CHAPTER SEVEN

ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS?

So far we have reviewed some of the different signs the Bible tells us to watch for in the last days.

We have examined events and trends that the Bible tells us will be increasingly visible and evident as we get closer to the second coming of Christ. It’s important to be aware of such things if we are to accurately address the question of whether we are living in the last days at all and the issue of whether Bible prophecy has any bearing on the future health and stability of the United States of America.

Having examined the evidence, what do you believe? Are we living in the last days?

I believe we are. After decades of studying Bible prophecy, reading hundreds of books on these subjects, discussing prophecy with many Bible teachers and scholars in the U.S. and around the world, analyzing geopolitical events, global economic trends, and spiritual and cultural trends, and seeing so many prophetic signs come to pass, I have come to the conclusion that the Rapture of the church is increasingly close at hand.

In an upcoming chapter, I will explain what the Rapture is and why it is important to the future of the United States. For now, let me just say that I have no specific idea when the Rapture will occur. What’s more, I am strongly opposed to speculating about dates and times.

Some may criticize me for denying the so-called doctrine of imminency, which states that Jesus could come back at any moment, without any advance warning. To be clear, however, I do believe in the doctrine of imminency. I do not deny it. But it is important that we are clear as to what this doctrine does and does not entail.

Tim LaHaye, one of the foremost teachers of Bible prophecy in the world today, has written that “Imminency is the word we use to refer to the doctrine that Christ could come at any moment to call His bride [the church] to be with Him in His Father’s house. That is why Scripture has so many admonitions to watch, be ready, and to look for Him to come at any moment.”[142]

I agree entirely with this statement, and I seek to be ready for the Lord to come at any time.

Thomas Ice, another leading Bible prophecy scholar, has written that “imminence in relation to the Rapture has been defined as consisting of three elements: ‘the certainty that He [Christ] may come at any moment, the uncertainty of the time of that arrival, and the fact that no prophesied event stands between the believer and that hour.’”[143]

I agree entirely with Ice’s statement as well. I am certain Jesus is coming back. I don’t know when he is coming—he could come at any moment. And no prophesied event stands between us and Christ’s return.

That said, let’s be clear about something else: While all the signs of the last days have to happen before the second coming of Christ, no sign of the last days has to happen before the Rapture occurs. However, that does not mean that no sign will happen before the Rapture occurs. For example, the Rapture could have happened at any time from the first century to the present. No signs had to precede it—not the “birth pangs” of which Jesus spoke or any other. Even the rebirth of Israel as a nation didn’t have to occur before the Rapture. Theoretically, Israel could have been reborn after the Rapture of the church. Nevertheless, Israel was re-created as a nation before the Rapture. Likewise, the apostle Peter—citing a sign foretold by the Hebrew prophet Joel—said the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all mankind around the world in a more dramatic fashion in the last days than ever before. This didn’t have to happen before the Rapture either. Yet it did begin to happen in chapter 2 of the book of Acts, and it has dramatically accelerated in our times.

Again, while no prophetic sign has to precede the Rapture, that does not mean no sign will occur before the Rapture. This is a critical point. Indeed, as we look at the events of the past century or so—and specifically at events that are occurring here in the twenty-first century—we can see that so many of the prophetic signs related to the last days, the “birth pangs,” have already come true.

That has significant implications for your life and mine and for the future of the United States.

How Long Will the Last Days Last?

The overall length of the period leading up to the second coming of Christ is never defined by the Bible. To the contrary, the Lord Jesus specifically said that “no one knows” when he will return (Matthew 24:36), and it is precisely because we don’t know exactly when he is coming for us that we are to be constantly ready for him—living lives of holiness and purity, being faithful in daily prayer and Bible study, sharing the gospel with others, making disciples of all nations, and so forth. “Therefore be on the alert,” Jesus told his disciples, “for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).

One thing we are not supposed to do is guess or set dates with regard to either the Rapture or the Second Coming. To do so is unbiblical, unwise, and evidence of false teaching, which is sternly forbidden in the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36). The apostle John concluded the book of Revelation by warning that when it comes to “the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

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, looking 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?