jacob prasch moriel ministries: busted! presumptuous teaching about the restrainer: 2 Thessalonians

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)

I take no pleasure in exposing Jacob Prasch's faulty eschatology. However, it is critical that the faithful church understands the 70th week of Daniel correctly rather than submit to JP's forceful personality and skewed eschatological teachings. When teaching about the 70th week of Daniel, JP frequently says authoritatively "PAY ATTENTION", as if he were speaking for God Himself. I strongly recommend that those who read this post study the scriptures for themselves and PAY NO ATTENTION to myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. (Titus 1:14; 1 Timothy 1:4; 2 Timothy 4:4), teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).

We should consider with some trepidation the ramifications of identifying the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer. This view not only misrepresents God himself, since the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. It also precludes the Gentiles from hearing and receiving the Gospel during the 70th week of Daniel! The identity of the Restrainer is a non-essential question, so why does JP make it a "doctrine" i.e. "The Doctrine Of The Holy Spirit"? It is worth noting that prior to John Nelson Darby, no-one held this view of the Restrainer. What a masterstroke of Satan; he could not have chosen a better way of misleading God's people than by using a much trusted and respected teacher, who has, in recent times, overstepped the mark. 

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! (Psalm 139:7-8)

I will quote JP verbatim in order to avoid any accusation of quoting him out of context:

JP: "The Restrainer is absolutely not an angel. The Restrainer is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, of judgement and of righteousness. That's not going to happen during the last seven years of history. The things that restrain Satan will no longer operate the way they do now.... the age of grace comes to an end during those last seven years.... the age of grace comes to an end. God reverts to behaving the way He did in the Old Testament. Grace is over. Now he is the God of wrath and of judgement again. He begins doing the things that he did in the Old Testament again, you see a replay of the judgements of Egypt from the book of Exodus in the book of Revelation.....   the dispensation of grace is over, the covenant of grace no longer functions.  Now he goes back to dealing with fallen man the way he did in the Old Testament.....  the Holy Spirit will be taken from the world. He will no longer convict the world of sin the way He does now. Grace will come to an end. God reverts to this Old Testament wrath and begins refocusing towards dealing with Israel and the Jews" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0LEfWRBaM&feature=youtu.be

I believe I have now identified the source of the confusion with these teachings, which, by the way, JP has revised several times now. JP's maniacal handling of the 70th week of Daniel obscures the issues and attempts blind us all with science. He integrates the various time frames of the 70th week indiscriminately and jumps back and forth from birth pains to tribulation to wrath and judgement. In other words, he very cleverly merges the three periods and applies them to the entirety of the 70th week without making any distinction between them. For instance, the wrath and judgement of God DOES NOT begin until the seventh seal is opened (Revelation 8:1-13). We therefore cannot speak of God reverting to being a God of wrath and judgement during the 70th week, it is only during the Day of the Lord that this happens (Revelation 6:16-17; Revelation 8....).

When precisely is the Restrainer taken out of the way?

JP teaches that the Restrainer is taken out of the way "during" the 70th week. This repeated  use of the word "during" is very misleading! JP assumes a shift in the ministry of the Holy Spirit "during" the birth pains i.e. the first 3.5 years, but this is unsustainable:

The passage in 2 Thessalonians indicates that certain things must happen before the restrainer ceases to restrain i.e. the rebellion (apostasy) must occur first and then the Antichrist will take his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. This happens at the mid point of the week. The man who is destined to become the Antichrist will be preparing to fulfil his vile destiny prior to the mid point of the 70th week, but not until the then will he become possessed by Satan, set up the abomination of desolation and be revealed (Daniel 7:25; 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Hence it is the mid point of the 70th week that the Restrainer is taken out of the way..... not during the entire 70th week as JP teaches!

Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, (2 Thessalonians 2:6)  This is a concomitant event... the Restrainer is removed at a specific point in time, and THEN AT THAT TIME, the lawless one will be revealed. At the beginning of the week the Antichrist will make a strong covenant with many for one week and Israel will enter into a covenant with death (Daniel 9:27; Isaiah 28:15,18). This event marks the beginning of birth pains (Revelation 6:1-8 Matthew 24). It is important to notice that the beginning of birth pains/the four horsemen are WORLD WIDE PHENOMENA, they do not apply specifically to the tribulation of the church and they are not connected to the removal of the Restrainer as JP teaches.

It is not until the mid point of the 70th week that God focuses upon Israel. Even after that, the Gentiles are not forgotten: 

This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. (Luke 21: 14-1 cf. Luke 12:11-12)

During the Great tribulation the two witnesses will prophesy internationally for 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3-13)

And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:13)

At least one of the three angels in Revelation 14 preaches the gospel to the inhabitants of the whole earth: Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people (Revelation 14:6 cf. John 16:8).

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9-11) 

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

JP's doctrine that tribulation is associated with the beginning of birth pains has necessitated further acrobatics. He has now invented a "seven year tribulation" of which the first 3.5 years of "birth pains" are "general tribulation" based on thlipsis John 16:21. John 16 refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the birth of the church. It is a complete fallacy to say that John 16 refers to the tribulation. I have debunked JP's argument about thlipsis in John 16:21 in my previous post: http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/jacob-prasch-say-again-tribulation-is.html

Interestingly, close associate of JP, David Nathan of Bread of Life Ministries and Moriel South Africa, teaches categorically that the restrainer is not the Holy Spirit, but that he is the Archangel Michael. He explains the phrase: "At that time" Daniel 12:1 refers to Israel and the end times, and that Michael will "stand aside" (Hebrew amad): "That is who is restraining, it is Michael, the angel that God has set over his people Israel." David Nathan not only confirms the pre-wrath position, he also confirms that a seven year tribulation is definitely not found in the scriptures. 

Eschataology Part 7 (The seven seals) The Restrainer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmUbFG064X8

I also recommend:  

Joe Schimmel, Blessed Hope Chapel: 

The Revelation Series: The Amazing Mission of the Archangel Michael
https://player.fm/series/blessed-hope-chapel/the-revelation-series-the-amazing-mission-of-the-archangel-michael

Alan Kurschner, Eschatos Ministries:

http://www.alankurschner.com/2015/05/20/archangel-michael-the-restrainer-removed-

Jacob Prasch's aberrant intra-seal teaching is provably unscriptural. His earlier teachings were good as far as I can tell, but I would advise my readers to be very cautious about his later offerings.