Rapture Fever
by Gary North by Gary North
Endless UnfuljWed Prophecies Produce Paralysis 21 lic spotlight which the doctrine of “today’s ticking clock of prophecy” offers to them. In an interview in the national newspaper, USA i’bday (Jan. 19, 1991), three days after the U.S. attacked Iraq, a theologically well-informed reporter asked Dr. Walvoord: “So the prophetic clock is ticking?” Walvoord answered emphatically, “Yes.” He had begun the interview with this assertion: “Bible prophecy is being fidfilled every day.” This was an about-face of astounding proportions on his part. He threw out a lifetime of scholarship for a moment of fame. He sold his theological birthright for a pot of message - a sensational message that sells newspapers and paperback books. He sold out orthodox dispensationalism in general and what little remains of orthodox dispensationalism at Dallas Theological Seminary. 5 He bought pop-dispensationalism’s ticking clock. Orthodox Dispensationalism’s Silent Clock of Prophecy The doctrine of the clock of prophecy is central to dispensational theology. This idea rests on dispensationalism’s interpretation of the 69th week of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27). Walvoord wrote in 1979 that “The interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27 is of major importance to premillennialism as well as pretribulationism.”G Why should this be the case? Dispensationalism hypothesizes a gap of an indeterminate period of time after the fulfillment of the prophecies of the 69th week at the crucifixion of Christ and the (supposedly) asyet unfulfilled prophecies, which they say will be fulfilled during the ‘70th week, which they define as the Great Tribulation era which begins after the Rapture, i.e., after the Christians are removed from the earth and pulled secretly into heaven by 5. The revised curriculum at Dallas, introduced in the fall of 1991, indkates how little of that tradition remains. 6. John F. Walvoord, The Rapture (&dim, revised and enlarged edition (Grand Rapids, Michlgam Zondervan, 1979), p. 25.
22 RAPTURE FEVER Jesus. As Walvoord insisted, “a parenthesis of time involving the whole present age is indicated.’” That is to say, from the crucifixion of Christ to the Rape, the clock of prophecy cannot tick, let alone tock. This means that not a single Bible prophecy can be fulfilled during this gap, which dispensationalists call “the parenthesis” and the “Church Age.” (Non-dispensational theology insists that the entire New Testament period is the Church’s age. The doctrine of the Church Age is one of the central pillars of dispensational principles of Bible interpretation - perhaps the central pillar. If some blind “Samson” inside dispensationalism’s temple ever puts his hands on this pillar and pushes it down, that will end dispensationalism.) What no paperback dispensationalist prophecy book of the Thti Time, Armageddon Really Is Near! variety ever discusses is that orthodox dispensationalism officially affirms a non-ticking clock in this, the so-called Church Age. If the clock of Old Testament prophecy begins ticking again in the Church Age (pre-Rapture), then there has to be judicial continuity between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. Specific judgments of God in history, announced by the prophets of Israel, would have to be fulfilled in the era of the Church. What does Hal Lindsey teach? He writes in The Late Great Hunet Earth: “The astonishing thing to those of us who have studied the prophetic Scriptures is that we are watching the fulfillment of these prophecies in our time. Some of the future events that were predicted hundreds of years ago read like today’s newspapers This is “newspaper exegesis.” Psychologically, this is the heart of “pop-dispensationalism.” This is the heart of Rapture fever. Theologically, it is the denial of orthodox dispensationalism. Such a view of fulfilled prophecy undermines the original the- 7. Ibid., p. 26. 8. Hal Lindsey (with C. C. Carlson), The Late Great Plund Earth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1970), p. 20. I am quoting from the 35th printing, November 1973.
- Page 8 and 9: AT GOD’S RIGHT HAND, UNTIL. . . .
- Page 10 and 11: x RAPTURE FEVER mistake. It is anal
- Page 12 and 13: xii RAPTURE FEVER Gift #1: Our Part
- Page 14 and 15: xiv RAPTURE FEVER heaven, he says t
- Page 16 and 17: xvi RAPTURE FEVER we do not keep Hi
- Page 18 and 19: . . . XVIII RAPTURE FEVER There bat
- Page 20 and 21: xx RAPTURE FEVER He must remain sea
- Page 22 and 23: Foreword xxi And that servant, whic
- Page 24 and 25: Foreword . . . XXIII ried about the
- Page 26 and 27: Preface xxv It is that the children
- Page 28 and 29: Preface xxvii the bureaucratically
- Page 30 and 31: Preface xxix J. Rushdoony intervene
- Page 32 and 33: Preface xxxi biblical languages or
- Page 34 and 35: Preface . . . Xxxlll Biblical Theol
- Page 36 and 37: Preface Xxxv begin to search for a
- Page 38 and 39: INTRODUCTION lb are the salt of the
- Page 40 and 41: Introduction 3 alcoholics and other
- Page 42 and 43: Introduction 5 placed by the newsle
- Page 44 and 45: Introduction ‘7 circumscribed sys
- Page 46 and 47: Introduction 9 with taxes extracted
- Page 48 and 49: Introduction . 11 for specific vers
- Page 50 and 51: Introduction 13 ● Are there bibli
- Page 52 and 53: Introduction 15 traditional dispens
- Page 54 and 55: Introdz@ion 17 Christian Reconstruc
- Page 56 and 57: 1 ENDLESS UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES PR
- Page 60 and 61: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 62 and 63: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 64 and 65: Endless UnfuljWed Prophecies Produc
- Page 66 and 67: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 68 and 69: Endless Unfu@lled Prophecies Produc
- Page 70 and 71: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 72 and 73: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 74 and 75: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 76 and 77: Endless Unfulfilled Prophecies Prod
- Page 78 and 79: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 41 b
- Page 80 and 81: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 43 t
- Page 82 and 83: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 45 t
- Page 84 and 85: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 47 b
- Page 86 and 87: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 49 h
- Page 88 and 89: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 51 e
- Page 90 and 91: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 53 m
- Page 92 and 93: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 55 W
- Page 94 and 95: Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 57 e
- Page 96 and 97: Fear of Men Produces Para@s 59 both
- Page 98 and 99: 3 PESSIMISM PRODUCES PARALYSIS And
- Page 100 and 101: Pessimism Produces Paralysis 63 “
- Page 102 and 103: Pessimism Produces Paralysis 65 the
- Page 104 and 105: Pessimism Produces Paral’sis 67
- Page 106 and 107: Pessimism Produces Paralysis 69 in
22 RAPTURE FEVER<br />
Jesus. As Walvoord insisted, “a parenthesis of time involving the<br />
whole present age is indicated.’” That is to say, from the crucifixion<br />
of Christ to the Rape, the clock of prophecy cannot tick, let<br />
alone tock. This means that not a single Bible prophecy can be<br />
fulfilled during this gap, which dispensationalists call “the parenthesis”<br />
and the “Church Age.” (Non-dispensational theology<br />
insists that the entire New Testament period is the Church’s<br />
age. The doctrine of the Church Age is one of the central pillars<br />
of dispensational principles of Bible interpretation - perhaps<br />
the central pillar. If some blind “Samson” inside dispensationalism’s<br />
temple ever puts his hands on this pillar and<br />
pushes it down, that will end dispensationalism.)<br />
What no paperback dispensationalist prophecy book of the<br />
Thti Time, Armageddon Really Is Near! variety ever discusses is<br />
that orthodox dispensationalism officially affirms a non-ticking<br />
clock in this, the so-called Church Age. If the clock of Old<br />
Testament prophecy begins ticking again in the Church Age<br />
(pre-<strong>Rapture</strong>), then there has to be judicial continuity between<br />
Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. Specific<br />
judgments of God in history, announced by the prophets of<br />
Israel, would have to be fulfilled in the era of the Church.<br />
What does Hal Lindsey teach? He writes in The Late Great<br />
Hunet Earth: “The astonishing thing to those of us who have<br />
studied the prophetic Scriptures is that we are watching the<br />
fulfillment of these prophecies in our time. Some of the future<br />
events that were predicted hundreds of years ago read like<br />
today’s newspapers This is “newspaper exegesis.” Psychologically,<br />
this is the heart of “pop-dispensationalism.” This is the<br />
heart of <strong>Rapture</strong> fever.<br />
Theologically, it is the denial of orthodox dispensationalism.<br />
Such a view of fulfilled prophecy undermines the original the-<br />
7. Ibid., p. 26.<br />
8. Hal Lindsey (with C. C. Carlson), The Late Great Plund Earth (Grand Rapids,<br />
Michigan: Zondervan, 1970), p. 20. I am quoting from the 35th printing, November<br />
1973.
Change language