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Armageddon Again?
By Kenneth J. Davies
With the advent of war in the Middle East, we can now expect
the usual prophecy-mongers to begin hawking the latest versions
of their paperbacks. What was relegated to the 99¢ table
in your local Christian bookstore just last week, is now “Updated!”
and “Revised!” to take into account the latest
newspaper headlines, and predicting that this conflict is
the prelude to WWIII/Armageddon. Only the names of the locations
and key players have been changed. It reminds me of the “prophecies”
of Nostradamus. They’re constantly being “updated”
and “revised” in order to make them sound like
they predicted current events.
There’s big and fast money to be made writing paperback
novels like this that appeal to our fears and misunderstanding
of Bible prophecy. These false teachers count on your ignorance
of the Word of God and on your memory being short. The question
is: Will you be taken in by it?
Of course, the Bible is much more reliable than Nostradamus,
and never needs to be “revised” or “updated”!
As the Word of God, it is always current. Some assume that
it is only relevant if there is some prophecy being fulfilled
at the moment, but this is a dangerous and false assumption.
It can lead one to look for the latest sensationalistic book
on prophecy, or fall for the latest claims of the popular
prophecy pundits. As Christians, we are called upon to “grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
the Bereans of Acts 17? They were commended by Paul for comparing
what he taught with the Scriptures to see if what he was saying
was actually in there. Christians today need to do the same,
rather than simply trusting their favorite preacher/teacher/evangelist.
They may have slick sounding arguments for these being the
“last days,” and enticing looking covers on the
latest update to their last book of failed predictions, but
does it line up with the Word of God?
Based on Scripture, I can say with confidence that the current
conflict in the Middle East is not the beginning of “the
end.” It is not the start of Armageddon! Jesus was very
clear about when “the end” would come, and what
that end was. The “end” He spoke of was not the
“end of the world” as the King James Version mistakenly
translates it. It is “the end of the age.” What
age? That in which Jesus and His disciples were living when
the N.T. was being written — the Old Covenant, Mosaic
age. When was it to end? Jesus said the end would come when
the gospel had been preached “in all the world”
(Matt. 24:14), and the sign of the end would be the destruction
of the temple in Jerusalem (Matt. 24:2; Luke 21:20). Paul
records that the gospel had been preached in all the world,
yet most people refuse to believe it! Read it for yourself:
“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and
growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day
you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.”
(Col. 1:6)
“This is the gospel that you heard and that has been
proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I,
Paul, have become a servant.” (Col. 1:23)
The common denominator of the currently popular prognosticators
is a total disregard for the time statements of the Bible.
When they see a text such as, “This generation shall
not pass away before all these things take place” (Matt.
24:34), these Pied Pipers say that “generation”
doesn’t mean what it appears to mean, and change the
definition to something other than what it is in that same
context (see Matt. 23:36). When these teachers see the terms,
“near,” or “at hand” (Rev. 1:1, 3;
22:6-7, 10-12, 20), they say that “near” really
means “far” and “at hand” means “a
long time off.” When will they cease to sin by denying
the Word of God and attempting to lead His people astray in
order to line their own pockets?
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See
that you are not troubled,” for these things have already
happened, just as Jesus said they would! He told His disciples,
“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father
with His angels, and then He will reward each according to
his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing
here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man
coming in His kingdom.” (Matt. 16:27-28). When you hear
the paperback prophets say that Jesus was merely referring
to His transfiguration that took place only six days later,
ask yourself: Where were the angels? When did Jesus hand out
rewards to every person according to their works? If the transfiguration
was the coming of the kingdom of God, why were Christians
still looking forward to its coming at the time Paul was writing
his letters? Why did Jesus imply that only some of His disciples
would live to see this event? Why did Paul say to Timothy
that Jesus would “judge the living and the dead at His
appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1)? Why did Jesus
say, in His parable of the sheep and goats, that the saints
would inherit the kingdom (and eternal life) at His second
coming (Matt. 25:31-46)?
Finally, ask yourself: Do I really want to spend my hard-earned
money on a book by someone who has been proven to be a false
prophet? You can look up the failed predictions of your favorite
prophecy “expert” on the Internet. You will see
that these so-called scholars and experts have been wrong
again and again, as they have claimed that the newspaper headlines
were the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, all the while promoting
their latest paperback.
Shouldn’t you rather read the Bible for yourself? Shouldn’t
you rather believe what the Bible says? Are we going to allow
what we’ve been taught about the Scriptures determine
what we choose to believe in the Bible, or are we going to
allow the Bible to determine what we believe in the teachings
of men? I would encourage you to do the latter.
In Christ,
Ken Davies
http://www.BeyondTheEndTimes.com
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