Calvinism's Roman Catholic Origin: Part 6

If you have ever wondered why Christians fight so hard over the rapture, it is usually because two very different Bible events get treated like they are the same. We walk through the passages that separate the catching away of the church from the visible return of Jesus Christ to the earth, and we do it with open Bibles, not speculation. The goal is simple: let Scripture say what it says, even when the topic is weighty.

We connect the Great Tribulation to Daniel's seventieth week and explain why the Bible presents that coming period as God's judgment and wrath on an unbelieving world and on Israel in particular, not as God's program for the New Testament church. From Isaiah and Joel to Matthew 24 and Revelation 6, we trace the cosmic signs that mark the end of that time and argue they have not yet happened in history, pointing to a future climax that ends with Christ returning in power.

Then we compare the details: 1 Thessalonians 4 describes believers being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, while Revelation 19 shows Christ returning to smite the nations and defeat the beast and false prophet. We also highlight the repeated "thousand years" of Revelation 20 as the foundation for a literal premillennial kingdom, and we show how the structure of Revelation places the church in heaven during the tribulation narrative before returning with Christ.

If you want a clearer, more biblical way to think about prophecy, the rapture, the second coming, and the difference between Israel and the church, listen through and check every reference for yourself. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves Bible prophecy, and leave a review with the verse you think is most decisive.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why We Refute Error

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Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

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And thank you so very much for that kind word of introduction. Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in today. I'm Brother James, and I greet you one more time in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you as always to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We're so very glad and happy that you've tuned in today. We are in the midst of a series of studies, which is uh, well, it's been rather tedious, been rather weighty. There's no question about that. I wouldn't lie to you. Uh not everything in the Bible is light, not everything in the Bible is uh is uh fluffy, if you will. Uh there are some things in the scripture that are known as the deeper things of God. And in particular, when we get into this matter of refuting uh false doctrines and heresies, we always tend to get weighted down. But uh it's good. It's good for us to study these things. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, uh, for instruction, for correction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. You can't be perfect, and you can't be truly furnished unto all good works without all the scripture. And uh it is part of the duty and part of the responsibility of God's preachers not only to teach that which is true and right and set it before God's people, but also to refute and to cast down all teaching that is wrong and that is false, and all those things that would that would mislead and would hinder and would eventually pervert and even destroy God's people. That's all part of the ministry. And believe it or not, it's not a pleasant part of the ministry. I know there's some of you listening to this program, and you think I just glory in taking on these false teachings and shooting them down, and and you think that I find some sort of uh sadistic pleasure in doing that. And the truth of the matter is, I wish that everybody believed the Bible as it is written. I really do. I wish that everybody was saved and loved Jesus. I wish that everybody that wasn't saved would just sit quietly and listen to the gospel presentation instead of setting out to make themselves some sort of a teacher, some sort of a religious leader, and uh making the converts twofold more a child of hell than themselves. I don't enjoy this because the very fact that we've got to preach and teach against that which is false, the very fact that we've got to speak out against error proves that there is falsehood of the error and error yet in the world, and I don't like that. I don't enjoy that. I wish that everybody in the whole world loved the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength, with all their mind. I wish that everybody in the whole church, everybody that's saved and born again, was in submission to all the Bible. That's that's what I that's what I would desire. I don't I don't find any pleasure in all this correction, all this rebuke, but somebody's got to do it. And it may as well be Big Bad Brother James. Everybody's already mad at me anyway, and uh so I may as well just go ahead and take a little more heat, and that keeps the heat and the pressure uh off the rest of the saved people.

How Anti-Rapture Claims Spread

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Now, we are studying, uh I tell you really, we we've we've covered a lot of ground. We began by studying the Roman Catholic roots of all millennial Calvinism, and we pointed out how that the entire uh theological system and particularly the system of prophetic interpretation, which is held to by the Reformed and the Primitive Baptist, the Hardshell Baptist, and the uh minute mostly Presbyterian movements, uh, that uh this these doctrines came from the writings of Augustine, who was also the founder of the theological system upon which the Roman Catholic Church is built. And then we showed you on the last two broadcasts how that uh there are men in our day and age who are trying to teach God's people that there will be no rapture of the church before the time of great tribulation, and that that teaching and that doctrine was invented by Jesuits of the Roman Catholic Church in order to tear down the faith of dispensationalists in the Word of God and to bring them back into the Roman Catholic uh system. Now we've been in the process of refuting that idea. We showed you, for example, that the uh the men who teach that there will be no pre-tribulation rapture, we showed you that the Catholic writers that they point to who supposedly invented this doctrine, which they call a false doctrine, did not invent this doctrine. In fact, they didn't even teach this doctrine. And then we pointed out that uh these men have been proven to be wrong, these uh men that teach there be no pre-tribulation rapture. And then we started on the last broadcast to show you from the scriptures that the pre-tribulation rapture is not only not only is it in the Bible, but it can be found there without the aid of commentaries or guides or uh uh lectionaries and the rest of that kind of stuff. The truth of the rapture is simple to grasp if one will just take a literal approach to the prophetic portions of scripture. Now

Five Facts About The Tribulation

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there are five particular points that we were looking at when we ran out of time on the last broadcast. The world's number one, the world's worst ever period of tribulation is still to come, and it has to do with the Jews, not the church, not the Gentile. We showed you that from Daniel 12 1, Joel 2 2, Matthew 24, 21, and Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse number seven. Number two, this tribulation period is always spoken of as a judgment on the ungodly world in general, and on the Jews in particular, but never, never, never on the New Testament church. Number three, we showed you on the last broadcast that this tribulation time involves a seven-year period, which will be divided into two halves, with the Antichrist holding absolute power during the second half. Now there are two more points that we want to look at and run some Bible references.

Cosmic Disturbances In Prophecy

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Uh for. Number four, the end of this tribulation period is marked by cosmic disturbances and signs in the heavens, and such disturbances and such signs have never yet taken place in all of history. First of all, in Isaiah chapter 13. Hope you have a Bible. If you have one, I hope you'll follow along. Don't take my word for anything. Uh that's how people get into trouble. They take somebody's word for things and don't check the scriptures. Isaiah chapter 13 and verse number nine. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. I believe that's true just like it's written. You may spiritualize it, you may make it an allegory, you may seek to interpret it, but I believe God meant just exactly what he said. In Joel chapter two, and verse number thirty, the Bible says, I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be darkened. I'm sorry, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. Same book, Joel chapter three, verse fifteen. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake. In Matthew chapter twenty-four. Matthew chapter twenty four, a book about the second coming of Jesus Christ, or a chapter about the second coming of Jesus Christ, nothing in the chapter about the rapture of the church. In Matthew 24, verse 29, the Bible says, Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now listen to me. All the tribes of the earth mourn, and all the tribes of the earth see the Son of Man coming, not the church. These things have nothing to do with the New Testament Church. Revelation chapter six and verse number twelve. Revelation chapter six and verse number twelve. And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell under the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. So, number four, the end of this tribulation period is marked by cosmic disturbances and signs in the heavens.

The Second Coming And Millennium

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And then number five, immediately after this period, the Lord returns with power and glory with his saints to destroy the Antichrist, deliver the Jewish remnant, and set up his millennial kingdom. In Revelation 19, verse 11. Revelation 19, verse 11. We can also read from Matthew 24, 29, Mark 13, 26, Zechariah 14, 1 to 4, Daniel 7, 8 to 14, Daniel 7, 25 to 27. But let's read from Revelation 19, verse 11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. There's a capital W there. His name, that's a person, personal name, the name of this one is the Word of God. We know from John chapter 1, this is the creator of the heavens and the earth, and this is the one that was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. It's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ returning to this earth. Verse 14, and the armies which were in heaven. He's not coming to get his saints, he's coming with his saints. The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. He's not coming back to get the church, he's coming back to smite the nations. And he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves unto the great supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and them that sit on them, the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army, and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. These are individual persons, the beast and the false prophet, thrown alive into the lake of fire and brimstone at the coming of the Lord. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years, and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. Now I want you to notice something. Revelation twenty verse two, a thousand years. Revelation twenty verse three, the thousand years. Revelation twenty verse four, a thousand years. Revelation twenty verse five, the thousand years, Revelation twenty verse six, a thousand years, Revelation twenty verse seven, the thousand years. Can you imagine men who have the audacity to say they're teaching the Bible, who don't believe in a thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth? Now I I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I know when God says six times a thousand years that that any betting man would put his money on a thousand years. You know when that thousand-year kingdom begins? When Jesus Christ comes back. You know who he finds on the earth when he comes back? A remnant of Jews that didn't take the mark, an unbelieving nation. You know what he doesn't find on earth when he gets back? Not one single Christian, not one single member of the New Testament church. You know why? Because they're coming back with him. Now the premillennial coming of Jesus Christ is set forth all through the Bible. Even Job wrote about it in the oldest piece of literature on the face of the earth. It's typified in all the Old Testament uh stories and prophecies. It is spoken of uh directly throughout uh the scriptures of the New Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 19, uh Peter asked him in verse 27, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee, what shall we have therefore? Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, that's David's throne at Jerusalem every time it shows up in the Bible. Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The church in Israel are not the same, never have been, never will be. As we showed you on the last broadcast, Daniel's 70th week, the whole week, all seven years, have to do with Daniel's people. Therefore, it must be preceded by the removal of the New Testament church.

1 Thessalonians And The Rapture

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In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, men say they don't believe in a rapture. They say they don't believe in the church being caught away before the tribulation time. In 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse number 13, the Bible says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. That didn't happen in Revelation nineteen. With the voice of the archangel, that didn't happen in Revelation nineteen. And with the trump of God, that didn't happen in Revelation nineteen. And the dead in Christ shall rise first, that didn't happen in Revelation nineteen. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. That didn't happen in Revelation nineteen. To meet the Lord in the air. None of that happened in the detailed passage we took the time to read to in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, which set forth the second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. None of the things written about in 1 Thessalonians 4 promised to those that believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, none of the things promised to those believers that make up the New Testament church are even suggested in the 19th chapter of Revelation. You have a second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth at the close of the tribulation time, and the particular details are laid forth for you in your Bible regarding that second coming, and there is a catching away of the believers that make up the New Testament church, and those details and particulars are set forth for you in the Holy Bible, and the two don't match. They are not the same event, they don't deal with the same people, they don't take place at the same time, and the only way you could confound the two is if you are deliberately trying to lead God's people astray, or if you are an unsaved teacher who lacks the Holy Spirit to lead and guide in all truth. Those are the only two possibilities. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, the Bible goes on to say, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon us. That's not what the Bible says. Then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman a child, and they shall not escape. The people that don't believe don't escape. The people that don't believe have the sudden destruction come upon them. But ye brethren, verse 4 There's a difference between the brethren and those who shall not escape the coming time of judgment and tribulation upon this earth. But ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. That day, that day of distress, that day of tribulation, that day of destruction will not overtake the brethren. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day, we are not of the light, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep sleep in the night, they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. You remember we read you on the last broadcast from Daniel twelve about the time of wrath, from Joel 2 and Matthew 24 about the time of wrath, from Daniel 30 and Zechariah 12 about the time of wrath, from Luke 21 and Revelation 11 and 12 about the time of Wrath. You know what the Bible says about the brethren who have believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? You know what the Bible says about those brethren? They are not appointed unto Wrath. That appointment will be kept by the nations of the earth. That appointment will be kept by all the unbelievers. That appointment will be kept by the nation of Israel, by the Hebrew people. That appointment will not be kept by the New Testament church, it's not our appointment. Now, since the church has nothing to do with Daniel's 70 weeks, the only way that men can continue to teach this false notion that the church Is going into the tribulation is to refuse to teach men the distinction between the Jew and the church.

Revelation's Timeline And Old Testament Types

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Now the book of Revelation follows this exact pattern. John the Apostle, a picture of the tarrying church in John 21, verse 22, for whom Christ has a special love. Compare John 20, verse 2 and Ephesians 5:25. John is raptured at the end of the church age. You have letters to seven churches in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. And in Revelation chapter 4 and verse number 1, John hears a cry to come up hither. And immediately he is transported into the presence of God in heaven, and the church is not mentioned again. It's not mentioned in chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8. The church is not mentioned in chapter 9, 10, or 11. The church is not mentioned in chapter 12, 13, and 14. The church is not mentioned in chapter 15, 16, 17, or 18 of the book of Revelation. The church goes up in chapter 4, verse 1. The church rejoices around the throne in chapters 4 and 5, and the church comes back with Jesus in chapter number 19, and all those events which transpire on the face of the earth during the intervening time period known as the Great Tribulation never mentions the church one time. Christ returns with his newly married bride to set up his millennial reign over the earth, and you couldn't miss that unless you were blindfolded at midnight when you read your Bible. Now the truth of the pre-tribulation rapture can even be found in Old Testament typology. For example, Joseph, a type of Christ, married a Gentile bride named Asana, the type of the church, prior to making himself known to his brethren, type of Israel, the second time. Then again, Moses, a type of Christ, married a Gentile bride named Ziporrah, type of the church, prior to his returning to deliver his brethren, the nation of Israel, the second time. Joseph and Moses were both rejected the first time. The first ever rapture in history, that of Enoch, the church, a type of the church, happened prior to the flood, a type of the tribulation, while Noah and his family, a type of faithful Israel, were preserved through the flood, a type of this great tribulation. Evidence for a literal seven-year period of testing and tribulation for Israel can also be found readily in Old Testament typology. It was a seven-year famine which involved Joseph's brethren and brought them to repentance over their rejection of Joseph in Genesis 41 to 46. The drought in Elijah's era lasted three and one half years, while God tested rebellious Israel. Remarkably also, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went through their trial of the fiery furnace, it was heated seven times hotter, Daniel 3.19, and Nebuchadnezzar, their persecutor, a type of antichrist, who set up an image that all men had to worship, was dealt with by God over a literal seven-year period. Daniel 4, verses 23 to 24. Now the gap between the coming of Christ for his saints, known as the rapture, and the return of Christ with his saints, the coming in power and glory, is necessary in order to fit in two major events. The judgment seat of Christ, which follows the rapture, and the marriage of the completed bride to Christ in heaven, Revelation 19, 7-9, prior to the return to earth with Christ after the wedding, Luke 12, verse 36, outside the pre-tribulational position, no other teaching regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ can or will do justice to the scriptures as they are written. Now you may alter them, you may change them, you may revise them, you may reject them, but you can't leave the Bible as it stands and teach or believe anything other than a pre-tribulational rapture of the New Testament church.

Salvation Invitation And Resources

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My friend, if that event took place today, would you be a participant?

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Do you not have you believed? You know, the Bible said there, we read it in 1 Thessalonians 4, the condition for being raptured. You must be a part of the church. I don't mean a Baptist church, Catholic Church, Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church. I mean the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way you can become a part of that church is to be born again. And the only way you can be born again is to believe that Christ died for your sins and was buried, and the third day he rose from the dead. Jesus said you must be born again. And you cannot be born again unless you exercise faith in the gospel message. This is why all of God's preachers through the book of Acts, all of God's preachers through the epistles, all of God's preachers ever since the day the uh the Apostolic Church was born, have preached to unbelievers that they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. If Jesus came today and you were the best church member in your town, you'd be left behind. But if Jesus came today and you were the weakest believer in all your town, you would go to heaven, because believers are taken to heaven, and unbelievers are left behind. Do you believe?

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Well, we hardly have time to say goodbye. If you'd like this entire series on the Roman Catholic origins of Calvinism, please visit us at JamesWNox.org. That's JamesW.Knox.org. Ask for the series, The Roman Catholic Origins of Calvinism. We'll send you the whole set free of charge. That's JamesW.Knox.org. All right, this is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord reach to the bless you.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptist Land, or our website, Bible BaptistTeland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.