[Note: The following is an excerpt from my chapter in the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James. Order your copy on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)].

The Eschatologically Confused

The world is clearly barreling headlong towards the Rapture of the Church, for as Jesus warned, false messiahs, prophets, and teachers would proliferate the closer we get to that long anticipated event. Jesus’ number one sign does not necessarily center on those who greedily deceive themselves and others into believing that they are God Almighty. No, some foreteller-fabricators deceive others unwittingly. The reason? They remain eschatologically confused.

Suffering From Symbolically

The reason why these agents of confusion have their Bible prophecy so out of whack is that they are infected by the deadly disease I like to call Symbolically.

Those infected with this inhibitive condition are at first difficult to spot, for they look like any other Christian. Show them a symbol out of everyday life, and they can identify it with ease. But, show them a symbol taken from the Bible, particularly Bible prophecy, and the Bible translation portion of their brains are quickly overcome by Symbolically. When it comes to the interpretation of the Bible, patients with this debilitating affliction often struggle over the question, “Should Bible prophecy be interpreted literally or symbolically?”

Those afflicted with Symbolically will intentionally spiritualize the Scriptures, choosing whatever interpretation that suits their fancy, and then argue automatically that the plain sense meanings found in the Bible are not their true meanings. Those suffering under this inhibitive interpretive condition may experience:

  1. A disturbing inability to believe that God knows how to communicate.
  2. The compulsive desire to strip Bible verses away from their context.
  3. Sudden spasms of detective work, searching for hidden meanings.
  4. Manic mythologizing of the Genesis Creation and Revelation end times accounts.
  5. And, delusions of grandeur, playing God by deciding what the Bible truly does or does not mean.

If you, too, suffer from Symbolically, there is hope. Take the fast acting Golden Rule of Interpretation. Yes, the Golden Rule of Interpretation is the cure that will guide you to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Just generously apply this motto every single time you read the Bible—”If the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense, lest you end up with nonsense.”—and you will be cured from spiritualizing Scriptures.

Once Christians apply the Golden Rule of Interpretation, they should keep the Bible study portion of their brains healthy by applying the following eight treatments:

  1. The Right Approach – Always approach the Scriptures with a childlike faith and an honest heart.
  2. Be Filled by God’s Spirit – Before opening your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to provide clear understanding.
  3. The Inspiration of Scriptures – Because God Himself inspired the writers of the Bible, accept the truth that what they wrote must be without error.
  4. Plain Sense Symbols – Let the Bible be its own best interpreter as to the meaning of its own symbols.
  5. Context, Context, Context – Meanings of words in the Bible should always be determined by their context.
  6. The Principle of Searching – All verses on a particular topic should be searched out, compared, and then reconciled. Never hang a doctrine on one isolated verse.
  7. The Problem of Prefilling – Allow that some Bible prophecies are prefilled in symbolic type first before being completely fulfilled later on.
  8. Telescoping Prophets – Understand that prophets often looked into the future and saw a series of prophetic events, not realizing they’d be separated by long time intervals.

There are side effects from using the Golden Rule of Interpretation: a deeper understanding of God, a new appreciation of the Bible, mental acuity, a richer faith, unbelievable hope, spiritual enlightenment, and an inexpressible joy.

So, fight the dreaded Symbolically with the Golden Rule of Interpretation—”If the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense, lest you end up with nonsense.” Why live with the heartbreak of confusion? Take the Golden Rule. Because He’s worth it!

Harold Camping

Let’s now look at some of those eschatologically confused individuals from today who are suffering from Symbolically. Again, they may not be purposefully deceptive, but rather just have their interpretation of the Bible and Bible prophecy so far skewed that what they end up teaching misleads people away from the sound, literal interpretation of the Bible. I leave it up to the reader then to decide if that qualifies them as false prophets or not.

The first look is at Harold Camping, president and evangelist of the once massive California-based radio station, Family Radio, which had broadcast Camping’s prophetic messages over 150 radio stations within the United States. Camping, who died of a stroke in 2013, was a classic date-setter. He made a number of calculations which he believed predicted the return of Christ: September 6, 1994 and May 21, 2011 and October 21, 2011. The dates passed with no arrival of Jesus Christ, leading Camping to remorsefully repent of his date-setting.

If only Camping had followed the Golden Rule of Interpretation. Instead, he took prophecies that apply to a specific historical periods and related them to the end times. He insisted the Bible is merely a parable and thus must be interpreted allegorically. He re-translated Scriptures in unorthodox ways in order to give them his own desired meanings. He also obsessively dabbled with numbers. Camping could have spared himself embarrassment and his followers losing all they possessed if only he took a literal interpretation of the Bible.1

Irvin Baxter

Irvin Baxter, Jr., was the founder and president of Endtime Ministries and television host of the internationally broadcast television program, End of the Age. Though a wildly popular Bible prophecy teacher, unfortunately for his viewers, Baxter suffered from a serious case of Symbolically. His interpretations of Bible prophecy ended up being personal and unique, so much so that no other prophecy teacher was willing to endorse him.2

Baxter’s prophetic interpretations totally disregarded 2 Peter 1:20 which warns “that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.” His best example of engaging in private interpretation came when he assigned at leisure one Revelation prophecy after another to historic and modern-day events, such as claiming the Seal Judgments began in 325 A.D. He also assigned biblical symbols to modern-day counterparts, such as claiming the beasts of Daniel 7 are the nations of Great Britain, Russian, and Germany. He denied that Revelation is written in chronological order and believed the Rapture and the Second Coming to be the same event.

Sadly, the only thing predictable about Irvin Baxter’s end time predictions was that he’s scared a whole lot of people senseless.

Doug Bachelor

The Seventh-Day Adventists “denomination” was birthed out of the failed Millerite Movement of the 1840’s whose leader, Baptist pastor William Miller, prophesied that Jesus would return to earth in 1844, which of course did not come true.3 Not disheartened by “The Great Disappointment,” a small group of Millerites explained Jesus’ no-show by doing what all failed prophets do—spiritualize the prediction. Adventists claim that Jesus instead entered into the Holy of Holies in Heaven to begin a second stage of His atoning work called the Investigative Judgment, which they claim continues to this day.

Adventist’s two main champions over the decades have been the prophetess Ellen G. White, who canonized SDA beliefs in her book, The Great Controversy (1888); and Doug Batchelor, today’s SDA spokesman on the Amazing Facts television program. Almost all of their end time interpretations revolve around a rabid adherence to Sabbath-keeping.

Still covering for Miller, Adventists claim the end times began in 1844. SDA eschatology virulently opposes the Catholic Church and staunchly adheres to Replacement Theology, claiming the Church has forever replaced Israel in God’s prophetic plan. They believe the Papacy is the Antichrist. Shockingly, they claim Protestant Christianity is the False Prophet who will use the United States as its enforcer to spark a period of SDA persecution called the Great Tribulation. The persecution culminates in the Battle of Armageddon waged between the true Sabbath-keepers versus Sunday-keepers.4 You better worship Christ on Saturday and Saturday alone, for if not, to the SDA, you have taken the Mark of the Beast and are bound for Hell!

Resource

Indoctrination disguised as education. The religion of climate change enshrined. Witchcraft and the occult made mainstream. Fake news. We live in a world where deception is rampant and true agendas are rarely revealed. Jesus foretold of this time as He answered His disciples’ question: What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Bible prophecy experts present analysis of today’s issues and events in Deceivers, revealing that Christ’s prophecy is literally unfolding before us today.

Deceivers

Order the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James, on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)]!

References

1. David R. Reagan, “Harold Camping: The Madness of Date-Setting,” Lamplighter, (accessed August 2017), http://christinprophecy.org/articles/harold-camping/.

2. David R. Reagan, “Irvin Baxter Evaluated,” (June 2, 2011), http://christinprophecyblog.org/2011/06/irvin-baxter-evaluated/.

3. David R. Reagan, “Seventh-Day Adventist Eschatology,” (accessed August 2017), http://christinprophecy.org/articles/seventh-day-adventist-eschatology/.

4. Ibid.