ESCHATOS MINISTRIES

Eschatos Ministries is dedicated to teaching biblical prophecy from a futurist, premillennial, prewrath perspective.

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Two Marks AGAINST Eschatos Ministries . . .

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The First Mark against Eschatos Ministries

Prewrath eschatology is not the mainstream popular view out there in churches. I do not believe it ever will be by virtue of its message, even though it is being embraced by more sober-minded pastors. And that is encouraging!

Its main message is a threat against many professing Christians: the last generation of the church will have to suffer its worse, unimaginable persecution under the Antichrist. This fear—and that is what it is—has caused many interpreters to explain away this consistent biblical message. So for that reason, Eschatos Ministries will never be a popular Christian ministry. And that is fine, because, as the last seven years have shown, I have been faithful, uncompromising in this truthful message that the church needs to hear.

The Second Mark against Eschatos Ministries

This is two-fold. First, I address biblical topics and texts. Most Bible prophecy ministries keep the Bible at . . . well . . . the peripheral. Their Middle East section of the newspaper is their primary source of material for their ministry followers. It sells well. Trust me, that is not an overstatement.

Second, I address biblical topics deeply. I don’t believe in treating topics and texts at a surface, shallow level. I go deep. This is a killer for many Christian ministries because it turns off their readers and listeners. They want sound bites. It also sells well. But treating God’s Word with shallowness and tradition is disrespectful. Going deep and learning more and more is what Eschatos Ministries is about.

What Does This Mean?

These are reasons why Eschatos Ministries will never have thousands of supporters. I am not involved in Eschatos Ministries because of my health or because it is a hobby or I have some extra time on my hand. It is a calling for me. The time is short and the message needs to get out, soon. I have so much I need to respond to as well as advance prewrath eschatology in areas that have not been addressed before.

But I have to be brutally honest with you: I need time to work it, to be freed up. And time takes financial support. We would like to go full-time by the end of this year, 2018. We have some faithful, consistent Eschatos Partners that I am utterly grateful for. To go full-time, however, we need more. We would like to raise 100 Eschatos Partners this year. How much a month should you give? I leave that up to each individual. So I have put out this plea so you know my concern and the urgency in my heart to see this message received by believers. Please consider prayerfully in joining. Let’s make this move together and get the message out.

 

Regards,

Alan

 

 

 

 

‘A Proposal for (Future) Apostate Jerusalem’s Role in a Progressive Dispensational Eschatology: Another Look at Revelation 17–18’ by J. Paul Tanner

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A Proposal for (Future) Apostate Jerusalem’s Role in a Progressive Dispensational Eschatology: Another Look at Revelation 17–18

by J. Paul Tanner

ABSTRACT

Among the interpretative problems pertaining to the book of Revelation, the identification of the harlot, Babylon the great, in Revelation 17–18 stands as one of the most significant. Suggestions range from preterist views identifying Babylon as either first-century Jerusalem or Rome, the historicist view of Babylon as the Roman Catholic Church, idealist views, and numerous futurist views fulfilled in the Great Tribulation. The latter would include both symbolic views (e.g., ungodly civilization in opposition to God’s people) and literal views of a future city related to the Antichrist. Dispensational interpreters have upheld the futurist view, usually of a literal rebuilt city of Babylon or a combination of a religious system and a literal city (so Walvoord). In this paper, I hope to show that Babylon the great is apostate Jerusalem (and Judaism) in the time of the Great Tribulation, and that such a position is consistent with a progressive dispensational eschatology. In our Lord’s Olivet Discourse, Luke includes God’s judgment on apostate Jerusalem in A.D.70 (Lk 21:20-24), seemingly to prefigure a greater end-times judgment on Jerusalem inaugurated with the abomination of desolation. Jerusalem as the harlot, then, looks at that unsaved part of Israel that is duped into entering into league with the Antichrist, only to find herself betrayed in the final analysis and a victim of the Antichrist’s effort to annihilate Jerusalem. This paper has two objectives. The first is to present the evidence in support of the theory of Babylon the great as apostate Judaism in the Great Tribulation with its focal point being the city of Jerusalem. The second is to show how this interpretation sheds valuable light on other prophetic portions of Scripture, such as Dan9:27, the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24), and the man of lawlessness in 2 Thess 2.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE…

h.t. Chris White

 

What Is Prewrath?

 

 

SIGN The Alliance for the Peace of Jerusalem

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This week I signed The Alliance for the Peace of Jerusalem. I signed the Statement because:

“The Alliance for the Peace of Jerusalem is an organization dedicated to facilitating a better public understanding of the complexities of the Middle East including its roots in history and the Bible. The group, which is comprised of key faith leaders, scholars, authors and pastors, strives to educate Millennials and others about Israel’s role in the biblical narrative; past, present and future while also affirming God’s concern for Palestinians and all people’s of the Middle East.”

 

The Purpose of the Alliance is:

To unite Pro-Israel Evangelicals in concerted action to counterbalance the growing Supersessionist trends within the global Evangelical movement.

To promote a theology that gives Israel a proper place in the story of the Bible and that is relevant and sensitive to the theological and social issues of the Middle East conflict and engenders a greater degree of respect among the broader movement of Evangelicals.

To create a theological position that is positive towards Israel, demonstrates concern for the spiritual well being of Palestinians and all citizens of the Middle East that younger Evangelicals may more easily embrace.

To stimulate theological discussion, conferences, and the production of resources, books, 
websites, videos, podcasts, etc., at both an academic and popular level to impart this 
theological perspective within the “academy” and among pastors and Christian leaders.

To better define and respond to the theological and ethical issues of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict leading to authentic dialogue and more genuine reconciliation in the region.

To better define and respond to the theological and ethical issues of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict leading to authentic dialogue and more genuine reconciliation in the region.

Read the Statement, and if you agree sign it.

 

 

See also Israel, the Church, and the Middle East

 

Israel, the Church, and the Middle East: A Biblical Response to the Current Conflict (Book Notice)

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Israel, the Church, and the Middle East: A biblical response to the current conflict by Darrell L. Bock (Editor), Mitch Glaser (Editor), Joel C. Rosenberg (Foreword)

 

 

The relationship between the church and Israel has been the source of passionate debate among Christians throughout much of church history. In recent years the traditional pro-Israel stance of evangelicals has come under fire by those who support the Palestinian cause, calling for a new perspective and more nuanced approach by Christians who believe that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people by virtue of God’s covenants and promises.

Israel, the Church, and the Middle East challenges the supersessionist drift of the modern church, showing that God retains a plan and purpose for the Jewish people while also addressing a number of the divisive issues raised by authors critical both of Israel and of those who affirm Israel’s right to the land. The book explores the hermeneutics and wider effects of the conflict, such as the growing antipathy within the church toward the evangelization of the Jewish people. It provides readers with an objective and interdisciplinary treatment, which is irenic and respectful in tone. The book is directed toward pastors, global Christian leaders, theological students, and well-read lay Christians who are actively seeking guidance and resources regarding the Middle East conflict. The contributors represent a broad evangelical spectrum.

Contributors

Richard E. Averbeck (Contributor), Mark L. Bailey (Contributor), Craig Blaising (Contributor), Mike Brown (Contributor), Tom Doyle (Contributor), Jr Walter C. Kaiser (Contributor), Craig Parshall (Contributor), Michael Rydelnik (Contributor), Erez Soref (Contributor), Michael J. Vlach (Contributor), Mark Yarbrough (Contributor)

A Review

“Israel, the Church, and the Middle East” is a compilation of articles written by several scholars about the relationship between the three areas mentioned in the title. Around 270 pages, the book covers many topics, including:

1. The Messianic Jewish movement in modern Israel.
2. The rise and danger of supersessionism (belief that because of rejecting Christ at His first coming, the Jewish people no longer play a role in God’s plan).
3. Relationship between Israel and the Bible.
4. Modern Palestinian church in Israel.
5. Reconciliation between the Jews and Arabs.
6. Reasons why, despite their past history, the Jews should have their own nation and territory.
7. Viewpoints over dividing the land of Israel.

While written by many scholars, the book is very readable, well-documented, smoothly transitions from topic to topic, and contains a helpful bibliography for further reading. I will definitely use this as a helpful future reference and will read more deeply in the near future. Recommended. I was given a review copy by Kregel Publications in exchange for a fair review.

 

 

See also The Messianic Hope

 

Is the Meaning of Harpagēsometha in 1 Thess 4:17 ‘Rapture’ or ‘Plunder’? Part 4 – Ep. 117

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

This episode I responded to Chris Steinle on his root fallacy of the Greek word harpagēsometha in the rapture passage 1 Thess 4:17. I explained the phonological dynamics behind the lexical form of the Greek word harpazō and its form harpagēsometha. When certain letters interact with each other you get a variety of changes. Lexicographers recognize this. But you do not discern a word’s meaning based on its root. Meaning is based on usage.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up [harpagēsometha] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess 4:16-17)

 

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE PROGRAM:

Recommended New Testament Greek Grammars

Recommended Greek New Testament Dictionaries/Lexicons

Is the Meaning of Harpagēsometha in 1 Thess 4:17 ‘Rapture’ or ‘Plunder’? Part 1 – Ep. 114

Is the Meaning of Harpagēsometha in 1 Thess 4:17 ‘Rapture’ or ‘Plunder’? Part 2 – Ep. 115

Is the Meaning of Harpagēsometha in 1 Thess 4:17 ‘Rapture’ or ‘Plunder’? Part 3 – Ep. 116

 

 

 

 

 

Pretrib Pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee, Be Careful What You Wish For . . .

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Last week pretribulational pastor Robert Jeffress delivered an opening prayer at the Jerusalem embassy dedication. In addition, pretribulational pastor John Hagee gave the closing benediction.

Many pretrib teachers are abuzz over the recent event of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. They believe they hear the prophetic furniture shuffle behind the curtain. And that may be the case.

But here is the problem:

They think they will be only spectators in the arena. Pretrib teachers and pretrib believers think they will be raptured at any moment, which will occur before the arrival of the Antichrist’s great tribulation. They are giddy to talk about biblical prophecy from afar. Ironically, they chatter and write profusely about the Antichrist and related Bible prophecy events, all along thinking in the back of their mind that they will escape the front-line persecution of the Antichrist.

They want current events to be fulfillments, preparing the way for the “tribulation period,” a time when they think they will be raptured just before that period, ensued by the slaughter of untold numbers of Jews by the Antichrist.

The Biblical reality is that both the Church and many non-Christian Jews will suffer at the hands of the Antichrist.

The Church will not be a spectator in heaven looking down on Antichrist’s bloody arena. Rather, the Church will be the target of Antichrist within the arena among the wild beasts.

The prewrather thinks differently than the pretribber. Biblical prophecy and current events are not taken lightly. We are not giddy, but sober, for we know that before the second coming, we will become participants in the great persecution of the Antichrist against the world-wide Church. We do not wish this to come upon us; but if it does, we embrace God’s holy decree and trust in his faithfulness no matter the cost.

Perhaps, pretrib teachers should best spend their time preparing their flocks to spiritually face the Antichrist’s great tribulation, than muse over current affairs in Jerusalem.

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Pretrib Teacher.

 

 

What the Building of the American Embassy in Jerusalem and the Building of the Future Temple Have in Common…

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This past week marked the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem. President Donald Trump tells the story that he was told that the construction would cost a billion dollars and take at least 5-10 years. Trump explains how he made it happen with a few hundred thousand dollars and only three months to erect.

My point of invoking this story is that many students of prophecy have this notion that prophetic events in Jerusalem need to take a long time, not that this is a specific prophetic event. But a  good example of this is thinking that the 70th-week-of-Daniel temple will be some large, Solomonic temple that will take years to build. However, Paul mentioning the future temple in 2 Thess 2 uses the Greek term naos, which refers to a temple that will likely be a tent-like structure that could be erected in a matter of days or weeks. I talk at more length on this point in my book Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord.

The moral of the story is: be spiritually ready now. When these key prophetic events begin to be fulfilled, they will happen rapidly. Those who are not prepared will be caught off guard and susceptible to the temptations to apostatize. “But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time’ . . . ” (Matt 24:48).

 

 

The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? (Book)

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The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? by Michael Rydelnik

In The Messianic Hope, book six of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, Jewish Studies professor Michael Rydelnik puts forth a thesis that the Old Testament was intended by its authors to be read as a messianic primer. He explains at length how the text reveals significant direct messianic prophecy when read in its final form. Users will find this topical study an excellent extension of the long-respected New American Commentary series.

 

About the Author

Michael Rydelnik is professor of Jewish Studies in the World Missions and Evangelism department at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He holds degrees from Moody (diploma), Azusa Pacific University (B.A.), Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (D.Miss.) and also contributed to The Apologetics Study Bible.

 

Reviews

“I can’t think of a more able scholar to help us understand the controversial topic of Messianic prophesy than Michael Rydelnik. This book should be read to help all of us understand Messianic prophesy and also to give an answer to those who would deny that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecies, or that these references should be interpreted non-literally. The book takes us on an interesting journey showing how all the Scriptures coalesce around this central theme. To read this book is to tackle the most important theme in all the Bible.”

—Dr. Erwin Lutzer, Moody Church, Chicago

“This is a terrific book, and I recommend it enthusiastically. I received my review copy as soon as it was published, and dug in immediately. I only wish it had come out a half-year ago, so that I could have highlighted it early enough to inform and buttress Christmas preaching.””I love the tone Rydelnik strikes, on many levels. He announces his serious intent to “disagree without being disagreeable” (xv), then succeeds throughout, forcefully rejecting a number of scholars’ positions while never impugning the scholars themselves. Rydelnik’s source-material ranges from academic journals and volumes to Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis (which he solidly refutes) to the anecdotal. He does not strive for the scholarly pretense of detachment which I’ve denounced once and again and again, but writes with keen awareness of the issues at stake.” —Dan Phillips, Pyromaniacs

Jabal al Lawz in Saudi Arabia as the REAL Mount Sinai and the City Neom (Video)

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In the 90s I digested Bob Cornuke’s material of his biblical investigations and discoveries, in particular his claim that the real Mount Sinai is located in Saudi Arabia and not the traditional site in the Sinai Peninsula. The biblical, historical, and material evidence is convincing.

Joel Richardson recently visited the area and gives an intriguing report on Jabal al Lawz as the REAL Mount Sinai as well as talks about the city Neom in the making:

BASE INSTITUTE

The research and site survey being investigated by the BASE Institute has strong potential. Is it the Biblical Mt. Sinai? The BASE Institute does not make the claim that we have found Mount Sinai. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions. In our opinion, it’s a candidate. The research continues.

For centuries, Bible scholars and religious pilgrims have been seeking the location of Mt. Sinai. Today, most people are unaware that not one piece of hard evidence has been produced to verify that what is traditionally designated at “Mount Sinai” in the south central Sinai Peninsula is indeed the famed mountain of Moses and the Exodus. In fact, the only verifiable reason that the traditional site is designated “Mount Sinai” at all is because a Roman mystic designated it and Helena, mother of Constantine I, anointed it as the true Mount Sinai early in the 4th century AD. (Helena also claimed she discovered the true “holy sepulcher” in Jerusalem and the true cross of Christ.)

Several other proposed sites for the true Mount Sinai have been suggested by biblical scholars, but, thus far, they have produced no archaeological evidence in support. If we are ever to discern a correct location for the historical events recorded in the biblical Book of Exodus, it’s important to use the Scriptures as a guide, just as we would use any ancient documents that have previously been proven reliable. READ MORE…

 

 

A Picture of Jesus’s Shekinah Coming

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Steve Hays writes:

28 Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29 and come out — those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:28-29).

As I’ve said on other occasions, when reading the Bible I think it’s a good exercise to see it through the eye of a movie director. If you were filming the Bible, how would you envision these descriptions? Take the resurrection of the just.

Here’s one way I imagine the scene. Jesus returns in the Shekinah (Acts 1:9-11; Ezk 1:4-28). He hovers in the lower atmosphere. As the globe rotates, he appears over the horizon, like the morning star (Rev 22:16; 2:28; cf. Isa 14:12; Num 24:17). As light from the Cytherean Shekinah flashes across cemeteries, with graves facing east, towards the Christic morning star, bodies of the saints rematerialize in their tombs (“a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them,” Ezk 37:7-8). Their bodies are then reanimated as the Spirit reunites body and soul (“and the breath came into them,” Ezk 37:10). Then tombs open and they emerge (“and they lived and stood on their feet,” Ezk 37:10).

While the Cytherean Shekinah repeatedly dawns over the rotating horizon, row after row of cemeteries, from east to west, in sidereal succession, will stir to life (“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead,” Isa 26:19). Those who sleep in the dust will awake (Dan 12:2)–in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:51-52). Myriads of recreated, rejuvenated saints, facing the Cytherean Shekinah, gazing at the Christic morning star.

Of course, not everyone is formally buried. Scripture uses graves and graveyards as a synecdoche for the dead generally. Although some of the imagery might be figurative, the oracle in Jn 5:28-29 foreshadows Jesus raising Lazarus. That’s a foretaste of an eschatological scene.

 

Copyright © 2018 by Alan Kurschner.