"Dr. Armageddon" and the Future of Israel

American Vision ^ | 7/31/2007 | Gary DeMar

[topcat54]

John Hagee’s “Christians United for Israel” held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last month (July 2007). Supporters of CUFI are looking forward to Armageddon. Of course, they believe they won’t be around to experience it. God will finally fulfill his covenant promises to Israel, but not until He wipes out millions of Jews and billions of others around the world in one final judgment. No wonder an increasing number of people fear “Dr. Armageddon” and his millions of followers. Could their political clout push us toward an all-out Mideast war? There are Jews who support Hagee and CUFI, but I bet they don’t know the whole story.
           
John Walvoord writes that these supposed future judgments will be “without parallel in the history of the world. According to Revelation 6:7 the judgments attending the opening of the fourth seal involve the death with sword, famine, and wild beasts of one fourth of the world’s population. If this were applied to the present world population now approaching three billion, it would mean that 750,000,000 people would perish, more than the total population of North America, Central America, and South America combined.”¹
           
Hal Lindsey supports Walvoord’s position, affirming that during the “great tribulation” there will be “death on a massive scale. It staggers the imagination to realize that one-fourth of the world’s population will be destroyed within a matter of days. According to projected census figures this will amount to nearly one billion people!”² Of course, with the latest census figures (6.6 billion), with the dispensational view in mind, about 1.65 billion people will die. Not only does the world come in for a beating under the dispensational hermeneutic, but Israel is specifically hit hard. Walvoord, with his view of a future post-rapture “great tribulation,” must claim that a large number of Jews living in Israel will be slaughtered. He writes:

The purge of Israel in their time of trouble is described by Zechariah in these words: “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah 13:8, 9). According to Zechariah’s prophecy, two thirds of the children of Israel in the land will perish, but the one third that are left will be refined and be awaiting the deliverance of God at the second coming of Christ which is described in the next chapter of Zechariah.³

Israel’s present population is around 7 million. If two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel at the time of the “great tribulation” are to die, this will mean the death of more than 4.5 million! In addition, there is continued immigration from the former Soviet Union supported by Christian organizations like “On Wings of Eagles.” Financial support is raised by Christians to fund Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. “‘This is a biblical issue,’ says Theodore T. Beckett, a Colorado developer who founded the Christian-sponsored, adopt-a-settlement program. ‘The Bible says in the last days the Jews will be restored to the nation of Israel.’“⁴ For every three people who enter, two of them will be killed during the dispensational version of the “great tribulation.” Why aren’t today’s dispensationalists warning Jews about this coming holocaust by encouraging them to leave Israel until the conflagration is over? Instead, we find dispensationalists supporting and encouraging the relocation of Jews to the land of Israel. For what? A future holocaust?
           
Israel was warned by Jesus to “flee to the mountains” (Matt. 24:16). The New Testament is filled with warnings about the coming A.D. 70 holocaust with no encouragement to take up residence in Jerusalem. In fact, there was a mass exodus from the city by those who understood the world-wide implications of the gospel message and the approaching destruction of what was the center of Jewish worship at the time (John 4:21–24).
           
Preterists believe that the events described in Matthew 24:1–34 were fulfilled in the events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. “The guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom [they] murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matt. 23:35) fell upon the generation of Jews who “did not recognize the time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and crucified “the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). How do we know this? Because Jesus told us: “Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:36 and 24:34). No future generation of Jews is meant here. Hagee and his supporters are wrong and dangerous.

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1. John F. Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Academie, [1962] 1988) 108.

2. Hal Lindsey, There’s a New World Coming (New York: Bantam Books, [1973] 1984), 90. Emphasis in original.

3. Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy, 108. Emphasis added.

4. Ann LoLordo, “Evangelical Christians Come to Jews’ Aid,” Atlanta Constitution (August 8, 1997), A8.

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Permission to reprint granted by American Vision P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460.

[Cvengr]

I agree with you. A type of antichrist, Nero may have been, but not the AntiChrist described in our Lord’s Revelation to John.

Funny thing about spiritual revelation is that it is indeed very real.

One might study Prophecy from a rationalistic perspective, but without guidance from the Holy Spirit, it isn’t really perceived and graced upon us as He has provided. It’s all from Him and no other.

So it doesn’t really matter how many others accuse or adversarially attack other viewpoints. God Himself reveals His Will through Prophecy and it is also supernaturally understood by the believer through faith in Christ at the grace of God the Holy Spirit.

[topcat54]

His argument depends on his very unconvincing assertion that Revelation was written before 70 AD.

It is a no less credible assertion than the one which places Revelation in the mid 90s. Gentry's thesis is sound in many respects. The later date is built largely on the second-hand testimony of a single church father as recorded by a single church historian a few centuries later. If that is convincing to you, then I'll not try to suggest otherwise.

[topcat54]

They wouldn't have understood tanks, F16's, etc.

That is a poor argument, indeed. Where else in Scripture do we find such an accommodation in language? Nowhere. In fact we see just the opposite. The language of Psalm 22:16 prefigured crucifixion long before it was practiced by Rome.

[joebuck]

"I agree with you. A type of antichrist, Nero may have been, but not the AntiChrist described in our Lord’s Revelation to John."

Are you sure antichrist even appears in Revelation? I refer to him as the "beast of Revealtion" because the word antichrist never appears in Revelation. Is the Beast the antichrist named in 1&2 John? Probably. But it's not 100% sure. 1 John 2:11 tells us "...it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come." He then goes on the state that "This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son." As you alluded to, I believe John is referring to both the spirit of the antichrist here and to the beast when he refers to him in the singular in 1Jn 2:11. From the little horn to the man of perdition, different writers have used different names in referring to Satan's one and only head honcho in the final hours.

One of the things that makes eschatology so intriquing is that you can read 10 different biblical expositors, all of whom you respect and admire, and get 10 different interpretations - each of which makes sense. The Holy Spirit hasn't convicted me of any of the popular views and I personally don't believe enough history has been revealed to do anything but draw the very general outlines. The good thing is Christ wins in every scenario - thus so do we.

[Ping-Pong]

Ping ...They wouldn't have understood tanks, F16's, etc.

TC...That is a poor argument, indeed. Where else in Scripture do we find such an accommodation in language? Nowhere. In fact we see just the opposite. The language of Psalm 22:16 prefigured crucifixion long before it was practiced by Rome.

I don't understand what you mean. What accommodation?

Yes, Psalms 22 tells us about the crucifixion 1000 years before the event - that is prophecy, but it didn't use the word "crucifixion", it described it.. Zechariah also tells us of what will happen in the future but he uses words that he and others of his time can understand - horses and chariots.

[joebuck]

"The later date is built largely on the second-hand testimony of a single church father as recorded by a single church historian a few centuries later."

And I'll take that over raw speculation anyday. Also, why doesn't Tertullian bring up the whole nero caesar thing? He was one generation removed from the Apostle John and wrote the first commentary on Revelation. Had this been a reference to Nero Tertullian would have been all over that like Michale Moore on a honey glazed ham. (No offense Mike - just joshing)

[topcat54]

Yes, Psalms 22 tells us about the crucifixion 1000 years before the event - that is prophecy, but it didn't use the word "crucifixion", it described it.. Zechariah also tells us of what will happen in the future but he uses words that he and others of his time can understand - horses and chariots.

That is accommodation of language, the idea that God had to use langue common in one age to describe far future events inconceivable to the mind of the original reader. It is not found anywhere is Scripture.

It is pure, raw assertion without any biblical support to say that Zechariah uses the language of horses, etc to describe future weaponry like F-16s.

It is only necessary for literalist futurists who ignore the plain context and meaning of the passage.

[4CJ]

John Hagee, CUFI-bashing ping.

My friend, I thinks it's a cowinidink!

[topcat54]

And I'll take that over raw speculation anyday.

I'm afraid you do not understand the true nature of raw specualtion. What Gentry does in his book is not raw speculation.

BTW, Gentry's book is the full length version of his doctoral dissertation, which generally schools do not grant for "raw speculation".

[Ping-Pong]

It is pure, raw assertion without any biblical support to say that Zechariah uses the language of horses, etc to describe future weaponry like F-16s.

What language did God use to describe the crucifixion? What language did He use to describe the vehicle Ezekiel saw? What language did He use to describe Satan in the garden? The Bible is full of Him painting pictures with words for us and that opens up context and meaning.

[topcat54]

What language did God use to describe the crucifixion?

He used the language of crucifixion, pierced hands and feet. He didn’t use the language of stoning (current form of execution) to describe the crucifixion (an unknown form of punishment at the time of the prophecy).

What language did He use to describe the vehicle Ezekiel saw?

What Ezekiel saw was not some far future prophecy. It was a contemporary event. Ezekiel did not see some future super-duper weapon system.

It’s obvious you are missing the point wrt prophecy. You are getting side-tracked by your own predicament. Nowhere in the Bible did God use accommodating language to describe some far future event. To apply such a notion in the case of Zechariah’s horses in scripturally unsound.

[Uncle Chip]

Nowhere in the Bible did God use accommodating language to describe some far future event.

So then Jesus was really a "lamb"???

[topcat54]

So then Jesus was really a "lamb"???

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! '" (John 1:29)

That was not a prophecy. And that language is not accommodating in any way ala Ping’s theory. What you have is a perfectly descriptive statement of Christ’s purpose in coming into the world.

If you are content to confuse that sort of statement made by John with the highly suspect and unscriptural notion that when God said "horses" in the Bible He really meant F-16s, you are on your own.

[Ping-Pong]

To apply such a notion in the case of Zechariah’s horses is scripturally unsound

The "horses" turn to chariots before this book ends and that makes them men of war.

I think to not see what God means would be unsound.

What words would you have used to describe weapons of war that will happen at the end of days?

[topcat54]

The "horses" turn to chariots before this book ends and that makes them men of war.

Huh?? I don’t know what you are talking about.

I think to not see what God means would be unsound.

This is called begging the question. What God means is the very thing in question. You have not proved from Scripture that you know what God means. The plain literal meaning is that horses mean horses, not F-16s.

What words would you have used to describe weapons of war that will happen at the end of days?

Again, your faulty presupposition is that this passage is talking about events far in the future, when technology is running wild. I do not subscribe to that theory. And it is not required from the text alone. Some folks have adopted that theory based on their own presuppositions about "end times".

"But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, ..." (Acts 2:16,17)

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." (1 John 2:18)

[Uncle Chip]

the highly suspect and unscriptural notion that when God said "horses" in the Bible He really meant F-16s

That is highly suspect. Those would have to be winged horses to be F-16s.

[Uncle Chip]

All right, you have been rather persuasive. Those have to be real horses not vehicles [no matter how much horsepower]. So let's return to your earlier post:

"I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness."

The prophecy was intended for a day when men rode horses for transportation and in war, not modern times like today.

Says who??? Do soldiers ride horses in any armies today? Do policemen patrol cities on horseback today??? Do they ride horses anywhere in the Middle East today??? Are horses entirely obsolete for all armies and all military purposes. Perhaps in a future of gasoline shortages and hummer scarcities, the horse might be pressed into service just as in WWI and even early WWII.

[Lord_Calvinus]

A horse is a horse of course, of course...

unless your a dipsy! Then, everything in Revelation describes a 20th Century invention until the Rapture is delayed and then everything will be a 21st Century invention.

What I find funny is that John was instructed to write what he saw and somehow he described a huge beast that people got in as a horse. Why would they not be horse-less chariots?

Everyone preaches that they believe in a literal interpretation until they run into verses that don’t fit their literal interpretation.

[topcat54]

Says who??? Do soldiers ride horses in any armies today?

Nope. I bet if you go to the headquwaters of the 7th Calvary you will finds tanks not horses.

Do policemen patrol cities on horseback today???

This is not speaking of police as we know them. Police do not wage war.

Perhaps in a future of ...

Ah, yes, the "perhaps" exegesis of the text. Like the "perhaps" exegesis that in the future guns and tanks and artilary will be made out of wood to fulfill Ezekiel 39:9, even though the passage speaks of " shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years".

[Uncle Chip]

So you are saying that there are no horses in the Middle East today and at no time in the future will anyone want to ride a horse over there in Israel -—— Is that right???