The Antichrist's identity?

[Valerie]

Do you attend an Orthodox church now? Somehow I thought you were in Alistair Bigg's church?

We have a relationship with a couple of different priests that are Orthodox and love them dearly. Have learned a great deal once I removed some of my preconceived understandings, and have been shown a great deal that help me remove some of my former prejudices. We visit on occasion St. Matthews and we do sense the Spirit of God in that place during worship- however, we did not take the step of officially becoming Orthodox because we aren't comfortable with the veneration (not idolatry) and have to have apparently faith in some of the mysteries- they were never a Sola Scriptura Church, because the early church was not.

Yes we attend Alistair "Begg's" (Not Bigg's, but is funny that you spelled it that was because Begg is Scottish for 'little'!)
In every faith group we have considered sense leaving the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, we've had to consider that each one isn't 100% error free- we actually started attending Pastor Begg's Church having visited for the first time about 18 years ago- having appreciated his daily Truth for Life program & finding out he was in our area- we decided, while considering Anabaptism for awhile, & then Orthodox, that we needed a 'time out' as it was affecting our peace & Pastor Begg is dear to us too- and we appreciate his humility, and he doesn't claim to 'know for sure' about everything- but we feel he's pretty close and love his heart for Jesus. So now it's been 4 years of 'waiting' on the Lord there- and we have to accept that some of what Pastor says, is contrary to others- and visa versa- it's just the sign of the times. He actually doesn't really want to get into eschatology mainly it seems, because it is so divisive and no one seems to be 'sure'.
Since he encourages us to read the Bible ourselves I think that gives us the freedom to pray to understand and just be at peace with leaving eschatology in God's hands- I personally feel like Jesus wanted us to know the signs to watch for so others will not fall prey to the deception.

Peace be with you. I have found that there is no church with which anyone will agree entirely with on this earth, but the need to find fellowship and the witness of the Spirit with other believers is essential. Strangely, the place that we felt most at home was the small Lutheran church we attended in Minnesota. I count the pastor there to be a very close friend. We had a special relationship and could talk about our differences without being offended with each other.

Thank you, to you as well. I don't get offended so much at disagreeing about eschatology differences, but- it sure divided all of Christianity since we make public our favorite viewpoint as long as we can conclude that God is Sovereign, and be ready for "That Day" & hopefully prayerfully help others be so too.

[Valerie]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

[gcdonner]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

I don't suggest post-millenialism, they are still waiting for the second coming. All I am looking for is the biblical, "...absent from the body, present with the Lord..." (II Cor 5:8) Jesus may return any time he chooses, but it wouldn't be to fulfill any known scripture. As the title of my book declares, "Fulfilled in Christ".

[gcdonner]

We have a relationship with a couple of different priests that are Orthodox and love them dearly. Have learned a great deal once I removed some of my preconceived understandings, and have been shown a great deal that help me remove some of my former prejudices. We visit on occasion St. Matthews and we do sense the Spirit of God in that place during worship- however, we did not take the step of officially becoming Orthodox because we aren't comfortable with the veneration (not idolatry) and have to have apparently faith in some of the mysteries- they were never a Sola Scriptura Church, because the early church was not.

Yes we attend Alistair "Begg's" (Not Bigg's, but is funny that you spelled it that was because Begg is Scottish for 'little'!)
In every faith group we have considered sense leaving the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, we've had to consider that each one isn't 100% error free- we actually started attending Pastor Begg's Church having visited for the first time about 18 years ago- having appreciated his daily Truth for Life program & finding out he was in our area- we decided, while considering Anabaptism for awhile, & then Orthodox, that we needed a 'time out' as it was affecting our peace & Pastor Begg is dear to us too- and we appreciate his humility, and he doesn't claim to 'know for sure' about everything- but we feel he's pretty close and love his heart for Jesus. So now it's been 4 years of 'waiting' on the Lord there- and we have to accept that some of what Pastor says, is contrary to others- and visa versa- it's just the sign of the times. He actually doesn't really want to get into eschatology mainly it seems, because it is so divisive and no one seems to be 'sure'.
Since he encourages us to read the Bible ourselves I think that gives us the freedom to pray to understand and just be at peace with leaving eschatology in God's hands- I personally feel like Jesus wanted us to know the signs to watch for so others will not fall prey to the deception.

Peace be with you. I have found that there is no church with which anyone will agree entirely with on this earth, but the need to find fellowship and the witness of the Spirit with other believers is essential. Strangely, the place that we felt most at home was the small Lutheran church we attended in Minnesota. I count the pastor there to be a very close friend. We had a special relationship and could talk about our differences without being offended with each other.

Thank you, to you as well. I don't get offended so much at disagreeing about eschatology differences, but- it sure divided all of Christianity since we make public our favorite viewpoint as long as we can conclude that God is Sovereign, and be ready for "That Day" & hopefully prayerfully help others be so too.

I am fellowshipping at a Pentecostal church that is full blown pre-trib rapture. I assured the pastor when we decided to fellowship there full time that I would not make it an issue...

[Josh]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

In about 10 seconds I found a sermon of his espousing preterism as one of 4 valid eschatological views. (He won’t say publicly what his personal viewpoint is.)

Parkside does not practice believers’ baptism; you can be baptised as an infant in another denomination like OPC and transfer your membership to Parkside.

[gcdonner]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

In about 10 seconds I found a sermon of his espousing preterism as one of 4 valid eschatological views. (He won’t say publicly what his personal viewpoint is.)

Parkside does not practice believers’ baptism; you can be baptised as an infant in another denomination like OPC and transfer your membership to Parkside.

His higher education is with Westminster Theological Seminar, which is a Presbyterian school. I have a nephew who graduated from there who is a member of the OPC.

[Valerie]

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

In about 10 seconds I found a sermon of his espousing preterism as one of 4 valid eschatological views. (He won’t say publicly what his personal viewpoint is.)

Parkside does not practice believers’ baptism; you can be baptised as an infant in another denomination like OPC and transfer your membership to Parkside.

His higher education is with Westminster Theological Seminar, which is a Presbyterian school. I have a nephew who graduated from there who is a member of the OPC.

Education perhaps, but he believes in Believers Baptism, I've heard him say it countless times- perhaps this is why he didn't become a Presbyterian Pastor. If he believed in infant baptism, I wouldn't personally have an issue with that but he's said otherwise, and I've witnessed lots of baptisms st Parkside, some of which had been baptized as infants

[Valerie]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

In about 10 seconds I found a sermon of his espousing preterism as one of 4 valid eschatological views. (He won’t say publicly what his personal viewpoint is.)

Parkside does not practice believers’ baptism; you can be baptised as an infant in another denomination like OPC and transfer your membership to Parkside.

That Amish (former) man I told you about in another thread, lived in an Amish community in main & said, I remember, that within their community, there were 4 different beliefs held among the brethren regarding eschatology, so apparently this is common. Pastor Begg may she's the commonly held views among Christians but since it's a divisive issue, he probably wants to avoid bei g "known" for where he's more persuaded. He tends to say alot "Keep the plain things the main things and the main things the plain things. He has baptized many, who were baptized as infants. We have been there, when people at Parkside are baptized, they share their testimony & thats how I know (& heard) that he will rebaptize those who had been as infants.

Anyway, this is not a Pastor Begg thread-

[Valerie]

You know, gcdonner, preterism/postmillenialism is the stock and trade of Reformed folks like Alistair Begg, although nowadays he tends to hide his preterist views, probably so he doesn’t alienate his rather large following. Perhaps one day Valerie will roll in here to join your full-throated promotion of postmillenialism.

When that day comes, I will retire and rest, knowing my work is done.

When on earth was Pastor Begg Preterists? He grew up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, but left Presbyterian, the only reason I know of is he believes in Believers Baptism, Presbyterians baptize infants. Then he pastored a Baptist Church in his 20s before accepting the invitation to Pastor in Cleveland 37 years ago- but there's never been a hint from him or any pastors there, who occasionally preach & lead studies, of a Preterists view- OR dispensationalism. Both would discourage us

In about 10 seconds I found a sermon of his espousing preterism as one of 4 valid eschatological views. (He won’t say publicly what his personal viewpoint is.)

Parkside does not practice believers’ baptism; you can be baptised as an infant in another denomination like OPC and transfer your membership to Parkside.

You prompted me to go research-Pastor Begg said in one on one conversations, he is a millennial. So he's that, but doesn't preach it, & he also "rebaptizes" those who had been as infants- this I've personally witnessed.

Who is THE AntiChrist- I have read some Eastern Orthodox believe he is alive now. That wouldn't surprise me as we are watching most unusual events unfold

[Josh]

Someday we need to write up a systematic theology of Valerieism. We could call it Eastern ReformedAnaPaedoBaptiCostalDoxy.