T
Many people claim to be Bible prophecy experts. It isn’t so. They are actually "ism" experts: Preter-ism, Historic-ism, Dispensational-ism, or some other "ism." And it’s a tragedy because those "isms" have closed their minds to any meaningful studies in Bible prophecy for hundreds of years! With"isms" in place, they never noticed when, after 1967, God actually opened His prophetic books for the first time in history.
I’m reminded of one church leader who typifies the problem. When I met this ism-ite, he was just bubbling over with the usual gossip about who THE antichrist might be, when THE tribulation was going to begin and whether there was going to be a pre, mid or post trib rapture. I asked if we could go to a blackboard. When there, we opened our Bibles and read . . .
1Cor 15:51-52 "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
On his blackboard I scratched in all caps, "LAST TRUMPET," and asked, "You believe the Church will be taken to be with the Lord at the last trumpet, don’t you?"
"Of course, that’s common knowledge," he replies, smiling.
"Great, then you also believe there can’t be any trumpets after the last trumpet?"
"Sure," he says a bit weakly; probably guessing where I was headed.
"Well then," I said, "If the Church is going to be on earth until the last trumpet, we’re going to be here through six of the seven trumpets in Revelation."
"Oh no," he replies, "the seven trumpets of Revelation are trumpets of judgment and they come after that trumpet in Corinthians."
That led me to ask, "Are you saying trumpets will be blown after the last trumpet? Isn’t that contradicting a plain declaration of Scripture?"
"The last trumpet in Corinthians has nothing to do with the trumpets in Revelation," he says with conviction.
"Well then, unless I misunderstand you, what the Bible says is the last trumpet isn’t really the last trumpet." His view seemed so unlikely I just had to ask, "Is that what you really believe?"
"The last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 refers to Levitical trumpets only," he said in his most pontifical voice, "Revelation’s trumpets take place during the Seven-Year Tribulation. That’s generally understood."
"Really? Well, let me see if I’ve got this straight. A trumpet in the New Testament, claiming to be the last, only refers to Old Testament trumpets, even though there are seven more trumpets in the New Testament?" What he was saying was so absurdly irrational I just had to ask, "What kind of exegetical slight-of-hand brought your denomination to that conclusion?"
You see the problem don’t you? Despite its irrationality, this young pastor couldn’t see past his church’s tradition. Now I’m not being critical of this young man and don’t doubt for a moment that he was doing the best he could, but like most church leaders, regardless of denomination, he could only see the Bible through his doctrinal filter.
In another church, I used a blackboard to graph the prophetic days. I showed this church’s pastor how Daniel predicted the coming of Islam 1200 years before Muhammad was born. I showed him how Revelation predicted the first Islamic Jihad, the Crusades, the birth of new Israel in 1948 and Jerusalem again under Jewish control in 1967. I graphed those fulfilled prophecies so clearly they were virtually impossible to dispute. From the way he responded, you’d have thought I’d just shot his favorite bird dog. In fact, he started screaming at me, and I do mean screaming . . .
"YOU’RE DOING AWAY WITH THE TRIBULATION!"
Pointing to the graphs, I said, "Please calm down, my friend, I’m not trying to do away with anything. I’m just showing you another way to look at those verses; a way that we can now prove, both scripturally and historically."
"YOU’RE DOING AWAY WITH THE TRIBULATION!"
He was nose to nose with me and shouting so loud my ears were ringing. Reasoning with him was out of the question; I’d just threatened his end-time "ism" and he was beyond reason. If he could have gathered a fist-waving mob, shouting "Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" like the Moslems do, doubtless he’d have done so.
Though that pastor was the noisiest example of doctrinal blindness in the church, unfortunately he was far from unique. Some time later, I chatted with a Christian author who had just written a humongous – in fact, a several hundred page – book on Bible prophecy. Thinking he might be interested, I showed him how the prophetic days had been fulfilled in new Israel. It seems that prophetic days didn’t conform to his "ism" either, and they certainly weren’t in his book, so he heatedly disagreed. Even after showing solid scriptural evidence and historically irrefutable proofs for the prophetic days, he kept on with his, "There’s no such thing as prophetic days."So how do you relate to someone who defends error when Scripture and known history dictates otherwise?
I tried a new approach: "OK, Henry, I can understand your total aversion to the prophetic day concept, so lets call them something else. How does‘marbles’ sound to you?"I showed him how the 1290 "marbles" of Daniel 12:11 predicted the coming of Islam 1200 years before Muhammad was born and how the 1260 "marbles" of Revelation 12:6 predicted the birth of new Israel in 1948 and the 42 months of "marbles" in Revelation11:2 predicted that Jerusalem would again be under Jewish control by 1967 . . . all three events predicted to the year! Then I said, "But you now have me convinced. I won't believe in prophetic days anymore. From now on, I'll believe in ‘prophetic marbles’, because those 'marbles' fit Scripture and nail the historic record right to the year."
Henry was not amused, sad to say, and no matter how simply explained, Henry still couldn’t hear truths that didn’t fit his end time"ism," even when you could positively prove them.
The above accounts may sound humorous, but really aren’t; I’m telling them to make a point: No blindness is as profoundly dark as the blindness we inflict upon ourselves, and experience leads me to believe that our Church leaders are in the forefront of that sightless parade. A little strong? Perhaps, but I’ve been teaching these same prophetic realities ever so gently – to little effect I might add – for over 30 years and something has to be done if we in the West are to survive as a free Christian people.
Jesus faced the same problem with the Pharisees of His day. He addressed it by saying, "By your traditions you make the word of God to no effect." The generally accepted end-time traditions of today also make the word of God to no effect. God is truth, and how well we serve Him is not determined by how artfully we can defend our cherished traditions, but on how willing we are to search out and follow the truth
I’m reminded of one church leader who typifies the problem. When I met this ism-ite, he was just bubbling over with the usual gossip about who THE antichrist might be, when THE tribulation was going to begin and whether there was going to be a pre, mid or post trib rapture. I asked if we could go to a blackboard. When there, we opened our Bibles and read . . .
1Cor 15:51-52 "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
On his blackboard I scratched in all caps, "LAST TRUMPET," and asked, "You believe the Church will be taken to be with the Lord at the last trumpet, don’t you?"
"Of course, that’s common knowledge," he replies, smiling.
"Great, then you also believe there can’t be any trumpets after the last trumpet?"
"Sure," he says a bit weakly; probably guessing where I was headed.
"Well then," I said, "If the Church is going to be on earth until the last trumpet, we’re going to be here through six of the seven trumpets in Revelation."
"Oh no," he replies, "the seven trumpets of Revelation are trumpets of judgment and they come after that trumpet in Corinthians."
That led me to ask, "Are you saying trumpets will be blown after the last trumpet? Isn’t that contradicting a plain declaration of Scripture?"
"The last trumpet in Corinthians has nothing to do with the trumpets in Revelation," he says with conviction.
"Well then, unless I misunderstand you, what the Bible says is the last trumpet isn’t really the last trumpet." His view seemed so unlikely I just had to ask, "Is that what you really believe?"
"The last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 refers to Levitical trumpets only," he said in his most pontifical voice, "Revelation’s trumpets take place during the Seven-Year Tribulation. That’s generally understood."
"Really? Well, let me see if I’ve got this straight. A trumpet in the New Testament, claiming to be the last, only refers to Old Testament trumpets, even though there are seven more trumpets in the New Testament?" What he was saying was so absurdly irrational I just had to ask, "What kind of exegetical slight-of-hand brought your denomination to that conclusion?"
You see the problem don’t you? Despite its irrationality, this young pastor couldn’t see past his church’s tradition. Now I’m not being critical of this young man and don’t doubt for a moment that he was doing the best he could, but like most church leaders, regardless of denomination, he could only see the Bible through his doctrinal filter.
In another church, I used a blackboard to graph the prophetic days. I showed this church’s pastor how Daniel predicted the coming of Islam 1200 years before Muhammad was born. I showed him how Revelation predicted the first Islamic Jihad, the Crusades, the birth of new Israel in 1948 and Jerusalem again under Jewish control in 1967. I graphed those fulfilled prophecies so clearly they were virtually impossible to dispute. From the way he responded, you’d have thought I’d just shot his favorite bird dog. In fact, he started screaming at me, and I do mean screaming . . .
"YOU’RE DOING AWAY WITH THE TRIBULATION!"
Pointing to the graphs, I said, "Please calm down, my friend, I’m not trying to do away with anything. I’m just showing you another way to look at those verses; a way that we can now prove, both scripturally and historically."
"YOU’RE DOING AWAY WITH THE TRIBULATION!"
He was nose to nose with me and shouting so loud my ears were ringing. Reasoning with him was out of the question; I’d just threatened his end-time "ism" and he was beyond reason. If he could have gathered a fist-waving mob, shouting "Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" like the Moslems do, doubtless he’d have done so.
Though that pastor was the noisiest example of doctrinal blindness in the church, unfortunately he was far from unique. Some time later, I chatted with a Christian author who had just written a humongous – in fact, a several hundred page – book on Bible prophecy. Thinking he might be interested, I showed him how the prophetic days had been fulfilled in new Israel. It seems that prophetic days didn’t conform to his "ism" either, and they certainly weren’t in his book, so he heatedly disagreed. Even after showing solid scriptural evidence and historically irrefutable proofs for the prophetic days, he kept on with his, "There’s no such thing as prophetic days."So how do you relate to someone who defends error when Scripture and known history dictates otherwise?
I tried a new approach: "OK, Henry, I can understand your total aversion to the prophetic day concept, so lets call them something else. How does‘marbles’ sound to you?"I showed him how the 1290 "marbles" of Daniel 12:11 predicted the coming of Islam 1200 years before Muhammad was born and how the 1260 "marbles" of Revelation 12:6 predicted the birth of new Israel in 1948 and the 42 months of "marbles" in Revelation11:2 predicted that Jerusalem would again be under Jewish control by 1967 . . . all three events predicted to the year! Then I said, "But you now have me convinced. I won't believe in prophetic days anymore. From now on, I'll believe in ‘prophetic marbles’, because those 'marbles' fit Scripture and nail the historic record right to the year."
Henry was not amused, sad to say, and no matter how simply explained, Henry still couldn’t hear truths that didn’t fit his end time"ism," even when you could positively prove them.
The above accounts may sound humorous, but really aren’t; I’m telling them to make a point: No blindness is as profoundly dark as the blindness we inflict upon ourselves, and experience leads me to believe that our Church leaders are in the forefront of that sightless parade. A little strong? Perhaps, but I’ve been teaching these same prophetic realities ever so gently – to little effect I might add – for over 30 years and something has to be done if we in the West are to survive as a free Christian people.
Jesus faced the same problem with the Pharisees of His day. He addressed it by saying, "By your traditions you make the word of God to no effect." The generally accepted end-time traditions of today also make the word of God to no effect. God is truth, and how well we serve Him is not determined by how artfully we can defend our cherished traditions, but on how willing we are to search out and follow the truth
Last edited by a moderator:
