Think the 2012 date setters are not having a negative effect on many in the Church? Obviously this speculation based mostly on Mayan ages and a Mahdi coming out of well is attracting many followers. Some such as the “Gospel Tract Society” now take the position that we are already in the tribulation. H E L L O… what tribulation? I will say it as gently as I can, those who think we are already in the tribulation have lost their marbles.
I do not see a good end result coming from all this date setting nonsense. By 2013 Bible prophecy teachers will be mocked. It is as if there is a Satanic deception (there is) to destroy the message of the soon coming of Jesus through the promotion of those crying wolf based on pagan crap – not the Bible. This 2012 date setting speculation is not coming from God.
I think I understand why people promote their crap and pet theories in books, it is profitable for them. But, why do Christians buy it and suck it up like it was profound biblical truth. Some of us warned that the 88 reason why Jesus would come in 1988 was unfounded but people bought the books anyway and Bible prophecy teaching in the Church took a huge hit because of that. Now we have to endure the 2012 end of the world books and movies based on pagan fantasy and those who only know enough about Bible eschatology to twist it to fit their theories.
The world is not going to end in 2012 and we are not in the tribulation. Like Nathan Jones said in this article “take a chill pill”
The Christ in Prophecy Journal: Gospel Tract Society Abandons Pre-Trib Heritage
The Gospel Tract Society has changed their longstanding view in the last month. Lamb & Lion Ministries was first alerted to the change when the ministry’s successor, Tom Buttram, asked founder Dr. David Reagan to change the wording in his tract “Living for Christ in the End Times” (based on the article) from “Rapture” to “Second Coming.” The second alert came when a friend of Lamb & Lion Ministries contacted the Gospel Tract Society for copies of that tract, only to be told the remaining 6,000 in inventory were going to be destroyed.
Upon inquiry as to why the Gospel Tract Society would desire to change the wording and destroy the existing inventory, Tom Buttram responded with a very startling revelation. “As though someone reprinted my Bible overnight,” Tom Buttram now believes humanity has already entered into the Tribulation and the Church will not be raptured until the Seventh Trumpet Judgment has sounded mid-way through the Tribulation.
after over 80 years of the Gospel Tract Society proclaiming the imminent return of Jesus Christ, they will now refocus their attention on printing materials “needed for all to escape delusion and attack” by the Man of Lawlessness (the Antichrist) and a Mid-Tribulation rescue by Jesus.
the esteemed Gospel Tract Society after 80 years of preaching the Rapture of believers before world judgment has just declared that they got it all wrong, that we are actually living in the Tribulation, and that we will all be attacked (means “massacred,” folks) by the coming world leader — and that is supposed to be a source of calm!?! Just how much “calm” are they now going to spread with their newest batch of tracts?
Secular movies like “Knowing” and “2012” and books and commentaries and pundits (and the list goes on) are very interested in End Time speculation. Only the overall Church seems to be sleeping on this subject. But, for those believers who are anticipating Christ’s return, a certain hysteria has begun to set in. The people are getting very antsy and have begun chasing after every new theory and speculation that rises to the scene.
Secondly, as Dr. Ron Rhodes once said, we are filtering God’s Word through our human antennae and our fallen nature is putting static in our reception.
Every person believes God is giving them a particular revelation or insight into the Bible that is different than what they once believed — but they all conflict! I get hundreds of emails a week from people all over the world, and many writers purport to have discovered some special insight from God. For example, could the Pope, Javier Solana, Prince Hassan, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, the Mahdi and the entire United States of America all be the Antichrist at the same time? Saved believers in Christ each have a candidate God has “revealed” to them in Scripture. Or, could the Tribulation be seven years long, World War II, the Papal years, only for Israel, for the entire world, and it’s just the conflict in our hearts all at same time? Saved believers each have a position. But, only one answer can possibly be correct.
To use an 80’s term, we all need to “take a chill pill.
Don, a whole bunch of people forget just how violent the Mayan people were. Human sacrifices were made to their gods. When they would go on raiding parties the Mayans murdered whole villages. And now these experts in prophecy want me to accept the Mayan calender, because the Mayans had no concept of the year 2013?
I know that God has used other cultures and peoples to punish those that have not done what was commanded by God. But I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around this whole Mayan calender thing. What was written in the Bible is what is going to happen, and from what small knowledge I have I see no correlation.
I agree Don. 2012 will come and go like the Y2K scare. Christians that get wrapped up in the Mayan angle will look like idiots. I remember when Jack Van Impe said the rapture was going to happen in 2000. LOL. Funny stuff.
It is having a negative effect. A brother on my church is totally convinced that we are now in half way through the fisrts half of the tribulation. I am trying to convince him before he finds out and passes through a great delusion in 2013. It’s not a joke.
We have been through this several times before in past history, even as far back as the year 1000. It will not have a positive outcome for some and they will turn bitter. I get emails from bitter people who thought Jesus should have come in 1988 because of certain books and because they say they arraigned their affairs as if that would happen. Now they have become total skeptics and oppose any who teach Bible prophecy and the soon coming of Jesus.
2012 is strictly a convergence point.
Christians will not fall for a false messiah because they have the word of God and the holy spirit that will guide them into all truth.
However the scriptures do say that the whole entire world (Minus Christians.) will eventually follow a “Global” false messiah.
So convincing will he be that he will deceive “if possible, even the elect.” (Mathew 24:24)
All the new age gurus and UFO cults are in sync with 2012.
“This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.” and Satan is not one to waste a perfectly good crises.
Have you walked outside lately to check the weather?
There’s a storm coming and weather for 2012 looks perfect.
I don’t really want the world to end in 2012, but if the rapture occurs during that time, then I’ll be good with that…….
isn’t it kind of weird tho that science (sans the outwardly false stuff) does speak of some interesting things due to occur to our planet around that time frame……
plus, we’ve all been crying wolf for so long, it’s gotta ring true sometime……
and pg. 1000-1008 of the health care bill does mention the need for an implanted identification device 🙂 to house medical information….. and the goal is to have the health bill in place by 2013…… aren’t we supposed to be gone by the time the chip becomes mandatory…..
I don’t know…. but I’m ready…… anytime.
Wow, I am surprised that anyone read the health bill! Even if the health bill is in place in 2013 it will not be a worldwide buy and sell system. But don’t get me wrong everything is now heading in that direction. I expect the Beast of Revelation stuff will be fully developed worldwide about 2030.
I like what Don was saying, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get too caught up in date-setting, but I might not agree with him when it comes to us all being in the Tribulation, because I believe that really is the case because its not just a mere notion in Christian tradition that the length of the Dispensation of Grace and truth would last for just two thousand years, this can also be shown in other ways in prophecies, like Hosea’s which no doubt this teaching came into popular knowledge, but there is something else, like for instance the dating of our own calenders which have since ancient times have been day by day, and year by year marking off the time since our Lord’s death.
The historical fact that nearly the whole world have for two thousand years been marking off the death of Jesus Christ, says quite a lot to me. and as we all know, even if you account for the 7 year mistake in the calender, we are indeed 2 years out of the DIspensation of Grace, and at the start of the Dispensation of Judgement of the Great Tribulation.
JLDNo Gravatar said »
“Christians will not fall for a false messiah because they have the word of God and the holy spirit that will guide them into all truth.”
However, the apostle Paul said the ver)y opposite:”for that day (of Christ’s return) shall not come, except there come a falling away, (or the apostacy of the church age), and the man of sin be revealed, the son of predition.”
What he and many others seems to be saying is that this day of Christ’s return will not happen until Christians have made the world good enough, but the Holy Spirit is saying He will not come until the church and the world is bad enough.
declansgood,
The prophecy in Hosea was to the nation of Israel
I also do not follow the reasoning of the two thousand year time line that you suggest.. Our calenders mark the time since our Lord’s birth not His death and even if we went 2000 years from his death that would end about 2033.
If we were out of the dispensation of Grace true Christians would not be here. The idea that we are in the tribulation already just does not make sense. I have covered that concept so many times before. For example this post.
https://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/jesus-is-not-coming-to-rule-the-earth-between-2012-2019.html
Where did you get your info? GTS NEVER made claims that we are presently in the GT! Better check your sources because you are way off base. I would think you could do better than “Main stream media”
Dave,
If you are talking to me, I said tribulation not Great Tribulation. You need to read the article that I quoted and you would know where I got my information.
It did not come from Main Steam Media it came from Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries. This article was written in 2009 and this view may no longer reflect what he quoted. If it is wrong or the position he quoted changed you ought to contact Nathan Jones about why he said the following.