Clivedurdle

Dake got the correct version directly from the Lord!

http://www.learnthebible.org/q_a_dake.htm

(Little clue about my misspent youth and Happy Xmas etc everyone!).

DCHindley

Back in the 1970's I used to enjoy finding those detailed end-times tracts that were commonly distributed by "bible-based" churches in the USA. Some were independent churches, some were associated with or at least called themselves by the names Baptists and Presbyterians, others were associated with various formally organized Pentecostal and Holiness churches. Some are "full gospel" (pentecostal or charismatic) but the vast majority of them were not (in fact some of the latter think "tongues speakers" are misled by the Devil and in danger of hell fire).

They usually contained snips from an extensive selection of OT passages about ethnography (distribution of peoples, see Genesis), along with OT passages that could be taken as prophesies, and then would mine aforesaid passages from the NT, then weave them into wonderfully imaginative scenarios in which:

Gog and Mat-Gog of Genesis are interpreted as the Russians and the Soviet Union (USSR)

The Whore of Babylon of the book of Revelation was equated with the Roman Catholic church

The 10 kings of Revelation were interpreted as the European Union (EU), and

The Arab-Israeli conflict was interpreted as the background events that will initiate the final Battle of Armageddon from Revelation.

The USSR would be led by a charismatic world ruler (the Beast of Revelation = the Lawless One of 2 Thes) who would institute a 7 year Tribulation in which any believers would suffer terrible persecution for not receiving the "666" mark on their forehead, and the earth subjected to the horrible plagues of locusts, poisoned bloody waters, etc, predicted by the Revelation. They would vary on details such as whether the Rapture of 1 Thes would occur before or after the Tribulation.

The Beast would then get the (then 10) nations of the EU to follow him in a mass military attack on Israel at the valley of Megiddo (Armageddon of the Revelation), at which point Jesus would triumphantly Come Again (return from heaven) with his heavenly armies, destroy the Beast and his godless army, and then institute the Kingdom of God. There was some disagreement over whether this would start with a 1,000 year (millennial) KoG on earth, which would at the end transform into a New Heaven and Earth, or go straight into a NH&E with the 1,000 year reign being a metaphor for it.

Hal Lindsay's Left Behind series of books (later movies) are based in this kind of interpretation of the bible. I would guess that you'd be hard pressed to find these kinds of tracts anymore. Obviously, the USSR is long defunct, the EU has more then 10 country-members, the Arab-Israeli conflict is not anywhere near as militarized as it was in the 70's, so the interpretation no longer holds water. I am not sure how beliefs of this kind may have transformed over time, as I no longer follow it.

But millennial religious movements have made predictions about times & dates for the 2nd coming that did not occur as predicted. The Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses and others have made several predictions of this kind in the last couple centuries. You could do a Google search on these groups or the generic term "millennial" to see how they have dealt with the disappointment.

A formal evaluation of the rationalization process is studied in Leon Festinger's case study of a UFO cult that predicted that aliens would save the cult's members before a horrible cataclysm engulfed the earth (When Prophesy Fails, Harper & Row, 1956). The conclusions of this case study were later published as a formal theory in A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford U. P., 1957).

DCH

Ben C Smith

I think you mean Timothy LaHaye (with Jerry Jenkins), though of course Lindsey (of The Late Great Planet Earth fame) is also very big in this particular interpretive arena.

Ben.

DCHindley

Correct indeed. Spoke from the top of my head.

If I recall correctly, they all were coming out around the same time.

Hal Lindsey:

The Late Great Planet Earth - 1970 - 196 pages
Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth - 1972 - 268 pages
There's a New World Coming - 1984

Timothy LaHaye:

Left behind series:
Oct. 1995, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (ISBN 0-8423-2912-9)
Oct. 1996, Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind (ISBN 0-8423-2921-8)
Oct. 1997, Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (ISBN 0-8423-2924-2)
Aug. 1998, Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides (ISBN 0-8423-2925-0)
Feb. 1999, Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed (ISBN 0-8423-2926-9)
Aug. 1999, Assassins: Assignment: Jerusalem, Target: Antichrist (ISBN 0-8423-2927-7)
May. 2000, The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession (ISBN 0-8423-2929-3)
Nov. 2000, The Mark: The Beast Rules the World (ISBN 0-8423-3228-6)
Oct. 2001, Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne (ISBN 0-8423-3229-4)
Jul. 2002, The Remnant: On the Brink of Armageddon (ISBN 0-8423-3230-8)
Apr. 2003, Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages (ISBN 0-8423-3236-7)
Mar. 2004, Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (ISBN 0-8423-3237-5)
Apr. 2007, Kingdom Come: The Final Victory (ISBN 0-8423-6061-1)

Left Behind Prequels:
March 2005, The Rising: Before They Were Left Behind (ISBN 0-8423-6056-5)
November 2005, The Regime: Before They Were Left Behind (ISBN 1-4143-0576-1)
June 6 2006, The Rapture (ISBN 1-4143-0580-X)

Babylon Rising series:
October 2003, Babylon Rising (ISBN 0-553-80322-0)
August 2004, The Secret on Ararat (ISBN 0-553-80323-9)
September 2005, The Europa Conspiracy (ISBN 0-553-80324-7)
August 29, 2006, The Edge of Darkness (ISBN 0-553-80325-5)

The Jesus Chronicles series:
November 21, 2006, John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (ISBN 0-399-15389-6)
2007, Mark's Story: The Gospel According to Peter (Working Title)

Other:
The Beginning of the End (ISBN 8423-0106-2 Paper; Tyndale House Publishers; Wheaton, IL; 1972)
Revelation: Illustrated and Made Plain revised (Zondervan, 1975 {first printing 1973})
No Fear of the Storm (Zondervan, 1977) Re-released as Rapture Under Attack (Multnomah 1998)

DCH

sugarhitman

The Rapture of the "Church" seems to be the result of Replacement Theology which incorrectly believes that the Church is separate from the nation of Israel which is not true. This is why certain church leaders predicted that Jesus was returning in a few years or days when Israel was no longer a nation. The OT prophecies and Revelations and even Jesus himself says that he returns during a time when Israel would be attacked by the Gentiles or nations. The Rapture cannot take place without Israel existing....because Israel IS THE CHURCH.

figuer

I notice from this thread and another that you are an adept of very unorthodox interpretations of Christian mythology.

The Dagda

Doesn't Georgia have an Orthodox church, or is he from Georgia US?

Johnny Skeptic

Please be advised that Israel does not exist in accordance with God's promise that he would give Abraham and his descendants all of the land of Canaan as an everlasting covenant. History does not show that Jews have ever occupied all of the land of Canaan, or even close to all of the land of Canaan, and history certainly does not show that the covenant is everlasting since it has never begun. It can't begin until Jews occupy all of the land of Canaan. That has never happened, at least as far as we know, and there are not any good reasons for anyone to believe that it ever will happen.

Now when do you suppose Jews will occupy all of the land of Canaan, and that their occupation will be everlasting, possibly a few weeks before Jesus returns to earth?

The Dagda

They are rebuilding the temple though.

But some ultra orthodox jews even believe that Israel shouldn't exist as it's not the Biblical Israel, which is one reason why Zionists said it was a secular belief.

sugarhitman

A tiny minority as many religious Jews support Israel....and Zionism included religious Jews as well who were also members of the original "Zionist government"



Very deceptive and yet ineffective.