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Eschatology 201 Guidelines

This area of the forum is primarily for Christian theists to discuss orthodox views of Eschatology. Other theist participation is welcome within that framework, but only within orthodoxy. Posts from nontheists that do not promote atheism or seek to undermine the faith of others will be permitted at the Moderator's discretion - such posters should contact the area moderators before posting.


Without turning this forum into a 'hill of foreskins' (Joshua 5:3), I believe we can still have fun with this 'sensitive' topic.

However, don't be misled, dispensationalism has only partly to do with circumcision issues. So, let's not forget about Innocence, Conscience, Promises, Kingdoms and so on.

End time -isms within orthodox Christianity also discussed here. Clearly unorthodox doctrines, such as those advocating "pantelism/full preterism/Neo-Hymenaeanism" or the denial of any essential of the historic Christian faith are not permitted in this section but can be discussed in Comparative Religions 101 without restriction. Any such threads, as well as any that within the moderator's discretions fall outside mainstream evangelical belief, will be moved to the appropriate area.

Millennialism- post-, pre- a-

Futurism, Historicism, Idealism, and Preterism, or just your garden variety Zionism.

From the tribulation to the anichrist. Whether your tastes run from Gary DeMar to Tim LaHaye or anywhere in between, your input is welcome here.

OK folks, let's roll!

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anti-Christs

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  • anti-Christs

    In 1 John 2:18, "
    Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.", there is the implication that there will be many antichrists (little-a) before The Antichrist (big A) comes. The analogy I came up with is just like the prophets proclaimed the coming of Christ, the antichrists proclaim the coming of The Antichrist.

    I agree with David Jeremiah that pinning the name on The Antichrist is not worth the effort. But is it worth considering the antichrists and the message they are bringing and what they tell of the future The Antichrist?

    "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

    "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

  • #2
    The way I interpret the practical implications of this verse (and I don't claim to be right), if we look out for the small a antichrists and utilize spiritual warfare to push back against them, and handle them all in that matter, we will be prepared to handle the capital A Antichrist. That way, it doesn't matter if we suss out his specific identity. We will be ready either way.
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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    • #3
      Here is the way 2nd-century Christian writing Shepherd of Hermas described the false and lying prophets:

      COMMAND 11
      That the spirits and prophets are to be tried by their works; and of a two-fold spirit.

      1. He showed me certain men sitting upon benches, and one sitting in a chair, and he said to me, Do you see those sitting upon the benches? Sir, I said, I see them. He answered, They are the faithful, and he who sits in the chair is an earthly spirit.
      2. For he does not come into the assembly of the faithful, but avoids it. But he joins himself to the doubtful and empty, and prophesies to them in corners and hidden places, and pleases them by speaking according to all the desires of their hearts.
      3. For he, placing himself among empty vessels, is not broken, but the one fits the other. But when he comes into the company of just men who have the Spirit of God in them, and they pray to the Lord, that man is emptied because that earthly spirit flees from him, and he becomes mute and cannot speak anything.
      4. As if in a storehouse you will stop up wine or oil, and among those vessels will place an empty jar, and will afterwards come to open it, you will find it as empty as when you stopped it up; so these empty prophets, when they come among the spirits of the just, are found to be such as they came.
      5. [New paragraph in the oldest extant manuscript] I said, How then will a man be able to discern them? Consider what I am going to say considering both kinds of men, and as I speak to you so will you prove the prophet of God, and the false prophet.
      6. And first test the man who has the spirit of God, because the spirit which is from above is humble and quiet, and departs from all wickedness and the vain desires of the present world, and makes himself more humble than all men, and answers to none when he is asked, nor to every one singly: for the Spirit of God does not speak to a man when he wants, but when God pleases.
      7. When therefore a man who has the Spirit of God will come into the church of the righteous who have the faith of God, and they pray to the Lord, then the holy angel of God fills that man with the blessed Spirit, and he speaks in the congregation as he is moved of God.
      8. Thus therefore is the Spirit of God known, because whoever speaks by the Spirit of God, speaks as the Lord will.
      9. Hear now concerning the earthly spirit, which is empty and foolish, and without virtue. First of all, the man who is supposed to have the Spirit, whereas he does not in reality, exalts himself and desires to have the first seat, and is wicked and full of words.
      10. And spends his time in pleasure and in all manner of voluptuousness, and receives the reward of his divination, which if he does not receive, he does not divine.
      11. Should the Spirit of God receive reward to divine? It is not becoming for a prophet of God to do so.
      12. Thus you see the life of each of these kind of prophets. Therefore prove that man by his life and works, who says that he has the Holy Spirit. And believe the Spirit which comes from God, and has power as such. But do not believe the earthly and empty spirit, which is from the devil, in whom there is no faith nor virtue.
      13. Hear now the similitude which I am about to speak to you. Take a stone and throw it up towards heaven, or take a spout of water and mount it upward, and see if you can reach to heaven.
      14. Sir, I said, how can this be done? For neither of those things which you have mentioned is possible. And he answered, Therefore as these things cannot be done, so is the earthly spirit without virtue, and without effect.
      15. Understand further the power that comes from above in this similitude. The grains of hail that drop down are exceedingly small, and yet when they fall upon the head of a man, how do they cause pain to it?
      16. And again, consider the droppings off a house, how the little drops falling upon the earth work a hollow in the stones.
      17. So in like manner the least things which come from above, and fall upon the earth, have great force. Therefore join yourself to this Spirit who has the power, and depart from the other which is empty.
      Compare with: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1 John 4:1)
      Last edited by eschaton; 03-16-2020, 10:23 AM. Reason: emphasis
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      • #4
        Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
        The way I interpret the practical implications of this verse (and I don't claim to be right), if we look out for the small a antichrists and utilize spiritual warfare to push back against them, and handle them all in that matter, we will be prepared to handle the capital A Antichrist. That way, it doesn't matter if we suss out his specific identity. We will be ready either way.
        That's good.
        "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

        "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

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