Posted by WW on March 21, 1999 at 08:04:58 {MWOuU2yvobPRY}:
In Reply to: *THE MANNER OF HIS COMING... posted by mntzion on March 21, 1999 at 00:07:31:
Friends,
'If anyone says to you then, "THE CHRIST IS HERE!" or, "THE TIME IS AT HAND!" do not believe it. For Pseudo-Anointed and False Prophets will arrive and produce signs and miracles to deceive The Elect, if that were possible.' (Mk 13.21-23; Lk 21.8) If Jesus warned his own disciples not to believe or follow anyone who professed to speak in the name of Christ claiming to be an anointed prophet preaching the message "THE TIME IS AT HAND!" why, then, do so many Christian preachers and teachers still do it? Further, why do so many Christian believers still follow the very ones Jesus said not to follow?
This can be applied to various millenial groups in existance today.
Matthew 24
23. At
that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do not believe it.
24. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were
possible.
25. See, I have told you ahead of time.
26. "So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
27. For as lightning that comes from
the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29. "Immediately after the distress 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 heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
30. "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will
see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
31. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32. "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
So, what we can discern is that the time of his arrival will be a complete surprise but that the actual advent will be OBVIOUS to all! (verse 30)
We can also see that his 'presence' occurs after the Tribulation and not before. This
is laying bare the lie that Christ has already returned and has been ruling since some particular date.
The whole Jdub deal of this 'invisible presence' was cooked up to hide the failed prophecies of Russell and his minions.
WW