HomeDailyHow to Interpret Prophecy Aright – Or Not    

Comments

How to Interpret Prophecy Aright – Or Not — 13 Comments

  1. The papacy was very clever in commissioning the Jesuits to come up with alternative methods of prophetic interpretation. Yes, Francisco Ribera, was one who took the focus off the papacy by concocting the Futuristic method of interpretation of prophecy which is a misinterpretation of Daniel 9. The work of Jesus Christ is attributed to the Anti-Christ. A false Second Coming takes place in the secret rapture, while the real one takes place seven years later. The "church" doesn't have to worry about the tribulation because it will be raptured off the planet before it happens. It's very convoluted. The scary thing is that most of protestantism has abandoned the tried and true Historicist method in favor of the Futuristic method.

    Luis Alcazar another Catholic priest (1554–1613) came up with the Preterist method of prophecy, which places the Anti-Christ back in ancient history being In 167 BC, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Syrian king, desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on the altar of burnt offerings, an act known as the "Abomination of Desolation" by those that espouse Preterism.

    I have heard popular television preachers present both false schools of interpretation as if they were true. Neither of the substitute methods make as much sense as the Historicist method. They both serve the devil's purposes of taking the focus off of Rome, and giving the people a false sense of security. These were part and parcel of the papacy's counter-reformation, effectively stopping the progress of the Protestant Reformation.

    However, the Reformation continues today through the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The "protest" isn’t over!

    (13)
  2. I am curious about this footnote:
    "I believe there will be more Catholics in heaven than in any other church".

    I am not disagreeing or agreeing, and I have no basis to say one way or another.
    I am just interested in learning your reasoning.

    (2)
    • As I see it, it's a matter of probability and numbers. For one thing, the Catholic church has been around for about 1,500 years, and God's people were mainly in that church even while the leadership and many of its adherents were becoming more and more corrupt. By contrast, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has existed for around 150 years. That's a 1,350-year difference.

      The monasteries and the priesthood attracted men of character and high principles like Martin Luther, Joseph Wolff and Manual Lacunza. Sure, some if these left the Roman church, but others, like Johannes von Staupitz who mentored Luther in his spiritual journey, stayed and worked within the church.

      Even today there are Catholics in high places who decry the corruption of the church and seek to serve God in the spirit of Jesus, beginning each day with a prayer for divine guidance. Shall we judge them and say they won't be in heaven because they do not understand all the truth that we do? (See Micah 6:8)

      Now Let's look at current numbers. According to Google, Catholic membership stand at 1,250,000,000. Seventh-day Adventist membership stands near 22,000,000.

      If just one per cent of today's Catholics were faithful followers of Jesus and went to heaven, that would be 12,500,000 this year alone. If only 1/2 per cent went to heaven, that would still be 6,250,000 persons.

      If 40% of today's Seventh-day Adventists went to heaven that would be 8,800,000 persons. Even if 100% of all professed Seventh-day Adventists over the last 150 years were to go to heaven (not likely), they could hardly match the numbers of faithful followers of Jesus over the extra 1,350 years before Seventh-day Adventists existed.

      I have no idea how realistic my numbers are. Only God knows. I'm just trying to illustrate why there will likely be more Roman Catholics than Seventh-day Adventists in heaven. You can do your own numbers.😊

      (7)
      • Needs more informations,and more explanation on this notion of what is being said here. How do you arrived with this conclusive statement? I would like to know as do others,unless they'd ready knew the answer.

        (0)
        • Lela, I already outlined my reasoning. You are free to suggest your own.

          This blog is not about providing "conclusive statements" - which I did not - it's about encouraging each other to study more deeply and to think more deeply.

          It seems you may disagree with the possibility I suggested. So what is your counter suggestion, with reasons, please?

          (3)
    • I probably shouldn't answer for William, but I'm inclined to agree with him. Why? Because the Catholic church was the only church for more than a thousand years (yes, there were the believers in hiding and variations of the Orthodox church, but for all intents and purposes it was the one church). Today it is the largest Christian church in the world. Given those facts, it makes sense that there would be more Catholics in Heaven. I feel the spirit does not work more on one group than another and so the numbers in Heaven will likely be fairly well-distributed.

      (2)
  3. Thank you Pastor Earnhardt. I always enjoy your comments and articles. I have learned a lot from you over the years.

    (0)

Leave a Reply

Please read our Comment Guide Lines and note that we have a full-name policy. Please do not submit AI-generated comments!

Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail. (You may subscribe without commenting.)

Please make sure you have provided a full name in the "Name" field and a working email address we can use to contact you, if necessary. (Your email address will not be published.)

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>