THE APOSTLE PAUL WARNED THE CHRISTIANS IN THESSALONICA THAT THE 'MYSTERY OF INIQUITY WAS ALREADY AT WORK IN HIS DAY.  HE HAD ALSO WARNED IN ACTS 20 THAT AFTER HIS DEPARTURE, 'GRIEVOUS WOLVES' WOULD ENTER INTO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 'SPEAKING PERVERSE THINGS' IN ORDER TO 'DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEMSELVES'.

IN SECOND THESSALONIANS HE PLAINLY DECLARED THAT  BEFORE THE 'DAY OF THE LORD' A GREAT FALLING AWAY FROM THE TRUE FAITH WOULD TAKE PLACE, AND ONCE IT SET IN A 'MAN OF SIN' WOULD BE REVEALED WHO WOULD EXALT HIMSELF ABOVE GOD, USURPING GOD'S AUTHORITY AND CLAIMING FOR HIMSELF THE PREROGATIVES OF GOD.  (2 THES. 2:3-4)  HE ALSO REMINDED THEM THAT SOMETHING WAS HOLDING BACK THIS APOSTASY AND THE RISE OF THE 'MAN OF SIN', BUT ONCE THE HINDERING FORCE WAS REMOVED, THESE WOULD BE REVEALED.

IT IS ABSURD TO SUGGEST, AS IS POPULAR IN OUR DAY, THAT PAUL BELIEVED THIS FALLING AWAY AND APPEARANCE OF THE MAN OF SIN TO BE 2000 PLUS YEARS INTO THE FUTURE. THE NEW TESTAMENT IS FULL OF WARNINGS TO SHOW THAT THE APOSTASY WOULD APPEAR SHORTLY AFTER THE APOSTLES DIED, AND WAS EVEN BEGINNING TO WORK IN THEIR DAY.

THE RESTRAINING FORCE WAS THE PAGAN ROMAN POWER WHICH KEPT THE APOSTATE ECCLESIASTICAL POWER IN CHECK.  ONCE REMOVED THE PAPACY QUICKLY ROSE TO POWER, FORMED A CHURCH/STATE EMPIRE, CLAIMED TO SPEAK FOR GOD HIMSELF AND PERSECUTED THE TRUE CHURCH VIA THE MOST CRUEL METHODS IMAGINABLE.

THE PAPACY FULLY CAME TO POWER AFTER THE FALL OF HERULI, THE OSTROGOTHS AND FINALLY THE EXARCHES IN 539 A.D.

BOTH THE APOSTLE JOHN AND THE PROPHET DANIEL SPOKE OF THIS BLASPHEMOUS 'ANTI-CHRIST'  WHICH WOULD RISE TO POWER AND PERSECUTE THE TRUE SAINTS FOR 1260 DAYS.

THE SAINTS OF THE DARK AGES AND REFORMATION UNDERSTOOD THESE 'DAYS' TO EQUAL YEARS, AND BELIEVED THAT PAPACY WOULD BE GIVEN POWER TO PERSECUTE THE TRUE CHURCH FOR 1260 YEARS BEGINNING IN 539 A.D. AND ENDING IN 1799.

THIS PROPHECY CAME TO PASS WITH THE GREATEST ACCURACY (SEE SECTION TO THE RIGHT).  HOWEVER, WHILE MANY HAD PROPERLY DISCERNED THAT THE ANTICHRIST (PAPACY) WOULD INDEED OPPRESS THE TRUE SAINTS FOR 1260 YEARS, MANY FAILED TO DISCERN THAT THIS WOULD SIMPLY FORESHADOW A LITERAL 1260 DAY (31/2 YEAR) PERIOD AT THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE.

GOD USED THIS MISUNDERSTANDING TO BRING ABOUT THE LARGEST WAVE OF EVANGELISM AND THE GREATEST PERIOD OF BIBLE STUDY THE WORLD HAD EVER KNOWN

IN 17998 NAPOLEON CAPTURED POPE PIOUS VI AND TOOK HIM PRISONER IN CHAINS.  THE POPE WOULD DIE IN PRISON THE FOLLOWING YEAR. VIOLENT REVOLUTIONS THROUGHOUT EUROPE SHORTLY AFTER THREW OFF PAPAL POWER. THE REFORMATION HAD TAKEN A FOOTHOLD AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY WAS INCREASING.  THE PROPHECY OF THE 1260DAYS  HAD COME TO PASS WITH THE MOST PRECISE ACCURACY.

THE EXPIRATION OF THE 1260 YEARS, AND THE APPARENT OVERTHROW OF THE PAPACY UNLEASHED THE GREATEST WAVE OF EVANGELISM AND BIBLE STUDY THE WORLD HAD EVER KNOWN.

MANY TURNED THEIR ATTENTION TO PROPHECIES IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL WHICH SPOKE OF TWO MORE TIME PERIODS WHICH MOST BELIEVED WOULD FOLLOW THE OVERTHROW OF THE PAPACY IN 1799. THESE WERE PERIODS OF 3O DAYS, AND THEN A FINAL 45 DAYS.  BELIEVING THESE TO BE YEARS AS WELL, MANY WERE IN EXPECTATION OF THE RETURN OF CHRIST AT ANY TIME WITH A DATE NO LATER THAN 1874 (1799+30+45).  THESE TIME PROPHECIES GAVE RISE TO THE GREAT ADVENTIST MOVEMENT OF THE 1800'S.

WHAT THEY FAILED TO REALIZE IS THAT THE 1260 'DAYS' OF SCRIPTURE ARE GIVEN AS BOTH TYPE AND ANTI-TYPE. IN REVELATION 12 THE DRAGON PERSECUTED THE WOMAN FOR 1260 DAYS (YEARS FROM 539-1799) .  IT WAS THEN ANGRY AND WENT ON TO MAKE WAR WITH 'THE REMNANT OF HER SEED (THE LAST REMNANTS OF TRUE BELIEVERS STILL FAITHFUL DURING THE CONSUMMATION AT THE END OF THE LUKEWARM LAODICEAN CHURCH AGE). IT IS IN THIS CONSUMMATION THAT THE TIME PROPHECIES OF DANIEL FIND THEIR ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT AND WILL TRANSPIRE AS A LITERAL 1260 DAYS, FOLLOWED BY A PERIOD OF 30, AND A FINAL PERIOD OF 45. (SEE BELOW)

THOSE PATIENTLY WAITING OUT THE 75 YEARS AFTER 1799 FOR THE RETURN OF THEIR SAVIOR CONSTITUTE THE GREAT PHILADELPHIA CHURCH AGE; THE ONLY ONE FOR WHICH THERE WAS NO REBUKE GIVEN.  BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITHFULNESS JESUS PROMISED THEM; 'BECAUSE THOU HAST KEPT THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE, I WILL ALSO KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION, WHICH SHALL COME UPON ALL THE WORLD TO TRY THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH.'

HENCE THE PHILADELPHIA AGE PASSED WITHOUT SEEING THE GREAT COMING PERSECUTION, TRIBULATION, AND THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE IN WHICH THE WRATH OF GOD IS TO BE POURED OUT UPON THE EARTH.  THE LAODICEAN CHURCH, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FAITHFUL REMNANT OF OVER COMERS, BEING THE LAST UNFAITHFUL GENERATION, WILL NOT ESCAPE THIS JUDGMENT

THE BOOK OF REVELATION TALKS ABOUT THE 'PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS'.  TRUE BELIEVERS THROUGHOUT THE AGES HAVE WAITED PATIENTLY FOR THE LONG AGO PROMISED RETURN OF THE SAVIOR.  THE PROPHET DANIEL ALSO MENTIONS THIS 'PATIENCE' IN CHAPTER 12, VERSE 12 : 'BLESSED IS HE WHO WAITETH AND COMETH TO THE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND FIVE AND THIRTY DAYS.'

AS WE NOTED ABOVE, THE SAINTS OF THE REFORMATION BELIEVED THAT AFTER 1799 THEY HAD ENTERED INTO THIS FINAL PERIOD OF WAITING FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS.  THE GREAT ADVENTIST AWAKING WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF THESE INTERPRETATIONS OF DANIEL'S TIME PROPHECIES. NEARLY EVERY CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION OF THAT TIME BELIEVED JESUS WOULD RETURN SHORTLY; CERTAINLY BY THE END OF DANIEL'S 1335 'DAYS' (OR YEARS AS THEY UNDERSTOOD THEM), AT WHICH POINT THEY WOULD REACH THIS BLESSED STATE THE PROPHET SPOKE OF.  THEIR EXPECTATION OF THE PROPHECY OF 1260 DAYS HAD CAME TO PASS EXACTLY HOW THEY HAD PLANNED.  HOW COULD THEY BE MISTAKEN REGARDING THE REST OF THESE TIME PROPHECIES?

WHEN JESUS FAILED TO RETURN AT THE TIME MANY PREDICTED THERE WAS GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT AND MUCH DISILLUSIONMENT. UNFORTUNATELY SOME, RATHER THAN ADMITTING THAT THEIR EXPECTATIONS MUST HAVE BEEN FAULTY BEGAN ADVOCATING MANY STRANGE DOCTRINES. FOR EXAMPLE SOME BELIEVED JESUS HAD RETURNED, ONLY INVISIBLY. OTHERS BELIEVED A SECRET JUDGMENT HAD BEGUN IN HEAVEN.

WHAT HAD GONE WRONG? WE ANSWER THAT ON GOD'S CLOCK, NOTHING HAD GONE 'WRONG'.  THE FALL OF THE PAPACY, GREATER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, THE PROLIFERATION OF BIBLES AND THE EXPECTATION THAT JESUS WOULD SOON RETURN ALL COMBINED TO UNLEASH THE GREATEST PERIOD OF EVANGELISM AND BIBLE STUDY THE WORLD HAD EVER KNOWN. AND IT WAS GOD'S PLAN TO HAVE IT SO.  GOD, BY REMOVING THE BARRIERS OF PERSECUTION, SET BEFORE THIS 'PHILADELPHIA CHURCH AGE (1739-1874) AN 'OPEN DOOR WHICH NO MAN COULD SHUT'. 

THEIR EXPECTATIONS REGARDING THE 1335 DAYS OF DANIEL 12 HAD INDEED BEEN MISGUIDED AS HISTORY HAS PROVED.  HOWEVER, NEVER WAS THERE A GENERATION OF BELIEVERS IN GREATER EXPECTATION AND LONGING FOR THE RETURN OF THEIR SAVIOR, AND GOD RECOGNIZED THIS.  BECAUSE OF THIS HE TELLS THE PHILADELPHIA BELIEVERS THAT BECAUSE THEY HAD KEPT THE 'WORD OF HIS PATIENCE'; THAT IS, PATIENTLY WAITING OUT WHAT THEY BELIEVED TO BE THAT LAST PERIOD BEFORE HIS RETURN, THAT HE WOULD ALSO KEEP THEM FROM A GREAT HOUR OF JUDGMENT WHICH WAS COMING UPON ALL THE EARTH.

THESE BELIEVERS MAY NOT HAVE LIVED TO SEE THE RETURN OF THEIR SAVIOR, BUT THEY DID INDEED REACH A BLESSED STATE IN THAT THEY WERE SPARED THE CURRENT LUKEWARM CHURCH AGE, THE COMING GREAT TRIBULATION, PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS, AND THE WRATH OF GOD WHICH IS TO BE POURED OUT UPON THE EARTH JUST BEFORE JESUS RETURNS.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE CHURCH AGE TO FOLLOW: THE LAODICEAN - OUR CURRENT AGE. BECAUSE OUR GENERATION IS LUKEWARM TOWARD GOD, AND NOT WAITING IN PATIENT EXPECTATION OF JESUS' RETURN, THEY WILL BE MADE TO ENDURE THESE DREADFUL EVENTS WHICH WILL TRANSPIRE IN A LITERAL 1335 DAYS AT THE END OF THE AGE.

ONLY A FAITHFUL REMNANT OF BELIEVERS IN OUR CURRENT CHURCH AGE WILL ESCAPE THESE JUDGMENTS.  THE REST WILL GO THROUGH THEM IN ORDER TO TRY TO AND PURIFY THEM IN PREPARATION FOR THEIR SAVIORS RETURN.
DAN 12:10

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 7:25

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
Dan 12:7

75 YEARS OF PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

THE PHILA-DELPHIA CHURCH AGE PASSES AND ITS GENER-ATION SLEEPS IN DEATH WITHOUT HAVING TO EXPERIENCE THE 'HOUR OF TEMPTATION' WHICH IS COMING UPON THE EARTH.
REV 3:10

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And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Dan 12:11

Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Dan 12:12
 

AND THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN: MICHAEL AND HIS ANGELS FOUGHT AGAINST THE DRAGON; AND THE DRAGON FOUGHT AND HIS ANGELS, AND PREVAILED NOT;  NEITHER WAS THEIR PLACE FOUND ANY MORE IN HEAVEN.  AND THE GREAT DRAGON WAS CAST OUT, THAT OLD SERPENT, CALLED THE DEVIL, AND SATAN, WHICH DECEIVETH THE WHOLE WORLD: HE WAS CAST INTO THE EARTH, AND HIS ANGELS WERE CAST WITH HIM.
REV  12:8-9

AND WHEN THE DRAGON SAW THAT HE WAS CAST UNTO THE EARTH, HE PERSECUTED THE WOMAN WHICH BROUGHT FORTH THE MAN CHILD.
REV 12:13 

AND TO THE WOMAN WERE GIVEN TWO GREAT WINGS OF AN EAGLE, THAT SHE MIGHT FLY INTO THE WILDERNESS, INTO HER PLACE, WHERE SHE IS NOURISHED FOR A TIME, TIMES AND HALF A TIME, FROM THE FACE OF THE SERPENT.
REV 12:14

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.
REV 12:6 

AND THE DRAGON WAS WROTH WITH THE WOMAN, AND WENT TO MAKE WAR WITH THE REMNANT OF HER SEED, WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST.
REV 12:17

AND THE SERPENT CAST OUT OF HIS MOUTH WATER AS A FLOOD AFTER THE WOMAN, THAT HE MIGHT CAUSE HER TO BE CARRIED AWAY OF THE FLOOD.
REV 1215

AND THE EARTH HELPED THE WOMAN, AND THE EARTH OPENED HER MOUTH, AND SWALLOWED UP THE FLOOD WHICH THE DRAGON CAST OUT OF HIS MOUTH. =====>
REV 12:16

THAT THE PAPACY WAS THE PREDICTED 'MAN OF SIN' AND 'ANTI-CHRIST' WAS THE CONVICTION OF PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS FOR CENTURIES.  THE REFORMERS HELD THIS TRUTH AS SELF EVIDENT; THAT THE PAPACY WAS TO OPPRESS THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD AND DRIVE IT INTO A 'WILDERNESS' CONDITION FOR 1260 YEARS.  THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, NOT WANTING THIS TRUTH TO BE MADE KNOWN, ATTEMPTED TO SILENCE THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS BY SHEER FORCE.  HOWEVER, GOD'S CLOCK WOULD PROCEED ON SCHEDULE.  IN 1799 THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE BEGAN TO COLLAPSE, AND WITH IT THE INFLUENCE OF THE PAPACY; AT LEAST TEMPORARILY.

HOWEVER, AS EARLY AS THE 16TH CENTURY, AT THE VERY START OF THE REFORMATION, THE CHURCH OF ROME HAD RECOGNIZED THE DANGER OF ALLOWING ITSELF TO BE REVEALED AS THE 'ANTICHRIST.  IT HAD DECIDED ON A TWO-FRONTED ASSAULT ON THE FLEDGLING PROTESTANT MOVEMENT.  ONE, AS MENTIONED ABOVE WOULD BE TO ATTEMPT TO CRUSH THE REFORMATION BY SHEER FORCE - THE HORRIFIC SLAUGHTER OF UNTOLD THOUSANDS OF 'HERETICS'.  THE SECOND FRONT WOULD BE MORE SUBTLE; TO PROMOTE AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION TO THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND THUS 'PROVE' THAT IT COULD NOT BE THE PREDICTED 'MAN OF SIN' AND 'ANTI-CHRIST'.

IN 1590, A JESUIT PRIEST NAMED RIBERA PUBLISHED THIS ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION.  IN HIS WORK, HE CLAIMED THAT REVELATION 12 HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, BUT WOULD BE FULFILLED IN THE DISTANT FUTURE.  ADDITIONALLY HE SET FORTH THE IDEA THAT THE ANTICHRIST COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE FULFILLED BY THE PAPACY AS A SYSTEM, BUT THAT IT WOULD BE A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL IN THE FUTURE WHO WOULD UNITE THE WORLD UNDER ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT.  THIS VIEW OF PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION IS KNOWN AS THE FUTURIST SCHOOL.

AT THE END OF THE 1335 YEARS SHOWN ABOVE, AND WITH THE PASSING OF THE PHILADELPHIA CHURCH AGE THE EXPECTATION OF CHRIST'S IMMINENT RETURN BEGAN TO WANE. MANY BEGAN TO REASON THAT THE HISTORICIST SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION (THAT THE PAPACY WOULD RULE FOR 1260 YEARS FOLLOWED SHORTLY AFTER BY CHRIST'S RETURN) MUST HAVE BEEN WAY OFF. AS EARLY AS THE 1830'S A MAN NAMED JOHN NELSON DARBY BEGAN VIGOROUSLY PROMOTING THE FUTURIST SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION, AS WELL AS THE IDEA OF A 'SECRET RAPTURE'; THE TEACHING THAT CHRISTIANS WOULD BE MIRACULOUSLY TAKEN OFF THE EARTH IN A SEPARATE EVENT SEVEN YEARS BEFORE THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

AS THE PHILADELPHIA AGE PASSED AND THE NEW CENTURY DAWNED, THIS VIEWPOINT GAINED A STRONG FOOTHOLD AND BECAME WIDELY POPULAR WHEN PUBLISHED IN THE NOTES OF THE SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE (1909).  MANY WERE NOT (AND TO THIS DAY ARE NOT) AWARE THAT THIS 'NEW' TEACHING WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A REWORKED VERSION OF WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAD PUBLISHED OVER 300 YEARS EARLIER TO SILENCE THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS.  WHAT THEY HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO BY SHEER FORCE AND PERSECUTION, THEY WERE ABLE TO DO BY INSIDIOUS FALSE TEACHING: A FALSE TEACHING WHICH IN OUR DAY HAS BECOME THE STANDARD PROPHETICAL SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION FOR ALMOST ALL OF CHRISTENDOM.

NONE OF THE MAJOR 'CELEBRITY' PROPHECY TEACHERS OF OUR DAY BELIEVE THAT THE PAPACY IS THE 'ANTI-CHRIST'.  IN FACT, IT SEEMS THEY GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HEAP PRAISE UPON THE CHURCH OF ROME WHENEVER THEY CAN. IN DOING SO THEY HAVE BETRAYED THE BLOOD OF THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS WHO WERE FOR CENTURIES SLAIN BY THIS BLASPHEMOUS, VILE, COUNTERFEIT OF CHRIST'S TRUE CHURCH.

HAVE YOU BEEN DECEIVED? THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN ONE FINAL FORM IS PROPHESIED TO RISE AGAIN IN THE LAST DAYS, AND ONCE AGAIN UNLEASH A WAVE OF PERSECUTION AGAINST THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD; THIS TIME ONE THE LIKES OF WHICH THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN.  OUR PROPHECY TEACHERS HAVE ERRED GREATLY.  THEY HAVE US LOOKING FOR THE WRONG ANTICHRIST, AND FOR A RAPTURE WHICH IS NOWHERE FOUND IN SCRIPTURE.  NOTHING COULD BE MORE TRUE OF OUR GENERATION THAN THE WORDS OF OUR SAVIOR:
 

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
MATT 24:48:51

LOOK CLOSELY AT THE ABOVE CHURCH AGES. UP UNTIL THE 1800'S WHEN SETTLERS FOUND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE NEW WORLD, NOT ONE GENERATION ESCAPED PERSECUTION.  THE TEACHING OF THE SECRET RAPTURE HAS HAD DEVASTATING EFFECTS UPON THE BODY OF CHRIST.  THE TEACHING BASICALLY IS THAT IT MAKES NO REAL DIFFERENCE HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOU WILL ESCAPE THE COMING GREAT TRIBULATION BY BEING MIRACULOUSLY CAUGHT UP TO HEAVEN BEFORE IT BEGINS. BY ITS VERY DEFINITION IT CAUSES CHRISTIANS TO STOP LOOKING FOR THE RETURN OF CHRIST AND LOOK INSTEAD FOR THIS EVENT WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO PROCEED IT BY SEVEN YEARS. IT HAS, MORE THAN ANY OTHER DOCTRINE, LULLED THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST TO SLEEP AND HAS PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN CAUSING THE COMPLACENCY OF THE LAODICEAN CHURCH AGE.  WE DARE NOT FORGET THE HISTORY OF OUR BRETHREN AND THE CENTURIES OF PERSECUTION THEY ENDURED. BUT WE HAVE; COULD THERE BE ANY MORE DANGEROUS TEACHING?  LET US NOT BE DECEIVED. LET US NOT BETRAY THE BLOOD OF THOUSANDS OF OUR BRETHREN WHO WERE SLAIN BY THE GREAT WHORE OF BABYLON. LET US ONCE AGAIN WAKE UP AND LIVE IN EXPECTATION OF THE RETURN OF OUR SAVIOR LEST HE COME AND FIND US SLEEPING.