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Prophecy: The Futurist School
February 24, 2016


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TODAY'S WORD
 I had a series of experiences with the Lord during the last week that the Holy Spirit simply will not allow me to be quiet about. Sometimes, He even reminds me that He will not reveal anything big to me until I fully handle the last big thing that He has revealed. I have known about the principle of the buried talent for a long time and you, the reader, would do well to follow my example. Living water has a flow and your prophetic gift must find an outflow. Demons are like beavers: they will dam up your river and stop the flow.

I have been reading a particular book about bible prophecy. It is a newer one and actually, several things in the book were very good and I learned a few new things, but there were also many things in it that seem not so good to me and to the Holy Spirit, so I really cannot recommend it. I will pass on one line from late in the book where the author quoted a noted writer of "The Futurist School": Dr. Thomas Ice. Dr. Ice is listed on the pre-tribulation rapture site called "Rapture Ready" as one of the "heavy hitters" of the pre-tribulation rapture teaching. Here is the quote, which is footnoted from one of his books on "The Futurist School":

"Such a view is blatant historicism, which was proved defective at least a hundred and fifty years ago".

When I read that quote, I was exceedingly grieved in my spirit and I knew that the Holy Spirit within me had been grieved as well. I had about fifty more pages to read before I finished the book and I did not know whether the Holy Spirit would even allow me to pick the book back up again. I heard the Holy Spirit, speaking in a very low manner, directing me to read from Hebrews, but I was so badly affected that I failed to obey. I calculated back 150 years very quickly in my mind to arrive at 1866, when Dr. Ice maintains that "The Historicist School" was proved defective. I was totally dumbfounded at the over the top arrogance expressed here and equally shocked that a writer, advancing his ideas about an Islamic anti-Christ, would find this statement so appealing as to quote it in his book and footnote reference back to it. So, this man is telling all readers that you can safely ignore the writings of H. Grattan Guiness from 1880. Wow! What absolute folly! I wonder if the good doctor has ever even opened a page of the Horae Apocalypticae, by Edward Bennett Elliot, from 1862. So, I could also safely assume that the writer I am now reading, Joel Richardson, probably has no familiarity whatsoever with the chapter in the Horae where E.B. Elliot shows how Revelation 9 was fulfilled by Islam. Every Christian needs to read it! Almost no one alive today has read it. So, continuing in my failure to obey the Holy Spirit and read the book of Hebrews, I went into the other room and began to worship the Lord, as is my Sunday morning custom here at home.

But, I have titled this article, "The Futurist School", and I have an obligation to tell you just what that is. The advocates of "futurism" interpret prophetic scriptures in such a way as they believe that almost all of them will be fulfilled at some point in the future when an anti-Christ kingdom and an anti-Christ will arise at or around the time of the physical return of Jesus Christ to Earth. So, in a nutshell, every argument that you have ever heard that maintains that some of these scriptures has already been fulfilled is ignored and argued against by these "futurists". So, it follows that when you "take" the prophetic scriptures in this way, you turn the Pope into just another religious leader; The Roman empire becomes just another amalgamation of nations; The Roman Catholic church becomes just another Christian denomination. These "futurists" take the famous "Seventy Weeks" prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 and interpret it in such a way that it is still partially not fulfilled. This is a very big deal because this error alone creates the fiction of the seven year tribulation period prophecy that "futurists" have added to our bibles. It is not there! I have written at length about futurism and historicism before and my purpose is not to repeat those efforts. I really have nothing new to teach you about them. I will provide the links later to some really good articles that I have written on these things, but my purpose here is to unburden myself of those things that Jesus spoke to me last Sunday, February 21, 2016.

I just stated above that I entered into worship and the Lord was of a mind to receive my worship. He poured out His Spirit upon me and His presence entered the room and came upon me in the customary way. My wife joined me after a few minutes and we continued singing together for a time. My emotions were lifted as was my countenance from that experience of grieving that I had felt earlier and I heard, once again, the Lords voice, as He implored me, once again, to "READ HEBREWS". So, as the music continued, I picked up my bible and began to read at the outset of Hebrews chapter one. I had just finished chapter one when I heard the Lord speak again. He said:



"The bible was written by historicists."



I looked down at Hebrews chapter one and I could immediately see what the Lord was saying. There are numerous quotes in that chapter of Old Testament prophetic scriptures, where the writer of Hebrews has carried these prophetic scriptures forward to the New Testament and has clearly maintained that these Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ in His first coming to Earth. That is what historicists do: they look at scripture and then the Holy Spirit says "This is that which was spoken of by the prophet __________". This is how they did it in the Book of Hebrews and this is how those who wrote the bible handled prophecy. You do not find wild speculation anywhere in the bible where people are engaged in presenting alternate scenarios regarding how all of these things will be fulfilled. Prophecy, in the bible, is issued by prophets, and you very nearly need to be a prophet to properly understand prophecy. Just then, when I thought I might be ready to return to singing along with worship, the Lord spoke to me again:



The Scribes and Pharisees and Sadduccees who were on the Earth when I came were futurists. They could not accept any Messiah who would not immediately throw off the yoke of Rome and quickly fulfill all of their Messianic expectations."



I began to ponder on all of the ramifications of what the Lord had just revealed to me. Almost all bible prophecy teachers of any prominence since 1920 are futurists. The Lord Jesus had just, in so many words, called them Scribes, Pharisees and Sadduccees. These were the ones: the leaders who rejected Him as Messiah when He came to Earth the first time. They missed the hour of their visitation and they led all of Israel, except for a very small remnant, to miss the hour of their visitation as well.

"That which has been before is that which will be again." Do you not understand that if you have lost connection to the head, which is Christ Jesus, and you are not able to receive wisdom and revelation directly from the Lord through His Holy Spirit, you too will miss the hour of your visitation. Listening to these bible prophecy experts; relying on their books for understanding of the scriptures; memorizing their study bible commentaries and watching their TV shows is going to cause you to MISS IT!



APPENDIX
I promised you some links to a few good articles that I have written from the historicist perspective. Try these:

Read SINGLE ANTICHRIST?
This is My most recent work regarding the consideration of the many historical and present anti-Christs, the deception surrounding the topic and a view of those anti-Christs we will most likely be facing in the near future, including a discussion regarding Islam as the beast/anti-Christ.

Then, when you have finished that, I suggest that you take the ADVANCED TOUR 201
I have prepared an Advanced Tour 201 for the more ambitious reader to peruse. Once you read these links, you will have greater familiarity with the doctrines I preach concerning bible prophecy. Topics dealt with here involve anti-Christ, whether it be The Latin Kingdom or an Islamic Caliphate, the false prophet, the Mahdi, rapture and other bible prophecy topics.

Finally, I suggest that you read THE SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION
This article includes a discussion of Daniel Chapter 9. How you "take" this passage is perhaps the most critical fulcrum on which all of prophetic interpretation hangs.



Stephen L. Bening

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