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Waiting in the wings of the forthcoming global turmoil is the Man with a Plan–the one whom the world will welcome to resolve its many problems. The Bible gives us many provocative clues to his identity1, and from many prophetic glimpses his genealogical line may prove to be traceable.
Daniel Chapters 7, 8 and 11 describe the career of Alexander the Great and his successors so vividly they constitute some of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible. We also find that Alexander’s four generals–Lysimachus, Cassander,Ptolemy, and Seleucus–divide the empire after his death just as the passages indicated.2
As Israel is sandwiched by the subsequent tensions between Ptolemy (Egypt) to the south and Seleucus (Syria) to the north, it is also amazing to note the precision with which Daniel records their respective successors in Chapter 11.3
Antiochus Epiphanes
The Seleucid ruler that figures so prominently in Biblical studies is, of course, Antiochus IV, who also adopted the label Epiphanes or Coming One. Committed to crushing Judaism, he outlawed the keeping of the Torah, persecuted the Jews, and confirmed his place in history by having a sow sacrificed on the sacred altar in the Temple in Jerusalem and placing an idol to Zeus inside the Holy of Holies itself. This desecration is known specifically as The Abomination of Desolation.
The consequent outrage led to the famed Maccabbean revolt which success fully threw off the yoke of the Greek rulers and ushered in the Hasmonean period of Israel’s history. On the third anniversary of the Temple’s desecration, on the 25th of Kislev, 165 b.c., the Temple was rededicated. This rededication is celebrated to this very day as Hanukkah.4
This historical event took on additional prophetic significance two centuries later when four disciples received a private briefing by Jesus Himself on the Second Coming, in which Jesus alluded to a future reoccurrence of a similar desecration as the key to all end-time prophecy.5 This repetition of the Abomination of Desolation is the central milestone in the middle of the climactic seven-year period comprising the Seventieth Week of Daniel Chapter 9.6
However, as so often occurs in Biblical prophecy, many times the immediate, local application of a passage clearly transcends the context to yield a glimpse of a larger, more climactic application.7 While the passage in Daniel 11–up to verse 35–has clearly been historically fulfilled, verses 36-45 seem to strangely overlap both the career of Antiochus Epiphanes of the past and also the final world ruler, portrayed as the Willful King.8
After the horrible reign of Antiochus IV, the Seleucid line continued under the same title, with Antiochus V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XIII. The Seleucid dynasty came to an end in 63 b.c. when Pompey declared that Syria would become a Roman province. However, the descendants of the Seleucids continued in importance and became intertwined with the Herodians and the royal houses of Rome.9
The Prince That Shall Come
The Coming World Leader–commonly known as the Antichrist – has 33 titles in the Old Testament and 13 in the New Testament. One of these, The Prince That Shall Come, comes from Daniel 9:26-27 in which the people of the Prince that shall come would destroy the city and the sanctuary. The fulfillment occurred in history when the Roman legions under Titus Vespasian destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.10
This reflexive reference to the Romans in Daniel 9:26 is one of several reasons why most Bible scholars view the future Prince that shall come as a Roman, or European.
A Continuous Genealogy?
A genealogical link between the original Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus Vespasian would not be surprising, and yet it is very provocative. But there may be more.
In the fifth century the royal line of the Franks intermarried with the Merovingian dynasty, which ultimately links with the family trees of the Habsburgs, the House of Lorraine, Plantard, Luxembourg, Pont‚zat, Montesquieu, Sinclair, Stuarts, and most of the royal families of Europe. Among contemporary luminaries are Otto von Habsburg of Austria and his son, Karl, and King Juan Carlos I of Spain and his son, Felipe.
[It is from this type of background that some consider King Juan Carlos of Spain or his son Felipe as possible candidates. The lineage of the son includes 2 German emperors, 8 kings of Denmark, 5 kings of Sweden, 7 Czars of Russia, 1 king and 1 queen of Norway, 1 queen of England and 5 kings of Greece.]
The Magdalene Blasphemy
There are a number of occultic groups that hold to the outrageous suggestion that the Merovingian line is directly linked to offspring from Jesus and Mary Magdalene.11 While obviously a blasphemous lie, it is interesting that there are people who take this seriously. Could this Satanic delusion have an end-time purpose?
A Candidate on the Horizon?
History is littered with speculations as to the identity of this final Coming World Leader. While there still remains a 378-year void in the span between Vespasian (69 a.d.) and the reign of Merovee (beginning in 447 a.d.), there may be dusty documents lying in some library that might validate the implied linkage. Let’s watch and see.
The more one studies the numerous references to this Man of Destiny in the Scriptures, and the more one examines the many details of the scenario that surrounds his career, the more it appears that the world is plunging into the period in which he will become the man of the hour. Many of the most knowledgeable commentators believe he may be alive today.
He will be the master of deceit (even more than the politicians who presently dominate the District of Corruption!). Jesus warned us that if it were possible he would deceive the very elect.12 Our protection must be spiritual, not just intellectual.
However, we don’t believe that the Coming World Leader will be revealed until after the Rapture of the Church.13
It certainly is an exciting time to find out what the Bible really says about the times in which we live! Scripture tells us not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices,14 so for more see our Briefing Package, The Coming World Leader.
But let us remember to focus our attention on our Blessed Hope, our reigning King, and not on the imposter who is destined for destruction.
The Holy Spirit includes an allusion to Hanukkah in the New Testament: John 10:22.
Matthew 24-25; Mark 133-14; Luke 21-22.
The Seventy Weeks of Daniel are the principal foundation in understanding all end time prophecy. This passage also includes the most amazing prophecy in the entire Bible. See our Briefing Package Daniel’s 70 Weeks on page 14 for more information.
The references to the origin and career of Satan in Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 are well-known examples. The allusions to Antiochus Epiphanes are another.
The Willful King has been identified by Ibn-Ezra with Constantine the Great; Rashi and Calvin understood him to represent the Aroman Empire; Jerome, Theodoret, Luther, J.N. Darby and most Pre-Tribulation scholars see him as the Antichrist.
In The Histories of Tacitus, we find the son of Antiochus IV, King of Commagene which is located on the West Bank of the Upper Euphrates). This Prince Epiphanes in the first battle of Cremona is carrying an official title in honor of the man who had desecrated the Temple 238 years before. Vespasian, Herod Agrippa II, and Queen Bernice are portrayed as close confidants. Numenius, of the Seleucid dynasty, was a member of the Roman senate. (Josephus, Antiquities, xiii, 5.8.)
Some confuse the destruction of the Temple with Jesus prediction that it would receive the idol in the Holy of Holies (the Abomination of Desolation ). During the ferocious siege of 70 a.d., the Temple caught fire and was subsequently dismantled to retrieve the gold. There was no opportunity to establish the desecration fitting the Biblical specifications.
The Prieur de Sion is among the elusive secret societies that traces its interests from the Knights Templar and is believed to have global government ambitions.
Matthew 24:24.
2 Thessalonians 2. See our From Here to Eternity Briefing Package on page 14 for a more complete discussion.
by Chuck MisslerWhether it’s Bosnia or Chechnya, we’re becoming increasingly aware of conflicts involving the Muslim world. Reports on the tensions in the Middle East and Central Asia also frequently mention the Kurds. There is much going on in the Islamic world that bears prophetic implications for the Biblically sensitive observer.
A People Without a Country
The Kurds live in contiguous areas of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, with a dream of forming their own independent country of Kurdistan (“Land of the Kurds”). They number approximately 10 million, including those in Armenia and Syria. They have a traditional reputation for military prowess and have been successful mercenaries and professional soldiers in many armies. Saladin, the famed Kurdish warrior of the 12th century, fought against Richard I of England in the Third Crusade and created the Ayy’bid Dynasty of Egypt (1169-1250 a.d.). Earlier there had been brief Kurdish dynasties in the 10th and 12th centuries.
The Kurds are a growing problem in the Muslim world, having suffered a tradition of abuse and disenfranchisement in each of the countries they have resided.
Kurdish nationalism has been reflected in frequent uprisings against the Ottoman and Persian governments. After World War I, the Treaty of S’vres (1920) provided for an autonomous Kurdistan, but that treaty was never ratified. Uprisings in Iraq and in Iran have continued, and the indigenous Kurdish population has continued in refugee/guerilla status through out the region.
The Kurds in Iran
The Kurds appear to have descended from the Medes of ancient history who joined with the Persians and conquered Babylon in 539 b.c. This Medo-Persian Empire was the second of the four great empires predicted in the visions of Daniel Chapters 2 and 7. The Medes, an Indo-European people, settled in the plateau land of northeastern Iran as early as the 17th century b.c. The ancient country of Media had their capital city at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan).
Cyrus II (“the Great”) was part Persian and part Mede: His mother was Mandane, a daughter of Astyages, king of Media (585- 550 b.c.). When his father, Cambyses I, died in 559 b.c., Cyrus inherited the throne of Ansan and, after unifying the Persian people, he captured his father-in-law Astyages, took the capital city of Ecbatana, and welded the Persians (with the Medes as honored but subservient subjects) into a unified nation. His capture of Babylon is detailed in Daniel Chapter 5. The Medes disappear from history to re-emerge as the mountain people known today as the Kurds.
The president of Iran, Hashimir Rafsanjani, has announced his “Grand Design” to unite the Islamic World into an Islamic Crescent.1 Now in possession of nuclear weapons, their agenda cannot be ignored.
The Kurds in Turkey
Turkey, too, is struggling with a militant Kurdish population, and is annoyed with Syria not honoring their agreement to liquidate the Kurdish rebel bases in Lebanon and Syria. Israel has also opposed helping Turkey’s actions against the Kurdish rebels, and this is presently a barrier to better cooperation between the intelligence services of the two countries.2
The Kurds in Iraq
The Kurds comprise approximately 18% of Iraq’s population. Iraq created an administrative district called Kurdistan in 1974, comprising three northwestern governorates of Iraq that border Turkey to the north and Iran to the east.
Saddam Hussein has continued to oppress the Kurds in Iraq, even using chemical weapons against their civilian population in recent years. (No wonder the Kurds will enthusiastically participate in the ultimate destruction of Babylon.)
Their Prophetic Destiny
The ultimate destruction of Babylon is prophesied in Isaiah 13 & 14 and Jeremiah 50 and 51. Isaiah 13:17 alludes to “the Medes” as participants in Babylon’s destruction, (and this is one of the reasons some scholars have assumed that this refers to the fall of Babylon in 539 b.c.). However, both Isaiah and Jeremiah describe a destruction “like Sodom and Gomorrah,” and after which it is never to be inhabited, etc., all of which is yet future and appears as a climactic event in the Book of Revelation.
by Chuck MisslerConcluding our brief series of articles on our “Blessed Hope,” 1 there would seem to be seven harpázôs (“raptures”) in the Bible: Enoch,2 Elijah,3 Philip, 4 Paul,5 John6 and Jesus,7 and, of course, the Body of Christ, 8 the Church. (In fact, the very Greek term, harpozô, is employed in four of these references.9)
Since Paul highlights that the mystery of the Church was his privilege to reveal in the New Testament,10 it is fashionable to assume that it would be futile to expect any references to the Rapture of the Church in the Old Testament. However, here are some provocative passages for your personal consideration:
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. -Isaiah 26:19-21
Who are to enter which chambers? How long are they to be hidden? (Compare this with John 14:1-3 and come to your own conclusions.)
And there are others:
Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger. – Zephaniah 2:3
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. -Psalm 27:5
But to me, the most provocative are the consistent patterns – or “types,” metaphors, and similes – in the Old Testament:
Pattern is Prologue
It is interesting to notice the patterns that seem to be suggested in the Biblical text. One of the greatest judgments on the Planet Earth was, of course, the flood during the days of Noah. It is obvious that there were three groups of people facing that judgment:
1) Those that perished in the Flood;
2) Those who were preserved through the Flood, by means of the ark; and
3) Those who were removed prior to the Flood, namely, Enoch.11 (It can be argued that he was only one person, but so is the Church!12 It was G. H. Pember who first suggested that Revelation 12:5 might be a reference to the Church.)
Enoch is, for many reasons, one of the most intriguing characters in the Old Testament. There are also several provocative Jewish traditions regarding Enoch. He is regarded as having been born on the day the Jews observe Hag Shavout, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. What is also interesting is that, by tradition, he is also believed to have been “translated” (or “raptured”) on his birthday. Since the Church was “born” on this day,13 one wonders if we, too, will be “raptured” on its birthday!14
(As some pre-tribbers love to point out, Enoch wasn’t “mid-flood” or “post-flood,” he was “pre-flood.”)
We all have enjoyed the famous confrontation between Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. Many prophecy buffs view Nebuchadnezzar and the forced worship of his image as a “type” of the Antichrist, and the three Jewish young men as a foreshadowing of the 144,000 miraculously preserved through the “furnace” of the tribulation. That leaves a provocative question: Where was Daniel himself? Who might he represent as a type?
Some prophecy buffs see the use of a threshing floor as an idiom alluding to the tribulation.15 The marvelous romance of Ruth, who becomes the Gentile bride of Boaz, her Kinsman-Redeemer, is seen as an anticipatory type of the Church and her Redeemer. In the critical threshing floor scene in chapter 3, where is Ruth? At the feet of her Redeemer.16 Interesting.
In Genesis 22, Abraham left the donkey and the two young men at the foot of the hill as he and Isaac went up to the top of Moriah for the famous offering of his son. After the episode concludes with the substitution of the ram, it lists those that then returned to Beersheba:
So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
Genesis 22:19
Where’s Isaac? Obviously, Isaac also returned with Abraham and the two young men. But we are fascinated that the Holy Spirit appears to have edited the person of Isaac out of the record from the time he was offered until he is united with his bride two chapters later!17 We believe this was deliberate to have the narrative fully conform to the type.
One, of course, should not build doctrine from “types,” metaphors, or similitudes. But we feel they can be instructive and illuminating.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. -Romans 15:4
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. – Hosea 12:10
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. -2 Timothy 2:15
The legendary John Walvoord used to joke that when he got to heaven, one of the first things he planned to do was to conduct a course on “Remedial Eschatology.” But he admitted that he “wouldn’t enjoy it as much because he would have lost his sin nature by then!”
He recently was called home to be with the Lord he served so faithfully for so many years. I wonder how he and Walter Martin are getting along…
* * *
For a more comprehensive review of this controversial topic, see our video, The Rapture: Christianity’s Most Preposterous Belief.
See our briefing package, The Feasts of Israel, for a review of the prophetic implications of each of the seven feasts of the Torah.
Jeremiah 51:33; Isaiah 41:15, 16; Micah 4:12, et al.
See our briefing package, The Romance of Redemption, or our Expositional Commentary on the Book of Ruth for a more comprehensive review of the typological implications in this marvelous love story.
In this second article in our series on the Rapture, we will explore another reason why we favor a “pre-tribulation” view of the Harpázô, the “snatching up” of the Church.
All through the Gospels, Jesus relied on the ancient Jewish wedding pattern for many of His parables,1 climaxing in His promise in the Upper Room in John 14 (as reviewed in our previous article). Many of us miss the full import of these allusions if we aren’t familiar with the model of ancient Jewish wedding practices.
Jewish Wedding
The first step, the Ketubah, or Betrothal,2 was the establishment of the marriage covenant, usually when the prospective bridegroom took the initiative3 and negotiated the price (mohair) he must pay to purchase her.4
Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was established, and the young man and woman were regarded as husband and wife. 5 From that moment on, the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified – set apart – exclusively for her bridegroom.6 As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride drank from a cup of wine over which the betrothal had been pronounced.7
After the marriage covenant was established, the groom left his bride at her home and returned to his father’s house, where he remained separated from his bride for approximately 12 months.8 This afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and prepare for married life. 9
During this period of separation, the groom prepared a dwelling place in his father’s house to which he would later bring his bride. At the end of the period of separation, the bridegroom came – usually at night – to take his bride to live with him. The groom, the best man, and other male escorts left the father’s house and conducted a torch-light procession to the home of the bride. 10 Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the time of his coming.11 As a result, the groom’s arrival was preceded by a shout,12 which announced her imminent departure to be gathered with him.
After the groom received his bride, together with her female attendants, the enlarged wedding party returned from the bride’s home to the groom’s father’s house,13 where the wedding guests had assembled.
Shortly after their arrival, the bride and groom were escorted by the other members of the wedding party to the bridal chamber (huppah). Prior to entering the chamber, the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face. 14 While the groomsmen and bridesmaids waited outside, the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber alone. There, in the privacy of that place, they entered into physical union for the first time, thereby consummating the marriage that had been covenanted approximately one year earlier. 15
After the marriage was consummated, the groom came out of the bridal chamber and announced the consummation of the marriage to the members of the wedding party waiting outside.16 Then, as the groom went back to his bride in the chamber, the members of the wedding party returned to the wedding guests and announced the consummation of the marriage. 17
Upon receiving the good news, the wedding guests remained in the groom’s father’s house for the next seven days, celebrating with a great wedding feast.18
During the seven days of the wedding feast, the bride and groom remained hidden in the bridal chamber19 (Cf. Genesis 29:21-23, 27-28) for the seven days of the huppah.20 Afterwards, the groom came out of hiding, bringing his bride with him, but with her veil removed so that everyone could see her.
The Ultimate Bride
The New Testament portrays the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:22-33 (Paul even quotes Genesis 2:24 as the union at the Parousia of the Bridegroom in v.31!); cf. Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2; James 4:4. In the opening verses of John 14, the marriage covenant is confirmed. 21 Paul continually reminds us of the purchase price 22 and the covenant23 by which we, the Bride, are set apart, or sanctified.24
Ecclesiology vs. Eschatology
It is this distinctive nature of the Church that is often overlooked by students of prophecy: it is more a matter of ecclesiology than eschatology.
One thing that seems to highlight this distinctiveness is the strange remark Jesus made regarding John the Baptist:
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. -Matthew 11:11
What does that mean? Jesus goes on to explain,
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. – Matthew 11:13
It is John the Baptist that closes the Old Testament, not Malachi. 25 A profound distinction appears to be drawn between the saints of the Old Testament and those of the New.
One of the challenges in fully appreciating Paul’s epistles is the need to understand the staggering and distinctive advantages afforded the Church, in contrast to those of the Old Testament saints.26 And it is this role as the Bride of the Bridegroom that is emphasized in the parables and in the Book of Revelation.27
The Departure of the Bridegroom
The Bridegroom has departed, and His return to gather His Bride is imminent.28 He has gone to prepare a place for you and me. (He has been at it for 2,000 years! It must be a spectacular abode!)
This very doctrine of “imminence” is taught throughout the New Testament and is a cornerstone of the “pre-tribulational” view: there is no event which is a prerequisite condition for His gathering of His Bride.
The Great Tribulation
There are those who believe the Church will go through the Great Tribulation. In exploring this issue, it is essential to distinguish between persecution, which clearly has been the lot of the Church for 19 centuries, and “the Great Tribulation” of eschatological significance. The persecution – and tribulation – of the Church was clearly promised to us:
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. -John 16:33
The source of this tribulation is the world and, of course, Satan. However, “the Great Tribulation” of eschatological significance is quite another matter.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. -Matthew 24:21
The context here is clearly Israel.29 Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament:
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book -Daniel 12:1
Note that “thy people will be delivered”: the focus of the “Great Tribulation” is Israel. That is why it is called “the time of Jacob’s Trouble”:
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. -Jeremiah 30:7
Jesus (in the Old Testament) explains:
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.30 -Hosea 5:15
To “return,” He must have left His place! The offence referred to is singular and specific: their rejection of Him. In “their affliction” they will ultimately repent and He will respond.31
The Great Tribulation also involves more than the wrath of the world or the wrath of Satan: it involves the indignation and wrath of God. 32 In contrast, the Church has been promised:
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,-1 Thessalonians 5:9
And,
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. -Romans 5:9
And, specifically,
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour [time] of temptation [trial], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. -Revelation 3:10
Peter also emphasizes,
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: -2 Peter 2:9
Here, Peter is using the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah “as an example,”33 as Jesus also did,34 in which the prior removal of Lot was a precondition before the angels could do their work.35
A complete study of this issue involves careful and diligent study of both the Church (ecclesiology) as well as the eschatology (end time aspects) of the Great Tribulation, which, of course, far exceeds the focus of this brief review. It requires precise definitions of the terms used, and great care to understand how each of the elements of the revealed truth relate to each other.
But the fundamental doctrine of imminence has to be forfeited with any view that requires the Great Tribulation – or any other precedent event – to occur prior to the Rapture.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. -Luke 21:36
Are you going to escape these things that shall come to pass? If so, how? Or are you relying on the notion that the Lord is “delaying His coming?” 36 This could be a very dangerous presumption. Do your homework. It is important.
Cf. Matthew 22:1-14 and Matthew 25:1-13 for notable examples.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Isaac Landman ed., Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co., Inc. New York, 1948, pp. 7, 372.
David R. Mace, Hebrew Marriage, Philosophical Library, New York, 1953, p.167.
The Universal Jewish Enclopedia, p.372.
The Jewish Encyclopedia, Isidore Singer ed., Funk and Wagnalls Company, New York, 1907, III, pp.126,127. Cf. Mal 2:14; Mt 1:18-19.
George F. Moore, Judaism, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1946, II, p.121.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, p.373.
Ibid., p.372.
Ibid.
The Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr ed., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI, 1957, III, p.1998.
Emma Williams Gill, Home Life in the Bible, Broadman Press, Nashville TN, 1936, p.20.
James Neil, Everyday Life in the Holy Land, Cassell and Company, Limited, New York, 1913, p.251.
J. Jeremias, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol IV, ed. by Gerhard Kittel, trans. and ed. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI, 1967, p.1100.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, ed. Isaac Landman, Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co., Inc., New York, 1948, pp. 10, 399.
by Chuck MisslerWe continue to receive many questions concerning the “Rapture” of the church and its apparent contrast with the “Second Coming” of Jesus Christ. Where does this strange view come from? Is the term “rapture” even in the Bible?
Clearly, the idea of the Rapture can be considered the most preposterous belief in Biblical Christianity. It reminds me of the famous quote by Dr. Richard Feynman, speaking of quantum physics:
I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics… in fact, it is often stated of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. Some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it, in fact, is that it is unquestionably correct.
The situation regarding the doctrine of the Rapture is painfully similar.
The Harpázô
The mysterious event known as the Rapture is most clearly presented in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, in which he encourages the grieving Christians that, at the “great snatch,” they will be reunited with those who have died in Christ before them.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. -1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In verse 17, the English phrase “caught up” translates the Greek word harpázô, which means “to seize upon with force” or “to snatch up.”
There are those who claim that the word “rapture” isn’t in their Bible. That’s because they aren’t using the Latin translation:
…deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus.. -1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Latin Vulgate) 1
The Latin equivalent of the Greek harpázô is the Latin verb rapio, “to take away by force.” In the Latin Vulgate, one of the oldest Bibles in existence, the appropriate tense of rapio appears in verse 17. (Raptus is the past participle of rapio, and our English words “rapt” and “rapture” stem from this past participle.)
At the Rapture, living believers will be “caught up” in the air, translated into the clouds, in a moment in time, to join the Lord in the air.
The Promise
This will be the fulfillment of the promise which our Lord confirmed at the Last Supper:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. -John 14:1-3
This thrilling promise wasn’t given to everyone, only to His believers. (Judas had already left by then.)
This appears to parallel the promise of the bridegroom in the pattern of the ancient Jewish wedding, where, after the ketubah, the engagement, but before the huppah, the formal ceremony, the groom departed to prepare a new home for his bride, usually an addition to his father’s house. The bride was kept in a state of expectancy pending his return-often in the middle of the night, as a surprise.
(The huppah, the wedding ceremony, was followed with a seven-day celebration, etc.)
The Process
The anticipation of a bodily resurrection after life on this earth pervades the entire Bible. In the oldest book of the Bible, Job declares:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. -Job 19:25-27
Yet, when our Lord comes to gather His church, there will be a generation alive at that time. In his discussion of the Resurrection in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul again deals with this astonishing event:
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? -1 Corinthians 15:51-55
(From quantum physics considerations, I suspect that this transformation, “in the twinkling of an eye,” will occur digitally in 10-43 of a second.) 2
The Imminent Gathering
Clearly, the Bible teaches us to expect Him at any moment. This is called the Doctrine of Imminency: it is next on the program and may take place very soon.
(The word “imminent” should not be confused with “immanent,” which, in theological contexts, means that God is not only transcendent, or far above us, but that He is always with us and active on our behalf. Nor should it be confused with “eminent,” which is a title of honor reserved for persons of outstanding distinction.)
Imminency expresses hope and a warm spirit of expectancy, 3 which should result in a victorious and purified life. 4 Believers are taught to expect the Savior from heaven at any moment. 5
Paul seemed to include himself among those who looked for Christ’s return. 6 Timothy was admonished to “keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 7 Jewish converts were reminded that “yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” 8
Some have concluded that the expectation of some were so strong they had stopped work and had to be exhorted to return to their jobs, 9 and have patience. 10
Two Events?
There are many that hold to the view that emerged in the Medieval church (Catholic and Protestant) that the “Second Coming” of Christ and the “Rapture” are somehow the same. Yet there seems to be a number of indications that these are distinct and separate.
In contrast to the imminent gathering of His church, there are numerous passages that deal with precedent events which must transpire prior to the “Second Coming” to establish His kingdom on the earth. Some of the passages referring to the Rapture and the Second Coming are summarized at the the table below.
Rapture
Second Coming
John 14:1-3
Dan 2:44-45
Rom 8:19
Dan 7:9-14
1 Cor 1:7-8
Dan 12:1-3
1 Cor 15:1-53
Zech 14:1-15
1 Cor 16:22
Matt 13:41
Phil 3:20-21
Matt 24:15-31
Col 3:4
Matt 26:64
1 Thess 1:10
Mark 13:14-27
1 Thess 2:19
Mark 14:62
1 Thess 4:13-18
Luke 21:25-28
1 Thess 5:9
Acts 1:9-11
1 Thess 5:23
Acts 3:19-21
2 Thess 2:1 (3?)
1 Thess 3:13
1 Tim 6:14
2 Thess 1:6-10
2 Tim 4:1
2 Thess 2:8
Titus 2:13
2 Peter 3:1-14
Heb 9:28
Jude 14-15
James 5:7-9
Rev 1:7
1 Peter 1:7, 13
Rev 19:11-20:6
1 John 2:28-3:2
Rev 22:7, 12, 20
Jude 21
Rev 2:25
Rev 3:10
Why So Many Views?
There are, of course, many differing views, especially regarding matters of eschatology – the study of “last things.” This diversity derives from several factors: the disciplines associated with hermeneutics – the theory of interpretation – as well as the need to integrate an understanding of the entirety of God’s revealed plan of redemption: “the whole counsel of God.”
The need to relate the various elements of end-time events, such as the Great Tribulation, the events surrounding the Seventieth Week of Daniel, the Millennium, and other related issues, requires precise definitions and diligent study. We will address many of these in our subsequent articles in the hopes that they will prove helpful in understanding these issues and assisting you in formulating your own views regarding these challenges. (We will discover that some of the principal controversies are more an issue of ecclesiology than eschatology! But more of this next time.)
These are not “peripheral” issues (as they may have seemed in the past). We believe we are being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more than it does about any other period of human history-including the time that Jesus walked the shore of the Sea of Galilee and climbed the mountains of Judea! It is the most exciting time to be alive! But if we are to be diligent stewards, we need to carefully revise our priorities to match His!
by Chuck MisslerPaul’s two epistles to the believers in Thessalonica are the two most important eschatological epistles in the New Testament. (“Eschatology” is the study of the last things, or end-time prophecy.) What is astonishing is that these two epistles remind their recipients of things which they were taught by Paul during the first few weeks he was with them . Paul taught them all about the “End Times” during their initial indoctrination into the faith: the Rapture, the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Coming!
(Since Paul’s second letter to them was in response to a forgery that was apparently in circulation, so we have indulged in a bit of whimsy by calling it “3rd Thessalonians.”)
Background
Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia Secunda. It was founded in 315 B.C. by Cassander, son-in-law of Philip of Macedon and one of Alexander’s four key generals, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, the half-sister of Alexander the Great.
It was a strategic location: it had a natural harbor at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, and it was situated on Via Egnatia , the main route between Rome and the East. Thessalonica was almost made the capital of the world; at this time it was the second most important city in Greece. It was the most populous town of Macedonia, and was practically the capital of Greece, Illyricum, and Macedonia. (Perhaps 200,000 lived there in Paul’s day.) Cicero was in exile here in 58 B.C.
Antony and Octavius (the future Augustus) were here after their victory at Philippi. In gratitude for their cooperation in the struggle against Cassius and Brutus, Thessalonica was made a free city like Athens. No Roman soldiers were stationed in it; government was in the hands of a people’s assembly, from whom the “Apolitarchs” (magistrates) were chosen. Kingdom preaching would make them fearful of losing their privileges of “free” status.
Corinth
After founding the church at Thessalonica, Paul had gone to Corinth for two years,1 and he writes both of his Thessalonian letters from there, perhaps within only a matter of months of visiting them.
Timothy had been left in Philippi, and joins Paul in Berea and travels with him to Athens. Paul sent him back to Thessalonica. This first letter of Paul’s was in response to Timothy’s report upon rejoining Paul in Corinth.2
Ist Thessalonians
This letter is among the earliest New Testament documents, written less than 20 years after Christ’s resurrection. (Some believe the letter to the Galatians was written before Acts 15.) Every chapter has references to the Second Coming.
The most famous declaration in this letter is on the “Rapture” 3 (so called from the Latin Vulgate, rapiemur; the Greek is arpazwharpazo: to seize, carry off by force; to claim for one’s self eagerly; to snatch out or away).
“3rd” Thessalonians
Paul’s second letter apparently followed his first by not many months. The Thessalonians were really upset. It was in response to, among other things, a letter “as if from Paul,” apparently a forgery, 4 and so Paul wrote to settle their unrest, which concerned the same issues that plague most prophecy discussions today.
Persecutions had begun. Pliny, the Elder, wrote:
It was in Thessalonica that the first Gentiles were killed in the Roman Empire. The local Roman governor in that part of the country said that every Christian had to bow before a statue of Augustus Caesar. He had been deified and statues of Caesar were erected everywhere. Christians who didn’t obey the edict were persecuted.
Until then, most of the persecution of Christians had come from the Jewish leadership, but now Rome had gotten into the act. It was in Thessalonica that they dreamed up the procedure of offering a cask of wine on the altar to Venus or Caesar, and then publicly taking it out to the marketplace, sprinkling all the vegetables, meat, and other goods, announcing that it had been dedicated to the god. Anyone who bought or ate any of it thereby worshiped a false god. Christians, who stopped buying in the marketplace as a witness, immediately became marked. The first crucifixions, the first burnings, and the first great persecutions of Christians then began.
Prompted by, among other things, the circulation of a spurious letter, apparently an intentional forgery as if from Paul, the Thessalonians began to fear that they were already in the Day of Lord.
This is the traditional Jewish expression for the day when God would intervene in history to destroy His enemies and establish His Kingdom. 6 In that Day, Christ will rule with a rod of iron over the entire earth7 and will administer absolute justice.8 (See our recent briefing package, Thy Kingdom Come).
So why were they upset? They apparently thought that the Great Tribulation had begun. Why would that have upset them if they were destined to be raptured after the tribulation? They would be excited that their redemption was drawing near. However, they had been taught by Paul – and he reconfirms this in his letter we know as 2nd Thessalonians – that they were to be raptured before the Great Tribulation. They were upset because they thought it had now started and they either had been mistaught or they had missed it!
Chapter 2 is the heart of this epistle. It is one of the most important prophetic passages in the New Testament. It deals with an eschatological error from the belief that the Day of the Lord was already present and many other aspects of the Great Tribulation. Paul warns them (and us, too) against deception. Two events must occur before . Two verbs, emphatic by position, serve to distinguish the two events.
First: an apostasia ; falling away; the deliberate abandonment of a formerly professed position or view; a defection; a rejection of a former allegiance.9 The word was used to denote a political or military rebellion. 10 In the Septuagint, it is used to describe a rebellion against God.
Second: the “Restrainer” had to be removed. A key issue is the identity of “the Restrainer.” A careful exegesis of the Greek text makes it clear that Paul was referring to the Holy Spirit as He indwells the believer in this unique period we call “the Church.”
(This is too complex to detail in this brief article. It is more a matter of ecclesiology – the mystical Body of Christ-than eschatology. We invite you to explore it our expositional commentary on I & II Thessalonians, now available in MP3 CD-ROM format.)
Eschatology
The Rapture is not a doctrine to argue about: it is a doctrine to live . Some believe He is coming after the Tribulation. Some believe that He is coming before; some believe He is coming during. How does your interpretation affect your life? Does it do anything for you? If your view has no effect on your life, then you might reconsider what you really believe.
The global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000 - Only FOURTEEN MILLIONor about 0.02% of the world’s population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1910 – Paul Heyse
1927 – Henri Bergson
1958 – Boris Pa sternak
1966 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 – Nelly Sachs
1976 – Saul Bellow
1978 – Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 – Elias Canetti
1987 – Joseph Brodsky
1991 – Nadine Gordimer World
Peace:
1911 – Alfred Fried
1911 – Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 – Rene Cassin
1973 – Henry Kissinger
1978 – Menachem Begin
1986 – Elie Wiesel
1994 – Shimon Peres
1994 – Yitzhak Rabin
Physics:
1905 – Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 – Henri Moissan
1907 – Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 – Gabriel Lippmann
1910 – Otto Wallach
1915 – Richard Willstaetter
1918 – Fritz Haber
1921 – Albert Einstein
1922 – Niels Bohr
1925 – James Franck
1925 – Gustav Hertz
1943 – Gustav Stern
1943 – George Charles de Hevesy
1944 – Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 – Felix Bloch
1954 – Max Born
1958 – Igor Tamm
1959 – Emilio Segre
1960 – Don ald A. Glaser
1961 – Robert Hofstadter
1961 – Melvin Calvin
1962 – Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 – Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 – Richard Phil lips Feynman
1965 – Julian Schwinger
1969 – Murray Gell-Mann
1971 – Dennis Gabor
1972 – William Howard Stein
1973 – Brian David Joseph son
1975 – Benjamin Mottleson
1976 – Burton Richter
1977 – Ilya Prigogine
1978 – Arno Allan Penzias
1978 – Peter L Kapitza
1979 – Stephen Weinberg
1979 – Sheldon Glashow
1979 – Herbert Charles Brown
1980 – Paul Berg
1980 – Walter Gilbert
1981 – Roald Hoffmann
1982 – Aaron Klug
1985 – Albert A. Hauptman
1985 – Jerome Karle
1986 – Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 – Robert Huber
1988 – Leon Lederman
1988 – Melvin Schwartz
1988 – Jack Steinberger
1989 – Sidney Altman
1990 – Jerome Friedman
1992 – Rudolph Marcus
1995 – Martin Perl
2000 – Alan J. Heeger
Economics:
1970 – Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 – Simon Kuznets
1972 – Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 – Leonid Kantorovich
1976 – Mil ton Friedman
1978 – Herb ert A. Simon
1980 – Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 – Franco Modigliani
1987 – Robert M. Solow
1990 – Harry Markowitz
1 990 – Merton Miller
1992 – Gary Becker
1993 – Robert Fogel
Medicine:
1908 – Elie Metchnikoff
1908 – Paul Erlich
1914 – Robert Barany
1922 – Otto Meyerhof
1930 – Karl Landsteiner
1931 – Otto Warburg
1936 – Otto Loewi
1944 – Joseph Erlanger
1944 – Herb ert Spencer Gasser
1945 – Ernst Boris Chain
1946 – Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 – Tadeus Reichstein
1952 – Selman Abra ham Waksman
1953 – Hans Krebs
1953 – Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 – Joshua Lederberg
1959 – Arthur Kornberg
1964 – Konrad Bloch
1965 – Francois Jacob
1965 – Andre Lwoff
1967 – George Wald
1968 – Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 – Salvador Luria
1970 – Julius Axelrod
1970 – Sir Bernard Katz
1972 – Gerald Maurice Ed elman
1975 – Howard Martin Temin
1976 – Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 – Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 – Daniel Nathans
1980 – Baruj Benacerraf
1984 – Cesar Milstein
1985 – Michael Stuart Brown
1985 – Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 – Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 – Gertrude Elion
1989 – Harold Varmus
1991 – Erwin Neher
1991 – Bert Sakmann
1993 – Richard J. Roberts
1993 – Phillip Sharp
1994 – Alfred Gilman
1995 – Edward B. Lewis
TOTAL: 129 ONE HUNDRED TWENTY NINE!
The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims!
The Jews don’t hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is NOT one single Jew that has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew that protests by killing people.
The Jews don’t traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.
Perhaps the world’s Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.
Muslims must ask ‘what can they do for humankind’ before they demand that humankind respects them!!
Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbours, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel’s part, the following two sentences really say it all:
‘If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel’ -Benjamin Netanyahu
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have warned the US not to block attempts to build an international financial regulator, calling for a new economic body similar to the UN’s Security Council.
“I’ve always in my political life been a supporter of a close alliance with the United States but let’s be clear: in the 21st century, a single nation can no longer say what we must do or what we must think,” said Mr Sarkozy at an international symposium in Paris on Thursday.
The French leader had originally called the Paris meeting – “New World, New Capitalism” – a global “summit,” but limited his ambitions after few international leaders deigned to attend.
“We’ll take our decisions on 2 April in London,” he went on, referring to an upcoming meeting of the G20. “Perhaps the United States will join us in this change.”
Ms Merkel, also in attendance at the conference, echoed the French president’s warning to Washington.
“No country can act alone in this day and age, not even the United States, however powerful they may be,” she said, Deutsche Welle reports.
She said that hopes that out of the economic crisis, governments can construct a new architecture for managing global capitalism.
“Our response to the economic crisis must be more than a few rules,” she said. “The crisis is an opportunity to create an international architecture of institutions.”
Global economic charter
The chancellor said the world needs an “economic council” in the United Nations as well as the existing body that deals with security matters.
“It is possible that alongside the UN Security Council, we could also have an economic council,” she said, adding that alongside the UN Charter, an economic sustainability charter “for a long-term reasonable economy” should be drafted establishing rules for global financial governance.
“Our response must be more than a few rules,” she added. “The crisis is an opportunity to create an international architecture of institutions.”
The centre-right German leader also warned businesses there was no returning to laissez-faire approaches by governments once the crisis has passed.
“Once everything is going better, the financial markets will tell us: ‘you politicians don’t need to get involved because everything is working again’,” she said, according to the Guardian. “I will stay firm, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Mr Sarkozy warned that capitalism could collapse if it is not restructured. “Either we re-found capitalism or we destroy it,” he said. “Purely financial capitalism has perverted the logic of capitalism…it is amoral. It is a system where the logic of the market excuses everything.”
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, a co-sponsor of the symposium, echoed the European leaders: “what is unavoidable in the longer term is a recasting of the system of international supervision.”
“We have mid-20th-century international institutions governing a 21st century world,” he added. “The reform of the IMF, the World Bank, the financial regulatory system is long overdue.”
Cyclones, earthquakes and hurricanes around the world made 2008 one of the worst years for natural disasters so far this decade, the United Nations said Thursday.
At least 235,816 people were killed in 321 different disasters, some of the worst of which took place in Burma and China, according to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
“Almost the entire bulk of the deaths… is explained by only two events: Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan [earthquake],” said Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, which conducted the tally.
The UN estimates that nearly 84,000 people died and 54,000 went missing after Cyclone Nargis came crashing into Burma, also known as Myanmar, last May 3. About 2.5 million people were left destitute by the storm.
Less than two weeks later, nearly 70,000 people were killed when an earthquake rocked a swath of central and southern China. An estimated five million people were rendered homeless.
Last year’s natural disaster death toll was more than three times the annual average between 2000 and 2007, which was 66,812. The only other year the death toll was higher was in 2004, when it reached 241,647 because of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
“The share of floods and storms are increasing substantially [and] steadily” compared with the number of earthquakes, droughts and other natural catastrophes, Guha-Sapir said.
The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season produced a record number of consecutive storms that struck the United States and ranked as one of the more active seasons in the 64 years since comprehensive records started to be kept, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The world’s disasters last year caused estimated damage of $227 billion, some 60 per cent of it — or $136 billion — in China.
Hurricane Ike, which hit the Caribbean and the southern United States in September, also substantially contributed to the cost with an estimated $30 billion in damage, the UN agency said.
Salvano Briceno, director of the UN’s disaster reduction agency, said the high amount of economic loss was alarming.
A new competition is providing another opportunity for churches to encourage Scripture memorization among their children. The Bible Bee, a Bible memory competition for children and youth from 7 to 18, adds a new twist to the traditional Bible Drills that Southern Baptists have used for decades.
“The goal of the Bible Bee is to build godly character in young people by calling them back to the lost discipline of Scripture memorization,” a news release from the organizers stated.
“Most people are familiar with the Scripps National Spelling Bee, where youth compete annually in the nation’s longest-running educational contest. While it is certainly beneficial for our children to commit the spelling of words to memory, imagine how much more life-changing it will be for them to memorize the Word of God,” the release said.
The bee is coordinated by the Shelby Kennedy Foundation, named after a woman who died of cancer in 2005 at age 23. Inspired by Kennedy’s reliance on God’s Word, the nonprofit ministry encourages children and youth to grow in Christ through Scripture memorization.
Instead of asking children to spell a word, the Bible Bee requires contestants to learn Bible passages and facts — with an ultimate goal of equipping the next generation to be bold ambassadors for Jesus. A written multiple-choice test and an oral round of questions involving Bible memory and knowledge are part of each Bible Bee competition.
Local Bible Bees will be conducted throughout the country Sept. 12, and 100 finalists from each of three age categories will advance to the National Bible Bee in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5-6. The Bible Bee Competition will distribute more than $260,000 in prize money with $100,000 being awarded to the first-place winner of the top age category.
The deadline for beginning the registration process to hold a local Bible Bee is Jan. 31; interested individuals can contact the Shelby Kennedy Foundation at 1-888-3-BIBLE-B (1-888-324-2532). Registration for participants in a local Bible Bee will take place from Feb. 15 through April 30. Further information about fees ($20 for one child, $15 for a second, $10 for three through six participants, with a $75 maximum for families with more children), competition locations and other facets of the Bible Bee are available at www.biblebee.org
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1-888-324-2532
). Registration for participants in a local Bible Bee will take place from Feb. 15 through April 30. Further information about fees ($20 for one child, $15 for a second, $10 for three through six participants, with a $75 maximum for families with more children), competition locations and other facets of the Bible Bee are available at www.biblebee.org
