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Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 39
Rick Welch takes over the Gary DeMar Podcast and interviews Kirk Cameron.
Big sales come from prophecy books that warn of near prophetic events. “Jesus must be coming soon to rapture His church because all the signs are in place.” Prophecy writers have been warning Christians for centuries. There’s big money in prophecy books and films, even when they always turn out to be false. That’s why American Vision published Francis X. Gumerlock’s book The Day and the Hour that’s a detailed history of countless failed prophetic speculations.
Unfortunately, the Left Behind franchise remains alive and well on planet earth as the Left Behind: The Rise of Antichrist film shows. There’s really nothing new in the premise for a film like this. Prophetic speculation grabs people’s attention. Everyone wants to know about the future.
Similar prophecy films like the 1972 film A Thief in the Night had poor production value but were highly popular. This film appeared two years after the very popular book The Late Great Planet Earth. Three Thief sequels followed: A Distant Thunder, Image of the Beast, and The Prodigal Planet.
The “thief in the night” phrase appears in the Bible at Matthew 24:31, Thessalonians 5:2, and Revelation 16:15. What event is Paul describing? It’s not the “rapture” or the Second Coming. He is describing the approaching judgment that Jesus described in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and elsewhere in the New Testament. Notice the audience references of who was caught off guard when this judgment came with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 using “we” (Paul and his fellow Christians) and “they” and “them,” that is, their Jewish persecutors (Acts 17:1-15).
Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction
What difference does it make what we believe about the end times anyway? DeMar addresses that question as well, showing how our point-of-view regarding end-times prophecies affects the way we live each day. In addition, DeMar answers skeptics who use failed end-times predictions to disprove the Bible. Giving a different perspective on the end times, this approach to the Bible could revolutionize the life of the church.
Buy NowRick Welch takes over the Gary DeMar Podcast and interviews Kirk Cameron. Kirk has been very active lately in helping to promote American history, family values, and an optimistic world-and-life-view. Formerly known as a teen actor and “the Left Behind Guy,” Kirk details some of the influences that have helped inform and guide his current work.
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