PAGE TITLE: JOEL C. ROSENBERG
BLOG http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/
ARTICLE
TITLE:
12/12/12 & the Mayans: Are these the End of Days? Could the Rapture
happen this month?
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DATE: Wednesday 12
December 2012
AUTHOR: Joel Rosenberg
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967) is an American communications
strategist, author of the Last Jihad series, and founder of The
Joshua Fund. An Evangelical Christian, he has written five novels about
terrorism and how it relates to Bible Prophecy, including Gold Medallion Book
Award winner The Ezekiel Option, along with two nonfiction books, Epicenter
and Inside the Revolution, on the alleged resemblance of biblical
prophecies and current events. Rosenberg serves as a political columnist for World
and he has also had his work published by the Wall Street Journal, National
Review, and Policy Review. He and his wife, Lynn, have four sons and
reside near Washington, D.C.
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| Joel Rosenberg |
(Washington, D.C.) — With today being 12/12/12, many people
around the world are buzzing about the significance (if any) to this day.
With the end of the Mayan calendar approaching on 12/21, people are
asking if this is the “End of Days.”
* A Fox News headline reads: “With mere days to ‘doomsday,’ scientists call for calm.”
* The Detroit Free Press has a story called: “Mayan doomsday or not, all eyes on Dec. 21.”
* A headline in one British newspaper reads: “Doomsayers await the end of the world: But governments try
to reassure their citizens not to panic.”
* A headline in another British paper reads: “Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears:
Fears that the end of the world is nigh have spread across the world with only
days until the end of the Mayan calendar, with doomsday-mongers predicting a
cataclysmic end to the history of Earth.”
* An Asian news site has a story called: “End of the world: There are only nine days left.“
* Another Asian news service is running this headline: “Doomsday
phobia hits China.”
* Many are watching (or re-watching) the recent film, 2012.
To be clear: the Bible says nothing about 12/12/12. Nor does it say
anything about the Mayan calendar. The prophecies in Scripture, however,
do speak a great deal about the End of Days, known as the “last days” and
the “latter times.” In several of my books – including Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual
Challenges In Time? — I examine a number of these prophecies
and consider their implications for the U.S., Israel, and other nations.
Short version: the Earth is not literally coming to an end this month.
The Bible does say the earth will be destroyed someday, and then He will create
a new earth. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and
the first earth passed away,” wrote the Apostle John in a prophecy about the
future found in Revelation 21:1. The Apostle Peter wrote, “[T]he heavens will
pass aways with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and
the earth and its works will be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10). But four major
prophetic events happen before the literal destruction and recreation of our
planet: 1) the Rapture; 2) the Tribulation, a seven year period of God’s
judgment; 3) the Second Coming of Christ; and 4) the “Millennial Kingdom,” a
thousand year period in which Christ reigns over the entire earth. So at this
point, we are at least 1,007 years away from the end of the earth.
Again, I’ve written about these issues in the past, but
given the widespread interest this week, let’s look at several of these issues
a bit more closely:
Q: What does the Bible teach about the second coming of Jesus and
something called “the Rapture”?
A: The Bible describes
two separate and distinct future events, both of which are often described as
the Second Coming. The first event is what Bible scholars call the Rapture. In
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the apostle Paul writes that “the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, 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
and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” In this passage, Paul is
describing an event in which Jesus Christ will not physically, literally touch
down on the earth but will first come “in the clouds” and snatch away His true followers
from the earth in an instant of time. Those who have not chosen to follow
Christ, those who have not been “born again,” will remain behind on the earth
and will have to go through a terrible time of wars, famines, natural
disasters, and divine judgments known as the Tribulation.
The second event occurs at the end of the Tribulation. This is when the
Bible teaches that Jesus will physically, literally return to earth, destroy
His enemies, and set up His own righteous government based in Jerusalem. He
will reign on earth for one thousand years. In Revelation 19:11–20:6, the
apostle John writes, “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He
who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and
wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and
He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed
with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. . . . He
will rule [the nations]. . . . And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of
old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and he
threw him into the abyss. . . . And I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God . .
. and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. . . .
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. . . .
They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a
thousand years.”
Q: Are there any signs that will indicate when the return of Jesus
Christ is close at hand, and if so, what are they?
A: One day while Jesus
and His disciples were sitting on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city of
Jerusalem, the disciples asked Him this very question. Their query is recounted
in Matthew 24:3.
“Tell us,” they said, “what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the
end of the age?”
Jesus could have refused to answer the question. Instead, He answered
them at great length and detail. His answers are recorded in Matthew chapter 24
and in Luke chapter 21, and they provide a checklist of signs to watch for.
Among them:
- Revolutions (Luke 21:9, NIV)
- The rise of false prophets and false messiahs (Matthew 24:4-5, 11, 23-27)
- Wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6)
- Nations rising against nations (Matthew 24:7)
- Kingdoms rising against kingdoms (Matthew 24:7)
- Famines (Matthew 24:7)
- Plagues (Luke 21:11)
- Earthquakes (Matthew 24:7) and “great earthquakes” (Luke 21:11)
- “Terrors” that lead to “men fainting from fear” (Luke 21:11, 26)
- Persecution of the believers (Matthew 24:9)
- Apostasy and betrayal of one another (Matthew 24:10)
- Increasing lawlessness (Matthew 24:12)
- People’s love for one another growing cold (Matthew 24:12)
- “The roaring of the sea and the waves” (Luke 21:25)
- The good news (the gospel) of Christ’s love and forgiveness will be preached “in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations”—even Muslim nations, even Radical nations—“and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14)
Jesus cautioned His followers not to speculate on the exact time of the
Rapture or the Second Coming. In Matthew 24:36, He said that “of that day and
hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father
alone.” But “day and hour” is a very narrow slice of time. By giving us at
least fifteen other specific signs that would be happening in the last days,
Jesus clearly wanted us to know when the time of His return was rapidly
approaching.
Why? He gave the answer in Matthew 24:42, when He said, “Therefore, be on
the alert.” He reinforced the point in the next verse, when again He urged His
followers to be “on the alert.” In Matthew 24:44, He stressed this critical
point for a third time. “You also must be ready,” He insisted, “for the Son of
Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
Followers of Jesus Christ who study these signs are coming to the
conclusion that they are being fulfilled today and that we are, in fact, living
in the last days. They are, after all, living through revolutions, wars and
rumors of wars, and horrifying persecution, for starters.
They have no idea precisely when Jesus will return, of course. But given
how closely world events are tracking with Bible prophecy, they find themselves
increasingly motivated to “be ready” by living lives of holiness, by sharing
the gospel with Muslims and nominal Christians, by making disciples of all
nations, and by planting new church congregations throughout the region.
That said, a final thought: while this month will not see the literal
end of the world, is it theoretically possible that the Rapture could happen
this month, even on 12/12/12? It is possible. I’m not saying it will happen
that way. I have no idea. No one but God knows when the Ratpure will happen.
But it could happen at any time. We should, therefore, be ready at any moment.
How about you? Are you ready?
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