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Sunday 27 June 2021

FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS: AN ACCOUNT OF THE INQUISITION

When the reformed religion began to diffuse the Gospel light throughout Europe, Pope Innocent III entertained great fear for the Romish Church. He accordingly instituted a number of inquisitors, or persons who were to make inquiry after, apprehend, and punish, heretics, as the reformed were called by the papists.

At the head of these inquisitors was one Dominic, who had been canonized by the pope, in order to render his authority the more respectable. Dominic, and the other inquisitors, spread themselves into various Roman Catholic countries, and treated the Protestants with the utmost severity. In process of time, the pope, not finding these roving inquisitors so useful as he had imagined, resolved upon the establishment of fixed and regular courts of Inquisition. After the order for these regular courts, the first office of Inquisition was established in the city of Toulouse, and Dominic became the first regular inquisitor, as he had before been the first roving inquisitor.
Courts of Inquisition were now erected in several countries; but the Spanish Inquisition became the most powerful, and the most dreaded of any. Even the kings of Spain themselves, though arbitrary in all other respects, were taught to dread the power of the lords of the Inquisition; and the horrid cruelties they exercised compelled multitudes, who differed in opinion from the Roman Catholics, carefully to conceal their sentiments.
The most zealous of all the popish monks, and those who most implicitly obeyed the Church of Rome, were the Dominicans and Franciscans: these, therefore, the pope thought proper to invest with an exclusive right of presiding over the different courts of Inquisition, and gave them the most unlimited powers, as judges delegated by him, and immediately representing his person: they were permitted to excommunicate, or sentence to death whom they thought proper, upon the most slight information of heresy. They were allowed to publish crusades against all whom they deemed heretics, and enter into leagues with sovereign princes, to join their crusades with their forces.
In 1244, their power was further increased by the emperor Frederic II, who declared himself the protector and friend of all the inquisitors, and published the cruel edicts, viz., 1. That all heretics who continue obstinate, should be burnt. 2. That all heretics who repented, should be imprisoned for life.
This zeal in the emperor, for the inquisitors of the Roman Catholic persuasion, arose from a report which had been propagated throughout Europe, that he intended to renounce Christianity, and turn Mahometan; the emperor therefore, attempted, by the height of bigotry, to contradict the report, and to show his attachment to popery by cruelty.
The officers of the Inquisition are three inquisitors, or judges, a fiscal proctor, two secretaries, a magistrate, a messenger, a receiver, a jailer, an agent of confiscated possessions; several assessors, counsellors, executioners, physicians, surgeons, doorkeepers, familiars, and visitors, who are sworn to secrecy.
The principal accusation against those who are subject to this tribunal is heresy, which comprises all that is spoken, or written, against any of the articles of the creed, or the traditions of the Roman Church. The inquisition likewise takes cognizance of such as are accused of being magicians, and of such who read the Bible in the common language, the Talmud of the Jews, or the Alcoran of the Mahometans.
Upon all occasions the inquisitors carry on their processes with the utmost severity, and punish those who offend them with the most unparalleled cruelty. A Protestant has seldom any mercy shown him, and a Jew, who turns Christian, is far from being secure.
A defence in the Inquisition is of little use to the prisoner, for a suspicion only is deemed sufficient cause of condemnation, and the greater his wealth the greater his danger. The principal part of the inquisitors' cruelties is owing to their rapacity: they destroy the life to possess the property; and, under the pretence of zeal, plunder each obnoxious individual.
A prisoner in the Inquisition is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnesses against him, but every method is taken by threats and tortures, to oblige him to accuse himself, and by that means corroborate their evidence. If the jurisdiction of the Inquisition is not fully allowed, vengeance is denounced against such as call it in question for if any of its officers are opposed, those who oppose them are almost certain to be sufferers for the temerity; the maxim of the Inquisition being to strike terror, and awe those who are the objects of its power into obedience. High birth, distinguished rank, great dignity, or eminent employments, are no protection from its severities; and the lowest officers of the Inquisition can make the highest characters tremble.
When the person impeached is condemned, he is either severely whipped, violently tortured, sent to the galleys, or sentenced to death; and in either case the effects are confiscated. After judgment, a procession is performed to the place of execution, which ceremony is called an auto da fe, or act of faith.
The following is an account of an auto da fe, performed at Madrid in the year 1682.
The officers of the Inquisition, preceded by trumpets, kettledrums, and their banner, marched on the thirtieth of May, in cavalcade, to the palace of the great square, where they declared by proclamation, that, on the thirtieth of June, the sentence of the prisoners would be put in execution.
Of these prisoners, twenty men and women, with one renegade Mahometan, were ordered to be burned; fifty Jews and Jewesses, having never before been imprisoned, and repenting of their crimes, were sentenced to a long confinement, and to wear a yellow cap. The whole court of Spain was present on this occasion. The grand inquisitor's chair was placed in a sort of tribunal far above that of the king.
Among those who were to suffer, was a young Jewess of exquisite beauty, and but seventeen years of age. Being on the same side of the scaffold where the queen was seated, she addressed her, in hopes of obtaining a pardon, in the following pathetic speech: "Great queen, will not your royal presence be of some service to me in my miserable condition? Have regard to my youth; and, oh! consider, that I am about to die for professing a religion imbibed from my earliest infancy!" Her majesty seemed greatly to pity her distress, but turned away her eyes, as she did not dare to speak a word in behalf of a person who had been declared a heretic.
Now Mass began, in the midst of which the priest came from the altar, placed himself near the scaffold, and seated himself in a chair prepared for that purpose.
The chief inquisitor then descended from the amphitheater, dressed in his cope, and having a miter on his head. After having bowed to the altar, he advanced towards the king's balcony, and went up to it, attended by some of his officers, carrying a cross and the Gospels, with a book containing the oath by which the kings of Spain oblige themselves to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and to support with all their power and force the prosecutions and decrees of the Inquisition: a like oath was administered to the counsellors and whole assembly. The Mass was begun about twelve at noon, and did not end until nine in the evening, being protracted by a proclamation of the sentence of the several criminals, which were already separately rehearsed aloud one after the other.
After this followed the burnings of the twenty-one men and women, whose intrepidity in suffering that horrid death was truly astonishing. The king's near situation to the criminals rendered their dying groans very audible to him; he could not, however, be absent from this dreadful scene, as it is esteemed a religious one; and his coronation oath obliged him to give a sanction by his presence to all the acts of the tribunal.
What we have already said may be applied to inquisitions in general, as well as to that of Spain in particular. The Inquisition belonging to Portugal is exactly upon a similar plan to that of Spain, having been instituted much about the same time, and put under the same regulations. The inquisitors allow the torture to be used only three times, but during those times it is so severely inflicted, that the prisoner either dies under it, or continues always after a cripple, and suffers the severest pains upon every change of weather. We shall give an ample description of the severe torments occasioned by the torture, from the account of one who suffered it the three respective times, but happily survived the cruelties he underwent.
At the first time of torturing, six executioners entered, stripped him naked to his drawers, and laid him upon his back on a kind of stand, elevated a few feet from the floor. The operation commenced by putting an iron collar round his neck, and a ring to each foot, which fastened him to the stand. His limbs being thus stretched out, they wound two ropes round each thigh; which ropes being passed under the scaffold, through holes made for that purpose, were all drawn tight at the same instant of time, by four of the men, on a given signal.
It is easy to conceive that the pains which immediately succeeded were intolerable; the ropes, which were of a small size, cut through the prisoner's flesh to the bone, making the blood to gush out at eight different places thus bound at a time. As the prisoner persisted in not making any confession of what the inquisitors required, the ropes were drawn in this manner four times successively.
The manner of inflicting the second torture was as follows: they forced his arms backwards so that the palms of his hands were turned outward behind him; when, by means of a rope that fastened them together at the wrists, and which was turned by an engine, they drew them by degrees nearer each other, in such a manner that the back of each hand touched, and stood exactly parallel to each other. In consequence of this violent contortion, both his shoulders became dislocated, and a considerable quantity of blood issued from his mouth. This torture was repeated thrice; after which he was again taken to the dungeon, and the surgeon set the dislocated bones.
Two months after the second torture, the prisoner being a little recovered, was again ordered to the torture room, and there, for the last time, made to undergo another kind of punishment, which was inflicted twice without any intermission. The executioners fastened a thick iron chain round his body, which crossing at the breast, terminated at the wrists. They then placed him with his back against a thick board, at each extremity whereof was a pulley, through which there ran a rope that caught the end of the chain at his wrists. The executioner then, stretching the end of his rope by means of a roller, placed at a distance behind him, pressed or bruised his stomach in proportion as the ends of the chains were drawn tighter. They tortured him in this manner to such a degree, that his wrists, as well as his shoulders, were quite dislocated. They were, however, soon set by the surgeons; but the barbarians, not yet satisfied with this species of cruelty, made him immediately undergo the like torture a second time, which he sustained (though, if possible, attended with keener pains,) with equal constancy and resolution. After this, he was again remanded to the dungeon, attended by the surgeon to dress his bruises and adjust the part dislocated, and here he continued until their auto da fe, or jail delivery, when he was discharged, crippled and diseased for life.

Tuesday 15 June 2021

DALTON THOMAS: MISREPRESENTATION OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

 Demonic Torment, Divine Judgment and the Beginning of the End of All Things - YouTube

It was very concerning that Joel Richardson misrepresented the prewrath position regarding the salvation of Israel last week. {1} Since he has not bothered to correct this error, it is necessary to refute him again here and to reiterate the prewrath position: All Israel are saved at the end of the 70th week of Danielnot at the rapture

This week, Dalton Thomas continues to distort the book of Revelation with his warped teaching regarding the fifth and sixth trumpets (the first two woes) in Revelation chapter 9. Dalton Thomas rejects the prewrath position entirely and has come up with his own bizarre scenario for the first six trumpet judgements. He teaches that the church will be present on earth following the sixth seal terror aka the cosmic disturbances of Revelation 6:12-14, and that the persecution of Israel (Jacob's trouble) will continue into the trumpet judgements. 

Dalton Thomas begins his eisegesis of Revelation 9:1 by claiming that the star fallen from heaven to earth does not fall but rather just comes down to earth. The Greek verb piptó is unquestionably "fall". {2} 

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen (peptōkota) from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. (Revelation 9:1).

According to Dalton Thomas, the context of "the releasing of the trumpet events" is that the church will release judgements on the military coalition of the Antichrist. Specifically, he claims that the prayers of the saints will release the first four trumpets. (Revelation 8:3).

It should be noted that Revelation 8:3 refers back to the prayers of the fifth seal martyrs who are in heavenWhen he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 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?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.(Revelation 6:9-11).

The prewrath position maintains that the rapture of the church becomes imminent after the sixth seal cosmic disturbances, and that the "great multitude from every nation" described in Revelation 7 are the complete number of resurrected believers from all time. The church therefore is not present on the earth during the trumpet judgements. (Revelation 7:9-13)

Dalton Thomas: The people of God like Moses and Aaron are quietly releasing the judgements of God on the Antichrists empire and the rebellious of the nations who refuse to submit to the leadership of God in the midst of his judgements as He releases judgements on those who are targeting the Jewish people and the people of the covenant, believers in Jesus.. We are releasing judgements on the empire, the coalition, the military ..that is targeting the Jewish people for annihilation. that is the context of the releasing of these trumpet events. 

The above speculations are extremely problematic for a number of reasons.

The scriptures provide compelling evidence that the Day of the Lord i.e. the eschatological wrath of God, begins immediately after the tribulation..   Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ (Matthew 24:29).  We know that the Day of the Lord becomes imminent after the cosmic disturbances due to the terrified cries of the kings of the earth. (Revelation 6:17). The Antichrist's persecution against Israel and the church therefore comes to an end before God's wrath is implemented via the trumpet and the later bowl judgements. Revelation 8 and 9 describe the angels as the agents who sound the trumpets and release the judgements. We see no process of negotiation/proclamation involving human agencies associated with these events, as was the case with Moses and Aaron in Exodus 7 and following. Rather, the previous prayers of the fifth seal martyrs in heaven are being addressed here. (Revelation 6:9-11). NOTE: The two witnesses will be prophesying and performing signs during this time, and one of these witnesses may in fact be Moses. (Revelation 11:4-14).

Apart from the specific scriptures that inform us that the tribulation precedes the Day of the Lord, there are also further considerations. According to Dalton Thomas, the Antichrist coalition will be carrying out a campaign against Jews and Christians during the devastating trumpet judgements. We should bear in mind that the trumpets follow the cosmic disturbances and the rapture, and that the wicked will have seen the sign of the son of man in heaven.. (Matthew 24:30-31). Their reaction at this point is pure panic: “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17). During the five month demon locust torment, everyone without the seal of God on their forehead will be in such extreme distress and sickness that they will seek death and will not find it. (Revelation 9:6). Any suggestion that the Antichrist coalition will be capable of undertaking a supposed campaign against Jews and Christians during this period is untenable. Similarly the second woe entails the mass slaughter of one third of mankind. Once again it is insupportable that a campaign against Jews and Christians will be ongoing during this time.

So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number. (Revelation 9:15-16). 

The problem with inaccurate teaching about the rapture is that it skews the rest of the book of Revelation and it confuses believers. It is not recommended that we tamper with the book of Revelation. (Revelation 22:18-19).

The eschatology of both Joel Richardson and Dalton Thomas is very twisted. I would advise believers to test the spirits and avoid these men. (1 John 4:1; Acts 17:11 cf. Romans 16:17-18). Frontier Alliance International is a slick operation, {3} but we should be aware that outward appearance is not indicative of sound teaching or of God's approval. (1 Samuel 16:7). Whatever is going on with Richardson and Thomas at the Golan Heights is unsound and makes me very uneasy. {4} 

1. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: JOEL RICHARDSON'S PREWRATH RAPTURE CONUNDRUM (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)
2. Strong's Greek: 4098. πίπτω, (piptó) -- to fall (biblehub.com)
3. Visit FAI’s Global Offices // FAI MISSION
4. mikereynolds.org

Monday 7 June 2021

JOEL RICHARDSON'S PREWRATH RAPTURE CONUNDRUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsatQIfGjCA
The Second Exodus in the Book of Revelation: Maranatha Global Bible Study 24

In the above video, Joel Richardson explores the differences between the prewrath and the post-trib models and the imagery of the Exodus in the Book of Revelation.

Joel Richardson's Prewrath Conundrum: When is Israel saved?

Richardson: "This is a big problem for the prewrath camp..  if they are to be consistent they have to say that all Israel gets saved at the Parousia, at the time of the rapture, which would be some time in the middle of the final three and a half years." (22:00 mark)

Joel Richardson is in error when he states that the prewrath position teaches that all Israel is saved at the Parousia/rapture. The prewrath position states that the 144,000 remnant of Israel are sealed before the seventh trumpet is sounded. (Revelation 7:1-8), and that "all Israel" are saved at the end of the 70th week of Daniel in order to fulfil the 490 period:

Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. (Daniel 9:24-25).

Richardson continues his distortion of the prewrath position and asks some very confusing questions. (24:21 mark). 

Richardson: "The prewrath camp is now faced with a conundrum.. Is Israel saved after the trumpets and the bowls, or are they saved back at the Parousia/rapture when they look at the one that appears over them? That's a significant difficulty... So if the goal is to wait until the end of the final three and a half years, why do they have to wait, they all get saved before this, or they get raptured before this.. If Jesus appears, where does He go? Does He go back up to heaven, or does he come down to earth? Paul the apostle says that when Christ is revealed, we will be revealed with him.." Richardson misquotes this verse. Paul actually states that we will appear with him in gloryWhen Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4). Richardson continues: "The inference is, it sounds like he is coming back, not that he comes in the clouds, we are raptured, and then we go back up with Him. Well does he go back up there, does He come down, is he executing judgement on the ground or is He in heaven for a while.. and then He comes back?"

If Joel Richardson had paid any attention at all to prewrath teaching, he would know that there is no conflict between Matthew 24:29-31 and Zechariah 12:10-14. Richardson inappropriately aligns Matthew 24:29-31 and Zechariah 12:10-14. He fails to mention that Jesus quotes directly from Joel 2:10 in this passage. (Matthew 24:29). (21:00 mark). Both Matthew 24:29-31 and Joel 2:10 refer to the cosmic disturbances. Matthew continues to describe the rapture preceded by the sign of the Son of man when every eye will see him, even those who pierced him (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7). 

The prewrath view is explicitly delineated as follows:

* "All Israel" are saved at the end of the 70th week of Daniel.
* When Jesus appears every eye will see Him. (Revelation 1:7).
* The rapture occurs at some point between the sixth and seventh seal of Revelation, 
after the great tribulation before the wrath of God is implemented, (Revelation 6:17).  
* After the rapture Jesus will usher God's people before the Father's throne in heaven. (John 14:1-3, Revelation 7:9, and 2 Corinthians 5:10).
* The saints return with Jesus at the battle of Armageddon. (1 Thessalonians 3:13). 

Richardson concludes this video with a pep talk which verges on indolence. He glosses over the differences between the prewrath and post-trib rapture positions and he muddies the waters by making statements like: "It is ok to not settle on a clear position..  there is tension no matter which position we take..  there are no rewards for whoever has the perfect timeline." I would not argue against him that the way we live as Christians is critically important. However, the way we live should not be at the expense of applying ourselves to studying the scriptures. Although it is possible to be saved and hold differing opinions about the rapture, I think it is irresponsible to downplay these differences. I actually think that it is possible to come to a clear understanding on the rapture question, and that there will be rewards for those who diligently search the scriptures and sincerely hold on to sound doctrine. 

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16 cf. 2 Timothy 2:15).

Richardson's perversion of the prewrath position is either based on ignorance, or else it is a deliberate attempt to sabotage prewrath teaching. Whichever is the case, he has completely misrepresented the prewrath position, and in the process he has created a "conundrum" of his own making. This is very unfortunate and adds to the confusion surrounding the rapture question. 

Richardson obviously does not value the principle of biblical separation. His appearances on TBN and CBN with various questionable characters is alarming to say the least. (Romans 16:17; Ephesians 5:11). One way or another, Joel Richardson and his latest questionable associate, Dalton Thomas (Frontier Alliance International), do more harm than good with their eschatological distortions. Beware of Frontier Alliance International {1}


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