Best of times, Worst of times, End of times - Part 2

Here is a list of the topics that I will be covering. (Hopefully if am able to get to them all) Like I said in Part 1, this subject is really one that needs to be done in a class setting. But I will do my best to cover it all here.

More topics might be added as I go through the study.

• What are the major end times theories? (Covered in Part 2)
• What is the most popular end time theory? (Covered in Part 2)
• What is a study of the End Times? (Covered in Part 2)
• How to approach a study of the end times properly. (Covered in Part 2)
• Will there be signs that Jesus is about to return?
• Who is the Anti-Christ?
• Who is the man of Lawlessness?
• Overview of Bible History
• In Depth study on the book of Daniel as to the End Times.
• In Depth study on the book of Ezekial as to the End Times.
• In Depth study on the book of Zechariah as to the End Times.
• In Depth study on the Gospels as to the End Times.
• When will Jesus Return?
• Who goes 1st in the rapture? Christians or Non-Believers?
• In Depth study of the book of Revelation
• The battle of Armageddon

What are the major end time theories?
There are 4 major End Times theories that are popular today.

Dispensational Premillennialism(Less than 500 years old)
This is what you might call a 100 dollar word. (Used to be a $20 word, but its inflation ya know) These are words that some people like to throw around to make themselves feel like they are better than the rest of us. They are words that very very few people know the meaning of, much less can pronounce. Im not going to bore you with the exact meaning. If you really want to know what Dispensational Premillennialism means, Id suggest a dictionary or better yet Googling it. This is the theory that you hear about in many Christian schools, in popular paperback books, many denominations, and by most TV and radio preachers.

You will recognize this theory by;

• Emphasis on a national Israel
• Signs of the times
• Rapture of the Church
• 7 year tribulation
• Single Anti-Christ figure
• Battle of Armageddon
• Jesus return to earth followed by a 1000 year earthly Jewish kingdom

This theory gained its popularity in the 1970's by Hal Lidseys ' Late Great Planet Earth and then again in the 1990's by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jinkins' Left Behind series of books. Its probably the theory that many of you out there reading this blog have adopted.

Historic Premillennialism
This is an old view dating from the later 1st or early 2nd century. In this theory, Jesus will return to rule for 1000 years over a Christian Kingdom. (Note the difference here. In this theory, its a Christian kingdom, whereas Dispensational Premillennialism says that Jesus will rule over a Jewish kingdom. More on this later.

Amillennialism - Post-Millennial
This theory is also a view that was held by part of the early church of the 1st and 2nd century. This view holds that;

• Jesus will return After the 1000 years of Revelation 20:4-6.
• Rejection of the theory that Jesus Christ will have a thousand-year long, physical reign on the earth.
• The thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20 is a symbolic number, not a literal description.
• The millennium has already begun, is identical with the current church age and is the final age of the earth .

Preterism - Post-Millennial
This theory is that all prophecy, including the 2nd coming, was fulfilled in 70 AD, which was when Rome destroyed the city of Jerusalem. There is also an offshoot of this theory called Realized Eschatology, which in some circles holds that some prophecy has already been fulfilled while others have not. Realized Eschatology does not hold with the belief in 2nd coming as an apocalyptic event because it just does not seem to be in line with the rest of Jesus' teachings.

These are the major theories that have to do with the end times. There are all kinds of variations of these theories. I think that the fact that there are so many theories, attest to the fact that its just not possible for us to know. But its human nature to want to figure things out. We want to know how its all going to end. (When when you stop and think about that statement, its rather a dumb statement. After all, as Christians, we are eternal creatures. We will not have an end. We simply have transitions into different states of being. (Hope that does not sound too new-agey))

The only real conclusion that we can come to with all these theories is that everyone cannot be right. Nor do I think that everyone is wrong.

We think we know because God gave us glimpses, but when it finally comes, we will all find out that we only thought we knew the ending.

When I get a book, Im tempted to look at the last page and find out how it all ended. In fact, there is even a growing trend in TV and movies to show us the end 1st. Then they go back in time and show us the events that lead up to the end. Of course, they always hold back that little something so that even though we thought we knew the end, when the end comes around again, we find out that the ending is actually different.

Like the TV show I watched just last night. The show is called Castle. The opening scene was actually the end. They showed Beckett hanging off the side of a building. She loses her grip and falls. Then they go back in time and show the events that lead up to the ending. Once we replay the past and it catches up to the future or ending, we find out that what we thought we knew was going to happen (Beckett falling and dying) didnt happen at all. We realize that we never actually saw Beckett hit the pavement below. Our mind just filled in the gaps in what we saw. When we see the real ending, we see that just as Beckett was falling, a hand came out of nowhere and caught her. So the ending we thought we knew was not the ending that actually happened.

What is the most popular end time theory?
Dispensational Premillennialism is the most popular view of the end times today.

What is a study of the End Times?

A study of the end times is called Eschatology. Eschatology is a compound word that comes from 2 Greek words. The 1st word means Last. The 2nd word means Word or Saying. So Eschatology is the study of Last things, last words or last sayings.

Here are some terms that you will run into during your studies.
AntiChrist: The Beast. The man of Lawlessness/Sin Death & the Second Death - Hell, Hades, Intermediate state of the dead, Resurrection, Paradise, Taurarus, Judgement, Heaven, The new heaven and earth Last Days, Parousia, 2nd coming, Rapture, Tribulation, Great Tribulation, The kingdom of God/Heaven/Christ Millennialism, Dispenssatioanlism, Preterism, Historicism, Futurism, Spiritualism, Idealism Time of Jacobs trouble, Signs of the times and others

Some of these terms are biblical, but many of them are not. Many are concepts created by men, but have been used so much, that they we have just come to think of them as Biblical.

How to approach a study of the end times properly.
Most of us Christians tend to be lazy. We dont want to bother trying to study these things for ourselves and come up with our own theology. We would rather let someone else do our thinking for us. Its understandable because a study of the end times is difficult. Information on the End times is scattered throughout the Bible. So most people adopt what they believe about the end times from popular paperback books, their Church/Preacher/Denomination, or popular End Times preachers on TV or radio.

When most people study the Bible, and specifically something like the end times, they already have in their mind and heart what they think is the answer. This is what is called a presupposition. A presupposition means that they assume that they already know the answer. So any evidence they find is tainted with this information that they had from before they even started their research. So what happens is they have an answer in mind and they make any evidence they find fit their answer.

The proper way to study the Bible is to have no conclusion in mind. Go into a study with a completely open mind and let the evidence guide you to the correct answer.

Another TV show that I like is called CSI. I dont watch it much anymore because I find that its just too violent. But I love the way that the investigators research crimes. When the they go to investigate a crime that has been committed, they go in with an open mind. They do not form any conclusions. They gather the evidence and let the evidence take them to an answer. This is completely opposite of the method that most people use, which is to have a conclusion in mind and then make the evidence support their answer.

Throughout history, this has been proven over and over that this is not the right way to go about things. A small (Well perhaps not so small) case in point was when the earth was thought to be flat. This was common knowledge. Anyone that studied the world went into their study with this forgone conclusion. So any evidence that was found was made to fit this conclusion. Then one day, someone came up with the idea that the word was in fact round. The only way they could have arrived at that conclusion was to put aside any believed conclusion and let the evidence take them to the answer.

A little known character named Author Connon Doyle (AKA Sherlock Homes) said that "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

This method of research takes practice. The norm for us humans is to just accept what we are told as truth. The danger in this is that if false information is established as fact, and no one comes along to challenge this information, these false beliefs are handed down from generation to generation to generation and become unmovable.

A good example of this is the Theory of Evolution. Even Darwin himself never thought that this was really a credible theory. But it was accepted as fact. It became such a popular theory, that it actually became fact. This theory is so well established in our society, with its tentacles so tightly woven into the very fabric of our existence, that it has become practically impossible to disprove. Not because the theory cannot be disproved. (The theory is so full of holes, that you could drive a Mac Truck through it.)

The fact that it can be disproved does not make any difference. People want to believe this theory so badly, and have been so well indoctrinated that it is actually a fact, that they will defend it to the death. They will warp and bend any evidence that they get to prove that the Theory of Evolution is real. No amount of persuasion will do. Only the power of God can sway them. This is a prime example of the danger of not doing pure research. That is research without a preconceived conclusion.

As we discussed earlier, the most popular theory for the end times today is called Dispensational Premillennialism. This theory became popular due to several things.

• 1970 The late Great Planet Earth
• 1990 The Left Behind series of books
• Christian book stores are usually owned by those holding a particular view. They almost always only carry books that support their own viewpoints and theories.
• Denominations that have adopted certain views. So every Church that you attend within the same denomination will have the very same views and theories.
• The most popular theory of the day is the one that most TV Preachers/Evangelist and Radio Preachers/Evangelists promote.

So is it any wonder that this theory is the one that has taken hold and is well-established today? But just like the example of the Flat Earth Theory and the Theory of Evolution, just because the vast majority of people believe something is true, this does not mean that its correct.

In this blog series, we will dive into the subject of the end times without any preconceived ideas. Lets forget about the existing theories, research the evidence and let the evidence speak to us and direct us to a conclusion.

End of Part 2