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Lions and Leopards and Bears... OH MY!
1
"A thing that strikes one who browses around in the vast literature that has grown up about the book of Revelation is the UTTER DOGMATISM with which so many put forth their opinions, not as opinions, but in categorical statements, as to the meaning of the most mysterious passages, as if they know all about it, and their say so settles the matter. We think a spirit of reverent humility, and openness of mind, would be more becoming in those seeking to interpret a book like this."
Henry Halley
HALLEY'S BIBLE HANDBOOK (24th ed., p.684)
Wise counsel! Why has it been so widely ignored among modern commentators? I offer a possible answer: with a limited audience among which to garner supporters for evangelistic ministries, the most dogmatic teachers are often the most successful at gathering around themselves the most enthusiastic- and financially generous- followers. We live in confusing, troubling times. Sure answers to "what will happen next" give people a secure anchor in the stormy sea of life. In addition, being "in the know" about mysterious prophecies gives many people the heady feeling of being one of the "elite," an assurance that they are among "God's Chosen," which further strengthens their anchor.
Amazingly, this desire for security is so strong that many teachers are even able to hedge their prophetic interpretations with "possiblies," "probablies," "maybe's"- and find that their followers filter out these words and hear only "thus sayeth the Lord." For example, for several years preceding 1975, the leaders of two major religious sects- Jehovah's Witnesses and the Worldwide Church of God- promulgated the concept that the year 1975 would be cataclysmic in some way. The STRONG suggestion was that it would bring the Battle of Armageddon and usher in the Millenium. In addition, the Worldwide Church emphasized that the evangelistic work of that church would end in 1972, when the "Great Tribulation" (which was to last 3 1/2 years by their calculations) would begin and their members would be miraculously taken to a "place of safety" to await the Second Coming.
Numerous articles and booklets were published by both groups about these events, complete with detailed chronological charts and sometimes gruesome line drawings of the coming horrors. The Worldwide Church even published a booklet in the 1960's titled "1975 in Prophecy" which covered the prophecies regarding the "Great Tribulation" and the Battle of Armageddon. Of course, when 1975 came and went with no great cataclysm, the Worldwide leadership denied the title was ever meant to be taken as a "specific" prophecy. They claimed the title date was merely chosen as a "literary device," in response to a popular article in a secular publication which spoke glowingly of man's technological advances predicted for 1975. This was news to most of the members, who also remembered many sermons and articles and prophetic charts that all pointed to that date!
The same confusion reigned among Jehovah's Witnesses. In the October 8, 1968, issue of their publication "AWAKE," appear the following quotes:
According to reliable Bible chronology, Adam and Eve were created in 4026 B.C.E. ... This would leave only seven more years from the autumn of 1968 to complete 6,000 full years of human history. That seven year period will evidently finish in the autumn of the year 1975...
How fitting it would be for God, following this pattern, to end man's misery after 6,000 years of human rule and follow it with His glorious Kingdom rule for a thousand years!
(from a photo-duplicate reproduced in QUESTIONS FOR
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES by William Cetnar, p. 36)
The lay members of that organization should certainly be forgiven for assuming that this article, along with many other articles, charts and sermons, was encouraging them to look to 1975 with expectation. But for them also, 1975 came and went with no cataclysm.
And what was the response of the leadership of both organizations to this failure of prophetic interpretation?
"Some years ago I saw factors INDICATING the POSSIBILITY that our work might be completed by early 1972, and immediately followed by the [3 1/2 year] Great Tribulation. I NEVER SET A DEFINITE DATE. I NEVER SAID IT WOULD DEFINITELY HAPPEN- but cautioned there were indications of the possibility. Yet some misunderstood and took it as a definite prophecy for a definite date."
(Worldwide Church founder Herbert Armstrong in a letter to his followers dated 3/25/75)
This same general approach was adopted by the Witness leadership as well. As one member wrote after 1975:
I have been associated as a baptized Witness well over 39 years and with Jehovah's help I will continue to be a loyal servant. But to say I am not disappointed would be untruthful, for, when I know my feelings regarding 1975 were fostered because of what I read in various publications, and then I am told in effect that I reached false conclusions on my own, that, I feel, is not being fair or honest.
(Robert Warren quoted in CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE by Raymond Franz)
One would think after such disappointments the lay members would be more wary. Although this is true for some, the desire of most to be reassured their leaders have an inside track on God's timetable encouraged the leaders of both organizations to continue resetting "possible" time interpretations of prophecies. This is not really surprising, as both organizations had successfully weathered MANY unfulfilled prophecies over a period of decades: The Witnesses had set many dates in their publications for the "probable" beginning of the Millenium, including, particularly, 1914 and 1925. Each "disappointment" led to some drop in membership, but most members soon developed "amnesia" about the incidents, and new proselytes were seldom aware of past Witness failures- and the organization soon picked up momentum in growth again. For instance, in 1969, the total U.S. membership of Jehovah's Witnesses (as reported in the World Book Encyclopedia Year Book) was about 334,000. Below is a chart showing the NET CHANGE in membership for each year from then until 1980. (If a group GAINS as many new members as it LOSES old members in one year, its NET CHANGE in total membership for that year would be "ZERO.")
Note the huge NET INCREASE for 1975. In that year, they gained enough NEW members to make up for any lost to death or disaffection, PLUS another 66,000. It would be logical to attribute this unusually high increase in total membership to the "urgency" of the door-to-door preaching by Witnesses who felt "The End" would come that year in the fall, and the panic effect this might have on susceptible converts who were frightened by the preaching into joining the ranks of those who claimed the only safety in the perilous times to come. And note the rapid drop almost immediately! The trend down, starting in 1976 and hitting a "low" in 1979, was likely directly related to the disillusionment and defection of many current members, deeply cutting into missionary efforts of the group. At the "bottom" in 1979, they LOST as many members as they gained PLUS losing 35,000 beyond that!
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES:
Net change in membership 1971-1980
As for Herbert Armstrong, he had been announcing erroneous "probablies" for almost 40 years, including these gems from his PLAIN TRUTH MAGAZINE during World War II (quoted in ARMSTRONGISM-RELIGION OR RIP-OFF? by Marion McNair, p. 164-166):
We cannot imagine Hitler, ruler over a German nation twice as great in population as Italy, turning all his vast power over to Mussolini... yet Bible prophecies [show]...most if not all of the nations now coming under Hitler's influence, finally giving their armed power over to [Mussolini] the Roman leader... Possibly Hitler will die or be killed within the next eighteen months.
(Feb-Mar 1939 issue)
Democracy went, yesterday, in England! Today England is a dictatorship, as absolutely as that of Adolph Hitler or Benito Mussolini... And when the United States gets into the war...THE SAME THING WILL HAPPEN HERE!...the president will become dictator absolute and not only soldiers, but factory workers, farmers, every dollar of our money and wealth- all will be CONSCRIPTED! And it is THEN...[that] the Great Tribulation shall come, and the MARK of the Beast will be enforced! THE TIME IS AT HAND. IT IS time for us to AWAKE!...Armageddon, we believe, must be at least [only] three or four years away..."
(Apr-May 1940)
It is part of God's prophesied plan that Britain shall be invaded and conquered ...It is in the prophesied course of the war that the main fighting shall be in the Mediterranean and the Near East.
(Sep-Oct 1941)
Armstrong's organization hasn't grown with the kind of numbers the Jehovah's Witnesses have sustained, but, in spite of frequent repeats of the type of dogmatic mistakes quoted above, it HAS managed an impressive growth record for a small, obscure start: Attendance at the church's annual fall convention of the "Feast of Tabernacles" was a few hundred, held at one site, at the beginning of the 1950's. In 1988 the church announced an attendance of about 144,000 (total), attending scores of sites around the world.
Observing these embarrassing failures, leaders of other church organizations which emphasize prophecy have become much more wary in recent years about setting any dates. While "selective amnesia" may work in organizations such as the Worldwide Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses, it is obvious to many that this is because those organizations are strongly authoritarian, and their memberships are used to accepting MANY discrepancies because they are used to being obedient to leadership. In less authoritarian organizations, the members might be less "forgiving" of radical failures in prophetic time tables!
Does this mean that teachers in these less-authoritarian organizations are less prone to prophetic dogmatism? NO! It is just that they reserve their dogmatism for aspects of prophecy that are less "testable" than dates. When it comes to identifying mysterious Biblical "symbols" such as the "beasts" in the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation, many teachers are just as dogmatic as the leaders of the Witnesses and the Worldwide Church. And, until the actual prophecies come to pass, they can usually safely expect that no one can really prove their interpretations "false."
Which brings us to you, the reader. Have YOU accepted the prophetic interpretations of a certain religious teacher or organization? Do you admire and/or support the evangelistic efforts of that teacher or organization because you feel he/it KNOWS in detail "what on earth God is doing" in a way no other teacher or group knows? It IS exciting to feel that you are a part of a group telling the world "what to expect" based on Bible prophecies! And it is true that MANY people first become interested in the Bible and in the news of salvation through Jesus Christ through an interest in prophecy sparked by a dynamic teacher of prophecy.
Unfortunately, that fact, which could be a blessing, may be a curse. For if someone doesn't know the Bible to begin with, and hasn't studied the various schools of prophetic interpretation, the first dynamic teacher who reaches him with prophetic theories is also usually the LAST such teacher who reaches him! The standard method most such teachers employ is to plant specific questions in the student's mind, and then answer those questions with the teacher's own theory. Knowing little about the Bible, the student seldom notices that he isn't coming up with his OWN questions. And, quite logically, the teacher seldom presents all the alternative theories for the student to consider. The teacher MAY, selectively, present some alternatives- but only when he is sure his arguments are more powerful.
Besides, it is unfortunately true that most teachers just become self-proclaimed "experts" on their own theories. They have often not even investigated many alternatives themselves. It is psychologically true for most people that, if someone provides all your questions FOR you, and then enthusiastically presents you with plausible answers (complete with charts, graphs, and full-color illustrations if possible!) that person will likely be seen by you as very wise- and his answers as the only ones possible.
Why did I say this process could be a "curse"? Because few people follow such teachers with both eyes open. Not realizing there may be other, equally plausible, understandings of the prophetic parts of the Bible, most such students eventually become not Bible students, but "experts" on the theories of their teacher. They approach further study on their own not with an open heart to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, but with the "colored glasses" of one interpreter's scheme. They have forgotten the Biblical admonition: "Call no man your teacher."
Think about that statement- Of course you can learn from someone else; and the scripture says God sets some as teachers in the church. I believe that "call no man your teacher" means that you should never settle in and accept one man as your source of all understanding. As the Bereans did, you should listen to the teaching and then evaluate it by the scripture. Unfortunately, most people do just the opposite. They admire a certain teacher, and approach the Bible with his "study aids" in hand and his sermons as their guide to what difficult passages mean. Even more disturbing, if the teacher particularly emphasizes prophecy, and the student is impressed with the teacher's wondrous grasp of the mysteries of the prophecies, the student is very apt to then accept with even less questions the teachings of that teacher on non-prophecy topics.
Are you a student of the Bible, a student of prophecy- or a student of a particular prophetic teacher? James 3:1 [KJV] says: "My brethren, be not many masters [NIV:teachers], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation." Is this speaking only of those who teach doctrines about law, grace, salvation and other "spiritual" topics, or might it include prophetic interpretations? If it includes prophecy, what could be so serious about errors in this topic area that a teacher might come under condemnation?
2
In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision...I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns...suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage...
(Daniel 8:1-6)
This is a short excerpt from a passage by the prophet Daniel about a puzzling vision he saw. If he were writing in the 20th Century I can suggest what he might do after seeing this vision: He would go back to his study, get out all his atlases, history books, current event newspapers, commentaries on prophetic symbolism and other references works and begin to "figure out" what the Lord was trying to tell him in the vision. For isn't that what most of the prophetic interpreters of today do? But is that what Daniel actually did?
While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. And I heard a man's voice from the Ulai calling, "Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision"...[and Gabriel said] "The two-horned ram you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the King of Greece..."
Unfortunately, this is one of the few such visions in Daniel and Revelation in which the symbolism is so specifically identified. In fact, at the end of the book of Daniel, Daniel begs for more details, but is told, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end." The question remains then, how will the words become "unsealed"? Will it be by interpreters with their atlases, history books, commentaries... or will it be by the same method Daniel learned of the significance of the ram and the goat? What is the implication of scripture regarding this question?
In the second year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the King had a troubling dream. (Daniel 2) It was full of mysterious symbolism. He consulted his court astrologers about this. They were happy to offer the king interpretations of his dreams. Perhaps they had done this many times before- but this time he "threw them a curve." He decided not even to tell them what was in his dream, insisting that they first describe his dream to him and then interpret it, to prove that they had the power to interpret it, rather than just the "power" to make up interpretations which might mislead him. Of course the astrologers protested, "What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men." The king threatened the astrologers with death if they failed. Just in time, Daniel intervened and offered to "do the impossible." He was able to both tell the king the details of his dream, and interpret the prophetic symbolism in the dream. How did he do this?
...[Daniel] explained the matter to his friends...[and] urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery...during the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision... Dan. 2:17-19
It is very instructive to read what he told the king the next day:
No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God of heaven who reveals mysteries.
Dan. 2:27-38
There are many Bible commentators and interpreters of prophecy today who seem to be making the claim that God has revealed to them the SPECIFIC details of the symbolism of prophecies that were an enigma to the prophets who received the original communications from the Lord. But I am not aware of any well-known teacher among them- from Hal Lindsey to Pat Robertson, Garner Ted Armstrong, Billy Graham or any of dozens of others who widely broadcast and/or publish their prophetic interpretations- who claims to have received his interpretations DIRECTLY from the Lord. I am sure they would all loudly protest that the study they did to reach their conclusions was "inspired" by God. But I would challenge them to point to a scripture which indicates that human reasoning and study was ever the method God used to reveal to a prophet the meaning of his visions!
Am I suggesting the Lord forbids study and speculation on prophecy? Of course not! But I believe the scripture shows that the only way an individual can know for SURE what all the details of a prophecy mean are
1) The Lord DIRECTLY reveals the meaning to an individual (as in Daniel's vision of the ram and goat) or
2) The WHOLE prophecy is fulfilled, in which case EVERYONE can see what the details referred to.
A teacher who gathers a following around himself by making dogmatic statements on prophecy may find himself receiving "greater condemnation" for presuming too much. And his followers may find themselves in confusion and without a solid anchor if his interpretations begin to be refuted by reality.
Perhaps you are still not convinced. Perhaps the prophetic understandings you have been taught are the "exceptions that prove the rule." Perhaps YOUR favorite prophetic teacher IS the ONE who has discovered the key to open the sealed books. There are certainly enough books written about the "keys" to such mysteries. Perhaps the "keys" that you have been taught are the only true ones. Perhaps. Have you "tested" them lately?
3
Consider the following quotations about prophecy...
[1] "...the Book of Revelation appears to point to a successor kingdom to the Roman Empire that could roughly parallel the current European Economic Community. It is a ten-nation confederation...Presumably this group will make a league with Israel and then turn on her and begin to oppress her."
[2] "The prophetic scriptures tell us that the Roman Empire will be revived shortly before the return of Christ to the earth...the kingdom will be in the form of a ten-nation confederacy...We believe that the Common Market and the trend toward unification of Europe may well be the beginning of the ten-nation confederacy predicted by Daniel and the Book of Revelation."
[3] "...Rome would be revived in a ten-fold form. The Antichrist would then be invited by the ten kings, possibly "democratic kings," to rule the world as Prince of Rome...Making a seven-year treaty with Israel, he would break it after 3 1/2 years and turn upon her, initiating the Great Tribulation."
Do the passages above sound familiar to you? Are they quotations from a prophetic teacher whose writings you have studied?
Many dogmatic prophecy teachers imply strongly in their writings that their group is the "only one" that understands prophecy- that their interpretations are somehow uniquely inspired by God. They also strongly imply that other, "false" teachers are blinded to these "true" interpretations. The not-so-subtle message: "Therefore follow me and support my ministry."
If you are one of the students of a teacher who proclaims the "Revival of the Roman Empire" interpretation of End-Time prophecy, you may be surprised to learn that not everyone else is "blind" to this interpretation. Consider the quotes just given above...
Quote # [1] is from Pat Robertson in his 1982 book THE SECRET KINGDOM.
Quote # [2] is from Hal Lindsey in his 1970 book THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH. If you have a different teacher, and are suspicious that perhaps they "stole" the idea from him, consider...
Quote # [3]: It is from a sermon given during the First World War by Baptist minister Isaac Haldeman (quoted in ARMAGEDDON NOW by Dwight Wilson, an Assemblies of God minister.)
Where did these men all get their interpretation of this facet of prophecy? If you know of another teacher of this interpretation, where did he get it? Were they all independently inspired of God?
New students of prophetic teachers are usually very impressed with the various charts and diagrams included in their writings which purport to clearly demonstrate the meanings of various symbolic images in the Bible, particularly the great image of Daniel 2, and the "beasts" of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. Most new students have never even read these passages before, so they naturally are amazed at the wisdom of a teacher who can interpret such mysterious symbolism. And most new students have not studied either church history or many Bible reference works- so they also, quite naturally assume the interpretations they are now learning are unique to their teacher- a notion most dogmatic teachers do little or nothing to dispel!
But is this assumption correct? I recall one of the first prophetic lessons I studied (over 20 years ago) on the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream in which he saw a gigantic statue, with head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of a mixture of iron and clay. A Rock comes and smashes the feet, toppling the statue, which breaks into pieces. Daniel explains to the king that the symbolism is about future events, and that the head of the statue represents Nebuchadnezzar. However, that is as far as Daniel goes in detailed identification. But the teacher I was studying under could tell me the identification! "He must be inspired just like Daniel!" I thought. The angel in Daniel 12 said for Daniel to seal the book until the time of the end- so God must have unsealed the book for my teacher! My teacher "knew" that the chest/arms of silver represented something called the "Medo-Persian Empire" (I had never heard of this, so it was even more marvelous); the belly and thighs of brass represented Greece; and the legs and feet represented Rome. And beyond this- he also taught me that the four beasts in Daniel 7 represented the same four empires, and the Beast in Revelation 13 was, in essence, a resurrection of the fourth beast of Daniel 7.
It was many years later that I discovered that my teacher didn't have a "private line" to God to get his information. The interpretation I learned so long ago is taught by almost every Bible Commentary available. Nor is it a recent thing, "revealed" by God only because the Twentieth Century is the Time of the End. Consider the document reproduced on the next page. This was a chart produced prior to 1844 and used by the pioneer "Adventist" preacher William Miller to substantiate his teaching that the Lord would return in 1844. Of course the small writing on this reproduction is hard to read. But I have a full-size replica 22X30 inches of a similar chart used by Miller. [Both charts are from the book THE DISAPPOINTED edited by Ronald Numbers and Jonathon Butler. This is a collection of essays by scholars who have studied the "millenarian movement" of the 1800's.] It clearly labels the body sections of the great image, and the illustrations of the beasts with the empires mentioned above. In addition, it includes prophetic "time" equations which you may have heard about if you are a student of some prophecy teacher- asserting that a "day" in most prophecies equals a year, Miller dealt with such periods as 2520 years, 1335 years, 1260 years. Using dates such as the fall of Babylon, he goes on to calculate the time of Christ's return.
But in spite of the "opened seal" he appeared to have of the identification of the empires, he ended up with the date 1844. Jesus didn't return in 1844. What went wrong? Were his calculations wrong? If prophecy teachers today use the same "opened seal," will they get better results? Well, at least most are too smart to set dates any more! But what if, beyond the calculations, his "opened seal" of the identifications of the empires was not one opened by God, but opened by his own study of history- or perhaps some even earlier charts by some earlier student of prophecy? Might the interpretations of other prophetic passages, and the details of End-Time scenarios, be affected? If teachers in 1997 use the same "opened seal," perhaps they ought to be at least QUESTIONED by their students as to how it has been verified that it was, indeed, God who opened the seal! Have you asked any questions lately?
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is © 2001-2006 by Pam Dewey.Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.
Pam Dewey
Pam Dewey
Pam Dewey
