Today is Truth or Lie Thursday! Inbox me your questions, doubts, issues, or beefs with the Bible or Christianity or Jesus Christ, and I won’t blast you but I’ll do some research and inbox you back with an answer that is (hopefully) good for you!
IS GOD’S PERMISSIVE WILL KIND OF LIKE PURGATORY?
I want to ask where does the bible speak of God’s permissive will? I cannot recall finding any evidence of in the bible. This is something that I feel may have been invented by a denomination to pacify it’s members like the Catholics did with purgatory. For an example one of my loved ones sought counseling whenever they did or were about to do something that they felt guilty about (such as going into their third marriage) and were advised to seek God’s permissive will if they can’t keep up with his perfect will.
I know in Romans 12 Paul speaks of God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will. A lot of people will use that to say that God has 3 different levels of satisfaction with His purposes for our lives. But you are absolutely right, that’s not what the Bible teaches. Good, Acceptable, and Perfect are all adjectives that describe 1 thing: the Will of God. It’s Good because it requires good actions. It’s Acceptable because He is the one that Judges our actions to see if He accepts them. It’s Perfect because it perfects us into Maturity and Obedience. His Good Acceptable Perfect Will transforms us by His Grace to be like Jesus! So instead of doing what we want and calling it His “permissive will”, we should do His “Good Acceptable and Perfect Will” because this is what will help us be transformed into His image! And you are absolutely right this “permissive will” doctrine is pretty much exactly like the Roman Catholic teaching except the form and the terms have shifted. It still has the same effect: to water down the grace of God and turn it into a weak version of licentiousness (license to sin). In reality God will judge everyone for their works. God’s Mercy covers our sins. But His Grace empowers us to do His will. If we have His Grace, we do His will. His Good Acceptable Perfect Will.
WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?
What is the abomination that causes desolation that is mentioned in Daniel and Revelations? Is it a sculpture? Is it a person?
So when Jesus answered the disciples question “When will the temple be destroyed? What are the signs of your coming, and the end of the world? (Matthew 21:3) Jesus had to answer them in multiple layers of prophecy.
To answer the first question, He had to talk about when the Romans came to destroy the Temple and scatter and kill the Jews in 70AD. Jesus had some very serious warning to believers to get out of the city as fast as they could when the Roman army came… because it was time for the curses of Deuteronomy 28 to be fulfilled on the people that violated God’s covenant (Luke 21:22).
This prophecy of an abomination that causes desolation was in reference to Daniel. It’s in Daniel 9, Daniel 11, and Daniel 12. The abomination of desolation that was mentioned in Daniel 11 was fulfilled by a Greek ruler named Antiochus Ephiphanes. He came as an idol worshipping Greek ruler (abomination) and he brought destruction to God’s people (desolation). The prophecy that Jesus spoke of was when the Roman ruler, Titus Caesar came to the temple to destroy it in 70 AD. He was an idol worshipping Roman ruler (abomination) that came to God’s people to bring destruction (desolation).
So this prophecy has been fulfilled twice already by a Greek ruler and a Roman ruler. If this prophecy was to be fulfilled again… it would have to be fulfilled by the AntiChrist or the Pope setting himself up in a temple in Jerusalem. However since there is no official temple building anymore (the Body of Christ is God’s temple), and the physical Jews have already been scattered and made desolate – I don’t think there will be another fulfillment of this prophecy. I think that’s why you only see it mentioned in Daniel and in Matthew, but not in the book of Revelation.
However there is a future occurrence of something similar happening in the last days. It’s when the Anti-Christ is revealed and tries to be seen as God on the earth. This could mean setting up a fake temple in Jerusalem, or it could mean he tries to set himself as authority or leader over the Body of Christ (which is the temple of God). As said this will be fulfilled by the Anti-Christ, which I believe is the Pope. The reason I believe that is because the Pope is the primary religious figure on earth that places themselves over the people of God as an authority and “Vicar” or “Substitute” of Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2
3 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;
4 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.
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