Conference: 1993 Pre-Trib Study Group
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Aswe approach the end of the age a brutal war against Bible prophecy is beingwaged on all fronts. We expected this. The New Testament warned of an onslaughtagainst the message of our Lord's return: "There shall come in the lastdays scoffers, walking after their own lusts [desires], saying, Where is thepromise of his coming?" Peter speaks of humanity's willful ignorance ofthe Lord's Second Coming![1]The end time war is directed both against the message and the messenger ofBible prophecy.
FRONTAL ASSAULT
Firstof all there is a fierce frontal assault mounted by powerful enemies who takeus far more seriously than do some of our own Evangelical allies in theeschatalogical wars.
Whois leading this brutal attack against the prophetic Word of God? First of allthere are the atheists, New Agers, and secular humanists and liberal Christiantheologians. They correctly perceive that the prophetic message is a threat totheir goals and philosophies, and they will never cease to attack us. The Biblewarns that the world will hate us.[2]
Thenames of our Bible prophecy teachers are maligned in the pages of bothmodernist Christian and secular books and periodicals. We are viewed as thescum of the intellectual pond. Our views are ridiculed and we are described asbeing promoters of doomsday. We are thought to be not only deluded, butdangerous. We are the scourge of all mankind. One of their slanderousaccusations is that if there ever is a final war of annihilation it will belaid to our charge because we have warned of the Armageddon battle.
GraceHalsel wrote a book that makes a broadside attack against Evangelicals who preach on Bibleprophecy and who relate to Israel. Prophecy and Politics - Militant Evangelists onthe Road to Nuclear War[3]takes a shot at almost every prdminent Evangelical who teaches on Bibleprophecy, from Billy Graham to Hal Lindsey, W. A. Criswell, Pat Robertson,Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Richard De Haan, Chuck Smith, Douglas Krieger,John Walvoord, David A. Lewis, Jerry Faiwell, Tim Le Haye, Richard Heliman,Hilton Sutton, and many more. Halsel's premise is that Evangelicals promote aclimate in which a final war of destruction could take place.
Inone issue of Time Magazine in an article by Charles Krauthammer, the followingdenigrating words were found:
"DavidKoresh and his apocalyptic religious cult weird religious cults Ateret Hacohanim, a group of[Orthodox Jewish] believers so convinced of the imminence of the Messiah whowill rebuild the Temple religious primitivism religious nuts [giving] endless primetime to crooked, hypocritical and otherwise deformed religiosity, the Wacowackos are getting more coverage in a week than religion does in a year ....loony speculations about the end of the world .... Bible-thumping psychopaths.....[4]
Itmay be of interest to note that Krauthammer, while inveighing against religiousapocalyptists, equally attacked secular doomsayers.
HenryLincoln, Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent promote a bizarre theory that Jesussurvived the cross and married Mary Magdalene. He fathered several childrenwith Mary. After the natural death of Jesus, Mary took some of their childrenand went, along with some of the original Apostles, to the area of the worldnow known as France. Allegedly records have been kept for twenty centuriestracking the blood descendants of Jesus. These descendants, genetic bearers ofthe holy grail, the "Sang Raal," form a secretive organization calledthe Prieur'e de Sion, and believe that their leader Pierre Plantard de Saint Clairor his successor will preside over a new Roman Empire by the end of thisdecade. Around the year 2000 this will be extended to a global hegemony. Topromote this concept the three authors have written two books. The first isHoly Blood, Holy Grail.[5]The sequel, The Messianic Legacy,[6]attacks Evangelical eschatologists, saying that the authors would rather see ahuman Messiah such as the Priure de Sion could produce than a Christ fromheaven who would preside over Armageddon. See my book Prophecy 2000, chapter 5.
NewAge thinkers teach the second coming of a "Christ," variouslyidentified as the Lord Maitreya, the Avitar or as one of the great ascendedmasters of the hierarchy of the universe. From Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Armageddon Script of the New Christ. Seemy Smashing the Gates of Hell in the Last Days.[12]
Whilewe are concerned with these frontal assaults we must realize that this is notour principle concern. FRIENDS OF THE MESSAGE
Inthe final analysis the worst enemy of the prophetic word may turn out to bethose who are enthusiastic friends of the message. While these allies love themessage, they frequently venture into fantasy and fanaticism which robs Bibleprophecy of its true nobility and purpose.
Irresponsibleconjectures, date setting the rapture, escapism, an unhealthy doom mentality,identifying the Antichrist, fables, sheer speculation and failed predictionsare specters that rise up to haunt us. Unfortunately, our critics claim thatthis kind of fanaticism is characteristic of all Bible prophecy. Nothing couldbe further from the truth.
Howcan one read the Book of Revelation and see more devil than God, moreAntichrist than Jesus Christ? This is a total misappropriation of its truemessage. The Apocalypse is one grand, unified declaration of the ultimatevictory of Jesus Christ over all the powers of darkness! Prophecy is a victorymessage, a message of hope, faith, blessing, and motivation. It is a call toaction, not to escapism. Our God is greater than Satan and all of his minions.
Weneed to council our followers "When you want a doomsday message watch theTV evening news or read your daily newspaper. They specialize The ancient Midianites were asource of trouble to the Israelites alternately warring against them and thentempting them to compromise with the pagan culture around them Similarly wehave our problems with the modern Media-ites.
Whenyou want a message of hope, turn to your Bible where we discover that we are"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the greatGod and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"[13] FORSAKERS OF THE MESSAGE A GREAT DANGER
Itcould be argued that the people who render the most damage to the end-timemessage are those who profess to believe it, but choose to ignore it. They saythat the message is too controversial. It has suffered too many abuses. It istoo complicated. There are differences of opinion. It is divisive. So the fieldis abandoned to others, only too eager to take advantage of our shortcomings.
Onthe other hand, the doctrine of salvation is controversial. Every doctrine isabused. The gospel itself is both simple and complicated. There are differencesof opinion on everything the Bible teaches. Truth is always divisive inasmuchas some receive and others reject it.
Apastor told me, "I am too busy to study and preach on prophecy."Having been a pastor I can sympathize with this problem. But the difficultymust be overcome. Pastor, no one expects you to be an eschatological expert.Preach simple, powerful biblical messages on the end-times. Don't concernyourself with fantasies, date setting, or naming the Antichrist. Stick to thebasics. Any of us who specialize in prophecy stand ready to help you withrecommendations for basic textbooks and other helps We need to develop moreoutlines and tapes that we can pass around among ourselves. It is true thatnature abhors a vacuum. Ignore prophecy and undesirable ideas will flow with ahellish energy into the minds of our people. Cults and theological deviantswill have a hey day.
Thelate Dr. James Brown did not make prophecy his primary emphasis in hisministry. His career has been that of a seminary educator and pastor. Whenspeaking to a group of clergy in the Indiana District of the Assemblies of God,Dr. Brown made the following startling statement: "The greatest dangerfacing the Assemblies of God is the abandonment of the preaching ofeschatology.""[14] What do youthink? Setting the Date for Christ's ReturnCatastrophe of the 1990's
BarneyFuller, in his recently published book, Nations Without God, explains thatJesus was born in September of 5 BC. He calculates that the actual year 2000concludes on September, 14, 1996 on the first day of the Jewish New Year, RoshHashanah. He writes, "It is theauthor's belief that the seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy will begin at that time andwill conclude seven years later on the same Jewish new year in AD. 2OO3."
Fromthe time of the early church until now there have been hundreds, if notthousands, of date-setting or date-suggesting or date-hinting schemes. All datesetting schemes historically have proven to be false prophecies. warned would be amongus.[17]
Myprimary text in relation to dating the rapture, the one most date settersavoid, is found in Mark's Gospel where Jesus words are recorded; "But ofthat day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are inheaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for yeknow not when the time is."[18]A year is time, a month is time, a week is time, a day is time and "YEKNOW NOT WHEN THE TIME IS."
Inspite of this, Cohn Deal's book is titled, The Day and Hour Jesus will Return. Deal offers a multiplechoice on the year of the rapture, suggesting several possible year dates, but he isquite sure the rapture will take place at 6 PM Jerusalem time.
Jesuscould come today! Otherwise we would only have to be watchful on Rosh Hashanah.Date-setting destroys the idea of the possible imminent return of Jesus. It isthe unfaithful servant who says, "My Lord delayeth His coming."
Alldate-setting and date-suggesting ideas have been wrong. This is not a new thingin the Church. It is an ancient, sick error that has always proven to bedestructive. It has been recycled over and over with the same negative results.
InAD 999, as the end of the first millennium AD approached, a French monk namedMarkulf sounded a warning: "Mundi terminum ruinis crescentibusappropinquantem indicia certa manifestant"-- "Clear signs announcethe end of the world; the ruinsmultiply."[21]
RichardErdoes does not pose as a friend of our cause as he writes his book A D 1000 -Living on theBrink of Apocalypse. However his survey of the spiritual climate that prevailedas the world neared the end of that past Millennium is particularly valuablefor our consideration as we approach AD 2000. Erdoes observes:
"Somewere certain that the Second Coming of Christ would fall on the last day of theyear 999, at the very stroke of midnight. Others were equally convinced thatArmageddon would happen a little earlier, on the eve of the nativity when 'theChildren of Light would join in battle with Gouge's army of hellish fiends.'Some fixed the date on the day of the summer or winter solstice in thethousandth year after our Lord's passion.
"InFrance and Lorraine wise men scoffed at the idea. They had it on good authoritythat the end would come when the Feast of the Annunciation fell on a GoodFriday 'when darkness will cover the earth and the stars fell upon it.' Thoughpeople quarreled about the exact day and hour, they all agreed, in the words ofRaoul Glaber, that 'Satan will soon be unleashed because the thousand yearshave been completed ....
"Manyexpected the Last Judgment to be held at Jerusalem, and, throughout the year999, the number of pilgrims converging upon the Holy City were compared to animmense, desolating army. Often these pious wayfarers had sold their worldlypossessions to finance their pilgrimage ...."
"In968, the men of Emperor Otto I, marching against the Saracens of Calabria,panicked when an eclipse darkened the sky. They dove head first into empty winebarrels and supply chests or crawled underneath their carts. 'Fanatic preacherskept up the flame of terror. Every shooting star furnished occasion for asermon, in which the sublimity of the approaching Judgment was the principaltopic."[22]
Itis little wonder that the church ignored the message of Bible Prophecy forhundreds of years after the AD 1000 debacle. The same old dating game is beingplayed out today, but in this day of global communication the results will beeven more devastating. Perhaps governments will legally ban the preaching ofPre Millenarian prophecy. I sincerely believe that the abuse of prophecy is oneof, if not the most serious theological problems facing the church today.
Thismadness must be refuted and hopefully stopped now, or all credibility inprophecy will be dead. No one will listen any more to the true, noble, andreliable message of Biblical prophecy. THE DATING GAME
Wefirmly believe Jesus is coming back. Over 300 Bible prophecies pointed to thefirst coming of Jesus. They were all fulfilled. The New Testament has 257references to the future, literal return of Jesus to this planet. These too,will be fulfilled!
Noone can destroy the plan of God, but a lot is being done to erode people'sconfidence in Bible prophecy. In fact, more damage is done to the credibilityof the message by the Bible's friends than by its enemies!
Let'stake a brief look at the checkered history of the bewildering world of thedate-setters.
Augustinesuggested that the world would probably end in AD. 1000. From about 950 to1000, wealthy landowners all over Europe were encouraged to deed their holdingsto the church in exchange for pardon for their sins.
Earlyin the last century, Dr. R. C. Shimeall wrote a book predicting that theMillennium would come in 1868. In that same century, a converted Jew, JosephWorif, began prophesying that Jesus would come to the Mount of Olives in 1847.Lady Hester Stanhope converted to his doctrine, moved to Palestine, andestablished residence on the Mount of Olives. She kept two beautiful whiteArabian horses in stables there. One was for Jesus to ride through the GoldenGate. Presumably, the other was for her to accompany Him.
In1918, H. C. Williams wrote a volume entitled The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Init he said, "AD. 1914 is the time limit set in the Scriptures for theconcurrence of the war: that the war broke out and continues in all details asdescribed, by the prophets is a complete fulfillment of the propheticrecord."
Inthe same book, Williams predicted that 1934 would mark the downfall of theGentile nations, and in 1972, the Millennium would begin.
In1975, a widely circulated book by Dr. Charles R. Taylor, Get All Excited, Jesus is Coming Soon,proclaimed that probably the Rapture would take place on September 5 or 6,1975.
Followingthe interpretations of Dr. Taylor, others began to preach the September 1975date. One pastor even borrowed large sums of money, which he had no way ofpaying back, to invest in missions. In a tape recorded sermon, he explainedthat he had nothing to worry about since Jesus was sure to come back onSeptember 5, 1975.
Thisis the stuff that spiritual tragedies are made of, for on September 7 thebubble burst. Only eternity will reveal the tragedies created by those playingthe dating game.
Date-settersclaiming Biblical authority can potentially play havoc with the credibility ofthe Second Coming concept in the minds of millions. When people aredisappointed with date-setting failures, they are tempted to "throw outthe baby with the bath water." The downfall is not being able todistinguish between the valid message of Christ's coming and the perversion ofit as perpetrated by misguided teachers, opportunists, and the deluded.
Date-settingis not just an historic phenomenon. Not long ago, numerous books andperiodicals were predicting that the Rapture must take place in 1988. This wasbased on an interpretation of Jesus' words in Matthew 24:34: "Verily, Isay unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things befulfilled."
Theysay a generation is forty years. Israel (the fig tree referred to in Matthew24:32) became a nation in 1948. Therefore it can be calculated 1948 + 40 =1988.Eureka! The rapture must take place in 1988. One popular book listed 88 reasonswhy, another book offered 100 reasons for the 1988 date.
Thereare several flaws in this superficial reasoning.
First,the generation concept is not that firmly fixed in Scripture. I am not surethat Exodus with the forty-year generation, or the Book of Job with thethirty-five- year generation, or the statement that the days of man are"three score and ten' indicating a seventy-year generation are to be takenas precisely describing a generation. The word generation is a general designation,not a technical term. The date-setters choose whichever one fits their scheme.
Secondly,why select 1948 for the year when the "fig tree," Israel, began toput forth its leaves? The text does not say when Israel becomes a nation.Perhaps the fig tree began to put forth leaves at the time of the first aliyah(return) of the Jews in the late 1800's? Why not the founding of modern Zionismby Theodore Herzl in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897? Why not the founding of TelAviv, the first all-Jewish city in modern times, established in 1909? All thesepoints of time were pointed out by prophecy teachers as the beginning of thefinal generation.
Manybelieved that 1917 would be a likely year due to two major events: GeneralAllenby's liberation of Jerusalem and Arthur James Balfour's famous November 2,1917 Declaration that, "His Majesty's government view with favor theestablishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and willuse their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of the object ..."
TheIsraeli capture of old Jerusalem in 1967 is considered by a number of authorsas a possible beginning point for the last generation of this age.
Maywe suggest that it was not our Lord's intention in this passage to provide ameans of fixing the time of His return since He immediately says that would bean impossibility.[24]
Thirdly,the Greek word translated "generation" is "genea" and doesnot necessarily mean aliteral generation. W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words givesone possible translation of genea as "a race of people."
Manyscholars agree on that translation. If that is correct, then Jesus is simplydeclaring the indestructibility of the Jewish people. This may fit the contextbest. I believe the coming ofJesus is potentially imminent. He could come back today, but He may not.
Ihave believed in the return of Christ since I was ten years old. If you hadasked me then if I thought I would grow to be a man of sixty three years ofage, I would have said that it was not likely. After all, Jesus is coming soon.
Iam still anticipating His coming. I will continue to proclaim His coming asimminent. But soon? I am not sure how you define that word soon, and the closerone gets to defining the word, the closer one is to being a date-setter.
Itis better to live as if Jesus were coming today and yet prepare for the futureas if He were not coming for a long time. Then you are ready for time andeternity.
Afriend once asked the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody, "Mr. Moody, if youknew Jesus was coming back at six o'clock this evening, what would you dotoday?" I am sure the questioner was surprised at Moody's answer for hesaid, "If I knew Jesus was coming back this evening at six o'clock, thisafternoon I would plant apple trees." That is a beautiful answer. PerhapsMoody borrowed the illustration from Luther. I do not know.
Ifyou knew Jesus was coming back tonight, what would you do today? If there issomething you would feel compelled to rush out and do, then you had better doit now, for Jesus might come back tonight! On the other hand, if you are dailyliving your life in His will, then you would not have to change one thing youare planning to do!
Goddesigned His revelation to us so that we are always living on the edge ofeternity, and yet always planning for our future here. Suppose He had revealedthe very date of the rapture of the Church 1,900 years ago? I wonder if theChurch would even be in existence now. It is good to live in anticipation, butalso to realize that we do not know when the trumpet will sound. Go ahead andmake your five year and twenty- five year plans. If the Lord comes before youcomplete your venture, so be it. We won't mind the interruption in the least!
Themoment you set a date for the coming, you upset this "divinebalance," creating havoc and distrust in the body of Christ. Date-settingis a sin and should be denounced from every pulpit!
Iappeal to our educators and pastors; if you ignore the subject of prophecy oraccept some of the modern reinterpretations of prophecy, you have solvednothing. Only by diligent study of and declaration of the Word of God in thisrealm will you bring real hope and good works with stability to your students.Ignore prophecy, and the fanatics and distorters will have a field day. Natureabhors a vacuum. If you create a spiritual vacuum by ignoring the propheticWord, false teachers will supply something to fill that void.
Jesussaid, "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of mancometh. Who then is that faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath maderuler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed [happy] isthat servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."
Weare not undertaking a mere intellectual exercise here. This dating game isdangerous.
In1832 William Miller first preached, "And so, brethren, it has beenrevealed to me that the world is coming to an end. Repent, repent, I say, foryou have but eleven years to be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Inmighty fire and terror the world will end in 1843."
As1843 approached, anticipation turned into a kind of madness. People abandonedhomes, farms, material possessions, and even children to gather in homes,praying as they waited for the last trump.
InWestford, Massachusetts, about five hundred people gathered wearing white robesto wait for the Coming. When the midnight hour of December 31, 1842, arrived,an old town drunk, known as Crazy Amos, blew a trumpet outside the fine oldmansion where the people were gathered. Pandemonium broke loose, and severalwere seriously injured in the stampede. Outside, they found not Jesus, but ableary- eyed, laughing old drunkard.
Historiansrecord a darker side of the debacle. Following disappointment upondisappointment and a continual readjusting of the dates, some lost their minds.The asylum at Worcester, Massachusetts, became so overcrowded that a large hailhad to be appropriated to house the deranged.
InNew Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Maine, and parts of Pennsylvania, the lunacyrate is said to have increased three hundred percent in 1843-1844 as a resultof the date-setting.
Peoplewho were usually rational went everywhere in flowing white robes, ready forascension. Suicides became common in the face of disappointment.
Whenit was all over, the disillusioned faithful went back to try to pick up thepieces of the lives they had abandoned. Some become atheists. In late September1988 a man wrote to me asking to be removed from our mailing list, even thoughwe had refuted the Whisenant error well in advance of Sept. 11. Our formerreader said that he was so disappointed he wanted nothing more to do withprophecy.
Moderndate-setters are getting ready to rerun a tragedy of that magnitude, or worse.As world crises mount, people will find the date setters' schemes alluring as apsychological escapism.
Abook publisher once told me, "If you want to write a best seller in thefield of prophecy, name the Antichrist and set a date." There is somethingsinister behind that suggestion!
Newsweekfor September 16, 1974, carried an article entitled, "The DoomsdayEffect." It said that in 1982, all nine planets or our solar system willbe in conjunction- that is in a straight line in relation to the sun and all onone side of the sun. The combined gravitational pull may cause great storms onthe sun. These storms could alter wind directions on earth, and this in turncould slow the speed of earth's rotation and trigger the worst earthquakes theworld has ever known. I wrote several articles refuting the idea. I commentedon it over national TV and on our monthly cassette service, the Audio ProphecyDigest.
Anumber of Bible teachers had used this conjunction as a basis for suggestingthat the world would be in the Tribulation by 1982, but we could not accept it.Our conservative approach turned out to be right.
Aperiodical out of Florida calculated that the Rapture would take place soon andthat the Millennium would begin by 1979.
In1992 Harold Camping sent out a message in books, papers and by his Family Radioworldwide outreach. The message was that the day of grace would end onSeptember 6, 1994 and later in the month Jesus would return and preside overthe end of the world. I joined with Robert Sungenis and Scott Temple in writinga refutation of the Camping error.[27]
Twothousand! It has an almost magical appeal! I recently heard a minister declare:"A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day with the Lord.There were seven days of creation. It has now been six 'days' or six thousandyears from creation (or will be about A. D. 2000, according to Usher'schronology). That leaves one day of a thousand years, the Millennium, so theend has to come by the year 2000."
Letus consider a possibility. If Jesus does not come before the year 2000, thedate setters will have a heyday as 2000 approaches. It will be like a fever.The epidemic has already started. It will sell pamphlets and books by themillions, but if Jesus does not come back by the end of 2000, it is hard toimagine any credibility being left for the Bible prophecy message, unless webegin a strong program right now to offset the heresy of date setting.
Ignoringit will not make it go away. Only by preaching the true and dignified messageof the Lord's return and by strongly denouncing date setting can we hope tomaintain confidence in the Bible message of Jesus' return.
Pastors,evangelists, and teachers, please do not ignore the prophecy message because itis too complicated, or because it has been abused by fanatics. Preach the Word.Only truth, strongly declared, overcomes terror and error.
In1977 I wrote the following, "I hope Jesus comes back before AD 2000. I amready for Him to come right now, but if we are still here in AD. 2001, theBible prophecy message will be just as valid as it is today. The question is,will anyone be listening?"[28]
Priorto Edgar Whisenant's failed date setting attempt which claimed that the rapturewould take place on either Sept. 11, 12 or 13, 1988 we wrote in July:"Jesus may come back today. He could come back on September 10. He couldcome back on September 14, or any other day, at any time. He definitely will notcome back on September 11, 12, or 13, 1988, 'For in such an hour as ye thinknot, the Son of Man cometh." Be patient. I am totally confident. Are you?Will you let the facts speak for theiselves on September 14, 1988? Will you beso gullible as to wait for the next date-setting scheme? Or will you cast awayyour faith, incapable of discerning truth from error? It is not God, but manthat fails. All date-setting systems fail and disappoint people.
"Ifwe do not effectively speak out now, here are results to watch for from nowuntil Jesus comes: 1. People will ignoreprophecy. Credibility will be lost. 2. Many will abandon thefaith. 3. The New Kingdomistsand Dominionists will use these failures to promote their errors in the Church. 4. The secular worldwill scoff and attack ever more vehemently. 5. The stage will be setfor the New Age false Christ. 6. People could commitsuicide, after dating systems fail, especially in 2000. 7. This and otherfactors may cause the government to step in and make preaching of premillennialprophecy and the Rapture illegal. It can happen here.
Sincemillions of Christians unfortunately, accepted the date-setters' errors Goddefinitely avoided those dates. While many had questions about what I wrote theanswers were apparent on September 14."[29]
ON AUGUST 12, 1988-WE SENT OUT A SERIOUS CALL FOR PRAYER AND FASTING
OnAugust 12, 1988, we sent out a serious call for prayer and fasting. "Weare in a real danger zone. We must be alert. There are many powerful enemiesoutside the Church and some enemy infiltrators, posing as spiritual leaders,inside the Church. The last thing we need is craziness in our own ranks.
"Weknow the date-setters think of themselves as friends of the prophetic message.We do not view them as enemies. We do not question that they are sincerebrothers and sisters in the Lord."
Onthat basis, I appealed: "Please, dear friends, if Jesus has not come bySeptember 14, do not abandon your faith. Please do not commit suicide."This applies to all future date-setting schemes.
"Thinknow of how you can constructively help rehabilitate those who have beendeceived. Date-setters should begin with public repentance and a publicaffirmation that they will never again have anything to do with date-setting(or suggesting). This is the least we expect of them. This is the only way thatany degree of credibility will be maintained.
"Aboveall, don't tell us that your system just needs adjustment. Too many have triedthat trick in the past. When the date fails they say, 'Oh, I made a slightmiscalculation, the correct date is ....'
"DearChristians, we must fast and pray September 11-14. Most urgently, the 14th.This will be a dark day for many sincere people if the Lord has not come.
"Alot of people have quit their jobs to spread this false message. A church inJoplin, Missouri has stopped holding services, so they can go door to door withMr. Whisenant's literature. Many have given away their homes, money, and otherpossessions. They will feel abandoned by the Lord on the 14th. They will feellike utter fools for being so gullible. Some will turn in anger on those whohave misled them.
"Donot condemn these people, but fast and pray for their spiritual preservation.Satan will be attacking them with doubt and guilt as never before. Theperpetrators will be tempted to concoct schemes to get themselves off the hookwith their followers. Some will change the game plan and start writing articlesand books identifying the Antichrist. Many will think it is only a money makingscheme to sell sensational books and take in huge donations. I do not believethis is true in most cases,. I cannot not judge this, it is in God'shands."
Hereare a few contemporary date setting schemes. Some authors are firm on thedate(s), some "probable," some multiple choice. The future dateslisted represent only a small fraction of the schemes now being promoted:
1975 September 6RaptureDr. Charles R. Taylor[30] 1979 Rapture Eldon D.Purvis[31] 1980 April 1 RaptureElijah Two[32] 1980 Rapture Mikkel Dahl 1980 Antichrist Sets upKingdom Emil Gaverluk[34] 1988Sept. 11, Sept. 13Rapture Edgar C. Whisenant[35] 1988 September 12Rapture Rick Henry Hall[36] About 6:pm JerusalemTime 1989 October 1 RaptureJoseph R. Civelli[37] 1992 October RaptureBang-Ik Ha[38] 1992 October 28 RaptureCOC Mission[39] 1994 September SecondComing Harold Camping[40] 1996 September 14 70thWeek Begins. Barney Fuller[41] 1996 Millennium BeginsC. G. Ozanne[42] 1996 November 2 RaptureJames McCutchan[43] 1997 October 16Millennium Begins Joseph R. Civelli[44] 1998 May 31 Rapture I(first rapture) M.J. Agee[45] 1998 November ArmageddonEnds Robert Bartel[46] 2000 Rapture ClarenceLarkin[47] 2000 March RaptureMarvin Byers[48] 2000 October 9Armageddon E. Berkeley Hammond[49] 2000 October 19 RaptureJames McCutchan[50] 2001 Rapture DavidWebber / N.W. Hutchings[51] 2002 October 7 RaptureColen Deal[52] 6:00pm Jerusalem Time 2003 September 27 SecondComing James McCutchan[53] 2007 September 13 SecondComing James McCutchan[54] 2007 September 13Millennium Begins M. J. Agee[55] 2008 April 21 ArmageddonBegins M. J. Agee[56]
A MANIFESTO Against Date Setting
TheScripture clearly says that no man can know the day or hour of the Lord'scoming, and in Mark 13:33 we read, "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for yeknow not when the time is," thus indicating that date-setting serves nogood purpose. And date- setting of the rapture or Second Coming hashistorically always proven to be false prophecy which is damaging to the causeof Christ.
Weare living in the last days and nothing must be allowed to detract from thenobility and power of the message of end-time Bible prophecy.
Thereforewe, the undersigned, hereby respectfully demand that all date-setting anddate-suggesting cease immediately. Let abstinence from this type of speculationprevail until the Lord comes.
Weabsolutely must stop this type of activity or there will be few who will takethe message of prophecy seriously. If Jesus does not return by or during theyear 2000, we envision that by 2001 the message of Bible prophecy will bescorned, attacked, and possibly outlawed by legal means, thus giving the NewAge movement a clear field for the introduction of their occult humanistmessiah.
Thismanifesto has been signed by hundreds of church leaders, denominationalofficers, pastors, evangelists, seminary professors, teachers, etc. If you wantyour name added to the list please write David A. Lewis, P.O. Box 11115,Springfield, MO 65808. [1] 2 Peter 3:1-18.
[2] Matthew 10:22; Matthew 24:9; Luke 6:22; Luke 21:17;John 7:7; John 15:18; John 15:19; John 16:2; John 16:33; John 17:14; Romans8:7; Titus 3:12; James 4:4.
[3] Grace Halsel, Prophecy and Politics, MilitantEvangelists on the Road to Nuclear War (Westport, Connecticut, 1986) p. 200.
[4] Charles Krauthammer, Time Magazine - Apocalypse Withand Without God (New York: Time Inc., Mar. 22, 1993), p. 82.
[5] Henry Lincoln, Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent,Holy Blood, Holy Grail (New York: Delacorte Press, 1982).
[6] Henry Lincoln, Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, TheMessianic Legacy (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1987).
[7] David Allen Lewis, Prophecy 2000 (Green Forest,Arkansas: New Leaf Press, 7 Ed. 1995), p.61-70. [8] Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy, AnAbridgment (Wheaton, IL: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1972). [9] Robert Muller, New Genesis: Shaping a GlobalSpirituality (New York, Doubleday, 1984).
[10] Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation (Novato, CA:Nataraj Publishing, 2 Ed. 1995), p.192-193.
[11] Peter Lemesurier, The Armageddon Script (New York:St. Martins Press, 1981), p. 231.
[12] David Allen Lewis, Smashing the Gates of Hell in theLast Days (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 1987), p.57-68.
[13] Titus 2:11-14.
[14] James Brown, Tape recorded message.
[15] Barney Fuller, Nations Without God. (Lafayette, LA;Huntington House Publishers, 1995), p. 17,18.
[16] I would like to clarify that God has total knowledgeof all dates of future events. He has revealed dates for various past events inIsrael's history. This paper concerns itself only with the timing of therapture. We are aware that after the rapture, people will be able to know theday of the Second Coming, but not before the rapture. After the rapture onecould calculate that 1260 days after a Western leader signs a seven yearcovenant with Israel, the Temple will be abominated. From that day, one couldcount off another 1260 days and know the exact day that Jesus will stand on theMount of Olives in Jerusalem.
[17] 2 Peter 2:1. [18] Mark 13:32,33.
[19] Cohn Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus will Return,(Rutherford College, NC: Cohn Hoyle Deal, 1988). p. 135. Here are a fewexamples: "According to the prophetic Scriptures, the rapture and theappearance of the false Messiah (antichrist), will transpire at or near thesame time period. Interesting enough, an ancient Jewish Rabbi, called RabbiJoshua, taught long ago that Messiah will come to redeem Israel in the month ofTishri (September or October)." p. 126. "For instance, the feastof trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) will occur in 1989 on Saturday, the thirteenth ofSeptember: in 1990 on Thursday, the twentieth of September; in 1991 on Monday,the ninth of September; in 1992 on Monday, the twenty-eighth of September; in1993 on Thursday the What time of day will thisoccur? The Jewish day, unlike our day, starts at sundown (around 6:00 P.M.)andends the following evening at sundown. The first of these trumpetsis blown at the beginning of the day on Rosh Hashanah. This occurs at sunset, approximately6:00 P.M.., Jerusalem time. Some feel this will be the hour, .... "However, thisparticular trumpet is only the first of a series of ninety trumpets to be blownon Rosh Hashanah. The trumpets are blown all during the day of this festival,culminating near the end of the day with the Great Teki ah, just prior to6:00pm the following evening. Since the last trumpet of this series was blownapproximately twenty-four hours later, near the end of the day, I stronglysuspect this will be the one to coincide with, 'For the Lord himself shalldescend from heaven with a shout .... and with the trump of God...' This is theGreat Teki ah!" p.135 [20] Matthew 24:48; Luke 12:45.
[21] Stefan Kanfer, Time Magazine; Millennial Megababble(Time Inc., Jan. 8, 1990) P. 72.
[22] Richard Erdoes, AD 1000 Living on the Brink ofApocalypse (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), p.2,3.
[23] Richard Erdoes, AD 1000 Living on the Brink ofApocalypse (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988), p.2,3.
[24] Matthew. 24:36.
[25] W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of NewTestament Words (Nashville, TN: Royal Publishers, Inc. ND), p. 34, +genos/nation p. 774. Also see Strong's Gr. #1074.
[26] Matthew. 24: 42-46.
[27] Robert Sungenis, Scott Temple and David Allen Lewis,Shock Wave 2000! The Harold Camping 1994 Debacle (Green Forest AR: New LeafPress,1994).
[28] David Allen Lewis, The Pentecostal Evangel, TheDating Game (Springfield, MO : The Assemblies of God, March 20, 1977) p. 6.
[29] David Allen Lewis, Prophecy Intelligence Digest(Springfield MO: David A. Lewis Ministries Inc., 1988), Vol. 6 #3.
[30] Dr. Charles R. Taylor, Get All Excited, Jesus isComing Soon, (Redondo Beach, CA: Today in Bible Prophecy, Inc., 1974), p. 93.
[31] Eldon D. Purvis, A Revelation of God's Plan-FromBible Prophecy (Ft. Lauderdale, FL: New Beginnings, 1974), Vol. 4 #6, p.1.
[32] Elijah Two, The End of Time-The Messiah Comes,(C.M.I. Publications, 1975). p.192.
[33] Mikkel Dahi, The Midnight Cry, (Fulton MO:Shepherdsfield Community Church),p. 23.
[34] Emil Gaverluk, God's Timetable For The Next SevenYears, (Oklahoma City, OK: Southwest Radio Church, 1976), p. 11,20.
[35] Edgar Whisenant, The Rapture Rosh Hashanah 1988 and88 Reasons Why (Little Rock, AR: Edgar C. Whisenant, 1988), p. 11-29.
[36] R. Henry Hall, End Times Newsletter (Las Vegas, NV:Spirit of Prophecy Evangelical Ministries, 1988), Vol. 3 Issue 11, p.3. [37] Joseph R. Civelli, The Messiah's Return (PensacolaFL: Essay by J.R.C., 1987), P. 37.
[38] Bang - 1k Ha, Rapture! In Oct. 1992, Jesus is ComingAgain, Tract
[39] Advertisement USA Today (Arlington, VA: Gannet News,Thursday, October 15, 1992), p. 9A.
[40] Harold Camping, 1994? (New York, NY: Vantage Press,1992).
[41] Barney Fuller, Nations Without God. (Lafayette, LA;Huntington House Publishers, 1995), p. 17,18.
[42] C.G. Ozanne, The First 7000 Years (Jericho, NY:Exposition Press, 1970) p. 160ff.
[43] James McCutchan, Christians Can Know (Houston TX:James McCutchan, 1988), P. 12. McCutchen says there is only one day of eachyear when the rapture can take place. Seven years later on Tishri I (RoshHashanah) the Second Coming takes place. In his work he presents a chart of allpossible dates from 1988 to 2007. We have listed only the dates for 1996-2003and 2000 - 2007.
[44] James McCutchan, Ibid., p. 37.
[45] M.J. Agee, Exit 2007 The Secret of Secrets Revealed(Yorba Linda, CA: Archer Press, 1992), p. 259ff.
[46] Robert M. Bartell, "Jesus is Coming Again Soon(Arlington, VA: Essay by R.M.B.), p.1. [47] Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth, (Philadelphia,PA: FoxChase 1918), p. 16. Cited by Margaret Riedel in The Blessed Hope and TheGlorious Appearing.
[48] Marvin Byers, The Final Victory: The Year 2000(Shippensburg, PA: Companion Press, 1991), P. 293.
[49] E. Berkeley Hammond, The Scriptural Prediction ofEschatalogical Dates (Huntsville, AL: Essay by E. B. H. 1992), p. 16.
[50] James McCutchan, Ibid., p. 12.
[51] David Webber and N. W. Hutchings, Will Christ Come by2001? (Oklahoma City, OK: Southwest Radio Church, 1978). p. 15,16.
[52] Cohn Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus will Return,(Rutherford College, NC: Cohn Hoyle Deal, 1988). p. 126.
[53] James McCutchan, Ibid., p.12
[54] James McCutchan, Ibid., p.12
[55] M. J. Agee, Ibid., p. 259.
[56] M. J. Agee, Ibid., p. 261. |
