The Final Breath: Is America Dying?

By Leary W. Vanhorn PhD

The Final Breath provides a vivid comparison of Bible prophecy to modern American history over the past several decades. Though our great nation may not be identified by name, there is sufficient Bible evidence that should cause one to believe that America, along with all other nations of the world, is indeed identified in the prophetic Word of God!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973656258

Leary W. Vanhorn PhD

Dr. Leary W. Vanhorn received a diploma in Biblical Studies from Liberty University and a PhD in Pastoral Ministry from Newburgh Theological Seminary. Over the past forty years he has served as a pastor, senior pastor, teacher and church planter. He and his wife, Louise, live in Elizabeth, West Virginia where he currently serves as pastor of Elizabeth Baptist Church.

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CHAPTER 1

How Did It Happen?

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ has come. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 NKJV)

If you grew up in the last twenty years you probably didn’t even notice it. I was born in 1947 and I saw it but didn’t know what I was looking at. Others older than I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was so subtle. It crept in all but un-noticed. The age of apostasy. The apostle Paul warned us about it. He said it was coming.

Someone had sounded an unwarranted alarm by writing a letter and signing Paul’s name to it. The letter had told the congregation at Thessalonica that the rapture had already taken place. It had put fear into the Christians there and they questioned, What could they do now? Could they still be saved? Could they, in some way, still find their way to heaven even if the Lord had already appeared to gather His saved ones home?

Paul needed to reassure them that the Day of Christ, the gathering together of the redeemed, had not happened. He tells them that even though they may have gotten a letter with forged signatures of Paul and members of his mission team, don’t believe it. Then He went on to tell them how they could recognize the age in which the Lord would appear to gather the Christians that made up His blood bought church. He said that the age would be identified by a falling away just prior to Christ’s appearance to gather His believers.

There have been those who have tried to teach that the falling away was, in fact, a reference to the rapture itself. However, a study of the Greek language is valuable here. The Greek word, apostasia is translated falling away. It has nothing at all to do with the catching up of believers as outlined in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church in which he says, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV). Rather, the word, apostasia, actually means a departure from the truth. Paul reassures the Christians that before Christ returns to take away His blood bought church there will be an age of apostasy, a severe departure from the truth.

Prophecy usually has two targets. One is long range and the other is short range. The long- range purpose is that God wants people of all ages to be aware that certain events are going to happen. By foretelling these events people can prepare their hearts because they don’t know whether they will happen in their lifetime or not. God doesn’t want people to try to put off their salvation until the last minute and by letting people know of these coming events without letting them know when they will happen, will hopefully prompt people to believe in Christ now and be prepared when those prophecies do become reality. Then if they die looking for these things but they don’t come in their lifetime, they will still go to be with the Lord.

The short-range purpose of prophecy is to create a sense of urgency in proclaiming God’s Word. We know that the time of the rapture is much closer today than it was in Paul’s day. We also see some of the warning signs the Bible has declared. Therefore, we need to be reaching out to harvest souls like we never have before. Knowing that this prophecy is so much nearer to coming to pass than it was in Paul’s day, we should sense an urgency to be reaching out to the lost while there is still time.

I believe that we are living in the short-range time span of Paul’s writing in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3. Paul, at the time he was writing this letter, had no idea that it would become scriptural text. He thought he was simply addressing a problem that was causing confusion in the church at that time. That makes some of his text appear to be contradictory.

He says, "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 NKJV).

So, in one passage Paul warns his readers that the coming of the Lord will sneak up and no one will see it coming. But in our opening text, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, he tells them how to watch for it so that they WILL know it is coming.

Even today we find people now and then that believe they have an inside track on prophecy and can tell you exactly when the Lord is going to appear. And they are specific about it right down to the day and hour. However, Jesus taught, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only (Matthew 24:36 NKJV). Paul’s writing agrees with that! Jesus taught, Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28 NKJV). Paul’s writing also agrees with that!

So how are the two thoughts reconciled, that appear to oppose each other so sharply? Neither Jesus, nor Paul tries to tell anyone exactly when the time of His coming will be, but both warn their audiences to watch for certain things that will tell them that the time is near. There is no contradiction in either of the texts.

Even though most prophecies regarding what we call the end times point to the second coming of Christ, a good study of those texts gives us sufficient information to develop a time line so that we can know in what sequence things are going to happen. I believe, as do many others, that there is a seven-year time span between the next appearance of Christ at the rapture and the second coming of Christ just prior to His one-thousand-year reign on earth.

Paul makes references to both the rapture and the second coming in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 when he says, Now we beseech (ask) you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him… (KJV). Many people do not understand that the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ are not the same event. Paul refers to both when he says, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the second coming) and our gathering together unto Him (the rapture of the church). These are NOT the same event, but rather two separate events!

In the next chapter, we will look at the differences between the rapture and the second coming. A careful study of God’s word relating to both events, I believe, will help to make it clear that they are NOT one and the same.

So, since Paul nor Jesus say anything contradictory in their statements, how can we know that we are living in that age of apostasy that Paul describes?

At this point a word about prophecy might be valuable. We need to understand that prophets wrote as the Holy Spirit of God inspired them and often, they were writing about things they had not experienced. For example, John describes seeing things in his book of Revelation that he had never seen before nor would he ever see in his lifetime.

A good example of that is found in Revelation when John says, I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place (Revelation 6:12-14 NKJV). John is clear that some cataclysmic event literally shakes the earth like an earthquake. But based on his description of the event, we can be certain that he is describing something that he can only explain by writing what it looks like to him in words that he is familiar with. For instance, he could not have known words like atomic, or nuclear or even bomb. With what we know in our day, however, John’s description sounds quite a lot like a nuclear explosion, doesn’t it?

Another good example is found in Revelation where John describes something else that I believe he has never seen.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months (Revelation 9:3-10 KJV).

Since we know that this prophecy has not yet come to pass, then we know that John had never seen whatever it was that he was describing. It is, of course, difficult to determine what he saw in perfect detail by his writing, but it is not difficult to see how a helicopter could easily fit the description. The wop-wop-wop of rotor blades could easily sound to him like a huge number of hoof beats. The tail and rotor of a helicopter could certainly look to him like the tail of a scorpion and the sting in their tails could be chemicals being sprayed from behind that would poison people, not to death, but to a sickness that would take five months to work out of their system. The fact that they come up out of the earth could well be coming up out of underground storage areas or he may have seen them rising up from behind hill tops. Either way, it all fits. And it makes sense once you realize that much of prophecy is descriptive of things the writers had never seen but are describing as best as they can in terms that they are familiar with.

How can all of that tie in with Paul’s writing about the age of apostasy and Jesus statement about being able to identify our approaching redemption? John didn’t know what a nuclear explosion was, but we know it can happen today. John didn’t know what a helicopter was but we have helicopters capable of doing the damage that he describes. It is not about being able to identify the day or the hour. It is about adding urgency to the salvation message of the cross and the blood of Jesus. We CAN know when it is getting close.

I hope, as you read on, that you will be able to see that an age of apostasy is upon us!

CHAPTER 2

Ready or Not

For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV).

There has been much controversy over the topic we are just about to discuss. In fact, some may have already laid their copy of this book aside, and determined not to read any of it, as they would consider it to be false doctrine! The problem is not false doctrine, but rather, insufficient research. The topic of this chapter is the rapture of the Church, a topic many people reject simply because the word rapture is not found in the Bible. Therefore, they call it false doctrine.

It amazes me that I have never encountered anyone over the years that deny the doctrine of the Trinity - that is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The word Trinity is not in the Bible either. So why are people so dismantled about the word rapture because it isn’t in the Bible but are okay with the word Trinity when it isn’t in the Bible either? For the benefit of those who might be uneasy about the word rapture, it simply means to transport from one place to another. Therefore, like the word Trinity, it isn’t in the Bible but it’s meaning certainly is.

If you study it enough to understand it, then, rather than causing distress in the reader, it can become a teaching that causes believers to be more excited over looking for Jesus to take us out of this mess we have made of our world.

There are others who reject it, not because they are bothered by the word, but rather they are in disagreement over when it will happen. We have even begun to identify people by what they believe about the time of the rapture. There are pre-tribulationalists, post-tribulationalists, mid-tribulationalist and non-tribulationalists. What these identifiers suggest is that some believe in the rapture but they differ on when they believe it will happen. Pre-tribulationalists believe the rapture will occur just prior to the beginning of the time identified by the Bible as the Great Tribulation. Mid-tribulationalists believe the rapture will occur in the middle of the Great Tribulation. Post-tribulationalist believe the rapture will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation. And what about the non-tribulationalists? They don’t believe there is going to be a rapture or a Great Tribulation because they don’t even believe God!

So how do we sort all of this out? Well, the Apostle John said, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world (John 1:6-9 NKJV). The first thing we need to know is that Jesus wants us to figure it out. He doesn’t want us to be in darkness, so He came as a light to illuminate us in understanding the scriptures. Study shines the light that reveals truth.

So, let’s look at our opening text again and dis-assemble it and let the Light shine through it so we can know what we are looking at.

May I paraphrase in Appalachian for you? We tend to like keeping things simple. Jesus will come from Heaven and gather the Christians, dead and living, and they will meet Him in the air and He will take them back to heaven with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 Paraphrase Mine). Can it get simpler than that?

Within that statement are some things we need to call attention to. First, Jesus descends from Heaven but He DOES NOT come to earth! Second, only believers are taken up to meet Him. The dead in Christ rise from their graves. These are all the New Testament believers who have died. Then, believers, and only believers, who are still living on earth at that moment are caught up (raptured) with the previously risen dead believers to meet the Lord in the air. The final point is a repetition of the first. That is, this meeting takes place in the air. Jesus DOES NOT set foot upon the earth at the rapture, but rather we are taken up to meet Him IN THE AIR.

This contrasts the second coming in which the Bible says, "Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south (Zechariah 14:3-4 NKJV).

Zechariah draws a pretty clear picture of the Lord’s return. There is quite a difference between it and the event in 1 Thessalonians. The Thessalonian account shows Jesus meeting His people in the air while Zechariah shows Jesus coming to earth and there is so