A Christian inquiry about credentials

[PeteWaldo]

I ran across some of your teachings looking for some information about the timing of the "rapture." > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAxG7dVX3A

At first blush the information appears to be authorative. I would like to know who the author of this series is and his credentials, if available.

Thank you,

[name redacted]

Slightly edited.

Hi Brother [name redacted],

Thanks for your email. On many of my web pages I openly declare that the websites are specifically not trying to convey a pretense of authority, but rather simply to provide seed for further study. Jesus Christ is still the authority and head of the ecclesia. A good read on that subject is Pagan Christianity, by Frank Viola. In regard to "credentials", if you are asking if I was indoctrinated by a seminary, blessedly no. My journey went from occasionally viewing Jack Van Impe on TV during the 1990s, to "exposing" my kids to an Episcopal "church" later in the 90s (as a sad compromise between my Presbyterian and my wife's Roman Catholic upbringings), to (my) leaving that church when they ordained a homosexual as bishop, followed by wandering into a Calvary Chapel the next week, in which I was born again after a few months.

Even at that time, I was still unaware that there was more than one approach (futurism) to Bible prophecy. After I was saved I engaged in online evangelism by adding some futurist concepts to a website I had been maintaining, but the more I wrote within the context of that approach, the more questions it raised. The more questions it raised, the more study I engaged in trying to resolve them. Then one day I asked the Lord right out loud something like "Jesus, what is the disposition of faithful Jews in this Christian era?". I didn't think about having asked that question again until about 2 weeks later, when through a series of circumstances I found a very specific answer to that very specific question , incidental with someone guiding me to a book that included several math problems in the day-year language of prophecy, which was The False Prophet by Ellis Skolfield. When I read that explanation I broke down and sobbed like a baby.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/timeless_covenant.htm

If you read this book I guarantee it will bless you as richly as it has every other Berean-spirited person I have ever had contact with that has read it. It is responsible for bringing back-slidden Christians back into the flock and has set entire churches on fire for the Lord. I am a very slow reader and it only took a couple of days - but then that's in part because I couldn't put it down! Ellis has a writing style that's very enjoyable to read:
(hold your ctrl button down and push the - key a few times to reduce the font size (+ key to restore it))
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/the_great_detective.htm

As a result I was called into full time Internet ministry over the last 10 years, while seeking help from Ellis and another elder as peers, who had both been ordained ministers. By full-time I mean the first half of that decade I normally put in 10-12 hours a day, up to 6 or 7 days a week, in study and in probing and prodding, testing and trying in "Christian" forums on the internet, without being greeted by any substantive arguments against what I had learned. Every day I woke up at 4-5 am with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning.

It is most important to understand that Ellis Skolfield's study is within the traditional historicist whole approach to prophecy. This is the approach through which all Christians and Jews understand Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled, and the available evidence suggests was also the approach of the church for its first 1900 years, including those great men of God of the Reformation. Through this tradition the entirety of Christian era history is opened up for consideration as fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
http://www.christianeschatology.com/historicism.htm

It would be just as difficult for a futurist, as it would be a preterist, to understand this third entirely separate approach to prophecy by try to wring it through the filter of ones current preconceived notions and end-time views as it is considered. However since preterists and futurists must each consider the other to be virtually 100% in error regarding their understanding of the book of Revelation after chapter 3, it may then not be so surprising that both are necessarily precluded from even considering, that Muhammad could be THE false prophet of the book of Revelation!
http://www.christianeschatology.com/index.htm#limitations_futurism_preterism

Please try to be fair and view this entirely separate approach as a whole, with fresh eyes, before comparing it with the other two approaches. Once you do put in this small effort, even the evening news will come alive through your new understanding since, not surprisingly, this traditional approach paints a bulls eye on the back of Muhammad as THE false prophet of the book of Revelation, and his Islamic empire as the kingdom "beast" of Revelation 13.
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/the_beast.htm

Should that really be such a surprise as we witness the works of the true, fundamental, orthodox followers of Muhammad in The Islamic State, that is headed by the Islamic scholar Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
http://www.falseprophetmuhammad.com/the_islamic_state.htm

Is it any surprise that Muhammad's followers - that 1/4 of mankind in the world today - are required to deny the crucifixion of Christ, and thus reject His shed blood that would save them, as an article of their faith in THE False prophet Muhammad alone?
http://www.falseprophetmuhammad.com/index.htm

Is it then a surprise to learn that Muhammad's followers are taught that to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, or even to pray in Jesus' name, is to commit the single most "heinous" and ONLY unforgivable sin, in Muhammad's specifically counter-gospel, anti-religion?
http://www.petewaldo.com/unforgivable_shirk.htm

Thus each and every one of the 1.5 billion followers of THE false prophet Muhammad, is an antichrist, as another article of their faith in THE false prophet Muhammad's counter-gospel, antichrist, anti-religion.
http://www.falseprophetmuhammad.com/islam_is_antichrist.htm

Through an ethnographic hermeneutic, could virtually everyone in the prophet John's "whole world" already be marked by the false prophet Muhammad's Islamic kingdom "beast", making that a fulfilled prophecy? That is, with the exception of those in the tiny little strip of land of Israel where freedom, liberty and the right to self-determination are protected by the democracy of the Israeli Jewish State. Outside of which Christians are rapidly becoming an extinct species.
http://www.christianeschatology.com/historicism.htm#the_tragedy

Regarding the timing of the gathering of the elect, I trust the scriptures when they describe it as being at the "last trump" (or trumpet). But that is just one element of John Darby's 19th century futurist eschatological scheme.
http://www.christianeschatology.com/futurism_dispensationalism.htm

Please, please, please read The False Prophet first. It's best if you don't jump ahead, as it is a brick by brick empirical argument. But if you absolutely must, you can review a preview of some elements it contains (spoiler alert), through an encapsulation of the mathematical confirmation it contains:
http://www.beholdthebeast.com/mathematical_precision_of_prophecy.htm

It would be far better to continue this discussion in the Islam/Muslim - Christian Forum as resources are at our fingertips, where others may be able to help, while Forum read-only-participants may also be able to benefit from the Q&A that could result. I'm going to copy and paste this reply into the forum for that same reason. The forum also has an excellent search function for finding threads on specific topics for continuing discussion.

May the good Lord bless you brother, and lead us all in all truth.
Sincerely, your brother in Christ Jesus,

Pete