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Series Code: TPP
Program Code: TPP000004A
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00:10 Well, welcome again.
00:12 This is our second presentation this evening 00:16 and the title of our study 00:18 is "Protestantism's Prophetic Apostasy," 00:22 and this will be part one. 00:25 In our next presentation we will do part two. 00:29 Before we begin though, 00:30 we do want to have a word of prayer 00:32 to ask the Lord to bless our study together 00:34 and help us see its importance. 00:37 So I invite you to reverently bow your head as we pray. 00:41 Father in heaven, what a joy it is to be here. 00:44 How wonderful it is to have Your Word, 00:47 a sure guide, 00:50 an anchor that holds 00:53 in this world that is so confused. 00:56 Father, we hid the message under a bushel. 01:00 We've hid the light under a bushel. 01:02 I ask Lord that You will help us 01:03 to announce it from the rooftops 01:06 that people might know 01:07 what the final events will be like. 01:09 They will make a total and complete commitment 01:11 to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 01:14 We ask that You will bless our study, 01:16 You will be with us, open our minds and hearts 01:19 and give us Your power to proclaim 01:21 that which we learn. 01:23 We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, 01:25 amen. 01:28 Before we actually begin our study, 01:30 I would like to mention a book 01:31 that I wrote just a brief few years ago. 01:35 It's called Futurism's Incredible Journey. 01:40 And you know, some people have asked 01:42 whether Ellen White was aware 01:44 of the dangers of preterism and futurism, 01:48 whether Ellen White knew that there were individuals 01:51 who were trying to project 01:52 the fulfillment of prophecy to the past 01:55 and project the fulfillment of prophecy to the future. 01:58 And Ellen White definitely did know 02:02 about the two different systems. 02:05 In this book, I've included an appendix 02:08 at the end of the book, 02:10 where you have a two part article 02:12 written by Ellen White, 02:15 and this article is actually a testimony to John Bell. 02:19 He was a school teacher. 02:22 And he was delving into futurism. 02:25 He was a Seventh-day Adventist 02:27 but he was taking prophecies 02:28 that had been fulfilled in the past 02:30 that he was projecting them to the future. 02:32 And he was taking prophecies that were still future 02:35 and he was saying that 02:36 they were fulfilled in the past. 02:38 And Ellen White had some really 02:39 interesting things to say about that, 02:42 and about the importance of understanding prophecy 02:45 as a prophetic chain, one link after another 02:48 without any parentheses, without any interruption. 02:52 Also in this book, we have at the end of the book, 02:57 the tremendous implications of abandoning historicism 03:02 and embracing preterism and futurism. 03:06 I'm not gonna cover all of those points here, 03:08 but I specifically show how preterism and futurism 03:13 not only destroy the reformers' view 03:16 of Bible prophecy 03:18 but actually destroys every distinctive truth 03:21 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 03:23 And so this I consider it to be an extremely important book. 03:27 And you might want to obtain a copy 03:29 and read the book to see the extreme importance 03:32 of what we are studying here. 03:35 Now we want to study about Protestantism's 03:39 prophetic apostasy. 03:42 And actually, most of our study is going to deal 03:46 with the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation. 03:49 In other words, 03:50 where the Roman Catholic churches attempt, 03:52 the papacies attempt to overthrow 03:56 the Protestant interpretation of Bible prophecy, 03:59 to overthrow historicism or what I like to call 04:02 the historical flow method. 04:05 Within a relatively short period, 04:08 the Roman Catholic Church, 04:09 as I was mentioning at the end of our last study, 04:12 lost thousands of members to Protestantism. 04:17 In fact, the Roman Catholic Church 04:19 lost entire nations in Europe to the Protestant Reformation. 04:26 And so the Roman Catholic papacy 04:29 reached the conclusion that 04:30 somehow they had to deflect the accusing finger, 04:35 the incriminating finger from the papacy 04:38 as the fulfillment of the Antichrist prophecies 04:42 to other individuals. 04:45 You see, the biblical evidence, as we've noticed, 04:48 was extremely compelling. 04:51 The reformers could see the sequence of Bible prophecy 04:54 and they could see that the actions 04:57 of the Roman Catholic papacy 04:58 was a precise fulfillment of what we find 05:02 in the different passages about the Antichrist. 05:05 And so the Roman Catholic Church 05:07 prepared a strategy to a no historicism 05:13 as the prophetic method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 05:18 After the Protestant Reformation, 05:20 not long, actually, 05:21 after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 05:24 which most scholars believe is what was it 1517 05:29 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses 05:32 to the cathedral door in Wittenberg. 05:34 Not long after that, actually, in the year 1545, 05:38 the Roman Catholic Church actually convened 05:43 in the city of Trento, we know it as Trent 05:47 and they celebrated an ecclesiastical council. 05:50 The purpose of that council was to reaffirm the theology 05:54 of the doctrines, the dogmas, 05:55 the Roman Catholic Church calls them 05:57 dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church 05:59 to counteract the Protestant teachings, 06:03 doctrinal teachings 06:04 that arose during the Reformation. 06:06 And so they had this very important council. 06:11 It's the longest council 06:13 in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. 06:14 It lasted for 18 years from 1545 to 1563. 06:21 And the evolved purpose was to reaffirm 06:24 the dogmas of the church and to pronounce an anathema 06:29 that is a curse upon everybody who did not agree 06:33 with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. 06:36 Now the Council of Trent did not as far as I know, 06:40 I haven't read all of the councilor declarations 06:43 of the Council of Trent. 06:44 But as far as I know, they did not reach 06:47 any firm conclusions 06:49 on the interpretation of Bible prophecy. 06:51 At that point, they had not established preterism 06:54 or futurism as a method of interpreting prophecy 06:57 to counteract Protestant historicism. 07:01 You see, 11 years approximately before this council began, 07:06 in the year 1534, 07:09 an individual whose name you probably will recognize, 07:13 you definitely will recognize 07:15 the society that he established. 07:17 His name was St. Ignatius Loyola. 07:21 In 1534, he founded the Jesuit order. 07:25 It's actually called the Society of Jesus. 07:28 And the purpose of the Society of Jesus 07:32 was clearly to overturn the Reformation. 07:36 The entire purpose was to crush the Protestant Reformation. 07:40 In fact, even to this day, 07:42 if you visit St. Peter's Basilica, 07:45 I was there several years ago. 07:47 Actually, I've only been there once. 07:49 But when you go into the Basilica, 07:51 there's this big area beyond the entrance 07:55 that goes to the very front to the symbolic people throne. 07:59 There is a boy up high, 08:01 and you have a statue of St. Ignatius Loyola, 08:06 and Loyola, it has his foot on the head of a Protestant. 08:11 In fact, what that is saying is that the purpose 08:15 of the Jesuit order was to crush Protestantism. 08:19 And the Jesuit, they were the most 08:21 well-trained of all the Roman Catholic scholars. 08:25 Now, Ellen White had something very interesting to say 08:29 about the Jesuits. 08:31 We find in the book Great Controversy, 08:33 pages 234 and 235, 08:36 Ellen White's description of the purpose 08:39 why the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus was established. 08:46 Here is what she wrote 08:47 and I'm not reading the entire statement. 08:49 I'm reading only the portions 08:51 that deal with what we're talking about. 08:53 Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced 08:59 by formidable foes. 09:02 The first triumphs of the Reformation past, 09:06 Rome summoned new forces 09:10 hoping to accomplish its destruction. 09:14 So why was it rallying its forces? 09:17 To destroy what? Protestantism. 09:21 She continues writing. 09:22 At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, 09:27 the most cruel, unscrupulous, 09:31 and powerful of all the champions of popery. 09:37 Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, 09:40 it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power 09:46 to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, 09:50 and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. 09:54 So what was the purpose of the establishment 09:56 of the Jesuit order or the Society of Jesus? 09:59 Once again, to overthrow Protestantism 10:03 and reestablish the papal supremacy. 10:07 And then she ends the quote by saying, 10:10 "The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, 10:14 and wherever they went, 10:16 there followed a revival of popery." 10:21 Now, popery is an expression that was used in the times 10:24 of Ellen White to describe the papacy. 10:27 So, if you're wondering what the word popery means, 10:30 it basically means the papacy, 10:33 and so we find that the Jesuit order rises. 10:36 And by the way, these days the Jesuit order 10:39 is the most powerful order in the Roman Catholic Church. 10:45 You're all aware of the fact that Benedict XVI 10:48 resigned as pope. 10:52 You know, many people think that the reason why Francis I, 10:55 I mean, why Francis I took the place of Benedict XVI 10:59 before Benedict's death 11:01 was because Benedict was all caught up 11:03 in this child abuse, sexual abuse thing. 11:08 But there's something far deeper. 11:10 And that is that the Jesuit order 11:13 actually manipulated things 11:15 so that a Jesuit would become pope, 11:18 the first Jesuit in history. 11:20 And by the way, I don't have time 11:22 to get into this right now. 11:23 But Secrets Unsealed has published 11:25 a series of articles, 11:27 I write long articles for our newsletter. 11:29 And in two of those articles, 11:31 I show very clearly what this pope's strategy is 11:35 to destroy Protestantism 11:38 and to recover the power 11:40 that the Roman Catholic papacy lost 11:42 when it received the deadly wound. 11:44 It's an interesting story, this pope is a different pope 11:46 than any other one that we've had before. 11:49 His talking points are different. 11:51 You know, Benedict XVI and John Paul II, 11:55 you know, they spoke about against abortion 11:57 and they spoke against gay marriage 11:59 and they spoke against euthanasia, 12:01 you know, all these social issues. 12:03 This pope doesn't deal with those issues. 12:06 This pope deals with issues such as climate change, 12:11 such as immigration, 12:14 such as, you know, helping the poor. 12:18 He says virtually nothing about abortion, 12:20 or euthanasia, or gay marriage. 12:22 And there's a strategy behind that. 12:24 You see, the civil powers of the world 12:27 do not like any talk about abortion, 12:31 and gay marriage, and euthanasia, 12:34 because they're in favor of it. 12:36 And the papacy wants to, they have to win over 12:39 the political powers of the world 12:41 in order to regain the power that they lost, 12:44 because the deadly would 12:45 is the loss of the support of the civil power. 12:48 So this pope is talking about things 12:51 that interest the political leaders of the world 12:54 so that he can win them over 12:56 and he can once again use their sword 13:00 to recover the power that he lost. 13:03 Now, this is kind of a side light 13:05 of what we're studying 13:06 but the fact is that, you know, the Roman Catholic papacy 13:10 has allowed the facts to guard the in-house, 13:16 and that is a very dangerous thing, 13:18 as you can surmise. 13:20 Now, the Jesuit order actually spawned 13:25 two very notable scholars that would write documents 13:32 or books to attempt to overturn 13:35 the prophetic method of the Protestant Reformers. 13:39 The first of these, his name was Luis Del Alcázar, 13:44 or as the Spaniards would probably properly pronounce it, 13:48 Luis Del Alcázar. 13:51 That's the way the C and the Z is pronounced 13:55 in the Spanish from Spain. 13:57 But anyway, this individual had great theological cunning. 14:02 It was his intention to overthrow 14:05 the Protestant method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 14:09 He wrote a 900 page Bible commentary 14:13 on the Book of Revelation. 14:14 The name of that commentary was "An investigation 14:18 of the hidden sense of the apocalypse." 14:22 In this volume, Alcázar affirmed 14:26 that the Antichrist prophecies of Daniel 14:29 and Revelation 14:31 found their fulfillment long before his time. 14:36 This system of interpretation is known as preterism, 14:40 the idea that the Antichrist prophecies 14:43 were fulfilled in the past. 14:46 Alcázar believed 14:48 that the little horn of Daniel 7 14:52 represented a nasty individual 14:55 that arose in the Maccabean period. 14:59 His name was Antiochus Epiphanes. 15:02 In fact, he ruled from 171 BC to 164 BC. 15:07 You know, he sacrificed a pig in the Jewish temple, 15:11 he persecuted the Jews, 15:13 he suspended the sacrificial system 15:16 and so they say the little horn of Daniel 7 15:21 that did all these things was Antiochus Epiphanes. 15:25 Now when it comes to the Book of Revelation, 15:27 this is different because 15:29 Antiochus Epiphanes had passed away 15:32 and so now, Alcázar had to find a way 15:35 to interpret the prophecies of Revelation. 15:38 And basically what he said is that the Book of Revelation, 15:41 everything in the Book of Revelation 15:43 was fulfilled by the 6th century AD. 15:48 In fact, he believed that the Antichrist 15:52 of Revelation Chapter 13, the beast of Revelation 13 15:56 was probably Nero, 15:58 because there was this tradition 16:00 supposedly in Rome, 16:02 that Nero was going to resurrect 16:06 or come back from the dead 16:08 and he was gonna do what the Bible says 16:11 about the little horn 16:13 after it recovered from its deadly wound. 16:16 And so he established this counterfeit system 16:19 of interpreting prophecy. 16:21 Of course, if the little horn and the beast were fulfilled 16:26 way back in the Old Testament period, 16:29 and early in the Christian period, 16:33 these prophecies were not fulfilled 16:34 with the papacy. 16:36 Are you understanding what he's trying to do? 16:39 He's saying, "No, the little horn? 16:41 No, that's not us. That was Antiochus Epiphanes. 16:45 Oh, no, beast, no that has nothing to do 16:47 with the Roman Catholic papacy, the beast, that was Nero." 16:51 You know, when he passed away that prophecy was fulfilled. 16:55 And so by projecting the Antichrist prophecies 16:59 to the past, 17:00 both to the Old Testament intertestamental period, 17:03 and the early period of the Christian church, 17:07 as well as the times of the fall 17:10 of the Roman Empire. 17:12 He deflected the finger from the papacy 17:15 to these individuals in the past. 17:20 Now, it's interesting that today, 17:24 the choice method of the Roman Catholic Church 17:27 of interpreting prophecy is preterism. 17:31 I don't know of very many Roman Catholics 17:34 that are futurists, 17:35 we're gonna come back to talk about futurism 17:37 in a few moments. 17:39 Roman Catholics if you read their commentaries, 17:41 and I'm gonna give you some examples, 17:43 these days are preterists. 17:46 Not only are Roman Catholics preterists, 17:49 but we're gonna notice in our next presentation, 17:52 that the great Protestant mainline churches 17:57 like for example, the Lutherans, 17:59 the Methodists, the Presbyterians, 18:03 those churches have also imbibed 18:06 the preterist method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 18:09 And I'm going to show you from several commentaries 18:11 in our next presentation how Protestantism, 18:15 the mainline churches of Protestantism 18:18 have imbibed preterism as their choice method 18:23 of interpreting Bible prophecy. 18:25 Let me just give you a few examples here. 18:29 The New American Bible, 18:31 which is a Roman Catholic Bible, 18:34 has a very interesting translation 18:37 of Daniel 7:25. 18:41 Daniel 7:25 is translated in this Roman Catholic Bible 18:44 and by the way, folks, 18:46 many of the modern Protestant Bibles 18:49 translated in the same way. 18:52 This is the translation. 18:54 "He shall speak against the Most High 18:57 and oppress the holy ones of the Most High, 19:01 thinking to change the feast days and the law." 19:07 Interesting. 19:09 And Protestant versions translate in the same way. 19:13 Not all of them, but many of them do. 19:16 I'm gonna give you several examples. 19:19 Now concerning the times and the laws, 19:22 that the little horn attempted to change, 19:25 this is the interpretation that the Jerusalem Bible gives. 19:28 The Jerusalem Bible is a Roman Catholic Bible. 19:30 Now notice how this Roman Catholic Bible 19:32 in a footnote explains the times 19:36 in which, the times which 19:39 the little horn attempted to change, 19:41 I read, "The Hellenizing policy 19:46 of Antiochus Epiphanes 19:49 included a ban 19:51 on the observance of the Sabbath 19:53 and the feast days." 19:56 So in other words, he's saying, "You know, this idea of, 20:00 you know, changing the times. 20:02 Well, that has to do with the feasts." 20:04 And by the way, the word shaman, 20:06 the word time is used to refer to the feasts. 20:11 But to translate the word time with feasts 20:14 is an interpretation. 20:16 It is not a translation. 20:18 Now, there's more. 20:21 How does that preterist's view 20:23 explain the four beasts of Daniel 7? 20:26 This is very interesting. 20:30 In a footnote of the Jerusalem Bible, 20:33 we are told that the first beast of Daniel 7 20:36 represents Babylon, so far so good. 20:41 The second beast, the bear represents the Medes. 20:48 The leopard represents the Persians. 20:52 And the dragon, listen carefully, 20:55 represents the empire of Alexander the Great, 21:00 and the 10 horns are the 10 kingdoms 21:02 of a Seleucid dynasty. 21:07 Interesting. 21:09 So the dragon beast according to preterism 21:12 is Greece 21:15 and the 10 horns are the 10 Seleucid kingdoms of Greece. 21:20 And then it says, "That the little horn, 21:23 there rises among the 10 and above the 10 21:26 is Antiochus Epiphanes." 21:29 That is the preterist's interpretation. 21:31 What does that do? 21:33 It totally eliminates the Roman Empire 21:36 from Bible prophecy. 21:38 It eliminates the 10 horns 21:40 being the divisions of Western Europe. 21:42 And it eliminates also the idea that the little horn 21:46 that rises among the 10 21:48 represents the Roman Catholic papacy. 21:52 How in the world can the preterist's 21:56 Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible 21:58 say that the first kingdom is Babylon, 22:00 the second kingdom is the Persians, and the third, 22:04 the Medes and the third kingdom are the Persians, 22:08 and the fourth kingdom is Greece. 22:10 It doesn't fit with history, 22:12 because Revelation Chapter 12 tells us 22:14 that the dragon beast represents Rome. 22:16 It's the power that tried to kill 22:18 the child that the woman was gonna have. 22:21 And so we know that the dragon beast 22:22 with 10 horns represents Rome. 22:25 But preterism says, "No, it represents Greece 22:27 and the 10 horns are 10 divisions, 22:29 the 10 kingdoms of the Greek dynasty, 22:33 and the little horn represents Antiochus Epiphanes." 22:36 Now, how does preterism 22:39 interpret the three and a half times, 22:40 the time times and dividing of time? 22:44 Once again, I'm reading from the Jerusalem Bible, 22:48 three and a half years, the approximate duration 22:53 of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes 22:56 but the fact is, 22:58 and I learned this from Dr. Waterhouse and his classes, 23:02 the fact is that Antiochus Epiphanes 23:04 only was there for three years, not three and a half years. 23:09 So you notice the statement says 23:11 three and a half years the approximate duration, 23:13 God doesn't deal in approximations. 23:17 When He gives time prophecies, He's precise and exact. 23:22 But it says three and a half years 23:23 the approximate duration 23:25 of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, 23:29 but this period of time, also expressed as 42 months, 23:35 stands for a temporary time of persecution, 23:38 with a limit set by God's providence. 23:41 It waters away the idea 23:43 that the three and a half times are precise. 23:46 They begin at a certain date, and they end at a certain date. 23:51 Now, the Roman Catholic Church has a commentary, 23:54 a renowned commentary called the Jerome Bible Commentary, 23:58 and I want you to notice how they interpret 24:01 the three horns 24:04 that are uprooted in Daniel 7, 24:09 you remember the little horn uprooted three horns. 24:11 We believe that those are the Heruli, the Vandals, 24:14 and the Ostrogoths, the three kingdoms 24:16 that the papacy used the civil power to uproot 24:19 so it could rise to unopposed power. 24:22 But notice what preterism says in the Jerome Bible Commentary. 24:27 This translation is based on the interpretation 24:33 supposing that three of Antiochus IV Epiphanes' 24:38 predecessors died violent deaths 24:41 so that he could succeed to the throne. 24:43 So the three horns are three opposers 24:46 of Antiochus Epiphanes. 24:48 So what does preterism do? 24:50 It's projecting the fulfillment 24:52 of all these prophecies to where? 24:54 To the past. 24:56 And do you know why they do this? 24:58 Because most of the individuals who embrace preterism, 25:01 they use a method of Bible study, 25:03 which is called the historical critical method. 25:07 They don't believe that God can predict the future. 25:11 They study the Bible like any other document. 25:14 They don't believe that the Bible 25:16 is able to predict long range 25:19 what is gonna happen in the future. 25:20 So it's much easier to simply say that these things 25:24 were fulfilled in the past, and they're passed off 25:27 as if they were history. 25:29 But they're not really history. 25:31 Incidentally, this is the reason why 25:33 liberal scholars say that Daniel was not written 25:36 in the 6th century. 25:37 Daniel was written in the 2nd century BC. 25:41 In that way, they can say, see, 25:44 Daniel was actually written 25:45 after all these things have taken place, 25:48 and the writer wrote it to make people think 25:51 that he was prophesying things 25:53 that were going to happen from the time of Daniel 1. 25:56 That's the liberal method of interpreting Bible prophecy. 26:00 That is the preterist method of interpreting prophecy. 26:03 Now, how does the Jerome Bible Commentary 26:06 explain the beast's deadly wound? 26:09 Once again, I read from the Jerome Bible Commentary, 26:12 Roman Catholic Commentary. 26:14 "This passage may be 26:18 a reference to some definite event, 26:21 such as the murder of Caesar 26:24 and the healing of the Emperor under Augustus, 26:28 the legend of Nero redivivus, 26:31 which means resuscitated, 26:34 or any of several imperial misadventures." 26:39 So in other words, it refers to things that happened 26:42 in ancient Rome. 26:43 It has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic papacy. 26:47 So what does preterism do? Very simple. 26:51 By saying that these prophecies 26:52 were fulfilled in the distant past, 26:56 it deflects the finger from the fulfillment 26:58 of the Roman Catholic papacy. 27:00 Because if the prophecies concerning the little horn 27:03 and the beast 27:04 were fulfilled with Antiochus Epiphanes, 27:07 and with the early Roman emperors, 27:09 then it has nothing to do 27:11 with the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages 27:13 because it happened back then. 27:15 It didn't happen during the period 27:17 of the Christian church. 27:19 So let me ask you, did preterism attempt to change 27:24 God's times? 27:26 Did it tried to change the sequence of events 27:29 in God's calendar? 27:31 Yes, very similar to what Nebuchadnezzar did, 27:34 in principle, at least. 27:37 But there's another school. 27:39 There was another scholar, his name, Francisco Ribera. 27:45 He lived from 1537 to 1591. 27:49 He was a brilliant student. 27:52 He knew Latin, he knew Greek, he knew Hebrew. 27:57 He actually taught at the University of Salamanca 28:01 in Spain. 28:03 And, by the way, I failed to mention 28:06 that Luis del Alcázar was a Jesuit. 28:10 And Francisco Ribera also was a Jesuit. 28:14 In fact, he joined the Jesuit order in 1570, 28:18 when he was only 33 years old. 28:23 Now, what did Ribera teach? 28:27 Basically, Ribera teach 28:29 that the prophecy of the little horn 28:32 had not been fulfilled yet. 28:34 It was going to be fulfilled in the distant future. 28:39 Now, he also taught some very interesting things. 28:44 He actually accused the Protestants 28:46 of being inconsistent in their interpretation 28:49 of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation 28:51 and we'll explain how. 28:53 The early church fathers, 28:58 now when I say early church fathers, 28:59 I'm not talking about the Bible writers. 29:02 I'm talking about individuals like Tertullian and Origen 29:06 and all the early church fathers. 29:10 They taught certain futuristic elements 29:13 in their eschatology. 29:15 They taught, for example, that the Antichrist 29:19 was going to be an individual 29:22 and they taught that individual 29:25 was going to rule in as the Antichrist 29:30 for three and a half literal years. 29:32 So the early church fathers had this idea that 29:36 the Antichrist was gonna be a nasty individual, 29:40 and he was going to rule 29:42 for three and a half literal years. 29:44 We can't deny that they believe that. 29:47 Now, it's interesting to notice 29:50 that even though the early church fathers 29:52 believed this, 29:53 we can understand the reason why, 29:55 there are actually two reasons why they believe this. 29:59 Number one, the early church fathers 30:01 did not expect the world history 30:03 to last another 2000 years. 30:07 You see, they were living in the time 30:08 of the Roman Empire 30:10 and some of them were starting to see 30:12 the Roman Empire disintegrate 30:14 and so as they looked at the living 30:18 in the time of the Roman Empire, 30:20 and some of them in the latter part, 30:22 they see the Roman Empire starting to disintegrate, 30:25 they say "This must mean 30:26 that the Antichrist is imminent. 30:28 He's gonna come right now." 30:31 But, of course, they did not really understand 30:34 that the Antichrist 30:36 was not going to arise until later 30:39 and that he was not going to rule 30:41 for three and a half literal years. 30:43 He was going to rule for 1260 years. 30:46 They didn't understand that the time period 30:48 was not to be taken literally. 30:51 Secondly, the Bible clearly tells us 30:56 that individuals 30:57 do not understand prophecy fully 31:00 until the times when the prophecy 31:03 is fulfilled or is about to be fulfilled. 31:06 Jesus actually said in John 14:29, 31:11 "And now, I have told you before it come to pass, 31:16 that when it is come to pass, ye might believe." 31:21 So Jesus says, "I told you what's gonna happen 31:24 before it happens, 31:25 so that when it does happen, you might believe." 31:28 Now what does this have to do 31:30 with the view that the early church had? 31:35 You see, the early church fathers 31:36 lived in the period of the fourth beast of Rome 31:40 when the empire had not yet crumbled 31:43 into 10 kingdoms. 31:45 There was starting to be some fissures, 31:47 but the empire was still united. 31:51 The little horn had not yet risen, 31:54 and therefore the best 31:55 that the early church fathers could do 31:58 was to guess about the identity of the Antichrist. 32:03 So they concluded that he was gonna reign 32:05 for three and a half years 32:06 and he was gonna be an individual 32:07 because they did not live 32:09 in the times of the fulfillment. 32:11 As you reach the times of the fulfillment, 32:13 Bible prophecy becomes much clearer. 32:18 But the Protestant Reformers didn't have to guess. 32:21 You see, the Protestant Reformers 32:23 were not living in the time of the Roman Empire. 32:26 The Protestant Reformers were not even living 32:29 in the time when the 10 kingdoms existed. 32:32 The Protestant Reformers were living in the period 32:35 when the little horn rose to power. 32:37 And so the Protestant Reformers could see 32:40 what the early church fathers could not see. 32:43 The early church fathers, you know, 32:45 they lived in the period of the Roman Empire, 32:47 and they read about a little horn 32:49 rising among 10 horns, 32:51 the 10 horns were not fully there, 32:53 the little horn had not risen, 32:54 so they assume that the little horn 32:56 was an individual 32:57 that would rule for three and a half literal years. 33:00 But once the empire is divided into 10 kingdoms, 33:04 and the little horn rises among them, 33:07 suddenly what was not clear to the early church fathers 33:10 now becomes very clear to the Protestant Reformers. 33:15 Thus the reformers had the benefit 33:18 of historical hindsight, 33:22 they could see back to what was happening, 33:26 what had happened and what was happening 33:28 at their time. 33:30 Now, Francisco Ribera wrote a commentary, 33:34 a 500 page commentary on the Book of Revelation. 33:38 It was actually published in 1590 33:41 posthumously because he had already died. 33:45 Now, Le Roy Froom describes Ribera's method 33:50 of interpreting prophecy. 33:52 I'm gonna read how Froom describes it. 33:56 Ribera's eschatology are ascribed 34:01 to a literal three and a half years 34:04 reign of an infidel Antichrist, 34:07 who would bitterly oppose and blaspheme the saints 34:11 just before the second advent. 34:14 Now, that's important. 34:15 I'm gonna read that again. 34:18 He said the Antichrist was going to reign 34:22 a three and a half literal years. 34:26 And he was gonna be an infidel person 34:29 who would bitterly oppose and blaspheme the saints 34:32 just before the second advent. 34:34 So the Antichrist is an individual 34:37 who's gonna persecute God's people 34:39 for three and a half literal years, 34:41 just before the Second Coming of Jesus. 34:43 Does the little horn have anything to do 34:46 with the past history of the Roman Catholic Church? 34:49 Absolutely not. 34:50 Because he's projecting the fulfillment to the future. 34:54 Froom continues, "He thought that antichrist 34:58 would be a single individual 35:01 who would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, 35:04 abolish the Christian religion, 35:07 deny Christ, be received by the Jews, 35:12 pretend to be God, and conquer the world, 35:16 and all this in a brief three 35:20 and one half literal years." 35:24 So what did Ribera do? 35:26 He said, "No, the little horn prophecy." 35:29 No, no, no, that wasn't fulfilled in the past 35:31 like my colleague Alcázar had to say. 35:35 No, the little horn refers to a future Antichrist, 35:41 that's going to, it's gonna be an individual 35:43 who's going to rule for three and a half literal years 35:45 and he's gonna persecute the literal Jews, 35:47 is gonna rebuild the temple. 35:49 Does that sound familiar? 35:51 Have you heard that on television on Sundays? 35:53 Have you heard conservative Protestant ministers 35:56 speak about the rebuilding of the temple 35:58 and the persecution of the Jews 36:00 for three and a half literal years 36:02 by this nasty individual who is the Antichrist? 36:06 Where did they get it from? 36:08 They got it from Francisco Ribera. 36:11 Where did the mainline Protestant denominations 36:14 get preterism from? 36:16 They got it from the Roman Catholic papacy. 36:19 In other words, Protestants 36:20 have made an image of the beast. 36:23 Not only does prophecy tell us 36:26 that there's gonna be an image of the beast, 36:27 which means that the papacy 36:29 is gonna join church and state. 36:31 The United States is gonna join church and state 36:34 by instigation of the papacy, 36:36 that's gonna be the image of the beast, 36:37 but also the Protestants today are an image of the beast 36:42 in their prophetic interpretation, 36:44 because Protestants are either preterists, 36:47 the liberal ones, or they are futurists, 36:50 the more conservative Christians 36:52 like Evangelicals, Pentecostals, 36:54 and Charismatics. 36:56 Now Ribera was a brilliant researcher 36:59 and writer, 37:00 but he was not an outstanding lecturer. 37:04 Furthermore, he died at a very early age, 37:06 he died when he was only 54 years old. 37:09 So Ribera's views needed an articulate, shrewd, 37:14 and dynamic champion 37:17 to proclaim his new found views concerning Bible prophecy. 37:23 And, of course, that shrewd 37:24 and articulate champion was found. 37:27 His name was Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. 37:32 And he actually was born in 1542 and he died in 1621. 37:39 So the evangelist for Ribera's views 37:42 was Robert Bellarmine. 37:44 So we need to take a look at who Robert Bellarmine was. 37:49 He was actually an Italian cardinal. 37:53 And one of the most shrewd 37:54 and intelligent Jesuit apologists. 37:58 Isn't that interesting that all these individuals 38:01 were Jesuits. 38:04 You know, Ribera was a Jesuit, 38:06 Alcázar was a Jesuit 38:09 and now Bellarmine is a Jesuit as well. 38:13 This is a Jesuit agenda. 38:15 By the way, this is no Jesuit conspiracy. 38:18 You know, there are some Adventists 38:19 that see a Jesuit behind every stone. 38:22 And they have a lot of conspiracy theories 38:24 about the Jesuits. 38:26 And some of them might be true, but this is not conspiracy. 38:31 This can be proved historically, 38:33 that preterism and futurism comes 38:35 from the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation 38:39 directly from the Jesuit order. 38:42 Now, let me read what Froom had to say 38:45 about Bellarmine. 38:49 "He insisted 38:51 that the prophecies concerning Antichrist 38:54 in Daniel, Paul, and John, 38:57 had no application to the papal power. 39:00 This formed the third part of his Polemic Lecture 39:04 Concerning the Disputed Points of Christian Belief 39:07 against the Heretics of this Time." 39:09 That's the name of the document that Bellarmine wrote, 39:12 "published between 1581 and 1593." 39:16 That's a work that Bellarmine wrote 39:18 to defend the views that Ribera had come up with. 39:22 Now, Froom continues writing, 39:25 "This was the most detailed apology 39:28 of the Catholic faith ever produced 39:31 and became," listen carefully now, 39:33 "and the work of Bellarmine 39:35 became the arsenal for all future defenders 39:41 and expositors." 39:44 So who was the source of futurism? 39:48 It was Ribera and Bellarmine, of course, 39:52 he continued Ribera's views, and he proliferated them 39:55 as it says here, 39:57 it became the arsenal for all future defenders 40:00 and expositors 40:02 because Bellarmine wrote prolifically 40:04 defending the views of Ribera. 40:08 He ends the quotation by saying, 40:11 "It called forth a host of counter writings 40:15 from Protestant leaders, who considered him 40:19 their greatest adversary." 40:21 So the Protestants wrote document after document 40:24 against Robert Bellarmine's views, 40:26 which shows that Bellarmine was of great influence 40:30 in the Counter Reformation 40:32 in spreading the views of Ribera. 40:37 Now basically, Bellarmine repeated the views 40:42 of Ribera, 40:44 but he fine tuned several other details 40:48 with an evangelistic zeal worthy of admiration. 40:54 He used certain arguments against the Protestants, 40:56 and I'm going to share those arguments with you. 40:59 The first argument was against Luther. 41:03 He says Luther claims 41:06 that the papacy is the Antichrist. 41:09 And yet, Luther doesn't even believe 41:13 that the Book of Revelation belongs in the biblical canon. 41:18 So if one authority can lose their talk 41:20 about the Antichrist 41:21 when he doesn't even believe that the Book of Revelation 41:24 should be in the Bible. 41:25 And by the way, that's true. 41:27 Martin Luther did not like the Book of Revelation. 41:31 He said, "All I find in Revelation are beasts 41:33 and mysterious numbers and symbols." 41:36 He says, "I can't find Christ in the Book of Revelation." 41:40 He also did not like the Book of James, 41:42 he call it the epistle of straw. 41:45 And so basically, 41:47 Bellarmine turns the thing against Luther. 41:49 He says, "You know, I'm writing about the Book of Revelation. 41:53 Luther doesn't even believe that the Book of Revelation 41:55 belongs in the Bible." 41:58 He also showed that the reformers 42:01 did not always agree with one another. 42:04 For example, about the period in which the Antichrist rose, 42:09 some Protestant Reformers said that the Antichrist 42:13 or the little horn rose in the year 400 AD, 42:17 that's with the fall of Rome. 42:19 Others thought that it was in the year 600 AD 42:22 when Pope Gregory rose to the papal throne. 42:25 Other reformers believed that the Antichrist arose 42:29 in the year 200, 773, 42:32 the year 1000 or the year 1200. 42:36 So basically, the Protestant Reformers, 42:38 they did not have a standard date 42:40 for the beginning of the Antichrist, 42:42 the rule of the Antichrist. 42:44 And so Bellarmine said, 42:45 "The Protestants can't even agree 42:47 as to when the Antichrist began. 42:50 So how can we trust what they teach?" 42:53 Once again, we need to understand 42:55 something very important. 42:57 And that is that the Protestant Reformers 43:00 did not have all of the information 43:03 that we have. 43:04 The Protestant Reformers did not know about 1798. 43:09 You see, we have two ways of studying the 1260 years. 43:14 We can begin in the year 538 and then move forward, 43:20 or we can go to 1798 and we can move backwards. 43:25 You see the Protestant Reformers, 43:26 they had to determine what the beginning was, 43:29 but they didn't know what the end was, 43:31 because the end was gonna come in 1798. 43:34 We live after the papacy was wounded in 1798. 43:40 So we have a firm period 43:42 where the Roman Catholic papacy ruled, 43:45 538 to 1798. 43:48 So he shouldn't have been too hard 43:49 on the Protestant Reformers 43:51 because the reformers did not know the ending date. 43:53 I'm sure that if they had live 43:56 at the period of the ending date, 43:58 they would have said 538 to 1798 44:01 because in 1798, 44:03 the papacy received its deadly wound, 44:05 the pope was taken prisoner. 44:07 France as a nation turned against the papacy. 44:10 And shortly thereafter, all of the nations in Europe 44:13 followed the example of a papacy 44:15 in forsaking the papacy. 44:18 And so, Bellarmine, you know, the Protestant Reformers 44:21 obviously did not have 44:23 a very good response at that point. 44:25 But they would have had a good response 44:27 if they had lived today. 44:30 He also said to the Protestants, 44:34 "Hey, you know, 44:36 you interpret symbols differently. 44:39 Everybody has a different interpretation of symbols. 44:42 So how can we trust your interpretation of symbols, 44:46 when each reformer has a different way 44:48 of interpreting certain symbols?" 44:50 So basically, what Bellarmine was doing 44:53 was he was using arguments to try and cloud the issue 44:58 so that people would distrust 45:00 what the Protestant Reformers were saying. 45:03 Now, Bellarmine also used a very interesting argument 45:07 that Protestants would later pick up, 45:10 conservative Protestants. 45:11 That would be Pentecostals, 45:13 Charismatics, Evangelicals, etc. 45:16 Basically, it's the idea that the Roman Empire 45:22 was never divided into 10 kingdoms. 45:26 Bellarmine taught that, 45:28 Ribera didn't teach that specific point, 45:30 but Bellarmine said, 45:32 "When you look at the history of the Roman Empire, 45:35 it was never divided into 10 kingdoms 45:37 like the prophecy of Daniel 7 says." 45:41 Now in our study tomorrow, our next study, 45:44 I am going to show you 45:46 from the writings of a futurist, 45:48 he passed away a few years ago. 45:50 His name is Dave Hunt. 45:53 He wrote a Book called "The Woman Rides the Beast," 45:56 and also another one that is called "Global Peace." 46:00 And in his exposition of Daniel Chapter 7, 46:04 he says that there's a gap between the fourth kingdom, 46:08 the Roman Empire, and the 10 nation federation 46:12 that will rise in the future, 46:15 that the 10 horns did not come out 46:17 of the head of the fourth beast, 46:19 immediately when the empire fell, 46:21 but there was a gap of over 2000 years 46:24 between the fourth kingdom and the rise of the 10 horns. 46:29 Where did Dave Hunt get that from? 46:32 From the Roman Catholic papacy's Counter Reformation. 46:35 The argument was used first by Bellarmine 46:39 where he says that the Roman Empire 46:41 was never divided, 46:42 according to the specification of Daniel Chapter 7. 46:46 Now, Bellarmine believed 46:50 that the Antichrist would be a nasty individual. 46:55 He believe that the time of rulership of this Antichrist 47:01 was a literal three and a half years. 47:04 And he believed that the Jerusalem temple 47:08 or the temple where the Antichrist would sit 47:10 was the literal Jerusalem temple. 47:13 Let me just read you three statements 47:15 from Bellarmine himself. 47:18 First of all, about the facts according to him, 47:22 that the Antichrist will be an individual 47:25 that will rise in the future. 47:27 It's not a system, it's an individual. 47:29 He wrote in his famous document 47:33 which took years to put together. 47:36 I quote, "For all Catholics think, thus, 47:41 that the Antichrist will be one certain man 47:47 but all heretics teach," now he's gonna contrast, 47:51 "all heretics teach that Antichrist 47:55 is expressly declared to be not a single person 47:59 but an individual throne or absolute kingdom, 48:03 an apostate seat of those who ruled over the church." 48:09 Are you catching what he's saying? 48:11 In other words, Protestants believed 48:12 that the Antichrist is a system 48:16 where as he says, as Catholics, we believe 48:19 that the Antichrist is an individual 48:21 to rise in the future, 48:23 whereas Protestants think 48:24 that it's our system that exists now. 48:27 What did Bellarmine have to say 48:29 about the three and a half years 48:31 that the little horn would rule? 48:33 I read once again from Bellarmine. 48:36 "Antichrist will not reign 48:39 except for three years and a half. 48:44 But the pope has now reigned spiritually 48:47 in the church more than 1500 years, 48:51 nor can anyone be pointed out 48:54 who has been accepted for antichrist, 48:57 who has ruled exactly three in one half years, 49:00 therefore, the pope is not Antichrist. 49:03 Then Antichrist has not yet come." 49:08 Are you understanding his argument? 49:10 What he's saying is that Antichrist was going to reign 49:14 three and a half years. 49:16 And there's no pope, that you could show ruled 49:20 for three and a half literal years, 49:23 because if it's the papacy, 49:25 he says the papacy has ruled 49:26 for over 1500 years in his time, 49:29 not three and a half literal years. 49:31 So it can't refer to the papacy. 49:34 And then what did he have to say 49:36 about the temple, 49:38 Antichrist sitting in the temple? 49:40 Once again, I read from Bellarmine's writings, 49:43 "The pope is not antichrist 49:48 since indeed his throne is not in Jerusalem, 49:53 nor in the Temple of Solomon, 49:55 surely it is credible that from the year 600, 49:59 no Roman pontiff has ever been in Jerusalem." 50:05 Are you understanding his argument? 50:08 He is literalizing what the Apostle Paul says 50:11 in 2 Thessalonians 2 50:13 where it says the Antichrist will sit 50:15 in the temple of God showing himself to be God. 50:18 And he says, "Well, 50:20 the temple is the Jewish temple." 50:22 But he says, "No pope is now sitting 50:24 in the Jewish temple." 50:26 So the pope cannot be the fulfillment 50:28 of the Antichrist prophecy. 50:32 What he doesn't say is that when the Apostle Paul 50:36 uses the word temple Naos, in his writings, 50:41 he always applies it to a spiritual temple 50:45 that is as a symbol of the Christian church. 50:49 An example of that is found in Ephesians Chapter 2, 50:52 where it says that the church 50:55 is built upon the foundation 50:59 of the apostles and the prophets. 51:02 Those are the foundations. 51:04 Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. 51:08 And the believers are the stones 51:11 that are built up on the cornerstone 51:14 and the foundation stones. 51:17 And then the Apostle Paul says 51:20 that it grows to be a temple in the Lord. 51:24 And it is filled with the Holy Spirit, 51:27 which is the Shekinah. 51:31 So in other words, the Apostle Paul, 51:32 whenever he uses the word temple, 51:34 he uses it in a figurative sense. 51:37 By the way, 51:40 even if a Jewish temple was rebuilt, 51:43 it would not be the temple of God. 51:46 Because Jesus, you remember, He went into the temple 51:50 at the end of the triumphal entry 51:52 and it says there in Matthew Chapter 21 51:57 that He entered the temple of God. 52:01 And the money changers went there 52:03 and Jesus cast out the money changers. 52:06 And Jesus says, "You have defiled My house." 52:10 So when He goes into the temple, 52:12 it's called the temple of God. 52:14 And He says, "This is My house." 52:17 But then in the next chapters, 52:19 the rest of Chapter 21, 22, and 23, 52:22 Jesus carries on a dialogue with the Jewish leaders. 52:26 He tells several parables 52:28 and one Jewish sect after another 52:30 rejects the teachings of Jesus Christ in the temple, 52:34 because He's teaching in the temple 52:35 in Matthew 21, 22, and 23. 52:38 And He ends in Chapter 23 with the woes upon the scribes 52:41 and of Pharisees. 52:43 And then Jesus leaves the temple. 52:45 We're going to study this a little bit more 52:46 a little bit later on 52:48 when we talk about who is Israel, 52:50 because we're gonna deal with all of the issues 52:52 that are presented by futurists. 52:54 And so Jesus when He finishes 52:56 His encounters with the Jewish leaders, 52:58 and they totally reject Him, 53:01 we're told in Matthew 23:38, for the last time, 53:06 Jesus leaves the temple, and He says, 53:09 "Your house is left unto you desolate." 53:13 It was no longer the Lord's house. 53:16 And then immediately afterwards, 53:19 in Matthew 24:1-3, 53:21 Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem. 53:25 Are you with me? 53:27 So the Jewish temple, even if it's rebuild, 53:29 it's not the temple of God. 53:33 The temple of God is the church, 53:36 which means that the Antichrist was going to rise where? 53:39 He was going to rise and sit 53:42 in the spiritual temple, the church. 53:45 In other words, we're supposed to look for the Antichrist 53:48 sitting somewhere in the Christian church, 53:51 more specifically in Rome, 53:54 because the Bible tells us that the little horn 53:56 rises in the midst of the 10 horns 54:00 from the head of the dragon beast, 54:02 which represents Rome. 54:05 Now for 200 years 54:08 after the Protestant Reformation, 54:10 the Protestants withstood 54:13 the Roman Catholic papacy's onslaught. 54:16 They remained faithful to their principles. 54:21 But then, in the early 1800s 54:26 in Britain, 54:29 Protestants began to forsake historicism 54:33 as the governing principle 54:35 for the interpretation of Bible prophecy. 54:39 It's a sad story. 54:41 We will take quite an extensive period 54:43 in our next presentation 54:45 to study how preterism and primarily futurism 54:51 entered Protestantism 54:53 through the door of the Anglican Church, 54:56 through the door of the Church of England in the early 1830's. 55:01 And then we're gonna see that it was transplanted 55:04 to the United States by John Nelson Darby 55:08 and C.I. Scofield, the famous preparer 55:12 of the Scofield Reference Bible. 55:14 And since then, Protestantism has eaten up, 55:20 has imbibed the Roman Catholic system 55:24 of interpreting Bible prophecy. 55:27 As I mentioned last night, 55:29 they have swallowed 55:30 the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation views, 55:33 hook, line, sinker, 55:36 fisherman, boat, and everything else. 55:40 They bought it all. 55:42 These days, the mainline Protestant churches 55:46 teach preterism. 55:49 The little horn is Antiochus. 55:53 The beast is Nero. 55:57 When it comes 55:59 to the conservative Protestants, 56:00 which are the Evangelicals, the Pentecostals, 56:04 and the Charismatics. 56:06 They say, "No, the Antichrist is a future Antichrist." 56:12 They will arise and sit in the Jewish temple, 56:14 he'll build a great big statue of himself, 56:17 which is the image of the beast. 56:19 He will command all the Jews 56:20 to worship the image that he raised up, 56:22 and he will place this tattoo on the forehead 56:25 or on the right hand, 56:27 and everybody will have to fall down and worship, 56:29 literalizing everything, 56:31 and projecting it to the future. 56:35 In other words, Protestantism has apostatized 56:41 from the correct way of interpreting Bible prophecy. 56:45 No wonder Protestantism is so weak today. 56:49 No wonder, folks, that even within 56:51 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 56:54 we become very weak 56:55 in the teaching of Bible prophecy. 56:58 We don't say much about Bible prophecy anymore. 57:02 We hardly ever refer to the writings of Ellen White 57:05 in the interpretation of prophecy, 57:07 because we have also been influenced 57:11 by these views of the Roman Catholic 57:13 Counter Reformation. 57:15 And so, in our next study, we will talk about 57:19 the Great Apostasy of Protestantism 57:24 from the correct view of interpreting Bible prophecy. 57:29 I hope you're planning on being here 57:31 for the next presentation, because it's a sad story. 57:35 But it helps us explain the reason why Protestantism 57:39 no longer has any power 57:41 to bring about a change in people's lives, 57:44 and why there is so lack of power 57:47 also in our very own Seventh-day Adventist Church. 57:52 So I hope that we're all planning on being here 57:54 for our next presentation, 57:56 where we will deal with this very important topic. |
Revised 2019-09-30