Israel, Hamas, and the Seven Year Deception: Are you Deceived?

By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

A Most Solemn Warning

In one of His last discourses with His disciples before His crucifixion, Jesus Christ prophesied of the events that would take place just prior to His return to planet earth. When asked by His closest companions what would be the signs of His return, the Savior responded, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5).

He proceeded to talk about all the signs that we find so easy to identify with: pestilences, disturbances in the natural elements, and strife between tribes and nations. But, as if He wanted us to focus on the greatest sign of all, He reiterated: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:11). He reemphasized: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24).

The apostle Paul, confirming the Savior’s admonitions, warned: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13–15). As certainly as was foretold by the Messiah and corroborated by His servant Paul, deception is rampant in the world.

Deception, by its very nature, is dangerous and deadly. Simply put, deception is sincerely believing something to be true when, in fact, it is patently false. Such is the popular notion of the Seven-Year Tribulation, which occurs after the Secret Rapture. Neither of these concepts can be found anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. But where did they come from, and why are they so popular? The answer to those questions is that, sadly, an overwhelming majority of people who identify as Christians do not study the Bible for themselves. Rather, they parrot the ideas of popular charismatic teachers who themselves have a perverse understanding of God’s plan of redemption and the Holy Bible, which reveals it.

Their understanding of and reaction to the current Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine reveals that. That situation is more political than prophetic. To best understand the Mideast crisis and the Seven Year Tribulation Theory to which it is connected, one must go primarily to recent secular history rather than heeding popular prophetic utterances.

Examining the Root

Zionism, the Jewish nationalist movement, has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Hebrews. Sources abound, often conflicting, on the origin of the Zionists. Some argue that it originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century. Others claim that Zionists are the descendants of the Khazars. These warring people ruled an empire encompassing sections of modern European Russia, Southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Kazakhstan until it was overcome by Russian and Byzantine forces in the latter part of the tenth century.

What is not in doubt, however, is the Zionists’ belief, which has indoctrinated almost the entire world with the idea that Zionism is a continuation of the Biblical narrative of the Hebrew nation and religion. Their fervent claim is that they are descended from the historical region of Palestine, where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion. Their determined plan is to reclaim it at any cost necessary.

Whatever their origin, Zionists settled in Europe, primarily Austria, England, and Germany, with a significant number in the United States. As a movement, the Zionists managed to accumulate enormous wealth and powerful political influence wherever they settled. Their astute financial acumen is felt primarily in the areas of banking and the media around the world.

Then came the First World War. England, France, and Russia were fighting against Germany and its confederates. The Zionist presence was significant in all those regions. England and its allies were losing to Germany and its allies. The United States was not originally involved, holding a policy of neutrality. The crisis provided the platform for the advancement of the prevailing Zionist narrative on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

The now very well established and financially powerful Zionists persuaded, some say blackmailed, the United States under the presidency of Wilson Woodrow  to enter the war on the side of England. America intervened, and as a consequence, the British prevailed. The Zionists now demanded their payback from the English for having America come to their rescue. The price: support for the establishment of the Nation of Israel in the land of Palestine. England’s acquiescence came in the form of the Balfour Declaration on November 2nd, 1917.

This document was a public statement issued by the British government announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Zionist community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. It’s the basis upon which the Zionists were patriated to Palestine, igniting the bloody confrontation that started in 1948 and continues today with Israel and Hamas.

 

Connecting Grand Ambitions with Deceptive Biblical Theories

The Seven Year Tribulation Theory is intricately entwined with this Zionists’ narrative of having established themselves as the custodians of the ancient Hebrew faith and rightful owners of the land of Palestine; it has the right to reclaim that territory, even to the extent of genocide of its current occupants. Its source is not the Bible, as so many are deceived into believing, but the same from which all false teachings of Christendom originate: the Roman Catholic Church.

The Protestant Reformation dealt a severe blow to the power of the Roman Papacy. In response, the Council of Trent was commissioned and deliberated between 1545 and 1563. High on the agenda was the need to counter the inroads of this God-inspired, Bible-believing movement. As part of the church’s Counter-Reformation efforts, the Jesuit Order was established in 1540 with the main objective of stamping out the light that was being brought to the princes and masses of Europe by the Protestant Reformers, such as Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others.

Two outstanding Jesuit scholars were charged with negating the claim of the Reformers that the papacy is the antichrist power of Bible prophecy. One of them, Louis de Alcazar, developed the doctrine of Preterism, postulating that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, which undeniably identify the Roman Papacy as the antichrist, be relegated to the first century of the Christian era. The other Jesuit scholar, Francisco Ribera, generated the concept of Futurism, an idea placing the coming antichrist as someone arriving on the world stage sometime in the distant, unknown future. Together, Preterism and Futurism, in the minds of their adherents, shielded the papacy from the clear revelation of God’s word which reveals its role in salvation history.

Futurism, unlike its twin sister Preterism, has captivated the minds of most of Christendom and continues to accomplish its purpose of taking the focus away from the Biblically revealed anti-Christian entity of the Apocalypse. Ribera’s clever misapplication of the final verses of the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel remains the foundational teaching of end-time prophecies in most Christian schools. Therefore, it has become the belief of the masses, who, not studying the Bible for themselves, are instructed by the graduates of those institutions.

Following Ribera, numerous Roman Catholic scholars continued to advance this teaching. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine of Rome further embellished and advanced this heresy during the late 1580s and early 1590s. It soon became widespread throughout the Catholic empire and finally found its way into the psyche of Christendom world-wide, particularly here in America.

The famous Texas attorney turned theologian, Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, was largely responsible for spreading the false doctrine of Futurism across the United States through his very popular Scofield Study Bible. He inherited the doctrine of the Seven Year Tribulation from John Nelson Darby, an influential English pastor who visited the United States and taught Futurism across America in the mid- to late 1800’s.

Then came Hal Lindsey and his popular fictitious account of end-time events entitled ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’. The sensational and commercially successful ‘Left Behind’ books and movies have adopted this abomination and taken it to an unbelievably high level of acceptance and reverence among Christians, leaders, and laymen alike. These vehicles, rather than sharing Bible truth, are serving to bring the ‘separated brethren’ back to the fold of the ‘mother church.’ Their effects are evident in the papal-inspired ecumenical movement.

The Seven Year Tribulation Theory, the bedrock of futurism, centers on the last four verses of the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel, where the prophet foretold the prophetic ministry and death of Jesus Christ. Daniel also prophesied of the anti-Christian power that would be in existence from the days of the early church until Jesus’ second coming. He writes:

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:24–27).

It is almost universally agreed that the seventy weeks mentioned in this passage of scripture (verse 24) are referring to 490 years based on the year/day principle found throughout the Bible (Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6). It is also generally agreed, and correctly so, that Jesus began His Messianic ministry at the end of the 69th week (483 years) of the prophecy (verse 25).

The Seven Year Tribulation Theory can better be called the Seven Year Deception, for it takes the final 70th week (seven years) of Daniel’s prophecy and places it sometime in the unknown future (Daniel 9:26). Nowhere else in the Holy Writ, nor in the corridors of human history, nor in the vast expanse of space and limitless time does such a concept exist. It is patently unrealistic and irrational to take a specified period of time, cut out a portion of it, and then reconnect it at some later date. That’s like saying I am 50 years old today but will not be 51 until some undetermined time in the future. The reckoning of time has always been continuous.

Expansive Old Ladies’ Fables

The Seven Year Deception has been enhanced to include the Secret Rapture, a Millennium of Peace on Earth, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, the reinstitution of animal sacrifices, and the antichrist making a covenant for seven years with the Jews, then breaking it after 3 ½ years. No such revelations are given in the word of Almighty God.

Jesus educates us on the nature of His return to planet earth: “And 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30–31).

Paul confirms: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). There is no secret rapture here. When was the last time you heard the sound of a secret trumpet?

This brings us to the falsity of a millennium of peace on earth. We just saw very clearly what happens when Jesus returns. He will raise the righteous dead and, together with the transformed righteous living, transport them to His heavenly courts. John the Revelator elaborates: “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 for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). Clearly, not on earth but in heaven.

So much for the righteous. But what about the wicked? Paul and John both explain: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming…But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection” (2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 20:5).

How plainer can it be? And how can so many be deceived by this plain teaching of the Scriptures? Jesus knew well what He was warning against. The righteous are in heaven; the wicked are destroyed. The earth will be desolate for 1000 years.

The apostle Paul rightly identifies the antichrist and his work in the temple of God. It’s not a physical temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, but rather the body of Christ, His church: “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

He further warns: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4). For those that are awaiting the secret rapture, a millennium of peace on earth, and a rebuilt Jewish temple in Jerusalem, Paul has a warning: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10–12).

While the Seven Year Deception proponents are looking for the antichrist to make and break some covenant with the Jews in their rebuilt temple, he is dwelling comfortably amongst and quite easily deceiving those claiming to be God’s people. He is demanding that he be worshipped as God. He claims to change God’s holy Sabbath day to Sunday. He’s offering salvation in sin. He’s denying that Jesus is the Only Mediator between God and man. He opposes the one and only sacrifice for the human race. Innumerable souls are all deceived—the very thing that Jesus so passionately warned about. But you don’t have to be deceived.

The Truth

Jesus confirmed the covenant exactly as Daniel prophesied (Daniel 9:27, quoted above). In order for a covenant to be confirmed, it must have been in place already. The covenant referred to by Daniel is not some agreement made between the Jewish nation and a yet-to-appear antichrist. Rather, Daniel is referring to the everlasting covenant made by the God of Creation after our first parents fell into sin. It was His promise that a Redeemer would be sent to rescue, ransom, and restore fallen humanity back to their Creator (Genesis 3:15). This was the message of the ancient sacrificial system that Jesus’ forerunner John the Baptist recognized: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Jesus declared in His inaugural sermon: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). Mark affirmed: “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14–15). God’s covenant was confirmed.

Messiah did come as Daniel prophesied, ministered for 3 ½ years (middle of the week), and was indeed cut off (Daniel 9:27). His ministry, though on behalf of the entire human race, was almost exclusive to the Jewish nation at first. He instructed His disciples as He sent them out on their missionary journey: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew  10:5–6).Not until some 3 ½ years later (last half of the 70th week, Daniel 9:27), with the stoning of Stephen, the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, and the conversion of the apostle Paul, did the gospel begin to spread to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). The seventy weeks (490 years, Daniel 9:24) determined upon the Jewish nation were thus completed. God’s plan was to take His message of human redemption to the entire world through the Jewish nation (Isaiah 49:6).

Proponents of the Seven Year Deception look at the unfolding world events and then try to apply them to their preconceived notions of the Apocalypse. Over the years, their yet-to-appear anti-Christ has shifted from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Kofi Anan, former General Secretary of the United Nations, to former George W. Bush, and then they thought they found the perfect candidate, former President Barak Obama. Only God knows who will be next.

This false theory, which mentions nothing about Jesus, the pillar and chief personality of end-time prophecy, constitutes the foundation upon which religious leaders and their followers support Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians. Regardless of the abundant financial, mighty military, propagandist media, and fervent evangelical support, acts of genocidal proportions will not lead to the liberation of Israel, the rebuilding of their temple, or a millennium of peace on earth. More likely than not, it will engender devastation like we have never seen. In such a moment, the true antichrist will be revealed as he offers his solution for the end of the crisis and world peace. This will be an infinitely greater deception than the Seven-Year Deception.

God’s covenant with the fallen race is all about Jesus Christ and not about the restoration of a temple in Jerusalem. We must be looking for New Jerusalem and not at a political movement that promises to rebuild a temple in the land of Palestine: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:2-4).

Don’t be deceived.

About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page.