As I drove down the interstate today, I put on a CD that I had purchased over three years ago but had not listened to. At the time, I had believed in the dispensational belief of a pre-tribulation rapture and that was the topic of the speaker. As I listened, I was reminded of a blog post that I had read a few days ago called “5 Classic Bible Twists.”

The author of that blog post wrote about the misuse of Jeremiah 29:11, John 10:10, Revelation 3:20, Matthew 22:36-40 and Proverbs 29:18. He makes excellent points. Anyone who has been around me much in discussions of courtship has heard me laugh at Joshua Harris for using Jeremiah 29:11 as a reason to “wait to date” (see verse 6). John 10:10 was quoted in my blog entry the other day.

Because of the speaker’s focus on the “end times,” he started in Matthew 24 with the disciples’ discussion about the splendor of the temple. Jesus’ statement that the temple would not last much longer shocked them. Then the speaker read verse 4:

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Nevermind that the next verses explain this, ie:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

He stopped at verse 4 and said that intellectuals in the church easily mislead people because they can twist the scriptures. That is a strange statement since Daniel is one of the most-quoted for end times prophesy and he was an intellectual who advised three world rulers.

Even if you believe that Scripture has to entirely define itself, Daniel spoke from an early age that knowledge and wisdom go together (Daniel 2:21):

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

The person who compiled Solomon’s Proverbs believed a similar thing (see the first 9 verses of Proverbs). It might be better to learn how to answer people than to take a verse out of context to say they are just wrong because they know how to twist scripture passages. The use of a verse out of context, even from ignorance, is a twist as well.

As the lecture progressed, the twists became even worse. The speaker whipped out another verse that is just as common as the ones in the blog post above – at least if you are in the right circles. He quoted II Peter 3:8:

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

You see, the “Last Days” started when Jesus walked on the earth 2,000 years ago (or at least by Acts 2:17). How can this be the “Last Days”? That is easy! A thousand years in God’s presence is as one day! This means it has only been two days since Jesus walked the earth!

If he is really going to apply that, he may as well give up on the idea of a rapture any time soon. We have another 5,000 years to go before time has to be measured in “weeks.”

Peter’s point was that time does not matter to God. Read the verses around the one quoted above and you will see what I mean. God is longsuffering and does not want anyone to be sent to hell for eternity. This is why the years seem to drag by. It is a shame that so many of us condemn ourselves to the fate God desires to save us from.

The “Last Days” means that these are different from the former. They are headed toward a known end. As the blood of the martyrs cries, Maranatha. Until that time, teach the church wisdom and the proper handling of the Scriptures.

EDIT: My apologies to those of you who have received more than one alert. Twitter has changed their authentication scheme and I had to make it work again.