Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 70
Gary responds to a clip from a prophecy pundit on Facebook claiming that the Statue of Liberty is found in the book of Revelation.
Aren’t we seeing prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes? This protest is offered when people are hit with an interpretation that does not fit their long-held doctrinal views. They shift from the clear teaching of Scripture to current events. The Bible is then read through the lens of today’s newsprint, a form of “newspaper exegesis.” When current events change, somehow the clear teaching of the Bible on these subjects also changes. Few people ever take the time to check what prophecy “experts” wrote ten years earlier.
Our nation, and every nation, could go through the most tumultuous upheaval that history has ever experienced, and this still would not mean that Jesus was returning “in our generation.” For date setters, history is ignored and the Bible is twisted to fit a preconceived view of prophecy; the result is that the church experiences wild gyrations in the field of biblical prophecy. W. Ward Gasque writes:
The problem with the evangelicals who turn the Bible into a kind of crystal ball is that they show very little historical awareness. They speak assuredly about the signs that are being fulfilled “right before your very eyes” and point to the impending end. Lindsey confidently refers to our own as “the terminal generation.” However, these writers do not seem to be aware that there have been many believers in every generation—from the Montanists of the second century through Joachin of Fiore (c. 1135-1202) and Martin Luther to those Russian Mennonites who undertook a “Great Trek” to Siberia in 1880-84 and the nineteenth-century proponents of dispensationalism—who have believed that they were living in the days immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. So far they have all been mistaken. How many people have lost confidence in clear doctrines of Scripture affecting eternal life because misguided prophetic teaching is, unfortunately, not likely to be investigated?[1]
Gasque’s admonition is borne out by considering the religious and cultural conditions prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Medieval life was dominated by a corrupt church which positioned itself to be the ruler of all life, from personal thought and behavior to political power. The theology of the majority in the church could be described as heretical. It’s no wonder that the Reformers saw the Papacy as the Antichrist. The Westminster Confession of Faith of the seventeenth century, for example, named the Roman Pontiff as the Antichrist in the chapter on “Of the Church.”
Last Days Madness
In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of "end-times" fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.
Buy NowGary responds to a clip from a prophecy pundit on Facebook claiming that the Statue of Liberty is found in the book of Revelation. The harlot in Revelation 17 has been given hundreds of identities over the years, but they have all been wrong, and so is this one regarding the Statue of Liberty.
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