Gary Demar's End Times Fiction

Dr. Thomas Ice

PreteristGary DeMar has written a book critical of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' LeftBehind series entitled EndTimes Fiction.[1] DeMaris jealous of the fact that people have responded to a fictionalized version ofa dispensational prophecy scenario while rejecting his own misguided beliefthat these prophetic events were really fulfilled when the Romans destroyedJerusalem and Israel's Second Temple in the first century. Apparently, in anattempt to jazz up his dusty old view, DeMar creates some fiction of his own inhis book and subsequent articles about Tim LaHaye. I guess you could say thatDeMar's recent book is aptly titled End Times Fiction.

DeMarrepeatedly represents the prophecy beliefs of Tim LaHaye as far-fetched andbeyond the realm of possibility. For years, DeMar's writing approach has beento start his articles and books with generous heaps of ridicule upondispensationalists like LaHaye and then use that as a springboard to introducehis truly ridiculous idea that almost all Bible prophecy was fulfilled a couplethousand years ago. It appears that DeMar is incapable of simply presentinghis views in a straightforward and positive manner, without first setting thestage with one of his negative diatribes against those with whom he disagrees. Apparently LaHaye's successful presentation of the gospel within the context ofa futurist view of the end times-that has resulted in thousands of peopletrusting Christ as their Saviour-has DeMar very upset.

Ihave documented-in the past-DeMar's strange belief that second coming passagessuch as Matthew 24-25 and Revelation 19 were fulfilled in events surroundingthe Roman conquest of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. This errant view isknown as preterism.[2] In a desperate attempt to defend thisnaturalist approach to Biblical interpretation, DeMar teaches such bizarreviews as the Battle of Gog in Ezekiel 38-39 was fulfilled by the events ofEsther 9.[3] DeMar believes that the new heavensand new earth of 2 Peter 3:10-13 and Revelation 21-22 arrived in-you guessedit-a.d. 70. We have been livingfor the last two thousand years in this time of heavenly bliss. Amazing! Icould go on and on.

Lately,DeMar has been on a kick where he attempts to make fun of people like LaHayeand myself who believe in a national future for Israel. DeMar does not. Hebelieves that Israel, as a nation, is finished in history, contrary to theteachings of the Old and New Testaments.[4] DeMar must close his eyeswhen he reads Paul saying, "I say then, God has not rejected His people, hasHe? May it never be! . . . God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says?" (Rom. 11:1-2). DeMar does notknow what the scriptures say when it comes to Israel's future. His a prioripreterist beliefs filter out theclear meaning of the Bible when he reads the plethora of passages that speak ofIsrael's future.

Ona number of occasions,[5] DeMar accuses dispensationalists ingeneral, and Tim LaHaye in particular of somehow contributing to a futureJewish holocaust because Zechariah 13:8-9 teaches that a third of the Jews willcome to faith in Jesus as their Messiah during the tribulation. DeMar'stwisted logic is similar to that used by liberals in the 2000 RepublicanPresidential primary when George W. Bush spoke at Bob Jones University. According to liberal thinking, Bush was identified with all that BJU wasthought to represent because he did not get up and renounce things that werenot politically correct. In a similar way, DeMar manufactures a sin that couldonly make any kind of sense if one first assumes "preterist correctness."

InDeMar's article attacking LaHaye, "A Review of The Remnant," he says,

What many people who readLaHaye's The Remnant fail tograsp is that two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel today will beslaughtered, and for every three Jews who decide to make Israel their home inthe future, two will be killed during the Great Tribulation.[6]

DeMarcontinues his assault on LaHaye when he asks,

Why isn't LaHaye warningJews now living in Israel about this pre-determined holocaust by encouragingthem to leave Israel until the conflagration is over? Instead, we find thosewho hold to LaHaye's position supporting relocation efforts of Jews to the landof Israel that will mean certain death for a majority of them because it's a"fulfillment of Bible prophecy.[7]

Thereare a number of things that DeMar and his followers who read him fail to grasp.Since DeMar's criticism is based upon the supposed logical outworking of ourfuturist views, I will work within that framework. Note the following: First,about three-fifths of the entire earth's population will be killed during thecourse of the seven-year tribulation, many of them believers (Rev. 6:9-11).

Second,one of the main purposes of the tribulation (the 70^th week ofDaniel) is to bring the nation of Israel to faith in Jesus as their Messiah. Jewish believer Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains this purpose for His people duringthe tribulation as follows when commenting on Ezekiel 20:34-38:

God intends to break thepower of the holy people in order to bring about a national regeneration. . . .In this passage Ezekiel draws a simile with the Exodus . . . What isimportant to note here is that after God gathers the Jews from around theworld, He will enter into a period of judgment (tribulation) with them. Therebels among the Jewish people will be purged out by this judgment. Only thenwill the whole new nation, a regenerate nation, be allowed to enter thepromised land under King Messiah.[8]

Eventhough DeMar, as a postmillennialist, believes in a future time when a mass ofindividual Jews will be converted,[9] he rebels against the historical meansthat God has chosen to bring about this end for His people-Israel.

Third,since all unbelieving Jews will be purged out and killed by the end of thetribulation-regardless of their geographical location on planet earth-it isinconsequential as to whether they are in Israel or hide away in a remoteplace. At the second coming all unbelievers will be killed and prevented fromgoing into the millennium (Matt. 13:36-43, 45-50; 25:31-46). So it is just amatter of days, weeks, or months until all unbelievers (Jew or Gentile) will beremoved from the earth in preparation for the start of the Messianic kingdom.

Fourth,related to the previous point, the only ones (Jew or Gentile) who will survivethe tribulation will be those who have become believers in Jesus as theirMessiah. Yet DeMar says, "we find those who hold to LaHaye's positionsupporting relocation efforts of Jews to the land of Israel that will meancertain death for a majority of them." The only ones that will be killed, whetherin or out of the land of Israel, will be unbelievers. The focus of Zechariah13:9 is on the elect remnant, which says, "And I will bring the third partthrough the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold istested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, 'Theyare My people,' and they will say, 'The Lordis my God.'" Yet DeMar attempts to turn the emphasis of this passageupside-down with his focus upon the unbelieving element.

Fifth,many modern orthodox Jews-uninfluenced by Tim LaHaye-believe that Zechariah13:8-9 is still a future event.[10] Why isn't DeMar warning them aboutthe coming holocaust if he is so concerned for the welfare of modern Jewry? Are these Jews creating an attitude of "prophetic inevitability?"[11]A consistent application of DeMar's logic to this Jewish understanding ofZechariah would mean that the Jews, along with dispensationalists, are thefacilitators of their own demise.

Sixth,DeMar asks "Why isn't LaHaye warning Jews now living in Israel about thispre-determined holocaust by encouraging them to leave Israel until theconflagration is over?"[12] (If DeMar is so concerned with afuture Jewish holocaust in Israel, perhaps he could help develop anorganization to raise money to assist Jews wanting to leave Israel.) LaHaye isnot doing that because these events cannot take place before the rapture, whichhas not yet occurred. I agree with DeMar that there should be a warning. However, it will not be given to the Jews living in the land of Israel untilthe middle of the tribulation. In fact, Matthew 24:15-16 says of that time, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation whichwas spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let thereader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." The parallel passage in Revelation 12:6 says, "And the woman fled into thewilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might benourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days." The woman representsIsrael, or even more precisely the elect Jewish remnant, which are the Jewishelect that will obey Christ's warning to head for the hills "when you see theabomination of desolation." This remnant will be divinely protected by God inthe wilderness (just as LaHaye portrays in The Remnant) until Christ returns physically to Jerusalem and sendsHis angels to gather His elect (Matt. 24:31) for His approaching kingdom.[13]

Farfrom making LaHaye look foolish, DeMar is the one who is generating end timesfiction with his zany tales. I am convinced that at least part of themotivation for DeMar's cruel criticism of LaHaye is out of jealousy. DeMardesires the limelight that God has given to LaHaye. So instead of honing anappealing case for his own preterist views, he desperately resorts to an attackin order to tear down LaHaye. Since his thoughts on Bible prophecy were notdeemed important enough to have been included in the front-page story that Time magazine recently did on LaHaye,[14] DeMarwrote an article in which he concocts a conspiracy theory to explain why he wasexcluded.[15] More end times fiction! Instead ofproviding positive biblical argumentation for his views of the past, whichreally are fictional, DeMar tries to hitch his wagon to the success of LaHaye. DeMar's desperation demonstrates that when it come to biblical interpretationhe has been left behind. Maranatha!

[1] Gary DeMar, End Times Fiction: A BiblicalConsideration of the Left BehindTheology (Nashville: ThomasNelson Pubs, 2001).

[2] See our forthcoming book due out in April 2003 byTim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, eds. Has Christ Already Come? BiblicalAnswers to Preterism (Eugene, OR:Harvest House, 2003).

[3] DeMar, End Times Fiction, pp. 12-15.

[4] A few passages include: Gen. 12:1-3; 15; Deut.28:58-30:20; Isa. 14:1-3; Jer. 32:37-42; Ezek. 36:22-32; Zech. 8:7-8; Rom.11:15, 25-27.

[5] See the following presentations of this view: Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), pp.414-16; Gary DeMar, "A Review of The Remnant," on the website of American Vision, www.americanvisiion.org/page.asp?id=13;Gary DeMar, "It's Time to Fold 'Em," on the website of American Vision, www.americanvisiion.org/page.asp?id=121;DeMar brought this "argument" up in our debate at BIOLA Univ. on Feb. 25, 2002.Preterist Kenneth Gentry also went out of his way to work this "argument" intoour debate in Wilmington, DE on Apr. 26, 2002.

[6] DeMar, "A Review of The Remnant".

[7] DeMar, "A Review of The Remnant".

[8] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of theMessiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 1982), pp.125-26.

[9] See Gary DeMar, The Debate Over ChristianReconstruction (Ft. Worth: Dominion Press and Atlanta: American Vision Press, 1988), pp. 244-55.

[10] A. Cohen, ed. and commentator, "The TwelveProphets," in Soncino Books of the Bible, 14 vols. (London: The Soncino Press, 1948), vol. 14, p. 325.

[11] DeMar, "A Review of The Remnant".

[12] DeMar, "A Review of The Remnant".

[13] For more answers to similar arguments put forthby DeMar and others of similar thought look for Thomas Ice, The NewAnti-Semitism: Why The World Hates Israel (publisher and date of release to be announced).

[14] Time,July 1, 2002.

[15] Gary DeMar, "Time's Puff Piece: The Devil is inthe Details," on the website of Planet Preterist,planetpreterist.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=515.