Jesus Christ does the work of Antichrist? A perfectly timed heresy... says who? by Doug krieger

JESUS CHRIST DOES THE WORK OF ANTICHRIST?

A perfectly timed heresy . . . says who?

By

Doug Krieger

Once again, the ugly head of attributing the work of Antichrist to Jesus Christ has risen its “wounded head” upon our brethren. Eschatological nuances of this nature confirm in the minds of prophetic predators like Rick Warren, and other long-distance learners, that we who dabble in this realm of the peculiar should either stay there on the socio-theological periphery or die trying to prove our subtlety.

Those who realize such rarified distinction within evangelicalism are not as naïve as we may appear, nor do we consider such distractions as peripheral as our critics charge—for the devil is in the details; and that’s what you’re about to witness. Food fights over the Book of Daniel, and especially his numerology, and particularly his 70th Week, are ceaseless . . . but times running out on the prophetic clock—the language of pleasantries can no longer be tolerated in this postmodern age of relativism and alleged Christian courtesy . . . just when you thought that unity in the cause of the gospel should take precedence over doctrinal nitpicking of these less visible shadows amongst the holy.

The implications and action corollaries embedded in these nuances are horrific in so far as the Church’s witness to the world concerns—and their ramifications to His One Body are on the line if we discard these prophetic distinctions as transitory sightings on theological radars that involve little or no traffic in the first place. Not so. A little unknown carpenter rocked the world and continues to shake the nations—that’s precisely why the discovery of the entire Seventieth Week of Daniel in the Revelation and the ubiquitous desecration of the sanctuary in Daniel will rock the Church in the latter days more so than “the just shall live by faith” rocked the Reformation in its day.

Theologically speaking – as Christology was contested in the early Church; as Soteriology defined the Reformation; as Ecclesiology and World Evangelism wrought great changes within the Church in the 1700 and 1800’s – even so, Eschatology has entered the arena as the final event under the unction of the Holy Spirit to take center stage for the battle of the soul of the Church. Even so, those who claim the current age is the Messianic Age in toto (Amillennialism) or those who dispense with any future Millennium (Post-Millennialism or Preterism) or those Premillenarians who assert that Daniel’s Seventieth Week fully or partially ended will find themselves attributing the work of Jesus Christ to Antichrist; and will, in point of theological fact, discover they have embraced a most wretched heresy!

So let us examine these recent demarcations—these novel and disturbing doctrines which are contrived to support sundry agendas in this final end-time’s battle. To some who find such hair-splitting beclouded in the elevated shrine of “who cares” or “so what” or “there he goes again” – don’t worry, better to observe these ionospheric platitudes than to have them descend from the mountain upon your unsuspecting and disinterested valley – for then it may be too late to adjust your indifference to what really is very essential for survival, given the impending viscosity of the volcanic mud about to descend upon your village.

And, remember, what Noah Hutchings once said is altogether potently true today:

“The reason the 9th chapter of Daniel is the proof test of Bible prophecy is that it tells the exact date when the restoration of Jerusalem would begin after the Babylonian captivity and how long it would take. It informs us of the crucifixion of Jesus, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 7 years preceding His coming again. All these things were written over 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. It still stands as the cornerstone of Bible prophecy, proof that God knows all things from beginning to end.” (Lambert Dolphin Library)

I would add that Noah’s insightful observation regarding Daniel 9 is matched by its New Testament counterpart and it isn’t Matthew 24 or Luke 21 (i.e., the Olivet Discourse), but Revelation 11. If Daniel 9 is the proof test, then Revelation 11 is the final exam.

DELVING INTO THE CONTESTED WEEK OF DANIEL 9

The major difference, for example, of certain brethren who espouse deviant doctrines of partial or the full depletion of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (separating the first 69 weeks from the final 70th week) from those evangelicals who adhere to the total futurity of Daniel’s 70th Week, is centered around the isolation of Daniel 9:27 from other portions of Daniel’s text and hence, the obfuscation of the person and work of the DESOLATOR. These diluted brethren claim that this prophetic week is either 1/2 completed or completed in its totality, somewhere between the commencement of Jesus’ ministry at His baptism by the John the Baptist up through to the end of the “Great Tribulation” (Revelation 7:14). I vehemently disagree with them in that their appropriation of the work of Antichrist to Jesus Christ is a horrific error and, I affirm, when so radically embraced, as some of them have done, must be viewed as naught but a “doctrine of demons” (I Tim. 4:1 NKJV) – for they have purposefully and/or unwittingly ascribed the work of Antichrist to Jesus Christ.

Let me explain - they take the antecedent of “he” in Daniel 9:27 to mean Jesus (Messiah of Dan. 9:26), not Antichrist (i.e., “the coming prince” of Daniel 9:26). How they do this is to convolute the Scripture here and say that the phrase “to anoint the Most Holy” in Dan. 9:24 refers to the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist which commenced Jesus' 3.5 years of ministry and that at that time Jesus made a covenant with the Jews/Israel for 7 years, giving them opportunity to recognize His Messiahship (i.e., “offering them the kingdom”), but then He was crucified (in the middle of the “7”). Here, they take the phrases in Dan. 9:27 – “But in the middle of the week HE shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” to mean Jesus again and that the antecedent here as well (i.e., “HE shall bring an end to sacrifice”) refers to the “once and for all sacrifice” of the Lamb of God (there remains, therefore, no more need for sacrifice).

They do NOT recognize their “he” in Daniel 9:27 (“Then ‘he’ shall confirm a covenant with many for one week”) as Sir Robert Anderson’s THE COMING PRINCE (in reference to Daniel 9:26 – “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”), but instead commit the “abominable act” of transposing the work of Antichrist to the Christ, the Messiah. The Messiah has been CUT OFF (crucified) in Daniel 9:26 – yet, “the prince who is to come” shall commit such dastardly deeds, including the ultimate and deceitful imposition of the treaty with Israel’s majority for ONE WEEK but in the middle of the week HE—the future prince who is to come, the Antichrist—shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.   And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate (indeed – Antichrist is now incarnated by Satan himself and not only is the Temple in Jerusalem where the sacrifices have commenced so terminated, but Satan sits “as God in the Temple of God declaring that he is God!”) – Thus begins the REIGN OF THE BEAST and the WRATH OF THE DRAGON (Revelation 12:12).

They miserably fail to acknowledge that in Daniel 9:26 “Messiah shall be cut off” takes place prior to the one-week treaty - here they say that it is true Messiah would be “cut off” (crucified), however, although His “cutting off” or His crucifixion does occur in Daniel 9:26, they then suggest that Daniel 9:27 simply reiterates in detail what led up to that cutting off and subsequently the breaking of the covenant with the many made by Jesus (so they say) takes place in the midst of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. Yes, this “he” brought an end to sacrifice and offering by offering up Himself as the Lamb of God—thereby terminating the need for animal sacrifices.

This is a vast convolution of the intent of Scripture.

DANIEL 9:27 WAS NOT WRITTEN IN ISOLATION

First of all, the TERMINATION OF THE SACRIFICE must be read in the context of previous and additional portions of Daniel – to wit:

“And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them (Note: This is not simply an allusion or discussion of Antiochus IV Epiphanes - it has “cosmic extrapolations” and is speaking of Satan himself.). He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and BY HIM THE DAILY SACRIFICES WERE TAKEN AWAY, AND THE PLACE OF HIS SANCTUARY WAS CAST DOWN (or “the place of the Temple was cast down”). Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the DAILY SACRIFICES; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, ‘How long will the vision be, concerning THE DAILY SACRIFICES and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?’ (i.e., how long between the commencement of the sacrifices and the extent of the desolations) And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.’ (Daniel 8:9-14). (Note: I have presented these calculations in detail in our article: ISRAEL’S TEMPLE SACRIFICE AND THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION.

Without this PRIMARY UNDERSTANDING found in Daniel 8 and its clear and distinct subject as Antichrist, empowered by Satan as the TERMINATOR OF THE SACRIFICES - one simply cannot fathom what is going on in Daniel 9:26-27; likewise, the “prophetic trajectory” has, by Higher Criticism truncated these verses to the Maccabean period only (at best); and, those who have transferred the work of Antichrist to Jesus Christ have established the terminus ad quem to be either 3.5 years from Christ’s crucifixion; 3.5 years prior to 70 AD; or a remaining 3.5 years at the close of this age.

Furthermore, one must grasp the prophetic impact of Daniel 11:21-23 and what we call the “adumbrative prophetic language” used here referring or refers not only to Antiochus IV but to that future Antichrist who shall arrive “peacefully” and orchestrate Israel's political and religious peace - AND as Antiochus IV eliminated the legitimate High Priest of Israel at the time of the Maccabeans and made this “office” a political pawn in his hand--he forthwith assumed the title of THE PRINCE OF THE COVENANT (Daniel 11:22) - yet, let's read it for what it says and then you will secure this two-fold understanding of both the immediate and the yet future implications of Antichrist:

“And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. With the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant (Note: Not only is this ‘flood’ - the same ‘flood’ - spoken of elsewhere in Scripture – Isaiah 28:15, 18) in reference to the escape of the Woman into the wilderness (Rev. 12:15-16) - but ‘swept away’ is the high priestly office known as the PRINCE OF THE COVENANT – and, so will be fulfilled Isaiah’s pronouncement: ‘When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves’ (Isa. 28:15) - so that this title is now subsumed by Antiochus IV and the yet future Antichrist, and within its context, both the politicization and the religious overtones MUST be recognized for what their prescient meanings convey—to wit: Antichrist becomes the PRINCE (political) of the COVENANT (religious) - here politics and religion truly meet in their awful Babylonian vision foreseen, as well, among the Gentiles in Rev. 17-18-19.).

But these passages go on in Dan. 11 ...

“And after the league is made with him (Note: This is a clear reference to “he shall make a covenant with the many for one week but in the midst of the week . . .”) he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time . . .” (Daniel 11:20-45). Antichrist - and his personage as the KING OF TYRE (of overt materialism taking the place of God Himself again—Ezekiel 26, 27, 28) - will BUY FAVOR and INFLUENCE with “the many” - MONEY TALKS!

Furthermore, and perhaps the most convincing contextual integration and credibility given these passages is that of Jesus Himself, Who speaks of “the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14)—and that reference clearly alludes to Daniel 11:31:

“. . . and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31).

Now I say this to implore their reticence to adjust their wrong thinking of Daniel 9:27 in isolation—for in so doing they circumvent the prophetic words of Jesus . . . for as the Higher Critics of the Bible attempted to encapsulate Daniel’s record in part and even in whole to be domiciled and fulfilled within the Maccabean period (cir. 165 BC)—having nothing to do with the future and certainly not, as Daniel claims: “And in the latter time of their kingdom (the “Kingdoms of the Gentiles”) . . . Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future” (Daniel 8:23, 27)—even so, today’s subterfuge attempts to limit the Abomination of Desolation to Titus and his legions who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.

For if indeed the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Jesus refers to the exclusive purview of 70 AD and the happenings surrounding that fateful bloodbath of nigh a million Jews, then what extrapolation of deceit do we witness amongst the Preterists who conjecture that the Son of Man came into His Kingdom at that time and that Daniel’s Abomination of Desolation occurred on that earlier date? There is altogether ample suspicion that 70 AD is not the terminus ad quem of Jesus’ remarks, for the absolute visibility of His appearing did not occur nor can we say that such a GAP was forecasted by Jesus from the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD until the appearance of the Son of Man in glory at the close of this age—any clear-thinking person, reading these Scriptures below, knows full well that in time and in history, these cosmic events have not as yet occurred:

“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be . . . immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:27, 29-31).

It is a grotesque distortion of both grammar and the spiritual intent of Scripture to claim that these aforementioned events in Matthew 24 have transpired in time (using hyperbolic metaphor as justification for these “heavenly realities”)—and to claim their “heavenly character” alone when their earthly application is so overtly presented—it twists the literal grammatical signatures to such extreme that all sense of meaning of the original language of the Greek is thrown to the wind. All the tribes of the earth did not mourn in 70 AD, nor did they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory—to assert in the affirmative is a bald-faced lie!

The FULLNESS of the Abomination of Desolation was NOT fulfilled in the times of the Maccabeans, nor was it fulfilled in 70 AD – neither by Zeus nor by Jupiter – neither by Antiochus IV Epiphanes nor by Titus of Rome—these were but supreme archetypes, at best, of the final manifestation of the Man of Sin.

It behooves me to interject at this time that the original Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, Feast of Dedication or Rededication, was originally instituted by the Maccabeans and this singular feast celebrates—and make no doubt about it—not only the reconsecration of the Temple and its cleansing, but TRIUMPH OVER ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES—the man whose name means GOD IS MANIFEST! There is one feast day that both Jews and Christians should mutually celebrate—the defeat of Antichrist—past, present and future! HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Now if you continue to follow these passages which “flow in and out” between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Antichrist yet future, you will pick up on the “essence” of what is going on here - for this one will yet “sit as God in the Temple of God, declaring that he is God” (II Thess 2:4) -

“Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished (i.e., the 1,290th day—the end of abominations—Dan. 12:11); for what has been determined shall be done.   He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women (Why? Because He claims to be God and this “he” has no time for anyone but himself - he needs no counterpart nor does he desire women because he holds no relationship other than himself.), nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all (AND THIS TELLS IT ALL—above all gods, God, and women—he will not procreate for he is the DESTROYER) - and it is here he is known as the KING OF TYRE: “But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know; he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for profit (gain)” (Daniel 11:36-39).

It is abundantly clear that all these passages interconnect - furthermore, this same unholy intruder who breaks the covenant in the midst of the 70th Week of Daniel—the same one with intrigue, who enters in peaceably and, undoubtedly, with ample resources (money), must be the same one of whom it is said in Daniel 12:11-12:

“And from the time that the DAILY SACRIFICE IS TAKEN AWAY, and the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION IS SET UP, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days.”

(Note: This 1,335th day is the final cleansing of the Temple by the Messiah Himself who “all Israel” shall acclaim at that time: Hosanna, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord - and then shall be fulfilled what Jesus pronounced to the Jews at the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah - Festival of Lights) in John 10:22-39 - they shall acknowledge the Son of David, as Peter did (Matthew 16:16), that He claimed to be what He said He was and is: I AM THE SON OF GOD - this declaration of Jesus’ deity will once and for all cleanse His temple of all aspects of the DESOLATOR and BLASPHEMER! BLESSED IS HE THAT COMES TO THE 1,335th DAY! (Daniel 12:12))

Therefore, as you can well imagine, a number of these brethren not only confuse the antecedents within Daniel 9:26-27 but in so doing they have committed a major prophetic heresy and have stumbled into the camp of the DESOLATOR himself.

I might at this juncture hasten to add that they boldly, along with their pre-tribulational antagonists (both opposed, the one to the other—for the pre-trib. folks affirm the same distortion that these alleged post-trib brethren embrace) - that both with ignorant insistence claim there is NO FULL 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE REVELATION—i.e., they are ignorant of their fool hearty deception to assume as much - and, once again, the one who tempted Jesus on the wing of the temple to blaspheme the Almighty in His limitation (i.e., humanity) by bowing down to Lucifer, the Devil, even Satan, with the promise in so doing “all the kingdoms of the world . . . all will be Yours” (Luke 4:5-8) . . . for such worship (the absurdity of which belies the self-absorption of this impostor), now has these prophetically myopic souls bowing down in the same spirit of Antichrist by the transference of the work of the Abomination of Desolation to the Person and Work of Messiah.

Yet, in the immediate past I have confirmed this vacuous understanding of the absence of Daniel’s 70th Week is not limited to the interruptus of these early fulfillments; unfortunately, a graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary who, in his bland ignorance, sided with these HALF-TIMERS by so blithely declaring: THERE IS NO FULL 70TH WEEK MENTIONED IN THE ENTIRE BOOK OF REVELATION—only the latter half of the Week; however, by “implication” the 70th Week is there! The circumstantial evidentiary claim that no actual full-70th Week is found in the Revelation is an immense eschatological blunder on the part of this well-meaning pre-trib brother from Dallas Seminary.

And, indeed the misguided pre-tribulational rapture folks - just as their antagonists amongst those who attribute the work of Antichrist to Jesus Christ - wholly discard the truth of the entire 70th Week of Daniel as seen in the Revelation both in “essence" as well as in abject fact:

THE FULL 70th WEEK IN THE REVELATION

“In the orthodox (pre-millennial) writers, there is clear agreement. Irenaeus and Hippolytus taught that the 70th week would be the last seven years of this age in which the two witnesses would prophesy for the first 42 months, the "abomination of desolation" being in the middle, and the Beast would persecute the Church for the last 42 months, then Christ would return (a clear "seven year" tribulation with a post-trib rapture). Other early writers, including Barnabas, Justin, Hermas, Cyprian, Lactantius, and Victorinus, did not refer to Daniel 9:27, and so no specific mention is made of the tribulation being "seven years." But it is clear that they were expecting a future tribulation at the end of the age, and a literal Antichrist who would persecute the Church. These writers saw the Antichrist's reign as 3.5 years. And the ministry of the two witnesses as also 3.5 years. This implies a seven year tribulation. (Tim Warner - “Dallas Doctors’ Departure Distortions” - The Last Trumpet – 2001)

So, where in the Revelation is the entirety of Daniel’s Seventieth Week so mentioned?

“‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there’ (And here let me disabuse anyone who does not affirm that the measuring of God’s people “who worship there” is clearly involved here—because He has taken full ownership of them.) . . . ‘But leave out the court which is outside the temple (Note: This is the COURT OF THE GENTILES, the uncircumcised who fail to take that final commitment to sacrifice at the altar, to worship at the altar—by the cutting off of the flesh.), for it has been given to the Gentiles’ (Indeed - these COMPROMISERS are there but they will come back to persecute those at the altar) – ‘and THEY (these same Gentiles) will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months’ (Note: This is that same HOLY CITY, not simply of Jerusalem on the earth, but that heavenly city of those who are referred to in Rev. 13:6 ‘who tabernacle in heaven’ - i.e., though they be on earth, their “home” or “tabernacle” is in heaven - and against these the Beast commences his blasphemy: ‘against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who tabernacle in heaven."' (Portions from Rev. 11:1-2)

But when does he so blaspheme those who tabernacle? Let’s read on in Revelation 11, and we shall discover the commencement of his blasphemy (which again, is to declare his own deity) . . .

At issue is the obvious - when does the treading of the Holy City, the blasphemy against those who tabernacle in the heavens, commence? Its duration is 42 months wherein in Revelation 11:7 these same Gentiles are aligned with the Beast “that ascends out of the bottomless pit.” Indeed, this Beast “will make war against them” - i.e., the Two Witnesses – “overcome them, and kill them. And their dead body (for in the original Greek it is CORPSE, singular—for He has made of the two, One New Man, so making peace—Ephesians 2:15) will lie in the street of the GREAT CITY which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified . . . then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead body three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead body to be put into the grave . . . now after three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them” (Revelation 11:7-9, 11).

So, what is this period of time known as “three-and-a-half-days?” - I affirm that this is the 3 1/2 days of the final week of Daniel’s prophecy - it is the SAME 42 months wherein the Holy City shall be trampled underfoot in Rev. 11:2.

Now, however, PRIOR to this trampling underfoot for 42 months or 3 1/2 days - there is the triumphant TESTIMONY OF JESUS (Rev. 1:2, 9; 12:17; 19:10) which is committed to the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:7). Now, the ENTRY of the Beast upon the world scene—is at the final half of the 70th Week of Daniel—both pre-trib, and these post-trib brethren, so concur at this point; however, what neither of them see is the full FIRST HALF OF THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL as depicted in the prevailing testimony of the Two Witnesses for 1,260 days (Revelation 11:3):

“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth - these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth” (Note: In the next verses, Rev. 11:5-6, we observe their witness and prophecy is so prevailing that NOTHING can harm them—ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!) –

May I query: Are these Two Witnesses wholly oblivious as bad Samaritans (violating the so-called “Good Samaritan Law” - i.e., seeing someone in danger or bleeding along the side of the rode and YOU DO NOTHING TO HELP THEM)? - That is precisely what these pre-trib and post-trib brethren propose!

Here you have this utterly prevailing witness of the Two Witnesses - allegedly taking place during the very Reign of the Beast and the Trampling down of the Holy City (concentrated, no doubt in Jerusalem proper in their finite minds) during this 42 months of WAR (as also seen in Rev. 12:6 as 1,260 days; Rev. 12:14 as time, times and half a time - also in Dan. 7:25; 12:7) - for these brethren, with blinders upon their spiritual eyes, superimpose these same 1,260 days to be the same 42 months of Rev. 11:2 and the same 1,260 days of Rev. 12:6; and the same time, times and half a time as Rev. 12:14; Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7)—in sum: the first half of Daniel’s 70th Week is the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week in their convoluted thinking.

PREPOSTEROUS!

To think that these Two Witnesses would sit idly by while their brethren are enduring unmitigated suffering - WHILE THESE TWO GET OFF SCOT FREE - is absolutely and utterly absurd and, furthermore, grossly distorts their credibility. Moreover, to think that the Beast makes WAR against two individuals who’ve been breaking this Good Samaritan law during the latter half of Daniel’s 70th Week is the height of prophetic folly, to say the least! This word WAR in the Greek constitutes a major world-wide conflagration—hardly seen on U-tube by the heathen who shall view their dead body in the street of the GREAT CITY (Babylon the Great) for 3.5 years of open persecution?

IT IS AFTER - IN FULL SEQUENCE - that the Beast who ascends out of the Bottomless Pit - and this is not simply saying that this is the Beast who comes out of the Abyss at the mid-point of the 70th Week and TOLERATES these Two witnesses somehow throughout the entire 1,260 days/42 months/time, times and half a time or the final 3.5 days of the 70th Week of Daniel and that somehow after these Two Witnesses have testified for their 1,260 days (having allegedly witnessed the suffering of the “tribulation saints” and apparently doing nothing to alleviate their suffering) - that AFTER the 70th Week—for it would have so concluded - then this BEAST who originally (as they say) ascended out of the bottomless pit, will now make war against them, overcome them, and kill them at the conclusion of the 70th Week and then allow their body not to be buried for 3.5 days into the 1,260 to 1,290 days of the Wrath of the Lamb or, in their convoluted thinking, kill them on the 1,256.5th day so that their final resurrection would occur on the 1,260th day! NONSENSE and utter folly upon these loosey-goosey mathematicians, so-called! These “give and take” eschatologists will stoop to any miscellaneous configuration to fit their absurd schemes! Math is NOT an absolute science in their craniums – and most assuredly, neither is “biblical math.”

No - these Two Witnesses have fully testified for the full 1,260 days. This testimony is the first half of the 70th Week of Daniel - THEN THEY ARE OPENLY PERSECUTED FOR 42 MONTHS - which is the latter half of Daniel’s 70th Week - their initial 1,260 days of testimony is finished –

“WHEN THEY FINISH THEIR TESTIMONY (1,260 days of it, I hasten to add) THE BEAST THAT ASCENDS OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT WILL MAKE WAR AGAINST THEM, OVERCOME THEM, AND KILL THEM” (Rev. 11:7).

Oh, that God’s people would embrace the CROSS OF CHRIST, put on the helmet of salvation, take the sword of the Spirit and endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ – for if we cannot bear his cross, we cannot bear His crown. That He would embolden our minds and hearts to “love not our lives unto the death!” This IS the TESTIMONY OF JESUS!

CORRIE TEN BOOM – PREPARE FOR TRIBULATION

Radiant testimony shall give way to the embrace of the cross—that the life and death of Jesus Christ be lived out in the “tribulation saints.” Now, listen to sister Corrie, whose prophetic witness under fire brings forth the challenge to the Church in these latter days:

“Betsy (Corrie’s sister) and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick.

“‘Yes, the Lord will heal me,’ Betsy said with confidence.

“She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.

“It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.

“There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

“In China, the Christians were told, ‘Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.’ Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

“'We have failed.

“‘We should have made the people strong for persecution, rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, – to stand and not faint.’

“I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.

“We are next.” (Corrie’s complete letter is found, along with Ruth Graham’s validation, at http://endtimepilgrim.org/corrie.htm.)

The DESOLATOR, the BEAST puts an end to sacrifices - and that awful 1,290 days of ABOMINATIONS CONCLUDES with the final 30 days thereof to be considered THE WRATH OF GOD - THE WRATH OF THE LAMB.

Yes, they, the Two Witnesses, are RESURRECTED at the commencement of the SOUNDING (the 30-day sounding) of the Last Trump wherein the Dead in Christ are raised; for the Two Witnesses are that SINGULAR RESURRECTION OF THE JUST: “Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them” (Rev. 11:11-12).

No, there is no secret rapture, no multiple resurrections - and this, I am sure, is where my post-trib brethren are in accord - but, likewise, these Two Witnesses have fully testified for the first 3.5 years without harm and most assuredly are NOT disengaged with the saints of the Most High who shall endure, as the Holy City, the 42 months of being trampled asunder - for these Two Witnesses are in point of fact the HOLY CITY THEMSELVES, now prepared, under fire, to persist in leading many to righteousness, even in perilous times.

They are the “saints of the Most High” - these are they who “keep the commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17 – “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” (Note: And this is for time, times and half a time - Rev. 12:14 or 1,260 days - Rev. 12:6)).

Yes, there are those preserved of Israel (Revelation 12:6), and there are those of the Church who are “alive and survive” (I Thess. 4:17); but the EMPHASIS is upon the SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST wrought out in His people - for they bear THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS - while the wrath of the Beast overwhelms (Rev. 12:12 - . . . “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having GREAT WRATH, because he knows that he has a short time”) and rages against the saints, for “It was granted to him to make war (the same war as seen in Rev. 11:7 against the Two Witnesses) with the saints and to overcome them.”)

Again, those brethren who refuse to do their math - who obfuscate the first half of the 70th Week of Daniel - and those pre-trib brethren who for their own foolish reasoning, boldly, and most shallowly, assert there is NO MENTIONING OF THE FULL 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL IN THE REVELATION - (and who, I might add, lend credibility to their “half-hearted” antagonists amongst their alleged post-tribulationalists and as boldly, and as ignorantly as they, claim there is naught but the latter half of the 70th Week which awaits complete fulfillment).

AMILLENARIAN ESCHATOLOGY IS ALIVE AND WELL – ELIMINATING THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL

Before we descend into the intricacies of how the 70th Week of Daniel yet future is abused and eliminated, it would do us well to understand who’s behind this obfuscation—just who is the source of this skulduggery of eschatological nonsense?

Several outstanding and concise histories on the evolution and popularity and ultimate demise and then revival of Amillennialism (and its step-child, Postmillennialism) eschatology and its counter distinction, Premillenialism, are forthwith given:

“Several forces worked to undermine this premillennialism of the early church. One of these was the association of this teaching with a radical ascetic Christian group, the Montanist, who shortly after the middle of the second century placed a great stress on a new age of the Spirit which they believed was coming among their numbers in Asia Minor. They gathered together in a village in Phrygia, which they named the New Jerusalem, thus proclaiming the establishment of the millennium. There they waited for the Lord's return. By time of the death of the last of the leaders of Montanism, Christ's return had not yet occurred.” (Eschatology, the Doctrine of Last Things, the Millennium – www.fromdeathtolife.org and throughout)

The undermining of a literal 1,000-year rule and reign of Christ on the earth, yet future, was clearly held by the early church fathers – but aberrant teachings like those of Montanus grew in popularity – the desire for the Church to manifest its authority on earth was incessant. How we interpret the Bible (hermeneutics) had to undergo a violent change; hence:

“Another influence that encouraged a change in eschatological views was the emphasis of Origen (A.D. c.185-c.254) upon the manifestation of the kingdom within the soul of the believer rather than in the world. This resulted in a shift of attention away from the historical toward the spiritual and metaphysical. He was perhaps the first to allegorize the passages on which the teaching of the millennium was based. His principle of allegorizing Scripture opened the door for a spiritual millennium and the school of amillennialism.

“A final factor that led to a new millennial interpretation was the conversion of the Emperor Constantine the Great (A.D. c.274/280-337) in A.D. 313 and the adoption of Christianity as the Imperial religion.

“It was Augustine (A.D. 354-430), Bishop of Hippo, who articulated the amillennial view which came to dominate Western Christianity during Middle Ages. The millennium, according to his interpretation, referred to the Church in which Christ reigned with His saints. The statements in the Book of Revelation were interpreted allegorically by Augustine. No victory was imminent in the struggle with evil in the world. On the really spiritual level, the battle had been already been won and God had triumphed through the cross. Satan had been reduced to lordship over the City of the World, which coexisted with the City of God. Eventually even the small domain of the devil would be taken away from him by a triumphant God.

“Augustine early claimed to be a Premillenarian, but he changed to become an Amillenarian. He did not object to Premillenarianism, but he spiritualized the millennium, finding its fulfillment in the church. The millennial reign of the saints was heavenly between the first and second coming of Christ, which period would end in or around A.D. 1000. The first resurrection was the new birth. He wrote in his City of God:

“The church now on earth is both the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven..., the saints being with Him now. Thrones (Rev. 20) may not be understood of the last judgment, but by the thrones are meant the ruler's places in the church, and the persons themselves by whom it is governed.... The church which is now is the kingdom of God. Thus then, the church reigns with Christ.... Christ's kingdom is the church.”

(Augustine, The City of God, as quoted in
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, p. 256)

“Augustine's allegorical interpretation became the official doctrine of the church during the medieval period. It was more or less modified when Christ failed to return at Augustine's predicted time at A.D. 1000. With the cessation of persecutions, the conviction that the Gospel could probably win the world found a place in the church. The millenarians of this period were of the postmillennial type. Hildegard and Joachim of Floris (A.D. 1130-1202) were perhaps the best known. Joachim innovated what is sometimes called a Trinitarian Millennialism. The Old Testament was the age of the Father; the New Testament was the age of the Son; and the age of the Holy Spirit will be the millennium after which Christ will return. However, in defiance to the official teaching of the church, the earlier apocalyptic premillennialism continued to be held by certain groups. These expressions of premillennialism continued during the reformation period, and was most notably expressed in the rebellion of the city of Munster in A.D. 1534. Jan Matthys gained control of the community, proclaiming himself that he was Enoch preparing the way for the second coming of Christ by establishing a new code of laws which featured a community of property and other radical reforms. He declared Munster to be the New Jerusalem and called all faithful Christians to gather in the city. Many Anabaptists answered his call and most of the original inhabitants of the town were forced to flee or to live in a veritable reign of terror. The situation was so threatening to other areas of Europe that a combined force of Catholics and Protestants laid siege to the place and after a difficult struggle captured the town, suppressing this wave of millennial enthusiasm.”

The Munster event undoubtedly led the early Protestant Reformers to unwittingly embrace Augustinian amillennialism—not because of its “Jewish character” but more so because of its social and political ramifications appeared too hostile to Europe’s nobility, let alone the Catholic Church.

“Each of the three main branches of Protestantism of the sixteenth century - Lutheran, Calvinism, and Anglican - had the support of the state and so continued the same Constantinian approach to eschatology. Both Luther and Calvin were very suspicious of millennial speculation. Martin Luther (A.D. 1483-1546) believed that the Book of Revelation was defective in everything which could be called apostolic and prophetic, and was offended by the visions and symbols of the book. He came to believe that the prophecy in the Book of Revelation was an outline of the whole course of church history and that the Papacy was predicted in both chapters 11 and 12, and in the second beast of chapter 13. The number 666 represented the period of papal domination. This "historic" type of interpretation with its application of the Antichrist to papal Rome so dominated Protestant study of prophecy for the next three centuries, that it is frequently called "the Protestant" interpretation. Luther branded the doctrine of a millennium as heresy. The idea of a millennium was rejected as a Jewish opinion by the Augsburg Confession and by the Helvetic Confession. The Augsburg Confession read:

“They condemn others also, who now scatter abroad Jewish opinions, that, before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall occupy the kingdoms of the world, the wicked being everywhere oppressed.”
(Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, Article XVII).

“The Helvetic Confession reads:

“We reject all who deny the real resurrection.... We also reject the Jewish dream of a millennium, or golden age on earth, before the last judgment.”
(ibid., Article XI).

The reader can immediately grasp that by these confessions the effrontery of a “Jewish dream of a millennium” had insinuated itself into the minds of the reformers. Now, these reformers not only rejected the full “manifestation of the kingdom” via immediate or rabid social revolutionary reform (e.g., the Munster model), but had become all the more rigid in their embrace of Catholic eschatology and the “Augustinian model” whereby the State and the Church were able to jointly “process” both the earthly and heavenly aspects of the Kingdom of God—enabling the Church to provide “moral covering” for the State—e.g., the “Just War” whereby the State may exercise temporal authority in matters of the defeat of evil with the Church maintaining her celestial presence, while still being here on earth—notwithstanding, the full manifestation of the Kingdom would abide yet future, although the “Messianic Age” or the “Gospel Age” was here and present among us. Thus, with the Church living in the “Messianic Age” present—there would be no need for a future Millennial Reign on earth, and ipso facto, a complete disconnect of all Jewish prophetic potential.

AMILLENARIAN EMBELLISHMENTS OF ALAN MORRISON

In his “State of the World Address – Parts 1 and 2” Alan Morrison elaborates on how Amillenarian eschatology can be embellished upon its original dismissal of a literal millennium and, I hasten to add, why this doctrine predisposed Europe to such vehemence in their quest to abolish the “Jewish dream of a millennium” – I persistently propose that the Holocaust would not have been possible in Europe if this insidious eschatology had not been so wide-spread and entrenched in Protestant and Catholic churches. With the Jew utterly and prophetically disenfranchised, there was no more need for them—hence, their “chosenness” was an affront to the Church.

Let me preface Morrison’s remarks and commentary thereon by noting his direct promotion and association with an otherwise fine organization, SCP (Spiritual Counterfeits Project of Berkeley, CA). Tal Brooke has apparently, according to Jacob Prasch, either purposefully and/or directly embraced Morrison’s Amillenarian eschatology and its apparent and underlying adjunct, anti-Semitism. This unimaginable doctrinal distortion needs further clarification on the part of Tal Brooke, especially his support for one, Ted Pike, I am sure—notwithstanding; on the surface it is deeply disturbing . . . for it connotes the insidious persistence of this tortuous eschatology which has befooled, beclouded and befuddled the Church since Origen. Has Tal Brooke succumbed to the dark side of Amillenarian eschatology and its rejection of the Jew? What nefarious pursuit abides the legendary cult-fighter, Tal Brooke?

Allow me to quote the prickly review of Jacob Prasch of this odd association of Morrison and Brooke and their peculiar compatibilities (My emphasis):

“Both Mr. Morrison and Mr. Brooke are too intelligent to demean themselves with the kind of conspiratorial absurdity and anti-Zionism they focus on and in the process they undermine the valuable ministry they both otherwise could and should have in reaching New Agers for Christ in a post Christian/Neo Pagan world. Mr. Morrison overlooks that the biblical scenario for the Eschaton viewed in Daniel and Revelation, places the prophetic significance of Israel as well as that of The Church at the center of world events. There is simply no place for replacement theology in The Word of God generally, and certainly none regarding eschatology specifically. Those propagating unbiblical positions to the contrary are postulating untenable inventions of their own minds. In order to arrive at his misplaced doctrinal theology, Allan Morrison, identical to the Roman Catholic mystics, hyper Charismatics, and New Age theosophers, must engage in the convoluted hermeneutics of eisegetical Gnosticism by spiritualizing what the Scripture plainly teaches about Israel and The Millennial reign of Christ instead of deriving his beliefs from sound exegesis.

“Mr. Morrison substitutes an exegetical approach to eschatology with a conspiracy theory based approach where the biblical texts plainly establishing the place of Israel eschatologically are treated in a neo-Gnostic manner based on spiritualization.” (Jacob Prasch, “A Response to Allan Morrison” – Moriel Ministries)

It is the propagation of Morrison’s ideas by Brooke which disturbs; along with what appears to be a conspiratorial video with anti-Semitic overtones (by one Ted Pike), also, according to Jacob Prasch, promoted by Tal Brooke . . .

“In the meanwhile, MORIEL is preparing a response to the Ted Pike video alleging Jewish conspiracies and attempting to turn this crusade into an Evangelical Christian cause. Disturbingly, the video is distributed by an organization whose web site is linked to pro Nazi sites carrying Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ on their book lists and claims to be an ‘Evangelical Christian Ministry’. More disturbing still is that the Ted Pike video was circulated by Allan Morrison’s partner, Tal Brooke. Indeed , if I were to follow the trail of links in the manner conspiracy theorists operate and draw conclusions from it, I would have to determine that Tal and by cooperation Allan Morrison are members of a Neo Nazi conspiracy within the Evangelical church. This is of course not my view. But if I subscribed to the kind of conspiracy theory mind set they do, it would be the natural conclusion.

Constance Cumbey is not so subtle in her denunciation of Ted Pike’s anti-Semitism:

“His (Texe Marrs) new catalog IS ‘New Age,’ -- in the very skimpiest of disguises -- and in the very ugliest sense of the word. It carries as allegedly reputable works books by unashamed anti-Semites such as Des Griffin and Ted Pike. (My Perspective – What Constance Thinks)

And, what of this video that Tal Brooke’s promotes:

“It’s all here...Ted Pike’s monumental new video documents the whole story of conspiracy by Israel’s false leaders in the Mid-East. From Israeli terrorists to Christian televangelists, this is the incredible account of how Zionist abuses and atrocities, plus evangelical Christian support, have worked together over the past century to incite international Arab terrorism.” (www.truthtellers.com – Zionism and Christianity: UNHOLY ALLIANCE – National Prayer Network)



In point of fact, Theodore Winston Pike’s prolific exposé of Israeli and Christian conspiracies in the suppression of Israel’s Palestinians is overt: Israel: Our Duty . . . our Dilemma; Hate Laws . . . Making Criminals of Christians; Why the Mid-East Bleeds; Zionism and Christianity: Unholy Alliance. In my reading and research, it is obvious that Ted Pike has used “hate crime legislation” to augment his agenda to implicate the Jews, especially the Israelis, and to clobber Evangelical Zionists in their “unbiblical conspiracy” in support of the rebirth of Israel as a sign of prophetic fulfillment and the coming Messianic Age. Again, I find Tal Brooke’s involvement in the promotion of both the works of Allan Morrison and Ted Pike’s video, exceedingly disconcerting and would dearly love to disassociate Tal from these individuals—but, to this date nothing to the contrary attests otherwise.

The “National Prayer Network” extols the works of Ted Pike and exclaims:

“In this unprecedented exposé, author and filmmaker Ted Pike rips the cover off this little-known conspiracy against freedom by the evil Jewish leadership of B'Nai B'Rith and its ‘Anti-Defamation League.’ Now is the time to protest to your elected representatives in Congress - before it is too late.” (Note: The Rev. Ted Pike is the National Director of the National Prayer Network.)

Now, with this Amillenarian-Anti-Semitic backdrop so revealed—and I hasten to add that exploring these links among Ted Pike, Alan Morrison and Tal Brooke are altogether disquieting for this author—we now briefly examine the “Morrisonian form of Amillenarianism.” Again, taken from his “State of the World Addresses.”

“This whole “Rapture” thing is put in its context in Rev.11. We saw in Part 1 of this article that the gospel-witnessing church has been given a great measure of protection while Satan has been bound throughout the gospel age. We saw that the symbolic time span of that age . . . .”

Morrison sees no future for physical Israel - the Church, in his estimation would fulfill all the promises of the Bible—both Old and New Testaments. Notwithstanding Morrison’s ridiculous notion that somehow Satan has been bound for 1,000 years (currently on-going) is classic Amillenarian eschatology. However, presently, Satan has NOT been bound a figurative 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10) - he is, however, a ‘defeated foe’ - but he continues unabated to walk around: THE DEVIL WALKS ABOUT AS A ROARING LION, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR. RESIST HIM, STEFAST IN THE FAITH” (I Peter 5:8) - this is hardly the Millennium. In Morrison’s thinking, as in all Amillenarians, there is no literal 1,000-year Millennium.

The SYMBOLIC TIMESPAN, to which Morrison alludes, is clarified by his statement:

“. . . and witness was said to be “1260 days” (Rev.12:6). It so happens that the church is again said to witness for that symbolic 1260 days in Rev.11:3.”

In this brother's eyes he sees the TWO WITNESSES as the Church in sum and substance - he fails to go on to vs. 11:4 of Rev. in which it clearly states: "THESE ARE THE TWO OLIVE TREES AND THE TWO LAMPSTANDS STANDING BEFORE THE GOD OF THE EARTH" - he would surely assume that these ‘symbols’ simply connote that the Olive Tree represents the Oil of the Holy Spirit and the Lampstand represents the Church - I do not affirm this because of the superabundance of passages in the Revelation, let alone the superabundance of passages which provide Israel a generous role in the coming Millennium. Morrison sees the 1,260 days as purely SYMBOLIC—just as he sees the 1,000 years of Satan’s binding during the current “age of the gospel” symbolic.

The atrocious supposition on the part of Amillenarians to interpret Revelation 20:1-3 as a “figurative or spiritual millennium” – while claiming that Satan’s “binding” during their current “messianic age” (in which we are now allegedly living in on this planet where evil abounds in all sizes) denies the present reality of man’s inhumanity to man and of the Prince of Darkness who in the ethereal “Age of the Gospel” beclouds the blatant biblical fact wherein “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (II Corinthians 4:4) How can we be living in the Messianic Age in which the King of kings shares rule with “the god of this age?”

May I remind those who follow the convoluted symbolism of Origen that immediately following the return of Christ in glory (i.e., the Second Coming of Christ) as found in Revelation 19:11-16 and of the subsequent defeat of the armies of the Beast and the Second Beast (the False Prophet) in Revelation 19:19-21 by our Lord Jesus, that THEN and IMMEDIAELY in Revelation 20:1-3 Satan is bound for a thousand years and those that the Beast beheaded “lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4) Any rational mind can follow this sequence—unless the irrationality of those who detest the thought that a literal 1,000 year rule and reign of Christ on this earth, from Jerusalem, is just too preposterous, too earthly, too carnal for our heavenly-minded brethren who cringe at the thought that the Jews could find themselves prophetically viable!

Amillenarians’ conjecture that since the resurrected Christ “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col.2:15) somehow goes beyond His immediate resurrection and binds Satan through the power of His cross. If so, I suggest that the chain is incredibly long. Amillenarians claim that Revelation 20 is a flashback to the cross and demonstrates the complete work of Christ; henceforth, we are living in the Messianic Age or Age of the Gospel. Nonsense! The binding and restraint of Satan that takes place as a result of the cross is applicable today only to those who believe in Jesus Christ! “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” . . . does not take place until after the resurrection of the Two Witnesses; after the reign of the Beast; and, after the 3.5 days of the latter half of Daniel’s 70th Week (Revelation 11:11-15).

SEVENTY SEVENS

Why does the Bible so clearly demarcate that the 70 Weeks are “seventy sevens” (i.e., “Septets” or “Seventy times seven”) – and clearly refers to them as years – each “week” equal to seven years or 360 days for each year? The Biblical precedent for these “weeks” equal to years is found in Leviticus 25:8:

“And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself; seven times seven years; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.”

Therefore, when it is read, it clearly refers to these Seventy Weeks as years:

“Seventy weeks (lit. “seventy sevens”) are determined for your people . . . there shall be seven weeks (or 49 years) and sixty-two weeks (or 434 years) . . . and after the sixty-two weeks . . . then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week (i.e., the 70th Week)” (or 7 years) (Daniel 9:24, 25, 27) (for a total of 490 years: 49 + 434 + 7 = 490 years)

The 70th Week is still 7 years or 1 week. Likewise, it is comprised of 1,260 days (the first half) and 1,260 days (the second half) for a total of 2,520 days or seven total years. The other expressions likewise remain LITERAL – JUST AS THE FIRST 69 WEEKS WERE LITERAL and the outstanding work done by Sir Robert Anderson, Drs. Ice and Hoehner (See Israel’s Temple Sacrifice and the Abomination of Desolation for the precise chronologies between “the decree to rebuilt Jerusalem until the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem” which occurred four days prior to the Gregorian date of 33 AD day of Passover and the crucifixion or “cutting off of Messiah” – Daniel 9:26)

Morrison continues . . .

“This refers to the whole of the church’s witness throughout the age. That’s how we know that Rev.12:6 and 11:3 are parallel. They both refer to the Gospel Age of witness while Satan is under restraint. (My emphasis.) As we saw in Part 1 of this article, we also have the idea of the church being under protection from the hideous power of Satan in Rev. 12:14. There, the term used is ‘time, times and half a time,’ (which is another way of saying 1260 days or three and a half years’ time = one year, times = 2 years, and half a time = half a year).”

Morrison states these time frames in years but demands they be wholly SYMBOLIC in terms of “eras.” In this case the spurious period of the “gospel age” allegedly has his Satan “under restraint.” It is unimaginable to consider Satan so restrained given the past 2,000 history of wars, death, famine, disease, rank materialism, human exploitation, crimes against humanity and gross carnage since the resurrection of Jesus. His use of the phrase, “the whole of the Church” ipso facto displaces any role for a prophetic Israel—none! There is no literal seven-year time frame yet future; no literal millennium; and no prophetic Israel—none!

Revelation 12:14 is a reference to the WOMAN who is ‘preserved’ unto the coming of the Lord – God’s sovereignty sustains a portion of the Woman (“they that are alive and survive”) - some are “beheaded for the testimony” - others survive – and, most certainly, there is that Jewish element which shall survive until they cry out: HOSANNA, BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD - this is without refutation! “You will not see my face until YOU SAY, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord’” (Matt. 23:39).

Morrison persists:

“The reason that John uses that image is because it draws on its symbolic use in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7 to describe the persecution of the saints. John frequently takes powerful Old Testament symbols and then transforms them for his own Scripture-writing purposes (e.g. golden lampstands, two-edged sword, thrones, living creatures, beasts, etc.). Occasionally, they mean the same as when they were used in the Old Testament; but mostly he changes aspects of them to fit the context.”

It is convenient for Morrison, at this point, to say: “Occasionally, they mean the same as when they were used in the Old Testament, but mostly he changes aspects of them to fit the context” - therefore, he can say that the Olive Tree in Revelation 11:4 refers to the Oil of the Spirit and not to Israel.

“The overall picture in the Book of Revelation is that as the saints witness to the world they are persecuted throughout the entire Gospel Age (the symbolic 1260 days/3 ½ years/time, times & half a time), but that they are also protected from the full blast of satanic destruction during that time, until a brief period of intense persecution at the end of history (the Great Tribulation), when those believers who are alive at the time will be wiped out (Rev.11:7; 13:7; Dan.12:7).”

What Morrison proposes—although he is hard pressed to say that the final 1,260 days is this “brief period of intense persecution at the end of history”—is the past nigh 2,000 years is symbolically designed as the 1,260 days or 3 1/2 years or time, times and half a time, or for that matter, 42 months as in Revelation 11:2; and, that the final half of Daniel’s 70th Week will be that “brief period of intense persecution at the end of history” (i.e., the final 1,260 days) – but then, this would be equal to one week (i.e., 1,260 days of the “gospel age” + 1,260 days of the “brief period of intense persecution at the end of history”)—therefore, Morrison cannot quiet bring himself to this mathematical conclusion because it borders on giving credibility to the 70th week and a distant detection of literal interpretation being used in reverse—i.e., justifying symbolic expression.

He is utterly Amillenarian - he has confused the time of Jacob's Trouble - i.e., the persecution of Israel during the 70th Week of Daniel (Dan. 12:7) of “time, times and half a time” - which clearly speaks to Israel’s time of persecution (but as well, since there are TWO on either side of the river - to the Church’s trepidations).   One of the two inquires of the Man dressed in linen, insofar as HOW LONG will the following persecution persist—which persecution directly refers to the last days of Daniel’s people, the Jews: “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people (THE JEWS); and there shall be a time of trouble (3.5 years of it to be exact—Daniel 12:7), such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time YOUR PEOPLE (THE JEWS) shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).

DELIVERANCE FOR YOUR PEOPLE AND FOR YOUR HOLY CITY-Dan. 9:24

“Deliverance” is the dominant theme of the Hebrews. Deliverance demands the divine and miraculous intervention into the affairs of man—it demands Messiah:

“And so all Israel will be saved (or “delivered”), as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Isa. 59:20; Romans 11:26-27).

This is the “covenant” that our Lord makes and does not break! And, this “Israel” speaks not of the Gentiles who have been “grafted in” but of Israel of the flesh, for Paul declares:

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25).

Far too long well-meaning but deceived brethren have been “wise in (their) own opinion” or “estimation” – they fail to realize that “blindness in part” does not mean “blindness in whole!”

“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).

It is that irrevocability, that covenant made to Israel that irks the likes of Alan Morrison and those brethren hereunder mentioned who would persuade us that bits, parts and pieces – yea, the whole – of Daniel’s Seventieth Week have already concluded. Yet, what Paul quoted in Romans 11:26-27 from Isaiah 59:20 – until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; until “the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:7) – can be none other than the full “Seventy Weeks determined for your people and for your holy city, to . . .

“. . . finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy” (i.e.,--“To seal The Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies”) (Daniel 9:24; cf. Daniel 12:11-12).

FOR . . .

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Isa. 59:20; Romans 11:26-27).

“I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God’” (Zechariah 13:9).

MORRISON’S “GOSPEL AGE” IS NOT THE MILLENIUM

The Amillenarian Morrison has made the 1,260 days equate to the “gospel age” (he dare not say the “church age” because it would lend credibility to Dispensationalists!) - for to the Amillenarian there has always been but one Church—“the believing community” - there NEVER can be TWO WITNESSES testifying from whatever perspective (e.g., Israel to the earth—to the Nations; and the Church to the heavens or to the Principalities and Powers in the heavens) at any given time in history—especially during the conclusion of the 70th Week or, in the Amillenarian thinking, the final 3.5 years of human history prior to the Second Coming of Christ - and just prior to Satan being loosed after the 1,260 days or the 1,000 years of the “gospel age” - give or take scores of conflicts and two world wars—Satan has been “relatively restrained” - just ask a Viet Nam vet how much Satan has been restrained!

“One has to remember that just as things like persecution, earthly upheavals, false christs and prophets, deception and the many other characteristics of the “last days” described by the Lord Jesus and Paul are present to a greater or lesser degree throughout the age but intensify at the time of the end” so the presence of the “Beast” government and religion have been with us throughout the age in one form or another but will intensify at the end of the age with the appearance o