Rapture Fever
by Gary North by Gary North
Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 45 tian cultural surrender to humanism that “the Book of Revelation was written at least 20 years after A.D. 70, most likely about A.D. 96. This one fact destroys this entire theory” about the fall of Jerusalem being the prophesied event that many today call the Great Tribulation.13 But like so much of what Dave Hunt has written,14 this “fact” is not a fact. John did not write the Book of Revelation in A.D. 96. When did John write the Book of Revelation? This technical academic question must be answered accurately if we are ever to make sense of New Testament prophecy. Establishing the date of John’s Apocalypse and the events that followed within a few months of this revelation is what Kenneth L. Gentry’s book, The Beast of Retie.kztion, is all about, as is Dr. Gentry’s larger and far more detailed study, Before Jerusalem FeZl: Dating the Book of Revelation. (Both books were published by the Institute for Christian Economics in 1989). If his thesis is correct, then the Great Tribulation is not ahead of us; it is long behind us. If this event is behind us, then all “futurism” - dispensationalism, most contemporary non-dispensational premillennialism, and the more popular forms of amillennialism - is dead wrong. Anyone who says that “dark days are ahead of the Church because the Man of Sin is surely coming” is a futurist.15 Thus, Gentry’s books are not simply obscure academic exercises. If 13. Dave Hun~ Whutever Happemd to Heaven? (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 1988), p. 249. 14. Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Reduction of Chri.stiani@ A Biblical Re@nse to Dave Hunt (Ft. Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1988). 15. The other positions are idealism, the Church historical approach, and preterism. The first view does not try to tie the prophecies to any particular post- New Testament event. The prophecies are seen as merely prinaples. Church historicism teaches that the Book of Revelation describes the course of history. This was the common view of the Reformation, in which all Protestant groups identified the Papacy as the Antichrist. (This was the only universally agreed-upon specifically Protestant doctrine that united all Protestant groups.) The preterists are those who believe that most Bible prophecies had been fulfilled by the time Jerusalem fell, or at least by the time the Roman Empire was Christianized. Thk is my view, Gentry’s, and Chikcm’s.
46 RAPTURE FEVER futurists prove incapable of refuting these books, they will have surrendered their intellectual position. Since 1989 they have remained silent. Silence in the Face of Criticism Is Suicidal It is my opinion that they will prove incapable of refuting Gentry’s evidence. It is my opinion that dispensationalists will not even try they will instead adopt the traditional academic strategy that dispensational seminary professors have used for over half a century to deal with any book that challenges their system: “Let’s keep quiet and pray that nobody in our camp finds out about this, especially our brighter students.” As I mentioned in the Preface, the best example of this keepquiet-and-hope strategy is the unwillingness of any dispensational scholar to challenge postmillennialist Oswald T. Allis’ comprehensive critique of dispensationalism, F%@hecy and the Church (1945) for two decades. 16 Charles C. Ryrie’s brief, popularly written, and intellectually undistinguished attempt to refute a carefully selected handful of Allis’ arguments appeared in 1965: Dz3pensationah.sm Today. 17 The fact that this slim volume is still the primary defense of traditional (Dallas Seminary) dispensationalism, despite the fact that it has never been revised, testifies to the head-in-the-sand strategy of the dispensationalist academic world to its Bible-believing critics. This dearth of intellectual defenses is especially noticeable today, given the fact of Dr. Ryrie’s unexpected and somewhat acrimonious departure from the Dallas Seminary faculty over a decade ago. Another example is their silence regarding William Everett Bell’s 196’7 New York University doctoral dissertation, “A Critical Evaluation of the Pretribulation Rapture Doctrine in Christian Eschatology,” which has been reprinted by Bell. Major books deserve full-scale refutations in books, not brief, negative 16. Phillipsburg, New Jersey Presbyterian& Reformed. 17. Chicago: Moody Press.
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Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 45<br />
tian cultural surrender to humanism that “the Book of Revelation<br />
was written at least 20 years after A.D. 70, most likely<br />
about A.D. 96. This one fact destroys this entire theory” about<br />
the fall of Jerusalem being the prophesied event that many<br />
today call the Great Tribulation.13 But like so much of what<br />
Dave Hunt has written,14 this “fact” is not a fact. John did not<br />
write the Book of Revelation in A.D. 96.<br />
When did John write the Book of Revelation? This technical<br />
academic question must be answered accurately if we are ever<br />
to make sense of New Testament prophecy. Establishing the<br />
date of John’s Apocalypse and the events that followed within<br />
a few months of this revelation is what Kenneth L. Gentry’s<br />
book, The Beast of Retie.kztion, is all about, as is Dr. Gentry’s<br />
larger and far more detailed study, Before Jerusalem FeZl: Dating<br />
the Book of Revelation. (Both books were published by the Institute<br />
for Christian Economics in 1989). If his thesis is correct,<br />
then the Great Tribulation is not ahead of us; it is long behind<br />
us. If this event is behind us, then all “futurism” - dispensationalism,<br />
most contemporary non-dispensational premillennialism,<br />
and the more popular forms of amillennialism - is dead wrong.<br />
Anyone who says that “dark days are ahead of the Church<br />
because the Man of Sin is surely coming” is a futurist.15 Thus,<br />
Gentry’s books are not simply obscure academic exercises. If<br />
13. Dave Hun~ Whutever Happemd to Heaven? (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House,<br />
1988), p. 249.<br />
14. Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Reduction of Chri.stiani@ A Biblical<br />
Re@nse to Dave Hunt (Ft. Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1988).<br />
15. The other positions are idealism, the Church historical approach, and<br />
preterism. The first view does not try to tie the prophecies to any particular post-<br />
New Testament event. The prophecies are seen as merely prinaples. Church historicism<br />
teaches that the Book of Revelation describes the course of history. This was<br />
the common view of the Reformation, in which all Protestant groups identified the<br />
Papacy as the Antichrist. (This was the only universally agreed-upon specifically<br />
Protestant doctrine that united all Protestant groups.) The preterists are those who<br />
believe that most Bible prophecies had been fulfilled by the time Jerusalem fell, or<br />
at least by the time the Roman Empire was Christianized. Thk is my view, Gentry’s,<br />
and Chikcm’s.
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