Dispelling Old Prophetic Tales
by Gary DeMar
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While cleaning up my office, I came across a cassette tape of a sermon preached by Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel on December 31, 1979. He told his very accepting audience that the rapture would take place in 1981. Russia would soon invade Israel. The Former Soviet Republic had gone into Afghanistan. This Was the Prelude to a Full-Force and Asian of the Middle East, Smith told his audience. Today, Russia is a military paper tiger. A rag-tag army of Afghan soldiers sense at the Soviet army back to the mother land.
Smith went on to claim in his 1979 and-of-the-year message that because of ozone depletion, Revelation 16:8 would be fulfilled during the Great Tribulation: "and the fourth angel poured out his bowl up on the sun; and it was given to its to scorch men with fire." According to Smith, Halley's comet would pass near the earth in 1986 and would wreak atmospheric havoc on those left behind as the Paris from its million-mile tale pummeled of the earth. Haley's Comet did it here in 1986 with no damage done to our planet. If Haley's Comet has any prophetic import, it was then A.D 66 when it passed over Jerusalem. The Temple was destroyed for years later and turned the redemptive world upside down. And just in case you haven't noticed, contrary to Smith, the rapture did not happen in 1981 as he and others (e.g., Hal Lindsey) predicted.
While Smith as stated that he "could be wrong," he nevertheless stated his beliefs with certainty: "It's a deep conviction in my heart, and all my plans are predicated upon not believe." In a written work, Smith commented: "Date setting is wrong, and I was guilty of coming close to that. I did believe that Hal Lindsey could have been on track when he talked about the 40-year generation, the fig tree budding being the rebirth of Israel, and I was convinced in my own heart."
Scripture Twisting
Even with this information in hand, there are still people who will attempt to make the Bible can warm with the latest advances in technology and geopolitical events. Modern-day prophecy writers and their gullible followers will search out anything that will support their view of the end-times, he even if it means reading things into the Bible that are there. For example Peter and Paul LaLonde, whose film company produced the Left Behind movie, misrepresent what Revelation 13: 16-18 says about the market of the beast. And an advertisement for their This Week in Bible Prophecy television program that that aired a few years ago, the prophecy authors wrote, "The Mark of the Beast-it's one of the clearest and most dramatic prophecies and the Bible. It states simply that in the last days [1] that no man will be able to buy or sell unless he has the mark IN his right hand or for head." According to the LaLondes, the "IN" refers to an embedded microchip or something similar placed under the skin; they emphasize of the word IN.
In an article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, a self-described "Internet prophet who calls himself "Tony G," claims "the mark of the beast (revelation 13 tells us) will be 'in' not 'on' the right hand, and 'in' not 'on' the forehead." That means, he concludes, "that 'the mark' will almost certainly be 'a microchip implant such as the Digital Angel,' a conveniently named microchip implants." [2] The LaLondes and "Tony G" are obviously depending upon the keen James translation which has "in their right hand, or in their foreheads."
The Greek preposition epi ("upon"), not en ("in"), is used twice in Revelation 13:16 to describe where the market was to be placed. Epi is best translated as "on" or "upon." That is why the passage of state that the mark was could be given "on [epi] their right hands or on [epi] their forehead," not "in [ev] their right hand or in [ev] their forehead." Some might call this a technicality, but it's the end-time prophecy "experts" were making a big deal over the word "in."
The interpretation advocated by these self-styled prophecy experts believe that the message behind the mark of the beast has been unintelligible for nearly 2000 years since computer chips and scanning technologies are late-20th-century innovations. Yet low-tact methods of screening a population have been quite effective throughout history as the man from Ephraim found out when they could not pronounce "Shibboleth" (Judg 12:4-7). During the reign of Caesar Augustus, Rome was able to identify and taxing entire empire without sophisticated scanning devices (Luke 2:1-4). And there was nothing contact about the numbering system hip were used to identify and catalog Jews.
Should we be concerned about embedded microchips? Yes. Should we be wary of civil government officials when they say "Just trust us"? Yes. This everything that happens in the world today have to be tied to some attic text before we can determine its virtues? Absolutely not. Let's begin to think biblically without always having to think prophetically.
The Newspaper is no Prophetic Guide
When it comes to prophetic speculation, there's nothing new under the Sun Mary Stewart Relfe was warning against the "New Money System" and UPC Symbols (Bar Codes) in 1981. [3] some have speculated that the UPC Symbol has three sixes embedded in its design. These examples show that many prophecy writers interpret the Bible in terms of what is going on in the broader culture in their day. Take the example of John Cumming (1807- 1881). He admitted that the "the modern newspaper" was a perfectly good way to help interpret prophecy. Here are some examples of Cumming's "newspaper exegesis" as detailed by Robert H. Ellison:
Cumming's use of current events to interpret ancient scripture gets rather ingenious at times. He claims, for example, that Daniels phrase "And a knowledge shall be increased" [Dan. 12:4]can also be translated "And knowledge shall be flashed along," a rendering which anticipated the telegraph, the "mysterious whispering wire" that can transmit a message to "the most distant capital of Europe" in less than an hour's time. Even more inventive is his interpretation of the prophecy he sees in Isaiah 18:1 -2, "Woe to the land... beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: That sendeth ambassador worse by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters." He asserts at that the phrase "vessels of bulrushes" is literally "vessels of that which he drinks water," a phrase which many [sic] have perplexedthe translators working in 1611 [when the King James version of the Bible was published] but which can now be seen as a reference to the steamship, a "vessel whose... motive force from beginning to end, is water." [4]
Cumming also saw "railway traveling" as a reference to quote many shall run to end fro" [5] (Dan. 12:4). Current prophecy writers are just as ingenious when they see modern transportation systems as the fulfillment of Daniel 12:4 and computer technology [6] as a fulfillment of Revelation 13:16.
Conclusion
We've entered a new year. Christians will be tempted to read the Bible through the lens of current events. It's been done before. I have a library of books and articles to prove it. Charles H. Spurgeon, the great nineteenth-century Baptist preacher, had this to say in his comments on Psalm 86:9 in his magisterial The Treasury of David:
David was not a believer in the theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensations will wind up with general darkness, and idolatry. Earth's sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for a day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship the a loan, O God, and shall glorify thy name. The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the better for the cause of God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God, nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven. [7]
while it is true there is an attempt by the ungodly to dominate culture, and some are successful first season, the fact is, that overtime "they will not make further progress" (2 Tim. 3:9); they are falling with ungodliness is only temporary (cf. Rom. 1:18-32). Christians can be optimistic even if the actions of the ungodly increase and their own day. If Christians remained faithful in influencing their world with the gospel and applying a Christian worldview to every area of life the world can and will change. History, the gospel, and God's sovereignty are on our side.
Notes
[1] Actually nothing is said about "the last the days" in revelation 13. But even if a revelation 13 did use "the last days" to designate the time in which the prophetic events were to take place, other passages indicate that "the last days" work in the first century (see Heb. 1:1-two and James 5:3, 8-9; 1 Cor. 10:11; 1 Tim. 4:1-3). Go Back
[2] Dave Shiflett, "Satan's Micro cap minions: Is Radio Frequency Identification a tool of the Antichrist?", The Wall Street Journal (December 30, 2005): www.opinionjournal.com/taste?id=110007748 Go Back
[3] Mary Stewart Relfe, When Your Money Fails: 666 (Montgomery: AL: Ministries, Inc., 1981). This book got a ringing endorsement from Colin Deal, author of the "best seller" Christ Returns by 1988. Go Back
[4] Robert H. Ellison, "John Cumming and His Critics: Some Victorian Perspectives on the End Times," Leeds, Centre Working Papers in Victorian Studies one Platform Pulpit Rhetoric, ed. Martin Hewitt,vol. 3 (Horsforth, Leeds: Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, 2000), 77. Go Back
[5] Quoted in Ellison, "John Cumming and His Critics," 79. Go Back
[6] Ed Hindson and Lee Fredrickson, Future Wave: Ended Times Prophecy, and the Technology Explosion (Eugene,OR: Harvest House, 2001); Peter Lalonde and Paul Lalonde, Racing Toward... The Mark of the Beast: Your Money, Computers, and the Ended of the World (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1994). Go Back
[7] Charles H.Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Containing the Book of Psalms; A Collection of Illustrative Extracts from the Whole Range of Literature; A Series of Homilectical Hints Upon Almost Every Verse; and Lists of Writers Upon Each Psalm, 7 vols. (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., [1869], 1881), 4:102. Go Back