Unfortunately, people throughout the centuries have disregarded the clear teaching of the Scriptures and have sought to convince others that they knew when Jesus was coming back. Perhaps some have set dates truly believing they were right. Others have surely been motivated by greed or pride. Either way, they have disobeyed the Bible, misled people, brought ridicule against the church, and caused some to doubt any teaching related to Bible prophecy and the second coming of Christ.
False Teaching about the Last Days
A radio host named Harold Camping made headlines in 2011 by publicly predicting that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to pick up the story in January 2010.
Camping, 88, has scrutinized the Bible for almost 70 years and says he has developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden within the Good Book. One night a few years ago, Camping, a civil engineer by trade, crunched the numbers and was stunned at what he’d found: The world will end May 21, 2011. . . . Employees at the Oakland office run printing presses that publish Camping’s pamphlets and books, and some wear T-shirts that read, “May 21, 2011.” They’re happy to talk about the day they believe their souls will be retrieved by Christ. “I’m looking forward to it,” said Ted Solomon, 60, who started listening to Camping in 1997.[144]
Camping then made his prediction even more specific, saying the Rapture would occur at or around 6 p.m. (though he didn’t specify which time zone).[145] His radio network purchased billboards announcing the date all over the country and even some in other countries (I saw one in Israel). People printed all kinds of things with the date on them. The Internet was abuzz with speculation about the date, and as the date drew closer, media attention grew steadily.
Camping was wrong, of course. May 21 came and went, and the Rapture did not occur. Undaunted, the radio charlatan—whose Family Radio network has brought in more than $80 million in donations since 2005[146]—then said his calculations were flawed and that the real date of the Rapture would be October 21, 2011.[147] The following month, Camping suffered a stroke, and his show was taken off the air.[148] When October rolled around, the revised date turned out to be a false alarm as well.
These were not the first times that Harold Camping had misled people regarding the date of the Rapture. In 1992, he published a book titled 1994? I actually have a copy in my personal library because I have started a collection of books and pamphlets of false teachings about Bible prophecy. Camping’s book is over 550 pages long and concludes, “The results of this study teach that the month of September of the year 1994 is to be the time for the end of history.”[149] The radio host was wrong then, too, of course. Neither the Rapture nor the end of the world occurred in 1994.
Camping is not the only one who has spread false teaching about the last days. I own a copy of a now-infamous booklet titled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. “You only need one good solid reason why 1988 will be the church’s Rapture,” wrote Edgar C. Whisenant. “Here are 88 reasons why 1988 looks like the year.”[150] Whisenant said he calculated that the Rapture would happen on either September 11, 12, or 13 of 1988 and that Christ’s second coming would be in October of 1995.[151] What’s more, he predicted the utter destruction of the United States before November 1988. “We will not see another national election,” Whisenant wrote, “nor will we see the end of the 213th year of the Constitution (the end of 1988), before the war comes (World War III) which destroys us completely as a nation, before the election in November 1988.”[152] Millions of copies of the booklet were sold or distributed throughout the United States in 1988, according to the publisher.[153]
Obviously, Whisenant was wrong. Neither the Rapture nor the end of the United States nor the end of the world occurred as he predicted. That, however, didn’t dissuade him. I also have a copy of the sequel he published the following year, The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989. In this one, he explained that he had miscalculated and there were actually eighty-nine reasons why Jesus was coming back in 1989! “Jesus is really coming, and I believe it is this year!” Whisenant wrote on page 1. “Last year I wrote the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 because I saw all the signs and believed the Rapture of the church would occur during Rosh Hashanah 1988. . . . My mistake was that my mathematical calculations were off by one year. The miscalculation was so simple, perhaps the reason I did not see my error was God’s will, in order to issue the warning, or shout, to awaken a sleeping Bride or church.”[154]
Yet again, Whisenant was wrong.
The Dangers of Overreaching about the Last Days
One of the most famous yet highly controversial writers about prophecy in recent memory is Hal Lindsey. His bestselling book The Late Great Planet Earth (with collaborator C. C. Carlson) was published in 1970 and in many ways helped popularize the idea that we are living in the last days. The book went on to sell more than 15 million copies. Unfortunately, Lindsey repeatedly overreached in his analyses.
For example, Lindsey wrote that since Israel was reborn in 1948 and since a generation—in his view—was forty years, the Rapture would likely take place by 1988. He began by citing Matthew 24:34, where Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Then Lindsey asked, “What generation? Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the signs—chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place. Many scholars who have studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe that this is so.”[155]
Many Christians sincerely believed the Rapture would happen by 1988, in no small part because a popular author like Hal Lindsey had suggested it would. And Lindsey didn’t back off of his convictions after the publication of The Late Great Planet Earth. Instead, he doubled down. In 1982, he published a book titled The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. On the very first page, he wrote, “I believe many people will be shocked by what is happening right now and by what will happen in the very near future. The decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it.”[156]
When the Rapture didn’t happen in 1988, many Christians who had listened to and believed Lindsey—and other pastors, teachers, and authors who were making a similar case—became disillusioned. They stopped studying Bible prophecy. They began doubting the validity of Bible prophecy. Some began doubting the inerrancy of Scripture. Others turned away from Christ. I know pastors and Bible teachers who have told me they backed away from teaching Bible prophecy around this time precisely because they felt so many people had been burned by inaccurate, misguided, and overreaching teachers and authors. Some didn’t want to be lumped in with teachers of “prophecy hype” and sensationalism or identified with what some were already describing as “doomsday chic.”[157] Others were concerned that they, too, had perhaps been overreaching in their excitement about the possibility of Christ’s sudden return and decided to cool things off a bit.
Lindsey then published a book in 1994 titled Planet Earth 2000 A.D.: Will Mankind Survive? He released a “revised updated edition” in 1996 as millennium fever was building. In the book, Lindsey conceded that many people believed he had predicted the Rapture would happen by 1988, but he defended himself by noting the caveats he had included in The Late Great Planet Earth. “I also said ‘if’ a generation was 40 years and ‘if’ the generation of the ‘fig tree’ (Matthew 24:32-34) started with the foundation of the State of Israel, then Jesus ‘might come back by 1988.’ But I put a lot of ifs and maybes in because I knew that no one could be absolutely certain.”[158]
Unfortunately, Lindsey overrreached again, this time by seeming to predict that the Rapture would happen by the year 2000. In his afterword, he described the world’s biggest party being planned in Giza, Egypt, near the Great Pyramid on December 31, 1999. “Just for the record,” Lindsey wrote, “I’m not planning to attend. In fact, loo
king at the state of the world today, I wouldn’t make any long-term earthly plans. We may be caught to meet Christ in the clouds between now and then—just as I described in an earlier chapter. Could I be wrong? Of course. The Rapture may not occur between now and the year 2000. But never before in the history of the planet have events and conditions so coincided as to set the stage for this history-stopping event. Surely, this will be a show that surpasses any Great Pyramid millennium bash.”[159]
Needless to say, the Rapture didn’t happen in 2000 either.
This is not to say that all of Lindsey’s research was flawed. To the contrary, some of it was useful. But his books are examples of the dangers—and ease—of overreaching in one’s analysis and drawing conclusions that are premature. That’s why I note that one must be extraordinarily careful when one writes or teaches about Bible prophecy. Prophecy teachers should be conservative in their analyses and avoid drawing quick conclusions. If one makes a mistake, one should own up to it and correct it, not double down and compound the error. People are watching and can be harmed by bad teaching. What’s more, God is watching and will not bless poor, sloppy, or false teaching.
Additional Evidence
Overreachers, false teachers, poor teachers, cynics, and mockers notwithstanding, we are living in the last days. Of this we need have no doubt.
The apostle Peter told us back in the first century that the church began living in the “last days” on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to begin preaching the gospel in languages they did not know. “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel,” Peter explained. “‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams’” (Acts 2:16-17).
The apostle John, likewise, told us we were living in the “last hour” back in the days when he wrote his first epistle and so many false teachers and false prophets and opponents of Jesus Christ were appearing on the world scene. “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
What’s more, precisely because in recent decades we have seen so many other signs of the last days come true, we can be additionally certain that we are living in the last days. One by one we have seen the signs foretold by the Bible come to pass in our lifetimes. Events and trends that Jesus said would be the “birth pangs”—evidence that a dramatic delivery is increasingly close at hand—are being seen and felt all around us.
We don’t know when the Rapture will happen or when the Tribulation will begin. Nor can we know precisely when the Second Coming will actually occur. Nor should we speculate. To do so is not biblical.
The Scriptures teach us that the Lord will only come when everyone on earth has had the opportunity to hear the gospel and choose to accept Christ or reject him. We are supposed to live with the sense that Jesus could come at any moment. But the Lord will delay until he is satisfied that everyone has had a chance to repent and be born again. Yes, “in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” the apostle Peter told us well in advance. “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3, 8-9).
Have you ever heard of the sons of Issachar? The Bible tells us that Issachar was one of the sons of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob. Issachar’s descendants became one of the twelve tribes of Israel. At one point in the ancient history of the Hebrew people, the sons of Issachar were singled out in the Scriptures for being exceedingly observant and insightful about the dangerous and treacherous events that were unfolding all around them, and for being impressively wise about how their country should navigate through troubled waters. We read in 1 Chronicles 12:32 (NIV) that the sons of Issachar were “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” I pray that we find more sons (and daughters) of Issachar in our day, men and women who truly understand the times and know what the United States of America should do before it is too late.
Bottom Line
The Lord Jesus told us that rather than speculate on exactly when he is coming, we should analyze the times in which we live, be aware of the signs, and then be ready, be on the alert, be spiritually awake, be faithful and obedient when we see these signs of the last days coming to pass.
• Jesus said, “When you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:33).
• Jesus said, “Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).
• Jesus said, “For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:44).
• Jesus said, “Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming . . . in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” (Mark 13:35-37).
• Jesus said, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
Teachers of Bible prophecy need to be very careful, then. Our responsibility is not to predict when Christ will return but to help people understand the times and be ready for his return, whenever that occurs—especially since it could happen at any time. Likewise, students of Bible prophecy need to be very careful to discern the difference between solid Bible teaching and false teaching. We must carefully study what the entire Bible says—and what it does not say. We must meticulously and prayerfully study “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, NKJV) and, in so doing, avoid false teaching and the teaching of those who creatively use bits and scraps of the Bible in vain hopes of proving something the Bible never said while willfully or ignorantly turning a blind eye to other Scriptures that provide critically helpful details. We must, in other words, learn to discern the full, true, balanced teachings of God.
Which now brings us to the key question: If we really are living in the last days, what does the Bible say is going to happen to America during this time?
CHAPTER EIGHT
WHAT HAPPENS TO AMERICA IN THE LAST DAYS?
Is the United States of America ever mentioned in the Bible? This is critical because if America is mentioned in Bible prophecy, then those prophecies would give us important clues about America’s destiny.
Most Western, Asian, and sub-Saharan African countries are not mentioned in the Scriptures, but some nations are. Indeed, some nations are mentioned specifically in the context of End Times prophecies.
Israel, of course, is clearly and repeatedly mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, and we learn many truths about her future since Israel is the central player in God’s plan and purpose for the final years leading up to the second coming of Christ. Bible prophecies also provide us vital information about the future of a range of other Middle Eastern, North African, and European countries, including Egypt, Syria (Damascus and Assyria), Lebanon (Tyre), Jordan (Ammon, Edom, and Moab), Iraq (Babylon), Greece, and a revived Roman Empire as described in the book of Daniel. There are also specific, detailed, and fascinating Bible prophecies that discuss the future of other key countries, notably Russia (Magog and Rosh) and a group of allies that will form an alliance against Israel in the last days, as described in Ezekiel 38–39 and Jeremiah 49. These include Iran (Persia and Elam), Turkey (Gomer), Sudan and Ethiopia (Cush), Libya and Algeria (Put), Central Asia (Beth-togarmah), and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates (Sheba and Dedan).[160]
Countries like China, North Korea, Indonesia, and Pakistan ar
e not specifically mentioned in the Bible. There is, however, an intriguing reference in Revelation 16:12 to “the kings from the east” who send their massive military forces through Iraq, up the Euphrates River, to the mountain of Megiddo, or Armageddon, to participate in the final, catastrophic, apocalyptic military showdown with Israel before the Day of the Lord.[161]
Conceptually, then, since other nations are specifically mentioned, it is not inconceivable that America should be found in Bible prophecy. For well over a century, authors and teachers from a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds have pondered and discussed this topic. Some have argued vehemently that America is mentioned in the Bible, insisting it was either patently obvious to everyone or simply obvious to them as uniquely enlightened observers. Others have concluded that America is not mentioned in the Bible. Over the years, I have developed a small library of books devoted to the topic.
More Than a Century of Books on America and Prophecy
In 1888, for example, Ellen G. White, the woman who helped found the Seventh-day Adventist church, published a 654-page book called The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, later retitled America in Prophecy. White cited a range of passages from the books of Daniel and Revelation in making her case that America was in fact referenced in Scripture. She specifically pointed to Revelation 13:11: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.” White then argued that “one nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America. . . . The lamb-like horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States.”[162]