Church Pastor Tackles Confusion over End Times Prophecies
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Church Pastor Tackles
Confusion over End Times Prophecies
By Michelle A. Vu|Christian Post Reporter
A respected church pastor addressed the confusion over end times
prophecies in his new book by differentiating what the Bible
clearly says about topics such as the rapture, the Antichrist, and
the millennium rule of Jesus, and what is left to speculation.
Dr. Jim Dixon, senior pastor of the 10,000-member Cherry Hills
Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo., wrote Last Things
Revealed with the aim to help Christians better understand the
Bible's core teachings about the last days, overcome their fears
of the end times, grow in their faith, and share the love of God
with others in the time they have left on Earth. The book is based
on Dixon's eight-part sermon series called "The Last Things."
Bestselling author and apologist Lee Strobel, who is a member of
Cherry Hills Community Church, wrote the foreword to the book.
"I think it is important for every generation to study
eschatology, to study the events that are prophesized," said
Dixon, a respected scholar who helped found the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church denomination in the 1980s, to The Christian
Post on Thursday. "I am not saying that we are the last
generation. [But] I think that I would be surprised if Christ
doesn't come back soon. By that I mean perhaps in my lifetime,
perhaps in my children's lifetime, or certainly in my
grandchildren's lifetime.
"I am not trying to set the day or the hour. I'm just saying I
think there are many signs that we are in the season of his
return."
Agreed Upon End Times Signs
While scholars disagree on many details about the end times, Dixon
said there are signs that most agree upon. Most scholars agree
that the Bible clearly says that in the last days there will be
apostasy, or false ideas and lives within the Christian community.
Dixon separates apostasy into two forms: doctrinal apostasy,
regarding what believers' think and believe, and moral apostasy,
what followers of Jesus do. He cited 2 Timothy 4:3-4, where Paul
says, "For the time will come when people will not put up with
sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths" (TNIV).
"I think we are seeing apostasy in our time in an unprecedented
way. I think we are seeing more church leaders leaving orthodoxy,"
said Dixon. "I think that is the key sign. I think we see mainline
denominations leaving the historic Christian faith. We see
Christians questioning the deity of Christ, questioning the
meaning of the crucifixion, denying substitutionary atonement. We
see Christians questioning the reality of hell and the eternal
judgment."
Another key sign is natural calamity, Dixon said. He pointed to
the "amazing" numbers of earthquakes, including the ones in Chile,
New Zealand, and most recently Japan, as examples.
The Denver-area pastor noted, "A 9.0 earthquake is seismologically
apocalyptic. The largest one ever recorded was in Chile in 1960
and it was 9.5."
Other end times signs include pestilence and famine. Scientists
are now creating genetically-engineered pestilence and there are
about 2 billion people who make $1-2 a day and are starving. There
are also the signs of moral erosion of Judeo-Christian values in
the world and the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 and the
return of the Jewish people to their homeland.
"All these things are certainly signs of the time. I think there
are many indicators that the return of Christ could be relatively
soon," remarked Dixon.
Details of the End Times Up for Debate
Many details about the more popular topics regarding the end
times, such as the Antichrist, the rapture, and the millennium
rule of Jesus are more speculative, according to the Fuller
graduate. Although scholars and pastors give definitive answers
sometimes about these prophecies, the Bible is unclear about the
exact details and it is not necessary to be in agreement, Dixon
asserted.
Regarding the Antichrist, what is clear is that that he will be
against Christ, try to take Jesus' place as the king of kings, try
to gain power of the entire world (2 Thessalonians 2:1:10), and be
consumed by hatred (Revelation 12).
What is unclear is if the Antichrist is a single person or another
kind of entity.
"Sometimes the Antichrist is called 'he' and sometimes 'it' or
'they,'" pointed out Dixon in the book. "The Antichrist, however,
is never 'she,' so women are off the hook."
He noted that some scholars argue that the Antichrist can be both
"he" and "it." In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul called the Antichrist
the "man of lawlessness." But the pronoun "it" could mean the
spirit of the Antichrist that the Bible says is already at work in
the world, said Dixon in the book.
Notably, many people have tried to decode the number of the
Antichrist or the beast, 666, as recorded in Revelation 13. Some
believed that Roman Emperor Nero – who murdered his parents,
pregnant wife, and Christians by setting them on fire as human
torches at night – was the Antichrist. The letters of the Greek
name "Neron Caesar" when translated into Hebrew added up to 666.
And Protestant movement leaders Martin Luther and John Calvin
believed the Antichrist would be a corrupt pope. The words
"Italian church" in Greek add up to 666. But then the Catholic
leaders said they found ways to make "Martin Luther" add up to the
number 666. People have also found ways to make the math add up to
666 for historical figures Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Bill
Gates, Dixon pointed out in the book.
"Playing with numbers doesn't really help us unravel mysteries
about the Antichrist," he wrote. "It only muddies the water."
Regarding the rapture, the Colorado pastor said that what the
Bible is clear about is that it will happen (1 Thessalonians 4 and
2 Thessalonians 2:1). The rapture is the process when believers
are "caught up" or received by Christ when he returns.
The controversy about the rapture is regarding when it happens.
Scholars disagree if the rapture will occur before, during, or
after the tribulation. Pre-tribulationists believe Christ will
bring about the rapture or remove his followers before the
tribulation so they will not have to endure divine wrath in the
last days. Mid-tribulationists believe that the rapture will take
place in the middle of the tribulation, and post-tribulationists
say the rapture will take place at the end of the tribulation and
Christians will need to endure all the disasters along with
unbelievers.
"I don't believe the Bible is clear on this issue," Dixon wrote.
"Each view has biblical passages that appear to support it. For
thirty-five years, I've studied these things, and I can defend all
three positions. But in my view, none summarizes all of the
passages."
The popular apocalyptic fiction Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and
Jerry Jenkins takes a pre-tribulationist view of the rapture.
Another highly controversial area about the end times is regarding
the millennium rule of Jesus on Earth (Revelation 20:1-10). The
Bible says that when Jesus Christ returns, he will rule the world
for 1,000 years. What scholars disagree upon is the timing of the
millennium, a time where Jesus will bring justice and peace to the
world.
The pre-millennialists believe that Jesus will return to reign for
a thousand years before the last judgment based on a literal
interpretation of Revelation 19-21. The post-millennialists say
Jesus won't return until after the millennial. Post-millennialists
believe that instead of Jesus reigning for a thousand years, the
church will reign and bring justice and peace to the world.
And lastly, there is the A-millennialist view, which defines the
word thousand to be symbolic of completion or wholeness. According
to this view, we are already living in the millennial with Jesus
reigning spiritually over the church, not the world. The
millennium, according to A-Millennialists, began on the day of
Pentecost (when the church was founded, as recorded in the book of
Acts) and concludes with the second coming (when the church will
join with Jesus Christ in the New Jerusalem).
Most evangelicals, including Dixon, are pre-millennialists.
"A lot of Christians pick up Left Behind and they read the books
and they think that this is a summation of what the Bible
teaches," said Dixon during the CP interview. "And really, often
times it is simply representing one possible perspective amongst
many perspectives in the Christian world."
To people who fear the end times, Dixon said the only way to
overcome that anxiety is for them to give their lives to Christ.
"Christ is our savior, he is our lord, and we overcome fear by
finding the peace that he alone can bring and it is the peace of
salvation," said Dixon.