Welcome to the April 2008 edition of Strong Tower Publishing's
e-newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Evangelism Update: God in Ancient China
* Before God's Wrath E-Book Now Available
* Strong Tower Publishing Reselling The Prewrath Chart
* Responses to Reader Questions
EVANGELISM: GOD IN ANCIENT CHINA
Readers of the Strong Tower Publishing website may be aware
that, in addition to the end times, Strong Tower Publishing also
has a focus on evangelism, with H. L. Nigro's “Everyday
Evangelist” columns and lists of recommended apologetics
reading. Recently, we were alerted to a terrific book, The
Faith of Our Fathers that we want to share with you.
Many Chinese are closed to the gospel because they see
Christianity as a Western religion, one that requires them to
give up their Chinese identity and heritage. In reality, the
ancient Chinese worshiped Shang Di (pronounced song-dee), who
unbeknownst to most Chinese, is the God of the Bible. Looking at
ancient Chinese histories, the pictographic meaning of ancient
Chinese characters, and ancient Chinese religious sites and
practices, author Chan Kei Thong argues that the ancient worship
of Sang Di predated the worship of ancestors and lesser gods and
therefore acceptance of the gospel is not a betrayal of their
culture but a return to The Faith of Our Fathers.
This book is not available through traditional outlets and can
only be ordered through Campus Crusade for Christ. For more
information, visit www.faithofourfathersbooks.com.
If you think this sounds interesting but don't know anyone who
works with the Chinese, consider my story. I started this book
because the concept fascinated me, but I rarely have contact
with anyone from Asian cultures. Then, after reading only
one-third of the book, while I was in the grocery store, I
became aware that two men standing next to me were speaking
Chinese. I briefly thought of the book, then put it out of my
mind. Two minutes later, when I was standing alone in another
aisle, one of the men came wandering down and stood right next
to me. Again, I thought of the book and wondered if God had a
conversation in mind. He seemed to be taking a long time to make
his selection, so I asked if I could ask him a question about
the Chinese cultural religion. That opened a 10-minute
conversation and an opportunity to share the book with him. You
just never know when and how God will use these resources!
BEFORE GOD'S WRATH NOW IN E-BOOK
We've heard your requests! Strong Tower Publishing will
start offering e-books. Before God's Wrath: The Bible's
Answer to the Timing of the Rapture has been released as an
e-book. Not only does this put this classic prewrath text in the
hands of readers on the go, but it becomes accessible to readers
overseas for whom the printing and shipping of hard copies may
be cost-prohibitive. Before God's Wrath is priced at a
special “overseas-friendly” discounted price of $14.95. E-books
are in Adobe PDF Reader and Amazon Kindle Book format. God's
Elect and the Great Tribulation will soon be released in
e-book format at a price of $19.95.
PREWRATH CHART NOW AVAILABLE FROM STRONG TOWER PUBLISHING
The Prewrath Chart, announced in last month's Strong Tower
Publishing e-newsletter, is now being resold by Strong Tower
Publishing. This 2x3-foot chart packs a stunning amount of
detail on end-times events and issues into a compact format. The
author, Allen Hadidian, has a Masters in Divinity (MDiv) from
Talbot Theological Seminary and pastors a church in California.
For more information on the chart, visit
www.strongtowerpublishing.com/prewrath_chart.htm.
RESPONSES TO READER QUESTIONS:
Q: My question is regarding Revelation 16:15-16: "'Behold, I
am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his
garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.' And they
gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew,
Armageddon." Who do you think "they" is?
A: I think it's important not to use “Behold, I am coming
as a thief” as a marker for the timing of this event. There are
three “thief” references in Revelation, and if we tried to use
them to create time markers, we'd end up with three
contradictory timings. The common sense reading of this text is
that Jesus is placing these references for emphasis, not to
determine timing. Thus, we should not use the “thief” references
to determine the identity of “they.”
It seems to me that the identity of those gathering the armies
at Armageddon can be found immediately before this reference, in
verse 14: “They are spirits of demons performing miraculous
signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to
gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” So
it is the deceiving spirits doing the bidding of Satan who
gather the armies to fight.
I say “to fight” only in the most helpless sense. Surely, even
Satan cannot believe that even the greatest army can defeat God
Almighty. I see this as yet another reflection of Satan's
character. He deceives, only to destroy. What Satan is able to
promise these kings so that they choose to follow him, no one
knows. But as he always does, Satan breaks his promise and leads
them into destruction.
Q: The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters of
Revelation seem to describe the Second Coming as being at the
sounding of the seventh trumpet. Why does prewrath tie the
rapture to the sixth/seventh seals rather than to the seventh
trumpet?
A: Other than “the kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,” I'm not sure what,
specifically, you are referring to as describing the Second
Coming. There isn't a lot of specific material here. Even so,
because of the popularity of this view, in Before God's Wrath,
I looked at the issue of whether the seventh trumpet was the
trumpet announcing the Second Coming and the rapture of the
Church, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll simply excerpt
from the book (p. 154) here:
# # #
This leaves one final question to be answered: If the rapture
occurs after the opening of the sixth seal, how can it occur, as
Paul describes it, at “the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:52)? After
all, following the rapture of the saints, there are still seven
trumpet judgments to come. There is no definitive answer to this
problem. However, there are three things that we do know:
1. There is overwhelming scriptural evidence for the timing of
the rapture-after the sixth seal. Placing the rapture after the
seventh trumpet would contradict all of the clear, direct
scriptural evidence given elsewhere in scripture. If we use the
principle of interpreting the unclear by the clear, we cannot
throw out all of this evidence based on one verse.
2. When Paul penned 1 Corinthians, Revelation had not yet been
written. In fact, it would not be written until approximately
four decades later, so Paul may have had no knowledge of the
trumpet judgments when he wrote this passage. It is possible
that he was simply making an analogy that would have been easily
understood by his audience: the call to assembly, which was used
in the Roman games or a military context. In these cases, there
was a preliminary trumpet, sometimes two, with the last being
the call to assembly. Such an analogy would make sense in this
context, since the New Testament writers frequently made
cultural analogies to clarify points.
3. The last trumpet, or the trumpet call of God, could not be
the seventh trumpet of Revelation-or any of the trumpets of
Revelation, for that matter-because, in Revelation, those who
are blowing the trumpets are angels. At the rapture, it is Jesus
Himself who initiates the blast (Matt. 24:31, 1 Thess. 4:16).
This is why the trumpet is called “the trumpet of God” (1 Thess.
4:16).
This distinction, in itself, separates “the last trumpet” from
the trumpets of Revelation.
Q: My Bible class was assigned to tell our version of how
we think the seven seals will unfold. We have to tell what seals
were opened and which were not, what will happen when the seals
open, or what has already happened that is particular to the
seal you are referring to. We were asked to include events
unfolding in the world today (or that have unfolded) that may
lead to this. I would appreciate it if you could write back to
me and give me some ideas as to how the seven seals may break.
A: The answer to this question really depends on what
position you take on the end times. Historicists would say that
the seals began to be opened in the first century and that they
and all of the judgments in Revelation are being fulfilled
throughout history. Preterists believe that all of these
judgments were fulfilled in the first century. Futurists, which
prewrathers are, believe that all of these judgments are in the
future.
If you take a historicist position, there are many
interpretations this could take. A plague, for example, could be
anything from the Bubonic Plague in the 1330s to AIDS today. If
you take a preterist position, the possibilities are much
narrower, since the timeframe is more restricted. Most
preterists would interpret plagues as the diseases that ravished
Jerusalem during Rome's A.D. 70 seige. Most futurists see
plagues as a diversity of plagues blanketing the earth,
comprising and including all of the potential plagues on earth
today, with the possibility of some forgotten or once thought to
be eradicated plague raising its ugly head once again.
What do I think? The more I study the end times, the more
convinced I become that the seals are written in such a way that
cover all of the possibilities. The scriptures were written to
be relevant to all believers of all ages. We know that there are
many prophecies that have, at least, dual fulfillments. There is
no reason we cannot see the seals the same way. Thus, looking
for a single fulfillment, I believe, is too restrictive.
Moreover, we know that prophecies are often not fulfilled in
ways that mankind expects. For this reason, the question about
what ways the seals might be fulfilled is a good one because it
reminds us to look outside our own immediate worldviews and
consider that perhaps there is more to this than we might think.
Q: Just refreshing on a few arguments and was wondering
how you would argue this one. There are scriptures and early
Church writings that indicate that the last half of the 70th
week will be a time in which Christians will be persecuted. If
the rapture takes place shortly after the midpoint, how are
Christians persecuted for three-and-one-half years under
Antichrist? I am seeing a lot more posttrib sites against
prewrath these days. This seems to be their only real argument.
Can we assume this speaks of a short time of persecution for
Christians until the rapture and the rest of the
three-and-a-half years will be for tribulation saints? If so, is
there anything to help support such a view? Posttribbers also
talk about the day of the Lord as being the last
three-and-a-half years and not the time period starting with the
opening of the seventh seal, but I do not see as much strength
in this argument. I appreciate any help.
A: Since prewrath holds that there is salvation during
the 70th Week, including after the rapture, then according to
prewrath, the Antichrist will have access to Christians before
and after the rapture -- just a different group of Christians.
The term "tribulation saints" is not a biblical term. The
scriptures use the terms "elect" and "saints," as well as a
variety of metaphors for believers. As far as I can see, even if
the rapture is mid-way through a future 70th Week, there would
be no fundamental difference between believers before and after
the rapture except those who have believed without seeing
("blessed are those...") and those who believe because they have
seen.
Prewrath, then, does imply a second resurrection of the dead for
those believers who perish under the Antichrist after the
rapture. This is a decent argument for posttrib, and prewrath
answers this with the Revelation 20:4 reference to "the first
resurrection," which implies a second resurrection after the
Millennium (per Revelation 21).
As for posttribbers seeing the day of the Lord as the last
three-and-a-half years and not the opening of the seventh seal,
it typically comes from “the time, times, and half a time” from
Daniel 12. If this argument comes up, however, I would put the
burden on the questioner to lay out his argument first. If he
can't, then his inability to do that proves your point. If he
can, then it gives you specifics to work with.
