| A strict interpretation of this language prohibits us from claiming
to know that day and hour; but it does not prohibit us from looking
for and noticing the PROPHETIC SIGNS that the Lord and His Apostles said
would attend and distinguish The Last Days. Some men will say that
Jesus' command to "watch and pray", suggests that all
men in every generation had equal reasons to expect the immediate return
of Jesus Christ: I doubt their sincerity. If you REALLY SUSPECTED that
The 2nd Coming might be tomorrow: IF YOU REALLY SUSPECTED IT, the
way you conduct your affairs and your daily conversation would be utterly
characterized by that anticipation. Anyone who thinks that The 2nd Coming
is going to happen in the near and foreseeable future would have no trouble
with obeying Christ's commands to Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, and, Take therefore NO THOUGHT for the morrow (Matt.
6:19-34). The expectation that Christ may return 'ANY DAY NOW' so mollifies
the cares of this life (Luke 21:34), that all long range planning and
all saving up of money for future needs becomes pointless. And besides;
YOUR OWN DEATH, THE END OF THE WORLD, and THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST, all
amount to The End of This World as you have known it. If The World ends,
your place here is GONE. If Jesus returns, nothing in This World can ever
be the same. When you die, THIS WORLD ENDS FOR YOU, and whatever
happens to you next amounts to the judgement (Heb. 9:27), and, the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son
(John 5:22). So it is true that you ought to live as if you're going to
have YOUR MEETING with Jesus Christ ANY DAY NOW, for it may very well happen,
even before you finish reading this. Whether Christ comes to the earth
where you are, or whether you go to meet Christ where He is, is NOT the
significant thing; for eventually, every knee will bow. . .and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father (Phil. 2:10-11). |
| THE REAL QUESTION: the question that motivates EVERY opinion about the
return of Jesus Christ is: DO YOU WANT JESUS TO COME TODAY? Do you really?
While I must freely acknowledge that many erroneous predictions have been
made about BOTH The Rapture and The 2nd Coming: there is error on
both sides of the argument. If I am forced to choose between "erroneous
parties"; I will choose to be identified with the "date setters"
rather than with those who ENJOY saying, "I told you so", after
the fact. The "date setters" WANT Jesus to return, AND, it takes
a lot more courage to commit yourself publicly to a "VERY SOON"
return of Jesus Christ than it does to just 'yawn' and say, All things
continue as they were from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:4).
It is COMPLETELY DISHONEST to suggest that your opinion about the WHEN
and HOW of the return of Jesus Christ is not the product of how you "feel"
about that event. If you are eager to see the Lord, then you will tend
to LOOK FOR SIGNS of His Coming; and some get so carried away in their
enthusiasm that they make "signs" out of normal and insignificant
events. THIS IS TRULY ERROR, and has been costly error for some; but THAT
cost is usually only temporal: having to do with money and public reputation.
The man whose "error" is DOUBT that Christ will ever actually
return, and the man whose "error" is THE HOPE THAT CHRIST WON'T
COME JUST NOW, well. . . .he is NOT waiting for God's
Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which will deliver
us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10); and unto them THAT LOOK
FOR HIM shall He appear the second time, without reference to sin, unto
salvation (Heb. 9:28). |
| THE FACT IS, my Friend, that MOST people DON'T want Jesus to come back
'just now'. Any "Christian" who finds sound reasons to deny that
we are NOW in The Last Days should be in sorrow for having such
knowledge: NOT RELIEVED! Even though I have suffered under many of the
common miseries of mankind, I have also been, so far, kept safe from the
worst of them: in this very moment I have many more blessings than curses
in my life. According to God's mercy, I have health and strength for what
is needful, and I am surrounded by True Christians that REALLY LOVE ME.
I have a wonderful, Godly, and affectionate wife, and adorable children.
I live in a beautiful home in the mountains that I could never afford on
my own. I have the use of new cars that I have not paid for. I have leisure
and freedom that most men never know until they are too old to enjoy it:
I lack NOTHING that is necessary for ordinary human happiness. . . . .YET.
. . . .I still wish that Jesus would COME BACK TODAY and take me and all
the other Christians OUT OF HERE! All around me, and you, there is death,
sickness, pain, decay, heartbreak, disappointment, tragedy, cruelty, perversion,
corruption, hatred, treachery, lying, cheating, stealing, and MALICIOUS
COMPETITION FOR EVERYTHING THIS WORLD HAS TO OFFER. |
| Matt.13:10 |
And the disciples came, and said
unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? |
| 11 |
He answered and said unto them,
Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. |
| 12 |
For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away, even that he hath. |
| 13 |
Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they
understand. |
| 14 |
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy
of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;
and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. |
| 15 |
For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed:
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them. |
| Here is a plain declaration by The Lord Jesus Christ that certain Truths
that ARE seen and understood by those who are willing to receive them,
will be incomprehensible and practically invisible to those who WOULD and
WILL reject them. These "Truths" are called the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. They are, as it were, "Hid in plain
sight". The Doctrine of The Rapture is still a "mystery",
because it is still "a secret, known only by a select group".
AND, just because someone SAYS they believe in The Rapture does NOT mean
that they have SEEN THE EVIDENCE and been convinced by it: they just happen
to be associated with other people who SAY they believe in The Rapture,
and they are quite content with whatever "interpretation" is
popular in their own social and family circle. To those who DON'T REALLY
BELIEVE, but, SAY THEY DO, Jesus has addressed this warning: Take heed
therefore HOW ye hear: for whosoever hath (a sure and personal
knowledge of the Truth), to him shall be given (more and more Truth);
and whosoever hath not (a sure and personal knowledge of the Truth),
from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have
(Luke 8:18). |
| Those who SAY THEY BELIEVE what they are NOT REALLY convinced of are
those who seemeth to have: Yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth
for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth BECAUSE OF THE
WORD, by and by, he is offended, and he alters his confession according
to the expedients of social or economic survival (Matt. 13:21). |
| The fact that The Rapture is not plainly and unambiguously asserted
in the Bible does not mean that the God of the Bible does not intend for
His own faithful children to find it: it means that God doesn't want the
insincere to find it, and they won't. |
| 2. The Doctrine of The Rapture is almost universally considered to be
a recent innovation in the history of prophetic interpretation. There is
no well known record of any theological writer who saw a 'time space'
between the 1st Resurrection and The 2nd Coming before 1797.
This particular objection presumes that 1700 years of scholarship did not
find a Rapture in The Bible, so we have no right to find a Rapture now.
But we don't KNOW that no one ever saw a Rapture: we only know that if
they did find and describe a Rapture, that their works have not gained
sufficient attention to become part of the public record (as of 1991). |
| And then, we must decide whether or not we are going to consider "traditional
interpretations" as equal to the Bible itself. Does every man who
reads the Bible have the right and privilege from God to come to his own
conclusion? Furthermore, are we not actually OBLIGED to come to some definite
conclusions about "What is Truth"? When Martin Luther
took exception to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, he refused
to be bound by the "official interpretations and conclusions"
of a thousand years of ecclesiastical scholarship: yet today, Luther's
writings have themselves become the "traditional interpretations and
conclusions" of many of the Protestant Churches. Have we not the same
right and privilege that we allow to Martin Luther? The same argument that
denies The Doctrine of The Rapture because it is a relatively "recent
innovation" was used to denounce the main doctrines of the Reformation. |
| And then, we have a plain declaration in the Bible that many of it's
prophecies would not be rightly understood until the time of the end. |
| Much of the Book of Daniel addresses the same prophetic events that
are described in The Book of Revelation, and it has always been received
as prophecy that reaches all the way from Daniel's own day to The End of
This Age. Daniel says that the words are shut up: they will
not be rightly understood until the time of the end, and this is
not the only place in the Bible where such an assertion is made (Jer. 23:20). |
| That The Rapture Doctrine has only been well known since the 1800's
does not make it a false doctrine. God did not deem it necessary for anyone
to correctly grasp the final significance of End Times Prophecies until
the time of their fulfillment was at hand. |
| Even the prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel as a nation
were misinterpreted for the first 18 centuries of Christianity, because
no one could see any possibility that the Jewish Nation would ever rise
again. At the same time that The Rapture Doctrine made it's public appearance,
many commentators began to insist that Israel would re-emerge as a nation
among the nations: they were scoffed at and ridiculed by the "traditional
scholars" of their day: but those "traditional scholars"
were ALL WRONG, and now we can see how Jeremiah's prophecy about Jews returning
from the north country was fulfilled (Jer. 23:7-8). When the Jews
returned to Israel after the Babylonian and Persian exiles, they came from
the EAST, not the north. Germany, Eastern Europe, and Russia are
all north of Israel, and THAT'S WHERE the majority of the Jews in
modern Israel emigrated from. A relatively recent date for the appearance
of The Rapture Doctrine does not preclude it from being the Truth, and
actually, The Doctrine of The Rapture has become the "traditional
interpretation" in many denominations. Most people who SAY they believe
in The Rapture do not know that there was NO SUCH THING as an "official"
Doctrine of The Rapture in Christendom until about 1812. |
| 3. The FORMAL ORIGINS of The Rapture Doctrine are attributed to persons
who have been repudiated and discredited by most of Christendom. This also
is true. |
| The oldest well known and generally acknowledged record of a Rapture
Doctrine, in which it is proposed that The 1st Resurrection and
The 2nd Coming do NOT happen at the same moment, was written by
a Spanish Jesuit Roman Catholic Priest, named Emmanuel Lacunza. Lacunza
has The Rapture happening 45 days before The 2nd Coming. The opponents
of The Rapture Doctrine say, "A Catholic said it first, therefore
it cannot be right". They fail to mention that Lacunza was denounced
by the Pope because he also said that the Catholic Church would eventually
become the Mystery Babylon of prophecy, and that the Roman Catholic
Priesthood would become the many antichrists of prophecy (1 John
2:18). We have no reason to believe that Lacunza was a "good Catholic"
and therefore a "bad Christian": and besides, the Doctrine of
The Rapture stands or falls with how it squares up with the Bible NOW,
DOES IT NOT? |
| In 1827, an Englishman named William Irving had Lacunza's book translated
into English, and there arose a few small but very vocal parties that taught
'some kind' of a Rapture Doctrine. The current public record on Irving
has it that his motives were questionable, and that he was simply trying
to gain his own following by introducing a novelty. It is also evident
that he associated with others whose motives or sanity was questionable:
not the least significant of which was Margaret MacDonald; a young girl
who claimed to have a vision of the Rapture. The opponents of the Rapture
Doctrine want you to believe that Margaret MacDonald and her "vision"
are the real and only foundations of the Pre- Tribulation Rapture as it
is represented today in the Scofield Reference Bible. They have told you
a lie by not telling you the whole story. |
| The true 'formal author' of The Rapture Doctrine as it is best known
today was John Nelson Darby, born in 1801, in Britain. Darby expressedly
denied that Ms. MacDonald's vision had any authority, and in a letter written
in 1845, he condemns "Irvingism" as a "fatal error".
Neither have I discovered, after reading 1500 pages of Darby's personal
correspondence, any reference to Lacunza or his book. It may well be that
he heard of 'a Rapture' before he began to teach it, but I have not been
able to find a formal treatise on The Rapture written by Darby: and "Rapture
Doctrines" were NOT his main interest anyway! The earliest formal
presentation of what may be called "the Scofield scenario" of
a Pre-Tribulation Rapture I have found was written by a William Kelly,
a friend and associate of Darby's. But Scofield got his Rapture Doctrine
from Darby, as Scofield himself and others have testified. Darby, who eventually
resigned from the Anglican Clergy; from then on refused to confirm any
denominational creed or to apply for or accept any kind of preacher's "license".
He also denounced all religious bureaucracies as contrary to the scripture
and the rule of the Holy Spirit; sarcastically labeling them as "The
Establishment". Thus, he was eventually branded as a proponent of
ANARCHY. Even his enemies can find little to say against him, since his
morals, his public conduct, his financial affairs, and his intellectual
genius were above reproach. Some of Darby's contemporaries testified that
he gave away 90% of his income, mostly to poor people. He translated the
Bible into French, German, and English, and his French version is still
the most respected translation in France to this day. His English version
was so accurate, that the corrected renderings of the Revised Version of
1881 and the American Standard Version of 1901 are virtually reproductions
of Darby's work. Darby is a paradoxical character like none other in the
19th century; for while he is arguably the most influential theologian
since Martin Luther, almost no one even knows he ever existed, and almost
no one knows that Scofield learned The Rapture Doctrine from John Nelson
Darby. |
| So. . . .those who deny a Pre-Tribulation Rapture have done their best
to discredit this doctrine by finding fault with those who presented and
defended it when it first became a public dogma. I believe that they have
misrepresented the "story" by leaving out some things and over
emphasizing other things. No matter: the Truth or falsehood of The Rapture
Doctrine still depends on whether or not The Bible confirms it NOW. If
the Bible of Our God confirms The Rapture, then the God of The Bible will
be sure to bring it to pass, JUST AS HE HAS SAID. |
| 4. The only truly technical objection to The Rapture is, that The Rapture
would be such a stupendous miracle, that all the world would know about
it, and then the actual return of Jesus Christ could not take anyone by
surprise. But this objection presumes that we KNOW how much time elapses
between The First Resurrection and The Second Coming; and,
as I have already affirmed, the Bible makes no plain and clear declaration
on this point. And then, I also propose to you that the number of people
who are alive and remain (1 Thess.4:15,17) that will actually go
in The Rapture is quite small: I mean VERY SMALL; like only a few thousand
from the whole earth. Jesus compared the time of His coming to the days
of Noah and Lot (Luke 17:26-30) in which only a very tiny minority
of people escaped before disaster came and destroyed them all. Jesus
said you must be found WORTHY to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and that this WORTHINESS is EARNED by your willingness
to watch and pray always. These words of the Lord presume that some
will not be found worthy, and therefore they will not escape. Participation
in The Rapture is NOT guaranteed to everyone who manages to avoid hell
in the end; but only to those who are accounted worthy TO ESCAPE
The Great Tribulation. Unto them that LOOK FOR HIM shall He appear the
second time, without coming to bring judgement against their sin:
but rather, unto their salvation from the scenes of a world gone
completely mad; and, not many people are actually looking anymore (Hebrews
9:28). |
| And so, if The Rapture only takes few from here, and a few from there;
and if it happens during any kind of major social upheaval or natural disaster,
it may go more or less unnoticed. Those who suddenly disappeared would
be "explainable"; and then, those who are LEFT BEHIND will be
eager to prove that, "If there was a Rapture, God wouldn't take the
likes of them and LEAVE ME!" |
| 5. The most formidable objection that can be advanced against a Pre-Tribulation
Rapture is derived from an interpretation of the phrase, LAST TRUMPET;
for it is when this trumpet shall sound that the dead shall be
raised incorruptible and we shall be changed (1 Cor.15:52). Immediately
then, we go looking for the last mention of any trumpet being
blown in the Bible, and we land on Rev.11:15, where the seventh angel
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He
shall reign forever and ever. This, being the last mention of
any trumpet in the Bible, is then tied to the resurrection of the
two witnesses which are mentioned in the same chapter, (Rev.11:3,11-12);
and thus, the case is supposedly closed. BUT, this view takes NO ACCOUNT
of the fact that the two witnesses are resurrected BEFORE the seventh
angel sounds his trumpet. They are NOT resurrected while or
after this trumpet is sounded. By overlooking AND ignoring
this MONUMENTAL "little detail", those who assert a Mid-Tribulation
Rapture smugly presume to have had the last word on this matter, because
chapter 11 is approximately the middle of the Book of Revelation. How much
easier things would have been for them, had the Holy Ghost decided to inspire
the words, "When The Last Trumpet sounded" instead of,
"the seventh angel sounded". But even if this had been
so, it still would not have accounted for the resurrection of the two witnesses,
which takes place BEFORE the seventh angel sounded. I make no claim to
understand exactly what is finally signified in these verses; but I can
and will assert that NO RESURRECTIONS are mentioned as occurring during,
or after the sounding of the seventh angel until The End
of The World (Rev.20:11-13); that there are NO RESURRECTIONS other than
that of the two witnesses mentioned in this chapter; and that they
are consistently referred to as individuals, NOT as corporate entities
(Zechariah 4:3,14). |
| Those who wish to convince us that the First (or only) Resurrection
takes place near, or at the end of The Tribulation, find their last
trumpet in Matthew 24:29-31. |
| There are many, who in their need to disagree, will assert that the
distinctions and differences between these Bible passages that I have brought
to your attention are mere "quibbles": but in doing so, they
also suggest that "inspiration" was not PRECISE, but rather vague
and approximate. Since the Apostle Paul thought it justified to support
his analysis of a major prophecy on a "quibble" over whether
or not ONE WORD of a text that was written almost 1500 years before his
time was plural or singular (Gal.3:16), I am not taking unjustified license
to make much ado about the many and distinct differences that I have brought
to your attention. |
| Since the phrase, "last trumpet", does NOT occur anywhere
in the Bible except in 1 Cor.15:52; and since none of the other mentions
of trumpets except 1 Thess.4:16 describe or refer to any resurrections;
I am not violating any of the rules of context, type, or definition when
I assert that NONE OF THESE other mentions of trumpets have to be the
last trumpet of 1 Cor.15:52. Whatever and whenever the last trumpet
is going to be, it will announce the Lord Himself descending
from heaven.....when we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up.....in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. It does NOT announce the dispatch
of angels to gather together His elect. |
| Now I know, and I admit, that I have not been able to prove to you beyond
every faint shadow of doubt that the last trumpet is not sounding
in either Revelation 11:15 or Matthew 24:31. But I can, with confidence,
assert this: the totality of the evidence requires and supports a Pre-Tribulation
Rapture; and you will have reviewed much of this evidence by the time you
finish reading THE LAST TRUMPET. I have read many arguments in defense
of the opposing views, and I admit that their arguments, when presented
in isolation from the rest of the evidence, seem to be conclusive. BUT,
I have yet to hear or read any honest and scholarly attempt at presenting
a Mid or Post Tribulation Rapture that does not simply IGNORE or DISTORT
the plain language that can be offered in support of a Pre-Tribulation
Rapture. I find it to be most curious and noteworthy, that even though
a mountain of scholarly evidence can and has been supplied to support a
Pre-Tribulation Rapture: those who are disposed to reject this doctrine
will account the faintest hint of weakness in the evidence I have presented
you with as the sure proof that they are right: even though, their "faint
hint" does not answer to the rest of the evidence, which they then
discount as simply inscrutable. |
| The Doctrine of The Rapture has The 1st Resurrection taking place
some days, months, or years BEFORE Jesus returns personally and physically
to the earth. All arguments about WHEN The Rapture happens are really about
how much, if any, of The Great Tribulation that faithful Christians must
endure. There is nothing in the way of any universal agreement about when
The Rapture happens, or even if there is a Rapture, among the plus-one
billion professing Christians in the world. The Bible does not contain
even one PLAIN, CLEAR, and UNAMBIGUOUS declaration that The 1st Resurrection
happens BEFORE The 2nd Coming. The Rapture, as an official doctrine
being presented and defended publicly, does not appear historically before
the 1800's. The Biblical evidence for The Rapture is all "between
the lines"; it is implied, or necessitated by the aggregate of the
evidence. |
| For example, when the Holy Ghost says through Paul that Hymenaeus
and Philetus have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already
(2 Tim.2:17-18), you may then ask yourself just "what resurrection"
they are referring to? The fact that Christ has not yet come is NOT offered
as a proof that the resurrection could not have happened yet. THIS
SUGGESTS A PRE-SECOND COMING RESURRECTION. |
| Hymenaeus and Philetus could not possibly be referring to The
End of The World and The Last Judgement, for that only happens after
the earth and the heaven have fled away; and there is found no place
for them (Rev. 20:11). Any attempt to explain HOW the earth and
the heaven have ALREADY fled away, in order to assert that the
resurrection is past already, is so patently ridiculous that it could never
overthrow the faith of ANYBODY. |
| Neither is it said here that the resurrection could not have
taken place YET because The Great Tribulation has not begun. If we have
to endure ANY of The Great Tribulation, why didn't Paul introduce this
as evidence that the resurrection COULD NOT be past already? |
| And then there are some who say that the first resurrection is
a symbolic reference to being born again (John 3:16): but nothing
could be more ridiculous than to suggest that telling someone that they
are born again ALREADY would overthrow their faith. |
| It is simply said that they overthrow the faith of some. So let
me ask you: Wouldn't you feel like your faith was overthrown if
someone convinced you that The Rapture had already happened and you were
left behind? If Hymenaeus and Philetus are NOT talking about a PRE-Tribulation
Rapture, what in the world WERE they talking about? |
| If The 1st Resurrection does not happen BEFORE Christ actually
sets His feet upon the earth again (Acts 1:9-12, Zech.14:4), why is it
said that we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR (1 Thess.
4:17)? It doesn't say that we will meet the Lord on the earth, but in
the air. What could be the reason for our meeting the Lord
in the air, except to escape (Luke 21:36) The Great Tribulation? |
| Now I know that I have not dealt with every quibble that anyone can
raise, nor have I attempted to explain every single mention of either The
1st Resurrection or The 2nd Coming, and neither have I rehearsed
before you all the classic arguments that can be brought to prove that
there is a Rapture, and that it happens BEFORE The Great Tribulation. There
is no point in my repeating all the same arguments that have been so well
presented by so many before me; if they couldn't convince you, I won't
be able to either, for I really do not have anything to add to their evidence.
I just wanted to make sure you understood what the issues and consequences
are. |
| After describing a world descending into pandemonium, Our Lord Jesus
Christ made this statement to provide hope and encouragement for those
of us who would find ourselves living at The End Of This Age. Matthew 24,
Luke 21, and Mark 13, contain different accounts of the same address, in
which Our Lord answers this question: What shall be the sign of Thy
coming, and of the end of the age? (Matt. 24:3) |
| Among the many signs we are told to look for, are descriptions of the
general moral and social conditions of mankind. The picture Our Lord paints
of these Last Days (2 Tim.3:1) is a strange mixture of POLITICAL
TURMOIL (Mark 13:7-8), NATURAL DISASTERS (Matt.24:7), PRIVATE FEARS (Luke
21:26), and.....APATHY (Matt.24:37-39). While all these world shaking events
are taking place, the people will be pretending that they are NOT WORRIED
and attempting to go about the business of their lives as if there really
was a future for them. Almost 2000 years have passed since Our Lord ascended
into heaven. Life, and the continuing story of the human race, have not
been interrupted. The RAT RACE for privilege, comfort, and power goes on
as it always has, even though there have been a few moments in which everyone
held their breath, and waited to see if the world was going to end. The
Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was one of those moments: that NUCLEAR WAR
that has hung over humanity like a GREAT FIERY GUILLOTINE for the last
50 years seemed imminent. This too, passed. In this last century, there
have been so many SOBER PRONOUNCEMENTS that "the end is near",
that we are no longer able to take any of these WARNINGS seriously. The
cry of, "Peace and safety" (1 Thess.5:3), that attended
the recent collapse of the Soviet Union, has now been replaced by the foreboding
potential for a European Civil War. Who can ignore the FACT that World
War 1 started in Sarajevo, the capital of modern Bosnia; and that the ancient
conflict between the Bosnians, the Serbs, and the Croats, is undiminished.
Everyone WANTS to IGNORE the fact that the "Bosnian problem"
is really a religious war between the Catholics, and the Orthodox, and
the Mohammedans. Meanwhile, the struggling nations of the old Soviet Empire
STILL have 30,000 nuclear bombs, and the "gang of thugs" that
made up the Old Soviet Bureaucracy are not likely to allow themselves to
be dragged into the street and lynched by an angry mob of citizens. Some
of the States that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Empire are populated
and controlled by Mohammedans, who now have under their control all the
nuclear missiles that were formerly under Russian control. Just a few hundred
miles away from these newly emerged Mohammedan Nuclear States, are Iran,
Syria, and Iraq: all Mohammedan States, that have openly declared their
utter hostility to the Jews and the Christian West. And now, we hear that
North Korea and Iran may have some atomic bombs, too: and once again, we
are forced to consider the prospect of a nuclear war. Jesus spoke of
wars, and rumours of wars (Matt.24:6), and we certainly have both:
for while we were wondering about what might happen in Eastern Europe,
half a million people were recently slaughtered in Africa, in less than
a month. There are millions of people on the verge of dying from famine,
disease, and the instruments of war even now, while you are reading this.
All these WORLD SHAKING EVENTS are taking place right in front of us, as
we sit in our living rooms watching television and munching on snacks.
The confusion of entertainment and news on television has made them both
into entertainment. After the evening news, we have pleasant conversations
about the fates of empires and the powers of kings while we eat our dinner,
and later we may be planning our vacations or examining our coin collection.
We do not deny that the worst COULD actually happen; we know, that IF it
doesn't happen, we still have to mow the lawn and pay the bills. So, we
say: "If it comes, it comes". |
| We have become emotionally immune to world events. |
| At the same time, Modern Science is daily telling us that NEARLY EVERYTHING
we eat, drink, breathe, or stand on, IS POISONING US. We are "privileged"
to have the facts about disease; that 1 in 5 of us is going to get cancer,
and 1 in 4 of us is going to have heart trouble; and then, there is this
AIDS thing, the Black Death of the 20th century. We are also told that
1 in 6 of us is going to be the victim of a violent crime. We know all
this, but because these things might not happen to us immediately, we go
about our lives AS IF none of them will happen at all. We all know that
"someday" we will die, but have lost all interest in WHY we will
die, and what happens WHEN and AFTER we die. Neither is there ANY recognition
that THE END OF THE WORLD and DEATH are for all practical purposes, the
SAME THING for every individual. This World ends for you when you die.
The human race has FALLEN ASLEEP, and only that person who is rudely interrupted
by personal tragedy ever wakes up from the DREAM WORLD long enough to wonder
about WHY things are the way they are. SCIENCE is the treacherous, merciless,
lifeless, idol-god of the DREAM WORLD; whose only laws are the impersonal,
mechanical, and immutable laws of matter. The "religion" of modern
man has become the study of SCIENCE, by which we hope to scramble out from
beneath the trampling feet of this blind and impartial god. No appeal can
be made to SCIENCE for "a little mercy", and so prayer is a vanity;
or at best; an exercise in self hypnosis. Only when we are squarely faced
with our own destruction, and all further attempts to obey the laws of
"our god SCIENCE" seem to be fruitless, do we begin to hope for
intervention by that other "God", the God of our Sunday morning
fantasies: the God of the Bible, Who CAN ignore and overrule the laws of
SCIENCE. But usually, we only know the God of miracles as a legend; and
we don't really believe in Him; and so we are left to the mercies of "our
god SCIENCE", in whom we have trusted all of our lives, and whom we
are likely to credit with our deliverance anyway. The only other idea that
has ever interrupted our methodical plodding through life has been the
possibility of a coming PARADISE on earth. There have been a couple of
moments in history when men thought that some new idea about the principles
of social and political organization would usher in a "Golden Age"
of peace and progress. Thus was the "Communist Dream" of 1917,
and we all know how that ended up. A lot of history has gone by: the world
hasn't ended, and paradise has not come. Neither the END OF THE WORLD,
nor the POSSIBILITY OF PARADISE, have any real influence on how most of
us plan, and conduct, our lives in this world. We are tired of hearing
both WARNINGS and PROMISES; we are bored with the former, and we disbelieve
the latter. The graveyard and the television daily testify to our mortality,
so we do not arrogantly presume about tomorrow; BUT, tomorrow may very
well get here, so we plod on, driven by necessity and the fear of premature
loss. Thus is LIFE. . . .in the 1990s. |
| Religious belief has been the source of many of our expectations for
both DOOM and PARADISE. The ancient Jews looked for the establishment of
a KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH, in which they would be the "chief of the
nations". When Our Lord reached the height of His popularity during
His earthly sojourn, most of the people who proclaimed Him as Messiah expected
Him to establish that KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH they were waiting for. The
execution of their "Messiah" and the soon destruction of the
city of Jerusalem; with the consequent dispersion of the Jews throughout
the world, put an end to this expectation. Hope for a KINGDOM OF GOD ON
EARTH was then taken up by the early Christians, who expected it to be
established at the RETURN of Jesus Christ. Among Christians, this KINGDOM
OF GOD ON EARTH came to be called The Millennium, in which they expected
a thousand years of earthly paradise under the gracious reign of Jesus
Christ. The evidence for this Millennium can be found in the Bible (Rev.
20:3), and in other Christian writings of the 1st century (Epistle of Barnabus
13:3-6). |
| However, since Our Lord warned us that many would come
in His name, and saying, THE TIME DRAWETH NEAR, we are well advised
to be careful lest we be deceived. Jesus says, Go ye not therefore
after them. But this is not me. If I could have my way, you would never
know the name of the author of this book; and if I cannot avoid that, than
I REFUSE to play the leader for any sympathetic schism that arises for
my defense. God can, and will, find someone else to do that. It will never
be said (truthfully) that I was trying to draw men after me, so as to become
"The Pope" of some new denomination. Jesus also said, When
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, for your redemption draweth
nigh (Luke 21:28). By such words, Our Lord presumes that someone will
know that the time draweth near. |
| Belief that the RETURN of Jesus Christ would begin a Millennial Paradise
on Earth to last a thousand years was forgotten by the year 1000 A.D. During
this 1000 years, that little flock (Luke 12:32) of believers that
followed Jesus had metamorphosed into a giant, rich, and sophisticated
kingdom called The Holy Roman Empire; in which the Church, the State, and
all the Citizens were regarded as The Kingdom of God on Earth. About 950
A.D., someone decided that the thousand years of Rev.20:3 described
the growth and dominion of the Holy Roman Empire, and the hope of a Millennium
of Paradise under Jesus Christ was completely replaced with the expectation
of the END OF THE WORLD. Theological focus was now on the destruction of
the physical universe as described in 2 Peter 3:10-13, and everyone got
ready for THE END OF THE WORLD and JUDGEMENT DAY. MULTITUDES of people
gave away everything they owned; they entered convents and monasteries;
they waited on hill tops. NOTHING HAPPENED. January 1st, in the year 1001,
the sun rose again; and when it rose, it rose on a Catholic Church that
now owned the properties and fortunes of all those that had given up their
possessions. You see, they thought they were buying a little time off of
PURGATORY by giving everything to the Church. This event may have been
the cleverest financial ruse in all of history, for if the people of the
Holy Roman Empire had thought of a continuing earth, they may have KEPT
THEIR STUFF. |
| Since THE GREAT HOAX of the year 1000, there have been many predictions
made by so called prophets about the end of the world. Even in the 1970s,
one such "prophet" (a man that I personally met), managed to
get several hundred people to "sell all" and spend a very long
night standing on top of a hill in North Carolina. We have all heard so
many stories like this, that we hold those who believe in such things in
derision. As I said, we are BORED with all the warnings, and we DON'T BELIEVE
the promises any more. What we do expect, is for things to just drag along
like they always have until we die, unless, "our god SCIENCE"
decides to destroy the earth with a comet or some other natural disaster,
and we still hope that we can avoid The Nuclear Nightmare. NEVERTHELESS,
if the Bible be TRUE; Jesus Christ will RETURN to the earth someday, and,
THERE WILL BE A MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF GOD UPON THE EARTH, or, Our Lord
would never have said: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth (Matt. 5:5). And while many of the "signs of the times"
may escape the notice of the "average, moderately religious citizen",
SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED just recently, that almost every active professing
Christian in the world knew about. This event, I hold to be the most significant
thing to happen in the history of Christianity since the Reformation. That
EVENT, was. . . . . . . |
