Popularity of Historicism
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nottheworld
Darby was correct.
I held the doctrine myself for quite a few years, and it might be best if we could set this discussion aside and focus on Islam vs Christianity. This isn't why I came here, but rather than my own words let me start with a quote from Dr. Harry Ironside of Moody Bible Institute who was no lightweight when it comes to futurist doctrine. In his Mysteries of God he wrote on p.50: ". . . until brought to the fore through the writings of . . . Mr. J. N. Darby, the doctrine taught by Dr. Scofield [ie. 7 year tribulation pre-trib "rapture"] is scarcely to be found in a single book throughout a period of 1600 years. If any doubt this statement, let them search, as the writer has in measure done, the remarks of the so-called Fathers, both pre- and post-Nicene, the theological treatises of the scholastic divines . . . the literature of the reformation . . . the Puritans. He will find the 'mystery' conspicuous by its absence."
Don't we have to wonder how the church could have missed what Darby taught for 1800 years? It would be hard to make the case that it was the unsealing of the book of Daniel, unless the mid-19th century was within Daniel's "time of the end", wouldn't it?
More importantly it's interesting to note that the two most popular eschatologies in the 20th century church, partial preterism and futurism, both necessarily preclude that Mohammed could be the false prophet of Revelation. One making him a fixture of the first century and the other a figure of some future someday. Yet each view must believe the other to be virtually 100% wrong in regard to their understanding of the book of Revelation after chapter 3, because there is a gulf of 1900 years that divides the two views.
This, even as 1/4 of mankind - 1.5 billion people - follow the false prophet Mohammed today, as his minions have for 1400 years, specifically with the single most important fundamental of his religion being antichrist. Each and every Muslim filled with the spirit of antichrist. With the addition of one of the next most important fundamentals being denying the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The only anti-another-religion, religion, by design. The enemy's design.
Yet virtually all Christians and Jews understand Old Testament prophecy through the continuous-historic context. That is that prophecy is fulfilled steadily as the era about which is is written gradually unfolds. For example our understanding that Daniel's kingdom "beasts" were a succession of kingdoms that followed each other gradually over hundreds of years in the prophet's future.
Where is the temple of God?
Parallels between the Roman Church and Islam
Both censor the voices of others through murder, rather than through defense of their doctrines, and both have murdered millions as a result.
Whether the Papal murder of Jews and Christian reformers while teaching that non-Catholics are headed to hell (though some wishfully suggest that the most recent catechism would seem to contradict this Roman Church tradition).
When I was a kid the Roman Church taught that it was a mortal sin for a Roman Catholic to attend any other Christian church.
Just like the Islamic 1400 year slaughter of Christians and Jews, and the censorship of Bibles and Christian materials in Islamic countries, along with the destruction of synagogues and churches.
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=...2=sb-top&sao=1
____________________
Death penalty for apostasy
http://www.biblebelievers.com/chiniquy/cc50_ch67.html
"But the reader has the right to know something of the dangers through which it has pleased God to make me pass.
Rome is the same today as she was when she burned John Huss and Wishart, and when she caused 70,000 Protestants to be slaughtered in France, and 100,000 to be exterminated in Piedmont in Italy.
On the 31st of December, 1869, I forced the Rt. Rev. Bishop Foley, of Chicago, to swear before the civil court, at Kankakee, that the following sentence was an exact translation of the doctrine of the Church of Rome as taught today in all the Roman Catholic seminaries, colleges, and universities, through the "Summa Theologica" of Thomas Aquinas (vol. iv. p. 90). "Though heretics must not be tolerated because they deserve it, we must bear with them till, by a second admonition, they may be brought back to the faith of the church. But those who, after a second admonition, remain obstinate to their errors, must not only be excommunicated, but they must be delivered to the secular power to be exterminated."
http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index...howtopic=95169
It is on account of this law of the Church of Rome, which is today in full force, as it was promulgated for the first time, that not less than thirty public attempts have been made to kill me since my conversion."
.............................
Whether in Saudi Arabia today, the Christian beheading capital of the world, or the same over the last 1400 years.
The penalty for turning away from Islam is death.
Even in Canada (video): http://www.tangle.com/view_video?vie...dba53d454cb1ed
Similar to the RCC, in Islam the traditional waiting period during which a person is allowed to "repent", and return to Islam, is 3 days in jail.
http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/apostasy.htm
________________________
Both believe we enter our faiths as infants
The Roman Church teaches that one becomes a Christian by having a Priest sprinkle "holy water" on one's head, though there is no confirmation of this in scripture.
Islam teaches that one is a Muslim at birth.
__________________
Lying for God
From 25 year late 19th century priest Charles Chiniquy quoting Roman doctrine:
"It is often more to the glory of God and the good of our neighbor to cover the faith than to confess it; for example, if concealed among heretics, you may accomplish a greater amount of good; or if, by declaring our religion, more of evil would follow - for example, great trouble, death, the hostility of a tyrant." (liguori, "Theologia Moralis, t. ii n. 14, p 117 Mechlin, 1845.)
This Roman church view of lying, as if for God's benefit, is the very same as the Mohammedan concept of "taqiyyah", or lying in the way of Allah - Islamic subterfuge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiyya
That Roman view is exposed in God's Word:
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Rom 3:7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 8 And not [rather], (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
But that would not be slanderous reporting of the Roman "church".
________________________
Prayers of the heathen.
The Word of God instructs in the matter of prayer:
1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
This describes a relationship and constant communication with God through the Holy Spirit, not vain ritual.
Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Roman Catholicism is steeped in repetitive prayer, whether rosary, prayers ordered by a confessor, etc. etc..
For Mohammedans, the Hadith tells us that earlier Muslims were instructed to pray 50 times a day. Mohammed later reduced this to a more manageable 5 times per day after his alleged flight on a horse.
From "Infidel" Ali explains part of salat, "You say Praise be to Allah thirty-three times; God forgive me thirty-three times; Allah is great thirty-three times; and then, if you choose, you may also say Gratitude to Allah."
That's a total of 495 repetitions of just those first three prayers - every day - because Muslims are commanded to perform salat fives times a day.
Muslim prayer beads
Rosary beads
______________________
Idol Worship
Exd 20:4 THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE any graven image, or ANY LIKENESS [OF ANY THING] THAT [IS] IN HEAVEN above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
Just as Roman Catholics surround themselves with likenesses of things in heaven, bow to them and kiss them, and Orthodox venerate their "icons" (brought into the church by Constantine's mother), so do the Mohammedans bow 5 times a day to a black rock that resides in Mecca. They are required to go and prance around it for days at least once in their lives, some kissing and rubbing on it.
Both, of course, deny idolatry.
___________________
Veneration of Mary
Mohammedans join with Roman Catholics in the veneration of Mary. Though blessed among other women...]]]
Luk 1:42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed [art] thou among women, and blessed [is] the fruit of thy womb.
[[[... did Jesus suggest we venerate Mary?
John 2:3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do [it].
No Roman Catholic would deny this 19th century Roman dogma or risk being subjected to the fires of hell.
"ASSUMPTION -- At the end of her life, Mary was taken up ("assumed") body and soul into Heaven. ("Catechism" 966, 974)
There is no biblical reference to the assumption of Mary. The Gospel of John was written around 90 A.D., which is more than 100 years after Mary was born. (Surely Mary was more than ten years old when Jesus was conceived.) If Mary had been supernaturally assumed into Heaven, wouldn't John (the disciple that Mary lived with) have mentioned it? When Enoch and Elijah were taken up to Heaven, the Bible recorded it. With Elijah it was recorded in some detail. (See Genesis 6:24 and 2 Kings 2:1-18.)
The Assumption of Mary was officially declared to be a dogma of the Roman Catholic faith in 1950. This means that every Roman Catholic is required to believe this doctrine without questioning it. However, as we will see, the teaching of the Assumption originated with heretical writings which were officially condemned by the early Church.
In 495 A.D., Pope Gelasius issued a decree which rejected this teaching as heresy and its proponents as heretics. In the sixth century, Pope Hormisdas also condemned as heretics those authors who taught the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary. The early Church clearly considered the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary to be a heresy worthy of condemnation. Here we have "infallible" popes declaring something to be a heresy. Then in 1950, Pope Pius XII, another "infallible" pope, declared it to be official Roman Catholic doctrine. (Note 15)"
Mohammed most likely got Mohammedan veneration of Mary during some of his consultations with a defrocked Roman Catholic priest. A whole chapter in the Quran is devoted to Mary, the only woman named in the Quran, though Mohammed's confusion was off by generations.
19 MARYAM (MARY)
Both Roman Catholics and Muslims worship Mary at Fatima.
http://www.buddhistview.com/site/epage/18341_225.htm
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spiri...ry-worship.htm
http://www.spiritdaily.org/fatimacontroversy2.htm
_________________________
Conquest through population.
The Roman church and Mohammedanism are united on this point as well.
The Pope populating with Roman Catholics through deprivation of birth control.
Another device is through questions asked of married women during auricular confession.
___________________
Governance and rule of all mankind
The Roman church seeks to rule all mankind with the church. This explains the dark history of Romanism which includes the murder of millions of Jews, Muslims and Christians. Their doctrine regarding control of all mankind remains unaltered.
The freedom and right to self-determination guaranteed under the U.S. constitution are the very antithesis of the Roman church, just as freedom is the enemy of Islam. The Pope voiced support for the South during the civil war in order to cause Roman Catholic soldiers in the northern army to defect. Maximizing non Roman Catholic casualties being a goal.
The pope calling for a new world order wherein the Roman Church would presumably be the arbiter of right and wrong.
Islam, of course, has lusted after the kingdoms of the world for 1400 years. Whether the First and Second Islamic Jihads, or Ahmadinejad - "Do not doubt Allah will prevail, and Islam will conquer mountaintops of the entire world.”
______________________
Both are religions of salvation through works
Both are religions of works, that teach that we earn our own way to heaven through our own good deeds, rather than salvation being a gift of God.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
This rather than understanding that good deeds and works are the RESULT of salvation, NEVER the path to it:
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Works are the RESULT of salvation, NOT the path to it.
________________________
Those in bondage to the Roman church please read "50 Years in the 'Church' of Rome by Charles Chiniquy - a Roman Catholic priest for 25 years.
http://www.biblebelievers.com/chiniquy/index.html
The scarlet beast may represent Satan's kingdom, and harlots the false church of men teaching their own precepts throughout history, with the RCC as the mother: http://www.biblebelievers.com/chiniquy/cc50_ch53.html
Revelation 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
The Pope and The Second Vatican Council on Islam
http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_ec21na.htm
"Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
The Second Vatican Council
Promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI
October 28, 1965
Paul, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, together with the Fathers of the Sacred Council. For Everlasting Memory."
The Roman church confirms Islam.
The Pope supports Islam, so devout Roman Catholics are compelled to.
"3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men;......"
Indeed God has, so let's hear Him:
Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is MY BELOVED SON , in whom I am well pleased.
Mark 1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased.
Luke 3:22 ...and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art MY BELOVED SON; in thee I am well pleased.
2Peter 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased.
"........ they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees,......"
Surah 9.30 The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. [/b]. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:...
"..... just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."
Mohammedans are unwittingly submitted to Satan. The only anti-another-religion, religion, by design. Mohammed's "revelations" co-authored by a jealous fallen angel and his self-serving false prophet Mohammed.
But there are some of us that Mohammed didn't fool:
Mar 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect.
Indeed even Mohammed believed it was a jinn (a demon) that met him in that cave.
Coptic priest Zakaria Botrous on this subject.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpsWnbApBNw
"Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God,....."
And they deny the crucifixion and resurrection, and they deny that Jesus is the Son of God, but perhaps it's just trifling in minor details, to point out that their religion is specifically built on denying the very elements that Christianity IS.
The greatest, and only unpardonable, sin in this satanic religion (shirk) being committed, if a Muslim confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.
2Jo 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
1Jo 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Sura 19:88 They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" 89 Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!
What the pope has done is help the Muslims down their path of death.
1Jo 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] HE THAT HATH NOT THE SON OF GOD HATH NOT LIFE.
"...... they revere Him as a prophet."
They blaspheme the very blood that would save them:
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Surah 4:157 That THEY SAID (in boast), "WE KILLED CHRIST JESUS the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- BUT THEY KILLED HIM NOT, NOR CRUCIFIED HIM, but so it was made to appear to them,... FOR OF A SURETY THEY KILLED HIM NOT:-
Hebrews 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
"They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion."
Mohammedans join with Roman Catholics in the veneration of Mary even collecting together at Fatima.
Likely from Mohammed's consultations with a defrocked priest, or from his "christian" consultant Jabr.
"In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead."
And what will be the reward for those who follow the false prophet Mohammed, in part, thanks to the Pope's encouragement?
Jhn 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where THE BEAST and THE FALSE PROPHET [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
"Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer,...."
The prayers of the heathen:
Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
"..... almsgiving and fasting."
Skipping lunch for a month.
"Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems,....."
This is false. The hostilities were between the Roman church and Moslems.
Here is how we know it wasn't between Christians and Moslems:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. 31 And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
John 13:35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
The Crusades, inquisitions and persecution of reformers, of the Roman Church murder of Jews, Muslims AND CHRISTIANS, were little different than the 1400 year murder, rape, pillage and plunder of Islamic jihad. No surprise that Roman style Christianity looks little different than Islam to a Moslem.
"...... this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding....."
Certainly it's no surprise that the Roman church would like the world to forget the past:
http://www.biblebelievers.com/foxes/findex.htm
http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/
But that would be akin to holocaust denial.
Mutual understanding in regard to our respective beliefs is impossible for a Christian, as Mohammed WAS and taught, the EXACT OPPOSITE of Jesus and the Word of God.
"...... and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom."
Sure. Social justice like sharia law: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fbXvq_ZIbw
And honoring women: http://www.beholdthebeast.com/women_in_islam.htm
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Sura 2:223 your wives are as tilth (farmland) unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will...
Sura (4:34) - Men are the maintainers of women ... admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and BEAT THEM; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/27168100.jpg
Jhn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Sura 112:1-3: Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; 2 Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; 3 He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
Daniel's 4 "Beasts" and John's Leopard-Bear-Lion composite "Beast"
Blessedly there is a broad consensus among Jewish, as well as Christian scholars, futurist, preterist and orthodox, regarding the identity of Daniel's four beasts.
In Daniel's chapter 7 dream we find: Daniel 7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
Daniel 7:4 The first [was] like a lion, and had eagle's wings...
Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear...
Daniel 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard...
Daniel 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly...
In the verse below we learn that in the figurative language of a vision or dream in prophecy, a "beast" is a kingdom or empire.
Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
BEAST = KINGDOM
The broad consensus holds that the kingdoms represented by Daniel's lion, bear and leopard, are the successive ancient kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece, followed by the fourth "terrible" beast, that is understood to be the Roman Empire.
This conclusion is reached within the traditional continuous-historic context of prophecy. This is simply the view that bible prophecy is fulfilled steadily, as the era about which it is written gradually unfolds. This is the context in which virtually all Christians and Jews understand Old Testament prophecy.
Below are maps of these successive kingdoms.
Daniel 7:4 The first [was] like a lion, and had eagle's wings...
lion - Babylon
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/216a3a30.jpg
Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear...
bear - Medo-Persia
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/214a3a60.jpg
Daniel 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard...
leopard - Greece
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/214a3a60.jpg
Daniel 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly...
fourth "dreadful" - The Roman Empire
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/24fa3d30.jpg
John's 42 "months" and 1260 "days" in prophecy
DAY YEAR LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY
Within this traditional continuous historic context of study we also find a "language" of prophecy wherein we consider "each day for a year". We learn that this day-year principle was well known prior to the 20th century, when we look to those of the "former age" and "search of their fathers", as the Bible instructs.
The following is a summary of seven more of the math problems explored in "The False Prophet" (available absolutely free by simply clicking on the link), that uniformly apply this day = year "language" of prophecy. Much better to start the book at the beginning, rather than explore the math out of context, because "The False Prophet" is a brick by brick empirical argument.
Let's start this section with a problem involving 1260 "days" in prophecy, from John's vision detailed in Revelation:
Here is a link to a godtube video of this problem.
3. Revelation 12:6 (KJV): And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.
Most agree that Israel, is the "woman" in the context of this verse. If we then consider that the end of the 1260 "days" was when Israel came out of "the wilderness" (of the people Ezekiel 20:35), or out from being scattered among the nations, returning home and declaring her independence in 1948, and subtract 1260 years ("each day for a year"), we arrive at 688 AD.
A quick Yahoo search reveals that this is widely understood to be the founding year of the construction of the Islamic mosque, the Dome of the Rock.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/16ca4190.jpg
The founding verses of the Dome of the Rock "O you People of the Book, overstep not bounds in your religion, and of Allah speak only the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of Allah, and his Word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him. Believe therefore in Allah and his apostles, and say not Three. It will be better for you. Allah is only one Allah. Far be it from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son."
Luke 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also].
The blasphemous founding verses are written in the mosaic on the Dome of the Rock both inside and out. Over the nearly 1400 years of Islamization of the Middle East, the Holy Land became spiritually desolated by the exile of Christians and Jews. Today Iran is 99% Muslim, with Iraq at 98% and Syria at 90%, while Saudi Arabia is 100% and Turkey 99% Muslim. Below is a map of this spiritual condition.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/1f5a3aa0.png
By the 1800's Israel was rendered a desolate, barren, relatively abandoned, wasteland.
Continuing our study it will become increasingly apparent that the Dome of the Rock is God's symbol for Islam in prophecy, and that Islam is the subject of Daniel's "time of the end", and the "end of the world".
The language of prophecy wherein we calculate "each day for a year" was well known by Matthew Henry, Thieleman J. van Braght, and Jamison, Faucett & Brown, to mention just a few. One example of a source verse is:
Ezekiel 4:6: And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
The day-year "Language" of Prophecy
The following threads are intended simply to present the first little peak into another entire context through which to consider New Testament prophecy and particularly the book of Revelation. Unlike futurism or preterism this view suggests that the book of Revelation has been being steadily fulfilled throughout the Christian era. The same view that virtually all Christians and Jews hold for the Old Testament as in the case of Daniel's kingdom "beasts" for example.
When we look to those of the former age we find the day-year language of prophecy was well understood:
Job 8:8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: 9 (For we [are but of] yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth [are] a shadow:)
Quoting from "The False Prophet": "In 1569, the great Anabaptist theologian, Thieleman van Braght, wrote the following in Martyrs Mirror, pages 21-24: 'a thousand two hundred and threescore days, which reckoned according to prophetic language means as many years… let it be reckoned as it may, say we, as a very long period of time.'
Two hundred years later, Matthew Henry, in his 'Commentary of the Whole Bible', came to the same conclusion (Vol VI, page 1157 column 1, para. 2): "….if the beginning of that interval could be ascertained, this number of prophetic days, taking a day for a year, would give us a prospect of when the end might be."
Isaac Newton - "She is nourished by the merchants of the earth, three times or years and an half, or 42 months, or 1260 days: and in these Prophecies days are put for years." - Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St.a John - Chapter 3
Also Jamison, Faucett & Brown commentary - "..... in the wilderness 'a thousand two hundred and threescore days.' In the wider sense, we may either adopt the year-day theory of 1260 years..."
The source of this language can be found in these key verses:
Ezekiel 4:5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Numbers 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Genesis 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Additionally Exodus alludes to a week of days as years:
Exodus 23:10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
Exodus 23:11 But the seventh [year] thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard.
Other examples of those who understood this language include:
Augustine (AD 430)
Nahawendi (Jewish) (AD 8-9th century)
Jehoram (AD 10th century)
Abraham bar Hiyya (Jewish) (AD 1136)
Arnold of Villanova AD (1292)
Tichonius (AD 380)
Joachim of Floris (AD 1202)
John Wycliffe (AD c.1379)
Nicholas of Cusa (AD c.1452)
Martin Luther (AD 1522)
Phillip Melanchthon (AD 1543)
Johan Funck (AD 1558)
James I of England (AD 1600)
Sir Isaac Newton (AD 1727)
It is important to note that the studies I entered in this forum discuss FULFILLED prophecy, pinned mathematically.
"The folly of interpreters has been to foretell times and things by this prophecy [Revelation], as if God designed to make them prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the prophecy also into contempt. The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own providence, not the interpreters', be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages before will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by Providence." - Sir Isaac Newton
We should consider the warning that Jesus gave to the Pharisees, and never allow our doctrine to trump the truth of God's Holy Word:
Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
The Year_Day Theory Fails
The Year-Day Theory
Recently the study of prophecy had earned for itself a bad reputation among believers because of the so-called year-day theory. According to this theory, many numbers of days in the Scriptures are computed as though a day were a year [even Isaac Newton made this mistake with all kinds of calculations], thus fostering predictions as to the precise date for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ—an exercise of the mind which is plainly contradictory to the Lord’s announcement: for no one knows the date of His return, not even Jesus himself. Then, too, some commentators on Revelation have twisted God’s word in ways that are meant to fit in with this year-day theory. We have no intention to argue about this theory; we only desire to point out a right understanding of the “days” that are mentioned in the Bible.
The advocates of the year-day theory base their conception on Numbers 14.34 and Ezekiel 4.6. Let us first examine Numbers: "After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation." Here we are told that due to their unbelief, the children of Israel were disciplined by God for forty years, a year for every day they had spied out the land. But this does not apply equally to other "days" mentioned in Scripture, and certainly not to the "days" found in Revelation. As to Ezekiel: "And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee." Here we see that God commanded Ezekiel to lie down in a certain position as a response to the iniquity of Judah. This has nothing to do with the other "days" found in the Bible.
Let us look at a few more passages.
(1) "And yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Gen. 7.4). Did God wait for seven years and then have the rain fall for forty years? No, for the record goes on to explain as follows: "And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. . . . And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (vv.10,12). Here, a day is not a year.
(2) "Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head" (Gen. 40.12,13). Was it that after three years the chief butler was released from prison? Not at all: "And it came to pass the third day . . . [that] he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again" (vv.20,21).
(3) "Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day . . . And it shall come to pass on the sixth day . . . [that] it shall be twice as much as they gather daily" (Ex. 16.4,5). The children of Israel went out to gather manna every day, not once a year.
(4) God gave meat to the children of Israel to eat for "a whole month" (Num. 11.19, 20). They did not eat meat for thirty years.
(5) "Within three days ye are to cross this Jordan" (Joshua 1.11). What actually happened afterwards? Did the children of Israel cross over Jordan after three years? No, they crossed after three days.
(6) "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12.40). Was the Lord Jesus in the heart of the earth for three years? We know from the biblical record that He was there for only three days and three nights.
From this evidence, therefore, we can easily conclude that the year-day theory is erroneous. If some of the "days" appearing in the book of Revelation are to be taken as years, then the rest of the "days" found therein should also be treated as years. And in that case, the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation would have to be calculated as a thousand two hundred and sixty years; and the millennial kingdom would have to be extended out to three hundred and sixty thousand years. Obviously, we know that such calculations as these cannot be true.
May we therefore trust the Holy Spirit to guide us correctly as we read the word of God. Let us not seize upon strange ideas like this. Even though the Bible is most wonderful, it is not to be explained in any quaint or bizarre way. We ought to learn to be more obedient to God in our thought. And then we will not be likely to misinterpret His word.