Well, welcome again. 00:00:10.64\00:00:12.87 This is our second presentation this evening 00:00:12.91\00:00:16.54 and the title of our study 00:00:16.58\00:00:18.81 is "Protestantism's Prophetic Apostasy," 00:00:18.85\00:00:22.95 and this will be part one. 00:00:22.98\00:00:25.65 In our next presentation we will do part two. 00:00:25.69\00:00:29.09 Before we begin though, 00:00:29.12\00:00:30.46 we do want to have a word of prayer 00:00:30.49\00:00:32.63 to ask the Lord to bless our study together 00:00:32.66\00:00:34.86 and help us see its importance. 00:00:34.90\00:00:37.30 So I invite you to reverently bow your head as we pray. 00:00:37.33\00:00:41.40 Father in heaven, what a joy it is to be here. 00:00:41.44\00:00:44.71 How wonderful it is to have Your Word, 00:00:44.74\00:00:47.94 a sure guide, 00:00:47.98\00:00:50.68 an anchor that holds 00:00:50.71\00:00:53.05 in this world that is so confused. 00:00:53.08\00:00:56.45 Father, we hid the message under a bushel. 00:00:56.48\00:01:00.02 We've hid the light under a bushel. 00:01:00.06\00:01:02.26 I ask Lord that You will help us 00:01:02.29\00:01:03.73 to announce it from the rooftops 00:01:03.76\00:01:06.13 that people might know 00:01:06.16\00:01:07.50 what the final events will be like. 00:01:07.53\00:01:09.16 They will make a total and complete commitment 00:01:09.20\00:01:11.33 to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 00:01:11.37\00:01:14.00 We ask that You will bless our study, 00:01:14.04\00:01:16.10 You will be with us, open our minds and hearts 00:01:16.14\00:01:19.01 and give us Your power to proclaim 00:01:19.04\00:01:21.54 that which we learn. 00:01:21.58\00:01:23.24 We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, 00:01:23.28\00:01:25.81 amen. 00:01:25.85\00:01:28.42 Before we actually begin our study, 00:01:28.45\00:01:30.05 I would like to mention a book 00:01:30.09\00:01:31.55 that I wrote just a brief few years ago. 00:01:31.59\00:01:35.89 It's called Futurism's Incredible Journey. 00:01:35.92\00:01:40.23 And you know, some people have asked 00:01:40.26\00:01:42.13 whether Ellen White was aware 00:01:42.16\00:01:44.27 of the dangers of preterism and futurism, 00:01:44.30\00:01:48.40 whether Ellen White knew that there were individuals 00:01:48.44\00:01:51.57 who were trying to project 00:01:51.61\00:01:52.94 the fulfillment of prophecy to the past 00:01:52.97\00:01:55.14 and project the fulfillment of prophecy to the future. 00:01:55.18\00:01:58.48 And Ellen White definitely did know 00:01:58.51\00:02:02.25 about the two different systems. 00:02:02.28\00:02:05.05 In this book, I've included an appendix 00:02:05.09\00:02:08.29 at the end of the book, 00:02:08.32\00:02:10.79 where you have a two part article 00:02:10.83\00:02:12.73 written by Ellen White, 00:02:12.76\00:02:15.30 and this article is actually a testimony to John Bell. 00:02:15.33\00:02:19.47 He was a school teacher. 00:02:19.50\00:02:22.40 And he was delving into futurism. 00:02:22.44\00:02:25.11 He was a Seventh-day Adventist 00:02:25.14\00:02:27.14 but he was taking prophecies 00:02:27.18\00:02:28.71 that had been fulfilled in the past 00:02:28.74\00:02:30.45 that he was projecting them to the future. 00:02:30.48\00:02:32.78 And he was taking prophecies that were still future 00:02:32.81\00:02:35.28 and he was saying that 00:02:35.32\00:02:36.65 they were fulfilled in the past. 00:02:36.69\00:02:38.49 And Ellen White had some really 00:02:38.52\00:02:39.85 interesting things to say about that, 00:02:39.89\00:02:42.02 and about the importance of understanding prophecy 00:02:42.06\00:02:45.46 as a prophetic chain, one link after another 00:02:45.49\00:02:48.43 without any parentheses, without any interruption. 00:02:48.46\00:02:52.17 Also in this book, we have at the end of the book, 00:02:52.20\00:02:57.24 the tremendous implications of abandoning historicism 00:02:57.27\00:03:02.74 and embracing preterism and futurism. 00:03:02.78\00:03:06.18 I'm not gonna cover all of those points here, 00:03:06.21\00:03:08.85 but I specifically show how preterism and futurism 00:03:08.88\00:03:13.69 not only destroy the reformers' view 00:03:13.72\00:03:16.86 of Bible prophecy 00:03:16.89\00:03:18.39 but actually destroys every distinctive truth 00:03:18.43\00:03:21.66 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:03:21.70\00:03:23.77 And so this I consider it to be an extremely important book. 00:03:23.80\00:03:27.14 And you might want to obtain a copy 00:03:27.17\00:03:29.47 and read the book to see the extreme importance 00:03:29.50\00:03:32.87 of what we are studying here. 00:03:32.91\00:03:35.21 Now we want to study about Protestantism's 00:03:35.24\00:03:39.91 prophetic apostasy. 00:03:39.95\00:03:42.28 And actually, most of our study is going to deal 00:03:42.32\00:03:46.15 with the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation. 00:03:46.19\00:03:49.46 In other words, 00:03:49.49\00:03:50.83 where the Roman Catholic churches attempt, 00:03:50.86\00:03:52.89 the papacies attempt to overthrow 00:03:52.93\00:03:56.26 the Protestant interpretation of Bible prophecy, 00:03:56.30\00:03:59.50 to overthrow historicism or what I like to call 00:03:59.53\00:04:02.84 the historical flow method. 00:04:02.87\00:04:05.54 Within a relatively short period, 00:04:05.57\00:04:08.38 the Roman Catholic Church, 00:04:08.41\00:04:09.78 as I was mentioning at the end of our last study, 00:04:09.81\00:04:12.95 lost thousands of members to Protestantism. 00:04:12.98\00:04:17.85 In fact, the Roman Catholic Church 00:04:17.89\00:04:19.85 lost entire nations in Europe to the Protestant Reformation. 00:04:19.89\00:04:26.73 And so the Roman Catholic papacy 00:04:26.76\00:04:29.10 reached the conclusion that 00:04:29.13\00:04:30.47 somehow they had to deflect the accusing finger, 00:04:30.50\00:04:35.64 the incriminating finger from the papacy 00:04:35.67\00:04:38.94 as the fulfillment of the Antichrist prophecies 00:04:38.97\00:04:42.01 to other individuals. 00:04:42.04\00:04:45.78 You see, the biblical evidence, as we've noticed, 00:04:45.81\00:04:48.45 was extremely compelling. 00:04:48.48\00:04:50.99 The reformers could see the sequence of Bible prophecy 00:04:51.02\00:04:54.36 and they could see that the actions 00:04:54.39\00:04:57.13 of the Roman Catholic papacy 00:04:57.16\00:04:58.96 was a precise fulfillment of what we find 00:04:58.99\00:05:02.06 in the different passages about the Antichrist. 00:05:02.10\00:05:05.80 And so the Roman Catholic Church 00:05:05.83\00:05:07.70 prepared a strategy to a no historicism 00:05:07.74\00:05:13.61 as the prophetic method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:05:13.64\00:05:18.25 After the Protestant Reformation, 00:05:18.28\00:05:20.12 not long, actually, 00:05:20.15\00:05:21.75 after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 00:05:21.78\00:05:24.85 which most scholars believe is what was it 1517 00:05:24.89\00:05:29.16 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses 00:05:29.19\00:05:31.99 to the cathedral door in Wittenberg. 00:05:32.03\00:05:34.90 Not long after that, actually, in the year 1545, 00:05:34.93\00:05:38.83 the Roman Catholic Church actually convened 00:05:38.87\00:05:43.34 in the city of Trento, we know it as Trent 00:05:43.37\00:05:47.31 and they celebrated an ecclesiastical council. 00:05:47.34\00:05:50.85 The purpose of that council was to reaffirm the theology 00:05:50.88\00:05:54.12 of the doctrines, the dogmas, 00:05:54.15\00:05:55.92 the Roman Catholic Church calls them 00:05:55.95\00:05:57.39 dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church 00:05:57.42\00:05:59.92 to counteract the Protestant teachings, 00:05:59.95\00:06:03.22 doctrinal teachings 00:06:03.26\00:06:04.59 that arose during the Reformation. 00:06:04.63\00:06:06.90 And so they had this very important council. 00:06:06.93\00:06:11.93 It's the longest council 00:06:11.97\00:06:13.30 in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. 00:06:13.34\00:06:14.87 It lasted for 18 years from 1545 to 1563. 00:06:14.90\00:06:21.74 And the evolved purpose was to reaffirm 00:06:21.78\00:06:24.71 the dogmas of the church and to pronounce an anathema 00:06:24.75\00:06:29.15 that is a curse upon everybody who did not agree 00:06:29.18\00:06:33.36 with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. 00:06:33.39\00:06:36.59 Now the Council of Trent did not as far as I know, 00:06:36.62\00:06:40.46 I haven't read all of the councilor declarations 00:06:40.50\00:06:43.33 of the Council of Trent. 00:06:43.37\00:06:44.93 But as far as I know, they did not reach 00:06:44.97\00:06:47.64 any firm conclusions 00:06:47.67\00:06:49.27 on the interpretation of Bible prophecy. 00:06:49.30\00:06:51.41 At that point, they had not established preterism 00:06:51.44\00:06:54.54 or futurism as a method of interpreting prophecy 00:06:54.58\00:06:57.78 to counteract Protestant historicism. 00:06:57.81\00:07:01.68 You see, 11 years approximately before this council began, 00:07:01.72\00:07:06.12 in the year 1534, 00:07:06.15\00:07:09.69 an individual whose name you probably will recognize, 00:07:09.72\00:07:13.86 you definitely will recognize 00:07:13.90\00:07:15.23 the society that he established. 00:07:15.26\00:07:17.30 His name was St. Ignatius Loyola. 00:07:17.33\00:07:21.14 In 1534, he founded the Jesuit order. 00:07:21.17\00:07:25.54 It's actually called the Society of Jesus. 00:07:25.57\00:07:28.78 And the purpose of the Society of Jesus 00:07:28.81\00:07:32.21 was clearly to overturn the Reformation. 00:07:32.25\00:07:36.58 The entire purpose was to crush the Protestant Reformation. 00:07:36.62\00:07:40.29 In fact, even to this day, 00:07:40.32\00:07:42.26 if you visit St. Peter's Basilica, 00:07:42.29\00:07:45.19 I was there several years ago. 00:07:45.23\00:07:47.40 Actually, I've only been there once. 00:07:47.43\00:07:48.96 But when you go into the Basilica, 00:07:49.00\00:07:51.00 there's this big area beyond the entrance 00:07:51.03\00:07:55.44 that goes to the very front to the symbolic people throne. 00:07:55.47\00:07:59.01 There is a boy up high, 00:07:59.04\00:08:01.44 and you have a statue of St. Ignatius Loyola, 00:08:01.48\00:08:06.01 and Loyola, it has his foot on the head of a Protestant. 00:08:06.05\00:08:11.95 In fact, what that is saying is that the purpose 00:08:11.99\00:08:14.99 of the Jesuit order was to crush Protestantism. 00:08:15.02\00:08:19.79 And the Jesuit, they were the most 00:08:19.83\00:08:21.76 well-trained of all the Roman Catholic scholars. 00:08:21.80\00:08:25.67 Now, Ellen White had something very interesting to say 00:08:25.70\00:08:29.30 about the Jesuits. 00:08:29.34\00:08:31.07 We find in the book Great Controversy, 00:08:31.11\00:08:33.27 pages 234 and 235, 00:08:33.31\00:08:36.95 Ellen White's description of the purpose 00:08:36.98\00:08:39.38 why the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus was established. 00:08:39.41\00:08:46.29 Here is what she wrote 00:08:46.32\00:08:47.66 and I'm not reading the entire statement. 00:08:47.69\00:08:49.92 I'm reading only the portions 00:08:49.96\00:08:51.59 that deal with what we're talking about. 00:08:51.63\00:08:53.90 Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced 00:08:53.93\00:08:59.27 by formidable foes. 00:08:59.30\00:09:02.00 The first triumphs of the Reformation past, 00:09:02.04\00:09:06.57 Rome summoned new forces 00:09:06.61\00:09:10.31 hoping to accomplish its destruction. 00:09:10.35\00:09:14.48 So why was it rallying its forces? 00:09:14.52\00:09:17.42 To destroy what? Protestantism. 00:09:17.45\00:09:21.09 She continues writing. 00:09:21.12\00:09:22.69 At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, 00:09:22.72\00:09:27.60 the most cruel, unscrupulous, 00:09:27.63\00:09:31.53 and powerful of all the champions of popery. 00:09:31.57\00:09:37.11 Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, 00:09:37.14\00:09:40.94 it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power 00:09:40.98\00:09:46.08 to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, 00:09:46.11\00:09:50.65 and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. 00:09:50.69\00:09:54.62 So what was the purpose of the establishment 00:09:54.66\00:09:56.62 of the Jesuit order or the Society of Jesus? 00:09:56.66\00:09:59.53 Once again, to overthrow Protestantism 00:09:59.56\00:10:03.33 and reestablish the papal supremacy. 00:10:03.37\00:10:07.54 And then she ends the quote by saying, 00:10:07.57\00:10:10.14 "The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, 00:10:10.17\00:10:14.11 and wherever they went, 00:10:14.14\00:10:16.21 there followed a revival of popery." 00:10:16.24\00:10:21.25 Now, popery is an expression that was used in the times 00:10:21.28\00:10:24.72 of Ellen White to describe the papacy. 00:10:24.75\00:10:27.66 So, if you're wondering what the word popery means, 00:10:27.69\00:10:30.83 it basically means the papacy, 00:10:30.86\00:10:33.63 and so we find that the Jesuit order rises. 00:10:33.66\00:10:36.87 And by the way, these days the Jesuit order 00:10:36.90\00:10:39.83 is the most powerful order in the Roman Catholic Church. 00:10:39.87\00:10:45.51 You're all aware of the fact that Benedict XVI 00:10:45.54\00:10:48.84 resigned as pope. 00:10:48.88\00:10:52.15 You know, many people think that the reason why Francis I, 00:10:52.18\00:10:55.12 I mean, why Francis I took the place of Benedict XVI 00:10:55.15\00:10:59.42 before Benedict's death 00:10:59.45\00:11:01.49 was because Benedict was all caught up 00:11:01.52\00:11:03.89 in this child abuse, sexual abuse thing. 00:11:03.93\00:11:08.83 But there's something far deeper. 00:11:08.86\00:11:10.93 And that is that the Jesuit order 00:11:10.97\00:11:13.70 actually manipulated things 00:11:13.74\00:11:15.70 so that a Jesuit would become pope, 00:11:15.74\00:11:17.97 the first Jesuit in history. 00:11:18.01\00:11:20.11 And by the way, I don't have time 00:11:20.14\00:11:22.01 to get into this right now. 00:11:22.04\00:11:23.55 But Secrets Unsealed has published 00:11:23.58\00:11:25.45 a series of articles, 00:11:25.48\00:11:27.02 I write long articles for our newsletter. 00:11:27.05\00:11:29.68 And in two of those articles, 00:11:29.72\00:11:31.79 I show very clearly what this pope's strategy is 00:11:31.82\00:11:35.92 to destroy Protestantism 00:11:35.96\00:11:38.56 and to recover the power 00:11:38.59\00:11:39.96 that the Roman Catholic papacy lost 00:11:40.00\00:11:42.50 when it received the deadly wound. 00:11:42.53\00:11:44.27 It's an interesting story, this pope is a different pope 00:11:44.30\00:11:46.80 than any other one that we've had before. 00:11:46.84\00:11:49.40 His talking points are different. 00:11:49.44\00:11:51.57 You know, Benedict XVI and John Paul II, 00:11:51.61\00:11:55.28 you know, they spoke about against abortion 00:11:55.31\00:11:57.65 and they spoke against gay marriage 00:11:57.68\00:11:59.71 and they spoke against euthanasia, 00:11:59.75\00:12:01.68 you know, all these social issues. 00:12:01.72\00:12:03.55 This pope doesn't deal with those issues. 00:12:03.59\00:12:06.39 This pope deals with issues such as climate change, 00:12:06.42\00:12:11.83 such as immigration, 00:12:11.86\00:12:14.43 such as, you know, helping the poor. 00:12:14.46\00:12:18.03 He says virtually nothing about abortion, 00:12:18.07\00:12:20.37 or euthanasia, or gay marriage. 00:12:20.40\00:12:22.40 And there's a strategy behind that. 00:12:22.44\00:12:24.77 You see, the civil powers of the world 00:12:24.81\00:12:27.68 do not like any talk about abortion, 00:12:27.71\00:12:31.21 and gay marriage, and euthanasia, 00:12:31.25\00:12:34.22 because they're in favor of it. 00:12:34.25\00:12:36.25 And the papacy wants to, they have to win over 00:12:36.28\00:12:39.15 the political powers of the world 00:12:39.19\00:12:41.12 in order to regain the power that they lost, 00:12:41.16\00:12:44.33 because the deadly would 00:12:44.36\00:12:45.69 is the loss of the support of the civil power. 00:12:45.73\00:12:47.96 So this pope is talking about things 00:12:48.00\00:12:51.23 that interest the political leaders of the world 00:12:51.27\00:12:54.50 so that he can win them over 00:12:54.54\00:12:56.40 and he can once again use their sword 00:12:56.44\00:13:00.08 to recover the power that he lost. 00:13:00.11\00:13:03.38 Now, this is kind of a side light 00:13:03.41\00:13:05.35 of what we're studying 00:13:05.38\00:13:06.72 but the fact is that, you know, the Roman Catholic papacy 00:13:06.75\00:13:10.75 has allowed the facts to guard the in-house, 00:13:10.79\00:13:16.02 and that is a very dangerous thing, 00:13:16.06\00:13:18.36 as you can surmise. 00:13:18.39\00:13:20.10 Now, the Jesuit order actually spawned 00:13:20.13\00:13:25.10 two very notable scholars that would write documents 00:13:25.13\00:13:32.04 or books to attempt to overturn 00:13:32.07\00:13:35.44 the prophetic method of the Protestant Reformers. 00:13:35.48\00:13:39.55 The first of these, his name was Luis Del Alcázar, 00:13:39.58\00:13:44.22 or as the Spaniards would probably properly pronounce it, 00:13:44.25\00:13:48.92 Luis Del Alcázar. 00:13:48.96\00:13:51.36 That's the way the C and the Z is pronounced 00:13:51.39\00:13:55.23 in the Spanish from Spain. 00:13:55.26\00:13:57.33 But anyway, this individual had great theological cunning. 00:13:57.37\00:14:02.27 It was his intention to overthrow 00:14:02.30\00:14:05.07 the Protestant method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:14:05.11\00:14:08.98 He wrote a 900 page Bible commentary 00:14:09.01\00:14:13.01 on the Book of Revelation. 00:14:13.05\00:14:14.68 The name of that commentary was "An investigation 00:14:14.72\00:14:18.49 of the hidden sense of the apocalypse." 00:14:18.52\00:14:22.52 In this volume, Alcázar affirmed 00:14:22.56\00:14:26.43 that the Antichrist prophecies of Daniel 00:14:26.46\00:14:29.60 and Revelation 00:14:29.63\00:14:31.27 found their fulfillment long before his time. 00:14:31.30\00:14:36.17 This system of interpretation is known as preterism, 00:14:36.20\00:14:40.78 the idea that the Antichrist prophecies 00:14:40.81\00:14:43.35 were fulfilled in the past. 00:14:43.38\00:14:46.21 Alcázar believed 00:14:46.25\00:14:48.38 that the little horn of Daniel 7 00:14:48.42\00:14:52.22 represented a nasty individual 00:14:52.25\00:14:55.32 that arose in the Maccabean period. 00:14:55.36\00:14:59.16 His name was Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:14:59.19\00:15:02.36 In fact, he ruled from 171 BC to 164 BC. 00:15:02.40\00:15:07.74 You know, he sacrificed a pig in the Jewish temple, 00:15:07.77\00:15:11.37 he persecuted the Jews, 00:15:11.41\00:15:13.54 he suspended the sacrificial system 00:15:13.58\00:15:16.88 and so they say the little horn of Daniel 7 00:15:16.91\00:15:21.38 that did all these things was Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:15:21.42\00:15:25.52 Now when it comes to the Book of Revelation, 00:15:25.55\00:15:27.76 this is different because 00:15:27.79\00:15:29.62 Antiochus Epiphanes had passed away 00:15:29.66\00:15:32.23 and so now, Alcázar had to find a way 00:15:32.26\00:15:35.56 to interpret the prophecies of Revelation. 00:15:35.60\00:15:38.87 And basically what he said is that the Book of Revelation, 00:15:38.90\00:15:41.80 everything in the Book of Revelation 00:15:41.84\00:15:43.77 was fulfilled by the 6th century AD. 00:15:43.81\00:15:48.21 In fact, he believed that the Antichrist 00:15:48.24\00:15:52.71 of Revelation Chapter 13, the beast of Revelation 13 00:15:52.75\00:15:56.08 was probably Nero, 00:15:56.12\00:15:58.62 because there was this tradition 00:15:58.65\00:16:00.86 supposedly in Rome, 00:16:00.89\00:16:02.66 that Nero was going to resurrect 00:16:02.69\00:16:06.23 or come back from the dead 00:16:06.26\00:16:08.33 and he was gonna do what the Bible says 00:16:08.36\00:16:11.63 about the little horn 00:16:11.67\00:16:13.00 after it recovered from its deadly wound. 00:16:13.03\00:16:16.14 And so he established this counterfeit system 00:16:16.17\00:16:19.11 of interpreting prophecy. 00:16:19.14\00:16:21.04 Of course, if the little horn and the beast were fulfilled 00:16:21.08\00:16:26.08 way back in the Old Testament period, 00:16:26.11\00:16:29.55 and early in the Christian period, 00:16:29.58\00:16:33.15 these prophecies were not fulfilled 00:16:33.19\00:16:34.89 with the papacy. 00:16:34.92\00:16:36.46 Are you understanding what he's trying to do? 00:16:36.49\00:16:39.43 He's saying, "No, the little horn? 00:16:39.46\00:16:41.93 No, that's not us. That was Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:16:41.96\00:16:45.50 Oh, no, beast, no that has nothing to do 00:16:45.53\00:16:47.57 with the Roman Catholic papacy, the beast, that was Nero." 00:16:47.60\00:16:51.67 You know, when he passed away that prophecy was fulfilled. 00:16:51.71\00:16:55.18 And so by projecting the Antichrist prophecies 00:16:55.21\00:16:59.01 to the past, 00:16:59.05\00:17:00.48 both to the Old Testament intertestamental period, 00:17:00.52\00:17:03.75 and the early period of the Christian church, 00:17:03.79\00:17:07.36 as well as the times of the fall 00:17:07.39\00:17:10.59 of the Roman Empire. 00:17:10.63\00:17:12.16 He deflected the finger from the papacy 00:17:12.19\00:17:15.73 to these individuals in the past. 00:17:15.76\00:17:20.40 Now, it's interesting that today, 00:17:20.44\00:17:24.24 the choice method of the Roman Catholic Church 00:17:24.27\00:17:27.38 of interpreting prophecy is preterism. 00:17:27.41\00:17:31.85 I don't know of very many Roman Catholics 00:17:31.88\00:17:34.35 that are futurists, 00:17:34.38\00:17:35.72 we're gonna come back to talk about futurism 00:17:35.75\00:17:37.55 in a few moments. 00:17:37.59\00:17:39.09 Roman Catholics if you read their commentaries, 00:17:39.12\00:17:41.69 and I'm gonna give you some examples, 00:17:41.72\00:17:43.59 these days are preterists. 00:17:43.63\00:17:46.80 Not only are Roman Catholics preterists, 00:17:46.83\00:17:49.50 but we're gonna notice in our next presentation, 00:17:49.53\00:17:52.43 that the great Protestant mainline churches 00:17:52.47\00:17:57.07 like for example, the Lutherans, 00:17:57.11\00:17:59.67 the Methodists, the Presbyterians, 00:17:59.71\00:18:03.48 those churches have also imbibed 00:18:03.51\00:18:06.41 the preterist method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:18:06.45\00:18:09.38 And I'm going to show you from several commentaries 00:18:09.42\00:18:11.95 in our next presentation how Protestantism, 00:18:11.99\00:18:15.92 the mainline churches of Protestantism 00:18:15.96\00:18:18.46 have imbibed preterism as their choice method 00:18:18.49\00:18:23.16 of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:18:23.20\00:18:25.87 Let me just give you a few examples here. 00:18:25.90\00:18:29.54 The New American Bible, 00:18:29.57\00:18:31.81 which is a Roman Catholic Bible, 00:18:31.84\00:18:33.98 has a very interesting translation 00:18:34.01\00:18:37.25 of Daniel 7:25. 00:18:37.28\00:18:41.08 Daniel 7:25 is translated in this Roman Catholic Bible 00:18:41.12\00:18:44.79 and by the way, folks, 00:18:44.82\00:18:46.86 many of the modern Protestant Bibles 00:18:46.89\00:18:49.56 translated in the same way. 00:18:49.59\00:18:52.23 This is the translation. 00:18:52.26\00:18:54.23 "He shall speak against the Most High 00:18:54.26\00:18:57.90 and oppress the holy ones of the Most High, 00:18:57.93\00:19:01.67 thinking to change the feast days and the law." 00:19:01.70\00:19:07.51 Interesting. 00:19:07.54\00:19:09.81 And Protestant versions translate in the same way. 00:19:09.84\00:19:13.45 Not all of them, but many of them do. 00:19:13.48\00:19:16.35 I'm gonna give you several examples. 00:19:16.38\00:19:19.05 Now concerning the times and the laws, 00:19:19.09\00:19:22.46 that the little horn attempted to change, 00:19:22.49\00:19:25.23 this is the interpretation that the Jerusalem Bible gives. 00:19:25.26\00:19:28.36 The Jerusalem Bible is a Roman Catholic Bible. 00:19:28.40\00:19:30.93 Now notice how this Roman Catholic Bible 00:19:30.97\00:19:32.87 in a footnote explains the times 00:19:32.90\00:19:36.74 in which, the times which 00:19:36.77\00:19:39.67 the little horn attempted to change, 00:19:39.71\00:19:41.58 I read, "The Hellenizing policy 00:19:41.61\00:19:46.68 of Antiochus Epiphanes 00:19:46.72\00:19:49.35 included a ban 00:19:49.38\00:19:51.02 on the observance of the Sabbath 00:19:51.05\00:19:53.46 and the feast days." 00:19:53.49\00:19:56.39 So in other words, he's saying, "You know, this idea of, 00:19:56.42\00:20:00.30 you know, changing the times. 00:20:00.33\00:20:02.23 Well, that has to do with the feasts." 00:20:02.26\00:20:04.80 And by the way, the word shaman, 00:20:04.83\00:20:06.70 the word time is used to refer to the feasts. 00:20:06.74\00:20:11.21 But to translate the word time with feasts 00:20:11.24\00:20:14.78 is an interpretation. 00:20:14.81\00:20:16.24 It is not a translation. 00:20:16.28\00:20:18.41 Now, there's more. 00:20:18.45\00:20:21.32 How does that preterist's view 00:20:21.35\00:20:23.55 explain the four beasts of Daniel 7? 00:20:23.59\00:20:26.15 This is very interesting. 00:20:26.19\00:20:30.26 In a footnote of the Jerusalem Bible, 00:20:30.29\00:20:33.70 we are told that the first beast of Daniel 7 00:20:33.73\00:20:36.73 represents Babylon, so far so good. 00:20:36.77\00:20:41.27 The second beast, the bear represents the Medes. 00:20:41.30\00:20:48.14 The leopard represents the Persians. 00:20:48.18\00:20:52.45 And the dragon, listen carefully, 00:20:52.48\00:20:54.98 represents the empire of Alexander the Great, 00:20:55.02\00:20:59.99 and the 10 horns are the 10 kingdoms 00:21:00.02\00:21:02.92 of a Seleucid dynasty. 00:21:02.96\00:21:07.73 Interesting. 00:21:07.76\00:21:09.70 So the dragon beast according to preterism 00:21:09.73\00:21:12.67 is Greece 00:21:12.70\00:21:15.20 and the 10 horns are the 10 Seleucid kingdoms of Greece. 00:21:15.24\00:21:20.41 And then it says, "That the little horn, 00:21:20.44\00:21:23.75 there rises among the 10 and above the 10 00:21:23.78\00:21:26.72 is Antiochus Epiphanes." 00:21:26.75\00:21:29.58 That is the preterist's interpretation. 00:21:29.62\00:21:31.92 What does that do? 00:21:31.95\00:21:33.69 It totally eliminates the Roman Empire 00:21:33.72\00:21:36.02 from Bible prophecy. 00:21:36.06\00:21:38.36 It eliminates the 10 horns 00:21:38.39\00:21:40.30 being the divisions of Western Europe. 00:21:40.33\00:21:42.93 And it eliminates also the idea that the little horn 00:21:42.96\00:21:46.40 that rises among the 10 00:21:46.43\00:21:48.34 represents the Roman Catholic papacy. 00:21:48.37\00:21:52.37 How in the world can the preterist's 00:21:52.41\00:21:56.34 Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible 00:21:56.38\00:21:58.45 say that the first kingdom is Babylon, 00:21:58.48\00:22:00.82 the second kingdom is the Persians, and the third, 00:22:00.85\00:22:04.89 the Medes and the third kingdom are the Persians, 00:22:04.92\00:22:08.12 and the fourth kingdom is Greece. 00:22:08.16\00:22:10.36 It doesn't fit with history, 00:22:10.39\00:22:12.53 because Revelation Chapter 12 tells us 00:22:12.56\00:22:14.56 that the dragon beast represents Rome. 00:22:14.60\00:22:16.77 It's the power that tried to kill 00:22:16.80\00:22:18.33 the child that the woman was gonna have. 00:22:18.37\00:22:21.14 And so we know that the dragon beast 00:22:21.17\00:22:22.94 with 10 horns represents Rome. 00:22:22.97\00:22:25.11 But preterism says, "No, it represents Greece 00:22:25.14\00:22:27.88 and the 10 horns are 10 divisions, 00:22:27.91\00:22:29.88 the 10 kingdoms of the Greek dynasty, 00:22:29.91\00:22:33.45 and the little horn represents Antiochus Epiphanes." 00:22:33.48\00:22:36.55 Now, how does preterism 00:22:36.58\00:22:39.15 interpret the three and a half times, 00:22:39.19\00:22:40.86 the time times and dividing of time? 00:22:40.89\00:22:44.43 Once again, I'm reading from the Jerusalem Bible, 00:22:44.46\00:22:48.33 three and a half years, the approximate duration 00:22:48.36\00:22:53.03 of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes 00:22:53.07\00:22:56.87 but the fact is, 00:22:56.91\00:22:58.57 and I learned this from Dr. Waterhouse and his classes, 00:22:58.61\00:23:02.11 the fact is that Antiochus Epiphanes 00:23:02.14\00:23:04.18 only was there for three years, not three and a half years. 00:23:04.21\00:23:09.28 So you notice the statement says 00:23:09.32\00:23:11.29 three and a half years the approximate duration, 00:23:11.32\00:23:13.76 God doesn't deal in approximations. 00:23:13.79\00:23:17.29 When He gives time prophecies, He's precise and exact. 00:23:17.33\00:23:22.06 But it says three and a half years 00:23:22.10\00:23:23.57 the approximate duration 00:23:23.60\00:23:25.70 of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, 00:23:25.73\00:23:29.90 but this period of time, also expressed as 42 months, 00:23:29.94\00:23:35.11 stands for a temporary time of persecution, 00:23:35.14\00:23:38.55 with a limit set by God's providence. 00:23:38.58\00:23:41.88 It waters away the idea 00:23:41.92\00:23:43.89 that the three and a half times are precise. 00:23:43.92\00:23:46.35 They begin at a certain date, and they end at a certain date. 00:23:46.39\00:23:51.39 Now, the Roman Catholic Church has a commentary, 00:23:51.43\00:23:54.20 a renowned commentary called the Jerome Bible Commentary, 00:23:54.23\00:23:58.33 and I want you to notice how they interpret 00:23:58.37\00:24:01.94 the three horns 00:24:01.97\00:24:04.17 that are uprooted in Daniel 7, 00:24:04.21\00:24:09.41 you remember the little horn uprooted three horns. 00:24:09.44\00:24:11.91 We believe that those are the Heruli, the Vandals, 00:24:11.95\00:24:14.88 and the Ostrogoths, the three kingdoms 00:24:14.92\00:24:16.89 that the papacy used the civil power to uproot 00:24:16.92\00:24:19.52 so it could rise to unopposed power. 00:24:19.55\00:24:22.89 But notice what preterism says in the Jerome Bible Commentary. 00:24:22.92\00:24:27.80 This translation is based on the interpretation 00:24:27.83\00:24:33.07 supposing that three of Antiochus IV Epiphanes' 00:24:33.10\00:24:37.97 predecessors died violent deaths 00:24:38.01\00:24:40.98 so that he could succeed to the throne. 00:24:41.01\00:24:43.55 So the three horns are three opposers 00:24:43.58\00:24:46.18 of Antiochus Epiphanes. 00:24:46.21\00:24:48.22 So what does preterism do? 00:24:48.25\00:24:50.42 It's projecting the fulfillment 00:24:50.45\00:24:52.05 of all these prophecies to where? 00:24:52.09\00:24:54.89 To the past. 00:24:54.92\00:24:56.26 And do you know why they do this? 00:24:56.29\00:24:58.36 Because most of the individuals who embrace preterism, 00:24:58.39\00:25:01.93 they use a method of Bible study, 00:25:01.96\00:25:03.77 which is called the historical critical method. 00:25:03.80\00:25:07.34 They don't believe that God can predict the future. 00:25:07.37\00:25:11.17 They study the Bible like any other document. 00:25:11.21\00:25:14.54 They don't believe that the Bible 00:25:14.58\00:25:16.28 is able to predict long range 00:25:16.31\00:25:18.98 what is gonna happen in the future. 00:25:19.01\00:25:20.48 So it's much easier to simply say that these things 00:25:20.52\00:25:23.99 were fulfilled in the past, and they're passed off 00:25:24.02\00:25:27.12 as if they were history. 00:25:27.16\00:25:29.36 But they're not really history. 00:25:29.39\00:25:31.09 Incidentally, this is the reason why 00:25:31.13\00:25:33.26 liberal scholars say that Daniel was not written 00:25:33.29\00:25:36.10 in the 6th century. 00:25:36.13\00:25:37.47 Daniel was written in the 2nd century BC. 00:25:37.50\00:25:41.90 In that way, they can say, see, 00:25:41.94\00:25:44.11 Daniel was actually written 00:25:44.14\00:25:45.77 after all these things have taken place, 00:25:45.81\00:25:48.24 and the writer wrote it to make people think 00:25:48.28\00:25:51.75 that he was prophesying things 00:25:51.78\00:25:53.35 that were going to happen from the time of Daniel 1. 00:25:53.38\00:25:56.38 That's the liberal method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:25:56.42\00:26:00.06 That is the preterist method of interpreting prophecy. 00:26:00.09\00:26:03.09 Now, how does the Jerome Bible Commentary 00:26:03.12\00:26:05.99 explain the beast's deadly wound? 00:26:06.03\00:26:09.70 Once again, I read from the Jerome Bible Commentary, 00:26:09.73\00:26:12.47 Roman Catholic Commentary. 00:26:12.50\00:26:14.44 "This passage may be 00:26:14.47\00:26:18.11 a reference to some definite event, 00:26:18.14\00:26:21.11 such as the murder of Caesar 00:26:21.14\00:26:24.05 and the healing of the Emperor under Augustus, 00:26:24.08\00:26:28.08 the legend of Nero redivivus, 00:26:28.12\00:26:31.09 which means resuscitated, 00:26:31.12\00:26:33.99 or any of several imperial misadventures." 00:26:34.02\00:26:39.03 So in other words, it refers to things that happened 00:26:39.06\00:26:41.96 in ancient Rome. 00:26:42.00\00:26:43.33 It has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic papacy. 00:26:43.37\00:26:47.17 So what does preterism do? Very simple. 00:26:47.20\00:26:51.24 By saying that these prophecies 00:26:51.27\00:26:52.84 were fulfilled in the distant past, 00:26:52.87\00:26:56.04 it deflects the finger from the fulfillment 00:26:56.08\00:26:58.01 of the Roman Catholic papacy. 00:26:58.05\00:27:00.25 Because if the prophecies concerning the little horn 00:27:00.28\00:27:03.39 and the beast 00:27:03.42\00:27:04.75 were fulfilled with Antiochus Epiphanes, 00:27:04.79\00:27:07.26 and with the early Roman emperors, 00:27:07.29\00:27:09.36 then it has nothing to do 00:27:09.39\00:27:11.09 with the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages 00:27:11.13\00:27:13.90 because it happened back then. 00:27:13.93\00:27:15.80 It didn't happen during the period 00:27:15.83\00:27:17.83 of the Christian church. 00:27:17.87\00:27:19.83 So let me ask you, did preterism attempt to change 00:27:19.87\00:27:24.34 God's times? 00:27:24.37\00:27:26.11 Did it tried to change the sequence of events 00:27:26.14\00:27:29.64 in God's calendar? 00:27:29.68\00:27:31.91 Yes, very similar to what Nebuchadnezzar did, 00:27:31.95\00:27:34.68 in principle, at least. 00:27:34.72\00:27:37.45 But there's another school. 00:27:37.49\00:27:39.39 There was another scholar, his name, Francisco Ribera. 00:27:39.42\00:27:45.09 He lived from 1537 to 1591. 00:27:45.13\00:27:49.60 He was a brilliant student. 00:27:49.63\00:27:52.67 He knew Latin, he knew Greek, he knew Hebrew. 00:27:52.70\00:27:57.07 He actually taught at the University of Salamanca 00:27:57.11\00:28:01.24 in Spain. 00:28:01.28\00:28:03.01 And, by the way, I failed to mention 00:28:03.04\00:28:06.15 that Luis del Alcázar was a Jesuit. 00:28:06.18\00:28:10.72 And Francisco Ribera also was a Jesuit. 00:28:10.75\00:28:14.09 In fact, he joined the Jesuit order in 1570, 00:28:14.12\00:28:18.56 when he was only 33 years old. 00:28:18.59\00:28:23.10 Now, what did Ribera teach? 00:28:23.13\00:28:27.34 Basically, Ribera teach 00:28:27.37\00:28:29.04 that the prophecy of the little horn 00:28:29.07\00:28:32.37 had not been fulfilled yet. 00:28:32.41\00:28:34.84 It was going to be fulfilled in the distant future. 00:28:34.88\00:28:39.21 Now, he also taught some very interesting things. 00:28:39.25\00:28:44.19 He actually accused the Protestants 00:28:44.22\00:28:46.45 of being inconsistent in their interpretation 00:28:46.49\00:28:49.26 of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation 00:28:49.29\00:28:51.73 and we'll explain how. 00:28:51.76\00:28:53.76 The early church fathers, 00:28:53.80\00:28:58.33 now when I say early church fathers, 00:28:58.37\00:28:59.70 I'm not talking about the Bible writers. 00:28:59.73\00:29:02.90 I'm talking about individuals like Tertullian and Origen 00:29:02.94\00:29:06.64 and all the early church fathers. 00:29:06.68\00:29:10.25 They taught certain futuristic elements 00:29:10.28\00:29:13.52 in their eschatology. 00:29:13.55\00:29:15.92 They taught, for example, that the Antichrist 00:29:15.95\00:29:19.95 was going to be an individual 00:29:19.99\00:29:22.76 and they taught that individual 00:29:22.79\00:29:25.03 was going to rule in as the Antichrist 00:29:25.06\00:29:30.23 for three and a half literal years. 00:29:30.27\00:29:32.63 So the early church fathers had this idea that 00:29:32.67\00:29:36.84 the Antichrist was gonna be a nasty individual, 00:29:36.87\00:29:40.34 and he was going to rule 00:29:40.38\00:29:42.21 for three and a half literal years. 00:29:42.24\00:29:44.91 We can't deny that they believe that. 00:29:44.95\00:29:47.72 Now, it's interesting to notice 00:29:47.75\00:29:50.32 that even though the early church fathers 00:29:50.35\00:29:52.32 believed this, 00:29:52.35\00:29:53.69 we can understand the reason why, 00:29:53.72\00:29:55.06 there are actually two reasons why they believe this. 00:29:55.09\00:29:58.99 Number one, the early church fathers 00:29:59.03\00:30:01.73 did not expect the world history 00:30:01.76\00:30:03.93 to last another 2000 years. 00:30:03.97\00:30:07.00 You see, they were living in the time 00:30:07.04\00:30:08.50 of the Roman Empire 00:30:08.54\00:30:10.24 and some of them were starting to see 00:30:10.27\00:30:12.17 the Roman Empire disintegrate 00:30:12.21\00:30:14.94 and so as they looked at the living 00:30:14.98\00:30:18.48 in the time of the Roman Empire, 00:30:18.51\00:30:20.22 and some of them in the latter part, 00:30:20.25\00:30:22.02 they see the Roman Empire starting to disintegrate, 00:30:22.05\00:30:25.39 they say "This must mean 00:30:25.42\00:30:26.76 that the Antichrist is imminent. 00:30:26.79\00:30:28.52 He's gonna come right now." 00:30:28.56\00:30:31.06 But, of course, they did not really understand 00:30:31.09\00:30:34.76 that the Antichrist 00:30:34.80\00:30:36.77 was not going to arise until later 00:30:36.80\00:30:39.53 and that he was not going to rule 00:30:39.57\00:30:41.37 for three and a half literal years. 00:30:41.40\00:30:43.10 He was going to rule for 1260 years. 00:30:43.14\00:30:46.74 They didn't understand that the time period 00:30:46.78\00:30:48.61 was not to be taken literally. 00:30:48.64\00:30:50.98 Secondly, the Bible clearly tells us 00:30:51.01\00:30:56.28 that individuals 00:30:56.32\00:30:57.95 do not understand prophecy fully 00:30:57.99\00:31:00.36 until the times when the prophecy 00:31:00.39\00:31:03.32 is fulfilled or is about to be fulfilled. 00:31:03.36\00:31:06.76 Jesus actually said in John 14:29, 00:31:06.80\00:31:11.23 "And now, I have told you before it come to pass, 00:31:11.27\00:31:16.07 that when it is come to pass, ye might believe." 00:31:16.10\00:31:21.64 So Jesus says, "I told you what's gonna happen 00:31:21.68\00:31:24.05 before it happens, 00:31:24.08\00:31:25.61 so that when it does happen, you might believe." 00:31:25.65\00:31:28.92 Now what does this have to do 00:31:28.95\00:31:30.69 with the view that the early church had? 00:31:30.72\00:31:35.02 You see, the early church fathers 00:31:35.06\00:31:36.62 lived in the period of the fourth beast of Rome 00:31:36.66\00:31:40.60 when the empire had not yet crumbled 00:31:40.63\00:31:43.16 into 10 kingdoms. 00:31:43.20\00:31:45.07 There was starting to be some fissures, 00:31:45.10\00:31:47.80 but the empire was still united. 00:31:47.84\00:31:51.37 The little horn had not yet risen, 00:31:51.41\00:31:54.11 and therefore the best 00:31:54.14\00:31:55.94 that the early church fathers could do 00:31:55.98\00:31:58.15 was to guess about the identity of the Antichrist. 00:31:58.18\00:32:03.32 So they concluded that he was gonna reign 00:32:03.35\00:32:05.22 for three and a half years 00:32:05.25\00:32:06.59 and he was gonna be an individual 00:32:06.62\00:32:07.96 because they did not live 00:32:07.99\00:32:09.32 in the times of the fulfillment. 00:32:09.36\00:32:11.29 As you reach the times of the fulfillment, 00:32:11.33\00:32:13.80 Bible prophecy becomes much clearer. 00:32:13.83\00:32:18.73 But the Protestant Reformers didn't have to guess. 00:32:18.77\00:32:21.77 You see, the Protestant Reformers 00:32:21.80\00:32:23.27 were not living in the time of the Roman Empire. 00:32:23.30\00:32:26.61 The Protestant Reformers were not even living 00:32:26.64\00:32:28.98 in the time when the 10 kingdoms existed. 00:32:29.01\00:32:32.31 The Protestant Reformers were living in the period 00:32:32.35\00:32:35.25 when the little horn rose to power. 00:32:35.28\00:32:37.95 And so the Protestant Reformers could see 00:32:37.99\00:32:40.56 what the early church fathers could not see. 00:32:40.59\00:32:43.46 The early church fathers, you know, 00:32:43.49\00:32:45.26 they lived in the period of the Roman Empire, 00:32:45.29\00:32:47.50 and they read about a little horn 00:32:47.53\00:32:49.60 rising among 10 horns, 00:32:49.63\00:32:51.27 the 10 horns were not fully there, 00:32:51.30\00:32:53.37 the little horn had not risen, 00:32:53.40\00:32:54.94 so they assume that the little horn 00:32:54.97\00:32:56.40 was an individual 00:32:56.44\00:32:57.77 that would rule for three and a half literal years. 00:32:57.81\00:33:00.08 But once the empire is divided into 10 kingdoms, 00:33:00.11\00:33:04.38 and the little horn rises among them, 00:33:04.41\00:33:07.25 suddenly what was not clear to the early church fathers 00:33:07.28\00:33:10.79 now becomes very clear to the Protestant Reformers. 00:33:10.82\00:33:15.89 Thus the reformers had the benefit 00:33:15.92\00:33:18.89 of historical hindsight, 00:33:18.93\00:33:22.60 they could see back to what was happening, 00:33:22.63\00:33:26.13 what had happened and what was happening 00:33:26.17\00:33:28.30 at their time. 00:33:28.34\00:33:29.97 Now, Francisco Ribera wrote a commentary, 00:33:30.01\00:33:34.58 a 500 page commentary on the Book of Revelation. 00:33:34.61\00:33:38.58 It was actually published in 1590 00:33:38.61\00:33:41.55 posthumously because he had already died. 00:33:41.58\00:33:44.99 Now, Le Roy Froom describes Ribera's method 00:33:45.02\00:33:50.63 of interpreting prophecy. 00:33:50.66\00:33:52.16 I'm gonna read how Froom describes it. 00:33:52.19\00:33:56.56 Ribera's eschatology are ascribed 00:33:56.60\00:34:01.20 to a literal three and a half years 00:34:01.24\00:34:03.97 reign of an infidel Antichrist, 00:34:04.01\00:34:06.98 who would bitterly oppose and blaspheme the saints 00:34:07.01\00:34:11.15 just before the second advent. 00:34:11.18\00:34:14.12 Now, that's important. 00:34:14.15\00:34:15.95 I'm gonna read that again. 00:34:15.98\00:34:18.52 He said the Antichrist was going to reign 00:34:18.55\00:34:22.59 a three and a half literal years. 00:34:22.62\00:34:26.33 And he was gonna be an infidel person 00:34:26.36\00:34:29.36 who would bitterly oppose and blaspheme the saints 00:34:29.40\00:34:32.53 just before the second advent. 00:34:32.57\00:34:34.67 So the Antichrist is an individual 00:34:34.70\00:34:37.11 who's gonna persecute God's people 00:34:37.14\00:34:39.27 for three and a half literal years, 00:34:39.31\00:34:41.71 just before the Second Coming of Jesus. 00:34:41.74\00:34:43.95 Does the little horn have anything to do 00:34:43.98\00:34:45.98 with the past history of the Roman Catholic Church? 00:34:46.01\00:34:49.12 Absolutely not. 00:34:49.15\00:34:50.52 Because he's projecting the fulfillment to the future. 00:34:50.55\00:34:54.82 Froom continues, "He thought that antichrist 00:34:54.86\00:34:58.83 would be a single individual 00:34:58.86\00:35:01.43 who would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, 00:35:01.46\00:35:04.77 abolish the Christian religion, 00:35:04.80\00:35:07.44 deny Christ, be received by the Jews, 00:35:07.47\00:35:12.07 pretend to be God, and conquer the world, 00:35:12.11\00:35:16.41 and all this in a brief three 00:35:16.44\00:35:20.28 and one half literal years." 00:35:20.32\00:35:24.09 So what did Ribera do? 00:35:24.12\00:35:26.42 He said, "No, the little horn prophecy." 00:35:26.45\00:35:29.02 No, no, no, that wasn't fulfilled in the past 00:35:29.06\00:35:31.69 like my colleague Alcázar had to say. 00:35:31.73\00:35:35.66 No, the little horn refers to a future Antichrist, 00:35:35.70\00:35:41.00 that's going to, it's gonna be an individual 00:35:41.04\00:35:43.37 who's going to rule for three and a half literal years 00:35:43.41\00:35:45.51 and he's gonna persecute the literal Jews, 00:35:45.54\00:35:47.31 is gonna rebuild the temple. 00:35:47.34\00:35:49.38 Does that sound familiar? 00:35:49.41\00:35:51.55 Have you heard that on television on Sundays? 00:35:51.58\00:35:53.92 Have you heard conservative Protestant ministers 00:35:53.95\00:35:56.62 speak about the rebuilding of the temple 00:35:56.65\00:35:58.89 and the persecution of the Jews 00:35:58.92\00:36:00.86 for three and a half literal years 00:36:00.89\00:36:02.32 by this nasty individual who is the Antichrist? 00:36:02.36\00:36:06.16 Where did they get it from? 00:36:06.19\00:36:08.33 They got it from Francisco Ribera. 00:36:08.36\00:36:11.03 Where did the mainline Protestant denominations 00:36:11.07\00:36:14.00 get preterism from? 00:36:14.04\00:36:16.20 They got it from the Roman Catholic papacy. 00:36:16.24\00:36:19.51 In other words, Protestants 00:36:19.54\00:36:20.88 have made an image of the beast. 00:36:20.91\00:36:23.51 Not only does prophecy tell us 00:36:23.55\00:36:26.41 that there's gonna be an image of the beast, 00:36:26.45\00:36:27.78 which means that the papacy 00:36:27.82\00:36:29.32 is gonna join church and state. 00:36:29.35\00:36:31.82 The United States is gonna join church and state 00:36:31.85\00:36:34.42 by instigation of the papacy, 00:36:34.46\00:36:36.09 that's gonna be the image of the beast, 00:36:36.12\00:36:37.79 but also the Protestants today are an image of the beast 00:36:37.83\00:36:42.46 in their prophetic interpretation, 00:36:42.50\00:36:44.53 because Protestants are either preterists, 00:36:44.57\00:36:47.77 the liberal ones, or they are futurists, 00:36:47.80\00:36:50.71 the more conservative Christians 00:36:50.74\00:36:52.21 like Evangelicals, Pentecostals, 00:36:52.24\00:36:54.41 and Charismatics. 00:36:54.44\00:36:56.85 Now Ribera was a brilliant researcher 00:36:56.88\00:36:59.21 and writer, 00:36:59.25\00:37:00.92 but he was not an outstanding lecturer. 00:37:00.95\00:37:04.22 Furthermore, he died at a very early age, 00:37:04.25\00:37:06.45 he died when he was only 54 years old. 00:37:06.49\00:37:09.62 So Ribera's views needed an articulate, shrewd, 00:37:09.66\00:37:14.56 and dynamic champion 00:37:14.60\00:37:17.33 to proclaim his new found views concerning Bible prophecy. 00:37:17.37\00:37:23.41 And, of course, that shrewd 00:37:23.44\00:37:24.81 and articulate champion was found. 00:37:24.84\00:37:27.48 His name was Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. 00:37:27.51\00:37:32.25 And he actually was born in 1542 and he died in 1621. 00:37:32.28\00:37:39.12 So the evangelist for Ribera's views 00:37:39.15\00:37:42.89 was Robert Bellarmine. 00:37:42.92\00:37:44.69 So we need to take a look at who Robert Bellarmine was. 00:37:44.73\00:37:49.50 He was actually an Italian cardinal. 00:37:49.53\00:37:53.03 And one of the most shrewd 00:37:53.07\00:37:54.94 and intelligent Jesuit apologists. 00:37:54.97\00:37:58.77 Isn't that interesting that all these individuals 00:37:58.81\00:38:00.98 were Jesuits. 00:38:01.01\00:38:04.08 You know, Ribera was a Jesuit, 00:38:04.11\00:38:06.78 Alcázar was a Jesuit 00:38:06.82\00:38:09.22 and now Bellarmine is a Jesuit as well. 00:38:09.25\00:38:13.66 This is a Jesuit agenda. 00:38:13.69\00:38:15.22 By the way, this is no Jesuit conspiracy. 00:38:15.26\00:38:18.09 You know, there are some Adventists 00:38:18.13\00:38:19.46 that see a Jesuit behind every stone. 00:38:19.49\00:38:22.53 And they have a lot of conspiracy theories 00:38:22.56\00:38:24.83 about the Jesuits. 00:38:24.87\00:38:26.53 And some of them might be true, but this is not conspiracy. 00:38:26.57\00:38:31.11 This can be proved historically, 00:38:31.14\00:38:33.41 that preterism and futurism comes 00:38:33.44\00:38:35.88 from the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation 00:38:35.91\00:38:39.25 directly from the Jesuit order. 00:38:39.28\00:38:42.78 Now, let me read what Froom had to say 00:38:42.82\00:38:45.69 about Bellarmine. 00:38:45.72\00:38:49.79 "He insisted 00:38:49.82\00:38:51.53 that the prophecies concerning Antichrist 00:38:51.56\00:38:54.36 in Daniel, Paul, and John, 00:38:54.40\00:38:57.10 had no application to the papal power. 00:38:57.13\00:39:00.87 This formed the third part of his Polemic Lecture 00:39:00.90\00:39:04.57 Concerning the Disputed Points of Christian Belief 00:39:04.61\00:39:07.41 against the Heretics of this Time." 00:39:07.44\00:39:08.98 That's the name of the document that Bellarmine wrote, 00:39:09.01\00:39:12.11 "published between 1581 and 1593." 00:39:12.15\00:39:16.72 That's a work that Bellarmine wrote 00:39:16.75\00:39:18.95 to defend the views that Ribera had come up with. 00:39:18.99\00:39:22.46 Now, Froom continues writing, 00:39:22.49\00:39:25.06 "This was the most detailed apology 00:39:25.09\00:39:28.33 of the Catholic faith ever produced 00:39:28.36\00:39:31.30 and became," listen carefully now, 00:39:31.33\00:39:33.94 "and the work of Bellarmine 00:39:33.97\00:39:35.84 became the arsenal for all future defenders 00:39:35.87\00:39:41.48 and expositors." 00:39:41.51\00:39:44.11 So who was the source of futurism? 00:39:44.15\00:39:48.28 It was Ribera and Bellarmine, of course, 00:39:48.32\00:39:52.49 he continued Ribera's views, and he proliferated them 00:39:52.52\00:39:55.92 as it says here, 00:39:55.96\00:39:57.36 it became the arsenal for all future defenders 00:39:57.39\00:40:00.73 and expositors 00:40:00.76\00:40:02.10 because Bellarmine wrote prolifically 00:40:02.13\00:40:04.93 defending the views of Ribera. 00:40:04.97\00:40:08.87 He ends the quotation by saying, 00:40:08.90\00:40:11.17 "It called forth a host of counter writings 00:40:11.21\00:40:15.81 from Protestant leaders, who considered him 00:40:15.84\00:40:19.21 their greatest adversary." 00:40:19.25\00:40:21.05 So the Protestants wrote document after document 00:40:21.08\00:40:24.29 against Robert Bellarmine's views, 00:40:24.32\00:40:26.49 which shows that Bellarmine was of great influence 00:40:26.52\00:40:30.73 in the Counter Reformation 00:40:30.76\00:40:32.96 in spreading the views of Ribera. 00:40:32.99\00:40:37.57 Now basically, Bellarmine repeated the views 00:40:37.60\00:40:42.50 of Ribera, 00:40:42.54\00:40:44.64 but he fine tuned several other details 00:40:44.67\00:40:48.94 with an evangelistic zeal worthy of admiration. 00:40:48.98\00:40:53.98 He used certain arguments against the Protestants, 00:40:54.02\00:40:56.79 and I'm going to share those arguments with you. 00:40:56.82\00:40:59.75 The first argument was against Luther. 00:40:59.79\00:41:03.89 He says Luther claims 00:41:03.93\00:41:06.49 that the papacy is the Antichrist. 00:41:06.53\00:41:09.30 And yet, Luther doesn't even believe 00:41:09.33\00:41:13.23 that the Book of Revelation belongs in the biblical canon. 00:41:13.27\00:41:17.97 So if one authority can lose their talk 00:41:18.01\00:41:20.04 about the Antichrist 00:41:20.08\00:41:21.71 when he doesn't even believe that the Book of Revelation 00:41:21.74\00:41:24.05 should be in the Bible. 00:41:24.08\00:41:25.65 And by the way, that's true. 00:41:25.68\00:41:27.75 Martin Luther did not like the Book of Revelation. 00:41:27.78\00:41:31.15 He said, "All I find in Revelation are beasts 00:41:31.19\00:41:33.59 and mysterious numbers and symbols." 00:41:33.62\00:41:36.59 He says, "I can't find Christ in the Book of Revelation." 00:41:36.62\00:41:40.56 He also did not like the Book of James, 00:41:40.60\00:41:42.93 he call it the epistle of straw. 00:41:42.96\00:41:45.13 And so basically, 00:41:45.17\00:41:47.17 Bellarmine turns the thing against Luther. 00:41:47.20\00:41:49.27 He says, "You know, I'm writing about the Book of Revelation. 00:41:49.30\00:41:53.17 Luther doesn't even believe that the Book of Revelation 00:41:53.21\00:41:55.84 belongs in the Bible." 00:41:55.88\00:41:58.31 He also showed that the reformers 00:41:58.35\00:42:00.98 did not always agree with one another. 00:42:01.02\00:42:04.29 For example, about the period in which the Antichrist rose, 00:42:04.32\00:42:09.72 some Protestant Reformers said that the Antichrist 00:42:09.76\00:42:13.19 or the little horn rose in the year 400 AD, 00:42:13.23\00:42:17.03 that's with the fall of Rome. 00:42:17.07\00:42:19.17 Others thought that it was in the year 600 AD 00:42:19.20\00:42:22.30 when Pope Gregory rose to the papal throne. 00:42:22.34\00:42:25.81 Other reformers believed that the Antichrist arose 00:42:25.84\00:42:29.71 in the year 200, 773, 00:42:29.74\00:42:32.65 the year 1000 or the year 1200. 00:42:32.68\00:42:36.18 So basically, the Protestant Reformers, 00:42:36.22\00:42:38.29 they did not have a standard date 00:42:38.32\00:42:40.39 for the beginning of the Antichrist, 00:42:40.42\00:42:42.52 the rule of the Antichrist. 00:42:42.56\00:42:44.36 And so Bellarmine said, 00:42:44.39\00:42:45.79 "The Protestants can't even agree 00:42:45.83\00:42:47.53 as to when the Antichrist began. 00:42:47.56\00:42:50.07 So how can we trust what they teach?" 00:42:50.10\00:42:53.64 Once again, we need to understand 00:42:53.67\00:42:55.10 something very important. 00:42:55.14\00:42:57.31 And that is that the Protestant Reformers 00:42:57.34\00:43:00.18 did not have all of the information 00:43:00.21\00:43:03.04 that we have. 00:43:03.08\00:43:04.91 The Protestant Reformers did not know about 1798. 00:43:04.95\00:43:09.75 You see, we have two ways of studying the 1260 years. 00:43:09.78\00:43:14.52 We can begin in the year 538 and then move forward, 00:43:14.56\00:43:20.10 or we can go to 1798 and we can move backwards. 00:43:20.13\00:43:25.07 You see the Protestant Reformers, 00:43:25.10\00:43:26.43 they had to determine what the beginning was, 00:43:26.47\00:43:29.10 but they didn't know what the end was, 00:43:29.14\00:43:31.11 because the end was gonna come in 1798. 00:43:31.14\00:43:34.54 We live after the papacy was wounded in 1798. 00:43:34.58\00:43:40.32 So we have a firm period 00:43:40.35\00:43:42.85 where the Roman Catholic papacy ruled, 00:43:42.88\00:43:45.25 538 to 1798. 00:43:45.29\00:43:48.32 So he shouldn't have been too hard 00:43:48.36\00:43:49.69 on the Protestant Reformers 00:43:49.72\00:43:51.39 because the reformers did not know the ending date. 00:43:51.43\00:43:53.90 I'm sure that if they had live 00:43:53.93\00:43:56.33 at the period of the ending date, 00:43:56.36\00:43:58.23 they would have said 538 to 1798 00:43:58.27\00:44:01.77 because in 1798, 00:44:01.80\00:44:03.37 the papacy received its deadly wound, 00:44:03.41\00:44:05.74 the pope was taken prisoner. 00:44:05.77\00:44:07.44 France as a nation turned against the papacy. 00:44:07.48\00:44:10.41 And shortly thereafter, all of the nations in Europe 00:44:10.45\00:44:13.72 followed the example of a papacy 00:44:13.75\00:44:15.78 in forsaking the papacy. 00:44:15.82\00:44:18.29 And so, Bellarmine, you know, the Protestant Reformers 00:44:18.32\00:44:21.79 obviously did not have 00:44:21.82\00:44:23.16 a very good response at that point. 00:44:23.19\00:44:25.23 But they would have had a good response 00:44:25.26\00:44:27.10 if they had lived today. 00:44:27.13\00:44:30.10 He also said to the Protestants, 00:44:30.13\00:44:34.64 "Hey, you know, 00:44:34.67\00:44:36.30 you interpret symbols differently. 00:44:36.34\00:44:39.37 Everybody has a different interpretation of symbols. 00:44:39.41\00:44:42.64 So how can we trust your interpretation of symbols, 00:44:42.68\00:44:46.61 when each reformer has a different way 00:44:46.65\00:44:48.88 of interpreting certain symbols?" 00:44:48.92\00:44:50.89 So basically, what Bellarmine was doing 00:44:50.92\00:44:53.62 was he was using arguments to try and cloud the issue 00:44:53.66\00:44:58.43 so that people would distrust 00:44:58.46\00:45:00.20 what the Protestant Reformers were saying. 00:45:00.23\00:45:03.50 Now, Bellarmine also used a very interesting argument 00:45:03.53\00:45:07.54 that Protestants would later pick up, 00:45:07.57\00:45:10.14 conservative Protestants. 00:45:10.17\00:45:11.84 That would be Pentecostals, 00:45:11.87\00:45:13.64 Charismatics, Evangelicals, etc. 00:45:13.68\00:45:16.95 Basically, it's the idea that the Roman Empire 00:45:16.98\00:45:22.15 was never divided into 10 kingdoms. 00:45:22.18\00:45:26.52 Bellarmine taught that, 00:45:26.55\00:45:28.02 Ribera didn't teach that specific point, 00:45:28.06\00:45:30.66 but Bellarmine said, 00:45:30.69\00:45:32.23 "When you look at the history of the Roman Empire, 00:45:32.26\00:45:35.06 it was never divided into 10 kingdoms 00:45:35.10\00:45:37.83 like the prophecy of Daniel 7 says." 00:45:37.87\00:45:40.97 Now in our study tomorrow, our next study, 00:45:41.00\00:45:44.67 I am going to show you 00:45:44.71\00:45:46.57 from the writings of a futurist, 00:45:46.61\00:45:48.88 he passed away a few years ago. 00:45:48.91\00:45:50.71 His name is Dave Hunt. 00:45:50.75\00:45:53.15 He wrote a Book called "The Woman Rides the Beast," 00:45:53.18\00:45:56.42 and also another one that is called "Global Peace." 00:45:56.45\00:46:00.06 And in his exposition of Daniel Chapter 7, 00:46:00.09\00:46:04.06 he says that there's a gap between the fourth kingdom, 00:46:04.09\00:46:08.63 the Roman Empire, and the 10 nation federation 00:46:08.66\00:46:12.83 that will rise in the future, 00:46:12.87\00:46:15.87 that the 10 horns did not come out 00:46:15.90\00:46:17.51 of the head of the fourth beast, 00:46:17.54\00:46:19.27 immediately when the empire fell, 00:46:19.31\00:46:21.74 but there was a gap of over 2000 years 00:46:21.78\00:46:24.78 between the fourth kingdom and the rise of the 10 horns. 00:46:24.81\00:46:28.98 Where did Dave Hunt get that from? 00:46:29.02\00:46:32.32 From the Roman Catholic papacy's Counter Reformation. 00:46:32.35\00:46:35.79 The argument was used first by Bellarmine 00:46:35.82\00:46:39.49 where he says that the Roman Empire 00:46:39.53\00:46:41.53 was never divided, 00:46:41.56\00:46:42.90 according to the specification of Daniel Chapter 7. 00:46:42.93\00:46:46.94 Now, Bellarmine believed 00:46:46.97\00:46:50.04 that the Antichrist would be a nasty individual. 00:46:50.07\00:46:55.04 He believe that the time of rulership of this Antichrist 00:46:55.08\00:47:01.52 was a literal three and a half years. 00:47:01.55\00:47:04.65 And he believed that the Jerusalem temple 00:47:04.69\00:47:08.26 or the temple where the Antichrist would sit 00:47:08.29\00:47:10.96 was the literal Jerusalem temple. 00:47:10.99\00:47:13.90 Let me just read you three statements 00:47:13.93\00:47:15.83 from Bellarmine himself. 00:47:15.86\00:47:17.97 First of all, about the facts according to him, 00:47:18.00\00:47:22.14 that the Antichrist will be an individual 00:47:22.17\00:47:25.94 that will rise in the future. 00:47:25.97\00:47:27.41 It's not a system, it's an individual. 00:47:27.44\00:47:29.94 He wrote in his famous document 00:47:29.98\00:47:33.72 which took years to put together. 00:47:33.75\00:47:36.52 I quote, "For all Catholics think, thus, 00:47:36.55\00:47:41.82 that the Antichrist will be one certain man 00:47:41.86\00:47:47.63 but all heretics teach," now he's gonna contrast, 00:47:47.66\00:47:51.33 "all heretics teach that Antichrist 00:47:51.37\00:47:55.00 is expressly declared to be not a single person 00:47:55.04\00:47:59.91 but an individual throne or absolute kingdom, 00:47:59.94\00:48:03.95 an apostate seat of those who ruled over the church." 00:48:03.98\00:48:09.25 Are you catching what he's saying? 00:48:09.28\00:48:11.25 In other words, Protestants believed 00:48:11.29\00:48:12.62 that the Antichrist is a system 00:48:12.65\00:48:16.86 where as he says, as Catholics, we believe 00:48:16.89\00:48:19.36 that the Antichrist is an individual 00:48:19.39\00:48:21.83 to rise in the future, 00:48:21.86\00:48:23.20 whereas Protestants think 00:48:23.23\00:48:24.57 that it's our system that exists now. 00:48:24.60\00:48:27.80 What did Bellarmine have to say 00:48:27.84\00:48:29.24 about the three and a half years 00:48:29.27\00:48:31.34 that the little horn would rule? 00:48:31.37\00:48:33.58 I read once again from Bellarmine. 00:48:33.61\00:48:36.11 "Antichrist will not reign 00:48:36.14\00:48:39.85 except for three years and a half. 00:48:39.88\00:48:44.05 But the pope has now reigned spiritually 00:48:44.09\00:48:47.62 in the church more than 1500 years, 00:48:47.66\00:48:51.66 nor can anyone be pointed out 00:48:51.69\00:48:54.20 who has been accepted for antichrist, 00:48:54.23\00:48:56.97 who has ruled exactly three in one half years, 00:48:57.00\00:49:00.37 therefore, the pope is not Antichrist. 00:49:00.40\00:49:03.81 Then Antichrist has not yet come." 00:49:03.84\00:49:08.14 Are you understanding his argument? 00:49:08.18\00:49:10.48 What he's saying is that Antichrist was going to reign 00:49:10.51\00:49:14.32 three and a half years. 00:49:14.35\00:49:16.22 And there's no pope, that you could show ruled 00:49:16.25\00:49:20.36 for three and a half literal years, 00:49:20.39\00:49:23.56 because if it's the papacy, 00:49:23.59\00:49:25.46 he says the papacy has ruled 00:49:25.49\00:49:26.93 for over 1500 years in his time, 00:49:26.96\00:49:29.53 not three and a half literal years. 00:49:29.56\00:49:31.27 So it can't refer to the papacy. 00:49:31.30\00:49:34.34 And then what did he have to say 00:49:34.37\00:49:36.20 about the temple, 00:49:36.24\00:49:38.14 Antichrist sitting in the temple? 00:49:38.17\00:49:40.24 Once again, I read from Bellarmine's writings, 00:49:40.28\00:49:43.78 "The pope is not antichrist 00:49:43.81\00:49:48.42 since indeed his throne is not in Jerusalem, 00:49:48.45\00:49:53.29 nor in the Temple of Solomon, 00:49:53.32\00:49:55.89 surely it is credible that from the year 600, 00:49:55.92\00:49:59.89 no Roman pontiff has ever been in Jerusalem." 00:49:59.93\00:50:05.47 Are you understanding his argument? 00:50:05.50\00:50:08.20 He is literalizing what the Apostle Paul says 00:50:08.24\00:50:11.31 in 2 Thessalonians 2 00:50:11.34\00:50:13.04 where it says the Antichrist will sit 00:50:13.07\00:50:15.91 in the temple of God showing himself to be God. 00:50:15.94\00:50:18.61 And he says, "Well, 00:50:18.65\00:50:19.98 the temple is the Jewish temple." 00:50:20.02\00:50:22.68 But he says, "No pope is now sitting 00:50:22.72\00:50:24.65 in the Jewish temple." 00:50:24.69\00:50:26.22 So the pope cannot be the fulfillment 00:50:26.25\00:50:28.66 of the Antichrist prophecy. 00:50:28.69\00:50:32.36 What he doesn't say is that when the Apostle Paul 00:50:32.39\00:50:36.53 uses the word temple Naos, in his writings, 00:50:36.56\00:50:41.54 he always applies it to a spiritual temple 00:50:41.57\00:50:45.51 that is as a symbol of the Christian church. 00:50:45.54\00:50:48.98 An example of that is found in Ephesians Chapter 2, 00:50:49.01\00:50:52.48 where it says that the church 00:50:52.51\00:50:55.72 is built upon the foundation 00:50:55.75\00:50:59.89 of the apostles and the prophets. 00:50:59.92\00:51:02.59 Those are the foundations. 00:51:02.62\00:51:04.66 Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. 00:51:04.69\00:51:08.80 And the believers are the stones 00:51:08.83\00:51:11.00 that are built up on the cornerstone 00:51:11.03\00:51:14.77 and the foundation stones. 00:51:14.80\00:51:17.41 And then the Apostle Paul says 00:51:17.44\00:51:20.34 that it grows to be a temple in the Lord. 00:51:20.38\00:51:24.48 And it is filled with the Holy Spirit, 00:51:24.51\00:51:27.85 which is the Shekinah. 00:51:27.88\00:51:31.15 So in other words, the Apostle Paul, 00:51:31.19\00:51:32.85 whenever he uses the word temple, 00:51:32.89\00:51:34.72 he uses it in a figurative sense. 00:51:34.76\00:51:37.86 By the way, 00:51:37.89\00:51:40.46 even if a Jewish temple was rebuilt, 00:51:40.50\00:51:43.40 it would not be the temple of God. 00:51:43.43\00:51:46.57 Because Jesus, you remember, He went into the temple 00:51:46.60\00:51:50.24 at the end of the triumphal entry 00:51:50.27\00:51:52.54 and it says there in Matthew Chapter 21 00:51:52.57\00:51:57.45 that He entered the temple of God. 00:51:57.48\00:52:01.55 And the money changers went there 00:52:01.58\00:52:03.45 and Jesus cast out the money changers. 00:52:03.49\00:52:06.32 And Jesus says, "You have defiled My house." 00:52:06.35\00:52:10.73 So when He goes into the temple, 00:52:10.76\00:52:12.79 it's called the temple of God. 00:52:12.83\00:52:14.50 And He says, "This is My house." 00:52:14.53\00:52:17.37 But then in the next chapters, 00:52:17.40\00:52:19.23 the rest of Chapter 21, 22, and 23, 00:52:19.27\00:52:22.67 Jesus carries on a dialogue with the Jewish leaders. 00:52:22.70\00:52:26.51 He tells several parables 00:52:26.54\00:52:28.51 and one Jewish sect after another 00:52:28.54\00:52:30.85 rejects the teachings of Jesus Christ in the temple, 00:52:30.88\00:52:34.05 because He's teaching in the temple 00:52:34.08\00:52:35.88 in Matthew 21, 22, and 23. 00:52:35.92\00:52:38.22 And He ends in Chapter 23 with the woes upon the scribes 00:52:38.25\00:52:41.42 and of Pharisees. 00:52:41.46\00:52:43.12 And then Jesus leaves the temple. 00:52:43.16\00:52:45.23 We're going to study this a little bit more 00:52:45.26\00:52:46.80 a little bit later on 00:52:46.83\00:52:48.16 when we talk about who is Israel, 00:52:48.20\00:52:49.96 because we're gonna deal with all of the issues 00:52:50.00\00:52:52.07 that are presented by futurists. 00:52:52.10\00:52:54.24 And so Jesus when He finishes 00:52:54.27\00:52:56.60 His encounters with the Jewish leaders, 00:52:56.64\00:52:58.67 and they totally reject Him, 00:52:58.71\00:53:01.24 we're told in Matthew 23:38, for the last time, 00:53:01.28\00:53:06.01 Jesus leaves the temple, and He says, 00:53:06.05\00:53:09.18 "Your house is left unto you desolate." 00:53:09.22\00:53:13.96 It was no longer the Lord's house. 00:53:13.99\00:53:16.22 And then immediately afterwards, 00:53:16.26\00:53:18.99 in Matthew 24:1-3, 00:53:19.03\00:53:21.23 Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem. 00:53:21.26\00:53:25.87 Are you with me? 00:53:25.90\00:53:27.87 So the Jewish temple, even if it's rebuild, 00:53:27.90\00:53:29.90 it's not the temple of God. 00:53:29.94\00:53:33.51 The temple of God is the church, 00:53:33.54\00:53:36.11 which means that the Antichrist was going to rise where? 00:53:36.14\00:53:39.65 He was going to rise and sit 00:53:39.68\00:53:42.78 in the spiritual temple, the church. 00:53:42.82\00:53:45.22 In other words, we're supposed to look for the Antichrist 00:53:45.25\00:53:48.12 sitting somewhere in the Christian church, 00:53:48.16\00:53:51.23 more specifically in Rome, 00:53:51.26\00:53:54.00 because the Bible tells us that the little horn 00:53:54.03\00:53:56.87 rises in the midst of the 10 horns 00:53:56.90\00:54:00.14 from the head of the dragon beast, 00:54:00.17\00:54:02.07 which represents Rome. 00:54:02.10\00:54:05.57 Now for 200 years 00:54:05.61\00:54:08.28 after the Protestant Reformation, 00:54:08.31\00:54:10.58 the Protestants withstood 00:54:10.61\00:54:13.45 the Roman Catholic papacy's onslaught. 00:54:13.48\00:54:16.58 They remained faithful to their principles. 00:54:16.62\00:54:21.06 But then, in the early 1800s 00:54:21.09\00:54:26.63 in Britain, 00:54:26.66\00:54:29.16 Protestants began to forsake historicism 00:54:29.20\00:54:33.74 as the governing principle 00:54:33.77\00:54:35.47 for the interpretation of Bible prophecy. 00:54:35.50\00:54:39.57 It's a sad story. 00:54:39.61\00:54:41.88 We will take quite an extensive period 00:54:41.91\00:54:43.91 in our next presentation 00:54:43.95\00:54:45.41 to study how preterism and primarily futurism 00:54:45.45\00:54:51.65 entered Protestantism 00:54:51.69\00:54:53.96 through the door of the Anglican Church, 00:54:53.99\00:54:56.36 through the door of the Church of England in the early 1830's. 00:54:56.39\00:55:01.10 And then we're gonna see that it was transplanted 00:55:01.13\00:55:04.43 to the United States by John Nelson Darby 00:55:04.47\00:55:08.30 and C.I. Scofield, the famous preparer 00:55:08.34\00:55:12.11 of the Scofield Reference Bible. 00:55:12.14\00:55:14.64 And since then, Protestantism has eaten up, 00:55:14.68\00:55:20.52 has imbibed the Roman Catholic system 00:55:20.55\00:55:24.72 of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:55:24.75\00:55:27.19 As I mentioned last night, 00:55:27.22\00:55:28.99 they have swallowed 00:55:29.02\00:55:30.49 the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation views, 00:55:30.53\00:55:33.46 hook, line, sinker, 00:55:33.50\00:55:35.96 fisherman, boat, and everything else. 00:55:36.00\00:55:40.34 They bought it all. 00:55:40.37\00:55:42.44 These days, the mainline Protestant churches 00:55:42.47\00:55:46.37 teach preterism. 00:55:46.41\00:55:49.78 The little horn is Antiochus. 00:55:49.81\00:55:53.62 The beast is Nero. 00:55:53.65\00:55:57.79 When it comes 00:55:57.82\00:55:59.15 to the conservative Protestants, 00:55:59.19\00:56:00.86 which are the Evangelicals, the Pentecostals, 00:56:00.89\00:56:04.23 and the Charismatics. 00:56:04.26\00:56:06.09 They say, "No, the Antichrist is a future Antichrist." 00:56:06.13\00:56:11.97 They will arise and sit in the Jewish temple, 00:56:12.00\00:56:14.60 he'll build a great big statue of himself, 00:56:14.64\00:56:17.47 which is the image of the beast. 00:56:17.51\00:56:19.01 He will command all the Jews 00:56:19.04\00:56:20.48 to worship the image that he raised up, 00:56:20.51\00:56:22.71 and he will place this tattoo on the forehead 00:56:22.74\00:56:25.78 or on the right hand, 00:56:25.81\00:56:27.18 and everybody will have to fall down and worship, 00:56:27.22\00:56:29.52 literalizing everything, 00:56:29.55\00:56:31.65 and projecting it to the future. 00:56:31.69\00:56:35.59 In other words, Protestantism has apostatized 00:56:35.62\00:56:41.03 from the correct way of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:56:41.06\00:56:45.03 No wonder Protestantism is so weak today. 00:56:45.07\00:56:49.30 No wonder, folks, that even within 00:56:49.34\00:56:51.87 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:56:51.91\00:56:54.11 we become very weak 00:56:54.14\00:56:55.78 in the teaching of Bible prophecy. 00:56:55.81\00:56:58.75 We don't say much about Bible prophecy anymore. 00:56:58.78\00:57:02.08 We hardly ever refer to the writings of Ellen White 00:57:02.12\00:57:05.49 in the interpretation of prophecy, 00:57:05.52\00:57:07.49 because we have also been influenced 00:57:07.52\00:57:11.03 by these views of the Roman Catholic 00:57:11.06\00:57:13.43 Counter Reformation. 00:57:13.46\00:57:15.20 And so, in our next study, we will talk about 00:57:15.23\00:57:19.77 the Great Apostasy of Protestantism 00:57:19.80\00:57:24.34 from the correct view of interpreting Bible prophecy. 00:57:24.37\00:57:29.31 I hope you're planning on being here 00:57:29.34\00:57:31.18 for the next presentation, because it's a sad story. 00:57:31.21\00:57:35.02 But it helps us explain the reason why Protestantism 00:57:35.05\00:57:39.32 no longer has any power 00:57:39.35\00:57:41.86 to bring about a change in people's lives, 00:57:41.89\00:57:44.63 and why there is so lack of power 00:57:44.66\00:57:47.80 also in our very own Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:57:47.83\00:57:52.40 So I hope that we're all planning on being here 00:57:52.43\00:57:54.94 for our next presentation, 00:57:54.97\00:57:56.84 where we will deal with this very important topic. 00:57:56.87\00:57:59.67