Archive for the ‘Evangelism’ Category

Why Jesus Isn’t Likely to Return on May 21st

Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Harold Camping in 2008

Image via Wikipedia

Perhaps you have heard that Harold Camping, General Manager and President of Family Radio, says he has calculated the exact date of the Rapture, based on a complicated formula that stretches 7000 years from Noah’s flood. The proposed date is May 21 at 6 p.m. As we reported in Prophecy Central, his listeners have supported the theory, buying billboards and driving scores of Family Radio vehicles in many parts of the country warning people to be ready.

Camping has been wrong before. He predicted the second coming on Sept. 6, 1994, and hundreds of his listeners gathered at an auditorium to wait for the event.

In our ‘Warnings and Cautions’, we stress that no one knows the exact date of Christ’s return. Here is Jesus’ own instruction about this from Matthew 24:32-44.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

So, by publicizing a supposed exact date for the Rapture, Camping has made it almost certain that Jesus will not return on that date. However, millions of Bible-believing Christians do think that He is coming soon, so it is a good idea to be ready all the time!

Our new book, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy, has detailed information about the Rapture of the Church and the later Glorious Return of Jesus Christ.

Posted in Apostasy, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy, Evangelism, Rapture | 1 Comment »

Hell Is For Real

Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Rob Bell

Image by feyip via Flickr

The study of prophecy must include what happens to people at the end of their mortal life. Two books that are very popular right now deal with some of these questions. One of them is Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. It is the delightful story of Todd Burpo, a 3 year-old who apparently went to heaven briefly during an emergency appendectomy. Little by little, his family discovered that he had experienced many wonderful contacts with Bible personalities and family members whom he had never even known existed. This heartwarming message is not a Bible study. It is offered as an account of one boy’s personal experience. It does not contradict orthodox Bible doctrine.

The other book was just released two days ago, but it caused an enormous theological debate even before its release. That book is Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, by emergent church pastor Rob Bell. Conservative Bible scholars are alarmed by Bell’s position that the traditional Christian teaching about hell is mean-spirited and untrue. The book tries to answer to the question that all of us have: “How could a loving God condemn people to an eternity of torment in hell?”

While thoughtful theologians agree that there may be various levels of punishment for those who rebel against God’s will, Bell apparently thinks that judgment and hell are mostly descriptions of the awful events that happen to people during their lifetime (“hell on earth”). As I read the book, I noticed that he didn’t explain the Great White Throne Judgment. How could a serious book about hell ignore this passage?

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:11-15

Taking Bell’s arguments to their extreme leads to what is known as “universalism,” the belief that people will eventually be drawn by God’s love into his blessing instead of his punishment, even if they do not receive Christ’s offer of salvation during their mortal lifetime.

The obvious problem with this view is that it is contrary to the clear teaching of Jesus and the rest of the Bible. Jesus taught more about hell than all the prophets that came before him. Yet he loves sinners more than anyone else has ever loved them, and sacrificed his life for them! His stern warnings about hell are the direct result of his love for the people he came to save.

Bell agrees that God’s love is infinite (thus the title: “Love Wins”), and that salvation is accomplished through the atonement of Jesus’ death. But he thinks that those who respond to God’s love will receive the gift of eternal life even if they don’t know about Jesus.

This issue will undoubtedly create a great debate among Bible scholars in the days to come. We will follow that debate and post more information in our blog from time to time.

From the standpoint of Bible prophecy, the acceptance of universalism will make possible a final world-religion. According to several passages of Scripture, there will be a great apostasy, or “falling away” of Bible-observing Christians (Matthew 24:12; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:2-4). Apostate Christianity will then be able to merge with other religions. The final evil one-world government will be supported by a united religion, symbolized by the adulterous woman who rides on the beast in Revelation 17.

For more information about Heaven, Hell, and the End-Times, see our book – Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy.

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Posted in Apologetics, Apostasy, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy, Evangelism, Missions, Religions | 3 Comments »

Pray for Japan

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

The massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan has caused their worst crisis since World War II. Our hearts literally ache for the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes or have been evacuated to emergency shelters. Many of them are enduring freezing nights, have little or no food or water, and are coping with the strong emotions of grief, fear, and anger. Whole villages were washed away, and the death toll in Miyagi prefecture alone could exceed 10,000. The number of deaths will undoubtedly be multiplied many times over.

The nuclear plant at Fukushima has suffered an explosion and a partial melt-down, and two others plants are also affected by the disaster. All of their nuclear reactors were shut down temporarily, severely limiting the power available to cope with the problems they face.

Christians need to pray diligently for them and do whatever we can to help them in this great time of need. This is our opportunity to show them Christian love.

Missionaries tell us that the Japanese are one of the largest unreached people group in the world. The number of Christians in Japan has declined from 4.6% before WWII to a current count of less than 2%.

Help Them
The American Red Cross -
Or text 90999 to donate $10.
Salvation Army
Samaritan’s Purse
Prayer and Missions
Global Media Missions - Online Missionaries
Operation World - The Definitive Prayer Guide For Every Nation
Pray for Japan - Operation World
Pray for Japan - The Rutherford family - missionaries in Japan with Mission to Unreached Peoples (MUP)

Posted in Earthquakes, Evangelism, Missions, Prayer | 6 Comments »

Earthquakes in Various Places

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

Ever since the monstrous 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, people have had a heightened awareness of the danger of seismic activity. That year, the earthquake and great tsunami claimed 227,898 lives.

Last year the Haiti earthquake devastated an entire country, killing 222,570 people and destroying most of their poorly-constructed buildings. Since then, Chile suffered an 8.8 magnitude quake, and just two and a half weeks ago a 6.3 event caused great damage in New Zealand.

And now the world is aghast at the massive destruction caused by the 8.9 magnitude quake and tsunami in Japan. Because of the way earthquakes are measured, with each higher point representing a multiplication of strength instead of an addition of strength, this tremor was actually 1000 times as powerful as the recent New Zealand disaster.

The Japan earthquake is even worse because of the potential melt-down of one or two of their nuclear reactors. One of these power plants has already suffered an explosion and release of radiation, making it the second most serious nuclear accident in history [Chernobyl in Russia was the worst].

Jesus said that one of the initial signs of the End Times will be an upsurge of earthquakes.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. - Matthew 24:7-8

Until recently we have felt that the number and size of earthquakes was not increasing significantly. Geologists usually parrot the fact that the number of major earthquakes has been relatively stable during the past two decades with an average of 17 tremors per year having a magnitude 7.0 or greater. Last year there were 22 of these major events, and there have been 7 in the first 10 weeks of this year. The horrific death toll, the increased awareness, because of media coverage, and the financial impact on an already weakened world economy have brought earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis to the forefront of our consciousness.

And, as we mentioned in a blog last year (Jan. 13, 2010), it has been determined that there are at six ways that man-made activity might cause earthquakes: by nuclear tests, by building dams, by injecting water into the ground (disposal, geo-thermal power), by mining vast amounts of coal, by draining oil wells dry, and by building super-tall buildings.

In the light of other major world developments, such as the global economic malaise, the wave of Islamic nationalism in the Middle East, and the growing threat of wars and rumors of wars, we must snap out of our delusion that things are continuing the way they always have been.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” - 2 Peter 3:3-4

What can we do about these catastrophes? Obviously, we can’t control them. But the horror and heartache of these disasters should bring out our Lord’s compassion in our hearts so that we reach out to the survivors with our earnest prayers, sacrificial help, and increased evangelism. And we should take Peter’s advice to heart to know the Lord and live a more godly life than ever before.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. – 2 Peter 3:11-12

Read our book, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy for more information about End-time events.

Posted in Earthquakes, Evangelism, Fearful Events | 14 Comments »

Our Book Is Now On Kindle

Monday, March 7th, 2011
Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon

We are happy to announce that our new book, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy, is now available as a digital/electronic book (eBook). It is already available on Amazon.com for their Kindle reader. And it is scheduled to be released soon by other eBook suppliers like Barnes and Noble for its Nook reader and Apple iBooks for the iPad.

I have been doing most of my reading on the Kindle recently because I can literally have a whole library of books in one convenient device that also lets me pick the size of the font.

Prophecy students will still want to have the printed book because Connecting the Dots is a reference manual – a notebook of sorts that you can underline and make personal notes in the margins.

However, the Kindle version is better in some ways. You can set bookmarks to favorite places. It remembers where you stopped reading and lets you continue quickly. It is lightweight, and as mentioned before, you may choose the font size that suits you best. It allows you to do a word search through the entire book. And, if you want, you can even have the Kindle read it to you with their text to speech feature that has been enabled for this book!

A great deal of extra work went into this version to enable hundreds of hyperlinks. Each chapter and subtopic in our 12-page Table of Contents is linked. Just click on the topic and the reader takes you to the section you want to read. Amazingly, the extensive index is also linked. When you find an entry in the index, you can click on the “page” number and the reader will find the proper section in the book, even though page numbers are not used in eBooks.

Lambert Dolphin and I are blessed to be able to share our passion for Bible prophecy through our book, and it is our prayer that it can be a tool to equip a new generation of Bible students and help stimulate an End-Times revival!

More information about the book is available at Connecting the Dots.

The Kindle version can be downloaded in one minute from Amazon.com

Posted in Apologetics, Apostasy, Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy, Earthquakes, Egypt, Evangelism, Fearful Events, Gog and Magog, Islam, Israel, Mark of the Beast, Middle East War, New World Order, Peace, Persecution, Prayer, Rapture, Revival, Revived Roman Empire, Technology, Terrorism | No Comments »

Evangelism and Prophecy

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

This week a young man that I admire wrote to me, saying that he had read my book, “Connecting the Dots: A Handbook of Bible Prophecy.” He said he enjoyed it, but wanted more information on how evangelism and prophecy fit together. He said, that he had always heard that Jesus will not come back until every tribe, tongue, and nation have had a chance to hear the Gospel at least once. He added that the book gave the impression that the 144,000 Jewish evangelists will complete the evangelization of the world.

I think that this young man identified a most-important aspect of the teaching of prophecy that needs to be explained again to our generation. There is a very close connection between prophecy and evangelism.

Here are some of the thoughts that occur to me now on the subject. The Lord willing, I will continue to think about it and write on the topic

Before the Rapture

Prophecy is one of the best ways to win people to Christ. Fulfilled prophecy proves that the Bible is true and Jesus is different from all other spiritual leaders (Isaiah 46).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear is respect, but there is also the threat of judgment for our sins. Properly presented, information about future trials and judgments can be instrumental in bringing conviction of sin.

The Lord Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Mt. of Olives right after giving the Great Commission once more to His disciples. The angels related His teaching and ascension to prophecy, saying that He will return again to the same place in the future (Acts 1:1-11; Zechariah 14:4).

Jonathan Edwards’ message, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” started the Great Awakening.

Billy Graham usually included a prophecy message in each crusade.

Hal Lindsey’s book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” was instrumental in winning great numbers of people to Christ.

Calvary Chapel and the Jesus People Movement were steeped in prophecy. “Maranatha,” Signs inside cars, “Warning, Driver going up in the Rapture,” etc.

Salem Kirban’s book, Guide to Survival” was an extremely effective tool for witnessing.

Greg Laurie often speaks on the subject of prophecy at his crusades.

The “Left Behind” series was used by the Lord to win multitudes to Jesus.

In 2 Peter 3:11-12, Peter did say that we can speed the Lord’s return. This must mean that by winning other people to Christ we shorten the wait for His return.

During the Tribulation

Untold numbers of people will accept Christ immediately after the Rapture of the Church.

During the Tribulation it is likely that all true Christians will be “witnesses” for Christ and many will be “martyrs” (same Greek word, martureo).

The two prophets and 144,000 witnesses will undoubtedly preach the Gospel, being protected by God’s power (Revelation 11; Revelation 7; Revelation 14).

By wise use of technology, underground Christians will probably still be able to share the Gospel far and wide.

During the Tribulation there will be a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-10).

The “Mark of the Beast” (Revelation 13) will force people to finally make up their mind, resulting in many brave conversions in spite of the consequences.

Finally the lord will use angels flying in the heavens to finish evangelizing the people during the tribulation (Revelation 14). They will proclaim the eternal gospel to all people and warn them of judgment.

This will fulfill the promise that the lord will not return until the whole world has heard, but this should not be an impediment to missionaries’ zeal.

It is likely that there will be a great End Times revival. God warned people before various judgments, and some cultures were revived (like Nineveh) while others were not (Noah’s generation).

In summary, evangelism and prophecy go together perfectly!

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Posted in Evangelism, Revival, Technology | 3 Comments »