The Man Child

            Certain Scriptures, particularly in the Book of Revelation have been made obscure due to preconceived doctrines which are untrue. Evangelicals in general hold very strongly to the concept of a pretribulational rapture of the entire Church immediately preceding a period of tribulation which they perceive will last for a period of seven years.  It is seen by them as the fulfilment of Daniel’s “seventy weeks” prophecy. The pretribulational “rapture” of the entire Church is the product of dispensational theology invented by John Darby in the mid -nineteenth century and popularized with the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible, the  first  edition having been published in 1909 and experiencing several revisions since then. This was the introduction of dispensational theology which became widespread throughout evangelical Christendom. The question: Is it true? I recommend that you read my previous blog on The “Rapture” Question or in the alternative read either one of my previous titles: These Prophets and the Revelation and/or The Israel Deception. When the myth of the pretribulational “rapture” of the entire church has been completely dispelled in your mind; then the truth of the man child of Revelation 12:1-5 and following context can be understood. This blog will deal with the truth concerning the man child, but you may need to also read my previous blogs on the rapture and “A time, times and a half”. Whether ready or not here is the accurate interpretation of the man child passage in Revelation chapter twelve.

            The first truth to be understood is that the tribulation period is three and one-half years and not seven as is taught in dispensational theology.  This fact can be verified by reading Daniel chapter twelve and several references in Revelation:

(Comp.  Revelation 11:3; 12:6; and 13:5). Nowhere in Scripture is there support for a seven year tribulation.  Dispensational theology has manufactured this doctrine through a perversion of Daniel’s prophecy at Daniel 9:24-27.

            Now we get to a more difficult concept to grasp because most evangelical Christians have been seduced by the pretribulational rapture theory and the seven year tribulation theory both of which are untrue. What we have in Revelation chapter twelve is the catching to the throne of a remnant company of faithful spirit filled Christians (i.e. the man child) who are alive on the earth at the time immediately prior to the onset of tribulation. You may call this rapture if you choose to use that word. The Scriptures say: “And she (the woman) brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”(Rev.12:6). Identifying the various participants in this activity we find as follows: It should be obvious that the dragon is Satan and in fact the text identifies him definitively at 12:9. The woman is not Mary and the man child is not Jesus as you may have been taught. We are dealing with future prophecy here, not with history. The woman is the church which is living on the earth at the time of the onset of the three and one-half year tribulation period. The sun, moon and stars in the metaphor represent God’s people as is drawn out from Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37: 9-11.   Joseph was an overcomer. He went to the throne as it were, to the very right hand of Pharaoh, and there he became an instrument of deliverance for his family. Who represented all of God’s people at that point in time.  This metaphor must be understood in the context of Revelation 12 in order to gain an insight to what is happening here.

            A remnant from the church that has been found faithfully living by the guidance and fullness of the Holy Spirit are taken up.  Their arrival in heaven precipitated a war in heaven and the ground for direct conflict with the enemy. Satan is cast out of heaven and he comes down to earth with great wrath because he knows he has only a short time (3 ½ years according to the text). “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives, unto the death.” (Rev.12:11).  The woman representing the remainder of God’s people on earth are taken into a wilderness experience and the persecution of them begins in earnest. Many will suffer martyrdom if they abide faithful to Christ (See Rev. 11:1-12). This scenario is  also explained for us at Daniel 11:32-35. I would suggest you read it in context and on to the end of the chapter. If you look at Revelation 3:10 as concerns the church at Philadelphia (brotherly love) you will see the following:” Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation; which shall come upon all the world, to try tem that dwell upon the earth.” Christian brothers and sitters there is a war going on!! You have been fed a great deal of false doctrine from the pulpits of evangelical churches. The pretribulational rapture of the entire church before the tribulation is a lie. Many other untruths are connected with this form of theology. My two titles: These Prophets and the Revelation and The Israel Deception will provide you with a complete understanding of end time prophecy. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. Many other related blogs and information on the books can be found at theseprophet.blogspot.com

David Lance Dean

Dispensationalism--A New Paradigm

            I have recently posted a series of eight blogs at my blogsite exposing the theologically corrupted Scofield Reference Bible.  The information in those postings begins to reveal the background and origins of dispensational theology the dominant paradigm for today’s Christian Zionism.  A brief review is necessary here to avoid confusion for those who have not read the blogs or studied the issues to any significant degree.  As with any other discipline, theological systems originate through the initiatives of men who pursue the study of appropriate source materials.  In the case of theology the source must be the Scriptures themselves with little reliance on outside sources such as commentaries which may or may not be accurate. The reason for this is simply that the content of the Word of God must be spiritually discerned and the verification of accuracy must be supported by the content of various texts of Scripture. Every conclusion reached must meet the test of verification through the entire content of Scripture and not just from isolated verses. Taken out of context many things can allegedly be ‘proved’ with the use of Scripture. This is illustrated with the enemy’s temptation of Jesus at Matthew 4:6.  Jesus responded to his quotation of Psalms 91:11-12 with a higher principle of truth, i.e. ‘Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.’ (Deut. 6:16)

            With that having been said let us review the relatively recent emergence of dispensational theology as a dominant paradigm in much of evangelicalism. John Darby (1800-1882) developed his theological concepts at a young age. By 1830 or shortly thereafter he had promulgated his dispensational theory.  It consisted of dividing the progression of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation into seven distinct dispensations (eras or economies) in which God’s dealings with man was allegedly progressively changing. We will name those divisions here: Innocence(before the fall of Adam); Conscience (from the fall of Adam to Noah); Human Government(from Noah after the flood to Abraham); Promise (from Abraham’s calling to the Exodus from Egypt); Law (from the giving of the law at Mount Sinai to Christ); Grace(alleging to cover the period of the church up until the insertion of a total rapture of the church); Kingdom (allegedly restoring the kingdom to the natural posterity of Abraham, i.e., the Jews) . The seventh phase of his scheme was to encompass the millennium in which he asserted Israel will dominate the world for 1000 years with Christ reigning on his throne from earthly Jerusalem. The basic tenants of his theology required a removal of the church from the earth at the occurrence of a pretribulational ‘rapture ‘.  This was a necessary event for the establishment of a kingdom on the earth for he saw the Scriptures as projecting two kingdoms; one in heaven for the church and one on the earth for Israel.  He proceeded to spread this teaching in England, Western Europe and also through several trips to America. It became known as ‘Darbyism’ and was the foundation for the Plymouth Brethren movement. This was derived from its home base in Plymouth, England. Darby was very academic and a prolific writer even translating his own version of the Bible. He was also a gifted speaker and was able to convince many concerning his brand new system of theology. 

      It was completely adopted and popularized within a few decades by C. I. Scofield in the Scofield Reference Bible (first edition 1909). From this early edition containing numerous footnotes, chapter headings and insertions it was very Zionist friendly. That is to say the concept of a future kingdom dispensation (the millennium) was promised and promoted as sure for Israel.  The dividing of the church from Israel was made dominant throughout the Old Testament through various ‘covenants’ and consummated in Revelation at the end of the age. Scofield received the endorsement for publication through a Zionist Jewish attorney in New York who had connections with Oxford University Press in London.  Oxford was owned by Zionist Jews and they sought to gain an inroad within Christian America. They financed and promoted the Scofield Reference Bible and owned all publication rights. C. I. Scofield was handsomely rewarded financially and his reference bible was launched. With the backing of unlimited financial resources it went through several revisions at least three of which were after he died in 1921. Still showing each time that C. I. Scofield was its editor it sold multiplied millions of copies and was introduced into most of the major conservative seminaries and Bible schools in America affecting literally tens of millions of people who would hold the Bible to be the inspired and infallible Word of God. The preachers and teachers that were the students in these institutions became very effective in spreading dispensational theology throughout America and even Europe. The 1967 revision contained 6500 word changes in the original text of the King James Version.  Along with the massive Zionist friendly notes it was thus completely transformed and corrupted both in the text as well as interpretation by application of the notes. This became the new paradigm for understanding the Scriptures throughout most of evangelical Christianity and it has endured for over one hundred years. It is a system of theology which had no president in church history from the time of Christ up until about one hundred and fifty years ago when John Darby introduced Dispensationalism. Obtain my book The Israel Deception through major book sellers and my blogs on related prophetic topics at theseprophets.blogspot.com                David Lance Dean