About the Writing of this Book

Anybody who writes a book on this subject is in danger of being compared to Aesop’s fables’ proverbial ‘boy who cried wolf.’  “Wolf! Wolf!” he shouted, to draw attention to himself, or to add some excitement to his life. People reacted just as he hoped they would.  But then, on a later occasion when a wolf actually did appear on the scene—and he was in real danger—everyone assumed he was just ‘crying wolf’ again falsely.  And no one came to his aid.

Similarly, there have been so many false alarms concerning the return of Christ and the end of the world, that most people laugh or shrug off any suggestion that the prophesied event will soon take place.  And, when it comes to the matter of people “crying wolf” about the return of Christ, no one can be more painfully aware of it than I am.  In 1968 I fell victim to the Watchtower Society’s prediction that Armageddon would occur in the year 1975, and I spent the next thirteen years serving that organization—eight of those years as a Jehovah’s Witness elder.  By the time Bible reading eventually introduced me to the real Jesus and led me to embrace biblical Christianity in 1982, I was no longer interested in trying to understand the end times prophecies—other than to know that Christ would someday return.

Over the next twenty years or so, I authored a number of books exposing the failed prophecies and false teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects, including Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse (1986, Baker Book House), Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject (1996, Baker Book House), Mormons Answered Verse by Verse (1992, Baker Book House), and Blood on the Altar (1996, Prometheus Books).

The horrific events of September 11, 2001, prompted me to look more closely at how current events were fulfilling end times prophecies—resulting in my creating a number of web sites on this topic.  And in 2008 I produced the book LEFT BEHIND Answered Verse by Verse, which demonstrates how popular dispensationalist interpretations ignore the biblical insights of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Tyndale, Knox and other great students of the Bible.

Our dear family friend Katie Tripp had been running off printed copies of one of my end times web sites to share with others, but then asked if I planned to put the material into book form.  Actually, I hadn’t.  But her inquiry prompted me to collect that material together, update it, and assemble it together here.

So, this book is the product of decades of research on the topic of end times prophecy.  But the book that I recommend most highly on this topic is the Bible itself.  Please don’t read my books—or anyone else’s—to the exclusion of reading the inspired Scriptures.  Prayerfully reading the Bible itself is the best way to know and understand what God has said about the end of this world.  And no one has summed it up better than the Apostle Peter, who expressed it this way:

 “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

“Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

—2 Peter 3:1-18 NIV