How Should We Then Live?: The End Times—A Different View

By Robert Wilson

This work differs from previous treatments of End Times Issues in the following ways.

I present an analysis of the Greek New Testament scripture to explain why the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming are not imminent, which is consistent with the fact that these events have not occurred in the past 2000 years.

I argue that the Scriptural descriptions of the destruction of the earth in the End Times is not consistent with the capabilities of nuclear weapons and that a different scenario is required to explain the scriptural description of 2 Peter 3 - the destruction of the earth by intense heat and burning and also the death of one-third of the people that inhabit the earth. I then suggest a scenario that is capable of causing the destruction of the earth and is caused by God not mankind, which is consistent with scripture.

I present arguments that the scriptural conditions that must be met (occur) before the Rapture and Second Coming can occur are not likely to occur soon.

I see no possibility of a ten-kings empire in Europe. If the entire ex-Roman Empire is considered, then it could be. I suggest that the ten nations are those of the old Roman Empire that are not in Europe - the ten that are closer to Israel and are all primarily Arab/Islamic.

I give a scientific explanation of the streets of transparent gold described in Revelation.

I discuss scriptures individually that relate to The End Times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490846309

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson was born in 1957. A graduate of Oxford University, he has worked in shipping, advertising and trading in Africa. He has travelled in Asia and Africa and has lived in Greece and West Africa. He is married and writes from an isolated farmhouse in Portugal.

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Copyright © 2014 Robert Wilson.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-4629-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4631-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4630-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014913407

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/08/2014

Contents

Preface

Bibliographical Background

Introduction

The Rapture

The Tribulation

The Second Coming

Imminency of the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming: The Rapture and Second Coming are to Happen Rapidly, Swiftly, Suddenly, NOT Soon

Conditions that must be met before the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming, can occur

The Destruction of the Earth by Intense Heat, Melting, and Burning (Fire is never mentioned.) and New Heavens and New Earth

The Kingdom Millennium and the Final War

The New Jerusalem of Revelation and

the Streets of Gold

Regarding the issue of Reaching the Entire World with the Gospel Before the Lord can Return

World Unification

The Third Temple and its Rebuilding

El Aqsa Mosque and the Mosque of Omar

(Dome of the Rock)

Wars and Rumors of Wars, Famines, Natural Disasters

War and Israel (and Jews)

Influence of Other Nations

WWIII World War Three

Armageddon and Ezekiel 38 and 39

The Role of Israel

Empires

The Christian Church verses Israel in the End Times

Islam in the End Times

Satan and the Antichrist and the False Prophet

Time of the Gentiles

The Elect

This Generation

Europe and the Ten Kings

United States of America

Personal Note from the Author

Interpretational Issues - Allegories, Metaphors, Similes, and Parables

Context

Conclusions

How Should We Then Live?

End Times Scriptures, Discussion of Specific

What the Qur’an or Koran (Islam) Says about The End Times

About the Author

Preface

This work differs from previous treatments of End Times Issues in the following ways.

I present an analysis of the Greek New Testament scripture to explain why the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming are not imminent, which is consistent with the fact that these events have not occurred in the past 2000 years.

I argue that the Scriptural descriptions of the destruction of the earth in the End Times is not consistent with the capabilities of nuclear weapons and that a different scenario is required to explain the scriptural description of 2 Peter 3 - the destruction of the earth by intense heat and burning and also the death of one-third of the people that inhabit the earth. I then suggest a scenario that is capable of causing the destruction of the earth and is caused by God not mankind, which is consistent with scripture.

I present arguments that the scriptural conditions that must be met (occur) before the Rapture and Second Coming can occur are not likely to occur soon.

I see no possibility of a ten-kings empire in Europe. If the entire ex-Roman Empire is considered, then it could be. I suggest that the ten nations are those of the old Roman Empire that are not in Europe - the ten that are closer to Israel and are all primarily Arab/Islamic.

I give a scientific explanation of the ‘streets of transparent gold’ described in Revelation.

I discuss scriptures individually that relate to The End Times.

I point out that my understanding of the End Times scriptures says that they all point to a common purpose – an admonition as to how we should then live in view of these coming events, and not be concerned with when they will occur but how to be prepared for their coming, whenever it is.

A note regarding transliteration of Greek here: The long Greek vowels eta η and omega ω are written as e^ and o^, to distinguish them from the corresponding short Greek vowels epsilon ε and omicron ο. The Greek vowel upsilon υ is often transliterated as a y rather than a u because the upper case Greek upsilon Υ looks like Y. The transliterated upsilon, as our y in English, is always a vowel, but is a u in the Greek. There is no letter in Greek that corresponds to y. The Greek rough breather written as an apostrophe ‘ is transliterated here as the English letter h. The rough breather in Greek precedes vowels and sometimes the letter ρ rho or r in English.

In cases where there are a variety of uses and associated meanings for certain words in the Greek text, I have given those different meanings here so that the reader can both see how other translations might have arrived at different results, and also judge for yourself what you might believe it the best translation.

This work is intended for serious students of the scripture and not meant for easy reading.

Bibliographical Background

H. Lindsey (and C.C. Carlson) wrote a book in 1970 titled The Late, Great Planet Earth (LGPE in what follows) [Zondervan, NY, 1970] in which they compared their interpretation of end-times prophecies of the Bible with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture of believers before the tribulation and second coming of Christ to establish his thousand-year (i.e., millennial) kingdom on earth. Focusing on key passages in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, Lindsey originally suggested the possibility that these climactic events might play out in the 1980s, which he interpreted as one generation from the foundation of modern Israel in 1948, a pivotal event in most evangelical (especially conservative evangelical) schools of eschatological thought. Like many previous books, LGPE postulated an antichrist ruling over a ten-member or ten-nation European Confederacy. He believed that what was then the six-member European Economic Community (now the 27+-member European Union) could be a fore-runner of this confederacy, which he considered to be a revival of the Roman Empire. He also foretold a Russian invasion of Israel, as well as an increase in the frequency of famines, wars, and earthquakes, as key events leading up to the end of the world. He found little in the Bible that could represent the United States of America, but he suggested that Ezekiel 13:13 could be speaking of the United States in part. Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any accuracy, he suggested that Matthew 24:32-34 indicated that Jesus’ return might be within one generation of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Lindsey asserted that in the Bible one generation was forty years. Some readers took this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988 (1948+40).

It is obvious that the events suggested by Lindsey did not come to pass, not in the 1980s nor until now in 2014. In fact, some of Lindsey’s suggestions are not likely to occur for decades from now in the opinion of this well-traveled scientist. I describe and elaborate on this remark in what follows here. I looked up the LGPE on the Internet and just a few listings later found a site titled The Late Great Planet Earth by Lindsey Reviewed In Behalf of the Fool. This document is two pages in length and is interesting reading in this author’s opinion. It is a fairly harsh criticism of LGPE and goes so far as to call some of it dishonest. Also, I do not see anything in Ezekiel 13:13 that could have any connection with the United States of America. This verse leads to verse 16, which says that there is no peace in Jerusalem, which history has proved to be true.

In 1973 T.S. McCall and Z. Levitt published a book titled Satan in the Sanctuary [Moody press, Chicago, 1973]. They refer to Lindsey’s book as having promoted a justifiable attention to the Bible as a tool of understanding world events and their direction. They especially deal with the third or new temple to be built by the Jews in Jerusalem, its history, and its supposed destruction by Jesus upon his (Jesus’) return (Second Coming). They also review in detail the (elaborate) time schedule calculated by Anderson (The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson [Great Britain 1894]), based on the prophecies in Daniel, that determine the exact day of the coming of the Jewish Messiah (Jesus) (6 April 32 AD, although many other sources say that it was 33 AD). They also discuss the likelihood of a major nuclear war that would completely destroy the earth, a view that is in my understanding a scientific impossibility. I propose here an alternate scenario that in my opinion is a scientific possibility. Another problem with this calculation is that Jesus had