Do
you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet
do them yourself—that you will escape the judgement of God? Or
do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to
repentance? But
because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for
yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be
revealed. (Romans 2:3-5)
Is it credible to believe that the Lord has been waiting for two thousand years or so to reveal the intra-seal rapture and the identity of the Restrainer to Jacob Prasch? This emphatic teaching that JP insists we should
"pay attention to" has profound implications for our understanding about grace during the 70th week of Daniel. JP's identification of the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer and His
supposed departure from the world during the 70th week of Daniel is a teaching which effectively demolishes grace and suppresses the gospel during the final seven years of history. As such it is no small matter! If we are in our right senses, we should consider the identity of
the Restrainer a
secondary question. If it were
primary, then I believe the Lord would have
ensured that it was included in the scriptures!
Jacob Prasch has some very different ideas however! As it is, the gospel is called an
everlasting gospel which will be proclaimed until the end of the age. (Revelation 14:6; Matthew 24:14) Believers are instructed to preach the gospel
in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). During the great tribulation Jesus Christ himself tells us that this is our opportunity to bear witness:
".....for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict." (Luke 21:15).
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 teaching on the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians is the most convoluted teaching I have ever heard. I have found it difficult to establish which part of the 70th week of Daniel he refers to when he frequently talks about
"this period", but I have finally established that he refers to the entirety of the 70th week as the period when
grace supposedly comes to an end, the Holy Spirit is taken from the world and believers will no longer be able to preach the gospel. The scriptures he quotes to support his arguments fall down under exegetical investigation and are very puzzling indeed. JP seems to
"forget" his golden rule that the
'pesher' (spiritual interpretation) depends on the
'peshet'
(literal interpretation) in his midrashic hermeneutic. He also seems to
"forget" his frequent admonition:
"A text out of context and isolation from its co-text is always a pretext."
I have quoted JP verbatim below:
JP: "Pentecost is reversed... the same as Jesus went and sent the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit goes and sends Jesus. In that interim
period you have a powerless church that cannot fulfil its mission any
more. 'work while you have the light; night comes - no man can work.'
Does this mean the Holy Spirit is taken from us as individuals? No! What
happened in John 20 is forever 'I will never leave you or forsake you.'
.....but what happened at Pentecost is over. There is no longer
conviction of sin, no more grace, now he is getting ready to be the God
of wrath again. Pentecost is reversed..... That period of powerless in
the interim is 'the shattering of the power of the Holy people.' This is
where the pre-wrath people get it wrong..... There is a difference
between the Holy Spirit indwelling and the Holy Spirit outpoured. {1}
JP's use of the metaphor
"the night" in the gospel of John is taken completely out of context.
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4; 12:35 cf. John 8:12)
In John chapter 9, Jesus heals a man born blind. When he uses the metaphor of
"the night", and the phrase
"no man can work", Jesus refers to his death. The term
"day"
above refers to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, night is coming,
meaning
in this context his arrest and execution. Jesus referred to
Himself as
the light of the world (John 9:4). Jesus predicts his death:
The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light (John 12:35).
The
night is
also indicative of the last half of the 70th week (1 Thessalonians 5:2; Matthew 25:6; Luke 17:34), but without a primary meaning in John 9, we cannot apply the
isolated phrase
"no man can work" to the 70th week of Daniel exegetically
. JP has spiritualised this phrase out of context since it cannot be established that
'the night' in John 9 refers to the tribulation from the
peshet point of view.
Further instances where JP does the exactly same thing:
*JP:
"As translated by The New Testament Greek, Jesus
clearly and directly refers to the 'Beginning of Birth
pangs' as "Thelipsis" / TRIBULATION in John
16:21 .....in this same
John chapter 16 in verses 20-22, Jesus speaks of His Second Coming as
being proceeded by the Birth Pangs seen in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and
as is illustrated in the vision of the woman in travail in Revelation
chapter 12." {2}
I have demonstrated in my previous post that thlipsis in John 16:21 does not refer to persecution/tribulation at all, rather it refers to the disciples sorrow after Jesus' execution.{2} The scriptures themselves DO NOT refer to the entirety of the 70th week as tribulation as JP claims. 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. The text below clearly indicates that tribulation follows the first 3.5 years of world wide phenomena i.e. the beginning of birth pains:
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. THEN they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death..... (Matthew 24:4-8; cf. Mark 13:3-13; Revelation 12).
*JP applies the phrase: "the shattering of the power of the holy people" to the persecuted church during the great tribulation (Daniel 12:7). This is yet another peculiar view of JP in contradiction to the traditional view that it refers to the Jewish people.{2}
*The Age of Grace is referred to by dispensationalists as the
Dispensation of Grace or the
Church Age.
The Church Age began at Pentecost and ushered in
the fullness of the Gentiles until
the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The completion of the times of the Gentiles will occur at the end of the age when the full inclusion of the Jews takes place and they are "grafted into their own
olive tree" (Romans 11:1-36). In other words, grace does not end until the completion of the 70th week of Daniel.
They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all
nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until
the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:24 cf Revelation 11:2)
Alan Kurschner:
" Revelation 11:2
indicates that the end of Jerusalem’s trampling by Gentiles culminates
with the end of the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.(10)..... John writes in Revelation 11:2, 'Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it,
for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread [trample]
under foot the holy city for forty-two months.' The grammatical and
theological parallels between this verse and Luke 21:24 establish a clear termination point for the 'times of the Gentiles.' Not surprisingly, it is exactly as Daniel 9:24 indicated." {3}
Ironically, JP mercilessly attacks and reviles others for their faulty eschatology and false teaching. However, I would suggest that his own
"errors" are perhaps just as dangerous, if not more so. We should consider with some trepidation the ramifications of
identifying the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer. Doesn't JP misrepresent
God Himself since the Holy Spirit is omnipresent? (Psalm 139:7). Doesn't JP also misrepresent the critical seven year period at the end of time when there will be widespread delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11)? The warning from Jesus Christ is:
Let no one deceive you in any way. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). If JP's distortions were due to stupidity then perhaps he would have more of an excuse. As it is, I cannot account for such distortions of the scriptures other than to conclude that they are a deliberate attempt to mislead the Body of Christ during the 70th week of Daniel. Beware of this hypocrite he is very dangerous!
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).
{1} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COyt8HAHbcI
{2} http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/jacob-prasch-rapture-holy-spirit-and.html#comment
{3} http://prewrathrapture.com/premillennial_nuggets_luke_2124the_times/
Recommended Links:
https://player.fm/series/blessed-hope-chapel/the-revelation-series-the-amazing-mission-of-the-archangel-michael
http://www.alankurschner.com/2015/05/20/archangel-michael-the-restrainer-removed-2-thessalonians-26-7-part-2-of-2-ep-35/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqdtreJjbic&list=PLDS6L4dOrrh2b31rfWbTduK8Dv7LlQNlk