(4.)
An End Times Doctrine
By Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer
This booklet is about an end-times Christian doctrine. A doctrine that just recently
became popularized by way of David Hunt's two best-selling books, Seduction of Christianity
and Beyond Seduction. David Hunt advocates a widely accepted, rapture of the church out of this world,
end-times doctrine. And Hunt defends his end-times doctrine by countering a different, and growing
in popularity, end-times doctrine. It is the end-times doctrine of the Manifest Sons Of God Movement.
To explain what this end-times doctrine is about, I present both some of David
Hunt's statements concerning this end-times doctrine, as well as statements made by popular
leaders of the Manifest Sons Of God Movement. Commentaries are added to convey additional
information about this end-times doctrine.
Excerpts and commentaries:
(1.) By David Hunt: "If we are indeed in the end-times, then interpretations of eschatology - the
Bible's prophetic depiction's of the future - will become increasingly important and controversial
in the days ahead."
Comment: I believe that we are in the end times and that the Bible's prophetic depiction's of
the future will become increasingly important and controversial in the days ahead.
(2.) By David Hunt: "Increasing numbers of Christian leaders and their followers are rejecting the
view that Christ is going to "rapture" His church out of this world. The whole idea of the rise
of Antichrist to rule the world during a tribulation period, and the rapture of the church...is
falling into disfavor."
Comment: I believe that the above statement is true and that rejecting the popular "rapture
out of this world" end-times doctrine is the right thing to do.
(3.) By David Hunt: "There is a growing movement within the church that is usually associated
with the words kingdom, dominion, restoration, and/or reconstruction. Although similar ideas can
be traced back at least to the eighteenth century, the current explosion of the kingdom/dominion
emphasis began with the "Later Rain" movement, which came out of an apparent revival in Canada in
1948. It became known as The Manifest Sons of God Movement because of a teaching that an elite
group of ‘overcomers' manifesting immortality would conquer the world and establish the kingdom
of God."
Comment: I believe that the above statement is true and that an elite group of "overcomers"
manifesting immortality will rule and reign with Jesus Christ throughout a soon to come "time of
great tribulation"; and that this "time of great tribulation" is the "great tribulation" that is
prophesied in the Bible to occur just prior to the "Second Coming" and the establishment of the
definitive expression of the Kingdom of God.
(4.) A leader of the Manifest Sons Of God Movement said: "All nations will flow into the kingdom
in the last days because a ruthless band of overcomers...will have become immune from sin and
sickness and even death."
Comment: I also believe that: "All nations will flow into the kingdom
in the last days because a ruthless band of Jesus's followers...will become immune from sin and sickness and even death.
(5.) A leader of the Manifest Sons Of God Movement said: "The Word of faith shall grip the
[overcomer's] hearts and they shall reach out and appropriate the Resurrection and the Life
even now in this life."
Comment: I believe that the above statement is true.
(6.) "A 1986 Manifest Sons of God publication declares that belief in the rapture among mainline
denominational members is waning and that increasing numbers of Christians are discovering the
Bible's New Age principles of ruling and reigning here on earth."
Comment: I believe in the Bible's New Age principles of ruling and reigning here on earth.
(7.) By David Hunt: "The Manifest Sons of God Movement's enthusiasm for the belief that
Christians are going to take over the world is spreading widely."
Comment: I believe that this statement by Hunt is true; and that, in the near future, some Christians are going
to begin, by divine right, to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. And I also believe that this
"ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ" will begin when Satan is dethroned and
cast to the earth; and that when this occurs, the "great tribulation" will being.
(8.) A Manifest Sons of God leader said: "When we first began to point out that the Church was...
[foolishly] standing gazing into the heavens waiting for some dramatic escape from this earth,
some began to scream "heresy"! But...the Word proves that the earth is the Lord's and dominion
over it is the first task the Church must accomplish."
Comment: I believe that the earth is the Lord's and dominion over it is the first task the Church
must accomplish.
(9.) A Manifest Sons Of God leader said: "The conversion of the masses provides the means
for taking over the world for Christ, taking dominion back from Satan, and thereby establishing
the kingdom in order that Christ might return as king at last."
Commentary: I believe that Christ will, by way of a kingly apparition of Himself, "return",
in the near future, "to rule at last"; and that this rule of His will last throughout the "great
tribulation"; and that during this reign of His, only the above mentioned "overcomers" will see Him.
And I also believe that…at the end of the "great tribulation", He will appear to everyone, and that,
at the time, He will give the kingdom back to God the Father and in doing so establish the
definitive expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.
(10.) A Manifest Sons of God Movement leader said: "Ultimately, Biblical salvation turns back
the Curse, brings back Eden conditions, repairs personal and social relationships, and blesses
the earth in every area. The whole earth will be saved, and remade into the Garden of God...the
restoration of Eden is an essential aspect of the salvation that Christ provides."
Commentary: I believe that not only does "Biblical salvation bring back Eden conditions", but
that it also adds improvements to its original conditions.
(11.) By David Hunt: "God drove mankind out of the garden of Eden, and then He placed at the
east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). God was not vindictively barring man's access to
eternal life, for in the last chapter of the Bible we see redeemed man in paradise once again
and now eating freely of the ‘tree of life' (Revelation 22:2). What happened to that sword of
judgment? In contrast to all others, one Man, the only one who could, one day walked up to
that sword and took its fatal stroke for all the rest of us. Judgments sword was sheathed in
His heart and its flame was quenched in His blood. He had no sin of his own, so He could die
for ours. This is why Christ alone, in contrast to Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, and all the
founders of the world's religions, could say without contradiction: "I am the way, the truth,
and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me."
Comment: I believe that the above statement is true.
To become the way for us back to the tree of life, He had to take the judgment we deserved.
Paradise regained, however, is much better than had been lost. Sin will never enter the repaired
and improved paradise which will forever be under His direction, having been bought with His
blood poured at Calvary for our sins. The responsibility for keeping paradise restored will
no longer rest upon mere human beings but upon Him who is both God and man. Redeemed man will
never be banished from Gods presence. Forever Christ will maintain the perfect union between
God and man in His own person - a union that He brings into every heart that opens to Him as
Lord and savior.
Footnote: Presented below is a statement made by U.S. Catholic Bishops in their pastoral
letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy. "The whole Bible is spanned by the
narrative of the first creation (Gn 1:3) and the vision of a restored creation at the end of
history" (RV. 21:1-4).
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