Anticipating the Second Coming of Jesus is understandable and even admirable. But those making off-the-wall predictions are becoming intolerable.
Case in point:
Jesus was scheduled for arrival on June 21, 2018. He was a no show.
How many missed predictions can these loons offer until they go away?
Much of the rapture stuff that preoccupies many evangelicals was begotten in the mind of a brilliant 19th- century theologian and hyper-dispensationalist John Nelson Darby.
Darby was probably mentally disturbed meaning evangelicals who embrace his theology (most don’t know he even existed) have bought prime real estate in Looney Town.
When I was in my early teens I was convinced by fiery fundamentalist preachers that the Six Day War in the Middle East was incontrovertible evidence that the rapture was nigh.
The formation of Israel in 1948 was the fulfillment of Matthew 24:32-35 which says nothing about Israel or its formation. The generation that witnessed the “budding of the fig tree” would see the return of Jesus, they explained. A generation is forty years, they added, requiring Jesus to split the eastern sky sometime by 1988. As the deadline approached the fundamentalists backed away from their prediction. The year came and went without the blast of the trumpet or a “come up hither” leaving Darbyists to recalibrate their calculations.
Even today my fundamentalist friends taunt me with biblical predictions of the Second Advent. The end times will be evident as people “run to and fro,” I’ve been told.
“[E]ven to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” we read in Daniel 12:4. Well, there you have it. The transportation revolution coupled with a surge in worldwide literacy is obviously a slam dunk prediction that places the rapture at any second.
Why am I not convinced? Because I have a brain that is engaged.
Maybe “running to and fro” refers to Google searching. That would make more sense as the outcome would be increased knowledge. Then, again, maybe it refers to searching ancient scrolls in ancient times. That also makes more sense.
If, in fact, the passage in Daniel referred to advanced transportation, why did the biblical writer simply make it more evident? Why not add denotations about amazing flying machines that transported people around the globe in a matter of hours? Why not clue the ancients with tantalizing tales of self-propelled vehicles and massive stone-like highways that crossed continents? Wouldn’t that erase any chance of misunderstanding and confusion?
The answer is: “running to and fro” needed no explanation because the ancients understood its meaning which was almost certainly a reference to searching scrolls to increase knowledge; nothing to do with planes, trains, and automobiles.
And Steve Fletcher, who monitors events that could signal the end of mankind, believes the Rapture starts today.
He said: “Time is up and all hell breaks loose after June 21, 2018.”
He explained a number of factors had allowed him to pinpoint the end of times – which coincides with Summer Solstice, the ending of spring and the starting of summer.
Writing on his website, he said: “Many people have had dreams and visions that the rapture will occur shortly after the death of Billy Graham [a prominent evangelical Christian figure].
“Billy Graham passed away this year on the same day as Moses, February 21.
“That’s exactly four months or 120 days before June 21.
“That ties in with the 120 Jubilees since creation, and 120 years being the age that Moses was when he died. Very significant number, that 120.
“It’s a multiple of 12 – we have the 12 disciples, the 12 stars of Revelation 12.”
He also said other significant June 21 calculations include:
– From the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse – 10 months.
– From Chuck Mistler’s [another prominent evangelical Christian] death – 1 month 20 days.
– From Stephen Hawking’s death – 99 days.
– From Royal Wedding 33 days. Prince Harry is 33. Jesus was 33 at His resurrection.
– From Christopher Hitchen’s [prominent atheist] death – 6 years, 6 months, and 6 days.
– On June 21-22 there is a conjunction between Jupiter (represents Jesus) and the Moon (represents the bride/church) in the Libra constellation (represents the judgment seat of Christ).
– The movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – premieres June 22, 2018. In the Rapture when we go up to Heaven, the devil and his angels are cast down to Earth (Revelation 12).
Image: CCO Creative Commons; Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/tianjin-twilight-city-scenery-2185510/
