Rapture Redux : Living With Hope and Purpose in the Last Days

Author:Daniel J. Gansle

Summary: <h3> Chapter One </h3> What in the World is Going On? ... for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10 * * * The morning of September 11, 2001 was one of those spectacular east coast early autumn days. The dazzling golden sunlight danced on trees, pavement, and high-rise window glass as thousands of commuters made their way through subway tunnels and onto buses and trains. Breathing in the crisp, dry air, one could not help but to notice the crystal clarity of the cloudless turquoise sky. Not one soul could have imagined what was to come. As the shocking events of that horrific morning unfolded on live television, it was like watching a futuristic horror film in slow motion. From initial reports of a commercial airliner "accidentally" careening into New York's World Trade Center Tower 1, to witnessing another jetliner slam into Tower 2 only minutes later, to seeing pictures of smoke and fire at the Pentagon - all in real time - was surreal, bizarre, foreign. "Is this really happening?" many wondered, "and how could this sort of thing happen in America?" This one event impacted the American psyche like no other in this nation's history. A recent poll suggests that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 will be considered by historians as "more significant" than the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But also on that beautiful yet tragic September morn, humanity was swiftly and suddenly propelled into the fulfillment of end-times prophecy more than any other time in modern history. In the years following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States of America sustained dramatic changes in the way it views privacy, liberty, and freedom in light of the renewed threat of worldwide terrorism. While some welcomed President George W. Bush's new hard-line policy of confronting the terrorist threat, others (such as the American Civil Liberties Union) accused his administration of abandoning the U.S. Constitution in favor of warrantless domestic surveillance and other programs ostensibly designed to deter terrorist activity. Airports enacted stricter security screening measures, and heated arguments over racial profiling erupted. Somber, highly alert security personnel strolling through American public venues while clutching large semi-automatic weapons were no longer relegated to futuristic science-fiction films. Increased security could be felt on the street, around federal buildings, during crowded events, in shopping malls, and on the National Mall. In 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed a program whereby ordinary citizen volunteers and persons who had access to people's homes (e.g., cable installers, plumbers, electricians) would be trained by the Federal Government to detect potential terrorist activity in a program called Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System). Had Operation TIPS not been killed by Congressional opposition, this program would have created a vast network of citizen spies, replete with a hotline to report suspicious activity. McCarthyism was resurrected, only this time the threat was not from communism. But the threat to privacy and liberty is most certainly not the only concern facing our world today. Morality and common decency are, in many cases, declining as a result of the shift from the Bible as our moral standard [in the West] to relativism, pluralism, and secular humanism. This has resulted in an increasingly self-centered society where egoism and self-gratification is not only accepted, it's celebrated. In our age of science, reason, and moral relativism, it is truly becoming a world where "anything goes and everyone knows." Volatility has become the norm in our world today. Consider just a few of the following characteristics of modern living: Wildly fluctuating gas prices Skyrocketing costs of living Increasing traffic and longer commutes Sudden stock market rallies and dramatic falls Out of control healthcare and education costs Increasing layoffs due to insourcing and outsourcing Entire industries vanishing (e.g., manufacturing) Constantly changing technology Worldwide terrorism An increase in random crime, violence, and school shootings Threat of declining oil reserves to the world's economies Globalization And that's just the beginning! It truly seems as if everything is coming at us at once. So what in the world is going on? The Relevancy of Scripture It's just human nature. With all the chaos that surrounds us, we rational human beings have an innate desire to try to make sense of it all. Wars, famines, economic upheavals, personal struggles, social issues, human migration, poverty, globalization, the environment - we all want to know what it means and its implications for mankind. Looking at the world around us today, it is truly amazing how relevant the Bible is in our modern society. The ancient peoples and cultures of the Bible have been through much of what we are going through today, some many times over. That's one reason the Bible is so interesting and engaging - it truly shows us that we're not alone. But no single aspect of the Bible has been more controversial, more despised, more maligned, and more misunderstood than the subject of prophecy. Ironically, most American churches have no problem citing fulfilled prophecies such as Isaiah 53 during Christian holy days, pouring over the text which very specifically predicts the first coming of the Messiah Jesus and His subsequent death on the Cross for the sins of all humankind. But when it comes to end-times prophecy, particularly the subject of the Rapture, it's considered too controversial to touch upon. On the other hand, if God felt it important enough to fill over one third of the Bible with prophetic text, isn't that an indication that He wants to communicate future events so that we can be prepared for what is to come? The answer may surprise you: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand Revelation 1:3). So not only does God want us to know what is going to happen in the future, He tells us that by reading and hearing His prophetic Word in Scripture, we are blessed by it! Why then are so many of our church leaders depriving their flocks of this important blessing? The answer may lie in the tremendous change the church has seen in recent years ("the church" defined herein as the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ regardless of denominational label) - more specifically, a change in the way they approach the Bible and translate God's Word vis--vis today's postmodern culture. We'll take a closer look at this transformation and its effect on the church in Chapter 7. But paralleling the rapid change seen in our churches today, the world at large has seen such rapid-fire change it's enough to make one's head spin. A Society on Steroids Today's world is changing faster than at any other time in history. Information flows at a breakneck speed and is accessible from anywhere on the globe. The Internet has changed the very fabric of our society, and the technological revolution has now allowed people to literally talk to anyone, anywhere on the planet via cell phones. As more and more people obtain access to the Internet and other information delivery outlets, knowledge is increasing at an exponential rate (Daniel 12:4). Remember not too long ago, when during the evening newscast, a reporter in the Middle East would pause for a few moments after the newscaster in New York asked a question? Thanks to incredible developments in satellite and Internet Protocol (IP) telecommunications technologies, we now get the news anywhere on the globe, in real time, instantaneously. It's a wired world, a fast paced world, a competitive world, and a world that is changing so rapidly it's hard to keep up. Some say it's a cold, impersonal world; others laud today's interconnectedness and increasing knowledge. It wasn't very long ago that cell phones were considered a luxury, and now everybody has one. And a Portable Digital Assistant device (PDA). And a laptop. And a digital music player. And satellite television. And high-speed Internet service. And a digital camera. And the list goes on ... So many people are asking, where is all of this leading? What kind of world are we shaping for ourselves? And what does the future hold? That's where prophecy comes in. The Prophecy Conundrum Prophecy has fascinated and bewildered human beings throughout the millennia. There's just something in the human spirit that wants to know what's going to happen in the future. Will we solve global warming? Will we end hunger and poverty? Will we finally elect a government that will implement real measures to help our beleaguered environment? Will this tense world of wars and rumors of wars end in the complete annihilation of all nations, including the United States of America, in a massive nuclear Armageddon? Some turn to Nostradamus for answers. Others turn to scientific greats such as Carl Sagan. However, no prophetic text has ever proven one hundred percent accurate, with its prophecies coming about exactly as foretold, as the Bible. In his book, Messiah: War in the Middle East & the Road to Armageddon, Bible prophecy expert Grant R. Jeffrey opines: The Bible is the only religious book in existence that dared to detail thousands of prophecies concerning the rise and fall of empires, most of which, historically, have already been fulfilled. In no other religious literature will you find hundreds of detailed predictions that have been fulfilled precisely as they were predicted. In my earlier book, Armageddon - Appointment With Destiny, I present a mathematical analysis which shows that it is impossible for any human - not inspired by Almighty God - to predict accurately a series of sequential events, events that can be historically verified. No human has ever presented such detailed predictions of future events. Those who point to the occasional lucky "guess" of Nostradamus or Mother Shipton ignore the hundreds of totally incorrect predictions they also made. As Jeffrey correctly points out, the prophecies in the Bible stand a cut above the rest in terms of accuracy, detail, and precise description of human history. You won't find any vague references in the Bible - it's all plain and clear, very specific, and very precise. If God says the sovereign nation of Israel will be miraculously resurrected in the last days after 2500 years of Gentile rule, so it will be. If God says one man will rise up in the end times to confirm a peace covenant guaranteeing Israel's [and the world's] security, so it will be. If God describes the final war as playing out in a specific geographic region in Israel (Megiddo, or Armageddon), so it will be. No guessing games, no trying to figure out esoteric lines of poetry. He says it, and it happens. Increasingly, church leaders and theologians have taken the position that Bible prophecy is so difficult to read, so cryptic, and so full of symbolism that it's useless for us to even try. Others try to "spiritualize" prophecy, opining that all prophetic text is spiritual in meaning, not literal. But such people have to ask themselves, why then is one third of the Bible devoted to prophecy? And why would God insert text into Scripture that He wouldn't want the human race to study and decipher? The truth of the matter is, He does want us to know so that we will be prepared for what is to come. Furthermore, He wants us to know that as our Sovereign God, He is active in the world and is in full control of the entire universe. But what exactly does Bible prophecy entail? And why should we worry about things we have no control over in the first place? Prophecy Primer In theological circles, the study of the end times is referred to as eschatology. Eschatology encompasses one's view of whether or not the Rapture will occur and at what point in time, our role as human beings in the end times, whether the Kingdom is physical or spiritual, the role of Israel in prophecy, and so on. One person may believe that we are already in the [spiritual] kingdom (amillennialism). Another may believe we will be Raptured before the Tribulation hour and then seven years later Jesus will return to establish His Kingdom and to rule and reign for one thousand years (premillennialism or pretribulation). Yet another may believe our role as Christians is to take dominion over the earth to create the conditions for the Rapture (dominionism). Throughout the Church Age, men and women have debated various aspects of eschatology. Many of the eschatological assumptions inherent in the church today were also present in the early church. In fact, the early church saw the beginnings of the eschatological notion of preterism (all prophecy has been fulfilled) and quickly corrected it (2 Thess. 2:1-3). Dispensationalism: That Pesky Theological Inference The underlying current that runs throughout the study of the end times has seen its share of controversy over the years. Entire volumes have been written about this topic, and debate regarding its merits and its deficits has raged on since the early 1800s. Dispensationalism suggests that throughout history, human beings have entered into several time periods called dispensations (or administrations or economies) in which God provides a new revelation to mankind to bring us closer to Him, judges mankind for our having fallen short, and then begins again with a new revelation. While critics of dispensationalism view Israel as having been replaced by the church, dispensationalists view Israel as a key element in God's plan for the end times. For many Christians, the hermeneutic framework of dispensationalism is a helpful tool for viewing the Bible in light of its continuity, historicity, and prophetic timeline. One criticism surrounding dispensationalism is the view that God never changes and thus would never allow for multiple dispensations of varying edicts and ways of salvation. It is clear in the Bible that only one way exists to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ. That does not change. Furthermore, Scripture tells us that the new revelations do not in the least cancel out the old - in fact, they fulfill them. Jesus tells us: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18). (Continues...)  </pre> <blockquote><hr noshade size='1'> Excerpted from Rapture Redux by Daniel J. Gansle Copyright © 2007 by Daniel J. Gansle. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Print Book, English, 2007

Publisher: Infinity Pub, 2007

ISBN:

9780741440525, 0741440520

OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:166391021

Contents:

<h3>Contents</h3> <pre> Acknowledgments...................................................................vii Foreword..........................................................................ix Prologue..........................................................................xiii Chapter 1: What in the World is Going On?.........................................15 Chapter 2: Just Another Fairy Tale?...............................................35 Chapter 3: Hidden Rapture Clues in the Old and New Testaments.....................67 Chapter 4: Prophetic Signals of the End Times.....................................85 Chapter 5: A World of Deception...................................................113 Chapter 6: New Religion for a New Age.............................................135 Chapter 7: Apostasia..............................................................157 Chapter 8: The UFO Connection.....................................................185 Chapter 9: The Day After..........................................................199 Chapter 10: Therefore Watch!......................................................221 Bibliography and Notes............................................................243 Living With Hope and Purpose......................................................249 Book Club and Speaking Information................................................253 </pre>