Category: eschatology

Book Briefs: “The Promise of Heaven” by Randy Alcorn

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

As we approach Christmas, I wanted to highlight some books which would make good gift items. I realize I’m a bit late with this, & I’m late on my shopping, too! But some of you may be in possession of a gift card soon, and wondering what to spend it on… For other gift ideas, you may want to check a new category I’ve created called “ideal gift books“.

The Promise of Heaven: Reflections on Our Eternal Home by Randy Alcorn is an absolutely beautiful book. It is filled with full color, photographs of nature scenes from the West taken by professional nature photographer, John MacMurray.

As one pages through the book, they are struck by the beauty of God’s earth, and then Randy Alcorn fills their minds with thoughts of the New Earth to come. Answering a host of questions about heaven, the book is interesting, informative and delightful. Randy shares the Gospel clearly and encourages us to worship our Lord for the Earth we have, and our future “Heaven on Earth” to come.

The production of this book is top notch. While it isn’t quite a full coffee-table sized book, it deserves a spot on anyone’s coffee table. It would make a great gift for loved ones this Christmas. If someone you know likes Mountains and nature photography, they would absolutely love this fine book. I highly recommend this.

Preview this remarkable book here. And pick up a copy of this book from any of the following online retailers: Christianbook.com, Amazon, or direct from Harvest House.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Harvest House Publishers. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

About Book Briefs: With limited time available to give every book sent my way a full review, I’ll be offering short-form book reviews called Book Briefs. Book Briefs are book notes, or my impression and informed evaluation of a book, but they stop short of being a full book review.

Harold Camping and a Replay of “The Great Disappointment”

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

On a special day, everyone felt on edge. An influential Bible teacher with numerous followers had prophesied that this very day would be the day Jesus returned. That day came and went leaving his followers severely disappointed.

Sound familiar? I’m not speaking of May 21, 2011 and Harold Camping, but October 22, 1844 and William Miller. The Millerite movement (no they weren’t known for beer drinking), were followers of William Miller’s Adventist teachings about Christ’s Second Advent (or arrival/coming). Using the most influential medium of his time, newspapers (similar to Camping’s use of radio today), the Millerites spread an “end-times” message far and wide. Their movement fractured eventually and spawned numerous other Churches and cults (or sects). The Seventh Day Adventist church directly rose from the Millerite movement, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ founder Charles Russell was influenced by Miller’s movement as well.

October 23, 1844 was known as “The Great Disappointment” because the predictions concerning October 22 didn’t happen. The dates had been shuffled and reshuffled around already prior to October 22, so they really couldn’t come up with a new date. Eventually, many of the Millerites simply changed their view of what was to happen from being a physical coming of Christ to being only a spiritual event.

Today, the Seventh Day Adventists continue to teach as an article of their faith that on October 22, 1844, Jesus entered the Holy of Holies in Heaven to begin the final phase of his work: the investigative judgement. Jesus is investigating every man’s work and accomplishing atonement for some and not for others. He’s reviewing the books, and wow, there must sure be an awful lot of books for the omnipotent Son of God to view since it’s been almost 170 years since he started! [See this link for more info on “the investigative judgement and the SDA church.”

Yesterday night, I listened as Harold Camping, today’s William Miller, explained away his failed prediction. The Judgement Day predicted did actually happen. It was a spiritual judgement, however. He did make a mistake. He took the prophecies too literally. Of course, October 21 will still be the physical end of the world, in Camping’s book. But this is no setback now. He reached for a card from the Seventh Day Adventist’s playbook. But I wonder if his followers will buy it? Will they continue to be greatly disappointed?

History repeats itself. End-times hysteria has been running rampant in America for more than 250 years now. It’s allowed cults like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses to flourish. Other groups with seriously defective teaching have emerged, like the Seventh Day Adventists. Doctrinal systems have also arisen which have not helped the church. Disputes over extreme variations of dispensationalism or hyper-preterism have an end-times factor behind them.

What exactly is it that contributes to the end-times mania? And why can’t we see past it? I hope to explore some of these issues in a series of posts spread out over the next couple weeks. But feel free to share your thoughts here in the comments.

The chart above was taken from the Wikipedia article on “The Great Disappointment”.

A Letter to Those Who Expected Judgment Day

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

As a follow up to my post from yesterday, I came across this letter to those who expected Judgement Day. I have included a few excerpts but encourage you to read the whole thing.

This letter is… for those who are wondering: How did this happen? Why was I deceived? Why did God allow me, when I sought the truth in prayer, to believe this and go into the cities and distribute flyers and tell my loved ones that they should prepare for the Day of Judgment? How do I face the mockers now? And how do I know that my faith as a whole is not a falsehood as well? When I once went about with my youth group or college group or small group and proclaimed the gospel, and told people earnestly that Christ had died for them and that they should receive God’s gracious offer before the end “” was believing that and pronouncing that any different than believing and pronouncing that May 21st was Judgment Day? What if it’s all just a silly story, and I’m a fool to believe it?

…

Your heart was in the right place…. You were right to believe that God will, one day, gather his children unto himself and draw history as we know it to a close….

Our faith is not placed in a person or in a prediction, but in the good news of Jesus Christ….

We should remember the difference between scripture and an interpretation of scripture. The Christian scriptures did not say that May 21st would be Judgment Day. Harold Camping’s prediction was based on an interpretation of the scriptures that used some obscure tools and methods. An interpretation of the scripture does not have the same force as what the scripture says so plainly that no interpretation is required. So what was disproven in this case is not the scripture itself “” not remotely “” but an interpretation.

We should always beware the power of charismatic leaders and groupthink to sway our beliefs. I do not believe that Harold Camping is a crackpot or a cult leader, though some will construe him as such. I believe that he got caught up in a particular way of looking at the scriptures, and was eventually surrounded by people who believed likewise. I would guess it probably gave him a sense of extraordinary insight and excitement to believe that he could find hidden truths in the scripture that others could not. He should have been humbler. But his followers should also have been more critical, quicker to test him, and less quick to explain away the inconsistencies. They also should have listened to the gentle criticisms and encouragements they received from fellow believers who did not accept the May 21st prophecy….

…If some of you find that “your faith” is crumbling as the reality dawns that you believed in a falsehood, let me suggest to you, gently, that any faith that capsizes when Judgment Day fails to arrive is not a proper faith to begin with. If your faith is shattered here, then your faith was not in God but in a particular way of thinking about God and God’s plans. There’s a very important difference between the two.

**Read the whole letter.**

May 21, 2011 – The Day the World Didn’t End… What Now?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

My heart was affected deeply when I read this account of Robert Fitzpatrick, a New Yorker who spent over $100,000 to warn the world about May 21,2011. 6pm, the time the global earthquake marking the start of Judgement Day (and the rapture of the elect) should have reached New York City, came and went, and Fitzpatrick was left surprised. The New York Daily News was with him in Times Square soon after 6pm.

He said: “I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand.”

The 60-year-old said he had no regrets. “I did what I had to do,” he said.

“I’m just surprised – I don’t understand it. It’s locked in for 2011.”

“I obviously haven’t understood it properly because we’re still here,” he said.

“Let’s just say I’m surprised that nothing has happened – everything in the bible indicated it.” [source, also see this report]

I’m saddened because Fitzpatrick, and countless thousands of others, have been misled by an apparently well-intentioned, radio teacher, Harold Camping (of Family Radio).

What’s worse, is that the world has front-page headlines about how the rapture didn’t happen, and how “Bible-believing Christians” are just a bunch of end-times-frenzied cooks.

Please hear me now. This does not represent historical, orthodox Christianity. The Christianity which can trace its general teaching from now back to Jesus himself, has not embraced this nonsense. And if you are reading this and you are also one who was surprised, or disappointed, that May 21 didn’t turn out to be “the day”, please keep reading.

Christianity isn’t a religion based on being a good person and trying to follow the Bible and “doing what you have to do”, like Fitzpatrick believed he had done. It’s a life of faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf. This isn’t about an elect few sneering at the loss masses around them. Instead it is depraved sinners, recognizing that apart from Christ we too, would be without hope and bound in our sin.

Jesus Christ bore our punishment, the judgment day that we deserved, on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ, God’s own Son – equal with God in power and glory, yet incarnate in human form – Jesus took our place. The Creator of this world, had a plan from before it began, to redeem a believing remnant of his fallen creatures and shower them with grace and joy for all eternity. His message is one of love, yet He is a God who will judge the world for sin. We will give account to God.

Jesus is our substitute, though, for those who have faith in Him. Jesus promises to accept all who come to Him, and He will not cast any of them out. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross not only holds back the angry hand of God directed at us for our sin, it also turns God’s view of us into a loving and joyful embrace. Since we are united with Jesus Christ by our faith, God sees Jesus’ goodness when He looks at us. Our sins are gone, and our righteousness is infinite (since it is Jesus’ righteousness credited to us).

Through the Cross, God redeems His own people – those who repent of their sins and follow after Christ through continual faith and a desire to please Him – and He does more than that. He promises to remake this world – to undo the wrong that was done. He will rid the world of sin’s presence one day, at the Second Coming of Christ. And Jesus will reign and rule in splendor for all eternity with His own. The world will be a “new world”, and heaven will literally come down to earth.

Yes, Armageddon is part of this. God will judge sin. But the victory is sure, and it doesn’t depend on us recognizing the date or the hour, either! God’s people are to live lives that are eager for His coming – which is why they won’t be surprised when it does come. Their identity, their all and all, is Jesus. Sure they mess up and fail. Yes some of them get preoccupied with how bad the world is and all that needs fixing here and there. But at heart, all true believers know they aren’t better than anyone else. Instead they are thankful for God’s grace in their lives. They continue to hope, and the cling to the Word.

The Word of God is His message for us. But this message needs to be understood and read carefully. It is not an engineering text book, nor a blueprint or math game. It is a grand story. The story of Creation, Fall, Judgment, and Restoration. It is a story of God’s dealings with His people. The Bible says we aren’t to seek a “private interpretation”. God has given His people teachers down through the years and up through now. God says that in the Church He will be glorified through all ages, so the church age is not over (Eph. 3:21). In Bible-believing churches, there are safeguards from wide variety of radio, TV and internet teachers who would have us befuddled and confused. There are elders to guard the flock and safety in a multitude of counselors.

The mystery and hidden things of the Old Testament have been revealed in the New Testament. The church is the culmination of God’s plan for the ages. Jesus Christ is the final Word to mankind (see Hebrews 1). The Bible isn’t a jigsaw puzzle that’s intentionally obscure, it is a revelation of God’s will. The New Testament declares time and again that what was originally somewhat obscure has now been made plain for all through Christ. In fact, Paul and others believed they were living in the last days (see 1 Cor. 10:11 for an example). The last age is here. All that is left is for Christ to return and bring to consummation all His glorious promises for His own.

If May 21, which seemed so air-tight (when it comes to all the numerological connections that were given for it)– if May 21 is not the day, then perhaps you should consider that numerology is something not explicitly taught in Scripture. This whole approach to interpreting the Bible is bankrupt. I challenge those who had been believing Camping’s teaching to turn the radio off and go find a Bible-believing local church. Listen to the preaching and teaching for a while. Read the Bible without Camping’s books in front of you. Let God speak to you through His Word. He will guide you to the Truth.

If you have questions or comments, I’m happy to try and respond as I’m able in the comments section below or you can use the contact tab on the blog here, to talk to me privately. May God bless those who are in Fitzpatrick’s shoes tonight.

Picture credited Debbie Egan-Chin/News, accessible at this story page from New York Daily News.

On the Day Before Judgement Day

~ Bob Hayton ~ 8 Comments

If you haven’t heard, Harold Camping and FamilyRadio.com claim the Rapture will happen tomorrow and that Judgement Day will begin. The tribulation will last five months and on October 21, the world will end.

The sad part of all this, is that they claim the Bible teaches this and that God has revealed this to them. There has been a world-wide advertising campaign to warn people. The message has been spread via RV caravans, billboards, radio, and more.

The problem is Camping has predicted this would happen back in 1994 too, and will likely recalculate his numbers and come up with a new date once this one fails. Never mind that, his signs say “the Bible guarantees it”.

He gets to May 21 as the date of the rapture, through a far ranging use of Biblical numerology and assumptions. Since “begat” can indicate a father – son relationship or also a ancestor – descendant relationship, it is assumed it always refers to a time period rather than a direct father – son connection, unless other factors make it clear the Bible declares the two names are related as father and son. Because a day in the Bible can sometimes refer to a thousand years, it is assumed that days do refer to thousand-year time periods at important places in the scheme that results in May 21, 2011 being the date of the Rapture. Numbers can have an association or meaning, and then that meaning is applied universally. As in 23 is the number of wrath, 17 is the number of heaven, etc.

The result is a Biblical timeline of history that has a widespread corroboration with numerous numerological twists given to various time periods given in the Bible. For more on the Biblical timeline of history see this explanation. And several links on the left of the FamilyRadio.com website take a deep dive into the numerology.

The story is making headlines around the world. See the New York Times article here, and another story here. USA Today found that many of Camping’s staff don’t actually believe that May 21st is the day.

I’m saddened by the many followers who are being led astray in this. The Bible isn’t a mysterious collection of numbers to be figured out by experts. It has a plain and clear message of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. Jesus may return tomorrow, or even today. I believe that. But if He doesn’t, then Camping has revealed himself to be a false teacher and people should not follow him. I’ll probably say more about this in the future, it will be interesting to see what they say if the Rapture doesn’t happen tomorrow. I’ll leave you with a link to a video clip from FamilyRadio.com. May God help these people realize once and for all that this teaching is dangerous, and it trivializes the Bible’s message to a watching world.