For 2,000 years Christianity has warned of a coming tribulation and claimed if you are a believer you could be raptured before the tribulation (all depending on which particular flavor of end time doctrine your denomination teaches). For 2,000 years god-loving people have feared they might miss the rapture and have to endure through the Great Tribulation.
All of these false end time doctrines come from misinterpreting two specific prophecies; the 1,000 year reign of Christ and the 70 weeks of Daniel. This week we revisit the final week of Daniel (a 7 year period — which is where Christianity teaches a future 7 year tribulation). We compare what Christianity teaches, 7 years of tribulation (some 3.5 years of tribulation then 3.5 years the great tribulation) compared to the gospel understanding — an unbroken 490 year period, with the last week (7 years) being cut short, in the middle, at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We look at Jesus’ words “unless these days (the final week of Daniel) be shortened…”, Jacob’s trouble, and John 9 – “now is the judgment of this world”.
After we unlearn everything we knew about the tribulation and false end times doctrines, we share what it’s like to have our minds free from a futuristic end time fulfillment of prophecy.
