Oh, the irony
I heard a message yesterday that was in many respects spot on in my opinion. However, he took the doctrine of "no one knows the day or the hour" to be sacrosanct. In his message he discussed the alliance between Russia, Turkey and Iran as a fulfillment of prophecy in Ezekiel and one of the leaves on the tree that Jesus talked about when talking about the Fig tree. I agree with that. However, the irony is that we have had three different teachings on that prophecy in Ezekiel, one says the war takes place prior to the seven year tribulation, one says it is Armageddon and one says it takes place at the end of the millennial kingdom. The strongest argument for it being at the end of the millennial kingdom and the reason many to this day reject that we are seeing the fulfillment is that Ezekiel talks about unwalled cities without bars or gates. That does not describe Israel today, and it would be very difficult to imagine it describing Israel at any time in the near future.
So then with prophecy you cannot hold any doctrine sacrosanct, these are not items of the faith listed in Ephesians.
If you agree that we have been charged to watch, and if you agree that the Lord has given us signs to watch for, and if you agree with the Lord's word that we will be able to see the day approaching then it certainly changes your view of the word that no one knows the day or the hour. This brother agreed that this verse does not mean we don't have to watch. To me that was the greatest harm in that doctrine and when you have a doctrine that is truly harmful teaching contrary to the teachings of the Lord you should reexamine it and challenge it.
In this blog I have tried to not hold any doctrine that is not an item of the faith sacrosanct. At this point I feel the main things I have learned is what doctrines are not correct or accurate. There have been many excellent Bible teachers who appear to have been wrong on a number of interpretations of the prophecies. That is how Bible interpretation works. But few if any have been "proven" right.
We have not proven that the fig tree generation refers to a 70-80 year period, yet we are still operating on that understanding. We have not proven there is a pre tribulation rapture but we are still operating on that understanding. We have not even proven if Ezekiel 38 is pre tribulation, post tribulation or post millennial kingdom. So don't hold any of these prophecies and your pet interpretation as "sacrosanct". These are like jigsaw puzzle pieces, when the Lord charged us to watch He was charging us to put the jigsaw puzzle together.
I heard a message yesterday that was in many respects spot on in my opinion. However, he took the doctrine of "no one knows the day or the hour" to be sacrosanct. In his message he discussed the alliance between Russia, Turkey and Iran as a fulfillment of prophecy in Ezekiel and one of the leaves on the tree that Jesus talked about when talking about the Fig tree. I agree with that. However, the irony is that we have had three different teachings on that prophecy in Ezekiel, one says the war takes place prior to the seven year tribulation, one says it is Armageddon and one says it takes place at the end of the millennial kingdom. The strongest argument for it being at the end of the millennial kingdom and the reason many to this day reject that we are seeing the fulfillment is that Ezekiel talks about unwalled cities without bars or gates. That does not describe Israel today, and it would be very difficult to imagine it describing Israel at any time in the near future.
So then with prophecy you cannot hold any doctrine sacrosanct, these are not items of the faith listed in Ephesians.
If you agree that we have been charged to watch, and if you agree that the Lord has given us signs to watch for, and if you agree with the Lord's word that we will be able to see the day approaching then it certainly changes your view of the word that no one knows the day or the hour. This brother agreed that this verse does not mean we don't have to watch. To me that was the greatest harm in that doctrine and when you have a doctrine that is truly harmful teaching contrary to the teachings of the Lord you should reexamine it and challenge it.
In this blog I have tried to not hold any doctrine that is not an item of the faith sacrosanct. At this point I feel the main things I have learned is what doctrines are not correct or accurate. There have been many excellent Bible teachers who appear to have been wrong on a number of interpretations of the prophecies. That is how Bible interpretation works. But few if any have been "proven" right.
We have not proven that the fig tree generation refers to a 70-80 year period, yet we are still operating on that understanding. We have not proven there is a pre tribulation rapture but we are still operating on that understanding. We have not even proven if Ezekiel 38 is pre tribulation, post tribulation or post millennial kingdom. So don't hold any of these prophecies and your pet interpretation as "sacrosanct". These are like jigsaw puzzle pieces, when the Lord charged us to watch He was charging us to put the jigsaw puzzle together.