Within the world of eschatology there are some dark alleys. By dark, I do not mean evil, but rather places in which things are not clearly seen and which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Unfortunately, some of these eschatological alleys have caused some to become disillusioned enough to leave their faith, or prevented them from having faith to begin with.

One such alley is found when comparing Matthew 24 with 1 Thessalonians 4-5 and 1 Corinthians 15. If you consider Matthew 24 to be about a still future end of the world, you won’t find yourself in this alley, but I would question your scholarship. Matthew 24, along with Luke 21 and Mark 13, are most certainly passages concerning AD70. Many who study eschatology consider 1 Thessalonians 4-5 and 1 Corinthians 15 to be about a still future resurrection and end of history. But, what happens when we compare these passages? Consider the chart below…

There are some obvious parallels between all three passages, and one has to ask: If A=B, and B=C, does not A=C? Are these passages future or past? I have my own opinions, but this requires further study.

Many Christians today believe we are in the last days. They have their reasons for believing so, and those reasons always turn out to be wrong. In fact, there have been dozens upon dozens of end time predictions over the last several centuries that have all failed to come true.

We are now 2000 years removed from when Jesus rose from the dead. That means Jesus was closer in time to Abraham than He was to us. All that history, from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to the Egyptian slavery, to the exodus, to the founding of Israel, to the line of Israelite kings, to the prophets, to the exile, to the return from exile, to the rebuilding of the temple, to the Greek period, and finally to the Roman period and Jesus — all that history passed in a time shorter than the time from Jesus to us today. And in all that time we have been waiting for Jesus to return, and have put forth one failed prediction after another. Something is wrong here.

Why did all the New Testament authors speak as though they were living in the last days? And why do so many Christians today think they are living in the last days? The answer is that we today don’t know what we are talking about. Every 20 years another stupid end times book comes out which is proven wrong 10 years after it’s published. End times teachers disagree with each other and contradict each other. How many more centuries will it take the Church to shed light on those dark alleys?

Gary Demar, a well known voice in the world of Eschatology, has come under fire recently because he has dared to call out the inconsistencies of well known end time teachers. I’ll share his reaction to this in a video and article he wrote below. Demar is not someone who can be ignored and I hope that his position today will push things in the right direction in the years to come.

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