecy to be fulfilled. Under this system:

• The return of Jesus is not in a physical body but in "glory" as represented when God vindicates Israel and the nation to its glory prior to the Temple destruction of 70 AD. 
• The resurrection is not that of a physical body but of a soul and is more spiritual in nature
• The "new heaven" and "new earth" is reduced to being simply the new life in Jesus that believers experience.  

Keeping the same marker as Temple Destruction of 70 AD, the Partial Preterist would generally hold that:

• The "Great Whore Of Babylon" is Rome
• That the "last days" refer to statements regarding the end of the Mosaic Covenant, and not the end of time nor the end of the earth.
• Similar to the fact that God showed up prior to Jesus in the bible, Christ comes in a series of various "comings" even after 70AD. Therefore, not only will there be a second coming of Christ, there could be third  and fourth coming of Jesus in various ways and manners. 
• Startlingly, the resurrection could NOT have already occurred because the enemies of Christ still exist. (This thought has far reaching implications if one follows this eschatological belief) 
• Salvation is a progression toward a time when all enemies of Christ will be subjugated under his reign. So it(salvation) is more corporate in nature and less individualistic.   

As one can see the Preterist eschatological understanding has its influence on the understanding of many sects within Christianity today. What happens however when these thoughts begin to mix? Keep that in mind as you view other eschatological concepts as you will see some things taken from one belief and placed with another like a smorgasbord or a buffet. Look at the next concept in line:

B- Historicism. This system of eschatology covered the period from Christ's ascension to his second coming. In general this eschatology holds that that some of the biblical prophecies of Daniel and Revelation have been fulfilled over time either through the Jewish nation or through modern or recent church history. The scope of this eschatology is literal, physical and local. This was a dominating thought and eschatological construct promoted by the reformationists as they taught against the Catholic Church during the Middle (aka: Dark) Ages (500 to 1500 AD). Although not as popular today as it once was, this view was widely introduced to the Western world and also and has very deep roots within American religious thought. It is a left over relic but there are traces of this dogma in the Futurist and Idealist view of eschatology also.

What would a "historicist" generally believe and teach about biblical prophecy?

An Eyewitness Account of the
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
by François Dubois

8/24/1572

The "Great Tribulation" has already occurred at the hand of the Catholic Church during the Dark Ages(500-1500 AD). The historicist equates the persecution of those who held contrary and heretical views, at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, to what the bible calls the time of "Great Tribulation"

• That Rome was the biblical equivalent of Babylon and that the Roman Catholic Church was the "Great Whore" of Revelation. All who would follow "her" would be lost.
• The anti-Christ or "man of sin" was the Catholic Church or the Pope or Papacy when it was established. According to them,  the Pope bears the 666 and is the anti-Christ himself. (As held by Jehovah's Witness, 7th Day Adventists and Mormons who hold and promote a mixed Historicist view)
• The "Mark Of The Beast" is either the universal Sunday Worship (As held by 7th Day Adventists) or those that follow the theological perspectives of Catholicism in general since "she" the Catholic Church, is the anti-Christ or The Dragon of the book of Revelations. 
• That the final part of the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 (final 7 years) represents a period of 1260 years spanning 538 CE (the establishment of the Papacy) and 1798 CE, when the Roman Catholic Church through the Papacy dominated the Christian world (this is yet another doctrine primarily espoused by 7th Day Adventism, and many other teachers who embrace historicism.) {In fact the 7th day Adventist would hold that the "times and laws" (Dan. 7:25) that were changed by the anti-Christ (Pope) were the worship change from Sabbath to Sunday which was a violation of the "Law" of God [Decalogue or part of the 10 commandments] this would affirm that Daniel was referencing the Papacy and ultimately the Roman Catholic Church} 

2c- The Papal/Catholic/Antichrist

Historical Question: Who first claimed that the Pope was the Antichrist and that the Catholic Church was anti-Christ?

The Waldensians

Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a Roman Catholic who wrote two reports for the Inquisition, Summa de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno (roughly) "Of the Sects of Modern Heretics" (1254) States that the Waldensians believed that "the Church of Rome is the Harlot in the Apocalypse". That the Pope is the head of all errors. And that no one is greater than another in the church. Matt. 23. "All of you are brethren." ~ Modern Heretics 1254

John Wyclif was among the first to claim that the Pope and the Catholic Church were anti-Christ. In the year 1366 John Wyclif  came onto the theological stage as one of the King of England's chaplains and as immensely adverse to the papal dominance in the church affairs in England and the world.  In 1374, Wyclif made a quest to Bruges as a part of the commission designated by the king to negotiate a peace treaty with France. Upon his returning to England, he began to preach religious reformations. He evangelized in Oxford, London, and other places against the Pope's secular sovereignty. It wasn't long after, in a hand tract, he depicted the Pope of Rome as the anti-Christ. He was persecuted but died a free man. He was not martyred as many have claimed.

>>>This is NOT a Roman Catholic Church Apologetic<<<

Now, it would seem that what Harold Camping did was to promote many individuals to revive many of the same interpretations of the Waldensians and Wyclif. Prior to 1366 all eschatology, including that of Revelation and Daniel would have either been Futurist or Preterist and didn't name a church or a church leader as anti-Christ. Dr. Wyclif certainly had good reason to reject Papal authority because of the horrible and atrocious results of the Inquisition, and other practices of the Catholic Church. Those things are not in question nor are they in debate here.

The question is, under this interpretive, why is anyone still here and why hasn't Jesus already returned? Those who hold this view would believe that it is essential for Christ to return as the anti-Christ, in their opinion, has already been revealed. So for one to hold the historicist position of eschatology creates greater questions as to when Jesus will return and quite naturally leads one into date and time speculation.  

However, we should be aware that there were teachings that were in opposition to the Historicists claim that the Pope and the Catholic Church was the anti-Christ. Jesuit Priest Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) specifically declared the following regarding the Antichrist and his activities according to scripture. He would:

Persecute and blaspheme the saints of God. (The Catholic claim was that those persecuted were not Christians)

Rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. (Catholics made no such attempt to do so)  

Abolish the Christian religion. (That wasn't the aim of Catholicism) 

Deny Jesus Christ. (Catholics did not deny Jesus although they did add what appears to be worship of idols and idolatry) 

Be received by the Jews

Pretend to be God. (Although many claim that the Pope has made this claim, best evidence states that he and his office is simply the "spokesman" for Christ on the earth and that remitting sins of men and mankind was what "the church" was commissioned to do:  John 20:23 ~ "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.")

Kill the two witnesses of God. 

Conquer the world.

Pope John Paul II worships Mary

Not, so say some of the more modern analysts: "The Pope is the anti-Christ as he wears the anti-Christ vestments, worships idols and the Catholic church is the anti-Christ!" While these things may appear to be true and offer significant parallels in many cases, I'm reluctant to place the Catholic Church at the center of biblical prophecy for more than just the appearance of parallels. There are too many other parts to the eschatological paradigm that does not fit or allow this understanding. For sure Catholicism and its former and current leaders will certainly pay for their sins like all others. The aim of this article is to expose certain truths and bring to light certain comparisons, especially regarding eschatology, as many have no clue as to what is being taught when they hear such teachings. The atrocities of Roman Catholicism are probably some of the most thoroughly documented on the internet and one can argue either for or against the Roman Catholic Church based on that information.

Special Note: Although the Jehovah's Witness would not and do not hold to a rapture, they do hold to a Great Tribulation in which "Babylon The Great" will be judged for her sins.

C- Futurism. This is probably the most popular eschatological system in the western world and Christianity today. This system interprets scriptural prophecies and apocolyptic books as being somewhat fluid in nature. Scriptures have not only been fulfilled, but they are yet being fulfilled by current events. There are agreements yet to be made and the Temple has yet to be reconstructed in Jerusalem before the end comes. Unlike the Preterist and Historicist views the scope of Futurism is both literal, physical and global. In other words, the focus is on more than just Israel and the Middle East. This view has also led to Dispensationalism.

A eschatological Futurist would hold that

• There may have been tribulations, but that the "Great Tribulation" is a literal future event of global and not local proportions that has implications for all of mankind. 
• That the anti-Christ will be a literal man who's ideas will dominate and direct mankind into apostasy against God.
• The "Beast" may be the revived Roman Empire or another system of government
• That Jesus rose from the dead bodily and physically and defeated and conquered all enemies including death and sin by doing so.
• That there will be a literal and physical rapture which may take place either before, during or after this "Great Truibulation".
• That there is and will be a resurrection of all dead and a literal and eternal judgement unto righteousness or unto damnation for all people.
• That the anti-Christ will be revealed in time and may be a specific person or an economic or religious system.  

D. Idealism is an eschatology that interprets all things in the book of Revelation, with the exception of the Second Coming and Final Judgement, as symbolic and not literal events. This sort of eschatology calls for "kingdom now" in how one lives their life in an idealistic sense. Wikipedia further notes:

"Karl Barth interprets eschatology as representing existential truths that bring the individual hope, rather than history or future-history. Barth's ideas provided fuel for the Social Gospel philosophy in America, which saw social change not as performing "required" good works, but because the individuals involved felt that Christians could not simply ignore society's problems with future dreams."

This is an introduction to the type of eschatological structures that exist and some main and plain differences and variations within Christianity and Christian circles. In the conclusion of this post I will deal with the 70 weeks of Daniel and further display why the 1260 days of Daniel have nothing to do with the Papacy. Please stop the madness!

Blessed.