Misapplications of scriptures are common today because well-meaning and also some not so well-meaning people ignore the context. I will point out six common misapplications of scriptures here. I am sure readers can come up with others.
1. Who has not heard this misapplication of scripture claiming that God will heal America if Christians in America would repent for the nation.
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Sounds great, but the passage quoted is not directed at Christians. The context makes it clear that God is talking to Israel. You really have to rip the passage out of its context to apply it to Christians living in Gentile nations. Try selling the American application of this scripture to Christians being persecuted in China, North Korea, Iran, etc. Tell the believers in Haiti that God will heal their land, if the believers there just turn from their wicked ways. I think they would rightly take that suggestion as an insult. Yet, many in America want to believe the lie that if believers In America obey this passage, unbelievers in America then receive a free pass.
God never promised Christians lands at all. Christians are a spiritual people and our home is in Heaven. If a nation has many wicked people, the few Christians dwelling in it will not save the nation. There is no instruction in the Bible that tells Christians to repent for others doing the evil.
The Christian mission on earth is more like that of Jonah to the Nineveh’s of the world. When God spared Nineveh it was because the whole city repented not because Jonah repented. Likewise, if a nation becomes wicked, the nation needs to repent of its evil. If the nation was really full of God’s people, it would have no need to repent. God’s people generally are not partaking in the evils of the nations they occupy. In fact, the evil they see occurring continually grieves their spirit.
The real problem in America is that most who identify as Christians are not really Christians. These non-believers need to repent and be saved. The land will not be healed if the majority unbelievers just go on practicing their wickedness. Wickedness in a nation is a sure sign that most in the nation have a reprobate mind. They deny that God exists (Rom 1).
2. This is a favorite misapplication of scripture taught from the pulpits of America and the TV hucksters.
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
If you read this verse in context of the passage, it is clearly talking to national Israel not Christians. Again, try telling Christians in Haiti that the way they will receive abundance is by tithing.
In context, God was telling Israel that the reason Israel was living under the curse was because they were not being obedient to His commands. Their disobedience was bringing about a curse under the covenant of blessings and curses that God uniquely made with Israel. This passage is not directed at Gentiles and it certainly is not directed at Christians. Christians covered by the blood of Christ are not going to be cursed by God.
Besides, there is not a word about tithing given to the New Testament Church. The NT only teaches free will giving. Those that freely give will abundantly receive, but they will not necessary receive material blessings. Teaching that tithing is a spiritual law and a requirement for Christians is a false teaching. Too often the motives for putting a tithe burden on Christians is self-serving legalism.
Further, Israel had three tithes, so just giving one tithe does not make Christians compliant with the law of tithing. By the way, those hucksters on TV that promise a hundred-fold blessing for what you send them are con artists that prey on biblically illiterate Christians. There is no such concept taught in the Bible. Don’t send any of them a wooden nickle.
3. The next misapplication of scripture is usually used with good intention, but the way most use this passage shows lack of understanding of the prophetic context. This misapplication of scripture puts Christians under self-condemnation and is sometime used to try to put Christians under legalistic bondage.
Mt:25,31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Many use this passage to imply that Christians not doing enough good works toward others are in danger of losing their salvation and could go to Hell. In correct context, Jesus is not talking to Christians at all in this passage. The passage is about the sheep and goat judgment at the end of the age. It is fulfilled after Jesus returns to earth to set up His kingdom in Israel. The brethren seen with Jesus are Israelis. More specifically they probably are the 144,000 Israelis that preached during the tribulation and now follow Jesus wherever He goes (Rev 14:4).
The people Jesus is talking to are the Gentiles who survived the tribulation. They will now either be allowed into the kingdom on earth or they will be cut off from the kingdom based on how they received the 144,000 preaching the gospel of the Lord’s coming kingdom.
Jesus is not directing what He said to any Christian in this passage. Christians are saved and are already married to Christ when He returns. For anyone to infer from this passage that Christians will be saved or condemned by their own works toward others are preaching a false salvation by works theology. They are claiming that you save yourself.
4. Another prophetic application that is often taken out of context to claim that salvation comes from self-efforts is the following.
Matt 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
This passage is not saying that Christians need to persevere to the end to be saved as many are claiming. True Christians are already saved. The context of the passage is for those believers living through the tribulation events that Jesus is speaking about. It is a passage of hope saying that believing Jews (saints) who live through the great tribulation will obtain the promised Kingdom. The doctrine of perseverance of Christian in order to be saved is salvation by your own performance theology. It is not taught in New Testament. Christians are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by their own perseverance.
5. The following are favorite misapplications of scripture used by control freak leaders to justify that anything they say or do should never be criticized.
1Ch 16:22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Ps 105:15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
In both cases God was telling kings in and around the land of Canaan that Abraham, Issac and Jacob were His prophets and these Gentile kings should do them no harm. In context, there simply is no way that these passages should be applied to today’s self-anointed leaders. Christians are told to check out leaders and their teachings according to scriptures properly applied.
6. What Christian in America has not been told the following, claiming that Jesus told Christians not to judge?
Mt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Was Jesus really telling Christians not to judge what others are doing? That conflicts with other passages telling Christians to discern between good from evil. Paul tells us that Christians will judge all things, even the Angels, so we ought to be able to make judgments better than non-believers (1Co 6:3). Jesus was telling believers here that we should not be judging the motives and ministry of other believers if we know that we are falling short in our own spiritual walk with God. The works of each believer wither they be common or precious will be made clear to all at the judgment seat of Christ (1Co 3:12) .
Brannon Howse explains how This Most Misquoted Verse in the Bible is Destroying America. Below is his own summery from this article. I totally agree.
If Americans don’t start to judge and punish evil instead of accepting all ideas and beliefs as equal, we will become a nation that welcomes same-sex marriage, polygamy, pedophilia, incest, euthanasia, and likely a host of moral aberrations so bizarre they’re still hidden in the darkest reaches of the Internet.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “you know we are not to judge people; even the Bible says ‘judge not lest you be judged’.” Americans had better start getting comfortable with politically in-correct, non-humanistic forms of making intelligent judgments on moral issues because even if we don’t make them, I’m concerned there is Someone very willing to hold our nation accountable for what we allow. And He doesn’t respond well to intimidation, name-calling, flawed logic, or being quoted out of context.
That article was written about 15 years ago. Since that time American Christians have not been judging between good and evil and all the evils that Brannon Howse mentioned are playing out in this nation. Many of our churches are even accommodating these evils, but who are we to judge the unbiblical positions of hirelings in the pulpits and biblically illiterate ignoramuses repeating everything they say?
I am sure some of you readers can come up with additional misapplications of scriptures, but who are Christians to be judging proper exegesis? 🙄
Hi Don
I’m just one of the many brothers from another mother,who enjoy reading your thought’s & exegesis of scripture .
Keep up the good work! Soon & very Soon!!
Wade
Liberals love to say Jesus said to bring Him the little children as an excuse to justify illegal immigration.
Don,
I agree, so many, misinterpret the Scripture. I like Brannon Howse. I am glad you are quoting him. He is one of the few that are telling the Truth!! This was a Great Article, I am glad that you brought it to attention. Blessings, Kathy
Thanks Don for another article. I have seen scripture used out of context for 50 years and it truly does sadden me. I think the prosperity preachers annoy the worse than the outright liars. They enrich themselves at the expense of the poor by playing on greed. As I seem to recall reading, Satan used Scripture similarly to tempt Jesus. We should expect nothing different from those who serve him. One of the democrat presidential candidates is using scripture that way. He is openly homosexual and when I see his comments against Christians not wanting to take in the illegal aliens, I always do comment that if he were serious about scripture maybe he should read Leviticus 20:13. I certainly believe that a strong basis in knowing, reading and rereading God’s word is essential in today’s world. It also helps you see through so many of the “false prophets” and such that have “visions” which seem to disagree with what is in the Bible.
Don, I would like to know if you see this as I do:
I think of Matthew 25: 1-13 about the 10 virgins. I find many people that interpret this as being christian believers. Jesus was speaking to the 12 disciples starting in Matthew 24 and continuing on in 25. He was advising them about the second coming. The rapture would have already happened and these people were tribulation saints. The dispensation of Grace was over and now these people needed to hang on to their salvation by remaining in the faith.
Don, athiest will base their unbelief stating they will not believe in a god who sends people to hell that never had the opportuniy to hear the gospel. Romans 3:25-26 states that those who did not know Christ (prior to Jesus’ life on earth) were not condemned until our Saviour died for our sins. Would that scripture not apply to all that have never heard of Christ?
Hi Don P,
The 10 virgins parable is not talking about the taking of Christians in the Rapture. It has something to do with the gathering of believers or maybe just believing Jews at the end of the age. This occurs just before the days of wrath. The same goes for the two in the field parable.
To believe this is about the Church again requires a salvation through your own efforts theology.
Hi Stephen,
I do not see how you get that from that passage. All are justified and saved from their sins when they trust in Jesus. However, if they never heard and believed that good news they are still dead in their sins.
It really is the Father’s ministry to draw people to Jesus to be saved. How He does that is up to Him. One way He does that is through the Church giving the good news to the world. Jesus said, He will lose none that the Father draws to Him. Therefore, anyone that does not get saved was not drawn by the Father because they are not of the Father. God would not be fair if He saved Satan’s robots so they can keep corrupting God’s creation.
Romans 3:25-26 New Living Translation (NLT)
25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
I interpret this to say that all those who sinned before Christ shedding His blood had God’s judgement held back until they had the opportunity to accept Christ and His redemption.
Hi Stephen,
I do not disagree with your take on that passage. However, I do not know how that scripture answers your prior question.
Many have lived and died since Jesus made the sacrifice and have never obtained salvation because they have not heard the gospel and trusted in Jesus. Will those that never heard the gospel get a chance after death? Most preachers would say no. I would say only God really knows.
No matter the correct answer, God will lose none given to Jesus that God predestined to be saved. I am not saying Calvinism provides the answers either. Most of them think Christians can lose their salvation.
Hi Don,
I just want to say Thank You for your ministering! I look every morning, first thing to see new posts. May the most riches of Jesus Christ abide on you! Your post are timely as I walk with Him and there are no coincedents with God!
“Will those that never heard the gospel get a chance after death? Most preachers would say no. I would say only God really knows.” verse 25 verifies that God withheld His judgement on those that died before Christ ” did not punish those who sinned in times past” & “God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just,”. If God held back his judgment on those in times past because they had no opportunity to hear and accept the gospel how can we say now that humans since Calvary that never had the opportunity to hear the gospel would now be condemned to hell. This scripture plainly tells us he did not do it then and would not do it now and this had to occur after death (from those who sinned in times past). My main point is many atheist use my original statement above to blaspheme God and support their unbelief and this scripture destroys their argument.
Hi Stephen,
I think some of the problem lies in the popular belief that people not saved into the Bride of Christ will eternally be cast into Hell (more accurately the lake of fire). The majority of those that obtain eternal life will never become part of the Bride of Christ. Those not in the Bride will occupy the kingdom and new earth. The Bride is unique. Her salvation comes by grace through faith in the Lord who purchased her with His blood.
Having said that, all will be raised and judged. Those not partaking of the first resurrection with Christ will be raised at the second resurrection and receive just judgment according to their works. That does not mean men of good will will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Even so, all those that fight against God will go there.
Thanks Don for taking the time to explain your thoughts. I always come away with more to chew and never to sip!
Fantastic article, Don! I would like to add Revelation 3:5 to your list of misapplied scriptures: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” It seems that many people try to use this verse to support a works-based salvation and to “prove” that Christians can lose their salvation when, in fact, it proves the exact opposite–our eternal security. I try to point out that in God’s Word, Christians are referred to as “overcomers” and that this verse actually states, “…I will NOT blot out his name out of the book of life…” The word “not” is there for a reason! This is a powerful verse that promises three or four specific blessings to Christians, but people somehow manage to read a curse into it. So sad…
Hi Tara,
I think what many people fail to understand is that there are saved and unsaved people in each of the seven churches. As you said, the true believers in each of the visible church types are the overcomers.
Each of the seven churches were literal congregations in Asia Minor that represented Christianity on earth. The letters also have a prophetic fulfillment of visible Christianity throughout the Church Age. The condemnation by Jesus makes it evident that only the early church and the church identified with latter day evangelism were predominately filled with overcoming true believers. Most of the rest never got saved even through they identify with Christanity.
Those that want more information on the seven churches should read chapters 2 and 3 of my Revelation Commentary.
Hi Don, what do you that men of good will (who are not part of the Bride of Christ) will not go to the lake of fire? What is the biblical support for that? Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi K.C.
There were saved people before Pentecost when the Bride was born. There will be saved people after the Church is taken in the Rapture. Everything in the Bible is not about the Bride of Christ. People of good will are of good will because they fear God. Many of these people may not even be aware of the scriptures. They will be saved because God will save all people that trust in Him. The Lake of Fire was made for the devil and his angels. Humans only go there if like the fallen angels they are in rebellion against their Creator. The Bible does not teach that people that fear God and try to live right go to hell. Think of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Think about Job.
Hi,
Not long ago I had an unfriendly conversation with a Christian who was using the Mt:25 passage to support his open boarders position. When I explained it referred to how the Jews were treated during the tribulation he came back with the all scripture is good for instruction and it applied to his position. I pointed out it was The Word of God not the word of Gerald and we were to study to understand what God means. The response to that was ‘How dare I judge God’s servant and this conversation is over.’
My key point: People, saved and unsaved, making scripture mean what they want it to mean.
In all the years I’ve been reading Don’s articles I think I have learned the most about exegesis and correct application of scripture because I wasn’t being taught it anywhere else.
Thank you Don.
A very good article.I have talked repeatedly to friends about II Chronicles 7:14 not being for Christians but for Israel.Context! One thing that stood out for me was your quote from Psalm 105.
I just finished reading the book. “God,Greed,and the Prosperity Gospel” by Costi W. Hinn.It was about him coming out of that and coming to Christ.Too bad that the tv is full of those false teachers.
Thanks you for keeping up the fight against false teaching.
Great article, Don. Here’s a passage that I see abused all the time:
Hebrews 10:25, KJV: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
My wife and I made the horrible mistake of attending an Independent Baptist Church for about 6 months. Although some sermons were tolerable, most of them were poorly crafted and could be summarized this way:
“You need to be here for every service. It takes three to thrive. If you miss a church service, you should evaluate your walk with God. Haven’t you read Hebrews 10:25? We’re having revival next month, and I expect you to be here every night (7 days straight). Oh, and you need to be handing out gospel tracts on Saturday, too! And don’t forget about the special event we have this week. We’ll need some volunteers to come and set everything up before the event. And tithing is just the starting point. What about missions and the special fund we have set up to replace the furnace?”
In six months time, I went from being a totally new member of the church (pressured to join, of course), to being a Sunday school teacher, running their website, volunteering on security, operating their computer on Sunday morning to stream the service, and expected to attend every special event/outreach (all for free…I was “doing it for the Lord”).
In fact, I was required to sign a form that indicated that, as Sunday school teacher, I would:
1. Abstain from tobacco and alcohol products.
2. Keep my hair groomed so that it stayed off the collar and off the ears.
3. Wear a tie, dress shirt, and no denim material for pants.
4. I must attend every special event and participate in outreach as much as possible.
If you want to talk about a Pharisees’ dream church, that was it. I have never felt so exhausted, used, and manipulated in my entire life. I eventually reached a breaking point and sent an email to the pastor, telling him that I was done, that he preaches Churchianity (not Christianity), and that I wasn’t even remotely interested in hearing from him again or discussing the matter further.
It took me a few months to even want to open my Bible again, because I was so burned out and exhausted from all the legalistic nonsense. The only upside was that the man wasn’t afraid to call out sin, but it came at the expense of extreme legalism.
I will *NEVER* attend an Independent Baptist Church again, ever! Why is it so hard to find a decent church? Ugh.
Hi Ben,
As you found out churches are often led by self-righteous control freaks. These kind will use the Bible as a club to get people to submit to whatever they believe. I am happy to hear that you found the exit door to liberty. I would not put all Independent Baptist Churches in the same boat. It really depends upon who is leading, but too many of them do tend to want to lord over the flock and are legalistic.
Don,
Can you add more clarification regarding the bride versus people of good will?
I think I understand the pre-pentacost and post-rapture / millennial kingdom dispensations not entailing the bride.
As for our current dispensation (i.e., church age), are not all those in Christ of the bride?
I am putting all of my faith/trust in the work of Christ at the cross and, thus, under the presumption, as such, that I am part of the bride.
I know for certain I am not escaping the lake of fire based on my own works, be they of some level of good will while most all else will not pass the fire test. I am only going to the Father by the way of the Cross. I don’t feel I have much in the way of good works, other than being drawn to continue the journey of studying the word of God.
On that note, one reason I keep coming back to Prophetic Years and reading the comments is because this site has undue respect for the true meaning of intent of the passages of the word of God.
Blessings, Craig
Hi Craig,
Nobody is saved through works but we cannot assume that people that did not hear the gospel of salvation will be cast into the Lake of Fire.
In this dispensation of Grace all believers that hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ will be saved. Those that refuse to hear the gospel are blinded by Satan because they are of Satan. All of those that continue to be in rebellion against God will go into the Lake of Fire. How can we tell those in rebellion? They will willfully reject the salvation message.
Those that never heard or can’t comprehend what Jesus did will be judged at the second resurrection. To assume all those that never heard or can’t comprehend will be going into the Lake of Fire is a presumption that probably will not turn out to be true. I suppose those ignorant of the gospel message will receive a similar salvation with infants, young men of war, and the feeble minded and such. A similar salvation will occur with the people of good will that lived before or after the Church age.
They will not be part of the Bride because they were not saved into the Body of Christ during the dispensation of Grace but those not in rebellion against God will occupy the new earth.
To assume differently, means we put all not in the Church in the Lake of Fire including the majority of ancient Israel. If that is the case even the Jews blinded by God so Gentiles could be saved end up in the Lake of fire. Included among them would be humans that never had the ability to hear or comprehend the gospel message.
God is just. He sent Jesus to save the descendants of Adam not to condemn descendants of Adam that never had the opportunity to hear.
I kid you not, I was recently visiting a ‘Prosperity Church’ and the preacher stated ( out of biblical context of course) that GOD wanted every Christian to be as wealthy as Job ! He just overlooked the fact that Jobs first entire family was killed by Satan and that Job was a unique case.
there’s a church in ohio right now thats letting drag queens teach kids in the church about how it ok to be gender neutral and how a first gay politician got elected in California…. i was shocked when i first saw it its just insane.
Same thing with the 10% Tithe it was originally for the Jews under the law and it had nothing to do with money in the beginning it was : crops, spices etc today i have heard Pastors state that if u don’t tithe your going to hell, robbing GOD when u never find tithing in all of New Testament, a brother who doesn’t tithe recently stated that in actuality he gives about 20% + of his income to the Kingdom of GOD as a ‘Cheerful Giver’ and not to be recognized by men
Hi Joe,
People are saved by trusting in Jesus for salvation…period! No amount of works is going to save anyone and the lack of works is not going to send believers to hell either. Pastors should take that to the bank, rather than looking for OT ways to construct stumbling blocks for NT believers in order to pad their accounts.
Great topic, as usual. Might I add Jeremiah 29:11? “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” NIV
This verse was spoken to the Jewish exiles in Babylon that endured 70 years of captivity there. It doesn’t apply to those who are living now that feel like they need God’s direction in their lives.
Recently heard this verse being applied to high school graduates here in America. Sorry, it doesn’t apply to you, no matter how much you’d like it to….
Re: judgement and spiritual discernment
Our nation is morally bereft and spiritually lost. Most have rejected Christ, his teachings and God’s word. The populace has morphed into a grotesque hybrid of carnal morally relative consumerist hedonists. In the top 10 website’s visited by Americans on a daily basis- 6th, 7th and 9th are pornography websites. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon and Yahoo mail are 1-5. The top 50 continues with a mere variation on the theme. eBay, more Pornography and social media. Truth is irrelevant, and our leaders are weak and sinful. In the world, justice is a farce as evil abounds, restrained only by the Lord’s salt and light. Christ Jesus is coming and his reward is with him.
Babylon’s system will fall following bowl judgements. Today is the day of salvation.
True, we are saved by ‘Grace’ and most of the promoters of ‘mandatory’ Tithing, offerings, first fruits $$$, new church construction are $$$ Prosperity Preachers who always have thee biggest mansion in their congregation. I recently heard Creflo Dollar state that he didn’t need anyone’s money, the truth is that his ‘blind followers’ already made him rich several years ago ;its not like he holds a regular job he became rich off of : $ Tithing, offerings etc, true we can NOT buy our salvation and GOD loves a ‘Cheerful GIver’ be it $$$ or Time or food
Glad to find Don today, at first I thought it might be another Koenig (Bill). If you are aware of his teaching which ties attempts to divide the land of Israel to various disasters of nature, would you comment on it please? Thank you for your very important work here Don.
Hi John,
In Bill Koenig’s first book He goes much further than those trying to divide Israel. If America does not do what Bill believes America should have done regarding Israel, we receive a hurricane or some other natural disaster. I do not agree with Bill Koenig’s tit-for-tat assessment. The supposed evidence he lists is nothing more than a hindsight fabrication.
How does anyone explain why God continues to curse Israel with the great tribulation if this nation of unbelievers is now the apple of God’s eye as Bill claims. There is no evidence that natural disasters in America or anywhere else are now directly connected to secular unbelieving Israel.
Why don’t you apply this to yourself as well. Because I just read a few articles here to see if you’re as hard on yourself as others.
I’ve got library a mile long and not one single reputable Theologian in 2000 years sees a secret Rapture.
Your articles were not kind either. Maybe I picked your worst ones by chance but 1 is enough I think. It was summed up by basically how stupid everyone who does not see secret second comings. It also contained the most common trait of people who talk too much about doctrine instead of being a light in real life(not from a computer screen). That trait is assuming people’s motives and assassinating them. Christianity is filled with false accusers. We don’t need any more.
Pet doctrines are the bane of true Christianity. It’s laziness. It’s lust. You all go and feed the poor, I’ll just create more and more factions. It’s the path of least resistance. I hope you hear this instead of attack because it’s not primarily directed at you but even myself. Calculating and pouring over and arguing about prophecies, end times, and justifications for pet doctrines is just our way of fulfilling our Self. With the state of true Apostasy and heresy destroying our churches today, maybe it’s time to choose the right hill to die on and demonstrate Christ in real life instead of on paper.
Hi James,
You apparently are just looking in the amillennial library. The Rapture is not secret anyway. It is taught in scripture. It is the gathering of the Church that Paul talks about. People might disagree with the timing of the Rapture but anyone that reads the Bible knows that it teaches that Jesus is coming back for His Church.
It is not an either or situation. You apparently think the Bible just teaches a social gospel. One third of the Bible is prophecy about the first or second coming. It was written for those watching to know. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus paid the price and believers will be saved. The Gospel is not about feeding the poor, or even about anyone holding on to aberrant theology because the teaching about the soon coming of Christ offends certain Christians without proper understanding of Bible prophecy.
The Church before 300 AD was largely premillennial and we dispensationalists are premillennial. We take prophetic scripture literally instead of just allegorizing prophetic scriptures.
Here are two articles that I wrote that might help with your understanding.
Proofs for a pretrib Rapture
And why amillennial theology is in error.