Mar 16, 2006 · Posted in Rapture
It seems like every time a Jewish holy day comes around, rapture fervor reaches its peak among pretrib rapturists. Although the rapture can come at “any time” according to that believe system, the best speculation centers on the Jewish holy days like Passover, Pentecost or Rosh HaShana. With Passover 2006 approaching here in a month, this year is no different.
If people only understood the words of Jesus in their proper Hebrew cultural and idiomatic context there would be no need to speculate on which day of the year the rapture will be on. We already can know which day it is (and by plugging in the Sabbath Year cycles, the rapture year as well). See my article on what Jesus meant by “No Man Knows the day or hour” in this article to find out what day of the year the rapture will fall on, whether you are pretrib, midtrib, posttrib or prewrath:
Which Day is the Rapture?
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Jan 30, 2006 · Posted in Bible, Prophecy, Rapture
If you are a serious long time student of prophecy like me, you probably have something to show for it: dozens of books, DVDs, videos, audio tapes, charts and even seminars or conferences memories that cost you hundreds of dollars. Not to mention all the time that you have invested searching in reading, watching and attending them. I even took a tour of Israel with prophecy teacher Michael Rood in 2003 which cost me thousands. Understanding Bible prophecy was not the primary reason for taking that trip and I certainly have no regrets at all and would do it again. However, you have to figure that of all the ministries offering tours of Israel out there, since I picked a prophecy teacher to be the host of the one I went on, that at least some of that package price has to fall into the prophecy research expense category 
.
After All That Money, Why Don’t You Know More For Sure?
You may have spent even more than I have, perhaps with multiple trips to Israel or with dozens of prophecy books on your books shelf. But the question I want to ask you is, what else do you have to show for it all and when will this expense category in your budget go away? In other words, why haven’t you understood it yet or at least figured out enough to feel like you know the important things you need to about the End Times to make better plans. I mean, putting the satisfaction of your curiosity aside, isn’t the real practical application of studying Bible prophecy to know the future and to then be able to plan better for it? (If you like spending the money because the many divergent teachings entertain or fascinate you, then you may not be looking for how to change that.)
Or after all these years of hearing one plausible interpretation after another have you lost any hope in actually concluding what the right sequence of end times events are, when the rapture falls in that sequence, who the Antichrist is, or even what year Jesus will return? Can we know these things or not? Why are we studying book after book and never really getting solid answers to these questions? The reason for our lack of real results with this is not because there is no way to find out solid answers to these questions. If you believed that was the case then you would not be wasting time and money on this area of study. If after all this time you are starting to doubt this assumption, then let me remind you that God specifically told Daniel that his prophecies (which even he could not understand), would be understood by the wise in the End Times when knowledge was increased, but the wicked would not understand (Dan 12:7-11).
Is there any doubt that we are in those End times now when many would go to and fro and knowledge would be increased? Also, since I don’t know too many reprobates who have a hobby of studying Bible prophecy, let’s rule out that wickedness on your part is the problem here :). If you want to study Bible prophecy then you probably are a good person who wants to understand all God has to say, not just the parts you like.
Flawed Prophecy Interpretation Model
That leaves us with the matter of being a Biblically wise person. There is always a good chance we lack wisdom in an area because we all start out in any field as beginners with lots to learn. A lack of success in any endeavor can often indicate that we are missing essential wisdom for succeeding in it. But what wisdom do we need to unravel Bible prophecy?
There is one piece of wisdom that most Bible prophecy teachers don’t seem to know. They usually start out with some unique insights that carefully explain some plain passages of the Bible that others have not addressed as well. However, in fitting their theory in with the rest of the Bible or even just related prophecies, at some point just about every prophecy teacher will say, “that passage does not mean what it plainly says.” Because if they took that passage at face value, they would be forced to change all or part of their theory! You may not have noticed this because you may feel that given the symbolic nature of prophecy, especially the Book of Revelation, this is acceptable handling of God’s word.
Prophecy: Primarily Symbolic or Primarily Literal Like the Rest of Scripture?
What if that assumption is wrong and we have not taken things literally enough? I’m not saying that the Book of Revelation is not symbolic. It certainly does make use of symbols that are usually only explained plainly elsewhere in the Bible. However the question we need to ask before we interpret prophecy is whether it is primarily symbolic or allegorical or is it primarily literal. Put another way, is it a special case or is it just like the rest of the Bible of which Jesus said “[the face value meaning of] scripture cannot be broken” by any interpretation of any other scripture?
More importantly, if we really believe it’s a special case where the “scripture cannot be broken” rule does not apply, then how do we have any hope of ever coming to the right understanding? And if we somehow do, how do we have any way of verifying that it is right if it cannot be validated by being held to not breaking the face value of other scripture? A person can then just find ways to spiritualize or typify other scriptures to a meaning that fits his teaching and no one can say its wrong because one persons imagination of what a passage can mean is just as valid as another’s if there is no standard to hold them all to. This is how we have ended up with innumerable seemingly plausible eschatologies and books explaining them. They are all to some degree breaking (or ignoring) scripture to arrive at yet another different interpretation.
Do you begin to see the problem? If prophecy does not have a primary, usually literal face value meaning with the symbols adding extra detail or depth built on top of that face value meaning rather than contradicting it and replacing it, then we are wasting our time and money studying it because we’ll never really be able to know what it means short of another Holy Spirit-filled prophet coming to literally pull the answers out of a hat. By the way, I said “usually literal” because I’m not saying all prophecy is literal. There is some clear allegorical use of language found but these things are always explained as such right there or elsewhere in the Bible. The problem is when a teacher does not understand this and treats everything like an allegory or freely-definable symbol he supports by using typological interpretation of other scriptures such as the acts of the patriachs in the Old Testament. For example, a famous pretrib rapturist teacher once freely admitted that the pretrib teaching is based on allegory and typology rather than any clear plainly read passages of the Bible. He clearly saw nothing wrong with this situation.
The Solution
The only thing that the status quo gives us is an endless stream of tantalizing new prophecy books limited only by the imaginations of each new prophecy writer. Since most of them contradict each other, not all can be right—but all can be wrong. Are you ready to find out how to avoid wasting time and money on such fundamentally flawed theories? Here’s how:
- Be willing to change how for years you have treated prophecy differently than the rest of the Bible and begin rereading the Bible afresh with the new “primarily literal prophecy” paradigm.
- Study the articles on this site like How To Understand Bible Prophecy for Sure which gives several examples of mistreated prophecies that can be taken at face value.
- When you have confirmed that there is something to the approach to Bible prophecy I advocate, go ahead and purchase one of my $10 books which are written following this model of interpretation. I promise you’ll never find me say in my books, “that doesnt mean what it plainly says” and then proceed to offer some contradictory meaning for it. At most I will say it doesn’t mean what you thought it says and direct you to read the passage more carefully and notice a few easily missed details that are really there and change the meaning significantly so that the face value properly meshes with the face value of the rest of the Bible.
Can $10 spent on one of my manuals really save you $100s on lots of other prophecy materials down the road? I wholeheartedly believe so (and I have a money back guarantee if you think I’m wrong). It is difficult to see things differently than you have been taught for years. But a little guidance can go a long way in saving you further trial and error.
See, once you let me show you how several major prophecies such as Wormwood or the 144,000 make literal plain sense as written, you will find it easier to break the old patterns and to apply this approach to other prophecies on your own for finding solid, satisfying answers. And when you see an offer for a new typical allegory/typology-based prophecy book and look into its premise and assumptions and find that they contradict your new foundation based on plain reading of all scripture including prophecy, you will not even think “maybe they have the answer…maybe i should get that..”
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Jan 16, 2006 · Posted in Emails, Rapture, Timeline, Wormwood/Planet X
Mary asked:
Revelation chapter 7 talks about the four angels holding back the winds of the earth and sealing the 144,00 children of all the tribes of Israel. Right after that it speaks about the great multitude in heaven which appears to be the rapture. So during the 7th Seal and third trumpet, the star Wormwood is hurled into earth. Are you saying that christians will still be here on earth when Wormwood hurles into earth, and that the rapture will not have taken place?
Yes, I’m saying that the rapture comes after Wormwood, otherwise the firstfruit saints would not need sealing protection as the first half of Revelation 7 depicts nor would the Woman of Revelation 12 be brought to a place of safety for 3½ years at the start of the Tribulation. Wormwood is here from the 6th seal through 4th trumpet but the rapture comes at the last or 7th trumpet at the same time as the dead in Christ are raised according to Paul (1The 4:16, 1Cor 15:52). Revelation 20:4-5 says explicitly that the first resurrection of the dead includes people who overcame the mark of the beast and his image which of course means the resurrection and rapture cannot occur at the start or tribulation. Finally, Jesus in the Olivet Discourse agreed that after the Tribulation his angels would come with a trumpet to gather all his elect (Mt 24:29-31). “The elect” is used elsewhere in the NT to refer to the church (1Pet 1:1; 2Jn 1:1; Tit 1:1).
Myself I doubt that Revelation 7 is depicting saints in heaven after the rapture. We already have an explicit depiction of that in Revelation 15 (the sea of fire and glass). Instead I think Revelation 7 is showing all God’s children from all nations and races (rather than primarily Israel as the first phase of his plan works with) living with him constantly after the new heaven and new Earth as Revelation 21 and Isaiah 65 predict. This would explain why they are always with the Lamb in the Temple rather than ruling on Earth with him (and remember none of us are ever going to be omnipresent like God). However, even if Revelation 7 were depicting saints immediately after the first rapture, it gives no timing information as to when the rapture itself is.
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Jan 10, 2006 · Posted in Emails, Rapture
Tom asked:
It seems when John saw the 24 elders wasn’t there a mention of a vision? So would it be possible the end time visions seen by John the 24 elders, the saints under the throne were visions of future events as the book of revelation is written? This has not yet come to pass. But our Lord is soon in coming all the prophecies are up!!!!!! It won’t be long. But what I have read will come to pass heaven is ready to receive us. One third of the heavens were swept out with Satan. Are we the one third to take their place? Only wondering…..
By all indication, the 24 elders were already in heaven in the present back when John saw his vision of the throne room. Just as the Messiah was already ascended and in his place there. If we take these to be men as the evidence points to, then this makes more sense then saying this in some yet future resurreciton/rapture of only 24 people. I still think the best explanation is that these 24 were “raptured” at the time Jesus was to fulfill the Wave Sheaf prophetic rehearsal of Leviticus 23.
If I understand your other question correctly you are asking if we are going to heaven to replace the 1/3 of the angels who Satan marshalled in rebellion against God (Revelation 12)? The purpose for us going to heaven is not because it needs population but because we are not “appointed to wrath” (1The 5:9). Jesus indicated that the rapture would be right before God’s seven bowls of wrath fell. And by the way, the angels are still in heaven today because as Job and Revelation 12 indicate, their casting down with Satan after being banned from heaven is not until the start of the Great Tribulation of his wrath (the reason for the “woe, woe, woe” mentioned in Revelation 12 is the same as the three woes of the 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpets).
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Jan 9, 2006 · Posted in End Times, Rapture, Timeline
I am writing a series of articles this month to teach enough of the Bible so you can understand the timing of the rapture. The Bible gives enough clues to make this goal possible, and to even be sure that you are right in your understanding. The trick is to learning how to accept the plain sense mean of the prophecies rather than replace them with symbolic interpretations that ignore the plain sense. Once you do that you can begin to fit all the pieces together like you would a big jigsaw puzzle.
To get started you first need to believe that there is a rapture and that we can and in fact should know the timing of it (a couple of things that are not granted these days).
Read these articles to address these doubts. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss the announcement of the new articles as they are completed.
You can find the homepage to the series here: Rapture Year Timline Series
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