When we assign "MUSTs and CAN'Ts" where we shouldn't, are we trying to limit the Lord's flexibility?

Dear Doves,

Quite simply, when it comes to prophecy, we are constantly stepping on landmines. When one steps on one of these landmines, the owner of the landmine instantly becomes irate and tries to blow you apart. Only prayer, along with stubbornly sticking with what the Bible ACTUALLY says, can prevent this spiritual shrapnel from tearing your views apart.

So what do I mean by landmines. Landmines are things that people have assigned the words MUST and CAN’T to even when the Bible doesn’t outline these so-called limitations at all. Indeed, so many “COULDs” in the Bible have become MUSTs or CAN’Ts in the prophecy world, many relatively recently, that we REALLY need to step back and look at this. In summary:

When we assign MUSTs and CAN’Ts where we shouldn’t, are we trying to limit the Lord’s flexibility?

Now please don’t misinterpret what I am saying here. Obviously, the Bible has a whole TON of extremely clear MUSTs and CAN’Ts in it, along with just as many THOU SHALLs and THOU SHALL NOTs. I do not take any issue at all with these, nor should anyone else (after all, you either believe the Bible is infallible or not). Indeed, an (extremely) shortened list of just a few of the MUSTs and CAN’Ts I fully agree with are as follows:

- You MUST believe you are a sinner needing Christ to atone for your sins or you SHALL go to Hell, no ifs ands or buts

- You CAN’T find eternal salvation in any other way – there is only One Way, the Truth, THE WAY and the Light, Jesus Christ – there are NO other paths (as Oprah proclaims there are many, the false teacher she is)

- Israel MUST exist prior to Christ returning (it does)

- The Gentiles (which excludes the Church, but includes the apostate church) MUST hate Israel prior to Christ returning (it does)

The list of REAL MUSTs and CAN’Ts goes on and on and on, but I will stop here as this is NOT the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is to list some of the things that watchers (and other Christians) believe MUST or CAN’T occur that really should be listed as MAY or COULD occur. On that note, here it goes:

- FALSE #1: The Post-Rapture Tribulation Period MUST be seven years long, beginning with a peace treaty between Israel and the world, brokered by the Anti-Christ: I ask each of you to step back and ask yourself, “Does the Bible TRULY say this ANYWHERE?” I honestly believe it does NOT and could not even be construed as saying this unless one takes a whole bunch of long-shot personal interpretations and magically turn them into “facts”.

Daniel 9:27, essentially the only Bible verse that people seem to use to prove this so-called necessity, has many, many possible interpretations. Some excellent interpretations including that it has been already fully or half fulfilled by Jesus Himself, including by Sir Isaac Newton, an acclaimed scientist who spent a large portion of the last 10 years of his life studying the Book of Daniel. With respect to this, I acknowledge that COULD be the case, especially when one considers that the unfulfilled second half could easily equate to the wrath of God for the Jews and others rejecting His Son during the first half (which most believe “just happens” to be the length of His ministry, 3.5 years, during His first coming).

Allow me to put this another way: IF the Post-Rapture tribulation length of seven years (or more) is so incredibly important to God, why is such importance not emphasized by the Lord in the Bible. In contrast, the Bible mentions the 42 month / 3.5 year / 1260 day / “time, times and half a time”, over and over again! Why, because it’s that important to Him. Again, where is this “equally important” (to some Bible Prophecy “Experts”) 7 year period in the Bible.

In other words, if the “7 Year Post-Rapture Peace Treaty Tribulation Period” was so important to the Lord, wouldn’t God have given it at least SOME clarity in the Bible? Yet, instead, there is not even a single cursory mention or clarification, NOT ONE!!!

That being said, I believe that we ARE already in a specific Lord-marked 7 year final period that began with a first half of “the beginning of hardships” (though, again, not a requirement). I have personally defined this “beginning of hardships”, along with further stage preparation for the eventual One World Government and the entrance of the Anti-Christ, as beginning in earnest with the September / October 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that continues to this day (along with 9/11 seven years before that). The GFC contained the LARGEST stock market drop in history, including a 777.68 point drop on the Feast of Trumpets 2008 (was God making it obvious for us that things were going to go downhill from here? I agree with Randy that He was). Brothers and sisters in Christ, the word “MUST” in the opening sentence needs to be changed to “MAY”.

- FALSE #2: The Anti-Christ MUST be from the revived Roman Empire and CAN’T be President Obama: Quite simply, the people of the prince to come ALREADY destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. This is a completely fulfilled prophecy. The prince to come was Titus, a Roman general, but also a true Roman prince that was also called Prince Titus. Before I continue on this, and based on past reaction to this statement, I must formally state, up front, that I absolutely do NOT believe a resurrected Prince Titus will be the Anti-Christ!

Quite simply, in Daniel, it was prophesied that the “people of the prince to come will destroy the temple”. That is exactly what they ALREADY did almost 2000 years ago!! Indeed, the Roman soldiers, the people of the prince to come, Prince Titus in specific, under orders from the prince himself, completely destroyed the temple in 70 AD, with every block overturned, just like Jesus said it would. This is a historically documented and undisputed FACT. Is it not just like us fallible humans to try to make more out of this simple prophecy than what it was?

Sadly, this “of Roman descent requirement” seems to have permeated the prophecy community and is one of the primary reason so many folks eliminate Obama from contention as the Anti-Christ. There are other reasons, of course, including an individual’s personal disdain and perhaps even denial. Some simply say Obama is just not smart enough, debonair enough, charismatic enough, etc.

This denial occurs with so many despite there not being a single alternative world leader that even comes close to matching Obama’s perfect pedigree and anointing as “the evil one” to watch as the New World Order continues to rise. I would take Kissinger at his word when he said that Obama had been handpicked to be the leader of the NWO. After all, Kissinger is acknowledged by many to be the second most important person in the precursor to the One World Government next to David Rockefeller. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the word “MUST” and “CAN’T” in the opening sentence needs to be changed to “MAY” and “COULD”.

- FALSE #3: The 7 year Tribulation MUST begin with the Rapture / Peace Treaty, with the first 3.5 years being relatively peaceful: IF there is a first 3.5 year half AFTER the Rapture, which I believe there won’t be, many people feel this will be a peaceful period. That is impossible!! Just imagine the chaos after the Rapture / Sudden Destruction of 100s of millions of people and children. Many in key positions of authority will disappear in the Rapture, including children under the age of accountability.

There are some who believe that this will somehow still be a peaceful time? Really - How? Peace and safety then Sudden Destruction, as promised in the Bible, means exactly that. If one really thinks about it, it seems impossible to consider millions of people suddenly disappearing in the Rapture to NOT be part of the Sudden Destruction / beginning of the Great Tribulation. And, if so, and to be even more succinct, does that not mean the world is to be propelled directly into the Great Tribulation once the Rapture occurs?

To reiterate, and as outlined above, I do not see a 7 year Post-Rapture Tribulation period as being a requirement when the Bible instead specifically stresses a 42 month period of Great Tribulation (with perhaps some lead-in time, most likely weeks or a few months at the most, after the Rapture / Sudden Destruction) over and over again. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the word “MUST” in the opening sentence needs to be changed to “MAY”.

- FALSE #4: The False Prophet CAN’T be the Pope: There are so many people that have written about the Roman Catholic Church (the “RCC”) as the end-times apostasy church to head the One World Religion (PERHAPS somehow mixed with the remnants of the Post Ezekiel 38 / 39 Islam world), I will leave it to each of you to research this on your own. And if the RCC is the end-times “church”, then the leader of the RCC, the Pope, by definition, will have a prominent role, PERHAPS as the False Prophet. This simply seems intuitive to me. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the word “CAN’T” in the opening sentence needs to be changed to “MAY”.

- FALSE #5: People that don’t believe in a 7 year Post-Rapture Tribulation Period with a peace treaty MUST believe in a Post-Tribulation Rapture: In most cases, this is simply an unintentional misrepresentation of our position, one that we have counter-argued against time and time again. Many of us who do not believe in a 7 year Post-Rapture Tribulation Period (perhaps starting with a peace treaty) are not any less than 100% unbendable believers in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture than you are.

Please allow me to be perfectly clear. The Sudden Destruction / Great Tribulation Period / Anti-Christ Build Up and Take Over will not begin until AFTER the Rapture. Quite simply, the Ultimate Groom would never beat up His Bride just before marrying Her. It just wouldn’t make any sense. In other words, and for even greater clarity, just because I believe that the Post-Rapture Tribulation Period (which we are NOT in, but rather in a 3.5 year period I call the “beginning of hardships”, a prelude to Great Tribulation) will be substantially less than 7 years does NOT, in any way shape or form, mean I believe in anything but the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. In no way am I saying tribulation and persecution won’t continue, but I am specifically referring to God’s Wrath here. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the word “MUST” in the opening sentence needs to be changed to “MAY”, wherein, in my specific case, the word “MAY” should be replaced with the words “DOES NOT”.

Now I ask you to think back to all of the information on Five Doves you may have summarily dismissed simply due to some of your preconceived notions of MUSTs and CAN’Ts. If so, some of you COULD be missing seeing and acknowledging some of the most thrilling developments in prophecy being fulfilled in the entire history of the world RIGHT NOW.

To emphasize this, I am going to once again list the above points in their new context and in summary format:

- While the Post-Rapture Tribulation period could have been seven years long, perhaps even beginning with a peace treaty between Israel and the world, brokered by the Anti-Christ, it certainly does not HAVE to be. Nor, IMO, does it appear to even be a possibility now, given the rapid advancement of prophetic events in recent months that APPEAR to point to a rapid Great Tribulation and NOT a drawn out 7 year period. As such, it is my opinion that there may or may not be a peace treaty and the Great Tribulation may last not much longer than 42 months

- The Anti-Christ MAY be from the revived Roman Empire, but certainly does not HAVE to be. It may probably even be Obama. IF Obama turns out to be the Anti-Christ as so many believe he will, he COULD be from the revived Roman Empire (as no one truly knows his background, he is truly a man of mystery). It has been noted by some that an ancestry expert was able to prove that Obama was actually a distant cousin of Antiochus (which, if true, could become incredibly fitting). At the very least, if Obama had actually been born in Hawaii, how much more “rising from the sea” (as Revelation indicates the Beast will be) can you get?

- The first 3.5 years of the 7 year Post-Rapture Tribulation, if it actually was a requirement, WOULDN’T be peaceful at all. IMO, and as stated above, the Great Tribulation may not last much longer than a few months more than the 42 months allotted, and may, IMO, not even be close to 7 years. We have already experienced over 42 months of the “beginning of hardships” since the GFC began, the precursor, but this is NOT Tribulation as defined in the Bible. As an example of just how horrible it will be IMMEDIATELY after the Rapture, imagine if you had mocked Christianity and the Jews, then had your children taken in the Rapture, along with your believing spouse, and you still didn’t truly understand or believe where they were taken. Would you be in peace? Even if someone left behind had no children of their own, what about their favorite niece or nephew or friend’s daughter or son suddenly missing, along with their brothers or sisters or friends? IMO, ALL those who are left behind will be affected and in GREAT distress. As just another example, imagine if you were left behind and now believed in all the judgments that were soon to come. Imagine how great the stress would be knowing that the Great Persecution was about to commence and you would most likely soon be tortured and beheaded, if you were “lucky” enough to survive all of the tragedies to come.

- The False Prophet MAY be the Pope, but does not HAVE to be. While the Pope doesn’t HAVE to be the False Prophet, it is my personal opinion that the current Pope will most likely be the last one and will probably be the False Prophet

- People that don’t believe in a 7 year Post-Rapture Tribulation Period MAY believe in a Post-Tribulation Rapture. While some who believe this may believe in a Post-Tribulation Rapture, just to confirm and clarify to all of you, those I know that are of like mind, including me, absolutely do not believe, in any way, believe in a Post-Tribulation Rapture. For even greater clarity, I have been and remain 100% PRE-Tribulation Rapture all the way

In summary, if you have believed in any or all of the “MUST requirements” and “CAN’T requirements” as listed above, you may have found that you have:

- Accidentally disregarded Obama as an incredibly strong candidate for the Anti-Christ

- Accidentally disregarded the current Pope as an incredibly strong candidate for the False Prophet

- Accidentally disregarded that the world may soon be plunged into a rapid Great Tribulation Period that is much, much more condensed than the 7 year Post-Rapture period (which would supposedly contain some sort of peaceful period starting with a supposed peace treaty with Israel) – which, I reiterate, I am NOT saying CAN’T happen, but just IMO it appears unlikely

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time to wake up to the possibilities. In no way am I saying that I, and those of similar views, MUST be right. Instead, I am asking that you at least consider that we have to say COULD be right.

If you review what is written above with an open mind, you just MAY find God wanting you to understand that events may not happen as you originally anticipated. Indeed, the Great Tribulation may be much closer and things may become much more tragic much sooner than most people, including even some watchers, could possibly believe for those who will soon be left behind.

* * * * * *

Brothers and sisters, are you ready to meet the Lord in the sky? Repent and believe that grace is by faith alone and can ONLY be attained through Jesus Christ. Get ready and leave the temptations of this world behind and ready yourself as a Bride.

Surely, time is almost up.

YbiC, MathMan