Does Bible Prophecy Say the Tribulation Is Coming Soon? Should I Live in Fear?

Question: Everything seems to be falling apart. Is this the beginning of the Tribulation?  You wrote a blog on "Emergency/Disaster Recovery" and I am so afraid.

Answer: I personally doubt that this is the beginning of the Great Tribulation. I believe we are to be discipling all nations, and when we accomplish that, Christ will return (Acts 2:34,35). The Bible says that "Of the Increase of His (God's) government, there shall be no end" (Isa. 9:7). That means satan's government must decrease without end!!! So I challenge you to put your energy into leading and discipling that part of your nation that God has called you to disciple (Deut. 28:1-14)! Someone will lead. It needs to be Christians!!!

So with that in mind I want to introduce you to an outstanding book, End-Times Prophecy by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones, which clearly and simply lays out four differing views of end time prophecy, providing scriptural support for each, showing the unique approaches each view takes, and encouraging you to understand and not judge those who disagree with you.

End-Times Prophecy — A Visual Explanation and Overview of Bible Prophecy

The Rose Guide to End Time Prophecy is an easy-to-understand overview. It helps you go through the key portions of Scripture and explains different ways that Christians have interpreted them. Simple charts and illustrations help you see the whole picture.

Includes explanations of and charts/diagrams for—

• Book of Revelation — four ways Christians interpret it.
• Book of Daniel — the statues, beasts, goats, and the 70 weeks. And three ways to interpret the 70 weeks
• Four main Christian views of the end times: Pre-Mil, Post-Mill, A-Mill and Historical Pre-Mill
• Terms in the Book of Revelation: the Beasts, 666, Millennium, Antichrist, Armageddon, and Tribulation
• A Dispensational time line chart compared with two other Christian views of God's work with Israel
• Jesus' teachings in Matthew 24, known as the Olivet Discourse, and two ways of understanding each passage (wars, rumors of wars, tribulation, earthquakes, etc.).
• Two views of the Temple in the End Times
• Ezekiel's Temple vision - 4 ways of understanding it
• Important beliefs about the end times that all Christians hold.

This book will give you confidence as you look at the Bible and at events in today's newspapers. You will be better informed and will have a Christ-centered, biblically-based view of Jesus' second coming.

Why I (Mark Virkler) Am So Excited About the Book End-Times Prophecy

I was sent a copy of the book End-Times Prophecy with the request to consider writing an endorsement for it. Quite frankly, I had no desire to do so, as I quit reading books on prophecy when I graduated from Bible college over 35 years ago. You see, while in college I backed up with Scripture, to my satisfaction, several contradictory views on how to interpret the book of Revelation. That resulted in me laying aside the whole area of end time prophecy and saying, "I am going to focus instead on discipling nations, as commanded by Jesus." I figured, eschatology was obviously ambiguous, and to fight and argue over interpretations was unprofitable to the furthering of the administration of God, which is by faith (1 Tim. 1:4).

However, when I first glanced at this book, I was struck by the full color charts on almost every page. I love charts, as so much information can be communicated so clearly in such a small amount of space. They captured my eyes, were easy to read and laid out multiple views of eschatology side by side, without feeling a need to judge any of them. Instead they simply showed the key unique emphases of each interpretative view along with its scriptural basis.

As I began to read I really got excited. Timothy Paul Jones was not putting anyone down. He was not judging or condemning or insisting his view was right and everyone else was wrong. As a matter of fact, he was not even stating what his view was. He was simply, honestly and clearly presenting the four major views of Revelation in a clear, concise, orderly manner.

So then I asked myself, "But why even care about these four different ways of interpreting the book of Revelation?" And as I turned to the next page (page 72), the author asked the question, “Why does it matter?” obviously fully in tune with his reading audience (which is something I absolutely love about the book). Then he gives the best answer to that question I have ever heard. It is so we know and appreciate the historical positions the Church has held on the book of Revelation, so we can be informed and can learn to respect and honor those who hold positions different from ours. Well, this is refreshing, and in line with what God has been telling me about the need to honor all people. In my early Christian life, I was trained to judge and put down everyone who held a view different than mine, so I destroyed the unity of the body of Christ because of my theological beliefs on things which were not essential to the message of salvation by faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This is an outstanding book, which clearly and simply lays out four differing views of end time prophecy, providing scriptural support for each, showing the unique approaches each view takes, and encouraging you to understand and not judge those who disagree with you. Finally we can honor and love all people (1 Pet. 2:17) as we consider various views of interpreting end time prophecy. What a gift to the body of Christ. Thank you, Timothy Paul Jones!

You may purchase End-Time Prophecy here for only $19.95.

Journaling from Ben Lunis: There are too many negative voices out there. Yes, My judgments will continue as long as My people choose to do their own thing, but at the same time, I am opening up the floodgates of heaven to bring blessings to My people, to those who choose to follow Me and walk in My love and in My power. You are one of them, and you will soon see what I have planned for you. I want you also to walk in the positive side of things. This is one of the reasons why I have asked you not to pursue the issue of judgments and other similar information that is out there. I want My people to hear about the good things that I have planned for them.

In case you are curious, Paradise Restored by David Chilton, lays out Mark Virkler's personal favorite view of the book of Revelation, and you may freely download it here.

Here is a powerful prophetic word of encouragement given on 10-25-11 by David Wagner about soon coming events for Washington D.C.