(CORRECTION) A "Seven-Year Tribulation" Period Does Not Exist

[creationliberty]

I have rewritten my teaching The Beginner's Guide to Tribulation and Rapture, and renamed it, The Beginner's Guide to Christian Rapture, as I thought the title was more appropriate to the updates and corrections I've made. I had to go through and completely rewrite this teaching, which has taken me several weeks with long hours. I was sick this past Sunday (Nov 10, 2019), so that was a blessing in that the Lord God gave me more time to get it done this week.

What I'm about to explain has been sent to me a number of times, but I rejected it only because the people who were sending me this information were in error themselves, but refused to see it. Therefore, it put me on guard against all which they said, and since many of them did know enough to explain it themselves (i.e. they were just repeating what preachers told them), they also ended up in error that, hopefully, I might help correct.

That being said, Matthew 24 is not "just for the Jews," as many preachers teach in willful blindness, and as I point out in my article, there are many passages in Matthew 24 (as well as other correlating passages from other books of the Bible) which disproves that fallacy. However, there is one paragraph of Matthew 24 that is specifically for the Jews, and that is what has confused a lot of people; it seems that most churchgoers are either advocating that all of Mat 24 is for Christians, or all of Mat 24 is for Jews, but in truth, most of it is for Christians, and one paragraph of it is for the Jews, namely, the following paragraph:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:With that understanding, it should give us a fresh perspective on the next two verses: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
-Matthew 24:15-22

My first mistake was thinking that the abomination of desolation and the son of perdition were one and the same event. That's not true, and sadly, my sight was clouded by past teachings I had been taught by other preachers who I no longer listen to. In hindsight, I can see that I did not stand faithful in God's Word when first writing this, and succumbed to fear, which is why, in my ignorance, I wrote in the assumption of the false doctrine of a final seven-year period of tribulation, and I did so without much explanation. It was vague, it was unfaithful, and it was lazy. For this, I am sorry, and I am ashamed that I may have further deceived other Christians, but I pray the Holy Spirit of God watch over them, and teach them what He has taught me.

The son of perdition is who appears in the last days, but this specific paragraph in Mat 24 was fulfilled between 66-73 AD, with 70 AD being the year the destruction of Solomon's Temple took place. If you read in the article, I go into a bit of detail about the confusion of that timeline, and why the prophecy of 70 weeks (in Daniel) starts with Darius II in 417 BC (not Darius I as many have assumed), and how you can prove that in Scripture, which brings the destruction of the temple to 70 AD in a perfectly timed prophecy that was foretold by the Holy Spirit of God through Daniel thousands of years ago.

The reason Jesus added this passage into his teaching on the end times is because it is a necessary part of the information about the end times, and answers to the context of what He told them at the beginning of Mat 24. The son of perdition will stand in the Temple to declare himself to be God, but Jesus did not want the believing Jews to misinterpret that to have happened in 70 AD, which is why He warned His disciples of what was coming with the fulfillment of Daniel's 70-week prophecy.

The problem with many of the people who have written me is that they believe that ALL of Mat 24 was fulfilled in 70 AD, and that is just flat-out willful blindness. Furthermore, others have written me to claim that all of the book of Revelation was fulfilled in 70 AD, and that's even more insane, as you will see if you read through my teaching on the subject now. (i.e. I prove all that nonsense wrong with the Scripture.)

Therefore, there is no time frame of "years of tribulation" at the end. There is the beginning of sorrows, and the tribulation will get worse from there, but the tribulation that was the worst the world will ever see (outside of the wrath of God) took place in 70 AD with the Roman assault against Jerusalem. Don't misunderstand, our tribulation will be terrible in the end, but theirs was the worst of it.

However, the time of the tribulation of the end days is uncertain, and we will be offered up to be killed in the last days, assuming my generation sees any of it. We can only go by the signs we are given to watch for, and if you read the article, I explain what all those are. But technically, pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib are terms that should not exist because there is no "trib" period of time, and so I rebuked and/or eliminated those things from my teaching; the term "pre-wrath" still makes sense, and so if I had to give my position a name, I would side with that, although I don't want people to believe that all who believe in pre-wrath are Christians (or that I necessarily side with them) because there are many false preachers who believe in it, such as Steven Anderson for example.

Thank you to everyone for your patience with me as I learn, and (God willing) I will continue to correct that which I have wrong for the sake of Christ; it's a lot of work, but it will be worth it so we will all be like-minded in our words, deeds, philosophy, and doctrine.

[Jeanne]

I'm glad you clarified this, because what Christopher Bellflower (former member of this forum) wrote on this made a lot of sense to me. I can't remember, though, if he was one of those who thought ALL of Matthew 24 was fulfilled in AD 70. I look forward to reading your updated article.

The part that really had me confused was this:

Matthew 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

because if Christians are not commanded to keep the Sabbath, then what should it matter whether their flight takes place on that day or not?

[creationliberty]

Correct. I had problems with what Belflower had written in other areas, and especially his demeanor towards us in general, which is why I did not trust what he was saying. The language of that chapter specifically changes to target the people of Judaea, but the rest of it is addressing Christians, and that's what I believe most people do not understand.

[anvilhauler]

If it is of any use I just had a check and I kept a copy of all of what Chris Belflower posted so I could go through it and see how things stacked up and check for errors.  Let me know if you would like me to email the docx file as it might be useful for debunking any false statements he was making.

[creationliberty]

Well, I'm not sure about that. If you guys want to do it, that's up to you, but I have new projects and corrections I'm working on right now, and I would rather focus my attention on those and getting out new teachings than trying to debunk one contentious person no one's ever heard of.

[Jeanne]

Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

You pointed out in your updated article (which I have not finished reading yet) that there have been many people claiming to be Christ over the years, and that this is what Jesus is talking about but I just heard another interpretation of this verse today that I had not considered before. Jesus is telling His disciples that many people would come in His name, claiming that He (Jesus) is the Christ, but will be teaching false doctrine.

This makes a lot of sense to me, because not that many people are deceived by crackpots claiming to be Christ themselves. Yes, they all have some followers, but they aren't deceiving the masses like Jesus is saying will happen. On the other hand, too many people automatically assume that anyone who professes Jesus to be the Christ is a Christian when they really aren't. You yourself have pointed out many times that most of the pastors in church buildings today are taking the Lord's name in vain by claiming to be of Christ when they're not. Yet they all claim that Jesus is the Christ.

I had always interpreted this verse myself the way you did because that's what the wording seems to suggest in our modern way of thinking, but it never truly made sense to me because no one who truly is of Christ is going to be deceived by someone claiming that he is Christ. Even most church-goers would not be deceived by such a person. However, the way this other guy explained it, it makes perfect sense. It kind of hit me like a tonne of bricks because it's so obvious now I'm wondering why I never saw it before.

[creationliberty]

Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

You pointed out in your updated article (which I have not finished reading yet) that there have been many people claiming to be Christ over the years, and that this is what Jesus is talking about but I just heard another interpretation of this verse today that I had not considered before. Jesus is telling His disciples that many people would come in His name, claiming that He (Jesus) is the Christ, but will be teaching false doctrine.

That is incorrect because the context says otherwise.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
-Mat 24:23
It continues on to give the timeline, first the 70 AD prophecy, then after that, people claiming to be Christ. This is mentioned in many verses afterwards, and he's specifically referring to people claiming to be Christ, not simply claiming that Jesus is Lord. We're already given many other passages that say there will be false converts and false teachers, but this is specifically about people claiming to be Christ Himself, which, at the time, no one would understand, not the Jews because knowing the fear of God, but also not the world, knowing that they had not the power to do miracles, and also that Christ was hated--no one would want to be him in the first place, so again, at that time, it didn't make any sense, but only now today does it make sense because a fluffy emotion is now connected with Christ, so some believe they can fool others into creating a following, and it has worked for many people, providing them popularity and wealth in exchange for the lie.

[Zoologistkid]

Reminds me of those who say they come in the Spirit of Elijah like what happened to that Charismatic Catholic guy in John 17 movement.

[creationliberty]

Reminds me of those who say they come in the Spirit of Elijah like what happened to that Charismatic Catholic guy in John 17 movement.

? ? ?  I do not understand how that had any connection of analogy to what we were talking about.

[Zoologistkid]

You were talking about people claiming to be Christ and how dangerous this is. Similar to how people claim to come in the Spirit of or claim to be the Prophet Elijah. Sorry, if that came out wrong.

[Jeanne]

The problem with what you wrote, Caleb, is it really has nothing to do with the topic being discussed. If you have read the article and want to discuss something contained in it, that's fine, but if you have not read it and don't know what it says, then there's no sense in posting anything about it. Simply commenting on something else you have seen that sounds similar to what we're talking about is not helpful.

I have been guilty in the past of this myself and have to remember to keep my mouth shut if what I have to say does not contribute to the topic of discussion.

[Zoologistkid]

I'm sorry, once again about it. Looks like I've done it again. I do thank you Chris for correcting yourself and recreating the article. I was reading awhile when it was unfinished and have reading it again. Thank you.

[creationliberty]

I'll put it in a different way that you might understand better, and can learn how to contribute to conversations; this is something I had to learn when I was younger because no one ever taught it to me.

Imagine for a moment that there are a group of three friends talking about dogs. They are just chatting about their dogs, how they have funny quirks about them, and so on. Someone walks by and says, "Wow that reminds me about how birds can be like dogs sometimes!" What would happen? The three friends would stop, and there would be this short pause because it stopped all flow of what was being discussed because the person walking by was NOT contributing to the conversation, but was thinking selfishly that he/she just wanted to be a part of that conversation, and now the three friends feel awkward because they have no idea what's going on with this new person, and their discussion has been cut off.

The problem I had when I was a teenager was that I did not know how to have a conversation. My parents never taught me those things, and my family, school, and church made me feel worthless (and I was, and still am, to be fair), so I was afraid to contribute to conversations, which only made things worse. What changed everything was when I began to just listen to other people and say nothing. I would read, educate myself, gain more experiences through jobs and hobbies, and listen to others, and as I began to do that, I found myself not only finding boldness in my conversation with others (because now I knew a lot more about wider variety of topics), but I also started noticing that was make others laugh without trying to be funny; I was just commenting on the details of what they were saying, and building upon those, and slowly, people began to enjoy my conversation to the point that (and Lorraine can testify to this), that I often end up dominating conversations even when I'm not trying to, and most people seem to enjoy it.

Today, the reason I can comment on so many topics, and that a lot of people listen to me, is first by the grace of God that He has given me few drops of His precious wisdom and understanding (for which I am very grateful), and second because I'm reading the conversation, and considering what they are saying; then, I build what I say based on what they have said, showing that I am listening to them, and considering/valuing what they are saying, not just trying to comment for the sake of having a comment because that's selfish thinking, and people generally don't like it (and it makes them feel awkward).

So when the three friends are having that conversation, I'm listening about the dogs' quirks, and when I hear one I think it hilarious or adorable, I can jump and say, "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you said your dog did what? That's hilarious. How often does he do that?" Perhaps the other two friends says, "Our dogs do the same thing!" I can then say, "You're kidding? I've never even heard of that, and you all have dogs that do that?" And even though I might be a stranger, I'm almost immediately warmed into that group by focusing on THEIR conversation, not the conversation I feel like having by my own selfishness.

Lorraine can tell you that if I'm at a store with her, I will often have something friendly and complimentary to say to the cashier. Why? Because I've worked long hours in those jobs, and through my experiences, I have learned about how they're feeling having to go through what they do, and so I compliment them, or point out something interesting or funny in their surrounds, or ask them an interesting question, anything I can to help them pass the time, even if it's just for the one or two minutes they might be serving us because I'm trying to think of others before myself.

Of course, today, I enjoy most of my time by myself, so I tend to leave others alone because Jesus said to treat others the way you would like to be treated. (Mat 7:12) However, if I want to comment on something, I tend to focus on what they are focused on, what they are talking about, or I don't comment at all. However, I would say that the key to being able to have quality conversations with people is having a genuine interest to learn; both by educating yourself on as many topics as you have passion to learn, and educating yourself by listening to others without seeking self interest.

Please don't misunderstand; you are not the only person on this forum who has had this problem, and there are people in our church far older than you who still have this problem. We all have to learn sometime, and so we pray for the wisdom and understanding of God, that He would bless us with it, as we learn.

Just keep listening to others and learning. If you don't have anything to say about a particular conversation, then learn from it and store that in your memory. Then, the next time the conversation comes up with someone else, you will have something meaningful to say. Keep listening and learning because you will only have to do that for short time before you run into the same conversation with someone else again.

[Jeanne]

Thanks for that, Chris. That was a good reminder for me, as well.

But back to the conversation we were having earlier, I got to thinking about it again last night and I'm wondering why someone claiming to be the Christ would come in Jesus' name rather than his own? There's a lot of stuff in between verse 5 and verse 23 in that chapter, so was Jesus coming back to that same topic, or was He talking about something else? Verse 23 was warning us to beware when OTHER people say that Christ is here or there and not believe it; Jesus is no longer talking about the person himself claiming to be Christ. I sometimes wish the Bible used quotation marks (which it never does) to make things clearer.

Again, though, it seems to me that most people would write off someone claiming to be Christ as a nut job, whereas if other people were trying to elevate that person to that position, they might have an easier time of it. Does that make sense? I don't know how to explain it, really. Say someone is off somewhere performing miracles but making no claims about himself but other people see this and assume he is Christ (or whoever people of other religions are waiting for as their messiah, as only Christians are waiting for the return of Jesus) and go tell other people, 'Hey, you gotta come check this guy out!' That might fool more people than if the guy was boasting about himself.

Verse 5 says For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. whereas verse 23 says Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

[anvilhauler]

Continuing on from where Chris left off at v22 it does go on to say this though.


Matthew 24 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

I'm not sure if in the past there has been false Christs showing great signs and wonders that potentially could fool the very elect.  It is interesting the two places mentioned are out in the desert and in the "secret chambers".  So not at the well, not at the market place, not at the town square and not in the byways.  Interesting.

[Jeanne]

But again, Kevin, is this still a continuation of the warning in verse 5, or is this a new warning? We haven't seen too many false 'Christs' yet, (at least, not that I know of) but there has never been a lack of those who claim to come in Jesus' name and even claim that He is the Christ, but who teach false doctrine in His name, which is just as dangerous.

I still can't see how anyone who reads their Bible regularly could be deceived by someone claiming to be Christ but isn't because when Jesus does return, the whole world is going to know about it at once. Bottom line, if there ain't a great earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives down the middle when the dude stands on it, he ain't Jesus Christ.

Zechariah 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

[Kenneth Winslow]

Imagine for a moment that there are a group of three friends talking about dogs. They are just chatting about their dogs, how they have funny quirks about them, and so on. Someone walks by and says, "Wow that reminds me about how birds can be like dogs sometimes!"

There was one circle of friends that I used to run with that when someone would do this in a conversation they would always say, "I remember when I had my first beer!", as a joke because of the awkwardness the new persons comment.

When I was in the Navy and someone would attempt to interject irrelevant information into a conversation they would say to that person, "Two minute rule!", meaning that you should listen in on a conversation for at least two minutes before trying to participate.

These two examples helped me when they said those things to me, though they may not have been the most tactful.

Point being, yeah, I think most of us have been there, and sometimes still are.

(Maybe this could be in another thread, but I don't know how to do that, sorry Jeanne)

[anvilhauler]

I still can't see how anyone who reads their Bible regularly could be deceived by someone claiming to be Christ but isn't because ...

James 1 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The ones I have come across in the "churches" are only hearers (readers) and not doers.  Oh they claim that they read their Bible every day but they certainly don't live it out nor to they have any intention of having things pointed out to them.  They have well and truly deceived themselves and are wide open to being deceived. 

I'm assuming they might come under the title of being called "the elect" because they have accepted Christ's death on the cross and that He rose from the dead and they "go to church" on Sundays.  I could be wrong.

[Jeanne]

I'm assuming they might come under the title of being called "the elect" because they have accepted Christ's death on the cross and that He rose from the dead and they "go to church" on Sundays.  I could be wrong.

No, the elect are only those who are truly saved, not the ones who claim to be but aren't.

Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

False converts are not going to be included in this; they're going to be the ones to whom Jesus says 'I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'

[Jeanne]

Okay, Chris, I'm sorry, but there's another point I have to disagree with you on. In this article, you wrote:

Once Christ appears, he will raise the dead, not just of his sheep, but of all those who have ever lived; it's just that the dead in Christ will rise first as we read earlier in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Those who are of Christ will be taken into the glory of Christ to be with Him, while everyone else will be left on this earth in peace for the span of thirty minutes before a punishment far worse than death will rain down on them.

This is what is sometimes called "pre-wrath" rapture, which means the saints will be raptured out before the wrath of God. Everyone else, which is the majority of the world's population throughout the last 6,000 years of history, everyone from Cain to Goliath, false preachers like Billy Graham to Catholic popes and priests, evolutionist dictators and murderers like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, an assortment of U.S. presidents, Muslims, Hollywood film stars, Jehovah's Witnesses, rock stars, Buddhists, famous journalists, feminists, Mormons, and all others (including many churchgoers) who have not come to repentance and faith in Christ will suffer through the opening of the seventh seal, which is more terrifying than anyone could possibly imagine:

Where did you get the idea that everyone was going to be resurrected at once, immediately upon Jesus' return? That's not what the Bible says:

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

According to this, Jesus will set up His kingdom on earth for a thousand years once He returns, but those who are not saved won't be raised from the dead until the end of this millennial kingdom.