That is what I said in my post, however, I may not have said it clear enough.

They do place the first 69 weeks in the past, however, for some strange reason, they place the last week, the 70th week, into the future.

__________________________
In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

There is a misunderstanding regarding the manner (how) and time of Christ's coming for Christian believers.

The major proponents are Baptists, Pentecostals and some Evangelical groups.

Rapture Theology is a grave misunderstanding of the events of Daniel 9:24-27 which focus is on the baptism and anointing of Jesus, the death of Christ in the middle of the 70th week putting an end to the sacrificial system, and the Gospel then going to the Gentiles, who now, along with individual Jews who accept Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour, make up God's new covenant people, Spiritual Israel.

This misunderstanding, or new theology, is based on a combination of two belief theories:

1 - Rapture Theology.
2 - Dispensationalism.

1 - The Rapture Theology - originated with a young girl named Margaret MacDonald, who in 1830 in Scotland during a tongues session claimed to have been told by God that the Christian church would be taken secretly to heaven so that they would not have to be on the earth during the plagues. John Darby, an American, founder of the Plymouth Brethren church journeyed to Scotland to interview her. From there he added her Rapturist views to his Dispensational views.

2 - Dispensationalism - John Darby taught that history was divided into seven distinct dispensations or periods of time.

They are the Dispensation of:
(1) Innocence (Adam and Eve before sin),
(2) Conscience,
(3) Human Government,
(4) Promise,
(5) Law (the period of the Jewish nation),
(6) the Church (which we are presently in),
(7) the Kingdom (the re-emergence of the Dispensation of the Jews).

In the Mosiac (Law) period, God demands obedience to the law of Moses.

In the present (Church) dispensation, God requires acceptance of salvation by faith.

These views were then taken up by Schofield and placed as reference notes in the Schofield Reference Bible.

Now we know how it started and developed from there.

More later on what it teaches.

__________________________
In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

[This message has been edited by Daryl Fawcett (edited October 20, 2001).]

The Secret Rapture Theology teaches that the 70th week of Daniel 9:24-27, which the Bible states began in 27 AD at the baptism of Jesus and ending 7 years later with the stoning of Stephen in 34 AD, has not yet taken place, as it is still in the future.

This teaching that the 70th week is yet future is obviously cut off from the 69 weeks of the prophecy and is transported to our day, actually beyond our day, as they look at it as still being a future fulfillment.

They teach in error that this 70th week will begin when the Christian church is snatched way secretly with the Holy Spirit just before the plagues begin to fall.

They teach that the Dispensation of the Kingdom (of the Jews) begins for 7 years. 144,000 Jews are converted and begin to preach the gospel of a "second chance."

They teach that Jesus will come back visibly with His church at the end of the 7 years.

They teach that the Anti-Christ (a religious political figure) makes a covenant with the Jewish nation for 3 1/2 years. He appears good at first, but reveals himself in the middle of the 7 years as the anti-Christ, as he begins persecuting the Jews. God then pours out his judgements, the 7 last plagues.

At the end of the 70th week or 7 year period, Jesus returns visibly with his church. The anti-Christ is destroyed along with all the wicked.

A large multitude of Jews and others will have been converted to Christ since the Secret Rapture, and will make up Christ's kingdom during the earthly millennium. (Notice that these conversions take place without the aid of the Holy Spirit!) Christ will then rule literal Jerusalem from David's throne.

Any questions or thoughts on what they teach???

__________________________
In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

My question is about what we teach. Care to give a brief outline in a nutshell of the SDA interpretation of the major things mentioned? After all, if a non-Adventist accesses this site, he might want to know what the differences are. I also would struggle with the systematic presentation as it has been a long time since I've studied the subjects. I'm being lazy, but I also wouldn't know where to begin.

In a nutshell?

I don't know if that is possible!

I will give it a try almost completely from memory, however, one point at a time per post. This will allow for any discussion or clarification on each point.

First of all, the 70th week is not in the future as it is a connected part of the 70 week prophecy rather than being detached from it.

The 70th week, 7 days, or 7 years is all about the last week of the time for the nation of Israel to get their act together beginning with the ministry of Jesus Christ from the time he was baptized by John the Baptist in 27 AD to His crufixion in the midst of the week, 3 1/2 years after this baptism, to the stoning of Stephen another 3 1/2 years later in 34 AD. This 70th week was completely fulfilled, and on time.

__________________________
In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

I got some excellent material on both the "Left Behind/Secret Rapture" and the false interpretations regarding Israel in the prophecies of the final events by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi. I could send a copy to whoever has an interest in the material (no charge). My e-mail address is: azeniltogb@aol.com.
Thank you.

If you want to go directly to bro. Bacchiocchi's site where he has excellent material on this question (besides his defense of the Sabbath in the face of some former SDA pastors challenging our convictions on that) his address is:

www.biblicalperspectives.com

See especially his "Endtime Issues Newsletters" ## 76 on.

As I was studying Daniel 9 I came to the conclusion that the rapture tradition is one of the little horns attacks on the sanctuary doctrine. The 70 weeks starts the 2300 day prophecy. The 2300 day prophecy and the 70 weeks starts at the same time in 457 BC. All of the 70 week prophecy, as well as the 2300 day prophecy are dedicated to the sanctuary service. 457 to 27 AD where the anointing and washing of Jesus, the High Priest and the sacrifice take place. 3.5 years later in 30 AD the Lamb of God is sacrificed and the earthly sanctuary service come to an end. In 34 AD the gospel goes out to the gentiles. We have 1810 years left of the holy place ministry and when the 2300 day prophecy is completed the Most Holy Place ministry begins to operate.

In all this the goal of the little horn is to keep these truths, and the specificity of it, away from God's people. One of the earmarks of God's people is to be clear, and forceful on the sanctuary doctrine. This is the true fulfillment of the the prophecies in Daniel. Getting the dates correct is important but the revelation of Jesus in His ministry is more important yet.

I thought that I would share a bit of up to date information from other forrum's on what modern "rapturists" believe. From what I can gather no-one uses the term "secret" with the rapture anymore, just as they no longer use the term "once saved... always saved". The term now is "eternal security in Christ". Evidently these terms are much more up to date. This last term makes anyone who does not accept the teaching of "eternal security" appear to have a lack of trust in God's ability to save.

As far as the rapture goes here is something that I could hardly believe has any possibility of using the Bible for it's origin. I cut and pasted this from a very pro Pre-trib believer...

Quote:

The Millennium is the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth after He returns at the 2nd coming (Rev. 20:1-10). During this time, Jesus will set up His Kingdom in Jerusalem and people will continue to live on earth until the earth is destroyed at the end of the millennium (2 Pet. 3:10-13, Rev. 20:11). Many people wrongly believe that the earth is destroyed with Jesus returns. The 2nd coming is not the end of the world, but the end of the age--the end of this time period as we know it (Matt. 24:3).

Some people believe the Rapture and the Second Coming are the one and same event. But if that is true, we've got a big problem. The problem is…who will populate the Millennium? Consider the following:

How do multitudes of people get into the Millennium?
Only a few will enter into the millennial kingdom (Matt. 24:22)

"Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up year to year to worship the King." (Zech. 14:16). This verse indicates that most of the earth's population will be destroyed before Jesus returns.

By the end of the millennium, there will be multitudes on earth.

Rev. 20:8 tell us "the number of them will be like the sand of the sea."

If only a few people enter the millennium and there are multitudes by the end, how did all those people get there?

How do lost people get in the Millennium?
Only saved people enter the millennium.

At the Second Coming, only the sheep (saved people) enter into the kingdom, while the goats (lost people) are cast into hell. See Matt. 25:31-46.

By the end of the millennium, there will be many lost people.

At the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, Satan is loosed from the abyss and deceives the nations on the earth, who try to overthrow the throne of Jesus. These are obviously lost people. Zechariah 14:16-19 tell us that during the millennium people will be required to go to Jerusalem once a year to worship the King (Jesus). For those who refuse to go, punishment will come upon them.

Why would a saved person refuse to worship Jesus? Obviously, saved people will look forward to worshiping Jesus. But these are lost people. How did they get in the millennium?

The answer is simple. These are people born during the millennium!

How can people be born after the Second Coming?
Resurrected people can't beget children.

Jesus said, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." People with resurrected bodies won't be able to marry or have children. At the Rapture, every Christian will receive a resurrected body, therefore we can't be involved in repopulating the earth. So, the Rapture can't occur at the same time as the 2nd coming because no one would be available in natural bodies to repopulate the earth.

Children will be born during the millennium.

Only people in their natural, unresurrected bodies are able to have children. Because the earth's population will be drastically reduced because most people will be killed (or raptured) before Jesus returns, the earth will need to be repopulated. Jesus referred to the millennial kingdom on earth as the "regeneration" (see Matt. 19:28) which means "repopulation."

Many children will be born on earth during this 1,000 year of Christ (Zech. 8:1-5, Isa. 65:20-23, Ezek. 47:22, Rev. 20:7-9). Zechariah 14:16 tells us that those who refuse to worship Jesus in Jerusalem come from "the families of the earth," indicating these are the children and grandchildren of those who entered the millennium.

Who are the parents of these children?
The parents are those people saved after the Rapture who are alive at the Second Coming!

As a matter of fact, this is why the Rapture and the 2nd Coming of Christ cannot be the same event. If the Rapture happens at the same time as the Second Coming, there would be no people to repopulate the earth because all saved people would have resurrected bodies. We also know only saved people enter the millennium, so these believers must be those people saved after the Rapture who are alive at the Second Coming. God kept them alive through the Tribulation Period so they would be able to repopulate the earth during the millennium.

Therefore, the Rapture serves 2 purposes: 1) For the church to receive our resurrection bodies and home in heaven 2) To provide a group of people to populate the earth after the Second Coming.

Well there you have it...Right from your Bible... ... I have become friends with someone who used to believe this but has now accepted the Sabbath. He has been rejected by his Church and family. They view him as in rebellion against God and practically beg him to come back to Christ. To come out of this belief system is as much of a miracle as conversion.

Blessings
Forever His

Thank you, Forever His. That was really informative. Makes you shake your head, doesn't it?

My son told me he read the following story on the net. He said the site claimed it was true.

A husband and wife were driving on the highway (in the US somewhere?) when the wife said she could see Jesus and the disciples. The husband looked, and sure enough, there they were in front of them. The wife, believing it was the rapture, stood up through the sun roof in their car, with her arms up, ready to meet the Lord. She fell out, and was killed. What they saw was a display being carried on the back of a truck.

False beliefs can be dangerous for other reasons.