Fellowship Bible Chapel Fall Prophecy Conference Session 3 - Charles Cooper

2019 10 12 FBC Fall Prophecy Conference Session Three - Charles Cooper

The following observations on Session 3 are a follow up to my previous post regarding the final Session 5 Q&A, in which I took issue with a number of Cooper's assertions, including:

* The application of 1 Kings 17:14-16 to believers during the great tribulation.
* The apostasy of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 refers specifically to Israel.
* The cleansing of the church will occur before the great tribulation.
* The Antichrist will take his seat in "a holy place".
* Jesus' return with the armies of heaven (Revelation 19:14-15) will not include the resurrected saints.

My refutation of Cooper's skewed assertions can be found on: https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com/2019/10/fellowship-bible-chapel-fall-prophecy.html

At the beginning of Session 3, Cooper expressed some sympathy with his audience for "enduring" the length of his sessions (an hour and a half as against Alan Kurschner's one hour sessions). Indeed Cooper's habit of wandering off into all kinds of extraneous subjects and side issues does call for endurance!

Session 3 is described as "An an-depth look at the significance of the Seals and Bowls in relationship to the rapture, resurrection, and Day of the Lord."

During this session Cooper confirmed my previous suspicion that his "tradition" is probably Charismatic. Cooper: "In my tradition people stand up, clap, run round, they do things .."

Cooper: "Keep the main thing to the main thing. Don't get distracted into arguments that have nothing to do with the core values and beliefs of the (prewrath) position. This.. has hurt the pre-trib position... because you try to argue too many things that don't have a solid textual basis. It is unnecessary - it makes your position weak because you are arguing something that is tendential. It is the old theological noise.. 'how many angels can sit on the head of a pin'. What does that have to do with the timing of the Lord's return?" (3:00) Perhaps Cooper has not considered the possibility that the weakness of the pre-trib position necessitates frequent digressions into all kinds of unnecessary speculations. In other words, their recurrent deviations may be a deliberate ploy to distract attention away from "the main thing".

Ironically Cooper condemns pre-trib "novices" who do not articulate their position well. (5:30) We should remember that God created all of us with free will and that we in the west are privileged to live in a society that upholds freedom of expression. The abuse of freedom of expression does have some unpleasant consequences, but the alternative is dictatorship. At the present time we are obliged to endure "novices" who make uninformed judgements, though we may refute them. (Titus 1:9). Those who twist the scriptures will face eventual judgement. (2 Peter 2:3). In some sense we are all "novices". (1 Corinthians 13:12). The state of apostasy generally prevailing in the professing church necessitates a challenge, and that challenge falls upon faithful Christians outside the apostate denominations to make informed judgements on various dubious teachings. God is accessible to all the faithful, and every Christian has equal potential to minister for God. The doctrine of the "priesthood of believers" stands in opposition to the concept of a spiritual aristocracy or hierarchy within Christianity. All Christians are exhorted to "test the spirits". (1 John 4:1). 

Cooper claims that Jesus Christ is not going to ask you "What was your eschatology?" In saying this, he immediately relegates eschatology to a non essential subject. I would argue that understanding the timing of the return of Jesus Christ is essential in many key respects if Christians are to avoid being deceived as we approach the 70th week of Daniel. (Matthew 24:4,5,10). Jesus' rebuke to the Pharisees and Sadducees: "..you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16:3 cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:4).

Cooper states that eschatology will not ultimately matter. "What will have mattered is how you treated me as a fellow believer in Christ. The fact that we both believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, died and rose from the dead and is returning.. but you chose not to fellowship with me because of a theological difference on a point, that I think concerns God."

Cooper bemoans the animosity exhibited by the pre-trib camp against anyone who does not hold their view of the rapture. By calling it calling it "one little theological difference" (!!), Cooper grossly underestimates and de-emphasises the gravity of the pre-trib error. If it were such a small matter, then people like Alan Kurschner, Joe Schimmel etc. would not waste their time refuting it. I hold the same core beliefs about Jesus Christ as many pre-tribbers, and yet I believe that their error is lethal  i.e. lethal to the extent that it will lead many of its adherents to eventual apostasy! (Matthew 24:10). I could not attend a church that teaches pre-trib because in many cases their error frames the whole of their theology. A case in point is JD Farag, who made the insane accusation that anyone who attacks the pre-trib rapture is "satanic". {1} This is a classic case of calling good evil and evil good. (Isaiah 5:20). The scriptures tell us that divisions are unavoidable: for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. (1 Corinthians 11:19). At its source pre-trib is a satanic deception with not one verse of scripture to verify it. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14; 1 John 4:1). Although I would not deliberately subject or expose myself to the pre-trib error, I do have some sympathy for genuine believers who have been sucked into this deception. The "main thing" is not to put fellowship above truth as Cooper would have it; the "main thing" is to maintain sound doctrine. Those who persistently err in significant areas are to be avoided. (Romans 16:17). 

Pretrib Pastor J. D. Farag talking with Jan Markell and Amir Tsarfati said, 'This is not hyperbole. If it were not for the blessed hope of the soon return of Jesus Christ in the [imminent, pretrib] rapture…I would go literally insane. I would lose my mind. [Amir Tsarfati interjects and says, 'I wouldn’t live.'] I would not be able to handle what my eyes see – the evil and the darkness is such that the likes of which we have never seen in human history'" {2}

Referring to the hostility between pre-trib and prewrath believers, Cooper stated: "There is going to come a day when we are going to need one another." (7:50) When might that day be? If he is referring to persecution during great tribulation, I assume that he does not attribute the apostasy of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 to pre-trib believers (amongst others). Indeed, during Session 5, he made the unaccountable assertion that he attributes the apostasy to Israel.

And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:10-13).

Cooper's paraphrase of Revelation 6:10: "God when are you going to get down there and start kicking butt for what they did to us?" (14:00).

Revelation 6:10: They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

These kind of cheap remarks devalue the terrifying events of Revelation. Teachers especially need to show a proper respect for God's Holy Word. (1 Peter 5:3).

I have great difficulty with Cooper's assertion that the Antichrist will take his seat in "a holy place". (1:24) My understanding is that the unveiling of the Man Of Lawlessness will be in the rebuilt third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). As far as I am aware, the third temple will be an ecumenical centre and will be located near or actually on the plot presently occupied by the Dome of the Rock. As such, I cannot see how the temple where the Antichrist takes his seat can possibly be holy.. although no doubt it will be known as "holy".

..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. (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ = temple of God or temple of a god.

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ) (Matthew 24:15).

According to Cooper, the Antichrist will not take his seat at the location of the temple of old i.e. the site of Solomon's temple, but "in the only holy place in existence right now - Mount Zion." 

I stand to be corrected, but I am not at all convinced that physical Mount Zion is a holy place at the present time?

In the book of Revelation, Jerusalem is described symbolically as Sodom and Egypt. (Revelation 11:8).

For Christians, a physical place of worship is not a necessary requirement. In the book of Hebrews, Zion is considered as a type of the church.(Hebrews 12:18). 

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, (Hebrews 12:22). 

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation). (Hebrews 9:11).

When Jesus returns, He will rule over the entire earth during the millennial kingdom from Zion. (Joel 3:17-21; Zechariah 14:8-9, 20-21; Revelation 20:4-6).

As Christians we anticipate the heavenly Jerusalem that descends from heaven.." a new heaven and a new earth."

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2).

1. https://youtu.be/d4R7wHuOtmM  
2. https://www.alankurschner.com/2019/04/23/pretrib-pastor-says-he-would-go-literally-insane-if-it-were-not-for-the-imminent-rapture-video/