The Midnight Cry

I believe we are living in the latter part of the period the Bible describes as The Last Days. When we refer to the Last Days, we are refer-ring to such important doctrines as The Rapture of the Church, The Great Tribulation, and The Coming Kingdom. Despite all the interest in these subjects, there has never been so much confusion and deception in this area. When a pastor or Bible teacher says he/she believes in the Second Coming, you don't really know what they really believe. Mormon prophet Joseph Smith declared that at His Second Coming, Jesus Christ would return to Independence, Missouri, despite the clear statement in the Bible that He will come back to the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. Mormons also have a prophecy about the man on white horse in Revelation 6. You can look it up on Google. Charles T. Russell, founder of the watchtower cult, prophesied that Christ would return visibly in 1874. When Christ did not show up in 1874, Russell changed his calculations. For many more years he prophesied Christ's return in the year 1914. But 1914 came and went, and again Jesus Christ failed to show up. Russell was not disheartened. He rede-fined the second coming of Christ to mean that Jesus Christ had returned as an invisible spirit, a ghost, in 1914 to help set up his organization. Muslims believe Jesus will return to the earth in the last days near a mosque in Damascus. He will arrive at a time when the Mahdi and his army will be preparing to pray. He will be offered to lead the prayer by the Mahdi but will decline in direct deference to the Mahdi whom Jesus declares to be the leader of the Muslims. Muslims believe Jesus will be a faithful Muslim. He will make a pilgrimage to Mecca. He will visit Muhammad's grave and salute Muhammad, whereby Muhammad will return the salute from the grave. Muslims believe Jesus will destroy Christianity. They believe Jesus will establish Shariah Law throughout the earth. They also believe Jesus will remain on the earth for roughly forty years, during which time He will marry, have children, and then die. One popular teaching is that Jesus returned in A. D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Those holding this view believe that Daniel and the Revelation were fulfilled in the past and have no message for the future. There is much confusion over the Rapture and the Great Tribulation. Some pastors preach that Jesus will come for His church before the Tribulation. Others preach that Jesus will come for His church in the middle of the Tribulation. Others say He will come after the Tribulation. Many deny the Rapture altogether. Many are confused over the Millennium. The word Millennium refers to the 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth mentioned in The Revelation 20:1-6. This is what the early church believed for the first 250 years of church history. Today, some believe that the Kingdom of God is simply the rule of God in the hearts of believers. Others believe the Kingdom is the Church. It is amazing to discover how many pastors these days avoid preaching from Daniel and from the Revelation completely. In our opinion, the book of Daniel is the "key" to the entire Old Testament revelation. You must understand Daniel in order to understand God's plan for the nations of the world and especially God's plan for the nation of Israel. This book was written to help our readers sort through all the confusion and false doctrines that abound and come up with an accurate, Bible-based understanding on these important subjects.