September 2001 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

Tim LaHaye made a very interesting point in the July issue of Pre-Trib Perspectives, a publication of the Pre-Trib Research Center. There are so many assaults on essential prophetic doctrines — from liberals, evangelical seminaries teaching Progressive Dispensationalism, and what I call the “futureless churches” that have no regard for prophecy — that an organization was established to protect the idea that the Lord is coming back for His church before the Tribulation. I hope things don’t come down to where we have to have a “Salvation Research Center” to prove that Jesus saves!

Observing the dearth of teaching in the area of Bible prophecy, LaHaye stated:

Students of Bible prophecy are often ridiculed by both Bible haters and some fellow Christians as “so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.” Or as some put it, they are always “looking for pie in the sky by and by.” Yet I find that both our Lord and His apostles challenged us to “set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth.” Or as Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord will come…” (Matt. 24:42).

Regardless what skeptics of Second Coming truth may say, there are two very practical results that come from knowing Bible prophecy. One is motivation. Nothing motivates the believer like thinking Jesus could come at any moment. We see that almost every day in the letters we receive from some of the millions of readers of our Left Behind series of novels, which are based on the truths of prophecy. Many are like the lady who admitted she had never shared her faith with unsaved people before reading Left Behind. Evidently she was like many Christians: she let the fear of man overrule her concern for their souls. Once she caught the vision that Jesus could come at any moment she said, “I am driven to share Christ with everyone I meet.”

That shouldn’t surprise us, for historically that has always been the result of Second Coming teaching. Whenever Christians have really believed Christ could come at any moment, it motivated them to evangelism, holy living, and missionary concern. Even today those churches who believe and teach that Christ could come in our lifetime are much more evangelistic than those who never teach about the coming of Christ. (Notice, I did not say would come! No one knows the day or the hour when He will come, but as I prove in my recent book, Are We Living in the End Times?, our generation does have more reason to believe He could come in our lifetime than any before us.)

The second practical result of Second Coming teaching or the study of Bible prophecy is that it keeps us from losing “heart” or having “a troubled heart.” I need not tell you that every day we face pressures and difficulties that could easily cause fear, worry, or undue concern for the future to rise up in our hearts. Any intelligent observer of world events knows this world is in for some very serious times. Rogue nations or even terrorists have access to neutron bomb material in miniaturized form that could be smuggled into any country in the world. What would any president or dictator do if a terrorist group threatened to ignite a neutron bomb into his city if he did not surrender control of his government to ruthless blackmailers? Realistically, it is only a matter of time before such a frightening circumstance could take place….

The good news is, we who understand prophecy don’t have to fear, for we will be out of here — or more properly, “gathered together unto Him” before the prophesied antichrist or “man of sin” appears on the earth (2 Thess. 2:1–8).

“We will be out of here,” LaHaye remarks, and our departure marks the beginning of the real Christian life, the one coming to us when we join the Lord in heaven. It is probably the greatest tragedy of Christendom that believers are turning away from prophecy at precisely the time our best promises appear to be coming to pass — the Rapture of the Church, the ecstasy of marrying the Lord in heaven and returning to occupy the Kingdom on earth, and ultimately our entrance into Eternity, where there will be “no more tears.”

Those wonderful future events are the subject of our upcoming television series Thy Kingdom Come: The Future of the Believers. We start with the Rapture — the next event on God’s calendar — and continue on to the judgment seat of the righteous in heaven where our works will be judged. We then discuss the magnificent wedding feast of the church with the Lord in heaven (Rev. 19:7–8). The next program will concern the exciting Second Coming of the Lord after the Tribulation when “His feet shall stand that day upon the Mount of Olives,” and He will return to the Israel almost completely ignored today by most churches and our “best” seminaries. At that time the Lord will establish His throne and judge the people of the Tribulation, and believers of all ages will begin the Kingdom with Him. Ironically, members of the futureless churches and seminaries who said so little about Israel in this life will find themselves (if they are saved) living in Israel for a thousand years!

We will have two programs on the Kingdom, which is a large and complex topic, explaining this benign 1,000-year age in full, followed by a look at Eternity, that mystical period in which God makes “a new heaven, a new earth and a new Jerusalem.” Eternity will at last be a period in which we enjoy nothing but a blissful relationship with our Lord — without sin and without end! Described in vivid detail in Revelation 21 and 22, it is the true reward of all the Christian life that went before it. No wonder Paul, when he spoke of the Rapture, said, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18). Indeed, “eye has not seen nor ear heard nor heart perceived” what God has in store for us (Isa. 64:4)!

What a colorless and bland Christian life it must be in those futureless churches and seminaries. They contemplate only the works of the American Church in an attempt to see God at work in the world. They study only the past, or perhaps some distortion of the future. How good it is to be “in the know,” totally informed of God’s upcoming plans, as well as to enjoy the Christian walk we now have with Him! Thy Kingdom Come airs in September. And, as always, the entire series will be available on videocassette.

Start making reservations now for our “domestic” Israel tours this fall. We will begin with an intriguing weekend at the Biblical Arts Center here in Dallas, which, of course, houses the stupendous 124-foot-long painting called “Miracle of Pentecost,” which portrays the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. The Biblical Arts Center also has a splendid replica of the Garden Tomb and its front entrance is designed to resemble Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. The arts center is currently housing a magnificent exhibit called “Little Israel.” These new tours will begin in early November.

Beginning Thanksgiving weekend, we will be taking a number of groups to Orlando’s Biblical theme park, The Holy Land Experience. The first one runs from November 23–25, followed by a second tour November 30–December 2. We’ll have two more tours to this wonderful site just after Christmas. Choose from December 26–28 or December 28–30.

Our grand spring tour to Israel — which still remains safe for Christian pilgrims — begins March 7, 2002. We’re planning to expand our Greek tour and take pilgrims along the steps of the apostle Paul, as it were, providing visitors with an expanded journey of the Greek mainland with visits to the Biblical cities of Thessaloniki, Philippi, Berea and others. This Biblical Greek tour can be taken separately or in conjunction with our usual tour to Israel. And finally, in late spring or early summer we’re looking to add tours to Eureka Springs, home to the magnificent Passion Play. Watch for more details! For more information, please call Tony at (214) 696-9760 during office hours. You may also call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) anytime to request a full-color brochure.

As a reminder, I will be available to speak at churches in the Orlando area beginning Thanksgiving weekend and into the winter months. Contact our office for more details.

May Yeshua, our Savior and the King of Kings, richly bless you! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your Messenger,

P.S. If you spend your tax refund, you will probably pay sales tax. If you contribute it to the Lord’s work, then you will have less to “render unto Caesar.” This ministry is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Thanks.