Ed Hindson asserts,
I am not looking for the Antichrist, I’m looking for Jesus Christ. I am not even looking for the undertaker, I am looking for the uppertaker (at 14 min. here).
Hindson uttered this cutesy slogan as he was talking about 2 Thessalonians 2! And worse, he did not even try to give an attempt to support his slogan. We are suppose to take his word as gospel-truth. Nor does he even begin to attempt to explain how the removal of the restrainer supports a pretrib rapture.
It is amazing to watch pretribulationists read 2 Thessalonians 2 where it explicitly teaches that two events must happen before the day of the Lord, and by extension the rapture (“Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him” (2 Thess 2:1).
I would have liked for my response to be longer but Hindson does not provide me argumentation to respond to. It was basically a “This is what I believe, and you should believe it, too”; instead, of “This is why I believe what I do.”
It is ironic that pretribulational teachers are so fascinated by the Bible’s teaching of the Antichrist; yet they will be here to face his persecution if they are part of the last generation of church.
One thing that is saliently missing from Hindson’s teaching on the Antichrist is the biblical warnings for believers. It is a mere academic exercise for him. But for the remnant of believers who take God’s Word for what it says, it is a sober warning for what lies ahead for the church:
“(12) so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1) Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, (2) not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. (3) Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (4) who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (5) Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thess 1:12–2:5 ESV)
“So when you see the abomination of desolation–spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),” (Matt 24:15 NET)
“(9) And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, (10) he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (11) And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (12) Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Rev 14:9–12 ESV)
