Posted on 08/02/2006 8:50:45 AM PDT by topcat54
WorldNetDaily is running an ad that states the following: “ Readers snatch up end-times books.”
Prophecy-related products continue to be popular among WorldNetDaily readers, with two books on Israel’s involvement in end-times predictions coming in at No. 2 and 3 on ShopNetDaily’s weekly best-seller list—Dave Hunt’s “Judgment Day! Islam, Israel and the Nations” and Greg Laurie's “Are We Living in the Last Days?”(1)Why shouldn’t Christians snatch up these end-time books? They’re being told by prophetic writers that this is the generation that will see the rapture. Of course, previous generations of Christians were told the same thing. I predict that the prophetic scenario outlined by the authors of the books that appear on WorldNetDaily’s list will not take place as predicted. And when they don’t, memories will fade, and a new group of authors will join well-established prophecy writers and publish books that will start the cycle all over again that a Middle East Armageddon is inevitable and on the horizon.
Another book promoted by WorldNetDaily is David Dolan’s Israel in Crisis published in 2001. The advertisement for the book states that “Israel in Crisis not only takes a probing look into what’s happening in Israel today, it also gives you a full picture on where the Middle East crisis may be leading and how it is linked to biblical prophecy. Dolan weaves events with Scripture in a fast-paced journalistic style that is sure to inform, entertain, and inspire.”(2)
This book is a perfect example of forcing the Bible to fit an already developed prophetic system. Dolan tries to explain Jesus’ comments in John 21:18–23 in which Jesus says to Peter about John, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me” (21:22). Dolan tries to explain the meaning of this passage by forcing it into his dispensational mold: “In further nonbiblical research, I discovered that many early church authorities believed that John had never died. This was based on the Lord’s mysterious words in John 21 and also on the fact that, unlike the other apostles, no credible account exists about his death. I suspect that may be because John did not die.”(3)
Dolan speculates that John could have been living on a Greek island for two millennia, wandering around the world hiding his true identity disguised, or caught up into heaven like Elijah where he has been supernaturally preserved until he is needed. John 21:23 refutes this notion: “yet Jesus did not say to [Peter] that [John] would not die, but only, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you.’”
So what is the meaning of Jesus’ words? John Gill offers the best explanation. The “coming” referred to here by Jesus refers, “not till his second coming to judge the quick and the dead at the last day” but the coming “in his power . . . on the Jewish nation, in the destruction of their city and temple by the Romans [in AD 70].” As Gill points out, “till which time John did live, and many years after; and was the only one of the disciples that lived till that time, and who did not die a violent death.”
1. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51311
2. http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=335
3. David Dolan, Israel in Crisis: What Lies Ahead? (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 2001), 143.
Gary DeMar is president of American Vision and the author of more than 20 books. His latest is Myths, Lies, and Half Truths.
Permission to reprint granted by American Vision P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460.
Time to check my fire-estinguishers...
My opinion has always been if you have to ask the question, is this the very end, then it probably isn't. When the end is very near and the Day of the Lord is at hand, there will be no doubt.
The answer is, "of course".
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." (Heb. 1:1,2)
The question Laurie and his friends cannot answer with authority is, are we living any more in the "last days" than folks, say, 1000 years ago?
All we can say with certainty is that we are further along the continuum from Christ's Advent to His Second Coming? But they do not know:
<1>------------------------------------------------|-<2>
Are we Here? -^ or
<1>-|------------------------------------------------<2>
^- Are we Here?
I saw a piece on Headline News about 6am, that would be midnight EST.
They trotted out Hagee and some crosseyes preacher who was foaming at the mouth.
They actually treated the Dispys with a great deal of respect and sensitivity.
Kinda makes me think the rest of us are right.
On the other hand, I'm half-surprised to hear of Greg Laurie's Are We Living in the Last Days?, mostly because I've been told to believe better of him. The book's questioning title is deceptive, IMO. Greg Laurie was narcissistic enough to claim elsewhere that his own generation is actually living in the "great apostasy/last days". Either Laurie's content with holding eschatological expectations for long-term church growth and maturity that run contrary to his own church's experience, or else he's got really low expectations for his congregation over the next seven years.
Interesting, but I must chuckle. All the End Times information we need is in the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
Now, I haven't read the book, but looking at the outline of topics:
It's hard for me to imagine anything "clear" or "refreshing" on these topics given Laurie's take on prophecy. E.g., Laurie regurgitates the fig tree parable as a "supersign" of Israel's rebirth in the last days.
Gee, those are some end times themes I've never heard before! < /sarcasm>
However, the Book of Revelation cannot be understood apart from the rest of the Bible. It's at the end, and so dense with hypertext linkable references that it could almost serve as an index to the rest of the Bible!
If you read Apocalypse in the context of today's headlines, you're a dispensationalist. If you read it in the context of the rest of the Bible, you're probably a post-mil saint.
Amen. When I realized that was the case I gave up on dispensationalism right quick.
* Important signs of the last days
* The difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming
* Israel's significance in end-times events
* America's mysterious absence in Bible prophecy
* What will happen during the Tribulation period
Wars, rumors of war, famine, etc. The usual.
The catching up of the church is part of the Second Coming.
"And so all Israel will be saved."
Cambodia's, Colombia's, Cuba's, Cameroon's, etc. mysterious absence from Bible prophecy.
Tribulation, famine, nakedness, sword. The usual.
*** Laurie regurgitates the fig tree parable as a "supersign" of Israel's rebirth in the last days.***
And I, (and others,) have pointed out that the fig tree parable has nothing to do with the end times. It is merely an example of how one looks for signs to know summer is near by the greening of trees.
Christ then tells them to look for the signs he gave them specificly for the end times.
Every time there is a world crisis, these books hit the stands, and become best sellers. The first Iraq war had me at the bookstore myself! :-)
"Christ then tells them to look for the signs he gave them specificly for the end times."
Israel was told to look for signs; the church was told to be ready.
Dispensational nonsense. "Israel" has all the signs it needs.
"But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.'" (Matt. 12:39-41; cf. Matt. 16:4; Mark 8:12; Luke 11:29; 1 Cor. 1:22)
The sign was given to "this generation", i.e., the 1st century jews who witnessed Jesus's resurrection. The fundamental futurist error is projecting all these calls for "signs" far into the future from their context.
"And while they went to buy" ping.
Lurkers to this thread may find this one of interest:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1676298/posts?q=1&&page=1
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