William Terry James

Doors to the Future
William T. James

"Forget the book of Revelation. We have all the facts about Armageddon."' The CNN anchorwoman's opening statement into the lead story was given with lighthearted inflection. Although her words undoubtedly were intended to grab the attention of viewers in preparation for the ensuing story about Armageddon, the movie sensation of the hour, the tongue-in-cheek lead-in nonetheless appropriately reflects the worldview of biblical prophecy. Hollywood, the facetious opening implies, knows better than the God of the Bible what the future holds for mankind.
Dr. David Jeremiah said, "Satan hates the book of Revelation because it foretells his doom."' It should not surprise us that a worldwide news medium should broadcast with such lack of understanding because Satan, who is the prince of this world, conducts an ongoing propaganda campaign that presents near truths designed to keep fallen mankind on the broad way that leads to destruction.
Jesus said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13,14). There are, Christ tells us, two roads or pathways through life in the physical body. Because of man's nature, fallen since the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, people are on the wide, easy path of least resistance that leads to their eternal separation from God, their Creator. Jesus Christ represents the other pathway-the narrow Way-that leads people to eternal life in heaven, forever in the presence of God who adopts them as His children because of their trust in His Son as the only atonement for sin.
Every heartbeat moves you one moment nearer to eternity. You will enter that infinite realm through one of two doors. You may choose which of those doors you will ultimately enter while life yet pulses within your breast. However, by not choosing, you are swiftly moving toward the door beyond which awaits torment and damnation that will never end (see Luke 16:19-31). While such a view runs counter to this world system's theologies and philosophies of "feel-goodisms" and salvation by "do-goodisms," and as unpopular as it is to point out that man is a fallen creature that needs saving, ignoring the truth of God's Word means souls lost forever. Thankfully, "the Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
The Hissing Serpent
Satan's all-consuming purpose is to plant in the minds of men, women and children a big question mark about God. Because there is within each of us a God-shaped soul-space, the great deceiver knows he cannot convince mankind there is no God. His drive is to create doubt about the Creator of all things: Is God a being or just a force of some kind like that portrayed in the "Star Wars" trilogy? Is God existential in His dealings with His creation? Has He simply created and set all things in motion, then moved on, leaving that creation to evolve and fend for itself like is presented by the deist view? Or is God a deity who can be trusted? Can He be relied upon to keep His word, to see those who trust in Him through the vicissitudes of life and bring them into His loving, eternal presence when physical life on earth has run its course? The latter of these deceptive questions was used by the serpent in the Garden of Eden (read Genesis 3). "Yea, hath God said?" was the question Lucifer the fallen one implanted within the minds of the first man and woman (see Genesis 3: 1). "Ye shall not surely die" the devil told the couple. He was implying that God wanted to keep them ignorant and under His thumb because He didn't want them to become as gods, which gaining the forbidden knowledge would accomplish. In essence, Satan planted in their minds the belief that God is a liar. His Word cannot be trusted.
The serpent hisses the same subtle propaganda today into the ears of this self-willed generation of earth dwellers. If we will look and listen attentively, we can perceive an incessant assault upon the voracity of God's truth coming at us from every angle.
Media Manipulation
The CNN story alluded to at the beginning of this conclusion is mild in comparison to the many attacks on God's truth-particularly in the area of biblical prophecy-while human history moves through the transition from one millennium to the next. Some might say that it is a natural thing for there to be increased interest generated during such a dramatic, exciting period. Movies, TV programs, speculation within news journalism-these things are to be expected to exploit the hopes, fears and hunger for spectacular entertainment while earth moves into not only a new century but also into a new millennium. And exploited they continue to be! However, it is not a natural exploitation. It's a supernatural exploitation that more and more becomes evident to the spiritually attuned eye and ear. Satan, who has never ceased his assault against God's truth, continues to intensify his attack at every point within the arena of human affairs. People's almost- fanatic desire to gain supernatural knowledge about the future is fertile ground for the great deceiver to work his nefarious, anti-God subterfuge. Like the pied piper, Satan enchants the majority of humanity, enticing people to follow him down the broad way to the open door into the eternal abyss.
Satan's attempted undermining of God's truth is more and more observable in these closing days of the Church Age. He slyly chooses not to completely omit biblical prophecy as he influences media to create programs catering to their audience's voracious appetites for knowledge of what the future holds. He subtly weaves sparse, disconnective textual bits and pieces from Bible prophecy within the nonsense and lies of false prophets in order to give their false prophecies an air of validity and believability. Always the message from the mind of the deceiver is that man and his humanistic solutions can overcome the dire predictions for mankind's future if everyone will come together as one in peace and harmony. The great deceiver hisses convincingly into the already-inflated egos of the one-world builders that they are "as gods." They must, he whispers, overcome all obstacles totally apart from the deity Christian fanatics claim is the only One who knows the end from the beginning. Satan's voice whispers against the One who prophesies a time of unprecedented trouble for the world because of mankind's rebellion against Him and rejection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Revelation 19: 10 says, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. " The book of Revelation is not just a series of revelations of judgments, although it does reveal great details about the coming wrath of God and the reasons for judgment. The book is the revelation of Jesus Christ-the unveiling of the truth about who Christ is in His glorified magnificence. Satan is presently mounting an all-out offensive in an attempt to pervert and thwart the truth of God's prophetic Word. The nucleus of his attack centers around the lie that the book of Revelation is confusing, cannot be understood and, indeed, is not meant to be understood because it is a mishmash of symbolism and allegory that was never intended to be in the canon of Scripture. Tragically, many people in the body of Christ choose to fall for this satanic lie. Even some Christian seminaries choose to ignore God's revelation of His Son Jesus Christ by treating biblical prophecy, and the book of Revelation in particular, as symbolic or as history already accomplished. This despite the fact that Revelation 22:19 states, "If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
Christians who fall for this luciferian deception not only are missing the blessing promised by God to those who read and heed the revelation (see Revelation 1:3), but they are unwittingly helping Satan in his full-fledged assault on God's truth as he leads lost men, women and children to eternity apart from God.
The serpent must divert people from earnest study of true Bible prophecy because fulfilled prophecy is proof-positive that Satan not God-is the liar. Lucifer needs little help from deceived Christians, although he welcomes it. Satan has his own spin-masters working overtime in the media, spewing forth the last-days deception that God and His Word is irrelevant-that mankind holds within itself the ability to solve all the world's problems now and in the future.
Lucifer, the fallen one, is the most skilled of all counterfeiters. He is presently producing a masterful imitation of true Bible prophecy. As stated previously, even many of God's own children those who have accepted Christ as Savior- are susceptible to false prophecy. They lack discernment because they choose to ignore God's prophetic word or are victims of false teachers. At the same time, it is overwhelmingly apparent that people all over are devouring the sensational, entertaining half-truths and outright lies fed them by the serpent's false-prophecy propaganda machine.
Television series that include Sightings and the X-Files, movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact and other entertainment specials presenting apocalyptic and/or paranormal themes fill the minds of people. Psychic hotlines lure viewers by the thousands, promising those who call astounding glimpses into their futures. Cyberspace offers chat-room seances and soothsaying through Internet access. "Virtual reality" no doubt will soon produce occultic experiences beyond anything yet imagined. Indeed, Jesus' warning that false prophets shall arise takes on new and unanticipated meaning in these troubling but fascinating times. It is now becoming obvious, I believe, that false prophecies encompass far more than just a departure from basic biblical doctrine as fundamentalist theologians have long considered the term to encompass. Satan in these last days has, through his infectious inspiration, brought forth from the creative minds of those in the entertainment world an intertwining of Bible prophecy with occultic seers and their devilish soothsaying practices to produce the current deception about what the future holds.
The Author of Confusion
Confusion continues to be the fallen one's most effective tool. The willingness of his victims to listen to his sensational lies rather than accept God's truth has never been more observable than in our time. Is it any wonder that those who enter the tribulation period will fall totally for the great lying wonders Antichrist will perform? Satan's Fuhrer will put over a lie that will deceive virtually the whole world. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
One recent television program demonstrates that the grand deceiver, through undiscerning entertainment media producers, is still about the business of planting big question marks about God in the minds of human beings. One can almost sense the serpent's question: "Yea, hath God said?"
A "biblical" scholar was interviewed by the program's narrator. The subject was Joseph's prophecies that his family would bow down to him. The narrator said, "... Despite the biblical account, most scholars dismiss the interpretation that Joseph could see the future." The so-called scholar then expanded on the narrator's words:
... What has come down to us has been filtered through chroniclers and writers and translators, so it is essentially at this point, I think, impossible to note whether those were valid prophecies or not. I feel pretty strongly, of course, that they weren't....'
The narrator then confuses us even more by first emphasizing the big question mark about the veracity of God's Word, then abruptly informing us that Joseph's predictions came true.
... The controversy over Joseph's powers, as described in the Bible, may never be resolved. Whatever his prophetic ability, the Bible leaves no doubt that Joseph helped a nation avert certain disaster....'
The program's narrator then moves us to think seriously about the book of Revelation: Another prophet of ancient times, however, delivered a much more ominous prediction for all mankind. This prophecy of doom appears in the biblical book of Revelation....
An actress then narrates their version of the Scripture in question: There followed hail and fire mingled with blood which fell on the earth and a third of the earth was burnt up and a third of the trees were burnt up and all green grass was burnt up....
The original narrator next poses the question: "Is the book of Revelation a prophecy of our future? Was its author divinely inspired to see the cataclysm to come?" Then a video of the modern Isle of Patmos filled the screen while the narrator continued, "... It was here, 2,000 years ago, that the author of Revelation, known to us only as John of Patmos, became convinced that the end was near." The narrative then set about to major on minor matters.
The identity of the author remains a perplexing mystery. And yet his words are so powerful in their conviction that millions have believed the ominous predictions. To this day, the question of when this prophet of doom believed the apocalypse would take place is still unanswered....
As if directly out of God's Word in 2 Peter 3:3,4, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation," the narrator concluded:
... As the first millennium drew to a close, countless Europeans were convinced that the end of the world was at hand. Although obviously the dreaded cataclysm did not occur in the year 1,000, prophets in the centuries that followed continued to issue dire predictions. Again, the "scholar" interjected his skepticism.
... Disasters happen every year somewhere in the world. So it's very easy to look at the San Francisco earthquake and say, "Oh, that was the earthquake that was foretold in the book of Revelations [sic]. Therefore, the world will end in 1995." But it didn't
The Icons of False Prophecy
Although the world-system writes and speaks of the true prophets of God in terms that question their legitimacy instead of validating them, the deceptive one's spin-masters write and speak glowingly, almost reverently, of the false prophets. Although in some cases these false prophets were treated as poorly by their contemporaries as were God's prophets by their contemporaries, the false future predictors are today put upon the pedestal of adoration that approaches worship. Chief among those icons of false prophecy stands Nostradamus.
Nostradamus, born in France in 1503, became a renowned physician through his efforts to treat victims of the terrifying disease known as the Black Plague, which wiped out one- third of the population of Europe. But Nostradamus' worldwide acclaim that is even today on the ascent while earth moves toward the year 2000 stems from, as the narrator for the TV program "Prophecies" tells us, "what some assert was an extraordinary ability to see into the future." The narrative continues glowingly: "He recorded more than 1,000 prophecies written in cryptic, four-line verses called quatrains. Believers in Nostradamus' predictions insist he accurately foretold the most turbulent events in the history of France ......
The narrative proposes that the French seer unerringly predicted the French Revolution, which climaxed in the execution of the French royal family. The same "scholar" narrator that spoke of his skepticism about Bible prophecy and the prophets Joseph and John tells us, "Nostradamus' uncanny perception of the French Revolution doesn't end with the death of Louis XVI. He also gives us details of how Marie Antoinette would meet her end."'
The French soothsayer of half a millennium ago was lauded then by the program's narrator and by other so-called authorities and scholars for having predicted with phenomenal accuracy the rise, conquest and demise of both Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. This, even though Nostradamus' "prophecies" were admittedly in sometimes indecipherable or veiled poetic language.
Near the end of the program, the host-narrator summarized in longing, ethereal inflection the desires of mankind to see into the future. God, of course, who knows the end from the beginning and has given man all he needs to know about future things, often providing great details, is left out of the summation.
"The elusive dream of seeing into the future continues to tantalize us. To even imagine the prospect opens unlimited possibilities." Another of the "scholars" expounds further: "None of us want to be on the next Titanic or the next 747 to crash or at the scene of the next earthquake. And if we believe that there is a way of telling the future, we at least have the illusion that we can prevent that kind of thing and save ourselves and our loved ones. And that's a very powerful motive .......Saving himself, you see, is man's god-like ambition, and it has been since he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent-tempter continues to be quite effective in perpetuating that grandiose though fatal notion.
Two Doors to Your Eternal Future
Only two doors exist through which you will one day pass. You have no choice but to enter eternity through one or the other. You do have a choice while you still draw breath and can think clearly. You can select the door through which you will pass into the next realm of existence.
Much attention has already been given in this conclusion to the broad way-Satan's way-that leads to the door of eternal separation from God. Let us turn our thoughts now to the wonderful prophetic truth of Almighty God who is Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6). Jesus is the door to an eternity magnificently brilliant beyond our finite minds' ability to imagine.
As contributors to Foreshadows of Wrath and Redemption, we are absolutely convinced by the truth we find in God's Word that we live in a time very near the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ will shout "Come up hither!" (Revelation 4: 1). The rapture will occur, and everyone who has accepted Christ, both living and dead, during the Church Age will vanish from the earth's surface in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52). We will meet Jesus in the air above the planet and will be taken home to God the Father by His only begotten Son to live forever with Him in the dwelling place He has prepared for us (see John 14:1-6).
We believe Christ's return is imminent; it can happen at any moment. The study of God's Word convinces us that God "has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:9). For we look not for Antichrist, or for tribulation (the apocalypse), or for the world-system of politics and socio economics to get better and better, but for the Blessed Hope of Titus 2:13. We look for Jesus Christ, who will keep us out of the very hour of the coming seven years of Tribulation (read Revelation 3: 10). And we want to help others understand the truth and redemption found in Christ.
Unfortunately, Satan succeeds in his deception. The heresies that the great deceiver plants in the minds of people-even Christians are being accepted by greater numbers of people than ever before. One heresy that abounds even in fundamentalist, evangelical circles today is that the rapture is a false teaching and false prophecy that has come into existence only within the last two centuries.
Not only do those who propose this heresy show their ignorance of and lack of study of the whole counsel of God, but they also show their lack of knowledge of secular history as well. The biblical rapture is not a "pie in the sky," dreamy-eyed fantasy of rescue concocted by some demented woman in the nineteenth century as some claim. Our belief is centered in and on the very heart of God and His character and upon His Blessed Son, Jesus Christ. This is the Savior who paid not some, but all our sin-debt on that old rugged cross at Calvary nearly 2,000 years ago. Our forefathers in the Christian faith held to this Blessed Hope to the same degree as we do.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee summarized those Christian forefathers' beliefs that Christ could return at any moment during their time: They [men in the past] were looking for Christ to come. They were not looking for the Great Tribulation and they weren't even looking for the Millennium. They were looking for Him to come, and that is the very heart of the premillennial viewpoint... as we hold it today.
Even as far back as Barnabas, who was a co-worker with Paul, [it] has been quoted ... [that] the true Sabbath is the 1,000 years when Christ comes back to reign. Clement, in 96 A.D. [who] was bishop of Rome, says, "Let us every hour expect the kingdom of God. We know not the day." Polycarp, in 108 A.D., who was bishop of Smyrna and was burned at the stake there, said, "He will raise us from the dead. We shall reign with Him."
Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch, and who Eusebius the historian says was the apostle Peter's successor, said "Consider the times and expect Him." Papias in 116 A.D. was bishop of Hierapolis, whom Irenaeus said saw and heard John, said, "There will be 1,000 years when the reign of Christ personally will be established on earth." And Justin Martyr, in 150 A.D., said, "I and all others who are orthodox Christians on all points know there will be a thousand years in Jerusalem as Isaiah and Ezekiel declared."
And then Irenaeus, in 175 A.D., said that "This can only be fulfilled upon our Lord's personal return to the earth." And that was the kingdom....The Lord said He would drink anew of the wine in the kingdom. Tertullian, in 200 A.D., said, "We do indeed confess that a kingdom is promised upon earth."
... Martin Luther said, "Let us not think that the coming of Christ is far off." Calvin, in his Third Book of the institute, said, "Scripture uniformly enjoins us to look with expectation for the advent of Christ." And Dr. Elliott wrote: "All primitive expositors except Origin and the the Savior who paid not some, but all our sin-debt on that old rugged cross at Calvary nearly 2,000 years ago. Our forefathers in the Christian faith held to this Blessed Hope to the same degree as we do.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee summarized those Christian forefathers' beliefs that Christ could return at any moment during their time: They [men in the past] were looking for Christ to come. They were not looking for the Great Tribulation and they weren't even looking for the Millennium. They were looking for Him to come, and that is the very heart of the premillennial viewpoint... as we hold it today.
Even as far back as Barnabas, who was a co-worker with Paul, [it] has been quoted... [that] the true Sabbath is the 1,000 years when Christ comes back to reign. Clement, in 96 A.D. [who] was bishop of Rome, says, "Let us every hour expect the kingdom of God. We know not the day." Polycarp, in 108 A.D., who was bishop of Smyrna and was burned at the stake there, said, "Ile will raise us from the dead. We shall reign with Him."
Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch, and who Eusebius the historian says was the apostle Peter's successor, said "Consider the times and expect Him." Papias in 116 A.D. was bishop of Hierapolis, whom Irenaeus said saw and heard John, said, "There will be 1,000 years when the reign of Christ personally will be established on earth." And Justin Martyr, in 150 A.D., said, "I and all others who are orthodox Christians on all points know there will be a thousand years in Jerusalem as Isaiah and Ezekiel declared."
And then Irenaeus, in 175 A.D., said that "This can only be fulfilled upon our Lord's personal return to the earth." And that was the kingdom....The Lord said He would drink anew of the wine in the kingdom. Tertullian, in 200 A.D., said, "We do indeed confess that a kingdom is promised upon earth."
... Martin Luther said, "Let us not think that the coming of Christ is far off." Calvin, in his Third Book of the Institute, said, "Scripture uniformly enjoins us to look with expectation for the advent of Christ." And Dr. Elliott wrote: "All primitive expositors except Origin and the earth must be very near indeed since those signals for the apocalypse are already in this prewrath era, bombarding this generation with increasing frequency and intensity.
We know that those saved by faith in Jesus Christ are not appointed to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9) and will be kept from the time of God's wrath (Revelation 3:10). Therefore, when the signals of His coming wrath begin to happen, we are to look up and lift our heads, for our redemption draweth near (Luke 21:28).
Every chapter within this book has provided explicit insights into where this generation stands today in relation to God's prophetic timetable. Reread and consider the foreshadows of wrath inundating this world in profusion. From the rapidly spreading apostasy developing through ecumenism to the precise alignment of nations as predicted in God's Word to the perilous times Paul warned about in 2 Thessalonians 3, everything foreshadows our redemption that thrilling moment as foreseen by John in his vision: "After this I looked and, behold, a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice that I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here... " (Revelation 4:1).
In order to enter that door, you must first open your door, the door to your heart (your soul). Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). It is your decision to make. There will never be one more important than the choice you make regarding the doors to eternity. God's Word says, "Be ye therefore, ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not" (Luke 12:40).
Right this moment, choose Jesus Christ, who faithfully promises "surely, I come quickly" (Revelation 22:20). Even so, come, Lord Jesus.