This is one by the same author, Romanism
and a Reformation, by Grattan Guinness, also out
of print but sometimes more obtainable as it
was published in this country by Arnold Publishing
Association, Boston, Massachusetts.
This little book, The Kingdom and the Enterprise
by H.
Ardron, which you can get by writing to
Britain for it.
But here is a nice little book, actually
I discovered it last year, in this country.
The Great Prophecies of the Bible by Ralph
Woodrow, and he, Ralph Woodrow,
Great Prophecies of the Bible, Box 124, Riverside,
California, 92502.
The Great Prophecies of the Bible by Ralph
Woodrow, Box 124, Riverside, California, 92502.
Published by the Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association Incorporated,
because this kind of book is not popular,
you understand.
What I'm teaching you is not popular, people
don't like to hear these things.
Hmm?
I think that my copy was marked only
220.
Yeah, you can get three, three copies for
six dollars, and they're thoroughly worth it, tremendous
amount of information there.
He's an amillennialist, I don't agree with him
on that point, but nearly everything else I'm
very happy with him.
An amillennialist.
That is, he doesn't believe there'll be a
millennium, as far
as I can tell.
Pardon?
I think, I think I'm right in saying
that.
I haven't checked up, but I don't think
he's a...
Yes, I think our brethren who don't agree
with the millennium are wrong.
What they say is it's another picture of
the present age.
But I don't think they have enough evidence
for that.
I agree with 95% of what he
says, but I don't agree with him on
the millennium.
None of us has all the answers, you
know.
Could I tell you where I'm wrong, so
you can ignore it?
I never am wrong.
Now then, question.
Oh, have I...
No, just a minute.
That one.
That's the trouble, isn't it?
Yeah.
Torch of the Testimony by John Kennedy is
quite a reasonable history book.
Not clear on the points I've been making,
but it's a good deal of matter there.
You may order from Testimony Book Ministry, West
Bethesda Bridge, Washington, DC.
Well, where's Nancy?
Oh, there you are.
I'm sorry that I made up my notes,
but I couldn't get them to you today.
But yes, if you can do them in
the meantime, then you'll have all this information
on your sheet by next week.
Now then, before I say any more, any
burning questions that need answering?
Yes, sir?
Well, just a question.
Most unpopular.
People much prefer to make guesses about the
future than study history.
Yes, yes.
It's a fact.
If I got up and shouted loudly enough
with big placards and charts, about how the
church goes up and how somebody else comes
down and, you know, all that, thousands of
folks would say, wonderful truth, just because it's...
there's no fact in it.
But this is really looking back into the
years, and it takes some studying.
Moreover, you see, what happened was this.
These truths were rich, were widely known, and
were the basis of the Reformation.
But the Roman Catholic Church began a counter
-Reformation with the Jesuits, who were devoted servants
of the papacy.
And they tried several ways to bring back
the people of Europe to the church.
One of their ways was by education, another
by persecution, and another by the grossest, such
gross diplomacy that they were turned out of
every country in Europe for political intrigue.
And also, they had to get up some
explanation of Revelation, because the Bible had gone
ahead of them.
They couldn't stop it.
So they had to get an explanation for
it.
So in my first introduction to these things,
in my little allegory, I mentioned their names.
A Jesuit, Alcazar, first taught the idea that
everything in Revelation was fulfilled in the days
of pagan Rome.
And he didn't get a lot of success
among the evangelicals, so a Jesuit named Remora
put it all in the future, and was
the father of our futurist view.
His view lay dormant for a couple hundred
years, until about 1840, when there was the
terrible Millerite fiasco in this country.
Some people had been too hot on date
-setting and determined that Christ was going to
come in 1844.
And when the whole thing blew up and
nothing happened, the folk were looking for a
way out.
Futurism offered a way out.
And Darby, and Jane Darby, and Edward Irving,
and others took it.
It was soon seen as the answer.
And all the cunning of that Jesuit has
had its fruit in lots of extraordinary literature
now published.
It all came from that Jesuit.
I think that the Scripture indicates that he
begins at the time of the overthrow of
old Rome, and he continues until the brightness
of Christ's appearing to Thessalonians 2.
So, if the period had been a short
period, the Revelation period, it would have been
one person, because it's so written that it
could have been one person.
But as we look back and see it
spreading over the centuries, we see it was
indeed a dynasty in which the same characteristics
have marked that dynasty all the way down
through the years.
No.
No, he is a man of his...
the son of perdition.
That is, he's Judas-like.
Judas had his own personality.
But if you read...
Have you read this one, which gives you
a summary of the deeds of the popes?
I hope somebody has.
Has anyone read that section on Church history?
One or two or three.
Two, if you've got it, read it.
It won't take you ever so long.
It's a very brief summary, and it's not
half as horrible as the reality.
But it's bad enough to turn you sick.
The anti-Christian spirit is there, as it
was already in the church in John's day.
And wherever men rise to unwarranted power, the
anti-Christian spirit is almost sure to manifest
itself.
Yes.
Antichrist was originally to arise out of the
falling away.
And that's the way it goes.
Yes.
Amen.
Yes.
Well, I'm glad that some of you are,
at any rate, studying the book directly.
And even though it doesn't all add up
and make sense at the first time, even
though your first guess is maybe a bit
off, at least you can proceed cautiously.
Yes.
If it is true
that they renounce their infallibility relationship to the
early church, and put their trust in Jesus
Christ alone for salvation, then immediately they're just
like you and me.
It's not the garment you wear, it's what's
in your heart that makes the antichrist.
The phrase, consumed by the spirit of his
mouth and destroyed by the brightness of his
appearing, might even include a manifestation of Christ
to the Pope.
Just a possibility.
Not of course under great pressure, and there's
no doubt that God is moving mightily in
the Catholic Church in these days, to bring
light in.
We are near the end of the age.
The spirit of his mouth has been consuming
the antichristian thing, as 2 Thessalonians 2 said
it would, ever since the Reformation.
There has been this consumption.
In 1870, for instance, the Pope lost all
his historical states.
He ceased to be a king in Europe.
1870.
Yes, you're
right.
All right, anyone else?
Questions?
Well, I have an idea that happens when
Jesus comes.
The Thessalonian epistle is full of the second
coming, isn't it?
Chapter 1, verse 10.
Chapter 2, verse 19.
Chapter 3, verse 13.
Chapter 4, from verse 14 to the end.
And chapter 5, verse 2.
So it's full of the second coming.
It's the epistle which has more about the
second coming than any other.
So, if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven,
with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and the trump of God, the dead
in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.
So shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with his words.
Well, it hasn't happened yet.
But, chapter 5.
Chapter 5, verse 1.
But of the times and the seasons brethren,
ye have no need that I write unto
you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night.
For when they shall say peace and safety,
which they're saying now, then sudden destruction cometh
upon them, as travel upon a woman with
child, and they shall not escape.
But ye brethren are not in darkness, that
that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and
the children of the day.
We are not of the night, nor of
darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do others,
but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night.
They that be drunken are drunken in the
night.
But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith
and love, and for an helmet the hope
of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for us.
That whether we wake or sleep, we should
live together with him.
So he tells us that the day will
come as a thief in the night.
But those of us who are in touch
with the Lord, will become increasingly aware of
the approaching of that day.
In the same way that the church in
Jerusalem was made aware of the destruction coming
nigh, when the army, when the first Roman
army surrounded the city.
They got up and left, and the Lord
gave them nearly three years before the army
returned.
He gave them plenty of warning.
And I'm sure that as we see the
horizon darkening, we shall be increasingly alerted to
the nearness of his coming.
We meet him in the air, but that
doesn't say that he doesn't come, that we
don't come down with him right away.
You know, when the...
The Bible doesn't tell us.
It's not there, but it's only done by
manipulating Daniel's seventy week and breaking the seventieth
week off, and turning it from Christ to
Antichrist, and everything else, and dropping Calvary in
the gap, and all that kind of thing.
It's an extraordinary distortion of Scripture which produces
that result.
And does it say where it's held?
I don't...
It says, I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it...
Well now then, there's a little bit of
sorting out here.
Yes, that's right.
All right, we'll have a look at New
Jerusalem another time.
Yes, it looks to be before, unless there's
an overlap of prophecy here.
But it does look as though the great
white throne is before New Jerusalem comes down,
having the glory of God.
There's not a chronology of these things opened
up to us, just the reality of the
judgment.
I think the king will set up the
fullness of his kingdom when he comes, and
overthrows his foes.
Yes, yes, I think so.
But that's only what I think.
I'm not sure if I can mass the
Scriptures together to prove it, but I can...
I'm just thinking now of the virgins who
went out to meet the bridegroom, you remember,
and from the stories, obviously they went out
to meet him, and immediately came back with
him.
And I think that's, that's what the Scripture
seems to suggest.
There may be a time interval, but it's
not shown in the Scripture anyway.
Back row.
Yes, now
according to this after, the resurrection is in
chapter 20, and early in chapter 20, up
to verse 10, and then the great white
throne afterwards, the millennium in chapter 20.
Yes, yes, quite a lot.
Yes, that's what, that's a post-millennial viewpoint.
The idea is the Church will bring in
the millennium, and after that will come the
end of the world.
Well, I'm not very good at forecasting the
future.
But I'll, I can, I've had a look
at both viewpoints.
I think that the, the concept that these
things happen, that after the Lord comes to
earth, he takes up his kingdom and reigns,
I think that's the most likely one.
Especially as it is underlined in the parable
of the pounds and the talents, where the
king leaves his servants in charge, and then
he comes back to rule, and he rewards
his servants with divided governments in his territory.
And our Lord is obviously using this as
a picture of his absence and his coming
kingdom.
So I think that's, that's likely.
I mean, he knows this, but if we
walk with the Lord, we fear it will
give us discernment, you know, to know when
the things are happening.
So there's really no need.
It's only a matter of curiosity, really, isn't
it?
But as one Thessalonian says, that day shall
not overtake you.
You keep close to the Lord, and you'll
know.
Yes?
They will have
to go through it.
Well, we may not have to go through
it, but certainly some Christians are going through
it.
I mean, say, if you would, say, come
over to one of my friends in Chad,
buried up to their necks, you know, while
the ants are coming at them, to say,
well, cheer up, brother, we won't go through
the tribulation.
It wouldn't have much point.
Yes.
Those who have...
No, the tribulation of Revelation 7 that we
read about is very obviously a tribulation of
those who have loved the Lord Jesus, and
have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb, and they
have suffered for him.
It is a martyr tribulation.
But the tribulation of Matthew 24 is not
the same.
It doesn't cover all in the world.
It just covers Jerusalem.
And you can get away from that one
by fleeing to the hills of Judea.
But in this great tribulation, if you stand
true, you may find yourself in it.
And I suggest to you that Revelation 7
covers the whole church age.
That's why it is called great.
It includes the martyrs under Rome.
It includes the 50 million of martyrs who
have suffered under the Roman church.
It includes those in China who are suffering
today, and in other parts of the world.
It includes them all.
The great tribulation which takes them all in.
There's no time period attached to it.
Did you notice that when we read Revelation
7?
No time period.
You'll have difficulty in finding that in scripture.
You can find it in books, but not
in scripture.
And I want to get people back to
the Bible.
I think there's much that you say is
good and worthy of closer investigation.
I'm rather doubtful if the three and a
half years is literal though.
Just like Daniel's 70 weeks, there's probably a
year-day scale attached to it.
And that's why much of it has been
fulfilled in history.
But we'll look at it next week.
Do you mind if I defer the answer
till next week?
Well, thank you.
I haven't been able to finish my story.
But that's worthwhile answering those few questions.
I really will come up with the answer
next week for that one.
All right.
Well, the nigger in the woodpile is the
fellow who put a gap in the 70
weeks.
I assure you there is no gap in
God's 70 weeks.
God does not give a time measure and
then play tricks with it like that.
If you had an alarm clock set to
go off at seven o'clock and it
broke down at five minutes to seven, what
would you think of it?
And if Daniel's 70 weeks broke off at
the end of the 69th, whatever kind of
revelation would that be?
Ridiculous.
All right.
Let me give you briefly what they are.
The pre-trib rapture theory is that Antichrist,
who's already hanging around and preparing to make
a covenant with the Jews, doesn't come into
manifestation until the church is caught up.
And the church will be in the air
for three and a half years, halfway between
here and heaven.
And the judgment seat of Christ will take
place.
And at the end of that time, the
church will come back with him when he
deals with his foes.
And at that time, he will usher in
his millennial reign, at the end of which,
at the end of a thousand years, will
come the great judgment of the nations.
The mid-trib raptures, there are half a
dozen of them.
Some think there are seven raptures, some think
there are three, some think there are two.
But they have an idea that those who
are really especially holy, or belong to certain
societies, will be caught up in the midst
of the trouble.
And the Lord will bring them out of
it and leave the rest to be purified
by suffering.
The post-trib view is that the whole
church goes right through the whole tribulation, and
Christ doesn't come until the end of it.
I differ from all those in that I
belong to the old-fashioned or Protestant view,
in which I say that indeed he does
not come until the end of the tribulation,
but the tribulation is a much longer period,
a symbolic period, covering a great section of
the church age.
I doubt it.
Not as far as the...
I believe the world will be in terrific
trouble, but I don't think that there is
a persecution particularly and specifically aimed at Christians.
Now, as far as I can see, you
may think that the Lord coming is drawing
nigh.
I might be wrong, but I don't see
any indication in Scripture.
Does that answer the question?
That we may expect him very soon.
I think now we need to look at
Israel.
Israel will be one of your keys to
his return, I think.
And we may watch that nation for the
tremendous events associated with the end time.
What else may we look for?
Oh, there are some parts of Revelation to
be fulfilled yet, but I think as they
are already being fulfilled all round us, we
can't say, oh well, he won't come for
another 20 years.
I think you'd better be ready.
So prophecy has been designed that every age
should be kept ready for his coming.
It's beautifully worked out to work out that
way.
Even the early church, they knew that that
Peter would die.
So as long as Peter was around, they
knew he wouldn't come.
But they didn't know whether John would die
or not.
In fact, they thought that John would remain
until the Lord came.
And so they were kept on their toes.
And then when John wrote later on, he
said, he didn't say so, you know, and
still left them on the edge of anticipation.
So it's a healthy thing to be ready
for his coming.
All right, well, that's our time.
So if you have any more questions next
week.
All right, let's stand and dismiss.
Praise the Lord.
Lord, we just bless you for your presence
tonight.
And you're speaking to us and illumining our
eyes that we may see the truths of
your word.
Help us, Father, to hold these truths near
to our heart.
That in so doing, we might be more
prepared at your coming.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Hallelujah.