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FAKE CHRISTIANS
February 8, 2021
REPLACEMENT | THEOLOGY

Dr. Stephen R. Phinney

It needs to be noted that the Seventh and final seal is not opened until chapter eight of the book of Revelation, and this is why I am only covering the first six at this point. Before we move on to the Sixth Seal, we need to review the four primary views of the end-times.
 
REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY
 
Replacement Theology is one of the ideations of theology that is the most dangerous in the world today. The present-day lukewarm church is not only rooted in the historical tracks of Laodicea, but most of this movement claim that Israel is not necessarily the place of Jesus Christs’ return. It is called “Replacement Theology” for a good reason. Replacement means replacement. I will be sharing more about this later, but know this. Replacement Theology essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Those who adhere to replacement theology believe that Jews are no longer God’s chosen people. Can you believe that? They also believe that God does not have specific plans for the nation of Israel. That statement alone could almost send me into a holy rage. All the different views of the relationship between the church and Israel can be divided into two camps: both the “Christian church” is the “new” Israel, and the old has passed away (replacement theology/historic premillennialist). They even tout that the church is completely different and distinct from Israel but grafted into the Jewish (Israel) body while embracing the truth that Christ fulfilled the Jewish laws (dispensationalist/premillennialist). Just for clarification sake, premillennialist believe that Jesus Christ will return for the Last Judgment just before the1,000-year reign (Day of Judgment) stated in the book of Revelation. Particularly during the dangerous times, a true Christian needs to understand these four views of the end-times. 
 
THE FOUR VIEWS
 
You need to pigeonhole yourself into one of these four views of the end-times. But I am very quick to say that there’s some theology in each one of these views that overlaps the authentic view, which I will explore.
 
Before we proceed, I need to make a specific point about the confusion over the Second Coming. When people get disturbed, or they see some global events that cause some fear in their souls, they cry out and say, “Jesus come quickly,” and some of the more educated theologians would say, “the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is upon us,” but neither of these is true. When people refer to the coming of Jesus, we need to keep in mind these are two separate events. The first event is the Rapture, and that is not Jesus coming down to the earth, but He is pulling His Bridal Members up to Him. The second event is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He does not come until His Father releases Him to come and begin the 1,000-year reign, or what is referenced in Hebrew as The Day of Judgment.
 
1. HISTORIC PREMILLENNIALISM
 
Historic premillennialism believes that the Second Coming of Christ will precede the Millennium (1,000-year reign of Christ) and that the church has replaced the nation of Israel as God’s covenant people. It is here that our replacement theologians hang out. It is also known as covenant premillennialism or historic premillennialism, which treats the Millennium as a literal future event. Most historic premillennialist believe that Christians will remain on the earth during the Great Tribulation. They believe that the Tribulation will purify the churches and their members by rooting out false believers. They believe that all references to Israel in Revelation refer symbolically to the church. They are firm believers in Replacement Theology and that society grows increasingly evil! 
 
2. DISPENSATIONAL PREMILLENNIALISM
 
Dispensational premillennialism believes that the Second Coming of Christ will precede the Millennium and that God will still give the nation of Israel the land described in Genesis 15:18. Most dispensational types are pre-tribulationists; they state that Revelation 4:1-2 refers to "the Rapture," when Christ removes Christians from the earth before the Great Tribulation begins, which is the answer to God saving them from the most horrid time ever spoken of or demonstrated in continuous history. Some dispensational believers, known as mid-tribulationists, believe that the Rapture will occur at the Great Tribulation's halfway point. They covertly believe that the first three and a half years will be peace, peace, peace, so therefore authentic Christians can go through the first three and a half years, but this is not true. 

The level of destruction from the people is in the first three and a half years, and the level of destruction that Satan imposes upon the people is in the second three and a half years. Before all “hell breaks loose,” as they say, there’s going to be a great divide—a great separation of the goats and sheep before the first moment of the Great Tribulation. After the separation occurs, He brings His authentic Bridal Members under Himself (Rapture) and leaves all the fake Christians (the followers), along with those of religions from all around the world, in the hands of Satan so that Satan can sift them his way. They believe that all references to Israel in Revelation refer to the NATION of Israel. There is no Replacement Theology going on in the minds of a dispensationalist. Therefore they are in complete opposition to these Replacement Theology people, and the society grows increasingly evil with or without man’s attempt to make it better! Some of your modern teachers who support this view are leaders like C.I. Scofield, Chuck Smith, John MacArthur, Charles Ryrie, Charles Stanley, Tami LaHaye, and myself.
 
3. POSTMILLENNIALISM
 
Postmillennialist’s believe that the Second Coming of Christ will occur after the Millennium. The millennial reign described in Revelation 19:19-20 represents a long period when, through preaching the gospel, most of the world will submit to Jesus Christ. During this time, Satan will have no power over the earth, and evil regimes will collapse. Keep in mind we’re talking about the postmillennialists. They believe that during the Millennium, Christ will rule the earth through His Spirit and His church; He will not, however, be physically present on the earth. I have no idea where they get this ideology. 
I have researched these four views for many years, and most of the teachings that come with three of these views simply cannot be sustained by scripture. One of the most significant differences they embrace is that the Second Coming of Christ, the final conflict between good and evil, the defeat of Satan, the physical resurrection of all people (Rapture), and the final judgment will occur together, immediately after the “Christians” clean up the three primary areas of the world—church, government, and economy. They believe that this is accomplished during the Millennium before Christ’s Second Coming and the Final Judgment. The irony here is that it puts the works upon man and not upon Jesus Christ Himself.  It is a grave violation to think this way. Mankind will be so corrupt by this point that it will take Thee God, Jesus Christ, to clean it up, and even with those efforts, He cannot “clean up” these evil people, which is why He will have to deal with them through judgment.
 
The earliest “post-mill” movement that we are aware of started around 1135 AD. It didn’t become a popular way of believing until the 19th century, partly because of the global era of optimism about the future, and the fast spread of Christianity through the era of revivals. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Augustus Strong, etc., found comfort in the movements' primary belief that a “society can gradually improve through the Great Tribulation.” It was these men and others who popularized this particular view. Their position on Israel in Revelation differs widely, but most believe it is a symbolic reference to the church—not literal as in a deed of land. 
 
4. AMILLENNIALISM
 
Amillennialism believes that the Millennium SYMBOLIZES Christ’s reign in the lives of His people from the beginning of the church until the Second Coming. The biggest declaration of Revelation “interpretation” is in chapter 19:11-20; 20:1-3, and 20:4-6—believing it portrays Christ’s triumph over Satan through His death and resurrection. While this is true, if you read the Bible carefully and authentically, you will know that even though Christ triumphed over Satan, when He took His last breath on the cross and came out of that tomb in resurrection life, He still allowed Satan to propagate his lies of building a world government around his power. They believe that this triumph restrained Satan's power on the earth and that the first resurrection SYMBOLIZES either the eternal life experienced by persons who died in Christ or the spiritual resurrection experienced by persons when they become Christians. When Christ returns, they believe He will immediately defeat the powers of Satan and evil, resurrect the saved and the unsaved, judge them, and deliver them to their eternal destination. One of the grave beliefs that the amillennialists believe is that Christians will go through judgment as well. That would defuse 70% of the New Testament truths, which Jesus demonstrated, taught, and fermented in our lives after His death, burial, and resurrection. 
 
How does all of this affect their Christian worldview? It’s big time! They believe that the Great Tribulation represents calamities, hardships, and persecutions that have occurred throughout church history—the Great Tribulation (reign of the antichrist) has been in place since Jesus died on the cross.  I hope you understand the calamity of that statement of belief. Either God said seven years, and He meant seven years, or He said seven years, and that meant 2,000 years. Well, I take God for His Word, and the seven-year reign of the Antichrist is exactly seven years. God is not interested in confusing us; He always numerically and in the presentation of truth, says it accurately according to man’s ability to understand it through the Holy Spirit. Their view of Israel in Revelation is completely symbolic of the people of God on the earth. They believe that most of the Bible is made up of symbolism. Some of your modern teachers who believed in this particular view are Martin Luther, John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herschel Hobbs, J.I. Packer, and many others. They are in total support of the Replacement Theology group, and that society gradually improves through the Tribulation. That would defuse what Jesus is going to come to do at the end of the Tribulation. Why would He bring the sixth seal down upon the people if they had improved society through the Tribulation? It is a ridiculous ideology.
 
When we look today at what they used to call the Emergent Church or going back in history all the more, they called them the Laodiceans; today, they call it the social gospel church. Each of these falls into the Amillennialist world-view, and it has strong overtones or a strong mix of Postmillennialist and Amillennialist. These two groups are such a safe harbor for Emergent leaders because of their view of government belonging to the body of Christ becomes their primary ideology or theological belief that Christians are to rule the earth. Their strict view of Christ not returning until they prepare the New Jerusalem for His Second Coming, and that society gradually improves during the Tribulation by the Christians' hand. Covertly this puts the power and authority in the hands of the Christians. Most of the original American Emergent types and many other modern leaders believe that America might be the place of this “New Jerusalem.” 
 
Interestingly, David Austin (Thomas Jefferson’s pastor) was booted out of Washington DC because of his announcement at the Fourth of July celebration in 1801 in Washington DC, at the U.S. Capitol, stating that Washington DC was the site of the “New Jerusalem.” Secondly, he answered that people were repetitively asking why the Masons were so influential and active in DC. Austin revealed how "God" called the Masons to be builders of this new world, the “New Jerusalem,” and its society.  It also needs to be noted that this group of Masons is white supremacists as they are to this day.

2021 Eschatology Series | Dr. Stephen R. Phinney
The "Eschatology Series" is an outreach of www.IOM America.net. All writing, and video productions are based on a study of the book of Revelation. All publications & media are from Dr. Phinney's book, "Eschatology, Unfolding the Power of Prophecy" - a two volume commentary.
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