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Until rather recently, the futuristic dispensationalists were saying that what holds back (restrains) the "man of sin" (their Antichrist) from being revealed is the Holy Spirit. they use II Thessalonians 2:7 for proof of this, though that verse says nothing about the Holy Spirit. the Thessalonians did know who was holding back the revelation of the man of sin (see verse 6).They have taught that when the church is "raptured," then the Holy Spirit would be "taken out of the way" - gone with the church; and then the man of sin could be revealed.
but man authors, in rebuttal of that position, have asked, "How then could such a great multitude, larger than anyone could number, be saved during the tribulation period, if there is no Holy Spirit here?" this is a good question.
But more recently, a couple of dispensationalists (at least) have come up with an ingenious answer to the problem. It is that after the rapture, the Holy Spirit will not be in Christians on the earth, but He will still be on earth to help people get saved! Amazing solution to the problem!
Can we say that this teaching of the Holy spirit being on earth after the Rapture but no longer in Christians got started in 1996?
It is also being said that at the time, the converts will no longer be called "Christians," but "saints." Is this to say that "saints" of the Tribulation period are not "Christians?" Christians are called "saints" in most of the epistles instead of being called "Christians."
It is also said that this work of evangelism resulting in more people being saved in a seven years' period without the Holy Spirit in Christians, will be done by 144,000 Jewish evangelist! This is absolutely fantastic Bible exegesis, and I wish someone would show me where the 144,000 Jews (Rev. 7:4-8) are called evangelists. You know what I think? I think this is the invention of these hard pressed dispensationalists to keep their weird views going, for the book of Revelation does not say those 144,000 are Jewish evangelists. If they were, they were evangelists back in the first century, for Revelation 14:4 tells who they were: "...being the first fruits of God unto the Lamb." "Firstfruits" are "first" fruits - not last fruits, or later fruits! These were representatives of the first converts (mostly Jewish) back in the early days of Christianity. They were "sealed" (protected) against horrors of the "great tribulation" of Matthew 24:21, which lasted 3 1/2 years (67-70 AD) as Jesus had instructed them not to remain in Jerusalem (nor Judea) during that time.
I am not making this up about the newer emphasis on the Holy Spirit. See Tim La Haye's article on page 16 of National Liberty Journal, 1971 University Blvd., Lynchburg, Va., in the September 1996 edition - an otherwise excellent publication except for its eschatology section each issue.
Tommy Ice, director of the Pre-Trib Research Center, taught the same thing in the May/June 1996 issue of Pre-Trib Perspectives in his article on The Holy Spirit and the Pre-tribulational Rapture. Wonder where they get these new teachings from?
Tim La Haye also says the period of the Great Tribulation will be seven years, though these is absolutely no mention whatsoever of seven years for a tribulation period. Nowhere in the whole Bible!
And now how many more of the dispensationalists will copy this idea, inasmuch as this seems a custom of the pre-tribulation rapture folks as they usually parrot one another on these things?
For a while they were copying one another about an "Ephraim" who supposedly taught a 3 1/2 years tribulation period after the Rapture back in the 4th century. They don't say much more about that now. Now, we hear a new name (Morgan Edwards) who taught a pre-tribulation rapture in 1788 (as they try to show a much earlier date for this teaching than Lacunza, Irving, Darby, MacDonald, etc.). I have seen some of these articles about Morgan Edward (it has even been on the internet), without any acknowledgement of where they got their information. it is as though they have suddenly discovered this man's teaching themselves, after I had waited fourteen years and with an offer of $500 and printed the offer in 114, 273 books, to anyone who showed me an earlier statement than 1812 (Lacunza). None of these "great scholars" and "theologians" and "prophecy experts" ever found the statement. I personally found the material in March, 1995, at the library of the Southern Baptist theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. These guys do not like to give me credit for that, when they couldn't come up with this in fourteen years. nut now they copy one another on this, and go do little research now on Morgan Edwards and write about him as though they have researched the matter and found the material, etc.
Our little book on Morgan Edwards and the Pre-Tribulational Rapture Teaching - 1788 can be purchased from us for $1.00. This book is where they originally got it from.
I would remind those who lean on Morgan Edwards to prove how far back the pre-tribulation rapture was taught, that Morgan Edwards wrote this book over 40 years earlier when he was in school, and he himself said that what he wrote was "nonsense" (like also saying the lake of fire was on the moon). I don't think theologians should be quoting nonsense to bolster their arguments. And even so, 1788 is still a very, very late date for the first time ever that such "nonsense" was taught.
And Morgan Edwards published this book of his in 1788 following a time during which he had been expelled from the church for drinking and other things. It was about this time he was restored to fellowship with the church. Incidentally, the "great tribulation" of Matthew 24:31 occurred in the first century, as Jesus said in the 34th verse of that same chapter:
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.