DATE SETTING IN THE LAST DAYS!
by Alan Yusko
One fact is sure..... The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back soon. The signs of His Second coming are everywhere. Today you can pick up a newpaper and read Matthew 24 and things just line up! Jesus is coming back soon!
The devil knows this and he wants to discredit the fact of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a counterfeiter, liar, and a deceiver.
One way to bring the truth into mockery is to have people set dates and do all kinds of crazy things.... and when nothing happens people will mock the truth of the return of Jesus. If a bunch of gullible folks sell their houses and wait on a mountain top for the return of Jesus on such-or-such a date....when nothing happens people laugh. The truth is made a mockery by the date setters. I have heard more than one testimony of people who gave up studying Bible prophecy because they were burned by following the foolish teachings of a date setter. What about all those gullible people who sold their houses and possessions? What do they do when the date comes and goes? What about all the people who just heard about the actions of the date setters? Are their hearts going to be open to the truth of Bible prophecy when they have seen the mockery of it?
It seems every year now the date setters figure out some kind of crazy numerical model where some Bible numbers go in and the current year comes out. This year will be no exception to that rule. Yes the Lord may come back in 1996 as the Rapture of the Church is imminent. It can happen at any time and needs no prophecy to be fulfilled before it occurs. When God is finished building His Church on earth, He will take His Church home with Him in heaven.
" But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
The above verse is as plain as day. No man can know the day and hour of the return of Jesus. There are other verses that say we can see the day comming and will not be surprised by it when it occurs. We can surely see the day coming and it is coming soon! However we cannot attach a specific date to it. That is the fatal flaw with all the date setters who try to pinpoint the exact date of the Rapture of the Church. Another point is every date-setter ignores or re-translates Matthew 24:36 to mean something other than what it says. That is a form of Scripture twisting and should be avoided at all costs. I know it is easy to get caught up and excited when someone comes up with an attractive date-setting model that seems to fit into the events of the our time period. However the date always comes and goes with nothing happening except reproach to the Gospel and Bible prophecy.
We are in 1996 now and we will hear the date setters around September or October of this year. We will also hear them in 1997 & 1998 etc..... I would encourage everyone not to listen to people who say that the Lord Jesus is coming back on such and such a date. The Rapture is going to happen and it will happen soon but no one knows the exact date of this event. Whenever I hear a date-setting "formula", I have alarm bells go off in my head. I just don't trust teaching that gives specific dates where God says a specific date cannot be known.
Now lets look at angle related to this subject. Even though we cannot know the exact date of the Lord's return, we can certainly see the day of His return approach.
1. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5)
Notice in verse 4 that we are told that the day will now overtake you (Christians) like a thief. This means that we can see the day coming even though we cannot know the exact day. Well the day is certainly coming as the Church throughout the world is eagerly anticipating the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lets look at another verse:
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)
Again we are told in Hebrews 10:25 that we will be able to see the day approaching. The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus is the blessed hope of the Church.
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" (Titus 2:13)
The Blessed Hope is a great encouragement given to God's people. It is sad that today some people have lost their blessed hope of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a good thing to look forward to going to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ ... FOREVER! It is a great hope to be raptured up from earth to meet the Lord in the air. This means the Christians alive at the time of the rapture will not experience physical death. They will be 'translated' from their earthly bodies to their heavenly ones in a moment, a twinkling of the eye. However some have listened to the date setters and have suffered greatly because of it. Others have rejected prophecy. Still others have embraced a false view of the rapture that robs the Christian of the Blessed Hope of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the mid-tribulation view, the post-tribulation view, the pre-wrath view, amillennialism etc....
Terrible days are coming into the world as events line up for the rise of the anti-Christ. The Blessed Hope is a joy to the heart and an encouragement to 'occupy till He comes'. Don't let the devil and his false teachings on prophecy rob you of your Blessed Hope.
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